[06nbarnhill]

Wasn't excited about this game until I saw the Realm vs Realm pvp now seriously considering playing this and Diablo 3 and dropped WoW once my 1 year sub is up.

They better add more Realm vs Realm content though. That one match will get boring as fuck.



Not sure I think the game is better than WoW overall....leaning towards no from what I have seen.....but I don't think WoW is 15$ a month better.

[Complistic]

Lol, wrong. Hammer warrior is god-tier. I played for the entire stress test and was wrecking shit. So many knockdowns.

oh it's capable, but it's still boring compared to the others.

[Ferny]

Didn't get a chance to play in the Stress test at all but it was ok. I have no problems with waiting till BWE2. I'll have D3 to hold me over :D

[inky]

Which reminds me, for all of you guys who will play Diablo 3 here is my BT:

inky#1237

[Lulubop]

I tried an engineer for a bit, I can't say much because I really didn't get a feel for the class in the allotted time, I hope he'll be around for next beta.

[Vinci]

Missed it entirely. Figured the bite-size morsel would only drive me more rabid for the next BWE.





Also, you know... I had classes.

[kayos90]

Didn't get a chance to play in the Stress test at all but it was ok. I have no problems with waiting till BWE2. I'll have D3 to hold me over :D

D3.... -_-''''

[gunbo13]

That's a good thing.

Yea, it is very comfortable to me since I primarily play action games. I put my dodge to a side mouse pretty quickly. I have a good amount to say about the dodge mechanic but I'll save that for tomorrow. All the other mechanics went as I envisioned them but my mind wandered quite a bit once I worked with the 3d movement.

[Helmholtz]

oh it's capable, but it's still boring compared to the others.

I made a warrior and necro. I found warrior more fun and play to play warrior when it launches. To each his own I guess.

[Ferny]

D3.... -_-''''

I need something to hold me over till November man!

[Hawkian]

Sorry this took so long, but I saw some people complaining or being wishy-washy about the Necro, and then I went over this:

I played a Necro for the stress test. The class is just weird. Unless you have other minions out, your bloodfiend dies way too often. And the skills don't all mesh. The dagger for instance has a melee auto attack, but the rest of the attacks are ranged. I also don't understand the 2 skill in death shroud; I don't see why I would want to teleport myself to enemies when the other abilities in that form are all ranged. The condition marks work well, and you can take on multiple enemies at once (which was hard with the other classes I played) but I found Necro to be boring. And the skills have boring effects. Everything just looks like a black blob.

Thank you for this post. Spelling these things out that you didn't understand, you actually taught me some things in full that I was just starting to learn little by little. I got my Charr Necro to level 12 during the stress test and I love it. I chose to play a Necro because I was sure it would be something I didn't want to play in the real thing, but I've all but guaranteed it for my second or third character. It's a lot more subtle and nuanced than you might expect, and I can understand how it might seem boring at first. Once I started to work things out though I seriously had a blast.

Some basic mechanic tips:

• Death Shroud
  This is one of the most unique mechanics I've seen in an MMO. If ANet is ripping off something here I would love to hear about it, as I've really enjoyed this thing. For those who haven't tried a Necro, how it works is this: you have an additional resource called Life Force that you can build with certain basic weapon skills, possibly some utility skills, and at certain conditions via traits. At any time, hitting F1 activates the Death Shroud form and your Life Force becomes your life bar and your skills are replaced with four unique skills which also deplete your Life Force when used. When you run out of Life Force or hit F1 again, you are kicked back to the exact amount of HP you had when you activated it. This makes it great for a variety of scenarios: making a getaway, turning the tide of a 2v1 battle, or chasing someone down- but more on this in a little bit. Life Force is not difficult to regen and there is really no downside to activating Death Shroud, ever. You should literally be activating it almost every combat scenario.
  
  A lot of your general strategy, at least in PvE and WvW should be based around building up Life Force constantly and dropping frequently in and out of Death Shroud.
  
• Minions
  Minions are admittedly weak in the early game. They require a decent amount of micromanagement which is very much unlike the minions in GW1. Looking over the traits, it's clear that they can become very potent later on even though they're not the most efficient way to approach the early game. Still, I couldn't resist, I just love the feeling of summoning an army. Here are some things to keep in mind: every time you have a minion summoned, its summon skill is replaced with something. These skills are meant to be used. I didn't get to try every minion yet, but:
  Blood Fiend - Sacrifice him to regen a bunch of health
  Bone Minions - BOOM! Big AOE spike, and a combo finisher. And remember you get two.
  Shadow Fiend - Teleport to and blind your target. This one does not sacrifice your minion and can be used over and over. Seriously this little guy will follow you around forever.
  
  You don't want to get attached to your minions or think of them as tanks. You should be sacrificing them often, using them as distractions, constantly using their active skills, and summoning new ones as SOON as the cooldown is over- remember there's never really a "wasted" skill anymore thanks to no energy.
  
• AOE Skills
  I haven't tried out every weapon yet, but it seems to me that by any reasonable metric, the Necro's AOE skills tend to fucking rock. This, as noted, makes the Necro well-suited to facing multiple targets. Use them. Use them without aiming. Use them even if you don't care about the conditions they inflict. They are great.

And to specifically address the bolded points:

your bloodfiend dies way too often

It is absolutely supposed to. Remember, it is summoned by your healing skill. It is not meant to do damage or tank. Keep it out, let it be an additional warm body on the field and give you some health every so often when there are other targets around, and sacrifice it frequently and without remorse. Keep in mind you can summon it and kill it almost instantly which makes the skill double as a quick traditional heal.

dagger has melee auto attack, but the rest of the attacks are ranged

Again, 100% by design! It's not ideal for a Necro to spend lots of time in melee. You have plenty of HP and Death Shroud, but low armor. This makes you very, very well suited to staying alive foreeeever, if you play smart. Setting up shop in melee combat is a great way to cancel out the natural class advantages you get with the Necro.

Think about this: The dagger skill you're talking about- the auto attack and the only melee skill the dagger has- is a chain skill that ends with gaining Life Force. So what's it for? Why, for regaining Life Force when you're out! Swoop into melee, combo a few times and rebuild your Life Force to full, then rush back out. And what would be a great way to slip out of melee range? Death Shroud! Don't sacrifice any more HP than you did getting into melee. You'll soon begin to laugh at the absolute helpless frustration of your target as they are unable to make you fucking die.

don't understand the 2 skill in death shroud; I don't see why I would want to teleport myself to enemies when the other abilities in that form are all ranged

That skill, Dark Path, is fucking amazing.

You teleport to your target and chill them (and nearby enemies). What does Chill do? "66% movement speed reduction. While chilled, skills already recharging will recharge 66% slower." So you teleport to your target, slow them down, and make their skills recharge slower. When is this useful? When a target is running away. It's the best "oh no you don't" skill I've ever seen, in any game. I've killed no fewer than 9 human beings in WvW as a result of that skill alone. Either your target will continue to try to run away with the slowed speed (you can also cripple them with certain Necro weapon skills so they can't just remove a single condition to get away), or they'll realize they can't run and turn back and try to fight, at which point they won't even be doing actual damage to you because you're in Death Shroud. And if they do start to get away, the powerful 1 skill is, as you said, ranged! So, so good.

Anyway yeah. Necros rock.

[darkwing]

that really shows the depth of that class

[Trey]

Shit, I knew I was forgetting something. Should have rolled with you Hawkian. Just as well I guess, since the queue system doesn't like to keep parties together.

Yea, it is very comfortable to me since I primarily play action games. I put my dodge to a side mouse pretty quickly. I have a good amount to say about the dodge mechanic but I'll save that for tomorrow. All the other mechanics went as I envisioned them but my mind wandered quite a bit once I worked with the 3d movement.

The turning and such felt stiff. The Elementalist skills didn't really have a flow to them either, which is honestly to be expected. For how much they cut the amount of skills down from GW1, I actually still think they can do some fat cutting. I don't see the need to have a spammable on 1 in every element, with very little practical difference between them.

[salpa]

I finished the beginning human area (Queensdale? I think and Kessex Hills) and started running around in the Norn area. When there was about an hour left, I thought I'd explore a bit, so I went mountain climbing.

This is as far as I got. I was so up high you could not even see the ground. For reference, this was my second furthest height:

For the first image, I took a picture of the map to show how far off the map I made it:

Here's the rest of the pictures I took, all of me climbing (including the three pictures above):

In album form if you prefer: http://imgur.com/a/C6Uyp#0

Single image URLs:

http://i.imgur.com/LO5Bn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Cfx3L.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qUtql.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/UUjJ0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tQRs7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/F2YId.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7HhuM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hc2sA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SsTsS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PXZ10.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mhzTv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TCLou.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ubMSK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7Vbxw.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HfG55.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/58hxJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZFyR3.jpg

[Hawkian]

I went mountain climbing.

Awesome.

edit: My fave

"What do you mean it's too cold up here?"

[∀ Narayan]

Finally checked Divinity's Reach out. Gorgeous area. Reminds me of Final Fantasy IX and/or XII.

[salpa]

I actually got up one part of the mountain so far that the textures started becoming washed out.

I really hope ANet doesn't try to enforce strict boundaries. I like being able to go places like that. Hell, it's how I got a good percent of cartographer in GW1, escaping through the clipping in one of the areas in Factions and getting a bunch of area you are not supposed to be able to.

[FutureZombie]

Some interesting points you made about Necro, but I did not find it fun after playing a Warrior. Warrior gives you so many options and it has a jump in and melee, then snare and range attack gameplay that's just awesome. Plus it has some cool animations (off hand axe whirl, two handed sword whirl, shield bash) which Necro is seriously lacking. For example, think of the Necro's staff abilities- they all look exactly the same and barely have an spell effect. And no matter what weapon you have equipped, you're playing in a similar way. You slow people, put on conditions, and switch to death shroud (which though a cool mechanic, does not change the skills of the Necro in an interesting way). Maybe if in death shroud you moved much differently or something, that would make it a change of pace instead of basically just another health bar.

Meanwhile, as a Warrior, I can soak up damage with a mace and shield, then switch to a two handed sword after I use my mace adrenaline ability to stun someone for 3 seconds so I can get off my 2 ability for lots of damage. Or I can melee with two swords, switch to rifle, knock them back, and then cripple them as they come towards me at which point I can immobilize them and get off a huge crit. And you have abilities to stop people as they're running away- in fact you have plenty of them, so that death shroud ability is far from unique. There are just more possibilities and you can play the class a number of different ways. That's what I like about it at least.

[Razorwind]

Anyway yeah. Necros rock.

Good to see that someone has done his homework and checked out the gw2 class forums, or even better figured it out on his own.

Played necromancer in gw1 and same in beta. Granted you don't see the sf-gg skill links, it is now much more about when and how you use each skill rather than just setting up a combo string.

How is the latency for everyone? I tend to get hit a lot when it suddenly lags , health spiking downwards so much I could have died ;(
Or maybe I am using the hammer guardian wrongly, feels like a glass canon to me now without much support skills.

[Complistic]

Damn it I really want to play some more :(

[Ferga]

With the 1h sword and pistol, I would send the sword clone in and then summon the pistol clone to support him, and/or swap places with the sword clone before it gets attacked to keep it alive while I attacked along side it. I was just mainly unlocking skills for a bit, but I planned on using the 2h sword and staff. I might mainly use the staff though, and put points into condition damage. Since the bolts bounce off of multiple foes, the staff could be pretty decent for aoe condition damage spam.

The good thing about the clones when you use a staff is that they don't die to random aoe damage by the creatures since they are all ranged. Having 4 clones spamming synchronised bouncing balls with some warlocks on the side was just pure fun.

[Hawkian]

Some interesting points you made about Necro, but I did not find it fun after playing a Warrior. Warrior gives you so many options and it has a jump in and melee, then snare and range attack gameplay that's just awesome. Plus it has some cool animations (off hand axe whirl, two handed sword whirl, shield bash) which Necro is seriously lacking. For example, think of the Necro's staff abilities- they all look exactly the same and barely have an spell effect. And no matter what weapon you have equipped, you're playing in a similar way. You slow people, put on conditions, and switch to death shroud (which though a cool mechanic, does not change the skills of the Necro in an interesting way). Maybe if in death shroud you moved much differently or something, that would make it a change of pace instead of basically just another health bar. Meanwhile, as a Warrior, I can soak up damage with a mace and shield, then switch to a two handed sword after I use my mace adrenaline ability to stun someone for 3 seconds so I can get off my 2 ability for lots of damage. Or I can melee with two swords, switch to rifle, knock them back, and then cripple them as they come towards me at which point I can immobilize them and get off a huge crit. And you have abilities to stop people as they're running away- in fact you have plenty of them, so that death shroud ability is far from unique. There are just more possibilities and you can play the class a number of different ways. That's what I like about it at least.

Well, it's a compleeeetely different playstyle, and it doesn't work for you. Warrior is much better suited to your playstyle and that's what you should go with! I hear you on Dark Path not being a purely unique skill... it's just a very good skill, and you mentioned you didn't know why you'd want to use it. It's just the way it goes- not everything is for everybody. For example: I will never, ever be interested in playing a Warrior in any game

I don't know about the staff animations- that's a weapon I haven't tried, funnily enough. I'll definitely take your word for it about the appearance though, and that totally sucks. Scepter, axe, and offhand dagger all have some really cool effects, though. You wouldn't mistake Grasping Earth for anything else, and the 2 axe skill that tosses the axe in front of you and makes it spin is damn cool.

As far as all Necros playing the same, I think there's a deceptive amount of variety for all the classes, really. Scepter and Axe both have an AOE cripple- but Scepter has an aimable one with good range that also bleeds, while Axe is a self-radius spike that grants you retaliation. The first is great for poking around the perimeter stacking conditions, while the latter is a great way to jump into the fray, damage/cripple, and click on Death Shroud. And of course with utility skills, Minion Necros will play way differently to those relying on curses or wells. It's just all what you make of it really.

Good to see that someone has done his homework and checked out the gw2 class forums, or even better figured it out on his own.

Have not left this forum, the gw2 wiki, and the game itself ;)

Lag was much better for my tonight than in the beta, personally.

[etiolate]

Some screens:

[FutureZombie]

Is it just me, or is the Charr starting zone lacking in content compared to the Norn zone? Once I hit level 4 as a Charr, I had to replay events so I could get up to level 6 and have a chance against the ghosts of Ascalon. And it seemed much harder to come across skill points as a Charr than as a Norn. Too bad the Norn look wonky and seem slow. Playing a Charr after a Norn felt like I was running 33% faster.

[Smiley90]

My D3 tag is Smiley#1433 if any fellow GW2-Gaffers wanna add me :)

[akmcbroom]

D3 tag is Absinthe#1284. Any GW2 brethren feel free to add me.

[Effect]

Getting close to maybe prepurchasing the game. However I do have a question. I know there are no quest as we know them in other games. Outside of Dynamic events and the personal story what are you suppose to do in the game? Go from dynamic event to event? Just talk with other players and maybe PvP?

Just curious about what I might be fully getting into on a day to day basis. Also what people did over the beta weekend or was that not enough time for people to really get into a normal playstyle?

[akmcbroom]

Getting close to maybe prepurchasing the game. However I do have a question. I know there are no quest as we know them in other games. Outside of Dynamic events and the personal story what are you suppose to do in the game? Go from dynamic event to event? Just talk with other players and maybe PvP? Just curious about what I might be fully getting into on a day to day basis. Also what people did over the beta weekend or was that not enough time for people to really get into a normal playstyle?

TBH you just "play" the game. As you explore, things keep happening (dynamic events), and you can choose to stop and help, or continue on to the next area you're traveling to. There are people inside the towns and such that will have some types of quests and quests can also continue into other quests and so on.

Unlike other MMO's where there is a hub city that you go back to and get quest then go out and do quest, Guild Wars 2 just has quests along the way as you're traveling.

It's really fun in my opinion because I don't have to "return" after each quest, I can keep playing and continue along my way.

[etiolate]

Getting close to maybe prepurchasing the game. However I do have a question. I know there are no quest as we know them in other games. Outside of Dynamic events and the personal story what are you suppose to do in the game? Go from dynamic event to event? Just talk with other players and maybe PvP? Just curious about what I might be fully getting into on a day to day basis. Also what people did over the beta weekend or was that not enough time for people to really get into a normal playstyle?

There are Hearts, Dynamic Events and Skill Point challenges. There are also dungeons starting at level 30.

The interaction between Hearts and Dynamic events is better understood through play than by my explaining it. Many times a DE will help contribute to completing your Heart for the area, so there is weaving between the two sets of goals. Hearts normally list a handful of ways to contribute towards a generalized goal of "Help X with Y". A meter fills up as you complete these tasks. A DE normally has a stricter goal set but with different phases, as well as being part of a chain that moves around the map.

Hearts are determined by NPCs with a gold Heart over their heads. You don't need to talk to these NPCs, but you'll get a notice of a new event nearby when you come into range of one of these NPCs. For example, a Beetletun farmer may need help with his farm. There are various ways that you can help, but one of the ways to help may include fighting off unwanted mobs. Coincidentally, there is a Centaur attack on this farm at the current time you arrive there. The Centaur attack is a DE and the Farmer needing help is the Heart, but by fighting back the Centaurs, you also fill the heart meter. The DE has another step to it that includes finding sprinkler parts and giving them to a NPC. When this finishes, the NPC repairs the sprinklers and turns them on, dousing out the fires that the Centaurs started. By the time you've made it through this stage of the DE, your Heart meter is complete.

You could then follow the action of the DE and continue to push back the Centaurs. Doing this will move you across the map, opening up waypoints and taking over camps and making them friendly. Eventually, you'll find yourself closer to a Centaur main camp and near another Heart. This new Heart is about Ettins wanting to group up to push back the Centaurs, and involves talking to and fighting Ettins to convince them to help fight the Centaurs. This heart exists regardless of your previous actions, but the DE exists in its current state due to your actions. They have just designed the Hearts and DEs to work together, so that the Dynamic Events surrounding the Hearts are relevant to the Hearts and vice versa.

[demolitio]

Does my thief look like one of Desmond's ancestors from Assassin's Creed? I found that armor during the big finale the first weekend and now I don't want to see him get reset. It took me a lot of time and luck to get that armor in an area way above my level as far north as possible...lol

[Hawkian]

Getting close to maybe prepurchasing the game. However I do have a question. I know there are no quest as we know them in other games. Outside of Dynamic events and the personal story what are you suppose to do in the game? Go from dynamic event to event? Just talk with other players and maybe PvP? Just curious about what I might be fully getting into on a day to day basis. Also what people did over the beta weekend or was that not enough time for people to really get into a normal playstyle?

Dude, honestly, everything those two just said is true, but there's really even more to it. If you get bored of chasing events around and don't feel like filling in hearts to complete an area, or just exploring a bit further out or scouring the nooks and crannies of a city (which gets you xp too, by the way), or pushing ahead a bit in your personal story, or jumping across the map to explore a new area, you can jump into WvW, which is a really compelling mix of PvE and PvP (doesn't feel much like traditional PvP at all). And beyond that... well, during the test tonight I spent a half hour doing a pretty tough jumping puzzle, itself contained within WvW, with a loot reward at the end.

:)

[Ferga]

TBH you just "play" the game. As you explore, things keep happening (dynamic events), and you can choose to stop and help, or continue on to the next area you're traveling to. There are people inside the towns and such that will have some types of quests and quests can also continue into other quests and so on. Unlike other MMO's where there is a hub city that you go back to and get quest then go out and do quest, Guild Wars 2 just has quests along the way as you're traveling. It's really fun in my opinion because I don't have to "return" after each quest, I can keep playing and continue along my way.

One of the main reasons why I love this game. Never have I reminisced about another town in a MMO.

[inky]

Getting close to maybe prepurchasing the game. However I do have a question. I know there are no quest as we know them in other games. Outside of Dynamic events and the personal story what are you suppose to do in the game? Go from dynamic event to event? Just talk with other players and maybe PvP? Just curious about what I might be fully getting into on a day to day basis. Also what people did over the beta weekend or was that not enough time for people to really get into a normal playstyle?

It's pretty much progresses like other games: there are areas with level ranges you can do and enemies you find there will be of that lvl range so you are encouraged to follow that path. The difference is that it wants to save you useless back and forth travel time and allow you to just explore. You can still talk to NPCs, for example, you can find a stranded caravan in the middle of the road, if you approach it you can talk to the NPC and he will tell you what is his goal, but there is no "accept/don't accept quest and this will be your reward screen" you simply walk near the current event and the game will notify you, show it on your map and give you a short description. When you are done with it you don't need to go chase another NPC, I mean, you could stay and listen to what he has to say, sometimes it will chain into another event, but if you decide to walk away you already got the exp/currency and sometime later on the same NPC might send you some money through the mail (and you can read your mail anywhere in the world).

As for other stuff to do while you are there, you can look for waypoints/discover areas (as you fill a region certain rewards will unlock) skill point challenges (to unlock new abilities), or there are places to explore; for example I dived into a small lake and found an underwater cave. This cave took me to another area inside a mountain where there was a climbing challenge with a few enemies. This is not a regular dynamic event, but a challenge that just had a boss and some cool loot when you completed it. No need for an NPC to tell me it was there or to go back to to turn it in, just found it through exploring.

Edit: beaten a million times.

One of the main reasons why I love this game. Never have I reminisced about another town in a MMO.

To be fair, there are other games that have quests along the road. It is more of the thing that you don't have to go back and forth to turn them in even if they are close. Other games love doing the thing where they tell you: "go to this camp and kill some bandits and see what they are up to." So you say, cool, the camp is just across this bridge, so you go and what is this... *picks special item from bandit number 10 who was all the way back* Go back to turn it in, then NPC says: "I guess they are looting some relics, so go pick those up from the boxes scattered in the camp" Of course the bandits you just killed have respawned and are standing right next those boxes which are now clickable. *Collects 15 relics* after killing way more bandits this time. Go back and deliver them, oh, new quest just popped up. "Hmm, guess there is a boss to this bandit camp, go back and kill him." Of course, you already knew there was a boss, he was standing next to the boxes you needed the relics from and you killed him already, but now you have to go back, fight your way to him again (or risk aggroing the entire camp) and kill him again. Go to the next area and repeat. GW2 might have a bandit camp and a boss inside but fuck if you need to do all that shit to get to him. The quest just pops up when you are in the vicinity, you fight an epic battle to him once, you kill him and go on your way. Then someone mails you some cash as well.

[Hawkian]

It's pretty much progresses like other games: there are areas with level ranges you can do and enemies you find there will be of that lvl range so you are encouraged to follow that path. The difference is that it wants to save you useless back and forth travel time and allow you to just explore. You can still talk to NPCs, for example, you can find a stranded caravan in the middle of the road, if you approach it you can talk to the NPC and he will tell you what is his goal, but there is no "accept/don't accept quest and this will be your reward screen" you simply walk near the current event and the game will notify you, show it on your map and give you a short description. When you are done with it you don't need to go chase another NPC, I mean, you could stay and listen to what he has to say, sometimes it will chain into another event, but if you decide to walk away you already got the exp/currency and sometime later on the same NPC might send you some money through the mail (and you can read your mail anywhere in the world). As for other stuff to do while you are there, you can look for waypoints/discover areas (as you fill a region certain rewards will unlock) skill point challenges (to unlock new abilities), or there are places to explore; for example I dived into a small lake and found an underwater cave. This cave took me to another area inside a mountain where there was a climbing challenge with a few enemies. This is not a regular dynamic event, but a challenge that just had a boss and some cool loot when you completed it. No need for an NPC to tell me it was there or to go back to to turn it in, just found it through exploring. Edit: beaten a million times.

going to require the location of this o.o

[inky]

going to require the location of this o.o

There's plenty in the Third Norn area (lvls 15-25) and they are extremely pretty. Right now I regret not taking some pics. There's even a dynamic event where you visit the homes of an amphibious race who lives in one of these lakes and help them fend off the attacks of killer jellyfishes. You also collect some kelp for them too hehe.

[Hawkian]

Hylek, the frog people? I love those guys.

LOOK A WHALE

[Teknoman]

The only thing I dont like about certain PVE events is that it just devolves into a bunch of explosions at certain points, and you cant tell whats going on. Of course that could have something to do with how the game isnt optimized yet. A smoother framerate would probably help.

[Ferga]

I was played the stress test for 2hours today and i only reached level 5. I spent a lot of time taking in the environments so I was just wondering how long did it take for people to level up?

[elementalsin]

The only thing I dont like about certain PVE events is that it just devolves into a bunch of explosions at certain points, and you cant tell whats going on. Of course that could have something to do with how the game isnt optimized yet. A smoother framerate would probably help.

Honestly, I didn't have a single framerate problem the entire stress test. BUT, I definitely agree with you on the confusion at some points. There were more than a few times during the more 'intense' fights where it literally was just a constant stream of fancy effects. I enjoyed practically everything else about the test minus this... And I'm not sure how they could fix it other than toning down the effects, which might result in a major loss of visual flare.

[Hawkian]

Wow are the D3 servers really down?

[Bufbaf]

Honestly, I didn't have a single framerate problem the entire stress test. BUT, I definitely agree with you on the confusion at some points. There were more than a few times during the more 'intense' fights where it literally was just a constant stream of fancy effects. I enjoyed practically everything else about the test minus this... And I'm not sure how they could fix it other than toning down the effects, which might result in a major loss of visual flare.

Well, if all the hubbub about this is true (which I believe so far), pretty much everything goes by CPU right now. A lot of stuff can and will be handed over to the GPU, so everything should be much smoother.

Actually, I'm counting on this a lot. Right now, the framerate is laughably bad for me, even on low details. Hell, switching details doesn't even change a lot right now.

[Hawkian]

Holy god that thread! I feel so suddenly lucky I didn't get my act together to buy D3 tonight o.O

I can't believe people can't even get in to play singleplayer. That is outrageous and indefensible, really.

[GrizzNKev]

Holy god that thread! I feel so suddenly lucky I didn't get my act together to buy D3 tonight o.O I can't believe people can't even get in to play singleplayer. That is outrageous and indefensible, really.

Lack of interest justified! I'm not into Blizz games at all but I'd be pissed to if I expected to play it. Hoping nothing like this happens for the GW2 launch.

[Mr. Luchador]

Forgot all about the stress test and slept instead. Seems the servers still held up well.

[Hawkian]

Lack of interest justified! I'm not into Blizz games at all but I'd be pissed to if I expected to play it. Hoping nothing like this happens for the GW2 launch.

www.error37.com

omg

internets

[GrizzNKev]

www.error37.com omg internets

I don't even have a real reason to be up this late, but watching it all happen is its own kind of fun.

[Hawkian]

Neither do I! I desperately want to be sleeping! But oh my god this stuff is hilarious!

My review of the 1st 50 miinutes. Graphics: 6.5/10 Rocks look great, but the two crows could use a bit more detail Sound: 8/10 Crows, Flies and air flow sound really great, almost like im surrounded by a swamp late at night. Replay Value: 10/10 I've been trying to solve the first puzzle on the main screen for awhile now, I could really sit here all night, frustrating but very enjoyable.

It's great that the people in the thread mostly have a sense of humor about it.

[Ferga]

Hahaha D23's comment

Well people have been waiting 12 years for this release and not being able to get into the game can be crushing for some.

[GrizzNKev]

Seems like things on their end are being resolved now. Have fun playing Diablo III everyone.

[Mulligan]

Reading on Guru that in the NCSoft investor call a few days back, they said the game would release 'second half of this year'. Although, there is no source except people claiming that they listened to the call.

Edit: Here's the NCSoft Q1 Earnings call summary (from today):

"GW2 is still on track for release in the second half of the year"

They have "reached their internal goals for sales so far".

[SOURCE] http://222.122.46.97...515/ncsoft.html

Summary: "- GW2 is still on track for release in the second half of the year (EDIT: They said later that they don't think the timing will be "too much delayed." The most narrowed date they've given us before now was back with the Q3 call: "latter but not too late part of the year." So, assuming they're still referring to that time frame, this probably means they're still expecting a Q3/early Q4 release, but the early part of Q3 might be ruled out.)

Bah.. kinda sucks. I know this isn't from Arenanet themselves but i was expecting late June/July release, but from this it looks fairly unlikely.. sadpanda :(