Guild Wars 2 (official review on pp 21)

[wonderpug]

I was about to tell you my registration info was defunct, but then I remembered I was ScoobyDooX last I visited the site and I got in fine.  I feel like I've just traveled through a time machine.

[Hotfreak]

Wanderers of Valhalla! from the day of drama.  I think I either put you or Hedinn on follow to get to the great meet up.  Dark Age was my first 3D MMO!

[kathode]

Bah, I'm on Sanctum of Rall.  Or Rarr or something like that.

[wonderpug]

Are server transfers still free?

[Reemul]

Are server transfers still free?

Yep

[skystride]

What's the current process for getting admitted to the Wanderers?  Does it help if I was a founding member? 

Wanderers of Valhalla?  What a cheesy name!! 

[Reemul]

What's the current process for getting admitted to the Wanderers?  Does it help if I was a founding member? 

Wanderers of Valhalla?  What a cheesy name!! 

Better than Wanders of Wallmart I suppose

[Booner]

I'm playing daily and still lovin it.

I was going through my screenshots and found it cool to see how my main had progressed. I'd almost sent the second and last ones in for the GT review because I really liked the way they turned out, but just procrastinated.

[CeeKay]

damn those are nice.  makes me want to jump in even though my gaming plate is full right now.

[skystride]

Really nice screenshots but you should dye your armor with more funky colours like flamingo pink and banana yellow

[Roguetad]

I always appreciate seeing character screenshots as they level.  That higher level norn armor (helmet) looks great. 

[Isgrimnur]

I wanna see the stats on the helmet that the critter has on.

[Booner]

I always appreciate seeing character screenshots as they level.  That higher level norn armor (helmet) looks great. 

Yeah, I wanted that helm as soon as I previewed it.

I'm not fond of the exotic heavy armor sets, so the whole outfit is a hodgepodge of types. Once I've found the bits I liked I've just been transmuting the upgrades to retain the look. It might not be 'matching', but I think it looks pretty good as a whole....plus being an 8 ft tall female with those huge pauldrons and wings, I look pretty distinctive running around WV3. 

I wanna see the stats on the helmet that the critter has on.

If you're speaking of the character and not the bitchin' ram behind her...it's not all that impressive and something I'm looking to upgrade soon. I'm not sure of the original stats, but it's currently Def:107 - 28 Precision - 28 Toughness - 40 Condition
 

[Isgrimnur]

Oh, I was talking about the ram.  The "horns" look like they're an add-on. 

[Booner]

Those are obviously a PTW item from the BLTC...

[Roguetad]

She looks awesome with the red dyed armor.  The developers did a nice job balancing armor detail and game performance. 

[skystride]

The Commander and I.  Everywhere I go, I keep hearing "you're huge!" for some reason.

[rshetts2]

and the log in server for GW2 just went BOOM! 

[Reemul]

This is my Level 31 Ranger and Pet Spider Incy Wincy


GW2 by Reemul, on Flickr

[Harpua3]

I hate you people and your love of this game. I'm broke and still..unemployed. I grabbed lbp vita and borderlands 2 recently and then they put this games Mac beta live!! I can't get it yet, or I will be divorced, hungry and/ or homeless... Soon hopefully though!!!

[Roguetad]

The Commander and I.  Everywhere I go, I keep hearing "you're huge!" for some reason.

When I'm playing my norn around other norns or charr I forget how big they are until I run across a human, asura or sylvari.  I wonder what the perspective is like from someone playing an asura?  Norns must seem like giants.

[Toe]

My norn warrior in his set of exotic berzerker armor (well just the helm, the rest I put the skin of heavy norn tier 2 cultural armor on).

[Gratch]

Something I haven't quite figured out...apologies if it's been addressed earlier in the thread.

I picked up some new armor, and it has a rune attached which lists 4 properties.  However, it looks like only one of them is actually active (blue), while the other three are greyed out.  Can someone shed some light on that?

[Booner]

Runes act as a set, so as you add the same rune to other pieces you're wearing, you'll gain the next tier. Minor runes have 2/3 tiers (?), majors have 4, and superior runes have 6.

[jersoc]

just a note, the effects add too. if it says 10 vit then another is 20 vit. it's 30 total.

[Gratch]

Finally dinged 70 tonight, hitting the home stretch.  It's getting a little tedious, but I really want this to be the first MMO in which I max level a character.   Found my first exotic gear in the wild as well (the gloves) which was cool.

[jersoc]

if you really want to level him quickly. you can goto straits and get the with "the zerg". you'll KO 10 levels in about 4 hours. Getting there at 70 will result in many deaths if you're alone.

might be server dependable though too. but mine our zerg is always active.

[Gratch]

if you really want to level him quickly. you can goto straits and get the with "the zerg". you'll KO 10 levels in about 4 hours. Getting there at 70 will result in many deaths if you're alone.

might be server dependable though too. but mine our zerg is always active.

I know what all those words mean individually, but not when you put them together like that.  

74 and counting.  Should probably get back to the story at some point...I'm still at the level 59 story stage.

[Gratch]

In all my long years of gaming, I hit a major milestone tonight.  I finally took a MMO character to max level.  Stromos the Norn Warrior hit 80 earlier tonight.  Took around 90 hours, all pretty basic solo PvE, very little crafting (Weaponsmith at 25 and Armorsmith at 13), 52% of the world explored.  According to the bestiary in the guide, I've encountered every available monster, and I'm pretty sure I've seen every locale as well.   GW2 is easily my GOTY so far, and there really isn't anything that comes close.

GW2 managed to get nearly everything right for those of us who typically don't like MMOs.  I could still be part of the community without the need to wait around for an actual party, I could help others without running the risk of missing something myself (i.e. resource nodes, mob spawns, etc.), most players were very helpful, and there want much (if any) obnoxious behavior.   Will probably try to finish up my story questline (currently wrapping up the level 60's), then move on to one of the four other games that have been gathering dust while I've been toiling away in GW2.

Here's Stromos in his final glory. 

[skystride]

In all my long years of gaming, I hit a major milestone tonight.  I finally took a MMO character to max level. 

I find it ironic that you hit max level in a game where max level doesn't mean that much. In other MMOs all the content is crammed into the end game while GW2 basically has no end game other than making your character look prettier.

[Gratch]

In all my long years of gaming, I hit a major milestone tonight.  I finally took a MMO character to max level.

I find it ironic that you hit max level in a game where max level doesn't mean that much. In other MMOs all the content is crammed into the end game while GW2 basically has no end game other than making your character look prettier.

Most of the max content in other MMO's (i.e. organized raiding, realm v realm, high-level crafting, etc.) holds no appeal for me.  The main reason GW2 clicked with me is because it was so much fun just getting to that point.  Most other MMO's have you sprinting to max level just so you can do the "good stuff".  GW2 was about an engaging journey, not the destination.

[skystride]

I wonder how GW2 is going to sustain a playerbase though.  Not everyone is into playing alts.  I guess through expansions like GW1 did.  I think right now there are a lot of people with 100% world map completion and it's been what, just a month?  I've been less interested in playing since I hit 80 but that also has to do with other great games that came out recently.

[Elmo]

80 things to do at level 80:  http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/editorials/80-things-do-level-80

[jersoc]

I wonder how GW2 is going to sustain a playerbase though.  Not everyone is into playing alts.  I guess through expansions like GW1 did.  I think right now there are a lot of people with 100% world map completion and it's been what, just a month?  I've been less interested in playing since I hit 80 but that also has to do with other great games that came out recently.

it's relax enough w/o a sub that it's very easy to justify not having to play(though i've easily put in 500 hours into the game). been playing borderlands the last few nights. just do the daily chill a bit. of course now that we have a wvw match worth playing, i'll be doing that more. wvw is great fun, but i guess it depends on your server too. quite a few people from my guild play so it's easy to get at least a 5 man to roam with and even solo you can do it a lot.

but i can see how people looking for raid style end game will get bored.

[skystride]

I wonder how GW2 is going to sustain a playerbase though.  Not everyone is into playing alts.  I guess through expansions like GW1 did.  I think right now there are a lot of people with 100% world map completion and it's been what, just a month?  I've been less interested in playing since I hit 80 but that also has to do with other great games that came out recently.

it's relax enough w/o a sub that it's very easy to justify not having to play(though i've easily put in 500 hours into the game). been playing borderlands the last few nights. just do the daily chill a bit. of course now that we have a wvw match worth playing, i'll be doing that more. wvw is great fun, but i guess it depends on your server too. quite a few people from my guild play so it's easy to get at least a 5 man to roam with and even solo you can do it a lot.

but i can see how people looking for raid style end game will get bored.

I don't need raid content (last time I did that was in EQ1), I just need fresh content or character development besides aesthetic improvements only.  It took a month to go through most of the content in GW2.  Compare that to other MMOs, it would take a lot longer before you've seen all the sights mostly because you level up a lot slower.  I played LOTRO longer than a month and I haven't even got to Moria and now there is Rohan.  I played EQ2 over 6 months and there was still lots of new areas to discover and new ways to improve my character.  Some people are going to be happy grinding dungeons over and over for legendary weapons but that doesn't work for me.  I suppose you can grind in WvW instead and with a good group that can be fun but I am starting to see too much repetition in WvW.  I was a huge GW1 PvP fan but the GW2 PvP modes are just not doing it for me for some reason.  I suppose it's mostly due to the huge imbalance and certain classes are just too powerful while other classes are not worth playing.  I don't even know how they will fix it, no other class can counter a mesmers illusions so how do you balance a mesmer without fundamentally breaking the class?  

It's funny, I was so excited to hear about all the ways GW2 is bucking the conventions and in theory I like all the ideas but it seems in practice, maybe there is a place for some of the "old school" MMO mechanics.  I guess we will eventually find out if these new ideas hold up long term.  Well at least I got my money worth getting one character to 80 and another one to 40.  Whether I will stick with it long term though, I'm not sure yet.

P.S. Even though I'm mostly complaining here, I would still recommend GW2 to anyone, it was a pretty great ride and you will get your moneys worth.

[Gratch]

Whoever designed the final story mission for the Warrior deserves a massive kick square in the junk for completely fucking it up.  

You're fighting off a massive army, and you are required to take control of a tank to bombard the enemy's giants and knock them out.  However, any time the turret of the tank moves more than 30 degrees in either direction, you get kicked out of the fucking tank...and the turret keeps rotating. So you end up jumping in the tank on one side, rotating it a few degrees to try and line up the target, then once you get even remotely pointed in the correct direction, you get booted out of the tank for no reason and the turret swings all the way around to the other side.  Get in on the other side and try again, rinse, repeat.  All the while, you're getting mobbed by a continually respawning wave of enemies, who also knock you out of the tank if they so much as look at you sideways.  I just spent nearly an hour wrestling with the goddamn controls before simply giving up.

I didn't think it would be possible (since I've had so much fun with GW2), but they found a way to really sour me on the game.  I've spent all this time building up this bad-ass character, and instead of letting me actually use him to defeat the baddies, they stick me in some stupid-ass tank and make me fight shitty controls in order to get through the very last level.  Nice work, geniuses.  

EDIT:  I thought this was the final battle, but it wasn't.  My mistake.  They fixed it in a patch (finally), and I was able to get past it.

[rshetts2]

Frankly, Ive never understood the over the top gushing about this game.  Nothing they've done was really all that innovative.  They basically streamlined WoW and made some quests "world events" that actually dont change anything and eventually reset.  There are nice things about it and it is a fun game.  If youre into MMOs that emulate single player games then its worth getting.  Still, its really the same old stuff with a few adjustments.  Im not saying its a bad game, its not but people were saying how it was going to turn the MMO genre upside down and set it of fire and I just dont see it. 

[wonderpug]

Whether you want to call it innovation or not innovation or streamlining or whatever, they managed to take just about everything I grew to hate about MMOs and turn them into things I love about GW2.

[ericb]

Frankly, Ive never understood the over the top gushing about this game.  Nothing they've done was really all that innovative.  They basically streamlined WoW and made some quests "world events" that actually dont change anything and eventually reset.  There are nice things about it and it is a fun game.  If youre into MMOs that emulate single player games then its worth getting.  Still, its really the same old stuff with a few adjustments.  Im not saying its a bad game, its not but people were saying how it was going to turn the MMO genre upside down and set it of fire and I just dont see it. 

The thing is...GW2 isn't a huge innovative game.  But it's a game that took so many little things and made them better.  Want to group?  You're not really penalized and you get a slight bonus.  Want to play solo but help out world quests and bosses?  No problem and you get credit and rewards even coming in the middle of it.  No kill stealing, no crafting node stealing and crafting that gives adventure xp while being useful.  And those are just of the changes...you also have things like changing your dye colors anywhere at any time, easy weapon and armor skinning and no class or race restrictions.  Not to mention things like every class being able to heal (or have the option to heal) and rez other players.  Every single one of these things has been a complaint of mine in the past and evidently for many other people. 

So no, it's not the next coming of the MMO but they took most modern AAA MMO's and added a ton of polish and fixes to it which results in a lot of over the top gushing.  Have there been new, innovative MMO's in the past couple years?  Yes, but (very) few of them are still in business and running.

[rshetts2]

Frankly, Ive never understood the over the top gushing about this game.  Nothing they've done was really all that innovative.  They basically streamlined WoW and made some quests "world events" that actually dont change anything and eventually reset.  There are nice things about it and it is a fun game.  If youre into MMOs that emulate single player games then its worth getting.  Still, its really the same old stuff with a few adjustments.  Im not saying its a bad game, its not but people were saying how it was going to turn the MMO genre upside down and set it of fire and I just dont see it. 

The thing is...GW2 isn't a huge innovative game.  But it's a game that took so many little things and made them better.  Want to group?  You're not really penalized and you get a slight bonus.  Want to play solo but help out world quests and bosses?  No problem and you get credit and rewards even coming in the middle of it.  No kill stealing, no crafting node stealing and crafting that gives adventure xp while being useful.  And those are just of the changes...you also have things like changing your dye colors anywhere at any time, easy weapon and armor skinning and no class or race restrictions.  Not to mention things like every class being able to heal (or have the option to heal) and rez other players.  Every single one of these things has been a complaint of mine in the past and evidently for many other people. 

So no, it's not the next coming of the MMO but they took most modern AAA MMO's and added a ton of polish and fixes to it which results in a lot of over the top gushing.  Have there been new, innovative MMO's in the past couple years?  Yes, but (very) few of them are still in business and running.

Yep, thats basically it.  Like I said in my post, GW2 is not a bad game,  its definitely worth the price of admission.   There are many very good streamlining ideas and they implemented things smoothly.  In the end, though its still your basic MMO.
 It may have seemed like Im bashing GW2, but Im not.  Im just pointing out that people expecting the next great thing are actually getting the same thing in a nicer package.    Ive recommended it to several friends with just that description.