Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Isiolia]

I did enjoy having my one sweet character in FFXI. But in GW2, I'm looking forward to being an alt-o-holic. I'm hoping you can have a global handle in GW2 though (City of Heroes has it). I do not like how you can easily lose track of friends in WoW (don't want to give all your e-friends your RealID).

In GW1, guild membership is by account. If you mouse over a name that's not the one that the person joined with, it has a "also <playername>", making it relatively easy to figure out who is who...provided you're in the same guild. I'd assume that they'll do something at least on that level for GW2.

[Eanae]

But in gw2 dot guilds work like XI where you can haw multiple ones? I thought I remembered reading that.

[Takiwaki]

But in gw2 dot guilds work like XI where you can haw multiple ones? I thought I remembered reading that.

Yes

[Zerocool]

Quote from an earlier interview:

Guild membership is account wide, and you can add as many guilds as you like. You will be able to choose, at any time and on any character, which guild chat you are viewing and what guilds you are currently affiliated with.

Doing different activities (“almost anything,” to quote Eric Flannum) with guild-mates will earn Influence for one’s guild, which can be spent towards guild upgrades (storage, etc), or special in-game boosts like a flag that grants extra XP to guild members within its range.

Specific guilds will be able to capture keeps within WvWvW PvP, and be able to use their Influence to create upgrades to those keeps.

[Tonka]

In GW1, guild membership is by account. If you mouse over a name that's not the one that the person joined with, it has a "also <playername>", making it relatively easy to figure out who is who...provided you're in the same guild. I'd assume that they'll do something at least on that level for GW2.

Yeah, I thought I had read that. But still would like to have a friend's list with all my friends' global handles...preferably even showing them when they're on another server.

[Dragir]

One aspect of one aspect of Guild Wars 2, the community, isn't mentioned much in this thread: podcasts.

Here's a link to the latest:
Tales of Tyria - Episode 3 - All About the Grind

Though my favorite podcast, Relics of Orr, is no more (at least for now), there are quite a few cropping up around the 'net these days:

The Lonely Asura
Guild Wars Insider
Tales of Tyria

...and one that's been around for a long time (considering it started as a Guild Wars 1 podcast) is GuildCast.

Just another way to waste time waiting for Guild Wars 2.

[Tonka]

In GW1, guild membership is by account. If you mouse over a name that's not the one that the person joined with, it has a "also <playername>", making it relatively easy to figure out who is who...provided you're in the same guild. I'd assume that they'll do something at least on that level for GW2.

Yeah, I thought I had read that. But still would like to have a friend's list with all my friends' global handles...preferably even showing them when they're on another server.

[Dragir]

One aspect of one aspect of Guild Wars 2, the community, isn't mentioned much in this thread: podcasts.

Here's a link to the latest:
Tales of Tyria - Episode 2 - All About the Grind

Though my favorite podcast, Relics of Orr, is no more (at least for now), there are quite a few cropping up around the 'net these days:

· The Lonely Asura
· Guild Wars Insider
· Tales of Tyria
· Guild Wars Reporter
· GuildCast (last, but not least, and the oldest of all; it started as a Guild Wars 1 podcast).

Just another way to waste time waiting for Guild Wars 2.

...and as a footnote, old Relics of Orr episodes are still informative for the uninitiated, and for those of us who already know all there is to know, they're still pretty entertaining.

[edit: whoops, left one out. ]

[Takiwaki]

Series of interviews with the PVP anet team

http://guildwars2pvp.com/2011/10/tea...ohn-corpening/

Have you picked up any tricks or sneaky tactics in your many hours of play?

JC: One of my sneakiest moves was when defending the trebuchet. I would set my Spirit of Nature’s Renewal at the edge of a cliff as soon as I would see an enemy approaching. When fighting with a ranger in the enemy team, you need to make sure to take down that spirit first or the ranger becomes really hard to kill. As soon as my enemy starts to attack my spirit, I knock them off the cliff with a point blank shot. If they have taken enough damage from the fight then the fall damage can finish them off. I’ve won many fights using this exact move.

lol so awesome

[Alderaan]

I love doing that in Rift. Makes people rage.

[Dragir]

New episode of Guild Wars Reporter up. It isn't news, but there's no news...
so we pass the time by listening to other people complain about having to
wait until early 2012.

http://mmoreporter.com/wp-content/up.../08/gwrpin.jpg
Guild Wars Reporter - Episode 6 – Babbling Bookahs - posted Oct 12th by CeleOOKIE

"We lament how real life is getting in the way of gaming especially since Guild Wars 2 is garnering even more of our collective attention. This week we’re focusing on some great community articles on classes, armour renderings, and possible endgame situations."

[MP3 direct link] (right-click, Save as...)

[Takiwaki]

http://www.arena.net/blog/planet-of-the-grawl

[Dragir]

{tongue pressed firmly against cheek; barely-relevant post warning}

Do you sometimes feel like [your other MMO] is slowly fading into obscurity?
Are all but a few areas in the world completely empty on a daily basis?
Do you find yourself thinking "there's got to be a better way"?

Well, worry no more, lonely [other MMO] player! *star-wipe from black-and-white to color!*

Many have asked, "but what is it like start playing Guild Wars after spending [amount of time invested] playing [your other MMO]?" Well my friends, the answer is simple: just watch this video.



{posted pretty much due to the presence of a Grawl in this video; ArenaNet's latest blog post reminded me of these videos.}

{as one last footnote, a fun fact: ANet took notice of Jack McDaniel's videos and named a Grawl "boss" (NM) after the two featured characters, Luke Yeoryios and Fozzy the Grawl.}

[Takiwaki]

http://www.arena.net/blog/video-audi...recording-trip

[Vimes]

So yea, Paris Game Week started today. Last of the Arenanet conventions for this year I think. GW2 will also be shown at G-Star in South Korea, second week of November. Though not sure if that will be presented by Arenanet or just NCsoft.

Eight and final profession should be revealed soon. Next weekish.

And there should be closed beta news for November.

You heard it here first ™.

Then again, what the fuck do I know, eh. I'm just guessing.

[Dragir]

What Guild Wars 2 could have looked like on Linux using the Unigine OpenGL 4.0 game engine.
My one disagreement with ArenaNet: no native Linux client. *sigh*

Obligatory Fullscreen 720P Link



Hope they reveal the Mesmer or Mesmer-like profession or whatever the eighth profession is going to be soon. *twitch*

[Alderaan]

While that video looks great, it goes against the entire art style GW2 is going with. I prefer what they're doing now.

[Dragir]

So do I, I've said so before. I love that they're going with hand-painted environments reminiscent of 90s point-and-click adventure games like King's Quest/Quest for Glory/Legend of Kyrandia, etc... so that wasn't my point.

The point I was trying to make was 2.5-part:
it would've been nice if ANet thought it was worthwhile to offer a Linux-native client;
it wouldn't have degraded the image quality or performance to do so using OpenGL 4;
and "damn, it's been a while since any really exciting news has come out."

[Elrina]

Calm before the storm.

Beta is before the end of the year, so beta news will probably precede the beta itself by a relatively small margin of time. And since they've been implying the beta won't last for a super long time, and that it will dictate when open beta/release happens, unless there are any glaring issues I imagine it's going to feel like it's going from beta > release fairly quickly once the ball gets rolling.

[Dragir]

People checking in on this thread who've never played Guild Wars or read a bit of information about either Guild Wars or Guild Wars 2, might be wondering: What in the heck is a mesmer?

Here's a little speculation on the most popular candidate for Guild Wars 2's eighth profession from the fansite/blog "MESMER.me":

The Mesmer Profession

http://mesmer.me/wp-content/uploads/...e-mesmer-1.jpg

The mesmer is a spell-casting profession from Guild Wars. It is widely considered to be the iconic Guild Wars class and the developers’ mascot.

Mesmers are masters of illusion, misdirection and control; they subvert and disrupt foes to achieve their personal goals. The fabric of reality warps at the mesmer’s command, reflecting attacks, slowing down casters, and inflicting devastating chaos damage.

The mesmer is a specialist; using the arcane arts of domination, illusion and inspiration, it can prevent or punish action – or inaction. With the ability to cast spells faster than anyone else, a mesmer can drain energy, shatter enchantments, and interrupt spells in quick succession. By twisting the ether, a mesmer can steal enemy skills and buffs, and use them for itself.

Currently, the mesmer hasn’t yet been confirmed as the 8th playable profession of Guild Wars 2. Let’s take another look at the information we have so far:

• The 8th profession is returning from Guild Wars
• First video of mesmers in Guild Wars 2
• People who enjoy mind tricks won’t be disappointed
• Get ready to change your ‘MIND’
• People who play mesmer will find a home
• Mesmer NPCs in the catacombs dungeon
• "Purple fan lady" concept art
• Hall of Monuments – scholar’s heritage armor is based on GW1 mesmer concept art
• Mesmer mentioned in Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny novels

Beta testing will begin soon (by the end of 2011), and logically the final profession, presumably the mesmer, will be revealed beforehand. ArenaNet have kept the best for last, it seems; they’ve also been ramping up the complexity of professions with the guardian, thief and engineer, and if any returning Guild Wars class wins the complexity contest, it’s the mesmer (remember Auspicious Incantation?).

ArenaNet only show us parts of the game “when it’s ready”, and if the new mesmer is oriented towards control (and not so much damage or support), then mechanisms such as the seven other professions, and PvP formats, need to be close to finalised before a mesmer makes much sense.

And so, we wait.