Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Meresgi]

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.

Arena net has said that even the most casual can get the "best" armor in game stat wise in very little effort, then it's more just about finding the armor you enjoy looking good in...but honestly that's how I view WoW at this point as well. Sure my guild does heroic dragon soul..but when I bored with raiding DS..I left for awhile along with a few others, because we knew that the "heroic" gear wasn't really anything and I hated how Dragon Soul DK tier looked so there was no point to get it.

I see nothing wrong with the "grind" mindset of current MMOs because when I play these games, just like when I play any game, I do so to further myself and look good doing it. Even in single player games that give me the option I like to change how my character looks to be pleasing to me or grind armor/weapons I really think look cool. Hell sometimes I will go through a game and just save weapons and armor I like because I dont want to trash them..and that's in a single player game where no one can even see me.

Is GW2 for me? Honestly can't really say right now, I might pick it up just to play something till MoP comes out and then play it whenever i'm on hiatus from WoW and schoolwork isn't too overburdening, but I don't think it's this huge thing everyone is making it out to be...because it really isn't. It's a great way of reworking the system, but there is only so much you can really "rework" right now and still keep it in the same genre.

The environments are goddamn beautiful in the game, the characters...not so much and the armor...eh hit and miss it seems. Which is why i'm hesitant, in a game that focuses so much on aesthetic end game, I would have liked a more polished look..but that's just my style and I know others love the art direction so to each their own on that. I'm not saying it's a bad art style, hell i'll even say WoW's art style is good for it's own "style" but it just comes off as strange to me whenever I look at my character.

[Arelian]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with having a different taste. Personally, GW2 is completely my style and I love it. Tera? I loathed the look of every single armor set in that game. The problem only occurs when people say things like, "This game is bad because it doesn't suit my taste!" To those people I say fuck off and go be toxic to a different hobby.

[bluefan]

I'm just loving how much effort they put into the story part of the game. I'm a big lore fanatic for most games I play, and the history and current story really drives my gameplay.

Seriously enjoying the Asura story right now.

[bluefan]

I'm just loving how much effort they put into the story part of the game. I'm a big lore fanatic for most games I play, and the history and current story really drives my gameplay.

Seriously enjoying the Asura story right now.

[Takiwaki]

I'm just loving how much effort they put into the story part of the game. I'm a big lore fanatic for most games I play, and the history and current story really drives my gameplay.

Seriously enjoying the Asura story right now.

Wormholes: check
Other dimensions: check

[Meresgi]

I wish I could have done more of my personal story line honestly, sucks that it cut out around lvl 17 for me >_<. Does it continue to level cap or only go a certain ways?

[Arelian]

It goes all the way to level 80, but it stops at level 20 for the beta.

[bluefan]

It goes all the way to level 80, but it stops at level 20 for the beta.

^

Was like that for BWE2 also.

[Rhyis.]

Just finished the sylvari story myself and thought it was pretty crappy. The whole race is actually way too wankerish for me. It's like they took all the worst qualities of other lores elvish races and put them together. I know I'll never touch them after this beta.

Charr's, dems me.

[Flarega]

Liking it so far, but I'm seeing a huge drop off in player population for the 15-25 levelling area.

[Meresgi]

Yeah I thought I would dig the Sylvari since I always play elves and shit...but I hated them and only got to level 6ish before stopping. Asura look fucked up to me, like some sort of inbred gnome lol. Char look badass though and so do Nords, dem vikings.

[Rhyis.]

I like the insane arrogance of the entire asuran race. That alone puts them in my good graces.

[arus2001]

While I'm more inclined to say I care more about the stats on a piece of gear, my only real hope for its look is that it isn't ugly. Worst case, I could transmute it with something not an eyesore, or in other games, wardrobe slots. I think I don't get all hung ho about looks/customization between my mix of prolonged interest in medieval fantasy and my own artistic background (basically I've been drawing fantasy armor for decades now). Sure, seeing it in 3D isn't quite the same as doodling on paper, but I trust my brain enough to visualize my imagination well. So, yeah, for those who don't game as often or have that mix of artistic talent and fantasy interest, I can see the allure. I will say, though, that in other games I tend to get miffed at flavor items that break the proverbial fourth wall of the world (think jeans/t-shirt in a realm of trousers/tunics). Anyway, I've been a bit disappointed with the armor looks I've gotten so far (level 23). It's either the same models or very minor changes. Hell, the most drastic shift was probably getting a helmet, but those aren't exactly pretty, either. Now that I think about it, I've very rarely liked headwear in any MMO. Rift had certainly been fucking awful in that regard.


Shifting gears a bit, I've been trying to skill armorsmithing and am at like 104 or so now. I'm a bit frustrated since it seems like logging and harvesting nodes are more common than ores. 10 copper for the bronze ignot synths also seemed a tad steep. I'll be sure to pick up the lowbie tools since I started a bit late in this process and probably missed out on a lot of copper. Just skilling, when not spamming augments, is looking like making sets that won't sell early on. However, I do have a level 25 iron armor set lined up sporting +Power and Magic Find. Made a second set to try and pawn off to recoup some losses, but I'm skeptical if they'll sell, too. Probably shouldn't even be fretting since this'll all be gone in a few hours.

Far as events go, I'm finding some areas have been a bit too sparse on them. Meanwhile, I can head to some other and almost always find one of like three running. There were a couple that involved some gold ringed elites (one underwater, even) that I feel are perhaps too strong and will rarely, if ever be killed due to the amount of people you'll need. Also been disappointed in lowbie karma gear options, but that's probably deliberate to TRY and get people using crafted goods.

More randomly: Crispin Freeman. And great sword is probably my favoring warrior weapon. The #2 skill is just too good.

[Flarega]

Concerns aside, I'll probably get my moneys worth out of the game this weekend.

[bluefan]

I like the insane arrogance of the entire asuran race. That alone puts them in my good graces.

If the Asuran race didn't have any kind of conscience to hold themselves back with their experiments, Tyria would be a in a fall out by now.

All their big words, their attitude towards anything bigger than them (everything basically), their technology...how can anyone play anything else?!

YOU DAMN BOOKAHS!

That's right, I called of you bookahs...what? Want to fight about it? Let me grab my golem suit.

[bluefan]

Ahahahaha!

The Asuran storylines

Spoiler: show

Two golem romance roflolololololol!

[Dead Phoenix]

Ahahahaha!

The Asuran storylines

Spoiler: show

Two golem romance roflolololololol!

I love the fact that while I was given the chance to have that happen, but I was able to do some thing completely different and from what I've seen of the asura story in videos, people can have a whole other story that doesn't even involve that at all! I seriously under estimate the effect character creation had on your personal story. Almost makes me want to play SW:tOR just because its suppose to have stuff like that too... of course I'll probably just be sticking with GW2(Though I'm sure I'll give SW:tOR a shot once it goes ftp...). In a barely related story, I did the final story mission 3 level below the recommended level solo, woot me!

[bluefan]

Rawr!

[arus2001]

Winterfresh, now with plutonium!

[notorious bum]

Too bad you can't switch allegiance ala FFXI and experience the other storylines without having to create a whole new character. So far, the Human storyline and it's characters seem well-done, the Norn is very generic/overacted, but I only made it past the first quest before hopping back to Glenndale to play with Necro.