Guild Wars 2 Reddit Interview...Did He Just Say 500?

[JohnnyV]

Ok, Reddit convos are a pain to completely copy and paste. So, if you want to read everything in its entirety, you can do so here.

Here are some of the more interesting tidbits I found while going through the interview:

In WvW what is the maximum number of players allowed on one given map? Or what is the most people you've seen in a WvW at the office?

At least 500.

I noticed the Mesmer had a few melee weapons in the skill videos but didn't really hit anything with them in melee range. Do mesmers have up close and personal attacks as well?

Yes.

Are you worried that people of a high skill level will be able to detect which illusions are fakes and focus down the mesmer more quickly than they can other professions? Given that they have the lightest armor and lack a pure survival mechanic (like attunements and death shroud), how do you feel about their PvP survivability? While I recognize that Mesmers have a high skill ceiling, that also could be mitigated by certain cues as to what they are doing. Also, what is your favorite profession in PvP thus far?

I don't think they are supposed to be so deceptive so much as a temporary distraction. They die in about one hit so even AoE attacks tend to melt them pretty quickly. The more interesting decision is how to build up sets of them to shatter in interesting ways.

Favorite PvP profession: Warrior.

Greetings Jon, thanks for taking the questions. A lot of fans have been worried about the thief profession, feeling that it will not have all the tools that others have access to. Is there any new things that have changed since the last demo; specifically, if you can, what are some of the effects of stolen items that we haven't heard about yet?

Blog coming next Tuesday on thief improvements. I can promise you they are not bad in PvE or PvP.

Hi, will you be able to finish any Instance with -lets say- 5 rangers with shortbow/dagger set. So will you really have a free choice in terms of professions?

I will. As far as anyone else, it depends on if they are any good at playing ranger.

The thief class seems like the only class which can't fulfill all the three roles (damage, support, control), especially the control and support part. How are you going to put it on par with other classes ?

The thief can absolutely do all 3 roles. I know it can do damage, I know it has good control, and I know Izzy has a great support thief that he runs right now in PvP tests.

If you find more interesting additions to the interview, please feel free to add them.

[Naithallis]

Any information for closed beta release?

We will officially enter Closed Beta Testing this Friday. It will be marked with an increase in our pool of testers. To clarify, this phase of testing is still under NDA and is not open to the public.
Based on the feedback we get from our current Closed Beta Testing, we will determine the next phases of our beta program in which we will open beta access to more people.

[Ruse]

This actually is one of my favorite bits.


Any favorite dungeon party set-up/teams you've had yet?

Any combination is actually very strong, which, in itself, is really one of our favorite things about the game. Instead of people needing to bring specific builds or professions, they just need to be good at whatever build/profession they bring.

[JohnnyV]

Ha, this one was funny...

How's the work environment at ArenaNet? Do you guys get stressed from the pressures of the community / their demands? I feel like working on a game would be bitter sweet because there are so many people that want to be pleased by GW2.

It is a double edged sword for sure. Once you work on a game its not as exciting to play games because you start to nit pick everything in them. Oh wait, that is what fans do anyway. It is a really great place to work and I look forward to my Mondays as much as my Fridays.

[Centaur]

Full transcript (easier to read) of the reddit Q&A can now be found here on guildwars2journal.com

[Adrexl]

They can't be in Closed Beta for more than what? 3 months?

We might really get this game by April. Nice.

[Centaur]

That's my estimate as well... unless ofcourse beta testing uncovers some serious issues in one of the core mechanics of the game, but let's hope not.

[ComplexNuber]

I'll be a little peeved if it comes out April - just in time for when University starts and after ~4 months of holidays doing nothing, that could have been spent driving everything insane with my mesmer.

[Centaur]

In WvW what is the maximum number of players allowed on one given map? Or what is the most people you've seen in a WvW at the office?

At least 500.

Did you notice this follow-up:

Q: I think what worries most people is the number 500. 500 out of 3 populated servers means 150ish players from each server.. this is sometimes barely a couple of guilds.

A: 500 x 4 = 2000 / 3 = 666.666666 repeating of course.... So over 650 people PER server. That is a LOT of people.


Sounds awesome!

[ComplexNuber]

500 x 4 = 2000 / 3 = 666.666666 repeating of course.

Am I missing some information or does someone at Reddit need to re-do their highschool math classes?

If they were trying to imply that 500 people was meant to be per world, the calculation would be: 500 x 3 = 1500 / 3 = 500. Which shows how much of a pointless calculation that is, it takes on step backward then one step forward to where you were in the first place.