I played a paragon and an elementalist in GW1, so a different class would be nice, but my first character will probably be an elementalist to ease into the game. After that, I'll probably get into Warrior or Monk, and maybe Mesmer since I've never played those classes.

So, DLP Guild? I'd definitely be interested in joining.

 

I've never played Guild Wars, but I've always been somewhat interested.

Would it be better to jump in before 2 is released, or just wait for it to come out?

 

I'd say wait for 2, since the GW1 servers would be pretty empty, considering how old the game is. I think its always better to play an MMO with lots of people, and if we do get a DLP guild going, you'll have lots of people available to play with.

Gameplay wise, GW1 wasn't that hard to grasp, and if you've ever played an MMO you'll adapt pretty quickly. It certainly won't be necessary to have played GW1 to go well in GW2.

 

Played a Necromancer/Mesmer originally in GW1, however I think I'll be aiming for a Guardian when GW2 hits the shelves. They'll be Thieves & Engineers pouring out of every corner of the game & I'll eat my hat if at least half of them aren't Charr or Asuran.

 

...umm...wut?

No they aren't.

 

Well, as I said, I haven't played it in a while, but the game is a couple years old, and when I played it the servers were going down in population. Unless its suddenly received a surge in membership I don't see how there would be tons of people playing the game. Especially for new players, all the starting areas would be fairly sparse.

And I stand by the fact that GW2 will have many, many more players than GW1.

 

That's perhaps a tricky question to answer.

Personally, if you have a bit of spare money... Guild Wars 2 should not be coming out until some time next year, so if you want to try out the first one to get a feel for the game world at the very least, that's not necessarily a bad idea.
I'm certainly up for playing, and I'm optimistically sure that we can snag a few fellow DLP'ers. I currently own only the first three campaigns, but I will probably get Eye of the North midway through next month. I've got plenty of time to work on the Hall of Monuments, and I know that I have at least 8-10 points worth of GW2 stuff, if I could access it. A friend that I'm slowly bringing through the Factions campaign rarely plays more than once or twice a week, and it's taking quite a while. So I've got plenty of free time until classes start August 24th, and even then, job hunting and coursework aside, my evenings are mostly free.

Unless fate favors me, and I get a job with decent hours, but even then, I should still have a good bit of free time available.

That said, while playing in Guild Wars may give a certain idea of class dynamics, it won't fully transfer to Guild Wars 2. One major adaptation, is that in Guild Wars 2, any class can double-press/tap a direction to dodge, at the cost of some energy. Something which goes into conjunction with what Iztiak mentioned, that most abilities and spells with cast times can be used while moving.

For better or for worse, the original game did follow the standard method of abilities with cast time requiring a stop of motion. Most cast times were three seconds or less, with the fighting classes generally only having one to two second cast times, if any at all. Primarily on support abilities, in their case.

Notable exceptions being things such as Rangers opting to use a static Longbow rather than a mobile Shortbow. Then again, the Longbow has what was likely appreciated by many Rangers, the Barrage ability(which can Cripple if with a particular trait), and a channeled Rapid Fire. Even so, they can even function quite well with Axes and one and two-handed Swords in melee range.

On a related note, Warriors can wield Rifles and Longbows quite effectively, with their own different skills, if they wish to fight at range for whatever reason. Perhaps as their weapon swap selection.


By the way, The Berkeley Hunt, the Monk is out as a class. The game functions such now that, generally, your self-healing is better than healing from other sources. Also, the Downed State, instead of direct death, potentially allows self-recovery if you can kill an enemy with the gimped Downed State abilities. Alternate, any ally can interact with you to restore you to active fighting, without needing any sort of specific revival ability. Presumably their is some sort of cast time/channeling time to do so, that makes it at least a moderate risk to attempt to do so during a fight.

While they are on the Wiki, I will write up some class summaries here: (as divided by levels of defense)
[Note: All of the following can be more or less discerned at the previously linked wiki, in the Profession section:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Profession ]


"Soldier" (Heavy Armor)

~Warrior~
Similar in core functionality to GW1, with Shouts and Stances, and the broadest weapon set selection at 19 possible weapon setups(all classes also have one or two underwater weapon setups, although certain abilities, and the Elementalist attunements can change that quite a bit). 4 two-handed, 3 one-handed Main Hand, 5 Off Hand. Harpoon Gun and Spear underwater. Ability to weapon swap two sets.

Unique aspects include:
--Burst Skill, such that, instead of Adrenaline building up and being used by individual skills, it now builds up into an ability that can be used with three different stages, that varies depending on the weapon equipped in the Main Hand. Understandably, all adrenaline gets used.
(As an example, to use the Longbow from earlier, the Burst Skill for bow, at the three stages does an attack plus Cripple, then at the second stage with Immobilize, then finally with Knockdown.) Burst Skills are a class defining mechanic, and separate from the skill slot usage.
--Banner skills, that place an area buff that can be picked up and relocated. When held, skills are replaced with a new set, as with other 'Environmental Weapons'.
--Stances, are currently listed as a Warrior only ability, but traditionally they have been utilized by almost all of the classes in the original to provide generally short term, but often highly effective, self-buffs. Also, often with a relatively long cool down, so they could not be kept active.

~Guardian~
In spirit, a combination of heavily armored party-aiding Paragons, with a touch of Protection Monks, with several other elements tossed in. 12 weapon sets, including 3 two-handed, 3 Main Hand and 3 Off Hand. Spear and Trident underwater. Weapon swap with two sets.

Unique Aspects include:
--Virtues, are three passive boons that the Guardian has active at all times. They can be activated to allow a one-time, or short term in the case of Resolve, boon to your allies, while putting that Virtue on a cooldown before it becomes a passive boon again. Justice causes your every fifth attack to cause burning, or your allies' next attack. Resolve grants the Regeneration boon, or cures conditions and grants short term Regeneration to allies. Courage periodically(no set frame is stated) blocks an attack, or can block the next attack for allies.
The last effect, termed "Aegis" is only provided by a few particular Guardian abilities. Also, Virtues are a class defining mechanic, and are separate from the skill slots.
--Symbols, placed on the ground, these grant either a boon to allies, or damage enemies, sometimes both, with one example being a Symbol that damages enemies while giving a Protection boon to allies. The duration is relatively short.
--Spirit Weapons, temporary invulnerable(untargetable too, most likely) ally, which is similar to Necromancer minions in that the ability can be ended early by using it again while it is out, to enact a special attack.
--Wards, such as the Line of Warding and Warding Circle, prevent enemies from crossing the line, although without using a relevant trait for the particular skill, they do not prevent ranged fire.


"Adventurer" (Medium Armor)

~Ranger~
Relatively similar in core functionality to the first game, except with a drastic renovation on the Animal Companion mechanic, as well as being fully functional with a few melee weapons. 11 weapon sets, including 3 two-handed, 2 Main Hand and 4 Off Hand. Spear and Harpoon Gun underwater. Weapon swap two sets.

Unique Aspects include:
--Animal Companions, will have a core level attuned to the Ranger's level, but will also have twenty evolutionary levels that can only be gained by actively using the pet. Each evolutionary level gives automatic bonuses depending on the animal, and every five evolution levels unlocks one of four skill slots, whereupon one of eight skills unique per animal(including say differences between a polar bear and a brown bear) can be slotted, which are all available right away.
A Ranger will be able to tame up to three companions at a time, which also have environmental distinctions of terrestrial(birds, insects, and such), aquatic(fish, jellyfish, sharks...), and amphibious(felines, canines, bears, reptiles...). With the exception of a certain Elite skill, only one can be active at a time.
Animal Companions have a separate skill and combat-state control bar.
--Nature Spirits, are spirits of nature that will grant a variety of effects within an area. There were quite a few in the original game, although personally I only used them rarely and in certain situations for the most part, since they tended to have long cast times and cool downs.
--Preparations, while there are currently no skill examples, the skill type is listed. They are moderate duration self-buffs, which modified the Ranger's weapon attacks. Examples from the original included making them inflict poison, bonus physical or fire damage, bleed enemies, set them on fire, etc...
--Traps, while the Thief has a few as well, are more so a Ranger mechanic, and are designed to Cripple, Bleed, Poison, or otherwise afflict clusters of enemies that trigger them unknowingly.
--Stealth, mostly a Thief ability, but a few companions have access to it, and there is at least one mentioned ability, Camouflage, which allows the Ranger and his companion stealth as long as they don't move.


~Thief~
The thief is perhaps most similar to the Assassin class, and yet is different enough that, different name aside, they consider it to be a non-returning class. 7 weapon sets, including 1 two-handed, 3 Main Hand and 2 Off Hand. Spear and Harpoon Gun underwater. Weapon swap two sets.

Unique Aspects include:
--Stealing, can be used on any enemy, such as a living tree to get a tree branch, to gain different Environmental Weapons, which while used, replace the weapon skills with a new set of skills. The Steal ability is a class defining mechanic, and as such does not take a skill slot, although as mentioned, it does temporarily replace your weapon skills when used. I have recently seen some examples of other stolen objects, and generally it would appear that stealing is quite worth it, and the environmental weapon abilities acquired are often quite effective.
--Initiative, wherein their weapon skills do not have cool downs, but rather cost initiative. This allows you to rapidly burn through your abilities for a burst of damage if you so wish, but at the risk of not being able to do any weapon skills beyond your basic for a little while. Initiative is also separate per weapon set, so you can swap weapons after burning through one, but it only naturally regenerates(currently one every two seconds) for the active weapon.
--Dual Skills, are such that unlike most classes that, when wielding a Main and Off Hand, have the first three weapon skills defined by their Main Hand, and their last two by their Off Hand, the Thief has it different. The first two and last two are directly weapon defined, then the third skill is different, and is a combination skill depending on which of the six Main and Off Hand combinations are equipped.
--Shadow Stepping, can be used to travel through the shadows from one location to another. Such as with certain weapon attacks that, for example, shoot with an equipped Off Hand Pistol, then shadow step to the target, to attack with your equipped Main Hand Dagger. There is also an opposite skill, if those weapons are in reversed Hands, where one attacks, then shadow steps away before shooting.
--Stealth, can be activated through several different abilities, and is broken mostly either after a certain time, or by attacking, and in at least one case, by moving. If struck during stealth, the Thief will be flash revealed for a moment. Stealing is notable, in that the act by itself does not break stealth.
--Traps, while less so than the ranger, the Thief does have a few traps, such as one that, when triggered, stealths and shadow steps the Thief to the target.


~Engineer~
It shares aspects of the Ritualist, with the Turrets being similar to Spirits, but also with the Necromancer's new minion mechanic of a minion being able to be 'used' by activating an ability that replaces the skill while it is active. There are also several things that are simply new or different. The Engineer is with the Guardian as being considered an outright 'new' class to the series, and was the final class to make it into the finalized 8, even if it was released before the very likely "Mesmer". 3 weapon sets. 1 two-handed, 1 Main Hand and 2 Off Hand. Harpoon Gun underwater. No weapon swap(but wait!)

Unique Aspects include:
--Tool Belt, is a unique class mechanic, and thus separate from the skill bar. It's a set of four skills related to the abilities in your sixth(Healing) and seventh through ninth(Utility) skill slots. They can be used even if a related kit is not currently active(although I'm sure that doesn't necessarily apply for things such as the self-destruct ability that becomes available with a Turret equipped... hopefully )
--Weapon Kits, are currently the Flamethrower and Elixir Gun, and when used from the Utility skill slot, replaces your weapon skills with five new skills from the kit, until the kit is deactivated or replaced by another. There are currently no cool down restrictions for swapping to different kits(although a cool down for the kit after it is swapped out), unlike with weapon swapping.
--Backpack Kits, like the Weapon Kits, replace your weapon skills with ones related to the particular kit. Those are currently a Med Kit, Mine Kit, Grenade Kit and Bomb Satchel, which are pretty self-explanatory. There is also a Tool Kit, which gives you a wrench to smack people with, and support Turrets. If one wants to consider it as such, the Engineer has an extra seven weapon sets, and up to four kits could fill the utility skill slots. Which would technically grant them five sets to swap between without leaving combat.
--Turrets, as previously mentioned, are static defenses, such as a Flame Turret and a Rifle Turret, but they also include specialty Turrets like Net Turrets, Thumper Turrets, and a Healing Turret that sprays healing mist. Turrents can be overcharged to a one-time ability by re-using the skill, before being deactivated. They can also be picked up and moved, like the banners from earlier, by interacting with them.


"Scholar" (Light Armor)

~Elementalist~
The Elementalist, while returning with many familiar spells, as well as many new ones, will also be drastically different due to its defining class mechanic, the ability to Attune to the different elements. 5 weapon sets. 1 two-handed, 2 Main Hand and 2 Off Hand.(the two-handed staff is for slower, long range, then there is a Main Hand and Off Hand each for medium and short range, with Scepter and Focus as medium, and Daggers for either hand as short) Trident underwater. No weapon swap(but...)

Unique Aspects include:
--Attunement, allows the Elementalist to change the element current attuned with her weapon at will(with the previous on cool down for 20 seconds, and the other two for 10), with each having a general thematic focus on types of spells. Therefore, while restricted to one of five weapon sets at a time during combat, the Elementalist even surpasses the Warrior, with a potential twenty total different weapon setups, four during combat, as each elemental attunement is different per weapon set and element. Four more could be included if you count the underwater Trident weapon, for a total of twenty-four sets and one hundred and twenty weapon skills alone. Of course, there are far more Traits than there are Trait slots, so inevitably one will favor a particular element for standard fare, but even so...
Also, upon attuning to an element, there is an immediate effect in an area around the Elementalist, followed by a constant passive effect.
Of course, as a defining class mechanic, the attunement skills are separate from the skill slots.
--Conjure Spells, allow the Elementalist to conjure environmental weapons, one type per element, that can be used either by them or their allies. This includes Lava Axes which can be thrown, and an Ice Bow, with the weapons, as per usual, replacing the weapon skills, while they are being used.
--Glyphs, are a type of utility skill that have a specific designation, and are only used by the Elementalist. Otherwise... they just seem like a variety of support abilities, although they are specific to self-boosting the Elementalist only. Their is a specific Trait to reduce the recharge of Glyphs.


~Necromancer~
Another returning class, and at its core, the same general concept, with a few changes. One of them being the lack of hexes in the game, as mentioned in a previous post of mine. Conditions are still in of course, so afflicting your enemies with poison, bleeding, disease, and the like is still fair game. A few new conditions as well. 10 weapon sets. 1 two-handed, 3 Main Hand and 3 Off Hand. Spear and Trident underwater. Weapon swap two sets.

Unique Aspects include:
--Death Shroud, is an ability that can be activated after the Necromancer generates enough Life Force either from enemies and allies dying near them, or from some specific weapon and utility abilities. During the Death Shroud, the Necromancer gets both a replacement skill bar, but also their health bar is replaced with Life Force instead. They also can not be knocked down during this state. Death Shroud, as well as their normal skill set, has many abilities which steal life from the enemies, which, combined with the extra health bar that can be provided when Death Shroud is available, can make Necromancers surprisingly enduring.
--Fear, is an ability only available to the Necromancer, and only available by one skill during Death Shroud, both on land and one with the underwater skill set. Fear makes enemies run away for two to five seconds in PvE, and two seconds in PvP, although as a condition, it can be removed by moves such as the Guardian's Virtue of Resolve. Also, the skill that performs it, currently has a twenty second cool down.
--Minions, are essentially the Necromancer's traditional 'defining class mechanic'. They function rather differently now though, with the skill itself, being similar to the turret skill, such that re-using the skill while a minion is out, with exhaust the minion to perform some special effect. Be it exploding, healing you, or something different. The minions themselves, with the exception of one putrid-spewing flesh wurm, are mobile though, so no worries there.
--Marks, are similar to Guardian Symbols, in that they are placed on the ground for an effect. They differ in that the effect only happens either when the duration ends, or if the Necromancer triggers it early by using the skill again. They also include a mix of effects that help allies and hurt enemies. (right here I almost navigated away from this page without once copying what I had written... spooked me)
--Wells, are similar to Marks and Symbols in that they are ground targeted, with the difference that they are like Symbols in that the effect is immediate, but they also have a noticeably longer duration. They also tend to have a notable cool down to coincide with this.


~Mesmer~
...Probably?


There are several skill types that are shared across classes, such as:
--Shouts, mentioned in the Warrior description, are used by Warriors and Guardians. They are primarily ally-supportive, and in the original Guild Wars at least, had a rather large area of effect. Many of the GW2 descriptions say "you and nearby allies", so I'm not completely sure how different that will be, since "nearby" was definitively different from "in earshot" in GW1.
--Stances, are currently listed as Warrior only, but I'm putting this here for now as well. Read the Warrior section for a description.
--Traps, as mentioned above, are used by both the Ranger and Thief.
--Stealth, is the same as above.
--Forms, such as the Death Shroud, and the Norn racial Elite animal forms, allow the user to completely change their character to another form for a duration.
--Chains, are a type of skill, frequently the first slot for melee weapons, wherein three skills share the same slot, and are activated in a sequence. Using a skill not in the chain, will reset the chain to the first skill in the sequence.
--Signets, are used by all classes, and are utility skills which provide a constant passive bonus, but may be used to activate a special power, which also deactivates the passive bonus until the cool down passes.


Aside from those, there are some skills that a character will get based upon their race which, while weaker than a skill which may do the same general thing, could allow you to do something not quite normally available for your class. A strong example being the Norn racial skills of shapeshifting into their ancestral animal spirits.
All together, it's worth noting that, especially if you check out the wiki, while the weapon skills for most, but not all, of the classes are relatively finalized, there are likely to be many more utility skills available by release than are currently shown.


Whew~! That took a while... a probably only a few people will even read it. Ah well.

 

RE: GW2 DLP Guild.

Well, firstly, yes,but only on the condition that the name has little to do with HP. Not 'Faction DLP' or 'Potterless' or DarkLordCullen' or anything equally witty. How does Guilld creation work, and could I get a brief rundown from one of you GW1 players on what Guilds actually achieve? Of all the GW2 press, I've seen dick all abuot guilds, bar the name. Is it just a 'play with your frien, wahey!', which TS would achieve, or does it actually achieve something?

Hope this is legible. BB screen is fucked.

 

Well, that is slightly difficult to answer, as it's true that there has been very little information regarding guilds in Guild Wars 2.

Very concise answer in bold/italics at the end. My "EDIT" kind of invalidates the second part of my core post, except the WvWvW explanation, but ah well.

Perhaps the best we can do, is try to extrapolate what we can from their functioning in the original game.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild

As a disclosure statement, I'll admit that I got in a couple years late to the game, and only really had my brother as a 'personally known player' initially, shortly followed by not being able to play for quite a while. So I don't have a huge amount of experience in how guild PvP really worked out. I've only recently got back into being able to play it the past couple of years.

Anyway, a Guild had several functions, some obvious, and others handy, or fun.

1) The obvious social aspect... Not too much to say about that, although one can never underestimate a fun group of people, since they are often the main reason why people keep coming back to a game long after they have "done everything". Also, if one character joins, all of your characters on the same account were in the same Guild.
The original game only had three real 'levels' of organization, "Leader", "Officer" and "Member", with an extra eight-hour temporary "Guest".
Not necessarily an issue, but I wouldn't be too surprised if that aspect is somewhat more customizable in the sequel.

2) http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_hall
The Leader was able to select a Guild Hall, from several scenic locations(with somewhat varying prices), with different structural and defensive setups. The locations also were quite different.
The Guild Hall was accessible to quick-travel too from the Guild Window, for any member, except those at the start of the first game's, Prophecies, campaign. Within the Guild Hall, could be purchased nearly every single NPC of general use importance, to be available at one central location. Leaving the Guild Hall returned you to your previous location.
My current Guild Hall has a few NPC's, but since my current Guild is just my brother, my friend and myself... eh. I would love to play some more regulars, even if just to get to know each other though.

3) Guild Halls were also important for...
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_versus_guild
8 vs. 8 Battles located within Guild Halls, with conditions as listed in the link.
...I never actually did one of these myself >_>, but I have enjoyed other PvP types available in the game, to varied success. Random Arena can be a toss up sometimes, and the Daily Challenge can be tricky at times, with most of the skills available to use being a random selection, and sometimes not allowing anything close to a build that you are used to.

4) http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Alliance_battle
Alliance battles defined the borders of the Kurzick and Luxon regions within the Factions campaign. 12 vs. 12 battles with 3 groups of 4 per side.
Alliance battles don't actually require partying with fellow Guild members, but with people fighting for the same Faction that you are aligned to. My guild is currently aligned with Kurzick, for example.

5) ...and a somewhat distant five, is that you could display, or hide, a guild cape showing your guild's design. It doesn't actually influence anything aside from appearance. Sometimes I show it, sometimes not... You can't hide it during any PvP, as you represent your Guild.



Anyway, with that said, I can think that most of those things will carry over to GW2:

1) The social aspect is a given. Fun people are fun people. As mentioned, a good Guild/Clan/Regiment can be crucial to someone's longevity in playing any game.

2) Considering that everyone will even have their own personal home instance, that changes depending on their choices and actions during their personal story, I certainly don't see any reason for them to not include a Guild Hall instance once again.

3) Guild vs. Guild... I can't say, but again, it doesn't really conflict with what they have established so far.

4) Ignoring that Cantha(where Factions is located) isn't accessible at release, and the Kurzick and Luxon factions have been abolished, under one Imperialistic rule(if I remember right), I don't know if the three Orders quite have the same sense of rivalry that they did. At least not enough to have domain wars again. Then again, perhaps their differences in ideology as to how to defeat the Elder Dragons, causes conflict. While I can't rule it out, one of the following things I will mention will probably replace Alliance Battles quite fine.

5) Yeah, I think Guild Capes are still in. Wave them with pride, or something.

*) WvWvW(World vs. World vs. World) http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/World_PvP
Also known simply as WvW, World vs. World, or World PvP, will be three servers pitted against each other(thus the three "Worlds" before) in the "Mists". The servers will be placed against each other based upon accrued rankings, such that continuously 'strong' servers will not be pitted against continuously 'weak' servers.
World PvP will consist of four maps, one for each server, and a large central map. There will be siege weaponry, location capture and control(resources, villages, forts, castles, etc.), and there is no explicit limit on the number of players that can participate.(I do wonder how they will deal with massive amounts clustered in one location...)

As such, there will be tasks for large, organized groups(Guilds), and smaller task forces. There will also be defensive NPC's, but their purpose is primarily for support, not so much as a credible threat. Likely how support NPC's were helpful in GW1 missions, but could often die quite easily by themselves. The last news, was that the battles were slated to last for around two weeks, with a fair amount of back and forth, due to no two servers allowing one to gain the upper hand if they could avoid it. There will also be server-wide bonuses for your server doing well in World PvP.

Also of note is that you can theoretically level to cap purely through the World PvP, although, I doubt very many people will do it before gaining at least a few levels and skills. No one wants to be the level 1 that runs into a level 80 that just gives them a harsh look and they die. Obviously not something with the first little while, but later....


Anyway, I can see well coordinated Guilds, of whatever size they may be, being quite successful in WvW, managing groups of people larger than the standard party limit. For better or for worse, "PUG's" are rarely a threat to an actually organized opponent.
Alternately, the social aspect, is always good for what dungeons there are, normal Structured PvP, or simply getting a group of people when going around the world, or willing to join you as you do your Personal Story quests.



...::EDIT::...

I feel like an idiot, that since I didn't see it on their Main page, I didn't do a search on the Wiki for it until after I was about to submit this.

Anyway, here is what has been said:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild

Basically, there are a few notable changes:
1) Each character on an account counts as a single member of a Guild, and different characters can join different Guilds. That said, once they have a character in a particular Guild, they do not need an invitation to add another of their characters to that Guild.(as long as they still have at least one character in it, of course)

There is a somewhat vague statement that "A player's loyalty to their guild may be rewarded in game if their guild controls Keeps in World vs. World."

2) Some form of Guild Achievements

3) Guild members will be easily shown on the map, and their current activity will be shown on the roster.

4) Out of game support will allow access to Guild Calenders and even Guild Chat from web browsers. (aside from several other out of game things they are thinking of)

5) Oh, and I had not even considered it, but Guilds are not racially exclusive. Well... not natural in game segregation at least.

So, no specific mention of Guild Halls, which is disappointing, but the information is sparse anyway.



*****

As for what it specifically can accomplish beyond enhanced chat functionality, as is your point at the end, some vague sense of "rewarded loyalty", easily finding Guild members on the map, and chatting with those in-game, on a portable device when talking out loud isn't an option(although generally chatting on a portable device is not supposed to be done in many such situations either, but...).
Also, off the top of my head I really want to say the Guild Hall as being an unconfirmed but almost definite carryover from the previous game.

*****

 

I do hope Guild Alliances return.

While the Guild Chat feature is available in just about any MMO out there, you could ally yourself with up to 10 guilds in GW1 and have a special chat channel just for those.

Since many people like to join different guilds, or start their own or whatever else, you could still have a rather large community, without forcing everyone to stay in the same guild.

 

That does sounds familiar, and quite useful. Especially in the mentioned WvWvW battles.

Anyway, this will be my last for a bit, since I too, have been perhaps overly prolific in this topic in the last little while. That is, unless a specific question needs answering.


I found two rather interesting articles, both interviews with lead content designer, Colin Johanson. The first, is focused on Dungeon and Underwater gameplay:
http://www.tentonhammer.com/gw2/sdcc/2011/dungeons-and-underwater-interview

The second, is 'technically' about the Necromancer class, as well as how well it may be able to effectively 'tank', despite it's "Light Armor" classification. Even with that focus, there are a lot of informative gems of a more general nature, that apply as information regarding the other classes as well though. Such as acquisition for some Traits, and other things.
http://www.necrobator.com/features/interviews/exclusive-sdcc-interview-with-colin-johanson/

 

By all means, keep on posting, so far all of your posts have been informative and I've taken the time to read through them, which is pretty rare for me. Its good to have someone more knowledgeable than me telling me about the game.

Also, with regards to the guilds thing, I have no doubt there will be guild-focused PvP. But yea, mostly Guilds are for easier connection and play with people in the guild. In GW1, I would not have been able to hold on through to finish any campaign without my guild to help me out and give me advice on occasion, so they are pretty good to have.

 

I'm so damn pumped for this game, I seriously can't wait for it. I'm looking forward to the info from Gamescon, looks like they're set to reveal some new stuff.

 

8th profession announced: Commando

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2Esy83MQ0&feature=fvst

Sorry, I had to haha

 

On a related note to quote a thread from GameFaqs:

...they do so like to tease...


On that note, ignoring the occasional "How can the game last without a subscription?" thread that pops up from time to time, there are a few posters which regularly put up the latest videos and developer interviews. I haven't looked at all of them, sure, but that's where I find a fair portion of the ones that I do watch.


Next week, the Guild Wars 2 team will be doing a "Sylvari Week", where they release an article or blog post each day, discussing the race in some way. In particular, the much anticipated(among certain groups) reveal of the re-design of the Sylvari characters.
They already had Human, Charr and Norn weeks, and only have Sylvari and Asura left. Which roughly only leaves the final profession ...*cough*Mesmer*cough*... specifics on Guild functionality, expand on the structured PvP, and perhaps some other random things, left to announce the details of.




Oh, and just because, here are two gameplay videos from convention demos, where the players actually try to adapt to the new method of more active and moving combat. Unfortunately, many gameplay videos still have people following the old standards of stand-and-use-skills, when you can dodge, and even use most skills while moving in Guild Wars 2.


In the first, a Thief, beginning with a Short Bow, then later Dual-Pistols, possibly in an easier area than the next video, or maybe his almost excessive dodging really makes the difference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0J4J2F-f9A&


In this, the second video, an Elementalist, he makes good use of his Healing potential, but he may also be in an area slightly beyond him, and he frequently seems to fail the common strategy of "don't stand in the fire." Still, a decent display of different skills. It does suck how the enemies keep turning his geysers against him though, hah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MQAZQa_3nI

 

Anyone else going to be a massive nerd and make sure to have all the benefits and titles from the Hall of Monuments unlocked before GW2? I know I will.

 

Another thing I'm shirking at now is the apparent lack of PvP. Guy I work with was just talking about it, saying that for all it's radness, there's only two types of PvP, neither of which is anything resembling stats based (so potentially just two players button stomping the same sets of skills, to the same effect). As good as one of those types sounds - seriously, World v World v World is just insane - this doesn't appear to be a game for the more PvP minded. Is this accurate? The way he's made it sound, outside of a WvWvW instance it's almost like one big Co-Op mode. Not really in a position to check it out more at the mo, so thought I'd ask the resident gurus.

 

They have released little to no PvP information on guild wars 2.

Guild Wars 1, however, ruined any and ALL PvP on every MMO I've ever played since. It's just not fun in comparison.

The PvP in GW1 was the reason I fell in love with the game. You can take this with a grain of salt, as I imagine my opinion may be slightly biased, but I have no concerns about PvP in GW2.

 

I've always heard GW1 ruled at pvp, never really played that side of it that much though. I'm confident they can handle it well for GW2, even though it's not something I'm that interested in.

 

I primarily played the campaigns in GW1, which were suitably awesome. That said, I also liked the PvP and played it every now and then. Good news for those not wanting to grind like a motherfucker, PvP was less about gear and more about builds and skill (though having shit gear would suck).

I fondly remember when you got a skillful team, going around the Kurzick home maps (Luxon FTW) in groups, calling your guys and playing well. Also, fucking crit assassins. PvP assassins were bloody annoying.