Guild Wars presents so many choices right from the start that it can be overwhelming for beginner players, which is why ArenaNet chose to start new Guild Wars 2 characters off with five set, weapon-based skills.
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“We saw that in Guild Wars 1 people could basically go anywhere they wanted to with all the different skills. You had two different classes, you had a primary profession and a secondary. What we found was that for a lot of people that was just too much. It was a lot of overwhelming stuff,” systems designer Jonathan Sharp told PC Gamer.
“Some people absolutely loved it, though, so what we tried to do for Guild Wars 2 is we said ‘okay, with your utilities, with your heal, with your elite you can decide those things. But for your main skills, your first five, what if it’s just tied to your weapon?’ Which makes it much much easier for a new player – they have a sword thats the same as somebody else’s sword.
“Once they get that sword down, they figure out how they want to use it, they can take the rest of their bar and customise their build along with their traits to figure out how they want to play a certain class. So we try to give the best of both worlds there.”
In the rest of the interview, Sharp also discusses how ArenaNet have tried to make the game more focused for veterans who know precisely how they want to progress their character.
Guild Wars 2 launches on August 28.