**** man, they're amazing O_O. I would totally think they are promotional material if I didn't know otherwise. I can't even begin to think how you made some of them. Hats off you you, sir.
Edit: Love the "download all" functionality, and your album even was small enough to download immediately, unlike Retro's.
I still think it's about the different ways to play the game. I'm trying to think of a way to bridge the gap between us explorers and them achievers, or at least have some way they can enjoy the game more, but... :/
**** man, they're amazing O_O. I would totally think they are promotional material if I didn't know otherwise. I can't even begin to think how you made some of them. Hats off you you, sir.
Edit: Love the "download all" functionality, and your album even was small enough to download immediately, unlike Retro's.
Ooooh... I see. Sorry, missed the part about them being vista shots. They're still great and show off how cool vistas are.
By the way, Retro, I just remembered. One of your characters in the beta was Aragh, I think. Is it from Flight of Dragons? I coincidentally made a Worgen named Aragh in one of their free weeks.
About crafting, is it possible to level your character to say level 20 right from the start of the game? If you buy all the ingredients needed that is right from the start
So no WvW, minimal crafting, no grinding events, and no need to go to other races zones, and I still was higher level than the zone when I completed it. I really don't understand how leveling is that difficult.
I also didn't repeat any events I had already participated in, no WvWvW (with that character), no grinding, no personal story and I didn't leave the zone. I think you get the most exp from events, it might just be that you can level faster in the Sylvari starting zone, I honestly don't know. I wasn't really eager to level up my character anyway, my only goal was to 100% the Norn starting zone and, well, I did that with level 12 =)
About crafting, is it possible to level your character to say level 20 right from the start of the game? If you buy all the ingredients needed that is right from the start
Technically, if you had enough materials and enough money, you could level to 80 from crafting alone (this would require you to max out every single craft). But this would only be possible if you bought a ton of money with gems, or you had another character with tons of spare money.
Technically, if you had enough materials and enough money, you could level to 80 from crafting alone (this would require you to max out every single craft). But this would only be possible if you bought a ton of money with gems, or you had another character with tons of spare money.
I had a lot of fun over the weekend. I tried out mumble for the first time this BWE and it worked really well. This was one of the first MMOs where I think voice chat is critical since its seems there are much times where it is better to keep moving as much as possible with the constant action.
I am not sure what class to go with at release. I've played a warrior to 20, an engineer to 30, and a ranger to around 25 and liked them all. The engineer was the most fun but it looks like a lot of gaffers seem keen on it. As much as a five engineer dungeon run might be fun, I might try something else as my main to make things more interesting.
I had no issues staying dead-even with content without crafting a single item and not touching any sort of PVP. The only thing I did were hearts as I came across them, explored, hopped on events when I saw them and just "wandered" the zone looking for cool stuff - lo and behold, cool stuff happened.
When I eventually went back to my personal story - I was downleveled to match the content. I can imagine if I had done crafting and a just a touch of PVP I would out-level the zone insanely quick.
I seriously did nothing but explore, kill stuff that was in my way, hop on events when I saw them, hearts and that's about it. I spent a lot of time getting used to the playstyle and wandering to places that piqued my interest. Found a few caves - explored - killed bad things - wandered some more, etc.
The market is completely dynamic and the exchange rate is automated based on supply / demand. It's impossible to tell how much gold you'll get for gems (and vice versa) when the game actually releases - the number could be vastly different from the 3rd day the game is out to the 7th day the game is out.
The market is completely dynamic and the exchange rate is automated based on supply / demand. It's impossible to tell how much gold you'll get for gems (and vice versa) when the game actually releases - the number could be vastly different from the 3rd day the game is out to the 7th day the game is out.
It is, however, a pretty safe bet that you'll get more gold per gem as time goes on; gold is naturally generated by the system, while gems are not. Gems also do not devaluate, as in, a level 80 character does not generate more gems than one at level 1 (since they generate them by buying them, an off-game exchange), and conversely, stuff bought with gems does not cost more gems per level.
All these factors, in fact, make me predict an explosive rise of gem value per gold in a relatively short time, then a steady rise with probably no ceiling, which is one of my few beefs with this system.
I must say I had hard time leveling up as an elementalist, I ended the beta as level 12. All I did was hearts and different events. Many times I felt underleveled, actually.
I must say I had hard time leveling up as an elementalist, I ended the beta as level 12. All I did was hearts and different events. Many times I felt underleveled, actually.
Take your time and relax, its not a race. Run around with other people, and play with your skills and learn how to use them. If you rush to level 30 via crafting you'll end up with more skills than you'll know how to use them, especially on an elementalist.
Take your time and relax, its not a race. Run around with other people, and play with your skills and learn how to use them. If you rush to level 30 via crafting you'll end up with more skills than you'll know how to use them, especially on an elementalist.
This is exactly what I'll be doing. After rushing to 50 in SWTOR and becoming bored shortly after, I will definitely be taking my time when GW2 finally hits.
Vistas / Puzzles / PvP / WvW / Crafting / Exploring.. so much to do while leveling that makes the experience much more enjoyable.
Here are some shots of my Vacation in Tyria...
I'm just gonna copy from the Hi-res Screenshot thread...
All settings max, FXAA off, SMAA on, at 2560x1440 downsampled to 1080p (First two are at 2880x1600 downsampled to 1080).
I just finished helping an Asura gather energy to build a bridge to this amazing spot, only for us to be attacked by a giant Golem.
Here's me visiting the Asuran city, Rata Sum, and looking out from one of the side chambers.
This is the Asura Main City Rata Sum...
And some swamplands...
More Swamplands...NOTE the face in the wall(I was tempted to wait and see if it was a dynamic event or something...)
Here's a small Hylek village in the swamp.
Finally, here is a picture of one of the few views of plant-life in the underground city called Scrittsburg(Or Skrittsburough or something)
This place was amazing. some other Sylvari and I had helped the Skritt steal some goods from nearby Asurans and when we got to the city, they allowed us to come in.
They tried to play with their newfound "Shinies" and ended up activating a Golem and I helped them defeat it. I met with the kind of the city who was later attacked.
I was no match for the attackers, so I lost the fight and was kicked out of the city when the king was killed...
Bought this last night just as the last beta window was closing. Not too bothered about that, but at least I got to play with the character creator (probably going with a Sylvari Engineer).
Total Guild Wars novice. Should I have a look at the first to prepare or just go in blind next month?
Why does it take you 10 hours to get lvl 10? Watch Map Chat, they'll let you know if there is a big event going on, and also try walking to places more than fast travelling, you'll find more events that way. Some early events repeat MUCH faster than later ones, so if you like on stay near the area or keep checking in on it... Try going to other starter zones after you are done or near done with yours, you still get levelled loot and exp, but at a much higher rate than higher level areas.
Leveling in this game is easy...
You just gotta stop relying on NPCs to tell you where to go.
There are platforming sections where you end up getting a treasure chest at the end of them. The rookery in the Norn area is the only one I did, and my god it took me like 30 minutes to get across.
Did you do the one in Caledon Forest, Morgan's Spiral or something? Initial one for the achievement not so bad - inside the area it leads to with mortars and veterans getting in your way while finding the way up, not so easy...
Take your time and relax, its not a race. Run around with other people, and play with your skills and learn how to use them. If you rush to level 30 via crafting you'll end up with more skills than you'll know how to use them, especially on an elementalist.
Bought this last night just as the last beta window was closing. Not too bothered about that, but at least I got to play with the character creator (probably going with a Sylvari Engineer).
Total Guild Wars novice. Should I have a look at the first to prepare or just go in blind next month?
This is exactly what I'll be doing. After rushing to 50 in SWTOR and becoming bored shortly after, I will definitely be taking my time when GW2 finally hits.
Vistas / Puzzles / PvP / WvW / Crafting / Exploring.. so much to do while leveling that makes the experience much more enjoyable.
Totally. Don't forget Keg Brawl! A couple times during the beta weekends I leveled and didn't even notice, because I was too caught up exploring and doing random things. At one point I looked down and said "Oh yeah, I must have leveled. Neat. OK, back to the battle.."
If you define "endgame" as the part after you unlock all of your skills, then I guess you could call it that.
But that's not generally what people mean when they ask "How does GW2's endgame compare to [insert popular MMO here]" which is what the statements "GW2 has no endgame" or "The whole game is endgame" are a response to. Generally speaking, certain MMOs have a community attitude that everything prior to the level cap "doesn't count", and that the real game only starts when you hit that cap. Then you have people who will powerlevel, read leveling guides, buy accounts, or generally do whatever it takes to hit that level cap as quickly and easily as possible so they can get to the "endgame".
With GW2, there is no singular point that everyone should want to get to, and not care about anything prior. Certainly unlocking the final utility skill at 20, unlocking the elite skill at 30, and having all trait points available at 80 are important milestones to work towards. And it would be unfair to say that all of the content leading up to level 30 or level 80 is as good as all of the content afterwards. Certainly the higher level zones will be more impressive in scale and in challenge. But there will be a gradual increase the entire time you are leveling up, culminating in (theoretically) the pinnacle of quality in the same activities you have been doing the entire rest of the game. This is, in my opinion, preferable to playing one (possibly boring) game until you get to the point that you gain access to different (supposedly good) game.
Prior to BWE3, ANet did say they had adjusted the initial difficulty of the game and pushed things back to 10+. I noticed that when you get to 10+ that mobs stopped being nice, even when downscaled and it became a lot more serious. 1-9 isn't much of an issue and is meant for an ease into the leveling curve, especially for those who may have never played a game like this before.
What I don't get with world vs world is, is everyone at a different level or is it level capped? Like a guy at level 40 is chasing a guy at level 10....doesn't sound right to me
Also, is there something useful that I can purchase with my gems? I haven't thought about it that much, even thought I bought 4000 gems. I was thinking mostly buying gold with them
What I don't get with world vs world is, is everyone at a different level or is it level capped? Like a guy at level 40 is chasing a guy at level 10....doesn't sound right to me
Also, is there something useful that I can purchase with my gems? I haven't thought about it that much, even thought I bought 4000 gems. I was thinking mostly buying gold with them
From what I've seen, your stats are boosted to 80, but you only have your skills that you've unlocked so far. So if you join at a low level you'll be at a disadvantage.
I think someone said earlier that a real level 80 will do serious amounts of more damage compared to a temporary level 80.
It shouldn't take that long to get to level 10, but ignoring the length, what did you find boring? And what do you expect you will enjoy once you have all your skills unlocked if the entire process getting there was boring and too much for you?
Whoa, that's eerily similar to my current list, with the only changes being making that guardian human male, and perhaps skipping the thief for some of the other classes. I'll buy three more slots for sure; in fact my current problem is that I'm having trouble thinking of not making a character of every race/gender combination. I was going to skip Male Norn, but after making a Warrior and playing it in Keg Brawl (with his helmet awesomely like a football one), I can't imagine skipping him.
My Guardian is female just because I tend to re-create a lot of the same characters from MMO to MMO, and the primary one tends to be human female in heavy armor, usually a defense-oriented class (a Guardian in LotRO and Paladin in WoW, for example). Definitely with you on the Norn though, I'm looking forward to having an armored giant stomping around.
Whoa, I'm so envious. . . I'll do my best to get over my self-consciousness and awkwardness of speaking English. It's the only way to improve, after all. Just be patient if I say stuff that's strange-sounding or outright unintelligible.
Oh, definitely. And anybody being a dick about accents or non-native speakers (in a mean-spirited way, once people get to know eachother some good-natured ribbing is certainly fine) is going to get quietly taken behind a barn and guild kicked. That sort of thing definitely constitutes drama.
No, it was actually broken this weekend, for some reason; at least this Sunday was. Hitting the button again ended the shield early with no additional effect. I loved it so much, too, hope they fix it soon.
Ah, I stand corrected. Maybe it wasn't working the way I thought it was (this weekend was the first time I really dug in and played the Engineer 'for real').
Anyone realized that both Engineer shield abilities can be used for ranged OR close combat? The electric shield is a melee counter that can be turned to a ranged attack, while the electromagnetic shield is a ranged counter which can be turned to a melee knockdown. This means both are useful in any situation! I have to say that the shield may be my favorite Engineer weapon (weird as it sounds), which is why in my pics you'll almost always see one on my engineer's back.
That's actually really mind-blowing. The class continues to prove it's versatility in all things. I was a big fan of the rifle, being able to root, get some distance, cause significant damage at close range.. it lends itself well to crowd control and soloing.
So... I'm the only one assuming Monk is in for sure down the road, with the Cantha expansion? Along with fist weapons (for him, the thief, warrior, and perhaps other classes like possibly necro/claws) and of course they'd use staves as bo sticks.
I'd actually rather see them split the 'Monk' vibe up into other classes. My theory is that the expansions should add a new weapons built around a theme, with that theme based on a new profession that highlights those weapons.
For example, they may add a Paragon profession, and with it comes lots of spear-like weapons; Halberds (two-hand polearm), Spear (one-hand polearm), Javelin (off-hand ranged polearm) and something like a Scythe (one-hand) for casters.
For a hand-to-hand themed set, it could be Gauntlets (the "Heavy" fist weapon) Claws (the light fist weapons) and Orbs (the caster weapon, like a hand-held sphere). Of course you can have things like Guardians using Gauntlets as a casting weapon (Infinity Gauntlet, anyone?).
I'd also like to see a whip/morning star/flail/scourge set.
It's really weird how, in making player interactions seamless, and making it impossible for players to interfere with other players, this game feels even more lonely than WoW and its clones. There are hundreds of other people running around the newbie zones, but as far as the player is concerned, they may as well all be supporting NPCs. You really have no reason to interact with any of them.
Others have addressed this post, but I wanted to add to the general discussion.
GW2's event-based system encourages you to cooperate with other players. On the other hand, in other MMOs (WoW especially) if you see other people you actively dislike them because they are taking your quest mobs / items or might tap a rarespawn / resource node before you do.
I'll take "less interactive" versus "annoying" any day. Instead of potential rivals, everyone you meet is a potential friend. The social playing field is neutral, so the impetus is on each individual to make friendships happen. You get exactly as much as you put into it.
I was wondering if the orphanage would even BE there depending on the initial personal story choice, because I've heard that it's tied to a decision you make on a particular one of the personal stories later on (which I won't spoil).
You can choose to either save the orphanage or the hospital. I went with the Orphanage based solely on the fact that my character's biography choice at the beginning of the game was that she never found her parents, which means she probably grew up there (I was surprised this logic came up so suddenly too, that biography stuff is really doing the trick). I was elated to find out that everyone gets out of the Hospital alive. After all, they can always find places to put sick people, but little orphan kids need a home!
Phantasy Star II was my first ever JRPG; I was utterly blown away. Years later, I came across Final Fantasy II(IV), and was blown away again. This was way before JRPGs were officially released in Europe, let alone Spain; these were import carts that took many months of a teenager's allowance saving to afford (not like official games were much cheaper).
My first was Dragon Warrior on the NES, which we got free from Nintendo Power magazine. We would never have gotten it otherwise as both of my brothers didn't care for it. My second RPG was Phantasy Star IV, which I only got because my brothers were out of town at a comic convention and I stayed home. Usually we picked which games to rent democratically, but since they were gone it was all my choice.
Also, Phantasy Star Online was technically my first Online RPG (I wouldn't call it an MMO). Still love the hell out of that game, and Challenge Mode remains one of the best multiplayer experiences I've ever had (people working together, sharing loot, etc.). You'll be happy to know I named my RaMarl "Alys".
It's all good. I know I'm the same way with a lot of GAF posters here. Half the time I only remember people by their avatars, and Real Pic July has thrown me for a loop a number of times. That's just the nature of these boards, especially in a thread as active as this one.
Well, I just meant that as an example of what getting on Mumble and hanging out with people in-game can do for building friendships. It was meant to be a positive comment taken as a whole with the comment immediately after it; that somebody who I hadn't really noticed before suddenly stands out to me through their actions in-game and in mumble. It means those things lead to more lasting friendships with fellow GAFers.
And yeah, Kid Dracula will be back August first, though "You da man" Retro will be missed, if only for avatar quote shenanigans.
And yes, people get on mumble. As much fun as I had in the first two Betas, even when grouping with GAF it was never quite as fun as when we were all talking to each other. Besides, text chat doesn't really mesh well with jumping puzzles.
By the way, Retro, I just remembered. One of your characters in the beta was Aragh, I think. Is it from Flight of Dragons? I coincidentally made a Worgen named Aragh in one of their free weeks.
They're the same character, but we're coming at it from different mediums; The Flight of Dragons was based on "The Dragon and the George" by Gordon Dickson, which was one of my favorite books growing up. I've never seen the movie, but if he's anything like the book you can imagine why I picked the name.
That's close enough to count, so you're 2 for 2 on guessing my name origins.
The engineer was the most fun but it looks like a lot of gaffers seem keen on it. As much as a five engineer dungeon run might be fun, I might try something else as my main to make things more interesting.
The profession design in GW2 is such that you can realistically do any content with any combination of professions. It might be a tad harder, but given how versatile the Engineer is I don't think it's impossible. There were stories coming out of the closed beta about 5 Elementalists completing the Ascalon Catacombs.
That's one of the biggest things about GW2: you really can pick the class you want to play rather than the class your friends / guild needs. I can't tell you how many healers I burned through in WoW just because the position is depended upon so much.
Also, is there something useful that I can purchase with my gems? I haven't thought about it that much, even thought I bought 4000 gems. I was thinking mostly buying gold with them
Bank space, extra bag slots, extra character slots, EXP boosters and a lot of cosmetic goodies and toys. Nothing you absolutely need to survive but stuff you will probably enjoy.
Yes. That is a musical puzzle that spawns a chest.
Video also has links to other puzzles. Don't watch them though because exploring is one of the best parts of this game and what little bits I saw look AMAZING.
It shouldn't take that long to get to level 10, but ignoring the length, what did you find boring? And what do you expect you will enjoy once you have all your skills unlocked if the entire process getting there was boring and too much for you?
I want to level up to unlock better skills. My ultimate goal is reaching level 80 and playing world vs world, pvp etc
Going around the same area for hours and hours, just to slowly level up is boring to me. I want to find better ways to level up so I can explore more and have my favourite skills and other stuff unlocked
I want to level up to unlock better skills. My ultimate goal is reaching level 80 and playing world vs world, pvp etc
Going around the same area for hours and hours, just to slowly level up is boring to me. I want to find better ways to level up so I can explore more and have my favourite skills and other stuff unlocked
You dont need to level up to play spvp, you'll have everything unlocked.
For WvW you don't need to be any certain level. While you won't have all your skills unlocked you can easily and quickly level up by participating in defense/sieges/etc. If you like the gameplay of WvW, it should (at least it was for me) be enjoyable even if you are missing all your skills.
If your goal is to explore more, explore the starter areas and do the quests there. You'll level up in no time. You shouldn't have to be going around the same area for hours and hours just to get to level 10....
I just wanted to thank the folks I partied with during this last BWE. Exploring dungeons and doing events was a blast (especially the battle of wychshire swamp).
Thanks to smugdog, Putaro Bramblethorn, Nacai and many others I partied with. You guys sold me on the game. You can get bet I'll be in the game on Day -1, rolling an Asura Guardian again.
I want to level up to unlock better skills. My ultimate goal is reaching level 80 and playing world vs world, pvp etc
Going around the same area for hours and hours, just to slowly level up is boring to me. I want to find better ways to level up so I can explore more and have my favourite skills and other stuff unlocked
Then don't? Go to other areas. Explore other race starting areas. Push the envelope and go into areas above your level. Search around for events. Do vistas. Do skill challenges. Do some crafting.
Nothing is stopping you. Only yourself.
I hate to be 'that guy', but are you sure you were playing the game correctly, or were you just applying your knowledge from other MMOs? My friend hopped on my PC to try it out yesterday, and he was like "I don't know where to go." I told him "Go wherever you want. Do stuff." He just looked at me. After a while, he picked it up, and had a blast with it, but it takes time to break out of that WoW mentality.
Thats the thing, thats exactly what I did the last time and when the beta ended, my level was only 12 and I constantly felt underleveled. I died quite alot
Thats why I'm looking for fastest way of leveling as I'm obviously doing something wrong. Doing hearts and some events just isn't enough (atleast for me)
Yes. That is a musical puzzle that spawns a chest.
Video also has links to other puzzles. Don't watch them though because exploring is one of the best parts of this game and what little bits I saw look AMAZING.
So good. I actually did find that underwater organ, but I didn't notice the singing Quaggan nearby. I thought for sure there would be some song that would do something if you played it, but I didn't stick around to figure out what it might be. I love how the solution is actually
the Guild Wars 2 title theme
. So appropriate, but it never would have occurred to me to try it.
Thats the thing, thats exactly what I did the last time and when the beta ended, my level was only 12 and I constantly felt underleveled. I died quite alot
Thats why I'm looking for fastest way of leveling as I'm obviously doing something wrong. Doing hearts and some events just isn't enough (atleast for me)
I dunno what to tell you, man. I just did whatever sounded fun, and I ended up at lvl 19 by the end of this BWE, and I was traipsing around the 15-25 charr zone with gaffers by the end of it.
Thats the thing, thats exactly what I did the last time and when the beta ended, my level was only 12 and I constantly felt underleveled. I died quite alot
Thats why I'm looking for fastest way of leveling as I'm obviously doing something wrong. Doing hearts and some events just isn't enough (atleast for me)
I'm not sure what to say because even going back and doing events when you're level 18 in a level 6 area or so would net you about 8% of your level just for the gold completion and not counting mob kills. So you could easily get over 10% of your level past the point you even have to be in the zone for a single event.
Thats the thing, thats exactly what I did the last time and when the beta ended, my level was only 12 and I constantly felt underleveled. I died quite alot
Thats why I'm looking for fastest way of leveling as I'm obviously doing something wrong. Doing hearts and some events just isn't enough (atleast for me)
It's really interesting that there's this great gap in leveling speed between players. I am not sure what is causing it. Dynamic Event activity can explain some of the difference, but nearly everything you do grants experience. I wouldn't figure a lower DE activity level would suddenly stall progress.
I think the problem lies with some players going and doing things and others not because they aren't 'Presented' with things to do.
I think Colin J. said that during early testing, players would either completely understand that they must blaze their own path and find things to do and others would look for NPCs with things to do and then repeat. That's why they set up scouts to show more Hearts, but My friend didn't even realize that those weren't ALL of the hearts. He never checked out other starting zones, or crafted. And despite my Map Chat exploding with people reporting event locations, he said he barely ever found any events.
MMO's have trained us not to be resourceful when it comes to questing and leveling. Either you grind MOBs or you grind quests, but it's never been about Finding things to do and doing them.
I got to level 22 this BWE and got higher on a previous one, and could get much higher if I wasn't playing around with random stuff and making alts half the time.(I'm trying to decide the final look for my necro-Sylvari)
Thats the thing, thats exactly what I did the last time and when the beta ended, my level was only 12 and I constantly felt underleveled. I died quite alot
Thats why I'm looking for fastest way of leveling as I'm obviously doing something wrong. Doing hearts and some events just isn't enough (atleast for me)
I know everyone's already riding you about how you played, your motivations for playing, etc., and I'm trying not to sound judgmental so please don't be offended. I only say this because you might feel like you've been singled out, but for me (and I assume everyone else as well) it's about trying to help you enjoy the game. So anyway, I have to ask how well did you actually explore? Did you just go from renown heart to renown heart? Did you only explore zones outside towns? Did you do skill challenges?
I ask these things because killing mobs probably gives you the least xp in the game. I probably got 6-7 xp per mob whereas events gave ~200-300, waypoints ~100, various points of interest ~40-60. I can't give exact numbers because I wasn't really paying attention to xp most of the time. I'd also suggest grabbing the gathering tools (sickle, hatchet, pickaxe) as soon as possible since gathering from a node gives ~20-30 xp, plus gives you the resources to craft for more xp and cool gear.
I'd also suggest doing skill challenges as many of them are in more out of the way areas, helping you naturally explore a wider area, and the more skill points you have, the sooner you can unlock higher tier skills(though you'll have to hit certain level thresholds for additional slots).
I'm mostly speaking for myself here, though I think everyone here shares my sentiments, but we want everyone to enjoy GW2. If you're in the mindset that it'll suddenly get fun at level 30, 50, 80, or whatever when you haven't enjoyed it up to that point, I hate to say it, but you'll probably never have fun with the game. That doesn't mean you should just give up, rather try to change your thinking. Regardless, I'm sure some gaffers would be happy to play with you and help you out at release, and maybe it'll click then.
I know everyone's already riding you about how you played, your motivations for playing, etc., and I'm trying not to sound judgmental so please don't be offended. I only say this because you might feel like you've been singled out, but for me (and I assume everyone else as well) it's about trying to help you enjoy the game.
