The Guild Wars 2 Thread

[Angthoron]

Never needed Quartz myself

So you didn't maximize your dps with stopcasting-macros in TBC? :O

But yeah, WoW had the best UI of any game ever thanks to Lua and its huge community churning out ever new and improved mods. At times I had more fun fiddling with the UI than playing the game itself.

I took an extended break from WoW and played LotRO instead at the time, came back in WotLK after the giant Mines of Moria clusterfuck. At the moment my latency is at 60ms, so, I really don't need it, besides, it's more of a caster addon than something for melee.

But that's a digression - yeah, the whole tweaking of the UI can be a lot of fun, especially with mods like Power Auras and so forth, where you can with some tweaking get every CD and proc to display, all with timers and stuff.


Also, stumbled across a somewhat older (summer) interview with Daniel Dociu, GW2's Art Director. An interesting read to be sure.

http://tap-repeatedly.com/2011/03/30/ex ... iel-dociu/

Some snippets:

Tap: Was there any specific reason why ArenaNet chose to revisit some races? Was it to try to make them stand out or from an unhappiness at the finished product?

Daniel: Guild Wars 2 has been in development for a few years, and our tools and technology have evolved and our vision is constantly developing and changing. For some races the early design didn’t stand the test of time. You build and implement things, some grow on you and some tend to age poorly and beg for redesign. The sylvari were one of those cases where one of the artists on the team — she really came up with a new vision of what they should be and how to go about it and was itching to give them a re-work. That’s the sort of creative drive that would be a shame to deny. We said go for it!

Tap: Is everyone at ArenaNet now happy with the final design?

Daniel: We’re happy! Some aspects may still change between now and ship, although our time is running out and we’ll need to wrap it up sooner or later, but we always reserve the right to improve on certain aspects as time and budget allows. To iterate and make it better.

 

[SerratedBiz]

the history of video games has set something of an unfortunate precedent.

Logical discussion aside, those two quotes were enlightening... sadly enlightening. I cringe whenever a developer speaks of not punishing a player's poor judgment or mistakes. Didn't you bring a bleeder along with your Gash? Well, chin up, do your best, and best remember to make all necessary adjustments to your bar next time you're at an outpost (and, hopefully, learn a lesson on double-checking your build). That's it. It doesn't get people impossibly frustrated - there weren't any permanent, character-changing decisions to be made in GW since they were all modifiable at some point or another (that I remember).

While I'm really hoping GW2 will live up to the unique design and flavor that made GW the only MMO I'd waste money on, learning more about it always seems to leave me with a mixed feeling. They changed things, and surely they needed to, but was this really the best direction to move in?

Still looking forward to it... but the more you learn, the less you want to know.

 

[Mangoose]

So when are they revealing the last class?

 

[Excidium]

No idea, I don't know why they're being this mysterious, everyone knows it's the mesmer.

 

[Angthoron]

If it's a mesmer, with their design/display philosophy they'll more or less reveal it when complete only. And I'm thinking balancing mesmer against pve/pvp in GW2 is likely more challenging than in GW1. Might be because of that perfectionalist attitude.

Also imagine the buzz that would get. Nah, such things should be used intelligently. Like a week or two before tOR's release.

 

[SuicideBunny]

better yet, approximately five days after tor's release.

If it's a mesmer

i don't think there is any room whatsoever for an "if".

 

[Angthoron]

better yet, approximately five days after tor's release.

If it's a mesmer

i don't think there is any room whatsoever for an "if".

Well okay, yeah. I think not including a mesmer at this point would just automatically alienate at least a quarter of the audience. Even if it was some other class before, now they have to make it a mesmer.

 

[SuicideBunny]

"oooh.. it's a caster but we're like sooo not telling you which one, teehee.. here are some mesmer armor concepts and did we mention the light hom armor is mesmer styled?"

 

[Mangoose]

Well I care less about the class name than about specific mechanics and abilities. Hype me up, Anet!

 

[Mangoose]

Yay, new update. Info on Engineer toolbelt changes, Ranger pet changes, and talks about the cross-profession combo system too.

http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-wars-2- ... jon-peters

ere are some examples to get you excited. Use Ricochet through a Firewall to get a bouncing axe that has a chance to burn the targets it hits. Leaping Death Blossom through a Symbol of Faith will remove conditions from allies near your target. Stomp inside a Smoke Screen to cloak nearby allies. This is just a small sampling of what you can do with combos, and we leave it to you to find them all and combo to your heart’s delight.

Neato.

 

[Excidium]

I like the engineer's toolbelt.

 

[SuicideBunny]

so basically they are non-comat backpacks? too much skillchaning going on with the engi....

 

[Excidium]

Not exactly. The toolbelt = four extra skill slots. The skills you get on those slots are tied to what healing and utility skills you have on your bar.

 

[Mangoose]

So basically those healing and utility skills come in "pairs" of regular + toolbelt skill huh? Interesting.

 

[Black]

"oooh.. it's a caster but we're like sooo not telling you which one, teehee.. here are some mesmer armor concepts and did we mention the light hom armor is mesmer styled?"

But the way GW2 works now, especially pve, Mesmers would need a major redesign.

 

[SuicideBunny]

dood.

There is one scholar profession left to be revealed; it's confirmed to be a returning Guild Wars profession.[9] This last profession is "kind of complex and definitely plays differently than other professions" [10], and will also best fulfill the expectations of mesmer fans. [11] It is said it will be revealed before the end of the year. [12]

although i agree on the major redesign. it's probably the reason why they haven't revealed it yet and why they are experimenting with stuff like ene costs of skills.
all this hype makes me wish i hadn't dropped out of the gw alpha back when i did...

 

[shiggidyshwa]

Any Rank 12s in here?

 

[Black]

Is this nigga serious?

 

[Nattvardsvin]

Fucking hell, this is such a decision.
I loved Guild Wars. I normally don't care for online RPGs, but that one did it right IMO.

It's still great to this day.

And this looks good too.
Though I would have liked them to keep the system of being alone when outside towns and such, and not go for open world WoW like.
(You can jump and swim just like in WoW DERP HERP.. wat That's not interesting or important at all..)

Still, I want this. But I want to keep some kind of what I can call "life" that I have left.

I'll try the Beta I guess and go from there.
Besides, when is it fucking coming!?
They said before next year right?

 

[shiggidyshwa]

Guild Wars wasn't so much an online RPG as it was an online competitive team-based action game. The PVE was decent enough, but what made it decent was class combining and tactical gameplay.

I hope GW 2 hasn't gimped that aspect to attract a wider (WOW) base. Many of the WOW players I knew who hated GW did so because they felt the PVE was lacking and the PVP was too intense. GW catered to a select crowd of competitive power gamers and farmers. These players played the game for years while the casuals burned out on the PVE and the steep learning curve of higher level ladder play.

 

[Mangoose]

I was thinking bout Guild Wars 2, and one thing I find that has potential, that neither Anet or others have really talked about, is the knockdowns/knockbacks and general position/movement aspect of combat.

For one thing, knockdowns and knockback seem to add more variety to PVE combat. From the videos it was really nice in an aesthetic stance, in that larger monsters would knock you away or stomp you down, which is a very "tacit" method of illustrating strength or mass. Besides just the aesthetics, it also forces you to actually move around, not only in moving back into an optimal position, but also in actively dodging or positioning yourself away from such attacks.

 

[Mangoose]

 

[Black]

Youtube already didn't remove the reveal from the inventory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wPHRE-z54

 

[Excidium]

Nice!

That teleport skill in the end is p. cool, I wonder if it works for the team.

 

[Mangoose]

I'm hoping there will be more reactive damage spells rather than just the direct damage spells shown in the trailer.