Guild Wars 2!

[Aiani]

There's a lot of exploration. Many dynamic events are off the beaten path, as are many skill challenges. There's also cinematic events that were added in the last beta, called vistas, that are sometimes difficult to get to. There are also a lot of jumping/exploration puzzles that sometimes lead to interesting areas and boss fights. Though you don't have to explore, you'll want to explore.

There are also a lot of zones for multiple levels. Each race has their own starter zone, and there are several zones for each range of levels. You don't have to go to each zone, but if you don't you'll be missing out on story, events, skill challenges, ranger pets, etc.





Difficulty is something that is, as far as I'm aware, still being balanced. The first two beta weekend events were very hard, but the third was very easy due to a worldwide bug that has since been fixed.

There's also different kinds of difficulty. If you're good at dodging and avoiding damage, the game will probably seem very easy. Ranged characters also have a slight advantage over melee characters, but it's really only noticeable in large events or against large bosses that throw down one hit kill attacks with little warning (something they've said they're working on).

The highest lvl character I got during the bwe's was a lvl 18 guardian, and one thing I noticed was that lower levels (1-10) were pretty hard because you don't have access to all of your tools and there's often little margin for error in dodging big attacks. Around lvl 12-13 that started to change as I had access to utility skills, weapon swaps, etc. that allowed me to mount a more proactive defense.

Another thing, some events become ridiculously easy given enough people participating in them, even despite scaling. Others are challenging no matter how many people seem to be around. I think there's still a lot of fine tuning going on.

Thank you for the info. The exploration sounds pretty promising especially since from what you say it seems like there will be plenty of zones. I love having different zones to check out.
Of course it's to be expected that they are still fine tuning the difficulty since the game is in beta. Still I'm cautiously optimistic. This sounds like it has the potential to be a lot of fun.

[Emmerask]

Another important thing in combat are the "combo attacks", for example an elementalist places a wall of fire on the ground, you then shoot through this wall and have burning arrows.
A very neat mechanic I think which adds to combat depth.

How good this will be and therefore how often used I don´t really know because I only played for a little while during the last beta^^

[ninja_penguin]

Combo fields happen a lot. Especially when everybody starts throwing everything everywhere.

It's basically a system of certain skills creating fields of a particular type, and then other skills have finishers to them. Line up A with B, and you get a various effect. I think the most common one you'll see is the various fields with the physical projectile finisher, which basically applies the effects of Field A onto projectile B, like when my poison cloud on my thief gives all the projectiles going through it poison, or how you can spam blind on somebody by using Pistol skill 5 on a thief, and then slowly bang away with skill 1 on a single target to make them near perma-blind for the skill 5 duration.

[Hullabaloo]

The stress test went pretty well for me. Got on with no issues, found 2 friends and testing foruming our guild (I assume this will be cleared out before the start so we will have to re do)

Ran around and tested out the 'tankish' spec for guardian and really liked it. Jumped in the PvP area and used a staff for the 'healerish' spec, and REALLY liked that. I got a Fricken magic bow that followed me around curing friends! So cool looking.

Graphics were really nice. Main issue? The Flow. There is no stopping point. Before I knew it I had played for 90 min. Champagne Problems.

[Hullabaloo]

Yes, ArenaNet is having another Stress test.

4-8 Pacific, 6-10 Central, 7-11 Eastern

From ArenaNet:
REMEMBER: We will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game!

From Massively:
In an ongoing effort to make the Guild Wars 2 servers fit for the teeming masses that will descend upon them at launch, ArenaNet has declared yet another stress test. For those of you who missed out on Thursday's test or just want more time in Tyria, your next chance is this Friday, August 10th, from 7:00 p.m. EDT until 11:00 p.m. EDT.

Characters will not be wiped before the stress test, and as always, the test is open only to those who have already pre-purchased Guild Wars 2.

In the announcement of the event, the ArenaNet team reminded fans that they "might experience connectivity problems" and that any such issues "are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch."

If anyone is going to be on Tarnished Coast let me know, Ill be playing the heck out of this :)

PS sorry for the double post

[Hullabaloo]

Triple post sorry guys, but you are just too quite!

Another stress test Sunday, 11-12 PDT, 1-2 CDT, & 2-3 EDT.

I'll be on Tarnished coast checking out the crafting town. Last one was pretty nice. Fair bit of lag and graphical issues (my guild mate was all sky blue) but that got fixed in the first hour. Bit of rubber banding for the first 3 hours, but the last hour was very smooth (besides getting killed by alligators that spit poison or something)

[Decatus]

(besides getting killed by alligators that spit poison or something)

Those would be Marsh Drakes, I believe. Drakes all have the ability to spit AoE breath effects, and can be tamed as Ranger pets. They're pretty nifty.

[douglaswalkers]

Yeah !! Its simply great, I have played it many time love its choice of characters, I had also tried it before in its beta weekends and I was kind of impressed by it.

[Hullabaloo]

Yes, ArenaNet is having another Stress test.

12-4 Pacific, 2-6 Central, 3-7 Eastern

From ArenaNet:
REMEMBER: We will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game!

From Massively:
In an ongoing effort to make the Guild Wars 2 servers fit for the teeming masses that will descend upon them at launch, ArenaNet has declared yet another stress test.

Characters will not be wiped before the stress test, and as always, the test is open only to those who have already pre-purchased Guild Wars 2.

In the announcement of the event, the ArenaNet team reminded fans that they "might experience connectivity problems" and that any such issues "are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch."

Wont get on for this one myself. Being a good little husband and fixing the fridge before I emerse myself in the GW2 world on the 25th :).

OE still looking for some members to join us on launch, see Sig for details!

[Turalisj]

Alright, got GW2 pre-purchase! I will be joining you folks on the 25th when the game launches.... Not sure precisely what to play. I may end up going crazy on the alts.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Well, got my netbook back. Now to purchase a bigger memory chip and the game...

[Turalisj]

Is anyone interested in setting up a Guild together?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Is anyone interested in setting up a Guild together?

I want to make a guild. Do resource management of guild experience and stuff. Ideally, I'd optimize it for WvW, with the "Art of War" branch. So if you're not a dedicated WvWer who's willing, at bare minimum, to go defend a contested point when you're not doing an event or dungeon or something, so that I know my buff wasn't a waste or was worth less than it cost, it's probably not for you.

That guild would be rather serious, though, so as a general guild for the Playground, it wouldn't work.

I don't want to have Occasionally Excellent be the general Playground guild either, since I'm a lot younger than 25 and I think that at least a few other Playgrounders in the MMO are going to be younger.

[Ogremindes]

Is anyone interested in setting up a Guild together?

There's been some discussion further back in this thread, but no decisions.

[Turalisj]

Well, I might start up something. Legacy of Whispers. I need to see the game first though....

[Hullabaloo]

Re-posted details about Occasionally Excellent in the spoiler. We have picked the Tarnish Coast, and are selecting guild emblems now if anyone is interested. Been having some active threads on crafting, builds and the general dev direction of the game, as well as active on the betas lookin' around.

We do say 25+ and would welcome people 21+ that have the same gaming mind set (relaxed, friendly). Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any questions. Application is mainly "yes I read your summary and agree"

Spoiler

Show

Hi all!

A group of former guildies from DDO(and friends) of mind are setting up a guild to explore GW2 with, and we are looking for some like-minded people to join.

Basics of the Occasionally Excellent guild, server TBD

Pretty much age 25+, casual mature group, most CST and EST people. Some of us have significant others, and even a semblance of a life! We are committed players, but understand Life Happens. We are not going to force you grind out server first, but aim to play well, and enjoy it. Some of us play a few hours a few, some a few days a week. We have a mumble server that will be used a fair bit, and R rated language happens, although offensive language is not tolerated. Most importantly NO DRAMA and Treat others as you wish to be treated. We play games to have fun, leave the drama in RL.

If that sounds interesting to you, and want more information see our guild site at Occasionally Excellent. to apply or PM me here.

[Shadow]

Well, got my netbook back. Now to purchase a bigger memory chip and the game...

Ummm.... I don't know what kind of netbook you have, but I'm going to hazard a guess that it probably doesn't have sufficient CPU/GPU to play the game in any actually *playable* fashion. I'm no expert by any means, but I can't think of a single netbook that would be able to handle Gw2.
I'd check that out before spending money on more memory and the game itself.

To put it simply: if it even had a *chance* of running Gw2 in any playable fashion, it would be called a laptop instead of a netbook.

[Turalisj]

Why 25+ for the age? That's going to, well, cut off a lot of interest. Why not make it 18+?


And I'm rocking a Lenovo Y570 with 8gig of RAM, an i7 processor, and a GT 555M video card. Should be plenty strong.

[Ogremindes]

Oh, as world transfers are going to be free at launch we can wait and see what the populations are like before deciding where to set up.

Well, I might start up something. Legacy of Whispers. I need to see the game first though....

I was thinking of starting up something with an OotS-themed name to serve as a general Playground guild. "Knights of the Green Hilt" or something.

[Sith_Happens]

Oh, as world transfers are going to be free at launch we can wait and see what the populations are like before deciding where to set up.

I was thinking of starting up something with an OotS-themed name to serve as a general Playground guild. "Knights of the Green Hilt" or something.

"The Sapphire Guard" would make a pretty cool guild name, though you might want to clear it with the Giant for politeness's sake.

[Turalisj]

Why not The Linear Guild?

Nah, I may end up doing my own guild. Or seeing if people from one of the old guilds I was in are still around...

[Ogremindes]

Why not The Linear Guild?

Nah, I may end up doing my own guild. Or seeing if people from one of the old guilds I was in are still around...

You can belong to multiple guilds (you can only use one at a time but you can switch freely), so it's not like you have to choose between your old guildmates and GiTP.

[Warreck]

I don't think I've noticed it being said here, and I apologize if it has and I missed it, but as I saw the name Tarnished Coast mentioned a couple times, I figured I'd stop by and say something!

Despite being amazingly well-suited for roleplaying and such, Guild Wars 2 doesn't currently have any officially-chosen and moderated RP server, like WoW or other MMOs do. But there are many roleplayers interested in it, and therefore we have gathered and decided to gather on two servers - Tarnished Coast for the US, and Piken Square for EU, to be the unofficial RP servers.

Now, of course people are welcome to roll wherever they want, and most of the RPers seem to know and understand there'll be plenty of non-RPers around us, but for any of you who is interested in RP, casual or serious or anything, feel free to come visit us there.

Furthermore, if you'd rather go for another server with friends, but still interested in RP, I'm sure you can find someone willing to guest you on TC / PS occasionally.

If there's any questions, curiosity, or an interest in Guild Wars 2 RP, there's an unofficial site right here.

Hoping to see you all at launch!

[Turalisj]

I'll probably make my character on Tarnished Coast, even if I won't roleplay a great deal on there.

[Ogremindes]

"The Sapphire Guard" would make a pretty cool guild name, though you might want to clear it with the Giant for politeness's sake.

It would be a cool name, but a google search for "sapphire guard" comes up with a WoW guild as the second result. So maybe not.

[Turalisj]

The Priests of Banjo.

[Chromascope3D]

"The Greysky Thieves' Guild Chapter's Fighter Outreach Program"

[Turalisj]

Does anyone still play Guild Wars 1? I need to get some more stuff for the Hall of Monuments!

http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/#page=m...AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Hullabaloo]

Yes, ArenaNet is having another Stress test.

12-4 Pacific, 2-6 Central, 3-7 Eastern
Tuesday, Aug 21st 3-7 EDT

From ArenaNet:
REMEMBER: We will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game!

From Massively:
In an ongoing effort to make the Guild Wars 2 servers fit for the teeming masses that will descend upon them at launch, ArenaNet has declared yet another stress test.

Characters will not be wiped before the stress test, and as always, the test is open only to those who have already pre-purchased Guild Wars 2.

In the announcement of the event, the ArenaNet team reminded fans that they "might experience connectivity problems" and that any such issues "are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch."

Another one!

[Turalisj]

I'll be joining this one!

Hopefully on Tarnished Coast with a brand new Human Thief. Look for Jungle Nin III.