Guild Wars 2 takes us down into the dungeons

Although Guild Wars 2 is bringing plenty of hot newness to the scene, it's also carrying on the proud tradition of dungeon-running from Eye of the North and, well, every MMO that came before it. That's not to say players should be lulled into complacency, as Jeff Grubb notes that the dungeons are very dangerous and not for the solo adventurer.

In a new article at Guild Wars 2, Grubb gives us insight into ArenaNet's philosophy behind dungeon building as well as the mechanics behind them. "When creating the dungeons, the team was faced with two seemingly exclusive desires: we wanted to tell a story with a set beginning, middle, and end, but we also wanted to create an instanced area that players could return to and enjoy in multiple ways," he writes.

The dungeons are connected by an overarching storyline about a former group of adventurers known as Destiny's Edge. By the time players are ready for these instances, they'll have been introduced to the band, their legacy, and the resulting breakup. Dungeon-diving will give players an opportunity to meet the members and perhaps bring them back together.

Grubb notes that the game is currently home to eight dungeons, all of which are level 35 or higher. In addition to the story mode, dungeons also offer up to three different exploration modes apiece that should significantly up the replay value on these instances.

You can read the introduction to Guild Wars 2's most deadly places on the official blog!

Reader Comments (43)

Eight dungeons is pretty good, impressive

@Puremallace Yes, there will be raid content. but probably not instanced (awesum)

@Puremallace

The nice thing about the B2P model is, if people are complaining about a lack of raid content, what, are they gonna cancel their subs? :P

@Puremallace Pushing the personal story for an RPG game...seems odd to you? *confused*

Personally, I feel a little let down with only 8. I would prefer launch to have 12+. Hopefully, dungeons scale much as zones do so that they can remain repeatable for players throughout a character's lifespan.

@j1083

Well with the amount of choices you can make inside the dungeons you can have different paths to play through. Like the article said, you really have 32 different dungeons to play through.

@j1083

Just speculating here:

But at Level 35+, I am thinking maybe these dungeons are big/huge. They seem to be tied to storylines.

@j1083 Since each dungeon has a story mode and around three different explorable modes, I am happy with the number eight. Looking the quality of Catacombs dungeon I feel like I would have been happy with even five dungeons. I am sure they will add more as updates soon enough.

@Puremallace

I believe they have hard modes for the dungeons.

And yes, the leveling plateaus and is supposed to be fairly quick. And while gear is more important than in GW it is not nearly the factor that it is in other games such as WoW.

@Puremallace

I was thinking that, too. But more along the lines of, "What? I am level 5 and I can't kick that Level 1 kobold out of his cave/dungeon/hole?" :P

Well in theory the way they talk about the dungeons, it's 8*3 = 24, but I think we all would have to see the quality of that statement to buy it. I would love to see giant dungeons that put other games to shame; size, story, exploring, secrets, etc.

This sounds impressive, and I'm looking forward to playing GW2.

However, you'd think with all those versions of each dungeon (four!) they could have included at least one version for solo-oriented players and/or smaller groups (say, 2 or 3 players).

I was able to play through all of the GW1 campaigns, missions, and dungeons with my 2 kids. I really appreciated that flexibility, to be able to play virtually all of the content with just two, three, or four players.

GW2 has lost that. Now, it'll be (1) skip good content or (2) LFG/PUG for every dungeon, just like in other MMOs. It's one of the only features where GW1 is actually better than GW2, imo.

@Tom in VA

Well I think the theory is that without the holy trinity in place then getting a group for the dungeons will be a lot less painful. We shall see if that pans out.

@Tom in VA
Story mode is the solo version, although I believe you can bring other players along if you like. :D

@Irem
"The story mode of a dungeon, while challenging, should be survivable by a typical group of adventurers."

I dunno, sounds like they're making it group-only. From that blog, the goal seems to be story mode = random PUG should be able to do it. Exploration mode = more organization needed. That's something I regard with some trepidation. They'd better launch with a smooth LFG system for PUGs, and the non-holy trinity synergy better be good then. It's more than a little alarming to hear it suggested that solo players may not get the story portion.

Truly, the strength of GW1 was the ability to solo, small group and team and still face unique challenges whichever way you want it.

@Jeromai
Hmm, I'd heard somewhere else that the story mode, as part of your personal story, could be undertaken solo. I guess I got mixed up.

I'm probably going to try to do it anyway. *cough*

@Jeromai
To add: Yeah, it seems a little weird that you'd -need- to group up as part of the personal story, especially since they've been so adamant about separating different modes of play so that people don't feel forced to do any one thing. I guess that's what they mean when they say that it won't interrupt your personal story line, just enhance it, but honestly I'm one of those people for whom no part of the story is "optional," so it's disappointing.

@Irem

The thing is, the story mode of dungeons ISN'T part of your "personal story," it's the Destiny's Edge storyline, which is entirely separate.

@Irem
Agreed. The Destiny's Edge storyline is a really important part of Guild Wars lore, so to lock that away from folks preferring to solo is really quite disappointing. My guess is that their aim is to encourage grouping and that oldschool MMO community-feeling by doing this...

...but really, community is not something that is easily controlled. I have no qualms with PUGing it if people are going to be understanding and patient/tolerant in general, but once there is a shift in feel to know-it-all-ness and jerkiness, it makes grouping a highly unpleasant encounter and one I'd rather not feel "forced" into. And it's really too early to say how GW2's community is going to evolve.

@Tom in VA You can't play much of GW 1 without human players or heroes/henchmen. On the other hand, most of GW 2 is solo-able. Now dungeons in GW 2 are meant for 5-man groups only but it is only a small part of the game. There are bosses and interesting foes to fight out in the open world too.

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Guild Wars 2 takes us down into the dungeons

Reader Comments (43)

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 3:41PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:26PM paterah said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 7:01PM Randomessa said

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Posted: Jun 24th 2011 3:51PM j1083 said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 3:58PM DJJazzy said

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Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:00PM DJJazzy said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:01PM Space Cobra said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:08PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:15PM Tom in VA said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:20PM DJJazzy said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:29PM Irem said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 4:40PM Jeromai said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 5:00PM Irem said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 5:04PM Irem said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 6:55PM Eamil said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 11:24PM Jeromai said

Posted: Jun 24th 2011 11:56PM (Unverified) said

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