Four years of Guild Wars: A retrospective

By Amanda Rivera
April 24, 2009 16:40 PM PST
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Lore-wise, how does the team plan on evolving the story in Guild Wars 2?

We're placing Guild Wars 2 two hundred and fifty years after the events of Guild Wars, picking up the progress of the world and the cultures from there. There are hints and patterns all over the original game that we'll be pulling lore from, some of which haven't been developed before. With more playable races that each have their own regional concerns in addition to the overall story, we'll learn a lot more about cultures that were mostly at the edges of the first game's story. I think discovering those connections will be an exciting bonus for the Guild Wars veterans. We're also hoping to involve the player a lot more in the day-to-day story of the persistent world in Guild Wars 2.

How do you plan on celebrating the anniversary at the ArenaNet offices?

We'll probably play some Guild Wars 2. ;)

How is the community celebrating the day? Are there any special in-game events?

We have loads of in-game events going on for our four-year anniversary. The Shing Jea Boardwalk will re-open, where players can test their luck in the Boardwalk games. The Dragon Arena and Rollerbeetle Races will be open. Birthday Cupcakes will drop from monsters in explorable areas. Starting on April 28, characters turning four years old will receive new miniatures from the fourth year birthday series. Characters turning four will receive these presents on their creation date.

Apart from the in-game events, the Fourth Anniversary Update introduces exciting new features for players. One of the coolest of these is Zaishen Challenge Quests, which let players complete certain challenges each day, such as replaying a storyline mission or winning battles in different types of PvP. The quests offered will change each day.

And, in celebration of our fourth anniversary, we're giving players a free storage pane so they'll have more inventory space for items that all characters on a single account can access. Not only that, players will be able to buy more storage panes for additional account-wide inventory space.

We're also giving players the ability to access different pets after they have already charmed them. Players can do this by heading over to the Zaishen Menagerie outpost. Access to this area is completely free. There are several ways to unlock different evolutions and levels of pets, such as having members of the Zaishen Order train your pets in exchange for Balthazar Faction. We'll also give players the additional option of unlocking all standard pets by purchasing the Pet Unlock Pack.

We've saved some surprises for the anniversary, so check the READ MORE at OMGRPG!

">Guild Wars website for more details.

READ MORE at OMGRPG!