Guild Wars 2: A Different Kind of MMO

[Rodéric]

I'm disappointed the beta was so poorly optimized. According to numerous accounts, it was almost entirely CPU bound.The game was totally unplayable, for me. It was like swimming through choppiness, sorry that's the only example I came up with off the top of my head. I'm really bummed I was looking forward to this beta. Hopefully, I'll be able to partake in the next beta and it'll be better.

There was a warning about performance in capital red letters on the official forum before the beta started...
I got between 60 and 3fps, more often 20-30, but since they warned us about the complete lack of optimisation at this time, I really didn't care.

 

[Dresden]

There was a warning about performance in capital red letters on the official forum before the beta started...
I got between 60 and 3fps, more often 20-30, but since they warned us about the complete lack of optimisation at this time, I really didn't care.

I've been invited to every event since the beta began, and during the first event this was the case. I've decided I'm going to try again during this week's upcoming event, and even if the game runs like total crap, I'm really interested in giving it a second look. Hopefully some of these issues have been ironed out.

 

[Rodéric]

It was running rather well in the latest BWE/Stress Test.
I'm not playing until release, I'll create a Human Warrior based on my most played character in Guild Wars, but I don't plan to start the game playing with him, but maybe an Silvari Elementalist...

The problem with the big characters is that it feels like they are moving in slow motion so Norns and Charrs are a little odd to play.

Heard good things about Charr's story lines, but I think it's mostly people like them for the violence...

 

[Dresden]

It was running rather well in the latest BWE/Stress Test.
I'm not playing until release, I'll create a Human Warrior based on my most played character in Guild Wars, but I don't plan to start the game playing with him, but maybe an Silvari Elementalist...

The problem with the big characters is that it feels like they are moving in slow motion so Norns and Charrs are a little odd to play.

Heard good things about Charr's story lines, but I think it's mostly people like them for the violence...

Asura and Sylvari will be playable races in the upcoming BWE

I was watching a bit on the auction house and the crafting system. A number of players have guides explaining it on Youtube. I really admire what they've done with both. The whole discovery system and gem systems are implemented really nicely. The Mystic Forge is a pretty neat device, too. It basically allows you to add a number of enchanted items which you'd normally sell to a vendor for a chance of a pretty cool item in return.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Well, been playing for the past day. Good good. Although it seems everytime I finally get out of the overflow into a map proper, it's time to port back to sell/bank which means back into overflow when I go back. Not a biggie though as you can do pretty much everything in overflow that you can in the proper map.

Was almost going to be hugely disappointed that the only AA option in game is FXAA (horribly blurry in GW2). But then there's proper Supersampling (ya!) in game in Render Sampling. And seems to run just peachy with it on and everything at max except shadows. Very nice.

I'm already planning to budget ~15 USD a month to this. No monthly fee's but it's worth it and I want more character slots.

On the Tarnished Coast server.

Regards,
SB

 

[Daozang]

Been playing all day, (my last vacation day from work) and I love it.
Haven't had any pvp yet, but the pve, is very good!

 

[swaaye]

Anyone want to compare the PVE to the original game for me? I haven't played the beta or read much about it.

 

[MfA]

Closing the forums on launch day is not a good sign.

 

[Rodéric]

I made a Human warrior, now level 31, also just made a Norn elementalist, level 2.

The overflow/login are a little buggy atm, making people from a party unable to play together, that's annoying !
Should get better. (It worked fine in Beta 2)

 

[MfA]

Nice that they give error messages suggesting the problem is on your side when their login server can't handle the load after a patch ... that's either hugely disingenuous, or hugely moronic ... neither reflects well on them. I'm a cynic, so I assume I'm being lied to ... but a more trusting person might waste a lot of time trying to fix things on his end.

Typical fucking MMO fail launch ...

 

[homerdog]

Oh I was gonna go buy this on my way home from work. Nevermind that.

It looks really interesting and would be my first foray into the world of the MMO, but I'm not paying for a game that doesn't work.

 

[MfA]

Just to clarify I have no idea how often it happens ... it just happened to me the first time I wanted to play it (downloaded it earlier) so I was a bit pissed ... then it gave an error message suggesting the problem was on my end, when it wasn't, and I was even more pissed.

 

[Rodéric]

It's working rather fine, got a few hiccups with grouping but besides that I didn't really have any problem.

Don't forget you do not pay a monthly fee, so if it's not working well enough for you right now you can just wait a little, you won't have wasted any money...


Tried WvWvW for the first time, I'm on a low population server and we got steamrolled, still quite interesting, you can mix strategies and tactics I think, once players are a little more experienced.
Having NPC and such in it is quite interesting, there's more to do than just slaughter each other, you can attack supply routes, replace watchers, capture supply "generators", ram forts...

 

[MfA]

Unplayable lag all evening over here ...

Or rather, their servers become 100% unresponsive for something like 30 seconds every 30 seconds ... so it's not really lag. Garbage collection maybe ...

PS. I still think they took their forums down because they saw this shit coming and didn't want to jeopardize early sales.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Interesting that MfA is having so many problems.

Not a single instance of lag on my end so far. Been playing off and on since the 25th. I definitely like the fact that there is no monthly fee as I'm planning on taking this one ultra casual.

Trying really hard not to get addicted as I usually do with good MMORPGs. And this one is very good indeed. Although I'm still not sold on the enforced level caps for each zone. If you are higher level than the cap when you enter an area, your level, stats, and gear are all adjusted to the max level allowable for that area.

It's fine right now when there's a high population in the lower tiers, but I can see where it may become a problem for some character types when most of the population is in the upper tiers.

Also, crafting is fantastic in this game. Although it seems to be far harder to get leather and cloth than it is to get metal and wood.

Regards,
SB

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Anyone want to compare the PVE to the original game for me? I haven't played the beta or read much about it.

Almost forgot to reply to this.

PvE is almost nothing like GW1 other than the action oriented part of it. Skillset builds are far more limited, but you can change them anytime you aren't actually in combat.

Some aspects are still there, however. For example, you can still juke strafe to dodge ranged attacks without actually using the dodge action (which drains endurance).

Also, all heritage items except for pets are basically just vanity effects. Some are much cooler than others. Ranger pets on the other hand appear to be more than just a visual differnce because...

Ranger pets all have different skillsets based on the type of animal they are. Hence, unlike GW1, they aren't all the same just with different skins. A bear pet actually has different skills than a spider pet. Some pets even have heals and buffs.

So the Ranger pet heritage items from GW1 might actually impact gameplay to an extent unlike the armor and weapon skins.

Regards,
SB

 

[Rodéric]

Gameplay changes with class, don't hesitate to try many different until you find a good fit for you !

Also, learn to dodge and move, or you'll die, again, again, again...

I have had lag issues once or twice, for a few minutes, but I'm not in the areas surrounding the capitals anymore, that probably helps.
(That's a reason I pre purchased, to have a better experience.)

 

[MfA]

Interesting that MfA is having so many problems.

Actually the entire EU was fucked last evening AFAIK. Everyone on my server and in overflow was at any rate and looking at the general thread on /vg/ it was true on a lot of servers.

 

[swaaye]

SB thanks for the overview. I'm probably going to pick this up. Maybe I'll wait a few weeks until things settle though.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Actually the entire EU was fucked last evening AFAIK. Everyone on my server and in overflow was at any rate and looking at the general thread on /vg/ it was true on a lot of servers.

OK, that would probably explain it as I'm playing on NA servers. It's unfortunate that the EU region is having so many problems as the game really is good.

Heck, I haven't even seen a single case of "rubber banding" yet. And that has exised pretty much universally at every MMO launch I've been a part of due to the initial stress on the servers.

Regards,
SB