A new blog post has been released from ArenaNet, detailing some interesting story details for its upcoming MMORPG Guild Wars 3. However, present within the text might just be a hint to two into how magic will work in-game.
This blog post, titled “The Vaelwardens of the Orrian Golden Age“, provides insight into when exact the game takes place in the Guild Wars timeline. Basically, with the Elder Dragons (Guild Wars 2 baddies) in the deepest stage of their slumber, magic is flowing freely through the world. This is especially true for Orr, where the Human Gods show up and the Vaelwardens are founded.
These Vaelwardens are given special signets in order to protect the magical spirits present in Orr which allow them to use magic, something otherwise impossible for mortals. Fast forward a while, and new guilds including the Vaelwarden’s major rivals – the “industrialist” Mavenwrights – have moved over to Orr to reap the benefits of the magically-infused lands. Signets are more common, magic has spread, and some of the greatest and most ancient of creatures have been wiped out. The gods don’t seem to care for the most part, being more occupied with sending the God of Death Dhuum on a beer run before locking the door behind him.
There are plenty more juicy lore details present in the full blog post, which you should absolutely read if you’re interested, but the mention of signets has many Guild Wars players excited. We already know that bonding with spirits – such as the Seeker mount – will play a big part in the experience. It’s the current reigning theory that a combination of signet use and spiritual aids will make up the magical system in game.
“I can imagine a system similar to Gw2’s mastery system,” writes Guild Wars 2 player PalwaJoko on Reddit. “You know how in Gw2 there are masteries for specific mounts. And then they unlock new things for said mounts? What if it’s a similar system with spirits in Gw3. You have some sort of “bar”, like a reputation bar, for a specific spirit. And as you level it up, you gain access to more things.”
JonSnurr on the Guild Wars 3 Reddit has their own ideas, writing: “It’s suggesting more of an open-ended design to me. At its extreme, classless. At the minimum, some sort of tree system of equipping signets that can path into a variety of combinations.” Ultimately we don’t know for sure how it’ll work, but it’s certainly getting people’s brains firing off interesting ideas.
With a focus on protecting nature and spirits against those uncaring of the damage they’re doing, the themes in Guild Wars 3 sound somewhat similar to another upcoming MMORPG: Soulframe! That game too has a strong naturalist narrative: who’d have guessed an increase in climate-related problems would result in more games touching on the subject?
We’ll have to hunker down and wait to find out for sure how signets and spirits will affect the gameplay of Guild Wars 3, but in a game emphasising bringing new ideas to the MMO genre, I can only assume it’ll be anything but typical.
