Guild Wars 2 Interview

MMO-dedicated blog Kill Ten Rats has a brief but interesting interview with ArenaNet’s lead designer Eric Flannum on their upcoming Guild Wars 2, which specifically focuses on the theme of “iteration”. Here’s a snip:

Q: Energy in Guild Wars 2 was iterated away to simply being the dodge bar, and a different long-term energy resource is under development. ArenaNet seemed so sure of the energy mechanic; how can such a sure thing get scrapped so far along in development? Does a solution, such as the energy mechanic replacement, need to be on the table, or is it enough to say (this isn’t working as intended)?

Eric: The first step to fixing something is always identifying the problem. That being said, we always need a viable alternative before we remove or rework a mechanic; otherwise we’re just doing work blindly which is never a good idea. Most often we just need to find some time to sit down and discuss alternatives, but in some cases (as with energy) a solution doesn’t present itself or seem viable until we’ve developed other parts of the game. Every system in the game affects every other system in a variety of ways. Because of this, we’ll often find a solution to a seemingly unrelated problem when working on or discussing game systems.