Should I have high hopes?

[mafao]

Tharjax, our gaming backgrounds are so similar that I had to read your post two times to make sure it wasn't me who wrote it I have been playing through all BWEs + stress tests and I have yet to find a single reason to be disappointed (ok, maybe aside weak personal story, but I am a perfectionist who spent his childhood with classical literature). If I had some worries, most of them were gone yesterday and today, with the excellent performance of the stress test. Its uncanny how many small improvements they introduced to the game between the last BWE and last stress test. ANet's developers are very talented, hard working, they don't cut corners, and most importantly — they are passionate about what they do and their leadership keeps them in focus. For me, games are like art and I am very happy to see an original gem like GW2 appear in this (IHMO) stagnating world of AAA title gaming.

[Lemmiwink]

Have high hopes, just don't have unrealistic hopes. Like many people had with TOR. See what that gave them? Dissappointment.

GW2 looks very promising, the combat system feels responsive, the DE's are fun to do. Character creation is absolutely beautyful.

Couple of things I'm hoping they will implement;

Mounts, raids and a real elf race

[Setekh]

Couple of things I'm hoping they will implement;

Mounts, raids and a real elf race

Nope. maybe another race....

[Deleted]

What kind of adjustments and features are you talking about, it would be great to know!

Some numbers on skills probably, some numbers of costs, that sort of stuff. numerical, adjustable, patchable stuff.
Features... well, the game obviously lacks custom game mode, where you can make a map, and have friends join as enemies or allies, 1v1, password protected maps so you can safely practice alone/with company. Probably an inspection feature. Player Instance (Personal) - still didn't see it in beta -

Nope. maybe another race....

Maybe the fabled Tengu?

Also: Mounts- no need, Raids -it's called Dynamic Events, they can host A LOT of players - this is already in the game , and elves -never liked elves so no again.

[Deleted]

dont have hope for games.

the devs can write everything they want to to raise your hopes (like housing in WoW in the beta times) and if you get to hyped you will be just disapointed.

look on the infos they give (what kind of pvp (WvWvW and the K PvP), how the pve will work) and if you think it could might fit you just try it.

most singleplayer games these days cost 60 Euros while giving you a playtime from 10-30 hours. I buyed Guild Wars for 50 Euros and played 2 BWE and 1 ST and i enjoyed it more then 20 hours even before the game launched.

I dont know what will happen after i reached level 20 and i dont know if i will be entertained after i hit the level cap but i know this game made more fun for ME in this short time like any game out there right now.

[mafao]

Some numbers on skills probably, some numbers of costs, that sort of stuff. numerical, adjustable, patchable stuff.
Features well, the gaming obviously lacks custom game mode, where you can make a map, and have friends join as enemies or allies, 1v1, password protected maps so you can safely practice alone/with company. Probably an inspection feature. Player Instance (Personal) - still didn't see it in beta -

Didn't they promise these features at some point? I also noticed that they were missing...

[Snuckerpooks]

"PvP [...] is the entire mentality of the game" - Snuckerpooks
No it's not~ :3

That was a sentence missing a comma or semi-colon. Sorry. The rest of the post should have been a good indicator that I was talking about the mentality of the game being supportive and NOT about PvP. It was intended to read like this:

"I think the big hype for many of us that are not into the competitive PvP scene, is the entire mentality of the game."

Didn't they promise these features at some point? I also noticed that they were missing...

If they were to have private servers in the beta the servers would have to have a build of the game. Not only do they not want players to have the tools during beta, but they also want them to focus on servers they can record data and track problems. To even compound the problems, each time a build were to be released DURING a beta, the servers would be incompatible and people would complain.

[Deleted]

Always take things in moderation =) But you already bought the game, and now there's no additional costs if you dont want to. Depends on how heavy on gaming you are and how many hours you expect to put into it. Are you the one who rush through content fast and then feels sad if game doesn't deliver instantly after that, well then that might just be what you get. If you feel bored fast with the game and are open to other games then just take a break and play something else and just pick it up again.
If you have limited gametime, like school/job/ and stuff to keep your days going and think it's ok to just enjoy content and let it take it's time.. well then I'm sure GW2 will last really long until it's unexplored. Especially if you are interested in all fields of the game. And if you have extremely limited game time and perhaps are just interested in one or two of the fields, then GW2 as well will last long for the few hours you can spend on the game in a week.

But you have the game now, it wasn't very expensive and it will be there whenever you feel like playing it. If you feel like it's diablo 3 all over again well then just keep on looking. I remember back in the days when you just bought random game to your nintendo because it sounded fun on the box and some of them got boring fast and you spent rather little time in those games, while others became your favourites.

[lordjust]

One thing for the people replying that would be nice, is to explain why is it fun? Was the combat intuative? Did the game seem pretty populated and a lot of hustle and bustle? I like detailed answers, because it gives me a good amount of info to chew on other than, "the game is just fun"! Tell me what made it fun for you! But I do appreciate all the replies!

For me it's fun because it's new. Every class can everything to a certain amount so that you can play whatever class you like the way you like and it opens up a lot of opportunities. Dynamic changing skills depending on which class you play and what weapon you equipped is very interesting and helpful to swap in and out of certain roles. You do damage and see someone is in danger, you can switch over to 1-hand and shield to protect him or do some healing or whatever. There isn't this moment like in WoW where you can just stand there and do nothing. This also creates a community feeling very early in the game because you can help everyone in every situation and you still get your XP and loot so that you want to help others and not like in other games you curse other people because they attacked your mob.

Content wise it's also fantastic. There are no quests but events. You go into an area and you can start an event or participate in one that already started and then you're right in the action which is a lot of fun. In addition there are challenges in the game where you have to fight monsters, find certain things or just reach a certain point on the map. So when you don't feel like killing stuff you can always do something else. Also there are dailies and PVP that is more centered on playing in a group than playing alone.

For me the beta was a lot of fun and I never felt like I have to do thing xy or there isn't anything left to do. I think it's a very good game and it hasn't subscription fees like other MMOs so even if you have only fun for a month or so it's probably still worth the money.

[Merendel]

If they were to have private servers in the beta the servers would have to have a build of the game. Not only do they not want players to have the tools during beta, but they also want them to focus on servers they can record data and track problems. To even compound the problems, each time a build were to be released DURING a beta, the servers would be incompatible and people would complain.

I dont think the private servers were intended to be modeled after a game like counterstrike where you can just load up and host a server off your computer. Instead the impression I got was more or less being able to setup your own private channel on the GW2 servers where you could set things like map, password, max players and such. Everything is still hosted off the main servers so your not going to end up with incompatible builds issues. Still that funtionality isnt in the beta either way and I cant remember if it was soposed to be a launch feature or a post launch feature to be added eventually.


@OP One clear missing feature is a spectator mode for PVP. They did say that it was comeing just that it would not be ready for launch.

[Zilong]

One thing for the people replying that would be nice, is to explain why is it fun? Was the combat intuative? Did the game seem pretty populated and a lot of hustle and bustle? I like detailed answers, because it gives me a good amount of info to chew on other than, "the game is just fun"! Tell me what made it fun for you! But I do appreciate all the replies!

Okay. I'll tell you the reasons why I feel the game is fun for me:

1 - The world feels right. I'm sorry but the main reason for me to play WoW was the culture/story involved with it, even tho for me it lacked in that aspect in-game, outside the game it was just huge. I could lose hours on Wiki reading bios and story of dungeons and stuff. This is what some games failed to present it to me so far a more intricate world. I did not care for anything in say Rift about the world being invaded, even tho it was the main thing of the game. Same goes for Tera and more. Now I feel in gw2 a better detail in immersion in-game and out of the game that pulls me in.

2 - I got surprised of how fun (even tho sometimes pointed by others as silly) some events/"quests" were. There is one that you needed to get some item on the ground and take to an NPC and the ground was full of rabbit holes. When you picked the item your skills changed. I dont remember now but you get a roll, a speed up and something else. And you pretty much had to run the item to the npc while the rabbits would try to tackle you and steal the item. It would be way easier if I had someone helping me cause you could help someone get to the NPC safely, but it was fun. Some events blow your mind, some make you feel good (saving some bee farm from bears) and some are just plain fun.

3 - Play how you want it. All classes have melee/ranged option and each one feels pretty much unique. It's not perfect but I like it so far. Equipping a dagger as a main hand with my elementalist and having a lightning melee whip is pretty fun. Changing to scepter makes me eletrocute people from far. You not only play the class but also the weapon.

4 - Everything have a reward for you. Gathering (be for money or own craft), exploring, completing maps, WvW, crafting, Events, Hearts Renown and more. Everything you do, you get rewarded for. You pick whats fun for you and you mix and match, I liked everything so far (didn't do too much WvW yet).

5 - Something that's fun for me. I can spend days in a game (meaning I have lots of free time as of now) and there is always people that has more and people with less. And in gw1 and now gw2 I've always felt like no matter how much you play, you can play in equal grounds with everyone else, making the game skill based. not time-related gear based. I like to do nothing when standing somewhere, or just help someone. On wow that meant read chat and run in circles in Org. In gw2 it means to have fun, even doing nothing mainly XD.

6 - Community. I feel like the gw2 community is somewhat very defensive, while I can see why they are it can sometimes be rather negative but since my first beta I was convinced to even try to make a guild (not sure if it would pan out XD) to help people. Because I felt like I have never seen so many people (somewhat thanks to the lack of holy trinity) saying so much thank you in a chat. People stopping dpsing the boss and helping another playing that is downed, or some other little things that makes me feel better to be a part of the community. It's a feel that I kinda had when I started WoW (when there were no LFDungeons) so we would just talk in the zone and try to make a group, sometimes succeeding but even if not, making new friends. Nowadays it feels so important to please everyone in their own way that people no longer see the grand picture, the community. Feels like we are spreading everyone around, various degrees of pve (LFR, LFD, Normal, Heroic), Various degrees of Pvp, and then the other stuff for others. (We are playing a MMORPG, which means interacting with other people, which means knowing them).

Hope it helps

[rezoacken]

Yeah really for me it comes down to 3 things:

-Its new and not a wow-clone

-It has very good ideas and they are quite well polished by mmo-standard (Dynamic Events, sPvP, WvW, trading post etc).

-It really has a "do what you want" feel. What I mean is, a lot of mmo have "phases", you constantly go from something you hate to something you like usually. Like "I need to do that and it sucks, then I'll enjoy that", "I need to level, then I'll pvp" etc. GW2 really doesn't have that feeling for me, I just play any part of the game that I want when I want. I'm not saying I like every activities but I'm saying no activity is mandatory to do another in GW2 and really that is what this genre really need !

[Victus01]

One of the many things i would rank in high regard with the game is that, the game is moving into e-sport. you will see many quality players in pvp and with this, the quality of the community. for me this is two thumbs up.

The Gap between my expectations and what i know i'll get at launch in tiny. my pre game hype is legit.

[Fencers]

Now that I have explained that my main point of this thread is should I have high expectations for this game? Everything I have read about the game and the new concepts arenanet is implementing seems very cool.

GW2 is a pretty decent game. Very much a casual MMO. So the artificial barrier of time spent is much less pronounced in GW2 than in WoW and certainly EQ1. Nearly everything Arena.net used as a bullet point is exactly as so in game. They didn't bullshit people on design intent.

That said, GW2 is primarily an action game. Which can be a divisive game type for some. Either you dig the style of combat or not. There is not much middle ground as the game is mostly full tilt action/twitch spam/zerg-a-thon gameplay in it's PVE components.

Arena.net are not the tightest or most robust of developers either. So their design is often sloppy or what I would term as thin, in many secondary systems. In some areas the game is rather, erm... archaic.

However, the basic gameplay is fast, fun action. Pick-up & play, highly casual MMO. Great world detail, large zones-- though you should know that each zone is instanced but shared. The GW2 world is not contiguous.

Solid game overall.

[DanBowie]

Well I havent tried the beta but I hope this game is good.

[Setekh]

Arena.net are not the tightest or most robust of developers either. So their design is often sloppy or what I would term as thin, in many secondary systems. In some areas the game is rather, erm... archaic.

What do you mean?

[Karizee]

Very much a casual MMO.

Incorrect. The game has an abundance of both casual and hardcore content.

[Setekh]

Incorrect. The game has an abundance of both casual and hardcore content.

I think what they meant was the game itself is casual in the sense that you can play as little or as much as you want. You can log in and do some crafting or a couple of DE's and log off or if you wanted you could spends hours playing WvWvW or what not.

[Deleted]

High hopes but low expectations will be what leaves you the most satisfied half the time.

[DrakeWurrum]

Nothing wrong with high hopes. You should make sure the game is your cup of tea first, though.