• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Guild Wars 2 public Beta is here for pre-purchases! [Stress Test June 27th]

Status
Not open for further replies.

Shanlei91

Sonic handles my blue balls
Man that is weird, what was the other of the two codes even for?
One code was for the Beta Weekend, the other code was for a 3-day head start.

My favorite part of the whole ordeal was that it was like, Saturday afternoon, and their support was insisting that I had not prepurchased the game. A slap in the face considering I had basically loaned them $60.

They are so lucky I fell in love with the game on Sunday.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
One code was for the Beta Weekend, the other code was for a 3-day head start.
Holy crap, now I'm even more confused
KuGsj.gif


edit: I guess three days before launch you can put that second code in, then play for three days, then your account will deactivate again until you go back to the store and get a third, final code?
 
To light the mood:

Asura and Pygmy moas dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aLVbeyHlqg8#t=22s

Maybe that is the /dance of the asura f

lol nice video.

I went to the GW2 to see which emotes were in the game (I had only discovered a few in the beta weekend) and saw this line of text:

Additionally, a custom message can be displayed using /me [text] or /emote [text]. Typing /me jumps while sitting, for example, will display in chat as [Character] jumps while sitting. Your character will not perform an animation when using custom emotes.

My group had too much fun doing the jumping-while-sitting. I am going to be sad when Anet takes that out of the game.
 

Shanlei91

Sonic handles my blue balls
Holy crap, now I'm even more confused
KuGsj.gif


edit: I guess three days before launch you can put that second code in, then play for three days, then your account will deactivate again until you go back to the store and get a third, final code?
That's how it was for another game, City of Villains. I remember buying a preorder code for like $3 online. It gave me beta access for about 2 weeks, then a 3 day head start. Having not actually purchased the game, I was locked out after the 3 days ended.

Seeing as how the error I originally got when I entered the code told me that there was no beta going on, I'm sure different codes grant different levels of access to the game.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
If you bought it on ANet's site, don't worry about it. I know for the press, we get individual codes for each beta weekend.
I bought it through GMG, but yeah, as I understand it there's just one code for everything.
My group had too much fun doing the jumping-while-sitting. I am going to be sad when Anet takes that out of the game.
Yeah they really should leave that in. :(
 

Trey

Member
The lesson here Kintaro is don't say anything bad about Anet, or the fanboys will eat you alive.

Doesn't make sense to give out the product key upon pre-purchase unless the literature explicitly stated the transaction was nonrefundable. That's what they did in the EU?

It's not all on ArenaNet though. A pre-purchase is as in its name should be a pre-purchase. If you've bought the product then you've bought it. The thing is that there is no policy saying that you can't get a refund if you've received the bonuses that come with the game. It's a miscommunication on both ANet and GS's part.

They said that you would have to bring the receipt to the retailer to get the full game upon release. It's been stated multiple times by Arenanet, is in their FAQ, and I'm pretty sure on the receipt itself.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Doesn't make sense to give out the product key upon pre-purchase unless the literature explicitly stated the transaction was nonrefundable. That's what they did in the EU?
It seems like it from all I've pieced together here. I don't get that at all, though, it's just asking for the system to be abused.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Doesn't make sense to give out the product key upon pre-purchase unless the literature explicitly stated the transaction was nonrefundable. That's what they did in the EU?

Apparently only for the standard edition and not for the CE, and only at retail with physical copies and not in any online stores. No specific statement about it being non-refundable though. However that's generally how PC games work anyway, at least once they're released or you're given the key that activates the final product. It's kind of whack on ArenaNet's part for setting it up that way.

The lesson here Kintaro is don't say anything bad about Anet, or the fanboys will eat you alive.

Everyone you're calling a fanboy is actually agreeing with Kintaro. All it took was a link to the FAQ to convince us. I'd like to think fanboys would be more irrational than that. Do a little reading before you start namecalling next time.
 

Trey

Member
It seems like it from all I've pieced together here. I don't get that at all, though, it's just asking for the system to be abused.

Yeah, makes it more of a hassle. I suppose there's a lawful reason why a product key must be given at the time of purchase. Also, I would imagine Anet aren't accepting those keys to the full game yet.

Apparently only for the standard edition and not for the CE, and only at retail with physical copies and not in any online stores. No specific statement about it being non-refundable though. However that's generally how PC games work anyway, at least once they're released or you're given the key that activates the final product. It's kind of whack on ArenaNet's part for setting it up that way.

It's not adding up for me. Must be more to it. I would ask Arenanet straight up but their forums are closed and I don't follow their twitter. Somebody, answer the call.

Also, I'm definitely a fanboy until further notice. Anet gets my paper.
 
Lol, these last couple of pages.

The Gamestop codes are full game codes, not beta codes. However, will all physical purchases, the full-game code "expires" 3 days after release and your account will be disabled. To avoid having your account disabled, or to re-enable your account after more than 3 days, a physical code will be in the box.

Regardless, Kintaro is making assumptions about digital rights based on what he knows of physical goods.
 

Trey

Member
Lol, these last couple of pages.

The Gamestop codes are full game codes, not beta codes. However, will all physical purchases, the full-game code "expires" 3 days after release and your account will be disabled. To avoid having your account disabled, or to re-enable your account after more than 3 days, a physical code will be in the box.

Regardless, Kintaro is making assumptions about digital rights based on what he knows of physical goods.

Five days, and that distinction is as negligible as the beginning of this sentence.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Anet deserves the ball-ache by trying to price gouge and introduce all this "pre-purchase" dumbfuckery in the first place.
Whoa, ease up there. What price-gouging is going on? And offering a pre-purchase struck me as a pretty solid way to gauge how many active players they'll need to be able to support as a baseline.

Lol, these last couple of pages.

The Gamestop codes are full game codes, not beta codes. However, will all physical purchases, the full-game code "expires" 3 days after release and your account will be disabled. To avoid having your account disabled, or to re-enable your account after more than 3 days, a physical code will be in the box.

Regardless, Kintaro is making assumptions about digital rights based on what he knows of physical goods.
Uh oh
KuGsj.gif
Apparently this is not correct and US retailers are in fact giving out "just beta" codes.
 

gunbo13

Member
I'm trying to get all this reading to sell me on the game but it hasn't yet. Tera seemed interesting until I read that the PvP is aimless. No dice. GW2 still has talks with the e-sport but the PvP still seems poor. But I expected that. That left WvW but all the range spamming comments are putting me off.

Not sure where to go from here. I'll keep reading but can either of these MMO's take on the "great PvP" label?
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
I'm trying to get all this reading to sell me on the game but it hasn't yet. Tera seemed interesting until I read that the PvP is aimless. No dice. GW2 still has talks with the e-sport but the PvP still seems poor. But I expected that. That left WvW but all the range spamming comments are putting me off.

Not sure where to go from here. I'll keep reading but can either of these MMO's take on the "great PvP" label?
It sounds like you'll have to play both for yourself to judge. I didn't get to touch "real" PvP but WvW is an absolute blast, one of the most addictive modes I've ever played in any game, even before all the balancing.
 
Whoa, ease up there. What price-gouging is going on? And offering a pre-purchase struck me as a pretty solid way to gauge how many active players they'll need to be able to support as a baseline.


Uh oh
KuGsj.gif
Apparently this is not correct and US retailers are in fact giving out "just beta" codes.

They're advertised as "beta codes" but they still give 3 day headstart access.
 
Whoa, ease up there. What price-gouging is going on? And offering a pre-purchase struck me as a pretty solid way to gauge how many active players they'll need to be able to support as a baseline.


Uh oh
KuGsj.gif
Apparently this is not correct and US retailers are in fact giving out "just beta" codes.

pretty sure Gamestop codes were just for beta and 3 day headstart, not for full game access. Still have to go back for the physical box/code at launch.

This is what my receipt looks like, minus the actual code

5sLODl.jpg


Huh, what is interesting is that I just noticed that on my receipt (a bit further down from the pic) was that it says the code expires 6/26
 

Trey

Member
I'm trying to get all this reading to sell me on the game but it hasn't yet. Tera seemed interesting until I read that the PvP is aimless. No dice. GW2 still has talks with the e-sport but the PvP still seems poor. But I expected that. That left WvW but all the range spamming comments are putting me off.

Not sure where to go from here. I'll keep reading but can either of these MMO's take on the "great PvP" label?

I anticipate your return, hoping for exquisite old-school GW inspired builds and commentary on 2's game design, and this is what you show up with? Gunbo, why have you forsaken me?!

Huh, what is interesting is that I just noticed that on my receipt (a bit further down from the pic) was that it says the code expires 6/26

GW2 launching June 21st, confirmed.
 

Stuart444

Member
Huh, what is interesting is that I just noticed that on my receipt (a bit further down from the pic) was that it says the code expires 6/26

Huh... that is interesting. Maybe that is the internal date they want it out by?

Otherwise, I don't know why a beta code would expire before release.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
They're advertised as "beta codes" but they still give 3 day headstart access.
pretty sure Gamestop codes were just for beta and 3 day headstart, not for full game access. Still have to go back for the physical box/code at launch.

This is what my receipt looks like, minus the actual code

5sLODl.jpg


Huh, what is interesting is that I just noticed that on my receipt (a bit further down from the pic) was that it says the code expires 6/26
My poor brain! Why did IPoopStandingUp get two codes?
 

Elcheris

Neo Member
I'm trying to get all this reading to sell me on the game but it hasn't yet. Tera seemed interesting until I read that the PvP is aimless. No dice. GW2 still has talks with the e-sport but the PvP still seems poor. But I expected that. That left WvW but all the range spamming comments are putting me off.

Not sure where to go from here. I'll keep reading but can either of these MMO's take on the "great PvP" label?

As far as Guild Wars 2 goes, I thoroughly enjoyed the pvp. Its what I spent most of my time doing over the weekend. I was also a big fan of GW1 pvp, im not sure if you had any experience with it. While there doesnt seem to be a ton of diversity in builds, I think it is made up for in diversity of gear and stats. Just looking at the pvp merchants blue my mind, there was a ridiculous amount of different stat combinations that would all lead to very different play styles.

If you are worried because of the conquest mode, don't. It seems fairly bland at first, but with the addition of macro mechanics it is actually very diverse. With actual organized teams of 5, I see it lasting a long time and being very interesting!

Ill be posting some videos once im done them to hopefully give a better impression of how the pvp is!
 

Retro

Member
I'm trying to get all this reading to sell me on the game but it hasn't yet. Tera seemed interesting until I read that the PvP is aimless. No dice. GW2 still has talks with the e-sport but the PvP still seems poor. But I expected that. That left WvW but all the range spamming comments are putting me off.

Not sure where to go from here. I'll keep reading but can either of these MMO's take on the "great PvP" label?

Welcome back.

Ranged was only an issue in WvW if you rushed headlong into combat. I know some GAFers and I tried to take out a blue position but they had positioned a ton of Arrow Carts. We decided to just try somewhere else, but none of us really swam around the back of the fortress to see if it was reinforced there. We probably could have dropped a battering ram back there quietly and their arrow carts would have been useless. Ranged players up on the wall were a problem, but we had siege engines of our own and I'm pretty sure a few people used their yank attacks (Thief's Scoprion Wire, for example) to pull them down. Not 100% sure on that though, it was pretty chaotic.

Against ranged players on foot, my warrior did a sufficient job of tearing them to pieces. Ranged damage is substantially lower than melee, so even if they plinked a few shots at me as I closed, it didn't matter; I could still use a Savage Leap to get on them and hamstring them. I was actually surprised at how often it worked.

Hit one sumbitch so hard he dropped Trebuchet Schematics.

ANet has clarified that Ranged feels stronger because there's a distance buffer between you and the target. But melee has the tools to get close (if they're smart) and packs a HELL of a lot more punch.

My only problem with WvW is that people were disorganized (big surprise considering it was a 3-day test) and lots of people fell off towards the end to go see the closing event.
 

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
Welcome back.

Ranged was only an issue in WvW if you rushed headlong into combat. I know some GAFers and I tried to take out a blue position but they had positioned a ton of Arrow Carts. We decided to just try somewhere else, but none of us really swam around the back of the fortress to see if it was reinforced there. We probably could have dropped a battering ram back there quietly and their arrow carts would have been useless. Ranged players up on the wall were a problem, but we had siege engines of our own and I'm pretty sure a few people used their yank attacks (Thief's Scoprion Wire, for example) to pull them down. Not 100% sure on that though, it was pretty chaotic.

Against ranged players on foot, my warrior did a sufficient job of tearing them to pieces. Ranged damage is substantially lower than melee, so even if they plinked a few shots at me as I closed, it didn't matter; I could still use a Savage Leap to get on them and hamstring them. I was actually surprised at how often it worked.

Hit one sumbitch so hard he dropped Trebuchet Schematics.

ANet has clarified that Ranged feels stronger because there's a distance buffer between you and the target. But melee has the tools to get close (if they're smart) and packs a HELL of a lot more punch.

My only problem with WvW is that people were disorganized (big surprise considering it was a 3-day test) and lots of people fell off towards the end to go see the closing event.

Yeah, people really shouldn't put much stock into what people whine about. Many people just suck, which makes sense since it was their first time playing. I think ranger is inherently easier to play than melee in group PvP, but that doesn't mean it's better or there's an imbalance.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
My issue with melee is purely in PvE. (This has been discussed here in great detail.)
In PvP it was fine.

My main character will be a melee Warrior and my second character will be an Engineer.
 

Ferrio

Banned
My issue with melee is purely in PvE. (This has been discussed here in great detail.)

PvE was only bad when it was a huge zerg. I assume this will alleviate as people level up and move onto other things. Luckily don't all classes have a ranged option?
 

Deitus

Member
Against ranged players on foot, my warrior did a sufficient job of tearing them to pieces. Ranged damage is substantially lower than melee, so even if they plinked a few shots at me as I closed, it didn't matter; I could still use a Savage Leap to get on them and hamstring them. I was actually surprised at how often it worked.

Hit one sumbitch so hard he dropped Trebuchet Schematics.

ANet has clarified that Ranged feels stronger because there's a distance buffer between you and the target. But melee has the tools to get close (if they're smart) and packs a HELL of a lot more punch.

My only problem with WvW is that people were disorganized (big surprise considering it was a 3-day test) and lots of people fell off towards the end to go see the closing event.

That's a good point. The fact of the matter is ranged was more effective because it takes no strategy or planning to get a big mob of people to throw out ranged auto-attacks and spam AOE spells, but in order to counter it you actually might want to employ strategy. Since there was no real coordination in this BWE (for obvious reasons) it appeared to be the best strategy (and probably was under the circumstances).

Even when people tried to rush the ranged mob, they didn't do so in any way that was tactically sound. So you would have a huge mob of guys throwing out ranged attacks, and your strategy is to run straight for them... from the front... with less units than then have. Yeah, its a wonder that didn't work.

Now, something I would like to have tried if coordination were more possible is to do a pincer attack. So if they have a mob of 40 ranged guys, and you have 40 guys of your own (a decent number of them having access to melee), take 20 around behind the mob (terrain permitting) and attack from behind. That way they have to split their attention between two groups, making it difficult for them to employ control skills to keep everyone out of melee range or lay down walls of AOE damage. On top of that, they will be in disarray, not be able to simply focus down the closest target, and have no real avenue of retreat. All the more glorious of a victory if they are so convinced that ranged is the ultimate strategy that they didn't have any effective means of holding their own in melee combat.

These are the kinds of things that are going to make WvW so much fun to play, but they are going to require effective leadership (which obviously wasn't there in the beta) and proper communication (which was largely broken in the beta). Here's hoping we can get more of a taste of the true WvW experience in the next beta.
 
PvE was only bad when it was a huge zerg. I assume this will alleviate as people level up and move onto other things. Luckily don't all classes have a ranged option?

All do, though the guardian's ranged attacks are kinda slow. Not much of a problem for pve though.

If Arenanet can just solve the problem with melee'ers being able to see the mobs in those huge zergfests it would greatly alleviate the problems melee was having.
 

etiolate

Banned
I think the issue between range and melee comes back to the particle effects issue. I do feel melee should have enough avoidance skills to survive and that bosses need more types of tells (audible AND visual), but the big problem is being able to read all that information once you step inside the technicolor furnace that is GW2 large scale combat. Even if you're trying to see whats coming and avoid it, its very hard to tell one thing from the other.

When you're sitting back at range, it's much easier to read the battlefield and see what you need to do.
 
I think the issue between range and melee comes back to the particle effects issue. I do feel melee should have enough avoidance skills to survive and that bosses need more types of tells (audible AND visual), but the big problem is being able to read all that information once you step inside the technicolor furnace that is GW2 large scale combat. Even if you're trying to see whats coming and avoid it, its very hard to tell one thing from the other.

When you're sitting back at range, it's much easier to read the battlefield and see what you need to do.

Exactly, yes. For the most part, I thought the animation tells were distinct and visual enough, it was just the technicolor rainbow vomit from all of the other spells from all of the other players making those tells impossible to see.

I was with a fairly large group fighting some kind of ice thing in the norn area and at the start of the fight he was just thrashing melees and was basically hidden behind a veil of explosions and whatnot making it impossible to know when to dodge. After a while he started getting more mobile and he ended up thinning the zerg herd of casters and suddenly I could see him and was able to get in lay down some dps, and roll out when he started his deadly aoe attack. Any melee at that point who got caught in the attack just wasn't paying attention/being defensive.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
At work and on my phone so i will brief. I apologize for popping off. I just dont feel like someone is accusing me of not knowing my job. Thats what it felt like. I apologize. I will just chill from commenting in the thread anymore so i dont help skew it off track again. Thanks. :)
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
At work and on my phone so i will brief. I apologize for popping off. I just dont feel like someone is accusing me of not knowing my job. Thats what it felt like. I apologize. I will just chill from commenting in the thread anymore so i dont help skew it off track again. Thanks. :)
I'm sorry too, and I swear I didn't mean to accuse you of anything like that. I'm sure this thread is going to be filled with ridiculous tangents when there's no real news to discuss and plenty of us will be to blame at one point or another.

Arenanet should be prosecuted for being drug dealers...
Now this is an accusation that is hard to deny.
 

Retro

Member
I would like to add that leading a large group of invaders up a mountain path, turning to charge them so they clump up, and then dodging to the side at the last minute and Stomping them off the cliff is one of the best things ever.
 

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
I would like to add that leading a large group of invaders up a mountain path, turning to charge them so they clump up, and then dodging to the side at the last minute and Stomping them off the cliff is one of the best things ever.
Wow, I would like to see video of this.
 

Deitus

Member
Saw this on Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/5906933/a-gorgeous-living-world-sets-guild-wars-2-apart
That, in the end, is what may truly set Guild Wars 2 apart, when it's done. I felt that not only did my character have a story, but so too did the land in which she found herself. Hundreds of little stories, overlapping and flowing in and out of each other with the ripples of tiny tides. Sweeping vistas as grand as the eye can imagine are everywhere, but a country that cares who walks through it is much more rare. I hope that sense persists beyond the barest beginnings I was able to see for myself.
Mainly just an impression on the Beta (and from what the author described she only played very briefly), so its not really anything new to those of us who have been following the game and/or played in the Beta. Still, it's nice to see positive impressions from the gaming media. Gives me hope that some portion of the general gaming public may be able to "get it".

And obviously it will lead to more people learning about the game. Hope ArenaNet is ready with more (and stronger) servers next time around.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom