Guild Wars: Guild Wars Bonus Pack Designer Interview(s)

The official site has produced two interviews with the designers of the new Bonus Mission Pack. The first is with lead designer Colin Johansen and is basically an overview of the BMP:

1. What is the Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack? How many levels does it include? How does it fit within the Guild Wars universe?

The Bonus Mission Pack is a four mission collection we're giving away as a thank you to players who've spent at least $29 (€26/£17) or purchased Guild Wars: Eye of the North during our in-game store and PlayNC promotion (note: this promotion ends October 31, 2007). In it, players relive four great moments in Guild Wars history by playing iconic characters during the events that turned them into legends.

The mission pack provides four solo "story" missions. Each story is tied to one of our Guild Wars games. The original Guild Wars story tells the tale of how Saul D'Alessio and the White Mantle drove the invading Charr army from Kryta with the help of their unseen gods, the Mursaat. In the Guild Wars Factions story, we see a young Togo fight betrayal to bring an end to the Tengu Wars. The Guild Wars Nightfall adventure puts the player in the role of Turai Ossa at the Battle of Jahai, where the leaders of the two greatest armies in Elonian history squared off in a battle to the death. Lastly, players will experience Gwen's escape from her Charr captors and initiate her first meeting with the Ebon Vanguard from Guild Wars: Eye of the North.

The second interview features a trio of designers, Colin Johansen, Linsey Murdock and John Stumme. The interview begins with a bit of background on each designer's tenure at Arena Net and then delves into the BMP:

How did you come up with the skills the various playable characters would use?

LM: It was probably a solid week of meetings where we discussed Skill Bars. The only one similar to the original was Gwen's, but even those initial plans changed. Once I put my Skill Bar in for Saul I realized it was horrible. The same for Togo.

CJ: We redid each Skill Bar at least seven or eight times.

LM: You might think something sounds cool, but until you play with it, you just don't know.

LM: Two custom skills I originally made to control NPCs were condensed into "Form up and Advance!"

CJ: We designed many of Saul's custom skills a couple of weeks before the release.

JS: The first part of Gwen's bar didn't change that much. Her skills are as much a part of the story as what you're actually doing. We're portraying Gwen in a situation where she is captive and powerless, while at the same time explaining how she became the person she is in Eye of the North. If you were in this situation, how would you feel? You would want to kill the Charr, but you can't. Her skills reflect that-she throws rocks, hides, and plays dead. In the catacomb section, there was much revision in the skills because the story itself changed a lot. Even though her skills are part of the story, a skill has to be useable in the mission itself.

Check out the rest at the two links above.