Guild Wars 2

Just got off of the beta myself; longtime Guild Wars player (under the name of Ghora the Hammer, guild master of The Dark Masters). I've been looking forward to Guild Wars 2 for a while; I've been interested ever since I knew they were adding additional races (I'm probably going to end up with a Sylvari, depending on exactly what they're like). Since this isn't a closed beta anymore, here's a few thoughts on my experience with the beta this weekend so far:

• It could be more reliable - I had to retry 3 times to get logged in, and then it crashed the first time I selected my home world. It ran fine after that, though.
• Character creation is much improved - you actually have a lot of control over what you look like.
• Why can't you try the Sylvari or Azura in the beta weekend? Oh well, I'll wait on that.
• You can make some pretty cute characters.
• The world is very pretty.
• Combat seems familiar enough to the original to be reasonably intuitive (I'm playing a Guardian, which didn't exist before); it shares some unpleasant elements with Dragon Age 2, but it's okay.
• I never like voiced player characters, and I don't like it here. It seems like you might not have to put up with it too often, though.
• I fell through the earth! (Near the Great Collapse in the city)

On the whole it seems promising so far. Hopefully it won't pick up some of the negative elements it used to have (such as a really terrible community in a lot of ways). I don't expect to find much role-playing going on - MMORPGs are always a bit light on the RPG elements. I'll probably have to restrict myself to being the lunatic fringe

Anyway, I'll be playing this weekend, probably mostly in the evenings; my user name is Exediron and my current character is Illyena Ravenstar.

Above: A couple of screenshots of my character I took while I was trapped on the side of the Great Collapse (before I figured out how to fast travel out).

Definitely looking forward to it. Might give the beta a shot. I swore off MMOs until GW 2 so it's about time to try again.

Indeed if I had the specs to run it I would! I'm a big fan of non subscription Mmo's with Cash Shops, you have the option to be lazy and buy what you want or you can work for, a good game will have all top tier gear as quest only too which is nice [although people still use real cash to get in game money and buy the high end stuff, which isn't always a bad thing]

But let's keep this thread up and posted with pics! I love screen shots :3

Well, this beta weekend is over so no more screenshots right now; unfortunately, I ended up having to work during most of it and only managed the one login.

Bearing in mind that I don't know what your computer is like, I found the game to be very easy to run on low settings (although you do lose some smoothing and shiny textures and stuff) - the screenshots I posted are on low settings before I remembered to switch up to high quality. I know the original Guild Wars was very easy to run. The main problem I have is that my internet is pretty slow, and the game frequently requires large loads before entering an area of mission.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exediron 

Well, this beta weekend is over so no more screenshots right now; unfortunately, I ended up having to work during most of it and only managed the one login.

 

Bearing in mind that I don't know what your computer is like, I found the game to be very easy to run on low settings (although you do lose some smoothing and shiny textures and stuff) - the screenshots I posted are on low settings before I remembered to switch up to high quality. I know the original Guild Wars was very easy to run. The main problem I have is that my internet is pretty slow, and the game frequently requires large loads before entering an area of mission.

What are your system specs and what kind of frame rates were you getting at which resolutions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roller 

 

What are your system specs and what kind of frame rates were you getting at which resolutions?

I can't answer you as to the exact frame rate because I can't get into the game outside of a beta weekend; however, it was smooth enough that I never noticed it missing any unless I turned very suddenly in the midst of a graphic heavy fight. I play at 1920x1200.

System:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Direct X11

Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition CPU @ 3.33 Ghz (8 CPUs)

24 GB Corsair Vengeance RAM

Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 (1.5 GB GDDR5)

Conventional 7200 rpm hard drive

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exediron 

 

I can't answer you as to the exact frame rate because I can't get into the game outside of a beta weekend; however, it was smooth enough that I never noticed it missing any unless I turned very suddenly in the midst of a graphic heavy fight. I play at 1920x1200.

 

System:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Direct X11

Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition CPU @ 3.33 Ghz (8 CPUs)

24 GB Corsair Vengeance RAM

Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 (1.5 GB GDDR5)

Conventional 7200 rpm hard drive

In all honesty, I don't know why you would ever play on low settings with high end specs. I most certainly believe you would have buttery smooth gameplay when running a high clocked quad core CPU and a high end GPU.

As for frame rate measurement, you might want to use FRAPS, as it is a relatively reliable measurement tool.

Was an avid player of the first game. Clocked over like 1500 hours. I'm a primary console gamer so nothing really comes close to the epic scale of pc MMO. Problem is my computer isn't up to spec so I'll have to buy a new one. Also I'm not sure if I want to throw away my life again. MMO's are way too addicting, and unless you spend a lot of time you won't get anywhere. The beauty of console gaming (MW3) is that you can pick up and play whenever you want. They aren't anywhere near as immersive though.

How was the beta for you guys? I wish they'd implemented the animation of Aion which had a visually stunning fighting system but was completely boring because of the grindfest.

Also how much would I need to spend on a pc/Laptop to play this game? 

Sweet!  I did not even know this was coming out. I played sooo much of GW and WOW this should be exciting! lol

That's really interesting. The thing about the dynamic event for the Rams head at ~7:30, does that head stay there forever? Will everyone see it? Or will it disappear after a while allowing players who have never seen that event to play it.

lol isn't one of the conditions of the stress test not to tell anyone you are participating in it