The Guild Wars 2 Flood Begins.

[80Maxwell08]

No Monks!?!?!?

Oh well, another four years of Elementalist =D

The Guardian class is supposed to be the replacement for Monk. I assume that Monk was removed because everyone was supposed to be able to heal themselves.

 

[Tanakh]

Any estimations on how much time would a fresh GW character need in order to get 20-30 Hall of Monument points if the player knows nothing about GW?

I bought the first one in a steam sale, and it's lying around but playing it is a little painful, dated graphics and mechanics. Still i would force myself if i were to find a guide or if someone tell me it's not that long.

 

[Aprilgold]

I've been waiting for this for a while, I just really hope it doesn't get pushed back.

One of the only games I'm excited for this year, cheers for the links.

Same, you can run around with a Flamethrower! What isn't grand about that? Plus just $60 and you're set. Hopefully in ArenaNet makes a shit load of money off of this it'll add another notch into the payment method of MMO's besides just Sub and F2P (which can be done horribly.)

You can run around as a 3 foot tall adorable animal creature thing with a gun and flamethrower. Nothing is more awesome.

So stoked for this, I played the original GW for years, and even today I jump in for some quick PvP. I cant wait for this, and will be purchasing this without a doubt.

Same here.

Anyways, this is probably the only game I will buy this year, unless Phychonauts 2 was under development for 7 years and the whole Notch thing was trolling.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Neither. I'm still on the fence until some real concrete info comes out (I don't trust "press beta" reporting for the same reason I don't trust IGN reviews).

I wouldn't call the YogsCast or TotalBiscuit 'press', the YogsCast got a bit lucky to get into that Beta at all. [sub]They cheated, shhhhhh[/sub]

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I saw all the YogsCast videos on their play time so far, and I have to say I wasn't all that interested before. But now it looks like a good time to jump onto the MMORPG bandwagon. Buying it day one assuming nothing puts me off until then.

 

[targren]

I'm worried about all the new things they're doing. GW was awesome to play with my not-particularly-hardcore girlfriend, but the new setup looks like it's leaving behind most of the things that made the original great. No vanquishing (can't do it without instanced zones), twitchy combat which usually scares her off, the gimping of "build wars" which was a lot of fun, no heroes...

 

[80Maxwell08]

I'm worried about all the new things they're doing. GW was awesome to play with my not-particularly-hardcore girlfriend, but the new setup looks like it's leaving behind most of the things that made the original great. No vanquishing (can't do it without instanced zones), twitchy combat which usually scares her off, the gimping of "build wars" which was a lot of fun, no heroes...

Except all of those things aren't great at all they made the original game trivial and boring. Vanquishing was just time consuming with no challenge whatsoever, combat was so boring save for some high end pvp and areas like DoA that there was no point to it, the builds basically made it a game of what worked and if you happened to choose wrong then you were screwed to infinity and heroes outclass people so many times over that playing with actual players will heavily gimp you.

 

[Eggbert]

I've been having wet dreams about this game for months beyond counting now. GIVE. IT. TO. ME. NOW!

That was surprisingly fitting, given your avatar.

I wasn't that interested originally, and the sub fees turn me off MMO's in general, but I'm keeping my eye on this, if for no other reason than that it has colours. And you only need to buy the disk. And some of the interesting things they're doing. And the fact that the team actually seems to care.
... I'll be in my bunk.

 

[targren]

I'm worried about all the new things they're doing. GW was awesome to play with my not-particularly-hardcore girlfriend, but the new setup looks like it's leaving behind most of the things that made the original great. No vanquishing (can't do it without instanced zones), twitchy combat which usually scares her off, the gimping of "build wars" which was a lot of fun, no heroes...

Except all of those things aren't great at all they made the original game trivial and boring. Vanquishing was just time consuming with no challenge whatsoever, combat was so boring save for some high end pvp and areas like DoA that there was no point to it, the builds basically made it a game of what worked and if you happened to choose wrong then you were screwed to infinity and heroes outclass people so many times over that playing with actual players will heavily gimp you.

I disagree. It's an MMO. EVERYTHING is just time consuming with no challenge in it. Even said High-End areas, which were a matter of playing the right meta builds and following a prescribed course. I have less than zero interest in PvP, and the initial focus on it was, IMO, one of Guild Wars' biggest failings. I like the aspect of going back to vanquish every area (though some were real bitches... looking at you, Majesty's Rest) a lot more than grinding through DoA thirty times just to farm gemstones, and the unfun "enhancements" to Underworld.

Heroes were great, since they made it possible to play the game when my guildies had gone to bed, rather than having to argue with some pain in the ass PUG monk why my needling-shot ranger turret was, in fact, a bad-ass build (back before they nerfed Asuran Scan into uselessness) -- My guildies were not the same sort of unimaginative simpletons who thought of builds the same way you seem to.

The new setting of tying skills to weapons worries me that it's going to become gear-focused like every other MMO out there, which is another change for the worse.

 

[80Maxwell08]

I'm worried about all the new things they're doing. GW was awesome to play with my not-particularly-hardcore girlfriend, but the new setup looks like it's leaving behind most of the things that made the original great. No vanquishing (can't do it without instanced zones), twitchy combat which usually scares her off, the gimping of "build wars" which was a lot of fun, no heroes...

Except all of those things aren't great at all they made the original game trivial and boring. Vanquishing was just time consuming with no challenge whatsoever, combat was so boring save for some high end pvp and areas like DoA that there was no point to it, the builds basically made it a game of what worked and if you happened to choose wrong then you were screwed to infinity and heroes outclass people so many times over that playing with actual players will heavily gimp you.

I disagree. It's an MMO. EVERYTHING is just time consuming with no challenge in it. Even said High-End areas, which were a matter of playing the right meta builds and following a prescribed course. I have less than zero interest in PvP, and the initial focus on it was, IMO, one of Guild Wars' biggest failings. I like the aspect of going back to vanquish every area (though some were real bitches... looking at you, Majesty's Rest) a lot more than grinding through DoA thirty times just to farm gemstones, and the unfun "enhancements" to Underworld.

Heroes were great, since they made it possible to play the game when my guildies had gone to bed, rather than having to argue with some pain in the ass PUG monk why my needling-shot ranger turret was, in fact, a bad-ass build (back before they nerfed Asuran Scan into uselessness) -- My guildies were not the same sort of unimaginative simpletons who thought of builds the same way you seem to.

The new setting of tying skills to weapons worries me that it's going to become gear-focused like every other MMO out there, which is another change for the worse.

Well then we are just going to disagree here.

 

[El Dwarfio]

This is a game I'll be getting regardless of anything... although I might wait a while after launch to let them polish shit up.

The original Guild Wars is the best MMO ever, the first game was possible with absolutely no grinding, and if you carried you character across, so were all the other games. If you stated a character in one of the later games you would need to grind a bit, but still minimally compared to virtually every other mmo.

Couple that with a couple of epic storylines, pretty much the best pvp of any mmo (Alliance Battles were awesome from the social side, GVG from the professional), the amazing customisability of the skill system and one of the best video game sound tracks of all time, well it really was a winner.

Me and my mates poured so many fun hours into that game, I'm kind of worried GW2 wont live up to the memories no matter how good it is.

[sub]So good...[/sub]​

 

[Berenzen]

[sub]So good...[/sub]​

I up your ridiculously good taste in music with this

[sub]I love Jeremy Soule...[/sub]​

 

[Tiger Sora]

I totally might get this game provided by the time it out and I've done heavy research on it. That it doesn't blow and that it would work on Bootcamp. Though I'm planing, once I have a job and cash is flowing. To save up for a good PC rig. I could get one now, but I'd like cash coming in before I go tossing away the 2 grand I have saved.

We'll see I guess.

 

[Filiecs]

Eh, it has nice stylized graphics, looks polished and it is probably going to be a decent game but having classes means that people will ***** about imbalance and having such drastic vertical progression means that lower level content will eventually become deserted. Two things I got my fill of from WoW.

Personally I'm waiting for The Secret World to come out. No classes, no levels, and lots of ARG's make me feel like it's going to bring something drastically different to table in terms of how MMO's can be made. The fact that its press embargo drops friday has also got me pretty excited.

This looks WAY better than ToR, however, and is free to play to boot. If things don't go out as planned for TSW (which I highly doubt) I think I might give this game a try.

 

[woodaba]

What I don't understand is why people keep saying this game is so revolutionary. It just looks like a polished MMO that does things differently. This is hardly the next EverQuest, is it?

The fact that it IS doing things differently is the revolutionary part. How many MMOs in recent times haven't just been WoW clones? By doing a whole bunch of things differently- if they do it successfully- it could have profound changes on the genre.

Its really a sad reflection on the state of the MMO market isn't it? Now I like a few WoW clones, SWTOR in particular being the most fun I've had in an MMO since Ultima Online. But, a genre that just imitates one game? Thats kinda terrible. Then, a (rather good-looking) game comes along, trumpets from the rooftops that it is making some changes to the MMO formula, and gathers a following which is kind of scary in its fanboyism and devotion.

Its sad.

You can say that about FPS games, RTS games, and, well, pretty much any other game. And really isn't all that true a statement. City of Heroes is different from WoW. Star Trek Online is different from WoW. Eve is in an entirely different league from WoW. Even the short lived Tabula Rasa and shorter lived Auto Assault were different from WoW, both in terms of game play and style. I think the only thing they shared was the questing system... which Guild Wars 2 has updated.

Sure there have been some disappointments, like Vanguard, or Warhammer (and to a lesser extent The Old Republic- the multiplayer dialogues make that game). But try not to be so cynical!

Besides, my own rabid fanboyism comes purely from the continuation of the Guild Wars story. It's the next chapter of Guild Wars! With steampunk! And bigger dragons!

What I don't understand is why people keep saying this game is so revolutionary. It just looks like a polished MMO that does things differently. This is hardly the next EverQuest, is it?

The fact that it IS doing things differently is the revolutionary part. How many MMOs in recent times haven't just been WoW clones? By doing a whole bunch of things differently- if they do it successfully- it could have profound changes on the genre.

Its really a sad reflection on the state of the MMO market isn't it? Now I like a few WoW clones, SWTOR in particular being the most fun I've had in an MMO since Ultima Online. But, a genre that just imitates one game? Thats kinda terrible. Then, a (rather good-looking) game comes along, trumpets from the rooftops that it is making some changes to the MMO formula, and gathers a following which is kind of scary in its fanboyism and devotion.

Its sad.

But aren't changes to the formula what we need? I for one was tired of not being able to do something because the "right people" weren't on when I was. No 'tank' or 'healer'? damn, guess we're stuck crafting today guys, or maybe some instanced pvp. Hey look I need to kill that huge monst-.... oh awesome some jackass just ran up and tagged it so I can't get credit.

The GW2 team is looking to put the MM back in MMO. It's no longer about trying to walk over others or get things done first so you don't have to wait for mobs to respawn. It's about getting in there and doing it because you'll reap rewards and get benefits just for helping, even if you don't need to do it.
It's about being able to play with whomever you want to play with, and in turn, those people being able to play the kind of character they WANT to play, without worrying about whether or not you can fill all of the classic 'roles'.

If they can pull it off, then it really will be a redefining of how the genera works. People actually playing together because they want to, not because they're forced to in order to get things done.

Can you play solo and do pretty much everything by yourself? Yes. Can you do ALL of it? No. But it's an MMO. If you want to do it all yourself, then go download skyrim.

I don't think it's sad. I think it's brilliant, and exactly what MMO's need. It's a nice kick to the nuts of the status quo, and I really honestly do hope it works out as they're planning. I can't wait for this game.

What I don't understand is why people keep saying this game is so revolutionary. It just looks like a polished MMO that does things differently. This is hardly the next EverQuest, is it?

The fact that it IS doing things differently is the revolutionary part. How many MMOs in recent times haven't just been WoW clones? By doing a whole bunch of things differently- if they do it successfully- it could have profound changes on the genre.

Its really a sad reflection on the state of the MMO market isn't it? Now I like a few WoW clones, SWTOR in particular being the most fun I've had in an MMO since Ultima Online. But, a genre that just imitates one game? Thats kinda terrible. Then, a (rather good-looking) game comes along, trumpets from the rooftops that it is making some changes to the MMO formula, and gathers a following which is kind of scary in its fanboyism and devotion.

Its sad.

Can we really stop using the "WoW-clone" term? WoW was nothing more than iteration upon EQ.

The fact is, however, that since WoW release there has been very little in terms of that. Few games that tried to slightly alter the mechanics usually were troubled by lack of polish, bad launches or simply releasing unfinished products that should remain in production for at least 6 months more. The whole market moved towards risk-free, casual friendly, family fun. Just like every genre over last few years really, because that's where big piles of money were to be found.

Somewhere along the lines however was a little under appreciated gem called Guild Wars. It wasn't really popular because it wasn't a full MMO. It was heavily instanced, You pretty much played it solo for most of the time, had very structured questlines and lack of open world. What it had however was what was said on the tin - Guild Wars. Ever since Faction expansion the game was one of best competitive PvP multiplayer RPGs. It had Guild versus Guild system, tourney system, Alliance Battles, Hero Battles and Competitive Missions as well as Minigames. That's where the fan-base flourished, and that's why there were so many devotees of the title as soon as ArenaNet announced GW2.

Now GW2 pretty much makes the game into full MMO, with large, open locations, dynamic quest mechanism with failure/success actually affecting the event and pushing it either towards victory or complete defeat, which in turns may lead to player having to fight back for the zone, and of course competitive PvP in form of tourney system (hopefully with spectator system added post-release) plus massive siege warfare based on 3 teams, which is what MMO PvP scene had wet dreams about ever since DAoC became a bit dated.

While the game surely will have it's flaws (simplified crafting system, simplified skill system from the already known ones) it still is huge step if not forwards, then at least sideways from the post-EQ trend that strangles the MMO market for over 8 years now.
ToR sadly failed to bring anything new to the table, and actually, from my experience, it pushed the genre back with it's heavy use of instanced content and completely meaningless and unfinished PvP

I don't think its sad that we're getting something different. Quite the opposite. I used the word "sad" because GW2 doesn't do that many things differently.

The Holy Trinity exists in GW2, the community and the devs have to stop denying this. Yes, you can switch roles on the fly. Yes, every class can heal. But if you think there won't be set roles in raids and the like, you're being very naive. Many MMOs have come and claimed the exact same thing, and each and every one has had the Holy Trinity.

The Public questing system (in fact the questing system as a whole) is just a copy-pasting of warhammer's system. It's not new.

Also, look on this very page. The type of rabid, almost cult-like fanboyism this game attracts is scary. I've seen youtube pages turn into massive beat-downs on one guy because he had the sheer gall to say he didn't like the look of Guild Wars 2. The community will defend this game to the death, even though they have not played, do not know how good it is, and, for the most part, are either being deceived, or deceiving themselves that this game is somehow anything else than an MMO with more freedom. If SWTOR is Mass Effect, this game is Skyrim. That's it. Not the "Next Big Step in MMOs" not a Revolution. It's the sad state of the MMO market that allowed GW2 to rise to prominence. Hopefully, it will cause more devs to think creatively. Or it could spawn a generation of GW2 clones. Who knows? But, please, for the love of god, if you wanna be a raving fanboy, wait until after the release? Y'know, WHEN YOU KNOW WHEN THE GAME IS GOOD OR NOT?

Also, guildwars1wasterrible /opinion

 

[Korten12]

raids and the like, you're being very naive. Many MMOs have come and claimed the exact same thing

Thiis invalidates anything as there is NO RAIDs.

And no there is no holy trinity, no class has a set of skills that would allow them to dedicate to healing so being a healer only, you won't be doing much.

The Public questing system (in fact the questing system as a whole) is just a copy-pasting of warhammer's system. It's not new.

Your trolling.

So in Warhammer, if you failed a public quest, a town would burn down and you would have to save it? Or if you succeeded you would need to push back the enemies back to their fort.

Or stop an army from invading and slowly taking over the zone and setting up outposts and expanding...

Yeah, sounds like Warhammers static public quests that held no coseqences.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Also, guildwars1wasterrible /opinion

As someone who still constantly plays GW I fully agree. The whole game is just a joke now. The dervish nerf is legendary in how bad it is. Simply put Dervishes before the nerf were good tanks, runners and spikers. Now after the nerf Dervishes are great tankers, the best runners in the game and amazing spikers to the point where Warriors are near useless. Heroes basically invalidate people in how much better they are than a normal player and the latest quest chain is literally the worst thing I have ever played in any MMO. Why in the hell did they even try to write some "killing is wrong" story after my character has literally destroyed an entire religion through murder, killed off thousands of pirates, bandits, thieves, and other criminals, massacred untold numbers of an enemy army who was being tricked into fighting you in the first place and just outright murdered tens of thousands of wildlife who YOU invaded. I assume the only reason it's still alive is simply because GW2 is coming and you can get rewards in Eye of the North through the Hall of Memories. Personally Winds of Change shook my faith so much I need to play the beta to see if I'm even going to get this. So far it looks good but looks mean nothing in games.

 

[beniki]

I don't think its sad that we're getting something different. Quite the opposite. I used the word "sad" because GW2 doesn't do that many things differently.

The Holy Trinity exists in GW2, the community and the devs have to stop denying this. Yes, you can switch roles on the fly. Yes, every class can heal. But if you think there won't be set roles in raids and the like, you're being very naive. Many MMOs have come and claimed the exact same thing, and each and every one has had the Holy Trinity.

The Public questing system (in fact the questing system as a whole) is just a copy-pasting of warhammer's system. It's not new.

Also, look on this very page. The type of rabid, almost cult-like fanboyism this game attracts is scary. I've seen youtube pages turn into massive beat-downs on one guy because he had the sheer gall to say he didn't like the look of Guild Wars 2. The community will defend this game to the death, even though they have not played, do not know how good it is, and, for the most part, are either being deceived, or deceiving themselves that this game is somehow anything else than an MMO with more freedom. If SWTOR is Mass Effect, this game is Skyrim. That's it. Not the "Next Big Step in MMOs" not a Revolution. It's the sad state of the MMO market that allowed GW2 to rise to prominence. Hopefully, it will cause more devs to think creatively. Or it could spawn a generation of GW2 clones. Who knows? But, please, for the love of god, if you wanna be a raving fanboy, wait until after the release? Y'know, WHEN YOU KNOW WHEN THE GAME IS GOOD OR NOT?

Also, guildwars1wasterrible /opinion

Okay, but you also have to admit your opinion is completely invalid until YOU'VE played the game too.

In the mean time, I going to get excited over seeing Gwen's descendants. I've known that girl since she was a kid you know? Oh wow, and we get to play as Charr too! By Balthazar's buttock, I can't wait to see what happens next!!

 

[9thRequiem]

Been reading / watching a lot of the beta impressions. They fill me with hate that other people can play and I can't ...

I'm worried about all the new things they're doing. GW was awesome to play with my not-particularly-hardcore girlfriend, but the new setup looks like it's leaving behind most of the things that made the original great. No vanquishing (can't do it without instanced zones), twitchy combat which usually scares her off, the gimping of "build wars" which was a lot of fun, no heroes...

Except all of those things aren't great at all they made the original game trivial and boring. Vanquishing was just time consuming with no challenge whatsoever, combat was so boring save for some high end pvp and areas like DoA that there was no point to it, the builds basically made it a game of what worked and if you happened to choose wrong then you were screwed to infinity and heroes outclass people so many times over that playing with actual players will heavily gimp you.

I disagree. It's an MMO. EVERYTHING is just time consuming with no challenge in it. Even said High-End areas, which were a matter of playing the right meta builds and following a prescribed course. I have less than zero interest in PvP, and the initial focus on it was, IMO, one of Guild Wars' biggest failings. I like the aspect of going back to vanquish every area (though some were real bitches... looking at you, Majesty's Rest) a lot more than grinding through DoA thirty times just to farm gemstones, and the unfun "enhancements" to Underworld.

Heroes were great, since they made it possible to play the game when my guildies had gone to bed, rather than having to argue with some pain in the ass PUG monk why my needling-shot ranger turret was, in fact, a bad-ass build (back before they nerfed Asuran Scan into uselessness) -- My guildies were not the same sort of unimaginative simpletons who thought of builds the same way you seem to.

The new setting of tying skills to weapons worries me that it's going to become gear-focused like every other MMO out there, which is another change for the worse.

The loss of heroes/henchmen is one of the things I'm wary of too - needing to group with 4 other people for dungeons. Although the change in the skill setup means that you're no longer in danger of, for example, finding that W/E you grouped with is carrying Meteor Shower, at the same time, that Warrior may decide not to ever dodge, or ignore reviving other people.
I guess I'm just not particularly optimistic of randomly grouped people. In GW and a decent selection of other MMOs, I've had some amazingly good, and some incredibly bad experiences.

I don't agree that everything is pure time and no challenge. The dungeons, particularly in Explorable mode, are (I've heard) hard in a way that forces you to know and understand your class, your team, and the enemy. There's also going to be a limit on how much you can pile on insane mechanics in complicated builds to waltz your way through.

I don't think you'll have to worry about the skills making things gear-based. Its been expressly mentioned that all weapons of a given type have the same skills, so a rusty sword of butter-spreading will have the same skills as the obsidian sword of godkilling. The devs have also said that, like in GW1, statistically top gear will be fairly easy to get and the big rewards will be cosmetic options.