Guild Wars 2

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MooZilla
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Guild Wars 2

Post by MooZilla »

http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/featur ... 244666.php
Besides these significant changes to the game, Guild Wars 2 will also introduce plenty of smaller ones, like the ability for your characters to do things like jump, swim, even climb trees.
Golden. Even though its a few years off, i'm excited. I love Guild Wars during its first year, but i lost interest after a while. It just seemed like it was limited. They're talking about raising the level cap, or possibly having no level cap at all. I like the idea of a persistent (not instanced!) world, and big server events and stuff..

DISCUSS!
i am a liberal.
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Well, i've played Guildwars and all the expansions, seeing it evolve during the years.

I'd most definately check out GW 2 to see what it can deliver.
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Post by miir »

I am so not excited about this game.
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Post by kyoukan »

I tried like hell to like Guild Wars, even going as far as buying two of the expansion packs, but I could never get into it. I think the main thing that bugged me was the lack of flair the combat had. When I hit something with a big fucking hammer or an arrow, they should react to it. The melee combat in GW was basically me doing a weapon swing animation in the vicinity of an enemy and looking at a bunch of floating hit points over their head. I couldn't get into it at all.
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Post by Animalor »

I didn't even bother with the 2 expansions. I played Prophecies for a while and that was it for me.
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Post by miir »

There was about 10 guys where I used to work that had a guild in GW.
They bugged me for months to play.
One friday I picked it up, messed around with a few different character builds for a week. Decided on a build and leveled up to about 16/17. Never logged in again.

It was just so... um... I dunno.... average?
It's really hard to say.
The graphics I liked, a lot.
The environments were really nice and the gameplay was adequately fun.
I just couldn't get over the disconnect I had with my character.
It felt like I was telling someone else what to do. My character didn't feel like 'me' , just another henchman that I had more control over.
Even when playing with my friends from work, it felt like I was playing the game with computer controlled henchmen.

All that and not being able to jump really fucking annoyed me.


edit: now that I think of it, that's the main problem I have with LOTRO. There's a huge disconnect with my character, especially in combat.
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Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

If would have liked if it was more free movement ( you could go exactly where you wanted in the terrain, jumping down a cliff if you wanted), and being able to jump.

Would also have liked if enemies reacted more to the hits, the only reaction i remember were the knockdown.

When you hit the enemy with like for example a 2handed hammer, you should be able to knock him back / stun him etc

City of Heroes/Villains had great knockbacks though! :)

That i liked OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS.
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Post by Winnow »

GW is good in small doses. I've already stopped playing it again but had a great time for a few days and will probably play it again down the road.

I'm looking forward to GW2. There will be no monthly fee again with GW2 so it will be another good game to pick up that can fill in the gaps between other games without dealing with whether or not to maintain a monthly subscription.

GW has a lot going for it but does lack in the guild areas. I think for a few friends, it works well but wouldn't be ideal for anything more than that. GW2 will be worth grabbing just to look at the eye candy. Any improvement over the original GW will be a bonus.
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Post by Mr Bacon »

GW has a lot going for it but does lack in the guild areas.
priceless
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Post by Winnow »

Mr Bacon wrote:
GW has a lot going for it but does lack in the guild areas.
priceless
It needs more wars as well.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

3 1/2 years later!


Here's a video about the voice over work in Guild Wars 2:

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/56401/the-mm ... quality=hd

Hoping this one turns out as good as it's been looking through its development.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Fairweather Pure »

I remain cautiously optimistic about GW2.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Bubba Grizz »

So let me get this straight in my head. The game is not Pay to Play but it isn't Free to Play either? I don't mind making the initial investment for the game and if I can avoid another monthly fee, well I'm all for that.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Bubba Grizz wrote:So let me get this straight in my head. The game is not Pay to Play but it isn't Free to Play either? I don't mind making the initial investment for the game and if I can avoid another monthly fee, well I'm all for that.
It's like original Guild Wars. Free to play after you buy the game and then you pay for expansions. They don't rape you like WoW for monthly fees.

To get an idea of the skills in the game, I recommend clicking on the different classes and watching the videos:

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/

Im not sure about the Engineer but all the other classes look good to me! Watch the five skill videos for each class. (full screen!)

Thief skills look cool.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Last GW 2profession announced: Mesmer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wPHRE-z54

Not unexpected. Video may be removed as it's not official until Wednesday.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Asheran Mojomaster »

So, more info is out, the videos from the press video and floating around everywhere, and I am praying that I get into beta. This game looks AMAZING. The last time I felt this excited about a MMO was when I saw a video of Everquest in 98.

From what I've seen and read, basically all of the issues brought up in this thread have been taken care of in GW2. The only thing I do not like is the lack of PVP outside of WvW and arenas...but I understand why they did not include it. A lot of the ideas they have for the PVE gameplay would not work with free world PVP.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

I signed up for the beta. (sign up ends Friday) I'm enjoying the Tera beta right now. I'm still playing Aion which goes free to play in a couple months with the release of the 3.0 expansion.

Tera is fun. I play it with an xbox controller. It's an MMO with an FPS feel to the combat with targeting. If you don't like skimpy armor and asian type MMOs, skip it, otherwise it's worth a look. (Tera was created by a group that left NCSoft and took/stole some source material that was intended for Lineage 3, using it as part of Tera. NCSoft has already sued them)

Guild Wars 2 looks to be the best upcoming MMO. GW2, along with Tera and Secret World will make for a fun summer. Blade & Soul and Wildstar are two other interesting MMOs on the horizon.


Two impressions from the GW2 Media Weekend Beta test. They are lengthy so I spoilered them:
[Show]
Guild Wars 2 closed beta impressions -- Elisabeth's thoughts


I had a wonderful weekend adventuring in the Guild Wars 2 closed press beta. It was tremendously rewarding to a fan of the game and the series to get to see so many of ArenaNet's promises and plans holding up to playtesting. There's a ton to talk about, and more interesting experiences than I can conveniently cover in one post, so let's get started by looking at some of the broad categories of what rocks about this game.

Combat

Guild Wars 2's combat system is everything it's supposed to be. I don't mean that it's everything MMO combat is supposed to be but everything that game combat should be. It is absolutely visceral and engaging. The emphasis on mobility is refreshing, and the visual element is excellently informative. It's very simple to get into a rhythm such that you're not even fully aware that what you're making qualifies as tactical decisions -- you start making combos without thinking about them beyond that they are things that make sense to do. At first, it's impressive that you and that Ranger can combo so well. Then it's totally natural, and you do it all the time, and it rocks. For example, my Warrior was in a mixed-profession group, running around at about level 12. It was easy to see when the Guardian threw up shields and to get behind them if I needed some cover. When an AoE field got thrown up, it made sense to shoot through it to see what got applied to my projectiles. In fact, I used Stomp on any friendly AoE I came across just to see what nifty things it did for my allies.

Healing

It's hard to feel like you're missing out with the lack of dedicated healing in this game. The role of a dedicated healer is simply not necessary. What's great is that this doesn't make the game feel like some desperate struggle to survive, at least not in any negative sense. In fact, in the time it took me to level from 11 to 13 on my front-line Warrior (doing only in-world events without any personal story), I never had to use my self-heal. I was able to be smart about how I handled engaging enemies, and there was enough support from my teammates to keep me from resorting to my healing skill.

For example, I had a signet utility skill that reduced incoming damage, the Mesmer I was grouped with would occasionally use Chaos Storm (which granted me boons), and the Guardian had some AoE heals tied into his skills. Although we encountered many prolonged fights, the multifunctionality of professions made it very easy for players' positions to ebb and flow with the battle. Because of that, if things are a little risky for me at the front line, I could drop back, swap to my bow, and do some damage from a safe distance while someone else stepped up for some mano-a-mano.

Given that, you don't really have a game where everybody's her own healer -- you have a game where healers are unnecessary because combat rewards intelligent play and there's an incredibly well-designed system of boons across every profession's skills. That said, I do have to say that my self-heal was in high demand during more challenging endeavors. In the level 30 dungeon, for example, it made a huge difference. However, it only made such a difference when used with strategic timing and positioning. Using your heal while standing in the middle of enemy AoE isn't going to cut it.

While we're talking about healing, something I find amusing is that every so often you'll encounter NPC healers. Not just folks who can regenerate health rapidly or have skills comparable to players' heals -- folks who return-75%-of-health-out-of-nowhere heals. There were some ghosts, specifically, whose only purpose seemed to be using one healing skill as often as possible, throwing a few half-hearted attacks while it was on cooldown just to keep up the pretense of offense. And golly, are they annoying! I feel like ArenaNet may have included them just to remind players that this is why it's awesome that dedicated healers didn't make the cut as a playstyle. There's no fun in trying to beat someone's red bar down faster than he can bolster it. There's no thrill to standing in one place and whacking at someone with all your strength in the hope that you'll kill him before his megaheal hits its six-second cooldown. Happily, those healer foes are few and far between (and they're mostly a rather charming throwback to the original Guild Wars, so my nostalgic self is willing to overlook them).

Grouping

This is definitely a game that I want to play in groups even if that just means playing with one other character. I love group combat, I love the social aspect of MMOs, and I love the way it affects gameplay.

For example, in the original Guild Wars, I could chat with people in my alliance or guild while partying with AI-based heroes and henchmen and still have a reliably great experience. Sure, there were some benefits (like PvE-only skills and better consumable management) to actually playing with people, but I could still get the social fun another way. In Guild Wars 2, while it's still preeminently possible to play, succeed, and have a kick-ass time playing solo, group combat is mind-blowingly rewarding. There's definitely something to be said for group dynamics and combos and such as a statistical benefit for playing in groups in Guild Wars 2, the real reason I want to do it is that it's just plain fun. More people means more challenging events, which is all to the good. More people means more ways of finding coordinating skills and more interesting ways to handle things. It also means more thoughtful gameplay. I was especially guilty, right at first, of using a Guardian hammer skill to send foes tumbling head over heels, and I had a knack for using it just after the Engineer I was adventuring with put out his glue-spray to immobilize foes, effectively knocking them out of that field of effect. When we learned to fight in a complementary style, it became a more rewarding experience.

The downed and rallying system adds a great deal to combat. Helping comrades rally feels very natural in the middle of battle, the downed state provides enough consequence without totally ruining fun, and the mechanic allows for some great tactical situations. I have a bad habit of trying to help people rally before taking care of the monsters that beat them down, something I'd advise against once you enter the world of Guild Wars 2. That said, strategic rallying can really turn the tide in big events. One of my favorite examples of this comes from a multi-group encounter with the giant Shadow Behemoth in the human starter zone of Queensdale. The Behemoth has some ugly AoEs that are so large they're hard to dodge out of, which resulted in almost the entire group of about 30 players dropping into the downed state. I was on my Warrior, which meant that I had a skill while downed that allowed me to rally for 20 seconds and then drop immediately into the defeated state. As soon as the AoE dissipated, I used that skill, ran around to rally a few people, and then retreated to a safe distance and collapsed into the defeated state. The few people that I helped kept up the chain of rallying (including a kind soul who revived me), and soon the entire group was back in action. It was beautiful.

That said, it's very fun to play solo -- it's just a different experience. I really prefer the social aspect of groups, but you still feel totally awesome solo. You have to be more aware of your aggro -- you don't have anyone on-hand to help restore you if you go down. It's not really a big deal for five players to get engaged with 25 foes because there's almost certainly enough AoE and team support going on that they can probably handle it. Fighting on your own, though, you might be a little more choosy about how many foes you take on all at once. It's still incredibly fun, and it doesn't feel hampered. (Disclaimer: Some content is not made to be handled solo. Elite events, with foes like the Shatterer and Tequatl the Sunless, are among them.)

Also, even with just the beta population, it isn't at all unusual to run into people as you're out adventuring in the world (as should be the case). The nice thing about the system that Guild Wars 2 uses is that it encourages cooperative play, even without being on the same team or communicating at all. If I see someone else struggling to complete the same task that I'm working on, it only benefits me to go help. For one thing, I'll get credit for participating, without taking away from his XP/loot rewards. For another, I like playing the hero, so it's nice to actually be able to help people out.

Leveling

Leveling is mostly something you're conscious of as you're fighting solo. That's when there's the most emphasis on being aware of what your level is in relation to the mobs around you and how many mobs you're tackling at any one time. Group dynamics change that significantly. While there's still room for caution, there's also a lot more room for maneuvering when it comes to how much a group can accomplish. A player a few levels below the rest of her groupmates will pretty much always have an option to hang back and let the higher-level players manage front line control while still contributing effectively to the team's progress. Particularly when you're in groups, it's easy to focus on fighting, rather than when you hit your next level. While you're obviously still cognizant of your XP bar, the pretty common idea of waiting anxiously for your next level doesn't really rear its head in this game.

For example, when I hit level 11, I unlocked my first trait point, which I needed to visit a trainer to use. Since I was having such fun running around with the group, though, I kept putting it off until "just after the next mob." By the time I actually got back to a city to visit my trainer, I realized that I'd leveled two more times. Another thing that helps keep that engagement is that even if you don't have a lot of bag space, bag management is actually rarely a problem. Whenever you complete a heart task for an NPC (there tend to be 10-15ish on a single map), that NPC turns into a karma vendor, which means that you can not only acquire cool stuff from them but sell junk from your bag, which greatly cuts down on the need to visit cities.

Of course, levels still matter. They matter a lot less than they might in other games (sidekicking and event scaling make sure of that), but there's a definite advantage to advancing. Higher levels unlock more trait points, more skill slots, and a general feeling of cool -- not to mention gear! -- so there's always a reward for reaching higher levels. It simply doesn't feel like a carrot that's danging just out of reach. Leveling, while still rewarding, has become a non-issue.

Story

As someone who loves rolling as many alternate characters as my sanity can handle, I love the Guild Wars 2 story system. Character creation includes several customizable choices: Human social class, Charr legion, past life events, personality style, and many more. Some of them are profession-specific, most of them are race-specific, and all of them have an impact, to one extent or another, on that character's path through the game. The Charr Iron Legion story is substantively different than the Ash Legion story, and the story of a Charr whose father was a sorcerous shaman is different from that of someone whose father was a loyal soldier. Story choices actually matter. Yes, you're eventually going to hit major plot points (for example, even though dungeons aren't part of the personal storyline, they're something that all players will experience as the same story -- that is, the story mode of dungeons will be consistent regardless of character creation choices), and you'll end up in the same place eventually (I mean, who would want to avoid fighting a dragon?), but you take wonderfully different paths to get there. There are real, significant choices that you can make, and they result in a unique, engaging story line.
[Show]
Guild Wars 2 closed beta impressions -- Shawn's thoughts

I think it's quite an understatement to say I've been looking forward to this moment for years. Having run a Guild Wars fansite for over six years, I think it all comes down to this. Of course, I've always loved the original Guild Wars, but when news came in 2007 of a sequel, it really made me both worried and excited. Will the sequel stay true to the original lore and feel of the game? Will it add to what was already such a perfect game to me, or will it "fix" things that the loud majority complain about on MMO forums?

Let me just say that this past weekend was not only one of the most exciting beta experiences I've ever had but that all of my fears about ArenaNet ruining the Guild Wars franchise were quickly squashed.

During this second closed beta test, press was invited in to explore certain racial starting areas from levels 1 though 30. The Asura and Sylvari races were locked for us, but all other races and every one of the classes were ripe for the picking. So these impressions are based on my experience with the Norn, Charr, and Human races, every class, and my insatiable case of alt-aholicism.

Overall, my time with Guild Wars 2 this weekend was full of discovery and astonishment, with only two bug reports and one crash. I do want to break down my experiences for you, though, as it's almost overwhelming to take the awesomeness all in one chunk.

Character creation

Creating a character is straightforward and versatile. There are choices for certain aspects of the body, but the sliders and predetermined choices aren't overwhelming. There was a big deal made by players of earlier demos about the choices you make when you first create your character and how that will affect your story, but you don't need to fret about making wrong choices. These questions help determine your background a bit (such as whether you were raised on the streets or born of noble folk), and the opening cinematic will come together based on those choices. It's a fun addition to the game that will carry through your storyline quests as you progress. For example, if you were raised by noble blood, the first NPC who will aid you in your story will be a snooty lord. Yes, he can fight, but he just hates to get his expensive clothes dirty.

Classes

I played through every class (deleting others to make room), but I soon realized that making a list of favorites would be futile. Each class is so different with its own unique features that there's not one that I wouldn't play to completion at launch. If I had to pick, though, I'd say Mesmer and Engineer are the ones that stuck out the most. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Mesmer fanatic, thanks to the Guild Wars 1 Mesmer, but the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer is a whole new ballgame. I could seriously write another entire article on just how amazing (and complex!) this class really is.

Questing

I thought quests and questgivers were easy to comprehend and clearly marked, and the cinematics made for a refreshing change from the norm. There are quests you grab from marked NPCs, ones you can get from random unmarked NPCs who may call out for your attention, and there are storyline instance quests that progress differently for each character, depending on other choices you've made.

In addition to these, there are events all around the world that open up when you enter a certain area. These are very similar to Warhammer Online's public quests or RIFT's rift tears or dynamic events. The best part about these events is that they can be solved multiple ways. As an example, there's an event in the Human area in which bandits are invading a farm. You can gain points by either killing the bandits, putting out the hay fires that they start, killing the Plains Wurms that erupt from the ground, or feeding the farmer's cows, who are starving all around you. There are also more specific (and less frequent) events that can happen in the same area based on how you progress through earlier tiers of the original event. For this farm example, the Plains Wurm Queen can pop out of the ground, requiring a small group to take her down for extra bonuses.

All in all, Guild Wars 2 takes questing way beyond the normal kill-ten-rats that we grew up with and has enough extras in there to keep us busy and entertained for a very long time. You're not going to want to rush through maps to follow your storyline; you're going to want to stop and smell the red iris flowers for a while.

Progression

Character progression trotted along at a fair pace, and I wasn't level 10 in 20 minutes, as often happens in MMOs that want to rush you to endgame.

You have your normal leveling progression, but there's also a running count on the map screen that shows you the completion percentages for the area you're in and the entire world. These are broken down by side tasks completed, waypoints discovered, points of interest found, and skill challenges finished.

Skills and items

The skills in Guild Wars 2 are determined by what item you have in your hand combined with what class you're playing. So a Thief with a pistol will have different skills than a Mesmer with that same pistol. In addition, you can combine weapons in each hand for skill combos. So for my most beloved Mesmer, I had a scepter in one hand and a pistol in the other. This combination gave me the Illusionary Duelist skill in slot 4, which creates an illusion (clone) of my character that unloads dual pistols on the enemies. Taking that pistol away and adding a one-handed sword gives me an Illusionary Swordsman skill that works similarly.

With each weapon you wield, you start off with just one skill, but using that item more often will eventually open up more and more skills on your bar. You can actually see the percentage of progression toward that next skill evolve as you use that weapon more often. So you can become proficient with a sword, but when you find an axe with better stats and switch to that, you're starting with one skill for that axe until you unlock the rest. This also applies to which hand you use, as well. You'll need to unlock main-hand and off-hand skills on each weapon where that's available, which then unlocks it on every weapon of that type for that particular character. It's not as complicated as it sounds, but it is exciting for the completionists among us.

Art and style

If you played the original Guild Wars, you know that gorgeous character models and landscapes are a staple. Guild Wars 2 takes that proprietary ArenaNet beauty and cranks it to 11. We weren't allowed to use our own screenshots for this particular reveal, but I can almost understand why. There's no real way to truly capture what Guild Wars 2 lays down in front of you, and until you can experience it for yourself, you wouldn't believe it. In fact, the human starting city of Divinity's Reach is hands-down the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous city I've ever seen in any video game.

Lore

I have to admit I'm pretty emotionally involved in the Guild Wars storyline. The original Guild Wars has only human characters, so you learned to love the world from that particular point of view. But in Guild Wars 2, you're playing as these other races you met in the first one. Granted, it's 250 years later, but there's still plenty of bad blood for the Charr over what they did to the Ascalonian homeland. So when I created my Charr character, I felt like a bit of a traitor.

The starter Charr area still has crumbling remnants of the Great Northern Wall that once divided the nations. Running around in Ascalon again is an experience that genuinely feels like revisiting home after being away for years. Everything from the River Drakes to the Skales to the Rogue Bull to the red iris flowers swaying in the wind -- it's all there. ArenaNet certainly doesn't disappoint in the nostalgia department, and long-time players are rewarded with so many references to the original game.

Unfortunately, I didn't do any dungeons or PvP, as my time was limited to very short sessions. I didn't spend too much time crafting either, but from what I could tell, it's a very "typical" crafting system with professions, node gathering, and item creation at designated work stations. There's also a feature that allows you to mix ingredients to experiment with new recipes. I say it's a typical system, but the recipes and item upgrades seem much more involved than a simple process of making an item with two or three quick parts. This is all quite an improvement over what we have in Guild Wars 1, which is really nothing more than a way to break items down into smaller parts (which is also still available).

So overall, I was beyond impressed with Guild Wars 2. I didn't even scratch the surface of what's available, but I'm very excited with how this game presents itself at this point. Come launch, I do believe Guild Wars 2 will rock the MMO world with a much-needed dose of what an MMO should be at this point in 2012. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the MMO you've all been waiting for.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

They havin' a ball with it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0jb2_mM4TM
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Asheran Mojomaster »

Kwonryu DragonFist wrote:They havin' a ball with it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0jb2_mM4TM
"Ahhhhhhhhhww! He loves you!"

That was pretty entertaining. The graphics don't look as good as I was expecting from other videos, but that could be related to his settings and 720p recording or just because its beta. Still looks good, just not as amazing as I thought. Regardless, the fluidity of combat and animations will make up for it if that is max.

I'm really curious as to what the high end raiding will be like. The PVP looks awesome, WvW sounds so cool, and I love the "questing" setup for leveling. No more running back and forth to villages and towns to turn in quests.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Asheran Mojomaster wrote:
Kwonryu DragonFist wrote:They havin' a ball with it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0jb2_mM4TM
"Ahhhhhhhhhww! He loves you!"

That was pretty entertaining. The graphics don't look as good as I was expecting from other videos, but that could be related to his settings and 720p recording or just because its beta. Still looks good, just not as amazing as I thought. Regardless, the fluidity of combat and animations will make up for it if that is max.

I'm really curious as to what the high end raiding will be like. The PVP looks awesome, WvW sounds so cool, and I love the "questing" setup for leveling. No more running back and forth to villages and towns to turn in quests.
I agree on all of your points. As a player of WoW, I'm kind of excited to see what Blizzard may lift from GW2. I'm hoping for even more "quality of life" improvements and hopefully the more open questing makes it's way into WoW in some form or another. Blizzard stealing the "rift" idea from Rift is the kind of stealing I like to see.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Kaldaur »

Very excited about this game, although it's crazy to think of how long the development phase has been going. Thanks for posting the Yogscast videos, I really enjoy watching that duo show the game off.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

First beta weekend is starts next weekend, April 27th.

You just need to pre order the Game to participate in all betas weekends:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/18 ... h-to-29th/

Of all the recent MMOs (Tera, Secret World, etc) GW2 is by far the most anticipated with all the work that's gone into its development.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Kaldaur »

Not to quibble, but it's a pre-purchase in this instance. Pre-purchase means you're putting all your money up front now, instead of a five dollar pre-order to reserve you a copy of the game when it comes out.

Seems small, but one gets you access to the beta while the other does not.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Here's link to GuildWars 2 Beta download:

http://cloudfront.guildwars2.com/client/Gw2.exe
Download Instructions

In order to participate in the beta, you will need to download and fully update the game client, as detailed in the steps below. We recommend that you begin downloading the client as soon as possible so you are ready for the upcoming event beginning this Friday at noon PDT (GMT -8).

Download the Guild Wars 2 executable file.

Create a file folder on your computer where you wish to install the game, and move the executable file there. This is where the game will save data whenever it updates. Note: If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, it is recommended that you either do not place the game in the Program Files folder or that you run the game as an administrator.

Run the executable file.

Allow the game to patch the necessary data from our file servers.

Enjoy!
Of course you'll need to buy the game and get an account setup to play the beta after downloading it if you haven't already. The site is slammed so the direct link might help peeps (about 15GB size)
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

For our first Beta Weekend Event (April 27-29), home-world selection and world transfers will work just as they will when Guild Wars 2 launches.

When you log in to the game for the first time, you will have the opportunity to pick any available server, or home world. If you choose to select a home world that is in a different region from where you purchased your game, you will be logged out for a short period of time while your account is moved to your new region. Once you have selected a home world, all the characters you create will play on this world and will represent it in our world-versus-world (WvW) format.

While you can change your home world, there is a limit of one world transfer every seven days per account and a charge of 1,800 gems for each transfer. A world transfer moves all of your existing characters to your new home world. Any subsequent characters you create will also play in this new home world.

When Guild Wars 2 launches, you will also have the option to play with your friends on another world with our free “guesting” feature. With guesting, your characters can play on any world where you have friends—with certain restrictions. For instance, you will not be able to participate in WvW while guesting.

While home-world selection and world transfers will be available during our Beta Weekend Event, guesting is not currently available. All players will be able to receive 2,000 gems free for the Beta Weekend Event, so you will be able to purchase a world transfer if you find yourself in need of one. Since the limit is one transfer every seven days, you’ll only be able to change worlds once during the Beta Weekend Event.

We strongly recommend that you plan ahead and choose your server before the event begins on April 27.
I like the way they're handling servers (worlds)/server transfers/"guesting" accounts where you can play with friends on others servers with the exception of participating in World vs World vs World events.

Servers:
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US SERVERS

Anvil Rock
Borlis Pass
Yak’s Bend
Henge of Denravi
Maguuma
Sorrow’s Furnace
Kaineng
Jade Quarry
Fort Aspenwood
Ehmry Bay
Ferguson’s Crossing
Darkhaven
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Eredon Terrace
Crystal Desert
Tarnished Coast
Steamspur Mountains
Blazeridge Mountains
Isle of Janthir
Sea of Sorrows
Deldrimor
Scavenger’s Causeway
Moladune
Eternal Grove

Euro Servers

Kodonur
Gandara
Kodash
Blacktide
Istan
Vabbi
Kourna
Fissure of Woe
Underworld
Ring of Fire
Far Shiverpeaks
Petrified Forest
Jade Sea
Desolation
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Fairweather Pure »

My interest has waxed and waned for this game over time. I am currently enjoying a major upswing in WoW that isn't helping. Post things that are new and cool please.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Fairweather Pure wrote:My interest has waxed and waned for this game over time. I am currently enjoying a major upswing in WoW that isn't helping. Post things that are new and cool please.
I'll try out the beta this weekend. This thread originated back in 2007. They've put a ton of work into the game. I watched various "behind the scenes/making of" videos that impressed me enough to consider it worthy of buying. I'm currently having a great time in Tera and am looking forward to Secret World beta on May 11th. So far, Tera has been a great time with it's action oriented game play. Secret World has me a little worried with some of the beta videos I've seen but the idea behind the game is also interesting enough to make it worth a look.

The original Guild Wars is a completely different game than Guild Wars 2 so I wouldn't base anything off of that.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Asheran Mojomaster »

So, what server is everyone going to play on? I'm about to pre-purchase I guess. I was putting it off because I was a little cash strapped, but I've stretched it well enough to spend this and be ok until next week when I get paid.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Need more time with this game. The grouping issues and overcrowding were so bad that I can't really tell how the game will be.

I'm getting a little spoiled with the excellent PC Controller support in TERA. GW2 looks like it would be perfect for controllers with teh way skills automatically change depending on your weapon/environment, yet there is no support atm. If you've never sat back on your fat ass and played an MMO using a controller, it makes for a much more relaxing/entertaining experience. You still have access to your mouse/keyboard for various things of the less used functions, but a properly supported/programmed controller can handle a ton of skills/etc, using the bumpers as the alt/ctrl type options to change or xyba keys, triggers, etc.

The game is also suffering from lack of optimization so even some with high end systems were running into performance issues.

Looking forward to what is hopefully a major patch before the next beta. They really need to fix the grouping issue. Evn if you are grouped with someone, you got kicked randomly to an overflow server and then your group would need to find each other again by zoning in and out of the city. They need to keep the entire group together and place that group in an overflow server while they wait for room on the main server. If a group member got kicked/D during an instance, good luck getting them back into the instance as they log back on and right into an overflow server.

Landscape/Cities, etc look outstanding.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Holy crap, the severs are so lagged it takes about 5 minutes to log onto the server and then after you hit a skill, it activates about 30 seconds later.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Kaldaur »

Guild Wars 2 will launch August 28th.

http://www.arena.net/blog/announcing-th ... aunch-date

It's about damn time.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Here's the online manual:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/manual/

It might help you decide if you want to give it a try. I bought the game a long time ago so at some point I'll play it. The beta had its issues but they've worked hard on working out the bugs and optimized. It's a high quality game for sure but it hasn't captured my interest yet. I still think most people would find Secret World interesting at least for awhile once it goes F2P at some point.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Zamtuk »

A bunch of my friends are getting this game, but I am really reluctant to get it. I have bought and played 5-7 NCSoft games in the past, and EVERY time they seem to stop being fun after a month (City of Heroes, anyone?). But, this game has been getting the type of hype reserved for Blizzard/Bioware games. So, from those that have played it (funny, I trust vv's opinions over my rl friends on gaming), is it worth the purchase?
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Fairweather Pure »

I'm on the fence, but leaning towards not getting it. I was semi-hyped at the beginning of development but that excitement faded considerably over time. I don't think I could deal with killing rats, bats, and spiders in yet another fantasy based MMO.

Like most games though, if I see it for dirt cheap I will try it out!
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

The servers came up around 9pm pacific last night. As timing would have it, I was able to log on right away, created a character with a friend. That all went smoothly but there were some serious network issues.

I had to do the newbie intro fight three times before I was able to get to the starting area. It didn't quite reset me as I kept all my loot and XP, but even after defeating the "boss" mob and loading the new area, I had to repeat it again.

I had added my friend to friends list and added to group but they weren't on the same channel or were in a different overflow server.

After that, of course, I was kicked into an overflow server. An hour and a half later, we still weren't able to join up to play together. Pretty disappointing as that was the #1 criticism I had (and many others had as well) of the beta. It creates a really bad first impression as the point of MMOs is to play together.

I noticed in the contacts there was a "join in" option for each friend but that only gave a network error as well. I'm hoping it's just the mass wave of people and at the very minimum, they've figured out how to at least kick all people that are joined in a group into the same overflow server. For now, you may as well be playing Skyrim or some other solo game as even on the same server, it's hard to join up. Major negative.

If things worked according to plan, you can join up with friends from multiple servers, create a party and play together as long as it's PvE content. I already have a friend on another server and the ability looks like it's there but couldn't be used last night. Your friends list is tied to your master account as well so any character you create will automatically appear on your other friends lists with your primary account name in parenthesis after the name. (good and bad I suppose if you're just looking to do some solo crafting or something and not be bothered. There's probably a way to hide a character)

Other than the monster negative grouping issue and a couple disconnects, everything else seemed to be ok. Disappointing they couldn't resolve the #1 complained about problem though before launch. 90 minutes last night before we logged off because of the inability of the game to get people in the same group on the same channel/overflow/whatever.

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They are giving away a free hat to celebrate the launch (not soul bound)

FUCKING SWEET! They poured tons of effort into their fantasy setting (it does look great) and then the mood it broken by people running around in baseball hats.

One impressive thing about GW2 is how fast the game loads and how fast you can switch between characters, etc. It's doesn't take long to get back on after a disconnect.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Aslanna »

Fuck Guild Wars 2. Just play EverQuest instead.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Asheran Mojomaster »

I'm loving it so far. Have my thief up to level 8 and having lots of fun with my storyline (though, I hope I can join the evil ones side!)

Tried some WvW and it was fun too. I jumped into a game where my server was backed into a corner, and we managed to fight our way out, take all of our stuff back, and start destroying an opposing server's area.

Who all is playing?
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Well, my rule of thumb for how great an MMO launch is judged by how much chatter I read about it on the Internet during the first few days and following weeks. Star Wars launched and pretty much went silent. Not a good sign at all. I heard all sorts of chatter over Rift, then nothing. Secret World? Almost nothing. APB? I think I only read about that on this forum. AC2, Tabula Rasa, FFXIV, Conan, (man the list goes on) simply never gained traction and that is a major turn off for me.

I hope the game is great and lots of people play it. Six months from now, when the shine of Mists of Pandaria is lessened and GW2 is cheaper, I will pick it up if people are still saying good things about it. Hell, I'll buy it cheap if people are even talking about it at all six months from now. An MMO is really going to have to work hard to get me excited enough for a day 1 purchase. At this point I just assume they all will fail or be ghost towns within 6 months time.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

I'm enjoying myself with this game but the grouping issues are very frustrating.

Last night I was grouped and we were clearing a location with a lot of mobs. I get disconnected...so I log right back on and ...yep, get dumped onto an overflow server even through I'm still grouped. Problem with that is that all of those mobs we just killed...are alive and kicking on the overflow server and I got waxed before I could take a step.

This needs to be resolved. I'm sure it will happen less frequently as the first mass wave of players dies down a bit but it really sucks for many reasons. Every instance you go into also pops you out of your main server so when you're done with the instance you get booted to an overflow...and not the same one as your group so you need to join up again. It's just fucking nuts that this would seem acceptable before launching a game since it is a very well known issue.

Other than that, I'm starting to dig a little deeper into the Guardian and Warrior classes. Both are versatile with multiple weapon combos they can go with.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Boogahz »

I must be the only person that remembers getting burned by the first Guild Wars.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Boogahz wrote:I must be the only person that remembers getting burned by the first Guild Wars.
GW2 has completely different game mechanics but how did you get burned with the original GW? That was a fun game although it felt more like a single player game. For its time, GW had awesome graphics and kinda unique henchmen you could use to fill party spots.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Boogahz »

It was a piece of shit game IMO. Textures seemed to be bleeding into each other with as much time as I spent stuck or rubber-banding. I already disliked the whole "click-to-move" style in games (think Lineage 2 was out at the same time), and Guild Wars didn't even do it well. Constant crappy disconnects and an inability to actually group with friends put this game on the DNR list for me. Hearing their same hype machine this time around is the same as what we heard before. It was going to be the game-to-end-all-games, the WoW-killer, etc..
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by miir »

I was also plagued by chronic rubber banding and disconnects when I played GW.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

I hate the click to move method as well. Did you play when it first was released in 2005 or more recently? Back in 2005, I throught it looked great and had fun playing it (for a month or two)

Just to be clear, Guild Wars 2 is absolutely nothing like Guild Wars. It will stand or fall on its own.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Boogahz »

I fell for the Guild Wars marketing-machine hype and bought it at release. I only recently threw out the coaster/disk which had become quite scratched.
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

Boogahz wrote:I fell for the Guild Wars marketing-machine hype and bought it at release. I only recently threw out the coaster/disk which had become quite scratched.
Well nowadays you can watch a thousand hours of you tube videos, streaming videos, etc. No excuses this time!
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Well, keep this thread updated with pros and cons. Launch day jitters are still a real issue and will continue to exist for the forseeable future for any new or popular MMO-type game. You can't really be too upset because that type of stuff is expected. If the game is still a fucking mess 3-5 days down the line, I would just shelf it until that shit gets sorted out.

On the plus side, you know a game is good if you continue to attempt to play it over and over despite the online connectivity and other launch day frustrations!
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Zamtuk »

Is it still point and click? My one buddy is all apeshit for this game, but he seems to be like this with all games (Star Wars, Secret World, etc.), I still have my doubts because of the first one and because it's NCSoft. I'm also hearing that all pvp is instanced and you get 'maxed out' and are on the same level as everyone else. If pvp is the focal point, as it was in the first one, why the fuck would I want to grind for hours for it to give me no advantage come pvp time?
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Re: Guild Wars 2

Post by Winnow »

It's not point and click anymore.

There's world v world v world and then there's Structured PvP. Two different things.

Structured PvP is what you would call the hardcore competitive PvP. This type of PvP is entirely based on player skill, teamwork, communication, and strategy. Professions will use default stats. All that you will be able to choose is your skill build. Here is a list of points and features of structured PvP:

Maximum 5v5
Retain profession and race
All players at max level
All skill sets available
Equipment stats and bonuses do not apply
World PvP is basically player vs. environment. It is considered the casual side of PvP and runs alongside the Guild Wars 2 world, taking place in a proto-reality between realms. Here is where you can take your character as a whole, equipment and all, and battle against players in other servers in where there is no limit on the number of players on a map. Here are some amazing points of world PvP:

Join immediately from character creation
No limit on number of players
Objective-based across four sub-maps with resources such as mines and mills
Sub-objectives for smaller teams
Build siege engines and walls
Realms may team up with each other to assault another realm
Level up your character to max in World PvP through experience bonus reward
Global rewards such as drop increase, faster energy/health regen, or bonus experience
Guilds may takeover keeps for themselves
Populated maps with NPCs that can be hostile or defensive
Both are completely separate from PvE. If you wanted to, you could completely skip the entire PvE world and level your character up in World v World
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