Guild Wars 2 V2: GOTY 2017 or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Arenanet - Games

[QUOTE=Bullet100;35294014]Yeah you can switch servers but they set up limitations so that you don't do it for WvW or other PvP reasons. I know there is the ability to play with your friends on another server but I do not know anything about a fee for doing so. The server you created your character on will be considered your home server and no progress will be made unless you are on that server.[/QUOTE] If I remember correctly all PvE just continues on other servers as well, only WvW is strictly on your home server.

I don't understand why so many people are upset about 5 initial character slots. I don't know about you, but I never have 5 different characters that I switch between. Usually it's one main one, and a second or third that I'm interested in, but won't play as much as my main character. And if you're testing out professions, just create the character, play a bit, maybe go onto another one, and delete the one you don't want. Why have more than 5? And if you do, then sure, buy more character slots. No problem.

[QUOTE=That Ninja;35294260]I don't understand why so many people are upset about 5 initial character slots. I don't know about you, but I never have 5 different characters that I switch between. Usually it's one main one, and a second or third that I'm interested in, but won't play as much as my main character. And if you're testing out professions, just create the character, play a bit, maybe go onto another one, and delete the one you don't want. Why have more than 5? And if you do, then sure, buy more character slots. No problem.[/QUOTE] My thoughts exactly. Also most people will be getting into the pre-order betas. I intend to use those weekends to try as many classes as I can. [editline]25th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Bullet100;35294014]Yeah you can switch servers but they set up limitations so that you don't do it for WvW or other PvP reasons. I know there is the ability to play with your friends on another server but I do not know anything about a fee for doing so. The server you created your character on will be considered your home server and no progress will be made unless you are on that server.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Jessey;35294191]If I remember correctly all PvE just continues on other servers as well, only WvW is strictly on your home server.[/QUOTE] Holy Batman on ice skates, that is fucking awesome. I hope they confirm it all eventually.

It's because I don't want to erase something I have worked on. I will [B]never[/B] delete effort.

[QUOTE=CommanderPT;35294405]My thoughts exactly. Also most people will be getting into the pre-order betas. I intend to use those weekends to try as many classes as I can. [editline]25th March 2012[/editline] Holy Batman on ice skates, that is fucking awesome. I hope they confirm it all eventually.[/QUOTE] I think it was mentioned in one of TotalBiscuits videos.

[QUOTE=CommanderPT;35294405]Holy Batman on ice skates, that is fucking awesome. I hope they confirm it all eventually.[/QUOTE] They talked about it a bit in this blog post under 'Server Transfers'. [url]http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferguson-takes-your-wvw-questions-here-and-on-reddit[/url] [quote]Some of our more astute fans asked about the complications involved with switching servers and how it would interact with world bonuses. Every account has a home server where your characters are created. You can only fight for your home world in WvW. You can visit other servers, and while you are visiting, you still get the world bonus from your home world instead of the bonus for the world you are visiting. If you switch your home server, you lose the bonus from your previous home world and are not eligible for the bonus for your new server at least until the beginning of the next battle for the Mists. We may extend this disqualification into the next match or possibly even longer to discourage people from switching servers right before a battle ends in order to get an awesome bonus. You will have to pay a fee to change your home server (price undetermined), and that will also discourage people from server hopping to chase world bonuses.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Franke_R!?;35294416]It's because I don't want to erase something I have worked on. I will [B]never[/B] delete effort.[/QUOTE] Like I said. The beta characters are all temporary anyway? Besides the game lacks monthly fees so it won't kill you to spend ten bucks for a character slot or whatever it costs. [editline]25th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Docc;35294615]They talked about it a bit in this blog post under 'Server Transfers'. [url]http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferguson-takes-your-wvw-questions-here-and-on-reddit[/url][/QUOTE] That is awesome! ArenaNet have pretty much thought of everything. I can't fucking wait much longer to try this game.

I'll probably level a character of each class so I'll end up buying character slots as I go along.

I find solace in the fact that I can get stuff that people pay for through the time I invest in the game. I will definitely trade gold for gems and buy extra character slots and a few other things that catch my fancy.

[QUOTE=CommanderPT;35294631]Like I said. The beta characters are all temporary anyway? Besides the game lacks monthly fees so it won't kill you to spend ten bucks for a character slot or whatever it costs. [/QUOTE] I'd rather give Arenanet money based on cool cosmetic items or useful services, not mandatory character slots to cover all the classes I'm eventually going to make. Kinda wish they would just stock the regular version at $80 and cut out the middleman.

$80 for a starter would put off a lot of potential customers.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;35295153]I'd rather give Arenanet money based on cool cosmetic items or useful services, not mandatory character slots to cover all the classes I'm eventually going to make. Kinda wish they would just stock the regular version at $80 and cut out the middleman.[/QUOTE] I think the 5 character slots are for each of the races rather than classes seeing as classes don't seem to have much effect on personal story.

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I want to have a class max level 80 for each profession. [editline]25th March 2012[/editline] [img]http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6751/1332719436403.png[/img] lucky bastards

I wonder what the surprise is. Turn everyone into Grenth?

rabbit

[QUOTE=RawrBullet;35295791]I wonder what the surprise is. Turn everyone into Grenth?[/QUOTE] This [video=youtube;0VeojYbozu8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VeojYbozu8&hd=1&t=5m31s[/video] [editline]25th March 2012[/editline] [t]http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4131/1332720763157.jpg[/t] Someone found out how to remove the watermark. [editline]25th March 2012[/editline] Ranger Nature Magic: [QUOTE] [B]Nature Magic:[/B] [B]MAJORS[/B] Enlargement: Your pet is enlarged when you reach 25% health Strength of Spirit: 10% of your vitality is converted to power Shared Restoration: Heal nearby allies on revive Nature's Bounty: Regen you apply lasts 33% longer Spiritual Knowledge: Spirit buffs have a 15% better chance of applying their benefits Two-Handed Training: 5% increased damage with 2h sword and spear skills Concentration Training: Boons applied by your pet last longer Evasive Purity: Remove a condition from self and nearby allies on dodge roll Spirits Unbound: spirits can move and follow you Circle of Life: Create a healing spring on death Nature's Vengeance: Spirits activate their toggle skill on death Vigorous Spirits: spirits have twice as much health [B]MINOR[/B] Rejuvenation: You gain regeneration when your health reaches 74% Fortifying Bond: Any boon you get is shared with your pet. Bountiful Hunter: You and your pet deal 5% more damage while you have a boon.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Raidyr;35295153]I'd rather give Arenanet money based on cool cosmetic items or useful services, not mandatory character slots to cover all the classes I'm eventually going to make. Kinda wish they would just stock the regular version at $80 and cut out the middleman.[/QUOTE] This is the genius of gw2, eventually you want to make new characters. And by that time, you should be able to afford a free character slot with in game money. I bought slots in gw1, because after 6 years, those $25 were well were all the f2p gaming

not to mention im sure there's going to be a class or two you just hate and won't level to 80 anyways

[QUOTE=Newbienice99;35293404]Except that no one will have enough gold to purchase them if they are too high, so they will probably be fairly low for a while, and then spike when people can actually afford to buy them. I don't know why people would try to sell them that early on, but I'm sure somebody will.[/QUOTE] In star trek online they have a similar market where you can get their c-coins or whatever for in-game dilithium and vice versa, and the price at the start was like 300 dilithium per c-coin, and it went DOWN after a while, not up. Not that this will have the same thing, but it could happen. I don't know if the market in this game goes both ways though. If it is one way, and is only gold to gems, not gems to gold, then it will probably be different.

[QUOTE=thrawn2787;35296188]not to mention im sure there's going to be a class or two you just hate and won't level to 80 anyways[/QUOTE] The only class I can say I have no real interest in playing is Mesmer, but all the others I really want to try.

I thought to myself is there a class i hate, and i have to say i can't pick one, each one just looks so uniquely fun it's awesome i thought i'd hate the necromancer because i never liked the whole warlock type class but in GW2 i love it, looks like i'm buying more char slots.

Five character slots is one more than GW1, and it's way more characters than I'm ever going to significantly work on... Not seeing the issue at all.

They will most likely add 2 slots for every expansion pack like in GW1 as well.

[QUOTE=UnMute;35298675]They will most likely add 2 slots for every expansion pack like in GW1 as well.[/QUOTE] Only assuming they add more professions. They probably will, I just had to throw that out there.

Here's some useful feedback on the beta posted by a guy on reddit. Though I agree with pretty much everything he says, I didn't nearly get in as much time myself. Then again, I was playing the beta at a friends place, and staying at someone's place when they go to sleep is just rude. To read the comments, click this link: [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/rd4zj/i_played_18_hours_of_world_pve_in_the_beta_here/[/url] [quote=Reddit]My Beta Experience: I got the chance to play the beta for approx 18 hours. I played a Human Warrior to around level 18 exclusively in World PvE. I did not play any PvP or WvW or personal storyline. I did not run any dungeons (I tried to, the one I tried wasn't available apparently). I tried to make this post as detailed as possible (this is a throwaway). The post is quite long so I'm going to break my impressions down by subject for ease of navigation. I also really don't care about grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm not in English class right now. [b]My MMO Background:[/b] I was a hardcore PvE WoW player for about 5 years. I started at the beginning of Burning Crusade and quit just as the Firelands were released. I raided anywhere from 1 to 6 nights a week for at least 4 hours a night throughout my "career". I had 4 different level 85s (so I know what it is like to level in WoW) and had three high end raiding characters. I played a Shadow Priest for DPS, a Holy Paladin for healing and a Prot Warrior for Tanking. I was very much so a "veteran" raider. [b]The Environment:[/b] The world has such an amazing feel. The environments are vast and beautiful. The entire world feels alive and it is extremely easy to become entirely immersed in the game. The game's sense of scale does not really carry in the videos you've all seen. It is a world that truly has to be played. I don't think I can state enough how pretty this game is. The NPCs and players blend seamlessly. If it weren't for the names above the players' heads, it would be almost impossible to tell. The cities are GIGANTIC. I spent about a half hour running around just the central area of Divinity's Reach. The cities feel lifelike and busy even though there was a low amount of players in them. [b]Graphics and Performance:[/b] I played on two different machines. A high end gaming computer with a high end ATI graphics card, 12 gigs of ram and an i7. I also ran it on a decently specced laptop with an Nvidia card. The game has very high quality textures and lighting. It does not contain "HDR" lighting effects but it does have dynamic and moving shadows and the lighting was extremely nice for an MMO. I had framerate issues on the ATI card but they weren't as bad on the Nvidia card despite it being less powerful. Even with a framerate in the 20s the game felt very smooth. When there was a large encounter (such as the world boss I fought) the framerate dropped significantly. The particle effects are over the top but it only feels cluttered and chaotic when there are a lot of people casting at the same time. I had occasional hangs where the screen would freeze for a second or two then it would resume quickly. I believe that graphics optimization has not been done yet, so I would imagine that these issues will be reduced or eliminated by release. [b]Combat:[/b] One of the largest criticisms I've seen on this subreddit is that the combat is boring and mind numbing. I would simply say in response, you are playing it wrong. This is not a game where you try and find an optimized dps rotation. It plays COMPLETELY differently from WoW. I played a Shadow Priest in high end raiding (which has a complex rotation) and I will say I enjoyed the 5 abilities I had on a warrior FAR more than I did the what felt like 50 on my Priest. I cannot speak about any other classes but I did play with every weapon on the warrior. ANet did a fantastic job making each set feel completely different. Each weapon has a totally different playstyle and it really lets you find something you enjoy. I primarily played with a Greatsword and a Rifle, but again I tried everything. In this game you do not use every ability constantly. You use the right ability at the right time. If there is one target, you don't use your AOE. If there are many, you don't use a single target attack. If they are close, you don't charge. If they are far, you don't swing. This game is all about timing, combos and situation usefulness. It has a much more action oriented feel to it. If you enjoy rushing around, lining up shots to hit multiple enemies, dodging, blocking and positioning this game will be a blast. I literally played with the same weapon set for 5 hours in a row and NEVER got sick of it. [b]Enemy AI:[/b] As I primarily played PvE, I had a lot of exposure to the mob AI. The enemies get harder as time goes on. The starter zone enemies tend to have 0 or 1 unique mechanics each. As time goes on you start seeing 2, 3 and 4. This was at level 18. The group AI is very impressive. The enemies stick together extremely well. Ranged enemies try to avoid you. Bandits literally try and get behind you and doge your attacks. Warriors charge you and block your attacks. Each mob plays differently. You never find yourself in an area where there is only one type of mob. There is always a mix. For example: In a bandit cave there might be a few thieves, a ranged enemy with a torch. An engineer with grenades and a boss enemy that immobilizes and stuns you. It was rare for me to fight 1v1. It felt like I was always fighting at least 2 or 3 enemies at a time. I think that the mob AI was significantly better than what I experienced in WoW. [b]Dynamic Events and "Heart" Areas:[/b] Guild Wars 2 does not have a lot of structure. There are no quest chains. They do not tell you where to play at all. This can make you feel a little lost at first if you are used to playing other MMOs. I felt like I didn't know where to go a lot. After a few hours this feeling completely disappeared. I felt free to do whatever I thought felt fun. It was very fluid. I could say "Oh I think I'll go explore over here" and then I'd get sidetracked escorting a caravan of supplies. You simply play the game. It is an absolute blast. The way the PvE plays out is that you have "heart" areas that are persistent to you. These areas give you a few different objectives that you can do to help the area out. These range from killing things, to collecting items, to talking to people, to erasing graffiti off the side of buildings. Once you finish the area, it remains finished forever. There are ~15 to 20 of these areas per zone. It is a good way to tell when you've completed a zone. While you are doing these "heart" events, dynamic events pop up on your map. These are things like villages getting attacked or caravans that need escorting. Some are even giant world bosses coming into existence. People absolutely FLOCK to the events whenever they are going on. It was so much fun to be helping a little village out when a HUGE army of centaurs would rush in and tons of other players would rush over and help defend. The scaling was fantastic. I never felt like it was too easy to beat the events. One criticism is that the particle effects made it difficult to see what was going on when there were a large number of people around. I do hope ANet does something about this. The dynamic events are cyclical in nature, you can also fail them (which feels awful by the way). If you fail, there are consequences. Suppliers are unavailable, you may not be able to get your gear repaired, etc. It added to the feeling of impact on the world and it made it that much better when you succeeded. As far as difficulty of the PvE experience goes, the game is as hard as you want it to be. A level 16 vs 16 in a 1v1 fight is a little boring. To remedy this I played in areas that were at least 2 to 3 (sometimes more) levels higher than me and fought against more than one enemy at the same time. This provided a challenging and fun experience that was genuinely difficult. I died at least 10 times in my 18 hours of play and every single one was my fault. If you are skilled, you can fight monsters that are 3-5 levels above you. Any higher than that and your attacks start glancing and it takes forever to kill anything. Higher level creatures hit like a truck. It is not uncommon for half of your health to be taken in a single blow. You do not have to ever fight a creature higher than you if you don't want to. I simply chose to. Going back to lower level areas is still challenging. It scales you down to the appropriate level and you can still get your ass kicked. I forgot about the sidekicking the first time I went back to a lower area and promptly died. Before playing I was under the impression that you could also get sidekicked up. This was not the case, or at least it wasn't in the beta. This is probably a good design decision because it allowed me to make my experience more challenging by fighting monsters that were out of my level range. Just to add this in, Veteran and Champion monsters were a hell of a lot harder than regular mobs. They were genuinely challenging 1v1. [b]Travel:[/b] The transportation system in this game is the best I've ever played. It is fast, easy, balanced and it really made the game a lot more fun. They still encouraged exploration and travel on foot by requiring you to go discover the waypoints before you could fast travel to them. I thought I would abuse the fast travel system quite a deal, but I only used it occasionally. You really can wander great distances without even realizing it. [b]UI and Menus:[/b] I thought the UI was very pretty and very functional. There were some glitched or missing buttons but in general it was very intuitive. Some small things like the lack of a "Back to Character Select Screen" button were a bit annoying, but generally I had no complaints. I did experience a few UI glitches but a beta is a beta. [b]Controls:[/b] I found the default controls to be one of the weakest areas of the game. It is difficult to Dodge, Strafe, Move forward and backward, change your facing, and press 10 different abilities at the same time using the default controls (I used the mouse to move instead of the WASD keys). I would highly recommend rebinding your keys or using a gaming pad like the n52te. Some multibutton MMO mice may help as well. The game was definitely playable using the default controls, but it was not easy or optimal to do so. Thankfully rebinding is extremely easy and fast, so overall it wasn't a big issue. [b]State of the Game:[/b] The game felt like a beta. It had performance issues and a number of bugs. Not all races were playable and no area was 100% flawless. I encountered things like dead vendors (that couldn't be rezed), gates that wouldn't open, mobs that you could kill without retaliation, inability to equip weapons properly, missing voice dialog on some characters, and a handful of other small things. I made sure to report each and every one of these glitches whenever I saw them. I had the ability to submit screenshots of the different glitches and also describe them. Undoubtedly a few of these glitches will make it into the release, but I'd imagine the majority of the glitches will be ironed out. They were actively making changes while we played. They actually restarted some servers to make some balance changes. Overall I think the game will be ready in the next 3 or so months. Depending on how far along some of the content I didn't get to see was. Despite the occasional bug, I enjoyed the game immensely. The kinds of bugs I experienced were not game breaking in any way, they were just small problems for the most part. [b]Overall Impressions:[/b] The game was a hell of a lot of fun. The atmosphere was fantastic. The world felt alive. The combat was new and fresh. It felt innovative and new. I never felt like I was grinding or like I was running on a treadmill or like I was just trying to reach max level as fast as possible. I understand that my experiences were largely limited to PvE but I would buy this game hands down for the PvE alone. If you've got any questions I'd be happy to answer them in the comments.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Benstokes;35298440]Five character slots is one more than GW1, and it's way more characters than I'm ever going to significantly work on... Not seeing the issue at all.[/QUOTE] If you had all expansions, you had 8 slots. [editline]26th March 2012[/editline] Man, bullet100, on behalf of everyone on the thread, thankyou for your awesome input!

[QUOTE=Bullet100;35294014]Yeah you can switch servers but they set up limitations so that you don't do it for WvW or other PvP reasons. I know there is the ability to play with your friends on another server but I do not know anything about a fee for doing so. The server you created your character on will be considered your home server and no progress will be made unless you are on that server.[/QUOTE] If it's anything like the "worlds" in GW 1 you are free to switch to every instance worldwide of the area you are in.

People looking for a balanced view of the game should really go read [url=http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/]the Guild Wars 2 subreddit[/url]. There are a lot of people posting their honest impressions and it's nice to have unbiased sources talking about potential problems and the like. Of course it's still beta, and being turned off from the game because of performance issues in an unoptimised game would be daft.

so the beta's over...?