ZAM gives a hands on preview of the new Guild Missions in Guild Wars 2

Guild Rush

The Guild Rush missions see players transformed into creatures (such as adorable polar bear cubs) with specific abilities that they must use in order to navigate a trap laden, beast infested assault course. If you die you have to restart all the way back at the beginning. If you complete the course you will get your personal goal. If a set number of guild members complete the course within the allotted 20 minute window, your guild will receive Guild Merits in addition.

The Rush was a good time, though it could be frustrating when close to the finish line only to be hit by a troll or a trap which sends you back to the start. I have no problem with challenging content that is unforgiving, particularly when it encourages good teamwork.

Having an organized guild will again be a massive advantage as you are allowed to run the course in your normal form, though of course that will not count as finishing the race either for you or the guild. What it means is you can heal, buff and escort your transformed guild members along the way to give them a hand.

Within a few minutes, Elisabeth Cardy and I brought up the possibility of large guilds bringing a swarm of Mesmers in order to port the rest of the guild through the Guild Rush. Though you do have to adhere to hitting the checkpoints (Guild Rush flags) through the course, I put it to Leah Rivera and Anthony Ordon that a crew of 5 or so Mesmers could teleport in chains between the checkpoints, with the last Mesmer moving forward in a rolling mass of ports. Indicating how encouraging inventive teamwork is a driving force in the missions, an ArenaNet dev stated that was among the kind of coordination he looked forward to seeing from guilds.

About eight of us managed to complete the mission, with the test guild failing to receive the Merits for a full success by getting 15 guild members to complete within the set time.

Guild Puzzle

The guild puzzle is a step up from the standard jumping puzzle due to its multi stage timed nature and how you absolutely need teamwork in order to progress.

In the massive puzzle I took part in, an Asuran themed escapade called Proxemics Lab; which took part in Brisban Wildlands near The Gallowfields. Not to worry about revisiting the place, new waypoints have been added for the new content to help negotiate the distance.

Rather than just a standard platform jumper, it soon became apparent more would be needed when a central lock needed to be opened with a countdown of just a couple of minutes. The surrounding area included loot that the Skritt were guarding jealously.

Within that loot were multiple batteries that were needed to be added to open the doors to proceed, however, anyone carrying the battery would attract the Skritt who would steal it from the player if they got within touching distance.

It required pairs of players to each go to the loot stashes, one to grab the battery, one to grab an item to distract the Skritt away from the battery carrier. Simple, but necessary coordination was needed.

This unlocked the door and the usual array of dizzying jumps lay ahead until more puzzles that required more and more coordination between the guild members were set in our path.

I won’t spoil them for you, but it will certainly challenge many guilds initially, especially as the whole puzzle has to be completed in 20 minutes. The design of the event is quite incredible, with the kind of hand crafted excellence that you would expect from the game at its best.

There will be two Guild Puzzles available as of today with a third one planned for the near future (possibly March). The one we didn’t see is a haunted house theme based on the ghosts of Ascalon.

Next Page: Guild Challenge, Guild Trek and My Thoughts on What it All Means>>>>