How did I totally miss this? This video and Bio Break post There’s no place like home (instances) give a good overview. As I watched the video, the main thought that I had was “this feels like Fable 3″. Fable was a game that I loved for reasons that totally surprised me…I actually loved riding into town and having my kids run up to me squealing in excitement that their Big Damned Hero mother was back. Then my hardworking husband (or wife, depending on which town it was) would fall into my arms. The villagers hailed me and cheered me. (Yeah, I have trouble being a bad guy – my characters were always well-loved.) The GW2 home instance will be quite similar to this.

In the video, the dev team gave an example of a choice that you have to make, which was to save either a hospital or an orphanage, but not both. In your home neighborhood, both are represented; if you saved the orphanage, the kids are happy but the hospital is burnt out. If you make the other choice, you have a working hospital, but hungry orphan kids have no place to live. The people in your hometown react to you according to choices that you have made in your life story.

I totally love this idea. It is the perfect balace between having your actions change the world around  you, and also being able to share a world environment with others.The problem with MMOs, of course, being that we are all heroes, every single one of us is The Chosen. On a realistic level, that just doesn’t work. I want to come home and have people clap my back and buy me drinks in the pub. I want a buxom wench to give me a sly look when she serves my ale, and I want my best friend to live next door. Yeah, I want to be a Big Damned Hero, you bet.

Now, if the game would finally come out! Every video makes me feel like a small child who knows that Christmas is just too far away.

This game is so stunningly beautiful.

I so very much am looking forward to this. Guild Wars was always lovely, even for it’s age…and this is simply gorgeous.

IGN: Is the basic structure of the game similar to Guild Wars? Will players still meet in public spaces then exit through portals into instanced spaces where only the player and their party exist?

Eric Flannum: The basic structure of the game is very different from what players saw in Guild Wars. While we will still make use of instancing (e.g. for quests and dungeons) players will find Guild Wars 2 to be a large open and persistent world where they can meet up with old friends or make new ones while out adventuring. At the same time we have taken a lot of steps to avoid the griefing and player conflict that can so often arise in a persistent world. For example, our event system is designed to give players shared goals, so they should always feel that working together on a problem is the best option available to them.

I’m actually not sure how to interpret that. It sounds as though most non-pvp gameplay (questing/levelling) will still take place in instanced areas, which is a shame. I do understand the motivation behind wanting to prevent griefing, which is a concern that I have about Aion.

And then a section about what they’re calling their “dynamic event system”:

Imagine for a second that you’re strolling through the local military garrison when you hear a scout start shouting about a centaur column that has been sighted approaching. The soldiers are quick to action, shutting the gates and ordering archers up onto the walls. You and some of your fellow players watch as the centaurs batter at the gates with axes while their archers clear defenders from the walls and shots from their catapults arc overhead. It’s a tense moment until the gate falls, and as you rush into the gap to fend off the centaurs you are joined by other players and guards who are all intent on saving the garrison. If you succeed, the garrison will hold and may launch a counterattack on the trading post where the centaurs came from. If you fail, it’s a desperate fight as soldiers pour from the nearby town and attempt to retake their fortress. Scenarios like this are exactly the sort of thing that allows our event system to shine and we think players will be really pleased with how it has turned out.”

I like the sound of that – that gameplay sounds like a lot of fun. I thought that the PQs were some of the best things that Warhammer implemented, and I’d love to see that system in more games.

Overall, very promising news.

The beginning is based on the concept art, but then it changes to game CGI – and it is as pretty as I would have hoped for. I loved the bit with the suspended ship-city-things, lovely.

The only thing which disappoints a bit is this paragraph from the FAQs:

How is Guild Wars 2 different from other MMOs?
While Guild Wars 2 adds a persistent-world experience, it retains the unique characteristics of the original game, including strong narrative, extensive instanced gameplay, anti-grind design philosophy, and strong support for competitive play.

“Extensive instanced gameplay.” Hmmn. I did love the original Guild Wars, although I didn’t play as much as I would have if it had been a proper MMO. Everything was instanced, and I never felt as though I shared a world with anyone. I’m hoping they’re talking about instances, and not everything outside the cities being instanced, as in the original game.

Heros?  Awesome – especially for someone like me who almost exclusively solos when not raiding. Instanced areas? Not great. Non-human races? Fuck yeah!

I am like a little fangirl right now, I’m so excited about this.  :D