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Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Review
13 years ago
General
This will simply be a summary of my thoughts on the game based on the small window of time that ArenaNet allowed for play. Nothing overly about analyzing the balance of the game or a list of how everything works (since really you can find that information somewhere else that will be far more reliable than my findings)
There was a lot of hype going around about this game between the folks that I planned to play with. The hype is now leveled off to more of an "eagerly awaiting" stage now that I've got my taste of the game. Much of what I experienced was very much what I expected based on what I read.
First, the things I was pleasantly surprised about:
- Depending on how you build your character's backstory at the start of the game, your personal story quests will be different. Not only that, but you can make choices during your story to direct the course of events. For a game that I didn't really see advertising a storyline like this as its main feature (unlike TOR) it was surprising to see how your character's adventure plays out based on some of the choices you make.
- The beta ran surprisingly well despite all the people who were playing. Very little lag and very few game-breaking glitches.
- All the races were uniquely pleasant to play. The worlds really look spectacular and distinct if you take a moment to just look around and soak it up. It makes the small areas that you play in feel much bigger than they are.
- All the classes I tried out (some for only a few levels I admit) all had something about them I really liked. It was hard to find a class that I couldn't see myself playing or trying.
- The introduction segment to teach you the game is freaking short. Maybe about 5 minutes tops. Then you're free to join your friends without having to go running to search for them (portals connect all the main cities).
- The combat was something that felt familiar to me with the action bars and such, but the mechanics of attacking enemies was still foreign and new. Mobility is a huge part of the game, even just with pve.
- The game encourages you to test and try things. As of right now, it doesnt seem to block you into a certain talent build or anything like that. Its not immediately obvious how to play and be successful because there is a huge number of utility and weapon skills to swap and test. (Though this may just be because the game is new and I was still learning.)
- Strafing is not full speed movement. Its maybe 2/3 your max speed. For those who don't know why this is important, strafing is a pretty vital part of kiting successfully. Because strafe speed is reduced, the melee classes have a chance of catching up more readily to ranged classes. (I think this is a good fix to a very big balance issue between ranged/melee classes)
- The music is fukkin rad.
Things I did not like so much:
- The overflow instancing is a pain because it pretty much made playing with other friends impossible. It would often even split up grouped people to different instances. I suspect this will be changed for the release, however.
- The classes do need a bit of work with balance. Again, this may be because I was a noob, but I felt like some classes certainly had a greater potential for success than others. This may also change at higher levels as well. Too hard to tell at this point.
- It was starting to feel like a grind sometimes. You may find that after doing everything in your main starting area that you just dont have a high enough level to progress. Usually that wouldn't be too big of a problem, but a difference of 2 levels is pretty significant. A difference of 4 could mean you get 2 shot by a monster. Any higher and you die instantly. Its not challenging to gain a level, but I felt that some of the areas just didnt have enough level progressing content to move on at a regular rate. Grinding did give me an opportunity to try out new things rather than using what I found to "work" and sometimes I surprised myself with new success.
Things I still want to try but havent yet:
- higher level content
- dungeons
- pvp
- large scale world events
There was a lot of hype going around about this game between the folks that I planned to play with. The hype is now leveled off to more of an "eagerly awaiting" stage now that I've got my taste of the game. Much of what I experienced was very much what I expected based on what I read.
First, the things I was pleasantly surprised about:
- Depending on how you build your character's backstory at the start of the game, your personal story quests will be different. Not only that, but you can make choices during your story to direct the course of events. For a game that I didn't really see advertising a storyline like this as its main feature (unlike TOR) it was surprising to see how your character's adventure plays out based on some of the choices you make.
- The beta ran surprisingly well despite all the people who were playing. Very little lag and very few game-breaking glitches.
- All the races were uniquely pleasant to play. The worlds really look spectacular and distinct if you take a moment to just look around and soak it up. It makes the small areas that you play in feel much bigger than they are.
- All the classes I tried out (some for only a few levels I admit) all had something about them I really liked. It was hard to find a class that I couldn't see myself playing or trying.
- The introduction segment to teach you the game is freaking short. Maybe about 5 minutes tops. Then you're free to join your friends without having to go running to search for them (portals connect all the main cities).
- The combat was something that felt familiar to me with the action bars and such, but the mechanics of attacking enemies was still foreign and new. Mobility is a huge part of the game, even just with pve.
- The game encourages you to test and try things. As of right now, it doesnt seem to block you into a certain talent build or anything like that. Its not immediately obvious how to play and be successful because there is a huge number of utility and weapon skills to swap and test. (Though this may just be because the game is new and I was still learning.)
- Strafing is not full speed movement. Its maybe 2/3 your max speed. For those who don't know why this is important, strafing is a pretty vital part of kiting successfully. Because strafe speed is reduced, the melee classes have a chance of catching up more readily to ranged classes. (I think this is a good fix to a very big balance issue between ranged/melee classes)
- The music is fukkin rad.
Things I did not like so much:
- The overflow instancing is a pain because it pretty much made playing with other friends impossible. It would often even split up grouped people to different instances. I suspect this will be changed for the release, however.
- The classes do need a bit of work with balance. Again, this may be because I was a noob, but I felt like some classes certainly had a greater potential for success than others. This may also change at higher levels as well. Too hard to tell at this point.
- It was starting to feel like a grind sometimes. You may find that after doing everything in your main starting area that you just dont have a high enough level to progress. Usually that wouldn't be too big of a problem, but a difference of 2 levels is pretty significant. A difference of 4 could mean you get 2 shot by a monster. Any higher and you die instantly. Its not challenging to gain a level, but I felt that some of the areas just didnt have enough level progressing content to move on at a regular rate. Grinding did give me an opportunity to try out new things rather than using what I found to "work" and sometimes I surprised myself with new success.
Things I still want to try but havent yet:
- higher level content
- dungeons
- pvp
- large scale world events
Look at how successful MW3 was. It was just a repackage of MW2.
Blizzard's been at it for a while. They've learned exactly how to satisfy players who don't wan't the game to change x=
Eventually, people will get tired of it.
What I would like to see in the game is a spell thT uses both weapons. Think about it: you're using a thief, with two guns, and your main attack (the one with no CD) is with just one gun, you end using just one gun most of the time :S maybe with two weapons the main attack should change to reflect you dual wielding.
And yeah, I did notice the dual weapon thing.. but it didn't bother me that much. Minor issue I suppose.
Worst thing about gwe was that it ended, sigh, huff!
The overflow splitting people up was a bug that they've said is a top priority to fix.
other than that, everything is just perfect and it's cool that you can have many guilds :)
Overall, a nice game.
I also feel like the Human area is kinda not done. I mean, you help farmers, then you help farmers, oh and farmers. It kinda felt like dull and not much variations compared to the other two areas of the other races.
I really enjoyed the beta after Friday, cause at the start it was hardly playable. I'm looking forward to play more and the game release. It was overall pretty good.
I was just finishing in this one area and this npc runs up and says "help fight in this battle!" so I run up and see all the dead players, try to help them up and get totally stomped by this level 6 dude (when I'm still level 2)
Eh :p
The limits before you get kicked into overflow will be much higher at release, too, since the servers will be able to handle many more players in a single instance. I hope they fix the party issue with instancing though. And lack of queue visibility.
Pretty sure I'll end up buying the game just to try it out, but it'd be nice to have another game to play on a long-term basis. The only problem is D3 -and- MoP this year as well... And I'm -still- playing Skyrim and ME3 multiplayer. X)
I honestly believe "gamers" have never had it so good. :>
as far as classes go? its how its set up. Some are just better for you then others. While they can look similar theres a million differences Furthermore how you spec that class and what weapons you use are all the difference :O
I went into pvp with the defualt gear and got rocked because i didnt know how to use axes. I basicly just had to dodge and try to survive xD not fighting back only works so long.
however when i changed to hammer i started destroying people because ide been using it.
However, the hammer in the hands of a guardian wouldnt work for me because i was bad as guardian.
best classes were warrior and ranger. (hammer war greatsword ranger)
some things do feel a bit off though, the amount of blinds a thief can pop out for one and elementist output with fire when they could easily pop to earth and go defensive is another. Alot of the other things felt fine though which was good. Or at least managable in some sense if you knew what to do.
some classes by D&D defualt though are just easier to grasp then others. These usually become the hardest to master however.
I suppose I didnt have the same issue with leveling though. Me and my friend powered through to 20 and then i began working on my necro and ranger, and i solo'd everything with them.
(bears are great for pvp btw, they have a condition removal ability and are meaty as fuck)
i was disappointing though on how much my actual pets died though, but I think that may have to do with the level. Pets at higher seem to get alot meatier. And considering their tendency to face tank they need the HP.
what class did you play?
I think I enjoyed warrior, engineer and guardian most. Elementalist was pretty fun too for the teeny amount of time I tried it.
They said they hope to fix the overflow server for next beta, making it more obvious what server you're on, possibly with the choice of moving onto a friends server if you find yourselves seperated. Also they're making changing area not throw party members into different servers!
If you take a look through the beta forums theres a few really distinct things which people have picked up on about certain classes. Take mesmer. The clones are too delicate in pvp once you set them to run at a foe. They die almost instantly in the AoE's, thus they're hoping to make them more resilient once they're set to target. Also things like the confusion condition, they're planning to have it as the only condition which is scaled differently for pve and pvp. As atm it does damage per enemy attack... and in pvp whats every half second, while in pve some bosses attack only every 4 seconds!
And as for Grind... being able to delevel and do lower lvl content while getting the same % exp rewards and loot to your lvl and quality. that just makes it <333. Means at lvl 22 when I'd done the 22-23 area, I went to the charr starting area and did the lvl 3-5 quests which I hadnt tried. getting Green gear for lvl 22! :DD
The game is very much based around group fights and each class has a role they can fill in a fight. But its very much about coordination and cooperation to win a fight, especially counting as when you die you arent really dead and can be brought back into the fight by anyone.
I like how Gear isnt that big of a factor in pvp and playerskill will shine.
I love how although there are only few abilities to be used per weapon, the amount of traits and secondary skills you have really allows the player to cook up certain specialized ways of fighting. As someone complained above, some thieves can blind a lot, but this is all done thanks to the right traits.
The world vs world battleground is vast and full of oppertunity for great adventure for parties and guilds. Although keep sieges can become tedious in the long run (Especially if you dont have siege equipment) there are loads of secondary objectives to do. Capture camps and escort/raid supply caravans. Fun fun!
I also like how there was very little to no lag in huge fights with nearly a hundred players, that most of all really bodes well for the longlevity of this game. Warhammer online failed because of this, it couldnt handle the numbers and its endgame pvp was broken because of it.