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[Sir Abacus]

You make me envious that you have both the space and the budget for something like that. I really need a second monitor.

The monitor setup was $610 picking up stuff on sale and what not, the graphics cards were more expensive, double 770s ends up being about $900 after tax and shipping but double 760s you could pick up for under $600.

Just doing it piece by piece is completely feasible.

 

[Trey]

I was contemplating coming out of pocket in the EQ thread but I'm not gonna do Jira and Ash's hype like that.

GW2 really has nothing to prove to those people anyways. Just gonna take my own advice and let it be. I'll save it for any drive by shenanigans in the anniversary thread.

 

[Ashodin]

I was contemplating coming out of pocket in the EQ thread but I'm not gonna do Jira and Ash's hype like that.

GW2 really has nothing to prove to those people anyways. Just gonna take my own advice and let it be. I'll save it for any drive by shenanigans in the anniversary thread.

Coming out of pocket?

 

[Trey]

Coming out of pocket?

Pulling a Retro style megapost, but probably with a bit more edge to it.

 

[Sophia]

The monitor setup was $610 picking up stuff on sale and what not, the graphics cards were more expensive, double 770s ends up being about $900 after tax and shipping but double 760s you could pick up for under $600.

Just doing it piece by piece is completely feasible.

It's not feasible when you have no budget. That said if I ever get money a second monitor is going to be on the table.

 

[Retro]

I was contemplating coming out of pocket in the EQ thread but I'm not gonna do Jira and Ash's hype like that.

GW2 really has nothing to prove to those people anyways. Just gonna take my own advice and let it be. I'll save it for any drive by shenanigans in the anniversary thread.

I had to bail out too, people are way too worked up about the Trinity being nixed to appreciate how bad that entire approach is. I had a nice big reply explaining why the Trinity is shit, but people would just take it as antagonistic and I like having my GAF account.

Anyways, you're right: GW2 has been a success by all standards; critically, financially and player concurrency. It's sold an obscene amount of copies (over 3m as of January, probably closer to 4 now) and updates faster than any major game, let alone any MMO, that I've ever heard of.

Dislike the combat, the world design, the UI, the PVP, the character designs, the weapon and armor skins, the gem store, or whatever excuse people want to come up with this week; those are the facts and there's no refuting them. GW2 has nothing to prove and in all honesty, can co-exist alongside other games.

In fact, the optimal situation is GW2 handling the content-heavy theme park side and EQN taking care of the player content sandbox side. Neither has a subscription, so there's nothing stopping anyone from playing whichever one they're in the mood for.

Pulling a Retro style megapost, but probably with a bit more edge to it.

Yeah, don't do that. The level of bile, salt and misinformed rage being pumped out in that thread is going to end in bans for anyone who tries to stand against it. The best thing to do with Hype threads is to let them fizzle out on their own. I've been banned twice on GAF: once for saying someone had an ugly personality in a Halo 4 hype thread, once for calling out Tekno's trolling in a GW2 hype thread. I like our cozy little OT where the trolls don't get any traction and the actual discussion on the game is level-headed even when folks disagree.

It's not feasible when you have no budget. That said if I ever get money a second monitor is going to be on the table.

I cannot go back to a single monitor. I tried. It's just too convenient having Steam, Trillian, Mumble, iTunes and a second browser window for dragon timers / bounty maps / e-mail. When I initially had a single monitor while I was setting up my PC, it was like having one eye closed.

 

[gamergirl85]

Another great night with the guild. Could not imagine being in another guild really like our guild. From missions to WvW group fun times.

 

[Hawkian]

Attendance for in-game concurrency, guild missions and people on Mumble is, 3 or so weeks from the 1-year anniversary, at the highest it's been since launch. Many of us have been together since the early beta weekends, and have been playing the entire time. Still not sure if I got my money's worth...

edit:

We always welcome more people on Mumble though, even if you just want to listen. most of us don't bite.

 

[Jest Chillin]

The monitor setup was $610 picking up stuff on sale and what not, the graphics cards were more expensive, double 770s ends up being about $900 after tax and shipping but double 760s you could pick up for under $600.

Just doing it piece by piece is completely feasible.

I'm considering selling AFK Kanik's Body to fund my new setup.

Coming out of pocket?

Oh Ash. You poor sheltered young man. ;p

 

[Trey]

Just realized I missed another mission fever night. Fuck.

 

[Ashodin]

I'm considering selling AFK Kanik's Body to fund my new setup.



Oh Ash. You poor sheltered young man. ;p

Retro is the dirty old man.

 

[Retro]

Attendance for in-game concurrency, guild missions and people on Mumble is, 3 or so weeks from the 1-year anniversary, at the highest it's been since launch. Many of us have been together since the early beta weekends, and have been playing the entire time. Still not sure if I got my money's worth...

Our Mumble server has a cap of 50, but we haven't hit that since the first night we did Missions. Maybe for Tidal Sword.

We have lots of rooms so if people just want to group up and jump in there, they don't have to stick to the General Chat (which tends to be the default room for just shooting the breeze). We also have PVP channels and "Other Games" channels.

It's being paid for by the various officers (which reminds me, I need to kick a few more months on there), so people should feel free to use it. Microphones aren't that expensive and nobody has ever been judgmental of another. Obviously if folks want to keep their identity hidden (ladies, I totally get why), that's fine, but if you and your friends just want to talk rather than type, generally people won't jump into the room to bother you.

/shrug. It's a free service for GAFGuild members. Use it.

We always welcome more people on Mumble though, even if you just want to listen. most of us don't bite.

Bullshit. I bite.

Constantly.

Oh, you said most of us.... well... okay then.

Retro is the dirty old man.

Damn straight.

 

[Ashodin]

Yeah man, we have the most hilarious conversations too!

 

[Lunar15]

It's a pretty great mumble crowd. Never had any issues in there.

 

[jersoc]

i'm shocked people DONT have a 2nd monitor. I just figured it was standard these days. monitors are cheap as shit if you keep an eye out for sales.

 

[Black-Wind]

Reading up on EQN some more and ... IDK what to think about their class system. Need to find someone to digest this for me. :/

 

[Jira]

Reading up on EQN some more and ... IDK what to think about their class system. Need to find someone to digest this for me. :/

What do you need to know?

Also, I happened upon this about GW2:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/0...uired-want-a-real-living-story-try-a-sandbox/

This guy right here invalidates his entire article within the first 4 sentences. Amazing.

 

[jersoc]

So what's a dev who would like to be taken seriously while using the phrase "living story" to do? First, stop developing "content." Stop pushing grindy progression treadmills and start building in-game tools and toolsets to go along with your beautiful and expansive world. Then turn those toolsets over to the playerbase, watch what happens, and fix as necessary. Then, and only then, will the MMO in question feature a living story. And hey, if that's not profitable or desirable for whatever reason, fine. But at least be honest about your product.

the fuck does this even mean? does he realize that living story refers to something that keeps going off the previous stuff? I guess he thinks it changes every month or something and living literally means living? Also, what would that have to do with a story?

I mean, i'm not one to defend games, but I do enjoy hammering a stupid and poorly written article.

 

[Sophia]

I get his point, as nonsensical as it is. However there's a lot of pretentious guessing and assuming in that article. I do hope we see more stuff like the elections, where the players can actually leave their mark on the world.

Also, ending an article by (mis)quoting Game of Thrones just makes you look foolish.

 

[Black-Wind]

What do you need to know?

Pretty much all of this

For example, there will be pets in the game (Yay!). Buuuut some will be temporary? I guess that they don't have a ranger like class?

And pretty much all of the stuff about classes. Like "Name your custom classes ". What's that? And You can basically make your character have all classes and pick between them?

On on top of that, I heard that there's no levels in the game. Buuuut instead of levels there are tiers? Whats the limit to these tiers? And all you have to do to move up a armor tier is collect a full set of armor at your current tier? And from the pres they said that you could "put points into intelligence to make your warrior hit harder" and that " points in strength could make your character jump higher" but they never really talked too much about the point system.

So many questions :/

 

[Mxrz]

Nearing Fractals 10 and I'm looking into infusions. Is it really worth 20-25 gold for the +5 stat & AR infusions over the basic AR only one? That's about +25 power for 100g for a full set, isn't it?

I dunno about you guys, but I don't want the average pug/la asshole to leave his mark on the world. I'm sorta annoyed I'll likely miss out on something as cool as Abbadon being banished all because that fractal was linked with the npc without bewbs.

 

[Trey]

Nearing Fractals 10 and I'm looking into infusions. Is it really worth 20-25 gold for the +5 stat & AR infusions over the basic AR only one? That's about +25 power for 100g for a full set, isn't it?

Depends on how much BIS means to you, I suppose.

 

[Jira]

Pretty much all of this

For example, there will be pets in the game (Yay!). Buuuut some will be temporary? I guess that they don't have a ranger like class?

My guess is what they mean is maybe temporary pets for enchanters like summons and they also said permanent pets so ranger/necros.

And pretty much all of the stuff about classes. Like "Name your custom classes ". What's that? And You can basically make your character have all classes and pick between them?

It's a template system like I have my Warrior/Wizard/Necro with my skills all setup and then you can name the template whatever you want.

On on top of that, I heard that there's no levels in the game. Buuuut instead of levels there are tiers? Whats the limit to these tiers? And all you have to do to move up a armor tier is collect a full set of armor at your current tier? And from the pres they said that you could "put points into intelligence to make your warrior hit harder" and that " points in strength could make your character jump higher" but they never really talked too much about the point system.

So many questions :/

So yeah there's tiers instead of levels where you have things you need to do in order to progress tiers. An example was get a full set of tier 1 armor to move to tier 2 but my guess is that's merely one prerequisite for doing so and not the only one. Yeah so there's no gear on stats, instead you have ability augments like say Path of Exile where you might have a ring that decreases the energy cost on your teleport skills and then this would allow you to do a combo where you teleport into a group of enemies and then hit whirlwind to kill them. With attribute points as I mentioned they're not on gear, but instead they're obtained in the world by going out and finding them. These give slight stat boosts but the focus is more like + Strength might increase your jump height and + Intelligence might increase the arc size of your sword.

.

 

[Shanlei91]

I'm considering selling AFK Kanik's Body to fund my new setup.

Should probably get it appraised before making a budget.

Just realized I missed another mission fever night. Fuck.

Could be worse. You could have made it, then fallen asleep right after bounty.

 

[Black-Wind]

.

Thanks for the snap.

Still got some more questions.
Are there classes linked to races like in WildStar? They some something about how some classes will require you have certain armor/ materials IN your armor to play, how does that work exactly? Like, if you have a warrior-thief you HAVE to mix mid armor with heavy? Or what if you have a Warrior-Mage-Thief? You have to have all 3 levels of armor to play as that class? Anyone know how cosmetics will work with armor? Are they gonna have a wardrobe system or are they gonna screw us like GW2 and their bs Stone System?

Also, the face thing. I didn't really get that. Is it facial tracking software that matches your character's expression to what your face is doing at that time? Is that always on or just for do-nothing times like the dance command in GW2? Anyone know if there's more concept art out for the races? Would like to see what to expect from Character Creation. (maybe that will make the generic fantasy races less boring)

 

[Jira]

Thanks for the snap.

Still got some more questions.
Are there classes linked to races like in WildStar? They some something about how some classes will require you have certain armor/ materials IN your armor to play, how does that work exactly? Like, if you have a warrior-thief you HAVE to mix mid armor with heavy? Or what if you have a Warrior-Mage-Thief? You have to have all 3 levels of armor to play as that class? Anyone know how cosmetics will work with armor? Are they gonna have a wardrobe system or are they gonna screw us like GW2 and their bs Stone System?

Also, the face thing. I didn't really get that. Is it facial tracking software that matches your character's expression to what your face is doing at that time? Is that always on or just for do-nothing times like the dance command in GW2? Anyone know if there's more concept art out for the races? Would like to see what to expect from Character Creation. (maybe that will make the generic fantasy races less boring)

Classes linked to races - Nothing confirmed one way or another, my guess is they won't have class/race limits since you choose your race and then you can be 1 of 40 classes at any time and they have a very big focus on no limits. Say like you have a Warrior equipped as your class, you can then choose skills from the Warrior and/or any of the other classes in which you've unlocked and then unlocked skills in the 4 ability slots. So you can mix and match up to 4 different class skills at once but only Warrior weapons while playing the Warrior. Like GW2 each class using a Sword has different skills than one another. Each class has a certain setup of the secondary skill bar where a Warrior might have the ability to slot a Movement/Offensive/Defensive/Utility skills where as a Rogue might have Offensive/Offensive/Movement/Utility. So the class you're currently playing will dictate the slot types but not the skills. You could go Rogue/Wizard/Enchanter/Necro if you wanted.

The class that you currently have equipped dictates your weapons that you can use and therefore your armor type. For cosmetics all we know is there will be a wide range of cosmetics within armor weights.

http://www.twitch.tv/soe/c/2680835

Watch that video starting at @ 7:50 or so to see character concept art.
The face tech is called SoEmote and is in EQ2 right now. Essentially it uses your webcam to track your facial expressions and maps them onto your character in real time. You can turn it off or on.

 

[Sophia]

I don't think they'll have classes linked to race. Everquest 2 didn't except in regards to alignment, and I don't recall the original Everquest doing so either. EQ2 had some classes/races that had to be good or evil, but you could get around it with the betrayal system.

 

[aliencowz7]

I don't think they'll have classes linked to race. Everquest 2 didn't except in regards to alignment, and I don't recall the original Everquest doing so either. EQ2 had some classes/races that had to be good or evil, but you could get around it with the betrayal system.

Everquest classes were limited by races, not to the extent that only one race could be a class or anything but each race had stuff they couldn't do at all.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:races

 

[Sophia]

Everquest classes were limited by races, not to the extent that only one race could be a class or anything but each race had stuff they couldn't do at all.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:races

I couldn't remember. I didn't play the original Everquest that long. At any rate, EQ2 only had a few alignment based classes, and the good/evil versions were largely clones of each other. Effectively, there were no restrictions if you put in the effort.

 

[hythloday]

i'm shocked people DONT have a 2nd monitor. I just figured it was standard these days. monitors are cheap as shit if you keep an eye out for sales.

I am still stuck with the one monitor, because my desk is one of those big 'computer desk with a hutch on top' desks. The designated monitor area is big enough for only one, and the desk would look ridiculous if I took the hutch off. I could fit a bigger one in there, so that's my eventual plan. Someday I may ditch the desk and get a new one with room for 2 monitors, but that's far in the future.

 

[gamergirl85]

I only have one monitor but having dual monitors at work really makes me want a bigger desk with a second monitor.

 

[Kos Luftar]

I recently got another monitor and I'm loving dual monitors.

I don't play on both screens I just have learned to love Windowed Fullscreen mode on Guild Wars 2.

It is especially valuable in WvW because you can know all the timers for the camps so you don't waste time walking to one that has 4 min buff on it.

#TeamTimberlineFalls

 

[Retro]

Also, I happened upon this about GW2:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/0...uired-want-a-real-living-story-try-a-sandbox/

I see the gaming 'press' has picked up on the garbage spewing out of Reddit and, to a lesser degree, GAF, and is trying to shove the last big MMO into a woodchipper to feed the hype for the next one. I mean, the SOE Live thread has pretty much turned into "We love the Trinity, GW2 is shit." And that's actually close to verbatim.

At least the salt seems to be about the lack of the Trinity, which at this point is still sort of unconfirmed anyways. I guess people just never realized with all these sweeping changes and conversations about the "Future of MMOs" they never realized that might mean dismissing decades-old mechanics in favor of a more modern approach.

It's like the British commander cursing the Indians for attacking from the woods and hiding behind trees rather than lining up in neat little rows 50 yards away so they can take turns shooting in a nice orderly fashion.

 

[Arken2121]

Reminds me, need to pick up a second monitor. I missed yesterday's guild missions. :-(

 

[hythloday]

I only have one monitor but having dual monitors at work really makes me want a bigger desk with a second monitor.

When they gave us all a second monitor in my office, everyone hated them. Now it's hard to imagine not having them.

 

[TharpDaddy]

I'm thinking of giving this game another go, after quitting fairly soon after release once i hit max level. I'm not really wanting to play my engineer, so i'm considering mesmer or thief. I generally lean towards more PvE rather than PvP. Are both classes viable and able to find dungeon groups easily? Is one class considered more fun, even though i know it usually depends on the person?

Thanks!

 

[Arken2121]

If you want to be a ninja then thief. If you want to be Edward Elric then engineer

 

[hythloday]

I have an 80 Mesmer and an 80 Thief. They are both totally fun.

 

[Zod the Bear]

I'm thinking of giving this game another go, after quitting fairly soon after release once i hit max level. I'm not really wanting to play my engineer, so i'm considering mesmer or thief. I generally lean towards more PvE rather than PvP. Are both classes viable and able to find dungeon groups easily? Is one class considered more fun, even though i know it usually depends on the person?

Thanks!

I think mesmer tends to be more popular for dungeons than thieves.

My mesmer's only level 20, but is pretty fun so far. My thief's closing in on 70 and has been a pretty fun leveling process. It's gotten me into WvW more than I used to.

 

[Retro]

I'm thinking of giving this game another go, after quitting fairly soon after release once i hit max level. I'm not really wanting to play my engineer, so i'm considering mesmer or thief. I generally lean towards more PvE rather than PvP. Are both classes viable and able to find dungeon groups easily? Is one class considered more fun, even though i know it usually depends on the person?

Thanks!

Mesmer takes a while to ramp up in terms of power; I'd say 30 or so, but a lot of people will say you don't really feel godly until much later. They're certainly difficult to level early on, but if you approach things with caution and get the right weapons (Greatsword and Staff are usually the top choices) it will be easier. They're definitely a fun class though, and if you've played other MMOs will stand out as very unique.

My mesmer isn't max level (somewhere in the 30s), so I'll let others comment more.


Thief is a blast. They too can be a bit squishy early on, but they seem to get more powerful earlier than Mesmers. Others can jump in, but I adore the Acrobatics trait line early because of all the utility you get from dodging (seriously, 15 points in there gives you might and swiftness on dodge, and reduces the endurance cost of dodge by 15%). A lot of their weapon skills also have built-in evasion (Dagger/Dagger's Death Blossom, Shortbow's Disabling Shot, etc.). Hell, even one of their heals has a dodge.

Thief feels like Batman: The Class. You strike from nowhere (Their class mechanic, Steal, has a built-in teleport), engage multiple enemies without being touched and drop them all in a whirling cloud of smoke. Even more than my warrior, when I get into the 'groove' on my thief, it feels incredible. I like playing the "How many enemies can I kill before one of them damages me?" game. They feel fast, nimble and deadly; ANet nailed their playstyle without resorting to perma-stealth (you can stealth, but it's mostly short duration).

In a dungeon, thieves are obviously strong at damage, but abilities like Shadow Refuge give them some support options. Lots of blinds, some daze and stun for control. Shortbow is strong for the blast finisher and AOE Poison (which you can self-combo for AOE Weakness). I've taken my 80 thief into a few AC and COF1 runs and I didn't feel like I wasn't helping (though coming off my healing/condition removing shout Warrior, I felt a little less supportive).

I'd say give Thief a try. If you haven't played in a while, you may also want to look at your Engineer; they've gotten some nice changes lately.

 

[Fl1pp13]

I haven't been playing for a couple of months and will jump in again in an hour. Is there anything new that I need to check out for sure?

 

[Retro]

I haven't been playing for a couple of months and will jump in again in an hour. Is there anything new that I need to check out for sure?

You should definitely check out the Labyrinthine Cliffs and Zephyr Sanctum. In Lion's Arch, head to the docks just west of the Asura Gates (Sanctum Harbor waypoint is closest) and talk to the guy with the ship icon. He'll get you there.

You're a bit late to that content (it ends Tuesday) but it's a gorgeous zone with a really cool mechanic. You could probably spend the rest of the weekend just doing the crystal scavenger hunt or playing some of the games (the Hunger Games-esque Southsun Survivor is really good).

 

[hythloday]

Definitely go to the Labyrinthine Cliffs (take the boat from the docks in Lion's Arch first, after that you can Waypoint directly to the zone). It's a very pretty/interesting place..

 

[Lunar15]

I haven't been playing for a couple of months and will jump in again in an hour. Is there anything new that I need to check out for sure?

I'd recommend checking out the new temporary zone, Labyrinthine Cliffs, before it goes away on Tuesday.

Just take the ship at the docks in Lion's Arch.

EDIT: Beaten like a Legendary Searing Effigy on a COF1 speed run.

 

[Da DreadLord]

Just a quick verification. Races don't have any bonuses to certain classes right? Any race can be any class and be actually good at it?

 

[Lunar15]

Just a quick verification. Races don't have any bonuses to certain classes right? Any race can be any class and be actually good at it?

Yep. Race is purely cosmetic, save for a few elite skills that each race can obtain but from what I've heard, none of them are any big deal.

 

[Retro]

Just a quick verification. Races don't have any bonuses to certain classes right? Any race can be any class and be actually good at it?

As lunar said, it's almost all cosmetic (see my response below for more though). The only other thing I can say about picking a race is that the Norn and Charr are large, and because movement speed is normalized, those two races feel like they're moving slow because of their animation. For every few steps they take, the smaller races take 3 or 4, and because of that they feel somewhat "Lumbery", if that's a word. Taurens had the same thing going in WoW: you're not moving any slower, but you feel like you're sort of plodding along because of your size.

Conversely, Asurans feel like they're FLYING because they have to take so many steps and their animations are really exaggerated and floaty (their jump and dodge, most notably, but some attack animations have insane-looking hangtime).

The trade off for psychologically feeling like you're slower is that the Norn look impressive and formidable, towering over everyone around them. Charr are also pretty hefty, and have this really cool quadrupedal run animation when their weapons are sheathed.

If the animation still bugs you, you can go towards the female gender as they are smaller then their male counterparts. Since the sexual dimorphism of the Charr is more realistic than other games (i.e. they are not 'cats with boobs'), a lot of people can't really tell the difference from the males and females when armored. Female Norn aren't nearly as wide as the males either; the shortest female Norn is about the same height as the tallest human.

Yep. Race is purely cosmetic, save for a few elite skills that each race can obtain but from what I've heard, none of them are any big deal.

Charrzooka certainly looks the coolest. I've heard the Asura "Pain Inverter" utility skill (gain retaliation, give nearby enemies confusion) and the Human "Prayer to Kormir" (remove 3 conditions) are considered good, but I've got two Humans (one max level) and two Asurans (one 60s, one 30s) and I don't think I've ever unlocked those skills.

The profession-based utility/elite skills are pretty much flat-out better overall.

 

[Noisy Ninj4]

Charrzooka certainly looks the coolest. I've heard the Asura "Pain Inverter" utility skill (gain retaliation, give nearby enemies confusion) and the Human "Prayer to Kormir" (remove 3 conditions) are considered good, but I've got two Humans (one max level) and two Asurans (one 60s, one 30s) and I don't think I've ever unlocked those skills.

The profession-based utility/elite skills are pretty much flat-out better overall.

Charr are pretty much the superior race when it comes to racial skills. eg. Hidden pistol is an evade with a 15s cd+minor damage. That's actually pretty handy sometimes with my warrior.

The asura Pain inverter and Radiation Field are also decent skills.

 

[Retro]

Hidden pistol is an evade with a 15s cd+minor damage. That's actually pretty handy sometimes with my warrior.

I always forget that one, probably because I don't have a high level Charr.

 

[Lunar15]

but you feel like you're sort of plodding along because of your size.

Plodding? More like running with swagger.