Guild Wars 2

[Shatter]

Got disconnected once all day, pretty sure it was on their end.  Server had a lot of lag at times, it would come and go.  Graphically / FPS was decent even in high pop areas with GTX 460.  Ran into 1 bugged event, didnt find any other bugs.  As a whole really enjoyed it, the quest system is much better then the standard we are used to.  I love that there is no need to get the quest, do it, run back and hand it in BS.  Also love that you can transport to any discovered location whenever u want to for a small fee, that was awesome.  Combat is sweet, weapon switching, etc pops up new combat skills and makes it interesting.  Enjoying the Mesmer class a lot.  Also its not your typical easy MMO, I died about 10 times usually from being run over by some fly by event or wandering mobs.  Actually had to start being a little careful where I went.  Pretty impressed so far.  At least they are getting some good stress testing in.  

[Hawkbit]

So I lied.  Finished the last of my Gamestop credit (I've sworn them off generally as a company) and bought this.  Luckily it just gave me a key to punch in at the GW2 site and away I went.  I think I was playing the game in less than an hour. 

It's pretty much killing my 8800gtx.  But I think it is great so far.  I like the "this is my story" tags.  Intro has the best art in a game ever, I personally feel.

[nurtsi]

After watching some streams, PVP in this game seems like player vs door again  

Warhammer with better graphics?

[Tyrnan]

After watching some streams, PVP in this game seems like player vs door again  

Warhammer with better graphics?

Were they using siege weapons at all? Trying to chip away at a massive keep door with your dagger isn't really going to get you very far.

[kildorn]

After watching some streams, PVP in this game seems like player vs door again  

Warhammer with better graphics?

From a few reports, the server matching thing doesn't work until you have a few weeks gone by. The matching I'm on has 25v5v5 for the player counts involved right now. :(

[Tmon]

I played about 30 minutes today, WvW was so busy that I queued for about 20 minutes before I got in.  I helped take a strong point although since my character was level 1 boosted to 80 my contribution was fairly minimal.  I dumped some supply into a ram that was being built, rezzed a few folks and got a few licks in on the guys who sortied out of the strong point to destroy our ram.  As a level 1 I was sorely lacking in skills and since I didn't have a ranged weapon I really wasn't too much use until the door went down.

[Falconeer]

What is exactly the Eternal battleground? It's so full that I've been queued up all day without being able to enter.
on the other hand, WvW seems really great to me. The area is huge and the feeling of gaining and losing terrain is all there. Having real time score updates and a map that shows where the fight is really helps.

[Fraeg]

After watching some streams, PVP in this game seems like player vs door again  

Warhammer with better graphics?

The first time you drive a War Golem Mech you will find yourself thinking otherwise 


... but yeah there are doors, and there is really good seige gear, which should be used.

[Bann]

Ive been unable to connect since about 245 CST. Is anyone else in/able to get in? (Fort Aspenwood, if it matters)

[Falconeer]

Not me. Got kicked out 50 minutes ago and unable to get back in since. Euro servers, but seems like everyone I know is locked out.

[kildorn]

Their entire auth system appears borked right now. I'm secretly hoping for a new patch with a fix for my issues :(

[satael]

Funny how the closed beta had none of the "unable to complete the operation" problems. Just shows that their systems are unable to handle the increased number of people (even if they "limited" the number of pre-purchases)

[Nija]

I think it was a funny coincidence, but I got dazed/paralyzed by an ogre around the same time the login server went down. I was frozen in place indefinitely and if I tried to chat in game, it gave an 'unable to complete operation' error. I was able to watch other people run around and fight more stuff the entire time.

I'm convinced the ogre took out me and the login server at the same time.

[Bann]

I'm unable to login to the forums either. Anyway, I'm really, really enjoying what I've seen so far. I tried a necro last night up to 5, and been playing an engineer today. My biggest adjustment was actively seeking to evade. I find that on my engineer, I can hit just about all 5 of my skills while evading 2 of my targets attacks, and that is pretty much that. I did some of the matched PvP, and relished the time I spent manning the trebuchet. I queued up for WvW, but did not make it in yet. Very much enjoying so far, 2 minor quibbles. First, I like crafting, and really wish I had more bag space. Second, I've got a few mystic chests, and while it says you can get the gems to get the keys for free, it still seems to want real credit card info. Blerg. Hope the servers come back up soon and I see you guys in game.

[Tyrnan]

Just with regard to the mystic chests, I looted a key on one of my characters this morning so it is possible to get them without going to the cash shop. I have no idea if they're a super rare drop and I got incredibly lucky, but at least the chance of finding one exists.

[Zetor]

I also got a mystic key as a (storyline) quest reward at level 8 or so, so that's another option (unlesstil they remove them that is ).

[Lantyssa]

They drop, it's just a super low chance.  They ask for your CC info with the free gems to test out their billing system.  It might put a $1 hold on your account, but it won't charge you.

[Koyasha]

After watching some streams, PVP in this game seems like player vs door again  

Warhammer with better graphics?

From a few reports, the server matching thing doesn't work until you have a few weeks gone by. The matching I'm on has 25v5v5 for the player counts involved right now. :(

If this is accurate, it seems to me this weekend thing is a retarded way to run the "beta" because that system will thus never be tested at full capacity.  Not to mention the bad impression that potential players get when they check out the game and see that kind of imbalance even though they've promised they have a solution for it.

[kildorn]

After watching some streams, PVP in this game seems like player vs door again  

Warhammer with better graphics?

From a few reports, the server matching thing doesn't work until you have a few weeks gone by. The matching I'm on has 25v5v5 for the player counts involved right now. :(

If this is accurate, it seems to me this weekend thing is a retarded way to run the "beta" because that system will thus never be tested at full capacity.  Not to mention the bad impression that potential players get when they check out the game and see that kind of imbalance even though they've promised they have a solution for it.

I'd imagine as release gets closer, they'll start running a more always up beta like most folks. The thing we're frustrated with (and why most people don't do this) is that ANet seems to adhere to the word Beta, not Demo. This thing is like 6 months of once-a-month testing events from Demo phase.

[Hoax]

Does nobody else think the pc animations for this game are terrible? I can't stand the way movement and especially spell casting looks in this game.

[KallDrexx]

When is GW2 supposed to release?

[Furiously]

When is GW2 supposed to release?

When it's ready.

[Mavor]

After playing the beta weekend, I have to say, GW2 as it stands now is feeling more like a plain vanilla cupcake then the double strawberry cream-filled layer cake of Guild Wars 1.

From the character traits to the skills, it's just lacking spice.

For instance, in GW1, there were many kinds of defensive and offensive abilities that could completely destroy enemy teams if said enemy team brought no defenses. Things like boon stacking.. persistant damage reduction stacking.. diesease spread.. etc.. etc.. were all interesting and possible because the skills themselves had flavor.

However, in GW 2 most skills are a variation of ... do xx damage in an AOE... add xx boon for xx duration .. apply xx condition for xx duration... and most of the conditions are just so plain.. many of them could just be replaced by a generic Damage over time and they would be functionally the same.

Due to this, during World vs world with more then 10 or so players, it has really felt like simply numbers win almost every time. There are really no unique combinations, "shut down" combinations if you will, so numbers almost always win. Not to mention that because most skills can apply to an infinite number of players (if they are AOE), they are really really weak unless used in a massive blob of people. ("healing spring" aoe heal for instance... 45 second cooldown, 2 second cast time and heals a grand total of.... 1% hp over 5 seconds in an AOE... rofl)

This is really fucking boring.

I almost laughed when I saw some of the guardian "protection bubble" skills in use... these are as close to some of the interesting abilities of guild wars 1 I could find in the game... and the 120 second cooldown "sanctuary" bubble that the guardian has is like... 1 meter large. It's basically a personal bubble for 5 seconds.

It seems to me that the Arena Net team are afraid of introducing interesting abilities for the sake of "balancing" things.. but balance only makes things boring to be quite honest. Guild wars 1 had tons of unbalanced stuff flying around, with the meta game changing constantly.. and that's why it was so damned fun.

tl;dr - obsession over balance and skills that can apply to an infinite # of players makes GW2 boring.

[Furiously]

Maybe they are making a sequel to DAOC rather than to GW1.....

[Kageru]

For instance, in GW1, there were many kinds of defensive and offensive abilities that could completely destroy enemy teams if said enemy team brought no defenses. Things like boon stacking.. persistant damage reduction stacking.. diesease spread.. etc.. etc.. were all interesting and possible because the skills themselves had flavor.

The stackable buffs are in the trait selection which unlock at level 11 and are pre-selected in PvP. There are not enough numbers for me to tell if they're as unbalanced as the ones you mention.

That said it wins over GW1 in that it doesn't put me to sleep, but I can imagine the pro-PvP people missing the more abstract and paced interplay of skills that GW1 had. Following modern trends it seems a lot more twitchy and busy.

[Mavor]

GW1 put you to sleep? Hmmm.. I guess they just arn't aiming at my market with their targetting.

Another thing is.. i don't think the whole dodging concept really adds much to the game... Sure, if everyone had ~20 ms latency like in Korea, a dodge mechanic (copying most of the Korean mmos out there right now) would work fine. But in europe and America ping around 150-250 are common... with that much latency, the separation between skill and simply latency time widens too much... it makes some parts of the game actually impossible.

[Phred]

GW1 put you to sleep? Hmmm.. I guess they just arn't aiming at my market with their targetting.

Another thing is.. i don't think the whole dodging concept really adds much to the game... Sure, if everyone had ~20 ms latency like in Korea, a dodge mechanic (copying most of the Korean mmos out there right now) would work fine. But in europe and America ping around 150-250 are common... with that much latency, the separation between skill and simply latency time widens too much... it makes some parts of the game actually impossible.

In addition I don't think the game does a particularly good job of telegraphing the attacks you should be dodging either. Especially at 20 fps which is the best i got this weekend.

[Kageru]

All the MMO's are trying to play more like a console action-RPG and I think that's pretty much inevitable. No tutorials, no resting, actions to spam and twitch/adrenal gameplay. I've got ~350+ ping so I can only agree in the strongest terms but I don't think it's unique to GW2 or likely to change.

[Numtini]

The dodge thing was completely not working for me. If there's any indication that anything is a big attack or a small one, I couldn't figure it. Usually I was either taking minor damage or boom and lipsync for your life.

[Mosesandstick]

In PVE I thought the general indication was the red circle on the ground. There are some attacks that aren't dodgeable if you get "aggro" and I got instagibbed a couple of times getting to close to the bosses. At least thats what I think happened.

[Numtini]

The red circle is for AOEs and could be a bit more prominent and my preference would be for combat to move just a little slower in general. For single attacks, you're apparently supposed to notice the mob winding up, but fucked if I know what that means. I can't believe they expect you to memorize what animations on critters are scary and which aren't.

[jakonovski]

I can't believe they expect you to memorize what animations on critters are scary and which aren't.

That sounds completely awesome.

[Nebu]

Maybe they are making a sequel to DAOC rather than to GW1.....

Um... no.  The pvp doesn't hold up well enough. 

That said it wins over GW1 in that it doesn't put me to sleep, but I can imagine the pro-PvP people missing the more abstract and paced interplay of skills that GW1 had. Following modern trends it seems a lot more twitchy and busy.

I didn't get the twitchy feel at all.  The pace seemed VERY slowed down in the BG's and it took forever to die or to kill someone.  PvP seemed to be spamming one of my 5 buttons and ducking out of LOS when someone was focus firing me.  Snares and stuns did have a role, but not as profound in other games.  Premades will dominate this pvp if the ability to queue together exists.

[Kageru]

I played some small team PvP and it was really hyper-active. It's been a long time since I played GW1 but I remember most of the abilities having pretty long cool downs, less abilities and the battle areas more open. The PvE combat seems much more busy as well.

Though I was thinking more of the trend, with the increasing use of movement, manual aiming and reactives in MMO's to give it a more action feel. I think GW2 is still largely traditional.

[Mavor]

To be honest I just don't see why twitch and "actiony" feel need to come into this genre... slow things down and you get more strategy.. slow it down to the extreme and you get turn based... speed it way up and you get call of duty and whatnot.

I just fail to see how replacing strategy with dodging and action-based whatever makes things better.