If Guild Wars reminds you a bit of Blizzard's classic Diablo action role-playing games, that's probably because developer ArenaNet was founded by Blizzard veterans. While Guild Wars isn't a massively multiplayer, persistent-world game like EverQuest, the goal in the game is to explore a vast, virtual world while battling both computer-controlled enemies and other players. However, Guild Wars will require you to do a lot more than just rapidly click on the mouse button to hack and slash your opponents. The game also incorporates a vast and intricate skill-based system reminiscent of the card game Magic: The Gathering. Each character can have dozens, if not hundreds, of skills in his or her inventory, but prior to each adventure, you can only select a handful of those skills to bring along. We had the chance recently to ask producer Jeff Strain how the gameplay in Guild Wars will adjust to accommodate veteran and casual role-playing gamers.

He's about to deliver a splitting headache.

GameSpot: We've already had a basic introduction to the character classes in Guild Wars: the elementalist, the monk, the mesmer, the ranger, the necromancer, and the warrior. In Guild Wars, you can choose a primary and secondary class for each character. Why was the decision made to allow players a secondary class? How are all the different combinations being made into viable choices?

Jeff Strain: The dual-class system provides richness of strategy by allowing us to make the professions strongly themed, in terms of strengths and weaknesses, without locking players into a specific play style. For instance, a warrior/ranger and a warrior/elementalist are both good front-line tanks (melee fighters that can absorb a lot of damage), but each has different specialties that make for a unique gameplay experience.

The professions are equal in terms of raw power, but while some operate in a fairly straightforward manner, others are more difficult to master. For example, a warrior/ranger is going to be roughly balanced with a mesmer/necromancer, in terms of power, but it will be much easier for a novice to play the former, because the mesmer/necromancer strategies are a little more complex--a factor that appeals to veteran players.

GS: How, if at all, are skills being adjusted for smaller and larger games? Can we expect to see players switching different skills in and out of their regular rotations for a smaller two-on-two match, as opposed to a four-on-four match? How is the game being designed to accommodate larger and smaller engagements?

JS: We want skills to behave predictably, so we don't adjust them based on game size. There are 450 skills in Guild Wars, of which at least 150 will be available to each character, and the skills have to be easily learnable. Guild Wars contains enough strategic depth that there's no need to overcomplicate things by changing the way skills behave. We might tweak death penalties or resurrection, but skill behavior remains constant.

Players will, however, tend to adjust their skill sets depending on the situation. They might choose general, broad-use skills for small teams and more-specialized skills for larger teams. For example, in a large party with several monk healers, one monk might focus on healing, while another lays down protection spells. Meanwhile, a third removes hexes and resurrects dead allies. Player strategy, rather than skill behavior, will change depending on the size of the conflict.

GS: And how is the game being adjusted to accommodate players of different skill levels and play schedules? Is Guild Wars being developed to appeal to hardcore fans who will carefully puzzle out ideal combinations of different skills to make killer characters and war parties? And how will Guild Wars be enjoyable for casual fans who don't have many hours a week to devote to trying out different skill sets? Will they just log in and be destroyed online by veteran players?

Bone creatures are the animated skeletons of fearsome monsters. And they look cool.

JS: In guild-versus-guild play, your guild is ranked based on past performance, and it will be matched up with guilds of a similar rank. In tournament play, due to the elimination structure, teams are also matched against teams of similar skill. Because Guild Wars is a skill-based game (that is, we reward skillful and creative play rather than hours played), players of varying levels can team up and have fun completing missions together. No matter how new you are to Guild Wars, you are never "useless." Some players may be more skillful from day one, but they will tend to play against players of a similar type. We'll match casual versus casual and veteran versus veteran. This is one of the reasons we include casual gaming arenas. Hardcore players tend to specialize and count on their buddies to cover them, while casual players tend to want to be more self-sufficient. In the casual player-versus-player arenas, you get paired with other players at random, so experienced players cannot choose their teammates. That equalizes the field quite a bit.

Skill selection and preparation play important roles in success. Also, a balanced team will always be more successful. Specific strategies, such as sacrificing health in exchange for massive damage to the enemy, are more easily countered than strategies that use a diverse range of skills. If we do our jobs, there will be no "killer" strategy; every winning strategy that players discover should have a counterstrategy that emerges just as quickly.