Guild Wars 2

[Draegan]

By that logic, I could argue that we don't really need a graph to tell me what class does what, since every class can heal/DPS/tank/support/etc.

But we got one anyways... 

If you looked at the graph not all classes can do that! 

[Draegan]

Are those images in or out of the NDA?

[Lantyssa]

Bankslot purchases were in GW1.  You could buy 4 with in-game money, the crafting tab with in-game money, and 4 tabs with out-of-game money.  (With a bonus anniversary tab added later.)

10% magic find is nothing.  It's a trivial boost, and still gives a random drop.  I still don't see anything but convenience and vanity in there.

[caladein]

Whoops.  Not sure why or how I posted my email here (not like it's not right to the left).

[Sky]

To be fair, even in games where xp comes easily people want to bypass the leveling game as quickly as possible. No reason to leave that money on the table.

[Ingmar]

I think I'm cemented into 'not buy at release' at this point. I was already iffy with heroes/henchmen and skill hunting being gone, and the whole 80 levels (vs. the original 20) thing had me concerned about possible grind - and now I see RMT items that appear to function as grind reducers. It might not be what it looks like, but I'm happy in SWTOR and D3 is coming...

I'm sure I'll get it eventually but definitely going to let other people blaze this trail.

[Zetor]

Cash shops are worst when they're used as a "solution" to bad/grindy design instead of fixing the design (see allods, or even lotro).

I don't find these cash shop items to be too terrible overall... items are supposed to have a flat power curve, so +10% magic find isn't really like buying a best-in-slot +5 badassness sword from the store. Bag/char/bank slots and accelerators are pretty standard for a f2p title along with conveniences like "repair your gear NOW without having to go to a repair NPC" and "access your bank NOW instead of having to go to a bank NPC", and I -hope- that 12-slot bags will be craftable in-game (if not, that's a huge black mark imo).

The mystic chest/key thing is the one that annoys me the most, since it looks like arenanet is succumbing to the typical lootbox F2P cash grab (as seen in pretty much every F2P game nowadays, western or korean). Again, if it's possible to get keys by playing, I won't mind it *as* much (but will probably be AHing / selling all the lockboxes I find anyway).

[Tmon]

...The mystic chest/key thing is the one that annoys me the most, since it looks like arenanet is succumbing to the typical lootbox F2P cash grab (as seen in pretty much every F2P game nowadays, western or korean). Again, if it's possible to get keys by playing, I won't mind it *as* much (but will probably be AHing / selling all the lockboxes I find anyway).

I was thinking the same thing, have they said there will be an AH?  I hate having to spam a channel to sell stuff and would probably just end up destroying them rather than trying to sell them if there isn't an AH. 

[caladein]

I was thinking the same thing, have they said there will be an AH?  I hate having to spam a channel to sell stuff and would probably just end up destroying them rather than trying to sell them if there isn't an AH. 

Yes, from the Wiki FAQ:

Will there be an auction house or similar in-game trading mechanism?
Yes. A marketplace is being added which allows a player to register items to buy or sell. Registration of items must be performed in-game but monitoring and bidding can be done from a web browser or smartphone application without being in-game.

Found a few more details here after a quick search.

Curtis Johnson – Game Designer: Guild Wars 2 includes a full Marketplace for players, which will differ from the usual MMO auction house in a number of ways. The biggest and most important difference is GW2’s Marketplace supports postings from both buyers and sellers. You might put your sword up for sale, then offer 100 gold for the specific axe you’re looking for without having to find any specific seller. The market can display the history of average value and trends for an item, making it easy to determine a fair value for your goods. It might be worth waiting to sell your item, depending if the price is rising or falling.

Items you put up for sale may sell while you’re offline, and the funds will be deposited in your account bank. You must be in game to put a new item up for sale, but you will be able to browse the market, bid from your account bank, or cancel your own auctions and offers while logged in to a web browser without running the game.

Eric: The Marketplace will be global, drawing data from all servers.

[Lantyssa]

The mystic chest/key thing is the one that annoys me the most, since it looks like arenanet is succumbing to the typical lootbox F2P cash grab (as seen in pretty much every F2P game nowadays, western or korean). Again, if it's possible to get keys by playing, I won't mind it *as* much (but will probably be AHing / selling all the lockboxes I find anyway).

Chests were common in GW, but keys were expensive, and lockpicks moreso.  We'll have to see how this pans out, but I imagine they'll have in-game drops and keys as a money-sink.

Given everything else they're doing, I will show a rare glimpse of faith that they will get this right as well.

[schild]

I have zero faith in anyone doing anything right these days. Even something this simple.

[Lantyssa]

Understandable.

[Draegan]

Don't these things just give out random uncommon drops?  Is everyone getting angsty because they can get on the equivalent of a WOW green?

[luckton]

Don't these things just give out random uncommon drops?  Is everyone getting angsty because they can get on the equivalent of a WOW green?

I dunno...right now in WoW I'm leveling up my new DK.  My Cata quest greens are destroying people wearing Wrath epics.  They can't all be worthless.

[Draegan]

So you are just gonna sit there and type that while completely ignoring that you're discussing gear from two different expansions and gear that is designed to smooth the mudflation of the previous expansion?

[Ingmar]

In a game with an entirely different gear philosophy, too.

[luckton]

So you are just gonna sit there and type that while completely ignoring that you're discussing gear from two different expansions and gear that is designed to smooth the mudflation of the previous expansion?

The question was "Is everyone getting angsty because they can get on the equivalent of a WOW green?".  I would argue that green gear has value.  Are you saying that GW2 is immune to mudflation?

[Ingmar]

GW1 was.

[Furiously]

GW1 has skillflation I would argue. (Ohhh and I made a new word!)

The EOTN skills added a ton of character power. For an optimized character build generally you need skills from all the expansions. So while your weapon or armor might never get better, you could pick up skills that make your character more damaging. Same applies to henchmen. 

[Modern Angel]

Yeah, but most of the GWEN skills were PvE only. Or the most powerful ones were. In which case, eh.

[Lantyssa]

I mainly only used the GWEN skills in GWEN content and its missions where they were practically designed for it.

[Furiously]

Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support is useful anywhere!

[Lantyssa]

Sure, but I didn't need it and most of my bar was filled with pet skills.  My Necro did make heavy use of the Nightfall skill.  90 resistless damage every few seconds is hard to pass up.

[Outlawedprod]

Based on Reddit activity I see that NDA is helping them out =p

[Bungee]

Based on Reddit activity I see that NDA is helping them out =p

Well, they do allow people to talk about what they want and show pics/videos come monday, so we'll see.

[Kitsune]

I watched my roomie playing it over the weekend, and on top of not being able to decide whether I was impressed or amused at the fact that the screen had his e-mail address overlaid over it dozens of times as an anti-screenshotting device, I liked a lot of what I saw.  I was disappointed at the lack of voice-acting, however; that's one piece of immersion that many MMOGs could definitely use.  Seeing a paragraph pop up over an NPCs head was just so 2002.

[Kageru]

I suspect the Guild-wars budget is just a little smaller than SWTOR's.

[Kitsune]

Yeah, I know.  But I can still dream!

[Numtini]

I see not having SWTOR everything dialog to be a plus. It's ok for occasional big quests or that sort of thing, but for kill ten rats, after only two weekends I was ready to gouge my eyes out.

[Crumbs]

I see not having SWTOR everything dialog to be a plus. It's ok for occasional big quests or that sort of thing, but for kill ten rats, after only two weekends I was ready to gouge my eyes out.

Yea no, several minutes of dialog and choices for every quest was just a downer for me.  I also got used to listening to music or podcasts while playing other games, and SWTOR made that impossible. 

[Numtini]

One of the things that nice about the games that use occasional voice is it alerts you to wake up, this is a big quest.

[Sky]

Who cares? Only assholes read/listen to quest dialog. Just click accept and quit wasting time.

[Ingmar]

The content I enjoyed the most in GW1 was voiced (protagonist too.)

[Zetor]

Prince Rurik! UNDEAD LICH! Master Togo! Danika!

Yeah, it was pretty memorable. In the 'Illidan in Well of Eternity' way, mind. 

[Nevermore]

Prince Rurik! UNDEAD LICH! Master Togo! Danika!

Yeah, it was pretty memorable. In the 'Illidan in Well of Eternity' way, mind. 

Well, you remembered them. Quick, what was the name of the NPC that had you go talk to the sailor dude who wanted to go back to Ascalon?