The Arena.Net folks have produced one of the first FAQs with regard to Guild Wars 2. It answers a lot of basic questions about the game, including whether or not there will be a subscription fee.

Will there be a subscription fee for Guild Wars 2?

Nope. Like the original Guild Wars, there will be no subscription fee for Guild Wars 2. You just buy the game and play it online without paying a monthly fee.

Will Guild Wars 2 be an MMO?

Yes. Guild Wars 2 provides a massive, online persistent world.

How is Guild Wars 2 different from other MMOs?

While Guild Wars 2 adds a persistent world, it retains the unique nature of the original game including a strong narrative, extensive instanced gameplay, an anti-grind design philosophy, and strong support for competitive play.

Will Guild Wars 2 have non-human playable races?

Absolutely! In addition to humans, players will be able to create, customize, and play asura, charr, norn, and sylvari characters.

The conquerors of Ascalon, the charr are ferocious, warmongering creatures-the intractable foes of humanity. Now, as greater dangers threaten their conquests, the charr legions marshal their war machines to meet their enemies with deadly force.

The norn are half-giant brawlers from the frigid northern lands who can shapeshift into mighty bestial forms. They’ve been driven from their homeland by a force beyond reckon, and now regroup among the lost dwarven ruins of the Shiverpeaks.

The asura, who once ruled the caves and tunnels below Tyria, are an advanced race of small stature and large intellect. Having emerged from the depths, the asura aim to rule the surface world with their powerful golems and razor-sharp wit.

Not much is known of the sylvari, save that they are a race of sentient plant-beings, newly blossomed into the world. They are the youngest of the races, and are bound together by a common dream.

How will character progression work? Will you be raising the level cap?

Guild Wars 2 will have the kind of extensive character advancement appropriate to a persistent world RPG. It is our priority to avoid forcing players into the grind-based gameplay that too often accompanies a high level cap.

Also, to allow players the freedom to play together even if their friends are at a much higher (or lower) level, we are planning to implement a strong sidekicking system, similar to that used in City of Heroes.

We’re applying this same philosophy to competitive play. Players will be able to engage in organized, balanced PvP (similar to GvG in the original Guild Wars) without needing to first level up characters, find equipment, or unlock skills. While inside the organized PvP area, all characters will be the same power level and will have access to the same equipment.

Will Guild Wars 2 be solo-able?

Yes. You will be able to advance your character to the maximum level without ever joining a group if you so desire. Most content will be designed in a solo-friendly way, though often with mechanisms for scaling up in difficulty when more players are involved. This will give players the option to experience the game whichever way they prefer.

At the same time, it is important for an MMO community to join together to overcome challenges. There will also be some areas in the game that require a coordinated group effort.

Can I play my original Guild Wars character in Guild Wars 2?

Because Guild Wars 2 is a whole new game with different professions and races, new technology, and expanded gameplay, it would not be possible to directly use an original Guild Wars character.

However, your original Guild Wars character names will be reserved for your use in Guild Wars 2. In addition, Guild Wars 2 recognizes the accomplishments commemorated by your original Guild Wars characters in the Hall of Monuments and provides you with unique rewards to showcase those achievements.

What are the system requirements for Guild Wars 2?

The system requirements haven’t been finalized, but just as with the original Guild Wars series, we’re committed to creating a beautiful game that will play great on mid-range gaming PCs.

When is Guild Wars 2 going to be released?

When it’s finished. Seriously though, we haven’t announced a specific release date yet, but when we do you can get those details and more right here on the official website.

When will there be a beta?

Although we publicly alpha- and beta-tested the original Guild Wars while it was still in early development, with Guild Wars 2 we will commence beta testing closer to the game’s release. With that in mind, we will not start beta testing in 2008 as we had originally planned. Guild Wars 2 is a very large and ambitious game, and Guild Wars players rightfully have very high expectations of its quality. We want players to be absolutely blown away by the game the first time they experience it.

Great answers to the most basic questions. The no subscription and creating a game for mid-level computers are both TERRIFIC items of news for players!

As the name implies, the Friday Grab Bag is a collection of community questions taken from the official Dark Age of Camelot forums. Add some announcements into the mix and you have a good read.

Q. Is Quillan Muire in Muire’s tomb supposed to drop any loot? It seems like he is the “boss” of the dungeon but she drops nothing different from his surrounding guards. I know he has a quest associated with her, but the other named Muires along that quest can drop items. Thanks!

A. With a quick check to the bags o’loot the Lady of the Jewels has good news for you: Quillan Muire does have a chance to drop a small amount of unique loot, but it is very rare.

Q. I have noticed that the blunt weapon given to druids by the trainer is called an “Arch Mace”. But it is actually a hammer. Is it supposed to be a hammer and is mislabeled or is it a mace with the wrong graphic?

A. After a quick glance at the mace looking like a hammer, the Lady of the Jewels says you are absolutely correct: The names of these items do not seem to fit with their appearance in game. Keep an eye on future patch notes about a correction to the names of these Druid weapons. Thank you for the report!

Q. How do I add the guild ranks to the house friends list so I can set the different permission levels?

A. In one quick motion The Bearded Wonder found your answer: If you look at the feedback for /housefriend it is as follows:

Invalid Friend type.

Correct format is housefriend playerguild/rank/account/all/class/race

If your guild rank is named “test” for example, you would type.

/housefriend rank test

Q. My question involves the Alchemy drop items. Why does the Ancient Crushed Focus Stone only drop one at a time, while the Ancient Troll Blood, Ancient Giant Blood, Ancient Mirror, Ancient Pure Mercury, and the Enriched Quicksilver drops off the same mobs in stacks of 5? The Ancient Necrotic Brain Fluid and the Ancient Lich Tooth will drop in stacks of 3. There doesn’t appear to be a level variation between the drops, and they are all used with Alchemy of 1000+. Shouldn’t they all be dropped in the same quantity?

A. The Lady of the Jewels thought about this a moment: The player brings up an excellent point. I will look into what can be done about normalizing the alchemy drops across the board in a future patch.

Q. I’ve been looking for a trophy mob – a pig called Jari. I’ve tried for many game-days to get it to spawn, either in the Abbey Farm or the Bandit Camp, by killing Wild Sows nearby. No luck so far. Is there any way you can confirm that it still exists or any advice you can offer?

A. The Lady of the Jewels smiled and exclaimed: Jari is quite the elusive pig! She can be found at either the field next to Vetusta Abbey, or to the northwest wandering among the red dwarves. Her chance to spawn is very rare, however, and she shares a chance with the other pigs in both areas. Try hunting the pigs in both locations to give Jari a chance to show herself.

Q. Upon deploying certain rams we’ve come across rams that you have to invite people on. I’ve asked many times in advice but to no avail. How do you invite people on a ram when it calls for an invitation?

A. I interrupted a very serious conversation between The Bearded Wonder and the Blonde Gremlin about ninjas and pirates, the Blonde Gremlin in the middle of demonstrating a ninja move said: The command you need is /vinvite.

Q. I’m looking for some clarification on the rest xp you implemented in 1.94. The patch notes are not clear about whether any unused rest xp is lost when a character logs out. For example, I log in a character to craft a few items but do not do any hunting. Would the rest xp that character has already accumulated carry over to the next time he logs in? Or would it be reset?

A. As I read the question to The Bearded Wonder, he kept on nodding confidently at me, which kept me wondering if someone was standing behind me making funny faces. He said: The rest XP is kept so that it should be there the next time that character logs in.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The May Focus Question Responses are now in! Our Team Leads submitted their responses and in turn we responded to them. Now all the responses have been responded to and you can see them here. Answers await you.

Oh Camelot Herald how I love thee! If you’ve noticed any changes to the Herald recently, that’s because we’ve been doing some behind the scenes improvements. If you see any quirky things happen, please check back in a little while. If the problem persists, please send in Feedback under Herald Issues and describe the problem, please include the URL!

Are you ready San Diego? The Camelot Road Trip is heading to the west coast on Saturday, July 26th. Come join us as we answer your questions, hand out prizes and of course there will be some snacks to eat, just in case you’re hungry. These events are so much fun, if you are in the area, come out and join us. Don’t forget to RSVP so we can order enough snacks! The fun starts at 7:00pm PDT.

Have a great weekend everyone, I’ll see you out in the frontiers.