BWE2 Preview blog from ArenaNet

[Midnight Man]

Just wanted to post to draw people's attention to a new blog post previewing the upcoming BWE2 from ArenaNet: http://www.arena.net/blog/the-big-beta-weekend-preview

Enjoy!

EDIT: Is it remotely even possible I managed to beat Mif at posting this?! Say it isn't so...

[Collected]

"We’ve also given party members the ability to fast travel to overflow worlds where other members of their party are located, and we’ve made it easier to keep party members together when moving between maps."

Big feature pretty much everyone was begging for. Glad to see they've addressed it. A little sad it's not automated but I guess having the option is better than nothing at all.

[Deleted]

Improved Chat
Communication in general has been greatly improved, as well. We’re adding the much-requested chat bubbles, as well as map chat and an updated local chat function, both of which make it easier to communicate with other players.

I hope this is the /s chat bubbles. If it is, I'm going to give someone a big wet kiss. Any volunteers?

[Mif]

EDIT: Is it remotely even possible I managed to beat Mif at posting this?! Say it isn't so...

Yep

Very weird time of day for a blog post to appear, and no tweets or Facebook posts either.
I suspect they did it to space out the server load, instead of giving it one big hit like last time.

[Deleted]

So excited for the next beta weekend.

[Veluren]

Hmm, the change to slot skills has me a bit anxious, I can see where they're coming from but I think it'll feel a bit awkward after having that complete freedom with skills since the first BWE

[Deleted]

Somewhere in the world, a MifCo ex-employee is now wandering the streets with a "will refresh for food" sign made out of cardboard...

[Midnight Man]

Yep Very weird time of day for a blog post to appear, and no tweets or Facebook posts either.

I'd agree, that it certainly is - I noticed it when I clicked by accident on that link rather than another in my toolbar.

Totally off topic, but I assume your realm transfer in BWE1 from Ehmry Bay went through eventually? Lost track of you after meeting you in Divinity's Reach

Somewhere in the world, a MifCo ex-employee is now wandering the streets with a "will refresh for food" sign made out of cardboard...

Roflmao

If you offer the Mystic Forge gifts (like unneeded items and weapons), you will receive a gift in return. Got a pair of pistols that you don’t need? Drop them in the Mystic Forge and see what Zommoros gives you in exchange!

This has me really curious/interested!

[jvbastel]

NICE!

This update really fixes a lot of the issues people had with the game.
Chat bubbles, modifier keys, overflow server fixes.

Now I'm really curious as to what this dark room is

[Vlad Morbius]

Unlock the Mysteries of the Mystic Forge, now this looks interesting! It all sounds pretty cool but like many I’m a tad concerned about the slot skills.

[terrahero]

More interesting, they mentioned skills being tiered but they didnt mention traits being tiered. Mere oversight, or something they arent planning to test in the upcomming BWE.

[Maarius]

lol, two hours ago I asked for this



If I had known... ^^

[Squirrelbanes]

/excellent.
I hope the overflow party thing is extended to friends...I'm sure it will in time.

[Maarius]

...Mystic Forge
...Mystic Forge Stone

guess we need the stone in order to make the fun work?!

---------- Post added 2012-06-05 at 01:37 PM ----------

“Plus,” Flannum adds, “the tier system is more scalable and expandable. We can more easily add new skills in the future with this system.”

This I do not understand. What's the difference?

[Deleted]

amg can't waitt

[Mif]

Bonus non-cropped pictures

http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content...Black-Lion.jpg
http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content.../Gendarran.jpg
http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content...stic-Forge.jpg

---------- Post added 2012-06-05 at 11:39 PM ----------

Totally off topic, but I assume your realm transfer in BWE1 from Ehmry Bay went through eventually? Lost track of you after meeting you in Divinity's Reach

Yep, I'm on sea of Sorrows.

[Myem]

Hmm, the change to slot skills has me a bit anxious, I can see where they're coming from but I think it'll feel a bit awkward after having that complete freedom with skills since the first BWE

I am very upset with this change.

I had mentioned to my husband during the first BWE how great it was not having to put points into skills/traits that you may not even care about just to open up the next tier. That is a feature that has progressively become more and more annoying to me over the last 3 to 4 years of games I have played.

The freedom to pick and choose was a great feature and to take it away just makes no sense. Tiers are too much like every other game out there at the moment.

My excitement level for this coming BWE just took a slight downward spike.

On brighter note; The Mystic Forge does look interesting.


Edit: on further deliberation I'll wait til the weekend to look this over better... for now I am bring my excitement back up to the correct level of happy, happy, joy, joy.

[ara]

Good job listening to feedback Arenanet! Now shoo, get away from our skillsystem.

[rhandric]

Nice set of changes. It'll be interesting to see how the skill tiers work out, and I'm surprised they didn't mention tiered traits...did internal testing nix that, or is it something they decided to hold off for a later iteration? I'm not sure I agree with their reasoning about skill tiers...and what will it's impact to those of us who purchased what will likely be higher-tiered utilities at the expense of lower tier utilities in the last BWE?

[terrahero]

Nice set of changes. It'll be interesting to see how the skill tiers work out, and I'm surprised they didn't mention tiered traits...did internal testing nix that, or is it something they decided to hold off for a later iteration? I'm not sure I agree with their reasoning about skill tiers...and what will it's impact to those of us who purchased what will likely be higher-tiered utilities at the expense of lower tier utilities in the last BWE?

i think they are testing it internally. Its possible they are planning to overhaul the system more then they already have, or tweak traits to fit better in this new system. Since this might not be complete they dont want to put it in BWE2.

Or they simply forgot it in the blog.