On Tuesday, Guild Wars 2 released a new update for the Gem Store. One of the new features was the sword skin “Lightbringer Blade”, which some players have now identified as a possible plagiarism.
What is the problem with the skin? The new sword skin costs around 8 euros and has a dual-edged blade, a figure at the hilt, and some nice embellishments.
The appearance of the sword is well received by the players. However, there is already a very similar weapon in another MMORPG. Many players are now convinced that a designer has appropriated a foreign idea here.
Which weapon is very similar? In the MMORPG Rift, there is the Avenger’s Longsword, which also has a dual-edged blade, a figure at the hilt, and very similar embellishments.
Of course, one cannot always reinvent the sword; nevertheless, the similarities between these weapons are quite alarming:
The weapon was far more than just inspiration
How are players reacting? Shortly after the appearance of the weapon, there was a thread on reddit that made the similarity to the sword from Rift clear and from which the above image is also taken.
In it, players demand that ArenaNet speaks out and that the respective designer be held accountable. DarkoloO writes:
It is too similar and we cannot ignore this fact. It has happened before that works from ArenaNet were stolen, and the reddit police was always ready. [..]
The designer must face the consequences, and the skin should be removed or revised as soon as possible.
The website Massively has also reported on the incident and has already contacted ArenaNet. However, there has been no statement so far.
Is the Rift version better? While some commentators speculate whether perhaps the designer from Rift himself has now created a skin for GW2, the user sharpsock is sure:
The swords do not come from the same artist. The skill level is not comparable. The Rift weapon is art.
Many other commentators in the thread also find the weapon from the Trion MMORPG significantly prettier.
What else happened on Tuesday? The patch that brought the new Gem Store update to Guild Wars 2 also introduced a 2v2 PvP map and a new PvP and WvW weapon set.
However, both novelties did not excite the players. In addition, there was a fix that added a search function to the new legendary runes and sigils.
Until the coming Tuesday, August 20th, the Festival of the Four Winds is still ongoing, where you can complete various achievements and participate in the boss rush.
When will there be significant new features again? On August 30th, ArenaNet will hold an announcement event appropriate to Pax Prime, where the upcoming season of the Living World will be discussed.
There will probably be information about the announced new features and a direction for the upcoming story.
The report for the second quarter of 2019 is out. How did Guild Wars 2 and the other MMORPGs from NCSoft fare?
