[Jira]

Hopefully the next one is much more optimized. Normally that low frame rate would not be playable.

Good news is one of the 3 big things they're working on now is performance. In the previous build the game was CPU bound and your GPU was barely being used. People who had overclocked their Sandybridge chips to 5ghz were seeing over 60FPS solid proving that what ANet said was true(which is your CPU is currently doing most of the work).

[Retro]

Thank god, a new page. Let's put the eSport bullshit behind us and move on.

Checked the OP Didnt see anything about when the next beta will be (if there is one) anyone?

I'd put good money on the 18th, 19th and 20th. Next weekend is just too soon after the last beta and the weekend of the 25-27th is Memorial Day weekend in the US, so ANet will probably not want to deal with holiday pay and the employees will probably want it off. Players will also probably have family obligations, even if it's perfect for some of us. That's the last weekend in May.

Of course, ANet is also a company of gamers and they're obviously in crunch mode, so they may just hang the holiday and steam right through. Of course, they also said they'd try to do it at least once a month, but that doesn't mean every month is sure to have a BWE. For all we know, they might just do it the first weekend in June.

[inky]

For all we know, they might just do it the first weekend in June.

Or the last...

[Jira]

Or the last...

SHUT YOUR MOUTH

[Smiley90]

Thank god, a new page. Let's put the eSport bullshit behind us and move on. I'd put good money on the 18th, 19th and 20th. Next weekend is just too soon after the last beta and the weekend of the 25-27th is Memorial Day weekend in the US, so ANet will probably not want to deal with holiday pay and the employees will probably want it off. Players will also probably have family obligations, even if it's perfect for some of us. That's the last weekend in May. Of course, ANet is also a company of gamers and they're obviously in crunch mode, so they may just hang the holiday and steam right through. Of course, they also said they'd try to do it at least once a month, but that doesn't mean every month is sure to have a BWE. For all we know, they might just do it the first weekend in June.

They mentioned "it might be slower than once a month" though and also said they were shutting down the forum for "a few weeks" (which doesn't sound like "two"), so I'm thinking unfortunately the weekend after Memorial Day, 1st-3rd seems more likely, not? :/

[User Name Here]

Good news is one of the 3 big things they're working on now is performance. In the previous build the game was CPU bound and your GPU was barely being used. People who had overclocked their Sandybridge chips to 5ghz were seeing over 60FPS solid proving that what ANet said was true(which is your CPU is currently doing most of the work).

What are the other two big things?

[Achtius]

What are the other two big things?

Balance and tutorial?

[Jira]

What are the other two big things?

Balancing and teaching new users the game.

[RepairmanJack]

Thank god, a new page. Let's put the eSport bullshit behind us and move on.

Awwweee no fun.

[Ferny]

Sigh....i'm having such a bad GW2 itch.

[Stuart444]

Sigh....i'm having such a bad GW2 itch.

I've had that itch since the BWE finished :(

[ShaneB]

Sigh....i'm having such a bad GW2 itch.

I miss it, but I realize it's just best to occupy my time elsewhere. Just starting Arkham City, and that'll keep me busy until Diablo 3, and then I'm good.

[Complistic]

I played an unhealthy amount during the beta so that I could put off that itch but it's slowly getting to me.

[eek5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=6CyqGJHTjes

Interesting. I spent most of the beta just doing events then leaving. Never thought to stick around

[markot]

Someone make me an icon based on this. Post haste!

[Retro]

Someone make me an icon based on this. Post haste!

Didn't know whether you wanted a close up or more of the hand in the frame. Scaling it any smaller to get all of the Asura into the avatar makes it hard to tell what you're looking at. So, here's two versions.

Please re-host if you please. Derp, GAF hosts avatars now, totally forgot.

[Jira]

A list of somewhat guesstimated gem shop prices:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...BRElLdXc#gid=0

[Z3M0G]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=6CyqGJHTjes Interesting. I spent most of the beta just doing events then leaving. Never thought to stick around

Mind = BLOWN

I'll happily play Tera for the next month or two till I get bored of it... but once this is out, I'll never look at MMOs (or most RPGs for that matter) the same ever again.

ElderScrolls Online, for instance, will NEED to do this. This is a new future standard... I can't see how it can even be disputed after watching that.

[demolitio]

I'm playing LOTRO and keep thinking about how this battle or that battle would have went in GW2 and it's amazing how much you miss it. Some people don't like some of the choices they made, but a lot of their core ideas are brilliant for the MMO genre. You feel more in control of combat and feel the world around you instead of just grinding quests, even if the quests are the same. It's just that sense of exploring and chained events that help create a living world as well.

Well, back to LOTRO in the meantime. :(

[markot]

Didn't know whether you wanted a close up or more of the hand in the frame. Scaling it any smaller to get all of the Asura into the avatar makes it hard to tell what you're looking at. So, here's two versions. Please re-host if you please. Derp, GAF hosts avatars now, totally forgot.

tytyty

[Bufbaf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=6CyqGJHTjes Interesting. I spent most of the beta just doing events then leaving. Never thought to stick around

This is great!

Still, I'm kinda worried that the actual finished game will feel a lot like they've taken lots and lots of public quests from Warhammer Online (didn't play any of the other MMOs with similar quests, so excuse the comparison if there are better ones available) instead of actual story arcs. I don't know, but there's still a thought in the back of my head that this system will get a bit old and tiresome after a while, if there's nothing to hook you except for the personal story arc.

Anyway, I hope they'll find a way to do this. Most of these events probably will have great storylines anyway if it wasn't for the 'kill 200 bears' parts you have to endure :)

[eek5]

This is great! Still, I'm kinda worried that the actual finished game will feel a lot like they've taken lots and lots of public quests from Warhammer Online (didn't play any of the other MMOs with similar quests, so excuse the comparison if there are better ones available) instead of actual story arcs. I don't know, but there's still a thought in the back of my head that this system will get a bit old and tiresome after a while, if there's nothing to hook you except for the personal story arc. Anyway, I hope they'll find a way to do this. Most of these events probably will have great storylines anyway if it wasn't for the 'kill 200 bears' parts you have to endure :)

My main issue with the system as it is now is how quickly events spawn. Hopefully they tone that down and add more unique events per area/location

[Jira]

Mind = BLOWN I'll happily play Tera for the next month or two till I get bored of it... but once this is out, I'll never look at MMOs (or most RPGs for that matter) the same ever again. ElderScrolls Online, for instance, will NEED to do this. This is a new future standard... I can't see how it can even be disputed after watching that.

Yeah, I had come across those very events but didn't even notice the NPC interactions. I knew to follow escort NPCs cause they usually opened up new vendors when they got to where they were going, but I never expected this level of interaction and it'll make me pay a lot more attention.

[Jira]

I did see some events in Queensdale that seemed to be running too quickly while others seemed fine in the frequency so it seemed to be just a matter of tweaking based on feedback. I also think it's possible that they had stuff running faster than normal just to allow people to get stuff tested. Though I also do understand that given this is their content, the events in which cycle back around and aren't the persistent types can't be down for too long because you're not the only person playing the game. I just think that as long as I'm in the immediate vicinity, I shouldn't see an event restart in that time frame. By general vicinity I mean within the radius in which I might see the DE on my map. I had this happen at one point where I fended off the Centaurs from attacking, the vendors respawned and the waypoint came back up, as I was using the vendor they were attacking again and that was just too fast. Whether it was a bug or not I don't know, but it was literally about 1 minute in between and that was the one that I saw that was a red flag to me in terms of frequency.

[Neo 007]

^^Dude..that's so 2008.
Open your mind.

[Rad-]

Wow mindblown:

I'm sure you've heard the complaint... "We can use skills even if we aren't in range and there's no way of knowing if we're out of range!" But I learned that's wrong. I actually thought this too, and thought they should make the skills turn red or have a red bar over them when out of range, that is... until I discovered that they already do. It's the number. If you're in range, the skill number is white, if you're out of range it's red. Here's a visual example, watch skill #4 and F1, F2, F3:

[Dreavus]

A list of somewhat guesstimated gem shop prices: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...BRElLdXc#gid=0

If any costumes that I really like come up, those will be my downfall. Either that, or those transmutation gems... I am such a sucker for cosmetic stuff. I know I know, it's bad!

[Mr. Luchador]

This. This is shit. So just because there's no rule or limitation and somebody figured out they could get away from this and change the game, that's how you define a physical sport being better? Or being ambidextrous? Do you know much about the Starcraft 1 competitive scene? Did you know that for years people never thought to expand? Can you believe that? They'd play on Lost Temple and even though the other mineral patches were there, at best they might be used for long distance mining later. Then one day someone actually plops down another base there, mines twice as many minerals, and stomps their opponent. HOLY CRAP! THE GAME'S TRANSFORMED! HOW DID WE NOT KNOW OF THIS!? A video game is confined to the world coded in along with the rules placed on it. Something like Football is confined to the physical limitations of the real world along with the rules placed on it. Just like how some characters can't throw fireballs in Street Fighter, not everybody can run at the same speed or grow wings in Football. Your argument is thus: You don't think eSports are "real" sports because you don't consider them requiring the physical ability necessary of a "real" sport. That's it. Open and shut. Chess now being considered a sport is seen by you as more of a tongue in cheek sort of thing that was done to placate people. You still don't care, it's a game in your eyes. No other argument past your opinion holds up, and I'm telling you this straight up because this is how this argument always ends up.

I'm not going to get into this discussion too much but I was an athlete up to the collegiate level playing lacrosse. And I was pretty damn good too. I also played basketball, baseball, and soccer for many years. I barely did any strategizing, game planning, or whatever. That's what coaches were for. All we did was use our abilities and work off muscle memory. In many video games, you are the coach + the player. Shit, I did 1000x more mentality demanding tasks playing GW1 PvP then my entire athletic career. I also did far more planning in GW1 cause again, coaches made us practice, run, etc... When I beat somebody, it wasn't due to mental dexterity. It was mostly instinct or muscle memory. So what is this nonsense about "independent thought and decision making?"

Independent thought and decision making are pretty much vital in sport. Without that you're waiting for someone else to tell you what to do, basically... you're a computer game character and someone on the sideline has the joystick. So you might not feel you were making any decisions, but (hopefully) through good coaching and preparation you were making decisions.

Muscle memory and instinct are, believe it or not, independent thought and decision making but at an extremely fast level. Its not your muscles making that decision, its your mind making a decision based on a number of events you've already faced - they don't even have to be the exact same events it can work out a schema of what to do based on several different experiences.

You know how to jump.
You know how to catch.

Put that schema together and you can jump and catch a ball without having to have tried it before.

I'm not trying to belittle the concept of 'eSport', however, I do think, as others have mentioned, that its simply a very useful buzzword to try and make it seem more mainstream and acceptable. I even admitted that I may have downplayed the part involving tactics, as clearly there are elements in games. I do not remember at any point saying that real sports were better than eSport.

I've had a read through: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...=esport&page=3 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...esport&page=11 and I can see that the communities are very passionate about it, so I understand people getting defensive when others don't understand/share that passion.

I also watched the Quake video with that Rafa guy, and that showed a high level of ability and skill. So I can respect that. What I do not respect, and I put this down to the passion, are people's replies basically saying someone else's opinion is 'shit'. I'd like to think people were beyond that level of reply.

To me it just looks like very highly competitive gaming. Honestly don't mean to be disrespecting, and I've tried to say that several times, yet people seem to get very aggressive in their replies, which I put down to their passion for competitive gaming. I've played in Counter-Strike LAN days back when I was in high school, but at that point in time I never considered it a sport. I saw it as a competition, without a doubt, as that what it was. A competition between different classes.

Perhaps the term and usage of 'sport' has evolved to the point that anything that involves high levels of competition is a sport (physically or computer based).

On a side, I wasn't saying anything bad about Chess, or even suggested tongue in cheek it was made a sport to placate anyone, so not sure where that came from. It was a game, that became a Sport, which I suppose is what I'm suggesting above with the usage of 'sport' as a word evolving. Out of interest what is your arguments is that it IS a sport - why? how?

Would you consider Poker a sport?

(Finally, sorry for bringing this over to a new page. I am genuinely interested in this whole thing. Perhaps I should take it to another thread.)

[Haly]

I would suggest, at this point, to make a thread about it instead of bringing it up here. Not that i mind the discussion since there's little else to talk about, but it might annoy some regulars.

[Thanasis Deitus]

Wow mindblown:

Yeah, I actually noticed that in the last couple hours of the beta. Its definitely a nice touch.

I don't know if it was just me getting used to looking for it or not, but I still felt it wasn't quite noticeable enough. It wasn't too bad to check before engaging in combat, but during a hectic fight I would find myself not noticing whether I was in range for certain attacks. Maybe that would happen less when I got used to it, but I think maybe it might be a good idea to make the effect a little more obvious.

That being said, I'm glad they didn't prevent you from using abilities out of range. First of all, it just makes the game feel less like using a bunch of hotbar skills on a target. And more importantly, it allows you to find alternate uses for abilities, like using a leap attack to flee from combat or chase someone down when they are out of range.

[Retro]

tytyty

No problem, enjoy the avatar.

I don't know, but there's still a thought in the back of my head that this system will get a bit old and tiresome after a while, if there's nothing to hook you except for the personal story arc.

Some people here (I have not, personally) seen Dynamic Events in the second human starting area where you must demolish bridges and lay siege to Centaur encampments. Siege engines are involved if I remember correctly. There's a lot more going on than just 'kill 200 bears'.

Actually, that particular event was a rarity in my experience (I did get to take part in the bear massacre, see here), there were very few straight-up "Kill a shitload of enemies" quests. Most at least involved some kind of additional objective (steal ore, defend this position, etc.) so you didn't feel like you were tasked with genocide.

I actually screen-capped the bear one because it stuck out so much (and because who doesn't love heaps of dead bears hellbent on honey?)

My main issue with the system as it is now is how quickly events spawn. Hopefully they tone that down and add more unique events per area/location

Pretty sure the respawn for both enemies and events was increased to speed up the testing process for the bWE. I had quite a few times where we'd capture a city or defend a caravan only to see it under attack all over again immediately afterwords.

If any costumes that I really like come up, those will be my downfall. Either that, or those transmutation gems... I am such a sucker for cosmetic stuff. I know I know, it's bad!

You're not alone. I may re-activate my WoW account one day just to screen-cap my bank full of pretty outfits.

(Finally, sorry for bringing this over to a new page. I am genuinely interested in this whole thing. Perhaps I should take it to another thread.)

I think this is probably for the best, it's derailing this thread and it feels like people have said their peace and don't know how or don't want to put it another way. You'll get valuable feedback (or bushels of shit, or both) from Starcraft players, fighting game fans and shooter fans. MMO eSports are kind of... not there yet. But those genres are already experiencing some degree of success in the eSports arena.

And more importantly, it allows you to find alternate uses for abilities, like using a leap attack to flee from combat or chase someone down when they are out of range.

Yeah, we were running down a Mesmer in WvW and I switched over to my sword/sword setup and leapt at her even though she was out of range. The guys who were with me were like "what the hell, we can do that?"

Never did catch her. Mesmers are fuckin' FAST when they want to be.

I actually wouldn't mind some kind of big red X over skills that aren't in range. The larger amount of red would allow me to tell with my peripheral vision what's up much easier than a tiny red digit.

[nataku]

I've never been a fan of just making the text red. It's too small and hard to notice without looking right at it.

They need to just shade the entire skill icon red. It's much easier to see out of your perifial vision.

[Bufbaf]

Some people here (I have not, personally) seen Dynamic Events in the second human starting area where you must demolish bridges and lay siege to Centaur encampments. Siege engines are involved if I remember correctly. There's a lot more going on than just 'kill 200 bears'. Actually, that particular event was a rarity in my experience (I did get to take part in the bear massacre, see here), there were very few straight-up "Kill a shitload of enemies" quests. Most at least involved some kind of additional objective (steal ore, defend this position, etc.) so you didn't feel like you were tasked with genocide.

That sounds more like it :) I didn't come around to actually follow the game a lot during BWE, just ran around checking out all kinds of stuff. Loved the little "guard the caravan quest" I ran into, same with some "train soldiers with a gun". I don't really expect a lot of random killquests, I just fear they'll be there, waiting for me :D

Oh man, this Beta weekend was the stupidest thing I could do. Now I'm hooked to a game I can't even play, which will come out in months from now. Goddamn.

[Alrix]

I specifically didn't do the prepurchase beta because I didn't want to hype myself up too much. Didn't wanna be left with that itch and not being able to play it until whenever the hell it ends up coming out.

That, and, I've got a pretty big backlog that I've been making zero progress on. But mostly the former.

[Mulligan]

I specifically didn't do the prepurchase beta because I didn't want to hype myself up too much. Didn't wanna be left with that itch and not being able to play it until whenever the hell it ends up coming out. That, and, I've got a pretty big backlog that I've been making zero progress on. But mostly the former.

I'm so itchy.. :(
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Destroyer_Crab

[inky]

A list of somewhat guesstimated gem shop prices: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...BRElLdXc#gid=0

Those seem OK I guess. The ability to pay for gems with gold makes it even better. In the final version you get 5 character slots by default, right?

Pretty sure the respawn for both enemies and events was increased to speed up the testing process for the bWE. I had quite a few times where we'd capture a city or defend a caravan only to see it under attack all over again immediately afterwords.

I don't know about that. I've read a couple of threads in the Official Forums where a dev said he didn't believe DE were spawning too fast (people claiming 1 minute between respawns) as the shorter timer was set to 8 minutes. Then a guy posted a video to prove it, so it might have been a bug, or they did set them on a shorter timer and they probably had some internal miscommunication about that. In any case, I'm sure they'll fix it for final release.

As an added question... any word on mounts coming to the game some time in the (near) future?

[Retro]

Those seem OK I guess. The ability to pay for gems with gold makes it even better. In the final version you get 5 character slots by default, right

Pretty sure you get 5 slots, yes.

As an added question... any word on mounts coming to the game some time in the (near) future?

ANet has said there's no need for mounts since there are waypoints everywhere. Also, mounts are annoying and designed to get you through or around content faster. Why would you want that? Worse example of this is WoW's flying mounts; you spend all that time crafting content and then just let your players fly over it? Bah.

The only mention they have made of mounts is that they would like to implement some form of combat. I'd rather just see them make a jousting mini-game.

Mounts let people be obnoxious too. "LOL, I have giant mammoth, gonna go stand on the mailbox now!"

[inky]

But there's no mailboxes in this game :O

Nah, I know their stance on flying mounts (I don't like them either), and I know there's lots of waypoints, but mounts look cool plus they don't have to be obnoxious giant Mammoths or motorcycles. I didn't think about burning through content faster but I guess it makes sense.

Still, I think WvW could have some battle mounts no problem, not only the siege suits.

[nataku]

I'm not sure how much they actually cost, but hopefully waypoint upgrades in keeps become much more common once the game launches.

I really don't want to see mounts, to be honest. I was sort of for them at first, but I think waypoints are a much better system.

[Retro]

But there's no mailboxes in this game :O Nah, I know their stance on flying mounts (I don't like them either), and I know there's lots of waypoints, but mounts look cool plus they don't have to be obnoxious giant Mammoths or motorcycles. I didn't think about burning through content faster but I guess it makes sense. Still, I think WvW could have some battle mounts no problem, not only the siege suits.

I just meant 'stand on mailboxes' as an example; people always find some way to be obnoxious with mounts. As for mounts being cooler, I've only found two mounts to be interesting; the wolf mounts Orcs get and the Paladin warhorse, both from WoW. For those two, there were obnoxious mechanical ostriches, dinosaurs, elephants, chocobos, dragons (especially dragons, ugh)... I'd much rather see them spend time on something that's cosmetic, not game-breaking, and has more longevity; housing.

I could see some kind of transportation method in WvW, but there are better ways to do it (see below).

I'm not sure how much they actually cost, but hopefully waypoint upgrades in keeps become much more common once the game launches.

Jira and I were talking about this, we both thought a neat idea might be a single-use Flag or banner that you can plan in the ground. When you activate it, you instantly teleport to that location and the banner disappears. It would have a price comparable to siege blueprints and possibly consume supply.

That way, if there's a particular point you really want to control, you can have a quick route back to it without the fuss of having to put waypoints everywhere.

Could expand the idea to have a Squad-based banner that only Commanders can use, that when used teleports any squad members standing within the area of effect to return to the banner.

[jkoch]

I've never treated gaming as an esport. Hell, I'm married - I wouldn't have the time to do so. But I think if physical skill and competition are the base requirements of a 'sport,' then some gaming can qualify. There are things people do in games that I, honestly, would never be able to do - not without, at least, putting in hundreds of hours into learning how. That's no different from real world sports either, though you inevitably hit into a certain limitation of physical or mental ability.

I don't care to get involved in a debate about the nomenclature. It makes no difference to me whether you call it esports, pro gaming, etc; but I think it's kind of arbitrary to decide that playing a game with a ball is somehow more noble a pursuit than playing a game on a computer.

[commish]

I don't care to get involved in a debate about the nomenclature. It makes no difference to me whether you call it esports, pro gaming, etc; but I think it's kind of arbitrary to decide that playing a game with a ball is somehow more noble a pursuit than playing a game on a computer.

What I don't understand is why some people are HELLBENT on having competitive gaming be labeled as a "sport". Nearly everyone in the world wouldn't consider it a "sport", so why get into a semantics argument on the interwebs about it? Then again, this is the interwebs.

[Vinci]

I don't care to get involved in a debate about the nomenclature. It makes no difference to me whether you call it esports, pro gaming, etc; but I think it's kind of arbitrary to decide that playing a game with a ball is somehow more noble a pursuit than playing a game on a computer.

Wait. You realize you're arguing roughly the same thing that I was earlier, right?

[Retro]

Starting to get withdraw symptoms thinking about those last few hours of WvW and how I can't wait to get back in with a proper build and try it again. I didn't even have all of my skill slots unlocked, to say nothing of traits.

Come on, give us a date for the next BWE =(

E-sport debate again

[inky]

I just meant 'stand on mailboxes' as an example

I just meant "there's no mailboxes" as a joke -.-

[Retro]

I just meant "there's no mailboxes" as a joke -.-

Yeah, I gotcha. I just mean that mounts in general are a way for players to increase the amount of douche-baggery they can commit.

Thanks for reminding me how awesome it is that we can mail, shop, sell and deposit materials from anywhere in the world. That alone makes every other MMO out there unplayable.

[jkoch]

Wait. You realize you're arguing roughly the same thing that I was earlier, right?

Yes, that's why I replied to you.

[Smiley90]

The same guy who did the Dynamic Events chain video now also did a Dynamic Events consequences video, it's pretty awesome and informative too:

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

For all those saying DE's don't have consequences, and again, this is just really early on in the game, later DE's will probably be even larger with even more consequences. I like this guy. :D

[Bufbaf]

The same guy who did the Dynamic Events chain video now also did a Dynamic Events consequences video, it's pretty awesome and informative too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwmtVFoZAKA For all those saying DE's don't have consequences, and again, this is just really early on in the game, later DE's will probably be even larger with even more consequences. I like this guy. :D

So freaking awesome. I realize how little I actually know about this game, can't wait to finally jump in again.

[JustProgress]

Yeah, I gotcha. I just mean that mounts in general are a way for players to increase the amount of douche-baggery they can commit. Thanks for reminding me how awesome it is that we can mail, shop, sell and deposit materials from anywhere in the world. That alone makes every other MMO out there unplayable.

Try to contain your boner please.