Most of GW2 seamless?

[Razeo]

Basically what I mean is there very little load screens? Used to play WoW and now playing SWToR while waiting for GW2, having fun but right now one of the major turn-offs for me about ToR are the numerous loadscreens which really takes out the "massive" feel for me towards the game world. So my question is GW2 seamless (doesn't have to be totally seamless, a few load screens is ok imo just not jam-packed with them.) or is there 30 load screens between each zone?

[Mif]

From what we've been able to gather, the world is split into 5 main regions (each containing multiple zones) that have portals, as well as capital cities that have portals. Also, GW2 is nothing like ToR with it's zones limited to 100 players etc.

[Apolyc]

I've heard that there are a few load screens, but they are quick and dont take long to get through.

[Craind]

Heard that pretty much all that happens in regard to loading screens is when you move from one zone to another.
(15 minutes of non-stop running will get you to a new zone.)
And I believe I heard they take up to 30 seconds to load, but my memory may be faulty.

[Glytch]

i thought the asura gates were just transport routes not that the world was stitched together

[omlech]

There's about 25 zones in the game at launch that are split into multiple regions (about 4-5 zones per region), there will be portals to zone through to go from one region to another or a quick load screen when you use the waypoints. Think of the region switching like changing continents in WoW, also know that zones in GW2 are MASSIVE so you're not going to be hitting loading screens every 10 min or something. The world is persistent in the sense that when you go out into a zone you're going to see everyone in it and cities have portals in front of them to zone into, but inside of there it's entirely persistent and a massive amount of space to hold hundreds upon hundreds of people without croaking due to high amounts of people. ANet has said that each zone does have a limit in how many it can hold, but they've said
they find it highly unlikely it will ever be reached.

To give you an idea of how big a single zone is, this is the Human starting zone:



If you watch here from about 3:10 you can see him move from one zone to another with no loading:



This video here is someone exploring the Queensdale zone(the one from the map above) Note that in 16 min of straight running they didn't even come close to exploring the whole zone.




This here is the Human city of Divinity's Reach, it's so huge that 20 min of straight running wasn't enough time to go straight through every area:










---------- Post added 2012-01-25 at 05:40 PM ----------

i thought the asura gates were just transport routes not that the world was stitched together

The Asura gates are in every city and allow you to quickly move between cities at the start of the game so you can meet up with your friends and play together right when you leave the tutorial.

[Lonniehaskel]

Oh, I thought almost all of it was seamless. Oh well, not really disappointed either way.

[Malthurius]

You'll have as many loading screens as in WoW, maybe less. Changing region is a kin to changing continents in WoW.

[Razeo]

You'll have as many loading screens as in WoW, maybe less. Changing region is a kin to changing continents in WoW.

This is basically all I wanted to hear In-terms of loading screens, I was perfectly content with them in WoW. Thanks for all the info though and those vids were awesome!

[Borzo]

SWTOR is brutal with load screens. Just to get from one planet to another has like 8 load screens. Painful. Especially when a load screen leads to an orbital station that has nothing but a really long barren hallway leading to another loading screen.

[omlech]

SWTOR is brutal with load screens. Just to get from one planet to another has like 8 load screens. Painful. Especially when a load screen leads to an orbital station that has nothing but a really long barren hallway leading to another loading screen.

Yeah that was a major complaint of mine, a bunch of unnecessary walking just to keep you playing longer so you pay more money.

[Exerionx]

Basically what I mean is there very little load screens? Used to play WoW and now playing SWToR while waiting for GW2, having fun but right now one of the major turn-offs for me about ToR are the numerous loadscreens which really takes out the "massive" feel for me towards the game world. So my question is GW2 seamless (doesn't have to be totally seamless, a few load screens is ok imo just not jam-packed with them.) or is there 30 load screens between each zone?

Nice picture OP

Umm, Mif has pretty much covered the solid points!

[Mowdy]

How the hell can arenanet think i would be able to find my way around in that town when i get lost in SW just before i even get in :P

[Mif]

How the hell can arenanet think i would be able to find my way around in that town when i get lost in SW just before i even get in :P

Leave a trail of cookies behind you so you can find your way back.


Sucker! nom nom nom nom

[Valeron]

There will be some loading screens, not sure if it will be the same or more than WoW. But it certainly will be less than SWTOR, man that game is brutal as far as that is concerned.

[Grable]

SWTOR is brutal with load screens. Just to get from one planet to another has like 8 load screens. Painful. Especially when a load screen leads to an orbital station that has nothing but a really long barren hallway leading to another loading screen.

Hate that as well about SWToR

[Deleted]

God that divinity's reach video is so pretty. And that music..

[sacrypheyes]

Leave a trail of cookies behind you so you can find your way back.


Sucker! nom nom nom nom

weseewutyoudidthar!

[nalle]

I knew that the cities would be big, but not that big.

Kind of overwhelmed right now.

OT though: The loading screens will be about the same as in WoW.

[melodramocracy]

SWTOR is brutal with load screens. Just to get from one planet to another has like 8 load screens. Painful. Especially when a load screen leads to an orbital station that has nothing but a really long barren hallway leading to another loading screen.

This annoyed me as well. I guess some games are just like that.. I recall purposefully avoiding EQ1 because I had heard there was loading screens between zones... and being an AC player at the time (100% seamless outdoor gargantua-humungous continent), it was a bit of a deal breaker.

---------- Post added 2012-01-26 at 10:27 PM ----------

God that divinity's reach video is so pretty. And that music..

this, x 100