Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Tyris Flare]

Well, I hopped on my warrior and I love the berserker thing. I don't even like warrior archetypes generally, but doing the sword/torch + bow thing with fire spraying everywhere is great. Also only having 1 special button to manage instead of 4-5 is so dang nice.

[Poppincaps]

I think people praise FF14 for it's devs being so transparent, but shoutout to CMC from the dev team going over all the Elite Spec changes with MightyTeapot. You really don't see developers actually talking with content creators and going over their decisions like that. Also the changes to Untamed seem really good. Also really impressed with them taking feedback into account and so quickly as well. If this was WoW or most other MMOs they would've just shipped it and fixed it later.

[ryanmahaffe]

I think people praise FF14 for it's devs being so transparent, but shoutout to CMC from the dev team going over all the Elite Spec changes with MightyTeapot. You really don't see developers actually talking with content creators and going over their decisions like that. Also the changes to Untamed seem really good. Also really impressed with them taking feedback into account and so quickly as well. If this was WoW or most other MMOs they would've just shipped it and fixed it later.

The fact that CMC spent hours in stream talking about changes while one of the game directors hung out in chat was awesome to see. I understand people that lost faith in Anet and Gw2 after things like the IBS reveal and 2019 in general but it is clear they steered that ship hard and are going in the right direction.
And they are being rewarded well with 2021 being Gw2s best year since 2018 so far.

[PACOX]

The fact that CMC spent hours in stream talking about changes while one of the game directors hung out in chat was awesome to see. I understand people that lost faith in Anet and Gw2 after things like the IBS reveal and 2019 in general but it is clear they steered that ship hard and are going in the right direction.
And they are being rewarded well with 2021 being Gw2s best year since 2018 so far.

I feel like I have posted this before but they sit in twitch streams, discords, and play tge game pretty regularly. For whatever reason thry arw bad at official, miney generating forms of marketing.

[Edge-]

Did some quick testing, no idea what damage is like compared to others but...

Turtle - It's kinda fun. Dig the momentum mechanic, it's got jump jets, it stomps.

Willbender - Haven't messed around with traits too much (or figured out how to get alacrity to proc) but I like what I played so far. Feels a lot more mobile and damage oriented. Not a big fan of dw swords, feels kinda squishy playing that way, but I'm liking pairing 1h mace with the 1h sword in offhand. I don't think you really need the mobility from mh sword nor the ranged attack, and the mace offers some decent defense/healing to offset what's missing from the rest of the toolkit. Though I imagine won't synergize as well with traits.

Will likely tinker around more. I'm digging this more than I initially dug firebrand, though firebrand ended up being my favorite spec by far. May look up some trait builds to see how it plays with different setups than what the game defaults you to.

[PACOX]

Tried thief, ele, rev, and necro so far because those had things I know I was looking for. Specs feel smoother. Damage, a bit normalized. They are getting there.

I don't know what the turtle is fo, butt I like its design. Maybe tighten up its drifting (keep it but it can be tweaked to feel better) and we have a winner. Spent about 5 min just slamming stuff in the starter zones. Wouldrecommendd.

Bunch of cool new faces on the in the makeover kits and they are all "free" in that they aravailablebe arinitialal character creation.

[Edge-]

Bunch of cool new faces on the in the makeover kits and they are all "free" in that they aravailablebe arinitialal character creation.

Was pleasantly surprised to see that they're baseline. IMO Anet should give out a recustomization kit to everyone in case they want to take advantage of them on their mains, but I think most longtime players have more than a handful of kits stashed away unless they've been using them. I'm an ultra-casual player and I've even got like 3-4 kits of various sorts in my bank that have been sitting there for ages.

Didn't see anything I'd want to change on my guardian, who is part of the human female meta, but I'll give it another look. Been wanting to give her more of a tan and tweak a few minor things for a while anyways, so if there's a good new hairstyle to swap to I'm here for it.

[Svifnymr]

Was pleasantly surprised to see that they're baseline. IMO Anet should give out a recustomization kit to everyone in case they want to take advantage of them on their mains, but I think most longtime players have more than a handful of kits stashed away unless they've been using them. I'm an ultra-casual player and I've even got like 3-4 kits of various sorts in my bank that have been sitting there for ages.

Yeah, it's kind of an odd dichotomy that long time players will most likely have plenty, but newer folks will probably get mad that they have to spend money on them. Seems a bit unfriendly to efforts to get new people in and spending. I guess newest folks will just get them at chargen though.

Didn't see anything I'd want to change on my guardian, who is part of the human female meta, but I'll give it another look. Been wanting to give her more of a tan and tweak a few minor things for a while anyways, so if there's a good new hairstyle to swap to I'm here for it.

I'm so used to my current looks, I'd probably just make a new alt if there was something there I liked, even though I've got 5+ kits as you say.

- - - Updated - - -

Like the new Skyscale is a wonderful looking thing, but just feels "wrong" to me. Plus I don't want to spend that many gems...

[Scyth]

Did some quick testing, no idea what damage is like compared to others but...

Turtle - It's kinda fun. Dig the momentum mechanic, it's got jump jets, it stomps.

Willbender - Haven't messed around with traits too much (or figured out how to get alacrity to proc) but I like what I played so far. Feels a lot more mobile and damage oriented. Not a big fan of dw swords, feels kinda squishy playing that way, but I'm liking pairing 1h mace with the 1h sword in offhand. I don't think you really need the mobility from mh sword nor the ranged attack, and the mace offers some decent defense/healing to offset what's missing from the rest of the toolkit. Though I imagine won't synergize as well with traits.

Will likely tinker around more. I'm digging this more than I initially dug firebrand, though firebrand ended up being my favorite spec by far. May look up some trait builds to see how it plays with different setups than what the game defaults you to.

Very similar for me. FB has quickly became my favourite and find it hard to see myself play WB more but I have enjoyed it a lot thus far in the beta. Doesn't feel like Guardian at all and am really liking all the mobility. Haven't done any serious content on it but for open world I quite enjoy WB.

I've also really been enjoying Virtuoso, just feels really fun.

[qwerty123456]

The new customization options are pretty lackluster. I think Sylvari are the only options I'd consider using and maybe one female Norn hairstyle. And Jesus why cant there be more than 1 char face that doesn't look like a deformed pug beaten with a bat until it shattered and left shards in its face.

Like the new Skyscale is a wonderful looking thing, but just feels "wrong" to me. Plus I don't want to spend that many gems...

Play an Asura then it would feel wrong to fly a normal Skyscale :P.

[Svifnymr]

Play an Asura then it would feel wrong to fly a normal Skyscale :P.

I've got a bunch of Asura, it's why I was checking it out, but it just feels off. Doesn't really sync with the Asura style, or any other, but obviously that's a pretty subjective thing.

[qwerty123456]

I've got a bunch of Asura, it's why I was checking it out, but it just feels off. Doesn't really sync with the Asura style, or any other, but obviously that's a pretty subjective thing.

Less likely to see you as a 2 bite meal tho lol.

[Svifnymr]

Less likely to see you as a 2 bite meal tho lol.

I always wanted a sort of "reverse agro", where your decked out level 80 in legendary armor riding a dragon through queensdale, bandits would just run off.

[PACOX]

I always wanted a sort of "reverse agro", where your decked out level 80 in legendary armor riding a dragon through queensdale, bandits would just run off.

Hah I've been doing all the 'Return' stuff and juat got to Joko's arc. He is one of the fwq people who recognizes the threat of the Commander even if his arrogance still gets the best of him in the end. He wasn't dumv enough to fight the Commander fair or straight-up (until the Commander came to him).

I miss Joko. If Mai Trin is a villain in EOD I hope she has that same sort of awareness.

[Ashleyxoxo]

loove the new hairstylez <3

[ryanmahaffe]

I'll say I thought the stream today was a complete disaster, felt like it was part of an anti-marketing campaign
THAT SAID, the fact that the new legendaries will have versions for each elder dragon is fucking awesome!

[PACOX]

They don't want to show spoilers but what to show gameplay but can't really show gameplay because of spoilers.

I get what they were trying to do but it didn't work out. They wanted to kind of present some features in EOD to look forward to but it didn't work out. I don't think it was terrible, just not my thing. You could of told me we're getting a new hub like Eye of the North in blog post. An attempt was made. Baseless claim but I think FF14 launching its expansion on the same day (not the original plan) did take a little steam out of them.

I did like the legendary and guild hall showcase. The blog post of the legendaries is a nice bathroom/stuck in queue read as well.

Thinking about it, this showcase should have been a wrapup of everything previously shown because its the last one before launch...I think...could be wrong.


Edit: Completely forgot thry introduced new characters. While i bet tbese characters are awesome, its hard to really care now without context. Again I get what Anet was going for but probably better donr in blog posts or om a web page that contains information thry daid about the faction, characters, and location. Thats what tgey are missing, a mini site witg misc promo information luke they presented.

[ryanmahaffe]

They don't want to show spoilers but what to show gameplay but can't really show gameplay because of spoilers.

I get what they were trying to do but it didn't work out. They wanted to kind of present some features in EOD to look forward to but it didn't work out. I don't think it was terrible, just not my thing. You could of told me we're getting a new hub like Eye of the North in blog post. An attempt was made. Baseless claim but I think FF14 launching its expansion on the same day (not the original plan) did take a little steam out of them.

I did like the legendary and guild hall showcase. The blog post of the legendaries is a nice bathroom/stuck in queue read as well.

Thinking about it, this showcase should have been a wrapup of everything previously shown because its the last one before launch...I think...could be wrong.


Edit: Completely forgot thry introduced new characters. While i bet tbese characters are awesome, its hard to really care now without context. Again I get what Anet was going for but probably better donr in blog posts or om a web page that contains information thry daid about the faction, characters, and location. Thats what tgey are missing, a mini site witg misc promo information luke they presented.

I remember just laughing and cringing when they cut the video right as an event was starting in arborstone, the actual gameplay cut in the gameplay stream
I admire the work thats been done, it looks amazing, but right now I am excited for EOD in spite of Anets hype attempts, not because of them
I already know there will be metas, world bosses, masteries, and Strikes, so I am excited, but these Anet streams are just....gah

[Svifnymr]

After this latest beta, it seems they have changed the character selection screen to show 15. Nice enough change for those that need it.

[Illia12]

What is your favorite location?