Guild Wars 2 this weekend

Anyone else grabbing this game? I preordered so will be on some this weekend.

This game has intrigued me as it looks pretty awesome. I probably will not get it right away however. Let us know what you think about it.

Sarge wrote:This game has intrigued me as it looks pretty awesome. I probably will not get it right away however. Let us know what you think about it.

I think I may get a couple of guest keys, I will let you know. I love the fact that it is F2P.

Like old GW right?
Buy it once and all is open to you - no purchasing packs and upgrades...

Does sound cool. Broke now and will wait a month or so to see how it goes - sick of getting screwed as a early owner, but do really want to try the game later.

Duck wrote:Like old GW right?
Buy it once and all is open to you - no purchasing packs and upgrades...

Does sound cool. Broke now and will wait a month or so to see how it goes - sick of getting screwed as a early owner, but do really want to try the game later.

yup, i think they will just produce "expansions" from time to time to maintain a revenue stream, but it uses the buy once model.

I wish more designers followed that or F2P with purchased modules of content you want to own/play with the Sub option for the hard core.

I like that buy once play forever .

I tried GW1. I didn't care for it at all. Just too much clicky clicky.

So I haven't had much time to game and when I do...executioner always wants to tear it up on BF3, but last night I was able to get a couple of hours in on Guild Wars 2.

Here is a few things I really like about the game initially:

The first 2 hours takes me back to what it felt like to play WoW for the first time. Completely epic and a blast to play.

Questing, I love the questing in this game...no more going to some guy with a ? over his head. They have different areas marked on the map that represent the area of a quest. Still the tried and true, go kill/collect/destory X things, but to get started I just have to run to the area and the quest is automatically in my quest log...then once it is done there is no turn in, you complete it, choose your reqward and move on.

The other nice thing about the quests is that every other one or so there spawned an "event" quest that everyone in the area could participate in...no talking to anyone, you just show up in the area that is marked on the map and bam you start contributing to the event.

Combat: Slower than FPS but faster than WoW/SWTOR. There is actual strategy involved with position. Even fighting weaker trash mobs you could use maneuvering skills/movement to avoid blows and position for abilities. I have one I can dodge, charge in with a skill, then follow up with another skill and then get a "combo" bonus. I find it more entertaining than WoW, not as clicky as Diablo 3 and not as fast paced as a FPS, but out of all the MMO's I have played it is one of the better combat systems so far.

Leveling is slowwww, but I have been reading that it speeds up as you level so the first 10-15 levels can be pretty slow.

If you are an achievement/stats whore you might like this game too. There are X/X locations on each map and it keeps track of what locations you have visited and some of those locations will spawn an event quest.

I don't know how long this game will hold me, but it will be on par as SWTOR held me (3 months) only half the cost. I see myself playing this for quite a while and at the monthly cost of FREE, I will probably keep playing it for a while.

I don't have any guest passes to check out the game so hopefully they do some trial accounts at some point.

I only have a couple of hours of game time under my belt so my opinion may change after a while. I know I have barely scratched the surface and I have a feeling the game is only going to get better as I get more into it.

nevermind

Thanks for the update Hadaka. I've been reading RPS's impressions and follow-up articles on the game and between that and your input, it sounds like it is pretty good.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/27...n-guild-wars-2/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/28/guild-wars-2-bug/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/28...rading-company/

Sarge wrote:Thanks for the update Hadaka. I've been reading RPS's impressions and follow-up articles on the game and between that and your input, it sounds like it is pretty good.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/27...n-guild-wars-2/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/28/guild-wars-2-bug/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/28...rading-company/

I will say in the 2 hours I played last night, I was kicked for small patches twice. Although this was annoying, I was only down for 5 min and the servers were right back up. It was also nice to see them actively patching for release today. I have a feeling it is only going to get better as time goes on and features/bugs are added/fixed.

Oh and coming of SWTOR with voice acted quest lines...the voice acting for the Charr is absolutely terrible...

Alright, I am now 2 toons in and loving it. If you decide to grab it, let me know. I am on DARKHAVEN server.

Here is what I like:

Linear Leveling - At first it is slow but around 20 the XP required to level is capped...so from 20-21 is the same amount of XP as 79-80. It speeds up as you move forward.

Event Quests - So you run around to these areas that have quests associated with them (identified by a heart on the map). The area has a story and the quest reveals that story. At the same time an "Event" quest may fire off depending on people and actions of people in the area...this event can be an actual chain of quests that have a story to them and take you to different areas of the map. These events can chain for a long while and progress you through some Map meta-event that is basically a large scale quest. It is actually really cool. If an event quest fails...then the chain changes and a new event will pop up that is a result of the failure. ie We had to help build a submarine in this lake...then we had to hold of the defenders trying to destroy it...we failed and the next chain was the NPC trying to repair the damage and defend the continued onslaught. It was really cool.

Builds - there is no assigned role...everyone can DPS, everyone can Heal, of course armor makes a difference and certain classes are better at certain things.

Grouping - If I am a level 20 and I am going back to farm copper ore in a level 10 area...my "effective" level actually drops from 20 to 10. I still get decent XP from kills since my level has been dropped. This allows me to group with lowbies and not roll through content but enjoy it. You could effectively level 1-80 in only a starter area if you wanted. It does not scale the other direction however.

Crafting - It is actually useful. One side note, you can actually level 1-80 by just crafting.

Exploring - There are things like vista's and rewards for uncovering all the points and "todo's" for a map. The rewards are actually worth while. This game makes exploring incredibly fun.

PvP - There is PvP everywhere. If you go to World vs World, bumped to level 80 stats. If you go to structured PvP you get bumped to 80, all abilities unlocked, all gear set to level 80. Structured PvP is meant to be a level playing field that rewards skill instead of who is the most geared. WvWvW you are stuck with your low level gear but are level 80 so it is somewhat entertaining but gets better when you get more powerful gear.

Combat - MMO combat that actually requires skill...you can actually dodge attacks and never get hit by an enemy if you do it perfectly. Basically it isn't just a Target and click spells combat.

Account Guilds - When you join a guild, it is at an account level...not a toon level. However, you can choose to "represent" your guild. If you represent, you are officially part of that guild and join the guild chant and can get access to guild stuff...you can join multiple guilds and simply switch guilds with a few clicks.

What I don't like:

Tutorials - Are there any? There is very little guidance starting out on how to actually play the game, however you can access the wiki by typing /wiki in chat and it opens up a browser (outside of game).

There isn't much to dislike in this game for me so far.

I am having a blast

I have to say that the way they handle grouping is the single best improvement I have seen to an MMO since I started playing them in 1996. Seriously, why didn't anyone else think about dropping levels back instead of penalizing?

As a slow leveling, casual player, this one thing would have meant I could have played with my friends in WoW, even though I couldn't keep up XP wise.

Simply Brilliant.....

Mentoring...
Your higher level characters are dripped back to the same level as the lowest level character and most of exp earned in the game while in a party from the higher level players are dispersed back to the lower level character - thus leveling them much faster when playing with higher level people in the group.

Something the DDO community has been yelping for - forever.

I hear the system works very well.

seems like some very cool improvements to the mmo formula. The game is definitely garnering lots of positive reviews and interest. Definitely want to check this out at some point.

FYI - Guild Wars 2 is sold out of digital licenses and deluxe licenses.

Apparently they only created X licenses until they could bring more servers online so if you were thinking about getting it...you will have to wait till they release some more licenses.

This review is outstanding!!! Watch at least the first 9 minutes. NSFW (audio)

Time to start saving my pennies.....

Does look very nice.
I get the feel of a little DDO with a massive mix of Warhammer 40K

The Jumpy part at min 6 had me rolling.
The Dragon fight.... why the hell had a camera on Bubba? who?

I'd be more than willing to give that a whirl, hell the swords converted to guns.. and the chick... she had a sniper rifle.

So just a little FYI - I am still having an absolute blast.

I must say that Arenanet is absolutely amazing. They are constantly patching the game...every day to every other day there is a new patch....and it is always a small one and only takes a few moments to patch. They are also listening to the players and making changes based on player feedback. They read the GuildWars2 Subreddit and actually fix common complaints.

ie.

They have 2 sections in the bank...1 for items and 1 for Collectibles (crafting materials). The collectibles didn't take up bank inventory and could be deposited from anywhere...even in the middle of nowhere.

A week ago to craft anything you had to move all your collectibles from the bank to your bags, then go to the crafting table to craft...players were complaining so what did they do....let you craft without dumping all the collectibles into your inventory....you could now craft straight from bank inventory.

Today...they have crafting thing called discovery...you basically toss materials into it and combine them to "discover" new recipes...this nets you huge crafting bonus and XP. When they made the change to the bank a week back they didn't make collectibles in bank accessible in the Discovery Panel so you still had to dump everything into your inventory....well today they listened to the complaints and actually made it so you can completely craft (including discovery) from bank inventory.

This is just 1 small example of how the developer is actually listening to the playerbase and making changes to the game....WITHOUT a subscription fee!

One nice feature...guilds actually have power and promote working together. As a Guild you can do research to get bonuses (ie +% XP, +% Magic Find, etc) to guild members. You do this by spending influence which is earned by guild members logging in, doing events, doing pvp, etc. The coolest part is that you actually get bonus influence by participating with other guild members. ie if I complete an event i earn 2 Influence for the guild...however if I party with a guild member and complete an event (quest) i earn 2 influence the other guild member earns 2 influence, and then we both earn 20 bonus influence each for completing the event together.

Anyways....I wish they had a trial going, but considering they are still selling like crazy it will be a while. Hope to see some of you on Darkhaven Server real soon?

been packing in the overtime here, maybe have it in a couple of weeks.

I've spent a good amount of time reading and watching videos of Guild Wars 2 and Planet Side 2 as I'm coming up on about three years since I've purchased any new game for my self.

And it looks like I have decided on GW2 - PS2 looks like three is no solo component all team work all the time, where GW2 you can go out and explore and generally be alone in the game doing your thing.

Hadaka - it has been 2 months since your last GW2 post - you still playing it? Liking it?
I think this is the game I'll be adding to the PC this year.

Nothing to see - move along.

Duck wrote:Nothing to see - move along.

I haven't played it in a while, but I mostly because my time has been limited and I have got a ton of other games....However, I will probably go back to it at some point as I had a blast when I did play it.

PS2 is Free to Play and on Steam so you won't actually have to purchase anything and releases tomorrow. It is definitely heavy on the team coop side for better game play but there are times I have an absolute blast solo and just heading to "The Crown" (constant area for action) or following a zerg from location.

You can even join a squad with ease and maybe half of them are actually working together and just join in with them. It really doesn't require you to group up, it just adds to enjoyment. It is very very easy to find a PUG to run around with.

same reply to your other post... I can do free.
Looks like I'm getting both.... one tomorrow.