Guild Wars 2

[Ard]

Okay, my bad, I couldn't remember for sure.  There was never a point where I didn't have prophecies.

[Fordel]

I actually bought Factions as my first GW box. I didn't pick up prophecies till much much later when it was on sale.

[sidereal]

So, in summary. If I buy only Nightfall, these are the things I will miss:

The Assassin and Ritualist class
Skills from Factions
Skills from Prophecies
The post-20 quests & zones from Prophecies (?)
The post-20 quests & zones from Factions (?)

Yeah?
How does the 3 separate games thing work?  When Factions came out did everyone start new characters because their originals were already maxed?  Or did they increase the level cap?  If not, was there any point to bringing a maxed character over?

[Fordel]

Leveling isn't like most other MMO's, it's more like a tutorial then anything. You can hit the level cap in a afternoon really.

[ghost]

Leveling isn't like most other MMO's, it's more like a tutorial then anything. You can hit the level cap in a afternoon really.

It seems pretty quick.  I'm having a hard time getting into it, nonetheless.  Something about GW is a bit sterile.

[lamaros]

GW1 Beta was the best MMO gaming experience I've had. They fucked it up for me at the end with how they took some things and I didn't manage to follow through on the promise, but if they can get those things right this time around...

[Lantyssa]

How does the 3 separate games thing work?  When Factions came out did everyone start new characters because their originals were already maxed?  Or did they increase the level cap?  If not, was there any point to bringing a maxed character over?

As said, up to 20 is the tutorial.  It's pretty fast to reach in Factions and Nightfall.  Prophecies takes a lot longer.  The game is really about collecting skills, decking out yourself and heroes, and just enjoying the story. 

Equipment can make a difference, however it's power curve is pretty low and it's more about finding cool looking weapons and gathering the materials to make a nice set of armor.  Armor has a prefix and suffix for each piece.  Weapons usually have two or three similar slots, plus an inscription.  A rare few powerful items come with a bonus quality.  You can scavenge these slot pieces from equipment you find and apply them to your own stuff.  Everything but green drops (very rare) can be customized in this fashion.

[Ragnoros]

Saw the trailer on their site and it looked awesome. Will definitely be picking it up. The art as always was amazing.

In case anyone hasn't seen or was curious about the concept art from the GW artists on the expansions. It's pretty amazing how close the illustrations look to the ingame environment.

GW Factions Concept Art - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74118

GW Nightfall Concept Art - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83394

Its been said a dozen times. But DAMN that is some amazing concept artwork.

[Shatter]

Checklist of things to do in this lifetime:

104)  Play a game riding a giant anteater with a house on top 

[Ingmar]

Prophecies is just set up very differently than the others. The "tutorial" there is Pre-Searing and you end up only level 6ish after it unless you seriously catass some stuff. The campaign is longer and more difficult, too, until you can pick up some heroes but you don't even get to a town you can do that from until after many hours of play.

I think a lot of people's first inclination would be to get Prophecies because it seems like it should be the 'base' game, but Nightfall is definitely the way to go if you're only going to get one.

[sidereal]

Hmm. . so I ended up getting the Trilogy since it's the same cost as getting Nightfall and Factions, and I planned on starting with Nightfall, but it forced me to start with Prophecies.  Which I originally took to mean that I had to pass Prophecies to get the other ones, which pissed me off.

But now I'm thinking it's just fucked up and running off the old key I had years ago and thinks I only have access to Prophecies.  So now I have to navigate Steam somehow and figure out how the hell to get they key out so I can get access to the other campaigns.

Seamless!

[Lantyssa]

I'll have to look at home.  There should be a right-click option to let you see details.

I'd agree with Ingmar.  If you're only going to play one campaign then go with Nightfall.  Once you finish the starting missions you can go to the other campaigns if you need a change of scenery.  If you get hooked though, then I think playing through with a Prophecies character is worthwhile, but it's a very long-term investment.

[Yegolev]

All my people are still there; I'm impressed.  Actually I don't know that I recognize one of them, a Prophecies character.  The other three don't have any details in the login screen because they are OLD, I guess.  No idea how I got Prophecies!

Wife just arrived, fun time stops.

[Lantyssa]

I'm not biting you.

There was a graphics glitch a few months ago which reset appearances on the character screen.  They'll return to normal once you log them in.

[Yegolev]

Deleted the mesmer, making an elementalist named Waiting Fortwo.

Don't worry about the biting.

[sidereal]

It was indeed a key problem.  I just had to add the new serial to my account on the ncsoft site and they all opened up.

But I'm playing through Prophecies with my N/R anyway.  Then I'll probably start fresh for each of the campaigns.  I wouldn't mind running the same guy through all 3, but the fractured class availability is kind of annoying.  I'll probably run a Ritualist and a Paragon on the other ones.

[Ratman_tf]

So, If I have a Prophecies character, can I buy Nightfall and then just take that Prophecies character into the Nightfall content?

I'm so sick of beating my head aginst Prohpecies and getting nowhere.

[Ard]

So, If I have a Prophecies character, can I buy Nightfall and then just take that Prophecies character into the Nightfall content?

I'm so sick of beating my head aginst Prohpecies and getting nowhere.

Only once you get to Lion's Gate, which takes a while in Prophecies if you haven't been there before.

Oh, also of note, bring a character from one campaign to another isn't exactly the same as starting one there.  The point where you join the storyline is different, as you skip the whole tutorial phase and jump in from around the point where you reach the main city, and come in as visitors and existing heroes instead of a new person.  This is especially obvious in the Factions campaign, since one of the main first storyline quests for existing characters actually allows for two full groups, each starting at different points, one from the Factions newbie side, and one from the other campaigns, that join in the middle and brawl up to the end, where the story merges.

[Lantyssa]

Lion's Gate for Prophecies (I could be convinced to run you if worst comes to worst), Consolate Docks for Nightfall, and I think Kaining City for Factions.  Once you reach those cities you can do a short quest for each and then gain access to the other campaigns.

There are small differences in the stories depending on where your character is from, but they're fairly minor and you can even 'flashback' through the early missions.  The biggest difference is how you gain skills.  Prophecies characters are given a lot of skills through mission completion.  Factions and Nightfall characters have to buy a great many of theirs.  (Save signets for elite skills which you cannot buy.)

[Yegolev]

Right, it's good that I got some skills from a misson since I can't remember how the hell to get skills in this game.  I remember it being a mystery the first time I played as well.

I decided that starting a new character was stupid since nothing has changed in the game, as far as I can tell, so I started playing my lv10 Elementalist/Something.  The Something is like a phantom-type caster.  I guess I could read the manual again.

[Lantyssa]

Mesmer.

[sidereal]

I say Ritualist

[Ard]

He's clearly a Pirate, and dare anyone to claim differently.

[Velorath]

Fairly decent length article with information from PAX:

Unlike Guild Wars, which has always been considered at most a borderline MMO due to its heavy use of instances, Guild Wars 2 is going to be a fully persistent world. There will also be no separation of PvP and so-called "roleplaying" characters. In Guild Wars 2, there will be two different forms of PvP. They have something called "world-vs-world" play, which matches up entire servers against each other. Eric describes this as a more casual type of PvP with big open-world maps featuring castle sieges, siege weaponry and objectives for both solo players and big groups of like a hundred people. Competitive PvP, which was the hallmark of the original GW, will be there as well. Players will be able to level up their characters through world PvP as experience points will be granted for it. However, competitive PvP will put everyone on an even playing field so it becomes more about skill than about level.

The story in Guild Wars 2 happens two hundred fifty years after the original GW. The Charr, who used to be religious fanatics driven to conquest by their beliefs, have forsaken their false gods and magic, relying more on themselves and as a result, becoming the driving force of technological advancement. Meaning that you will see guns in the game, although they will be old-fashioned muskets rather than machine guns and such.

The Charr will also be a playable race. These big cat-like people were the main bad guys in GW so don't expect them to be peaceful and timid in the sequel. They are godless conquerors that have these technologically advanced cities and weapons and who like to win at all cost. In GW2, they are not at war with the humans anymore but that doesn't mean that they like them, and the feeling is mutual.

Humans were originally the only playable race and were once the dominant force in Tyria. With the dragons rising, beings of other races have been forced out of their homelands and into human territory. As a result, the humans have been pushed back and are not the mighty race that they once were. They are now clustered around the city of Divinity's Reach and are ruled by a Queen, a descendant of the last queen of Kryta, who is at times in conflict with the elected ministers of parliament.

The third playable race is the Norn, a race introduced in Guild Wars' Eye of the North expansion. They are giant Viking-type characters who are very individualistic. They worship four animal spirits – the bear, the raven, the wolf and the snow leopard – and they are able to shapeshift into these animals. The Norn don't have a formal government. Their religion is very shamanistic and they value strength, honesty and fair play.

The Asura, another race introduced in Eye of the North, is the fourth playable race. They are short magical creatures who have been driven from their underground homes by the dragons. They believe in the Eternal Alchemy which is their religion, a belief that everything in this world has a power running through it and that it's all part of this one big equation. The Asura are smarter than the other races and are rather proud and arrogant about it. They build golems and magical teleportation devices, objects which they like to use to insinuate themselves into the other societies as they are not very combative. As such, they have spread themselves out all over the face of Tyria.

The Sylvari is the fifth playable race. These are elf-like creatures that spring full-grown from this magical tree. As such, their physique is plant-like but their form is humanoid since a human planted the tree from whence they came. The Sylvari have only been around for twenty-five years so none of them have died of old age and they don't bear children. They're very empathetic and they have this shared dream. They are born with knowledge of the world but no experience, which makes them very childlike in their behavior. So they want to go out into the world and experience the things of which they only know about. They also have this instinctive drive to hunt and kill the dragons because they perceive them to be evil. However not all Sylvari are good. The ones who have turned against their own kind are called the Nightmare Court.

Each of these races will have their own starting cities. According to Eric, the trailer shows the Human and Asura starting cities, Divinity's Reach and Rata Sum. Perhaps the most welcome change in GW 2 is that these beautiful cities will not just be mere backdrops but vibrant places with buildings and houses that you can actually walk into. I did a double take when he mentioned houses, but unfortunately, player housing isn't something the developers are ready to discuss. Eric mentioned that they will probably reveal more about classes and gameplay early next year, so hopefully we won't have to wait too long.

In closing, Eric mentioned two philosophies behind Guild Wars 1 that will continue on to Guild Wars 2: 1) that people shouldn't have to pay a monthly fee to play the game, and 2) that a player should be able to play a game casually if he wants to and that he doesn't have to belong to a group or guild to grind his life away in order to be competitive, and 3) storytelling that will make the player feel that he is a part of the Guild Wars world.

In the meantime, "The Art of Guild Wars 2", a 128-page hardbound book filled with beautiful concept art for the game, was unveiled at PAX and all attendees who went up to the ArenaNet booth got a copy signed by some of the artists. The book is not on sale yet but will be soon after PAX.

[tazelbain]

Neato, server vs server like sport teams.  You could power match servers so the strong fight the strong or a playoff system.  At least that's what I would do.  No-sub conformation.  :)  Still have to wonder why he thinks there was no grind to be competitive in GW1.

[DLRiley]

Neato, server vs server like sport teams.  You could power match servers so the strong fight the strong or a playoff system.  At least that's what I would do.  No-sub conformation.  :)  Still have to wonder why he thinks there was no grind to be competitive in GW1.

Your going to have to be a tad specific on what your referring to.

[Kageru]

Server versus server could be excellent fun. Great way of getting "world pride" and you could even rank it so that the challengers are (moderately) balanced.

That said I'm currently playing through GW again (for complex and external reasons) and it really is moderately ghastly to level up in. Each map being a linear path through a maze and the simplistic power and gearing designs makes it pretty dull. Gaming with henchmen is also the best demonstration of why dragging stupid and largely uncontrollable bots across a map is more frustrating than fun. Maybe the PvP is wonderfully exciting, but the ones I spectated on didn't look all that special.

So I'll keep my expectations low for this one, though I'm always open to being pleasantly surprised.

[Zetor]

Are you playing through Prophecies? That's probably the slowest to level up in; you typically hit 20 in nightfall/factions by the time you are finished with the 'noob island'. Henchmen are pretty bad (in my guild Alesia and Orion have sort of become mascots  ), but heroes that you can outfit with gear and skills and have a high amoutn of control over are much better. Some missions are still not too soloable though, even with heroes...

[Kageru]

Yep, prophecies. The wife has someone in the office who badgered her into playing GW after hearing she'd tried WoW. Thankfully I had an old account and we borrowed one off a friend so it's not costing us anything. Watching her get pissed off by long paths leading to impassable (but very scenic) dead ends and the archer/mages "get aggro, run all over gathering more" AI is making me realize how many people the game turned off.

I've met a couple of people who play in the belief it's just as good as WoW but free and I cry for them.

[Lantyssa]

Do you need heroes to set a flag?  It'll keep henchmen confined to a fairly tight area.

The Hero AI is vastly superior to the henchie AI.  If both of you are playing it together then you don't even need any henchmen once you have three.  Besides the campaign, getting Nightfall (and/or GWEN) to add heroes makes life so much better.

[DLRiley]

Not to mention if its just the two of you....wow half the stuff you mentioned is hardly should be an issue. Fuck the crapstic henchmen wasn't even a problem until I reached lions arch and that was solo and without flagging. And yes Guild Wars is very much superior to WoW once you realize your skills do more than shoot bigger fireballs.

[EWSpider]

I've met a couple of people who play in the belief it's just as good as WoW but free and I cry for them.

Guild Wars is superior to WoW in every conceivable way.  I weep for anyone that thinks otherwise.

[tazelbain]

Crafting in Guild War sucks. 

[EWSpider]

Crafting in Guild War sucks. 

Touche.

[DLRiley]

Crafting in Guild War sucks.