ArenaNet clearly knows that the way to gamers’ hearts is through their stomachs. This is not, of course, how anatomy works, but it seems to be the new Guild Wars 2 strategy, as this afternoon Anet made good on its promise to expand the cooking craft skill in the game.
MMO players will recall that following the ArenaNet layoffs earlier this year, Game Director Mike Zadorojny penned a lengthy letter to set the stage for what players could expect from the game going forward. Buried among the enhancements being considered by the team were expansions for the chef and jeweler skillsets that’d bring them in line with the other craft skills in the game. It looks like the cooking update is now on deck – for next week.
“On August 27, you’ll be able to level up your cooking skill to 500! When you reach cooking level 425, Sous-Chef Seimur Oxbone will contact you to check on your progress. Impress him with your skills and he’ll happily write you a letter of recommendation, sending you off on a journey to study with master chefs in every capital city. While you’re leveling your cooking skill, you’ll also graduate to a better class of tools and raw ingredients. Each instructor will help you obtain what you need, from a cutting-edge oven to high-quality meat and garden-fresh herbs.”
The new higher-tier ascended food will offer what sounds like the same buffs as earlier food, only bigger, plus an additional assortment of buffs (“bonuses to experience points, karma, magic find, gold find, and World vs. World experience points”) plus race-specific delicacies.
I’m a tiny bit embarrassed to admit how many maxed chefs I have in Guild Wars 2 (I just really like video game cooking, OK?!), but let’s just say that more than half of my toons are currently quite happy at this turn of events.
