Played the whole beta weekend and aswell as the previous two, loved them all and the last one just topped it off. The finale event they held for the last hour of the beta weekend was amazing... it was The Hunger Games! Yep thats right, they made a Hunger Games PvP system for all the servers and i cant be bothered explaining how it all worked, just youtube it to see, and you will get it,
The game is just beyond amazing, it truly has everything for everyone. From insanely casual to hardcore competitive content. I really don't see how anyone cannot want to play this game.
Firstly there is the the personal story. I did a thorough run through of the charr and asura starter stories, and wow! There is so much variation and well presented storytelling going on, at times I was so enthralled that I had to remind myself that the game is actually an MMO as well.
Then there are the hearts and events. I'm amazed how well they go hand in hand. Hearts are little things that are happening around the zone, like the charr are building in an area, so you can detonate tree stumps, or grenade wasp nests out of trees, or just drive away the local fire legion trouble makers.
Then there are events that happen all around, for instance, while I was cleaning up around the charr camp, a large group of flame legion attacked the encampment. We drove them off, but the structures suffered a bit of damage. So, the lead engineer at the camp went off looking for scrap metal to fix the damage. You can pickup pieces lying around to give him a hand, after which he will repair the camp. taking part in this event actually fills your renown heart as well.
Then there are mini games. I joined in the keg brawl and it was so much fun. There are two teams on a frozen lake, and two brewers on opposite ends. Kegs keep appearing in the middle of the lake, and you need to get them to your brewer. Players without kegs can knock players over, or kick them, or stomp to trip opponents. Meanwhile, when you have a keg you can spill some on the ground to slip pursuers, or bash them over the head with the keg, or punt it, or take a sip for a speed boost.
There was so much to do. At one stage I was just standing around, not sure what to do next. Then, an area announcement stated that the lionguard are prepping to invade a norn battle camp. It was a two-pronged attack to first take the towers, then we cleared the center and had to occupy it for a minute. Then a large norn beast appeared, and about twenty of us fought for almost ten minutes to kill the thing.
That's one example of how small events kept building into large scale fun-fests.
Unfortunately I didn't get to try WvW. I really, really wanted to, but had a bad stomach bug which had me out of commission half the weekend. It looks great to, and I've heard great things.
Likewise, I didn't get to level 30, so I couldn't try out the Ascalonian Catacombs, the first dungeon in the game. The videos looked great though, and I'm really bummed that I wouldn't try out these two aspects of the game.
What I can say is, the combat is smooth, fast, and frenetic. You need to stay aware of the battlefield, and know what your skills do. just standing on one spot, spamming the no.1 key will get you killing. The skills are varied, and the professions are so diverse. Even a single profession can be played so differently between two players.
Everything about this game is so polished. It's so natural to play, and insanely easy to work with other players. I formed a lot of groups, because the game wants you to work with players, even will just questing.
Every person should give GW2 a try. Best of all is, pay once and play forever. There was even a developer video not long ago where they stated that due to the natural flow of content, they will be adding more after release and keep the game building for years to come.
I'll be honest I'm not enjoying it. Way too RP for me. There's other little things too, but eh I don't feel like going back and forth. It's just not for me. Just a personal thing really.
RP? I don't understand what you mean by it's 'too RP'. I can only assume that you are referring to the personal story. If so then I think your making a mistake to base your entire opinion of the game on a mode that represents less than a quarter of the entire product. Like I said above, you can play the entire game, and not even do the personal story past the ten minute introduction.
You can jump between events, level through crafting, stick to renown hearts, try mini games, just explore, focus on dungeons (each dungeon has two modes: story (easy) and explorable (hard), and has multiple paths and outcomes), or you can solely PvP by just doing WvW, or you can jump straight into structured pvp and play competitively.
This game has so much variation, and doesn't even force any of it on you. The developers have even stated that you can level a character to 80 by just crafting and never even set a foot outside the city.
I'll definitely be interested in hearing about the first person to hit 80 by playing the market smart and crafting. Could you imagine using nothing but the copper you get while doing the intro to play the trade market so smart you could actually ding 80 and be rich when you made it there?
Shame you missed WvW, but if you like large scale battles you'll love it. It can get really tactical at times and other times you just zerg one base after another. I imagine on launch though there will be people who take it REALLY serious. Keeping your world in a good position does benefit the whole server with small bonuses. You can even have commanders and stuff, not sure how they're voted in exactly.
I played a lot of a melee elementalist this weekend and I really enjoyed it. Dual wielding daggers feels really nice while dodging around. Then in WvW I'll probably swap out to staff though for long range. I keep hitting a point where I feel like I'm not leveling quick enough, but then I realize there are so many things I'm not doing that could be getting me some EXP. Gathering, crafting, WvW, even just exploring. Sometimes it's just nice to soak in the surroundings the game is really nice looking and the zones are very different depending on where you go.
I found the personal story interesting, I hadn't touched it much the other bets but this beta I got a human noble story up and going and it made me wonder what was next unfortunately I didn't get to find out before the beta ended.
Reading from all the feedback, i see a lot of enthusiasm but it seems void of any form of raids beyond World Events.
If you're looking to just raid endlessly then this might not be the right game for you, why limit yourself like that though?
There are however explorable modes on dungeons and "tier gear" type items that seem pretty difficult to get. So it's not lacking in that department. I would think of it more like raids with less people. Getting to 80 is going to be a feat too.
Reading from all the feedback, i see a lot of enthusiasm but it seems void of any form of raids beyond World Events.
There aren't any raids, none whatsoever.
The reason is, raids are only ever experienced by a small margin of the community, and have a very strict limitation of attendance. If you don't meet it, then you can't raid, if there are more, then some can't participate. It's a really unfriendly environment.
What they've said about world events is, they happen, you get a group together, trigger it and it all happens. There's no cutting of limit, or limiting a large part of the player base because they're not part of a competitive raiding guild. When a world event starts, as many groups as possible join and take part in it, and everyone benefits.
If you want challenging content, then you need to do the high level explorable dungeons. If you want something for your guild to participate in, then there is WvW where guilds can capture keeps. If you want PvE, then there is Orr, where the very difficult events unfold. What we basically know is, in Orr there are group bosses to battle and there are temples that you need to clear and capture, which you will either need a strong group to accomplish, or need a guild to pull off.
Had a blast on the world vs world vs world pvp this beta weekend. Its pretty much all I ever did. It's like a never ending Alterac Valley+Wintergrasp with unlimited people
A lot of people had mentioned camera rotation seemed slower this time around, it could be some sort of bug or issue they will address. I personally didn't have that problem, it may also just be on certain computers for some reason. I think I heard someone say they went in and upped their mouse sensitivity and it helped some? Don't really know.
I'm not sure exactly how regular PvP is going to work, the sort of battleground based PvP. I was under the assumption the PvP gear they gave us in Beta was only for beta, because extra gear was sold at vendors and sigils for them etc. So maybe you'll have to earn it all through some means or maybe you start out with a basic PvP set and then can get other pieces you want later.
Anyways WvW (RvR) yeah you're scaled up to a similar level but you will have a small disadvantage if you don't have skills and traits unlocked through leveling. 90% of battles in WvW though is fought in small armies charging a fort and smashing down the doors with a ram or something similar.
I was very excited for this game for a long time. Got most of my friends into the beta and as release is getting closer I'm losing my interest in the game :(. I don't know what it is, but i think it has to deal with disappointment. I really wanted to pre-order and get in the game early to have a head start, but I think at this time I'm just waiting for friends reviews after release. I started my mmo career with WoW and the grind. I was over a friends house as they were attempting 1st boss in BWL and I was hooked (always loved dragons and mythical age). I really enjoyed the pvp system back then and actually knowing who's who on your server. No clue how WoW is now since I've been away for so long. I tried Rift for a bit made some friends but at the beginning, balance in pvp was all screwed up. Any clue on how balance will work out in end game GW2? Sorry for my rant and I hope it does well because it looks amazing.
My brother and I both played the beta all weekend, was fun. We did questing, pvp, crafting, or just roaming and killing whatever we encountered. There is a lot of diversity and complicated detail to this game, it will keep me interested for months. Switching from a ranged weapon and skill set to dual melee weapons and skills with the touch of a button was so sweet. Nice to get item drops that you could immediately use too! I got drops that were upgrades while pvp'ing. I thought it was awesome that the designers were live streaming themselves pvp'ing, something that Blizzard still can't do months after their game was released.
Looking at Diablo 3 now, I can't find much interest in grinding champion packs for hours in the very slight chance that something valuable will drop, that I can sell to get the item I really want.
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Firstly there is the the personal story. I did a thorough run through of the charr and asura starter stories, and wow! There is so much variation and well presented storytelling going on, at times I was so enthralled that I had to remind myself that the game is actually an MMO as well.
Then there are the hearts and events. I'm amazed how well they go hand in hand. Hearts are little things that are happening around the zone, like the charr are building in an area, so you can detonate tree stumps, or grenade wasp nests out of trees, or just drive away the local fire legion trouble makers.
Then there are events that happen all around, for instance, while I was cleaning up around the charr camp, a large group of flame legion attacked the encampment. We drove them off, but the structures suffered a bit of damage. So, the lead engineer at the camp went off looking for scrap metal to fix the damage. You can pickup pieces lying around to give him a hand, after which he will repair the camp. taking part in this event actually fills your renown heart as well.
Then there are mini games. I joined in the keg brawl and it was so much fun. There are two teams on a frozen lake, and two brewers on opposite ends. Kegs keep appearing in the middle of the lake, and you need to get them to your brewer. Players without kegs can knock players over, or kick them, or stomp to trip opponents. Meanwhile, when you have a keg you can spill some on the ground to slip pursuers, or bash them over the head with the keg, or punt it, or take a sip for a speed boost.
There was so much to do. At one stage I was just standing around, not sure what to do next. Then, an area announcement stated that the lionguard are prepping to invade a norn battle camp. It was a two-pronged attack to first take the towers, then we cleared the center and had to occupy it for a minute. Then a large norn beast appeared, and about twenty of us fought for almost ten minutes to kill the thing.
That's one example of how small events kept building into large scale fun-fests.
Unfortunately I didn't get to try WvW. I really, really wanted to, but had a bad stomach bug which had me out of commission half the weekend. It looks great to, and I've heard great things.
Likewise, I didn't get to level 30, so I couldn't try out the Ascalonian Catacombs, the first dungeon in the game. The videos looked great though, and I'm really bummed that I wouldn't try out these two aspects of the game.
What I can say is, the combat is smooth, fast, and frenetic. You need to stay aware of the battlefield, and know what your skills do. just standing on one spot, spamming the no.1 key will get you killing. The skills are varied, and the professions are so diverse. Even a single profession can be played so differently between two players.
Everything about this game is so polished. It's so natural to play, and insanely easy to work with other players. I formed a lot of groups, because the game wants you to work with players, even will just questing.
Every person should give GW2 a try. Best of all is, pay once and play forever. There was even a developer video not long ago where they stated that due to the natural flow of content, they will be adding more after release and keep the game building for years to come.
RP? I don't understand what you mean by it's 'too RP'. I can only assume that you are referring to the personal story. If so then I think your making a mistake to base your entire opinion of the game on a mode that represents less than a quarter of the entire product. Like I said above, you can play the entire game, and not even do the personal story past the ten minute introduction.
You can jump between events, level through crafting, stick to renown hearts, try mini games, just explore, focus on dungeons (each dungeon has two modes: story (easy) and explorable (hard), and has multiple paths and outcomes), or you can solely PvP by just doing WvW, or you can jump straight into structured pvp and play competitively.
This game has so much variation, and doesn't even force any of it on you. The developers have even stated that you can level a character to 80 by just crafting and never even set a foot outside the city.
Shame you missed WvW, but if you like large scale battles you'll love it. It can get really tactical at times and other times you just zerg one base after another. I imagine on launch though there will be people who take it REALLY serious. Keeping your world in a good position does benefit the whole server with small bonuses. You can even have commanders and stuff, not sure how they're voted in exactly.
I played a lot of a melee elementalist this weekend and I really enjoyed it. Dual wielding daggers feels really nice while dodging around. Then in WvW I'll probably swap out to staff though for long range. I keep hitting a point where I feel like I'm not leveling quick enough, but then I realize there are so many things I'm not doing that could be getting me some EXP. Gathering, crafting, WvW, even just exploring. Sometimes it's just nice to soak in the surroundings the game is really nice looking and the zones are very different depending on where you go.
I found the personal story interesting, I hadn't touched it much the other bets but this beta I got a human noble story up and going and it made me wonder what was next unfortunately I didn't get to find out before the beta ended.
If you're looking to just raid endlessly then this might not be the right game for you, why limit yourself like that though?
There are however explorable modes on dungeons and "tier gear" type items that seem pretty difficult to get. So it's not lacking in that department. I would think of it more like raids with less people. Getting to 80 is going to be a feat too.
The reason is, raids are only ever experienced by a small margin of the community, and have a very strict limitation of attendance. If you don't meet it, then you can't raid, if there are more, then some can't participate. It's a really unfriendly environment.
What they've said about world events is, they happen, you get a group together, trigger it and it all happens. There's no cutting of limit, or limiting a large part of the player base because they're not part of a competitive raiding guild. When a world event starts, as many groups as possible join and take part in it, and everyone benefits.
If you want challenging content, then you need to do the high level explorable dungeons. If you want something for your guild to participate in, then there is WvW where guilds can capture keeps. If you want PvE, then there is Orr, where the very difficult events unfold. What we basically know is, in Orr there are group bosses to battle and there are temples that you need to clear and capture, which you will either need a strong group to accomplish, or need a guild to pull off.
Whoever thought of adding that into the game is pure genius! This game is so player friendly, its astonishing.
http://www.diablofan...inferno-videos/
I'm not sure exactly how regular PvP is going to work, the sort of battleground based PvP. I was under the assumption the PvP gear they gave us in Beta was only for beta, because extra gear was sold at vendors and sigils for them etc. So maybe you'll have to earn it all through some means or maybe you start out with a basic PvP set and then can get other pieces you want later.
Anyways WvW (RvR) yeah you're scaled up to a similar level but you will have a small disadvantage if you don't have skills and traits unlocked through leveling. 90% of battles in WvW though is fought in small armies charging a fort and smashing down the doors with a ram or something similar.
sure
I will also point out that you do not need to be on ultra graphics to make the game look awesome, it looks great even in low settings.
https://www.deviantart.com/aerisot
Looking at Diablo 3 now, I can't find much interest in grinding champion packs for hours in the very slight chance that something valuable will drop, that I can sell to get the item I really want.