[RawrDuy]

has anybody here received a refund from ordering from the GW2 website? I would really like to order this at Gamestop to get something tangible (game disc and all).

[Vinci]

Make no mistake, Mists will release soon around this. Blizzard will try to crush new games, they always do.

Depends. Part of me thinks Blizzard expected this to release later in the year than it is, so the timing may make releasing Mists difficult without taking some shortcuts that would only serve to showcase why people should pay attention to GW2.

[kayos90]

Make no mistake, Mists will release soon around this. Blizzard will try to crush new games, they always do.

Probably but I was under the assumption that MoP would have a release date before GW2. Ah the irony.

[Lone_Prodigy]

A comprehensive manual and/or tutorial would go a long way towards getting players up to speed. I was definitely overwhelmed at all the content during the BWE's. Even better, if they cater the tutorials to GW1 players or MMO players, that would go a long way towards generating interest in this game.

[Ashodin]

Probably but I was under the assumption that MoP would have a release date before GW2. Ah the irony.

Basically, they need to release soon after so people disillusioned with GW2 (those who play WoW heavily and are utter fanboys) go back to WoW.

GW2 will be the premier event, especially being NO SUBSCRIPTION. just buy the box.

Glad to know when my CE can be picked up!! :)

[Ferrio]

Make no mistake, Mists will release soon around this. Blizzard will try to crush new games, they always do.

I think the non-monthly fee will dampen that effect. Lots of people probably already have it preordered too, so they're stuck with it. Then once WoW people have their fill with Wow, they'll come to GW2... notice they're behind... so they'll throw money into the shop to catch up.

[Ricker]

Yay!!!!!!!!!!...called it after the stress test yesterday hehe ;) ...last BWE we get to try the 2 other races or are they leaving that for launch...?

[FutureZombie]

No. Absolutely not. On both your accounts. 1) How dare you call downed state beta, when you cant even finish off people quickly? obviously its a hinderence to you, and you think this game is supposed to be some 1-shot-1-kill affair. I agree that Downed state lacks A LOT of things in sPvP, but it's not beta. this alpha/beta shit is childish on all accounts. 2) this game has very few death penalties. what happens when a game has insignificant death penalties is that it becomes boring. death becomes less of a "god no" factor, and takes the risk/reward aspect away. it removes the need to keep people alive, to revive people. it will be quicker to let everyone die and have them wait 5 seconds to join the fight again. everything will be reduced to glass cannoning because people are living and respawning so fast it will look like call of duty. you might as well let yourself die instead of waiting for cooldowns to run off. the travel time, allows there to be a level of skill involved. a significant factor will be about getting "reinforcements": the game collapses if there are not these breathing situations. on another hand if the keep is really powerful there is an option of waypoints. also if one side has just went on an amazing alexander-the-great-style conquering they will have a quicker time getting back thanks to other nearby territorial control. this also gives an illussion that the massive opressional side has not just lost everything over one keep, and it also ensures that should another side be sneaky and take one vital keep at 5 am when nobody is online, they will have trouble keeping it, because the other side has stronger fortifications nearby. this taking time, traveling from place to place. all this is incremental to making it work. its why planetside was so intense in the beginning. it took around 15-20 min for one character to hack a "keep" and in that time his squadmates and betallions would need to keep that fort. this created intense battles, that where allowed to work because the waves of enemies attacking the keep where not constant. but there was breathing rooms and thus zerging was not possible. It's not about wasting your time. its about chatting with your guild mates as you run back to fight and tag along with a running group who you decide to go together with as you would do much more damage together than coming one fly at a time. these ultra short spawn times and 320% speed increasing tools in wow was one of the reasons it turned into this propel-yourself-into-the-middle-of-the-enemy-territory. Nobody gave a shit. dying had no consequences other than a 5-30 sec cd and you where ready to go again. It shouldnt take half an hour to get back. but it should take long enough time for you to really really really REALLY not want to die. Because of your value as a soldier. as your value of making you a part of the army's overall strength. I see WvW as not being about the individual. but about everyone. sPvP is for your ego boosting no-time-wasted adrenaline feel. I agree on that, but not WvW. /angry mode off

Most importantly, it would be impossible to take a keep if people could quickly travel all over the map. WvW requires a long commute back into the action, or else the entire system would fail.

[ForzaFerrari]

ForzaFerrari
(04-07-2012, 09:18 AM)
That's too bad. So my guess now from 28 of August goes to December 31, 23:59.

:P sorry had to do it!

[Jira]

Yay!!!!!!!!!!...called it after the stress test yesterday hehe ;) ...last BWE we get to try the 2 other races or are they leaving that for launch...?

GW2J: We want to play an asura! When do you expect players will be able to get their hands on the two missing races: the Asura and the Sylvari?

Eric: There is a distinct possibility that we’ll see one or both of those races in a BWE, but we haven’t locked down the content yet, so I can’t really confirm or deny anything at this time.

So it's a possibility.

[BrettWeir]

Most importantly, it would be impossible to take a keep if people could quickly travel all over the map. WvW requires a long commute back into the action, or else the entire system would fail.

I hate to say it, but a lot of people are looking at this with horse blinders on. DAoC had mounts / speed buffs from classes, and it was very, very successful at RvR. The landmass in GW2 WvW is pretty comparable to DAoC New Frontiers.

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Sweet, this will give me something other than Katrina to associate with that date ;p

[Ashodin]

GW2J: We want to play an asura! When do you expect players will be able to get their hands on the two missing races: the Asura and the Sylvari? Eric: There is a distinct possibility that we’ll see one or both of those races in a BWE, but we haven’t locked down the content yet, so I can’t really confirm or deny anything at this time. So it's a possibility.

They have to. It would cap off a brilliant last BWE before the game launches.

[Vigilant Walrus]

I hate to say it, but a lot of people are looking at this with horse blinders on. DAoC had mounts / speed buffs from classes, and it was very, very successful at RvR. The landmass in GW2 WvW is pretty comparable to DAoC New Frontiers.

You talk about horse blinders, which are basically just kanye west sunglasses out of leather but whatever, but then you proceed to talk about DAOC like that should prove anything!?

gaming is a different place these days. Even DAOC coudn't keep up with it's own demise despite what the nostalgia pills say.

[BrettWeir]

Oh trust me homie I got lost in a sea of Diablo and girlfriend issues. But I'm back baby!

Great to hear bro! Well, not so much about the Diablo part. Blech!

You talk about horse blinders, which are basically just kanye west sunglasses out of leather but whatever, but then you proceed to talk about DAOC like that should prove anything!? gaming is a different place these days. Even DAOC coudn't keep up with it's own demise despite what the nostalgia pills say.

LOL. It proves that speed and mounts did not turn anything into a stalemate and ruin RvR/WvW. Their formula worked. Is it that hard to see?

DAoC couldn't keep up because Mark Jacobs brought us Trials of Atlantis and Blizzard brought us WoW. Easy demise.

[EatinOlives]

I'm still torn on this game. Since it's unlikely I'll be be able to try before I buy I guess I'll ask about my concerns here (haven't preordered it, so I haven't played it):

So I like RPGs in general. I love games that give me a relative amount of freedom, and I like deep systems for things like crafting and some stats, though not too much number crunching. The more action-oriented the games are, the better. I absolutely LOVED Demons Souls (waiting on Dark Souls PC and very excited) and Witcher 2 for that reason.

However, I really hate MMOs. I hate the grindy nature, I hate how static and instanced everything is, I hate how player skill has pretty much nothing to do with doing well in the game, I hate prolonged periods of doing horribly unfun things, and I also hate it when games eventually degenerate themselves to a repetitive or simplistic task toward the endgame.

I'm loving what I'm hearing about the game, and how GW2 aims to do more of the former than the latter, but I'm mainly just seeing trailers and reading press releases, which are obviously hype materials and not 100% trustworthy from my point of view. I've been watching some in-game footage of beta players as well, but a lot of the people playing seem to play it as an MMO (just tanking the damage and not dodging at all) and other people simply walk around. I think the scale of the game is too big for me to see if I'd actually like it from watching a 10 minute video. I've also been hearing some concerns about how floaty the controls feel, maybe implying that the action-oriented aspects aren't exactly all that solid. How does the combat in this game compare to the Witcher 2? Demon's Souls? Something like TERA?

[Ashodin]

It's your standard movement with the WASD, but you have a dodge bar, and enemies attacks and abilities are based on where you were at the time of firing. Spells don't home in like in WoW, and you can actively dodge melee attacks and hails of fire if you move correctly.

Imagine if you were doing PVP in a regular MMO but against every single enemy in the game. That's how GW2 works. You can't just stand there and tank the damage, those videos you saw of people were doing it wrong. You'll notice their health get beaten up ridiculously.

Crafting and stuff like that will pass the time while you're not out and about, and the game is very much action-oriented - you have to pay attention when you fight, you have to use the mechanics of knockdown, stun, etc. and that's not all - there are even puzzle challenges where you have to solve how things work and stuff like that, much like in an action game.

This game is very much more involved than a regular MMO where you just bash at things. And that's why I love it.

[Jira]

I'm still torn on this game. Since it's unlikely I'll be be able to try before I buy I guess I'll ask about my concerns here (haven't preordered it, so I haven't played it): So I like RPGs in general. I love games that give me a relative amount of freedom, and I like deep systems for things like crafting and some stats, though not too much number crunching. The more action-oriented the games are, the better. I absolutely LOVED Demons Souls (waiting on Dark Souls PC and very excited) and Witcher 2 for that reason. However, I really hate MMOs. I hate the grindy nature, I hate how static and instanced everything is, I hate how player skill has pretty much nothing to do with doing well in the game, I hate prolonged periods of doing horribly unfun things, and I also hate it when games eventually degenerate themselves to a repetitive or simplistic task toward the endgame. I'm loving what I'm hearing about the game, and how GW2 aims to do more of the former than the latter, but I'm mainly just seeing trailers and reading press releases, which are obviously hype materials and not 100% trustworthy from my point of view. I've been watching some in-game footage of beta players as well, but a lot of the people playing seem to play it as an MMO (just tanking the damage and not dodging at all) and other people simply walk around. I think the scale of the game is too big for me to see if I'd actually like it from watching a 10 minute video. I've also been hearing some concerns about how floaty the controls feel, maybe implying that the action-oriented aspects aren't exactly all that solid. How does the combat in this game compare to the Witcher 2? Demon's Souls? Something like TERA?

Pre-order from Amazon = free, you can play on July 20-22nd.

[Ashodin]

Fuckkkkk i want that stuff

[EatinOlives]

It's your standard movement with the WASD, but you have a dodge bar, and enemies attacks and abilities are based on where you were at the time of firing. Spells don't home in like in WoW, and you can actively dodge melee attacks and hails of fire if you move correctly. Imagine if you were doing PVP in a regular MMO but against every single enemy in the game. That's how GW2 works. You can't just stand there and tank the damage, those videos you saw of people were doing it wrong. You'll notice their health get beaten up ridiculously. Crafting and stuff like that will pass the time while you're not out and about, and the game is very much action-oriented - you have to pay attention when you fight, you have to use the mechanics of knockdown, stun, etc. and that's not all - there are even puzzle challenges where you have to solve how things work and stuff like that, much like in an action game. This game is very much more involved than a regular MMO where you just bash at things. And that's why I love it.

Cool. I'm liking what I'm hearing. Thanks!

Pre-order from Amazon = free, you can play on July 20-22nd.

Neat! I hadn't heard of that. I'll look into it. Thanks!

[Retro]

I'm still torn on this game. Since it's unlikely I'll be be able to try before I buy I guess I'll ask about my concerns here.

Answering your questions rapid-fire rather than quoting each.

- GW2 has a very action-oriented play-style. In most MMOs, combat boils down to you standing in one spot and trading blows with the enemy. GW2 requires you to read enemy telegraphs and dodge out of the way, take notice of the environment and use it to your advantage, work with other players for combination attacks. The only time you should be standing still in GW2 is when you're at the bank.

I would say GW2 has the most "Dark Souls"-like combat of any MMO. This includes TERA, which seems more action-y but has this weird "stand still for every attack" thing going on that ruins it. Complaints about the game feeling floaty are limited to transitional animations where the players are moving in one direction but the animation is briefly moving in another (transitioning). They chose to allow greater control rather than smoother animation. Given that other MMOs have notoriously terrible animation, this has always struck me as a nitpick.

- No grinding. The leveling curve in GW2 remains level after Level 30. Unlike other MMOs where you spend 3 hours going from level 20-21 and 3 days going from Level 50 to 51, the time it takes to level remains consistent throughout the game.

- The world is constantly changing; dynamic events ripple throughout each zone, and they're constantly introducing new ones. Failure in a dynamic event leads to a completely different chain of events. The only parts of the game that are instanced are dungeons, the personal story (others can accompany you in both) and resource deposits (which means you no longer fight other players for ore, plants, etc.).

- You can level up any way you like; PVP, PVE, World vs. World. If you have access to mats, the developers have stated that pure crafting experience can get you to level 80 too.

- There is no endgame. You don't level up to get to the good stuff. The good stuff starts at level 1.

I've been watching some in-game footage of beta players as well, but a lot of the people playing seem to play it as an MMO (just tanking the damage and not dodging at all) and other people simply walk around.

Those people, as many here will attest, are playing it wrong. Tanking damage gets you killed quick.

[Vigilant Walrus]

LOL. It proves that speed and mounts did not turn anything into a stalemate and ruin RvR/WvW. Their formula worked. Is it that hard to see? DAoC couldn't keep up because Mark Jacobs brought us Trials of Atlantis and Blizzard brought us WoW. Easy demise.

Just because it worked for DAOC ten years ago, it doesn't mean it will today in a different game, with different sub rules, variables. That's just.. not very productive.

[Vinci]

Those people, as many here will attest, are playing it wrong. Tanking damage gets you killed quick.

Unless they're a Guardian bubbling on top of a hold point in sPVP, yes, standing still is moronic.

[BrettWeir]

Just because it worked for DAOC ten years ago, it doesn't mean it will today in a different game, with different sub rules, variables. That's just.. not very productive.

Like I said...horse blinders lol.

[Vigilant Walrus]

Like I said...horse blinders lol.

if you want to confuse me you can just run around me in circles so I know there are more of you.

Why are you saying that your own argument is horse blinders?

[∀ Narayan]

Hope you don't mean PvP, that was a great time. PvE on the other hand, did drag a bit.

Prophecies is boring as fuck. I have no idea why I started it first. It doesn't help that it's the longest campaign, either. Factions and Nightfall are okay. Eye of the North is awesome.

The Underworld is also great. Easily one of the coolest areas in the game, if not the coolest.

[LumpOfCole]

A comprehensive manual and/or tutorial would go a long way towards getting players up to speed. I was definitely overwhelmed at all the content during the BWE's. Even better, if they cater the tutorials to GW1 players or MMO players, that would go a long way towards generating interest in this game.

This game definitely needs a tutorial or special tips for people used to WoW or other similar MMOs.

[chiablo]

Does combat require you to face your opponent to hit?

[Quadrophenic]

Prophecies is boring as fuck. I have no idea why I started it first. It doesn't help that it's the longest campaign, either. Factions and Nightfall are okay. Eye of the North is awesome. The Underworld is also great. Easily one of the coolest areas in the game, if not the coolest.

I just beat Prophecies for the first time today. I loved the environments but the mission design was a mixed bag. They had great ideas that seemed to be buried under some rough edges. In general the Prophecy missions just seemed to drag on. The mission design showed huge improvement in Factions though, and even more in Nightfall and EotN....only thing on Factions I hate is navigating that damn city you are in. Ugh. Nightfall was my favorite of the campaigns :D

Now I am off to finish War in Kryta, and then EotN, and then grinding grinding grinding for platinum :P

[Jira]

Does combat require you to face your opponent to hit?

As in swing at it? No, you can swing without a target, the animation dictates a hit. I'll give you example:

I was in a jumping puzzle and this guy trained a couple mobs and I used a skill without targeting them and without exactly facing right at them and the skill connected with the mobs on the backswing of the animation and they aggroed on me.

[Grayman]

So maybe one more beta weekend and maybe not? Nice to see the game coming out soon, what I have played isn't a lot but it seems really polished already. Will event count be turned down compared to the BWEs?

[Thanasis Deitus]

So maybe one more beta weekend and maybe not? Nice to see the game coming out soon, what I have played isn't a lot but it seems really polished already. Will event count be turned down compared to the BWEs?

There will be one more Beta weekend. It's right there in the OP.

To this end, I’m excited to announce that our next and final Beta Weekend Event is planned for July 20-22.

[Retro]

This game definitely needs a tutorial or special tips for people used to WoW or other similar MMOs.

After BWE2, ArenaNet gave an interview to RPGamer (source) where they sated that "Much of the feedback we are looking into now surrounds balancing, accessibility, tutorials, and a number of “nice to have” requests from the community."

I would expect to see some improved tutorials in BWE3, but if not then most certainly at launch. Obviously you can write tutorials for things until they're finalized, so it has to be one of the last things you put in.

Does combat require you to face your opponent to hit?

Sort of. Some weapon types have a very wide swing that can hit multiple enemies, but otherwise yeah, you'll need to be looking in the general direction of your target.

So maybe one more beta weekend and maybe not? Nice to see the game coming out soon, what I have played isn't a lot but it seems really polished already. Will event count be turned down compared to the BWEs?

One more BWE, July 20th to the 22nd. I would expect them to tune events down a little, but considering there will be a huge rush at launch, I don't imagine it will be by much. ArenaNet has said quite a few times that they have lots of tools to quickly adjust, remove and add events to the game.

[Grakl]

That's the day after I start school, cmon.

[FutureZombie]

That's the day after I start school, cmon.

That's why you prepurchase and start playing on Saturday.

[Piecake]

I just beat Prophecies for the first time today. I loved the environments but the mission design was a mixed bag. They had great ideas that seemed to be buried under some rough edges. In general the Prophecy missions just seemed to drag on. The mission design showed huge improvement in Factions though, and even more in Nightfall and EotN....only thing on Factions I hate is navigating that damn city you are in. Ugh. Nightfall was my favorite of the campaigns :D Now I am off to finish War in Kryta, and then EotN, and then grinding grinding grinding for platinum :P

I downloaded the free trial. And yea, Im pretty bored with it. Combat is quite dull and nothing else about it is captivating me. The lore/backstory seems kinda interesting, but I dont really have the patience to play through the gameplay just to see it

On the plus side, I was able to try out a controller. Worked pretty well, considering my profile for the game was VERY basic. Kinda annoying having to switch between the mouse arrow and the camera function for my right stick though. Only real drawback though.

Hopefully I can get away with a lot less mouse clicks in GW2

[GrizzNKev]

I downloaded the free trial. And yea, Im pretty bored with it. Combat is quite dull and nothing else about it is captivating me. The lore/backstory seems kinda interesting, but I dont really have the patience to play through the gameplay just to see it On the plus side, I was able to try out a controller. Worked pretty well, considering my profile for the game was VERY basic. Kinda annoying having to switch between the mouse arrow and the camera function for my right stick though. Only real drawback though. Hopefully I can get away with a lot less mouse clicks in GW2

For sure.

Now that I know this game is releasing soon I can't stop thinking about it. Hype train at full speed.

[Retro]

Now that I know this game is releasing soon I can't stop thinking about it. Hype train at full speed.

Yep. I've been pretty mellow in terms of hype, but now that we have a day we can count down to, I'm really getting in the spirit of things.

That said, there's still plenty of time for them to fix things that are wrong and BWE3 should be pretty interesting as this is our last glimpse of the game before launch.

I'm just hoping traits are tweaked. They seemed so very very sad in the last BWE.

[WARP10CK]

For sure. Now that I know this game is releasing soon I can't stop thinking about it. Hype train at full speed.

[gatti-man]

Best place to preorder is?

[akmcbroom]

Best place to preorder is?

Amazon; access to the BWE without the need to pre-purchase.

[gatti-man]

Amazon; access to the BWE without the need to pre-purchase.

Ugh i really try not to order from them but ok. Theyve screwed me over twice on preorders where i get it 3-4 weeks after release.

[Piecake]

Amazon; access to the BWE without the need to pre-purchase.

are they offering it digitally though? Might be a deal breaker for me if not since digital is just so much more convenient

[Jira]

are they offering it digitally though? Might be a deal breaker for me if not since digital is just so much more convenient

If I'm not mistaken you can preorder digitally and they email you a key right after. Though don't quote me on the digital part.

[Piecake]

If I'm not mistaken you can preorder digitally and they email you a key right after. Though don't quote me on the digital part.

Ive been dinking around amazon for a while trying to find a pre-order digital option, but I really dont think there is one.

ill probably just pre-purchase it and bemoan the loss of my .01 cent checking account interest

[HappyPuppy]

I'm happy that the release date is so close but worried that a lot of things I don't like are staying that way, so for me I'm less exited by the game. It goes from Mesmer class being clunky, trait system, level restrictions, some of the quests are boring and the combat is not as fun as I was expecting but I did enjoy a lot of other stuff, I really liked the jumping challenges, dodging, how it is easy to help people and get help while questing (ressing eerr down state, throwing a spell) among a lot of other things I'm to lazy to type.

*Raises a cup
So hooray for having a release date and we get closer to play Gw2 retail, hope the devs don't sleep and they take advantage of young people trying to make it in the gaming industry, they tap them dry and toss them all for a wide selection of beards and hairy chest patterns in the male character models (the male faces are ugly) ... I kid about abusing the poor young programmers.

In conclusion fuck levels and the Charr.

[Hawkian]

Welltall brought this to my attention this evening: http://www.wartower.de/artikel/artikel.php?id=651

Click Transkript auf englisch to see a nice talk about the Sylvari with quite a few details I hadn't seen yet.

[Retro]

Welltall brought this to my attention this evening: http://www.wartower.de/artikel/artikel.php?id=651 Click Transkript auf englisch to see a nice talk about the Sylvari with quite a few details I hadn't seen yet.

Very interesting; the Sylvari tutorial takes place entirely in the dream, before you're actually born.
Also, the bit about the Pale Tree actually manifesting in a weird ethereal Sylvari form sounds cool.

Still reading through it, but that detail jumped out at me as pretty cool.

[Kanik]

I saw awesome Engineer pvp videos. I think you have to be switching kits to be very effective. Were you playing SPVP? I though Elemental was fine, but I'm like level 13. That Staff Water auto-attack is like god mode. It heals whatever you hit, so if they are in melee range, you just keep healing yourself and killing the enemy faster than they kill you. lol

The staff water attack definitely out-heals damage early on, but the pve enemies in the WvWvW map ate up my elementalist.

Don't be one of those people that try to pick class based on effectiveness. Then you are indeed correct about "there is no winning for me". Whatever you pick today, even if it was awesome sauce you have no guarantee that it wont get nerfed or reduced in power directly or indirectly many many times throughout this games life. Warriors are great in WvW, even with rifle. Many people would rather blame the class or other exterior motives than themselves. it cant be themselves. after all everyone is fucking amazing and an expert on the game. it was just the circumstances of the class they where playing. you should rather play the underdog, the underwhelmed class, and not care so much about winning. A zen master will tell you that victory will bring you no true happiness. be what you where born to be. not what these FOTM youtube peeps desire you too!

As much as I would rather play as the underdog, and root for the Warrior...my OCD requires absolute effectiveness. I feel like a bug on the windshield if I'm not being absolutely effective to my team. This feeling resulted in me being a healer in WoW...and during a WvWvW battle yields me to want to cause as much damage as possible. Which just isn't possible for a Warrior with a rifle against 20+ opponents...AoE will always come out on top in that scenario. I just wish an Engineer could do damage on par against an Elemenatlist in that scenario. Raking in kills during a PvP battle is so much more satifying than not.

[Paertan]

Sweet! Been looking forward to this game for a while now. Doesn´t really have to be all that great for me to be satisfied.
Free To play MMO:s mostly feel like to much have been cut out. And I don´t want to pay a monthly fee since that makes me feel liek I have to play, or have to take the whole month off. So just buy the game and play forever works perfectly.
If the game itself is awesome then that is just icing on the cake.