Guild Wars 2

[Nefaro]

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.

[Tpek]

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.

[Nefaro]

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. 

[Huw the Poo]

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.

[son_of_montfort]

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.

[Nefaro]

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.

[Nefaro]

Nef has buckled like a belt.   ;D

[Tpek]

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 :)

[Huw the Poo]

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.

[Huw the Poo]

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.

[Tpek]

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.

[Huw the Poo]

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.  >:(

[Kushan]

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.

[Huw the Poo]

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.

[Nefaro]

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.