Guild Wars Mini-Interview #7
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Q: Guild Wars features a storyline that unfolds as players participate in cooperative PvM missions. Is there a solid number that you can give for the number of missions we can expect to see in the initial release? Once players finish these missions and reach their maximum level, what content can they expect to keep them occupied within the game until the expansion if they aren't interested in the PvP gameplay and continuing to acquire skills/item hunt?
A: At this point, the final number of missions has not yet been nailed down. But I would love to share some interesting information about the way Guild Wars missions are conceived that I learned when talking to our writer, Jess Lebow. Each mission will be like a braided novel. There will be one over-arcing objective, but there will also be several other (acts) in each mission. Let me make up a completely random example: Say there is a mission for which the main objective is to take a very important mage from one village through an uncharted mountain pass to a second village. Achieving this end is not as simple as it sounds, for it's not a matter of traveling from A to Point B, killing some monsters along the way, and if you get there, you win. It might play a lot more like this:
You begin the mission in a wilderness area and learn that in order to get to the starting village, you will need to overcome a band of marauding monsters who are holding your potential guide hostage. If you overcome the monsters and free the guide (thus completing the first act), he will then lead you towards the starting village, where you are to meet your VIM (Very Important Mage).
But as you approach the Mage's village, you find that it, too, is under attack by another group of monsters. So the second act of the mission involves this battle, yet the outcome may not revolve around a straight human vs. monster face-off. The winning element of Act 2 could be saving a certain number of townsfolk, or it may be picking up a Letter of Safe Passage from one of those townsfolk, or something of that nature. Upon the successful completion of Act 2, you head off with your VIM and your guide, engaging in combat along the way.
For Act 3, perhaps you meet a guard at a bridge who says (None shall pass!) Well, ok, perhaps he tells you that the residents of the his village are skeptical of outsiders and that in order gain permission to cross the bridge you need to bring him an object that proves your honest intentions, perhaps a healing herb harvested only in a monster-ridden valley, or a key that is the death drop of a specific boss monster. It will be only the completion of this third act, and then the safe delivery of the Mage to the village, that makes you the winner of the mission.
Oh, and did I mention there are secret side quests, as well? :-)
In answering the question about what will keep players interested in Guild Wars aside from item acquisition, skill growth, and PvP play, I'm sure you'll agree that the depth of the missions, and the opportunity to experience different outcomes depending on choices that you make as a player, will enhance and extend what you do in the game. In addition, there will be a large number of hunting grounds that provide adventure either as a single player or as the member of a group. And lastly, while we will be releasing new chapters every six to nine months, we will be adding a substantial amount of content between those releases. Some of that new content is discussed in the next answer.
