First Impressions

[Trippy]

The video tazelbain posted here

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=22423.msg1095269#msg1095269

gives you a sense of what WvW is like (minus the constant dying if you are on a weaker side...)

[tmp]

Collision detection is a griefer's paradise.  You have to be VERY careful if you're going to include collision detection in your pvp model.

I like how you picked collision detection out of that rather than friendly fire as the griefer mechanic. 

To some extent these two cancel each other out in this regard

[Dark_MadMax]

More I learn about the game more I hate some choices Arena did regarding the combat feedback and races. Basically GW2 doenst have cast bars. It heavily relies on active dodge and counterblocking of important skills. All together that means that seeing the animation is very important as its your only clue to counteracting enemy movement.  Then GW2 maps and terrain is very varied - tonse of various elevation levels, small rivers and ponds, ledges ,boxes -  a lot of stuff to block your view and spice up the interaction ( a good thing)

But then enter the asura- a tiny itty bitty fugly race, who is about an ankle tall of the tallest possible characater (norn/charr). Whose weapons are so small that you cant tell whether its a greatsword or toothpick. Who can hide in the pond and you wont see anything but a top of their helm .Same with tall grass. So basically if you want  hide your animation and moves as much as you can - you go asura. THE FUGLIEST SILLIEST RACE IN  THE WHOLE KITTEN GAME!


Like gnomes in WoW never been a problem as much as this. Why?- there are cast bars.  for everything you want to know about . You dont rely on animations as much. Combat in WoW is much less twitchy and you can never dodge out of the skills.

All in all I will have to play a kitten asura . god dammit

[waffel]

Somewhat surprising they'd make a race as small as the Asura in a PvP-centric game. I can already see it becoming the most popular race simply because of the issues mentioned above.

[Sky]

I find it funny that all the big old mean pvp players are 'forced' to play the silly cutesy race.

[Threash]

The more i play GW1 to work on my HoM the more i realize how disappointingly bland the GW2 elite skills are.  In GW1 the elite skills were what made your build and you chose every other skill to compliment/synchronize with the elite skill, in GW2 they've been reduced to extremely underwhelming long CD abilities barely more powerful than regular ones.

[Lantyssa]

THE FUGLIEST SILLIEST RACE IN  THE WHOLE KITTEN GAME!

Heh.  I see what you kitten did there.

[MediumHigh]

The more i play GW1 to work on my HoM the more i realize how disappointingly bland the GW2 elite skills are.  In GW1 the elite skills were what made your build and you chose every other skill to compliment/synchronize with the elite skill, in GW2 they've been reduced to extremely underwhelming long CD abilities barely more powerful than regular ones.

That's a given. The point of GW2 was to remove the choice away from players. Removing choice, decreases the need for constant balance, and you get a more "stable" game. GW1 players abused the holy fuck out of the system and they wanted explicitly avoid that coming into Guild Wars 2.

[kildorn]

It's more that the strong GW1 elites fall into what are considered weapon skills in GW2, and have been replaced by the #4/#5 weapon skills for the most part. Elites are now long cooldown utilities that aren't weak, they're just not going to be used as part of a basic rotation like GW1's elites.

[MediumHigh]

It's more that the strong GW1 elites fall into what are considered weapon skills in GW2, and have been replaced by the #4/#5 weapon skills for the most part. Elites are now long cooldown utilities that aren't weak, they're just not going to be used as part of a basic rotation like GW1's elites.

In GW1 I could string any 8 skills together between 2 professions of my choice. Not only that, but in high end pvp I had to synchronize with 4 to 8 other players for any chance of winning. In those circumstances elites served as the great periods to very long run on sentences. In GW2 I don't have 2 professions to choose from or even control over half my skill bar. I can't even choose not to take even a heal. GW2 elites have to be bland and generic to make up for the limits in choices a player can make, and the fact that half your bar is under the "kill stuff" category (though not entirely true for most weapon sets).

[KallDrexx]

It's best to realize that GW2 has nothing in common with GW2 except the name and lore.  Once you get over that the game becomes more enjoyable.

[MediumHigh]

It's best to realize that GW2 has nothing in common with GW1 except the name and lore.  Once you get over that the game becomes more enjoyable.

From a PVP'ers perspective I don't think they are entirely two different games. At least in the sense that I or anyone else who was into the old GW1 scene will have to learn an entirely new set of skills. Specialization, positioning, stacking advantages, and communication are pretty much the core of Guild Wars 1 combat and I see that translated pretty well in GW2 without the baggage of GW1. For example anyone coming into this expecting a big long assist train is going to be disappointed and very frustrated.

[Furiously]

They upped the difficulty a bit in yesterday's stress. I foresee the number of thieves declining.

[MediumHigh]

They upped the difficulty a bit in yesterday's stress. I foresee the number of thieves declining.

Who said that's a bad thing 

[tazelbain]

It's best to realize that GW2 has nothing in common with GW1 except the name and lore.  Once you get over that the game becomes more enjoyable.

From a PVP'ers perspective I don't think they are entirely two different games. At least in the sense that I or anyone else who was into the old GW1 scene will have to learn an entirely new set of skills. Specialization, positioning, stacking advantages, and communication are pretty much the core of Guild Wars 1 combat and I see that translated pretty well in GW2 without the baggage of GW1. For example anyone coming into this expecting a big long assist train is going to be disappointed and very frustrated.

They are definitely moving away from deck building style of pvp to something more like MOBA skill sets.

[MediumHigh]

It's best to realize that GW2 has nothing in common with GW1 except the name and lore.  Once you get over that the game becomes more enjoyable.

From a PVP'ers perspective I don't think they are entirely two different games. At least in the sense that I or anyone else who was into the old GW1 scene will have to learn an entirely new set of skills. Specialization, positioning, stacking advantages, and communication are pretty much the core of Guild Wars 1 combat and I see that translated pretty well in GW2 without the baggage of GW1. For example anyone coming into this expecting a big long assist train is going to be disappointed and very frustrated.

They are definitely moving away from deck building style of pvp to something more like MOBA skill sets.

Hey no argument here, though I think the time of death is way too off for a moba, and lacking the "slow building mountain of advantage" aspect.

[Nevermore]

It's best to realize that GW2 has nothing in common with GW2 GW1 except the name and lore.

This is one of the big, big problems I have with the game.

I really don't understand why GW2 absolutely refuses to run for me now.  It crashes my video driver (which is the most updated non-beta nvidia driver available) *constantly*.  Like every few seconds constantly.  No other game has this problem.  SWTOR runs flawlessly.  I'm trying the free Secret World weekend and so far it's running absolutely flawlessly.  I know from the GW2 beta boards I wasn't the only one with this problem, so I'm wondering if the game is really ready to be released.

[Threash]

They upped the difficulty a bit in yesterday's stress. I foresee the number of thieves declining.

The difficulty of what?

[Kageru]

Everything, apparently. I saw a comment from the developer that they made the game-play easier for the last beta-test and complaints plus possibly profiling convinced them they'd gone too far. So they reverted difficulty to that of the beta test before (second beta test).

[Sir Fodder]

Pre-ordered digital DL of this from GMG for $45 US, code: PCGMR-ALLIN-GREEN

[Phred]

Excellent article about GW2 by someone who went in expecting to hate it. http://sixdee.net/2012/04/last-portal-to-tyria/

GW2 wants you to play with other people. It wants you to do that without having to worry about kill stealing or ninjaing, about being the wrong faction, the wrong class, the wrong race, the wrong level, the wrong guild, the wrong server. This is a massive multiplayer game for Kormir’s sake! In what the hell kind of cooperative game is it better to stand aside and watch an ally get felled by mobs than it is to leap in and help them? Admit it: You’ve all done it. Out of maliciousness or indifference or fear. GW2 feels like ArenaNet has had a long hard look at exactly why players do things like that — at why they hate and fear each other so much — and has tried everything in its power to remove all the usual mechanical incentives to asshattery. The ones we take so for granted we don’t even really realise what they are.

[Rasix]

Awwwww.. was hoping my preorder would mean I get to try this before it goes live.  Guess I missed the last beta weekend.   Man, I'm going to be so clueless playing this when it goes live.  I don't think I've ever gone into a MMO release blind.

[tazelbain]

Everything, apparently. I saw a comment from the developer that they made the game-play easier for the last beta-test and complaints plus possibly profiling convinced them they'd gone too far. So they reverted difficulty to that of the beta test before (second beta test).

I did 3 DE and 2 heart by myself in the second norm zone.  It was slightly more difficult, but still very manageable. Or maybe I am just starting to get elemantist down. Really I just wonder people complaining about difficulty just don't use dodge.

Also Mobs don't always try to leave the AOE now but still do sometimes.  Which is good, they were too easy to exploit before.

[Shatter]

Who gives a shit about difficulty, they have a flat leveling curve for 90% of the levels which is still a lot better then most games. 

[Kageru]

I played 2 and 3, both seemed fine to me. But the forums had some people crying about beta #3 being tuned too easy.

And yeah, I've soloed hearts and DE. The first are always soloable and the second scale to be so that's working as intended.

[statisticalfool]

They upped the difficulty a bit in yesterday's stress. I foresee the number of thieves declining.

Any particular reason this hits thieves harder than others?

<<--- still going back and forth on a daily basis on what class to play.

[Furiously]

Squishy melee is not fun solo.

[Shatter]

Squishy melee is not fun solo.

They acknowleged I believe that Thieves were 1 class that needs work, hoping by launch they are improved since that will be my main

[Kageru]

It's not like class or PvP balancing is going to stop on launch. It never does.

But I am happy they're looking at the necro now.

[Shatter]

I recall them saying they will be tweaking class balance a lot so to expect it it frequently. 

[KallDrexx]

Well, now that I am playing the game again (and I'm passed the omg this is different and not GW1 feelings) I'm actually really digging this game, and the mesmer.

[Amaron]

Well, now that I am playing the game again (and I'm passed the omg this is different and not GW1 feelings) I'm actually really digging this game, and the mesmer.

Wait what?  Did you mean the stress test?

[KallDrexx]

Well, now that I am playing the game again (and I'm passed the omg this is different and not GW1 feelings) I'm actually really digging this game, and the mesmer.

Wait what?  Did you mean the stress test?

Yeah, game was pretty well playable until 9pm, when it started shitting the bed with unplayable lag.

[Gorky]

Another 20% discount code for GMG from PC Gamer:

http://www.pcgamer.com/sponsored/another-great-offer-from-green-man-gaming-continuing-the-summer-of-madness/

Worked for me for the standard digital edition.

Is there a url where the game can be downloaded from in advance? GMG says download link not available as yet.

[schild]

From the sounds of things, they're not giving out any codes until the game actually releases. Buying from GMG right now means waiting.