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[Wallach]

That sounds nothing like the knight type I want to play More like a battlemage

Yeah, that's one of the ways Guardians can be offensive. They have a pretty large weapon selection, and it covers a lot of the different ways to play.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guardian

I'd read over the wiki page for them if you want to start to learn about how they work.

 

[Retro]

Too busy working on OT to get the top post, but it won't matter soon, mwahaha....

(Assuming you have access to the 3-day headstart, and if you don't, why not?)

Useful Info
Want some info? Read this: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1058358-Guild-Wars-2-Mass-info-for-the-uninitiated-READ-ME
Guild Wars 2 Status (accurate clock, data on client updates): http://gw2status.com/
GAFGuild's website: http://www.gafguild.com
GAF Server Selection: Stormbluff Isle (US) / Gandara (EU)

Official Thread goes live TONIGHT!

GAFGuild Mega-Awesome Pre-Launch Super-Countdown Festival of Hype Mumble Meet & Greet Event!
Here's another opportunity for everyone to hop on Mumble and get to know their future guildmates before launch. Even if you don't have a microphone, you can still participate since Mumble has a chat window. If you don't want to speak up, that's fine too; talking is not mandatory and you're welcome to just log in and listen (keep the creepy stalker breathing to a minimum though).

The event will begin on Friday, August 25th at Midnight (9PM on the 24th Pacific, 4am GMT) and run for 3 hours. At this point, the game launches and everyone officially has license to freak out. This event is strictly B.Y.O.K (Bring Your Own Kool-Aid). Please note that ArenaNet has stated they may start the game up to 3 hours early, so you might as well get on mumble and spam the Login button with the rest of us.

Mumble Info:
(Quote post for info)

 

[mik83kuu]

I'm getting sort of worried that the new nVidia drivers might not show up before the release :-(

 

[thetrin]

That sounds nothing like the knight type I want to play More like a battlemage

Well you can do sword and shield, which allows you to cast a huge bubble around you and allies to reflect projectiles, and you can do a huge shield wave that hurts enemies and protects allies.

There are a lot of combinations of weapons and off hands that can change the way your character plays. Each weapon and offhand gives you new abilities.

Two handers give you 5 abilities. A one hand gives you 3, and the off hand gives you 2 (combining to 5 total)

 

[Deitus]

I think sPvP is worth buying it for.

If there were no PVE or WvW in this game, I would probably buy it for just the sPVP. But since there is PVE and WvW, I will probably barely touch sPVP. Its not that sPVP is bad, but everything else is so much better (in my opinion).

Man, as a Paladin by heart I have my woes against the guardian - It looks a bit too support class for me. Normally I like fighting with the ability to heal myself and help my teammates, however I don't want to be the guy behind the lines handing out evians and cheering them on with the occasional spell.

Too add to what others have said, that character type does not even exist in this game. There is no such thing as a pure support character. All classes are capable of doing damage, healing themselves, controlling enemy movement (to keep them from hitting you and your allies), buffs, and debuffs to varying degrees. There is no class that sits there and heals people, and no class that sits there and soaks up all the hits. Every single person in a party is responsible for keeping themselves out of harms way, and healing up when they take damage. And if anyone in the party isn't also doing damage, they are just dead weight. Support roles are still useful, but they are never the only role you fill in an engagement.

 

[Emitan]

If there were no PVE or WvW in this game, I would probably buy it for just the sPVP. But since there is PVE and WvW, I will probably barely touch sPVP. Its not that sPVP is bad, but everything else is so much better (in my opinion).

That's my opinion as well. I will definitely put in a lot of hours into sPvP but WvWvW is where I will probably spend the majority of my time.

 

[Sethos]

Okay, appreciate the replies and the patience with me. I'll read up on it and test the waters, game sounds very flexible so I guess I can make the character whatever I want

 

[Aeana]

Too add to what others have said, that character type does not even exist in this game. There is no such thing as a pure support character. All classes are capable of doing damage, healing themselves, controlling enemy movement (to keep them from hitting you and your allies), buffs, and debuffs to varying degrees. There is no class that sits there and heals people, and no class that sits there and soaks up all the hits. Every single person in a party is responsible for keeping themselves out of harms way, and healing up when they take damage. And if anyone in the party isn't also doing damage, they are just dead weight. Support roles are still useful, but they are never the only role you fill in an engagement.

Kind of sad to hear that, since my favorite role in MMOs has always been the pure healer.

 

[thetrin]

Okay, appreciate the replies and the patience with me. I'll read up on it and test the waters, game sounds very flexible so I guess I can make the character whatever I want

No problem. Ask all the questions you want. We're all friends here.

Kind of sad to hear that, since my favorite role in MMOs has always been the pure healer.

Yeah, you're responsible for your own way. Everyone has one healing skill, but some classes (like the guardian) can heal others at the same time, and a lot of their combat skills will hurt enemies and help allies at the same time.

That said, if you want to play more of a support role, it's possible. Try playing a guardian with a staff. It's more of a support guardian, with the ability to create lines enemies can't cross, buffing allies and attacking from afar.

 

[Emitan]

No problem. Ask all the questions you want. We're all friends here.

Plus we've got nothing to do for 4 days.

 

[Retro]

Plus we've got nothing to do for 4 days.

In 19 minutes, it'll only be 3.

 

[Wallach]

Kind of sad to hear that, since my favorite role in MMOs has always been the pure healer.

As far as PvE goes, it's definitely possible to do a very heavy support character. If that is what you are interested in I wouldn't worry about that as much. You can't just heal because the game does not need or want such a character by design. There's a wide variety of ways of playing support beyond heals in this game.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Kind of sad to hear that, since my favorite role in MMOs has always been the pure healer.

That's not a good way to get into Guild Wars 2. There is no holy trinity (Tank/DPS/Healer).

 

[inky]

Except for me. I'm not your friend, I am actually a spy from the Titan Alliance who infiltrated your ranks and now knows your secrets... and now that I know all of your plans I will be passing them along. Hahahaha.

Spoiler

OK, it's time to get some sleep

 

[Deitus]

Kind of sad to hear that, since my favorite role in MMOs has always been the pure healer.

Well, there are still a lot of ways you can play a healer/support role. But you will be attacking the enemy the entire time. However, your heal spells will never be strong enough to keep a party alive, especially since there is no tank. Healing is supplementary, and while it can be the difference between life and death, it won't keep a party alive if they are not evading enemy attacks.

Self heal spells on the other hand can be quite potent. Every single class has a self heal spell, and will have it equipped no matter what, although they typically have long cooldowns.

 

[GrizzNKev]

In 19 minutes, it'll only be 3.

Yeah, 3 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds.

 

[Ryökäle]

I'm getting sort of worried that the new nVidia drivers might not show up before the release :-(

I'm using the latest beta version 304.79 and during the last stress test, performance seemed to be a lot better than with the 301.42 driver. The game ran smoother and FPS was on average higher by 10. And I did not have any problems with it.

 

[Rapture]

Yeah, 3 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds.

3 days is 3 days! >_>

 

[etiolate]

In WvWVW, I playing mostly as a support Engineer during BWE3 and the first Stress Test. It's not the same as being a straight up healer in a MMO, but it does offer the feeling of helping others. It plays differently from a healer and requires thinking in the way GW2 asks you to think and work.

Ultimately, you will not be performing one role for too long. Generally, don't think in terms of "roles" but in terms of actions. I may have setup my toolkits for support, but I was performing many different actions. I just had more access to support actions or control actions than I would have if I set up my skill bar differently.

 

[Emitan]

I'm getting sort of worried that the new nVidia drivers might not show up before the release :-(

Aren't they expected today?

 

[Proven]

All the classes in this game are pretty capable at whatever role you want. That much isn't really a gimmick, they almost all have strong options in all the traditional roles. If anything I think the most prominent role they have found in the tournament metagame so far is defensive point control (i.e. being sturdy and having a lot of knockbacks and stuff to keep people back). If you're just talking about PvE you can certainly do whatever you want with a Guardian.

Edit - I think I'd scale that back a little since I think it's pretty hard for a Necromancer to do something like moderate or higher group healing consistently. But for the most part it really is accurate.

As a Necromancer, try doing more stuff with dark fields and wells, and it should up your healing capacity.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Aren't they expected today?

Some guy on Guru claimed that.


It's not really that my max frames need to increase, I just want it to not dip so low. Sometimes it's incredible taxing with certain effects. It's like some sort of framerate spikes. My card does great in Dx11 but it's not as impressive in dx9. I know gw2 is not dx11(yet) but it would be nice with some solid minimum fps

 

[Emitan]

Kind of sad to hear that, since my favorite role in MMOs has always been the pure healer.

With how active GW2 is with manual dodging and more realistic hitboxes healing is less necessary than most other games where you're at the mercy of your stats. Not sure if that should make you feel better or worse about the lack of healing...

 

[thetrin]

With how active GW2 is with manual dodging and more realistic hitboxes healing is less necessary than most other games where you're at the mercy of your stats. Not sure if that should make you feel better or worse about the lack of healing...

Pretty much. Moving and avoiding damage is way more important than soaking up damage and waiting for someone to heal you.

 

[Emitan]

I think the launcher just updated. No client update.

 

[Teknoman]

So is it best to focus on one weapon type? Really liked the Great sword Guardian skills, but not sure if I should also learn to play with a second set as well...just in case.

 

[Emitan]

So is it best to focus on one weapon type? Really liked the Great sword Guardian skills, but not sure if I should also learn to play with a second set as well...just in case.

You should use two at least so you have some skills to use when your cooldowns are down.

Sword gives you a third gap closer if you need one!

 

[thetrin]

So is it best to focus on one weapon type? Really liked the Great sword Guardian skills, but not sure if I should also learn to play with a second set as well...just in case.

It's really up to you. You get weapon skills so quickly that if you want to, you can.

I tend to focus on a single set of weapons myself.

 

[kayos90]

So is it best to focus on one weapon type? Really liked the Great sword Guardian skills, but not sure if I should also learn to play with a second set as well...just in case.

Weapon swapping is quintessential to surviving and fighting in the game. you need at least two sets equipped.

 

[Jira]

The OT will be a bit late due to some technical difficulties. Our current situation is much like having to fit your program into 80kb of memory, but for a forum.

 

[etiolate]

So is it best to focus on one weapon type? Really liked the Great sword Guardian skills, but not sure if I should also learn to play with a second set as well...just in case.

Learn all the weapon skills, then pick two that you like to use together and weapon swap to get the most out of them.

 

[Emitan]

The OT will be a bit late due to some technical difficulties. Our current situation is much like having to fit your program into 80kb of memory, but for a forum.

Remove every third word.

 

[Piecake]

Remove every third word.

na, take out all the vowels

n, tk t ll th vwls

Totally readable

 

[Wallach]

As a Necromancer, try doing more stuff with dark fields and wells, and it should up your healing capacity.

That was kind of my point; those are pretty much the meat of your party healing options and it comes with quite a lot of restrictions to work around, some of which you are not in direct control over. They're capable of it, but certainly very limited compared to some of the other professions.

 

[GrizzNKev]

The OT will be a bit late due to some technical difficulties. Our current situation is much like having to fit your program into 80kb of memory, but for a forum.

I don't think anyone really minds.

 

[Teknoman]

You should use two at least so you have some skills to use when your cooldowns are down.

Sword gives you a third gap closer if you need one!

It's really up to you. You get weapon skills so quickly that if you want to, you can.

I tend to focus on a single set of weapons myself.

Weapon swapping is quintessential to surviving and fighting in the game. you need at least two sets equipped.

Learn all the weapon skills, then pick two that you like to use together and weapon swap to get the most out of them.

Thanks. After checking out the wiki and looking back on my BWE experiences...I might just focus on Greatsword and Mace+Shield or Mace+Torch. Slice up people for great justice, and then heal/protect nearby allies when surrounded.

EDIT: Actually, Greatsword and Mace+Torch. The zealot skills actually sound pretty fun.

 

[PewPewK]

I don't think anyone really minds.

Like Hell we don't! I'm FURIOUS that I'll have to wait an extra few hours to get the OT! I could go on a rampage! Dammit GIVE ME MY OT.

 

[Emitan]

I don't mind. Most of the OT is information I already know. I just want a place to talk about GW2.

 

[Rapture]

Like Hell we don't! I'm FURIOUS that I'll have to wait an extra few hours to get the OT! I could go on a rampage! Dammit GIVE ME MY OT.

I'm projecting all my GW2 hype onto the OT! I need it!!!

 

[Absinthe]

The OT will be a bit late due to some technical difficulties. Our current situation is much like having to fit your program into 80kb of memory, but for a forum.

Yeah, the single post rule is BS.

On a different note, playing through GW1 for HOM makes you really appreciate how good GW2 is! I know it's old, but damn, GW1 does not hold up well after playing it's successor.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

What timezone midnight is the OT going up? I wanna be first post.

2 Character slot
3rd Character slot will be purchased with a gold to gem conversion

After that, not sure. I'll see what happens.

 

[GrizzNKev]

Yeah, the single post rule is BS.

On a different note, playing through GW1 for HOM makes you really appreciate how good GW2 is! I know it's old, but damn, GW1 does not hold up well after playing it's successor.

GW2 is my first "real" MMO, all I played before it was GW1. When I started playing during the NDA'd closed beta, I moved while casting.

Holy shit, technology.

 

[LumpOfCole]

The OT will be a bit late due to some technical difficulties. Our current situation is much like having to fit your program into 80kb of memory, but for a forum.

Drat, there goes my plans of poaching the first reply with this gem.

 

[Spehornoob]

You can only have single post OTs now? Ouch.

 

[GrizzNKev]

more bears

sigh

 

[DarkSloth]

Can anyone help, I'm having trouble accessing the gw2 OT. I checked my router and everything seems fine...

 

[etiolate]

The single post OT rule is needed. Too many OTs turn the gaming side into a giant billboard for companies. I understand more info is helpful, but GOOGLE EXISTS.

 

[Smiley90]

Can anyone help, I'm having trouble accessing the gw2 OT. I checked my router and everything seems fine...

as in, the non-existant OT? It's too late for jokes like that man.

 

[Aeana]

The single post OT rule is needed. Too many OTs turn the gaming side into a giant billboard for companies. I understand more info is helpful, but GOOGLE EXISTS.

Right. If you need more than one post for an OT, then it sounds like you're trying to recreate the game's website or wiki. Those already exist, and a simple link to them will suffice.

 

[Rapture]

Bears

I don't care what anyone else says. Still lollin'