Random Shots: Closer To The Stars

• Late last week, word finally came down that continued development of Guild Wars has ceased. It is transitioning to a self-sufficient model. From here on out, the game world will be static. No human hand will touch the code unless something blows up.


• I haven't played Guild Wars in some time. Probably since my last Farewell To Ascalon post, a series that was meant to encourage me to return to the game. Still....

• I played the heck out of that game. I fell in love with the art. That first profession image of the mesmer holding her mask. If I could play that game, then I would finally join the online world. Guild Wars was the first game to show me the promise of MMOs, even if it was only partially related. I played that first campaign, Prophecies as it would eventually be named, over and over again. I soloed Thunderhead Keep. I fought in the Tomb of the Primeval Kings, both in PVP and PVE. I farmed for greens in Sorrow's Furnace. I infused dozens of sets of gear. And I Ascended, and Ascended, and Ascended.

• I was there for the expansion campaigns, Factions and Nightfall. I even took time off work to explore these new worlds. I never meshed with any of the new professions, but you know that I tried them all.

• But then it was all over for me. The magic had gone. Sure, I came back for Eye of the North, but it was just a formality. I had moved on.

• Guild Wars isn't going anywhere. ArenaNet isn't shutting it down, though many other companies (NCSoft!) very well would. Instead, it has achieved a strange form of perfection. It has become closer to the stars.