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[Retro]

I was expecting a whole zone dedicated to Zhaitan only, with multi stage DEs advancing toward the kill. Just by entering the zone you would see Zhaitan's massive body in the distance.

I can totally see that exact situation happening as you tear through Orr, which is three zones worth of content. I dunno about you, but I love the idea of slinking around a ruined, half-flooded, undead-filled city the size of three zones while a massive world-destroying dragon looms overhead. I hope we get to spend some quality time in the sewers (safer than the surface), darting from building to building to avoid being spotted... just really crazy no-safe zones, "We're not in Kansas any more" type stuff.

Expectations are probably set too high, but still...

 

[Felix Lighter]

Any particularly good videos that I should watch to learn more about this game?

 

[Helmholtz]

Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry are friendly enough, but it’ll still take forever. If 30/50 is the target then the Zaishen title is not worth getting at all. I mean, it’s 1,000k for 3 points. You could probably fill Devotion and Fellowship with that and still have some cash left.

I just think that people are trying to do too much too quickly. Finish the campaigns in normal mode. Equip heroes (this is the most important part). Do War in Kryta. Finish the campaigns in hard mode while doing the daily Zaishen activities. Turn in the storybooks *. When it comes to money the main thing is knowing what other people need to buy in order to max their titles or reach 30/50. Lockpicks, unidentified gold items, war supplies, Zaishen coins, granite / feathers / iron. Let that stuff accumulate as you play the game. Oh, and every account gets 50 tournament points for free, which can be traded for 10 Zaishen Keys.

* You get 65k if you turn in the normal and hard mode storybooks for the campaigns and EotN. You also get about 400k experience, so if you turn them all in at once that's 1/3 of survivor.

Oh, I agree. I was just responding to people who were complaining about grinding pvp titles. I think it's stupid that anyone would try to do that. You do not need a pvp title to get to 30 points. However if you absolutely needed to go for one, I think the ZKey one is the most worthwhile, since you can complete it by doing zaishen quests and you can also get cool shit from the zaishen chest.

And yeah, it's probably more efficient to sell the zaishen coins to people rather than trade them for ZKeys with the trader. I know I just saved up all my gold zcoins and sold them for a ton of ectos way back when. Not sure what the going rate is for coins nowadays though.

 

[Arken2121]

I can totally see that exact situation happening as you tear through Orr, which is three zones worth of content. I dunno about you, but I love the idea of slinking around a ruined, half-flooded, undead-filled city the size of three zones while a massive world-destroying dragon looms overhead. I hope we get to spend some quality time in the sewers (safer than the surface), darting from building to building to avoid being spotted... just really crazy no-safe zones, "We're not in Kansas any more" type stuff.

Expectations are probably set too high, but still...

I don't think you're expecting too much because if I were a noobie who just discovered the existence of this game and its features, i'd say there would be no way they could deliver. But we all know better and there's no reason to expect anything less.

 

[Piecake]

Any particularly good videos that I should watch to learn more about this game?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CyqGJHTjes

This dude has some really good videos. Id recommend watching them all

 

[Retro]

Any particularly good videos that I should watch to learn more about this game?

First, awesome username / avatar there.
Second; videos.

Manifesto Video (it sustained our hype throughout the Great News droughts)

And Jira's awesome GW2 playlists:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67FE1786344D1566
and
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL399396AAD32FE6DA

I don't think you're expecting too much because if I were a noobie who just discovered the existence of this game and its features, i'd say there would be no way they could deliver. But we all know better and there's no reason to expect anything less.

Well, for one, looking at the map I linked too, I doubt Orr will be one huge multi-zone city (even though that would be colossally badass). More likely, it will be two zones of the Kingdom of Orr, probably ruins but with plenty of drowned wilderness and such, and then Arah at the center, maybe as the level 80 zone. Dunno. I'm excited to see it though.

 

[Felix Lighter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CyqGJHTjes

This dude has some really good videos. Id recommend watching them all

First, awesome username / avatar there.
Second; videos.

Manifesto Video (it sustained our hype throughout the Great News droughts)

And Jira's awesome GW2 playlists:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67FE1786344D1566
and
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL399396AAD32FE6DA

Thanks a lot guys. I just started watching the first linked video.

Edit:

Manifesto video was pretty great. I understand why it hyped people up. The environments look really good and the impacts of the player's choices are impressive based on that video.

 

[Arken2121]

Oh dear, the manifesto was just....shivers. Couldn't stop watching it for months.

 

[Jira]

DAT MANIFESTO

 

[Piecake]

only 12 more days to the next BWE...

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

Just got an email from Curse. They're having a big GW2 Beta Key giveaway over the next 2 days.

5,000 early reserved keys for premium members (NA and EU, 10,000 in total) starting Midnight PDT July 9 (so in about 6 and a half hours or so after this post.)

And 20,000 each (NA and EU) to registered users starting Midnight PDT July 10 (exactly one day after).

NA Link: http://www.curse.com/betas/guild-wars-2

EU Link: http://www.curse.com/betas/guild-wars-2-eu

 

[Arken2121]

Just got an email from Curse. They're having a big GW2 Beta Key giveaway over the next 2 days.

5,000 early reserved keys for premium members (NA and EU, 10,000 in total) starting Midnight PDT July 9 (so in about 6 and a half hours or so after this post.)

And 20,000 each (NA and EU) to registered users starting Midnight PDT July 10 (exactly one day after).

NA Link: http://www.curse.com/betas/guild-wars-2

EU Link: http://www.curse.com/betas/guild-wars-2-eu

Those people need to pick up the game like the rest of us did . But in all seriousness, that's a great way to let more people see for themselves what an excellent game it is.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

That Manifesto video... some of it won't be delivered.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"That Manifesto video... some of it won't be delivered."

A lot of it is definitely caca del toro.

 

[Jira]

That Manifesto video... some of it won't be delivered.

You do know they already have right? It's all there in the Beta right now.

 

[Deitus]

That Manifesto video... some of it won't be delivered.

A lot of it is definitely caca del toro.

You know if you're going to call bullshit, you could at least have the decency to explain what parts are incorrect.

 

[Piecake]

You know if you're going to call bullshit, you could at least have the decency to explain what parts are incorrect.

Well, the video does seem to imply that the changes you make in the dynamic evens will be permanent, and thats not happening

 

[Jira]

Well, the video does seem to imply that the changes you make in the dynamic evens will be permanent, and thats not happening

That's a common misunderstanding, she's referring to the Personal Story, they just don't make that apparent in the video.

 

[kayos90]

Well, the video does seem to imply that the changes you make in the dynamic evens will be permanent, and thats not happening

They essentially are permanent. The reason it seems like it isn't is because the events are resetting too often.

 

[Piecake]

That's a common misunderstanding, she's referring to the Personal Story, they just don't make that apparent.

Personally, I wouldnt want the changes you cause in the dynamic evens to be permanent anyways because that essentially means that the game is completely instanced. I like the way they are doing it

 

[Jobacca]

Anyone still play the first? I have it but never got into it. Don't have the means to pay for my Star Wars subscription right now so figured I'd try it out again. Is there a GAF group?

 

[Einbroch]

You do know they already have right? It's all there in the Beta right now.

So villages that are saved will stay saved? I'm not trolling, I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Jira]

Personally, I wouldnt want the changes you cause in the dynamic evens to be permanent anyways because that essentially means that the game is completely instanced. I like the way they are doing it

Right, Dynamic Events can't be permanent since other players need to be able to do them, but they ARE persistent.

 

[Retro]

That's a common misunderstanding, she's referring to the Personal Story, they just don't make that apparent in the video.

It also happens during normal questing. The big cistern in Queensdale doesn't become poisoned unless the bandits get it, which you can prevent.

So villages that are saved will stay saved? I'm not trolling, I'm genuinely curious.

Until attacked again, yes. As long as there are people there to stop bad things from happening, saved villages stay saved.

Content can't be permanent, obviously, or not everyone would have a chance to see it after one guy beat it. But the events have success and failure conditions, which lead to different event chains. You beat the centaurs, drive them back to their camp and take it over today, but tomorrow they try and take the camp back and attack the village again. ANet has mentioned that some event chains can theoretically last for months before returning to their starting state.

 

[kayos90]

Right, Dynamic Events can't be permanent since other players need to be able to do them, but they ARE persistent.

Yeah. However, after a quest series is done you feel the effects of it for certain ones. It's pretty nice and makes the world feel more alive than normal.

 

[Jira]

So villages that are saved will stay saved? I'm not trolling, I'm genuinely curious.

For the Personal Story, absolutely, for Dynamic Events, they can stay saved for a time until either the enemy or players intervene in some fashion. For DEs if no one comes along to rescue a village from say Centaurs, it will stay that way. Eventually at some point DE states push along their chains to their ultimate "good" state and "bad" state with everything in-between, things happen based on if you succeed or fail and branch off from there.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"You know if you're going to call bullshit, you could at least have the decency to explain what parts are incorrect."

1) In PvE, you still most certainly grind. You go from dynamic event to dynamic event (see #2) and repeat the chains over and over which is the only way to really level up. Hell, you end up repeating the same shit in GW2 pve from what I've seen than most other recent MMOs which have a large amount of unique quests to take you to level cap.
2) The part at 1:50 about the world 'not caring' that you're there with, and I quote, "the boss spawns 10 minutes later" still entirely happens in GW2.


Now, it's largely impossible to really get away from those things in an MMO which makes it all the more silly to hype the game up as something that isn't doing it.


"That's a common misunderstanding, she's referring to the Personal Story, they just don't make that apparent in the video."

This is quite a leap. The part that undermines this argument is her saying "the world doesn't care that you're there." Nothing you do in your personal story affects the game world. So no, she's not referring to the Personal Story.

 

[Deitus]

Well, the video does seem to imply that the changes you make in the dynamic evens will be permanent, and thats not happening

Yeah, and thats certainly a discussion worth having. As it is the dynamic events reset way too often, and as a result they sometimes don't feel to have a lasting effect. This is something that can be changed over time, on the fly even, by ArenaNet, but as it stands it falls short of the promise of that video.

However, to just make a blanket statement "there's a lot of bullshit in that video" is to say that ArenaNet is lying/deceiving viewers and not to believe anything in the video. The point of the video (remember, it was released in 2010) was to explain the design philosophies that are going into GW2, and the goals of the game. If almost 2 years later they decided to sacrifice a bit of permanence for making the game more playable for people who didn't see the event the first time around, that just means there are design tradeoffs. It doesn't mean they are full of shit. To imply that they are is dishonest, and does not help anyone.

Edit - Just saw you responded. Thanks for at least explaining your position. To your points:

1) In PvE, you still most certainly grind. You go from dynamic event to dynamic event (see #2) and repeat the chains over and over which is the only way to really level up. Hell, you end up repeating the same shit in GW2 pve from what I've seen than most other recent MMOs which have a large amount of unique quests to take you to level cap.

If you are doing the same events over and over again, that is entirely because you chose to. There is no shortage of content that you should feel the need to run the same events repeatedly. If you have completely maxed out a zone and still aren't high enough level for the next zone, there are at least 2 other zones (in the Beta, there will be more at release) in the same level range. Aside from that, WvW is a great way to level up, crafting gives some decent level ups as well, and gathering provides a non-trivial amount of exp.

2) The part at 1:50 about the world 'not caring' that you're there with, and I quote, "the boss spawns 10 minutes later" still entirely happens in GW2.

No argument here. They need to significantly increase the respawn times on Dynamic events. However, the fact that bosses aren't instanced, you don't have to complete most of a quest line and then wait in line after 10 people for them to beat the boss before you get a crack at him, and that when an event is completed it has an effect on the world, whether or not you personally completed the questline is a change. It just doesn't last long enough to feel like a significant change.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"However, to just make a blanket statement "there's a lot of bullshit in that video" is to say that ArenaNet is lying/deceiving viewers and not to believe anything in the video."


Lying/deceiving would be too strong of phrasing. It's just your normal BS MMO hype trailer. Just like all the MMOs before it, just like all the MMOs to come.

 

[Retro]

Yeah. However, after a quest series is done you feel the effects of it for certain ones. It's pretty nice and makes the world feel more alive than normal.

Yep, piecake just linked to a perfect example today too; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CyqGJHTjes

1) In PvE, you still most certainly grind. You go from dynamic event to dynamic event (see #2) and repeat the chains over and over which is the only way to really level up. Hell, you end up repeating the same shit in GW2 pve from what I've seen than most other recent MMOs which have a large amount of unique quests to take you to level cap.
2) The part at 1:50 about the world 'not caring' that you're there with, and I quote, "the boss spawns 10 minutes later" still entirely happens in GW2.

Now, it's largely impossible to really get away from those things in an MMO which makes it all the more silly to hype the game up as something that isn't doing it.

ArenaNet has stated that the events and respawn times were intentionally resetting faster during the BWEs for testing purposes, after players complained that they'd clear out part of a camp only to have the enemies respawn before they could finish. It was toned down a bit in BWE2, as I recall, but still present.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"ArenaNet has stated that the events and respawn times were intentionally resetting faster during the BWEs for testing purposes, after players complained that they'd clear out part of a camp only to have the enemies respawn before they could finish. It was toned down a bit in BWE2, as I recall, but still present."


The reset/respawn times are irrelevant and I doubt they'll change all too much, especially at launch or else people won't have any way to progress in the game due to the events being completed. The fact is, the world still "doesn't care that you're there."

 

[Shining Sunshine]

You do know they already have right? It's all there in the Beta right now.

The BWE, I felt grind. There's grind. They can't get rid of it.

 

[Vano]

The BWE, I felt grind. There's grind. They can't get rid of it.

At least isn't korean MMO grind, damm the korean MMO grind scarred me.

 

[Jira]

The BWE, I felt grind. There's grind. They can't get rid of it.

I'm not home right now so I'll reply later.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"If you are doing the same events over and over again, that is entirely because you chose to. There is no shortage of content that you should feel the need to run the same events repeatedly. If you have completely maxed out a zone and still aren't high enough level for the next zone, there are at least 2 other zones (in the Beta, there will be more at release) in the same level range. Aside from that, WvW is a great way to level up, crafting gives some decent level ups as well, and gathering provides a non-trivial amount of exp."


Note, I said PvE, I have no problems with anything regarding WvW (not sPvP) and I'm glad you can totally progress in WvW.

My posts are only in regards to PvE content because a lot of the Manifesto stuff was only regarding PvE content and in that regard, no, you most definitely need to repeat events, even if you head out to other zones, you're going to have to repeat events at least some number of time to stay within a decent level range for the PvE stuff.

 

[Deitus]

The BWE, I felt grind. There's grind. They can't get rid of it.

I'll repost what I posted above, because I think it got buried due to a late edit:

If you are doing the same events over and over again, that is entirely because you chose to. There is no shortage of content that you should feel the need to run the same events repeatedly. If you have completely maxed out a zone and still aren't high enough level for the next zone, there are at least 2 other zones (in the Beta, there will be more at release) in the same level range. Aside from that, WvW is a great way to level up, crafting gives some decent level ups as well, and gathering provides a non-trivial amount of exp.

To add to that, Personal Story gives a decent bit of exp, and completing achievements is a great way to get exp as well (though if you go after achievements primarily it would feel a bit grindy, but earning them while you work on other tasks is not so bad).

Edit- Once again, I didn't check for responses before I posted.

My posts are only in regards to PvE content because a lot of the Manifesto stuff was only regarding PvE content and in that regard, no, you most definitely need to repeat events, even if you head out to other zones, you're going to have to repeat events at least some number of time to stay within a decent level range for the PvE stuff.

All I can say is that is the exact opposite of my experience. If anything I was overleveled more often than not. Of course I did play a decent amount of WvW and some crafting as well, and that definitely contributed to my overall levels. But for each of my 3 characters, I never once went outside of their racial zones, and never ran into a situation where I couldn't get to new content without leveling up more. However, there were a few times where a higher level dynamic event (3 levels above me) showed up nearby, and decided to participate. Turns out, you are able to contribute to events above your level (I got the gold participation reward), you just have be a bit more careful because you die faster.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

I dunno. Having to kill things over and over to level up my weapon skills is pretty brutal Korean grinding.

 

[Felix Lighter]

The grinding complaints for PvE aren't encouraging. Not enough to turn me off but I'll continue looking into the game. I don't know if PvP in an MMO will ever be for me.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"The grinding complaints for PvE aren't encouraging. Not enough to turn me off but I'll continue looking into the game. I don't know if PvP in an MMO will ever be for me."


Well, keep in mind that the grind isn't killing 100s of mobs for 1/2 an XP bar, but repeating events 6-7 times for a level. Though I would say if you're not into PvP, GW2 is not a good MMO choice.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I see a lot of hype about this game but none of the videos look good. Does this game look better than the videos when playing on your own computer?

 

[Deitus]

I dunno. Having to kill things over and over to level up my weapon skills is pretty brutal Korean grinding.

Really, brutal Korean grinding? It takes an hour, maybe two to learn all of the skills. It might take slightly longer for a Warrior or an Elementalist, but I haven't played them so I can't say. But yeah, thats totally the same thing as spending a week killing the same mob over and over to get one level up.

 

[Retro]

The grinding complaints for PvE aren't encouraging. Not enough to turn me off but I'll continue looking into the game. I don't know if PvP in an MMO will ever be for me.

The grinding complaints for PVE are highly unfounded, and while PVP may not be your cup of tea you should at least give WvW a look. It's quite an interesting blend of the two that was much more fun than I thought it would be.

I see a lot of hype about this game but none of the videos look good. Does this game look better than the videos when playing on your own computer?

The game is still in Beta and is not optimized. In fact, it has been running almost entirely off the CPU (rather than GPU) for the last few events, and I don't think it's even supporting DX10 yet.

A lot of the videos are also lower quality because the capture software was causing a ton of framerate issues with the game. Look for Totalbiscuit's videos, he actually had a lot of stuff recorded in HD.

 

[FutureZombie]

If you're repeating events to level up it's because:

1. You're not crafting

2. You're not doing WvW

3. You're staying in one zone


It happened to me, too. You have to move to other race's zones, or do one of the other things. For example, if you are not doing those three things, you will be level 6 in Queensdale and not have any content within 4 levels of you. It does kind of suck, but at the same time, just move to another zone and the problem completely goes away.

Maybe we're meant to move to other race's zones as much as possible. I know I wouldn't have gotten to level 25 on my Norn if I hadn't gone into Char zones such as Diessa Plateau. There simply wasn't even content in Snowden Drifts.

If you do these things, there really is no grinding.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

The game is still in Beta and is not optimized. In fact, it has been running almost entirely off the CPU for the last few events, and I don't think it's even supporting DX10 yet.

Good to know. I thought the same thing about The Secret World, but then the magic patch happened and the game was suddenly awesome. I hope the same goes for this game, as a lot of the ideas sound great. I just can't play a game with the current animations I see in these videos as it makes it hard to take the game seriously.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

If you're repeating events to level up it's because:

1. You're not crafting

2. You're not doing WvW

3. You're staying in one zone


It happened to me, too. You have to move to other race's zones, or do one of the other things. For example, if you are not doing those three things, you will be level 6 in Queensdale and not have any content within 4 levels of you. It does kind of suck, but at the same time, just move to another zone and the problem completely goes away.

Maybe we're meant to move to other race's zones as much as possible. I know I wouldn't have gotten to level 25 on my Norn if I hadn't gone into Char zones such as Diessa Plateau. There simply wasn't even content in Snowden Drifts.

If you do these things, there really is no grinding.

I don't see how crafting isn't grinding or how WvW or staying one zone eliminates the thought of killing enemies for XP.

 

[Retro]

If you're repeating events to level up it's because:

1. You're not crafting

2. You're not doing WvW

3. You're staying in one zone

4. You're not doing your personal quest

5. You're not gathering.

6. You're running off before the event you just finished triggers the next event in the chain.

I don't think you even have to craft or switch to WvW to level, honestly.

Good to know. I thought the same thing about The Secret World, but then the magic patch happened and the game was suddenly awesome. I hope the same goes for this game, as a lot of the ideas sound great. I just can't play a game with the current animations I see in these videos as it makes it hard to take the game seriously.

Yep, animations are still being worked on. There is one particular animation issue that's been mentioned a lot, and that has to do with character movement feeling floaty or 'ice skating'. One part of that is shadows (which need to be optimized), another is that rapid changes in direction result in unrealistic transition animations. The alternative is to slow the transition down, which looks even more jarring and affects gameplay. They decided in the end it was better to have it look a little odd rather than have the gameplay feel off.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

4. You're not doing your personal quest

5. You're not gathering.

6. You're running off before the event you just finished triggers the next event in the chain.

I don't think you even have to craft or switch to WvW to level, honestly.

4. More killing
5. Same as crafting
6. More killing

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Ugh, apparently my email address was tied to my Guild Wars account from 2006. So I tried to then register my new pre-purchase code to it, and that worked... but everything is wonky. I'm having trouble signing in to the account.guildwars2.com page now and it says my "Display name" is my pre-order key. As in, my "display name" is "A0243-Ecc42-HJ453-11rJ5" (not actually those numbers, bros). Sigh.

 

[Deitus]

4. More killing
5. Same as crafting
6. More killing

So you want the game to have a system where you level up, not only without having to kill enemies repeatedly, but by doing activities where no killing is even involved... but crafting and gathering don't count?

 

[Felix Lighter]

Ok, I have an open mind. I'll continue reading up on the game. I'll look into WvW and see if it's something I'll be interested in. Thanks for the feedback guys. Honestly, the biggest draw is a non-free-to-play MMO that doesn't require a monthly fee but I don't want to spend the money if it's something that I'll play for a week and burn out.