Absolutely loving the game, and looking forward to jumping online as soon as I get some more free time. The thing is, I never feel like I'm getting behind in content/gear/progression. I just love how I can pretty much just do anything in the game, and get rewarded for it. I went exploring last night in the 2nd Norn area (I'm Asura) and found a jumping puzzle in the middle of some cave, and got some cool loot. However, it was more about the content than the reward..cant say that about other games.

I absolutely love this game.. love it.

Saboth wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 18:14:
I hate Guild Wars 2. Why? Because I've been playing it 3 days and haven't left the starting area because I have 5 classes and they are all fun to play. I can't decide which one to choose. I'm leaning towards engineer (as I like strategy type classes vs simply hack/slash), but by all accounts, it probably needs the most tuning.

I got my first character out of the starting zone just about two hours ago myself lol.

One of the real genius designs of this game is how your powers are based off weapons, and each weapon has different skills on different classes. Combined with the 30+ heal/utility/elite skills per class it makes each one feel truly different and even offer some serious differences within each class. People complained about only having 5 attack skills before playing, now those folks realize that it's not just 5, it's dozens and dozens per class because of the different weapons. It makes customization amazingly deep.

I hate Guild Wars 2. Why? Because I've been playing it 3 days and haven't left the starting area because I have 5 classes and they are all fun to play. I can't decide which one to choose. I'm leaning towards engineer (as I like strategy type classes vs simply hack/slash), but by all accounts, it probably needs the most tuning.

Protip: You can deposit stacks of up to 250 items in your collectibles bank space so don't fill up your bags or bank with crafting items, etc. stick em in the collectibles bank!

Yeah, that's how it worked in GW too. Not sure if it was called collectables, but you could stack a bunch of crafting material in it. I still want to buy bank space though. Finished items take up a lot of room. Can't wait for the guild bank so I can give food to you guys.

Darks wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 13:14:
Their system is requiring a lot more materials to make items. And some of the materials required are a bit hard to find. Vilas of Blood being one of them.

There's a Charr starting dynamic event that has you guarding some junk metal from an attack. You get wave after wave of attacking bad guys. After the event (about 3 or 4 minutes), I had 5 or 6 Bloods and an almost full inventory of shit to salvage/sell. I highly suggest heading over there and seeing if the event starts.

risking a trade through in-game mail

Is there no COD option? That would eliminate any risk, other than the risk of just having it ignored and sitting in limbo. What's the RTS timeout for unopened mail?

eunichron wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 17:11:

Cutter wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 16:53:
I can't believe there's no direct trade with players atm! That boggles the effing mind!

I got into an argument with someone on Reddit about this. They claim it's because Anet wants to cut down on WTB/WTS spam in general chat channels, and force people to use the Trading Post (when it's up...).

I have to laugh at that, All I see i nth game is spams about WTS or WTT.

Yea, the lack of trading does suck, but you can just email it to the person too. it s instantaneous. Not sure how you would collect though if someone wanted to be devious.

Cutter wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 16:53:
I can't believe there's no direct trade with players atm! That boggles the effing mind!

I got into an argument with someone on Reddit about this. They claim it's because Anet wants to cut down on WTB/WTS spam in general chat channels, and force people to use the Trading Post (when it's up...).

Fact of the matter is players will use whatever means gives sellers the most profit, and buyers the best deal. If that means spamming /map with WTB/WTS and risking a trade through in-game mail, then that's what players are going to do.

To that regard they should just put it in so that the risk of scams are reduced.

I can't believe there's no direct trade with players atm! That boggles the effing mind!

Protip: You can deposit stacks of up to 250 items in your collectibles bank space so don't fill up your bags or bank with crafting items, etc. stick em in the collectibles bank!

Don't forget you can also trade in-game coinage for gems in the store, you don't have to buy them - though I already bought $20 worth for bank slots before I figured out the collectible thing haha!

And remember to join us in the Blue's Guild on Tarnished Coast - you do *not* have to be on the same server. Tell/email Waxx in-game. We started researching our guild bank last night so it's coming soon!

Also ran the first level 30 dungeon today (Ascalon) and it's hard as fuck. Really cool ddungeon with traps and crazy shit, great design! Loot wasn't great IMO, ended with one really cool gold item hat - looks like Jarlaxle's hat. Got 1 green item and several blues and a few wmats. Spend about 5s in repairs however, so ouch. Loot tables need tweaking IMO.

HorrorScope wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 12:34:
Their take on forums is overly protected. To me they won't open then up, because they don't want to hear it. Even though it is not that bad and there is a lot of good.

"The forums are closed at this time. We will open the forums as soon as we are able. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes."

I do not believe them.

They said many times that the forums will only be open for beta tests and the official launch. It's maintained by the same web services team who does the auction house and most of us care a lot more about that getting up and running. I can bitch at them on their forums about it later.

Metasparks wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 14:58:

Creston wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 13:10:
Somewhere in Canada, a Bioware employee dies a little on the inside.Creston

Try Austin, TX

Oh yeah... Duh.

Creston

Darks wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 13:14:

Ozmodan wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 12:54:

Someone maxed a crafter already. Give me a break, this is just another copy cat MMO with very little substance behind it. No challenge, strictly fun.

I will have to disagree with that, I have been trying to get my weapon smiting up and I’m finding it a bit tedious. It’s been tough getting the materials needed to get your leveling up. So I can’t agree that it’s a cookie cutter in anyway. I found WOWs crafting much better and simpler to level versus GW 2 system. Their system is requiring a lot more materials to make items. And some of the materials required are a bit hard to find. Vilas of Blood being one of them.

So, if someone maxed their crafting out already, then I have no idea how they did it so quickly. it’s not been something I found very easily done so far.

Saw your other posts Darks and not sure if you knew this, but you can salvage items and get crafting mats from them. I don't sell anything I pick up, I salvage it all. Doing that in addition to gathering everything I find in the world I've had no trouble having enough mats for crafting.

Also keep in mind that because of the level scaling you still get full xp if you go to a lower level area. It might behoove you to go to another race's starting area just for material collection, and just do the events along the way for xp.

Lastly, secondary mats like Vials of Blood come from specific monsters... the Bloods usually come from beasts, Dusts from elementals, etc.

This comment was edited on Aug 28, 2012, 15:57.

If you like MMOs this is THE game.

If you hate MMOs, stay away.

Creston wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 13:10:
Somewhere in Canada, a Bioware employee dies a little on the inside.Creston

Try Austin, TX

Frijoles wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 10:35:
I'm loving it. I found a "secret" hidden area in Lion's Gate last night that was just awesome (and had pirate booty in it). I hope there's more stuff like that because I totally wasn't expecting it. The world vs. world stuff also reminds me a lot of DAoC, which I miss.

Don't let some of the reviews fool you though. There's still quests. They just moved them to hearts instead. The dynamic stuff is interesting, but still just quests. If you hate MMOs then I doubt GW2 will change your mind. If you enjoy MMOs, though, then GW2 does a lot of stuff right.

And don't let GW1 put you off. GW2 is nothing like GW1.

I was exploring whoring in Lion's Arch and had to google the hidden spot to get to the Vista, and then jumped down the cave. Was awesome, spent about 40 mins doing it, but the Goonies vibe to it was again awesome.

Verno wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 14:05:

Bucky wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 14:02:
Wait, what? Care to elaborate on that? Mostly because I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'renown vendors'. I think I'm missing something important, now.

The little renown heart NPCs. I had no idea they turned into karma vendors when you finished their stuff. You can buy a lot of crafting stuff, items and etc from them. I have no idea how I went through all of beta and missed that, LOL.

I'd stopped checking merchants because my gear was always better, but the first Heart I check has armor that's all better than what I'm wearing. And it appears they might even have region specific looks to the karma items.

This is almost as bad as me beating Diablo 3 on Normal before realizing that the NPCs had conversation chains.

Bucky wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 14:02:
Wait, what? Care to elaborate on that? Mostly because I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'renown vendors'. I think I'm missing something important, now.

The little renown heart NPCs. I had no idea they turned into karma vendors when you finished their stuff. You can buy a lot of crafting stuff, items and etc from them. I have no idea how I went through all of beta and missed that, LOL.

Verno wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 13:44:
Just a funny aside but I kept wondering where all of the karma vendors were in beta. No one explained that the renown vendors turn into karma vendors when you've finished their events. I don't know how I missed that, whoops! I have like 2300 karma stockpiled already.

Wait, what? Care to elaborate on that? Mostly because I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'renown vendors'. I think I'm missing something important, now.

Edit: Renown Haeart Why didn't anyone tell me this sooner?! I'm level 22 and haven't spent any karma!

*logs back in*

My biggest complaint is that I usually have to grind group events to level up in the late teens. The XP rewards need a little tweaking it feels like. And group events happen pretty frequently, which takes the uniqueness of stumbling into one away a little. But they're major XP sources.

As you mentioned already, I usually retrace my steps if I find myself underleveled for something. Chances are that I missed some events and stuff. I see a lot of people just take off running as soon as an event finishes but many events are actually chained on previous events so sometimes it pays to hang around for a minute while grabbing some ore or whatever. Exploration, gathering, crafting and doing the personal story all make a big difference. I hit 100% in a zone and it gave me a massive chunk of exp as well.

Just a funny aside but I kept wondering where all of the karma vendors were in beta. No one explained that the renown vendors turn into karma vendors when you've finished their events. I don't know how I missed that, whoops! I have like 2300 karma stockpiled already.

Ozmodan wrote on Aug 28, 2012, 12:45:
Someone has maxed a crafter already. Give me a break, this is just another copy cat MMO with very little substance behind it. No challenge, strictly fun. We saw that with SWTOR and the exact same complaints will follow this title. Nothing original, at least their is no subscription for this game, kudos to the developers for that.

Maxing crafting means dick-all though. You get some recipes but apparently the only way to discover new items is to just fuck around with permutations. So maxing crafting means you have max potential to build everything. You still have to combine shit to figure out how to make stuff.