GuildWars 2 is Amazing!

[Talaaya]

strange they confirmed that the alpha would be active in 2011 seems a little fast since that was February. I'lll be honest I have no intention of even glancing at GW2 as the first one was awful. It's the MMO for those with an attention span of a 10 year old

Guild Wars 2 is a completely different game. Although it's of the Guild Wars universe/lore, it has very little in common with the first one. GW1 wasn't a real MMO per se, and wasn't advertised as such. GW2 is a full blown, everything-you-like-about-an-MMO MMO, plus made 100x better. It's just not sensible to judge GW2 based on impressions of GW1. ArenaNet has definitely learned how to make a better game from past mistakes. Watch the videos, do a little research - it'll give you a much better idea of GW2.

As Doirdyn put it so eloquently in another thread, comparing Guild Wars 1 to Guild Wars 2 is like comparing Warcraft to World of Warcraft.

[DeanyKong]

To those complaining about the limit skill slots: the reason they limit the selection is to make it more skill-based than rotation-beating based. In WoW, if you play Arcane, you do THIS rotation. If you play Affliction, you do THAT rotation. If you play Unholy, you do THE OTHER rotation. There's no thought involved because you have everything at your disposal. Guild Wars makes you THINK about what skills you're bringing, how they synergize, and how they will work with your teammates.

If I play a Fire Elementalist, I could run a Searing Flames / Glowing Gaze energy build, or a Savana Heat / Searing Heat snaring build. If I want to run a Death Magic Necromancer, I can run a general Minion Master team, or an Aura of the Lich minion bombing team, or an endless Jagged Bones army. There are over 1200 skills in the game, and you can only have 8 at a time. That means that you have to THINK, instead of bind everything and go go go!

Also, if more buttons means more skill to you... well, I main a Demo Lock, so you simple-rotationed peasants had best back away.

Rift was 100% ready when it was released

Really? 'cuz I'm pretty sure there've been a few major bugfix patches. Not to mention their butchering of experience from participating in Rift raids.

[Biggiej]

I kinda like the idea that they limit your skills to a good medium number, in WoW you use about 6-7 really in a general PVE fight, in pvp that would probably be the only time you would use more then that, which really comes down to about 15 max probably, which isn't much higher, and granted these other skills you used in pvp were long CDs for surviving, or for disarming, or for CC , etc ,etc. some little gimmicky things that mostly only decently good players would use in short time frames.

So I really see no complaint in only having 10 actions at a time, especially if they can be made into combos and work in conjunction with other abilities, that is just neat.

For those saying this would be a WoW killer, I kind of doubt WoW would actually lose a lot of numbers on this, If GW2 is still going to be free to play, then really, those people would have no real big reason to quit WoW, since they won't have to pay monthly for GW2, I just see some people are just being hopeful WoW dies for some demented reason. But I do not see this being the case, it seems with GW2 and how it works, you could play both games with out much constraint.

[Umbra]

If it still does the "You can only have x amount of your skills 'equipped' out of y total skills to choose from" crap like the first did, no thanks. Limited to 8 abilities? Fuck that shit.

You mean, unlike WoW where your class has a four-ability rotation and some other abilities for convenience? I'd take "Pick any 8 from hundreds" over that any day, thanks.

[Ihsatakar]

No matter how many "different unique sets of skills that make it skill based and define player skill depending on which ones you choose" there are, there will be a clear-cut best and anyone who's worth a damn will be using that spec. Just like every other MMO.

[Deleted]

I wish they had mounts in GW2.. that would be amazing...

[Ighox]

The 'dynamic events' aren't really dynamic, the thing may happen at a random time but i garuntee it will reset and happen again 1 week later, i hope they actually create different events each week, or alteast each month. That way they can actually be called dynamic.

They already said in a interview that repeats of events will happen because it's impossible to create enough events to never have them repeat themselves.
So basically yet another improved version of public quests/Rift invasions.

(And I don't really understand the "WOW NO QUESTS AT ALL -hype", because the dynamic events tell you to kill 10 rats instead of a quest from a quest-NPC it's suddenly AMAZING FUN?)

Either way it's probably gonna be an awesome MMORPG though, even if I don't see it as the big saviour god MMO of all time as a lot of other people seem to do.

So I really see no complaint in only having 10 actions at a time, especially if they can be made into combos and work in conjunction with other abilities, that is just neat.

DCUO is a good example of why it's probably a bad idea, pretty sure most people who've played it on PC would tell you that it feels really weird and dumbed down with that few abilities.
Not gonna judge until GW2 is out though, but I thought the few skills thing was horrible in DCUO at least.

well I know 2 months ago may seem like a long time ago but confirming that an alpha will hit before the end of the year while you are telling us the Alpha has been going on for a while just doesn't coincide.

If they plan a closed beta in 2011 there's a 99% chance that the alpha has been going on for a while, and very few developers actually announce when the alpha starts, it just starts with friends & family alpha and hand out some more invites when they feel they need some players.
And nearly all of them has a NDA that prevents you from even saying in public that you are in the alpha (and I honestly think the OP missed that part) so it's usually hard to say when it's starting, even though you're usually allowed to discuss things that has already been revealed by the developers.

[Doirdyn]

I think we're all being trolled.. an alpha tester wouldn't just come out and say he's a tester, plus isn't alpha F&F?

[Trollsbane]

Why is there no official GW 2 forums? That's what bugs me the most about this game.

[Doirdyn]

Why is there no official GW 2 forums? That's what bugs me the most about this game.

GW2guru.com

[tregolani]

And I don't really understand the "WOW NO QUESTS AT ALL -hype", because the dynamic events tell you to kill 10 rats instead of a quest from a quest-NPC it's suddenly AMAZING FUN?

From what I've seen in the gameplay videos, it seems like a lot of the dynamic events have much less to do with a "mob kill counter" as they do with finishing the event. Granted, if there are 8 players at an event, and the scaling feature they have in place summons 30 centaurs, I suppose you could look at it as "kill the 30 centaurs", but I'm pretty sure that if you and your party don't manage to kill off the 30 centaurs, they will destroy/take over wherever the event was, and the next event in that area will probably have something to do with taking back said area.

Again, this is just speculation and guestimation from videos and blogs, but at least from what I understand, the dynamic event system is more about completing/failing the event as opposed to killing X amount of baddies.

Not meaning to try to bash anything you said, just more posting what I think is the general goal of the dynamic event system compared to the WoW quest system (e.g. "Kill 12 centaurs......over there. Then come back.")

[Trollsbane]

GW2guru.com

Ok, I more meant, why does the developer not have official forums on their official site? I know GW1 didn't have them either, but in this day and age with the pushing of their product and the innovation they are striving for, one would think they'd at least have forums.

[Blznsmri]

DCUO is a good example of why it's probably a bad idea, pretty sure most people who've played it on PC would tell you that it feels really weird and dumbed down with that few abilities.
Not gonna judge until GW2 is out though, but I thought the few skills thing was horrible in DCUO at least.

That's exactly how the skill system worked in GW1. Think of it as a shaman's Flame Shock and Lava Blast (or whatever), you know, how LB auto crits on targets affected by Flame Shock. Except, every class works in a similar way like that. If they're knocked down, weakened, crippled, poison, moving, and so on, then X ability will have X added effect.

[Relente]

I don't know why people keep bashing the dynamic events, they may not be super game breaking, but it is the right step forward. Would you rather go pick up 3-4 quests that have you gather 3 items, kill 10 mobs just standing in a field that will respawn anyways, and then light a hut on fire or would you want to see an invasion of centaurs running to the town killing NPCs and torching the place and protect the village from being leveled? I vote for option 2.

Also, events can also chain out depending on if you fail or succeed. Yes, they will eventually reset, but they don't just go from an invasion to being peaceful. If no players are there the events will still run and they reset by ending the chain. For instance, if you fail at defending the village, it will be taken over and the invaders will upgrade their defenses. If you succeed you will help rebuild the town, until another invasion comes again. This is just an example of a simple event in the game, there are much more complex events are some are even simpler.

Again, these events aren't the most amazing things we have ever seen yet, but they are much better than doing the normal quests in every other MMORPG and they are nothing like Rifts. Rifts always have 4-5 waves and the only difference between each Rift is if it is water, fire, life, etc, once and a while there may be boss rifts, but still same concept. I am not bashing Rifts, I think they are pretty good, just don't like how people say quests and rifts are the same as dynamic events when they are not.

-------------------------------------
Wait to play GW2 or a demo before you keep complaining about the amount of skills please. Also, everyone keeps saying there are only 8 on the bar, but there is 10 and you have access to 19 skills while in combat due to weapon chain skills, and weapon swaps. Once you are out of combat you can change your weapons sets and have another complete set of skills, but you are only able to weapon swap between two sets of weapons (Great sword to dual wielding axes) in combat.

[Ighox]

I don't know why people keep bashing the dynamic events, they may not be super game breaking, but it is the right step forward. Would you rather go pick up 3-4 quests that have you gather 3 items, kill 10 mobs just standing in a field that will respawn anyways, and then light a hut on fire or would you want to see an invasion of centaurs running to the town killing NPCs and torching the place and protect the village from being leveled? I vote for option 2.

Also, events can also chain out depending on if you fail or succeed. Yes, they will eventually reset, but they don't just go from an invasion to being peaceful. If no players are there the events will still run and they reset by ending the chain. For instance, if you fail at defending the village, it will be taken over and the invaders will upgrade their defenses. If you succeed you will help rebuild the town, until another invasion comes again. This is just an example of a simple event in the game, there are much more complex events are some are even simpler.

Again, these events aren't the most amazing thing we have ever seen yet, but they are much better than doing the normal quests in every other MMORPG and they are nothing like Rifts.

Exactly what I meant actually, couldn't have said it better.
It's a definite improvement over questing, but I see it more as the next generation of questing and not as 'HYPED-UP-AMAZING-NEW-REVOLUTIONARY-FEATURE".

Rifts always have 4-5 waves and the only difference between each Rift is if it is water, fire, life, etc, once and a while there may be boss rifts, but still same concept. I am not bashing Rifts, I think they are pretty good, just don't like how people say quests and rifts are the same as dynamic events when they are not.

Invasions and the large zone invasions are dynamic events though, but a much more simple version than what GW2 is trying to create.

[Maelstrom51]

No matter how many "different unique sets of skills that make it skill based and define player skill depending on which ones you choose" there are, there will be a clear-cut best and anyone who's worth a damn will be using that spec. Just like every other MMO.

Not quite. Considering that there are no set roles of Tank, Healer, DPS, more likely than not what "the best" is will depend on group composition or the area you are in.
Yes there will still be a best. There is always a best, no matter what you look at, anywhere in the world. However, with no set roles, it won't be clear-cut, and it will take some decision making to find what is right in any given circumstance.

[Relente]

Yeah I agree the invasions are like the dynamic event invasions GW2 but they still are very different because they can chain out in GW2. Nothing really happens in Rift if your town gets invaded, NPCs will die, but they will come back and the town isn't actually taken over. If your town is taken over in GW2 the invaders will actually upgrade the base to look like there other bases and if no one comes to save it they will start invading nearby towns.

I also agree with the above post, I don't think there will be any cookie cutter builds because there are no set roles in the game and the game is mostly based on your play style, plus there are so many weapons that you can use that have different skills. Dual wielding weapons also offer a lot of variety, if you use a sword as a main hand and an axe as an offhand the skills will be different from using an axe as a mainhand and sword as an offhand. The mainhand controls skills 1-3, offhand controls skills 4-5 and some professions depending on what you are dual wielding the 3rd skill could be a combo skill that uses both weapons at same time.

[Maelstrom51]

Ok, I more meant, why does the developer not have official forums on their official site? I know GW1 didn't have them either, but in this day and age with the pushing of their product and the innovation they are striving for, one would think they'd at least have forums.

They have an official wiki, and there's often direct Dev to user contact there. I know for a long time you could straight up ask the CM any question and she'd answer as soon as she could. I have no clue if its still this direct, I haven't been active there for a long time. There's also various feedback pages that they look over occasionally.
Besides these functions, what exactly do they need an official forum for?

[Snowy]

Why is there no official GW 2 forums? That's what bugs me the most about this game.

It was a pain in the arse to get information about the original GW because they didn't have official forums. They, mostly Gaile Gray, had a bad habit of either posting something on just one fan site or the wiki and expected everyone to know it. It was worse when she went in game to one district, as there was no notice that she would be there, and talk about herself for extended periods of time and then slip in a little information. Very few people were there to see the actual information and it took a while for it all to be uploaded to the fan forums by a fan that took many, many screen shots of the chat logs. A good example of this was the "Day of the Tengu" were Gaile popped in to talk about herself and to also inform everyone that the Emperor would be showing up in a few minutes rather than the previously scheduled time. This meant the majority of players missed the last showing of the Emperor. This was a one time event as well.

Not having an official forum means no need to pay for moderators. Not having an official forum means that the forum moderators/admins can delete anything that doesn't put the game in a positive light and ArenaNet can simply point out that they don't own the forums so they aren't to blame. This happened plenty in the past, especially when Gaile Gray and Andrew Patrick went off on drama fests because they weren't getting enough praise or because people kept questioning them. (They, Gaile particularity, would spout something that made no sense and easy to prove false, and then go off on players because they called her on it.) Gaile and Andrew aren't the CMs anymore so the communication has improved drastically and there hasn't been flat out lies anymore. (Some of Gaile's more famous outbursts were the Pet Death Penalty denials and Gaile & Andrews post threatening to stop communicating with the player base and providing feedback to the devs if the player base didn't stop pointing out their frequent mistakes, false claims, ect....) (To those curious, go look up Gaile's posts on the old Guru site and GW Online for some of the amusement with her, some of it should still remains. ) Another common occurrence with the fan run forums was in the PvP sections, the mods would delete any post that wasn't made by those they deemed worthy enough to post there, a.k.a their buddies.

Official forums would be nice to help get information out to the actual player base, unlike all the mishaps in the past, and it lets players know a safe place to look for information. It would also let players know were they can go to ask for help if they are having technical problems. Official forums would also allow for a more fair treatment of all posts.

They have an official wiki, and there's often direct Dev to user contact there. I know for a long time you could straight up ask the CM any question and she'd answer as soon as she could. I have no clue if its still this direct, I haven't been active there for a long time. There's also various feedback pages that they look over occasionally.
Besides these functions, what exactly do they need an official forum for?

The Official Wiki is pretty dead when it comes to talking to the CMs or the Live Tream. Lindsey is no longer part of the Live team and she was the main one talking to the players about the game and the changes being made. There is a lot wrong with the game that needs fixed but it gets lost in the way the wiki is handled and how quickly things get archived.

[Trollsbane]

It was a pain in the arse to get information about the original GW because they didn't have official forums. They, mostly Gaile Gray, had a bad habit of either posting something on just one fan site or the wiki and expected everyone to know it. It was worse when she went in game to one district, as there was no notice that she would be there, and talk about herself for extended periods of time and then slip in a little information. Very few people were there to see the actual information and it took a while for it all to be uploaded to the fan forums by a fan that took many, many screen shots of the chat logs. A good example of this was the "Day of the Tengu" were Gaile popped in to talk about herself and to also inform everyone that the Emperor would be showing up in a few minutes rather than the previously scheduled time. This meant the majority of players missed the last showing of the Emperor. This was a one time event as well.

Not having an official forum means no need to pay for moderators. Not having an official forum means that the forum moderators/admins can delete anything that doesn't put the game in a positive light and ArenaNet can simply point out that they don't own the forums so they aren't to blame. This happened plenty in the past, especially when Gaile Gray and Andrew Patrick went off on drama fests because they weren't getting enough praise or because people kept questioning them. (They, Gaile particularity, would spout something that made no sense and easy to prove false, and then go off on players because they called her on it.) Gaile and Andrew aren't the CMs anymore so the communication has improved drastically and there hasn't been flat out lies anymore. (Some of Gaile's more famous outbursts were the Pet Death Penalty denials and Gaile & Andrews post threatening to stop communicating with the player base and providing feedback to the devs if the player base didn't stop pointing out their frequent mistakes, false claims, ect....) (To those curious, go look up Gaile's posts on the old Guru site and GW Online for some of the amusement with her, some of it should still remains. ) Another common occurrence with the fan run forums was in the PvP sections, the mods would delete any post that wasn't made by those they deemed worthy enough to post there, a.k.a their buddies.

Official forums would be nice to help get information out to the actual player base, unlike all the mishaps in the past, and it lets players know a safe place to look for information. It would also let players know were they can go to ask for help if they are having technical problems. Official forums would also allow for a more fair treatment of all posts.

LOL I didn't know any of that. Well, if "book burning censorship" isn't a good enough reason, I don't know what is.

That's so horrible.

Btw GW people, can you answer this? http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...n-these-forums