Guild Wars 2: It really is that good

[Imperius]

To my fellow escapists who have been wondering about GW2 and whether or not the game is actually good or not. I have one thing to say to you:
OMFG-FLAMETHROWER-CHARR-YES-KILL-IT-WITH-FIRE-MUWHWHAHAHAHAHHA!

Now. >.>
That's out of my system. I played the original Guild Wars and didn't really like it all that much. Sure it was nice that it was a buy to play game, but I was deeply ensconced in WoW at the time and not even the hand of God himself could convince me that anything was better than it.

Five years later, and I become this hollow shell of a man that dislikes most MMORPG's. I'd give them a try, but I found it hard to stay with them more than a month and usually found myself tiring of their mechanics within a day.

So Guild Wars 2 comes along and my friends bug me about it. I tell them that I don't think I'll like it but I'll give it a look nevertheless.

A month and two beta events later and I've officially become a fanboy. It's that good. The game seems to combine some of the best elements of Warhammer's open quest system, the graphic quality on the line of Age of Conan and a pretty cool crafting system I sort of got to tinker with plus the main story quest is very TOR-ish and cinematic. Plus the NPC friendly characters patrol routes and dialogue between each other (delivered with voice-overs) add a sense of community and a living world.
(Although I only made it to level 10, so I'm not sure if that changes later.)

Each faction has their own strengths and ways of thinking as well, so I think anyone will find a race that they like.

Personally, I was rocking a Charr engineer with a steampunk monocle, a tuxedo vest and a FLAMETHROWER.
Yes. That's right...and that was at level 7. It was like an awesome singularity, divided by zero >.>

I was "Charr"-broiling everything in my way ^.^

Anyway, its definitely worth a look, I haven't been this apprehensive about a MMO release since Wrath. I really hope the full product stands the test of time xD

I hope to see you all on the field.

Sincerely,
Tyrus Arcadian of the Iron Legion.
(Anvil Rock Server)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgz4wa9VN6k

 

[Dandark]

I was thinking of giving it a look at some point but I am not a big fan of MMOs and already have a few games I want to get now anyway. Still if I have the chance then this is probably the MMO I would get.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

urge to make charr engineer rising, rising...

being able to jump back in game thanks to the stress test last night made it all too clear how I really don't want to be playing any other game than this....and how ridiculously fast I got attached to my character in only 20ish hours of play.

I only had about 3 hours so I didn't really want to just do some random PVE so I took the chance to look at some of the systems I had ignored over the beta weekend... namely the crafting and trading/economy stuff.

I've never really done much crafting in other games so I don't have anything to compare it to but it felt pretty decent. as for the trading mechanics, they really took out all the grunt work and inconvenience out of the whole process...it's quite awesome.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It's a good game, there's no question. It still needs some work done on it in beta though. A little more spit and polish, and they need to work on how dynamic events scale in reaction to player population. Small pop events are extremely fun, but large pop events are just AoE spam and loud noises.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

there's definitely scaling issues right now as well as with the event trigger frequency and spawning frequency of monsters...trying to explore alone it's really hard to chop through a larger group as your first kill respawns while you're still trying to kill the 4th.

but i think some of that is set low on purpose for the beta...since the playtime window is shorter they want ppl to experience more things in general.

 

[Imperius]

Personally I like the large battles. They play hell with the frame rate sometimes but its good to feel like you are part of a massive effort. And yes you die quickly, this is true, but think about this: if you were in a real Late Medieval battle, with several dozen people around you: chances are you'd probably get stabbed in the back or the like >.>


Besides, I loooovvve pulling a large enemy group into my napalm field with backdraft.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Personally I like the large battles. They play hell with the frame rate sometimes but its good to feel like you are part of a massive effort. And yes you die quickly, this is true, but think about this: if you were in a real Late Medieval battle, with several dozen people around you: chances are you'd probably get stabbed in the back or the like >.>


Besides, I loooovvve pulling a large enemy group into my napalm field with backdraft.

They're an interesting spectacle but there is zero gameplay value once the numbers get too high. The dodge mechanic fails to mean anything due to all the particle spam, melee dies randomly and instantly, and all anyone does is faceroll their AoE. "Clusterfuck" is about the nicest word I can think of to describe it. It'll help once population is spread out a bit more, but as everyone tends to level in a single large wave it's definitely a cause for mild concern as it presently stands.

 

[WoW Killer]

I've played since the March closed beta, and yes I'm very much impressed with the direction ANet have taken. It's not as revolutionary as some people were expecting, but it is a very real progression over the 7 year old WoW gold standard. In my mind it is what a 2012 MMO should be. And then there's the price tag; there's no way on earth I would pay a subscription for what seems like a budget title like The Secret World when you can get a AAA MMO for a single purchase.

There are of course a few issues still to be ironed out (no release date yet, but I'm hoping it's more like September than July). The event scaling is something I've noticed too. When you're in a higher level area and the population thins out the scaling seems spot on, but in the starter areas all the DEs feel like highly unorganised and spammy raids. Also the visual effects do seem over the top when you have a lot of people together. I know TBs gone on about this and what he says gets repeated a lot as some sort of internet ritual, but he's dead right.

Spoiler: Spot the mob

 

[Emiscary]

I'm still not 100% on what I'm gonna play, but I know I'm gonna buy it.

Right now I favor Elementalist as a profession, simply because mages are just plain better than everything else.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've played since the March closed beta, and yes I'm very much impressed with the direction ANet have taken. It's not as revolutionary as some people were expecting, but it is a very real progression over the 7 year old WoW gold standard. In my mind it is what a 2012 MMO should be. And then there's the price tag; there's no way on earth I would pay a subscription for what seems like a budget title like The Secret World when you can get a AAA MMO for a single purchase.

There are of course a few issues still to be ironed out (no release date yet, but I'm hoping it's more like September than July). The event scaling is something I've noticed too. When you're in a higher level area and the population thins out the scaling seems spot on, but in the starter areas all the DEs feel like highly unorganised and spammy raids. Also the visual effects do seem over the top when you have a lot of people together. I know TBs gone on about this and what he says gets repeated a lot as some sort of internet ritual, but he's dead right.

Spoiler: Spot the mob

All those bears brings to mind another issue that needs work...Ranger pet balancing. Currently it's bears or GTFO. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to have, say, a bird, or a pig, or anything other than a bear.

Right now I favor Elementalist as a profession, simply because mages are just plain better than everything else.

I couldn't get into the Elly, despite really liking the flash of their powers and their general aesthetic. Way too many GTAE abilities, which felt awkward as hell in a game that features so much running around.

 

[Qitz]

Engineer Flamethrower is baws. Do you actually get a monocle? Because that's going to be #1 on my list of vanity gear to get. Tell me there's a top hat as well. Dapper Chap with a Flamethrower would be boss.

Course, there's also the Warriors Charr-zooka which is pretty bitching as well.

So much fun shit in this game.

There's also

Spoiler: HIM

 

[WoW Killer]

All those bears brings to mind another issue that needs work...Ranger pet balancing. Currently it's bears or GTFO. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to have, say, a bird, or a pig, or anything other than a bear.

I didn't get much time on the Ranger; I think I got to level 10 or something like that. I picked the cat as the starter pet and it spent most of the time dead. After a while I didn't bother reviving it between fights. The thing is mobs hit hard in this game, and you're not supposed to tank stuff in their faces. But you can't tell your pet to dodge, and with the way aggro works you can't really keep it safe either. I'm thinking maybe they need to split the PvP/PvE stats up and give the pets a passive damage resistance in PvE only. That way you've still got a choice between a tankier bear or a bigger damage cat in PvP, but so that all the pets are viable tanks in PvE. Still, I quite liked the Ranger despite this. Probably my second favourite class that I tried.

I couldn't get into the Elly, despite really liking the flash of their powers and their general aesthetic. Way too many GTAE abilities, which felt awkward as hell in a game that features so much running around.

And that's my favourite class! Staff is very AoE focused, which is pretty good for groups but not so great soloing. I find the Scepter the most useful weapon as you've got a good mix of AoE and single target. That said, when you first start off you're given a Scepter and just Fire and Water attunements, which are the most AoE focussed; Air and Earth are much more single target orientated. Until you get the other stances you're not quite as versatile.

I did an ability overview video for Scepter/Dagger, just as a reference more than anything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv00iH9ZD5o

See like at 7:02 how you can kite with Air. But yeah, I make reference in the notes to how difficult it is to hit with Dragon's Tooth in particular (see 1:54 onwards). Shatterstone is pretty difficult to use too.

 

[Berenzen]

Right now I favor Elementalist as a profession, simply because mages are just plain better than everything else.

I couldn't get into the Elly, despite really liking the flash of their powers and their general aesthetic. Way too many GTAE abilities, which felt awkward as hell in a game that features so much running around.

You can set it so you don't need to click your target when you activate your GTAE. I played around with the staff necro and it really felt fluid.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I didn't get much time on the Ranger; I think I got to level 10 or something like that. I picked the cat as the starter pet and it spent most of the time dead. After a while I didn't bother reviving it between fights. The thing is mobs hit hard in this game, and you're not supposed to tank stuff in their faces. But you can't tell your pet to dodge, and with the way aggro works you can't really keep it safe either. I'm thinking maybe they need to split the PvP/PvE stats up and give the pets a passive damage resistance in PvE only. That way you've still got a choice between a tankier bear or a bigger damage cat in PvP, but so that all the pets are viable tanks in PvE. Still, I quite liked the Ranger despite this. Probably my second favourite class that I tried.

I spent most of my time with Ranger, and pets are a mess right now. They all seem to auto-taunt and hold aggro really efficiently, which is fantastically powerful (with bears, anyway) in solo PvE and gets them instantly (and repeatedly) gibbed in high-scaling dynamic events. And while bears are rugged and can hold up beautifully to most same-level mobs, wolves and cats and birds all have glass jaws and go down too quickly to be of much use. The choice between a tanking bear who always gives you a mob's back to shoot at and a DPS wolf who is dead 95% of the time is really no choice at all.

And that's my favourite class! Staff is very AoE focused, which is pretty good for groups but not so great soloing. I find the Scepter the most useful weapon as you've got a good mix of AoE and single target. That said, when you first start off you're given a Scepter and just Fire and Water attunements, which are the most AoE focussed; Air and Earth are much more single target orientated. Until you get the other stances you're not quite as versatile.

I did an ability overview video for Scepter/Dagger, just as a reference more than anything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv00iH9ZD5o

See like at 7:02 how you can kite with Air. But yeah, I make reference in the notes to how difficult it is to hit with Dragon's Tooth in particular (see 1:54 onwards). Shatterstone is pretty difficult to use too.

Good to know the additional attunements make the class a little more mobile. I know you can switch your GTAE to autofire at your reticle, but that seems like it would come at the cost of precision. I've never liked GTAE, in any game. I like staying highly mobile in PvE, and when you're trying to drop a GTAE on someone and some fucking rock gets in the way, those little pauses can be the death of you.

I'll likely stick with Ranger for release. Pet problems notwithstanding, they really were a ton of fun. I liked the Guardian a lot more than I anticipated as well.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

I really want to try a double dagger air ele because those skills have a great look/feel but ya, those first levels as an ele where you're stuck with fire/water felt really painful

 

[Imperius]

Engineer Flamethrower is baws. Do you actually get a monocle? Because that's going to be #1 on my list of vanity gear to get. Tell me there's a top hat as well. Dapper Chap with a Flamethrower would be boss.

Yes, the steampunk monocle is one of your first items of clothing you can have as an engineer There is a top hat as well, but that costs $$$ to get from the vanity shop.

However, my char looked very prim and proper without it >.>

 

[Korten12]

Engineer Flamethrower is baws. Do you actually get a monocle? Because that's going to be #1 on my list of vanity gear to get. Tell me there's a top hat as well. Dapper Chap with a Flamethrower would be boss.

Course, there's also the Warriors Charr-zooka which is pretty bitching as well.

So much fun shit in this game.

There's also

Spoiler: HIM

LAWL that was hilarious. Love the random NPC chatter and stunts.

 

[Qitz]

Yes, the steampunk monocle is one of your first items of clothing you can have as an engineer There is a top hat as well, but that costs $$$ to get from the vanity shop.

However, my char looked very prim and proper without it >.>

Oooh, I'm going to need to poke around some youtube vids and see if I can find it. Unless you know of a pic somewhere, a quick Google Search only brought back the less awesome but still proper Glass Monocle.

LAWL that was hilarious. Love the random NPC chatter and stunts.

Yeah I love some of the conversations I've seen pop around. Watching them just wonder away after was funny itself though. It was like "Well, I just saw a guy blow up. Cool Beans."

 

[Imperius]

It's called the Panscopic monocle. No picture but here's a link

http://64.25.35.206/wiki/Panscopic_Monocle#Engineer

 

[Imperius]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B6HWJ706iw

This guy's charr has it on at the very end.