Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Arelian]

Yeah, I did the explorable mode in BWE2 and it was definitely a challenge. They did mention they were still tuning stuff, but I don't see them making them any easier.

[Alderaan]

I understand that GW2 isn't gear or progression based (which I think is great), I'm just curious how difficult the content actually is. For the dungeons, are they tuned to the point that you can expect to wipe if people aren't adhering to fight specific mechanics well enough or quickly enough? Or can you generally just slog through everything if 2-3 members of your group sort of know what they're doing, like a WoW 5-man?

Expect to die and die a lot in explorable mode. A lot of traps and mechanics that will 1-shot you.

[Meresgi]

I've, uh, not really noticed that to be perfectly honest. The character models all look pretty good to me, far beyond anything WoW was even remotely capable of during vanilla. It might be your settings?

Settings are at max, the faces just look far too smooth and off when contrasted with the textures of my armor and clothing, it just seems "odd" so to speak.

Also warrior with longbow is hilarious, I wonder how rifle is.

[Cleverness]

@cleverness

What is your impression of the dungeons? Are they fun/challenging? Are they all 5-man?

And is any of the open world stuff party limited?

I actually haven't done dungeons, I spent majority of BWE2(my first BWE) getting used to the game and checking out WvWvW. Wanted to mostly WvWvW this weekend but thats not happening, and I dont want to do too much PvE before release. Dungeons are all 5man though, nothing bigger than that. From what I've read the dungeons are hardcore since they are technically 'optional' to do(unlike the ordinary model where you have quest lines that eventually lead into entering and completing objectives in instances).

The open world stuff requires 0 parties, although I imagine for Orr you'll party up with friends for map awareness benefits. Any buff spell or healing spell that you have will hit any player in the area of effect, regardless if they are in your party or not.

[vrumpt]

Settings are at max, the faces just look far too smooth and off when contrasted with the textures of my armor and clothing, it just seems "odd" so to speak.

Also warrior with longbow is hilarious, I wonder how rifle is.

I know what you mean. They have the porcelain doll thing goin on.

[Amiricle]

Settings are at max, the faces just look far too smooth and off when contrasted with the textures of my armor and clothing, it just seems "odd" so to speak.

Also warrior with longbow is hilarious, I wonder how rifle is.

Rifle is amazing.

[Meresgi]

I know what you mean. They have the porcelain doll thing goin on.

Exactly, was trying to think of an example. I think i'll try Sylvari later tonight or tomorrow and maybe try the thief or ranger classes out. I wish I could see "end game" armor looks somewhere but they probably havnt even been released yet artwise.

[Arelian]

You can view all of the dungeon armor sets in Lion's Arch. Near the WvWvW portals are a bunch of vendors that sell all of the dungeon sets, and with the new item preview system in place you can check it all out. Some of the dungeon stuff looks simply amazing.

[vrumpt]

Exactly, was trying to think of an example. I think i'll try Sylvari later tonight or tomorrow and maybe try the thief or ranger classes out. I wish I could see "end game" armor looks somewhere but they probably havnt even been released yet artwise.

Transmogrification stones can be bought in the gem store, so really you just need to ask yourself whats the most kick-ass armor i can find.

[Rhyis.]

You get them when you 100% a zone too.

[Corrderio]

Been having a blast in the beta so far. The only thing I wish there was in the game ATM were a few more starter tutorials and a bit more depth on performing combos.

[Meresgi]

The preview window must be bugged or have way too much lighting in it, just went to those vendors and ALL the armor just looks way too plastic for my taste when I preview it all. The gloss on everything looks like a race of sentient vaseline creatures created it all.

[fantasticdan]

From what I experienced in BWE2, the entire group has to be on-point or else nothing is getting done.

Expect to die and die a lot in explorable mode. A lot of traps and mechanics that will 1-shot you.

That's what I wanted to hear, good stuff. Necromancer + pvp that isn't ruined by gear discrepancies + challenging pve for small groups sells it for me.

The first mode, story mode, is from we've seen and have been told, is relatively straight forward. Still a bit more challenging than other MMO normal dungeons however. The explorable mode is the harder, more rewarding mode. Each dungeon has several paths you can take in explorable. Recent blog mentioned just how many there were. And it's much more difficult. On one of the press media days a few developers played through the explorable mode with a couple of press people and it still took them awhile to get through it.

Sounds like a good way to handle casual vs normal modes.

[Syntex]

The one problem I see with this game is how you progress your character at max level. Once I have that armor I think looks cool what is the point of crafts after that? What more to work for? Maybe I still have the WoW/Rift/FFXI mindset in me and I'm just focused on improving my character at all times because that's what I've been trained to do for the last decade through those games. I am loving the game and everything about it so far has got me pumped for the release. I just think this game is a culture shock to a lot of people(including myself) in how things are going to work and it's just something we will get use to.

[Rhyis.]

Merits/RvR/Renown Rank/Legendaries

[arus2001]

That mentality goes back even further. Even in playing FF1 on the NES, you were getting new gear to make yourself stronger. Appearances in today's games is just an added bonus. And to that end, I'm kinda scratching my head at people saying it doesn't matter since I'm obviously having to improve my gear while leveling unless I wanna get eaten. And of course, these then can have secondary stats on them like more Power, Vitality, and so on. Far as I'm concerned, gearing well will still be important for PvE. You just might be able to cut corners a bit if you understand something's mechanics and thus dodge attacks. And honestly, I'll get bored fucking fast if endgame progression is just playing dress up.

[Katlan]

I swear some of you pick the little shit to bitch about... just to be able to bitch about something

[bluefan]

That mentality goes back even further. Even in playing FF1 on the NES, you were getting new gear to make yourself stronger. Appearances in today's games is just an added bonus. And to that end, I'm kinda scratching my head at people saying it doesn't matter since I'm obviously having to improve my gear while leveling unless I wanna get eaten. And of course, these then can have secondary stats on them like more Power, Vitality, and so on. Far as I'm concerned, gearing well will still be important for PvE. You just might be able to cut corners a bit if you understand something's mechanics and thus dodge attacks. And honestly, I'll get bored fucking fast if endgame progression is just playing dress up.

It's a fair argument.

But Guild Wars and even WoW to an extent showed just how much people take things like visual dress ups and pets seriously. I have a friend who forced her brother to reactivate then unsubscribe within 5 minutes so she could get a mount lol.

I think it'll be fine. If the game is engaging enough for people, they'll keep on playing just for the sake of playing. I've sunk over 500hours into League of Legends now and continue to do so. I suspect I will do the same with Guild Wars 2.

[Siya]

Sylvari es #1

Spoiler: show

[Arelian]

I have, honest to god, never met a single person that goes "Oh man look at the SWEET stats on the new gear coming out!!!!" in WoW/Rift. It's almost always, "Oh man, doesn't that look sweet?!"

Maybe it's just the group I've always gravitated towards, but even the hardcore raiders I've known are far more concerned with the aesthetic value of an armor set compared to increasing their DPS by 0.55%.

Your gear does improve in strength as you level, anyone who has said differently was flat out wrong. It's just that the absolute best stats aren't on certain pieces of armor that you have to farm X raid Y amount of times to get. The game is much more about figuring out your playstyle, getting the stats that support it, and not having to constantly look at an item to try and figure out if it's an upgrade/sidegrade/downgrade.