First Impressions

[Shatter]

Everyone on their design team that worked on the auction house deserves toothless BJ's...from the sh*tty designers from the TOR AH.  Oh look I just got a new weapon I cant use, let me right click that shit and sell it RIGHT NOW instead of running back to the dam trader...yeah baby!

[Tmon]

I think I ran across my first tamable hyena at around level 5, it took longer to figure out how pet switching switching worked and why it was super useful.  Also, later I came across a tamable whiptail devourer that is reachable from the Charr city with no combat required to get there.  The problem is that there isn't anything to tell you where to look for it in game right now.  I think I ended up finding 5 pets (black bear, whiptail and lashtail devourer, Red Moa and Hyena) by the time the beta ended, all of them from the 1-15 Charr starter zone.

[Draegan]

Pet's AI and control has been pretty consistently questionable for each beta event they've had.

[Nevermore]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

[Draegan]

Yeah the taming bits are really not explained at all.  However if you're playing in lobbied PVP (not 3W), you get all the pets unlocked. 

[kildorn]

The PVP lobby is what makes me laugh at all the confusion about the core mechanics. ANet noticed they needed a tutorial with live examples. And it is awesome and well done.

Now to put the same shit somewhere players will actually SEE it when first creating characters..

[Redgiant]

They should be getting a lot of feedback on the confusing bits, since I'm sure one of the expected focuses in this BWE with all the pre-purchasers is how total newbies react to the game in its current form. So things like tutotial breadcrumb messages (downed state options, what are skills vs. traits, runes, upgrades, where is WvW, how to dodge, weapon hints, crafting hints) ought to be seriously considered.

Things I most got annoyed with:

- they better add modifier keys; stop dumbing down PC keyboards to pretend they are controllers

- stop zooming my camera in for Downed State, isn't the whole point that I may need to quickly kill something?

- a bit heavy-handed on the scaling for a (2) DE that had level 6 bandits one-shot raping everyone. Kinda fun, but after 8 deaths it got old to run back (since no one could revive you either, as they were all being killed too fast too)

- I understand weapon and attunements swaps (but I still say they also did this for console controllers, not for "gameplay"). But why can't I still make my own skill bars with whatever skills I want on them? So what if I want a Greatsword slot 1 skill next to a Scepter slot 3 skill (since that is how my mind maps it all and how I want to arrange my keymaps for sanity)? Just enforce the appropriate swap cooldowns when I pick one, that's fine with me. But let me lay them out my way.

And no, just making keymaps over the existing fragmented bars isn't enough b/c:
1. They are still unnecessarily tied by the same slots across weapons/attunements for no earthly reason of logic (the same key does the same slot always, even though for me I would use, say, 'X' for GS slot 1 and 'Alt-E' for Scepter slot 1)
2. There is no option to display the keymapping in the bottom of the skill button icons
3. I want my keymapping somewhat organized and ordered for my mental sanity, not the way they wire them left-to-right

[Phred]

You lack a second pet at low levels (or even knowledge of how to tame more..). The basic problem is that pets are built around normal pet AI (run in, spam attack) but the rest of the game is built around dodging and evading incoming damage. Pets don't die faster than players, pets simply NEVER DODGE. Which means they die as fast as a player who just stood there.

They need something to help them out, right now the pet AI is not compatible with the combat dynamic they're going for.

Ya like most of the game they could do a better job explaining how to get another pet. My freind picked a signet that regenerated pet's health. On his bear it made it almost unkillable on most even level fights.

[Phred]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

Maybe you're taking my comments too personally.

[Nevermore]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

Maybe you're taking my comments too personally.

Maybe you should stop blaming things on the players when the problem is with the game.

[Phred]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

Maybe you're taking my comments too personally.

Maybe you should stop blaming things on the players when the problem is with the game.

I'm sorry I bruised your ego with the stupid rangers crack.

[Crumbs]

Someone needs to photoshop Mel Brook's "High Anxiety" pic into that quote fractal

[Nevermore]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

Maybe you're taking my comments too personally.

Maybe you should stop blaming things on the players when the problem is with the game.

I'm sorry I bruised your ego with the stupid rangers crack.

I'm sorry you just can't just let this go.

[Phred]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

Maybe you're taking my comments too personally.

Maybe you should stop blaming things on the players when the problem is with the game.

I'm sorry I bruised your ego with the stupid rangers crack.

I'm sorry you just can't just let this go.

I guess the better man will.

[Nevermore]

I do love that the rez mechanic is very visible on the map, and used for all NPCs and ranger pets as well. Which just trains players from a low level to always rez anything they see. It gives XP!

I wish they'd take it off pets frankly. It's a pita with all the dead ranger pets running around getting in your way when you try to rez a real player or npc or loot. Maybe if the damn rangers noticed their pets were dead occasionally it wouldnt be so annoying.

Maybe if the ranger pets didn't die in literally two hits, they'd care if the pet was dead or not.

Maybe they will eventually figure out that swapping their pets rezzes the one swapped out painlessly.

Maybe they never found any juvenile critters to tame so they only had one pet, or maybe they didn't know how to tame another pet since the game has zero information on how to do it.

Maybe you're taking my comments too personally.

Maybe you should stop blaming things on the players when the problem is with the game.

I'm sorry I bruised your ego with the stupid rangers crack.

I'm sorry you just can't just let this go.

I guess the better man will.

[Megrim]

Yea, you sure dodged that one.

[Spiff]

Stuff about the UI

Couldn't agree more; I like the sleek look of the UI (could use a bit more information perhaps, castbar comes to mind), but mapping keys and skills was a serious annoyance.
It's actually the thing that annoys me most because I'm constantly confronted with it and although I'm more than willing to 'untrain' most of my bad habits from about 8 years of MMO, I don't want to relearn all my keyboard reflexes and instincts.

Not allowing people to map shift+ and ctrl+ is ridiculous.

[Lantyssa]

You lack a second pet at low levels (or even knowledge of how to tame more..).

The second slot can be set up to use the same type immediately.  All four if you start with an amphibious one.

[Tmon]

Nice to know, I found the my third and fourth pets before I realized you could switch between two on the fly and never even thought to try putting the same pet in multiple slots.

[Soukyan]

My First Impressions

Startup/Login: Quick ,quick, and quick. And thank you ArenaNet for allowing me to save my entered password. Security be damned. Seriously, it's really nice that the game loads as fast as it does, and gets me into the game.

Character Creation: Extremely robust and interesting, but I have one complaint. I want a randomize button. Sometimes I want to customize everything myself, but there are other times where I would like to see a random sampling of characters because some of the most interesting combos I have found have been randomly created character models. I do enjoy the story bits of customization, although I was hoping that there would be more variation in the options across races or classes; however, since the opening "cinematic" for your character uses these choices, I understand that they would need to create a lot of extra content to support more options. At the very least, it adds an initial bit of role play to the character and gives you some back story to work from.

Character Names: Glad they kept the GW1 convention of allowing spaces in names. Now I can be Lord Sepulchrave instead of just Sepulchrave.  

Loading Screens: Nicely done artwork with the added bonus of showing your progress toward the achievements available in the zone that is loading. Gives you something to think about while you wait, and also provides a little Pavlovian nudge to make you want to complete the achievements.

Starting Zones: I liked being thrown right into the action. They are similar in feel to the Rift starting zones that culminate in a "boss" encounter. Your character is on semi-god mode so there isn't too much concern about dying, although I was knocked down on a couple of the boss fights and had to "Fight to Survive". While the intensity of being thrown into the middle of an ongoing conflict of some sort is exciting, it can also be overwhelming. In my case, I came to the game having already viewed hours of footage of beta game play, so I knew a lot about the combat systems, the dodging, etc. I do think that (a la Rift), ArenaNet could throw in a bit more in the way of context sensitive pop-ups or alerts or whatever to ease new players into the game. There are so many systems in place that it can overwhelm. That being said, once you start to get the feel for the combat and get through the boss fight, things calm down and you can get your bearings, which brings me to the next part.

PvE Gameplay (early levels): After you leave the starting zone, you are dropped into a zone just outside the capital city. When you speak to the NPC nearby with the green asterisk over its head, you get a full view of the map where the NPC highlights and circles points of interest and areas to explore. Hovering over each heart will show a quest name and a level that its appropriate for. Of course, you can do these in any order, but running to the farthest point across the zone to do the leve 5 or 6 quests as a level 2 will just result in running back again after you die. Plus, there's a lot of other quests and events that you'll cross through on the way over, so you might as well explore and adventure around the map.

Completing the quests (or hearts) awards you with karma, experience, and money. The main thing I enjoyed about the heart quests was that as soon as you entered the ring of influence for that quest, it showed up on the right side of the HUD with a progress meter, so there was never a need to speak with an NPC to _start_ a quest (although some do start in this traditional method). Hovering over any quest in the HUD highlights it on the mini-map so it's easy to see what area you need to be in for a given quest or event. Aside from the immediate rewards for completing a quest, there is the added mechanic that you can speak with the heart-NPC (for lack of a better term) related to that quest. This NPC sells items that can be purchased with karma that you earn, and apart from a couple consumables, they usually offer armor and weapons that are really nice upgrades and attainable at low levels so your character can be nicely geared by level 5 or 6 simply from completing heart quests around the zone.

While ArenaNet has made the world feel more dynamic, the systems in play are really a combination of two previously implemented systems - public quests from WAR and rifts from Rift. The heart quests are almost identical to WAR's public quests in that the locations for the quests are static and by completing them you get rewards which includes karma that can be used to purchase equipment from the quest NPC. In WAR, you earned influence for completing PQs and that influence was used to buy rewards from the quest NPC - those rewards typically being armor or weapon upgrades. Then the events are reminiscent of rifts in Rift as they can occur at random locations and times around the zone you are in and often require a group of players to complete entirely (they also scale based on the number of players). It is not a bad thing that ArenaNet has taken the two systems, refined them, and implemented them. Just something I noticed. As I enjoyed both systems in WAR and Rift, I am certainly having fun with the implementation of them in GW2.

Capital Cities: At around level 3 or 4 (I think really after you complete your first public quest), your quest tracker will have a quest that sends you into your capital city to meet with a friend. This sends you on your first story line quest and also serves to introduce you to what I feel is one of the best features of the game - your gigantic home town. Not since EQ1 have I felt so awed and interested in running around a city and exploring all the sights and sounds. Of course, the points of interest achievements only make it all the more a compelling activity, but I give two thumbs up to ArenaNet for the city design in this game. With the NPC behaviors and the absolute scale of the cities, you really feel like you are in a thriving metropolis in a great big world. I like that. While your character may be a hero, it gives a nice scope to just how large the world is and makes room for other heroes, too. And although I really wanted to explore other capitals (and started to do so when I found the Asura Gates), I forced myself to focus on PvE and PvP for at least this first weekend of testing. Suffice to say, you should spend some time exploring the cities. They are awesome. As for that story line quest, you should certainly do it, but do mind the level recommendation. You can complete it at a lower level than recommended, but certain classes will have a harder time of it.

WvWvW: When I found the Asura Gates, I made a bee line for the Eternal Battlegrounds. _This_ is why I will be playing GW2. ArenaNet has managed to capture the best parts of DAoC RvR and WAR RvR and combine them to make a fantastic experience. Even if you dislike PvP in MMOGs, this is the best way to implement it in a game because it makes the PvP activity impact the world at large. Are you all PvE, all the time? See that experience bonus on your character? It's probably a good idea to thank your fellow PvP players for capturing the keeps and supply depots because they are the reason you are getting the bonus that lets you level up that much faster. This is something that DAoC got right. PvE and PvP players worked cooperatively to capture relics because the bonuses were a boon to everyone's play style. ArenaNet have apparently recognized this and made the excellent decision to implement it here. This mechanic is a large reason why realms/servers in DAoC became such tight-knit communities. Every player was needed to make their realm/server the best, and with leader boards to track your progress, players tried even harder to be the best. All other systems aside, this one system, WvWvW, is what will make this game so sticky for players. Not only do you become invested in your character and its progression, but you become invested in your entire team.

PvP: I did not have time to try out the structured PvP, but if it is anything like GW1, Rift warfronts, DAoC battlegrounds, WAR scenarios, then it will be great fun for quick, exciting combat with other players, although I am sure that this will be ruled by clans, guilds, groups who play together a _lot_ and who focus solely on min/maxing the PvP builds.

Conclusions: For me, GW2 has managed to combine many of the systems that I most enjoy from MMOGs into a beautiful virtual world with some unique races (thank you!) and interesting classes with combat mechanics that are compelling and fun. Obviously, this will not be the game for everyone. Is there such a thing? But, as MMOGs go, I believe this is the direction that developers should be moving toward in future games on the macro level.

[Threash]

Capital Cities: At around level 3 or 4 (I think really after you complete your first public quest), your quest tracker will have a quest that sends you into your capital city to meet with a friend. This sends you on your first story line quest and also serves to introduce you to what I feel is one of the best features of the game - your gigantic home town. Not since EQ1 have I felt so awed and interested in running around a city and exploring all the sights and sounds. Of course, the points of interest achievements only make it all the more a compelling activity, but I give two thumbs up to ArenaNet for the city design in this game.

And two more thumbs up for sticking free teleports practically every ten feet.

[Furiously]

And two more thumbs up for sticking free teleports practically every ten feet.

I wasn't too fond of the nickle and dimeing ones.

[Threash]

Well free travel around the world is very different than free travel around the gigantic city.

[kildorn]

And two more thumbs up for sticking free teleports practically every ten feet.

I wasn't too fond of the nickle and dimeing ones.

The part about them that bugged me was that it's an additional death penalty. You pick a rez point.. which charges you money as well as the repair costs you just ate for dying.

[Nevermore]

And two more thumbs up for sticking free teleports practically every ten feet.

I wasn't too fond of the nickle and dimeing ones.

The part about them that bugged me was that it's an additional death penalty. You pick a rez point.. which charges you money as well as the repair costs you just ate for dying.

And then there's the guy who spent 45 minuted dead because he had spent his last copper on buying the book to unlock talents (why is this necessary?) and couldn't afford to pay for the trip back to the teleport point.  A Dev commented on the thread that apparently the last teleport point you used should be free in that case, but nowhere in the game is anything indicated or highlighted that that's the case so the poor schlub had to wait for a passerby to rez him.  There are a LOT of moneysinks in this game.

[murdoc]

Having to repair every time I died annoyed me, having to repair every time I died in PvP REALLY annoyed me.

[tazelbain]

You only have to repair after you go naked.

[Tmon]

Damaged gear still works fine, it's broken gear that stops working.  Since gear damage occurs on resurrection (and only at a teleport if I remember right) there's no point in repairing until you have something broken.

[Nightblade]

yeah the repairing thing is a bit ridiculous, I die twice and suddenly my gear is orange. They need to relax that or remove it entirely.

[Crumbs]

PvP: although I am sure that this will be ruled by clans, guilds, groups who play together a _lot_ and who focus solely on min/maxing the PvP builds.

My limited experience gave me the impression that this might not be the case.  Bumping everyone up to the same gear level will help.  Sure, a coordinated group who knows all of the objectives and abilities will do better, but it's not a guaranteed roflstomp. 

I wonder also, since everyone has the same gear levels in BGs, if this will deter the min maxers from participating in a non progressive, evenly matched experience.  (Unless there is a progression I'm not aware of?  Are there points awarded to be used in the rest of the game?)

[Draegan]

I didn't see an issue with gear breaking.  The problem here is that the game is too rapey and balance of events and mob damage is borked.

Also money sucks early on, but unless you craft, you should have enough for everything.

[tazelbain]

I liked that the bosses were seriously dangerous and players had to band together to kill them.  Honestly I'd prefer that just made them equally dangerous to everybody then picking on melee.  If they could reduce the number of one-shots without defanging them would be ideal.

[Phred]

PvP: although I am sure that this will be ruled by clans, guilds, groups who play together a _lot_ and who focus solely on min/maxing the PvP builds.

My limited experience gave me the impression that this might not be the case.  Bumping everyone up to the same gear level will help.  Sure, a coordinated group who knows all of the objectives and abilities will do better, but it's not a guaranteed roflstomp. 

I wonder also, since everyone has the same gear levels in BGs, if this will deter the min maxers from participating in a non progressive, evenly matched experience.  (Unless there is a progression I'm not aware of?  Are there points awarded to be used in the rest of the game?)

So is it for sure that the pvp armor is fixed and the only upgrades you can get for it is cosmetic? I met someone who was under the impression you can upgrade the pvp armor's stats as well.

[Falconeer]

As far as I know items are fixed in PvP matches (arena like). You get boosted to top level and get fixed equipment.
But you bring your own stuff in the WvW PvP, and while I don't know the item progression, I am pretty sure you can have "better" stuff considering that are 5 degrees of rarity.

But here I hope someone more informed than me will jump in and will be more speecific.

[Ingmar]

Degrees of rarity didn't mean anything in particular for stats in GW1, so we can hope it will be similar here.