Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Katlan]

^ I am sure they will all have unique dances when that's implemented

[GoggleHead]

You guys do realize that Human's in Guild Wars lore are literally space aliens. Right?

Holy fuck nuggets!

I never got really far into the original game so I have apparently missed this completely.

[Lucavi]

You guys do realize that Human's in Guild Wars lore are literally space aliens. Right? They are so much more than average, you just have to dig through their lore a bit. A lot of the interesting stuff was ingame, too, you just have to search a bit for it. Like backstory on the Gods and such.

Space aliens with stiff animations = Humans with stiff animations. I'm not complaining about lore, I'm complaining about the fact that it is literally painful to watch my human female elementalist chug around because she walks like she's got a stripper pole wedged up her ass. Seriously, they could have went to any gym and mocapped any random fit 20-something on the treadmill and would have had an infinitely superior product.

I won't bash human backstories because I have no problem with them; hell, I've been a human main in every major MMO that had it as a base option for my faction, and I was a male and female human for both previous betas, but no longer. The male is stock, but fine. The female... no. At least with TERA they had a bit of spring in their step, but even there, they still ran like they were navigating with platform shoes on (probably because they actually wear them in-game, but I digress).

These companies take the aggressive traits of RL humans and put them in a class; they take the classy traits of RL humans and put them in another class; they take the frumpy traits of RL humans and put them in another class; they take the clumsy or cute traits of RL humans and put them in another class, and in the end, all we're left with is stiff, artificial-looking movements with the default "human" class.

Sylvari for Ranger and Asura for Engineer. Possibly a Male human for Guardian, but I've retired from female humans.

[Aevis]

Lol I never had any clones/illusions chase me through the team only entry gates.

I meant the regular gates, which the attacking group has to...well attack. If there's a zerg incoming, you can't get behind the gate and repair it, because all the aoe stuff thrown at the gate rapes you in mere seconds. I'm not sure if that is intentional, it just wouldn't make much sense. Think of all the medieval movies (or fantasy) where they try to breach the gate and everyone defending pushs against from the inside to prevent the breach. That's simply not possible atm if there's enough things thrown at the gates from the attacking team, which makes the repair function pointless.

Now as said, I could live with only that because it has to be quite a big zerg and well organized. Also, as soon as enough defending people arrive and attack from above, the zerg will weaken fast. The real kicker was, when I tried to res a guy who died trying to rep the gate. I was clearly out of all the AoE when suddenly, to illusions appeared and attacked me. I ran away and then disappeared when I probably reached the max distance to the caster, totally ignoring that there was a massive wooden gate between us.

[Tonka]

http://www.arena.net/blog/telling-st...and-back-again

[niwaar]

Space aliens with stiff animations = Humans with stiff animations. I'm not complaining about lore, I'm complaining about the fact that it is literally painful to watch my human female elementalist chug around because she walks like she's got a stripper pole wedged up her ass. Seriously, they could have went to any gym and mocapped any random fit 20-something on the treadmill and would have had an infinitely superior product.

I just want to reiterate my earlier point about animations... The three "human" races have the exact same animations. Thus if your human female runs around like she has a stripper pole stuck up her ass, then your sylvari and norn do as well. They are the same. Sure, the Norn run a bit slower and the Sylvari feel a bit faster, but that is only because of the size compensation. If that speed difference bothers you I can see how you'd dislike it. Especially seeing as you like the Sylvari, Id guess that is the thing. Personally, I was torn between Norn and Human and eventually decided on human because I just couldn't wrap my head around how slow I felt as the much larger Norn. Charr has this same feeling to me, while Human, Sylvari and Asura just feel like they are moving at a decent speed.

[Drafted]

With the recent fall of Blizzard (slowly but surely) do you guys really think GW2 will be the next mainstream MMO released?

With how bad D3 was and everyone turning away from Blizzard, I really think anet couldn't have picked a better time to release. Get it out and polished before MoP and let the players themselves see what they're missing when they go to play MoP when its released.

Thoughts?

[Rhyis.]

I think I don't have any stock in the company so I don't give a shit about their fiscal well-being. The game is fun. I'm going to play it. Everything else is retarded "my game is better than your game" fluff.

[Takiwaki]

I just want to reiterate my earlier point about animations... The three "human" races have the exact same animations. Thus if your human female runs around like she has a stripper pole stuck up her ass, then your sylvari and norn do as well. They are the same. Sure, the Norn run a bit slower and the Sylvari feel a bit faster, but that is only because of the size compensation. If that speed difference bothers you I can see how you'd dislike it. Especially seeing as you like the Sylvari, Id guess that is the thing. Personally, I was torn between Norn and Human and eventually decided on human because I just couldn't wrap my head around how slow I felt as the much larger Norn. Charr has this same feeling to me, while Human, Sylvari and Asura just feel like they are moving at a decent speed.

Actually that's incorrect the running animations are different for each.

There is a totally different sway movement in the sylvari run compared to the human

The human run is def stiff, but the sylvari is indeed much smoother. One has to be blind not to notice.

[vadre]

I really don't even understand the issues people have with what the rest of the community is playing, it's like some weird insecurity that someone else might be having more fun than you (Not directed at you Drafted). I certainly enjoy it way more than WoW, even if it's just because people are on a par in pvp outside class balance, having to gear up to not get raped makes no fucking sense. I'm also pretty casual generally and really cba to organise my life around endgame so the 5-man style absolutely wins out for me.

[Lucavi]

I just want to reiterate my earlier point about animations... The three "human" races have the exact same animations. Thus if your human female runs around like she has a stripper pole stuck up her ass, then your sylvari and norn do as well. They are the same. Sure, the Norn run a bit slower and the Sylvari feel a bit faster, but that is only because of the size compensation. If that speed difference bothers you I can see how you'd dislike it. Especially seeing as you like the Sylvari, Id guess that is the thing. Personally, I was torn between Norn and Human and eventually decided on human because I just couldn't wrap my head around how slow I felt as the much larger Norn. Charr has this same feeling to me, while Human, Sylvari and Asura just feel like they are moving at a decent speed.

My Sylvari Male feels much different from my Human male. I haven't rolled a Sylvari female yet, but I'd wager that I'd instantly know if she had the same animations as the human... I suppose I'll have to stick with Sylvari male, then.

I know what you mean about the Norn, at least. I rolled a female norn necromancer (Named Beth Phoenix, to boot!) and yeah, she was pretty stiff, although I could pass it off for Norn because they're so hulking. Still, though, a little more of an aggressive, lurching gait in the stride would be nice, but who knows, maybe these are just beta placeholders and the 3 "humanioid" races have uniques coming.

[Meph]

@vadre
I dont see it as an issue, more of a wish that more people than planned joins in. Bigger community usually secures longevity for any kind of game. And to be honest, considering the fuckup that is D3 I wouldnt mind a huge chunk of people ditching blizz until they get their act straight and release something worthwhile again.

[Dragir]

I really don't even understand the issues people have with what the rest of the community is playing, it's like some weird insecurity that someone else might be having more fun than you.

I see it as the opposite. It's a facet of the natural empathy that most people have. They/we worry that others are not having more fun and could be having as much fun as we are... and it would enhance everyone's fun if we were all in one place, enjoying the same things together. Right? 8)

[Drafted]

Yea, I agree. Blizzard hasn't really released much of anything in say, the past 5-7 years. Sure they had success with what they did release but! People (in my opinion) are starting to realize most of blizzard's releases are just the same content in a different scale. I mean, D3 is practically overhead WoW. (it is, don't argue it)


I really can't say I've played an MMO (outside FFXI) that gave me the sense of an RPG feel game. From all the objectives on the map to all the little hidden 'secrets' scattered across the world, Anet did it right.

From PvE to PvP, they did everything right from what we've seen so far (again, imho) The separation of PvE and PvP was just mind blowing to me. I never played GW1 so I didn't know what to expect. It was always just retarded to have PvP based on who has the best gear. Finally, a game that relies on class balance for a change.

I think WvW will be a completely different scene than organized pvp though. I'm sure the best PvE gear will have crazy good stats that make some classes broken butttt we can leave that on the PvE side of things yea? I think all the true pvpers will be doing organized tournaments anyway. It's truly a balance between the two.

While leveling and exploring new zones, I can't help feel like I'm playing an old Tomb Raider game. There was this cave in Queensdale near the southeast side of the map. It wasn't much but you had to jump through certain parts of it and make your way to the end which was a chest and the exit led you out ontop of this pretty big hill overlooking a centaur camp. It was just a really great experience I've never felt in any MMO (outside FFXI). I'm really glad they brought back the RPG to MMORPG. The sense of exploration is one of my favorite things.

edit: Is there any guild being made for BG members at release? Also, what server? Anyone know anything?

[tol]

On the animation discussion: playing human male extensively previously and a sylvari male in this last bwe, the males definitely share a lot of animations. Jumping is EXACTLY the same animation as are many others. It wasn't a big deal to me but I definitely noticed it right away and didn't even think about it again until I read some of these comments.

[niwaar]

Actually that's incorrect the running animations are different for each.

There is a totally different sway movement in the sylvari run compared to the human

The human run is def stiff, but the sylvari is indeed much smoother. One has to be blind not to notice.

Yeah after watching that I will say that there is definitely more "sway" in the Sylvari running animation than the Fem Humans. Although that is in comparison to the first BWE. I will say that the leg movement looks to be exactly the same but the arms/torso seem to cross the body a lot more and have a little less "stick up the ass" feeling.

On the animation discussion: playing human male extensively previously and a sylvari male in this last bwe, the males definitely share a lot of animations. Jumping is EXACTLY the same animation as are many others. It wasn't a big deal to me but I definitely noticed it right away and didn't even think about it again until I read some of these comments.

So after watching those videos its clear that when implementing the running animation from Norn/Human into Sylvari they tweaked it a little. I will say that it is a very subtle tweak because it took me a long time going back and forth between those videos to see that Takiwaki meant. I could be wrong when I say that the rest of the animations are exactly the same. I did stand next to my friend's human thief with my sylvari ranger and the bow idle animations were exactly the same. As were the sword, staff, and scepter. Maybe they tweaked them a little, but they are the same base.

I really wish they hadn't closed the official forums so quickly this time around. I was exhausted Sunday night and by the time I woke up on Monday, went to work and came home ready to make my post about things, they had been closed.

[Tonka]

http://www.arena.net/blog/john-stumm...l-of-monuments

[Rhyis.]

In summary: Buy our old game.

[Tonka]

In summary: Buy our old game.

And now is a great time to do it! Another blog post!

http://www.arena.net/blog/guildwarsplatinumeditionsale

Experience where it all began! Discover Tyria through the original Guild Wars and forge a legacy that lives on inGuild Wars 2 with the Guild Wars Platinum Edition, now available for just $19.99 in the NCsoft Store!

[Takiwaki]

that hammer!