We watched a live demo of the Norn starting area and learned all about the newly unveiled thief profession at GDC. We also got some details on dynamic events and the personality system.

It turns out that this week's Game Developers Conference is a highly newsworthy event for Guild Wars 2 fans. During an NCsoft presentation, I had the opportunity to watch a live demo of the Norn starting area and witness the reveal of the thief profession. I also learned how ArenaNet is striving to set Guild Wars 2 apart from other MMOs by focusing on innovation in the questing mechanic, dynamic combat and the character's personal story.

To kick things off, Global Brand Director Christopher Lye outlined ArenaNet's three main areas of focus for Guild Wars 2:

• Personal story: Your character's background and decisions matter. "Instancing is an excellent way to bring a small group of players into a scripted area and demonstrate consequences in the game for their decisions."
• Quest game mechanic: Somewhere along the line, MMO quests became a “laundry list of chores. We felt there was a better way in an MMO to deliver that content. We do that through our dynamic event system." For example, you won't read in a quest log that you need to kill 10 centaurs. You'll go into a village and see that it's obviously under attack, and you need to help.
• Dynamic combat: “MMO combat is usually repetitive. We can take it to the next level.”

Following that introduction, Lye took us on a tour of the Norn starting area in a live demo to demonstrate all these points in the actual game. He chose a female Guardian to show off the recently unveiled profession and dove into character creation.

You will have the opportunity to shape your character's personal story by answering multiple choice questions during character creation that will have a lasting impact on your character's personality, which will affect how he or she is perceived in the world by NPCs. For example, here's one of the questions from the demo: “The most important quality of a great hero is strength, cunning or instinct.” As Lye chose cunning for his character, he emphasized that you won't immediately understand the far-ranging implications of your choices.

The personality system will change how you play the game. One of the Norn creation questions asked the player to choose how they interact with other characters. If you choose ferocity, children may run away from you. It can also open other dialogue options during quests.

A biography will be placed in an in-game journal and summarize all of the choices you've made during the creation of your character. The biography will evolve as you play to reflect your choices throughout the life of your character.

Once Lye completed his character, a cinematic started playing that emphasized the tough nature of the Norn. The race's culture is steeped in legend and myth, and every Norn wants their name told in stories throughout generations. They're currently looking for a hero who can lead them in battle again the Ice Dragon that pushed them out of their northern homeland. Until then, they'll hunt and celebrate in their southern hunting grounds.

It's interesting to note that the cinematic branched out at one point because Lye chose cunning as the most important quality of a great hero during character creation. This quickly demonstrates that your personal story will indeed affect gameplay.

Speaking of gameplay, Lye's first act in the starting zone was to speak to an NPC to learn how to qualify for the great hunt. He needed to collect a list of trophies, so off he went in search of them. Starburst indicators pointed him toward NPCs and objects that would push the quest forward.

Lye's character then entered a dynamic event. Without needing to talk to an NPC, worms suddenly spawned that needed to be killed to make a massive ice worm appear. “We wanted to put big boss type fights in front of you” even at level 1, he said. The Scout System will help you find these dynamic events and point you toward “clusters of activity.” You'll also have the option to find the events yourself if you prefer taking the exploration route.

Thief reveal is on Page 2.