I'm buying this on Monday. It came down to a choice between GW2 and D3, but D3 has no staying power and GW2 is looking more and more incredible the more I watch videos and research things about it.

 

Tbh, every single MMO looks amazing, until it flops. Just take a look at SWTOR for example.

 

Eh, there were concerns about SW:TOR and it's lack of endgame as well as it's highly Single-Player nature from the beginning. I spent alot of time on the SW:ToR Beta forums.. the really big concerns on those boards turned out to be true. Space combat was a total flop, endgame content wasn't nearly interesting enough to keep people playing.. and the storytelling nature of the game made leveling a great time... once or twice, but after that you get tired of a story you can't escape.

From the beginning, folks warned Bioware that the Jedi storylines and starter planets were inferior to the Sith story-lines and starter planets. And it turned out to be true. The Empire has a much greater population in general, as well as having more players than the Republic on most servers.

In the end SW:ToR shot itself in the foot in terms of replayability. Oh, sure, they tried to use the draw of other class story lines to boost that.. but it simply wasn't enough when the core mechanics and details of their game were lacking.

I don't see those problems here. But then, I haven't been part of the Beta Forums on GW2. What are the concerns about it at the moment? (Besides optimization. It's beta, bad optimzation is to be expected.)

 

GW2 has improved a LOT since the first beta weekend. My fps would drop to below 5 during a large dynamic event. Now there is never any problems even in world pvp, and in general things are much smoother, faster loads times also.

 

Hell, I've played every beta and nearly every stress test, and besides the occasional error or optimization problems in the first beta, I haven't run across anything that I don't like. I'll be playing this for years.

'course, I'm a fan, I've played GW1 for the last 6 years or so.

 

From what I've seen on the primary GW2 forum(GW2Guru), the only common concerns aside from obvious, and frequently biased, class balances, is perhaps particular functionality elements of WvW. That isn't to say that there are not individual people talking about this or that, but those are the main ones that have multiple people about them.

 

I haven't tried WvW yet, looking forward to release so I can give it a proper go. Must say, some of the classes don't excite me that much though, Warrior just didn't feel that good, apart from when I picked up a Greatsword. Mesmer, Guardian and Thief were excellent though. Elementalist and Necromancer are ones I think I might like after a bit of getting used to and trying out different weapons. Oh and Engineer was... interesting, I think I could end up liking it. I'm a bit disappointed by the Ranger so far, I really wanted to like it but playing as one just didn't seem that great. Hopefully It's improved since my last try with it.

 

I barely spent five to ten minutes on the Thief at the end of the last Stress Test, so I can't form a fair opinion on it. I quite enjoyed the Mesmer and Guardian, and for whatever reason I found fighting with the one-handed Sword main hand as a Ranger quite satisfying. I got a bit more enjoyment from Shortbow than I did Longbow.
The mobility provided with the three moves from one-handed Sword is quite fun:
1: Attack -> Attack + Knockback + 2s Cripple -> Leap at foe for Attack + 5s Might for Pet
2: Attack + Evasion backroll -> Leap at foe for Attack + 3s Cripple
3: Evade around the enemy then Attack + 6s Poison

If you take a Dagger off-hand, then your #4 also has an Evasion component included in the attack. That said, if you only have one off-hand, the Warhorn may be a better pick, circumstantially.

---------- Post automerged at 08:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 AM ----------

Completely unrelated, so I figure a double-posting wouldn't hurt overly much.

Anyway, I was browsing the GW2Guru forum, and came upon this thread about 'the little details'. I thought it was amusing, so I felt like I would share. Especially this video about the sound of bullet casings and this article about gravestone epitaphs.

There are some good ones in that latter article link, although I liked one of the ones listed in the comments near the top:

I definitely plan on visiting that graveyard after the game launches, as well as paying a bit more attention to my surroundings than I might otherwise, just in case.

---------- Post automerged at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 AM ----------

Well, there was a one-hour Stress Test from 11am to Noon, Pacific time. So, I figured I would try out the Elementalist, and it was quite entertaining. I was tackling a level 7 champion-kill type Skill Challenge at level 3 by myself until a pair of level 8's came around and helped with the remaining half of its health.(Sword-Spinning Skritt in the Human area, who wants to fight Dragons)
Careful use of dodge when he tried to attack me, followed by throwing spells at him when he was spinning in place, allowed me to handle an enemy several levels above me.

...he did hurt when he hit me though.

 

I kinda wish you could choose from a selection of weapons to choose from. I think that would give you more of a sense that it's your character, not just a guy. Not all Rangers should be wielding axes, I'd love to start with a bow maybe.

 

True... although you can probably get all of the weapons within 15-30 minutes. Considerably less if you keep some hand-me-downs in the bank(or use the Marketplace).

 

Hmm true, I haven't been that lucky with weapon drops, and I'll be buggered if I can find the weapons vendors in a lot of places. They seem to be hiding from me.

 

Hmm, while I don't know the others that well, I know that the Norn, Asura and Sylvari all have basic-weapon vendors either right near your starting point, or easily accessible in the capitol anyway. With the capitol being right by the start(almost literally behind you for those three), it shouldn't be too hard to get them.

Also, like I said, you could probably buy something off of the Marketplace(which can be browsed from anywhere, you just have to visit an NPC to actually pickup items) for super cheap if you just want something of a particular weapon class.

 

I hadn't though about the Marketplace! Ahh that's a good shout, I'm sure you could get it cheap yeah.

 

I've been a lurker for a long time, but never had anything useful to contribute. However, I thought DLP might find it interesting to know that one of their members works at ArenaNet on GW2.

It's cool seeing people getting excited about it; two weeks until release!

 

Well, that's an unlikely thing to hear, but considering it's your first post from joining in March 2011, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, heh. No harm done either way.

Anyway, I suppose we are still on target for a DLP Guild on the Borlis Pass server, since that's what most of us used during the Beta events? Unless anybody else has a specific intention to start the guild, I suppose I will, right after launch. A definitive choice for the Guild Name and TAG would be good though. Maybe I'll actually get on IRC again for the second time around launch hour.

 

If that's where you all are playing, I suppose I'll roll there. Haven't been in touch with any of my old cohorts, so GW2 will be new beginnings.

I look forward to it.

 

Are you guys plan on buffing Thieves?

 

Has anyone been scrambling for HoM points? I've just finished my run, given the amount of effort required for even one more point at the stage I'm at. Got to 18 points and I'm fairly happy with that.

 

I started to when I heard about it, but honestly I can't be arsed to do a run alone. I don't remember the game well enough to start from the beginning again anyway. Also, I don't have nightfall which is where many of the easiest points come from.

Edit: Finally pre-purchased this today. I'm so stoked.