Imagine stepping into a standard MMORPG. The familiar movement, the predictable gameplay loops – for over two decades, these elements have defined the genre. But what if one of the biggest names in the space decided to shake things up? ArenaNet, the studio behind the acclaimed Guild Wars franchise, is aiming to do just that with Guild Wars 3.
A New Era of Movement
During a hands-on demo at Gamescom, studio lead Colin Johanson and combat lead Kevin Stocker unveiled a glimpse of the game’s alpha build. While still early days, it was clear that Guild Wars 3 is poised to be more than just another MMO. Described as a “full open-world MMO,” the game aims to blend the social aspects of the genre with the dynamic movement and combat found in modern action games. The core of this bold vision? Momentum.
The demo began with the player character effortlessly sprinting across walls, mantling over ledges, and traversing a rocky outcropping overlooking a vast grassland. A leap from the cliff resulted in a graceful glide, reminiscent of the glider in Guild Wars 2. At first glance, the game felt more akin to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild than World of Warcraft.
Breaking the Canyon
“The biggest thing we wanted to tackle was the traditional MMO world design, which often feels like a series of linear canyons,” explained Johanson. “We wanted to break free from that and create a world where players could utilize the full 3D space and experience movement skills that enable them to do so.”
Johanson described a period of experimentation where the team discovered that it wasn’t just about movement itself, but the “connective tissue” between different movement mechanics. This realization led to the concept of momentum, seamlessly blending movement and combat.
A Living World
Atop the rocky outcropping was a Vaelwarden camp, described by Johanson as a “miniature player hub” within the open world, where players can socialize, organize parties, and customize their builds before venturing further. The giant spirit mount seen in the reveal trailer also made an appearance, though it wasn’t directly interacted with during the demo. This majestic creature is known as the Root Runner.
Controller-Friendly Combat
The UI in this early stage of development appears streamlined compared to Guild Wars 2. The right corner displays abilities mapped to controller triggers and bumpers. A health and stamina tracker is visible at the lower center. While designing an MMO for a controller presents unique challenges, Stocker emphasized that the experience hasn’t been “watered down” to accommodate this control scheme. Many attacks and skills are contextual, offering a wide range of options despite the limited number of buttons.
Momentum: The Driving Force
Johanson described how the introduction of momentum “expanded” movement in Guild Wars 3. He explained, “In traditional MMOs, you might ride your mount, then dismount and immediately stop moving. When you dismount from a glider, you also immediately stop moving. In Guild Wars 3, we’re building the first MMO with a full transitional movement system that leverages the character’s momentum.”
This means that the momentum gained from leaping off a high point is maintained when using a glider, creating a fluid and uninterrupted traversal experience. This principle also plays a crucial role in combat.
Verticality and Weak Points
During the demo, the player character, a warrior, engaged a pack of raptors. The warrior possessed a unique ability tied to their profession, allowing them to deal more damage when striking from above based on the distance of the aerial slam. A simple jump attack dealt minimal damage, while leaping off a wall and slamming resulted in significantly more damage over a wider area.
“It ended up being a really natural kind of development,” said Stocker. “We had this awesome feeling with the motion systems that made combat more visceral. We started building transitional attacks, like the wall run slam attack and attacks out of gliding, and found those were some of the most interesting parts of combat.”
According to Johanson, the environment itself becomes a strategic element in Guild Wars 3. Players can knock enemies into walls to stun them using momentum, while larger enemies can do the same. The greater the momentum, the further a player can push an enemy.
Elite Skills and Defined Roles
Elite Skills from previous Guild Wars games are making a return. During the demo, the Rampage skill charged up during combat, providing increased attack speed and damage, as well as boosting jump height and push distance.
In Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet moved away from the traditional tank, healer, DPS trinity in favor of weapon-based skillsets. With momentum playing a major role, I asked how it affected the design process for the various playable professions.
“We are trying in this game to lean more into defined roles,” Johanson said. “We will have more defined abilities to let you play as a tank, DPS, or healer. You can see that a bit with the Warrior having a shield and blocking. How the professions can do that can be different: A Warrior can tank in a very different way than a Necromancer who can use their minions to tank for example, but we want more defined roles.”
Stocker added, “We took a unique approach to designing all of them. Warriors in this demo are all about getting above and slamming down using momentum, and it’s all about staying close. For the Ranger, he has more suspended attacks from the air and some Legolas-style moves. So we still have all of those same transitions, it’s just the way they use them is different.” Johanson and Stocker also emphasized that, depending on the build used, momentum may play a lesser role in how a player approaches the game.
Multiplayer Combos
The demo then transitioned to a destroyed temple of the fallen god Dhuum, where cooperative gameplay between players was showcased. Here, the player summons a spirit to help them – a small sprite that acts as a floating lantern. It was also in this temple that we saw another significant twist with Guild Wars 3: action-combat enabling “multiplayer combos,” allowing different professions to interact and create opportunities during battles.
“You really don’t see a lot of action combat in multiplayer games,” said Stocker. “All the skill design, weapon design, and profession design is built around how you do things with allies. It’s all solo-friendly as well, but we’re designing abilities to support collaboration.”
Encounter Design
The demo concluded with a clash against giant spiders, which can shoot out webs that slow the player and limit momentum. By using fire skills, these webs can be burned, allowing for quick dispatch of the spiders.
Johanson drew a direct comparison to the skill system in the original Guild Wars, where players had to track down and unlock a vast selection of skills with limited slots, forcing them to make strategic choices before venturing out.
A Glimpse into the Future
With all this talk of enhanced movement in mind, Guild Wars fans will surely have one question lingering: Can they expect to suffer through challenging jumping puzzles? When asked, Johanson laughed and said, “You can hear the maniacal laughter coming from Seattle Washington from our environmental artists right now. I remember when the first Halloween event went live in Guild Wars 2 – the Mad King’s Clock Tower – and we did a review of that. Me and the other project leads were sitting in the lab playing it. The environment artist Josh who made that was just sitting in the corner with the biggest grin on his face while we were all just swearing for an hour. I think that made his year. Those folks are still around, making those puzzles. They’re very excited to see where that can go.”
While this demo provided a glimpse into Guild Wars 3, many questions remain unanswered. Johanson stated that details regarding player progression, build customization, the role of spirits, and more will be elaborated on at a later date as we approach the fall 2027 beta release.
Overall, I’m intrigued by this new direction for Guild Wars. MMOs remain popular due to their unparalleled social capabilities, winding stories, and vast explorable worlds. However, what often dates the genre is its gameplay mechanics. A game willing to challenge these conventions has my attention.
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