The Winter Update and Observer Mode - Added!

Scytale · #1 12-22-2005, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Update - Wednesday, December 21

Season's Greetings

(Please sing along to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas.)

On the twelfth moon of Wintersday ArenaNet gave to me...
Blessings from Dwayna
Festive decorations
One mighty snowman
Weapons made of candy
Gifts that might kill you
Snow-covered henchmen
New winter monsters
Some really long quests

Lots of drinking Dwarves
Gingerbread shields
Curses from Grenth
And a new way to watch PvP!

That's right, Observer Mode!

Now you can watch as top-ranked guilds battle it out in the Tombs and in rated guild matches. The upcoming Guild Wars Regional Playoffs and World Championship will also be available for viewing as they happen. The details are as follows:

Whenever a top 100 ranked guild plays in the Tombs or in a rated guild challenge, the game is automatically available for everyone to see. Other "special event" games will also be available for viewing.

Everything that observers see is delayed 15 minutes from the original game, to prevent cheating. Games become available for observation approximately 15 minutes after they start, and remain available until approximately 15 minutes after they finish.

While you are watching a game, you can chat with your fellow observers. There is no limit to the number of people who can simultaneously observe a game, but for purposes of chatting, observers are randomly assigned into groups of about 100 people.

In Observer Mode, the Map Area window displays the positions of all characters on the map. You can click on any character to jump there. Alternately, you can use Auto Camera mode to let the game pick the most interesting targets for you.

A new heads-up display automatically shows you the Health of teams that you are currently watching. If you prefer to use the Party window to view party status details and to select players to watch, you can easily switch the Party window back and forth between teams, or you may choose to view multiple Party windows and watch different teams in each window.

...A few hours after Photics was talking about observer mode while we farmed IDS's. :)

I'm about to load the new update and check what's been added.. feel free the share what you've found.

beaverlegions · #2 12-22-2005, 07:50 AM

Hmm they talk about long quests, snowy hench candy weapons, mighty snowman but i seen none of these yet will they come later I guess.

Photics · #3 12-22-2005, 09:51 AM

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Originally Posted by Scytale

...A few hours after Photics was talking about observer mode while we farmed IDS's. :)

You'd think I had the ArenaNet office on observer mode ;)

It was logic though. They're spending a lot of money on this tournament. Plus, not much was said about observer mode for quite a while. I pieced it together. I had a feeling observer mode would be implemented soon. I didn't realize it would be in the same night.

I guess the devs are eager to start their holiday break.

I had a feeling the Christmas content would be pushed on Wednesday. That's how ArenaNet does things. They're very big on Wednesdays for some reason. It might be a shot at WoW, which updates on Tuesdays.

Tiltowait · #4 12-22-2005, 02:18 PM

Observer mode is really impressive. Press 'b' to pull it up and press 'p' to see the different parties. Just watched an awesome HoH battle. It was fascinating to see the team makeups and skills used. This will change the state of PVP as more people see the great teams and builds in action. Well done Anet!

#5 12-22-2005, 02:26 PM

I'd like to see something like the auto-camera mode in regular play ('course, it would only center on you)

I'm also wondering why they never let you see someone else's energy levels. Heck, If I know how much health they have it isn't a stretch to know how much energy someone else has.

Tiltowait · #6 12-23-2005, 08:12 AM

One characteristic I noticed with observer mode is that it only picks up battles involving a top ranked guild team. In Tombs, one's ranking from GVG doesn't mean much, but I think the new observer mode was drawing ranked guild teams out of the woodwork yesterday. Last night in Tombs it seemed like every opponent my regular PUG faced (all highly experienced Tombs players but not in the same guild - only two Crusaders) was top guild ranked and all but one was steamrolled by us. There isn't such a thing as Tombs specific rankings so I guess this is the best they can do for observer mode.

So, from my viewpoint, observer mode for GVG is great for seeing these top teams in action where they really shine. In Tombs, though, I would probably focus on the HoH battles. The top guilds that make it that far are usually pretty awe inspiring and not just spamming their GVG builds.

QuickSilver · #7 12-23-2005, 11:33 AM

Looks like I have make time to go see this, and watch some guild battles too.