Guild Wars 2 Beta This Year, Says NCSoft
NCSoft revealed in a conference call that the beta for Guild Wars 2 will launch sometime during the second half of 2011.
NCSoft chief financial officer Jaeho Lee revealed during a conference call that the company plans to launch the Guild Wars 2 beta during the second half of 2011. This indicates that the upcoming MMORPG could actually launch sometime in 2012.
Guild Wars 2 was originally announced back in 2007, promising a more unified MMORPG experience rather than a continuation of the current Guild Wars structure where players meet in public zones (cities) and then embark on private quests. Like Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, the Guild Wars 2 landscape will play host to all visitors within and outside city walls in real time, but still keep the free-to-play model.
Now four years later, developer ArenaNet and its 150-member team is still sticking to its "when it's done" guns. But NCSoft may have finally broken the silence. "Starting from year 2012, we believe substantial growth will be driven by new blockbuster titles like [Blade & Soul] and Guild Wars 2," Lee told investors. "Also, Guild Wars 2 will go into beta testing stage in the second half of this year."
Can't get any clearer than that.
"Providing players with rich and rewarding gaming experiences is what we’re all about at NCsoft. This is a very significant year for us with some huge announcements," he later told VG247. "We'll have a major presence at Gamescom (Aug. 17-21) this year where we plan on stealing a few headlines."
What? No E3?
NCSoft may be anxious in getting Guild Wars 2 out on the market, as both Aion and Lineage have seen decreases in revenue due to "soft sales promotions." Lineage II actually grew quarter-to-quarter thanks to increased marketing, but overall, NCSoft's first quarter sales were down 7-percent year-on-year and 2-percent quarter-over-quarter. Net revenue is down 30-percent compared to this time period a year ago.
But will Guild Wars 2 breathe a little perkiness back to the company's earnings? ArenaNet’s Martin Kerstein indicates that the game will bring a new experience to a tired genre.
"What we try to do with Guild Wars 2 anyway is to break a lot of the existing conventions, like by getting rid of quests and basically totally focusing on dynamic events," he told RPS in a recent interview. "So you just run through the world and happen on stuff, and that stuff has an impact on the world. It’s not just there’s this one guy standing with an exclamation mark and you go there, he says ‘hey, those evil bandits over there have been threatening me for the last 15 years, like I told the other thousand people before you…’ Then you go there and they’re not actually doing anything. So you kill them then come back, so the guy says ‘thanks, everything is fine now’ but you turn around and the bandits are back…"
"Our dynamic events will actually have an impact on the world, so if you defend a village it’s safe," he added. "It’s more like a living, breathing world."
If NCSoft sticks to its forecast, we'll get to experience this living, breathing world sometime in the second half of this year.
Now with my new gaming rig coming in 3 months ill give a shot to GW2
Phasing isn't the same... it's still quest based and it's still fully predictable and repetitive. GW2 is using a fully dynamic world, where there are no quests to do and all events are fully random. Each random event will trigger other events depending on the outcome of the current event. It's completely unpredictable, and each play through will offer completely unique experience.
We need a MMORPG that doesn't get boring before the free month is up.
I was among the early players of GuildWars before I moved to WoW.
What I miss about GuildWars is that after I hit level 20 and buy the best armour could not find much progress to do. Unlike Wow where after hitting max level you can always progress via new gear...
Did I miss something ?
Sorry NCSoft, but blizzard will still get my money unless I see some serious upgrades. Like jumping. Lol.
I'm really looking forward to GW2. Can't come soon enough.
You mean the same old boring repetitive "#12345" hotkey combat thats in most if not every fantasy medieval style MMORPG? Theres a difference?
At least GW2 looks way more involved..
Beta was suppose to be out last year and final Game out for the holidays this year...
All of a sudden everything is pushed pack by couple of years...
As long as we dont have to play on a 2004 engine in 2013...
P.S. Glad to see GW2 mentioned on Tom's.
A brilliant description of the issue. And funny.