MMO Design - Guild Wars

While many may not consider it an MMO it definitely has the design elements of one. Guild Wars is a game with 3 expansions covering the lands of Elona, Canthia, Tyria, and more. Each expansion was designed with a certain theme in mind and is reflected in how everything was made. In Canthia, the Asian theme is prevalent in the structures, the lore and myth, the people, and even the new classes. It's something that is obvious from the get-go, and really draws the player in. Guild Wars is unique in that aspect. Although the world isn't persistent the atmosphere and story create an engaging world. Story is something the developers pride themselves on and is a staple of the game. The world is set up to be instanced in each area outside of main towns so the developers get a chance to make very unique quests. Many quests contain a cut-scene or sometimes interesting dialogue or mission objectives. The main story is the real focus, though. They've designed it in a way that the game almost feels like a single player, but without the help of others players won't get far. Each primary mission contains cut-scenes complete with dialogue and some contain twists and turns in the story. They also provide a background for the characters you interact with or the world you're exploring. Most MMOs don't focus gameplay around story, but their design shows they truly believe it is one of the most important aspects of the overall game design.

They have also designed their game upon the reliance of the skill of the characters, and not by the items they wield. At the beginning of the game characters are the given the chance to make a pvp character, or regular character. The PvP character is given the chance to have weapons just as good as the "best" in the game, with the exception of how it looks. Unlike WoW and the rest, there is no real "epic" loot, but rather rarer items with the same stats and different looks. They further this promotion of skill by only allowing 8 skills to be used at a time, which must be chosen before leaving an outpost or town. Players must create an effective combination of skills, and understand how to use them, or they will have little success. Their design has made it so players that just hit all their skills at once and spam won't get anywhere, and players are actually rewarded for being smart rather than playing for a longer period than someone else. It's a nice break from the norm and gives players a reason to study the skills rather than grind to earn them.

They've also designed their billing strategy brilliantly by making it free. While that might not sound like a great idea it's the reason why they've sold so many copies and sponsors will back them up. They manage to have yearly, or even quarterly, contests between rival guilds for large amounts of money; with one grand prize coming to $100,000 for 8 players. Guilds are also a huge point in their overall design. They designed the game to have a very strong pvp aspect with guild vs. guild battles headlining. In order to make these guild battles be a contest of skill and not numbers, they limit it to 8 per team, with NPCs on each side. Guilds can own their own Guild Hall complete with merchants, storage, and even skill trainers. They designed what basically feels like a home away from home, and a place to strategize. In the latest expansion they've upped the ante on the emphasis of story and making the player feel important. They designed a place called the Hall of Monuments where players can show off all their major achievements. Not only that, they designed these achievements to be integrated into the next game, Guild Wars 2. Your legacy will be continued and the emphasis on story and character development is reinforced once again.

Their overall design focus on making the player feel important is unrivaled. Other MMOs make an attempt to do the same by giving them tons of things to do, and be able to fight these gigantic monsters; while Guild Wars keeps it quite simple. Put the player in an engaging story, reward them for truly strategizing and developing their skill and your game will not only sell millions, but win awards all over the place. This unique design has resulted in a successful series.