I'm a fan of meaningful objectives being at the heart of team-based player versus player mechanics. Do a search here on our blog for "Darkness Falls" and you'll find dozens…
I managed to get some play time in Guild Wars 2 today before succumbing to the 95% load screen hang; Having to Ctrl+alt+del out of the game and then having…
I covered GW2 extensively over the weekend with my thoughts on questing, combat, Battlegrounds/Mists, and World vs. World. I want to briefly wrap-up my thoughts from this weekend into one post so that someone wondering what I think about GW2 can easily find them.
Something about GW2 won me over. I had framerate issues in WvW and sometimes in crowded areas, and it was clear that the game has a few months of Beta until it is read. However, I find myself sitting here wishing I could log on and play. I miss playing.
WvW has a lot of potential if the players will stick with it while it matures. If GW2’s community hits its stride and defends, attacks, and really invests emotionally into the World vs. World experience it will be a long-lasting form of entertainment that will give GW2 a lot of replayability.
I like the individual loot system because I don’t have to worry about something dropping and someone else getting it. There’s also very little BoP/BoE stuff, if I recall correctly. Questing is a natural progression experience through each zone, and I like how I can go to the area and work with others to complete quests even though I’m an individual. Playing with friends is extremely easy with the de-leveling in lower level zones.
The Cash Shop … I guess I should say, “What cash shop?” It was as though the thing didn’t exist. I’m not at all worried about the current state of the cash shop, but that’s perhaps what worries me the most because ArenaNet wants to make a profit. I hope enough people want to buy those worthless (I mean totally awesome) keys and costumes.
I don’t know what’s up with the whole ‘mail everything’ system. You can’t trade with anyone which will prove to be an oddity if stays that way.
GW2 is definitely a themepark, and there isn’t a whole lot of ‘new’ being brought to the genre. ArenaNet hasn’t just copied WoW, though. There is a lot borrowed from games like DAOC — qualified and proven features — that were ignored for years, and things like weapon swapping that feel innovative.
TLDR Impressions after the jump. (more…)
WvW is the closest I have ever come to reliving Dark Age of Camelot RvR. I chose to lead off with that comment because WvW is the reason why I will play GW2, and the reason why many of my friends decided to even give GW2 a chance. I want to begin by giving you a narrative of the video I shot below.
The video starts off with my server fighting outside the outer wall of our Western Keep in Blue’s World. We are the invaders taking and holding Blue’s territory. Almost right away we are pushed back through our wall just to find ourselves flanked by an even larger Blue force which broke through the other gate on the wall. Keeps, Towers, and Outer Walls in GW2 have multiple gates. This makes defending much more difficult because the attackers can come at you from multiple fronts.
As we are pushed back, I dive off the cliff into the beautifully done waters of our Keep’s moat. Water combat, and water in general, are stunning and an amazing addition to the game and WvW. We battle back and forth and eventually push Blue back to their Garrison (primary keep, awesome defense). Moments later, as my guildies and I are retreating to our keep on our way to take a supply depot, GREEN server’s army flanks us out of nowhere inside the walls of our keep. I LOVE three faction PvP!!!
The video ends with the end of our attack on a Tower and a look at the Orb (DAOC Relic). We break the doors with our ram and burst through cleaning up the last of the defenders. Slaying the Tower Lord, we claim the Tower for our server and march off to take more objectives.
Read on for more WvW Impressions. (more…)
I spent some time in the Mists this weekend. The Mists are a PvP staging area for both WvW and Battlegrounds. In the Mists you can practice and try different…
Thanks for watching everyone! That was a good two hours of WvW. I've included the video of the stream below.
I keep changing my mind over what I like most in GW2. This morning it was the combat that really captured my interest. I made a quick video showing off…
I really enjoy the questing/leveling in GW2 so far for one reason: group friendly. I took a video w/ commentary to show you the basics. If you overlook the overflow…
The Overflow system in GW2 is really annoying. I was actually quite confused by how this system worked until I experienced it first-hand. I thought it moved you to another…
I've learned a lot, but these are some of the major points I came away with from today's testing. No Trading - Mail For Everything This is by far one…