Guild Wars 2

[Lantyssa]

Of course we don't expect you to swim, you're saving our civilization!

That usually means walk everywhere and use rusty weapons until you can pay outrageous prices to buy slightly better stuff...

[Draegan]

Looks really good.

[Ingmar]

Well I can cross the Charr off of my "will I play one of these" list now, I hate that running on all fours thing.

[Threash]

Between this, Tera online and Rfits i don't know what ill end up playing, probably whichever comes out first since i'm freaking bored.

[Lantyssa]

Well I can cross the Charr off of my "will I play one of these" list now, I hate that running on all fours thing.

Funny.  Vu and I saw that and were "OMG, I'm so playing a Charr" because of that.  Well, Vu already was and I had alts lined up, but that was one more thing which made us excited about the game.

[Zetor]

You can't argue with that dual wielding bladestorm animation, though*. Especially if you do that firewall combo attack they talked about, so you're a whirling dervish of death... on fire.  

* I'm REALLY curious how the Asura pull that animation off, btw. Go gnome or go home!

edit: Rift looks pretty good, but its problem is timing; if it released a year or two ago, it would've cleaned house. It's really just a better / more awesome WOW, which may not be enough when going up against GW2 (and yes, maybe SWTOR). I've been burned by the hype train a few too many times to be much of a pre-release fanboi, but GW2 still looks like a 'must buy' to me.

[Sky]

I never played GW but that looks pretty cool. Given I'm not a big mmo player, having this, Rift and SWTOR all coming out is pretty overwhelming.

Also, I'll probably need a new damned computer.

[Mattemeo]

Well I can cross the Charr off of my "will I play one of these" list now, I hate that running on all fours thing.

Really? I'm still annoyed Blizzard didn't even keep the feral run animation for Worgen's racial sprint. I think that looks fantastic, properly bestial, what I'd expect from a Charr. Put me in mind of the animations they did for Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda, really emphasises power, brute energy.

[Ingmar]

It makes me think of the stupid Valkyn from DAOC.

[Dark_MadMax]

more gameplay, with the necromancer I think;

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/30947
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/30949

Wow am I the only one completely unimpressed? This same old same old MMO gameplay ,with retarded mobs ,tanking mechanics and  clickable powers. I mean not that its very bad per se but combat wise its not gonna be any better than wow

[jakonovski]

Wow am I the only one completely unimpressed? This same old same old MMO gameplay ,with retarded mobs ,tanking mechanics and  clickable powers. I mean not that its very bad per se but combat wise its not gonna be any better than wow

You're missing the ccg-esque mechanic of limited skill bars. Half the game is making builds for different situations. So no, I'm still definitely impressed. 

[Lantyssa]

I'm not impressed by a blurry screen with load, distorted sounds coming from all directions.  I didn't see anything which suggested this wasn't going to be a good game though, since it's a floor show demo I'm not there for or controlling.

[Lantyssa]

Here, try this.  Much better quality videos of walk throughs.  (There are several on the right, so don't miss 'em.)

Edit: Fixed.  Dunno what happened there.

[Draegan]

I always love watching the fanboy base grow as game info gets put out.  I like watching the cycle over the years.  I even enjoy watching myself go through it and unfortunately there are more facepalms than smiles.

[jakonovski]

I actually give GW2 almost 100% chance of success. What they have on show is already rock solid, and their business model is good. I'm certainly going to be there, and this time there's no WoW to steal their show.

[Nightblade]

I actually give GW2 almost 100% chance of success. What they have on show is already rock solid, and their business model is good. I'm certainly going to be there, and this time there's no WoW to steal their show.

Unless Blizzard decides to suddenly announce their mystery MMO. 

[Hawkbit]

Nah, I still think GW2 has a solid shot.  It's already got a strong core and the no-sub model is strong. 

I cleaned out my old games today and put the trade on a GW2 preorder.  It just looks good.

[AutomaticZen]

I actually give GW2 almost 100% chance of success. What they have on show is already rock solid, and their business model is good. I'm certainly going to be there, and this time there's no WoW to steal their show.

Unless Blizzard decides to suddenly announce their mystery MMO. 

This was my thought.  I was feeling good about SWTOR, GW2 and Rift for different reasons, and Blizzard wil wait until release and then drop a single trailer for their next MMO.

And proceed not to talk about it for another year.

[Rendakor]

Which will give us something NEW to have a 35+ page thread about. 

[jakonovski]

This was my thought.  I was feeling good about SWTOR, GW2 and Rift for different reasons, and Blizzard wil wait until release and then drop a single trailer for their next MMO.

And proceed not to talk about it for another year.

I don't think that's going to work. Blizzard is ironically facing the same problem: whatever new MMO they reveal, it's going to suffer from the "it's not WoW" syndrome.

[Ashamanchill]

Nor will they be able to wheel out the tired old excuse that they are not Blizzard with it's endless budget and established dev team.

[PalmTrees]

Here, try this.  Much better quality videos of walk throughs.  (There are several on the right, so don't miss 'em.)

Edit: Fixed.  Dunno what happened there.

The voice acting in those quest deliveries was kinda flat, if they really have 60 movies worth of voice acting I hope they found a few actors that can do emotion. I have mixed feeling about those events. Running from event point to event point until I find one with a big enough zerg rush to join doesn't sound all that much better than kill ten rats. If they do make good on their promises that events effect the world I just wonder what's gonna happen to bread prices once everyone levels up and the newb areas are deserted and there's no one to protect those farms but a few free trial folks.

The tab targeting with hotkeys plus a little twitch dodging looked good. Looked better implemented than Spellborn's version at least. I'd like to see a melee's prespective though.

[Zetor]

If they have the same voice actors they used in GW1, I foresee much   ahead. Master Togo's kung-fu movie villain voice, the Undead Lich's ridiculous tone and Prince Rurik were the causes of many a virtual drinking game in our guild...

(I actually didn't mind them in gw1, not all voice acting has to be super srs bsns)

[Lantyssa]

Running from event point to event point until I find one with a big enough zerg rush to join doesn't sound all that much better than kill ten rats.

Why do you need to find a zerg rush?  The events scale to the players present.  That's one of the big selling points.  PQs that don't have fixed "you must have this many to participate" numbers.

[PalmTrees]

Running from event point to event point until I find one with a big enough zerg rush to join doesn't sound all that much better than kill ten rats.

Why do you need to find a zerg rush?  The events scale to the players present.  That's one of the big selling points.  PQs that don't have fixed "you must have this many to participate" numbers.

Because I don't really buy the scaling claim. There's not a dev alive that can resist the big boss mob finish. The first couple stages might spawn an appropriate number of regular mobs but the end boss ...
We'll see how it goes.

[Spiff]

How do you actually measure participants effectively?
Do they have to simply be in the vicinity, if so what if someone goes afk or kills a few mobs and decides to bugger off.

It's one of those systems that always makes me think: brilliant and a lot of fun in a controlled environment, but expose it to the average asshat MMO audience and 

Not a big problem with a constant influx of players (what's the difference between 10 or 12 participants anyway), but especially for smaller numbers it could turn into a micro-management balancing nightmare.

[patience]

Running from event point to event point until I find one with a big enough zerg rush to join doesn't sound all that much better than kill ten rats.

Why do you need to find a zerg rush?  The events scale to the players present.  That's one of the big selling points.  PQs that don't have fixed "you must have this many to participate" numbers.

Because I don't really buy the scaling claim. There's not a dev alive that can resist the big boss mob finish. The first couple stages might spawn an appropriate number of regular mobs but the end boss ...
We'll see how it goes.

Actually this concern is addressed in a demo I watched on gamespot. When you have to encounter fewer number of mobs the scaling is manipulated through the access of skills. When more players are present more powerful skills are enabled.

[Zzulo]

The official class page is up for the necromancer;

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/necromancer/

You get some much clearer gameplayvids there as they demonstrate a few powers

[birdsguts]

EEeeeeeegods that is exciting. 
Maan. I'm ... I think that just pushed me over the edge. I'm officially really really really excited about this game.

I'm getting a little bit of a "Zealot from WAR" flashback but it sounds like they are doing it right instead of... boring... and using a bit of what they developed in GW1 to boot.
I'm down for sure.
I swore I'd never pre-order another MMO type game again but I guess I'm gonna eat those words.

[Lantyssa]

Some people claim Guild Wars isn't an MMO, so as it's successor you could claim you're not really breaking your promise by saying it's just Guild Wars the Second!  How were you to know?

[Brogarn]

Because I don't really buy the scaling claim. There's not a dev alive that can resist the big boss mob finish. The first couple stages might spawn an appropriate number of regular mobs but the end boss ...
We'll see how it goes.

I don't know how good of an idea it would be, but you could always scale the end fight according to how many people show up by having the final encounter either be the true "boss" or just one of his/her lieutenants or captains. I mean, why show up if it's just a rag tag bunch of people not worth your time? You're the boss! That's why you have underlings...

Fake edit: Or, further, decide whether or not the real boss shows up based on other factors, like time it took for the earlier stages to complete. Which would not just indicate how many folks showed up, but also how well geared and skilled they were. So it wouldn't depend necessarily on the number of combatants, but also their ability and gear.

[HaemishM]

I absolutely love how GW2 is doing the pre-release PR. Everything is well-written, the videos are fucking awesome and it's enough of the important stuff to get you excited about the game. The necro looks shit-hot.

[Draegan]

The necro looks shit-hot.

Steamy?

[tmp]

I thought it looked like "this shit will get really annoying on the ears roughly 5th foozle spawn into the game"...

[HaemishM]

The necro looks shit-hot.

Steamy?

As in, I'll be in my bunk.