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

I asked for some feedback on reddit from people playing on servers not in their region and I got this:

From EU, played on NA, all my EU guild mates reported pretty much no noticeable increase in latency, even in Structured or WvW, and even those with poor internet. We will play on NA after launch.

So that's some further feedback that there's no noticeable difference in latency when playing from across the world.
 
I used to want mounts in GW2, but only in WvW......until I found out that keeps could be upgraded with a waypoint, before jump puzzles, before the WvW dungeon (I'm such a veteran, huh?!).

After dying, it seemed like I had to run around the map for 15 minutes to find anything at all. It was more frustrating/annoying than fun.

With waypoints (unless contested of course), it makes it enjoyable.

With that in mind...........please no mounts!
 
Mounts would change wvwvw alot though, alot of it is based on it taking awhile to get places, otherwise its just pure zergyness. It is essentially the penalty for dieing and wiping out, so it sucks, but I get it and get used to it.
 
Mounts would change wvwvw alot though, alot of it is based on it taking awhile to get places, otherwise its just pure zergyness. It is essentially the penalty for dieing and wiping out, so it sucks, but I get it and get used to it.

That penalty must exist otherwise fights would become a stalemate if people could just bounce back to where they were fighting after every death. Deaths of a player must mean something.
 
I played necro for a couple levels during the last bwe. Were the pet attack animations missing because i would see them walk up to mobs and not do anything. I could at least tell the heal pet was attacking because it was granting me health, but the melee pets were just standing around mobs.

Most of the pets have ranged attacks. The wierd headcrab looking thing flings small spikes at the enemy. The floating ribcage and spine suck globs of red gunk out of the enemies. The big black blob runs up to the mobs and takes a bite. I've never seen the little rats attack but when I have those out it's usually super chaotic so I can barely tell what's going on looking through all the particle effects and AoEs.

You just missed the animations because you were focusing on something else and the 2 minions you're talking about don't attack really frequently and the animations are small so it's easy to miss. You can tell the blood fiend is attacking when you hear that weird whooping noise.
 
So that's some further feedback that there's no noticeable difference in latency when playing from across the world.

I had a few latency issues during BWE2 playing on an EU server with a friend but BWE3 when I tested it out for a short period it was hardly noticeable and I mean barely noticeable at all. I'm hypersensitive to latency/framerates and I had no real concerns. I would personally feel confident in being able to perform competitively with the latency I experienced in BWE3. Other than my own limited skill set at playing GW2, I had no issues reading telegraphs from enemies when I was familiar with them.

I am looking forward to playing with our EU guild mates.
 
I still wish there were mounts in this game =\

Town only at least to cut down on all the loading from waypoints. Takes awhile to load into a waypoint on a slower machine.

Or maybe even something cosmetic that doesn't actually increase your speed or something. Like a giant sloth or something. That would be badass :D.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjDwCqSOUHw&feature=channel&list=UL

A video comparing a boosted lvl 2 and a boosted lvl 32 in WvW. I really didnt expect the difference to be that big. Pretty crazy. Though I guess i shouldnt feel surprised. I felt so pathetically weak when i hopped into WvW on my level 2 character.

I doubt ill be using WvW to level and will probably only going in there when we got some guild action going on

Would have rather seen a comparison of the same class, with no armor or stat boosts, just to see the difference. Having different classes and different armor is definitely going to affect things.
 
Will there be any way to try this before you buy it after launch? I never got into Beta and as tempting as it is, I'd rather not buy a game I will never play if I don't like it.

Unless there is a final open beta type thing upcoming I missed reading about?
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjDwCqSOUHw&feature=channel&list=UL

A video comparing a boosted lvl 2 and a boosted lvl 32 in WvW. I really didnt expect the difference to be that big. Pretty crazy.

Its actually not as big of a difference as it seems. If you only look at Power, it looks like the Elementalist is way stronger, but when you look at all 4 base stats, the difference is much less drastic. The level 2 Warrior has 4544 points worth of stats, while the level 32 Elementalist has 5403.

All in all, the level 32 has only about a 20% stat advantage over the level 2. When you consider that the level 2 is wearing starting gear, with no stat boosts, has no helmet, gloves, or any accessories, and has no trait points, it seems that the pure level advantage doesn't really account for much. Obviously, access to those items is limited at the lower levels, not to mention missing utility skills, traits, and weapon swapping. I really wouldn't recommend doing WvW until you have unlocked your first utility skill, a good chunk of weapon skills (5 on any weapon set you plan to use at least), and weapon swapping.

But until we can see a comparison between a level 10 with a full set of +stat gear to a similarly geared higher level, its really hard to say anything. Based on what we see in the video, I would say a decently geared level 10 would have minimal disadvantage against that Elementalist.

Will there be any way to try this before you buy it after launch? I never got into Beta and as tempting as it is, I'd rather not buy a game I will never play if I don't like it.

Unless there is a final open beta type thing upcoming I missed reading about?

No more betas, and no word on a free trial.

I'm sure something of that sort will exist at some point, but definitely not soon after launch.
 
Will there be any way to try this before you buy it after launch? I never got into Beta and as tempting as it is, I'd rather not buy a game I will never play if I don't like it.

Unless there is a final open beta type thing upcoming I missed reading about?

Unfortunately not, the last one was during the 20th-22nd. We're all sitting here twiddling thumbs now until the head start period.
 
Starting to rethink my sylvari character. Their concept art is great... but their in game models... hrm.

I'm the same way with the Charr. I love the art, but in-game the gear just kind of looks stupid on them. May not go Charr on my Engineer after all.
 
I'm the same way with the Charr. I love the art, but in-game the gear just kind of looks stupid on them. May not go Charr on my Engineer after all.

Exactly, all the gear on sylvari looks just... off. Even their medium cultural armor looks bad. While my norn looked badass even in her starter armor.
 
I'm rolling human first because I'm that cool.

I would roll a sylvari but I predict there will be a mass influx of people rolling sylvari at launch, prolly be my second character.

Asura or Charr would be my third, Norn is last as they just look like really tall and heavily physiqued humans :/
 
Probably Mesmer. Seems the hardest to understand and was the weakest in the BWEs.

Seems like the first naturally leads to the assumption of the second. Every major sPVP guild has at least one Mesmer on each team. If you think that's a coincidence, or because they do it simply because it's fun, you're kidding yourself.

That said, if ANET wants to buff the class a bit, that's fine. I was already soloing shit four levels higher than me. Lets see how high it can go.
 
Since we're back on the topic of professions/races I guess I'll join in. I'm going to run a ranger as my main just as I'd planned from the beginning, but he'll probably be a Norn instead of Sylvari or Human like I was originally considering. I played a Norn ranger in the 1st and 2nd beta weekends because I had the least interest in going Norn, but the big guy grew on me. For me, skills like Swoop (Greatsword closer) feel much cooler as a Norn.

And while I'm still going ranger I'm playing it in the exact opposite way I thought I would. In all my time playing GW1 I wanted to be some sort of support ranger, firing at my enemies from a distance and buffing my allies, and tried R/Mo & R/Rit, but I could never quite achieve the feel I wanted. Now that it's actually possible in GW2 I wind up falling in the love with the greatsword. :/ Damn Arenanet for making me enjoy other playstyles! After trying several professions I found that I had the most fun with melee for some reason. Greatsword/Rifle Warrior, Axe+Warhorn/Staff Necro, Dagger+Dagger Elementalist, etc. Really weird considering I usually prefer ranged.
 
Has this already been posted?

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I never asked for this.

What am I supposed to be looking at?

I'm rolling Human Guardian. I decided on female human in the end just because there are some armor sets that look pretty amazing, while comparable sets look goofy on Charr/Norn: my initial options. I think most heavy armor looks terrible on Charr, but oddly medium armor suits them well. Engineer goggles look particularly cool on them.
 
It's in the area around the target location from what I've seen when playing my Ranger. I don't recall seeing anyone behind me in my leap path get the fire shield.

Gotcha. So it seems to be a way to transfer field effects from one point to the other, which is perhaps the biggest difference from Blast finishers (aside from the few elements that actually do diferent stuff).

Click each Combo Field type.

Ah, I see! I was looking for them in the actual Combo Field listing. Thanks!

I just realized MIG is an acronym within an acronym "Massively Impressive GOLEM"

Heh, recursive acronyms, cool. :)

At this point, though, it's hard to get all up in arms about that when people commonly pronounce niche as "nitch". That drives me fucking nuts.

I preemptively apologize in advancing for the murdering of the pronunciation any and all words when I get on Mumble. If you think it's bad enough reading me here, wait until you hear me. :S

I don't see how it counters anything, just gives us less options. Having a another weapon set to choose from doesn't make a character more powerful, just more options in playstyle. Other classes just seem to have a lot more flexibility in what they can do.

I think he meant that Thieves get extra abilities in the way that each main/offhand combination has an extra skill. In fact if I'm not wrong they have one more skill total than Necros, since the two the lose because of the extra offhand, are offset by the extra three they get from main/off combinations. Where others would have three (third ability of dagger, pistol and sword), they have six (2xdagger, 2xpistol, pistol/dagger, dagger/pistol, sword/pistol, sword/dagger).

I think they should put two skill challenges into the beginning area. One that teaches players how to dodge (like that dragon WW guy in the human area) and the other about combos.

The Dodge thing should even be more than a Skill point; it's so integral that I wouldn't risk people skipping it. A very easy way would be to have some obstacle in the instanced intro that you have to dodge through; the obstacle simply pushes you back if you don't (kind of like the dodge training golems in the PvP lobby, but smack in the middle of a corridor or the like).

I'm perfectly fine with the game not telling you anything about combos, or perhaps have an optional explanation by a tutorial NPC you can voluntarily talk to. Combos are not nearly such important knowledge as dodging, and you can get by perfectly fine without knowing the first thing about them.

They should specifically point them out that you should do them to earn skill points and discover 'new' techniques through the first scout that you meet.

I suspect that refers to skills, actually. Learning new skills through the skill points you earn.

I take a stance completely opposite of this. Half of the fun I have had with MMO's is figuring things out myself or through communities. Wasn't all we got in EQ, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, etc, just a manual in the game package? And that's all the basic info players were given. I don't want my hand held by tutorials.

I totally understand where you're coming from; I agree completely as far as personal taste goes (I'd rather discover stuff myself too, and certainly GW2 puts most other MMOs, heck, most other games, to shame in that respect). It reminds me of this, which I love and agree with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM
However, and unfortunately, ArenaNet cannot afford to tailor a game for gamers such as us. WoW was a success because it managed to break into the mainstream; for an MMO, the number of players is doubly important, as without critical mass, players, even hardcore ones, gravitate to other games where their less hardcore friends may be playing. ArenaNet seems to be doing an OUTSTANDING job of hitting the middle ground with GW2, but there are a few select things that need more work, even by their own admission. Dodging is the very first thing I'd put on that list; you can't expect WoW players to suddenly use a button they didn't have for 8 years without even telling them it exists.
I wonder if Keg Brawl is a stealth Dodge tutorial, seeing as dodging makes you 2-4x times as effective while carrying the keg...

On another subject....Way to go Maxrpg! Going and getting banned. I know you're reading this!!!

Yeah, my thoughts out to you, man. I know it sucks not being able to post. :/

Reading through that whole WvW server results thread, I saw one suggestion to have groups gain priority in queues. I dearly dearly hope that Arenanet does not implement this.

Zero chance of it happening, don't worry. That's so counter to ArenaNet's target with WvW (casual-friendly, accesible PvP for everyone) that it's almost a war declaration.

Yeah, just stay out of WoW threads if you have any interest in GW2. You may not be able to contain your comments. The thread itself did take a lot of swerves towards GW2 discussion, mostly just "OMG, they totally DIDN'T launch it to coincide with GW2, Blizzard never does that!"
Meh.

While that was totally and completely expected, I'm really happy how ArenaNet anticipated this and set the game for release both much earlier than anyone expected, and so close to the announcement as possible, forcing Blizzard to release no less than a month after them. A full month of people playing GW2 will change Pandaria's sales forecasts a LOT.

That said, one feature I would like from WoW is dual spec. I know, i know. You get a seperate spec for sPvP, but I would enjoy switching my spec for PvE on the fly for some different gameplay. I just think it would give more flexibility to the gameplay and thus more fun. Cant really see that 'breaking' anything either.

Like engineer, i plan on going condition/burning atm, but it would be nice to switch to a bomber/grenade spec or a super support spec whenever i wanted

However, Dual Spec in WoW was never meant to be a "pick two flavors" thing; it was a (very post-release) patch to alleviate the hole they had dug themselves in with the whole "want to play a healer, but you're soloing now? TOUGH LUCK" thing. It wasn't meant to change your DPS playstyle, but a way to be viable in two completely different roles which were needed BY DESIGN in dungeons. GW2 has no such hard enforcements; if your build is good for soloing, it's good for dungeons and nobody needs to sacrifice themselves.

I just dont really see the point of them not having it. You simply cant be an effective bomber/grenade chucker when you are specced for a condition/flamethrower build based on how the trait lines are set up

See? You put a perfect example. Being one or the other is just different flavors of DPS; neither prevents you from playing content meant for the other.

Theres a difference between the game hand holding a person every singe thing, like explore and find hearts. But when you got game vital information such as how combos work, that should be kind of taught up front.

I beg to disagree; how combos work is hardly vital information. They're neither that hugely powerful nor something that won't happen spontaneously. Dodge on the other hand, I totally agree.

I still wish there were mounts in this game =\

The only reason I would want mounts here is because mounted combat is awesome. I'm entirely happy with particular PvP modes or instanced minigames, though.

I also prefer no mounts unless they can come up with a legitimately neat system with them. Also, I never, ever want to see a flying mount again

Yeah, flying mounts are straight out, but there's zero chance they put them in after all the vista and jumping puzzle work. Stuff in this game doesn't flutter aroundin the same place, by the way; crow pets, for example, will always land if you don't move.

Starting to rethink my sylvari character. Their concept art is great... but their in game models... hrm.

Is what? Their models are insanely great! Or you specifically mean armor?

Seems like the first naturally leads to the assumption of the second. Every major sPVP guild has at least one Mesmer on each team. If you think that's a coincidence, or because they do it simply because it's fun, you're kidding yourself.

That said, if ANET wants to buff the class a bit, that's fine. I was already soloing shit four levels higher than me. Lets see how high it can go.

Mesmers were actually overpowered in the first BWE, in my experience at least. They seem underpowered now because of the nerf to clones, since they now do next to nothing; no damage, no conditions in many clases, not much of a distraction (since the mesmer isn't detargeted), and shattering them both does little damage and is not too reliable. They did say the class needed reworking, so I have faith.
 
Seems like the first naturally leads to the assumption of the second. Every major sPVP guild has at least one Mesmer on each team. If you think that's a coincidence, or because they do it simply because it's fun, you're kidding yourself.

That said, if ANET wants to buff the class a bit, that's fine. I was already soloing shit four levels higher than me. Lets see how high it can go.



Well, speaking strictly on a PvP viewpoint, I played the Mesmer the majority of the time, and even though I was difficult to kill, I wasn't dealing out tons of damage. So the choice to buff them may have had something to do with that.


and this goes out to all the hunter/ranger pet class pickers out there:

I have no idea why you guys play these classes. I always thought the idea of a hunter seemed fun, but it always felt so boring letting the pet so much of the work. What appeals to you with this sort of class? I'm curious to see if its simply just the pet stuff, or something else I'm missing. Thanks!
 
I'll tell you what finalized my decision on playing a Mesmer for launch. The ability to pull people off the keep walls. This will also bounce an enemy off any siege they may be manning.

Now, I came across this in the last hour of BWE3 on the forums and when I read about it I had to try it out. I don't know if this is intended but it does work. The #4 focus ability, Temporal Curtain - Create a wall of energy that grants swiftness to allies who cross it while crippling foes who touch it. If you place this on a keep wall any defenders above it when the curtain expires will be pulled off siege or down off the wall to the attacking force.

All I ever previously used this for was the swiftness buff and then went back to my normal setup(Staff/GS/Sword/Pistol). This adds a whole new level of game play that I wasn't previously aware of. Anyone else come across any hidden ability effects that aren't listed on the tooltips?

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but I thought it was worth sharing.
 
the Deus Ex pic is amazing
--
say, do Mesmer go into stealth every time they create a clone/phantasm? (nope). Because I've been looking at the Mesmer skillset and I'm not so sure about rolling a Thief anymore ...

actually, yeah, I think I'll play Mesmer & Necro ...
 
the Deus Ex pic is amazing
--
say, do Mesmer go into stealth every time they create a clone/phantasm? Because I've been looking at the Mesmer skillset and I'm not so sure about rolling a Thief anymore ...

actually, yeah, I think I'll play Mesmer & Necro ...

Only certain abilities do that. I think only a couple create both clones and stealth at the same time.
 
the Deus Ex pic is amazing
--
say, do Mesmer go into stealth every time they create a clone/phantasm nope? Because I've been looking at the Mesmer skillset and I'm not so sure about rolling a Thief anymore ...

actually, yeah, I think I'll play Mesmer & Necro ...

I would wait to decide until we know what anet has changed with the classes.
 
the Deus Ex pic is amazing
--
say, do Mesmer go into stealth every time they create a clone/phantasm? Because I've been looking at the Mesmer skillset and I'm not so sure about rolling a Thief anymore ...

actually, yeah, I think I'll play Mesmer & Necro ...

Only a few put you in stealth or switch your position with your clones. It's a crazy fun class. We'll see what kind of changes are in store for us come launch though. I do agree they make pve a cake walk.
 
Only certain abilities do that. I think only a couple create both clones and stealth at the same time.

Thanks.

Still, looking at the Mesmer, they seem to have just about everything that I like about the Thief, and lots of other fun abilities. And Greatswords.
 
Thanks.

Still, looking at the Mesmer, they seem to have just about everything that I like about the Thief, and lots of other fun abilities. And Greatswords.

Roll all 3 "problem" classes like me! Interestingly enough, each of those classes are the only ones even remotely interesting to me. My main will be a theif, then necro, then a mesmer. I also want one more alt which i think will be a warrior. I just want a good heavy armor class really.
 
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