Guild Wars 2

Maybe it is being born and raised in Washington state that did it, since we have only 2 1/2 seasons in that state, or maybe it is just in my blood. But I am a complete and total Weather Junky.

This very much carries over into my MMOs, and while it seems like such a minor thing, I find it very disappointing when a game has no weather effects or the ones it has are very lackluster.

I’ve been fairly pleased with what GW2 has given me on that front, although I fantasize a bit about actual “seasons” being added to the various zones. However, there are two fractals on FotM that blew me onto my rear, took my lunch money, and left me begging for more.

I’ll avoid specific spoilers out of respect for those that haven’t seen one or both of these things, so forgive my apparent ambiguity. However anyone that has done a few rounds in FotM likely know which two I am talking about.

There are two distinct experiences that these dungeons / routes give that really hit that sweet spot for me. First and foremost was making the weather “dangerous”. There is something profoundly primal in this that is so much more epic and intimidating than even fighting the largest of dungeon mobs.

Now, I know that one of these experiences is tied to a mob, but I am also distinctly aware that it doesn’t need to be.

The journey just after that then transitions into the second most fantastic element of what is seen in FotM (taken to an extreme in another fractal) and that is encroaching darkness.

GW2 does a great job of playing with fears, and certainly there are some spots where a traditional sense of claustrophobia is achieved through very cramped spaces. However having players in a wide open space, and then create a suffocatingly intense darkness you have to deal with is a WHOLE different (and I would argue way more intense) sense of foreboding claustrophobia.

I cannot begin to truly express my deep affection and appreciation of these experiences that we got with FotM. I applaud the designers as loudly as I can on these additions.

But I have to ask…

Knowing the intensity of experience that these environmental treats can provide. Knowing that making the world itself your enemy, even if the immediate danger is from the creatures that are taking advantage of that environmental circumstance.

Will we ever see these degrees of severity grace the open world? Will they remain tricks in a toolbag, or might they ever be realized as a part of the personality of Tyria itself, and find their places in the darkest corners of caves and nooks. Or on the highest, coldest peaks?

It had to be asked, at least on behalf of those of us that worship at the alter of extreme weather and dark places.