h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: UPDATE: Guild Wars 2 - A87817459
Author: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor - U1314679

1 1/2 years after release I thought it's time for an update of this Entry. This is really one of the best MMOs I've ever played.

Here's the original Entry from 2012 A87734569

Good update - very thorough, but it's good to see the extra details that you discovered from playing the game, and about how popular it has become

I haven't read through in detail yet, but there are a few points I noticed that weren't clear to me as a non-player.

In the sentence "Guild Wars 2 is not heavily instanced but has a persistent world", I think the way the explanation was given in the original Entry was clearer than putting the details in a footnote, as I don't know what the term "heavily instanced" means.

I think the Living World section would fit better after the Personal Story section, and both sections could perhaps be moved after the Race and Profession sections, so that readers have more of an understanding of the game first - for example in the sentence containing "players with characters of higher levels" I wondered how do characters level up?

Do you define what "NPC" is?

It's good that all the items in the game can be bought with in-game money - I play a (very tame) online game myself, and all the monthly quests can be half done without spending real money, but it is virtually impossible to finish them, which gets boring after a while...

thanks for reading!

- There already is a footnote in the sentence with 'heavily instanced' (footnote 2) which I thought explains this.

- What I thought about was putting them into the PvE section, do you think that would fit?

- I added a footnote to NPC.


That's the difference between so-called 'free to play' games (which usually cost lots of money if you want progress) and games like Guild Wars. It is only logical that the company who produced the game and pays for the servers have to get money from somewhere.
I am absolutely fine with paying a one-time fee for getting a new expansion to a game or for instance services like additional character slots or bank account expansions. I am not willing anymore to pay monthly fees and never wanted to play games which want you to pay money for progess, as you describe.

Yes, the Personal Story and Living World would fit nicely into PvE

I kind of think the free games should be happy with the advertising revenue that they get, but of course if they can tempt players to pay for progress as well, then that's even better for them... I found out how to obtain some free in-game currency for my online game by playing mini games, but it is a slow process to build up enough credit to proceed... I'm nearly there for the next level, though

I did that

Well, there's no advertising in Guild Wars and as I said, nobody has to pay for progress. I think it's just wrong to have to pay for progress.

An important patch will come next week. They will completely demolish the current capital city. Seems like it will be burnt down in an attack. Nobody knows what will follow, the current Living Story arch is slowly coming to an end.

What happened with this important patch, and does it affect the entry?

<BB<

Well, they burnt down the whole city, we are currently rescuing survivors and fighting the attackers and the major villain is drilling for magical energy of a ley line in the middle of the city and nobody yet knows why she does it.
Next Tuesday the caunter-attack will start and we'll try to regain the city, but nobody knows what the conclusion will be.

At the moment I don't think it really affects this Entry but the final results may. My own guess is that in the end she will use the energy to either awaken or fight a new dragon. Another possibility may be the invilvement of the powerful ancient race known as the Mursaat, but it's not quite sure if they still exist anymore at all.

There are also (seemingly) funded rumors about the opening of new areas of the map in the northern regions.

Well, we killed the bad girl but in vain. This is what happened in the end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPzU2Gbvt8
She woke another dragon.

Fantastic video I certainly learned something from this Entry

As this is an Update, the text will be copied into the original Entry, so it needs to be "sub-edited" here. I'll give it a thorough readthrough from start to finish over the next few days

SashaQ - <./>Sub-Editor</.>

Thank you

Intro

"3,5 million" - 3.5 million

"hundred thousands" - hundreds of thousands? or a hundred thousand?

Story

"anymore" - any more

Playable Races

"warmachines" - war machines

"Asura define themselves through their scientific work and insights, each tries to make more important breakthoughts than the other."

Asura define themselves through their scientific work and insights; each tries to make more important breakthroughs than the others.

"After they have been driven away" - After they were driven away

" drivn " - driven

"tradepost" - trading post

" Her unusual fruits" - sounds a little odd in this sentence, that the tree is a she...

"Their first-born have dropped" - Their first-born dropped

"plant fibers" - plant fibres

"the most alien of all races" - the most alien of all the races

"some knowledge about the world which they get through the collective consciuosness known as the Dream" - some knowledge about the world, which they get through the collective consciousness known as the Dream

Professions and Skills

"Keeping the damage of a monster on oneself is almost impossible in Guild Wars 2" - I'm not sure what that means...

"used on a powerful skill " - used as a powerful skill

In the Elementalist paragraph, Guild Wars 1 is italicised, whereas in other places it is not in italics.

"conjour" - conjure

Necromancers "fight with a number of undead minions" - does that mean they fight alongside a number of minions? (the sentence could be read as fighting against them)

"dependent on their species, there are also separate pets" - semicolon rather than a comma

I'm not clear about the Guardian paragraph - passive benefits versus smaller benefits

"scepters" - sceptres

"very few normal weapons are not able to switch them during combat." - very few normal weapons *and* are not able to switch them?

"every player can be equipped" - every player is equipped

"the type of weapon that is used at the moment" - at that moment

"Players get access to their utility skills by levelling their character" - Levelling up?

Done up to the Combat section

changes made apart from:

- " Her unusual fruits" - sounds a little odd in this sentence, that the tree is a she...
I know it does sound strange, but she is always referred to as female and also has a female 'avatar' through which she speaks.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Avatar_of_the_Tree.jpg

- I'm not clear about the Guardian paragraph - passive benefits versus smaller benefits
no, normal benefits for themselves versus smaller benefits for the team

- "scepters" - sceptres

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Scepter
(that's also what the dictionary tells me)

I read through the first bit again just quickly, and it looks good. I just spotted a missing space at clockwork.Asura in the Playable Races section.

Thanks for the tree picture - she is beautiful... The full stop has separated from the end of the sentence at "Dream .", but otherwise that's fine.

Scepter looks like a US spelling of Sceptre to me, but as it is a specific item in the game, that should be fine - perhaps put it in quotes to emphasise that?

Combat

"MMOS" - should that be MMORPGs?

"alife" - alive

"place of ground" - piece of ground?

"This allies" - These allies

"environmental weapons, these include" - semicolon instead of comma

I'm not quite clear about the 'downed mode' paragraph - downed players either kill their opponent to regain health, or an ally gives them something to get their health back, is that right? After the fight, do downed players get XP, or do they have to have regained health before then?

Player Versus Environment

"On the map a golden heart indicates the places where people need the help of players, which can take various forms. There are always many ways to help" - it looks to me like repetition of many ways to help, so you could delete "which can take various forms".

" a too high level" - that doesn't sound quite right to me... Perhaps "areas at a level that is too high"

"anymore" - "any more"

"On the other hand it is never the case that areas are of a too low level for the players and enemies are dead with a single hit" - perhaps reword this bit slightly, too... "On the other hand it is never the case that areas are at a level that is too low for the players so that enemies can be killed with a single hit"

"over powered" - I read that as overpowered, which is the opposite of what is meant here. I think "overpowering" would work.

"have maximum level" - have reached the maximum level

"many people gather before the assumed event start to fight together" - *and* start to fight together? Ah, I see people gather before "the event start". Perhaps "many people gather before the event is expected to start, and fight together"

"always requiring to jump " - always requiring characters to jump

"titles which they can wear after their name" - display after their name?

Living World

"keep to constantly evolve and expand" - keep constantly evolving and expanding

"awaken of the Elder Dragon" - awaken the Elder Dragon

Personal Story

"players have to level their characters" - level up

" the background of the character. Their history" - the background of the character: their history

"level of 80 already" - don't need "already" there

"especially a few of the main steps" - especially as a few

"behave not really intelligent" - don't behave really intelligently

Player versus player

"Players who prefer competitive play against other players instead of computer controlled enemies, can do almost exclusively this in Guild Wars 2. While on the other hand nobody is forced to do it." - Players who prefer competitive play against other players instead of computer controlled enemies can do almost exclusively this in Guild Wars 2, while on the other hand nobody is forced to do it.

"Every palyer chooses their server" - player

"when creating a character, they can switch later" - semicolon instead of comma. Also in "different playfields, on each of them" and "Players can join World versus World at any level, their level is raised to 80"

"suppy caravans" - supply caravans?

"protected of fought against" - protected or fought against?

"in teams ore one against one" - or

"your own character tells you that he got a buff." - what's a buff?

"wolves are holing" - howling

"It makes the impression like no tree or rock ended up in its place by chance" - It gives the impression that no tree or rock ended up in its place by chance

Excellent

Sorry for the delay, I kind of forgot to do this.
I made all changes now, thanks a lot for your help.

Good work! I found a few more tiny things on fresh readthrough, but I think this is nearly ready.

"Unlike the first parts of Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 is not heavily instanced but has a persistent world In what is now referred to a Guild Wars 1, every team had their own private version of the game and never met other players except in towns and outposts.." I think this bit would be clearer to me if the footnote was after "instanced"

"They live in an industrialized society," - industrialised

"The Charr's major base, the Black Citadel, ... it's chimneys releasing clouds of smoke into the sky." - its chimneys

"a system in which all parts work together like clockwork.Asura" - space missing after clockwork

"their new capial city is Rata Sum. " - capital

"grown from plant fibres and leaves of all colors" - colours

"they will soon not get on anymore" - any more

"They all require the player to have be able to perfectly control the movements of their character. " - to have to be able to

"Guild Wars 2 and the story of Tyria keep to constantly evolving and expanding." - delete the "to"

"Every player chooses their server when creating a character, they can switch later; but only for a price." - Every player chooses their server when creating a character; they can switch later, but only for a price.

"People can also level their character in World versus World" - I'm a little confused by that, as the previous sentence says that players are set at maximum level - is it that the skills gained in the battle raise the player's actual level even though it doesn't make any difference to the level in play?

"Players can organize themselves in Guilds" - organise, and "Every Guild can choose a customized Guild Emblem" - customised

"can not be regarded as a pure fantasy game" - cannot

"the sound of your armour, jingling as you move" - the comma isn't needed there

"but could not realize in the old game." - realise

I tried to have a go at Guild Wars 2 last weekend, but my computer wasn't up to the task...

Guild Wars 1 works fine, though, and your Entries are very useful I'm doing the Prophecies tutorial, which is going quite well, and the graphics are very impressive indeed

Sorry for taking so long, but I've made all the changes now.

How far did you get with guild Wars 1? It's good to hear that you like it and I'm very happy to hear that my Entries are actually useful.

Excellent The sentence "Unlike the first parts of Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 is not heavily instanced 2but has a persistent world . " just needs tweaking - Footnote 2 needs no space between it and "instanced", and there's a space between "world" and the full stop that needs deleting.

I did OK with Guild Wars 1 - I did the 2 week trial, and reached Level 2. I didn't go on the long quest away from the city, but enjoyed attempting to do a quest in the Abbey instead. My computer held up, but my internet connection wasn't quite good enough, so sometimes the ground and/or my character disappeared, and in the Abbey crypt my character could only sometimes protect herself from the poison gas, as the controls didn't always work, which was rather frustrating... Hence I didn't pay for the game after the trial ended but I enjoyed trying it out, anyway, and seeing the amazing graphics (I took a few screenshots as my character wandered around )