Guildwars 2 Beta Thread

[zinfamous]

Mesmer was always a strong support class in PvP in Guild Wars 1. Many GvG battles required at least 1 for most of the big matches to mess with the opposing healers and damage dealers.

Always was my favorite class in Guild wars 1, (I usually ran a Monk/Mesmer or a Warrior/Mesmer).

The engineer though looks like a blast, with turrets and stuff. And since I enjoyed engineering profession in WoW (and I am a Mechanical Engineer by trade), it just feels like destiny.

This is also the first MMo I preordered JUST so I could have the head start to learn the curve. Every MMO I have played before it I let sit and settle about a month before trying it.

But you have convinced me, I will d/l the beta event tonight to test it this weekend.

:awe:

sweet! maybe look to zokudu's post and roll on that server. I'll be re-rolling a noob character as well and learning a lot of new things myself, so the more the merrier.

Yeah, mes eventually became my favorite in GW1. A few issues with it that I don't like in GW2: it is not a shutdown class. At least, I haven't yet seen skills or builds that involve serious interrupts and mele or caster shutdown. IN GW2, Mes specializes in massive ally buffs and mob debuffs.

Also, from BW1 to BW2, they mostly nerfed a lot of the clone skills, which is the primary function of mes. There is still a bit of an issue with how they are cast on target (so, as soon as your target dies, your clone will die. This can cause problems), and instead of working on that, the devs simply weakened all but one of them: the illusionary duelist (available with off-hand pistol)--which became a massive crazy spike damage skill. To be fair, wand/pistol mes remains my favorite, but it has serious balancing issues with the previous build of the game.

people seem to like the sword mes, but I don't really like them for mele, and the greatsword mes (which is actually ranged, and novel and fun to play at first), just isn't as versatile and useful as the staff or wand/pistol mes, imo.


As for the maturity of the game--it clearly has a few beta issues to contend with. But in my experience so far...it seems further along in development than does SW ToR. seriously....that game has taken a dump (in terms of bugs) in the last 2 or 3 weeks since the 1.3 update. I don't know if it's the game engine or Bioware's inexperience with MMO (why is it that ANet can almost always patch without having to take servers down, and most other devs can't do that?).


Anyway, have fun.

 

[diesbudt]

I will look into that server and see if I cant contact a few on there from here.

I loved the mesmers ability to shut-down adrenaline gain on warriors.

In PvP I usually ran a monk to heal with, or my W/Me that would focus on other warriors and buff/debuff to make certain they never gain adrenaline and save any interrupts or knockdowns for them to try to use healing signet. Angered so many innocent warriors doing that.

Yea. SWTOR lost all my interest at level 37, and people who did make it to last level talked about how unfinished it seemed. I have a few theories as to why. (Some have to do with the game is pretty dark in colors in a lor of the areas, meaning more "depressed" colors feeding the eyes, getting one to not want to stay logged on as long. Which is quite the inverse of WoW, which is normally bright and colorful almost anywhere you go)

 

[zinfamous]

I will look into that server and see if I cant contact a few on there from here.

I loved the mesmers ability to shut-down adrenaline gain on warriors.

In PvP I usually ran a monk to heal with, or my W/Me that would focus on other warriors and buff/debuff to make certain they never gain adrenaline and save any interrupts or knockdowns for them to try to use healing signet. Angered so many innocent warriors doing that.

Yea. SWTOR lost all my interest at level 37, and people who did make it to last level talked about how unfinished it seemed. I have a few theories as to why. (Some have to do with the game is pretty dark in colors in a lor of the areas, meaning more "depressed" colors feeding the eyes, getting one to not want to stay logged on as long. Which is quite the inverse of WoW, which is normally bright and colorful almost anywhere you go)

I have my ToR character well into level 50 and while there is endgame content--it's really just a handful of HM missions and 3 OPs missions to run over and over again to get geared up to.....run those missions again. There are plans to release more, of course, but the real fun in that game, for me, was the story and getting up to the end. It just becomes like every other MMO which is so tired and overdone at this point. I still enjoy it, don't get me wrong, it's jsut that it never added anything new to the mechanics of the genre.

What I like about GW2 are things that might seem small, but are actually quite amazing that you don't find them in every other game--partying up is on the fly: don't need to actually group, just join the mob and fight the other mobs--you still share in the loot and credit. basically--you can't possibly steal a mob from anyone. all nodes (For crafting or whatever) are individualized--so you don't have to wait for them to respawn. no fetch quests, and no real quest log....this is a true breath of fresh air.

crafting mats speeds up by scale as to how many of each item you want to craft at one time. want to make 1 hat, it will take roughly 3 seconds. want to make 32 hats? each hat will take less than half a second or so.

 

[diesbudt]

I have my ToR character well into level 50 and while there is endgame content--it's really just a handful of HM missions and 3 OPs missions to run over and over again to get geared up to.....run those missions again. There are plans to release more, of course, but the real fun in that game, for me, was the story and getting up to the end. It just becomes like every other MMO which is so tired and overdone at this point. I still enjoy it, don't get me wrong, it's jsut that it never added anything new to the mechanics of the genre.

What I like about GW2 are things that might seem small, but are actually quite amazing that you don't find them in every other game--partying up is on the fly: don't need to actually group, just join the mob and fight the other mobs--you still share in the loot and credit. basically--you can't possibly steal a mob from anyone. all nodes (For crafting or whatever) are individualized--so you don't have to wait for them to respawn. no fetch quests, and no real quest log....this is a true breath of fresh air.

crafting mats speeds up by scale as to how many of each item you want to craft at one time. want to make 1 hat, it will take roughly 3 seconds. want to make 32 hats? each hat will take less than half a second or so.

Yea. A lot of the things they are doing in the MMO genre is challenging the previous system.

Which surprised me, because GW1 was a very good and updated almost bi-weekly pvp game (to try an balance), which even had interesting GvGs.

[Sidestory - First GvG my guild did (none of us have donw one before, and this was early GW) we were the team that got the fort, while the other team got the boat side of the map (only 1 map then).

We were excited, timer finished counting down and we were off! Then we saw our big door leading out. None of us knew we had to click a switch to open it. None of us realized there was a Trebuchet outside each keep to attack the door/people inside.

So here we are, all 8 of us stacked up, just inside the door, not knowing what to do when BAM we all die to trebuchet fire. Needless to say we got our asses handed to us.]

Just having stuff like that, and points to gain morale, and that even at -45% you could still make an impact on the fight. It has been my favorite in pvp.

The point I was making - I was surprised to find out GW2 was going to have much more PvE focus, as their previous Guild wars game was mostly PvP oriented (The story in GW, was interesting if you paid attention to it) but it wasn't like WoW where you raided for better gear, to raid for even better gear. You literally could buy the best gear in the game, from a vendor, at lv 14 (out of 20 levels) with PvE gear being the same stats, just better cosmetic looks.

 

[zinfamous]

Yea. A lot of the things they are doing in the MMO genre is challenging the previous system.

Which surprised me, because GW1 was a very good and updated almost bi-weekly pvp game (to try an balance), which even had interesting GvGs.

[Sidestory - First GvG my guild did (none of us have donw one before, and this was early GW) we were the team that got the fort, while the other team got the boat side of the map (only 1 map then).

We were excited, timer finished counting down and we were off! Then we saw our big door leading out. None of us knew we had to click a switch to open it. None of us realized there was a Trebuchet outside each keep to attack the door/people inside.

So here we are, all 8 of us stacked up, just inside the door, not knowing what to do when BAM we all die to trebuchet fire. Needless to say we got our asses handed to us.]

Just having stuff like that, and points to gain morale, and that even at -45% you could still make an impact on the fight. It has been my favorite in pvp.

The point I was making - I was surprised to find out GW2 was going to have much more PvE focus, as their previous Guild wars game was mostly PvP oriented (The story in GW, was interesting if you paid attention to it) but it wasn't like WoW where you raided for better gear, to raid for even better gear. You literally could buy the best gear in the game, from a vendor, at lv 14 (out of 20 levels) with PvE gear being the same stats, just better cosmetic looks.

well, WvW and WvWvW in GW2 are rather substantial, to say the least. bear in mind that GW1, while it did start off with a fair amount of PvP content, really began to focus on PvP with the second campaign, Factions.

But, I can't talk to too much of that, because I'm not that into PvP. I played WvWvW for a few hours during the first Beta--it was fun, but I know it won't be my primary focus.

 

[KMFJD]

There was another small update to the client in the last 2 days

 

[gothamhunter]

I'm going to pass on this BWE because I want to keep the new experience...more new than old. I can't wait until it's released!

 

[zokudu]

I'm using this final BWE to play with a bunch of friends I gave keys out to, and try new classes. I don't want to hardcore it though, just chill before release.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Anyone who has the game fully installed wanna tell me how much space the game client takes up currently? It's installing on my SSD but at the rate it's going this seems to be over 15GB easily and I'm not particularly keen on having a program that large on my SSD.

 

[Ig]

Mine is at 14.0 GB (15,064,736,244 bytes).

4 files total
two 0byte files
gw2.exe 21.6 MB (22,709,312 bytes)
gw2.dat 14.0 GB (15,042,026,932 bytes)

 

[gladiatorua]

15.7 gb for now.
I assume over 25 gb at release.

 

[zinfamous]

yeah, it is supposed to be 25 gb at release.

 

[GaiaHunter]

Anyone who has the game fully installed wanna tell me how much space the game client takes up currently? It's installing on my SSD but at the rate it's going this seems to be over 15GB easily and I'm not particularly keen on having a program that large on my SSD.

The % is number of files and not size - the client start downloading bigger files first.


An advice for all new players to the game in the new beta:

Please, please, please don't follow the hearts! Don't go from heart to heart to heart.
That will create a boring grind.

I suggest you do a heart or two and then just find some place far away in the map and go there (you can add a personal way point alt-left clicking if I'm not mistaking) - you will have much more adventures and a better experience that way.

Also, there are merchants after the tutorial that sell weapons (in case you dislike your stater weapon) and armor and more important they sell the gathering tools -you get xp from gathering and crafting.

 

[Snock514]

All set and ready for the beta weekend! This will be my first one, I played the first guild wars for many years, I hope I won't be disappointed.

 

[diesbudt]

Well I have the beta D/l now, gonna try it out after work.

 

[GaiaHunter]

With the new launcher you can't get into the game until the beta start.
If you add the command -useoldlauncher to the gw2.exe shortcut you will be able to see the game starting menu, see the options and listen to the music.

 

[chimaxi83]

The % is number of files and not size - the client start downloading bigger files first.


An advice for all new players to the game in the new beta:

Please, please, please don't follow the hearts! Don't go from heart to heart to heart.
That will create a boring grind.

I suggest you do a heart or two and then just find some place far away in the map and go there (you can add a personal way point alt-left clicking if I'm not mistaking) - you will have much more adventures and a better experience that way.

Also, there are merchants after the tutorial that sell weapons (in case you dislike your stater weapon) and armor and more important they sell the gathering tools -you get xp from gathering and crafting.

I remember my friend mentioning the hearts thing, thanks for bringing that up again. This will be my first try at the beta, hope I have fun

 

[VashHT]

Yeah this game really rewards just wandering around the map, I ended up doing a ton of random events and I would do the hearts when I ended an event near one. I'm looking to try out engineer some this weekend as that's that only class I haven't tried yet, I'm not a big fan of turret type mechanics though so I'm not sure how much I'll like it.

 

[dougp]

Anyone know what time the event actually starts this weekend?

 

[VashHT]

Anyone know what time the event actually starts this weekend?

Same time as the others I think, noon pacific time I believe.

 

[zinfamous]

All set and ready for the beta weekend! This will be my first one, I played the first guild wars for many years, I hope I won't be disappointed.

just don't expect anything like GW1 (I miss the vast encyclopedia of skills :\)


patience, and extreme tolerance of failure are a must when first starting out in GW2

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah this game really rewards just wandering around the map, I ended up doing a ton of random events and I would do the hearts when I ended an event near one. I'm looking to try out engineer some this weekend as that's that only class I haven't tried yet, I'm not a big fan of turret type mechanics though so I'm not sure how much I'll like it.

yep. plus, most of my hearts were fulfilled simply by doing the nearby events as I stumbled into them.

This game allows constant distraction from your progress, without ever gong off the path, so to speak. It has that Elder Scrolls quality of encouraging you to just explore and discover things and do them as you wander, not to follow a set stream of events.

Hell, I did, maybe 3 story quests while getting my toon up to lvl 29

 

[zinfamous]

btw--can anyone offer any advice on classes?

I'm leaning towards engineer as it's the "newest" class, but I've heard it has lukewarm appeal.

don't want to go back to mes (though I love the hell out of it). Thinking I might spend more time with thief, or do a hammer warrior. ....or ele or engineer.

anyone have a solid argument for any of these? (I'm still leaning towards Mes, ele, thief or warrior as my top classes for release)

 

[VashHT]

btw--can anyone offer any advice on classes?

I'm leaning towards engineer as it's the "newest" class, but I've heard it has lukewarm appeal.

don't want to go back to mes (though I love the hell out of it). Thinking I might spend more time with thief, or do a hammer warrior. ....or ele or engineer.

anyone have a solid argument for any of these? (I'm still leaning towards Mes, ele, thief or warrior as my top classes for release)

I played a thief pretty much exclusively for the last beta, I had a lot of fun with the class even though I didn't think I would. Pistol/dagger is a really nice combo and I was able to kite around groups of guys since the ranged dagger skill slows multiple people. I also liked sword/pistol a lot since you get a stun and a daze and smoke cloud which makes it easier to stay in melee. dagger/pistol is also nice because the combo finisher from heartstopper and smoke cloud makes you stealth, then you can use the stealth breaking move to get out of it which does quite a bit of damage. Pistol/Pistol is really good for ranged, using smoke cloud and any of the combo projectile skills you can blind people at range, and the rapid fire skill is really nice for damage. Short bow is also a good ranged weapon, overall I was pretty happy with the variety that thieves have to work with.

Edit: Forgot to add that steal is a pretty fun skill and gives you a free teleport and stealth to your opponent when you use it. The results are kind of random on what you get but some of the stuff is pretty helpful.

 

[zinfamous]

I played a thief pretty much exclusively for the last beta, I had a lot of fun with the class even though I didn't think I would. Pistol/dagger is a really nice combo and I was able to kite around groups of guys since the ranged dagger skill slows multiple people. I also liked sword/pistol a lot since you get a stun and a daze and smoke cloud which makes it easier to stay in melee. dagger/pistol is also nice because the combo finisher from heartstopper and smoke cloud makes you stealth, then you can use the stealth breaking move to get out of it which does quite a bit of damage. Pistol/Pistol is really good for ranged, using smoke cloud and any of the combo projectile skills you can blind people at range, and the rapid fire skill is really nice for damage. Short bow is also a good ranged weapon, overall I was pretty happy with the variety that thieves have to work with.

Edit: Forgot to add that steal is a pretty fun skill and gives you a free teleport and stealth to your opponent when you use it. The results are kind of random on what you get but some of the stuff is pretty helpful.

cool. I only played it on the second day and up to level 7 or 8--realized that I was sticking too much to duel pistol--not simply because I liked the skills, but because anything in mele would one-shot me dead

I thought, well, I should be able to mele this a little bit easier, no? (with Nec, I was hard to kill in mele range up to that same level). So I was rather disappointed with it, especially being one of the 2 classes I thought I would prefer.

I liked unload so much...which is probably why I came to like the Mes wand/pistol setup. This gives you a clone that pops out and unloads on your target. It's almost spammable and with the BW2 build, it was a super canon of a skill.


Do most people think they will try the new zones? I'm probably going to stick with the Charr/Norn area (haven't really played Norn yet--though I hear it is the least-engaging area). I want to save Sylvari for release--might be my main class and race.