Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[ryanmahaffe]

Tomorrow is the day! Our first in depth look at the End of Dragons expansion.
I am actually super excited, probably the most I have been for a non WoW mmo xpac ever.

Looking at how Anet has communicated and acted over the last few months, it definitely seems like they are pouring everything into giving Gw2 a massive shot in the arm. Here's to hoping it works out for them and the game, Gw2 is a really unique mmo compared to the other top ones on the market and I want to see it do as well as possible.

[Big Thanks]

OMG OMG OMG
The next new elite specialization that will be announced

It looks so much like Condi Thief <3 my main, my love

[Saradain]

Is there a recap post somewhere about all the things said in the stream I totally didn't forget to watch?

[Big Thanks]

Is there a recap post somewhere about all the things said in the stream I totally didn't forget to watch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilt8...nel=GuildWars2

Minute 45:37 for the new specialization...

Edit: Oh you mean a mini-recap? Too early i guess

[Saradain]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilt8...nel=GuildWars2

Minute 45:37 for the new specialization...

Edit: Oh you mean a mini-recap? Too early i guess

Seeing as this day was called info dump, I expect some good announcements from the video! And then seeing above comment...

[Big Thanks]

Oh, ANet. There you go again.

You announced this big reveal three months ago. And once again, your presentation amounts to a fart in the wind, if you'll pardon the crudeness.

I just don't know why they're consistently so bad at this one particular thing.

How can we play the Beta in August 17th to try the new specializations?

[PACOX]

Oh, ANet. There you go again.

You announced this big reveal three months ago. And once again, your presentation amounts to a fart in the wind, if you'll pardon the crudeness.

I just don't know why they're consistently so bad at this one particular thing.

Huh?

Major story hints
New features (fishing, 2 player mounts, boats, guild hall)
CM strikes (guessing they are taking a page from FF14 when it comes to raid content)
2 elite spec reveals
First beta date and beta plan
Alliance reveal for old/returning plauers
Dx11 beta window and planned graphics refresh
Release window
Preorder

[Edge-]

Seeing as this day was called info dump, I expect some good announcements from the video! And then seeing above comment...

https://massivelyop.com/2021/07/27/g...ragons-reveal/

It's not super detailed, but Massively has a decent recap of the things announced. No timestamped videos for it all, but you can at least get the highlights.



I have no clue why this exists but I'm kinda hype about co-op battle turtle mounts.

[PACOX]

How can we play the Beta in August 17th to try the new specializations?

Have a game account. Betas are done with the live client.

[Big Thanks]

Have a game account. Betas are done with the live client.

Hell yeah, cant wait...THANKS!

[qwerty123456]

So fishing is a mastery skill? I hope its a skippable one.

[PACOX]

[Edge-]

My point before was that this wasn't exactly a big hype-building reveal event and that's pretty par for the course for ANet.

I need to do a deeper dive, but I think this is pretty fair. It felt like a ton of buildup, even knowing the expansion was delayed, for just a sneak peak. I get it, they can't reveal too much too early since they've got another 6 months until launch to fill with some kind of reveals/activities.

I don't get why they do these big reveals this way, it always feels kinda underwhelming to me personally.

Edit: Poked around a bit and yeah, it seems the general sentiment is, "It was fine, but not terribly exciting."

I guess raids are dead moving forward and strikes are the new raids? No fractals coming with the expansion? No new class or weapon, just new elite specs? New continent/story/zones will keep me happy, and I'm down with fishing but like...

I dunno, between the second half of IBS being hot garbage because they team was gutted and the expansion pushing into Feb 2022 (if not further out, don't ask me how many years the original game was delayed and how often new delays arose) I was kinda expecting...a bit more? Maybe they're holding out some big surprises for later, but I'd question the wisdom of that when they really needed to go out with a "bang" and work to maintain that buzz until launch.

Still need to look into things in more detail, but slowly catching up.

[qwerty123456]

I'm curious what the elite specs are. Mesmer's icon is pretty obvious. The bottom left one looks like a bullet piercing through something. Bottom right looks like a bomb.

[Geckoo]

Elite specs are always welcome, specially if they shake things up and change how a class is played. But it's like the bare minimum for an expansion: add new playstyles and/or expand existing ones.
Going back to cantha and the lore around it will be great.

Fishing? i've never been a big fan of it on any game, but i appreciate that it exists as long as it is something optional. It's one of those things that adds depth to the world and the whole idea of RPG. The same goes for skiffs... it's good to have them as a fun little extra, but not the most exciting thing and certainly not main feature material for an expansion.

The combat mount? So here i have to wonder what the goal is with this one. Honestly, it feels like a filler mount. I wonder if they'll have certain events that actually require or heavily advise to use it, because otherwhise it's just something useful to help low level friends that don't have a mount. And again, not main feature material.

I do like strikes and i wouldn't mind more things like forged steel TBH, it's good to have them, but i'm as worried as anyone else that they shift the whole focus for high-end group content from raids/fractals to strikes. Just as i'm worried about low-end group content (events) being moved to instances too, as we've seen with draconic response missions, dragonstorm or the marionette.


So basically, Cantha itself and some new elite specs... nothing else really exciting about the expansion from yesterday.

[ryanmahaffe]

I don't know, I actually think the expansion looks fantastic.
New Continent: Cantha, looking to be 4 brand new zones set in the gw1 Factions continent.

• New Mount: Siege turtle, a two person combat mount
• Fishing, hundreds of fish to collect and find across the entire game world, not just Cantha,
• Player Boats/skiffs: Essentially a multiplayer water mount, go fish on the water I guess.
• 5 new Strike missions: Strikes will be getting challenge modes as well to make them raid difficulty, with revamped reward structure, with this it is likely Strikes are fully replacing raids as the main 10 man content
• New Elite specializations for every class, so far Mesmer dagger and Necromancer Pistol are known.
• 16 new Legendary weapons: Unlike previous legendaries, they share a central theme. This has caused a lot of controversy already, personally I like it
• New Guild hall set in Cantha

It lacks some massive new feature, but it seems like it is doubling down and refining what Gw2 does well. I am excited.

[Edge-]

Yo, so strikes...can be alright? Did a few last night, some really easy boss I forget and Boneskinner, which was a lot of "fun" with a pug that can't stack properly. Managed to kill it thanks to a few heroes that basically 4-manned a good chunk of teh fight (trying to res baddies is a bad idea, I learned).

Kinda wanna find a guild to try to run some more now, I doubt I'll ever really raid but strikes seem low-stress enough to be some fun with groups.

[PACOX]

Yo, so strikes...can be alright? Did a few last night, some really easy boss I forget and Boneskinner, which was a lot of "fun" with a pug that can't stack properly. Managed to kill it thanks to a few heroes that basically 4-manned a good chunk of teh fight (trying to res baddies is a bad idea, I learned).

Kinda wanna find a guild to try to run some more now, I doubt I'll ever really raid but strikes seem low-stress enough to be some fun with groups.

Wait, what Boneskinner your first strike? Its mechanic is actually overtuned so people either just cheese it with healers. Youre really experienced group stack insane amounts of DPS on it (record is like a 20 sec kill). Most people skip it because its not required for the weekly reward for strikes.

Strikes are a thing because Anet was building raids but probably 5% of the playerbase ever played them. As much as they might have enjoyed making the content, it wasn't justifable. Strikes were a way to introduce raidlike bosses to a wider audiene in hopes of cultervating a bigger audience for more challenging content like raids. Strike CMs is resulting compromise. Its what FF14 does and has worked for years. They can't tell stories throughout a entire raid how they used to but they will way to serve up challenging content that they can justify spending dev time on by their being a mode fo beginners and those who want more.

[Edge-]

Wait, what Boneskinner your first strike? Its mechanic is actually overtuned so people either just cheese it with healers. Youre really experienced group stack insane amounts of DPS on it (record is like a 20 sec kill). Most people skip it because its not required for the weekly reward for strikes.

Strikes are a thing because Anet was building raids but probably 5% of the playerbase ever played them. As much as they might have enjoyed making the content, it wasn't justifable. Strikes were a way to introduce raidlike bosses to a wider audiene in hopes of cultervating a bigger audience for more challenging content like raids. Strike CMs is resulting compromise. Its what FF14 does and has worked for years. They can't tell stories throughout a entire raid how they used to but they will way to serve up challenging content that they can justify spending dev time on by their being a mode fo beginners and those who want more.

I've done a few long ago when they were first coming out, and technically the first of the night before Boneskinner was some guy that seemed to have no mechanics and we just burned it down fairly quickly. Boneskinner was just for lulz, I wasn't expecting to down it. I was kinda bummed I was stuck as support because I was curious to see how my DPS firebrand would work.

I get that they're the replacement for raids, but I wasn't really into either. Might have to give strikes more of a look tho.

[PACOX]

3rd elite spec teaser is up. This colorized version of a colorized version. The official tweak is darkened.