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

I'll be another that looks forward to joining the GAF guild. I even bought Deluxe and have that elixir one time lame item that boosts guild stats.

Awesome. Just as a reminder, anyone planning to roll with GAF (regardless of NA or EU!) should register at GafGuild.com, our community building / organization forum.

Yes, it seems we have. This is the first MMO I've played since WoW that I see as having the potential to make a significant niche for itself in the market.

Don't feed the Mod.

I'll check out Dark Souls once the PC version is released. :3

Lucky for you it comes out later this month... on... erm... oh dear. One day before the GW2 headstart begins...

With regards to the personal story quests, I'm still unsure on whether they are well written and varied in their design. Generally, GW2 seems to have a very light-hearted tone, though, which I really appreciate.

Depends on which Personal Story you're doing. As being as spoiler-light as possible, during the Charr's Ash Legion storyline, one of my comrades was captured, tortured, killed, and had his body parts placed in a cage with another comrade to break their morale. Charr don't do "light-hearted" apparently.

This sounds good. I can see this working quite well as long as relatively few players are involved in combat, but in large-scale battles, as in the Super Squad / Team Paradigm match mentioned by Vinci, which I just watched, the high amount of particle effects from magic spells (?) seems to make it quite hard to keep an eye out for specific attack-animations of a given enemy-combatant. Since I've never played the game, I don't know if this is actually a problem, though. Is it?

That's not a GW2-specific problem though, as all MMOs tend to slow down and get chaotic when a ton of players are focus-firing on one target. It's just heightened by GW2s more active combat system.

I will say that seems to be a WvW-centric problem just because players are still very much under the impression that zerging is the best way to accomplish things. However, there are videos of boss fights later in the game where ArenaNet has cleverly created a fight with lots of layers that players will need to spread out for.

Tequatl the Sunless, for example, is a 'small' dragon that players will fight in the mid 50s-mid 60s (level might have changed since the video). He summons explosive undead adds, creates barriers and tentacles that knock players back, and breathes noxious fumes. To fight him, some players need to be on adds, some players need to be on small turrets to tear down the walls/tentacles, and some players need to defend a massive Asura cannon so it can fire on the dragon, stunning him long enough for the players to attack him. And I bet I'm forgetting some part of that fight too.

By spreading people out on multiple objectives to take down a massive boss, hopefully there won't be quite the concentration of particle effects and people lumped into a small area, even during a large-scale fight.

Man, maybe I should just try the game out for myself. I usually don't buy games at near full-price ($50 in this case) when I'm not sure on whether I will actually enjoy the mechanics behind it, but GW2 doesn't leave me much of a choice, I guess.

It's worth mentioning that once you pay the initial $50 fee for entry, you're done paying. That's substantially lower than other AAA MMOs that also require you to pay a subscription fee as long as you play.

f you still have a need to compare everything your game does to what World of Warcraft does, you do not have something that can stand up to it, simple as that.

Comparing an upcoming game to others in the same genre automatically means it's never going to surpass them? By your logic, nothing has ever been better than flint axes and wooden spears because somebody inevitably came along and said "Yeah, flint axes and wood spears are great, but bronze looks amazing!", thus rendering bronze 'unable to stand up to it'.
 
Picked up a second copy last night on Green Man Gaming, which has been fantastic. Got my collector's edition for $60 and a second standard for $45! Now i've just got to try and figure out what server to commit to, since all of my friends seem to be in different ones and are too damn stubborn to move.
 
Picked up a second copy last night on Green Man Gaming, which has been fantastic. Got my collector's edition for $60 and a second standard for $45! Now i've just got to try and figure out what server to commit to, since all of my friends seem to be in different ones and are too damn stubborn to move.

Expect an announcement on the GAF server soon-ish. We're discussing it quite heavily this weekend.
 
I was under the impression that Blindness makes your next attack miss period, no matter what it was, though I'm not 100% sure.

From what I've seen, the Thief's new downed ability, the self stealth (3), causes a stomp in progress to miss. Logic would dictate that blindness would stop one too, but Stealth (which has the effect of forcing a detarget) is still not the same thing as Blind. It would depend if stomping counted as an "attack" or not.
 
Are we positive that the server list is final?

No, but unless people want to wait a week before launch for a decision to be made using roughly the exact same information we have available to us now to make a choice, we can wait.

We'd rather not let it linger though, as we want people to have time to let their friends and family know where to roll, or to make a decision on whether they want to roll with GAF or another group for WvW (obviously everyone can be a part of GAF regardless of server, but we're trying to get a united front.)
 
If you still have a need to compare everything your game does to what World of Warcraft does, you do not have something that can stand up to it, simple as that.

I disagree. As a consumer, I am going to compare video games in the same genre to see which will better suit my needs for my dollar.

Competition is a good thing. Comparing is a good thing. It's usually only when a product is good enough that it gets compared and contrasted with a title with a known track record of excellence. I would say a comparison without actually having played a game is purely speculative - but after playing something, one can form their own opinion about it and other games they have played in the genre. It is most certainly not wrong if one says "x does better than y".

Take shooters, for example, CoD and BF are probably the two most notable FPS franchises - does comparing one to the other automatically mean the other game can't "stand up" to it as you suggest? No. The exact opposite. Comparing GW2 to Bulletstorm... yeah, that's a stretch - but comparing GW2 to another game in the same genre when they are both vying for identical space - yes - comparisons will be made and competition will be had.

Another example, PS3/360. If not for the competition between the two, the comparisons, what opinions people voice about the two - they would not be half the machines they are today. They wouldn't have half the functionality. Why? Because without competition, without users discussing the products and directly comparing the two - neither company would be trying to implement new features to earn your dollar.

If we live with the assumption that comparing "new game" to "old game" means "new game" can't "stand up" - then we are moving through the game space with blinders on. We are making decisions based on illogical pre-determined notions of what is good vs what is bad.

Comparisons and competition are the seeds of progress. Don't discount them so lightly.
 
No, but unless people want to wait a week before launch for a decision to be made using roughly the exact same information we have available to us now to make a choice, we can wait.

We'd rather not let it linger though, as we want people to have time to let their friends and family know where to roll, or to make a decision on whether they want to roll with GAF or another group for WvW (obviously everyone can be a part of GAF regardless of server, but we're trying to get a united front.)

Seriously Retro. I am sick to death of saying this in this thread....

STOP MAKING SENSE!!!! :P

On a more serious note, I found this extensive list of needed improvement suggestions, to be quite spot on and needed.....

Here's the link: http://journals.rpgnexus.net/zenatrophy/gw2-thoughts/suggestion_list.php

Or, to put it within the thread, I'll copypasta a few of the items. I don't agree with all of them, but there are some mentioned items that would help the game tremendously:

Generalized UI POLISH REQUESTS

Saving personal map waypoints permanently with notes
Take the death log from PVP and make it available in PVE (as an option)
Please add auto-complete to mail recipients...
From the friend and/or guild list would be fine
Confirm dialog before deleting mail with attachments you haven't picked up
Death shroud is still on when you view cinematics...
When you click on an achievement popup, take you to that achievement in your achievement list.
Return of the High Resolution screenshot button
Shift+Print Screen to take a fast, UI-less screenshot
Right click utility skill on bar to go to slot skills window
Optionally Auto-switch to town clothes when you enter a city instance.
An option you can toggle in the inventory
Important to players to whom town clothes are important
i.e, the people who will be buying them
More detailed combat log with option to download log as text file for theorycrafting parsing.
Toggle to use larger icons for boons and conditions
For those of us with giant monitors they were really hard to see


Hero Menu

WvW's B menu should be accessible from the hero tab
use an icon that is a pair of crossed swords over a small globe of Tyria in gold
placed under the SPVP icon in the hero menu.
List chain skills in hero tab and downed skills
Trying to learn them in the thick of battle is frustrating
Saving personal build and add a "minus" symbol to decrease traits stats
Should need to click "apply" before traits are confirmed
accidentally spending one too many points means a complete rebuild is needed
A comprehensive player stats page listing effects of traits, armour & weapon damage
Inventory, traits and stats page have buttons to display your PvE or current PvP build
Skill descriptions do a very poor job of describing exactly how they work
It would be nice to describe all of these terms in-game
should pull information from the real values directly and not require being updated by hand
place that defines terms like "blowout" or "quickness" in game
Drag and drop skills in slot skill window to pick active skills.
Fury & other trait that increase crit chance or other stat should reflect on Hero panel.


Chat

Copy/paste from chat
GW1 chat shortcuts implemented. ! for Local, @ for guild, # for party, " for whisper.
or be able to assign a shortcut to each channel.
Have an option to enable clickable URLs
guilds benefit from this
option to enable (should be disabled by default and should have an "Are you sure you want to open this link"-type of message.)
Choosing to enable this option would also warn players "Are you sure you want to enable clickable URLs? Players could direct you to unscrupulus websites with viruses, and all content is beyond ArenaNet's control."
Opens in user browser, not the built in one, and only supports http:// protocol
Multiple chat windows
Faster way to switch from one type of chat to another without typing /g /w /s commands nor scroll through them with tab. Modifier keys here.
When viewing chat-linked item also display current item equipped
Right click on player's names in chat to open the Player UI options (invite to party etc)


Keybinds

Key binds for specific tabs of the hero pane so I can go straight to my traits or to the PVP tab
Allow players to divide the "f" key's interact and loot and heal functions to different keys
Often players find themselves accidentally grabbing turrets instead of looting
Be able to use keybinds on mouse wheel.
option to enable loot key to loot all nearby sources of loot
Spamming the f key repeatedly is unnecessary
Be able to rebind chat linking's Left Ctrl, Left Shit, and Left Alt functions
Character specific keybinds
Different class mechanics especially make this desirable
A bindable toggle that causes the mouse to follow the camera without holding right click


Inventory & Store UI

Bank inventory information in tooltips
mouse over a bear scrotum, tells you how many you have on you, in your bank
and in your (currently represented) guild's bank
Preview item and item chat-linking from the trading post and crafting station
Key+click combination to sell directly to merchants from your own inventory.
Merchants/Inventory list items that cannot be used by your profession in red
This makes it easier to sell or break down junk
keep their rarity color on mouse-over
Ctrl-click on items to preview them. (Right click preview works but not ctrl-click.)
Ctrl-click is in many other mmos
When you're viewing a lot of different items, you hold ctrl, and then click through them to view items in the preview window.
As it is now, you need to right click on the item, and then left click on the preview context menu item. It's slow.
Dye interface, clicking applies the dye. Double-click to undo that change.
the "undo" button at the top rully resets the entire thing, so this is a handy way to just revert the change
alternatively, ctrl-z is very standard...
Link Hair Ornament colour to head gear colour palette. It should not be fixed at character creation.


Character Creation & Cosmetic

Character Creation - Colour Palettes should say what they change
problems most evident in Sylvari
Move Skin colour to Body Features - Physique
It is confusing to have it under Face
and especially confusing when talking about Charr, Asura and Slyvari
Eye Colour could go where skin colour is currently i.e. Faces & Skin Color which will be rename accordingly
choose your starter weapon in character creation
More Beards, goatees, sideburns for Human Males without mustaches!
A heavier female option for human females/males & an aged face
Norn has good options on this line of physique, why don't humans?
The game gains a lot of credibility and good press from allowing players to select physiques that don't fall into the "supermodel" category
The ability to have an unattractive character provides contrast. No one looks stand-out beautiful if everyone looks like a barbie.
Ergo, the supermodel physique, by contrast, will stand out better and players who desire it will really have standout pretty characters
Player names allow 1 apostrophe and a total of 3 Upper case letters in your names
(Jonathan McGowen, Robert dIberville, etc, seem like valid human names)


Player to Player/NPC Interaction UI

A feature to inspect the armor of other players.
Right click portrait > "follow" option
Only works on party and guild members
Works on all kinds of NPCs
should not interrupt movement animations
Synchronized marching, anyone? : )
Right Click player/portrait > sends an invite to a Duel.
Possibly only available in the Mists and cities
this would prevent interference with events / combat exploits
This is Not a request for a new PvP mode!
A social function that allows players to learn the combat system with friends
Allows easy testing of builds
"Join" option should be available, even if you are on the same server,
port to the nearest waypoint to your team member
still costs money
Dragging an item from inventory onto player photo should mail the item to them
Use a default message
Primary usage of mailing was to mail drops we found to a party member
so this expedites that process a lot


Trading Post

Sort armour in trading post by light, medium, heavy
Trading post search by attribute (i.e. armor with Power > X)
Allow item preview on character from listings
Pick-up Items and Gold via Mail system
at least Gold if Anet still wants people to visit the NPC's
Provide more information about what you're currently selling/buying and the other info that you see while buying from the sell tab.
Have the ablity to choose what to pickup.
Provide income from sales independent of pickup up items


Combat UI

Option to enable display of Exact Range to target
This would display as part of the target marker, unobtrusive
Ability to turn off combat sounds except for party & enemies
The dynamic events and WvW gets very, very noisy
Enemy combat sounds should also be included.
The option to keep the mouse pointer visible when moving the camera.
This is especially for people using fast ground targeting
Allow Elementalists & Engineers to be able to toggle weapon sets outside of combat
There's no good reason to force them to have to dig through their inventory.
Prioritize healing player over pet.
If the pet isn't yours, player must set pet as a target before heal key works
it's very easy to accidentally start healing a player's pet in large fights
Sometimes this gets you killed.
Alternately, stow pet on death. Don't deploy it again until switched or reviving.
Being able to move the enemy health bar element (Target) from the top of the screen
This is troublesome on large monitors where the eye has to flick back and forth from top of screen and combat
Predefined locations would be fine. two-pixel line under name, etc
Allow us to hot-swap the weapon skills for each weapon set out of combat
a-la GW1 (by moving the tiles around).
Every class has special mechanics so this really makes sense in a game like GW2
"I bound my heal skill to one of my two thumb buttons and it worked great. When I switched to my engineer, I was pulling up my med kit at really inconvenient times instead of healing myself."
Ability to change without messing up the binds for other sets.
When using fast ground targeting, holding button displays the target on the ground. Releasing would cast the spell/ability.
This would be especially useful on siege equipment
a pretty good improvement to the flow of things.
Necromancer Death Shroud UI & Downed State needs to show active buffs and debuffs.
Friendly Support AoE fields need green borders to differentiate from friendly damage fields (white border) and enemy fields (red border).
Non-standard buffs and debuffs (e.g. Venoms, Banners) need timer borders like standard buffs/debuffs currently do.
Interrupt/Stun icon needs more visibility - a more solid white background?
Ability to tone down particle effects, especially other players not in party
melee need this. See this ridiculous shark: |><)))&#65533;>
Show Condition/Boon duration without the need to point at them to see it.
Make Armor durability lost more obvious. Perhaps small numbers showing how much armour you have left or how much you've lost.
Fury & other trait that increase crit chance or other stat should reflect on Hero panel.


Colourblind Fixes & Palette

The game should support colour-blind people.
PvP very challenging for colourblind people
especially as the key elements you *need* to know are red and blue
colourblind men represent up to ~%4 of the male population
More (%7) if you count all forms of colour blindneess
Enable a switch to make your game colour-blind friendly:
This is a colour-blind palette you can swap to:
Red -> Vermillion #D55E00; RVB 213,94,0
Blue -> Sky Blue #56B4E9; RVB 86,180,233
Green -> Yellow #E69F00; RVB 240,228,66
These colours are unambiguous to non-colourblinds and colour-blinds alike.
You can further reinforce this by adding symbols to any colour-essential UI element
You may have difficulty changing player outfit colour
Add a symbol that appears above the character or a mouseover tooltip with name of colour
Also apply this to circle effects! Red-green colourblinds confirm they cannot see the circle on many landscapes. A pulse effect or texture effect can also enhance visibility for colourblinds.


New UI Elements

Visible UI notification that you are in queue.
For WvW or Tourney or anything. Very challenging to know what's happening otherwise
/readycheck, party members get a popup asking if they're ready.
Everyone can select "yes" or "no".
It's a great tool for checking if everyone's at the keyboard, paying attention, and ready to start an encounter/or time WvW movements/etc
Gathering Icons: To see how much uses we have of each gathering tool, colour an icon like so (with the percent meaning how many uses are left:
Green (50%+), yellow (25%-50%), orange (5-25%), red (0-5%)


Very Post-release Systems & Content

Craft-able town clothing
Lore codex a la Mass Effect
You already have a web browser plug-in so you could implement it in that
Makes it easy to update and correct without affecting the build process
The Lore Codex is another kind of place where players can "collect" information
just as we collect waypoints, vistas and points of interest
we could also be collecting background info from visting places, interacting with objects, completing quests and dynamic events
Beef up Chef crafting with more ingredients and recipe combos.
Guild Maintenance online tool
To build or queue upgrades
To kick or invite players to the guild
To change the guild announcement
To view online / offline members
Allow guild leaders to upload custom emblems for the guild.
Possibly even make this an in-store service for 400-800 gems.
(Aion did this and questionable material was easily reported/regulated by other players)
Android / iOS apps
Fishing mini-game
Dancing mini-game
Use the first five skill bars to execute moves & combos
Games can consist of copying slightly randomized prompts, a la guitar hero
Music mini-game
Already have a template for this in the hidden underwater organ
LotRO has a fascinating system using something akin to GW1's templates
text files in the user's documents directory are played by typing /music songname
the text file is literally just a list of notes
Really great system from a social perspective, great community content
sPvP map where secondary mechanic is flag running/capture
sPvP spectator mode


Very Post-release Enhancements & Support

Also allow Transmutation Stone to Remove stats and create Town Clothes from gear
Barber (Changing Hairstyle after creation) - possibly a gemstore item
Mac & Linux support
Asia-based servers
"best" latency to LA is 170ms; 300ms not uncommon to Texas
This is an improvement for both Asia & North American players as latency of fellow players can impact one another


WvW Enhancements

In WvW see the range of siege equipment while in blueprint mode.
Like how a blue transparent sphere appears around the engineer in TF2 when deploying a sentry.
Neutrals should defend SM with oil and arrowcarts
Stonemist is still a zergfest and won in 10 minutes
This would make taking Stonemist a strategical investment
Rather than just going to whoever has the fastest computer / most swiftness burns
Far more satisfying to conquer, and a lot less laggy
Current setup has basically all three server trying to cram into SM all at once
Having to deploy siege will spread the players around SM a bit more
And will have people hitting supply early to stop others from SM seiging
It also makes other routes make sense, like early borderland grabs
or securing the adjacent keeps
And early control of supply becomes more important
reset supply on players between matches
WvWvW should reset at a time more friendly to the east coast, like 9 PM PST
Currently a midnight reset is a major advantage to westcoast


Unapparent Bugs


Left click-and-drag to pan view also selects/deselects your target, it should not.
For example, while hitting a gate, I like to look right and left, and often end up de-selecting the gate as my target.
Supply on players isn't reseting between WvW matches
FOV slider
latency meter beneath party member
just use a simple two pixel wide bar, nothing elaborate
Remove the ability for party-members to see you while you are invisible if on the opposite teams in structured PvP (or any other time they are hostile).
It has been suggested that parties are disbanded on sPvP
We would prefer the functionality of the party was disabled during sPvP
Since currently parties persist even when offline
It's a great way to keep a tight group of friends together


Content Issues

Respawn timers are often spawning monsters back too fast in caves.
Even 30 - 60 seconds delay would help
The problem appears to be not accounting for the "trip back"
 
What I actually meant by that post: when you actually, truly enjoy something, you no longer feel the need to bash other products, simple as that. That is the sign of actually having real fun, in my book at least. I understand that some might feel more joy by being validated (i.e. "yeah, I am playing the superior product, yaay") than by actually playing the game, and I am not saying that the two things are mutually exclusive, but sometimes the balance is off, and it shows.

Examples: EVERY "major" MMO launch and its general chat. Look at what goes on there. There are players who are just looking for a WoW-killer, and not looking for a game that is simply good on its own merits.
 
Brett good post. A lot of those I would hope they address. The one that drives me insane a lot is the one key for talking looting and object interaction.
 
the $44 GMG preorder is highly tempting... I'm worried about being burned by this game, though. The whole micro transaction system really bums me out.
 
the $44 GMG preorder is highly tempting... I'm worried about being burned by this game, though. The whole micro transaction system really bums me out.
Never buying a single gem, you will easily get $44 worth of enjoyment out of this game.
 
If you still have a need to compare everything your game does to what World of Warcraft does, you do not have something that can stand up to it, simple as that. (Same goes for other games vs Diablo III, but I do not want to stir that one up , so :D)

So by that logic, Runequest is better than WoW. I could go on for hours, obviously, but neither of us has the time.

Also, I don't want WoW to die. I want it to face some true competition, because it has grown extremely self-complacent in its superiority (which is entirely natural). There is something wrong when Pandareans are the one race I've wanted ever since vanilla (yes, I am THE ONE GUY that actually wanted Pandareans ever since Chen Stormstout in W3), and yet this expansions says nothing at all to me. This is really not something that's unexpected; WoW is eight years old and the leading MMO, both very bad incentives for innovation.

So, yes, this is why I don't want WoW to die, even if that was at all possible (which it isn't). Without competition, GW2 would turn into WoW.

From what I've seen, the Thief's new downed ability, the self stealth (3), causes a stomp in progress to miss. Logic would dictate that blindness would stop one too, but Stealth (which has the effect of forcing a detarget) is still not the same thing as Blind. It would depend if stomping counted as an "attack" or not.

Well, a stomp is initiated with F, so I generally understood it to be more like an interact animation. We should probably test this and other things out. You can supposedly create sPvP arenas for 1 vs 1 and private invitations, so there's your duels and testing grounds. :)

On a more serious note, I found this extensive list of needed improvement suggestions, to be quite spot on and needed.....

Some of those need to happen ASAP, like the colorblind stuff (I'm not one myself but I do have a colorblind pal) and the high-res screenshots (with fixed lighting/water effects if possible). Others seem like they would take a minimum amount of effort, like labeling what color pickers do; for example, the skin color picker is not labeled at all and it's under "face" rather than "body". If I remember correctly, the eye color picker was also not where one'd expect it. Others are less imperative, like the online (web browser) guild management tool. I'd also like to request a Spanish translation, not for me but my GF and others.

I have to say that ArenaNet has seemed to read my mind regarding updates even during the beta weekends. The "Sell all junk" button, the "Bank all craftables", bank access from crafting stations, a solution for grabbing loot from defeated players, even the show/hide helm and cape checkboxes. Other times I just marvel at the countless nifty things that the game allows, like hotlinking waypoints, or customizing music. I'm quite eager to see what they surprise us with on the long run

What I actually meant by that post: when you actually, truly enjoy something, you no longer feel the need to bash other products, simple as that. That is the sign of actually having real fun, in my book at least.

You logic is still extremelly flawed; you just pointed to a particular situation (WoW and MMOs), noted that your statement applied to it currently (WoW is criticized and compared to), then decided that your statement is true for all games, everywhere. What you are saying is that if something is being compared to its competitors and criticized, that instantly equals being the superior product.

I personally compare GW2 to WoW because GW2 has allowed me to see how flawed WoW is in many regards, from subtle things (interface annoyances) to core concepts. You're saying that GW2 being so good that it has spoiled WoW for me, whether I wanted it or not (hint: I didn't), is a sign of WoW being better?

Edit: Read a couple interesting things:

Clones, if they are intended to be confused for players, should also strafe [out of AOE and to evade attacks]

I like this, but I wonder if ArenaNet would think that would make them too powerful, though.

When AI moves out of AoE effects they do so "badly"

Holy crap, enemies move out of AOE, even? At high levels, I guess?
 
None of it is stuff you will ever really need.


I guess you're right, I just read up on how the system will work. I would love to find an MMO that grabs me on the level that WoW did... Can anyone coming from this perspective who has played the beta extensively comment on this?
 
In regards to the AI moving out of AoEs, there was a bug in BWE3 where they weren't supposed to be moving out of them in that way. What was happening is if you cast an AoE they literally ran away from it instantly when THAT kind of 100% guaranteed move out of AoE isn't supposed to happen. Mobs will move out of AoE in a normal sense though, they will dodge it, they're just not supposed to run away from it instantly as soon as it comes in contact with it.
 
I guess you're right, I just read up on how the system will work. I would love to find an MMO that grabs me on the level that WoW did... Can anyone coming from this perspective who has played the beta extensively comment on this?

I'm someone who followed WoW for several years before it was released (when most people didn't know what MMOs meant), played in the US beta, played in the EU beta, and played and enjoyed WoW in a way that was entirely magical and so different to anything I had played until then. The feeling of expansiveness, of having an unimaginably huge world alive and there for me to explore, was something I will not forget for as long as I live. The first WoW beta I got in was quite possibly the second most I've played a game in all of my life. I then played it and loved it for six years. I've tried a lot of MMOs; City of Heroes, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, a bit of EVE, DC Universe Online, The Old Republic, Tera, plus probably a few others I'm forgetting. To me, honestly, many have neat things and are probably good games on their own, but none have compared in my mind to WoW, and I have never ended up buying, let alone paying a subscription, for any of them. WoW gripped me like no game has probably ever done.

Until GW2. There is a reason why I said "second most" time played above. The first beta weekend, I played GW2 for almost 13 hours in a single day. I'm sure that might not be all that much for some, but that was the most I've ever played in a single day, in about 30 years of constant hardcore gaming. I've payed full price for it (55$, not the ridiculous 43$ asking price GMG has right now), and frankly, I felt like I was stealing. It simply did not feel right to pay so little. The exact feeling... well, for me it's like it's 2004 again.

Make of that what you will.
 
the $44 GMG preorder is highly tempting... I'm worried about being burned by this game, though. The whole micro transaction system really bums me out.

OK, let me put it this way. I want to continue supporting ArenaNet, but once I buy my three extra character slots and perhaps a bank expansion... I have no clue what to expend it on. I simply don't want anything of what's for offer in their cash shop!

In regards to the AI moving out of AoEs, there was a bug in BWE3 where they weren't supposed to be moving out of them in that way. What was happening is if you cast an AoE they literally ran away from it instantly when THAT kind of 100% guaranteed move out of AoE isn't supposed to happen. Mobs will move out of AoE in a normal sense though, they will dodge it, they're just not supposed to run away from it instantly as soon as it comes in contact with it.

Man, to me it's just amazing that they MOVE OUT OF AOE! Can you imagine that in WoW? If mobs in WoW suddenly started getting away from my AOEs I think I'd drop out of my chair. :D
 
"I guess you're right, I just read up on how the system will work. I would love to find an MMO that grabs me on the level that WoW did... Can anyone coming from this perspective who has played the beta extensively comment on this?"


What did you enjoy most about WoW?
 
I know when the TRUE "successor" of WoW appears: it is going to be when I open a thread about the game on NeoGaf and I wont see people eagerly awaiting the Blizzard product that is running paralell to game xy to fail and to "finally die". That is all it needs to take. If you still have a need to compare everything your game does to what World of Warcraft does, you do not have something that can stand up to it, simple as that. (Same goes for other games vs Diablo III, but I do not want to stir that one up , so :D)

Edit: To clarify, same will apply to stuff like Titan, whenever that finally gets announced. And I am afraid Blizzard does not know what to do with that one either, in terms of WHEN to release it, when to announce it, etc.

That makes no sense. The subject comes up because, as I saw someone put it, this is the worst atmosphere/situation that a WoW product has launched into. So, of course, people will bring it up.

Multiple people have made the observation that it mostly depends on online communities and their unwillingness to move on. It doesn't really have much to do with quality difference between options.
 
No, but unless people want to wait a week before launch for a decision to be made using roughly the exact same information we have available to us now to make a choice, we can wait.

We'd rather not let it linger though, as we want people to have time to let their friends and family know where to roll, or to make a decision on whether they want to roll with GAF or another group for WvW (obviously everyone can be a part of GAF regardless of server, but we're trying to get a united front.)

Yup. Sums up what's going on pretty much.
 
while im sitting here at work...was thinking
This game still needs fishing >:(
Also possible player housing with gardening to grow stuff for crafting.... loved that part about ff11. Crafting stuff for your house and gardening. Small things that gave me other stuff to do.
 
while im sitting here at work...was thinking
This game still needs fishing >:(
Also possible player housing with gardening to grow stuff for crafting.... loved that part about ff11. Crafting stuff for your house and gardening. Small things that gave me other stuff to do.

Fishing, Player Housing and Guild Halls are coming post launch. They've already confirmed all three.
 
I don't want fishing if its anything like wow/rift fishing. So very boring and tedious.

If they do it, it needs to be FUN. Make it work like a weapon with specific skills.
 
I don't want fishing if its anything like wow/rift fishing. So very boring and tedious.

If they do it, it needs to be FUN. Make it work like a weapon with specific skills.

Of course it'll be a weapon and have specific skills. I imagine they might make it kinda like a siege weapon where you have to maybe move the line up/down/left/right to try to get a hook and then 5 would be how you pull the fish out if it grabs on?
 
Of course it'll be a weapon and have specific skills. I imagine they might make it kinda like a siege weapon where you have to maybe move the line up/down/left/right to try to get a hook and then 5 would be how you pull the fish out if it grabs on?

Perhaps. Maybe 1 is an aoe targeted cast, 2 is bob left, 3 is bob up, 4 is bob right, and 5 is reel in.
 
I'm someone who followed WoW for several years before it was released (when most people didn't know what MMOs meant), played in the US beta, played in the EU beta, and played and enjoyed WoW in a way that was entirely magical and so different to anything I had played until then. The feeling of expansiveness, of having an unimaginably huge world alive and there for me to explore, was something I will not forget for as long as I live. The first WoW beta I got in was quite possibly the second most I've played a game in all of my life. I then played it and loved it for six years. I've tried a lot of MMOs; City of Heroes, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, a bit of EVE, DC Universe Online, The Old Republic, Tera, plus probably a few others I'm forgetting. To me, honestly, many have neat things and are probably good games on their own, but none have compared in my mind to WoW, and I have never ended up buying, let alone paying a subscription, for any of them. WoW gripped me like no game has probably ever done.

Until GW2. There is a reason why I said "second most" time played above. The first beta weekend, I played GW2 for almost 13 hours in a single day. I'm sure that might not be all that much for some, but that was the most I've ever played in a single day, in about 30 years of constant hardcore gaming. I've payed full price for it (55$, not the ridiculous 43$ asking price GMG has right now), and frankly, I felt like I was stealing. It simply did not feel right to pay so little. The exact feeling... well, for me it's like it's 2004 again.

Make of that what you will.

Welp, you just sold me. Pre-ordered.
 
Of course it'll be a weapon and have specific skills. I imagine they might make it kinda like a siege weapon where you have to maybe move the line up/down/left/right to try to get a hook and then 5 would be how you pull the fish out if it grabs on?

I demand my overpowered class fishing ability. It would be so awesome chucking a bomb into the middle of the lake and seeing a bunch of dead fish you can net
 
Ive always enjoyed the boring non active fishing mechanics in games. Thats usually when im winding down from a day at work and want something mindnumbing to do. Its also enjoyable to chat with friends at that time.

If they make it as active as the combat, there goes my opportinity to chat/multitask on the other monitor. :(
 
Content Issues

Respawn timers are often spawning monsters back too fast in caves.
Even 30 - 60 seconds delay would help
The problem appears to be not accounting for the "trip back"

For every MMO ever, I don't know why developers don't just go with fast respawns, but enemies are 'asleep' or 'non-aggro' for a significant chunk of time after said spawn. It would fix a lot of issues for people thinking that there aren't enough enemies to kill versus there being too many enemies in an area.
 
Going to pre-order the game now. I am somewhat glad that I didnt have a chance to play GW2 during the beta phase since I'm already having a hard time waiting for it, if I'd played it I assume it would be unbearable. I also went on and made an account on the gaf guild site :)

I've decided that I'm going to start off as a Norn, but I still have no clue what profession I'm going to start as.
 
Ive always enjoyed the boring non active fishing mechanics in games. Thats usually when im winding down from a day at work and want something mindnumbing to do. Its also enjoyable to chat with friends at that time.

If they make it as active as the combat, there goes my opportinity to chat/multitask on the other monitor. :(

This. Also, I still want my Lotro-style music system, dangit.
 
For every MMO ever, I don't know why developers don't just go with fast respawns, but enemies are 'asleep' or 'non-aggro' for a significant chunk of time after said spawn. It would fix a lot of issues for people thinking that there aren't enough enemies to kill versus there being too many enemies in an area.

nah, the better idea is scaling the spawn to the players in the area.

if you do that, the game would be crazy easy as you could skip a large chuck with no risk of death.
 
I've only just realised the headstart launches at 8AM GMT. Which is the exact time I've got to be at work in the morning on the 25th. :/

3 weeks to train the girlfriend in how to reserve the names I want. Wish me luck..
 
I've only just realised the headstart launches at 8AM GMT. Which is the exact time I've got to be at work in the morning on the 25th. :/

3 weeks to train the girlfriend in how to reserve the names I want. Wish me luck..

I don't think I could ever date a girl who doesn't game. Just for situations like this!
 
My curse is that I always date girls who are completely engrossed into MMOs but they are never the MMOs I play (FFXI, Perfect World, Maple Story)

Haha I started playing FFXI with one of my female friends (it was our first time) and after an hour she's like "I hate this game".

I don't want to play anymore ;~;
 
I don't think I could ever date a girl who doesn't game. Just for situations like this!
Similar problem I have. I have never dated a girl with zero experience in games, but it's always a girl who's played games I was never interested in and vice versa.
 
I don't even tell them I play games, number of girls I met in 22 years that play games - 2. Fun country ;)

That sucks D:

I guess being a nerdy girl it was always easier for me to find other female gamers.
Too bad nearly all of them are straight D:
 
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