ArenaNet, NCsoft end Guild Wars beta in grand style

ArenaNet, NCsoft end
Guild Wars beta in grand style
By

Michael Lafferty

Fireworks, gnomes and giant worms – what more
could anyone ask for?

Everyone sing: “It’s the end of the world as
we know it …”

It began innocently enough, giant boxes
landed on the sand, and opened to allow giant garden gnomes (think of the Roving
Gnome commercials on television and you have a fair idea) to emerge, to the
shouts of “Ni!”

But the developers had something more
insidious in mind, and the boxes began to explode, catching any standing on them
and killing them. Bodies lay on the sands outside the mission-front for the Tomb
of Primeval Kings, the arena for an evolving tournament of eight-versus-eight
teams.

The sky was dark and a perfect backdrop for
the stylistic fireworks that launched upward, exploding over the warriors
gathered below. Those who had died stayed to watch the show, and we soon joined
in that slumber by more of the Guild Wars fellows when giant infernal worms
busted up from the ground to crunch and annihilate more players. Those that
survived did so by moving. Those who stood and watched fell victim to the
crushing and seemingly random assault of the beasts.

Sunday night was the finale of the beta
events for the NCsoft’s upcoming massively multiplayer PC title, Guild Wars, and
it was obvious that the developers at ArenaNet were having a little fun. Giant
bees floated down from the sky, fireworks dazzled and added even more color to
the already-lush tones of the game, and players not running from the giant worms
were dancing, laughing and making the usual vows to meet again when the game
goes live.

The title, which juxtaposes instanced-mission
maps sporting a variety of quests with arenas for team combat of
four-versus-four, six-versus-six and eight-versus-eight (at least in the
weekend’s final beta event), had only minor stumbles during the weekend, and
appears well on the way to a glorious launch in less than two weeks.

Many MMOs try to do something fun when the
beta session closes, and for Guild Wars, it felt not only like joyful play but
held a sense of wonder as well. During a series of beta events over the past
several months, those participating have watched the game grow and evolve. The
festivities Sunday night were a fitting conclusion to a great series of beta
events, and hold the promise of a solid and challenging title to come.

Nice job, ArenaNet – now ship it so we can
get back to the fun!