First Impressions

[Genev]

Talking from a Ranger perspective, sword mainhand.
Auto-attack for sword is lots of jumping and looks all pretty and stuff, but i can't seem to interrupt the animations, if i want to dodge out then i basicaly have to hit it until i manage to get inbetween 2 animations and then if i' unlucky i jump back in due to one of the sword autoattack chains doing that.
I have something which makes you jump backwards on sword, but thats not always ideal. Don't really want to throw myself off a cliff or something...

[Falconeer]

Maybe it's because I deactivated auto-attack. I did that on day 1, I was under the impression that auto-attack was an afterthought they put in not to alienate too much the traditional MMORPG crowd. Why would I want to autoattack when I can so easily lose range  to my enemy and miss?

Maybe this is too much PvP-thinking, but I'm starting to think that it's exactly because I deactivated autoattack that I like the melee combat so much.

[Fordel]

Ranger 1h sword is just fucking weird that way.

The second and third parts of the rangers 1 button chain are actually mini charges with a range of 400 units.

The 2 button and 3 buttons are forced evasions either backwards or auto-flanking.



Like I don't have any animation issues like that on my mace/shield guardian and I haven't noticed anything on my various Greatsword people.

[March]

Ranger 1h sword is just fucking weird that way.

Ranger is definitely the worst that way... but now that I think about it, I think Falc nailed it with the auto-attack.  Some parts of various auto-attack chains seem to "stick" your character... so it is not 100% of the time, but there are definitely moments when you try to evade and it won't fire - across all classes.

[Murgos]

What i dislike about the (melee) combat is that even if you're autoattacking, you become "stuck" in the movements.
I've tried dodging out of shit while in melee, and most of the time, it doesn't work right.
Not really encouraging me to melee more/roll a melee char...

You can move while channeling and auto-attack ('1' skill) while circle-strafing so I have no idea what you are talking about.


e: NM didn't know about ranger specific issues.

[Zetor]

Guardian hammer 2 skill acts as a mini-charge too, btw.

e: and yes, the problem with mini-charges is that you can't dodge while in the animation, which may just kill you against a champion or dungeon mob.

[Fordel]

For what it's worth, ranger 1h sword animation is a known issue:

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Bug-List

[kildorn]

I'm not sure if it will ever be fixed, but yeah ranger 1h sword is really annoying to use because of the mini charges and animation locks at random points. Being unable to dodge roll 33% of the time because one of your auto attack chains animation locks you = not cool, yo.

[PalmTrees]

I run into the same thing using mainhand sword on my mesmer. I can start a dodge roll, but sometimes it'll cancel back into the sword autoattack.

[Dren]

First impression?  Impressed.  Held out for awhile but couldn't stand it anymore.  Problem is I'm going to have to drop my TSW sub.  This game is way to addictive to spread time with something else right now.

[Yegolev]

I miss the Swedish Chef language option.

[Nightblade]

At level 12 in WoW has me collect bear asses... literally.

At level 12 in GW, you stumble upon a hidden bandit den, kill the den's explosive wielding leader for a big treasure chest, harvest some nodes and stumble upon a timeless horror wreaking havoc in a swamp.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/48093114/gw015.jpg

[KallDrexx]

Seriously, how the hell did people 100% the world?  I've hit literally 4 broken skill points already and I'm not even at 50%

[sachiel]

Seriously, how the hell did people 100% the world?  I've hit literally 4 broken skill points already and I'm not even at 50%

Server resets.

[Zetor]

As a 100%er, I can see two explanations:
- there weren't as many people doing the skill points, so ther was a smaller chance of them getting b0rked
- ANet broke something in one of the patches in the first two weeks

I only remember having problems with *one* skillpoint on my way to 100%: the spectral weapon in the southwestern part of the second Orr zone could fall through the world and become unattackable. It was fixable by a guardian walking over it and using the staff #5 skill to force the mob out, so I waited on doing it until I read in chat that someone did just that, then ran over and got my kill quick-like.

[PalmTrees]

Heh, that one was bugged when I tried it too. Spectral weapon was just on the ground, no way to activate it. Same thing that happened to the weapon in the maze in Cursed Shores. Got them later though.

[Genev]

They fixed the Cursed Shore ones, and i transfered server for the Malchor's Leap one to aNA server.
For the WvWvW stuff, i switched to Eredon Terrace (which as i saw on a screenshot here had 100% ownage) and ran around picking everything up, since i couldn't be bothered waiting for the WvWvW reset

[Venkman]

Can't remember if this has been said already. This has occured to me frequently, but became most noticable recently.

You really need to go way out of your way to slow down and take a break. Unlike other games that forced breaks through HP/mana regen or laboriously long runs, everything in GW2 is so close, or happens so quickly or spontaneously, that you could find yourself on a rollercoaster almost no matter whether you play for 15 minutes or 3 hours. Even conversation or the barest nods to form groups don't slow things down, because there's so seldom a reason to group at all outside of the dungeons.

The closest feeling I can think of would be a seamless series of FPS deathmatch matches with no breaks for loading, one long ass endurance run of constant action.

The map constantly pulling you through like this not something I remember feeling in any other game. Maybe the first Borderlands or Red Faction 2, but even those felt more spread out.

[Threash]

Man sometimes you find a sweet spot of chain events and the exp just rolls and rolls.  The other day i went from 52 to 67 in a couple hours without even noticing.

[kildorn]

Man sometimes you find a sweet spot of chain events and the exp just rolls and rolls.  The other day i went from 52 to 67 in a couple hours without even noticing.

My best evenings as far as enjoyment go are when I head somewhere to do something, and wind up swept along in random nearby DEs until I notice it's time for bed.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, that's a real strength of the game.  While you are completing a map, all sorts of events pop up and two hours go by without notice.

It's really a unique gameplay experience for MMO's.  I hope to see more like this.

[Mattemeo]

Man sometimes you find a sweet spot of chain events and the exp just rolls and rolls.  The other day i went from 52 to 67 in a couple hours without even noticing.

 

I made just under two levels in about three and a half hours lurching non-stop through heartquests, DEs, skill challenges, mob slaughter, nodes and map clearing in Dredgehaunt Cliffs last night.
Sometimes I wonder what fundamental thing I must be doing so wrong if someone else makes 15 levels in half that time.

[Threash]

Lots and lots of people.  The event exp was like 12k but after each one i was about 30k up.  It was a chain of five in a row and they reset every 15 mins or so, soon as the first one started tons of people flocked to it and mass amounts of mobs spawned.

[Venkman]

Man sometimes you find a sweet spot of chain events and the exp just rolls and rolls.  The other day i went from 52 to 67 in a couple hours without even noticing.

My best evenings as far as enjoyment go are when I head somewhere to do something, and wind up swept along in random nearby DEs until I notice it's time for bed.

Yea this. This actually feels like a new type of game, odd for a sequel in a well established genre. I'm still trying to piece together a total impression. I keep coming back to the map, but it's more than that. It's how they seemed to get right an extremely flexible combat matrix too.

I'm in Ashford just because I was passing through and the map compelled me to 100% it. My level scales from 59 to whatever area of the zone I'm  in, and yet, because of my full ability set, I'm able to lord over the place, but not so much so as to be boring. And I'm still gaining XP at an appreciable pace. So here's a new zone to me, but one so low in levels I'd have never bothered seeing in any other game, and also one that is just enough of a challenge to be fun and worth exploring and completely.

It's really the perfect way to handle maps. Most games expect that every person will not see every zone unless they roll every class and play through at least to the funnel points when the levels converge on fewer maps. That's not necessarily the case here. The thing that does work against it though is roll-alting. I might try a few other classes, but chances are they will not all be 100% map completes. But better I as a player see the whole world ever at all.

[PalmTrees]

I thought Sharkmaw Cavern in Lion's Arch was just a vista. Turns out it's kinda huge down there. A little more involved than the usual jumping puzzle what with the pirate ghost narration and the various tricks. Totally missed it on my first character, thought jumping down was just automatic death. If hadn't been for a comment in broadcast, never would've tried again. It would've been even better if there hadn't been a couple others down there.

[Threash]

Yeah, it is amazing the amount of detail this world has.  I don't think zones have had this much love put into them since the first EQ.

[Shatter]

Ive been doing a lot of PvP and have made a conclusion.  Mesmer kicks everyones ass, period.  After playing Spvp mostly on my Thief and a number of other classes I rolled Mesmer.  Within 2 hours of not knowing wtf I was doing really I was ...and I shit you not...raping people.  I just specd max crit, max power...didnt change any gear, found which abilities make illusions I can explode and went crazy batshit on not just solo players but groups of them.  My best was killing 3 players at one contested point...again I shit you not...after less then 2 hours played this was what I was capable of on Mesmer.  So...guess what my new main is?  One guess you will never get it.

[rk47]

Messing around with my engineer. Got to lvl 15-25 charr zone .
Finished a chain event, there's a portal opened at the back of the Flame Legion.
Head inside. Found a temple. With underwater stuff going on. Broke a wall of ice. Jumping puzzle to pull a chain to free a sword.
What does the sword unlock oh hey, head down the water - found a puzzle to disable flame breathing heads on the wall.
Gate's open. Let's go.
Put sword on statue that is missing a blade.
Boss fight.

This is one of the most epic exploration I had with 3 other randoms in MMO.
The loot isn't great, but the feeling of achieving it is greeeeeeaattt.
I want more of this. I really regret soloing my Guardian progression.

Also...Cattlepult.

[Kageru]

Agree on all of those... though we got beaten down by the boss at the end of the underwater dungeon. Does anything interesting happen if you beat him.

That said, truly unexpected and epic.

Likewise just idling at a inn in the Norn second zone and the kids are all chatting. Had just done a "gather meat" event and dad has gone out to smoke it while chatting to the kids about their lunch and how good it smells. Then one of the kids asks her father if she can use his weapons to kill an insect, gets permission and then goes around swatting insects until she goes "oops, didn't mean to do that". Goes out to tell her dad she buried his axe in a stuffed dolyak head and he's angry for a sec before deciding another stuffed head is just what he needs as an attention getter for the smoker. Son hears that, more kid dialogue about a veteran ram and how he's too young to hunt, so he goes out and starts a "kill the ram for me" event. Takes head to father and there's some quite heart warming dialogue and the head is mounted for all to see. Shortly thereafter the kids "ritual to the bear" event, involving honey, goes tragically wrong and summons a horde of wild bears.

It's just really neat. So much detail but only if you care to slow down and watch it. If you just spotted the events, wacked the foozle and moved on that's fine too. But if you take it slow it's nuts they were allowed to spend so much effort on window dressing for an event and telling a story in the game world.

[rk47]

a chest spawns, got 3 greens and 39 coppers. Meh.
it's the exploration that's fun.

[lamaros]

it's the exploration that's fun.

GW1 beta, exploring the zones, where they didn't have any 'game' stuff added in yet, was the most fun I've ever had exploring in a game.  Then they put all the PvE game stuff in and eh... but they have had very good world designers and artists.

[Phred]

Messing around with my engineer. Got to lvl 15-25 charr zone .
Finished a chain event, there's a portal opened at the back of the Flame Legion.
Head inside. Found a temple. With underwater stuff going on. Broke a wall of ice. Jumping puzzle to pull a chain to free a sword.
What does the sword unlock oh hey, head down the water - found a puzzle to disable flame breathing heads on the wall.
Gate's open. Let's go.
Put sword on statue that is missing a blade.
Boss fight.

This is one of the most epic exploration I had with 3 other randoms in MMO.
The loot isn't great, but the feeling of achieving it is greeeeeeaattt.

Ya the first week that one was bugged and dropping 1 chest for every person who was at the event. It's kind of sad how the loot drops have degraded as the game has gone on (ignoring the bugged drops like this event) Prerelease week any champion dropped decent loot, now I seem to get at best a blue item. I get better drops from random mobs now than boss fights.

[Sky]

Have they removed chests from DE bosses? I remember getting one everytime we dropped the guy in the Norn 15ish level area (who tried to summon the dragon), I'd actually log there while I was doing that zone, so I would occasionally log into the DE and get a quick chest. Then the DE up in the end of that zone didn't end with a chest and I don't think I've seen one since other than a couple puzzle chests.

[Zetor]

The three dragon events (Shatterer, Tequatl, Claw of Jormag) still give decent chests, at least - with my magicfind gear I typically get one yellow, 2-3 greens, 3 blues, 2 gems and some silver. I assume the other end-of-zone DEs work the same way too.

(bonus: chests scale to character level, so a level 80 doing a lower-level event will get level 80 rewards)

[Sky]

Where is someplace good to look for a low 30s character? I think my warrior is 33. I haven't seen a yellow yet, and I'm mostly in crafted stuff since I'm perpetually down-leveled.