Dungeons first impression.

[Jovanaar]

Dungeons were the most important thing for me in the game and I have to say I wasn't impressed with the catacombs. Not going to go into any details for fear of hurting a fanboys feelings.

How much I respect your opinion, a level 30 dungeon should be pretty straight forward, they have some funny things though..

Traps/Spikes/Explosive and a small puzzle. I hope we see more of this and in a bigger context as well. This makes me craving for Explorable Mode.

[Deleted]

Challenging compared to the first dungeons I've seen in other MMOs and much more interesting mechanics.
It just makes me think that the exploreables will be quite tough...and I'm sure we can expect the higher level ones to be very interesting.

Sure as hell it beats Stockades :P.

On serious note, in GW2 first difficulty of dungeons (story mode) is meant to be a story telling tool and by all means it works flawlessly as we can see it from videos. Now the question is, how challenging is explorer mode?

[Jovanaar]

Sure as hell it beats Stockades :P.

On serious note, in GW2 first difficulty of dungeons (story mode) is meant to be a story telling tool and by all means it works flawlessly as we can see it from videos. Now the question is, how challenging is explorer mode?

We can't really say how Challenging explorer mode is other than taking Arenanet's word for it that's it's really challenging.

[Stealthedbear]

Trying to watch those 1-5 on HD... Don't know if my internet speed has just gone down horribly or if youtube is being slow, but taking forever just to watch part 1!

[Exerionx]

Yep the first instance looks pretty awesome, dunno if this was linked but http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/gui...ungeon-runner/ is a good video of it from a Necro PoV.

Thank you friend

EDIT: Would anyone be able to link me if a Press Beta Tester has commented on the 'holy trinity' business?

I'm really interested if they have pulled it off so far.

[MrSerious]

We can't really say how Challenging explorer mode is other than taking Arenanet's word for it that's it's really challenging.

when they killed the king I'm sure he mentioned something about "awakening things deeper within the catacombs" - that might be something to do with explorer mode. I really like that, just when you're patting yourself on the back for finishing the dungeon he talks of more evils. That kind of storytelling makes me want to explore deeper.

[omlech]

Thank you friend

EDIT: Would anyone be able to link me if a Press Beta Tester has commented on the 'holy trinity' business?

I'm really interested if they have pulled it off so far.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/g...re/6108/page/1

"All the hype we read from the devs is turning out to not be hype at all, but rather promises kept. Those things they said they wanted to do: the axing of holy trinity, the massive PVP, the more dynamic questing… it’s all true. It’s all here, in beta form, and it’s absolutely fun, fun, fun. It’s been a very long time since an MMO surprised me. More often than not, you know what you’re getting when you pick one up. Guild Wars 2 is doing so many things different from the norm, and at the same time they’re creating a new norm. We often talk about innovation in small steps, but that’s not ArenaNet’s style. If all keeps going as planned, Guild Wars 2 will wind up every bit as revolutionary as has been promised and we’ll all have a new champion to herald. This is just the beginning, just the first taste. And I am drooling for more."

You can look at any footage and see that no one can stand there and take damage indefinitely without dying, non self-heals like the Elementalist Geyser ability can heal others for ~250 over 5 sec at level 30. That accounts for ~20% of someone's health pool and that skill has a 20 sec cooldown. That health will be long gone before your 20 sec CD is up. So you can't sit there and heal someone indefinitely. For one you'll be standing there waiting for cooldowns and not participating and two it wouldn't keep them alive anyways. Your largest heal is ALWAYS your self heal (~60% healed). Dedicated healing isn't possible and standing in place as a meat shield isn't possible. Control and Support is proactive, not reactive. You want to prevent damage entirely, not take it. If you're taking damage you're already losing.

[Jovanaar]

finally, finally. They are getting the respect they deserve

[Legion]

Dungeons seemed okish, aside from the fact - as others have pointed out - that there was too many spells going on, making it hard to discern what is actually going on. I hope they take a in-depth look at that. Also, and this is not related to dungeons, don't you guys feel that there's some awkwardness in characters movement? I mean, I've seen them go up the stairs or w/e and they look to be stepping sort of weird. It doesn't seem really natural. I don't like to nitpick, but movement fluidity is pretty important to me.

[Deleted]

I just watched the part from BFF-report and what I really like about this game is that there's so much things going on everywhere. They really want you to take part. Personally, I probably wont do many dungeons, if any. But if I was into pve more than I am these days, it sure looks like a dungeon I would have fun doing. As I understand it there's no random dungeon finder, so less chaos there since most people will do it with people they know and then it's a bit easier to organize.
Only complaint, don't know if it's just because it's beta and they couldnt test it all... but having to lvl to 30 to take part in first dungeon seems a bit late and not the GW2 game-mentality... unless you can scale up and take part in these as well same as other stuff in game?

[Arkenaw]

I couldn't watch those curse videos, I went into convulsions from all the fail.

[Exerionx]

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/g...re/6108/page/1

~ SNIP~

Thanks very much, Omlech

Oh god this game.

It's....it's BEAUTIFUL!

[Deleted]

I know this is not thread about holy trinity, but as it is connected with the dungeon run I can't not say it. Yes, the dungeon itself looks fun, traps and such are always fun as it is easy to avoid, but still separates dumb heroes from intelligent, careful ones. However game without holy trinity system seems just too simple. There is no tactics at all contrary to what everyone is saying about people having to play together even more. You just run to mob, hit it and as soon as health is too low, just run away and that's basically it - nothing complicated.

Other than that I like the idea of scaling dungeons and I like how they looks like (however I liked WoW dungeons as well and Rift dungeons the same). Best of luck for game designers to create something good

[Nitsuj]

Yeah I like how the Guardian in the vid says he's the tank...

Then he doesn't even get focused by the enemies for the next dozen or so fights.

Edit: HAHA not to mention this guy has no idea how to play look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...2PPOjwo#t=302s

He just stands in AoE and get demolished, even for a first dungeon this is not faceroll at all. Ahh well, I guess it was press beta and not good player beta. Gah I can't even finish that video it's so annoying watching him just do dmg and not help his team at all.

[Deleted]

Netx is without a doubt one of the worst players to have the luxury of playing GW2, 30 levels into the game and he hasn't worked out how to set up his 2nd weapon set???? Also his "I'll tank right crap" makes me wonder how the press give out these beta assignments. still was entertaining watching these videos with my missus...... Both of us were shouting at the moronic Guardian with a tank complex

L2P Netx L2P

I cannot wait to get into this game

[Arkenaw]

Netx is without a doubt one of the worst players to have the luxury of playing GW2, 30 levels into the game and he hasn't worked out how to set up his 2nd weapon set???? Also his "I'll tank right crap" makes me wonder how the press give out these beta assignments. still was entertaining watching these videos with my missus...... Both of us were shouting at the moronic Guardian with a tank complex

L2P Netx L2P

I cannot wait to get into this game

I completely agree, but they didn't really level to 30, there was an NPC outside of the dungeon that leveled them up.

[Deleted]

Still not convinced the lack of a trinity of some sort is a good thing. Most videos so far seem to display people zerging everything. But I'll refrain from passing judgements until after the game is out on this issue.

[jvbastel]

Still not convinced the lack of a trinity of some sort is a good thing. Most videos so far seem to display people zerging everything. But I'll refrain from passing judgements until after the game is out on this issue.

Well the lack of healer shouldn't be a problem, since everyone does a little bit of healing, and gw1 didn't have tanks either (although there were ways to keep mobs on 1 player) so I don't really see any problem.

[wickedbastard]

i love that im not able to delete my post

[Rife]

The only first impression I get from (currently) all the CBT footage I've seen is that as a rule; press players are bad.

At conventions I could understand it because they were playing with one hand while holding a camera but in CBT all I keep seeing is back peddling, auto-attack spamming, standing in fire, spamming an ability already on cooldown, tunnel visioned clickers that show this horror movie stuff that takes all the fun out of watching this new content from a standpoint that is anything other than information gathering on the look and feel of the world.

I get no real impression on PvP or PvE simply because most of these guys I keep watching are so bad that I think they must be doing something else while playing. Perhaps talking to other people in the room or something because, really, how hard is it to not backpeddle into additional mobs by accident or use OOC short cooldowns to keep yourself topped up or buffed etc. Even the yogscast guys that said their PvE foray into 5 mans was a nightmare of chaos showed one of them being hit by every, single, knockback on the level 5 DE boss in the starting area. It has an animation and everything to warn you when the knockdown is coming and every time he got hit over and over, and over. It was painful. No wonder they had serious trouble in a level 30 5 man story mode dungeon...

Maybe I've just been missing out on the good videos? Can someone help me and link me to proper players playing like they mean it?