world size

[tohyatvc]

Mounts, maybe not, fast travel, yes. So I'm hoping the world will be massive AND detailed.

Although I don't see a huge problem with ground mounts. It's flying mounts that ruined exploration in WoW.

[glo]

Mounts, maybe not, fast travel, yes. So I'm hoping the world will be massive AND detailed.

Although I don't see a huge problem with ground mounts. It's flying mounts that ruined exploration in WoW.

It's also what saved WoW's population from wasting enormous amounts of time traveling.

[Squirrelbanes]

It's also what saved WoW's population from wasting enormous amounts of time traveling.

But only because wow's model made it necessary, the necessity of which GW2 will partly remove.
Wow also created a feel of "wtf I'm flying over means absolutely nothing," via it's gear progression model. In GW2, it will still be relevant, or at least more relevant than in wow.
In wow....it's A -- C...in GW2....It's A---omg look at what's happening at B!, lets forget about C today.

[Mif]

It's also what saved WoW's population from wasting enormous amounts of time traveling.

Well if you think that's great, you'll really love GW2's map travel system.

[Deleted]

It really depends on how you measure it. Without mounts, even small worlds can seem very large. With an instant-travel system, even large worlds can seem very compact.

But Azeroth is already pretty huge, especially if you add Northend and Outland. I find it hard to imagine GW2 will be close to that size and detail at release.

On the other hand, SWTOR is an example of an MMO that is probably larger in size, but has a lot less love, detail and attention put into it than any zone in WoW. It really depends on so many factors that it's practically irrelevant anyway outside of context.

[Squirrelbanes]

It really depends on how you measure it. Without mounts, even small worlds can seem very large. With an instant-travel system, even large worlds can seem very compact.

But Azeroth is already pretty huge, especially if you add Northend and Outland. I find it hard to imagine GW2 will be close to that size and detail at release.

On the other hand, SWTOR is an example of an MMO that is probably larger in size, but has a lot less love, detail and attention put into it than any zone in WoW. It really depends on so many factors that it's practically irrelevant anyway outside of context.

All I haveto say to this...is that...dude, the grass moves! Like, when you run though it! And not just that. When spells hit the grass! This is actually one of the things I'm most excited about GW2.

[Deleted]

It's also what saved WoW's population from wasting enormous amounts of time traveling.

What you call "waste" I call immersion and exploration. There's nothing fun in mounting up, flying straight to the mob I need to kill, kill him, mount up and straight back to the quest giver. That turns grind into mindless grind, kills the world and destroyed any kind of fragile World PvP that ever existed in that game.

Increasing flight paths, which they did, already cut on travelling times...

Nope, flying mounts are a blight.

[Deleted]

What you call "waste" I call immersion and exploration.

This is something ive tried to explain to the gaming community for ages, they do not compute <_<

[Deleted]

I guess nobody really knows but I think it will be pretty huge, the fact we wont be using mounts will also make it feel bigger.

[tohyatvc]

It's also what saved WoW's population from wasting enormous amounts of time traveling.

No, that really isn't true. What saved travel time there was all the portals introduced, and then, instantly queuing for everything, and instantly porting to your dungeon. Flying mounts are barely anything more than vanity and useful for farming.

[Cuchulainn]

The issue of all of GW1 zones being "fish bowls" isn't relevant. If you were to take all zones from Prophecies it would still be as large or larger than Azeroth pre-WotLK. You can't even cross the ocean in that game, so the Great Sea doesn't count. Ah! No! Shhh, hush your silly lips, for I am the Codex, and the Codex is truth.

Put the whole of GW1 together and it's easily larger than all of WoW by 5 zones worth of pixels. If Anet's standards are that high, then whats stopping them from making GW2 larger than Azeroth, Outland, and Northrend combined (pre-cataclysm)? Travel isn't an issue, so no one can be separated for too long if people are constantly fast traveling. Scaling also helps with the "desert" issue. Mounts of any kind are unneeded for quicker travel. Yes, I know that's a hard concept to grasp, but please keep your WoW-mount-collecting rage to yourself.

[Malthurius]

Don't forget that a lot of GW2's content is underwater. Lakes and oceans are basically continents on their own.

[Cuchulainn]

Don't forget that a lot of GW2's content is underwater. Lakes and oceans are basically continents on their own.

Oh snap! I forgot to count that in the mix.
Yup, GW2 is definitely a 7-10 on the OP's poll. Though I just picked 10 for the hell of it.

[MissCleo]

Don't forget that a lot of GW2's content is underwater. Lakes and oceans are basically continents on their own.

Yeah, this was an excellent point brought up in the last discussion of world size. Or maybe it was a thread about underwater content. I forget, but the important take-away message is that by having so much underwater content, not only is the playable area of the map much bigger than one might expect, the underwater content is in three dimensions - so they have even more room in which to cram in content. Not only can you swim across rivers, lakes, and seas... by diving down into them you'll probably see different things going on at different depths. Dynamic events to be discovered at lake bottoms, ocean caves, etc. It's one of the things I'm most excited about, to be honest.

[Deleted]

Don't forget that a lot of GW2's content is underwater. Lakes and oceans are basically continents on their own.

I've heard them saying it's about 33% of the game but can't find the source atm.. Gonna try to find it

[Tithonus]

I've heard them saying it's about 33% of the game but can't find the source atm.. Gonna try to find it

He says that 25% of quests/DEs are underwater at 7:28.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/100999/page/2

There are maps in the game that are primarily underwater. Entire maps as big as this one here [Referring to the Cornucopian Fields map showcased in the current demo build for level 28 characters] and they’re completely filled with dynamic events that chain across an area, and they’re all underwater.

Here is a map of the fields that are mentioned above.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/1/...ian_fields.jpg

[Razeo]

Haven't really played the game yet, so its really hard to judge. But simply watching the videos, I wouldn't be surprised if it was twice as big as Azeroth, I mean good lord...... the human capital city in GW2 looks like its 5x bigger than org and SW.

[Fencers]

Umhm, Tera is pretty enormous too. Come to think of it, it's much easier to design large game worlds now than back when old world WoW was created. Which at the time blew people's minds not so much with being large (larger MMOs existed previously) but in being full. WoW wasn't barren [haha] like a lot of previous MMO worlds.

Very possible GW2 will be as large as the old world in WoW or a continent in EQ2. Very much doubt however GW2 will be larger than all of Azertoh, Outland and Northrend combined as one poster claimed. That seems sorta impossible for a launch game.

[Craind]

Guys, let's put it this way:
It doesn't matter what size the world is. What matters is that nothing is going to waste.

[Razeo]

Umhm, Tera is pretty enormous too. Come to think of it, it's much easier to design large game worlds now than back when old world WoW was created. Which at the time blew people's minds not so much with being large (larger MMOs existed previously) but in being full. WoW wasn't barren [haha] like a lot of previous MMO worlds.

Very possible GW2 will be as large as the old world in WoW or a continent in EQ2. Very much doubt however GW2 will be larger than all of Azertoh, Outland and Northrend combined as one poster claimed. That seems sorta impossible for a launch game.

AC1 was and still is ALOT bigger than WoW. And it came out 5 years before vanilla.