[Lazy Jones]

Guild Wars 2 looks pretty awesome, first appealing MMO since WoW.
I like the animations, almost all MMOs look so awkward in that regard.

What kind of PC are they running on at Gamescom?

[JaconKin]

Just watched Totalbiscuit's videos of both GW2 and TOR. Now I'm not starting a "vs." item, or wanting to start a flame war, but GW2 completely blows TOR out of the water. Graphics, environment, interaction....Everything. After watching the GW2 ones, then the TOR, I couldn't help but notice how dated the graphics already are. The empty environments. The lack of animations. Not being able to sit in chairs! (ok, not really caring about chairs.....or day/night cycles) I'm looking forward to TOR (even getting the $150 CE), but it is purely just a time waster for me while waiting for GW2.

Aye, unfortunately some people are irrational and equate critical analysis of a game, TOR, with actually hating on the game and wanting to see it fail.

While excitement for a another game and trying to inform people how it is trying to do things different in the Genre, GW2, equals fanboyism.

[Jira]

Guild Wars 2 looks pretty awesome, first appealing MMO since WoW. I like the animations, almost all MMOs look so awkward in that regard. What kind of PC are they running on at Gamescom?

In previous cons they've ran i5s with GTX 460s and i7s with 580s I think, though ANet has said they test the game and have it running on video cards so old that they have to get them on special order because no one sells them. So there you go, take that as you will but if GW1 is any indication, GW2 will run on nearly anything built in the last 7 years.

[More Fun To Compute]

There is a lot that you can do with traits and utility skills, but most of that stuff is locked out of these demos...

Had a look at some of them. There is some customisation, as I expected, but I think that what I said still doesn't seem too wrong to me. The game just doesn't look as involved or tuned for inventive play as the original. But it does look tuned for large PvE events where everyone can just join in and contribute near equally.

[Jira]

Today's ANet vs Boon pvp match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdX7dGqap3Q

[gunbo13]

Well, since we're losing politeness.

Nope, just noting that the rebuttal is getting tired.

No, we just paid attention.

Hindsight is 20/20. Seeing it in action in PvP != read article two months before.

The only attack that seems to be regularly spammed is the basic skill, which is meant to be spammed. Other skills are managed with pretty decent-sized cooldowns. Last I checked, which was admittedly a while ago, eight seconds alone was one of the lowest. I was actually worried that there wouldn't be enough "spammability".

I think it looks awful. It is an entire mess of pew pew pew, which was thrown out as an insult once upon a time. To each his own.

I'm not even sure what this means.

Damage per second.

This is just not true.

We are talking about PvP here. Looking at the wiki skill or PvE footage is not the same. Pew pew pew with mix-ups is not the same as strategically implemented spell casting.

Why? Isn't that the best way a game can be? Easy to pick up and play for people who just want to have fun, with lots of depth that the competitive players themselves can discover to better themselves? We have absolutely no proof that this will be mindless for people who actually know what they're doing. Hell, just the fact that any player can take up a support role is evidence that there's going to be quite a bit of depth. If it's not you're cup of tea, that's fine. No problem. But to bash the game as mindless, given what we've seen, is willful ignorance.

That's not what I'm saying. ANET is forcing the PvP depth to be created from the players. This is not the same as they themselves creating depth and having the player expand on it. The best games have a nice balance of both.

[darkwing]

Today's ANet vs Boon pvp match http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdX7dGqap3Q

why can't they release the game now??

[Fishious]

So after watching the TotalBiscuit videos I have to say once again I'm impressed. He clearly had some prior knowledge about GW2, but at the same time lacked knowledge of specific mechanics that those of us following the game already know about. As such his videos seem like a good indication of how new players will actually play the game on release and his reactions show that most of the systems are fairly intuitive.

He fumbled around with his sword skill in the beginning, but quickly figured out how the skill chain works. He figured out that the leap was to get him into combat and he realized he can use it out of combat to move. I'll note that he didn't look into swapping weapon sets (dunno if its actually available at the start). I kinda figured while he was at the forge he'd just stand there and wait for more flame legion to spawn, but he quickly picked up that he could do any of the objectives in combination to complete the event. It was also pretty cool how he was checking out the turret assuming it probably wasn't usable and being slightly surprised the he could actually fire it. So all in all it seems pretty intuitive.

I personally wish that all the weapon skills were unlocked from the beginning, but I'm starting to see that by limiting them it forces the player to learn the ins and outs of each skill without being overwhelming.

[JaconKin]

I'm just happy I don't have to run back to a trainer when I ding to get new skills. I can just keep exploring and having fun in the game world. Such a damn time sink in other MMOs when you ding and have to run back to get new skills.

[Highlaw]

but I'm starting to see that by limiting them it forces the player to learn the ins and outs of each skill without being overwhelming.

Indeed. It's very useful actually. Otherwise you would start with 3 or 4 different skills and then visit a trainer that would teach you a couple more - the barrier of entry is much higher.

If you take a look at his TORvideo afterwards and put yourself in the position of a new player that interface and all of those (4 or 5) skills are intimidating, you'd stop for 3minutes and read them all, still not sure how each one would work. Having only 1 unlocked and earning new ones seamlessly, while in combat, is way better.

For players like us it only takes 10 minutes to unlock every weapon skill, so it's not detrimental for the dedicated.

[WarMacheen]

watched some of the pvp...I said damn

Sold, can't wait.

[Morkins]

gunbo, since you have reached a hyperbolic level of hate for the PvP in this game, clearly having a rational discussion with you is impossible. Ever single counter point that is made, you literally just respond "Well it doesn't look that way," despite the fact that you are judging the game based off of players who have no idea what they are doing, or players that don't need to actually try because the other team is clueless. The only skill that can be slammed is the First Skill, which has to be that way because it is the only way that you can attack(a skill must be activated to initiate an attack). It the case of the elemental with fire attunement, the first skill does look flashy even if it isn't that powerful.

[Mulligan]

Today's ANet vs Boon pvp match http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdX7dGqap3Q

Solidifys elementalist as my first profession choice, dayum.

[Maleficence]

Solidifys elementalist as my first profession choice, dayum.

That was a necro, not an elementalist.

[nataku]

Those TotalBiscuit videos were fantastic. He did a really nice job of showing off just how many things there are to do and how easy it is to just wander around finding things that are going on. GW2 should be a lot of fun for those that love exploring like me.

I'm a little disappointed in the PvP info that was released. Honestly, I was expecting a huge PvP blowout, including WvWvW info. I've never been a big fan of arena PvP and prefer large scale battles, so I don't really have the negative reaction that the hardcore PvPers from GW1 are having. What I did see though looked pretty fun to me. Personally, I really like the idea of the arena PvP game flowing a lot more like a TF2 match or something similar.

[BrettWeir]

Those TotalBiscuit videos were fantastic. He did a really nice job of showing off just how many things there are to do and how easy it is to just wander around finding things that are going on. GW2 should be a lot of fun for those that love exploring like me. I'm a little disappointed in the PvP info that was released. Honestly, I was expecting a huge PvP blowout, including WvWvW info. I've never been a big fan of arena PvP and prefer large scale battles, so I don't really have the negative reaction that the hardcore PvPers from GW1 are having. What I did see though looked pretty fun to me. Personally, I really like the idea of the arena PvP game flowing a lot more like a TF2 match or something similar.

I'm with you on Arena PvP. I hate it with a passion. It opens the door for premade teams to easily rank up demolishing PUGs. Win, queue up, repeat. WvWvW is a lot larger area (from what we know so far), so less likely a chance of getting farmed, as well as having to deal with 2 other sides of premades. Can't wait until they release info on WvWvW.

For another topic, how is stealth working? Is it timed?

[gunbo13]

gunbo, since you have reached a hyperbolic level of hate for the PvP in this game, clearly having a rational discussion with you is impossible. Ever single counter point that is made, you literally just respond "Well it doesn't look that way," despite the fact that you are judging the game based off of players who have no idea what they are doing, or players that don't need to actually try because the other team is clueless. The only skill that can be slammed is the First Skill, which has to be that way because it is the only way that you can attack(a skill must be activated to initiate an attack). It the case of the elemental with fire attunement, the first skill does look flashy even if it isn't that powerful.

Man I hate that word...

Most of the counter arguments I'm hearing are explaining why they mechanically are doing something but not conceptually. The first skill replaces magnetic auto-attacks, OK. It should be in the first slot, OK. It looks like players are machine gunning the crap out of their primary, NOT OK. The spamming causes massive DPS that makes the numbers more aesthetic then practical, NOT OK. The spamming also causes the battles to look chaotic and messy, NOT OK. You might as well replace skill slot 1 with magazines, NOT OK.

I think most of what is shown is terrible. That is irrational? Can we not like how games look anymore? You think it looks great and seem to be universally happy with everything shown. I'm an old hat GW1 PvP player and everything I enjoyed about it appears to be gone. It's not irrational and it isn't complicated.

There also needs to be new lines besides, "because the players suck" or "there is no coordination." That isn't valid when discussing most video game previews and this is not some special exception. If anything it means, we can't judge one way or the other (I'm OK with this but I still will speculate).

[JaconKin]

For another topic, how is stealth working? Is it timed?

Yes stealth is timed, so you can't just run around stealthed the entire time or gank them.

[Scum]

Haven't had a chance to keep up with all thus info, but someone please tell me I can expect news about Mesmers...?

[Jira]

I think they'll reveal WvWvW when they're able to show it on a scale that does it justice. I was thinking that they'd maybe do it at PAX since they usually bring the entire studio down, but I'm going to wager a guess and say no because they seemed focused on the structured PvP at the moment.

[Dexa]

Haven't had a chance to keep up with all thus info, but someone please tell me I can expect news about Mesmers...?

no news.

[Pendulum]

Haven't had a chance to keep up with all thus info, but someone please tell me I can expect news about Mesmers...?

No.

[Jira]

Haven't had a chance to keep up with all thus info, but someone please tell me I can expect news about Mesmers...?

"Before years end."

[Scum]

Boo-urns! :-(

[Morkins]

Man I hate that word... Most of the counter arguments I'm hearing are explaining why they mechanically are doing something but not conceptually. The first skill replaces magnetic auto-attacks, OK. It should be in the first slot, OK. It looks like players are machine gunning the crap out of their primary, NOT OK. The spamming causes massive DPS that makes the numbers more aesthetic then practical, NOT OK. The spamming also causes the battles to look chaotic and messy, NOT OK. You might as well replace skill slot 1 with magazines, NOT OK. I think most of what is shown is terrible. That is irrational? Can we not like how games look anymore? You think it looks great and seem to be universally happy with everything shown. I'm an old hat GW1 PvP player and everything I enjoyed about it appears to be gone. It's not irrational and it isn't complicated. There also needs to be new lines besides, "because the players suck" or "there is no coordination." That isn't valid when discussing most video game previews and this is not some special exception. If anything it means, we can't judge one way or the other (I'm OK with this but I still will speculate).

Players are spamming the first skill because they don't know how to play the game.
The DPS is balanced exactly as intended... The first skill is basically the default attack. Whatever damage it is doing, that is what ANet intended. It is fast and heavy, but that just makes the game fast and places a greater emphasis on movement, dodging and proactive support, all things that take a lot of practice to learn how to do. It is a little chaotic, but that issue is mostly isolated to the elementalist which does need to be adjusted.

Also, the game does not look terrible. It looks like an outstanding pick-up PVP system. For competitive play it is a bit uneven, but that is mostly because of the game mode which is fragmenting teams too much and discouraging teamwork. The combat is fine, but you seem to pissed off that it isn't GW1 to even give it a chance.

[gunbo13]

Players are spamming the first skill because they don't know how to play the game. The DPS is balanced exactly as intended... The first skill is basically the default attack. Whatever damage it is doing, that is what ANet intended. It is fast and heavy, but that just makes the game fast and places a greater emphasis on movement, dodging and proactive support, all things that take a lot of practice to learn how to do. It is a little chaotic, but that issue is mostly isolated to the elementalist which does need to be adjusted.

DPS frequency is what I was referring to. It looks like a slot machine and doesn't realistically look to be track-able. That eliminates an element required for DPS number games. Yea I know, it was meant to be this way since a long time ago, etc.. etc... Now that I've seen it, I think it is a poor possibility in competitive PvP.

Also, the game does not look terrible. It looks like an outstanding pick-up PVP system.

I think it looks terrible for competitive PvP. I'm quite pleased with PvE and some of the casual PvP is positive. I might get the game for PvE and at least know I'll put it down without thousands of hours invested. For maining PvP right now? Not a chance.

The combat is fine, but you seem to pissed off that it isn't GW1 to even give it a chance.

I just dislike everything I've seen regarding competitive PvP. If anyone thinks I have been talking about PvE or casual PvP, then that is not the case. GW1 is an easy reference because it contains a lot of PvP aspects I like. Putting GW1 aside, GW2 looks like it is jam packed with things I don't like.

I'm giving it a chance. It currently looks awful from my point of view. I'll keep on eye on the game to see if it brings back a shred of what I think is fun for online PvP. How you keep finding ways to twist that to me being close-minded, irrational, or whatever your insulting connotation of the day is, is beyond me. At least I'm hating on a game and not somebody's opinion...

[JaconKin]

As far as the other class goes, Jira/Chelmo and I have had some discussions on this. Pure speculation here of course, but since it is taking Anet such a long time to actually release info on the class, either two things are taking place, an entirely different class or a complete redesign of one of the two current classes that don't fit in with the game structure.

I have never played GW 1, but have had it explained to me, that a mesmer's primary role was to be a major debuffer, support and CC class. While the monk class was primary a healing class. Since in GW 2's design all classes can do many roles at one time, this leaves those classes that had very specific roles left out to dry so to speak. Also it is important to note that Lore Wise the game is taking place 250 years after the first game.

What I think is taking place is either two things, the Mesmer/Monk Class are being merged into one class, a Melee/Caster type, or that the a redesign is being done on both classes individually and that Anet is weighing which one is the better one to add.

In my personal opinion and what I would like to see happen is more a warrior monk caster type, think the last air bender I guess. A reason I brought up Lore is because with what has taking place in the last 250 years, perhaps the monks have had to change the way that they are. Also, this will add in a different class, then just another regular caster type, which Elementalist and Necro are in many aspects.

Just some thoughts on it, looking forward to the reveal and excited no matter what Anet does, though what ever decision they make, new class, existing class, or combo class, not everybody is going to be happy I'm sure.

Edit:

As far as the PVP debate goes, I have never been a fan of PVP due to many reasons. I do find that the PVP in GW 2 has me more intrigued than most and might actually finally be able to get into PVP after many years of wanting to give it a try.

[speedpop]

A proper monk like the old ways would be great. Some form of martial artist whereby instead of relying upon weapons for different skills (i.e. Warriors have different skills based upon what weapon they use), it is stances.

So there could be a power-based stance that uses both fists and feet, there could be an agility-based stance that uses the legs solely, and a defensive-based stance that uses the fists. I suppose there could also be a stance where magic-based range attacks could be implemented as well.

I know it takes away the aesthetic of a class without weapons but it's been such a long time since I last played a good RPG where no weapons were used for a class. Maybe they could even change the way the fists and feet look depending on the the stance - for example with a defensive stance your appendages take upon a more earthly style where your fists and arms look brown with stones penetrating out of them.

[nataku]

I think the community would flip shit if the last class wasn't a Mesmer of some kind. I'm pretty sure ANet has already said the final profession would have something to do with the mind, as well.

[Kintaro]

A proper monk like the old ways would be great. Some form of martial artist whereby instead of relying upon weapons for different skills (i.e. Warriors have different skills based upon what weapon they use), it is stances.

Yes. Please. Please god please this.

[speedpop]

I think the community would flip shit if the last class wasn't a Mesmer of some kind. I'm pretty sure ANet has already said the final profession would have something to do with the mind, as well.

I'm inclined to think that it is a mixture of Mesmer and Monk, without the emphasis on healing skills. Considering the Guardian is supposed to be a strong buff class, it seems common place to have another class to be on the other side of the coin.

[Jira]

I'm inclined to think that it is a mixture of Mesmer and Monk, without the emphasis on healing skills. Considering the Guardian is supposed to be a strong buff class, it seems common place to have another class to be on the other side of the coin.

If they did that, that would defeat their entire no dedicated healers design. If you give any one class a better heal than any of the others, they automatically become the dedicated healer because they can do it better than anyone else. The whole Mesmer with melee/stances would be awesome, but I don't think healing will be a main component.

[JaconKin]

I think the community would flip shit if the last class wasn't a Mesmer of some kind. I'm pretty sure ANet has already said the final profession would have something to do with the mind, as well.

Something with the mind doesn't take out the possibility of a warrior monk class as well, figuring many of the eastern religions that a monk class would be based off place a high importance on the mind.

Anyway, I'm just throwing it out there as far my own personal speculation why it is taking so long for them to reveal the last class. I also know from reading various boards that many MMO gamers have been starving for a true monk class again, something that has been missing in MMOs for a while I believe.

Edit:
Anet has also shown that they are trying to give MMO gamers something new and fresh, another reason why I speculate towards a Monk Class of some form.

[Complistic]

I'm inclined to think that it is a mixture of Mesmer and Monk, without the emphasis on healing skills. Considering the Guardian is supposed to be a strong buff class, it seems common place to have another class to be on the other side of the coin.

They already said there isn't going to be a healing class. And "a strong focus on healing" is a healing class.

[speedpop]

If they did that, that would defeat their entire no dedicated healers design. If you give any one class a better heal than any of the others, they automatically become the dedicated healer because they can do it better than anyone else. The whole Mesmer with melee/stances would be awesome, but I don't think healing will be a main component.

Yeah I'm not saying there would be healing. The Monk influence would be purely based upon melee and all healing skills bar the typical "each class has their own little healing skill" would be erased. Something akin to a debuff class that can get in the mix of the melee if they so wish; someone who can nullify that Wall of Deflection skill from the Guardian. Maybe I stated it wrongly because I know what the GW Monk is, but when I say Monk I mean a proper Monk in reality.

But ultimately everything is WIP and it's all speculation. Still I'd love to see a martial artist class.

[Jira]

Yeah I'm not saying there would be healing. The Monk influence would be purely based upon melee and all healing skills bar the typical "each class has their own little healing skill" would be erased. Something akin to a debuff class that can get in the mix of the melee if they so wish; someone who can nullify that Wall of Deflection skill from the Guardian. Maybe I stated it wrongly because I know what the GW Monk is, but when I say Monk I mean a proper Monk in reality. But ultimately everything is WIP and it's all speculation. Still I'd love to see a martial artist class.

That would be cool, I'd actually love to see a melee debuffer..awesome idea and I actually hope that's what it is.

[JaconKin]

I suppose there could also be a stance where magic-based range attacks could be implemented as well. .

Aye like how in some videos I see, I believe it is guardian, when a Staff is equipped they are more rangey than with other weapons.

[Keasar]

TalkTyria posted a 8 part video with direct-feed sound and quite good quality of video of someone playing a female Norn engineer.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

[nataku]

Such a weird way to break up a video...

37 seconds? A minute?

[Keasar]

Such a weird way to break up a video... 37 seconds? A minute?

Yeah it is a bit annoying that way, dont know why, but it is alot better then most videos out there and shows alot of the Norn starting area.

And the guy playing has at least the sense of picking english and not play and record in german.

[etiolate]

The PVE looks great, but what they've shown of PVP and what they chose to show tells me this is going to be a PVE game with little PVP community. It can be pick up and play, as their 'competitive'' demo really wasn't competitive in the sense that people are looking for, but it did look like something accessible. Running around on your own with a good idea of objectives is likely sound. It will have enough of a PVP base to be an distraction from PVE. At this point, it doesn't seem designed to reach the PVP heights GW1 did. That is disappointing for they've taken away too much and replaced it with too little. It has always been incredibly hard for a PVE-focused design to be satisfactory in PVP. GW1 worked since it had a PVP-mindful design at the core and then expanded out into PVE.

Their PVP demo was not designed to please the PVP vets. It does please casual observers, and I don't mean casual as in a derogatory term, but casual in that it looks 'neat' at first glance upon the screen. To me that says something about their intent and that's unfortunate since the PVP community was the heart of GW1 and the PVP the one thing the game could 'hang its hat on' against all others. I mean, we're seeing people just as inexperienced playing the PVE and it looks awesome. The game design just has inherit limits for PVP. Five v Five is a major limit in those maps, but if the reasoning is the spell effects then that is a PVE design restricting PVP.

[Boogdud]

Players are spamming the first skill because they don't know how to play the game.

I thought they were 'spamming' the first skill because for many classes it's the first combo they get. ie) hit the button once for one skill, then the follow up is slightly different, and the third is an 'end' of the combo (going from TB's video).

I'm on the 'I like everything I see' side of things atm, but to the people crying about it not being "just like" or "eerily similar" to gw1 pvp combat. What did you expect? This game has been billed as being completely different from gw1 in just about every conceivable way for like 2.5+ years now...

Also to be fair to the pvp side of the demos, remember we've been seeing glimpses of pve stuff for well over a year now. We haven't seen anything about pvp until just now, and we're seeing a limited demo designed to just show people what it looks like. I think given the scope of how everything else in the game has grown over the past 2+ years, it's probably safe to say there will be plenty more from pvp in the coming months.

[nataku]

The PvP demo at Gamescom to me looks like it was really meant to just be the casual arena PvP people can easily jump in and play, and I'm assuming they'll show stuff geared me towards the hardcore GW1 crowd later on. I don't think they really meant the hardcore GW1 players to look at it and think that was it. They just did a really bad job at communicating it, like when they completely neglected to mention it wasn't the only arena PvP mode at first.

[Morkins]

The PVE looks great, but what they've shown of PVP and what they chose to show tells me this is going to be a PVE game with little PVP community. It can be pick up and play, as their 'competitive'' demo really wasn't competitive in the sense that people are looking for, but it did look like something accessible. Running around on your own with a good idea of objectives is likely sound. It will have enough of a PVP base to be an distraction from PVE. At this point, it doesn't seem designed to reach the PVP heights GW1 did. That is disappointing for they've taken away too much and replaced it with too little. It has always been incredibly hard for a PVE-focused design to be satisfactory in PVP. GW1 worked since it had a PVP-mindful design at the core and then expanded out into PVE. Their PVP demo was not designed to please the PVP vets. It does please casual observers, and I don't mean casual as in a derogatory term, but casual in that it looks 'neat' at first glance upon the screen. To me that says something about their intent and that's unfortunate since the PVP community was the heart of GW1 and the PVP the one thing the game could 'hang its hat on' against all others. I mean, we're seeing people just as inexperienced playing the PVE and it looks awesome. The game design just has inherit limits for PVP. Five v Five is a major limit in those maps, but if the reasoning is the spell effects then that is a PVE design restricting PVP.

I actually think the PvP was the reason for the skill change honestly, so you are completely off base on that one.

Look at it this way... What does the Skill Change address from the first game?
A) The impossibility of maintaining a diverse balance of hundreds of individual skills.
B) The rather spectator unfriendly nature of the presentation(skill effects were subtle and difficult to follow for non-Elite members of the community. Top Tier players had been immersed in it enough to tell, but for the average spectator, there wasn't enough to the presentation to really tell exactly what was going on. This made it impossible for them to turn the game into a true E-Sport like they really wanted to.\
C) Static nature of the gameplay. Once the game settled into the pressure heavy balanced build that it has been stuck in for the past 3 years, the game just ceased being interesting to watch. Deviating from it wasn't effective and changing things to shake up the metagame risked imbalancing the game. A dynamic, adaptive combat flow means that every match will have its own set of circumstances and its own tactics/strategies.

The change was primarily motivated by PvP related concerns, it just happened to work out for PvE as well.

We need to wait to see more PvP. Keep in mind, a number of the top PvP guilds in the game have been directly consulted regarding the design of the GW2 PvP system. We just saw a bad example because they brought in a bad guild to demonstrate it's competitive aspects...

I hope they don't make the same mistakes in the future. I am just worried we may need to wait until the Beta to see it in a proper context...

[Nezabyte]

Holy crap, pvp looks so insane and fun. And I thought GW1 pvp could be pretty active. Really getting pumped for this game now despite my small worries in all the changes they're making.

[Fallacy]

I'm mainly interested in pve tbh, but from what they've shown I may want to play some pvp every now and then.

Still can't decide which class I want to try first.

[More Fun To Compute]

I have never played GW 1, but have had it explained to me, that a mesmer's primary role was to be a major debuffer, support and CC class. While the monk class was primary a healing class. Since in GW 2's design all classes can do many roles at one time, this leaves those classes that had very specific roles left out to dry so to speak. Also it is important to note that Lore Wise the game is taking place 250 years after the first game. What I think is taking place is either two things, the Mesmer/Monk Class are being merged into one class, a Melee/Caster type, or that the a redesign is being done on both classes individually and that Anet is weighing which one is the better one to add.

The unique attribute of the Mesmer is fast casting. Their most useful and unique class role was originally "shutdown" with interrupt and drain energy/mana to stop the enemies most useful skills being used.

The Mesmer could already play many other roles at once like the ones you mentioned but I would say that the class that fits the description your friend gave you is Necro.

The Monk unique class role was divine favour which made all of the spells they cast on allies add extra healing which made them good dedicated healers. They have already said that they don't want a dedicated healer class and the guardian class seems to be the GW2 equivalent since it has protection skills.

Still can't decide which class I want to try first.

I'm thinking Thief or Engineer just to use guns. Probably thief because I'm not sold on things like flamethrower and rocket boots.

[Highlaw]

Man I hate that word... Most of the counter arguments I'm hearing are explaining why they mechanically are doing something but not conceptually. The first skill replaces magnetic auto-attacks, OK. It should be in the first slot, OK. It looks like players are machine gunning the crap out of their primary, NOT OK. The spamming causes massive DPS that makes the numbers more aesthetic then practical, NOT OK. The spamming also causes the battles to look chaotic and messy, NOT OK. You might as well replace skill slot 1 with magazines, NOT OK. I think most of what is shown is terrible. That is irrational? Can we not like how games look anymore? You think it looks great and seem to be universally happy with everything shown. I'm an old hat GW1 PvP player and everything I enjoyed about it appears to be gone. It's not irrational and it isn't complicated. There also needs to be new lines besides, "because the players suck" or "there is no coordination." That isn't valid when discussing most video game previews and this is not some special exception. If anything it means, we can't judge one way or the other (I'm OK with this but I still will speculate).

They are aware of how messy the combat looks (pvp and dungeons). They said they're still finding a solution, maybe reducing particle effects with larger numbers of players.

I don't like the way it looks now either (aestetically, and mechanicaly - no spamming ability would be better). I liked GW's health and mana mechanics over GW2's cooldowns, it adds more depth to combat, but they are doing their best with this system (thieves giving dodge bar regeneration to allies, that's neat)


Side note: I don't like the forced team colors (red&blue? Why not random. SC2 is R&B, Halo is R&B, every other game is R&B it's getting old by now). 1 dye area in each piece of armor colored in would be enough (instead of the whole piece), and not a bright red/blue, something more subtle... or nothing at all, people aren't stupid, the neon red glow around enemy units is all we need.

[Obsidian]

Wow, i've been pretty impressed by what i've seen so far. Really looking forward to this game!

[spirity]

Quite funny that even the UI is a big F.U. to mmo convention. No character portrait with hp/mana in the top left corner, and no option to have 40 skill/spell bars all over the place, for those oh so essential time in botswana addons. It's the best looking UI I've ever seen in an MMO.