So, it’s outside the bounds of this site’s normal topic but I have to share: D&D is going 4.0. 4th Edition, rather, the first major revamp of the rules since the game was launched as D&D 3.0 back in 1999. I had the chance to sit in on the press announcement last night, and I’ve had a bunch of time to acclimate myself to the idea already. As a result, my thinking is now more excitement and enthusiasm than anger/confusion. That said, I can understand why you’d be cranky having just read my words.

Cranky, that is, if you’re a current player. If you don’t play D&D, your thinking is probably … ‘huh’? Well if you’re here, you’re likely a MMOG player. MMOG players have a lot to look forward to with 4th Edition, as … “releasing next year will be new Web-based tools and online community forums through the brand new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Insider (D&D Insiderâ„¢) digital offering. D&D Insider lowers the barriers of entry for new players while simultaneously offering the depth of play that appeals to veteran players.”

Essentially, there is going to be a ‘virtual tabletop’ that will allow players to voice chat with each other. The DM can manipulate an online tile-based map, laying down monsters and traps and such, and officiating for players. There’s no actual gameplay built into the game; it’s not a videogame. It is, though, the most interesting thing to happen to D&D since the 99 rules reboot.

Here’s the schedule for product releases next year:

• February 2008 - First look at D&D XP in Virginia
• April 2008 - Miniatures Reboot, Keep on the Shadowfell Adventure
• May 2008 - Player’s Handbook / Character Sheets
• June 2007 - Monster Manual
• July 2007 - Dungeon Master’s Guide

The official PR text is after the cut. You can expect more fully formed thoughts on the subject … probably at Slashdot. I’ll link it here. An exciting day at the Con of Cons.

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Just a quick note to say that I’ve once again arrived in Indy a-safely. We had a very pleasant drive, actually, one I spent reading Emergence, the newest Shadowrun sourcebook. It was great; a throwback to the fiction-heavy titles of yesteryear, and the start of a major upheaval in the campaign setting.

Bright and early tomorrow will see me hitting up the EA Mythic booth to get my first taste of Warhammer Online … now that I have a broader perspective. Looking at the map for the convention this year is very strange. A whole swath of the exhibit hall has been marked off for ‘electronic gaming’, making the large open areas for the rest of the attendees seem somehow off balance. Wizards of the Coast’s booth is all the way in the back, a first for a company that likes to place itself front and center in the world of tabletop gaming.

I’ve been getting ready for PAX too, lately, and I realized something while looking over Gen Con’s map; SOE is making a splash here … but not next week. As far as I could tell from the PAX exhibit hall map, Sony Online has almost no presence there.

Heh.

Here’s my full coverage from the last week’s worth of posting on Guild Wars: Eye of the North, and Guild Wars 2.

• So I’m In Seattle Today
• Morning Demo
• Eye of the North - Opening Thoughts
• Eye of the North - Guided Tour
• Eye of the North - Ben Miller Interview
• Face the Nation: Guild Wars 2 with Mike O’Brien and Jeff Strain

And, as a reminder, to see some of the pretty pictures from my visit you can check out the Eye of the North flickr set I’ve put up.

And, as a parting gift: why not download the Eye of the North main theme as an mp3?

I hope you enjoyed all the hullabaloo. Expect more of this ‘coverage’ type of stuff in the next few weeks as I attend Gen Con, PAX, and GDC Austin. Once we’re into September, it’ s back to moaning about bad design decisions and personal gripes so enjoy this while it lasts. :)

While Eye of the North was the primary topic of discussion last week, it was interesting to see how elements of Guild Wars 2 information was seeded in and around the game. It’s largely still a mystery as to what we’ll be doing and seeing in the next game, as it is still very much under construction. That said, I had the chance to speak with two of the Arena.net co-founders about their philosophy behind the upcoming game.

Jeff Strain and Mike O’Brien were on-hand and generous with their time; we discussed the reason for the sequel in the first place, the future of Guild Wars PvP, and how they make the game look so dang good.

Jeff Strain: We often call Eye of the North the spiritual successor to Guild Wars, to the original Guild Wars that we released in April of 2005. In all of the campaigns there were a lot of threads that were left open, intentionally, for future exploration. We want to give people a sense of coming home, and returning to the beginning. Feeling like they are seeing some resolution to a lot of these open things. One of the things that will happen with Eye of the North; when you finish playing it you will see clearly what your future is going to be in Guild Wars 2. I think it will be very clear to you where we’re going. This is something we haven’t revealed yet, it’s going to be the big surprise in the game. Coming home is kind of the spirit driving it.

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As I mentioned a bit ago, I’m heading to Gen Con later this week. (Not “Indy”, just “Gen Con”. Suck it SoCal!)

The best bit for you is that even if you’re not going, you get to have a taste of the experience. :)

This year Adkinson has been pushing videogame publishers to make appearances at the event in droves. And from the rumours, several have taken the bait. I’m going to be putting in some time on titles I haven’t had a chance to play much of, and you can fully expect to see writeups here on the site of (at the very least) Gods and Heroes and Warhammer Online. Yes … I finally get to play WAR without a bad taste in my mouth.

I mention this specifically, though, because if you’re going to be there I’d love to say hi and walk the floor with you a bit. If you want to take a swing at me for something I’ve said here, you are probably even welcome to do that. Ping me!

Fairly incontrovertible: the only big news for the last two weeks was Fan Faire and BlizzCon.

Massive Update 12 (three months!)

What could be at BlizzCon … which ended up pretty much being the truth.

Massive Update 13

Tons of details on the events, and news from an otherwise fairly ordinary week.

World of Warcraft Patch Notes - PTR notes for the 2.2 patch are now available. They include the promised voice chat functionality, as well as additional chat channel functionality, and (finally) an address for AFK players in battlegrounds! “A new feature for reporting players as being AFK in battlegrounds by right clicking has been added. When enough reports are registered, a 30 second debuff will begin to count down. Once the timer is up a new debuff will appear that will prevent the player from gaining any honor while it is on. This debuff can be negated as soon as the player engages in combat.”

On Tuesday I had the chance to speak with Ben Miller, game designer and expansion lead for Eye of the North. We talked about his game, his background getting into the games industry, and some of the philosophy that went into creating the spiritual successor to Guild Wars: Prophecies. 

MMOG Nation: What do you think, coming from a game design perspective, is something that a veteran massively multiplayer gamer will really dig their teeth into when playing Eye of the North? 

Ben Miller: One of the biggest things as far as Massively Multiplayer games go, is sharing the experience with your friends. Whatever that experience is. I think Guild Wars in general has been really great about allowing friends and groups of people to share this really epic narrative experience together. Eye of the North has that in droves. The other thing that is going to be really cool is the openness that Eye of the North has; you can experience the different storylines at your own pace, at your group’s pace. You can pick them up and drop them whenever you really feel like it. It’s not necessarily this big long windy road. It’s a lot more open, it’s a lot more free and I think that a lot of players are going to enjoy exploring the expansion together in groups. As well as experiencing the story and narrative.

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