Guild Wars 2: Pre-Release Discussion

[Lucavi]

I didn't think the testers thought the game was that bad. I must have missed out on a lot of conversations.

[niwaar]

Early D3 testers were blinded by fanboyisms for a while, but when they settled down the flaws in the game were apparent. Blizzard has admitted the game was not good/ready and have pushed it back. The "Late March" timeline is still in effect, but there are rumors swirling that they will not come close to hitting that date. Rumors large enough that Blizzard has actually started the blue post PR effort to put fans at ease with the production schedule.

[vrumpt]

If I were Arenanet I wouldn't even bother worrying about D3. Whether D3 sucks or is actually ok, it'll sell because people think Blizzard makes good games.

Generally, my formula for release date guessing for any title is, you take how many months away you think it is for release, and double it. What you get is your much more accurate release date guess. With GW2, people are expecting april/may release, so its probably not actually going to come out til end of summer. Seeing as how they're 2 weeks deep in closed beta, its probably not a horrible guess either.

God this game can't come out soon enough. Playing SWTOR atm, all i can think about is "See now, if this were GW2 i'd actually be able to play WITH you anti-social MFers, rather than play AROUND you".

[Lucavi]

^ Yeah but... doesn't Blizzard actually make good games? What Blizz title do you think is shitty?

[niwaar]

^ Yeah but... doesn't Blizzard actually make good games? What Blizz title do you think is shitty?

WoW? But a lot of us are still playing.

I take it back, WoW isn't a bad game, its just a game stuck so deep in the mud that the word "stagnant" isn't even close to the right word to describe its current condition.

I do agree that GW2 shouldn't worry about D3. I do believe that we will more than likely see a late summer GW2 release, even if I am hopeful that we will see a much much sooner release date.

[Syntex]

I only mention D3 for two reasons which was any title coming out near a blizzard release will take some hit to potential buyers and also because they both go with a free to play model.

I think our best idea on a release date is looking at arenanets history and seeing how long open/closed beta took before and applying it here to see where it the timeline could potentially be rather then just guessing. I'm sure with a lot bigger team and a focus on making it right it will take longer but should still give us a better idea overall.

Let's talk about some other things because I'm so pumped for this game and coming back here to read 3 sentences at a time isn't doing me justice. What is everyone's class choice as of right now? IRL friend said he is looking to the ranger because he liked the hunters playstyle in wow and it looks similar(run n gun aspect). I was thinking of a good class to team up with him and he mentioned the elementalist because of the firewall+arrow synergy. I know their are more but it seems like an okay duo for pvp.

I don't know if the necro or the engineer might be better choices because they have a pet/turret and could synergize with the ranger but I do know I want it to be a ranged class. I usually like engineer type class as I played it in TF2 and WAR but the lack of mobility with the turret seems like a turn off. Sure great for holding a point but not for run n gun AFAIK.

Also are we all rolling on the same server? I see no reason to split up like other games. To me a high pop server is where you want to be for the WvWvW pvp.

[Gokulo]

Right now I have completely no idea what I want to play. I think the strongest competitors for me are Necromancer > Mesmer > Elemntalist - because I always picked mage characters first. Then Thief and Ranger maybe. Not so much interested in the other classes. Also no idea what race I'd like to play >.<

[Alderaan]

God this game can't come out soon enough. Playing SWTOR atm, all i can think about is "See now, if this were GW2 i'd actually be able to play WITH you anti-social MFers, rather than play AROUND you".

Perfect quote to describe TOR and i feel the same way.

[vrumpt]

I seriously think i'm going to need to try each class a little bit in open beta to decide, because I have no idea. I really really like the elementalist right now, so i'm going to start with that. I'll probably also give ranger and necromancer a try as well. Those are the ones I like the most atm. Now, as far as race goes I literally have no idea. Human fits the archetype I want to be but after years of FFXI on my hume I really don't want to roll human in any game. Problem is i find asura to be creepy, charr and norn I can't see playing caster type characters, and I feel like sylvari will break if i play with them too much.

I'll probably just roll a dice or something for my race.

[Lucavi]

Gonna have to try each class, but I typically start off as a Ranger/Hunter in these games, and with GW2 basically expanding on WoW's pet system (which blows the shit out of every other pet system in any major MMO to date), I'll probably play it safe and start there. I know I'll eventually move over to an elementalist, and a mesmer, and I might even try out engineer for PVP turrent-spamming.

[Takiwaki]

I myself do not like pet classes, although the new dual pet swap system is kinda cool. Right now I am tossed up between Mesmer, Guardian, Elementalist and Thief. Also a thing to note is that any class can be played as a run and gun type Its really hard to get used to, cus we are so used to playstyles, roles and professions being one in the same, pld = tank, playstyle meat shield, hate holding. Now we have professions being able to fill all roles and multiple play styles, we have warriors rocking bows and guns being just as effective as the old school ranger when it comes to having a range build, we have mages, casting and dodging while moving, tanking (as in having hate, not the old meat shield way, since this doesnt exist in gw2 lol) and being effective in melee range. I am gonna try them all and most likely will have so many alts its not funny.

As far as races go, its still up in the air as each race get some cool racial skills, like norns being able to shapeshift and asura being able to use golems and battle suits. So much fun to be had.

[Dranio]

I always play the elementalist first, but in this game, just like GW1, I'll have at least 1 of each class.

[Syntex]

I am always the sneaky stealth type class but I thought maybe its time to play something different.

And any idea how open beta will go? I really want to get in and try the classes but I have NEVER gotten into any beta EVER so I hope its not just random luck because I won't get it. Maybe preorder people get it, that would be awesome. *crossing fingers*

[Takiwaki]

I am always the sneaky stealth type class but I thought maybe its time to play something different.

And any idea how open beta will go? I really want to get in and try the classes but I have NEVER gotten into any beta EVER so I hope its not just random luck because I won't get it. Maybe preorder people get it, that would be awesome. *crossing fingers*

I greatly doubt there will be the classic open beta as we know it, they are definitely doing things different. I do not think closed beta will be very long, and open beta will most likely be in the form of a weekend event thing just before release, since truth be told open betas nowadays are basically glorified demos to help build hype. Anything sooner would most likely be at a convention if you want to try unfortunately.

[Hyan]

Playing SWTOR atm, all i can think about is "See now, if this were GW2 i'd actually be able to play WITH you anti-social MFers, rather than play AROUND you".

Will be great to see what happens. Sounds like a semantic change to me at best but I'm eager to see some real difference too.

Will 2012 finally give us GW2?

[vrumpt]

I greatly doubt there will be the classic open beta as we know it, they are definitely doing things different. I do not think closed beta will be very long, and open beta will most likely be in the form of a weekend event thing just before release, since truth be told open betas nowadays are basically glorified demos to help build hype. Anything sooner would most likely be at a convention if you want to try unfortunately.

Thing is any form of an open beta will probably only be one weekend thats like 3-4 weeks before launch. In any case, they will have announced a release date long before open beta begins. So now the question is, how much time do they need to give between the release date announcement and the actual release of the game? You'd figure it would have to be at least a couple months. Cataclysm release date was announced 2 months before it was released, thats the shortest window I can find in recent time.

In any case, it really does seem like the release of this game depends entirely on the closed beta going on right now. I wish it would be over in a month so we could be playing it in Feb/March, but I really don't think Arenanet would rush CB that quickly.

[Syntex]

Even if I got a weekend to play that would be fine. I just hate the idea of wasting time trying to find the class I like on launch day. I don't want to waste time leveling 5 classes to 20 when one could be 50 at that point since all levels take equal amount of time. That and when doing the leveling race upon a new mmo release it's usually good to get ahead of the main crowd to make leveling easier and less laggy which may or may not matter in GW2 because of how gaining xp isn't through the usual kill x guys/bring me x items ect.

[Takiwaki]

Even if I got a weekend to play that would be fine. I just hate the idea of wasting time trying to find the class I like on launch day. I don't want to waste time leveling 5 classes to 20 when one could be 50 at that point since all levels take equal amount of time. That and when doing the leveling race upon a new mmo release it's usually good to get ahead of the main crowd to make leveling easier and less laggy which may or may not matter in GW2 because of how gaining xp isn't through the usual kill x guys/bring me x items ect.

I myself will not mind the chance to try out all classes, I think too a mistake people will make is actually doing the leveling race only to find out there is nothing to race to. Yes you will have access to end game dungeons/areas but the game will not change and become something else like how every other mmo does. More likely than not going back to do lower level dungeons to make unique looking armor sets, since we can mix match, will also be fun. Although WvW will be more fun at higher levels due to more access to skills and armor also.

I am so excited about this game. =/

[Syntex]

What is the difference in races other then the looks? I haven't read anything about it.

[vrumpt]

What is the difference in races other then the looks? I haven't read anything about it.

Racial abilities that I *think* you equip as traits. Some of the known ones so far include those Asuran golems that they can summon, and Norn can shapeshift into an animal form.