Guild Wars 2 finally starts to come to life

I have more stuff that I want to post about the beta (highlight of last night - partying up with a few of my friends and one of the ANet devs we know...who then proceeded to lead us to the fire elemental event, gathering a pretty large group of followers, and then us all promptly dying...he agreed it was way too overpowered. I've a screenshot of one of my friends going "NO! Why?!" when we got close and him responding "And into HELL we go!" 😂 ), but I'm tired and lazy.

So here's what my sylvari looked like at the end of the weekend. No, I didn't reach level 35 (I finished at 25), but through the magic of transmutation stones, I got the first set of racial armor anyway.

Just over a month left!

Edit: I also took advantage of the new armor preview to take screencaps of all three sylvari armor sets you can buy.

http://imgur.com/a/t0Y8X

*continues to post a ton*

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.393830860670900.103497.194393653947956&type=3

Screenshots from the weekend! Or at least, a handful of the ones I took. Um. Yeah 😛

http://www.arena.net/blog/telling-stories-from-global-to-personal-and-back-again

New post about the storytelling in the game. Amusing, because the point they made in there about how the sylvari story is the most directly connected to the dragons the earliest is something I've been pointing out.

Just saw that this has no monthly fee.

How. crackers

Their answer to that question has always been "Monthly fees were never needed for MMOs if they were done right."

Yup. They rely on boxed sales and a modest cash shop.

So they sell basically extra versions of in game items to help bridge the gap?

Also I sometimes read the pale tree blog (I didn't understand the jokes though haermm) but I never bothered looking at gameplay and this.. actually looks pretty awesome.

I'm afraid to get sucked into an MMO though, because I have a friend who does 40 hours a week on WoW in addition to a 40 hour job. Is it tough finding time to get into one?

Also if I'm being annoying just tell me to stop and I'll go slink back to the OTF. ermmsad

Boxed sales include expansions, so they'll be pushing that angle. GW1 expansions were literally boxed; whether GW2 ones will be more like DLC is not yet clear.

Cash shop items are one of cosmetic (e.g. new outfits), utility-based (e.g. extra character slots) or convenience (e.g. temporary xp boosts), but all done via a currency system that means the items are not shut out to those who don't want to pay real-world cash for them as you can buy the needed Crystals from other players via in-game gold. What the cash shop items will not be is a better version of anything in-game.

They said previously that they're going to do both DLC and boxed expansions, as well as free new content.

And yeah, cash shop stuff is mostly just cosmetic. People complain about stuff like xp boosts, but I got one at some point over the weekend and it hardly made a difference - it just boosts for kills which aren't a huge source of xp. I actually did buy gems over the weekend and used them to unlock dyes, and also so when release comes I'll have my extra character slot I'll need for the characters I have planned.

The way the game is set up you're really not punished at all for playing at whatever pace you choose. It's not like WoW where you have to grind constantly to get the latest gear to keep up; most of the different armors differ only in skin and they have this awesome mechanic where you can take the skin from one armor set and merge it with the stats for another. That's how I got the armor I was wearing, as I wasn't actually high enough level for it; I just placed the skins on my current armor. I also kept a sword I liked through the whole game by doing that.

Also, yay, that's my blog 😛

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Boxed sales include expansions, so they'll be pushing that angle. GW1 expansions were literally boxed; whether GW2 ones will be more like DLC is not yet clear.

Cash shop items are one of cosmetic (e.g. new outfits), utility-based (e.g. extra character slots) or convenience (e.g. temporary xp boosts), but all done via a currency system that means the items are not shut out to those who don't want to pay real-world cash for them as you can buy the needed Crystals from other players via in-game gold. What the cash shop items will not be is a better version of anything in-game.

Originally posted by Peach
They said previously that they're going to do both DLC and boxed expansions, as well as free new content.

And yeah, cash shop stuff is mostly just cosmetic. People complain about stuff like xp boosts, but I got one at some point over the weekend and it hardly made a difference - it just boosts for kills which aren't a huge source of xp. I actually did buy gems over the weekend and used them to unlock dyes, and also so when release comes I'll have my extra character slot I'll need for the characters I have planned.

The way the game is set up you're really not punished at all for playing at whatever pace you choose. It's not like WoW where you have to grind constantly to get the latest gear to keep up; most of the different armors differ only in skin and they have this awesome mechanic where you can take the skin from one armor set and merge it with the stats for another. That's how I got the armor I was wearing, as I wasn't actually high enough level for it; I just placed the skins on my current armor. I also kept a sword I liked through the whole game by doing that.

Also, yay, that's my blog 😛

Also did you do the site entirely yourself, coding and stuff? It's pretty.

We're not sure how many character slots the game will come with, but the assumption is five because 1) that's how many character slots we've gotten during the betas and 2) there are five different races in the game and that way everyone can play each race if so they wish, as the storylines differ depending on that.

The game is very big on stuff like high-end weapons and armor only being different in cosmetics, not stats. Crafted armor and bought armor and found armor and dungeon armor will all be roughly equal in stats, just differing in appearance.

And haha, no. It's wordpress-hosted, so I just picked a theme that I liked and prettied it up myself with my graphics and stuff.

Also, speaking of armors, this shows all of the racial and dungeon armors (and weapons)...

http://dulfy.net/2012/07/21/gw2-armor-previews/

Yeah, we're pretty sure the default number of slots is 5; one for each race (and hence each major storyline branch).

So what are the end game activities and goals for this game?

It doesn't have a typical mmo endgame sort of thing - the ultimate goal is fighting and defeating Zhaitan, one of the Elder Dragons. There's more than just that, though - there are 8 dungeons, each with a story mode and explorable mode, which has three possible paths. Explorable dungeons are damn brutal.

Plus PvP and all that fun stuff.

So, me being the nerd I am, I guested on a Guild Wars 2 podcast this week. So basically I talk about GW2 and the last beta weekend for nearly an hour 😛

http://www.guildmag.com/episode-5-bwe3-thoughts

I hear the gear grind won't be that big a part of the game. So exactly what kind of endgame progression and reward system does the game have to keep a person playing?

...read up a few posts. I already talked about the lack of a gear grind, as well as end game type stuff on this very page.

Originally posted by Peach
...read up a few posts. I already talked about the lack of a gear grind, as well as end game type stuff on this very page.

Yes, I know, I read what you posted. My point was that most games have to have a solid time played/reward/progression system to keep people interested and playing and since, as you mentioned, the gear grind will not be that big a part of the game, and that most high end gear will differ mostly thru cosmetics what exactly does the game have that would makd ppl want to continuously play, kill bosses, etc?

You're getting stuck into an endgame philosophy that they are really trying to get away from. Just play, explore and experience the game for as long as you find that enjoyable. Play dungeons for cosmetics if you want, or go back and play parts of the game world you missed- you get downscaled so there's still gameplay to be had anywhere you go.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
You're getting stuck into an endgame philosophy that they are really trying to get away from. Just play, explore and enjoy the game for as long as you find that enjoyable.

Not stuck in it. :-p just curious what they got planned. I'm all for innovative games that break the mold. Hell, I welcome it as I don't have the time I used to have (back in my WoW days) due to work/relationship. Without a gear grind, however, they'd need to keep hardcore players' interest somehow. Progression and exploration can only keep a player going for so long.