So, who is a good writer that knows a lot about GW2?

[Wrathonia]

The girl finallyyyy getting her dolly back in SW did it for me lol

It was amusing that she not only got her dolly but she has the boys toy gorilla now and endlessly torments him.

But for Dadanga, the epitaph is what really got me, I always tear up when I read the last few words.

Sturdy mount and trusted friend.

Died shortly after the Cataclysm. He always hated loud noises.

In lieu of flowers, please drop off a few Bloodpetal sprouts. In life, he loved nothing more.

[Squirrelbanes]

It was amusing that she not only got her dolly but she has the boys toy gorilla now and endlessly torments him.

But for Dadanga, the epitaph is what really got me, I always tear up when I read the last few words.

I've not seen that one...never rolled a hordy so I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with ol' Dadanga..

It is mind boggling that they can do these little things...and yet create such a, imo, disappointing game.

[Wrathonia]

I've not seen that one...never rolled a hordy so I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with ol' Dadanga..

It is mind boggling that they can do these little things...and yet create such a, imo, disappointing game.

Dadanga was neutral my dear friend. You missed the poor thing when it was still alive. It really didn't do anything, but it did reference a zelda game. But I am an animal person. As I type this on the edge of my bed, one of my dogs is curled up asleep with her back to my back. She does great as lower back support. So yeah, being the animal lover I am it tore me up seeing that, even though it was just another one of the many pop culture references that blizz tucked into their game, though very subtle compared to the pop culture they shove in your face now. =/

[Squirrelbanes]

Dadanga was neutral my dear friend. You missed the poor thing when it was still alive. It really didn't do anything, but it did reference a zelda game. But I am an animal person. As I type this on the edge of my bed, one of my dogs is curled up asleep with her back to my back. She does great as lower back support. So yeah, being the animal lover I am it tore me up seeing that, even though it was just another one of the many pop culture references that blizz tucked into their game, though very subtle compared to the pop culture they shove in your face now. =/

I never made my way over there that often I guess...
I was very sad to see the Night Elves I'd known and loved all dead over at aberdine though and ol' blanchy I believe! That was sad...

And yh....you may not believe this, but I'm actually a total cat person One is trying to disrupt my typing as we speak lol.

[Primal Zed]

I would try for it, but I don't play Guild Wars, and I can't talk about my gaming experience in GW2 until I actually have a gaming experience in GW2.

---------- Post added 2012-01-31 at 06:47 AM ----------

vote for Mif

Given all the threads you've created on this forum to talk about different aspects of GW2, I'd vote for you.

[Fencers]

While WoW has fallen from grace for quite a few of us, it was also the first major mmo for a lot of us as well. <snip>

Once again, I do not mean to say I personally love every aspect of WoW or that anyone person has to as well. Really don't mean to give the impression that WoW is "so great" blahblah.

What I am pointing out is Warcraft is very expertly and deliberating designed. One doesn't have to like the way Warrior tanks behave in Warcraft, for example. But the way Warrior tanks operate in WoW from key press to visual identification is brilliantly calculated in feedback. That is a level of design sophistication only like 3 games ever made reach. I can name them.

So striking and psychologically compelling is the design of WoW that people will flood the forums of SWTOR, Rift, Aion and every other MMO under the sun asking why Retaliation or Disarming Counter blow don't work like Revenge. It's that grey area of "feel" when players go to other games and speak of "something" being off they can't put their finger on exactly.

To some extent it is control. But in a more nebulous sense it is mostly psychological as well. In a similar way for example, [stay with me even though I am swapping genres] Sonic never quite took off as Mario did. Both respectable franchises, though one clearly dominated the other in sales and culture. And it wasn't that Sonic Team by contrast designed inferior or less inventive games. The feel of causing Mario to jump, was and still is, phenomenal.

This is the point I was driving at above- GW1 was (&is) a very good game. Though somewhat off-kilter enough that it is not surprising the game never garnered quite the enormity of Warcraft. To be fair, few games have. Looking at the 'hows' of the ding sound or 'whys' of the cartoonish character models is in actuality looking into the hows/whys of what make games tick in a permanent sense.

The direction the clouds and flags move in Mario is one the most brilliant pieces of information in game design. Likewise, there is a certain feedback given in pressing the W key in Warcraft which communicates information in a way few games are able to do.

That's the art in games, so to speak.

[Arrowstormen]

Even if I could, I wouldn't want to work on a site that I never knew existed before know

[Milanor]

Ah, so enticing...

If only I wasn't abroad for the next buncha months and actually knew anything about Guild Wars 1.

[ArcticBlade]

You speak a lot of good sense, Fencers, and I totally understand where you're coming from. The whole design of WoW is so user-friendly and has that vibe of everything being just in the place it should be, it makes me think they have a few psychologists working within their design team.

It's one of my main concerns about building my hopes up too much for GW2 or any other game. Will they get the movement right? Do the skills fit together and have the right animation? Are they properly responsive to my control? How does it feel to gain a level? Are the achievements balanced/staggered and worth collecting? Does the warrior *feel* like a warrior? How punishing is it for me to die? (And so on...) These are things we don't normally think about, but they affect our experience/enjoyment of the game, and WoW has pretty much nailed most of it.

There are many little niggling doubts I have about GW2, which won't go away until I get to play it. Little basic things like having the health bar at the top of the screen (closer to your eye level), while the toolbars should remain at the bottom (closer to your keys, where you don't normally look). Okay, that's a very trivial example, but it illustrates my point. I'm concerned about things like damage numbers, when I can join a PvP battle and see my numbers skyrocket, only to return back to normal when I go back to questing. (So what is the point in my heroic deeds if I can become maximum level at will?)

[omlech]

You speak a lot of good sense, Fencers, and I totally understand where you're coming from. The whole design of WoW is so user-friendly and has that vibe of everything being just in the place it should be, it makes me think they have a few psychologists working within their design team.

It's one of my main concerns about building my hopes up too much for GW2 or any other game. Will they get the movement right? Do the skills fit together and have the right animation? Are they properly responsive to my control? How does it feel to gain a level? Are the achievements balanced/staggered and worth collecting? Does the warrior *feel* like a warrior? How punishing is it for me to die? (And so on...) These are things we don't normally think about, but they affect our experience/enjoyment of the game, and WoW has pretty much nailed most of it.

There are many little niggling doubts I have about GW2, which won't go away until I get to play it. Little basic things like having the health bar at the top of the screen (closer to your eye level), while the toolbars should remain at the bottom (closer to your keys, where you don't normally look). Okay, that's a very trivial example, but it illustrates my point. I'm concerned about things like damage numbers, when I can join a PvP battle and see my numbers skyrocket, only to return back to normal when I go back to questing. (So what is the point in my heroic deeds if I can become maximum level at will?)

Your heroic deeds take place in the PvE world, obtaining max level instantly only applies to competitive PvP and WvWvW which both take place in The Mists and are entirely separate from PvE.

[Deleted]

Okay, that's a very trivial example, but it illustrates my point. I'm concerned about things like damage numbers, when I can join a PvP battle and see my numbers skyrocket, only to return back to normal when I go back to questing. (So what is the point in my heroic deeds if I can become maximum level at will?)

That's should not be that much of a problem. Everything is build around proportions. You will be scaled up with all abilities - yes, but you will not become demigod, everyone around will have same level of power. So while the raw numbers are different, your sense of power is in place.

As for WoW.. true, the game is a success because of "how it plays". The movement is just right and it's not demanding - you can move if you want, but game will not punish you if you prefer to stand there and spam frostbolt, which is perfect for people who are just starting. Controls are pretty responsive and spell effects are just enough to visualize the meaning of ability without making whole combat unreadable.

My main gripe with WoW is on very much different field. As a long time programmer/developer I just don't understand some of their actions. I mean, they have to have VERY limited resources considering how poor the new content is. Either that or WoW's code went to crap long time ago. Personally I think it's both.

[Fencers]

It's one of my main concerns about building my hopes up too much for GW2 or any other game. Will they get the movement right? Do the skills fit together and have the right animation? Are they properly responsive to my control? How does it feel to gain a level? Are the achievements balanced/staggered and worth collecting? Does the warrior *feel* like a warrior? How punishing is it for me to die? (And so on...) These are things we don't normally think about, but they affect our experience/enjoyment of the game, and WoW has pretty much nailed most of it.

Indeed.

Though I do feel it is worth saying in contrast, that a large part of the enjoyment of any media type is in discovery. Will GW2 be an unparallelled masterwork/revolution/toaster? We don't know. But that's part of the fun.

Anet do have a good track record in making games with the same philosophy of design we see in GW2 so far. So take that for what it is worth as well.

I do share some concerns about the UI as in your 3rd paragraph there. Might be modifiable as in the first Guild Wars though. So we will see about that too! XD