Guild Wars 2

[Lantyssa]

Must be a male Necro.  Mine is the best looking of all my characters.  I had to resist buying a Merc Hero just to duplicate her with my others.

[kildorn]

I dislike the necro art, and the assassin art. But otherwise, it seems fine. It's a surprisingly pretty game imo, for it's age.

[Sky]

I don't remember exactly, I think I was shooting for some paladiny warrior or monk or something.

[Nevermore]

Must be a male Necro.  Mine is the best looking of all my characters.  I had to resist buying a Merc Hero just to duplicate her with my others.

Word.  My Necro is by far my favorite looking character.

[Ingmar]

I don't remember exactly, I think I was shooting for some paladiny warrior or monk or something.

The male warriors are pretty dumb looking, that was probably it. Barrel shaped and their arms stick out awkwardly.

[Draegan]

Playing this at PAX, I didn't have any problems with the controls.  Just as smooth as WOW or RIFT and handle exactly the same.

I hope that you write up a bit on GW2 and SWTOR vs Rift on one of your gaming sites.  Rift seemed to me to be an improvement on WoW, it just lacked enough content and quality pvp to keep me engaged. 

Once the NDA drops from SWTOR and my GW2 site launches I will certainly do that.

[Draegan]

It sounds like character creation is going to be more about sliders this time, though I think there were plenty of pre-sets as it was.  I've only found like one person that looked like me.

I've got Cloths of the Brotherhood on consistent farm.  If anyone is interested in trading 5 Ancient Armor Remnants and 5 Mysterious Armor Pieces, or up to 10 Primeval Armor Remnants instead, let me know.  I can gather them up if I know someone is interested in a trade.  I'm not going to bother getting any in excess unless I know there's interest though.

There are only size related sliders like height etc. from what I've seen. 

For example, Charr lets you select horns, fur patterns, and all the color stuff too.  You also get a limited size correction as well.  But I believe there will be no face slider stuff.

[Lantyssa]

Kristen Perry was talking about human facial sliders in that video.  She also mentioned something about pre-sets, so it could be like GW1, but with more detailed facial options for humans instead of the entire face being pre-set.

[Numtini]

Once upon a time I really thought face configuration was a great idea. But as I go on, I find that it doesn't seem to really have much effect beyond the base face.

[01101010]

Once upon a time I really thought face configuration was a great idea. But as I go on, I find that it doesn't seem to really have much effect beyond the base face.

Yeah... I don't really get into all the tweeking of every little part of the face. When the nose has 8 sliders and the eyes have 12, I just hit the random till I find something I like. Screwing around with all those little tweeks never really matters down the road.

And why am I digging the little guys in this game? maybe it's the floppy ears. 

[Merusk]

I've thought facial sliders were a huge waste since they were first introduced.  Great, you've spent 45 minutes picking which nose is right for you.  Nobody will ever see it as they're zoomed out far enough to see the action, which makes your nose approx 4 pixels wide.  

[Ingmar]

At least in an MMO there's a chance someone will see it. It really cracks me up when you have to customize your face in games like Fallout 3, where you never actually see your own face after the screen you're customizing it on.

[Lantyssa]

3rd person spin cam.  Though Fallout faces are pretty hideous, so it's a good thing you can't see them most of them time.

[Numtini]

I'd rather have them put energy into features that are actually going to be seen, which is mostly hairstyles and the ability to have cosmetic clothes along with decent cosmetic clothes.

[Lantyssa]

Pretty sure GW2 will have us covered in that department.

[Nevermore]

For a price. 

[Lantyssa]

I'll take the $15+ a month I'm not paying on SWTOR and buy myself some gear.  I won't feel guilty at all.

(Also they said you'd earn points which lets you customize gear through normal play.)

[Tannhauser]

Game looks very slick so far.  I'm starting to take an interest in it but I have some concerns.

1.  The UI-As stated upthread, the first UI was not cool at all.
2.  The little guys look just terrible, their heads are too big and the race doesn't seem to mesh with the others, even the Charr.
3.  Lobby-The first game felt like a lobby game and was way too compartmentalized.  I prefer fewer chokepoints and a more open world.

[Draegan]

Game looks very slick so far.  I'm starting to take an interest in it but I have some concerns.

1.  The UI-As stated upthread, the first UI was not cool at all.
2.  The little guys look just terrible, their heads are too big and the race doesn't seem to mesh with the others, even the Charr.
3.  Lobby-The first game felt like a lobby game and was way too compartmentalized.  I prefer fewer chokepoints and a more open world.

Read up on the game.  Because it seems like you just heard this game was coming out.

1.  UI's are personal choices.  The current GW2 UI is pretty slick.  Some may like it, some may not.  Shrug
2.  I haven't played the Asura or seen them in game yet.  Charr look find if you like big hulking type of races.
3.  The game is a full blown MMOG.  Persistent world etc.

[Numtini]

I think next week is "Asura Week" so they'll be dumping out a lot of videos and info.

[Draegan]

I think next week is "Asura Week" so they'll be dumping out a lot of videos and info.

Yeah.  Sylvari still look the best imo.

[Tyrnan]

First Asura blog is up at http://www.arena.net/blog/matt-barrett-on-asura-design

I found the video pretty awesome, but that may be because I don't have an artistic bone in my body and couldn't draw a straight line to save my life.

[01101010]

2.  The little guys look just terrible, their heads are too big and the race doesn't seem to mesh with the others, even the Charr.

No you!

Of course, I was a Taru-taru PLD once upon a time so I can use that as an excuse.

[Draegan]

I always love watching videos of artists draw.  It always makes me jealous.

[Sky]

Always minds me of the road not traveled. I was an art major before the band took over my life.

Watching digital painting is pretty amazing for someone who used to paint but never had those kind of tools (since they didn't exist).

[murdoc]

Always minds me of the road not traveled. I was an art major before the band took over my life.

Watching digital painting is pretty amazing for someone who used to paint but never had those kind of tools (since they didn't exist).

I just picked up a Wacom tablet and I feel like I'm starting over from scratch again. Videos like that make it look SO easy.

[Draegan]

I bought a cheap-o tablet to play around with, and it's frustrating with your hands on the pad and your eyes on the screen.  I couldn't quite get my hand to be that coordinated.

[Tyrnan]

I bought a cheap-o tablet to play around with, and it's frustrating with your hands on the pad and your eyes on the screen.  I couldn't quite get my hand to be that coordinated.

He could be using a Cintiq, I seem to remember seeing a fair few of them in their officers in some videos.

Also, more Asura bloginess at http://www.arena.net/blog/mr-sparkles-a-tale-of-the-asura

[Draegan]

Oh.  That seems awesome, wish I could have one and that they weren't like $2000.

[Sky]

I tried the wacom tablet thing back around 2000-01, couldn't get around the disconnect of not looking where I'm drawing.

[Sheepherder]

At least in an MMO there's a chance someone will see it. It really cracks me up when you have to customize your face in games like Fallout 3, where you never actually see your own face after the screen you're customizing it on.

Facegen and any other similar middleware makes it low hanging fruit.  What it needs is the NPC occasionally taking off his helmet to talk to people and a decent set of presets that can be tweaked.

[Mattemeo]

New Sylvari Necromancer Footage courtesy of TotalBiscuit

Higher level stuff, some nifty skills etc. My over-riding impression of the vid is the sheer fucking variety of the landscapes. Check out those Mangroves! Lovely character animations too.

[Dren]

New Sylvari Necromancer Footage courtesy of TotalBiscuit

Higher level stuff, some nifty skills etc. My over-riding impression of the vid is the sheer fucking variety of the landscapes. Check out those Mangroves! Lovely character animations too.

I'll buy that and play, all detailed subjectory aside.  Wish there was a static game details section in these threads....what's the latest release date?

[Ard]

It's done when it's done.  They aren't even discussing a release date internally yet from what I've seen.  Speculation is spring or summer next year at the soonest.

[Morfiend]

Video looks awesome, but I kept trying to zoom out just a bit while watching it. The camera seems really close to your character, especially when in Lich form.