Guild Wars 2 Preview

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Are there race perks at all? Similar to wows?

There are racial skills [http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Racial_skill], but they're mostly just for flavor. They don't want to force anyone, even min-maxers, to play certain race-class combinations.

Also, the race you choose determines the basic part of your personal story. For example, two sylvari can have very different stories from each other depending on the choices they make, but they'll both be more different from a charr's story than they are from each other.

Don't know if they'll have unique racial emotes (like extend/retract claws for charr, or something), but I really hope so.

 

[if_then_else]

Are there race perks at all? Similar to wows?

There are racial elite skills (the last skill on the right). For example, Norns can transform into a werewolf, werebear, etc. Humans can "pray" to different gods (don't know their specific effects), Charr can use a Charrzooka, among other things.

Edit: Ninja'd. D:

 

[ckenny]

I am going to preface this with the fact that I played GW1 extensively and have prepurchased GW2 already. I've played a significant amount of mmos...

The game is fun, when I initially opened it up... I hated it. This game is being hyped like the second coming, and it does not deliver that level of quality. The events can be VERY grindy. Yes, my quest isn't to kill 12 boars... but the characters around the dam had to kill like a hundred harpies. Give me the quick kill 12. Not all of the events were grindy, but many were. Collecting the apples... ugh. I am sure this will be fixed after this beta, but the human starting area's xp gains were botched. You could not keep up with your story quest if you just did things normally.

The overflow system they talk about SOUNDS cool, but it is really a bad version of having different zones for areas. It isn't intuitive or easy to group up with your friends because of the overflow. also, there is no way to quickly switch between overflow and the main zone, or to know if you or your friend is in overflow. I truly hope this will be fixed.

I didn't enjoy the game until I put about 10 hours in (I was on my 3rd guy) and I grouped up with a bunch of friends and we just explored higher level areas. We were 5-10 lvls down, but in a group of 4 or 5 we were still clearing it fine. THAT is something cool, that many weak players can defeat a strong enemy. We killed the swamp behemoth thing... it was epic.... until the only loot I got was like a couple teeth. I had a lot of fun with my friends, but the game, as of now, is going to have a hard time keeping a lot of interest... no raids, no dungeons until lvl 30, and very grindy quests. My buddy wrote a review on it for his website, http://clicktorespawn.com/reviews/19/guild-wars-2-beta-weekend/ .... he curses a lot... the beginning isn't his finest work, but he does articulate some good points.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

I am going to preface this with the fact that I played GW1 extensively and have prepurchased GW2 already. I've played a significant amount of mmos...

The game is fun, when I initially opened it up... I hated it. This game is being hyped like the second coming, and it does not deliver that level of quality. The events can be VERY grindy. Yes, my quest isn't to kill 12 boars... but the characters around the dam had to kill like a hundred harpies. Give me the quick kill 12. Not all of the events were grindy, but many were. Collecting the apples... ugh. I am sure this will be fixed after this beta, but the human starting area's xp gains were botched. You could not keep up with your story quest if you just did things normally.

The overflow system they talk about SOUNDS cool, but it is really a bad version of having different zones for areas. It isn't intuitive or easy to group up with your friends because of the overflow. also, there is no way to quickly switch between overflow and the main zone, or to know if you or your friend is in overflow. I truly hope this will be fixed.

I didn't enjoy the game until I put about 10 hours in (I was on my 3rd guy) and I grouped up with a bunch of friends and we just explored higher level areas. We were 5-10 lvls down, but in a group of 4 or 5 we were still clearing it fine. THAT is something cool, that many weak players can defeat a strong enemy. We killed the swamp behemoth thing... it was epic.... until the only loot I got was like a couple teeth. I had a lot of fun with my friends, but the game, as of now, is going to have a hard time keeping a lot of interest... no raids, no dungeons until lvl 30, and very grindy quests. My buddy wrote a review on it for his website, http://clicktorespawn.com/reviews/19/guild-wars-2-beta-weekend/ .... he curses a lot... the beginning isn't his finest work, but he does articulate some good points.

Here's the thing about certain events being grindy, though: you don't have to do them. If, for example, you'd gathered a couple apples and turned them in, you could have said "This is really boring" and gone off to do something more interesting. When the event ends you'll still get credit for it, even if you're a hundred miles away doing something else by that point. You'll probably only get Bronze- or Silver-level participation, but it scales to how much effort you put in and is still a good amount. Same thing with killing harpies; you should only do as much as you want to do.

You can also travel to any of the other racial starter areas from the very beginning by using the Asura Gate in your city, and you can find even more events there.

The overflow issues are definitely going to be fixed. That was most people's main complaint about the BWE. (That and the lag, which is to be expected in a beta anyway.) The idea of overflow servers is amazing, though, so when they get the issues ironed out and, ideally, allow us to choose our own overflow server when we need to enter one, I really hope all online games will do the same from now on. So much better than queues.

As for the amount of exp gained, they've said they'll be adding more dynamic events. Definitely after launch, but some before launch as well. They want you to have a huge choice of things to do, and to be able to return to certain areas after some time and see them full of all kinds of events that weren't there when you first went through the area. (And since you get scaled down to the level of the area you're in, the content will always be relevant.)

 

[Kordie]

I am going to preface this with the fact that I played GW1 extensively and have prepurchased GW2 already. I've played a significant amount of mmos...

The game is fun, when I initially opened it up... I hated it. This game is being hyped like the second coming, and it does not deliver that level of quality. The events can be VERY grindy. Yes, my quest isn't to kill 12 boars... but the characters around the dam had to kill like a hundred harpies. Give me the quick kill 12. Not all of the events were grindy, but many were. Collecting the apples... ugh. I am sure this will be fixed after this beta, but the human starting area's xp gains were botched. You could not keep up with your story quest if you just did things normally.

The overflow system they talk about SOUNDS cool, but it is really a bad version of having different zones for areas. It isn't intuitive or easy to group up with your friends because of the overflow. also, there is no way to quickly switch between overflow and the main zone, or to know if you or your friend is in overflow. I truly hope this will be fixed.

I didn't enjoy the game until I put about 10 hours in (I was on my 3rd guy) and I grouped up with a bunch of friends and we just explored higher level areas. We were 5-10 lvls down, but in a group of 4 or 5 we were still clearing it fine. THAT is something cool, that many weak players can defeat a strong enemy. We killed the swamp behemoth thing... it was epic.... until the only loot I got was like a couple teeth. I had a lot of fun with my friends, but the game, as of now, is going to have a hard time keeping a lot of interest... no raids, no dungeons until lvl 30, and very grindy quests. My buddy wrote a review on it for his website, http://clicktorespawn.com/reviews/19/guild-wars-2-beta-weekend/ .... he curses a lot... the beginning isn't his finest work, but he does articulate some good points.

If it makes you feel better almost all of your complaints are being adressed... The fact that overflow servers wont let you change over to be with friends was a huge over sight, and if they didnt fix that before launch it would be a very bad move. Also the drop tables are far from finalised. I had some boss encounters with no rewards whatsoever, still a fun fight though.

I feel torn about the grind you mention. On the one hand some quests shoe horn you into doing repetative tasks, but most I found to have other options and more fun stuff going on around it. I too did that collect the apple quest in the human zone, I found it fun hitting trees to make apples drop and sometimes getting 4 apples on the ground other times getting a big spider in my face. There was a point where I felt like I was getting bored with it, and IIRC that was a dynamic quest, so I just left the area. Once other players added their contributions the quest ended and I still got credit. In that respect I love that you can join or leave dynamic quests and still get partial (or sometimes full) credit.

 

[Furrama]

I played this during the beta too, and my husband and I really enjoyed it. I hope everyone gets to at least tinker with it, biases off. The more to play with the merrier. ^-^

 

[ckenny]

I feel torn about the grind you mention. On the one hand some quests shoe horn you into doing repetative tasks, but most I found to have other options and more fun stuff going on around it. I too did that collect the apple quest in the human zone, I found it fun hitting trees to make apples drop and sometimes getting 4 apples on the ground other times getting a big spider in my face. There was a point where I felt like I was getting bored with it, and IIRC that was a dynamic quest, so I just left the area. Once other players added their contributions the quest ended and I still got credit. In that respect I love that you can join or leave dynamic quests and still get partial (or sometimes full) credit.

yes, you can leave those quests and still get credit based on what you did. I got to lvl 17... yes you have options kill this or pick that up, so I found myself going around a barracks and cleaning it since no mobs were around... it wasn't fun, I was just doing it to get the xp. They are expecting us to do these things till lvl 80. In regards to not having to do them... You kinda HAVE to do quests in an mmo... And you just can't do the story quests. I dunno, GW2 is a lot of promises that aren't fulfilled and most likely won't. I'll still play it... I wound up liking it for what it was, but my friends and I who all played can't figure out why the fans are being so rabid to defend it. ITS OK that the game is not perfect...

 

[9thRequiem]

I played in the last beta weekend and the combat feels so unlike a typical mmorpg.
No articles or videos can describe the depth lurking within the game's combat mechanics.
It's so hard to describe. lol
It just feels so organic and ridiculously rewards clever use of mobility, player positioning, and combos.
You feel involved and motivated to engage in more skillful play.

I felt exactly the same. In a lot of videos, the fluidity of the combat isn't entirely visible - the Escapist's video does a better job than most for this. Enemies really varied in terms of how you fought them; Ettins and Drakes being a good examples in that their devastating strong attacks were visible and avoidable, and if you played well you could take on some a lot higher than your level, and if you played badly they'd trounce you regardless of numbers.
Like you said : There's a level of excitement and joy in every fight that you can't really appreciate till you try it.

 

[JWRosser]

I'm really disappointed that, as far as I'm aware, there's no 'private' map, per say. What I mean is if a friend and I want to go out adventuring, just the two of us, we can't. Not to my knowledge, anyway.

Apart from that, I'm impressed with the game so far. I loved Guild Wars, and spent and crazy amount of time on there....I just hope that this lives up the the expectations...and can run on my computer well.

 

[2xDouble]

I'm really disappointed that, as far as I'm aware, there's no 'private' map, per say. What I mean is if a friend and I want to go out adventuring, just the two of us, we can't. Not to my knowledge, anyway.

There's always the Home Instance (though not much happens there) and the Personal Story "quests" you can help each other with, as well as Dungeon runs.

 

[Simonoly]

I've never played an MMORPG before, but I quite like the sound of this. I'm glad to see there's no subscription fee and they're going for a micro-transaction system.

I might put a pre-order in when there's a release date.

One of their slogans is "If you like MMO's, you should check out GW2. If you hate MMO's, you should really check out GW2"

Here is their manifesto


I'm just really excited for this. From it's inception 5 years ago up until release there won't be another game I can fully enjoy.

Gosh. Well colour me interested. I shall be following this game very closely from now on.

 

[Emiscary]

Still stoked. In the process of farming my Guild Wars 1 prestige items...

 

[Shjade]

The best argument is, as always, "Play the game and find out". ...and prepare to get stomped past level 10 if you play GW2 the same way you play other MMOs. heh.

Considering the way I play other MMOs is already "kite everything," I don't think "circle-strafe everything" is going to present a deep challenge.

 

[Tanakh]

Considering the way I play other MMOs is already "kite everything," I don't think "circle-strafe everything" is going to present a deep challenge.

And you will fail, kite is not really an option due:

- Mobs having snares

- Mobs resetting their aggro and their health much faster than normal

- Mobs usually attacking in packs

This game isn't kite friendly at all

 

[RedFeather1975]

I already mentioned I liked the combat first and foremost, but I wanted to share my second favourite thing from the beta weekend experience.

I love dynamic events over questing.

Back when I played Everquest 2 and WoW my time was often spent doing this...
Find and talk to NPCs who are quest givers. Read what they want. Do it to completion. Then come back and get my reward. If they needed 15 wolf pelts, or needed me to collect an item and bring it back, then that's what I had to complete to get the quest from sitting in my journal forever. And if I can't do it solo, then I had to spend however long it took to get other players to group with me to do that quest.

During the beta weekend I spent most of my time in situations just like this...
While searching for a waypoint in the area I stumble across an area that is under attack (like little dredge mole people attacking an excavation site).
I didn't know how long ago it started as I didn't need to be there when it starts and I didn't need to be there when it ends to get rewarded. I just jump in and choose how to thelp.
I found that I could plug up dredge holes with boulders to stop them from spawning. I could find and repair broken digging machinery. I could destroy the dredge tunneling machines they used to get to the surface in groups. I could kill off advancing groups of Dredge intruders and drive them back. I could even just spend my time looking for, and reviving, fallen Charr guards who would then help the fight. Even if we failed protecting the area, and even if I had left before it was done, once the event was over I got a grade of medal and rewarded appropriate karma/xp/coin.

The only thing I ever lost from participating was some time from exploring or heading towards wherever I was headed. And maybe armour repair costs if I died a lot during my participation. And sometimes I would die a lot, because in some cases it is quite challenging, but not frustrating. Which I loved.

The developers also stuck so many whacky thing hiding around. During that excavation event I mentioned, there were items lying around in certain parts of the site. Items like molotov cocktails, rebar pieces, sledgehammers and even mole whacking hammers. I could pick up any of those things and it would change the first 5 skills of my skillbar to whatever the items did.
You could even play whack-a-mole in certain areas with the hammer. The mole people would burrow up and if you whacked them with it quick enough they would burrow back down. It was silly fun.

 

[ResonanceSD]

The best argument is, as always, "Play the game and find out". ...and prepare to get stomped past level 10 if you play GW2 the same way you play other MMOs. heh.

Considering the way I play other MMOs is already "kite everything," I don't think "circle-strafe everything" is going to present a deep challenge.

Gw has kd's. Everything uses them. Spells, skills, attacks, shouts. You can't just kite.

 

[Dhatz]

WHYYYYY did we ever have to put up with the stolen killl BS in the first place?
cuz games are a mess.

 

[Cenzton]

I wish I hadn't played in the weekend beta event, because now my life feels empty without the lack of GW2. No amount of Starcraft or WoW expansion beta can fill the void it's left in my heart

My only hope for survival now is D3's arrival, which may do it for a while, but... there will always be that nagging feeling of "You could be playing GW2".

 

[Shjade]

Considering the way I play other MMOs is already "kite everything," I don't think "circle-strafe everything" is going to present a deep challenge.

Gw has kd's. Everything uses them. Spells, skills, attacks, shouts. You can't just kite.

And you will fail, kite is not really an option due:

- Mobs having snares

- Mobs resetting their aggro and their health much faster than normal

- Mobs usually attacking in packs

This game isn't kite friendly at all

And yet, looking at the combat tactics used in this very review video...

Fight #1: very straightforward kiting via backpedaling & rolling.
Fight #2: nuking a target that isn't looking at him.
Fight #3: hard to tell what's going on, but looks like stand-there-and-shoot-it aside from when he spontaneously blows up.
Fight #4: shooting a target that isn't looking at him; when it looks at him, reverts to fight 1 strategy (backward roll kiting).
Fight #5: more backward/strafe rolling.
Fight #6: ambush into what I assume is his full combo. No movement, nothing seemingly out of the ordinary for MMORPG rogue-style ambush of a solo target. He jumps on it, he unloads all his attacks, it's dead, he moves on to the next one.
Fight #7: stands around for a while, then throws a rock. >.>
Fight #8: alternates between "stand and nuke" and "roll to the side." "Don't stand in fire," anyone?
Fight #9: see Fight #1.
Fight #10: attempts to be Fight #1; is thwarted by architecture, so resorts to stand-there-and-trade-attacks like you'd expect to see in 90% of MMORPG's.
Fight #11: nuke while strafing/backpedaling.
Fight #12: group nuking down a few bandits with no apparent coordination, just unloading on them.

Yeah, you're right, I don't know how I ever got the impression that "shoot them while staying out of range" (aka: kiting) would ever be a valid strategy in this game. Truly, my eyes have been opened to the broad range and depth of tactical options necessary for success.

 

[Section Crow]

i haven't played a MMO since WoW about 3-4 years ago...

and i'd be lying if i wasn't interested in this one