Guild Wars 2

[Neptune49]

Played for about 20 minutes as a Charr Elementalist.  Still not really falling in love with the game.  I'm glad there's no subscription, but sort of wish I could cancel my pre-purchase at this point.  The combat just feels clunky and chaotic and I don't feel like I have full control over what is going on.  Going to give Melee a chance tonight.  All the classes I have played so far are ranged or magical.  Maybe Melee is where I'll find my happy place.

[Udder Juice]

Got in a solid three hours tonight and I'm having pretty much the opposite reaction.  I'm loving this game and here's the main reason why.  They have basically brought all the action and excitement of an end-game raid into every part of the game, only you don't have to get 30 people together for 4 hours, discuss strategies for each class and then argue over who gets the 2 rare drops.

I mean you can just be walking around and BAM! you're in the middle of an even helping a bunch of other people in the area take down a boss you get rewarded for it, you don't even have to be in a party with anyone.  There's still a feeling of working together, especially if you are hanging out in map chat, but its with random people who happen to be adventuring around you, which is much more like what I've always thought these games should be like.  Its that feeling of exploring and, hey there's some fellow adventurers that need my help!  I had the next goal for my story mission on the map all night but I spent most of the night taking back contested waypoints.

I really love how you aren't stuck with just one set of skills for your class, you can really change stuff up and try out different things.  Crafting seems deep but not TOO time consuming.  Finding all the points of interest, getting every skill point, etc. for each area could eat up a lot of time.  The PvP and WvWvW systems are AMAZING and crazy fun.

They are basically getting everything right that everyone else has done wrong AND breathing fresh life into the genre.

Of course, I'm not currently beholden to any other MMO and have been looking for a solid game since I quit playing Lord of the Rings Online a few years back so its pretty easy for me to just let this game wash over me, but I can't wait for it to go live.

[Neptune49]

I mean you can just be walking around and BAM! you're in the middle of an even helping a bunch of other people in the area take down a boss you get rewarded for it, you don't even have to be in a party with anyone.  There's still a feeling of working together, especially if you are hanging out in map chat, but its with random people who happen to be adventuring around you, which is much more like what I've always thought these games should be like.  Its that feeling of exploring and, hey there's some fellow adventurers that need my help!  I had the next goal for my story mission on the map all night but I spent most of the night taking back contested waypoints.

I think this is where we think differently.  It's easy to get that feeling in the game during Beta when everyone playing is excited about playing.   But what happens when the game has been out for 6 months and these areas are suddenly empty because people have out leveled them?  I think that's what I'm looking at when I see the game.  What's it going to be like when I'm playing alone?

[Udder Juice]

Well, that's a problem with any MMO.  Personally I think it will be much easy to run into people in the same area or even convince a few people in the map to run to your aid than it is to find people who need to do the same exact specific quest as you to actually party up with.

There were times last night when I triggered an event alone, just gave a shout in map chat and had people come and help out.

Also, since you scale to your environment and events scale to the number of players in the area, they will always be challenging but doable regardless of how many people are there.

Besides all that I'm sure my main will level on par with the majority of the population.  There will always be new players coming in and people starting alts.  I think the no subscription model will ensure a sizable population in the game.

Yes, they have crafted a more casual friendly MMO experience but since I don't have the time to devote to it like I did when I was in a raiding guild in WoW, this is going to be perfect for me.

[MoeSyzlak]

Overall I was very happy with what I saw this go around.

The Mesmer was a bit of a disappointment.  I didn't much care for the phantom destruction mechanic.  Seemed slow and ineffective.  I would probably give Engie another go or try Hunter before going back to the Mez.

Had a great time taking an Ele from 1-13.  Really enjoyed the variety between the different attunements.  Found some fun ways to combine attacks.  I would also say that the rendering of the Ele's abilities strike me as the prettiest out of all the classes (Necro, Mez, Engie) I have played thus far.

This time around I dabbled in a couple of professions.  Tailoring was a must due to my love for caster classes.  Scrap cloth = bolts of jute!  Experience gain!  8-slot Jute bags!  Recipe discovery!  All fun stuff.  Messed around a tiny bit with jewelcrafting as well.  I'll need to read up on the rest of the profs before I settle on two of them on my first toon.

I really enjoy the way one can work their way around from helping their neighbor to chipping away at the main questline to general commerce/profession stuff and maintain the variety.  While there was the occasional section where I was competing to complete tasks with others on the server that was by far the exception.  More often than not it ended up being a much more cooperative experience.

I understand Neptune's concern about soloing.  I am choosing to invest my time and money in this game with the hope that it is a smashing success.  If it is, I won't be short on company.

[MoeSyzlak]

http://www.arena.net/blog/announcing-the-guild-wars-2-launch-date

Launch August 28th!  Final beta wknd 20-22July!

Sent from my DROID2 R2-D2

[VanishedNine]

Ha...i was just going to post the date!

[Udder Juice]

http://www.arena.net/blog/announcing-the-guild-wars-2-launch-date

Launch August 28th!  Final beta wknd 20-22July!

Sent from my DROID2 R2-D2

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

[MoeSyzlak]

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/624-ten-things-to-do-to-prepare-yourself-for-release/

This is an interesting list of...oh just read the link then click on it.

I think I'm going to give Guardian a shot in the next Beta...otherwise it's Ele all the way.  If I do go the pew pew glass cannon route (because that's really the only way I can Ele) I think there's going to be lots of Air and Arcane in my future.

[MoeSyzlak]

Big flaw on that list above: two races have not been represented in the Beta.  If you can't see them, how can you plan their appearance?

Will we see midgets and plant people later this month?

Also, I need to stop reading the skills of other classes.  I'm tempted to try some Theiving during the beta and I want at least my first two toons using the same class of armor (or as they say in everywhere else English is spoken, armour).  I could go Ele then Necro but starting in leather will lead me to either Engie or Hunter.  Decisions, decisions...

Sent from my DROID2 R2-D2

[MoeSyzlak]

As someone who wasted a year or two on WoW here's something I very much appreciate: stories of GW2 players who were actually happy/relieved/pleasantly surprised to play cooperatively with others!

 http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/w4e4o/favorite_moment_of_not_being_upset_to_see_fellow/

Sent from my DROID2 R2-D2

[Udder Juice]

Being able to work together with other players "on-the-fly" without having to spend a hour spamming zone chat for other people on the same quest as you, forming a party, working out roles for the group and hoping the healer doesn't ditch you before you finish is one of the most attractive parts of this game.

[MoeSyzlak]

Azura and Sylvari will be playable during the next Beta wknd.  Cool but I don't know if I want to start the game with one of the two races that have received far less eyeballs than the other three.

Sent from my DROID2 R2-D2

[MoeSyzlak]

T-5 days until the final Beta weekend.

My goals (assuming we get to use toons rolled during previous weekends): roll a Sylvari Thief, if I like the Thief roll a Hunter and decide once and for all if my first two toons will be squishy or adventurous types, try out Elementalist skill combos, and design the appearance of my future main so I can jump right in on day 1.  If I have some company maybe I'll try PvP but on my own I am content to PvE and learn my profession.

I need to look back and see what server y'all migrated to once our original choice became a euroserver.

More than ever there are avenues for beta keys if anyone needs them.  All of the fansites are announcing numerous giveaways every day on the Twitter.

Sent from my DROID2 R2-D2

[Udder Juice]

I don't know how much time I'll be able to play this beta.  I have a birthday cook-out to go to on Saturday and will probably spend most of Sunday recovering.

Looking forward to the final release though!