Well, it's here. It's been a long wait and there's been lots of hype, with a massive feature list (http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1058358-Guild-Wars-2-Mass-info-for-the-uninitiated-READ-ME!) promised by ArenaNet.
Happily they have delivered on at least 90% of their promises, even if some of the implementations maybe aren't quite what was expected. After playing for nearly a week I'm delighted to report that I am hopelessly in love with the game. Here, in no particular order, are my first impressions:
Freedom. There's a great deal of this in GW2. There are no quest hubs per se; they've been replaced by a dynamic events system. Scattered around each zone are what has become known as "heart quests". These are NPCs who are in some kind of trouble. You can help each in several ways. For example, a farmer might want you to water crops, drive away vermin, or feed his cattle. In doing so you will earn contribution points and when you've accumulated enough of them you'll get a large XP and "karma" reward (not to mention gold). Karma is a universal currency and can be spent at karma vendors; NPCs who live in towns and hand out nice items. The heart quest NPCs will also become karma vendors, giving out more specialised rewards. Thus you have an impetus to help out each one. But the heart quests aren't the only source of quests; as you roam around the countryside you'll encounter other events already in play. You're automatically added to the event when you approach it, and after you and the undoubtedly large group of other players has completed (or failed) it, in all likelihood another will start.
It makes for very dynamic and exciting play. You just don't worry about where the next XP is going to come from. As you run around you're doing all the stuff you expect to be doing anyway, except you don't need to hunt around for big floating exclamation marks, and you don't have to worry about turning anything in (except in rare cases).
Speaking of XP, nearly everything you do in GW2 rewards you with XP, and the levelling curve is linear. This means you advance through the game's 80 levels at a rapid rate, even without intending to. I have two characters and couldn't even tell you what level they're at because it just isn't important. This is further enhanced by the fact that whenever you enter a zone below your level, you're automatically scaled down to that level (keeping all of your current skills and traits). You find that you just don't care what level you are, and you're freed to just go exploring. Guild Wars 2 is a game that encourages and rewards exploring. It's fantastically refreshing.
Level doesn't even matter in PvP. I've barely touched this yet, but when you enter PvP you're scaled again and everyone plays on a more or less equal footing. You can create a level 1 character and immediately go up against level 80 characters without breaking a sweat.
The classes are worth a mention. They're really customisable, just as they were in Guild Wars. Each character you create gets a main class. But where GW2 differs from other MMOs is that the skills you use are based on the weapon combinations you're using. My ranger, for example, uses a longbow as his primary weapon which gives me several ranged abilities such as Barrage (an AoE cripple attack) and Rapid Fire. But when enemies get in close, I hit a key and swap to my sword and dagger. The sword gives me three skills while the dagger gives me another two. Or I could swap the sword out for another dagger and get five dagger-based skills. Along with the traits that you put skill points into, the scope for customising each character rivals even that of Rift's. The game is a theorycrafter's wet dream.
It's a beautiful world, too, and more than any other MMO, I've been content to spend an hour just walking around a city or forest, taking things in and chatting to other players. There's a crafting system which appears at first to be similar to any other MMO's, but there's also a Minecraft-like "discovery" mode which encourages you to experiment with components and create your own recipes. This is a great source of XP by the way. :D
I wanted to say a lot more but I'm out of time so I'll have to post some more later. At the moment the only problems with the game are due to the massive influx of players on release. The servers are extremely busy and you'll often find yourself kicked onto an "overflow" server. If you're not planning to group with anyone in particular this is no problem at all, and in my opinion vastly preferable to having to queue to play the game at all. Apparently if you specifically want to play with certain people and you get separated across servers, you can click a button to join them. This has reportedly not been working very well all week, but is now apparently getting much better.
I'll post more this evening. Who else is playing, and do you agree that GW2 is a brilliant game?
^ I just know I'm gonna have to buy this, huw.
Quote from: bob48 on September 01, 2012, 07:32:33 AM
^ I just know I'm gonna have to buy this, huw.
Yeah, you really, really do. :D
alreet - you convinced me. already.....where do I sign?
nice write up Huw, glad youre enjoying it
ummmm has Mrs Bob approved the purchase before you get too carried away!!
^I'm working on it......
Thanks Geek. :)
Bob, you can get it from all the usual places. Not from ArenaNet themselves though; due to the sheer demand on the servers, they've temporarily suspended sales from their own website!
I got mine from Tesco Entertainment's website as it was cheapest there at the time with a pre-order discount. That may well have changed by now.
amazon have it for £35. I'm not sure if we have a grog/amazon UK tie-in, but I buy most of my books and CD's / PC games from amazon, and would like to think that Grog's get some benefit from that.
Anyroadup - due to, um, financial considerations, I may have to wait until my birthday in November to get GW2 :-{{
Ooooooo - Mrs Bob smackdown - volunteer for more hoovering Bob, more hoovering always works!
shutyergob....she might be listening......
*Cough* http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=2554.0 *Cough*
^point taken, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
So do I take it the servers are not like WoW where you could only access a regional server?
I started to playing last night. The only issue I have with it is that I CTD 3 or 4 times. I'm too tired to write more. I like the game. Get it.
Tpek you and I need to link up in game so I can be a groghead there.
Hu that's a great endorsement. Your "refreshing" comment is most welcome. It's rare for a game to really break out of the mold, but it sounds like Guild Wars 2 has done so. Dang, I'm tempted and I don't really have time for this. :)
I will not but GW2, I will not but GW2....must resist....
Go for it. The water's fine.
I'm sooooo getting this after a payday.
Being broke sucks. :-[
One of the best things about the game is the lack of a monthly fee, and not just for the obvious reason that you only pay once. The fact that you're not paying every month has a real effect on the way you play. If you're not levelling quickly, you just don't care. You take the time to smell the roses, so to speak. In a funny way it makes you appreciate the game and its world even more.
My main character is a ranger. I use a longbow which, unlike the shortbow, encourages you to fight at maximum range, as the basic attack does more damage when you're further away from your target. So I'll stand and shoot, or circle-strafe my target, and use my skills as appropriate. When I'm focusing a single target I'll use Rapid Fire, which unleashes an almighty hail of arrows in quick succession. It's the longbow equivalent of full-auto. Slightly silly perhaps, but so satisfying. My third skill inflicts vulnerability on my target, a debuff reducing its armour effectiveness. Magnificently, vulnerability stacks up to 25 times so when a group of you are inflicting it, it's gonna hurt. If a foe gets too close, Point Blank Shot pushes it back; the closer it is, the more it gets pushed. Finally, when facing a group of enemies, Barrage sees my ranger shooting a hail of arrows right up into the sky, and a glorious rain falls in a generous area, crippling everything they hit.
Melee seems to do slightly more damage, so when the situation demands it, I'll switch to my longsword. As a ranger, my longsword skills are different to those of the average warrior class. When a ranger wields a longsword, it's all about mobility. I have a chain of three basic attacks (brilliantly, you don't have to keep hitting 1 to activate them; you automatically cycle through all three after a single press, until your target dies or you use another skill). I have a Serpent's Strike which is a defensive roll followed by a strike that inflicts poison. I also have Hornet's Sting, a defensive move that strikes the enemy before leaping you backward out of harm's way. Normally rolling (which makes you invulnerable while you're doing it) costs energy, otherwise you'd just constantly roll and never get hit. But the roll in Hornet's Sting doesn't cost any energy. After levelling up the skill, I can now follow it with an offensive leap back into the fray.
Paired with my longsword is usually my dagger, which gives me two added skills - one that increases defence while inflicting poison, and another that hurls the dagger at an opponent at range. This is brilliant - I usually do a Hornet's Sting, immediately following it up by throwing my dagger at the enemy, before using Hornet's Sting again to leap back and rejoin the fight. Of course, I could be using, say, a torch as my offhand weapon. I can throw it at an enemy and set him on fire, or I can use it to start a fire on the ground which not only burns all nearby enemies, but lets me fire my arrows through it, igniting them.
Thus, combat is fantastically visceral (at least more so than in any other MMO) and makes a welcome change to the usual fare of just standing in one spot and going through the usual cycle of skills ad nauseum. In my opinion combat against normal mobs is much more exciting in GW2 than any comparable MMO.
I'll post again later about my new favourite class - the Necromancer.
I assume you are on a Euro server Huw?
Yeah, 'fraid so mate.
I need better gears!!! Gah!!!
Tpek started a Grogheads guild. You can actually be members of several guilds and can still interact with guildmates on different servers. Post your name.number and he can add you. Mine is baelthazar.9106. But I haven't had ANY time to play, although I might get on tonight some.
I'm trying to decide if I want to go Guardian or Warrior. I made both, but both are pretty cool. I think I might stick with Warrior, as it was what I was best at in WoW and it can use any and all weapons effectively. Although the Guardian's survival skills are impressive, to say the least.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on September 01, 2012, 09:19:57 PM
You can actually be members of several guilds and can still interact with guildmates on different servers.
This won't work between regions though, surely? Although if it does, mine is huw.4203.
Being able to get on with fellow Grogs would be a big bonus. Make it so!
Quote from: son_of_montfort on September 01, 2012, 09:19:57 PM
Tpek started a Grogheads guild. You can actually be members of several guilds and can still interact with guildmates on different servers. Post your name.number and he can add you. Mine is baelthazar.9106. But I haven't had ANY time to play, although I might get on tonight some.
Seriously?
Are you talking about joining different guilds with different characters.. or can you be in multiples on the
same character?
And the question with the cross-region thing, too..?
I've got Huw, SoM and Tpek as friends and I see SoM and Tpek in the guild. Not sure what worlds we are in but I know Huw and I are in different regions.
I got it, but I'm not the biggest MMORPG fan. I'm trying to get into it.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 02, 2012, 06:52:23 AM
Quote from: son_of_montfort on September 01, 2012, 09:19:57 PM
Tpek started a Grogheads guild. You can actually be members of several guilds and can still interact with guildmates on different servers. Post your name.number and he can add you. Mine is baelthazar.9106. But I haven't had ANY time to play, although I might get on tonight some.
Seriously?
Are you talking about joining different guilds with different characters.. or can you be in multiples on the same character?
And the question with the cross-region thing, too..?
It would seem so.
At any point you can "Stand Down" from your current guild, becoming independent and then choose to represent another guild you belong to.
An interesting concept IMHO.
Any idea what the end game is like? Are there raids? If I remember correctly Guild Wars 1 was all about PvP, and I'm more of a raider. PvP can be fun but I suck at it.
Beyond PvP I've no idea what the endgame content is like. If there isn't a dungeon or two now or very soon I'd be astonished, though. ArenaNet must surely know that not everyone will be interested in PvP.
Tpek, you were right about influence; I'm only earning it for the guild on my own server. Bah. Still, at least I get to be in the guild at all, which is still very cool.
Jarhead - it might help if you think of it as an action RPG that other people happen to be playing alongside you. :) It's not like anyone can kill-steal or otherwise get in your way.
There are group required dungeon instances. I encountered one in Queensland that required a party of 6. So I suspect that there are raid style events too.
So about the Guild itself...
Who should I appoint as an Officer and who as an Admin/General? :P
Quote from: Bison on September 02, 2012, 12:48:25 PM
There are group required dungeon instances. I encountered one in Queensland that required a party of 6. So I suspect that there are raid style events too.
There are dungeon instances in Australia?! :o
Quote from: Nefaro on September 02, 2012, 02:00:23 PM
Quote from: Bison on September 02, 2012, 12:48:25 PM
There are group required dungeon instances. I encountered one in Queensland that required a party of 6. So I suspect that there are raid style events too.
There are dungeon instances in Australia?! :o
Well, Lord of the Rings and Hobbit take place in New Zealand, so that's not surprising at all really :D
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 02, 2012, 10:10:23 AM
I got it, but I'm not the biggest MMORPG fan. I'm trying to get into it.
I feel the same way but it sounds like these guys are having fun. Let us know what you think from your perspective.
I just had to buy two copies for my sons the other day this mean i'm gonna need a third copy!
Quote from: Nefaro on September 02, 2012, 06:52:23 AM
Quote from: son_of_montfort on September 01, 2012, 09:19:57 PM
Tpek started a Grogheads guild. You can actually be members of several guilds and can still interact with guildmates on different servers. Post your name.number and he can add you. Mine is baelthazar.9106. But I haven't had ANY time to play, although I might get on tonight some.
Seriously?
Are you talking about joining different guilds with different characters.. or can you be in multiples on the same character?
And the question with the cross-region thing, too..?
Guilds are account based and not character based, as far as I can tell. And I co-exist within the Octopus Overlords and Grogheads guild with no conflict. I believe you can meet up for instances and such even across servers, but I haven't grouped at all. I've probably only had time to put about an hour in. I'm thinking about rerolling my Guardian as a Charr, because I like the Charr starting zone better than the tree-people guys.
I just want to make sure I understand...this is the same Guild Wars 2 that is sold through Amazon.com for $60?
Yes. I got my box at Target which saved me HOURS of digital downloading. It's prety awesome Toonces and once we get a few Grogs on board I think we can easily setup some static group nights.
Guys, I might be interested, but to be honest, never have played these types of games before. Is there a single player element to this? Or do you have to join up with groups in order to just survive? I have a feeling my character would be destroyed easily by others...I am not very good at these types of games, especially against the experts:) Therefore, just trying to see if I would get any enjoyment out of this game before I put down $60:)
Here are some snapshots of my guardian combating some centaurs and some sort of otherworldly monster.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi830.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz227%2FBison36%2Fgw005.jpg&hash=ec99994fa0f764672026d8fc854e4cd0fcf78075)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi830.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz227%2FBison36%2Fgw007.jpg&hash=383c1beb77533679bdcd780a7ebb1e24cb215acf)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi830.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz227%2FBison36%2Fgw008.jpg&hash=fec7f8699b65aee6139d41082cb0953d9db32d65)
Yeah I'm shooting fire out of my mouth! Badass!
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi830.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz227%2FBison36%2Fgw003.jpg&hash=c1424987f057b2b71ad91e940deb8b1031b00682)
OK. I'm killing a rat with with a huge ass hammer, but sometimes exterminating the pests requires something a little extra!
Grim I've only played solo. The way the game is setup its very solo friendly because most areas are free for all. So if there is a special event you and everyone in the area battles and gets the reward.
Bison has it 100% right. Most every class is meant to be able to solo well or group well. No class is a dedicated "healer" or "support only" and most have options to spec them toward more of a support or offensive role. They are basically broken down between ranged, melee, and hybrid, but even that is not fully capturing the way the game works. You can also "group" without being in an official group by taking part in area-wide events that provide XP, karma, and money. Everything is fairly streamlined for new players.
The only caveat is that newbies should not play the Mesmer. That class is weird and hard, and requires experience to do well. Guardians, Warriors, Necros, and Elementalists are pretty easy to start. Rangers and Engineers are fine, but one has pets (and that might be hard for newbies to manage) and the other is a support/turret utility class that is still very solo-viable, but takes some getting used to.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 02, 2012, 08:04:19 PM
Guys, I might be interested, but to be honest, never have played these types of games before. Is there a single player element to this? Or do you have to join up with groups in order to just survive?
Apart from dungeon instances (optional) and world events (optional) you can probably solo your way through the whole game. You'll often find yourself in groups anyway though, because that's how Guild Wars 2 is designed. You won't officially be in a party, but you'll very often be fighting for the same objective as others in the same area. But there are really no downsides to this at all. Nobody can steal your kills, nobody can steal your loot, nobody can otherwise interfere with your goal. As long as you take part in something, you'll be rewarded. GW2 promotes group play like no other MMO I've seen with the possible exception of Rift.
As for never having played an MMORPG before, I wouldn't worry about that. If you can learn an RTS or a TBS you're certainly capable of learning a MMORPG. Especially Guild Wars 2, because you have fewer skills to manage here than in other games. And don't forget that there's no monthly sub! If you're at all interested, my advice would be to go for it. ;)
I am really intrigued. I might have to fork over the $60 once the holiday is over just to play with you guys! :)
Thanks guys for all the feedback, sounds very interesting even for a single player like me. Last question. Can other players kill my character or can only the CPU players do that to me? I also heard there were only five character slots. Once you create five, can you alwayse delete some to free a spot up?
If you play pvp or a world battle area, you can be killed by others.
You can also buy points to get things like extra character slots from the micro-purchase store.
Thanks...likely will pick up today while I am out running errands...too weak:)
For some reason I see JH really digging this game. But be sure to be a Charr. They are basically a cross between the Roman empire, Space Marines and the Kilrathi.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 03, 2012, 10:20:52 AM
Thanks...likely will pick up today while I am out running errands...too weak:)
It's not weakness, it's good taste. ;)
well. bought it and now installing:)
Yay! Check out the Guild Wars 2 guild thread in the opponents/ally subform. Several of us have posted our names that you need to link us as friends. You can also have Tpek send you a guild invite.
Sounds good....are you able to switch servers at will or are you locked into only one?
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 03, 2012, 04:47:10 PM
Sounds good....are you able to switch servers at will or are you locked into only one?
You get "locked". If you want to switch after the fact, it'll cost you a few bucks. Tpek and I are on the same server. Not sure about SoM, but I know Huw is on a Euro server.
Install process is long...now seems to be downloading updates, at the current rate, might not be able to even play until tomorrow:(
Nah there shouldn't be too much to download. Since launch there have been daily updates but I don't think any of them have been bigger than 50MB. What's your first character going to be?
Strange...I am currently at about 200MB being downloaded and says I am only at 2% being done. Says there is over 60,000 files to update...can't believe there is that many after just installing from the disc the first time.
I believe I will be starting as human warrior.
Quote from: Bison on September 03, 2012, 04:58:17 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 03, 2012, 04:47:10 PM
Sounds good....are you able to switch servers at will or are you locked into only one?
You get "locked". If you want to switch after the fact, it'll cost you a few bucks. Tpek and I are on the same server. Not sure about SoM, but I know Huw is on a Euro server.
I believe I am on a different (NA) server. You get one server switch for free, at least for a few weeks. As I said, I think there is a way to play across servers, but I don't really know how ATM.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 03, 2012, 05:29:14 PM
Strange...I am currently at about 200MB being downloaded and says I am only at 2% being done.
I believe I will be starting as human warrior.
Ah, perhaps the client I downloaded shortly before launch was much more up to date than the retail client. :(
Maybe that is it....just stunned over 60,000 files to update after installing from the disc:( Must have gone gold a long time ago when many more updates were made.
(via Rock Paper Shotgun)
Apparently Guild Wars 2 is the first PC game to top the all-format charts since 2010 in the UK. :D
What's this rumor about them stopping Digital Download sales of Guild Wars 2?
Not enough server space for more customers, and don't want to buy anymore? Or more on order? Or nonsense?
I was going to buy online but they state that they are "out of keys". So whatever I went and got a copy at Target.
Apparently they decided to suspend sales from their own website (probably the biggest source of sales) because of the stress on their servers.
How's that for success?!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 04, 2012, 01:19:53 AM
Apparently they decided to suspend sales from their own website (probably the biggest source of sales) because of the stress on their servers.
How's that for success?!
I'm just wondering if they're going to remedy that issue or wait for people to snatch up all the retail boxes before expanding.
I still plan on buying GW2 sometime this month. I guess as long as they're still in stores, it shouldn't be an issue but those will be going fast now too.
I suspect that they will quickly increase their server capacity and other issues resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollar potential. I have faith in the capitalist system.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 03, 2012, 10:06:37 PM
What's this rumor about them stopping Digital Download sales of Guild Wars 2?
Not enough server space for more customers, and don't want to buy anymore? Or more on order? Or nonsense?
I thought they suspended digital sales to deal with a hacking/exploit being pulled by several players.
I *think* that Tpek and Bison ARE on my server, after all. But we haven't been online at the same time. In my quest to decide what class I like best, I rolled a Necro. Man... those guys are pretty fun. I'm still kicking around Necro vs. Guardian vs. Warrior, but the Guardian and Necro seem to have top billing so far.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on September 04, 2012, 11:04:41 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on September 03, 2012, 10:06:37 PM
What's this rumor about them stopping Digital Download sales of Guild Wars 2?
Not enough server space for more customers, and don't want to buy anymore? Or more on order? Or nonsense?
I thought they suspended digital sales to deal with a hacking/exploit being pulled by several players.
I *think* that Tpek and Bison ARE on my server, after all. But we haven't been online at the same time. In my quest to decide what class I like best, I rolled a Necro. Man... those guys are pretty fun. I'm still kicking around Necro vs. Guardian vs. Warrior, but the Guardian and Necro seem to have top billing so far.
Hacking/Exploit?
Why then suspend digital sales?
Overpopulation seems far more likely a cause.
Yes, it was definitely overpopulation. According to ArenaNet anyway, but it seems reasonable since the servers are quite clearly rammed with players.
How has server performance been? Is the queue long or is it just plain crowded?
It sounds like waiting to purchase might be prudent. Yes, no?
I have had zero performance issues, nor do I have to wait for anything....has been a good experience for me so far, even though I stink at it:)
Yeah there is a nice population, but certainly not overcrowded. So if you are going to get the game, I don't think there is any reason to hold back.
Just got home from Gamestop. Installing now. Can't believe Gamestop actually still sells a PC game that isn't WoW.
Quote from: Kushan on September 04, 2012, 08:29:32 PM
Just got home from Gamestop. Installing now. Can't believe Gamestop actually still sells a PC game that isn't WoW.
So sad....I remember the good old days when Game Stop/Electronic Boutique was lined with PC games....those were the days.....I picked up my copy at Target.
Apparently GW2 is the first purely PC game to top the overall retail sales charts since the last WoW expansion came out. So they're clearly doing okay. :D
Quote from: DV8 on September 04, 2012, 06:52:34 PM
How has server performance been? Is the queue long or is it just plain crowded?
It sounds like waiting to purchase might be prudent. Yes, no?
Server performance is much better now than it was a week ago, and there's no queueing to get into the game; you'll just find yourself on an "overflow server" (no impact on gameplay) if population is high. You will queue for world vs world combat, but as long as that doesn't bother you there's no reason to hold back.
ARGH! I've misspelled my bloody necromancer's name! Oh no, what shall I do? Start again? Perhaps if I raise a ticket they'll take pity on me and change it. :(
Check to see if there is a pay to change feature. Also I'd make a character to reserve the name. You'd never guess how quickly Bison gets taken in every single MMO on the market.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 05, 2012, 01:21:22 PM
ARGH! I've misspelled my bloody necromancer's name! Oh no, what shall I do? Start again? Perhaps if I raise a ticket they'll take pity on me and change it. :(
What is your Necromancer's name supposed to be, anyway?
"Huw the Frock" ? :P
Ha! My necromancer is supposed to be called Arianwyn Y Marw. However, due to being exceedingly drunk when I made her, she's called Arianywn Y Marw. I am not happy.
Bison, I'm just going to raise a ticket. I'd rather create the character again than pay to swap two letters around.
Hell that took me a letter by letter compairson to see the difference.
Quote from: Bison on September 05, 2012, 06:04:52 PM
Hell that took me a letter by letter compairson to see the difference.
No kidding. Bloody Gaelic names!! *grumble grumble*
:P
Haha, I knew you guys would say something like that! And it's Welsh, not Gaelic!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 05, 2012, 06:23:24 PM
Haha, I knew you guys would say something like that! And it's Welsh, not Gaelic!
Same thing!
(you knew I'd say that too!)
Started a Human Female Guardian. The visuals are some of the best I've seen in an MMO in a long time. The skill system is really refreshing as well. I like having the game automatically switch skills when I switch weapons and not having to do it myself.
Quote from: Bison on September 05, 2012, 06:04:52 PM
Hell that took me a letter by letter compairson to see the difference.
+2
However, I don't blame you for wanting the name the way you want it.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 05, 2012, 06:23:24 PM
Haha, I knew you guys would say something like that! And it's Welsh, not Gaelic!
Don't Welsh speak Gaelic??? or is it just in Scotland?
Welsh isn't Gaelic. They are both Celtic languages though. Welsh is a P-Celtic language and Gaelic is Goidelic Celtic. The two languages came to the British Isles at separate times, IIRC one from what is now France and one from Spain.
Quote from: Staggerwing on September 06, 2012, 08:15:35 AM
Welsh isn't Gaelic. They are both Celtic languages though. Welsh is a P-Celtic language and Gaelic is Goidelic Celtic. The two languages came to the British Isles at separate times, IIRC one from what is now France and one from Spain.
That is a highly fascinating bit of information that I am not at all surprised someone knows on these boards. I am also likely to immediately forget it upon leaving this thread, but not because it has no value. I just am not sure my brain has any more room right now.
Quote from: Tpek on September 06, 2012, 08:06:34 AM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 05, 2012, 06:23:24 PM
Haha, I knew you guys would say something like that! And it's Welsh, not Gaelic!
Don't Welsh speak Gaelic??? or is it just in Scotland?
IIRC, there's Welsh Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic (? don't think that's known much anymore?), etc. Lots of varied dialects left over, all very regional.
I once heard some radio show do a skit with someone cursing in Irish Gaelic and it sounded hilarious.
Well thanks for clearing that up while I was in work, chaps!
For the record, Welsh is an absolutely beautiful language (when spoken in the right accent, at least) but it's excruciatingly difficult to learn as a second language. Sadly, it isn't spoken much these days outside of a hardcore in Wales.
I wonder how many days the game will continued to be updatede every time I start:( I am guessing they are just working out the kinks, but a pain that each time seems like I always have to wait and download something first.
How do you like the game play? I'm logging on in a few hours and need to add a few you all to my friends list.
Each patch only takes a few seconds to download though. I'm really appreciative of today's update; all the text on the world map is suddenly a lot easier to see.
Quote from: Bison on September 06, 2012, 06:09:22 PM
How do you like the game play? I'm logging on in a few hours and need to add a few you all to my friends list.
I am not great at this game and to be honest not sure what I should be doing...I am just running around killing stuff.....but I do enjoy myself. I really like the fact that I am playing solo, but can join up with people in events and killing things.....
Hehe. That sounds like me. I know that you can craft but damned if I know how. I know there are class trainer, but I have no idea where they are. I do know if I run toward the circle on the map that I get to kill stuff.
Quote from: Bison on September 06, 2012, 06:09:22 PM
How do you like the game play? I'm logging on in a few hours and need to add a few you all to my friends list.
Heh, I'm just off for the day (it's 3AM here).
Btw, don't forget to make sure you are representing the guild when you play. This we, we earn influence and can get cooler stuff sooner :)
Will do boss!
Has anyone found any good strategy guides or sites that help explain what you should be doing? I don't want to really cheat or anything, but I just get the feeling I am missing a lot in this game and I don't want to play forever to only find out I missed something important early on:)
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 06, 2012, 07:33:10 PM
Has anyone found any good strategy guides or sites that help explain what you should be doing? I don't want to really cheat or anything, but I just get the feeling I am missing a lot in this game and I don't want to play forever to only find out I missed something important early on:)
Story of my life and MMOs.
Is the story different if you choose to play a different class but as the same race as another character. I have my human guardian and was thinking of starting an elementalist. If they are both human do they have the exact same story quests?
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 06, 2012, 07:33:10 PM
Has anyone found any good strategy guides or sites that help explain what you should be doing? I don't want to really cheat or anything, but I just get the feeling I am missing a lot in this game and I don't want to play forever to only find out I missed something important early on:)
Players often create Beginner/Noob Guides on MMO forums, along with some class-specific ones that are more detailed about strategies for them.
If there aren't many around yet, there will be before long. I'd say check their forums and also do searches for the game's wiki pages - there's often more than one, plus various MMO websites have resource centers for everything you need to know. Internetz to da rescues!
I haven't looked up any guides yet so can't recommend any, but if you're stuck for stuff to do, make sure you visit the scouts (marked by telescopes on the map). They'll show you where the main activities are - but there's plenty of other stuff to be found too. In my experience the starter areas aren't quite so great for finding random stuff to do, but the other areas are.
Kushan - the story doesn't differ between classes, but it does differ between races and also depending on certain choices you make during character creation.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 06, 2012, 11:49:08 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 06, 2012, 07:33:10 PM
Has anyone found any good strategy guides or sites that help explain what you should be doing? I don't want to really cheat or anything, but I just get the feeling I am missing a lot in this game and I don't want to play forever to only find out I missed something important early on:)
Players often create Beginner/Noob Guides on MMO forums, along with some class-specific ones that are more detailed about strategies for them.
If there aren't many around yet, there will be before long. I'd say check their forums and also do searches for the game's wiki pages - there's often more than one, plus various MMO websites have resource centers for everything you need to know. Internetz to da rescues!
Player made guides are often FAR better. If not merely for the reason they can constantly update them.
MMOs tend to get updated often, with balance changes, and such stuff that tends to render old guides obsolete.
So those paperback guides aren't that worthwhile past the first few weeks of the game.
So I guess my main concern is getting to level 80 and regretting that I did not complete something I should have on Level 1 and impacts my gameplay from that point forward. Is that even possible? Or is the game structured in a way that you can miss things and still do well? I just have no idea if I should be crafting, buying, selling, what quests, etc. Should I have taken the loot from the dead person? etc.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 07, 2012, 05:51:31 AM
So I guess my main concern is getting to level 80 and regretting that I did not complete something I should have on Level 1 and impacts my gameplay from that point forward. Is that even possible? Or is the game structured in a way that you can miss things and still do well? I just have no idea if I should be crafting, buying, selling, what quests, etc. Should I have taken the loot from the dead person? etc.
The game is actually structured in a way that you get rewarded for even completing lower level content.
Which is why your level is artificially temporarily dropped when entering these low-level zones. (Though you still earn loot according to your real level)
Yeah, Tpek's right. I haven't seen an MMORPG that doesn't let you go back and do/get anything you may have missed.
More generally, Grim, crafting is pretty much just for making money (and some people enjoy it too!) but obviously if you can use what you craft it's a nice bonus. Quests - do as many or as few of these as you like; the more you do, the quicker you'll level up but don't feel like there's any rush to 80, because there isn't - especially in GW2 which doesn't ask for a monthly fee! Looting...you'll quickly get a feel for this. You'll figure out for yourself what you want to loot and what you don't. Some of it is just junk, and at any merchant you can click "sell junk" which is handy. Some loot is useful for crafters and is usefully labelled as such. Some is salvagable. Look out for weapons and armour whose names are any colour except white, because they'll have better stats than common items.
That is great to know it has that flexibility built in
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 07, 2012, 07:48:28 AM
Yeah, Tpek's right. I haven't seen an MMORPG that doesn't let you go back and do/get anything you may have missed.
More generally, Grim, crafting is pretty much just for making money (and some people enjoy it too!) but obviously if you can use what you craft it's a nice bonus. Quests - do as many or as few of these as you like; the more you do, the quicker you'll level up but don't feel like there's any rush to 80, because there isn't - especially in GW2 which doesn't ask for a monthly fee! Looting...you'll quickly get a feel for this. You'll figure out for yourself what you want to loot and what you don't. Some of it is just junk, and at any merchant you can click "sell junk" which is handy. Some loot is useful for crafters and is usefully labelled as such. Some is salvagable. Look out for weapons and armour whose names are any colour except white, because they'll have better stats than common items.
Crafting has more purposes:
1) Make more powerful items.
2) Fun.
3) Experience.
4) Make new dyes and other stuff.
5) Some more activities to occupy yourself with.
Actually, you can often make more money not by crafting - but by gathering all the raw materials and selling them in stacks to crafters. Takes a lot less time and focus off of the combat gameplay.
That's if there are nodes where you must find and harvest the materials. It also works better in MMOs where you are limited to how many gathering & crafting skills you can take since most people split those choices between both gathering & crafting skills. In such cases, taking all gathering skills, and no crafting ones, allows you to gather more & faster than most people.
Also considering a good amount of MMO crafted items only work for people of lower character levels than yourself, you can just ask around for a crafter and tell them you already have the materials and they'll often craft you stuff more appropriate for your level at little or no expense.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 07, 2012, 11:25:14 AM
Actually, you can often make more money not by crafting - but by gathering all the raw materials and selling them in stacks to crafters. Takes a lot less time and focus off of the combat gameplay.
That's if there are nodes where you must find and harvest the materials. It also works better in MMOs where you are limited to how many gathering & crafting skills you can take since most people split those choices between both gathering & crafting skills. In such cases, taking all gathering skills, and no crafting ones, allows you to gather more & faster than most people.
Also considering a good amount of MMO crafted items only work for people of lower character levels than yourself, you can just ask around for a crafter and tell them you already have the materials and they'll often craft you stuff more appropriate for your level at little or no expense.
That's not a bad idea about getting others to craft for you in exchange for only the materials.
They get the XP, you get the item :)
Well, my ranger is a jeweller. So far he's made a grand total of one ring. :)
Quote from: Tpek on September 07, 2012, 11:55:41 AM
That's not a bad idea about getting others to craft for you in exchange for only the materials.
They get the XP, you get the item :)
It's the most efficient use of the system that I've found. But you mustn't enjoy the actual crafting part since you'll generally have to skip that. Lots of people like to do that part, so that's what makes this strategy work well.
I regularly consider going all-gathering on my first character, depending on game mechanics. It's just so much easier, and less of a headache. Besides.. when my alts start crafting, I'll probably have leftover stacks of mats that didn't sell or weren't pawned off to the NPC vendors ready to go and can actually go get all those resources much more quickly and efficiently, having topped out gathering skills.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 07, 2012, 12:30:12 PM
Quote from: Tpek on September 07, 2012, 11:55:41 AM
That's not a bad idea about getting others to craft for you in exchange for only the materials.
They get the XP, you get the item :)
It's the most efficient use of the system that I've found. But you mustn't enjoy the actual crafting part since you'll generally have to skip that. Lots of people like to do that part, so that's what makes this strategy work well.
I regularly consider going all-gathering on my first character, depending on game mechanics. It's just so much easier, and less of a headache. Besides.. when my alts start crafting, I'll probably have leftover stacks of mats that didn't sell or weren't pawned off to the NPC vendors ready to go and can actually go get all those resources much more quickly and efficiently, having topped out gathering skills.
No gathering skills in this game.
Just tools.
They wear out after repeated use and have to be bought again (they're cheap though), plus you'll need better tools for higher level stuff or you'll just end up with junk that's
worth a few brass coins.
Quote from: Tpek on September 07, 2012, 02:08:46 PM
No gathering skills in this game.
Just tools.
They wear out after repeated use and have to be bought again (they're cheap though), plus you'll need better tools for higher level stuff or you'll just end up with junk that's
worth a few brass coins.
Well that ruins that whole situation.
I suspect that a lot of those MMO habits won't work with GW2 since it's not really a conventional MMO.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 07, 2012, 03:16:52 PM
I suspect that a lot of those MMO habits won't work with GW2 since it's not really a conventional MMO.
One of the weirdest ones: any mob in the whole game could potentially kick your arse, no matter what level you are, if you don't keep your guard up.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 07, 2012, 03:53:17 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on September 07, 2012, 03:16:52 PM
I suspect that a lot of those MMO habits won't work with GW2 since it's not really a conventional MMO.
One of the weirdest ones: any mob in the whole game could potentially kick your arse, no matter what level you are, if you don't keep your guard up.
Not really.
At least not with the tougher classes, where sometimes all you need is just set to the default autoattack and win :)
You know what I mean. Trash mobs in GW2 aren't the same as trash mobs in other MMORPGs due to the level scaling.
So how many Grogheads are there playing the game at this point? I haven't been seriously looking at it but I'm starting to consider it.
Quote from: LongBlade on September 07, 2012, 06:52:34 PM
So how many Grogheads are there playing the game at this point? I haven't been seriously looking at it but I'm starting to consider it.
I am playing.....not well, but playing. I was concerned about this type of game, but from what I can see it even plays well for single player minded people like myself.
I think there is around 6-8 or so LB.
Quote from: Bison on September 07, 2012, 06:55:08 PM
I think there is around 6-8 or so LB.
So how often are we getting together in a group?
Quote from: LongBlade on September 07, 2012, 07:55:17 PM
Quote from: Bison on September 07, 2012, 06:55:08 PM
I think there is around 6-8 or so LB.
So how often are we getting together in a group?
So far I haven't been able to group with people from here, but hopefully as more people join and/or become more dedicated, things will change. :)
I think this game is no different than others. If we as a community really want to game together, we have to set a schedule. Not something fixed that your out if you don't make it, but something like "Hey Sat 2100 EST it's Grogheads static GW2 night. Get on the Steam chat and lets kills some monsters!" Otherwise I think it goes the way most plans do. Everyone expresses interest, but its hard to get folks together at the last minute. If its a regular time on a schedule, I think we could orgainize easily several different games to include GW2.
Anyway just my two cents.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 07, 2012, 06:54:01 PM
I am playing.....not well, but playing. I was concerned about this type of game, but from what I can see it even plays well for single player minded people like myself.
Many of them play pretty well for solo'ing anymore, Reaper.
I think MMO developers learned that if people couldn't play most of them solo, that their player base would quickly vanish. Most people prefer playing solo, at least during the levelling stage before reaching maximum level, because there is nobody nagging you and nobody to wait on.
I found that when I joined random pick-up groups in MMOs, I'd spend a large amount of time waiting on one or two people to show up in our virtual 'target area' before we could get started. Then, when these tardy people arrived, they'd leave again ten minutes later after a quick "sorry goodbye" right in the middle of some tough area. So that can be quite frustrating if you don't have these things planned with your regular acquaintances beforehand.
Which is where your regular guildies are pretty much the only ones you wanna party up with unless you don't mind spending your valuable and limited time waiting around on some people you've never talked to before in the hopes that they can
all stick it out for an hour or two. :D
Edit: Guild schedules, like Bison mentioned, are the way to go. Everyone just needs to mention where/what content they'd like to group up for and when they are available. Easy stuff. Perhaps GW2 even has an in-game Guild Calender available for Guild Officers to use that everyone in the guild can see. Some MMOs started adding this feature over the last few years and it's quite nice since people who aren't around for the discussion can see what was planned and contact accordingly.
Quote from: Tpek on September 07, 2012, 08:25:16 PM
So far I haven't been able to group with people from here, but hopefully as more people join and/or become more dedicated, things will change. :)
I don't often see people grouping up for awhile after starting a new game.. unless perhaps to PvP.
In the later levels is when group dungeon fever starts hitting, I think.
I have four characters now and can't even pick a favourite.
I love my ranger. Armed with a longbow he can rain death upon groups of enemies from afar When they get close he calls on his trusty sword and dagger, which deal superb damage while allowing him to dodge and roll around the battlefield. He has a growing stable of pets which have various special abilities such as allowing him to run faster, or knocking enemies down, and can even revive him.
I love my necromancer. She's really bad news for the enemies, using her magic to poison, cripple, weaken, and generally piss them off and render them useless. She summons minions to keep her alive and other minions that are walking bombs and do fantastic damage to enemies. And when she takes a lot of punishment and defeat seems near, she slips into her death shroud, drawing on her very lifeforce (and that of others) to live again and keep putting out the pain.
I love my guardian. She's hard as nails. She can take shocking amounts of damage, all while using her magic to shield her allies. She can call upon her Virtues to burn her enemies or protect and heal herself, and she can also use them to do the same for others. In large fights her magic keeps her allies alive long after they should be dead. She smites her foes with her mace while channelling magic through her shield to create huge domes of protective energy, frustrating the enemies' attacks.
I love my mesmer. Armed with her scepter she creates clones of herself constantly, confusing the enemy whilst boosting her own damage output. By switching weapons she can create different kinds of clones and summon phantasms that harass her opponents. She wears light armour but is rarely attacked directly because her opponents spend so much time having no idea where to strike next.
I just can't pick a favourite. They're all massive fun to play, even the Guardian despite me generally not liking melee combat in MMOs. They have their strengths that can be applied to different situations, and of course there are countless ways to spec each class too. It's a genuine dilemma every time I load up the game; which character do I play this time?
Guild Wars 2 is fantastic. :)
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 08, 2012, 03:40:28 AM
I have four characters now and can't even pick a favourite.
I love my ranger. Armed with a longbow he can rain death upon groups of enemies from afar When they get close he calls on his trusty sword and dagger, which deal superb damage while allowing him to dodge and roll around the battlefield. He has a growing stable of pets which have various special abilities such as allowing him to run faster, or knocking enemies down, and can even revive him.
I love my necromancer. She's really bad news for the enemies, using her magic to poison, cripple, weaken, and generally piss them off and render them useless. She summons minions to keep her alive and other minions that are walking bombs and do fantastic damage to enemies. And when she takes a lot of punishment and defeat seems near, she slips into her death shroud, drawing on her very lifeforce (and that of others) to live again and keep putting out the pain.
I love my guardian. She's hard as nails. She can take shocking amounts of damage, all while using her magic to shield her allies. She can call upon her Virtues to burn her enemies or protect and heal herself, and she can also use them to do the same for others. In large fights her magic keeps her allies alive long after they should be dead. She smites her foes with her mace while channelling magic through her shield to create huge domes of protective energy, frustrating the enemies' attacks.
I love my mesmer. Armed with her scepter she creates clones of herself constantly, confusing the enemy whilst boosting her own damage output. By switching weapons she can create different kinds of clones and summon phantasms that harass her opponents. She wears light armour but is rarely attacked directly because her opponents spend so much time having no idea where to strike next.
I just can't pick a favourite. They're all massive fun to play, even the Guardian despite me generally not liking melee combat in MMOs. They have their strengths that can be applied to different situations, and of course there are countless ways to spec each class too. It's a genuine dilemma every time I load up the game; which character do I play this time?
Guild Wars 2 is fantastic. :)
Your energy for this game is a huge reason why I took a gamble and bought it:) Right now I have only played with a Warrior, something like a Ranger might be interesting to play with so I can kill things from a distance since I am not a great up close fighter. Just not very nimble with keyboard controls.
I've no doubt that I'll pick it up at some point, especially since I have been encouraged by Huw, who does seem to have a small liking for the game :-))
One of main things I would like is being able to get on and play with some of my fellow Grogs - so, get the details sorted out please chaps, I'm relying on you having got all the techie bits solved to ease my entry into the GW2 world......
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 08, 2012, 06:43:19 AM
Your energy for this game is a huge reason why I took a gamble and bought it:)
I hope you like it as much as I do then! Yeah I'm not great with melee combat either; in big fights it's difficult for me to tell what's going on. But I'm loving the guardian a lot more than I expected to, and it's particularly good for group fights.
The mesmer and necromancer play kind of similarly at low level, but I've been reading about both classes on the official wiki today and it looks like there's
lots of scope for differentiation and specialisation later on. I can hardly contain myself! The only problem with having all of these characters is that it's going to take ages to get them all levelled.
I do try to stick to one but I just can't!
Bob there is a Grogheads guild already, and I'm in it. The only problem is our American cousins are never online at the same time I am, so I'm usually on my own. :(
I need some Brits and Euros in the guild!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 08, 2012, 06:53:39 AM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 08, 2012, 06:43:19 AM
Your energy for this game is a huge reason why I took a gamble and bought it:)
I hope you like it as much as I do then! Yeah I'm not great with melee combat either; in big fights it's difficult for me to tell what's going on. But I'm loving the guardian a lot more than I expected to, and it's particularly good for group fights.
The mesmer and necromancer play kind of similarly at low level, but I've been reading about both classes on the official wiki today and it looks like there's lots of scope for differentiation and specialisation later on. I can hardly contain myself! The only problem with having all of these characters is that it's going to take ages to get them all levelled.
I do try to stick to one but I just can't!
Can you tell me the main differences between a warrior and guardian? I think I have seen where the warrior could eventually use ranged weapons like a bow/rifle so that is why I decided on that character, although I have no idea how long it takes to acquire those weapons. However, everyone seems to talk about the guardian character so curious. I am not much into magic so that is why I have stayed away from the other characters so far.
I haven't played a warrior yet, but a great resource is the official wiki; check out the page about warriors (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Warrior). Click the links for his skills and traits and have a good read through, and you'll get a feel for where you can take the character.
Or just create a guardian. :D They must play quite similarly but you can put out a lot of buffs. And they're nigh unstoppable too. In fact I haven't even been downed with my guardian yet.
How are the group instances (aka 'dungeons') set up in GW2?
I suppose it's not quite like the original where all PvP is just the same instance as you'd have going it solo (but scaled to your party size)?
I can definitely understand the Alt-tasticness, Huw. I can rarely force myself to stick with one class before I've played them all a fair bit and even then I still like to switch between a couple of my favorites regularly. Variety is good, right?
I haven't tried a single dungeon yet, someone else will have to comment.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 08, 2012, 11:45:07 AM
I can definitely understand the Alt-tasticness, Huw. I can rarely force myself to stick with one class before I've played them all a fair bit and even then I still like to switch between a couple of my favorites regularly. Variety is good, right?
Indeed, my friend! I'm actually
not usually so much of an altaholic in MMORPGs, but with GW2 I feel like a kid in a sweet shop.
Well, the fam was out shopping at Target and picked up a copy for me. Guess I'll be installing it later this evening and looking for you guys online.
Yay! Nice one, LongBlade! I hope you enjoy it. What will be your first character?
This is my ranger, Huw Llewellyn, standing on a quay in Kessex Hills.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi48.tinypic.com%2F14slhki.jpg&hash=c6593e82afb4f9370c2d547af37fe82a581d48f9)
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 08, 2012, 06:27:38 PM
Yay! Nice one, LongBlade! I hope you enjoy it. What will be your first character?
No idea. Am in a holding pattern getting ready to shuttle Daughter #2 to a sleepover. Then I'm cooking some spaghetti carbonara. Then, depending on the Redbox movie they rented I'll either watch that or install and start playing the game. Otherwise it may be tomorrow before I get to it.
Tch! What's more important: making dinner for the family or poring over the GW2 wiki to choose your first character? Priorities, man!
Excellent new avatar, by the way. :)
Thanks. I just made that avatar tonight.
I'm GrogHead.8630
BTW the four digit random extension is lame.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 08, 2012, 03:40:28 AM
I have four characters now and can't even pick a favourite.
I love my ranger. Armed with a longbow he can rain death upon groups of enemies from afar When they get close he calls on his trusty sword and dagger, which deal superb damage while allowing him to dodge and roll around the battlefield. He has a growing stable of pets which have various special abilities such as allowing him to run faster, or knocking enemies down, and can even revive him.
I love my necromancer. She's really bad news for the enemies, using her magic to poison, cripple, weaken, and generally piss them off and render them useless. She summons minions to keep her alive and other minions that are walking bombs and do fantastic damage to enemies. And when she takes a lot of punishment and defeat seems near, she slips into her death shroud, drawing on her very lifeforce (and that of others) to live again and keep putting out the pain.
I love my guardian. She's hard as nails. She can take shocking amounts of damage, all while using her magic to shield her allies. She can call upon her Virtues to burn her enemies or protect and heal herself, and she can also use them to do the same for others. In large fights her magic keeps her allies alive long after they should be dead. She smites her foes with her mace while channelling magic through her shield to create huge domes of protective energy, frustrating the enemies' attacks.
I love my mesmer. Armed with her scepter she creates clones of herself constantly, confusing the enemy whilst boosting her own damage output. By switching weapons she can create different kinds of clones and summon phantasms that harass her opponents. She wears light armour but is rarely attacked directly because her opponents spend so much time having no idea where to strike next.
I just can't pick a favourite. They're all massive fun to play, even the Guardian despite me generally not liking melee combat in MMOs. They have their strengths that can be applied to different situations, and of course there are countless ways to spec each class too. It's a genuine dilemma every time I load up the game; which character do I play this time?
Guild Wars 2 is fantastic. :)
I agree. So far I've got a Guardian, Elementalist, and a Ranger. I can't pick what one I like more. There all fun to play depending on the mood. The thing I like the best game play wise is that I don't feel like I'm repeating content with my any of them. Both my elementalist and my guardian are humans, but I chose slightly different backgrounds for them. I know the outcome of the story will be the same, but they are experienced differently. You don't even get sent to the exact same places. For my guardian I busted into a bandit hide out, while my elementalist got sent undercover to infiltrate a different hideout. Like I said I know the outcome is the same, but after playign WoW for 6 years, and doing every horde quest the exact same way at least 10 different times, GW2 is really refreshing.
My only gripe so far is you only get 5 character slots. With 8 classes I feel like they either need to offer 3 more slots as a micro transaction or feel forced to buy a second copy of the game to try them all out without deleting any of my original 5.
Quote from: Kushan on September 08, 2012, 09:39:57 PM
With 8 classes I feel like they either need to offer 3 more slots as a micro transaction or feel forced to buy a second copy of the game to try them all out without deleting any of my original 5.
They already do this. Press O in-game to bring up the Black Lion Trading Company interface. The first screen is a gem store, in which you can pay money to buy gems, and exchange them for things like extra character slots.
I agree with your comments about the storyline. It's becoming clear now why the game was in beta for so long. There's clearly been an insane level of polish applied and the team have thought of so much to ensure GW2 was dazzling on release. I just love this game. :)
I want to restart with one of my existing characters name and I know I can delete the person. When I delete the person, does the name become immediately available or is there some kind of waiting period as the servers and such update?
I'm pretty sure that the name is available to you immediately, but anyone else would have to wait 24 hours after deletion to be able to use it. So go ahead! :)
awesome....thanks!
Speaking of names, ArenaNet declined to change the name of my necromancer. :(
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 09, 2012, 05:02:08 AM
Speaking of names, ArenaNet declined to change the name of my necromancer. :(
Bummer.
Maybe give it time.
I suspect I know the reason for it - an abundance of caution.
It probably request direct intervention in the database. The problem with that is when you have hundreds of thousands of players already banging the crap out of your DB DBAs are very reluctant to touch a live database without really, really, really good cause.
And adding your name change to the next build is a very low priority in the scheme of things.
Sorry, I've been part of an IT shop as a build manager. I know how the thinking works in them. From a customer perspective it's a huge disappointment, but the less they touch the stuff the works the happier they are going to be.
The good news is that, as an MMO, it's constantly going to be updated. I can see the possibility of allowing for a name change, but it might be a year or so down the road. Sorry :/
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 08, 2012, 06:27:38 PM
Yay! Nice one, LongBlade! I hope you enjoy it. What will be your first character?
I made an Asura engineer. It wasn't my initial intent, but it as it evolved it ended up looking about as steampunky as one could hope in this type of game.
I've hit level two (ding!). But am now stuck trying to figure out how toolboxes work. I walk up to them, get the hint to press the F key and...nothing. The good news is that it feels perfectly safe. The bad news is that I'm in N00btopia, location me.
Ah, never mind. She's only around level 16 so I could start her again, especially now that I have three other characters to play with. I have to admit though, that I hadn't considered the implications from a DBA point of view; thanks for the insights. I imagine they'll allow it - for a fee in gems - later on.
In other news, I found a great new blog called Mesmer Mesmerised (http://www.mesmermesmerised.com) that has some great tips. I'm gonna have to bookmark that one. I'm getting increasingly impressed with my mesmer. They're a tough class to master but they can really kick some arse.
I haven't used the engineer class yet so can't help I'm afraid. Hopefully someone else around here can.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 09, 2012, 02:23:34 AM
Quote from: Kushan on September 08, 2012, 09:39:57 PM
With 8 classes I feel like they either need to offer 3 more slots as a micro transaction or feel forced to buy a second copy of the game to try them all out without deleting any of my original 5.
They already do this. Press O in-game to bring up the Black Lion Trading Company interface. The first screen is a gem store, in which you can pay money to buy gems, and exchange them for things like extra character slots.
I agree with your comments about the storyline. It's becoming clear now why the game was in beta for so long. There's clearly been an insane level of polish applied and the team have thought of so much to ensure GW2 was dazzling on release. I just love this game. :)
Thanks Huw. Checked of the Black Lion interface this morning. You can either spend $35 to buy enough gems for 3 slots, or you can buy them individually and $10 a slot. Both of those are a little too expensive for me at the moment. I'll just use my 5th slot to be the one for classes I just want to try out. Its not like it takes that much effort to level.
Yeah that's pretty much my plan too. A lot of people have defended the pricing of gems, but I really do think they're quite expensive. I mean, you can buy a new account for the equivalent price in gems it would cost to get five new slots. And a totally cosmetic outfit costs 500 gems, where the fewest number you can buy is 800 at £8.50. Others may think that isn't expensive but I certainly do.
But hey, it's not like you're forced to.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 09, 2012, 11:41:27 AM
I have to admit though, that I hadn't considered the implications from a DBA point of view; thanks for the insights. I imagine they'll allow it - for a fee in gems - later on.
One of the jobs I've always wanted and never had is DBA. Yeah, I'm that kind of nerd.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 09, 2012, 12:01:15 PM
Yeah that's pretty much my plan too. A lot of people have defended the pricing of gems, but I really do think they're quite expensive. I mean, you can buy a new account for the equivalent price in gems it would cost to get five new slots. And a totally cosmetic outfit costs 500 gems, where the fewest number you can buy is 800 at £8.50. Others may think that isn't expensive but I certainly do.
But hey, it's not like you're forced to.
Well, I haven't banged my head against their pricing structure yet.
However, let's not overlook the fact that this is an MMO without a monthly subscription fee. If we were in the early launch of WoW we'd shell out $50 + $15/month in perpetuity. So asking for some cash to expand player slots (which some folks won't use) doesn't seem extraordinarily greedy to me. I'm not eager to go out and buy new slots because I only have one toon so far.
Just some perspective. I reserve the right to change my mind and bitch after I've played a bit more :)
Oh yeah, they definitely need another revenue stream besides account sales. I don't blame them at all. But they've priced themselves beyond what I personally am willing to spend, at least.
I imagine they'll probably make a lot of money from the gem store.
I'm thinking the same thing. It'll be a while before I start buying gems.
Mind you I've already teamed up with SoM and we went questing together today :)
Quote from: Tpek on September 09, 2012, 01:42:59 PM
Mind you I've already teamed up with SoM and we went questing together today :)
Cool. I may jump on later this afternoon.
When I choose a category for trait points does it lock me out of the other 4 categories? Is there a way to respec if you are locked out of the others?
It doesn't lock you out, no, you can distribute the points as you see fit, although I gather putting points into all trait lines is massively inefficient.
I haven't tried it myself, but I believe you can respec by buying the training manual appropriate to your level again.
Quote from: Kushan on September 09, 2012, 01:49:50 PM
When I choose a category for trait points does it lock me out of the other 4 categories? Is there a way to respec if you are locked out of the others?
The official wiki says they can be reset by using a training manual or coins.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Trait
I haven't even found my class trainer yet. Nor have I found the heavy armor crafting trainer. I've been too busy trying to get all the portals in Queensland and stuff.
Quote from: Bison on September 09, 2012, 01:53:24 PM
I haven't even found my class trainer yet. Nor have I found the heavy armor crafting trainer. I've been too busy trying to get all the portals in Queensland and stuff.
Bison, I didn't see your name when I tried to friend you last night. Can you send me a request? GrogHead.8630
Will do boss once I get on my desktop. I don't have GW2 installed on my laptop.
Quote from: Bison on September 09, 2012, 01:53:24 PM
I haven't even found my class trainer yet. Nor have I found the heavy armor crafting trainer. I've been too busy trying to get all the portals in Queensland and stuff.
You can find one pretty much everywhere.
In your race's home realm, in Lion's Arch (the hub to which all race realms are connected) and in the starting area for your race.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 09, 2012, 02:23:34 AM
They already do this. Press O in-game to bring up the Black Lion Trading Company interface. The first screen is a gem store, in which you can pay money to buy gems, and exchange them for things like extra character slots.
I agree with your comments about the storyline. It's becoming clear now why the game was in beta for so long. There's clearly been an insane level of polish applied and the team have thought of so much to ensure GW2 was dazzling on release. I just love this game. :)
Ahhh yes. In-game cash shops. *facepalm*
So GW2 pretty much costs retail
plus an indirect amount in the cash shop, in order to play all the classes "available". :-\ That's a bit disappointing.
I should've figured they would have a cash shop, even though it's core is a PvP game and it's not a Free-to-play. I sure hope they also don't have any Pay-To-Win stuff in there as many Free to play games do. I can see all the extra outfits and stuff being sold so they can rake in more dough but there should be a lot of stuff off-limits in a game that touts reasonably balanced PvP.
And not being able to play all the classes without extra payment feels like a milking, because if they stick to the release strategy of the first series, they'll be selling regular expansion packs at premium price too.
Quote from: Nefaro on September 09, 2012, 03:38:50 PM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 09, 2012, 02:23:34 AM
They already do this. Press O in-game to bring up the Black Lion Trading Company interface. The first screen is a gem store, in which you can pay money to buy gems, and exchange them for things like extra character slots.
I agree with your comments about the storyline. It's becoming clear now why the game was in beta for so long. There's clearly been an insane level of polish applied and the team have thought of so much to ensure GW2 was dazzling on release. I just love this game. :)
Ahhh yes. In-game cash shops. *facepalm*
So GW2 pretty much costs retail plus an indirect amount in the cash shop, in order to play all the classes "available". :-\ That's a bit disappointing.
I should've figured they would have a cash shop, even though it's core is a PvP game and it's not a Free-to-play. I sure hope they also don't have any Pay-To-Win stuff in there as many Free to play games do. I can see all the extra outfits and stuff being sold so they can rake in more dough but there should be a lot of stuff off-limits in a game that touts reasonably balanced PvP.
And not being able to play all the classes without extra payment feels like a milking, because if they stick to the release strategy of the first series, they'll be selling regular expansion packs at premium price too.
It's not really PvP at its core, at least not from what I'm seeing so far.
No more PvP so far than the rest of the MMOs.
Quote from: Tpek on September 09, 2012, 03:59:52 PM
It's not really PvP at its core, at least not from what I'm seeing so far.
No more PvP so far than the rest of the MMOs.
That's what they touted in GW, and is supposed to still be a well-balanced feature here too from what I gather. Although I must admit that it's much more like a regular MMO in this 2nd one, now.
Still.. there are a swath of people who would get rather pissy if they started offereing Pay-To-Win stuff in the game's cash shop.
Well, five slots with eight classes isn't too bad...what's the likelihood you'll want all eight at any one time? You can delete a character to make room for another.
I think it's fair enough to be honest. Extra character slots aren't cheap (in my opinion) but at least the option's there. If they follow the GW pattern for expansions we should get a couple of slots with each one, too.
As for pay to win, ArenaNet have sworn blind that they'll never do that. Take that as you will, but they said the same about GW and as far as I know they kept their word.
Nefaro, you can turn gold into gems, so technically you wouldn't have to spend any real $$ in the shops.
Further, there is no subscription to GW2, so you could feasibly spend $14 a month and be on par with other MMORPGs.
As far as I could see, the items were purely cosmetic, with the exception of a few mini "nice-to-have-but-not-crucial" items and skills.
That's good.
I really don't mind cash shops that much for non-gamey stuff. The low-balling on the character slots just disappointed my Alt-a-holic tendencies a little and sent me off into a bit of a rant about cash shops' effect on PvP. :o
I'm still looking forward to jumping in soon.
Nef has buckled like a belt. ;D
Quote from: Nefaro on September 12, 2012, 02:35:03 PM
Nef has buckled like a belt. ;D
Don't forget to add me Tpek.1809 to your friends list and send me a message, so I can invite you to our guild :)
Yay! Nice one Nefaro!
If I ever stop playing long enough I intend to post more thoughts. I'm getting a touch frustrated with my mesmer; in group fights my target is always focused to death before I can even get one illusion off, let alone three. And in solo fights against multiple targets I'm just too squishy. I don't know what to do about it, so I'm switching to my guardian for the time being.
I really hate that illusions are attached to targets and disappear as soon as the target does.
Bah, just had my first /ragequit (sorry Nefaro and Tpek if you were talking to me). Doing the Norn guardian storyline, I had a mission in which I had to kill a giant wolf. Well, the fucker took me out in two hits every single time. The first hit gets me down to less than 100hp, the next is the killing blow. It happened about five times in a row, no matter what skills I used, no matter how much I dodged and rolled. I just don't see what I could have done.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 12, 2012, 04:28:47 PM
Bah, just had my first /ragequit (sorry Nefaro and Tpek if you were talking to me). Doing the Norn guardian storyline, I had a mission in which I had to kill a giant wolf. Well, the fucker took me out in two hits every single time. The first hit gets me down to less than 100hp, the next is the killing blow. It happened about five times in a row, no matter what skills I used, no matter how much I dodged and rolled. I just don't see what I could have done.
Annoyingly there are some mobs and bosses that can one-hit you in melee.
Some of them tend to have very high damage output, coupled with high critical chance and power attacks.
So far this is my biggest gripe with the game.
It's always a good idea to have some cannon-fodder...I mean... NPC allies with you, and/or ranged attacks.
Quote from: Tpek on September 12, 2012, 04:30:32 PM
It's always a good idea to have some cannon-fodder...I mean... NPC allies with you, and/or ranged attacks.
There were two NPCs with me who appeared to do sod all. As for ranged attacks...yeah, I suppose I could try that but I'd have to combine with some crippling too. Seems like a lot of effort to change my playstyle/gear just to beat one boss. Besides, GW2 is supposedly about letting you play how you want to play. >:(
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 12, 2012, 04:28:47 PM
Bah, just had my first /ragequit (sorry Nefaro and Tpek if you were talking to me). Doing the Norn guardian storyline, I had a mission in which I had to kill a giant wolf. Well, the fucker took me out in two hits every single time. The first hit gets me down to less than 100hp, the next is the killing blow. It happened about five times in a row, no matter what skills I used, no matter how much I dodged and rolled. I just don't see what I could have done.
I had a lot of trouble with that quest on my Ranger. That's not the worst part of that quest either. I died a good 6-8 times before i finally survived the whole event.
I finally did it, although I kinda cheesed it which I loathe having to do. I think I might set the storyline aside for quite a while and just get on with exploring and all the other stuff. Stupid wolf.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on September 12, 2012, 04:28:47 PM
Bah, just had my first /ragequit (sorry Nefaro and Tpek if you were talking to me). Doing the Norn guardian storyline, I had a mission in which I had to kill a giant wolf. Well, the fucker took me out in two hits every single time. The first hit gets me down to less than 100hp, the next is the killing blow. It happened about five times in a row, no matter what skills I used, no matter how much I dodged and rolled. I just don't see what I could have done.
I've already learned to go grind, and hit some previous "Group Quest" areas to level up a bit more when some of those solo things get tough.
If at first you don't succeed, level level again? :P
I really enjoy the abilities being tied to weapons (and/or various other extras for some classes like this). You generally have a
lot of variety even in a single class and can hot swap these 'styles' out. I'd say that's the thing I like most about GW2 right now. I've also learned to train up a good variety of weapons/styles for more flexibility, which has helped my survivability a fair bit, too.
Having a large amount of open group quests is nice, too, since I've yet to have to stand around waiting for others to show up to one. That will probably become a bit more of an issue once the early areas taper off in population, but the serverscape looks to be very scalable, too, so that should help later when it slows down.
I've not messed with many classes yet, but definitely enjoyed my Elementalist the most thus far. Not sure about the paltry crowd control skills, though, so I'll be dying a LOT with an Ele.
The Elementalist is definitely one of the most interesting classes.
With the 4 Element attunements they are certainly a versatile support/artillery class.
Quote from: Tpek on September 13, 2012, 05:52:13 PM
The Elementalist is definitely one of the most interesting classes.
With the 4 Element attunements they are certainly a versatile support/artillery class.
I've tried them all, and I have to say that the Ranger really takes the cake for me. Had melee like a Warrior, ranged like an Engineer/Elementalist, pets like a Necro, and mobility like a Thief. What isn't there to love?!
Quote from: Tpek on September 13, 2012, 05:52:13 PM
The Elementalist is definitely one of the most interesting classes.
With the 4 Element attunements they are certainly a versatile support/artillery class.
I have been a bit surprised at how the Elementalist, dual-wielding in Earth Attunement, is actually a good bit more survivable so that helps in smaller than normal groups and solo'ing big'uns with him.
Question: What class has the best healing potential? I see the Ele has a few odds & ends for group heals, as does some other classes. Which one has the best & most spammable, however?
The Guardian has some party style heals and procs.
I think the Elementalist is the class with some of the best targetable heals. Guardian has good heals that fire off his attacks (as Bison points out) and some AoE skill heals. The Engineer may be the closest to a designated support class. They have a lot of buffing and healing potions they can throw.
But all classes can fulfill different roles depending on build. Warriors even have group buffs (but fewer heals).
They need someone at Playboy to come down and airbrush out the breast implant scars:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi50.tinypic.com%2F2mmaed5.jpg&hash=bc623ef0683aad2d9b3caaa8e13a5630e8ae66e5)
:-*
One of my Son's ID's got hacked.. the person changed it on him.. he received the email today, but no way to stop it in time.. Hopefully their tech support will do the right thing quickly..
Quote from: Tuna on September 14, 2012, 10:13:50 PM
One of my Son's ID's got hacked.. the person changed it on him.. he received the email today, but no way to stop it in time.. Hopefully their tech support will do the right thing quickly..
I hope his email address' password isn't the same as his GW2 password, too. :-\
I told himto make sure it's different. My other son's ID is ok, but I made him change the password anyways.
:'(
That sucks, Tuna. I'm sure ArenaNet will get it sorted. They are prioritising account hack support tickets, too, so hopefully it won't take long.
I've had a massive DUR! moment. It has taken me until today to realise just how useful it is to swap weapon sets in combat. Previously I'd only been doing it with my ranger to switch between ranged and melee combat, but today I finally realised that it's useful to be able to use two sets of skills. Rattle through some skills, switch, rattle through some more, then your first set will probably all be off cooldown and ready to use again. Heh. My guardian dishes out a lot more damage now. :D
I'm diggin' the Warriors huge range of options on that account. 8)
Yeah, it works really well for the guardian too. I start with a greatsword which is a very offensive weapon. I leap in, blinding my enemy, then unleash a volley of offensive skills. Then I switch to my sword/shield and start activating more tankish abilities to let me stay alive for the second half of the fight. My enemy is usually dead very quickly after, even a couple of levels above me, but on the offchance they aren't I just switch back to greatsword again or start playing with my utility skills.
I'm not sure I mentioned it before, but I love Guild Wars 2.
BEHOLD! Here is my guardian Ffion Llewellyn again. She's made her way through the first major Norn area, Wayfarer's Foothills, and has arrived at a roadside keep in Snowden Drifts - the heart of the Shiverpeak Mountains.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi46.tinypic.com%2F2yuyu8h.jpg&hash=f41291bdd64dec51e92a0e28260d32e1dc26b3d2)
Look at the size of the tits sword on that!
Well, I just hope she has her extra-thick wooly knickers on.
Quote from: bob48 on September 15, 2012, 06:01:07 PM
Well, I just hope she has her extra-thick wooly knickers on.
I'll strip her down to her undies for the next screenshot so we can check how good they are.
There's a cool event in Wayfarer's Foothills in which you help the Lionguard capture a tower being held by the Sons of Svanir. After you take the tower you move on to the Svanir camp and they come at you in waves; huge, pitched battle ensues and ends with a Svanir champion emerging for a good old-fashioned boss fight. I've done it a couple of times because my guardian is superb in groups. After the fight is over there's a skill challenge nearby that people always do so I usually go and help them too.
My mesmer has a skill called Temporal Curtain which creates a wall of energy in front of you for a few seconds. It's used to cripple enemies that move through it but allies get a speed buff. So the other night I was stood at the end of a footbridge in an early Human area and putting it up every time someone was running along the bridge. Most just ran through and got their speed buff. Some warily edged around it, obviously having no idea what it was. Some just stopped and stared until it disappeared. I love messing with people in MMOs. :D
I've been keg brawling! The Norn capital has a big frozen lake upon which two teams fight for kegs of beer, scoring points by bringing them back to their designated ale collector. You can punch, kick and smash your opponents to grab the kegs from them. It's a lot of fun, and very funny. I did quite well:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi45.tinypic.com%2Fk2xphf.jpg&hash=4940a238c95ce9aab45bae0cc53ee89cbcfba828)
You can practice against bots too.
I'm finding it impossible to level when I can only play 5 minutes at a time!
My son got his ID back.. so their tech support is ok in my book.. bummer side is the person who hacked cleaned out his cash.. oh well...
Tempted to get this, but already bought two copies for my boys.. lol, if I got one too, that would make the tab Guild Wars 2 $180 dollars!...
Oh well.. what price can you place on bonding with your kids? Although I am leaning more towards Xcom pre-order
Cool, I'm glad to hear the (mostly) happy ending, Tuna. Cash can always be made again, at least it wasn't gems.
By the way, if I had the opportunity to play GW2 with my kids I'd grab it by the horns. ;)
Quote from: Tuna on September 16, 2012, 03:15:32 PM
My son got his ID back.. so their tech support is ok in my book.. bummer side is the person who hacked cleaned out his cash.. oh well...
Tempted to get this, but already bought two copies for my boys.. lol, if I got one too, that would make the tab Guild Wars 2 $180 dollars!...
Oh well.. what price can you place on bonding with your kids? Although I am leaning more towards Xcom pre-order
You should contact support about it.
They should restore your character and its belongings.
I think I might shelve GW2 for a while, because I don't want to get too burned out on it.
Also, I've finally identified the elephant in the room. I like, no, love almost every aspect of the game and it's still my favourite MMORPG. However, there's one thing that doesn't sit well with me at all: the skills.
Aside from some of the more exotic elites and high tier skills, almost all of them are some combination of conditions and boons. One of my most-used rotations consists of a bundle of skills that alternately boon myself and condition the enemy, and...that's it. Hit 1 and your enemy bleeds for a whole second! Ooohh! Hit 4 and you gain might for THREE seconds! Wooooooow!
It's boring, and really uninspired. Fortunately the more visceral nature of the combat makes up for this to a large degree, but on the whole it's a fucking boring system. In every other MMORPG I've ever played I've looked forward to unlocking the next skill which will undoubtedly be unique, interesting, and have a good spot in my rotation. In GW2 I don't even bother to spend skill points because there just aren't any interesting skills to choose from.
Edit: Also, a lot of the skills are clearly designed for PvP and don't work as well in PvE. Blinding a mob for one second when that mob's hit rate is once every two or three seconds is so close to useless as to be almost hilarious.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on October 31, 2012, 04:11:24 PM
Also, I've finally identified the elephant in the room.
This is the most difficult thing to do: identify something that's wrong with a game when you can't figure out exactly what it is.
Yeah, it took a bit of soul searching and it's not something I can usually figure out in games! It's a good thing the rest of the game is as good as it is, otherwise this would have been a much more major shortcoming.
In that case, I don't recommend you pick up The Secret World.
While it's premise is unique in high-production value MMOs, the individual skills are even less inspired than GW2's. But at least in TSW, you're given a much larger variety to pick & choose from.
EDIT: I tried logging in & playing some GW2 last night, but I still can't get into it much. I think it's the art style or something, but the early level zones are now pretty dead, too, and that makes the whole thing seem kinda hollow.
It probably doesn't help that they didn't give people enough character slots to create one of each class (without paying out the ass for extras) so there will be even less alt-aholics running around the early zone, too.
See, to rekindle my enthusiasm I tried playing a completely different class, the necromancer. And I'm still seeing the same old shit. With my current weapon combination, this is what I can do:
1. Necrotic Slash. This is just the basic attack. Every third hit gives me some life force.
2. Life Siphon. This is a health leech and the only decent, necromancer-like spell I have.
3. Dark Pact. This is just an immobilise. Possibly useful in PvP, very little use in PvE. I don't mind an immobilise as part of a larger rotation of skills; in Rift, I would have one on my second or third hotbar and use it on the rare occasions that it would help me out. I was happy with this because it was just an option, instead of one fifth of my whole skill set.
4. Reaper's Touch. Causes vulnerability on foes and regeneration on allies. Not too bad I suppose. Vulnerability is practically useless to me when soloing because necros aren't supposed to be relying on raw damage output. Regen is always welcome, although it won't be often that it will mean the difference between dying and surviving.
5. Spinal Shivers. Chill your foe and remove three boons. Almost completely useless. For a start, mobs don't very often have boons up, and even when they do you can almost ignore them because boons are very often quite useless anyway. Chilling doesn't interest me in PvE. Since the main threat from a mob comes from its standard attack, increasing the recharge time of their one or two skills is - I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but - completely useless!
So there you go. My five skills. All but one are totally uninteresting, all but one are almost completely useless.
Compare to Rift, where I'll typically have three hotbars full of useful skills, not a single one of them wasted, and giving me plenty of choices and tactical decisions to make in combat.
But Huw! I hear you cry. What about the utility skills? Well yeah, I got to the point last night where I could start buying them. So let's have a look, shall we?
Signet of Spite. Its passive ability just increases power. Again, for a necromancer this is completely...can you guess the word? But don't worry, it has an active ability too - it causes bleeding, blindness, cripple, poison and vulnerability. Great! With one small problem...the cooldown is NINETY SECONDS. I doubt I have to tell anyone here that when ploughing through PvE content in an MMO, 90 seconds is a lifetime. So on passive it's rubbish, on active I can use it once in a lifetime - against one mob. Great. Shall we try another?
Corrupt boon. This gem poisons yourself, but in exchange it transforms all boons on your opponent into conditions. Aside from the fact that most boons aren't that great and most conditions aren't that damaging (and some may be of no help to you at all as a necromancer...see vulnerability for example), as I said earlier, mobs rarely have boons applied to them anyway, and certainly none that have any kind of impact on the battle. Oh, and you get to use this staggeringly amazing spell once every forty seconds. Jeez.
So. As I've said before, the rest of GW2 is such an amazingly good game that, thankfully, the skills thing is "just" a major annoyance rather than a deal-breaker. But as I fight my way through mob after mob, I'm constantly plagued by the memory of Rift and find myself almost wishing I was playing that instead.
There's going to be a free trial weekend soon, 15-18 November I believe. I should be getting three invites to hand out, so post if you want one.
I've reserved one already for Bob, unless he doesn't want it. :)
Yesterday I found myself in the incredibly rare position of actually wanting to buy some gems in the gem store. So I logged in (after waiting half an hour for ANet to fix the login server) and brought up the gem store interface to take a look.
I didn't buy any. Here's why.
To begin with, if I'm going to spend actual, real money on RMT I'm going to want to see some long-lasting benefits. In other words, something with permanance. That immediately cuts out 90% of the store, because it's awash with XP boosters, black lion keys and various other consumables. Fine. So I looked at what was left...for example, clothes. As with Guild Wars, one of the main ways to progress your character in Guild Wars 2 is through customisation of the avatar.
The selections sucks though. Most of the clothing section is stuff like sunglasses and hats which I wouldn't want anyway because I don't like anachronistic content in games. Besides, you can only wear that stuff as part of your town outfit anyway. Why anyone would spend money on this stuff is beyond me. So that leaves only the armour skins, including one (Krytan armour) that is suited to my new ranger and looks particularly good.
H O W E V E R. Armour skins are literally that - decals that you apply to existing armour. So nobody below level 80 is ever going to want to buy these because as soon as you upgrade your armour, the skin is gone and you'll need to buy it all over again. WTF? ANet are seriously shooting themselves in the foot here in my opinion. They lost a sale (of gems). I have five characters and I probably would've been willing to buy an armour skin for each one eventually, but I'll never get them all to level 80 so if I do it at all, it'll probably be just once.
I'm really disappointed. Considering the gem store is ANet's only revenue stream after the initial box sale, you'd think they'd be cramming it with new stuff all the time, and coming up with lots of ways to get people to buy gems, but in reality the store is pretty bare and totally underwhelming. Oh well...their loss.
P.S. I briefly considered buying a new character slot, but they cost 800 gems per slot. 800 is the fewest number of gems you can buy at a time, and it costs £8.50. Haha...no.
A long time ago, I bought some gems to get a special key to open one of those lion's head chests. It was not really worth it, but I got several keys out of it. Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of time to play GW2 when it released and I just have not gotten back to it since.
I find that there's little worthwhile to spend real money on the game aside from extra character slots and increased bank/inventory size (and these would only be useful to certain type of players anyway).
Yeah Black Lion Chests suck. All they contain (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Lion_Chest) is boosters, tonics and other consumable crap you'd find in the gem store.
Quote from: Tpek on January 27, 2013, 12:33:24 PM
I find that there's little worthwhile to spend real money on the game aside from extra character slots and increased bank/inventory size (and these would only be useful to certain type of players anyway).
Exactly. You'd think ANet would consider this to be a huge problem, unless the hardcore are spending huge amounts of money to make up for it - which I doubt.
^ Don't forget that people would be upset had they turned it into a Pay 2 Win game.
And apparently, as Bethesda proved nearly 9 years ago, people are willing to shell out $s after $s for stupid cosmetic changes that they can even get for free. :P
Quote from: Tpek on January 27, 2013, 01:04:26 PM
^ Don't forget that people would be upset had they turned it into a Pay 2 Win game.
I'm not asking for pay to win, I'm just asking for the current offering to be much bigger, at least with regard to permanent stuff. I wonder why mounts aren't in the game? As long as they're disallowed in PvP they would hardly be a pay to win item, and
good mounts would be perfect fodder for the gem store.
Well, currently there are no mounts at all, which is odd for a modern MMORPG. But who knows,
Maybe they'll be added in an expansion.
Just for the record. You can transfer the bought Armor skins to new Armor pieces by means of Transmutation Stones. So you dont loose your bought stuff.
Quote from: Tpek on January 27, 2013, 01:04:26 PM
^ Don't forget that people would be upset had they turned it into a Pay 2 Win game.
And apparently, as Bethesda proved nearly 9 years ago, people are willing to shell out $s after $s for stupid cosmetic changes that they can even get for free. :P
Both very correct points.
I recall, specifically, that they promoted GW2 as having
no Pay2win stuff in the cash shop.
That's why you see them charging high prices for extra character slots and bank space - those are the only ones with practical uses in-game. As we've seen in numerous MMOs before, there is a steady stream of income from people purchasing completely cosmetic outfits. Some more than others. I could be completely sexist and write that off as women practicing their shoe- or handbag-shopping habits inside an MMO (where female gamers are most prevalent regarding online multiplayer gaming) but I'm sure some dudes do it too.
Quote from: Yskonyn on January 27, 2013, 07:53:12 PM
Just for the record. You can transfer the bought Armor skins to new Armor pieces by means of Transmutation Stones. So you dont loose your bought stuff.
Yeah, every time you upgrade your armour though. Plus transmutation stones are also bought in the gem store aren't they? I think I've only ever had one or two from personal story quests or something.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on January 28, 2013, 01:43:27 AM
Quote from: Yskonyn on January 27, 2013, 07:53:12 PM
Just for the record. You can transfer the bought Armor skins to new Armor pieces by means of Transmutation Stones. So you dont loose your bought stuff.
Yeah, every time you upgrade your armour though. Plus transmutation stones are also bought in the gem store aren't they? I think I've only ever had one or two from personal story quests or something.
In the gemstore is one option, but IIRC they can also be bought on the AH, traded or found as loot.
The gemstore is just a shortcut. ;)
Oh god I've been bitten again. What is it about this damn game? I even have altaholicitis; nothing wrong with the ranger I was levelling, but I have a sudden urge to start levelling a mesmer.
Here we go again!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 19, 2013, 03:35:15 AM
Oh god I've been bitten again. What is it about this damn game? I even have altaholicitis; nothing wrong with the ranger I was levelling, but I have a sudden urge to start levelling a mesmer.
Here we go again!
lol - its only a good thing though
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 19, 2013, 03:35:15 AM
Oh god I've been bitten again. What is it about this damn game? I even have altaholicitis; nothing wrong with the ranger I was levelling, but I have a sudden urge to start levelling a mesmer.
Here we go again!
I really want to get back into it. I just never had the time to play and then, by the time I did get some free time, other games distracted me. I have a backlog SO LARGE that it seems silly. But I might have to jump in and see what they have done since I last played.
I must say this game has had me hooked for the last couple of months, even though I bought it back in October. I now have 96% map complete, 2 level 80 characters, completed crafting in 3 areas. I'm really enjoying the new dailies. I've have never felt the need to buy anything extra (gems/gold). I just wish I could find a group or guild that would take dungeons nice and slow, they are just too much of a run-clickfest like (WvW or PvP).
I really need to get back to this as well, and check up on our Grogheads guild :P
Grogheads guild?
What server?
Quote from: undercovergeek on February 19, 2013, 03:51:12 AM
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 19, 2013, 03:35:15 AM
Oh god I've been bitten again. What is it about this damn game? I even have altaholicitis; nothing wrong with the ranger I was levelling, but I have a sudden urge to start levelling a mesmer.
Here we go again!
lol - its only a good thing though
I thought he was cured.
Quote from: bob48 on February 19, 2013, 02:12:16 PM
I thought he was cured.
So did I! I've been merrily plugging away at a load of other games lately, then The Urge overcame me again. :(
Quote from: SgtRock on February 19, 2013, 01:26:13 PM
I've have never felt the need to buy anything extra (gems/gold).
I'd be quite happy to buy the cosmetic armour skins if they were permanent and didn't require transmutation stones any time you change armour pieces. I'd also be quite happy to buy extra character slots if they didn't cost
£8.50 for one!!!
Quote from: SgtRock on February 19, 2013, 02:10:49 PM
Grogheads guild?
What server?
You can LoL at me, but I don't remember :P
Anyway, I'm Tpek.1809 there
Quote from: Tpek on February 19, 2013, 04:58:44 PM
Quote from: SgtRock on February 19, 2013, 02:10:49 PM
Grogheads guild?
What server?
You can LoL at me, but I don't remember :P
It doesn't really matter as long as you're in the same region; you'll still contribute to the same influence pool. Sadly, since I'm on a European server I couldn't contribute. Any influence I accrued went into a separate pool for the European "chapter" of the guild. Pretty sucky, that.
GW2 is free this weekend. Give it a try!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on August 23, 2013, 04:19:21 PM
GW2 is free this weekend. Give it a try!
I really intend on playing it some more, but my MMO mood just hasn't struck in a long time.
Quote from: Nefaro on August 23, 2013, 07:18:45 PM
I really intend on playing it some more, but my MMO mood just hasn't struck in a long time.
I haven't played it since
Rift went free to play, but I will check in at some point. Gotta get at least one character to 80!
I attempted to play it a few weeks back but it just didn't hold my interest.
Quote from: Bison on August 23, 2013, 08:19:58 PM
I attempted to play it a few weeks back but it just didn't hold my interest.
The major comlaint I've always had with the GW series is the art style. I see similarities between it and Japanese anime or Final Fantasy stuff, which always annoys the piss out of me. It's not near as bad but some of it's graphical quirkiness definitely has a basis in those.
My only complaint is the horribly underwhelming skill system. Most skills do something crap like blinding your enemy for two seconds and are on a 30 second cooldown. Boring.
Edit: I should add that that is really my only complaint. I still think that GW2 is an extremely good game.
If anyone needs help getting their character to level 80 on North American server, PM me on what server/time zone so we can team up.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on August 24, 2013, 08:19:23 AM
My only complaint is the horribly underwhelming skill system. Most skills do something crap like blinding your enemy for two seconds and are on a 30 second cooldown. Boring.
Edit: I should add that that is really my only complaint. I still think that GW2 is an extremely good game.
Sounds like the CC debuffs were made specifically for PvP.
Most MMOs have such effects greatly reduced against other plays, but a higher default value against PvE mobs (and some damn immunity on PvE bosses). So it seemed like they just went the lazy route and left it at the lowest common denominator.
The character customization is also a bit lacking, primarily regarding skills of course.
Quote from: Nefaro on August 24, 2013, 04:18:11 PM
Sounds like the CC debuffs were made specifically for PvP.
Yep, that's precisely the problem. So many of the skills were clearly designed with PvP in mind. A two-second blind is really useful against a Human player spamming abilities, but almost completely worthless against a PvE mob who only attacks every 2-3 seconds anyway. I mean, a whole skill goes on 30 second cooldown just to stop a single mob from attacking
once?! Whatever the opposite of 'enthralling' is...yeah.
Am I too late to get it on this game? I've thought about it for awhile...but never have pulled the trigger.
Quote from: republic on December 05, 2013, 07:46:53 PM
Am I too late to get it on this game? I've thought about it for awhile...but never have pulled the trigger.
Still a great game and seems to be going strong. I'm sure they'll have another free weekend and sale for Christmas, just make sure you pick a server with some people you know, there are some low population servers. You really want a high population server for group events and for World vs World.
I've just started playing again myself, if anyone wants to get together let me know (guesting to other servers is easy).
Some Great GW2 links
http://dulfy.net/
Site that has guides and keeps you update on the latest content and changes.
http://us.gw2stuff.com/en/events/ehmry-bay
World Bosses and temple events
http://www.gw2db.com/recipes/huntsman?cookieTest=1&page=10
Crafting Guides
http://gw2nodes.com/index.php
http://www.orrmaps.com/server/ehmry_bay
Tier 5 & 6 resources locations (they change on every server reset).
With the recent article by ANet and me getting a little more gametime again I am back in the game. And on my first login I immediately realised how much I have missed Tyria.
Unfortunately I have missed the Living Story events after Flame and Frost up until now, but there are some good recap video's on YT.
The aim for creating a truely Living and evolving world seems
To be going strong still and they are actively going
to rebalance the PVP and WvW portion of the game. Truely epic!
The GRogheads guild seems to be deserted though.. :(
Come on Grogs! It is a great time to be coming back!
If you want Admin rights to the guild to properly manage it, then PM me please.
I'm being a terrible GM :(
I decided to jump in since Amazon had it for 30 bucks... but.... I cannot for the life of me remember my password to my old Arena.net account, and I really don't want to have to create a new email account just to register the game. Instead of just sending a reset to my email account, i have to freakin remember one of my characters (from 6 years ago) AND have my serial number. Well, the serial number ink has bled over time to be almost unreadable. I submitted a ticket, but haven't heard anything back. So frustrating.