• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Guild Wars 2 Launch Date announced: August 28th, 2012

Fantastic post, +1 internets to you.

Many thanks, it means a lot to me that you guys liked it! To be honest I'm just glad it even made any sense; I posted it late yesterday, and I was half asleep (not been sleeping a lot this week).

I guess it partly comes from a sense of frustration every time I try to explain this game to my other friends. I'm usually a quite good communicator in Spanish, with people routinely asking me to explain things to them, but really, communication fails me on this issue, for the reasons I pointed out. To be honest, it's massively frustrating; it's like explaining a spider web to someone who has never seen one, by showing them one thread at a time. :(

I want to do my part to see this game succeed; not just because of what it means for me personally (it being more successful is beneficial for all its players for all the obvious reasons), but simply because it deserves it more than any other. As a software engineer, I want to see outstanding design be successful. I want to see all that passion and creativity rewarded. I want to live in a world where these things happen.
 
I got a key from massively, but may have no need for it. I previously received a key from a gaffer for BWE2, so I'm wondering if my account will have access to BWE3? Is there any way of checking?
 
I've watched a bunch of class videos, and they all seem to focus on AoE abilities. Is there a class + weapon combo that focuses on high single-target damage?

I know when I played Warhammer Online I played as an Engineer. As an Engineer, you essentially had two ways to play: AoE, or single-target. As an AoE specialist, I could throw poisonous grenades into an invading zerg and do tons of damage, but never actually kill anyone. This seems like this is how Guild Wars 2 works, and I find it to be boring. It's more satisfying to pick off people one-by-one around the perimeter while they're distracted by the shiny keep. I hope there's a class that will let me do this in GW2.
 
I got a key from massively, but may have no need for it. I previously received a key from a gaffer for BWE2, so I'm wondering if my account will have access to BWE3? Is there any way of checking?

If you find you don't need it, please PM me. I have a BWE key, but I'm trying to convince my roommate to pick up the game as well, and this would help a ton.
 
Does anyone know how to apply a key to an account created during BWE2 for use during BWE3 (since previous events' keys are invalid for later ones)? My brother doesn't want to have to create a new account under a different email address and I was able to score him a key.

Thanks!
 
Does anyone know how to apply a key to an account created during BWE2 for use during BWE3 (since previous events' keys are invalid for later ones)? My brother doesn't want to have to create a new account under a different email address and I was able to score him a key.

Thanks!
Register with the same email and name, but apply new key.
 
I've watched a bunch of class videos, and they all seem to focus on AoE abilities. Is there a class + weapon combo that focuses on high single-target damage?

I know when I played Warhammer Online I played as an Engineer. As an Engineer, you essentially had two ways to play: AoE, or single-target. As an AoE specialist, I could throw poisonous grenades into an invading zerg and do tons of damage, but never actually kill anyone. This seems like this is how Guild Wars 2 works, and I find it to be boring. It's more satisfying to pick off people one-by-one around the perimeter while they're distracted by the shiny keep. I hope there's a class that will let me do this in GW2.

All of them? Every class has single target and AoE based weapons.
 
All of them? Every class has single target and AoE based weapons.

Ok good. I guess everyone just likes the AoE classes because they like to see hundreds of numbers pop up on the screen... even though it's not really doing anything other than being a mild annoyance.

I guess I'll find out more when I actually get to play next weekend.
 
I think some weapons are more single-targetted focused, or maybe even solely single targets. The Warrior's rifle, for example, I am pretty sure has no AOE skills (meanwhile the Warrior's longbow is based around AOE).

Some skills chain up to slight AOEs. Either the warrior's or guardian's mainhand sword attack's #1 skill on the third hit I believe was a frontal aoe for up to 3 targets.
 
If you're on your own, AOE will always be useless in PvP, since everyone will heal way before you do enough damage to be a threat. AOE is only useful in PvP if there's a large enough group concentrating it on specific points, like choke points or capture nodes.
 
Someone made a very easy to read combo chart:

Fields:
UAwyv.png


Finshers:

RYj5h.jpg
 
Does the game really only come with 5 character slots?

You can buy more via real money or through in-game gold. There's 5, one for each race and really there's no limit to how many you can buy for your account. In all reality you only need 8 so that's ~$30 or 2 months of a normal MMO sub OR you pay no real money at all and buy it via trading gold for gems.
 
556537_10150992488499209_392102446_n.jpg


ArenaNet's Eric Flannum and Colin Johanson are going to be chatting live on our Twitch TV channel in just about one hour. Join them as they explain how both single and multi-player RPGs have evolved and how GW2 showcases these changes. Then learn how they plan to tackle one of the genres most challenging aspects: The End Game.

If you have questions about this topic, feel free to tweet them to us @arenanet and we'll try to answer as many as we can at the end of the talk.

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2 ~RB2
 
This is probably a stupid question. My preorder key gets me into the BWE right?

Should be, i know Amazon preorder allows it dunno the rest.

btw, in the Twitch link, if you click the video tab from that channel, you can see the recorded videos of some developers that were streaming the last BWE2.
 
Should be, i know Amazon preorder allows it dunno the rest.

btw, in the Twitch link, if you click the video tab from that channel, you can see the recorded videos of some developers that were streaming the last BWE2.

The question was dumber than I thought. I have an email in my mailbox with the subject "You're Invited to the Guild Wars 2 Beta Event July 20-22" that arrived when I registered my key yesterday. I think that answers my question.
 
For those that missed it:

http://en.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/324689481

Oh and:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKE3Kh6syb8

220px-Kool_Aid_Man.jpeg


Here's a description of Orr:

Orr is very focused on these large meta events and fighting your way into orr and then taking it, the first zone in orr has 3 assault paths players have to do, the northern path is the sea and air path where you're firing golems to the beaches and subs that sail in, the center path is pretty much just the navy with subs and boats progessing, then the southern path which is another meta chain where troops are progressing along bridges and pontoons, and eveyrthing that had been built during the meta chains to get forces into Orr. once you get them into Orr it unlocks more new event chains where you're trying to take control of the corrupted god temples that were corrupted by Zhaitan, then there's little god statues scattered all over Orr and if the Orrians hold control of the god temples the little god statues will cause all klnds of effects to happen if you're near them like roots will come out of the ground and grab you or you might not be able to use some of your healing abilities, it all depends on what statue you're near. now the players want to actually take hold of the corrupted temples because it makes the progression through Orr easier, now also it allows for you to get to the final dungeon of the game (story wise) and it's a huge event chain getting to that point in southern Orr and a big part of the game is goign to be everyone working together to hold these things and fighting up to the final battlefront and holing it so that the dungeon can be done

They also said DEs we've seen are either one off types or a linear chain, that later on you'll see event webs that can spin off from points to make new chains and events can run into each other and effect each other. Oh and the Legendary weapons sound god damn amazing. Also, we'll gain skill points after 80 just like GW1 where every level you gain after gets you another skill point. Oh and there will be holiday events, first of which is the Mad King event in October and they even talked about racial events. There's also no renown hearts in Orr and double the amount of events than other zones.

Endgame Content in Guild Wars 2

- Orr is the final zone in Guild Wars 2 at launch.
- There are no renown hearts in Orr, instead the zone consists entirely of dynamic events and meta events.
- One example is that the temples of the old gods have to be conquered to open up events to gain access to the final dungeon

- At level 80 you continue to gain experience for everything you do. Leveling up will not grant you a new level, but instead you gain additional skill points, similar to how it used to work in Guild Wars 1
- Skill points are used in the Mystic Forge to craft different items. Some items that can be crafted here are used in recipes for legendary weapons

- Legendary Weapons have the same power as the best "exotic" weapons but look way cooler and use items from the mystic forge = skill points to craft
- They are the ultimate prestige gear, and require a lot of effort to craft

- Anything you can do in the game grants you XP towards unlocking more skill points, to spend in the mystic forge for all kinds of things, not only legendaries, and this is one big thing to keep players busy.

- One important part of endgame is being able to play with your friends
- Content won't become obsolete once you level up, thanks to the sidekicking/downleveling, you can always go back and do lower level content and still have a challenge and appropriate reward

- Post-Launch content can be added very easily in the form of events.
- Guild Wars 2 has an extremely large live team to support this game (in form of support and new content). The game is a service and ArenaNet aims to provide the best service possible.
- If a new low level dungeon is added, everybody can go and do it, no matter his level, and still get rewards he can use.


Q&A

Q: How long does it take to develop Dynamic event in comparison to tradition quest.
Colin: A lot more work. In GW1 they could put out a new quest very quickly, but the amount of staff it took to build content for GW2 was 5 times as large. And you always have to take into account the changes a new event will mean for a zone, and how events interact with each other. It gets quite complex.
It is also 10 times harder to test the dynamic events compared to quests, and the QA team is doing a fantastic job testing all of the events.

Q: What would you say is the coolest elite skill in the game:
Eric: Charrzooka is pretty hard to beat, but just for the amount of things it does I really love the Engineer Drop Supply skill - it heals, it damages it stuns, etc.
Colin: My favorite right now is from the Thief, Basilisk Venom, that petrifies a guy, because I run it with a trait that lets everybody in the group benefit form it and lets you lock down bosses in dungeons for a while.

Q: Will there be holiday events, like Wintersday?
Eric: Yes, absolutely, especially the established Tyrian events like the Mad King and Wintersday. One interesting thing we'll have to see, and sort of their evolultion, is...those were very human centric, so we'll have to see how the other races will see Wintersday and the Mad king. And we actually just did some voice over for the Mad King, so we'll hear his voice for the first time.
Colin: Yeah I just saw some new concept art for the Mad King, he's looking pretty cool.

Q: If you is there one boss you want us to look out for, which one?
Both: Zhaitan!
Eric: Zhaitan aside, in the end of the Asura tutorial, the cube golem, is really cool. Our animators and creature designers did a really good job on that one. It assembles itself, looks cool and has a very cool death animation.
Colin: End of the flame citadel dungeon there is a pretty cool Charr boss. I'm not going to say his name but he is pretty cool.

Q: Some dynamic events are like pendulums, they have one ultimate fail state, one ultimate success state, and everything in between. I'm wondering if high level events actually branch and have several ultimate failure and success states?
Colin: Some of them are chains that move directly up or down a path. Some of them are one-off events that just happens once, and some of them are event webs that have a lot of different outcomes and go in a lot of different directions. The higher you get through the game, particularly in Orr, the more meta events will consist of web chains. So there can be a lot of different states all happening simultaneously, and once you get to a certain point things can branch off and go in other directions.
Eric: Orr has far more events than any other region, at least double the number of events than other zones.
Colin: Yes, Orr has huge event chains that span the entire map, and big event webs that branch in different directions.

Q: Who would win in a fight, Eric or Colin?
Eric: Colin would, he knows how to swing a sword, and swing it again.
Colin: I would probably just smile at Eric while he pummeled me.
Eric: No, we would never fight!
Colin: No, That would not happen.
 
That Twitch video is echoing pretty harshly, but the blurb in the thread sounds badass. Holy crap, ORR!

EDIT: Okay, it clears up after a bit.

EDIT #2: Orr's objectives sound a bit like a PvE version of WvW. Which is pretty boss, actually.
 
- At level 80 you continue to gain experience for everything you do. Leveling up will not grant you a new level, but instead you gain additional skill points, similar to how it used to work in Guild Wars 1
- Skill points are used in the Mystic Forge to craft different items. Some items that can be crafted here are used in recipes for legendary weapons

Oh man, that is too cool. I'm glad exp won't become obsolete once you hit that level cap.

Q: Who would win in a fight, Eric or Colin?
Eric: Colin would, he knows how to swing a sword, and swing it again.

Wow. Perfect.
 
While I spent almost all of the Beta events with my Elementalist, I somehow am hyped for the warrior (never even tried it out) - is it a fun class to play, especially in close combat range? Not a fan of the pew-pew-y rifle warrior type, but I'd love me some hacky slashy guy at times.

Also, how's the guardian later on? Did try that one, but not too far in.
 
That Twitch video is echoing pretty harshly, but the blurb in the thread sounds badass. Holy crap, ORR!

EDIT: Okay, it clears up after a bit.

EDIT #2: Orr's objectives sound a bit like a PvE version of WvW. Which is pretty boss, actually.

This is what excites me. I will probably dablle in WvW at some point, but I've always been big on PvE in MMOs. I think most endgame content is crap in MMOs (WoW endgame particularly is fucking plain bad). This really excites me, though.
 
While I spent almost all of the Beta events with my Elementalist, I somehow am hyped for the warrior (never even tried it out) - is it a fun class to play, especially in close combat range? Not a fan of the pew-pew-y rifle warrior type, but I'd love me some hacky slashy guy at times.

Also, how's the guardian later on? Did try that one, but not too far in.

Warrior is extremely fun, I knew I'd like it but didn't think I'd like it as much as I do.
 
Bahahahaha Vano. Good stuff.

/faint at the combining of 2 great swords. i really hope they do that type of thing with more weapons.

When they first started talking about it, I swore they were trolling with the RainBow.....

Damn...I didn't think my hype could get any stronger. I'm as giddy as a kid on Xmas eve.

I absolutely LOVE the passion they have. So damned refreshing having a company that actually gives a shit about what they are doing, and what their fans want.
 
I've found all the classes are fun it just depends on your style. I really liked the warrior as well. They seemed to have good single, multi and long range damage.

Guardian was OK but it had like no range at all.
 
I've found all the classes are fun it just depends on your style. I really liked the warrior as well. They seemed to have good single, multi and long range damage.

Guardian was OK but it had like no range at all.

I do believe they're working on the Guardian ranged issue by extending the Scepter range and tweaking skills.
 
Love the Endgame stuff, really looking forward to having no life whatsoever, ever again.

While I spent almost all of the Beta events with my Elementalist, I somehow am hyped for the warrior (never even tried it out) - is it a fun class to play, especially in close combat range? Not a fan of the pew-pew-y rifle warrior type, but I'd love me some hacky slashy guy at times.

Also, how's the guardian later on? Did try that one, but not too far in.

Warrior was a blast, definitely give it a try. Rifle + Sword/Sword was a bleed machine.

Guardian was also fun, enough that I haven't decided whether I want to main a Guardian or Warrior yet. I'm looking forward to next week, to see if they've changed some stuff for the Guardian to give it more ranged capability.
 
I found that I enjoyed almost all the classes. The only one I find difficult to enjoy, for some reason, is the Necromancer. Just doesn't appeal to me. In the end, I'll probably buy extra slots so I can have one of each.
 
I could not love what they said about legendary weapons any more than I do. So you basically get to keep leveling, get items from every area of the game, and have awesome rewards to work for. And you can do this while working with low level friends if you want. So cool.
 
I found that I enjoyed almost all the classes. The only one I find difficult to enjoy, for some reason, is the Necromancer. Just doesn't appeal to me. In the end, I'll probably buy extra slots so I can have one of each.

I am in the same boat with the necro, but really want to give it more of a chance next time around.

I've never been much of a tank type player so haven't been interested in Warrior or Guardian (yes, I know there aren't "tanks" in the game).
 
Does anyone have another link for that interview? That echo is SUPER annoying. Can barely make out what they are saying

ah, nvm. it goes away in a little bit. Pumped!
 
I do believe they're working on the Guardian ranged issue by extending the Scepter range and tweaking skills.

That's not the only Guardian issue though. I played a Guardian to level 44 or 46 and a Warrior to around 15 and I feel like Guardian is just too squishy for his role.

This may seem strange, since it's a class packed with utility skills and a lot of them are defensive. But compared to Warriors - the only other class with heavy armor - most of the defensive skills have pretty high cooldowns and Guardians are in the very low health pool with Thiefs and Elementalists (10,805 base HP on level 80) while Warriors have 18,372 base HP on level 80. So essentially - not counting the BWE3/Release changes, obviously - you got a class with nearly no range, relatively low direct damage and extremely useful long cooldown utility skills you can't use without setting yourself up for an easy kill. This is probably no issue in PvE, though.
 
Hi there guys, i need some advices over here!

I started playing GW1 three days ago with a very dear friend of mine so we could get HoM points for the incoming GW2 which i've been playing for a while thanks to the beta events.

I created a character in nightfall and leveled up to lvl 10, then i went to EOTN and reached lvl 20 with a repeteable quest. Should i take any advice into consideration that could help me get hom points, or anything about the game itself?

Also, i'd like to know if there's a GAF's guild ;)

Thank you.
 
That's not the only Guardian issue though. I played a Guardian to level 44 or 46 and a Warrior to around 15 and I feel like Guardian is just too squishy for his role.

This may seem strange, since it's a class packed with utility skills and a lot of them are defensive. But compared to Warriors - the only other class with heavy armor - most of the defensive skills have pretty high cooldowns and Guardians are in the very low health pool with Thiefs and Elementalists (10,805 base HP on level 80) while Warriors have 18,372 base HP on level 80. So essentially - not counting the BWE3/Release changes, obviously - you got a class with nearly no range, relatively low direct damage and extremely useful long cooldown utility skills you can't use without setting yourself up for an easy kill. This is probably no issue in PvE, though.

I think the low HP pool makes sense. I bet if it had a high HP pool, a lot of people would be guardian=tank, i need a guardian!!
 
Hi there guys, i need some advices over here!

I started playing GW1 three days ago with a very dear friend of mine so we could get HoM points for the incoming GW2 which i've been playing for a while thanks to the beta events.

I created a character in nightfall and leveled up to lvl 10, then i went to EOTN and reached lvl 20 with a repeteable quest. Should i take any advice into consideration that could help me get hom points, or anything about the game itself?

Also, i'd like to know if there's a GAF's guild ;)

Thank you.

Acquire Heroes. Complete the chapter storylines. (Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall.) Finish EotN for your HoM and to open up GW Beyond.

From then on it's a choice of how you wish to fill out your HoM. I am not sure what the fastest track is for a new player.
 
Top Bottom