Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Riposte]

GW2 really starting to be one of my most look forward to games. Hopefully of 2011. Hitting a lot of the right notes and seems to be moving the MMORPG out of its grinding ghetto.

[Celeras]

Still not sold on their public questing. When they talk about it, it sounds great, especially their principles on 'always wanting to see other players'. The competition between players supposed to be working cooperatively was a big part of the problem with WAR, whose core system is almost identical.

Then I watch the gameplay videos and wonder where all their talk went. Theres still 3 'contribution levels' gold/silver/bronze when a stage completes, which determines how much exp/karma/gold you get and will put you in a direct race with other people participating. In fact, I don't see many differences at all except for the fact that theres no real event reset, and it just bounces back and forth between (A<---->B) depending on success. Which I like.

Other than that I think the gameplay and mechanics look phenomenal, but I don't think a game completely based on the above mechanic can work even though I appreciate the risk they're talking by straying from 'Exclamation point gaming'. And I'd love to be proven wrong, because its something I think could be a lot of fun if they pull it off.

[Colenzo]

Still not sold on their public questing. When they talk about it, it sounds great, especially their principles on 'always wanting to see other players'. The competition between players supposed to be working cooperatively was a big part of the problem with WAR, whose core system is almost identical.

Then I watch the gameplay videos and wonder where all their talk went. Theres still 3 'contribution levels' gold/silver/bronze when a stage completes, which determines how much exp/karma/gold you get and will put you in a direct race with other people participating. In fact, I don't see many differences at all except for the fact that theres no real event reset, and it just bounces back and forth between (A<---->B) depending on success. Which I like.

Other than that I think the gameplay and mechanics look phenomenal, but I don't think a game completely based on the above mechanic can work even though I appreciate the risk they're talking by straying from 'Exclamation point gaming'. And I'd love to be proven wrong, because its something I think could be a lot of fun if they pull it off.

Its all basically the same as any instance in GW but you can have people randomly come into whatever you're doing and help out. I like the whole concept because one of the things I liked doing in the original guild wars was going back and doing all the missions and scoring the highest rank on them and getting achievements. This will be GW2s type of achievement system most likely.

I am entirely fascinated by how fucking potentially bad ass the PvP system will be. I can't wait to roll ele again and blow shit up.

/epeen

Spoiler: show

http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1294834495

banned lol

[altwight]

any word on beta?

[Alderaan]

any word on beta?

Rumor has a Dec to early 2012 release. Anet doesn't want to beta until the game is finished so we'll see a short beta prior to release.

[Halion]

Caught up a bit on this thread but I'm confused about the info talking about "healers", I thought one of the new things is no healer class. Did they just mean different classes can have healer or non healer specs from the start, or did they change it to having dedicated healers now?

[Rysa]

Caught up a bit on this thread but I'm confused about the info talking about "healers", I thought one of the new things is no healer class. Did they just mean different classes can have healer or non healer specs from the start, or did they change it to having dedicated healers now?

Each class has some sort of self-healing ability on a cool down, even warriors. According to their website, the Elementalist heals people in her water attunement by just standing by them, and the necromancer can drop a Blood Well to give some aoe healing. I don't think they intend to have a dedicated healer, especially since everyone can revive. The seem to want to mostly passive healing, or at least that is what I get from the information released so far.

[Takiwaki]

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/...alGuardian.jpg

Confirmed new class Guardian. Big reveal on Thursday next week.

[Shnaklaha]

i'm confused....if there's no healers as they say, why would they introduce a sole defender type class.....well i guess we'll find out next week?

[Ezek]

Maybe you'll be able to self heal while having abilities to soak incoming damage to allies? Should be interesting to see how they implement it.

[Shnaklaha]

Maybe you'll be able to self heal while having abilities to soak incoming damage to allies? Should be interesting to see how they implement it.

well, i'm trying to think of it with a pve and pvp abilities....if what you said is what its going to be, it'll be awsome in pve and op in pvp unless it's underpowered....idk, i'll stop thinking about it too much now lol.

[Ramor]

well, i'm trying to think of it with a pve and pvp abilities....if what you said is what its going to be, it'll be awsome in pve and op in pvp unless it's underpowered....idk, i'll stop thinking about it too much now lol.

i'd imagine they would modify their abilities in PvP vs. PvE circumstances, much like they did in GW1. There'd be two versions of the ability, one that's active in PvE and one that would replace the PvE version whenever you entered a battleground/pvp setting that would have stats that wouldn't be ridiculously OP in PvP. I'm ok with that system, though I feel they might go away from it, but it does leave a lot of room for tweaking and allows the PvE and PvP areas to be extremely different fighting experiences (or at least that's how it was in GW1)

[Arrmani]

So how far are you guys into the Hall of Monuments rewards? I got up to 12 and I think I could possibly get to 16 before GW2 release. Gamestop preorder says June, but that will prolly change. I'm not too worried about it, especially since some of the titles are like Obsidian armor and 50 mini pets and the 3 sets of rare weapons I don't even know about. I'm thinking about trying for Legendary Defender of Ascalon since I always mess up when doing a survivor.

[Colenzo]

Meh, I think I only got up to 20 something and I had GWAMM. Apparently I was doing it wrong.

[Bombur]

Level Up has posted some Gameplay footage of the human starting area. It's interesting to watch.



Looks like every quest you pick up you get a cinematic.

[Takiwaki]

um no? did u watch the video?

[Insanecyclone]

Guardian class reveal
http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-gam...ions/guardian/

Guardians also have a number of special skill types:

Spirit Weapons—The guardian can summon spirit weapons to fight at his side for a limited time. Spirit weapons cannot be attacked by enemies and can be commanded to inflict a powerful attack before disappearing. For example, Hammer of Wisdom can be summoned to fight alongside a guardian, then commanded to knock down an enemy and vanish.

Symbols—The guardian places symbols on the ground, where they inflict damage to enemies or deliver a benefit to allies. Symbols persist for a few seconds and then go away. For instance, Symbol of Faith is a hammer attack that leaves a transient symbol on the ground, giving allies the Vigor boon.

Wards—A ward is a marked area on the ground that stops enemies from passing through while allowing allies to move freely. For example, a staff-wielding guardian can create a Line of Warding in front of him that keeps enemies from reaching the allies behind him.

Aegis—Guardians are adept in the use of Aegis, a removable boon that blocks the next attack. Guardians have access to this boon through the virtue of Courage.


Weapons

The guardian can choose from a mixture of melee and magical weapons. The guardian weapons are:

* Main Hand: Mace, Scepter, Sword
* Off Hand: Focus, Shield, Torch
* Two-Handed: Greatsword, Hammer, Staff

Virtues

Guardians have three special virtue abilities--Justice, Courage, and Resolve--that grant them passive benefits in battle. They can choose to activate a virtue, extending a powerful version of these benefits to their allies, but disabling their own passive ability until the activated virtue has finished recharging. The guardian virtues are:

* Justice—Every fifth attack causes burning. Use this skill to make nearby allies' next attacks cause burning. (This disables your Justice for 30 seconds.)
* Courage—Every 30 seconds you are granted Aegis, blocking the next attack. Use this skill to apply Aegis to all nearby allies. (This disables your Courage for 120 seconds.)
* Resolve—You regenerate health. Use this skill to remove conditions and apply Regeneration to all nearby allies. (This disables your Resolve for 120 seconds.)

[zeal5050]

This class is so awesome. The armor, play-style, and abilities make me want to play this game right now!

Tarutaru Paladin, eat your heart out!
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/Picture2.png
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/Picture3.png

[Takiwaki]

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7050/gw2fs2.gif

claymore!

[Arrmani]

Meh, I think I only got up to 20 something and I had GWAMM. Apparently I was doing it wrong.

Yeah, I don't really like that a lot of the things have to do with customizing items. 30 Mini pets is ridiculous, and 1 of each kind of each special weapon set is a lot.