Guild Wars 2 : Social Activities Revealed
Eager fans awaiting the release of Guild Wars 2 have more information to digest today as IGN is featuring a preview full of tons of little known details about the game.
The main focus of the preview is on that of non-combat/non-progression related activities. Social activities. Guild Wars 2 will feature many social activities ranging anywhere from bar fights, to playing instruments, to shooting galleries at a carnivals. The designers are having a lot of fun putting together tons of activities for players weary of being heroes of Tyria. Social activities will grant players rewards as well, which will sometimes consist of tangible rewards such as unique item skins, but will also include intangible rewards, such as NPCs reacting to what you've done (like say beating the crap out of everyone in a bar!).
The game's achievement system was also explored in a bit more detail. Achievements in Guild Wars 2 will be account wide instead of character specific, as some achievements are not even possible to accomplish on a single character, and there won't be any tangible rewards associated with accomplishing these milestones, however players may be rewarded with titles and such. Feats, which are basically much shorter term achievements, will also be available and will reset daily. Feats can be as simple as a kill count for a particular type of monster and they serve to encourage certain actions from players. No details on any Feat related rewards were provided, though.
The team also discussed "personality", which will affect the way NPCs react to you based on the conversation choices and actions you take when interacting with them. Eventually you'll earn a reputation and you'll be able to approach obstacles in different ways. For example, a "badass" character might intimidate an NPC into getting information, while a more honorable type would pursue a less brash method of gaining information, like you know, perhaps talking them into speaking. It's important to note the Personality feature will not affect the game in any way, you'll still accomplish the same things, you just may do them in a different manner, offering a bit of flavor and individuality to players who appreciate it.
Finally, maps were discussed. Yes. Maps. Not terribly exciting, but Guild Wars 2 will feature a robust map system that takes inspiration from Yahoo and Google Maps, apeing features such as the ability to click and slide as well as zoom in.