MMO’s endgame starts with player’s first mission
You won't need to reach the endgame to get the experience, says Mike Zadorojny
Guild Wars 2 has the heavy task of keeping players interested in a large scale MMO experience. With heavy hitters like World of Warcraft still expanding, the developers in charge of GW2 have their work cut out for them.
A key area where they’ve decided to flex their creativity is in the endgame content. In a recent GW2 blog post, quality assurance manager Mike Zadorojny said they “didn’t want the endgame to be something you could only experience after a hundred hours of gameplay or after you reached some arbitrary number. We wanted it to be something that players got to experience every step along the way, spread out across the entire world of Tyria, so we’ve introduced game elements that you’d normally associate with ‘endgame’ at every level and every possible opportunity.”
This focus is evident in the presence of large bosses throughout the world (including during the very first story missions for each race). Zadorojny wrote, “Our goal with Guild Wars 2 was to continue to build upon what we’ve shown you before, while finding new and interesting ways to engage you as a player, regardless of your level.”
The team wanted players of all kinds to enjoy the experience whether it be through battling epic bosses or simply exploring every nook and cranny of the map, said Zadorojny. He also assured readers that those who hit the level cap would not be left wanting, “Sure, once your character reaches max level, we’ve created new and interesting ways to challenge you as a player, but we didn’t want to force you to master an entirely new subset of the game.”
According to Zadorojny, “The launch of Guild Wars 2 is just the start.”
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