[Gryllen]

what race should i start, will make one of each

Account name same as here Gryllen
1 char, human ranger Jaagup

This post has been edited by Gryllen: 27 April 2012 - 06:21 PM

[Illuyankas]

That was fucking awesome. Sorry Gryllen, B and people, for some reason the guild I made vanished on the second day and I have no idea why.

Still, I had an absolute ballin' time, especially with about half a server all level 3 trying to kill a level 80 boss monster rabbit.

Also,

[Lusipher]

I didn't get to play much this weekend, but I made a charr engineer named Bent and a human thief named Notapsalar on Henge of Denravi. Most of my time was spent in the battlegrounds, with some exploration, WvW and pve mixed in as well. I hope there will be more than 2 battlegrounds before too long; both were fun, but I could see myself growing tired of them. On the other hand, I guess that's what WvW is for, right? I explored the Black Citadel a little bit, but traversed nearly all of Lion's Arch, which was simply awesome. Adding the ruins underneath the waters of the bay was a nice touch and the entire layout of the city was really cool, with ships attached to the walkways up in the air and the diving board leading out from the lighthouse (I think). You were even able to jump off it and do flips and things while in the air.

Judging them solely on their beta weekends, I can tell already that I'm going to enjoy Guild Wars 2 much more than I ever did The Old Republic. There are a few things I didn't necessarily like about GW2, but overall it's more up my alley and I can't wait til the next weekend event and release beyond that.

[Illuyankas]

Just a reminder that the game build used in the beta was an older one that's tried and tested and Arenanet have already changed a lot of things people were complaining about - like, say, dyes being character based instead of account based like they said they would be - and they've proved themselves capable of listening to recommendations and improving things, so it's going to be awesome.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing it over the beta weekend

Was a lot of fun to play, the events system was really nice, though I am looking forward to it having a bigger impact (which they have implied it will). I love the way you can be doing something in an area, there may be about 5-6 other people in the general vacinity. Then an event starts, and 30 seconds to a minute in you realise that there are now 10-30 other players around. Event ends and everyone slowly dissapates.
It's awesome.

The only actual complaint I had with it is that you couldn't keep your party together if the area was full. Even if all of you got chucked in to an overflow server, there was a good chance you were in different ones.
It's an issue I am sure they will address before launch, if nnot by the next beta.
Having said all that, I like the way it parties you by account, not just character, and it keeps you partied when you log out. That was nice

[Lusipher]

My main concern with events is what happened with Warhammer's public quests. After the first few months, they were ghost towns. Granted, this was probably exacerbated by the myriad problems as well as the general lack of effort placed on pve, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that the same thing might happen in Guild Wars 2, if for entirely different reasons. I hope this is not the case, but we'll see.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

I think one main difference that will help stop that happening is their buddy up/down system.

When you go into an area that is not level appropriate for you, they adjust all your stats to the correct level. You keep all your powers and equipment and such, but otherwise... And on top of that, you get rewards appropriate to your actual unaltered level.
This means that there is no real detriment to going and helping out events in starter levels later on in the game, it's not a waste of time. And you can use characters you already have to quest with new characters friends make. When they start going bigger with the consequences, there'll be incentive for higher level characters to come help.
One other good thing about this system? It means if there aren't enough people around to help you win an event, there ARE other places you can go to play (it buddies you up levels too). Oh, and you can always guest play on another server or jump in WvW to change things up

It is still a risk, but I think less so, and even if it happens you have the ability to go to places with things to do.

[Illuyankas]

Actually, it no longer buddies you up levels, only down, though the rewards for your level remain the same - slightly improved if you're in a higher level zone kicking ass against level+4 monsters or whatever, but still, say, level 25 loot if you're 25 in a 25 zone or a 5 zone. However you can go to any of the other four starting regions to do events and renown hearts and get excellent experience as well as have an excellent experience (if you know what I mean).

[Lucifer's Heaven]

Ah okay, I don't mind that it doesn't buddy you up, I actually think that's a good move, but yeah, everything else still stands to help avoid the problem with Warhammer Online

[Illuyankas]

GUILD WARS 2 STRESS TEST ON MONDAY THE 14TH, 11AM TO 6PM PDT, ABOUT 6PM TO 1AM GMT ISH, FOR PREPURCHASERS

Looks like you'll be able to play with your characters from the first beta weekend, which just means I can finally get the flamethrower for my charr engineer (Tur Gidrod, owner of the bestest horns in the Black Citadel) and even more importantly redeem that dye receipt! DELICIOUS COLOURS

[Shiara]

 Illuyankas, on 10 May 2012 - 10:48 AM, said:

...and even more importantly redeem that dye receipt! DELICIOUS COLOURS

I got a dye. It was lilac. I was disappoint.

[Illuyankas]

Hey, I got swampgrass the first time. And about twelve colourful dye seeds. I'll probably just spend the rest of my free gems on magic plant food to bypass that whole 24 hour thing, when I'm not BURNINATING

[Shiara]

Oh hey, I am reminded that you haven't written up that post you said you were going to write!

[Trull's son]

I am considering purchasing this game at some point. I was wondering what you folks think of the combat system. I have been playing Tera recently, and its combat is the best I have experienced in an MMO. I'm speaking specifically of the combat dynamics (dodges, combos, and all that fun stuff). From what I have seen online, GW2 seems to involve quite a bit of strafing, which seems good, but it looks like players are constantly locked on to the target (please correct me if I am wrong on this). After Tera, which requires targeting and accuracy based on player skill, I would rather not play GW if the combat is a copy of WoW or SWTOR.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

I can answer that
Especially as I have played No Sensible Clothes Allowed Online Tera

Combat is definitely not as "action" style as Tera. Which I do think is unfortunate (even if I found Tera a bit clunky for an action combat system), as I love action combat, but no other MMO out to date is.

If you'll keep reading the rest of what I type, I'll say

Spoiler

yes, at it's core Guild Wars 2 is standard MMO combat.

However, it is fairly improved.

It does have lock on targeting, but it is not automatic hits if locked on. Missile attacks still have a movement speed, and can be dodged (most ranged attacks do fly pretty fast though).
Everyone has a dodge ability. It's an endurance bar and with my necromancer just under half got used for a single dodge, and it fill back up from empty in... about 10 seconds? (I don't remember exactly).
Dodge does get used a bit less in GW2, as not every enemy telegraphs every attack like they do in Tera. Dodge is more used for getting out of the way of special attacks (telegraphed big hits, getting out of enemy AoE fields, etc).
Pretty much every ability can be done on the move. Some will slow you while you cast them, and apparently a couple require you to be stationary, but I've yet to find one. Consequently combat is fairly active.
You do have an auto attack.

There is also a few other things to consider that aren't necessarily a part of the actual button pushing of combat in GW2 but do affect how it feels to play it.
There is a fair bit of strategy to your build. Every class can fill the roles of offense, defense and support, but you only get a limited number of power slots, so picking your combination makes a big difference to how your character fights and their success in combat (picking powers that work well together goes a long way)
There is more... point to the various abilities. Tera, like most other MMOs gives you a whole shit tonne of powers to use, but many of them are simply different names for essentially the same effect. GW2 powers have more...variation. There are lots of conditions and boons in GW2 and they all do different things. My Tera archer had a whole bunch of different attacks that did bucket loads of damage, and one attack that slowed the enemy. My GW2 necromancer also had a variety of attacks that do lots of damage. One of them also slowed, one immobilised, one drained health, one poisoned, etc. So in combat you cast an ability because you are after a specific effect, and it tends to be more reactionary to the situation than the "rote power order" in other MMOs.
This is furthered by the fact that there is no mana. With some small exceptions, the only thing limiting power usage is their cooldown.
And downtime is lessened by their "downed state" mechanic, and the fact that anyone can resurrect you even if you do die.

So while not action combat, it certainly doesn't play the same as WoW or TOR.
Also, it's easy to forget, that while it is an MMO, it's only the price of a standard game, there is no subscription fee. So as long as you get $60 worth of value out of it, it was a game well bought

[Princess]

In case you don't know yet, there's a GW2 stress-test in an hour from now!

[Trull's son]

Thanks LH, that comparison definitely worked for me. I'm glad to see that the combat in GW2 is something different, even if only for the addition of dodge, than the traditional MMO style. No mana bars you say? That is definitely interesting, and I bet it encourages gameplay that relies more on knowing one's class spells and timing, rather than customizing one's character to outlast an opponent's mana pool (looking at you, WoW 3s team healers).
I'll probably purchase this game at some point, even if I only play for a month (60$ for a month's worth of gaming seems fair).

[Illuyankas]

IT BEGINS

[Shiara]

Bastards. Can't play the stress test because I am at work the whole time

[Illuyankas]

FLAMETHROWERS ARE THE BESTEST