[QuickTidal]

Don't shoot me, but are the graphics going to get any better for the Alpha release? It just looks like more of the same WoW style, and part of me wants to say that it doesn't look quite as good as the graphics architecture in SW: KOTR....I could be wrong, but based off those videos and screenshots I'm a little underwhelmed.

I probably just got too used to the gorgeousness of SKYRIM. Ignore me.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 01 March 2012 - 04:32 PM

[Illuyankas]

cerveza_fiesta, on 01 March 2012 - 01:25 PM, said:

I don't even know what to be for a class....graaa

I love caster classes and it's nice to be a healer because you can ALWAYS find groups, but there's something just inherently awesome about biffing people in the face with fireballs.

wait, after looking at your links Illy....what is the healer class? The Guardian? Seems that class is no quite so "dedicated" as healers from other mmos

Arenanet made the conscious decision to move away from the old 'holy trinity' of tank, healer, dps, each in specialised classes, in favour of having each and every class able to fill the roles of damage, control, and support. So there is no healer class, every single class has a selfheal skill slot (usually 6) and a bunch of other skills that do minor healing to teammates as a minor help. So you no longer need just so many tanks and just so many healers, you can rock up to an instanced five man dungeon with, say, a mesmer, three elementalists and an engineer, or three warriors and two guardians, or whatever combination you want (five Norn bear totem rangers with bear pets, guild name Bears Repeating [BEAR]), and they will cover everything you need to beat that dungeon. Assuming you're competent.

Hell, they even all have ranged options and the caster ones have melee options too, like the warrior can take a longbow and a rifle for Captain Sniper, and the necromancer can go dual daggers and be a lifeleeching madman. The elementalist has an elite that summons two fucking huge fiery greatswords, one in your hand and the other comes smashing down into whatever mob of enemies you picked it to, and either you or a friendly teammate can pick it up and go spinning through the mobs, and another that turns them into a fucking tornado. The warrior has an elite where he drops his weapons and goes on a rampage, kicking and punching like a loony, and another where he summons a bannner that buffs and revives fallen allies that he can either plant in the ground somewhere or carry around and beat people in the face with it using its own unique attack skills. The guardian has a skill while using a staff that throws up an invincible wall that can't be passed for a while, and a skill on the hammer that creates an impassable ring that can contain enemies, aka Thunderdome. The mesmer can both send a ball that buffs and debuffs allies and enemies, bouncing off all of them while messing around with a staff, or pull out a greatsword (in typical misdirection fashion the longranged damage option) that uses as its standard attack a fucking laser beam. The ranger can mess around with bows, of course, but he can also pull out a greatsword himself and murder faces or swing around two axes at once and bounce projectiles back and boomerang axes at people. The engineer has damage turrets, healing turrets, throwable elixers of healing or buffs or damage, mines, flamethrowers, rocketboots, and probably the kitchen sink. The thief has about a billion stealth and sneaky options, and also has the funky mechanic of initiative allowing it to chain skills without cooldowns in a burst (and by far the best major trait, where you perform a dodge roll and gain initiative, called Roll for Initiative) for all your backstabbing fun. The necromancer can summon a jagged horror every time he dodges, or a blood fiend that heals him with attacks that he can sacrifice to heal himself, or just build up his life bar and enter Death Shroud and do all sorts of dickery, before leaving that and popping his elite Lich Form, doubling his health and generally being pretty fucking hard to kill. I could continue with a metric fuckton more detail.

What I'm saying is there's no class that won't let you do anything you want to do and I'm as stuck as you are for what to play first. Also I want this game so bad.


@Quick: Most of these screenshots and videos are from the press closed beta, which had mandatory suboptimal graphical settings, but the graphics won't be as good as Skyrim for a few reasons, like dealing with the World Versus World Versus World battles which will be about three hundred people per map at the minimum, on the biggest maps GW2 can create, and four maps each for three servers to fight over for two weeks at a time; or making sure as many people as possible can play it without too much issue hardware-wise. They're banking on their unique art style to compensate for the necessarily lower graphics, and I personally feel it's stylised enough to cover it perfectly fine. Here's the link to their videos page, which has an old (OLD) video they made detailing their MMO manifesto (middle link top row, or it should be), which I feel covers a lot of what they are trying to accomplish. Give it a watch.

Also they revamped the sylvari to be more planty and less elfy, which is great and now they look awesome.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

I think someone is a little excited

But yeh, i am soooo looking forward to it. Heck even Shiara, who's not much of a gamer wants to play it so much, that she was sad because she had to wait till three hours after the beta sign-up was announced before she could actually sign-up

I am going to have quite a number of characters me thinks

And I thoroughly look forward to having a few fights to the death with you Sir Hate Chicken Actually I would love to join a guild with you, but for ping's sake I imagine we will be on different servers

[Obdigore]

I cant decide between Warrior or Elemntalist for my first character.

I love mages, but the Warrior looks like it looks and feels so visceral.

[Gothos]

I may look into this once it's in some 50% sale once people stop playing it

[Illuyankas]

Lucifer, on 02 March 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

I think someone is a little excited :pBut yeh, i am soooo looking forward to it. Heck even Shiara, who's not much of a gamer wants to play it so much, that she was sad because she had to wait till three hours after the beta sign-up was announced before she could actually sign-up :pI am going to have quite a number of characters me thinks :DAnd I thoroughly look forward to having a few fights to the death with you Sir Hate Chicken Actually I would love to join a guild with you, but for ping's sake I imagine we will be on different servers

Oh, not to worry - the only server exclusive thing is WvWvW, where you have a home server that you fight for and have the buffs relating from how well you're doing in that, and when you go to other servers and fight in their WvW you get your home server's bonuses. Everything else, open world, dynamic events, dungeons, hotjoin PVP, organised PVP, etc, you can do anywhere over any server. Also I could totally join your guild because you can join multiple guilds. You pick which one you're representing when you log in and you can change that while ingame and just roll from there.

Obdigore, on 02 March 2012 - 12:16 PM, said:

I cant decide between Warrior or Elemntalist for my first character.I love mages, but the Warrior looks like it looks and feels so visceral.

Could always go elementalist and take all the conjure spells, like lava axe or lightning hammer or ice bow or earth shield (skill 1 for that is a Captain America boomerang shield throw) and the fiery greatsword elite. Casty smashy.

[Gryllen]

Got thank you mail from Anet for signing up for beta, invites will be sent out soon so the first beta event is probably this weekend.

[Obdigore]

NDA, son. You technically can't even tell anyone if you get into the Beta

[Illuyankas]

PREPURCHASE ON APRIL 10TH

https://buy.guildwars2.com/

Standard game $60, Digital Deluxe $80, Collector's Edition $150, buying any of them guarantees entry into closed betas after that date and an advanced start three days before official release.

Think I'll probably get the Deluxe, looking at the bonuses they give. Or the standard and get the goodies out of the cashshop later.

[sappers rule]

is it wrong of me to really want to get the collectors edition even with the price?

This post has been edited by sappers rule: 13 March 2012 - 07:15 PM

[Shiara]

I wonder if there will be any regional restrictions, ie. if there would be a problem with an Australian pre-ordering the game - it's not addressed in the FAQ...

[Obdigore]

They have different ordering methods for US and EU, so I would guess so.

As for Aussies, I see nothing about you guys getting your own servers.

I would suggest emailing them.

[Illuyankas]

BUY YOUR GUILD WARS 2 PREPURCHASE HERE, ME BUCKOS

[Lucifer's Heaven]

I was waiting for you to post. Am surprised it took you so long
And don't worry, me and Shiara are on top of it

[Illuyankas]

First Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event (the ones every month that you get automatic access to for prepurchasing) is from the 27th to the 29th of April. Hold onto your butts!

[Obdigore]

Illuyankas, on 19 April 2012 - 12:48 AM, said:

First Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event (the ones every month that you get automatic access to for prepurchasing) is from the 27th to the 29th of April. Hold onto your butts!

Anus clenched appropriately. Lets hope for a pretty bug-free weekend and a relaxing of the NDA so we can talk about it without being cattle-prodded.

Edit: So I just saw that Anet said there would be no NDA associated with the pre-purchase beta events, so... PREPARE FOR A DELUGE.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 19 April 2012 - 05:23 AM

[Illuyankas]

EMAILS HAVE BEEN SENT OUT FOR CLIENT DOWNLOADING

I installed the client, added my login details and everything is ready for Friday! Of course, I need to fix the hole in my desk made by my RAGING ERECTION CAUSED JUST BY THE LOGIN SCREEN but I can find planks anywhere.

[Obdigore]

Client has been downloaded and patched.

[Shiara]

You can hop on the forums and check out the currently known issues to prep for the beta if you want

[cerveza_fiesta]

NISE!

Would like to check this out too. Wish I had the time to sink a weekend into video games anymore

If I did, GW2 would be my choice for sure.