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In Stronghold, you and your allies will attempt to infiltrate enemy lines, break their gates, and kill the opposing lord. If you succeed in defeating the lord, the game ends. Champion’s Dusk features NPCs you can hire for supply to help your team tear down the enemy’s gates and take down their defenses. You can battle for control of powerful heroes that become available through channeling mist essence at timed intervals. These heroes support the players as they push through the enemy base and—if they survive the battle to the lord’s room—trigger a devastating attack.
While Stronghold does have NPCs, we were very cognizant of keeping the focus heavily on player-vs.-player combat. The hired NPCs have specific purposes, engage in limited combat, and their abilities aren’t as powerful as a player’s abilities. The heroes are more powerful NPCs, but their abilities are centered on helping a team push rather than replacing a player. The NPCs in Stronghold provide new tactical and strategic opportunities and create new roles and a greater diversity of builds for players. The focus remains very solidly on player skill and teamwork to be successful at Stronghold.
One of the goals for Stronghold was to put more gameplay in the map. There is always something exciting to do in a Stronghold match. Whether you’re fighting over supply, pushing or defending a lane, getting your doorbreakers to your front line, or blasting your enemies to smithereens with a trebuchet, you’ll never find a time where you’re not actively engaged.
The team also set out to make Stronghold fun to watch. With the objectives in the map, it’s easier from a spectator’s point of view to understand how the game progresses and when the big moments happen. Some of our favorite moments in Guild Wars 2 PvP are huge shifts in momentum—moments when the entire battle shifts based on the strategic decisions made by teams and individual players. Stronghold is rife with opportunity for such moments: a supply runner being downed and his supply stolen; a player shepherding NPCs and being wrecked by a player on the trebuchet; players desperately fighting over which team will spawn their hero; a crucial trebuchet being wiped out; a desperate rush on the lord’s room; and the lord being downed and stomped in a game-winning assault. These are just a few of the big moments players and spectators can look forward to.
While Stronghold does have NPCs, we were very cognizant of keeping the focus heavily on player-vs.-player combat. The hired NPCs have specific purposes, engage in limited combat, and their abilities aren’t as powerful as a player’s abilities. The heroes are more powerful NPCs, but their abilities are centered on helping a team push rather than replacing a player. The NPCs in Stronghold provide new tactical and strategic opportunities and create new roles and a greater diversity of builds for players. The focus remains very solidly on player skill and teamwork to be successful at Stronghold.
One of the goals for Stronghold was to put more gameplay in the map. There is always something exciting to do in a Stronghold match. Whether you’re fighting over supply, pushing or defending a lane, getting your doorbreakers to your front line, or blasting your enemies to smithereens with a trebuchet, you’ll never find a time where you’re not actively engaged.
The team also set out to make Stronghold fun to watch. With the objectives in the map, it’s easier from a spectator’s point of view to understand how the game progresses and when the big moments happen. Some of our favorite moments in Guild Wars 2 PvP are huge shifts in momentum—moments when the entire battle shifts based on the strategic decisions made by teams and individual players. Stronghold is rife with opportunity for such moments: a supply runner being downed and his supply stolen; a player shepherding NPCs and being wrecked by a player on the trebuchet; players desperately fighting over which team will spawn their hero; a crucial trebuchet being wiped out; a desperate rush on the lord’s room; and the lord being downed and stomped in a game-winning assault. These are just a few of the big moments players and spectators can look forward to.
The update includes new information on busting through gates, earning supplies to bolster their side with new archers or doorbreakers, and how to set up defenses among other things. Check out the full details at the Guild Wars 2 site.
