ArenaNet
Encyclopedia
ArenaNet is a computer game developer
and part of NCsoft Corporation
, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien
, Patrick Wyatt
and Jeff Strain
and located in Bellevue, Washington
. They are the developers of the episodic Competitive online role-playing game series Guild Wars
.
The founders of ArenaNet were former employees of Blizzard Entertainment
who played important roles in developing the highly successful computer games
Warcraft
, StarCraft
, Diablo
, Diablo II
, and the Battle.net
gaming network. Their new studio was briefly called Triforge, Inc. before changing its name to ArenaNet and being acquired by NCsoft.
On September 10, 2008, NCsoft announced that all their North American and European subsidiaries, including ArenaNet, were to be governed by a new division named NC West (a tentative name), headquartered in Seattle, Washington. ArenaNet will no longer report directly to NCsoft Korea. Three of ArenaNet's executives left ArenaNet to assume leadership positions in this new organization: Chris Chung became its CEO
, Jeff Strain
its president, and Patrick Wyatt
its CTO. Guild Wars 2
will continue under the direction of Mike O'Brien
, who remains at ArenaNet. In August 2009, Jeff Strain quit and later announced he was forming a new game company.
is a game that merges the Action RPG
and the RPG game genres into one, with competition in both the player versus player
(in random matches, teams, tournaments, or guild battles), and player versus environment
(in missions, quests, or area exploration) forms. The developers call this blend a CORPG, short for competitive online role-playing game. Important goals of the game are both to minimize the amount of repetitive actions a player has to perform to become a respectable force in the gaming world (called grind), and also to minimize a player's dependency on game items to stay competitive. These are two goals that set the game apart from most MMORPG's, where one hardcore player will gain major advantages when competing against another more casual gamer simply from having played the game more and found better items. In Guild Wars, the advantages in battle will instead come from how well a player picks and uses the character's 8 skills (from a library of hundreds), an art that is hard to master. The game is different from most MMORPG's in that it will never have any additional recurring fees, but bases revenue on standalone game expansions, or "campaigns". This structure was scrapped soon after Eye of the North, as new campaign Guild Wars Utopia could not fit into the Guild Wars series because of the new game mechanics and rebalancing the skills and so forth.
is the first sequel to Guild Wars, and among other things adds a new world map with accompanying missions, two new professions (the Assassin and Ritualist), several new gaming modes, and "titles" which measures the advance of characters in several tasks. It is sometimes referred to as the second "chapter", with the first one being the released game itself, but then with the label Guild Wars: Prophecies to make a distinction between the chapters. Be aware that this is not an expansion pack, but a stand-alone product, meaning that it does not require Guild Wars: Prophecies to play, although it enhances the player's gaming experience to have both titles.
was released on 27th October 2006. As with the previous chapters, this is a stand-alone product, but it can be merged with the previous campaigns to enhance the gaming experience. This third chapter introduces a new world map, two new professions (the Dervish and Paragon), a new PvP mode, but its most remarkable new feature is the introduction of "Heroes" who travel with the character between missions and campaigns and are fully customizable by the player.
in the Guild Wars series. Released on August 31, 2007, it requires one of three earlier full campaigns, and introduces two new races—the Asura and the Norn—that will be playable in the upcoming Guild Wars 2. It is intended to bridge the gap to Guild Wars 2 by means of a Hall of Monuments, a mechanism that allows transferring achievements in the original series to the sequel.
will be the sequel to the current Guild Wars series of games. The game is set around 250 years after the events in the original series and is expected to contain several new features, consisting of a more persistent world
(as opposed to mostly instanced
), dynamic questing, a personal branching storyline, and an updated graphics engine. No release dates have been announced, and public beta-testing has been stated to occur closer to the release of Guild Wars 2.
On the morning of August 20, 2009, ArenaNet released the first trailer for Guild Wars 2 on their website.
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
and part of NCsoft Corporation
NCsoft
NCsoft is a South Korea-based online video game company, which has published massively multiplayer online role-playing games including Lineage, City of Heroes, Wildstar, Exteel, Guild Wars and Aion.-History:...
, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien
Mike O'Brien (game developer)
Mike O'Brien is one of the three co-founders and current president of ArenaNet and the leader of the Design and Content teams for Guild Wars. Previously, he worked as a company director and a lead programmer at Blizzard Entertainment where he developed the 3D rendering engine of Warcraft III: Reign...
, Patrick Wyatt
Patrick Wyatt
Patrick Wyatt is a game programmer and one of the three co-founders of ArenaNet. He is the leader of the Network and Technology teams and a programmer for Guild Wars. Before the founding of ArenaNet, he was working in Blizzard Entertainment where he was the Vice President of Research and...
and Jeff Strain
Jeff Strain
Jeff Strain is a game programmer and one of the three founders of ArenaNet. He served ArenaNet and NCsoft as the leader of the Art and Production teams and President of Product Development respectively. He was previously the lead programmer of Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft; he also created...
and located in Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
. They are the developers of the episodic Competitive online role-playing game series Guild Wars
Guild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...
.
The founders of ArenaNet were former employees of Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
who played important roles in developing the highly successful computer games
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
, StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, Diablo
Diablo (video game)
Diablo is a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment on December 31, 1996....
, Diablo II
Diablo II
Diablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
, and the Battle.net
Battle.net
Battle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external...
gaming network. Their new studio was briefly called Triforge, Inc. before changing its name to ArenaNet and being acquired by NCsoft.
On September 10, 2008, NCsoft announced that all their North American and European subsidiaries, including ArenaNet, were to be governed by a new division named NC West (a tentative name), headquartered in Seattle, Washington. ArenaNet will no longer report directly to NCsoft Korea. Three of ArenaNet's executives left ArenaNet to assume leadership positions in this new organization: Chris Chung became its CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, Jeff Strain
Jeff Strain
Jeff Strain is a game programmer and one of the three founders of ArenaNet. He served ArenaNet and NCsoft as the leader of the Art and Production teams and President of Product Development respectively. He was previously the lead programmer of Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft; he also created...
its president, and Patrick Wyatt
Patrick Wyatt
Patrick Wyatt is a game programmer and one of the three co-founders of ArenaNet. He is the leader of the Network and Technology teams and a programmer for Guild Wars. Before the founding of ArenaNet, he was working in Blizzard Entertainment where he was the Vice President of Research and...
its CTO. Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in...
will continue under the direction of Mike O'Brien
Mike O'Brien (game developer)
Mike O'Brien is one of the three co-founders and current president of ArenaNet and the leader of the Design and Content teams for Guild Wars. Previously, he worked as a company director and a lead programmer at Blizzard Entertainment where he developed the 3D rendering engine of Warcraft III: Reign...
, who remains at ArenaNet. In August 2009, Jeff Strain quit and later announced he was forming a new game company.
Guild Wars Prophecies
Guild WarsGuild Wars
Guild Wars is an episodic series of online 3D fantasy role-playing games developed by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. Although often defined as an MMORPG the developers define it as a CORPG due to significant differences from the MMORPG genre. It provides two main modes of gameplay—a cooperative...
is a game that merges the Action RPG
Action role-playing game
Action role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
and the RPG game genres into one, with competition in both the player versus player
Player versus player
Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer controlled opponents, which is correspondingly referred to as player versus environment...
(in random matches, teams, tournaments, or guild battles), and player versus environment
Player versus environment
Player versus environment, or PvE , is a term used in online games, particularly MMORPGs, CORPGs, MUDs, and other online role-playing video games, to refer to fighting computer-controlled enemies—in contrast to PvP .Usually a PvE mode can be played either alone, with human...
(in missions, quests, or area exploration) forms. The developers call this blend a CORPG, short for competitive online role-playing game. Important goals of the game are both to minimize the amount of repetitive actions a player has to perform to become a respectable force in the gaming world (called grind), and also to minimize a player's dependency on game items to stay competitive. These are two goals that set the game apart from most MMORPG's, where one hardcore player will gain major advantages when competing against another more casual gamer simply from having played the game more and found better items. In Guild Wars, the advantages in battle will instead come from how well a player picks and uses the character's 8 skills (from a library of hundreds), an art that is hard to master. The game is different from most MMORPG's in that it will never have any additional recurring fees, but bases revenue on standalone game expansions, or "campaigns". This structure was scrapped soon after Eye of the North, as new campaign Guild Wars Utopia could not fit into the Guild Wars series because of the new game mechanics and rebalancing the skills and so forth.
Guild Wars Factions
Guild Wars FactionsGuild Wars Factions
Guild Wars Factions is an Action RPG released in 2006 by ArenaNet, the second in the Guild Wars series. Factions introduces the continent of Cantha where two warring factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, are locked in a global persistent war...
is the first sequel to Guild Wars, and among other things adds a new world map with accompanying missions, two new professions (the Assassin and Ritualist), several new gaming modes, and "titles" which measures the advance of characters in several tasks. It is sometimes referred to as the second "chapter", with the first one being the released game itself, but then with the label Guild Wars: Prophecies to make a distinction between the chapters. Be aware that this is not an expansion pack, but a stand-alone product, meaning that it does not require Guild Wars: Prophecies to play, although it enhances the player's gaming experience to have both titles.
Guild Wars Nightfall
The third chapter in the Guild Wars saga, titled Guild Wars NightfallGuild Wars Nightfall
Guild Wars Nightfall is a fantasy Action RPG and the third stand-alone campaign in the Guild Wars computer game series developed by Seattle-based game developer studio ArenaNet, a subsidiary of NCSoft corporation...
was released on 27th October 2006. As with the previous chapters, this is a stand-alone product, but it can be merged with the previous campaigns to enhance the gaming experience. This third chapter introduces a new world map, two new professions (the Dervish and Paragon), a new PvP mode, but its most remarkable new feature is the introduction of "Heroes" who travel with the character between missions and campaigns and are fully customizable by the player.
Guild Wars: Eye of the North
Eye of the North is the first true expansion packExpansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
in the Guild Wars series. Released on August 31, 2007, it requires one of three earlier full campaigns, and introduces two new races—the Asura and the Norn—that will be playable in the upcoming Guild Wars 2. It is intended to bridge the gap to Guild Wars 2 by means of a Hall of Monuments, a mechanism that allows transferring achievements in the original series to the sequel.
Guild Wars 2
Announced in March 2007, Guild Wars 2Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in...
will be the sequel to the current Guild Wars series of games. The game is set around 250 years after the events in the original series and is expected to contain several new features, consisting of a more persistent world
Persistent world
A persistent world is a virtual world that continues to exist even after a user exits the world and that user-made changes to its state are, to some extent, permanent...
(as opposed to mostly instanced
Instance (computer science)
In object-oriented programming an instance is an occurrence or a copy of an object, whether currently executing or not. Instances of a class share the same set of attributes, yet will typically differ in what those attributes contain....
), dynamic questing, a personal branching storyline, and an updated graphics engine. No release dates have been announced, and public beta-testing has been stated to occur closer to the release of Guild Wars 2.
On the morning of August 20, 2009, ArenaNet released the first trailer for Guild Wars 2 on their website.