June 8th beta weekend

[Furiously]

Chat bubbles could be nice.

[Evildrider]

Yeah they charge you for the full game already.

When I preordered the CE from gamestop they only charged me a small portion.

There is pre-purchase and there is pre-order.  The Pre-purchase is done through their website.

[Dark_MadMax]

Hey i just pre-ordered GW2, got the key , started downloading client but it keeps crashing, is there any  way to fix it?- As I dont seem to be able to see forums aside of new section

here is an error
*--> Crash <--*
Assertion: compressedBytes <= outputBytes
File: ..\..\..\Services\Compress\CmpApi.cpp(111)
App: Gw2.exe
Pid: 5392

[tazelbain]

Sounds like kildorn's issue on the previous page.

[Dark_MadMax]

So I tired clean reinstall and damn me it now crashes instantly. It must be their server  side issue. So I just completely fckd myself with uninstall because I had 14 GB already downloaded (took whole day and night)

[kildorn]

That sounds different, mine just started downloading and would simply say Download Failed every few hundred megs.

I heard one report that the initial client requires admin rights for no reason (right click/run as administrator), then once it updates the client it should run without admin rights happily.

Just in case though, here's my host file entry to bypass my shit edge server:

24.244.18.19 AssetCDN.101.ArenaNetworks.com

edit: seeing elsewhere that it's crashing for everyone as of tonight. I'd suggest waiting a day and redownloading gw2.exe

[Ginaz]

I'm getting the same error message.  Hopefully they fix it by the time I get home from work tomorrow so I can get it ready for Friday.

Edit: This seems to have fixed my problem.  http://guildwars2necromancer.com/news/fix-for-guild-wars-2-client-update-error/

[Dark_MadMax]

I'm getting the same error message.  Hopefully they fix it by the time I get home from work tomorrow so I can get it ready for Friday.

Edit: This seems to have fixed my problem.  http://guildwars2necromancer.com/news/fix-for-guild-wars-2-client-update-error/

Mucho thanks .that fixed it. so hopefully it will download by tomorrow night

[LK]

Do we need to be on a specific server to join the guild?

[kildorn]

I believe we're on Fort Aspenwood

[Paelos]

Are you allowed to discuss the game and/or post pics?

[murdoc]

Are you allowed to discuss the game and/or post pics?

Yes, no NDA for beta weekends.

[Modern Angel]

Who do we pester for an invite?

NDA-free for the weekends.

[Paelos]

This is one of those things where I really want to do it, but I'm debating if it's worth committing the cash.

[Threash]

Am i completely crazy or does this look crappier than last time?

[Amaron]

What is up with this downloader?  It's going fast enough but for some reason it's eating up my cpu a bit.   Pretty annoying as I wanted to play some Skyrim while waiting.

[Draegan]

This is one of those things where I really want to do it, but I'm debating if it's worth committing the cash.

If you're desperate you could always pre-order on amazon, get code, cancel.  :/

[Kitsune]

Am i completely crazy or does this look crappier than last time?

Explain?

[Threash]

It just doesn't look as good as i remember.

[Modern Angel]

If you're desperate you could always pre-order on amazon, get code, cancel.  :/

Don't you have to pre-PURCHASE, paying in full? Or did Amazon bend the rules?

[Trippy]

If you're desperate you could always pre-order on amazon, get code, cancel.  :/

Don't you have to pre-PURCHASE, paying in full? Or did Amazon bend the rules?

No, Amazon doesn't charge your card on any order including pre-orders until they ship.

[Maledict]

It just doesn't look as good as i remember.

The graphics settings had all reverted to very low settings when I logged back in, but upping them all to high quality made a huge difference.

Also have to say - even though they have said they have a long way to go with optimisation, the game runs hugely better this weekend - very noticeably so.

[Riggswolfe]

Well I played it a bit. Tried a thief and a warrior. With both I ended up with firearms. Pistol for the thief. Rifle for the warrior. My quick impressions:

Pros:
Beautiful graphics
Good combat
Decent voice acting

Cons:
The animations in the cutscenes are very, very stiff and my guy never looked at who he was talking to.
"Quests" They were a bit repetitive right off the bat. Kill bandits, water/feed/scavenge something else. As I feared the "world" side of the game is its biggest weakness. Also, while the events were fun and chaotic I imagine they'll be dead and abandoned a month or two after it launches.
Bugs. Nothing major but on my thief his storyline quest got utterly stuck and stopped advancing even though I did what I was told. I won't knock the game too much on this since it IS a beta.

[Maledict]

The events become a lot mroe complex. Even in the Norn starting area there was a 5 stage one where you beat off some goblin things, destroy their tower, stop them uilding a tower, invade their caves and then kill their leaders. in the human starting area there was an outpost that got overrun by centaurs - you either get to quest in it killing centaurs, or if you're good enough you retake the village and then other options open up.

(and the bloody centaurs keep trying to take it back).

The initial stuff is quite repetitive and very simple, but they very quickly seem to open up. The individual storylines are also a lot of fun - I just did a mission where I had to flirt / charm my way at a dinner party to gather evidence against a corrupt offiicial. Always pleasant to be doing something that doesn't involve combat once in a while.

[kildorn]

I've been having a blast, and being able to do the story quests has really helped my leveling curve out (though it still seems a bit off)

Sadly, the servers have just decided to lag to death across the board :(

edit: lol, this was posted on the forums, and promptly all the servers died:

World Population Limit Increase

Hey all,
Good news for you. We’ve been evaluating world population limits and we were able to raise them some. Most worlds that were previously full are not full now.

[Ginaz]

So far its been very...underwhelming.  I have to play some more but I'm very unimpressed with what I've seen, esp. considering all the rabid fanboy hype its received.

[Tannhauser]

How do you know you're not missing any quests if there isn't at "!" above NPC heads?  Do I have to interact with every NPC in a zone?

[LK]

I like the game, but I'm seeing too many instances of "Play to build numbers" in its base design, especially in WvW. WvW reminds me of Planetside.

Playing in a guild / large group of people seems to be the best way to play given the importance of influence and its percentage gain on the experience. I imagine the largest guild will be a Chinese gold farmer. :)

All the outfits and characters are gorgeous, though.

[kildorn]

How do you know you're not missing any quests if there isn't at "!" above NPC heads?  Do I have to interact with every NPC in a zone?

Escorts have a circle/starburst icon nearby on the map. Events are orange circles when you're vaguely near them. Heart quests are hearts on the map (empty for things you haven't done, filled for karma vendor status)

Exploration bonuses are HUGE. I finally finished off every item on the first zone map, and got a bunch of transmute items for gear remodeling, and 3 random greens as well as cash and xp. The general idea is Keep Wandering.

[Maledict]

How do you know you're not missing any quests if there isn't at "!" above NPC heads?  Do I have to interact with every NPC in a zone?

Um, there aren't direct quests?

Each heart on the map indicates an area where you can build karma by doing basic questing things such as killing mobs, picking items up, rescuing people etc. they are your basic 'go to' points on the mpap for levelling. Scouts should hi-light you to the location of hearts nearbye.

Events happen as you explore, and can have very minor or big effects on an area depending upon the event and the number of chains. (I.e. can be a simple 'kill invaders' event, or a 4 stage 'Assualt the base' event where at the end the enemy village will be replaced with an allied base.

The are no direct 'quests' as such other than your personal storyline. You don't need to be speaking to anyone to get 'quests', becausethey don't exists in that fashion in the game.

[LK]

I launched an event to save prisoners in a nearby bay in Kessex Hills by talking to a named NPC that was walking around deeper inland. I think events are always happening but there are relevant NPCs nearby outside its area of influence that can make you aware of it.

Like, plauged villagers in Shaemoor -- talk to them, "Why are you sick?", boom, world event a half zone away put on my quest log.

Edit: Fort Aspenwood's been full and continues to be full. Is there cross-server guilds?

[kildorn]

I launched an event to save prisoners in a nearby bay in Kessex Hills by talking to a named NPC that was walking around deeper inland. I think events are always happening but there are relevant NPCs nearby outside its area of influence that can make you aware of it.

Like, plauged villagers in Shaemoor -- talk to them, "Why are you sick?", boom, world event a half zone away put on my quest log.

Edit: Fort Aspenwood's been full and continues to be full. Is there cross-server guilds?

NPCs can tell you something is going on, but if you walk over to the area during the event it's just happening for you to hang out.

And yes, guilds are both cross-server and you can be in N number of guilds at any time.

[Cadaverine]

Started a Human Thief yesterday. The new user experience leaves a lot to be desired.  Took about an hour of flailing around blindly before I stopped feeling completely clueless.

Once I crossed that hurdle, though, I had a blast playing.

[Amaron]

I tried playing it a couple times so far this weekend.   Huge let down.   I don't know if it's the lack of quests or what but I feel completely aimless on how to level.   I liked leveling via rift events in RIFT though so I feel like something else is missing here.   

The class system is a pretty big let down too.   I guess my only real beef there though is that pure class rangers suck in guild wars.

[Hawkbit]

I'm sure there will be a contingent of people that simply don't like the game for a variety of reasons, but if you're confused on what to do, just stop and explore the interface and world.  It's okay to not feel directed in a game all the time.  It's a really organic experience and in my opinion the future of online RPGs. 

Regarding the new user experience, I agree that its a bit jarring.  Once you get used to it, you never need to learn it again.  I'd rather they concentrate on endgame and content than the new user xp.