Guild Wars 2

[Engels]

it's all about male developers and bewbs.

In other words, the realm of fantasy 

[Hawkbit]

I've always been a fan of choice - it wouldn't kill them to allow similar stat armors, one with skin and one without.  I'm in that small minority that would play in full plate instead of chainmail thong, but hey... at least it would be my choice. 

[Lantyssa]

Y'all mean like Guild Wars does now?  (With most of those sub-links having different armor for 6-10 classes)

I really don't expect a lack of sexy, practical, and gaudy armor to be a problem.  Especially since every dungeon will also have its own styles on top of what you get elsewhere.  Guild Wars has always been about having style choices.  They've also turned it into a nice revenue stream by offering some really good looking costumes on top of the huge variety of armors available.

I'll eat my in-game reward hat if choice is a problem.

[Sky]

I'm missing the Conan to balance the skimpy female outfits.

Also, very spiky looking stuff. Not much in there to my taste, the first real negative I've felt about the franchise. Do thing get less trendycool in GW2?

[Ingmar]

There's a dude with an armored Go Navy half shirt in one of the pictures there, so I guess it is more equal opportunity than most MMOs so far on that front. We won't really know if they're mostly blowing smoke on that front until we see the range of elementalist wear though. 

[Shatter]

http://www.ncsoft.net/global/ir/quarterly.aspx#none

Earnings reported with some info on beta, launches, etc.  By the sounds of it GW2 will likely be a 2012 launch. 

Snippet(pulled from guildwars2guru):

(about 25% in)
"... as for GW2, I think the development process is on track and we expect there will be at least a closed beta test during the year, and depending on the feedback we will further decide the actual date of open beta and commercialization launch. There are a lot of uncertainties, and we decided not to include the additional revenue which would come from the launch of Blade and Soul and GW2 when we make our guidance for 2011, but also there is a possibility that we may be able to launch those titles before the end of the year. If that happens we may be able to exceed our guidance. At this point the development is on track. Because this is a very sensitive matter, depending on the feedback of the beta, we may decide the actual date for commercialization. That is our stance regarding the progress of the development of those two titles."

Later on (about 80% of the way through)
"We have a wide range of scenarios from launching Blade and Soul and GW2 before the end of the year, to not launching both titles within the year. All our developers believe they will be able to complete the project definitely before the end of the year. The uncertainty is after we finish the production and run the open and closed beta, and feedback for customers. If everything goes well we will be able to launch the product soon enough, otherwise they will be delayed.

If we could launch them early enough, there will be huge impact. If we launch nearing the end of the year, the impact on the revenue will be limited."

[Sjofn]

Y'all mean like Guild Wars does now?  (With most of those sub-links having different armor for 6-10 classes)

I really don't expect a lack of sexy, practical, and gaudy armor to be a problem.  Especially since every dungeon will also have its own styles on top of what you get elsewhere.  Guild Wars has always been about having style choices.  They've also turned it into a nice revenue stream by offering some really good looking costumes on top of the huge variety of armors available.

I'll eat my in-game reward hat if choice is a problem.

I fucking hated nearly all of the lady elementalist armor, and the stuff I didn't was rep bullshit armor (Kurzick is the kind that doesn't make me want to punch a kitten). They do have choices, but they didn't have enough "OK, I don't want to show that much skin because that is stupid" choices that were easy for me to get. And I get the "the really awesome armor, we want you to eeeeeeeeeeearn" thing, but when I was still playing, it was a pain in the ass I wasn't willing to go through (and that goes for all the classes, elementalist is just the very worst offender for the lady armor). For the most part, I do agree they did a decent job of their stated goal of wanting the ladies and gentlemen of the world to look sexy-but-functional, but the lady elementalists failed. A lot.

On the other hand, some of their male designs are hot. It's the only MMO I've played where the men are honest to god attractive to someone who is attracted to men, rather than some stupid power fantasy "straight dudes want to look like this" bullshit (I'm looking at you in particular, WoW).

[Strazos]

Female Mesmers were kind of dumb looking.

[birdsguts]

At least you could make a male mesmer that looked exactly like Prince after Nightfall came out.

[Lantyssa]

Sjofn, aren't you still trying to reach Lion's Arch?

[Sjofn]

I have all the expansions, it's just my Prophesies people who keep stalling out. Because Prophesies sucks.  

Honestly though, their whole armor system is a gigantic, hateful mess.

[ezrast]

Usually a tiny hateful mess actually.

For the record, as a straight dude, I agree with you 100% on this kind of thing. Platemail brassieres just look stupid to me, and GW males looked way better than the standard roided out gorillamen. The WoW male models in particular are ugly as shit.

[Ashamanchill]

When I make a toon I usually crank my muscle settings all the way to the max. If I'm paying  for a fantasy game, my avatar better damn well be a beast!

[Fordel]

I'm fine with ridiculous armor as long as :

A) People who want to not be ridiculous can be.

B) It's equal opportunity ridiculous. If the lady is sporting a plate thong, the dude better wear a steel banana hammock.




My personal "no that is retarded!" is heels. Nothing seems more ridiculous to me then a warrior woman in stiletto heels. Be it fantasy art, super heroes or sci-fi stuff, the god damn heels. Heels are not for high adventure dammit.

[schild]

I just want this game to be real. I don't give a fuck if the armor looks like MSPaint "art."

[Stormwaltz]

I have all the expansions, it's just my Prophesies people who keep stalling out. Because Prophesies sucks.

I started with Prophesies, which may have been a mistake. I have to force myself to log in. I look at the GW wiki and see all this cool stuff, then I look around at the wasteland of Ascalon and wonder, "How do I get to the good parts?"

[Nevermore]

For the most part I like the armors in GW, except for the most of the Assassin armors (points! look at all the POINTS!).  Even the Elementalist has a couple of armors that cover up most everything.  And what's really nice is there are costume pieces that you can turn on to cover up whatever armor you're wearing, though you have to buy those separately.

Now, if only there was more bag space to store all the different armors..   

[Ingmar]

I would like the GW armor system a lot better if the economy/materials gathering for it was a little less irritating. That's where the 'mess' comes in for me.

[birdsguts]

I have all the expansions, it's just my Prophesies people who keep stalling out. Because Prophesies sucks.

I started with Prophesies, which may have been a mistake. I have to force myself to log in. I look at the GW wiki and see all this cool stuff, then I look around at the wasteland of Ascalon and wonder, "How do I get to the good parts?"

In my opinion, start in Nightfall and work on getting Heroes and messing with different "team builds". That's the only thing that ever managed to really "hook me" into the single player experience. Being able to design a team build with the bots. Once you complete Nightfall you can go to wherever. I would say EotN is pretty fun in places. Save prophecies for later. Like when you need to get to places for the War in Kryta storyline.

[Lantyssa]

You don't even need to complete Nightfall.  Just getting a few critical heroes is enough.  Then a few more from Eye.  Then work on whatever you want.

[Sjofn]

I would like the GW armor system a lot better if the economy/materials gathering for it was a little less irritating. That's where the 'mess' comes in for me.

Yeah, that's what I was specifically thinking of when I called it a mess.

[Lantyssa]

It's not that hard if you break down items while playing.  Stash what you can, keep the rares, sell the stuff you know you won't need to the material vendors.

After the very early levels, ID everything, including whites.  Trophies you can generally sell, though some salvage into useful things.  If it sells for less than 50g, break it down for materials.  If it is worth more and you don't need the mods, sell it.

[Ingmar]

My objection isn't that it is hard. My objection is that it is annoying as shit.

[Sjofn]

Like Ingmar said, it's not hard. It is annoying and terrible. I hate having to buy salvage kits and ID kits and the inventory juggling and the vault crap (which was a horror beyond imagining in the early days) and the remembering who the hell I even talk to to get my armor and what zone they're in (this is the worst in Prophesies, if I remember right) and oh shit this wasn't actually the style I wanted.

If I can only change one thing about it, though, I have to go with the materials. There is absolutely no reason for the number of different materials you have to keep track of.

[Nevermore]

While I'd like the armor crafting to be more streamlined (are over 30 different materials really necessary?  really?), getting the armor you want is guaranteed in a straightforward, relatively easy (if time consuming) way.  Sure it would be nice if there was an in-game preview on the armors so I don't have to go to the wiki to make sure I'm getting the correct one.  The system could certainly use improvement.

But I'll take the GW imperfect system to the asstastic WoW raid paradigm of going to raid after raid, week after week, hoping that the RNG will take pity on you and the shiny finally drops and omg! you actually win it!  That to me is far more annoying.  And that's not even getting into all the various kinds of currencies, marks, seals and whatnot you have to deal with in WoW.  Yeah, just because WoW is worse (imo) doesn't mean GW's system is great, but I'll take going at my own pace knowing I'll eventually get what I want over annoying RNG any day of the week.

[Lantyssa]

You can also make sure all of your armor matches.

[Sjofn]

While I'd like the armor crafting to be more streamlined (are over 30 different materials really necessary?  really?), getting the armor you want is guaranteed in a straightforward, relatively easy (if time consuming) way.  Sure it would be nice if there was an in-game preview on the armors so I don't have to go to the wiki to make sure I'm getting the correct one.  The system could certainly use improvement.

But I'll take the GW imperfect system to the asstastic WoW raid paradigm of going to raid after raid, week after week, hoping that the RNG will take pity on you and the shiny finally drops and omg! you actually win it!  That to me is far more annoying.  And that's not even getting into all the various kinds of currencies, marks, seals and whatnot you have to deal with in WoW.  Yeah, just because WoW is worse (imo) doesn't mean GW's system is great, but I'll take going at my own pace knowing I'll eventually get what I want over annoying RNG any day of the week.

You know very well that you could do the slow and steady way in WoW with the badger/point/whatever system. T9 and T10 were completely buyable. Yeah there were some things where you'd want a drop (goddamn trinkets) but don't pretend WoW is 100% RNG (which I agree that if it was, that sucks too, albeit in a completely different way).

Thing is, with RNG, it's simple and understandable. It's not ideal, but you don't have to open a wiki to understand it. GW's system is complicated and fiddly and, frankly, really poorly done in retrospect. It's actually a gamebreaker for me.

[Lantyssa]

If you're looking for a specific piece of armor, you have to go to the wiki for either one.  Sure there are a few sets you can buy in WoW, but they're good for a couple of levels then they're useless.  Nor are they the best.

In GW if you absolutely don't want to fiddle with it, just buy the materials.  It's more costly than breaking down items, but you can buy everything you need to have them crafted.  The only show stopper I'd really understand complaining about is that reaching some of the armor crafters can be difficult.  That's not to say some of the other complaints aren't valid.  Some of the suits I'm interested in are a pain, because I'm not willing to buy the materials.

GW2 we know there will be armor token drops in dungeons.  One dungeon, one token for everyone, so those will at least be reasonably obtainable.  Other sets we'll have to see since we haven't been told anything of the crafting system.

[Nevermore]

While I'd like the armor crafting to be more streamlined (are over 30 different materials really necessary?  really?), getting the armor you want is guaranteed in a straightforward, relatively easy (if time consuming) way.  Sure it would be nice if there was an in-game preview on the armors so I don't have to go to the wiki to make sure I'm getting the correct one.  The system could certainly use improvement.

But I'll take the GW imperfect system to the asstastic WoW raid paradigm of going to raid after raid, week after week, hoping that the RNG will take pity on you and the shiny finally drops and omg! you actually win it!  That to me is far more annoying.  And that's not even getting into all the various kinds of currencies, marks, seals and whatnot you have to deal with in WoW.  Yeah, just because WoW is worse (imo) doesn't mean GW's system is great, but I'll take going at my own pace knowing I'll eventually get what I want over annoying RNG any day of the week.

You know very well that you could do the slow and steady way in WoW with the badger/point/whatever system. T9 and T10 were completely buyable. Yeah there were some things where you'd want a drop (goddamn trinkets) but don't pretend WoW is 100% RNG (which I agree that if it was, that sucks too, albeit in a completely different way).

Thing is, with RNG, it's simple and understandable. It's not ideal, but you don't have to open a wiki to understand it. GW's system is complicated and fiddly and, frankly, really poorly done in retrospect. It's actually a gamebreaker for me.

RNG is endlessly frustrating because there's nothing you can do about it other than keep pumping in the tokens, pulling the handle and hoping for the payoff.  Everything you need in GW is easily attainable, if sometimes time consuming for the 'prestige' stuff.  And all you have to worry about after buying your armor is your weapon, which is also easy to get.  In WoW, you can get your 'tier' basic armor with badges but that still left half your slots (necks, trinkets, rings, etc) subject to RNG.  Most importantly you're stuck with RNG for your weapon, which is what sucked the most.

Added to that is in GW, once you have your armor and weapon of choice, you're done.  Sure you can go chasing after new looks if you want but it's all purely cosmetic.  In WoW, you get to play the role of Sisyphus as all that gear you spent time getting just becomes a gateway for the next tier of content.  And you can't just ignore the treadmill unless you want to give up on seeing the gated content.  It boils down to a different style of game where gear in WoW is a means to an end while in GW it's largely just fluff.  I don't mind playing a game for the sake of playing the game, getting fluff armor along the way.  I do mind having to grind gear just to experience content.

Now if the Luxon or Kurzick armor turned out to be *necessary* rather than just a unique look, that grind would have been hellacious and I'd have dropped GW in a heartbeat.  Arenanet is no stranger to grinds, having seen what they did with Factions.  So to bring things back on point, if GW2 moves towards a WoW 'chase the loot' model, I'll be very disappointed.

[Sjofn]

None of that really changes what I said: GW's system sucks nut. You find it tolerable. I do not. To the point where I cannot play the game.

Big surprise, that was your solution to hating WoW's system.

[Nevermore]

I suppose one of the reasons I find it more tolerable is because I've been doing what Lantyssa mentioned; I just ignore all the materials and buy what I need off the traders when I have the money to do it.  Sure it's more expensive that way but it's well worth not having to put up with the aggravation of the resource gathering.  And since it's all cosmetic anyway, there's no hurry so it just comes when it comes.  No stress because it's not *needed*.

But yeah, if that option wasn't there I'd be in the 'sucks big fat hairy ones' club too.

[Ratman_tf]

I have all the expansions, it's just my Prophesies people who keep stalling out. Because Prophesies sucks.

I started with Prophesies, which may have been a mistake. I have to force myself to log in. I look at the GW wiki and see all this cool stuff, then I look around at the wasteland of Ascalon and wonder, "How do I get to the good parts?"

That was my whole experience with Guild Wars. I like to hear about what they have planned for GW2, but goddamn. Whenever I actually boot up the first game, and look at my level 12 toon that's been stuck at level 12 for YEARS, I have to wonder if GW2 is going to be a closet warmer.

[Lantyssa]

If you're stalling due to Prophecies, play a different campaign.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  Prophecies is an order of magnitude slower, perhaps bordering on two, than Factions or Nightfall.

[Cheddar]

If you're stalling due to Prophecies, play a different campaign.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  Prophecies is an order of magnitude slower, perhaps bordering on two, than Factions or Nightfall.

Stop tempting me!

[Nevermore]

I can see why you're hesitant, since it's so expensive resubbing and all.