official Guild Wars 2

[dead.cell]

Well, that was fun! How many got to see the beta finale event? :D

[Twiddle]

Well, that was fun! How many got to see the beta finale event? :D

Got to see it...not sure what it is. I ran around with a group killing.. things. Then I got killed, and turned into a thing, and from then on everyone killed me over and over, and then the servers went down.

I'm not sure what was supposed to happen during that finale, but it wasn't fun for me :(.

As for the beta weekend.

I still had a blast. But I did find the higher I got, I was left going back a lot and having to grind to be able to take on the next zone/hub. I had to do a lot of the same "dynamic" events to stay on par with level almost every other level. I found myself logging out a bit more this time just because I wasn't in a grinding mood. Granted I didn't bother with crafting, nor PvP, but I don't feel as should have to, when I just want to do the PvE aspects. Either way, still had a fun time.

[Blackhearted]

Got up to 36 on my Ele, did catacombs story mode which was a bit challenging, and 2 paths of explorable catacombs which was a bit of a pain in the ass at times. But that's not entirely bad, it's nice to see some challenge since very few things on the world map can ever kill me.

Also decided to make a new character during the last handful of hours just to try out something new. Went with thief and was kinda surprised how much i enjoyed it. As i'm not usually too big on melee. And despite some people saying melee dies easily i didn't have much trouble staying alive there either.

[trag3dy]

Got up to 36 on my Ele, did catacombs story mode which was a bit challenging, and 2 paths of explorable catacombs which was a bit of a pain in the ass at times. But that's not entirely bad, it's nice to see some challenge since very few things on the world map can ever kill me.

Also decided to make a new character during the last handful of hours just to try out something new. Went with thief and was kinda surprised how much i enjoyed it. As i'm not usually too big on melee. And despite some people saying melee dies easily i didn't have much trouble staying alive there either.

Its troublesome for melee when there are large groups of people around increasing the difficulty quite drastically. They of course may have adjusted the difficulty scaling since the last bwe though. During the last bwe if there was more than 10 or 15 people around creatures in the area would 1 shot you.

[Wakers]

Melee was much more survivable this time around, I found. That being said, I didn't spend as much time in the big zerg groups.

[dead.cell]

Players could be corrupted and such. Then there was a big dragon and devourers roaming the plains to wipe everyone out. Some screenshots from around the web.

That said, could we get some screenshots rocking? I'm eager to see how you guys built your characters in terms of customization. I'll share mine later since I've already loaded this post with the event pics. :p

Melee was much more survivable this time around, I found. That being said, I didn't spend as much time in the big zerg groups.

Yeah, I think Guardian is the most sturdy of them all though. It's my personal preference of melee playstyle anyway (I'll always play the "paladin" role). The elementalist though is pretty badass; a literal glass cannon. Anyone played necromancer or mesmer enough? I was trying to get into them, but it feels like I'm not strong enough for how squishy I am. And the exploding illusions spell (mesmer) was quite a letdown for me too, given how little damage it actually does for killing off the illusions. Maybe I just need the right weapons for those classes though...

[Pupik]

I wish they'd add to the game a display of player's location in your team in WvW battles, even when they're not near you. People barely use the team chat and it's impossible to know where the other players at, when there's no big fight happening.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Tried a new mesmer, got to level 10, pretty stayed in Human starting area.

Really enjoyed it, I was doing good with 1 on 1, and some 1 on 2 was a bit challenging based on the mob.... getting creamed by 1 on 3 monsters (without assistance) was difficulty.

Got stuck on the early part of personal story at lvl 5-8 was impossible (and decided to not do it).

[mattmatik]

First day I got a human necro to level 6, having never left the starting area. Last evening got a human engineer to level 5 having never left starting area. So I didn't see anything - which I'm glad for. Seriously can't wait for next BWE/Launch. Didn't really like Necro, had much more fun with the Eng.

Messed with PvP for about 30 minutes, played a couple matches but my team was SERIOUSLY crap (I wasn't helping, either). I could see it being a lot of fun with some of my friends, though. I really like the approach to PvP by Anet. And I wish I would have tried out WvW, sounds insanely awesome.

One thing that bugged me: probably is just me but I felt lost early on, wasn't really sure what to do. In WoW, they kind of guide you through the first couple levels, introducing trainers and such but I didn't see that in GW2. Got thrown into the starting area pretty quickly and then just figured it out as I went. Not sure if thats intent or not. But, WoW has had a lot of time to figure that out as well.

[dead.cell]

One thing that bugged me: probably is just me but I felt lost early on, wasn't really sure what to do. In WoW, they kind of guide you through the first couple levels, introducing trainers and such but I didn't see that in GW2. Got thrown into the starting area pretty quickly and then just figured it out as I went. Not sure if thats intent or not. But, WoW has had a lot of time to figure that out as well.

It's pretty much the intent. You follow the main story line, but you also go out and do what you want to do, and the quests sort of come to you, with events and such. Makes it so much better than running to a town, grabbing 7 quests, then going in circles to each little place with that specific mob.

Instead, it's more like go to an area to do something, oh hey, these baddies are invading, kick their butt, get XP and rewards, continue on questing which involves multiple ways to complete the quest (seemed like the game gave you a choice of 3 things), and yeah. Also helps sooooo much that you don't have to fight over killing creatures, loot, XP being stolen, hell my friend who was level 12 or so came to where I was and was able to play with me just fine, without him being overpowered at all, both of us getting proper amounts of XP, and even items that were useful to his actual level.

It's really quite insane how well it all worked out. I'm truly impressed with the game mechanics. It feels a lot less restricting in just about every way. And then you have to remember that this won't have a monthly subscription either... Just blows my mind man. Blows my friggin mind! :laugh:

For future reference though, typing /help will sort of guide you too, if you missed any of the newbie notices.

[LOC Veteran]

So wanna play this already :( I keep missing out on keys, it sucks! If I had the money I'd totally preorder but it'll have to wait a few more months I guess.

[mattmatik]

It's pretty much the intent. You follow the main story line, but you also go out and do what you want to do, and the quests sort of come to you, with events and such. Makes it so much better than running to a town, grabbing 7 quests, then going in circles to each little place with that specific mob.

Instead, it's more like go to an area to do something, oh hey, these baddies are invading, kick their butt, get XP and rewards, continue on questing which involves multiple ways to complete the quest (seemed like the game gave you a choice of 3 things), and yeah. Also helps sooooo much that you don't have to fight over killing creatures, loot, XP being stolen, hell my friend who was level 12 or so came to where I was and was able to play with me just fine, without him being overpowered at all, both of us getting proper amounts of XP, and even items that were useful to his actual level.

It's really quite insane how well it all worked out. I'm truly impressed with the game mechanics. It feels a lot less restricting in just about every way. And then you have to remember that this won't have a monthly subscription either... Just blows my mind man. Blows my friggin mind! :laugh:

For future reference though, typing /help will sort of guide you too, if you missed any of the newbie notices.

That's probably the hang-up for me...the thought of little to no restriction :laugh: So used to games hand-holding me through. Don't get me wrong, I very much like and prefer the 'area' approach as opposed to going in circles like you said.

And thanks for the /help suggestion. I went through the in-game help and it offered just enough. On e of my confusions was that I did not realize if I changed weapon type (staff to scepter) that I would have to level the new weapon. Really makes you pay attention to what you are equipping. Once I figured that out it made sense and I enjoyed it but I can see that being sort of oblivious to the new player.

[astropheed Veteran]

All I did was PvP all weekend (I don't want to ruin the story for launch). I played for maybe 24 hours total and I found PvP to be a very well balanced joy. There is not really any class that totally owns anyone. Sure you're better suited to a Warrior or Thief if you want to own, but it doesn't mean that a well played Ele can't take you out (which, I did, a lot).I routinely placed first on my team with my Ele and ranked up tons of Glory with it, by far my favorite PvP class. I did well with my Warrior also, usually getting 2nd-ish.

PvP played perfectly, I didn't experience a single lag, glitch, d/c or anything. And when the teams felt unbalanced it was corrected either that match or the very next one. I wasn't a big fan of carrying my team and then being balanced to the other team and then basically scoring against my old score, but, at least it maintains balance, so it's worth it.

I only played Elementalist, Warrior, Mesmer and Theif in PvP. All of them felt like they could carry their own if you spent time with them. I spent the most time with the Ele, so I owned the most with that, but as I spent more time on my Warrior it too started to play very well. This game is very much about skill and not class which just makes me so happy! lol

I didn't play any of the PvE, so I can't comment on it. Except for the very first quest for each class, and I have to say that Melee kind of gets screwed on those large boss battles. I died every time a few times.

Overall, I have no buyers remorse at all, this game is absolutely perfect.

[Twiddle]

(Is there a way to make pictures smaller?)

Someone asked for some screenshots. I think the first one shown was an accident.

The second one was a "party" near the end. Surprisingly, there were atleast 50+ (maybe even 100) people in that one area, blasting fireworks, spells, skills, rockets, cannons, anything you could imagine, and my frames were nearly perfect. That is one thing I give this game ultimate props on. I have a modest 560Ti card, and an older AMD quad-core, so with the game on its highest settings, and barely getting bad frame lag, I was utterly shocked. I noticed in one area in Diessa, where you fight the ghosts with the ghostly cannons, my FPS sunk to an unplayable level. I restarted my game, but it persisted. When I left that area, all was good again. So, something to do with that area and the rendering for the ghost mobs and artillery really hit my computer hard for some reason.

[mattmatik]

Why does the level sometimes display (4) 20 like how it is in the above screen shot? It says 'effective level' in the UI, if I remember right but never figured out what that meant.

astropheed - thanks for the PvP review, well appreciated. That will definitely be a big part of my gaming time and I kind of regret not spending more time with it.

[Twiddle]

Why does the level sometimes display (4) 20 like how it is in the above screen shot? It says 'effective level' in the UI, if I remember right but never figured out what that meant.

astropheed - thanks for the PvP review, well appreciated. That will definitely be a big part of my gaming time and I kind of regret not spending more time with it.

In green is your "Effective Level". In white is your actual characters level. When you go to a lower level zone, it will 'de-level' you to that levels zone. At first it caught me by surprise, cause one minute I had 2,100HP and when I went back to Wayfarer I had 560HP. I thought I had a bug, but it was the game under-leveling me for that zone I was in. (So the content is still difficult I guess. A pain when I was just trying to clear up some stuff I had missed.)

What really ticks me off, is when it will do that when, I'm say, fighting a level 18 mob, but it has me underleveled to 16 or something (but I am actually level 18. Was rare but it happened sometimes).

[JorgeIvan]

I really hope they release it on June 26!

[Twiddle]

I really hope they release it on June 26!

No chance. As much as I hope for that too...

There is still 2 races and areas that haven't been (openly) tested. And level 35+ content.

I'm sure they are testing it in studio, and they did say they would like some things to be left a secret upon release, so I could be wrong about openly testing any of that.

I still think it is at least 2 more BWE's away from release. My best guess is September.

August is bad due to school coming back in, thus no student's or some parents having money to spend on a game due to school. September/October is realistic due to fund availability of consumers, and school schedules settling in. They had better get this game off the ground before Mists of Pandaria launches in November, though. (I don't know anything about MoP, but I'm sure it will be a factor. Somehow anything with WoW in the title is a factor still.)

So September/October realistically. Mid-to-end of July is what I am wishing for! :p

[trag3dy]

No chance. As much as I hope for that too...

There is still 2 races and areas that haven't been (openly) tested. And level 35+ content.

I'm sure they are testing it in studio, and they did say they would like some things to be left a secret upon release, so I could be wrong about openly testing any of that.

I still think it is at least 2 more BWE's away from release. My best guess is September.

August is bad due to school coming back in, thus no student's or some parents having money to spend on a game due to school. September/October is realistic due to fund availability of consumers, and school schedules settling in. They had better get this game off the ground before Mists of Pandaria launches in November, though. (I don't know anything about MoP, but I'm sure it will be a factor. Somehow anything with WoW in the title is a factor still.)

So September/October realistically. Mid-to-end of July is what I am wishing for! :p

We won't ever see the other two races and content past level 35 in any bwe. There is no reason for us to have access to that stuff beyond just wanting to see it. And like you said. They want to leave some new stuff for release.

I think if we don't hear anything by the end of the week we can safely assume the game won't be out on the 26th. I think (hope) they would be considerate enough to give people plenty of time to prepare for the early release.

[astropheed Veteran]

Actually considering how stable everything seems, I'm counting on a late July release. It's quite plausible and it's an excellent time for release. I'd go so far as to say early August but I highly doubt it'd be much later than that. September (and late August) is a bad month for kids going back to School, games are the last thing on Parents minds. October seems realistic as well, it's an O.K. month to release but I can't see it taking that long. November is bad for obvious WoW reasons. December would equally be bad since there are so many other things on wishlists and it's way too far away, seems unrealistic. Any later than that and they lied to us and they'll get way too much back-lash considering how many pre-orders there are.

My prediction: Late July/Early August or sometime in October.

[dead.cell]

I hope they could release by July, but I think that's just being too optimistic. The game is looking pretty solid, but they've still got certain things cooking.

I really hope Torchlight 2 comes out soon if GW2 won't be making a debut this summer... Otherwise, it's going to be a long boring summer for me. :/

[Blackhearted]

So over this past weekend, i spotted an arenanet employee out in the wild. First time i've actually seen one of them in any of the 3 public events so far.

[trag3dy]

No news about release this week so it's not looking likely it will be out in June. At least I hope they would give us more than 1 weeks notice before the actual release. My guess for late May or early June was incorrect, sadly. :rofl:

[Wakers]

It was never going to be June.

There's at least one more beta weekend event to come. It'll be August / September /October.

[Blackhearted]

It was never going to be June.

There's at least one more beta weekend event to come. It'll be August / September /October.

I'd wager they'll have alot of unhappy people if they somehow let it slip into Q4.