5 replies to this topic

[Tempest]

Noticed there wasn't a GW2 thread here, so I figured there's not a lot of interest, but for those who are interested in GW2, I've been playing the beta this past weekend and offer my thoughts for those interested.

To clarify, three of the five races are available in this beta: human, charr, and norn. I have played all of them up to at least level ten, trying to get a good feel for different classes - unlike WoW or TOR, level 1 to 10 is expected to take a few hours. At the moment, I have 1-10 experience with the engineer, guardian, thief, and necromancer. Lower level experience with the ranger and mesmer.

Here are my observations from the beta:

1. Do not expect your hand to be held. Guild Wars 2 is not WoW or TOR, to name two recent examples. You will die, even in the starter zone. You will probably die a lot. GW2 provides you with all the tools you need to play, and expects you to learn how to make use of them. Crafting, skill unlocks, using your skills effectively - these are for you to figure out. I personally found them fairly intuitive, but for a new player, particularly one new to MMOs in general, I could see it being very intimidating. Now to be fair, death is not a terribly big deal in GW2. Everyone can revive you with no cooldown, and the downed/defeated system adds an interesting wrinkle that I won't get into here for the purposes of a general review. In general, don't expect tutorials for everything and don't expect to cruise through content. GW2 is unforgiving, and some personal story quests definitely need tuning, but it isn't out to kill you.

2. This is an open, nonlinear MMO. One consequence of point one is that there are no convenient quest arrows. There are very few quests at all. Most of the game is comprised of dynamic events happening out in the world, and it's up to you to go find them. Or find skill challenges. Or go train up weapon skills. Or explore. Or farm crafting mats. Go out and explore - particularly underwater. Events generally don't come to you (exception: when the enemy assaults a friendly town, which happens a lot), so go out there and find them. This afternoon, I stumbled into a couple of events in the Wayfarer Hills (norn lowbie zone) that I had never seen despite two prior trips through. Want to ditch your race's starting zone and go level somewhere else? Nothing stopping you, and it's easy to do. Also, the game actively rewards exploration. Finish every heart (a type of stationary event) in a zone, and you'll get considerable rewards. Discovering new waypoints and just points of interest reward experience. Make your own goals and fun.

3. Forget the tank/healer/dps trinity. It simply does not work in GW2. Everyone has a heal - in fact, it's a mandatory slot on your skill bar - and a few classes have more than one, but not only is healing output insufficient to play a conventional healer, it's a gross misuse of your other skills. Some classes can be infuriatingly defensive (hi, guardians!), but there is no tanking in the conventional sense. How, then, do you mitigate damage and survive? Interrupt abilities, control enemy movement, and most importantly, learn to dodge. Stay alert and stay smart. Guardians, for example, can erect a wall that enemies simply can't pass through. Engineers with a flamethrower can lay down a firewall, pull enemies to them through the wall, then blast them right back out and through the wall again.

4. You will never not be happy to see another player (except in PvP). GW2 has an interesting wrinkle: if you hit it, you get credit for the mob. Six people hit a mob? They all get credit. Nope, no need to group up first. In my experience, this was subtle at first but builds up into a feel like no other MMO I have played. Players cooperate. They learn to help out other players as a matter of course. Even in the low-level areas, players develop impromptu teamwork skills. Granted, this very often means "A dozen players swarm in the general direction of the enemy firing off their attack powers," but I'll take it. And it works, too.

5. The art direction in this game is amazing. It's a fantasy MMO, true, but one unlike any I've seen before, visually. The world is distinctive and vibrant, even the alpine mountains of the norn and the industrial steampunk of the charr amidst the ruins of Ascalon. Humans feel very Renaissance rather than medieval, especially the women and their improbably fancy attire. Norns are a race of big, manly men and big, busty women mixing Norse and Celtic inspiration. Charr are ferocious semi-bipedal cat people whose society is a war machine - emphasizing both the war and the machine. Words of warning: charr women have no boobs, and I never realized how tiny humans were compared to the other two playable races until I saw them together. Humans aren't much bigger than norn kids. Haven't gotten a chance to play higher-level zones, or the sylvari or asura areas, though sylvari and asura NPCs are present, but again, the art direction in this game is really good.

6. Best class? What best class? Okay, fair point: some classes could definitely do with more fine-tuning. But, in all that I've read about the game, I've heard every single class singled out as someone's favorite. They all play and feel very different, even those who share weapons. Warriors use rifles as standoff weapons. Engineers use rifles to dance in and out of the enemy's grip (side note: I love the goomba stomp with jump shot). Still, there's something for everyone here.

[Eleima]

I'm glad you posted this! I really like GW, and I've been thinking about getting GW2 myself. Your opinion fits with what I've already heard about the game, and I've almost made up my mind to get it. Especially since my GW names should be reserved.
It really seems like they've really made an effort to make this a multiplayer game (your #4), and that's definitely a plus, even though I did also enjoy my solo bouts in GW. Something to look forward to in September (unless I break down and buy the version with beta access before that).

[Tempest]

I'd point to August rather than September, myself. I ultimately finished out a level 10 elementalist last night, and learned that there's one more beta weekend plan - they've been doing about one a month, so next month we'll likely see the asura and sylvari open up.

I should also add that there is a lot of variety in what events have you do. In addition to lots and lots of violence, I've defended watermelon patches from hordes of hungry bunnies, solved riddles, answered questions about game lore, had snowball fights with kids, been turned into a leopard to hunt prey, and joined together with upwards of two dozen players to tackle a giant boss. Most hearts have both violent and non-violent tasks you can do to progress.


Finally, some thoughts on specific classes I've played:


Guardian: Desperately needs useful tier 1 utility skills, but pretty fun. All offhand weapons bar the shield have one great skill and one mediocre skill. Shield has two okay skills. Hammer is fun, and Banish is probably the most fun skill I used during the beta on any class, but really needs a gap closer. Sword in the alt weapon slot provides it, or eventually Judge's Intervention will. Sword in general is a very versatile, nicely rounded weapon.

Elementalist: Unlocking all the skills for a given weapon across the different attunements is a nuisance but worth doing. I got a staff and never looked back - dual daggers also look interesting, but I was very happy with the staff. Has a weird case that utility slots can be configured for whatever attunement you favor, or just take a versatile option if you're constantly switching attunements like I was. It's a tremendously versatile class, but takes some time to figure out what all your different abilities in different attunements do and learn when to use which. I ended up in air more often than not for Windborne Speed and Glyph of Elemental Harmony to apply Swiftness. Makes getting around the map easier.

Engineer: Like the elementalist, the engineer has a skill for every occasion. Unlike the elementalist, the engineer can't have all of those skills at their fingertips. Rifle and pistol/shield are good, offhand pistol is lackluster. In general, the engineer is a strange midrange class that can spam conditions and boons, or dance in and out of close range. From what I've heard from other players, the engineer doesn't really come into its own until later in the game and tends to be a fussy, technical class. Still, I had fun with it.

Thief: Steal is more useful for the shadowstep than the theft until higher levels, but the class is an expert hit-and-fade archetype that rewards technical skill and punishes those with lag issues. Shortbow is a great support weapon to back up your melee weapons of choice, and I'm particularly fond of sword/dagger. Scorpion wire is a really, really handy tier one utility skill - you won't always need it, but I don't know if I could have cleared one of the personal story quests without the ability to snag enemies out of position.

Edited by Tempest, 11 June 2012 - 07:30 AM.

[Tempest]

The third and final BWE is going on right now, and now that I'm familiar with the asura and sylvari, which are new to the public in this BWE, here are some concluding thoughts.

1. The LGBT crowd should be happy. I've noticed it before in other races' areas, but the sylvari are particularly out in the open about homo-and-bisexuality existing in the Guild Wars setting and being treated as nothing out of the ordinary. Depending on where they go, new sylvari can meet two male NPCs referring to each other as lovers in the first 5-10 minutes of the game, and the sylvari lead heroine is a lesbian. Should PC-NPC romances be added to the game, which a dev has confirmed is on the post-launch to-do list and that some existing PC-NPC relationships are intentionally left to player interpretation, same-sex stuff seems like a safe bet (I'm looking at you, Bioware Austin).

2. The game is very much constantly improving. One new addition are vistas - scenic spots that usually take some involved climbing and jumping to get to, but reward you with experience and more importantly the camera roaming to give you a look at the [usually] beautiful scenery of the game. Other additions are minor but useful - I noticed improved locations for important NPCs in many areas, particularly the cities, and either new events have been added or I simply never saw the conditions for them when moving through the charr starting zone again.

3. I said it before, but this game is gorgeous. It really is. The asura starting zone isn't that visually impressive, but their flying capital city sure as hell is, and the sylvari areas are beautiful, particularly if you liked the art of the alien world in the movie Avatar (one of the few good things about that movie).


If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer to the best of my abilities. Preemptively, though, I'll note that I have very little experience with the PvP side of things.

[Vicen]

I may pick it up eventually but for every person I have heard say its great (online friends and real life friends) there's a person right around the corner who knocks it down. Good review none the less - Thanks!

[Eleima]

Well, I broke down and picked it up a few weeks ago, and manage to sink in about 10 hours. And I have to say, I'm impressed. The storyline so far is very enjoyable, the game is gorgeous (I love these vistas, even though you sometimes have to work for them). Players naturally flock together when exploring thanks to events, and ease of cooperation. Without saying a word, players will help each other out, accompany fellow players in exploration and quests. They've definitely nailed that part of the MMO. Character creation is also pretty sweet, with a range of races, and features that definitely leave somethign for everyone.
I'm playing a Sylvari Elementalist, I'm already level 12, the story's progressing nicely. Exploration and storyline seem to find a natural balance, it doesn't seem forced at all.
I would definitely recommend this one.
I'm playing on the Northern Shiverpeaks server, and my main character's name is... surprise, surprise... Eleima Stargazer.