Been away from my PC all damn day, so I'm playing catch-up. Sorry for the Mega Post.
Hmm, disappointed on the monsters. The scale of them was so amazing at times for me in GW (Frost Wyrms and stuff). If I can hook her on combat (my biggest worry), everything else should be easier.
Gonna have to disagree with Arcteryx on this one.
Meet the Shadow Behemoth. He spawns in Queensdale, the human starting zone, in a sub-zone for level 15 characters. He's big. The chest he drops is the size of a mini-van.
He's also not alone. There are three dragons that swoop in every now and then (actually, ArenaNet made the poor decision to put them on timers, so they're kind of easy to farm, sadly), quite a few large, regular mobs running around, and the usual nasties to be found in dungeons. Since these have all proven to be really popular, I'm thinking when ArenaNet revamps the current zones in the next few months, we'll see even more cool events like these.
Gotcha, that shouldn't be an issue for us ... of course I'll have to initiate all of that. She's a great teammate and would be awesome in a guild but damn, she hates talking to randoms. Weird as Hell.
Guilds in GW2 are not exclusive, so you can both belong to GAFGuild and receive all of the influence bonuses a large group like ours is able to utilize. You can also form a private guild for yourselves and friends, and be part of both at once (you can only represent one at a time, however).
I never seem to have much trouble getting a group together from the guild, and I'm seeing people ask for / start up groups all the time. We're not randoms, at least.
Exploring we both love, puzzles she's not a huge fan of. But in the GW universe I think she can be sold on it, I'll have to find an example of one on YouTube.
Jumping puzzles aren't 'puzzles' so much than a complex series of platforming challenges. The rarely anything to solve beyond 'where do I jump next?", though sometimes they add extra stuff to it. All completely optional (even for the monthly achievement this month, you only need to find them, not finish them).
The only areas that have puzzles are dungeons (and they're pretty basic) and the Mini-dungeon, the Font of Rand (which I would say is Zelda-like in execution). Maybe a couple areas out in the wilderness.
Is there any mechanic new to GW2 that you guys feel was complicated at first glance, like say crafting? Because that's what I'll probably send her a few notes on as well just so she's up to speed.
Crafting is pretty simple; it gives you a few basic recipes and from that you can extrapolate how further recipes can be discovered (for example, if you need one Tier 1 material and 5 thingamabobs, you can quickly discover recipes for the other Tier 1 materials). Not the best crafting I've seen (Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is still the record holder), but good.
The most complex things are, as Arcteryx mentioned, the ones that aren't really well documented. For example, all of the crafting materials have their own storage space in your bank (Collectables Tab), and you can deposit those materials to that tab from anywhere by selecting "Deposit all collectables" from a menu on your inventory. Brilliant, insanely useful, but not immediately apparent. The game is full of really clever stuff that isn't immediately apparent or explained.
I'm actually not in the guild yet. I keep meaning to send out a piece of mail and then getting distracted. SHould do that today if I get a chance to get on.
Gotcha. Here's the armor I'm wearing here;
PM me your account name (name.####) and you'll be invited the instant I see it.
Nothing in GW2 is better than the original Guild Wars. Well, the graphics.
I'm gonna have to echo Hawkian here and say that this is terribly misleading, though probably not intentionally. There's a
lot going for GW2 and to say "It looks prettier" just doesn't do it justice. From the quiet partnerships you and a couple strangers form when suddenly a champion Cave Troll appears and starts stomping all of you, to the way events flow into each other and tell you the 'story' of the zone through actions rather than words. From the streamlined character building (admittedly at the cost of some customization) to the simple joy of finding a new dye (much easier to manage than GW1, at least). From the way the cities feel properly sized and, more importantly, properly populated, to the little surprises hidden off the beaten path. There's a
lot in there than 'better graphics'.
This is one of the reasons I love this game. We're both going for similar build ideas, but the game is flexible enough that I can go for a Axe/Shield setup (focusing more on defense and stacking vulnerability while maintaining some damage), and not feel like I'm some noob with a shitty build who will never be useful in a group.
My build is oriented towards stacking a lot of bleeds and making them last longer, something you won't get with axe/shield. Perhaps putting less points in Arms and more in something like Discipline. A cursory glance shows me a build focused on building adrenaline (On weapon swap, which you can reduce by half, and on crits with an axe) and stacking might (on weapon swap and when you block) and then unleashing it with faster or cheaper (probably faster since you can always kick up adrenaline with Healing Surge).
I'd have to dig in, but you MIGHT be able to go Mace / Shield and Axe / Shield and benefit from a heavy stun build too. Threw this together, untested and really not tweaked, but hopefully you can see what I'm getting at;
Warrior Build. . Might switch some things around, you can pull even more vulnerability down with a trait in Arms (rending Strikes) rather than the 50% crit against stunned goes (which is there because Shield Bash + Skull Crack gives you two stuns, especially with you pounding out Burst Skills, and you'd be lacking the crit from a full 30 in Arms).
/shrug. So much room. Kinda want to try this on my warrior now too. The high crit and bleed is cool, but it's one condition that is easily cleared and only stacks up to 25 (and in my group, we usually hit it on most bosses).
I am absolutely terrible with money so I would most likely just loose money playing the market. So I would have to do 300 dungeon runs to get a legendary weapon. Well, I guess I am done with Guild Wars 2 then. Reached lvl 80, I won I think.
I've same up maybe a tenth of that just by doing dungeon runs. Also, keep in mind, Legendary Weapons are meant to be something cool. A lot of the people in the guild who play a shitload still don't have one. A lot of it is luck, a LOT of it is work. Luckily, ArenaNet has been talking about changing how Legendaries are obtained, something more akin to a scavenger hunt. If it cuts down on the need for a lot of expensive materials, that's a lot of the money right there.
There was a promised feature, server guesting, that I think would have solved a lot of this but ArenaNet have yet to actually implement it for some mysterious reason. Will see what happens.
You can join GAFGuild regardless of server, so at least the chat will make it a little less lonely. You can also guest for dungeons, just not PVE yet. ArenaNet has said that the January / Feburary patch will add a ton of new features, and I'm hoping Guesting is one of them. We should be getting a preview in the next week or so.
Alright, caught up. What a day.
Edit: Congrats on the Juggernaut, Araman.
Edit 2:
Ok GW Gaf, I'm thinking of coming back to GW2 - but first, let me ask: how are the necromancers? Because they seemed a bit lackluster shortly after launch.
Much improved, but not 'there' yet.
Edit 3:
Do you think its going to be a big one? Why would they unveil it on a weekend? I guess i dont know i havent followed gw2 news since it came out
January is supposed to set the stage for large content pushes in February and March. Originally, January and February combined were supposed to be 'expansion sized', but they've since said that they were referring to the amount of new features they will be adding. February was also supposed to be a big WvW / PVP update, but given that the January patch is now being called 'smaller', I think that may be pushed back to March.
Either way, they've said that in a couple of weeks, they will be putting out a "Early 2013 preview" where they want to be very clear and give us a high-level overview of what's to come.
/whew. That's it for me, I'm going to bed. What a day.
