Gaile Gray (Continued)
So, if that’s what you don’t get, what do you get with instanced missions? With instanced missions, you can change the world, and all that is in the world can be yours.
- Choose your partners: When you want a cooperative mission, the only people at your side are those you invite. No backstabbers, no loot stealers, no spawn campers.
- Explore the world: Travel at your own pace, undertake battle or avoid confrontation, as you see fit. Meet your friends with the click of a button.
- Change the world: Blow up a bridge, burn down a building, reroute a waterway.
- Conquer the world: Win the battle or complete the quest and the rewards belong to you and your teammates alone.
Photics: Some MMORPGs are dropping dead before they release, while others are enjoying a plethora of expansions. This makes me wonder about Guild Wars. What is the planned lifespan for Guild Wars? Will there forever be expansions?
Gaile Gray: Guild Wars will have an extended lifespan; there is truly no end in sight for this project. Actually, this is an interesting question, and a chance to share a little bit of company history. The whole reason the company was formed was to make Guild Wars. That is, Michael O’Brien, Jeff Strain and Patrick Wyatt didn’t form a company and then look around and think “What do we make first?” They formed the company expressly to make the game that came to be called Guild Wars.
The ArenaNet founders had worked together on a few projects, and had then become team leads for three separate projects. They had enjoyed working together, and as the years passed, during conversations and game discussions, they had come to realize that they shared a large number of “Wouldn’t it be great if we could make a game that…” ideas. The idea of building a game that would change the way games are made, the way they were distributed, and they way they were played became so enticing that Patrick, Jeff, and Mike were willing to give up their positions with an established game development company and pull up stakes to move to Washington State to start ArenaNet.
All of that is a preamble to say that not only was the vision of Guild Wars the first concept, in fact it was and remains the only concept. The first chapter of Guild Wars will be released in the near future. (And can be sampled in our World Preview Event on October 29 through 31. Small plug there 
) After Guild Wars is on shelves, the current team will become two. Half will serve as the “live team” for Guild Wars’ first chapter, creating and streaming new content to you, fixing bugs or exploits, keeping everything in topnotch working order. The second team will get busy creating content for Chapter 2. Our focus is and will remain the Guild Wars world. We will all be supporting the games that have been released, expanding the story, building upon the legacy of the title.
Thanks to Photics/Mike for your continued support of Guild Wars, and for one fine e-zine! We know every Guild Wars fans looks forward to with great anticipation on the 1st of each month.