Guild Wars 2: It Begins!

So this week has shown the first real details of the gameplay of the long-awaited Guild Wars 2! I must say that on first impressions, I'm pleased and intrigued about it all. A lot of the old scenery is there in the gameplay, but there's a lot more work gone into character design, weapons usage, and the all-important skillbar. Of all the aspects of the Guild Wars series, I've enjoyed the skillbar the most for its ingenious method creating a strategy element to the game, and in the new game this will be enhanced to its full potential. A-Net has announced that the number of allowed skills will be increased to 10, with the first 5 beings dependant on which item you are carrying at the time. This allows all players to fully interact with their environment, so you could throw a rock or (as they've only released news on the elementalist) you can conjure flaming orbs that can be used in various ways. There are also skills that are based upon the race that you choose. Guild Wars 2 currently allows you to control 5 races, and racial skills differ between races and which profession you choose. A norn can use the elite skill Wolf Form to transform and take down enemies using the altered first 5 skills. The sylvari can use magic to hold foes still. There are even mentionings of a dedicated healing skill, allowing pressure to be taken off of the monks in the game.

And that's not all: the first profession to be officially announced, the elementalist hasn't really changed much from the original game. The big difference with elementalists now is that you can use skills not only as active damage but also as a passive boost. An air elementalist could summon a lightening storm, and a Charr ally could shoot a bullet into it, charging it to boost the damage upon hit. I'm thinking flaming arrows with better skill animation, this time around though. As a a necromancer, I'm curious about whether this option will be available, but there has been hints that some old professions have been removed to include new ones, so keep an eye out for updates.