██ █► ♠ Official Guild Wars 2 Thread ♠ ◄█ ██

[Prerequisite]

How does this compare to WoW as far as PvE goes? I played vanilla WoW, BC, & play on a private server now to kill time from time to time since my laptop isn't really all that good for raiding at the moment (building a rig soon).

I hate PvP, but enjoy PvE (instancing, obtaining gear, raiding)...GoW good for that?

[SynapticCleft]

debating to take off work from this

Don't the stress test is short and more laggy than the bwe.

[iTzDevo]

How does this compare to WoW as far as PvE goes? I played vanilla WoW, BC, & play on a private server now to kill time from time to time since my laptop isn't really all that good for raiding at the moment (building a rig soon).

I hate PvP, but enjoy PvE (instancing, obtaining gear, raiding)...GoW good for that?

I played WoW for 7 years before playing this game and I'm loving it. its a really refreshing change from the mundane tank-dps-healer cookie cutter setup. the lack thereof encourages players to work together in innovative ways to fulfill the tasks of tank dps and heals

that said, the reviews have been mixed. it's a hit or miss for a lot of people, I assume because they are not comfortable going outside of what they know; that is, the easymode cookie cutter style of play. I'm not bashing people who don't like the game because that's a personal choice, but GW2 is a LOT different and takes a lot more skill than any MMO i've previously played. it combines the dexterity of an FPS shooter with the mental strategy of an RTS if you truly want to succeed and dominate. even though you said you don't like pvping, I'd say the pvp in this game is akin to 2k+ rated arenas (not just talking out of my ass, I was a 4x multi-glad at 2.7k+)

[BanWagon]

PvE in GW2 doesn't seem to hold a candle to WoW unfortunately. GW2 dungeons are all tank and spank. The lack of a holy trinity means they can't deviate very much because balancing would be a nightmare. Also Guardians appear to be a must have if you plan on pubbing anything without wiping.

[Brofessional]

I played WoW for 7 years before playing this game and I'm loving it. its a really refreshing change from the mundane tank-dps-healer cookie cutter setup. the lack thereof encourages players to work together in innovative ways to fulfill the tasks of tank dps and heals

that said, the reviews have been mixed. it's a hit or miss for a lot of people, I assume because they are not comfortable going outside of what they know; that is, the easymode cookie cutter style of play. I'm not bashing people who don't like the game because that's a personal choice, but GW2 is a LOT different and takes a lot more skill than any MMO i've previously played. it combines the dexterity of an FPS shooter with the mental strategy of an RTS if you truly want to succeed and dominate. even though you said you don't like pvping, I'd say the pvp in this game is akin to 2k+ rated arenas (not just talking out of my ass, I was a 4x multi-glad at 2.7k+)

Foaming at the mouth rdy to fkn game

I have no idea how someone can hate pvp and love pve btw. Mind is blown.

[Jinru]

Logitech is coming out with a new MMO gaming mouse. BRB pre-ordering with my amazon giftcard.





Here's a side by side comparison of the Naga and G600. Turn on captions for subs.

[trepz]

PvE in GW2 doesn't seem to hold a candle to WoW unfortunately. GW2 dungeons are all tank and spank. The lack of a holy trinity means they can't deviate very much because balancing would be a nightmare. Also Guardians appear to be a must have if you plan on pubbing anything without wiping.

I like the idea of having to think on your feet a lot more than optimising your rotation, logging all your numbers, then hitting content over and over until your gear lets you hit the right numbers to get past the boss.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time raiding in wow, and I always played in top 10 oceanic guilds (even number one for a while). There were some pretty intense moments, but lets not pretend it was anything more than some basic coordination, a number crunch and a strong strategy that you probably didn't even think of unless you were part of a top progression guild. The only time I remember raiding being genuinely difficult was 40 man naxx and pre nerf sunwell.

I think the lack of the holy trinity and gear-based progression means we will have to rely on strategy and quick thinking for more difficult content, so hopefully anet makes the most of this.

[iTzDevo]

fffuuuu itching to play

[angelfire2005]

I played WoW for 7 years before playing this game and I'm loving it. its a really refreshing change from the mundane tank-dps-healer cookie cutter setup. the lack thereof encourages players to work together in innovative ways to fulfill the tasks of tank dps and heals

that said, the reviews have been mixed. it's a hit or miss for a lot of people, I assume because they are not comfortable going outside of what they know; that is, the easymode cookie cutter style of play. I'm not bashing people who don't like the game because that's a personal choice, but GW2 is a LOT different and takes a lot more skill than any MMO i've previously played. it combines the dexterity of an FPS shooter with the mental strategy of an RTS if you truly want to succeed and dominate. even though you said you don't like pvping, I'd say the pvp in this game is akin to 2k+ rated arenas (not just talking out of my ass, I was a 4x multi-glad at 2.7k+)

Yo bro just wondering if I could pick your brain a bit more about this. I haven't played any of the BWE's yet but I have played EQ and WoW. Could you elaborate a little more on the differences between GW2 and WoW in pvp, like the strategies of which spells you choose and how different weapons would effect how you approached an enemy? Also how fluid is the combat and do you see it being better than old school AV in WoW (you know how epic that was)? Also could you elaborate on dungeons and how they've played out so far, like since there's no main tank, does the mob just go to the highest aggro person or what? Is there still mob CC or is it just a burst fest??

Not gonna lie man your post made me want the game even more

[trepz]

I don't really understand the complaint about melee, is this only wvw related?

Because thiefs and warriors hitting for over half of your health in a single ability and defensive guardians tanking a ridiculous amount of damage doesn't seem too underpowered lol.

I'd say engi is looking the least powerful atm.

[iTzDevo]

Yo bro just wondering if I could pick your brain a bit more about this. I haven't played any of the BWE's yet but I have played EQ and WoW. Could you elaborate a little more on the differences between GW2 and WoW in pvp, like the strategies of which spells you choose and how different weapons would effect how you approached an enemy? Also how fluid is the combat and do you see it being better than old school AV in WoW (you know how epic that was)? Also could you elaborate on dungeons and how they've played out so far, like since there's no main tank, does the mob just go to the highest aggro person or what? Is there still mob CC or is it just a burst fest??

Not gonna lie man your post made me want the game even more

sure, i'll do my best to explain it and anyone else can hop in and correct me / add anything they feel would be helpful.

the biggest change i noticed from WoW in terms of both pvp and pve was the lack of a healer class. typically in BGs and 100% in dungeons, healers were lucrative to the success of a team, as I'm sure you know. in this game, everyone is their own healer, AND some / all classes are each others' healers (not sure if each class has a heal, but I'm fairly certain that it's possible to heal other players using a Light combo field). thinking about WoW, the healer almost never stood a chance in a 3v1 situation because he would always be interrupted/stunlocked/shut out while putting out 0 deeps against his opponents, rendering himself useless until he either died or escaped to the safety of the rest of his team mates.

in GW2, you have the option to take 1 of 3 personal heals, each of them different for each class and each of the 3 options give different effects. for example, as a necromancer, you have the option of healing yourself for a base amount of healing + more healing for every DoT effect on you at that current moment AND it also cleans you of all DoTs. that's the first option. your second skill option gives you the ability to summon a demon that will act as a pet, doing damage to others, in addition to having the option of destroying it and healing yourself, similar to the warlock's sacrifice mechanics. your last option as a necromancer is a large AoE heal which you place on the ground. it is able to heal other team mates and creates a "Light combo field" which i mentioned earlier. this simply means that, while standing in a combo field, a player is able to use skills and those skills acquire the element of the specific field. for example, shooting an arrow through a fire combo field would set that arrow on fire and cause burning damage to an enemy.

now that healing has been covered, I'll move onto general pvp comparisons. in WoW, you are limited to the optimal deeps rotation that has been proven, after hours of monotonous number crunching, to be effective. no such thing exists in GW2. yes, there are smarter "rotation"-like combinations of skills to use against opponents at specific times, but you will never find yourself repeatedly using combo 3-2-5-4-1-1-1-etc. while WoW requires quick reactions and variation depending on the situation, GW2 takes that to a whole different level. similar to WoW, in GW2 you need to be aware of the buffs and debuffs that are on an enemy. again similar to WoW, in GW2 you need to take advantage of Line of Sight mechanics. this is extremely important if you want to be a half decent player. in WoW, you could get away with running balls-out into a mob of players and perhaps come out with a few kills before dying if you had a healer. in GW2, you would be lucky to take out 50% of anyone's health if you were to do that. positioning is key. strategy is key. just like in WoW, if you understand your opponent's skills and have a logical prediction of how they may react, you will be a top player. to reiterate: there is no set rotation; however, there is a difference between bashing your dick on the keyboard hoping to win and using particular skills in order. line of sight is extremely important, and it will always play into your strategy to win.

a new mechanic that is completely past WoW's scope is dodging. in WoW, you had a certain dodge %'age which allowed you to automatically dodge attacks. in GW2, you have to manually do it. crazy, right? it's by far one of my more favoured aspects of this game because it really does separate the casual players from the hardcore ones. it's not a difficult mechanic to learn and understand, but timing is everything. if you see your opponent lining up a huge 2-3 second cast time attack and you are able to predict that it's one of his more powerful attacks with a long cooldown, dodging it could make or break the fight.

there are two similar to WoW, yet very different, pvp modes in GW2. the first is called structured pvp. this is a 5v5 pvp match wherein you are immediately maxed level (80) and given gear, weapons, gems, enchants, etc. you are able to change your preset weapons, enchants, gems, if you want to do that. there has only been 1 gametype released for sPvP so far, and that's been a hold-the-node domination type game akin to Arathi Basin. however, it is not as linear as Arathi Basin's map. you are able to go to a 2nd floor clocktower, jump on to rooftops and even control a Trebuchet seige weapon if your team has control of it.

the other pvp mode in GW2 is called WvWvW, or World vs. World vs. World. this is, essentially, a vanilla-WoW game of AV. you have 3 servers fighting against each other for domination of the map. 3 servers. against each other. think about it, there are MASSIVE scale battles which I was a part of in the last beta weekend. easily 200 players fighting for control of a castle and we came out victorious. I had broken a sweat by the time the battle was over and my hands were cramping up. i'd have to guess that it lasted about 45 minutes before we were able to fend off the attackers and reclaim the castle. words can't describe how fantastic it was. it was unlike anything i've ever played in an MMO before. there are more details about WvW but they are not as important if you aren't going to get into the game.

the fluidity of combat is great. I've heard some people complain about it, but I don't see what there is to complain about. elementalists (mages) and other caster classes are able to cast most skills while moving and hunters/warriors/thieves are able to shoot their bows/guns while moving as well. this gives the game an extremely mobile and fast-paced feel. you're never in one place and, if you are, you're most likely dead waiting to respawn. the mobility of combat combined with the dodge mechanic make this game a LOT of fun and it really is rewarding to take out a group of 2-3 people or mobs simply because your mobile strategy outplayed them.

i can't tell you anything about dungeons to be honest because I spent all of my time during the first beta weekend doing structured pvp at pre-set level 80 and all of the 2nd beta weekend trolling with the misc crew instead of seriously leveling. the first dungeon is at level 30 I believe, and from what I've heard it's really hard. you will wipe a lot. kids will ragequit. that's to be expected from the first glipse of difficult content. think of dungeons in GW2 as high end raids in WoW. since there are no official "end-game" raids in GW2, the entire leveling experience has been tuned up to grant the player the satisfaction of completing content while acquiring gear at a much faster pace. I believe one miscer in our guild played through a dungeon and said that it cost him a lot of money in repairs and took 15 or 20 deaths to complete. in my mind, that means he was either with a terrible group or the content is extremely difficult and should be slightly tuned down but not too much as to make it a cake walk like WoW.

as per my last paragraph, I have no idea how the aggro system works. in the videos that I have watched, the groups had a tank-like player to take aggro and damage while the others deeps'd and helped heal him. it appeared to work in the same ways as WoW's holy trinity, only with a lot more finesse. if you think about it, each player's heal is on a 20-40 second cooldown. not every player has an AoE heal, so we can assume that the tank will have 3 heals (one self and two AoE in a 5 person group). at best, the tank will get one heal every ~15 seconds because the other players will be focusing on killing the target, not healing the tank. to go 15 seconds without a heal in a dungeon that causes 20 wipes per person is a LONG time and you really need to be on your dodge button and playing top-notch.

as for CC mechanics, they still do exist. not every class has one, but most classes do. Mesmers get an on-cooldown 10 second polymorph skill which is currently OP (in my opinion) and necromancers get an on-cooldown fear skill. those are the two that currently come to mind, but there are others.

to conclude, this game is by no means easy. nor is it impossibly difficult. there are no cookie-cutter specs that work for everyone. the game is not tailored to your needs, and as such, you need to adapt to be an excellent player. there will be a very big difference between a casual player and an excellent player, but that just comes with practice and time. as a fairly unbiased source who didn't play a minute of guild wars 1 and was obsessed with world of warcraft, I don't think I'll ever go back to WoW. not to mention the community in this game has proven itself so far to be exponentially more mature than WoW's target audience (that is, 10 and under kids now with the kung-fu panda expansion).

hope I covered everything. watch some videos on youtube to get a visualization of what i'm trying to tell you. also read some sites like the guild wars 2 section of mmo-champion.com and guildwars2guru.com.

I suppose one last thing would be that there are talent trees in GW2. they are called traits and you unlock points for these traits as you level up, the same as in WoW.

edit: holy fcuking wall of text. don't let it intimidate you, it's a very brief overview of an extremely intricate game

cliffs, courtesy of trepz

- No trinity, each class has a basic self heal and 2 unique healing abilities (you can equip 1 of the 3)
- No standard rotation, you use your abilities strategically based on your opponents manoeuvres
- Dodging is manual and can make or break a fight (dodge by double tapping a directional movement key)
- Two pvp game types so far
- Structured pvp, 5v5 domination, comes down to intense team coordination
- WvW pvp, huge open battles between servers
- 5 man dungeons are the main pve content, there's also huge open world bosses as part of events
- No aggro table, aggro is actually a unique mechanic that differs between NPC's, the most common is proximity, damage and specific abilities but tougher mobs have more complex mechanics which adds to dungeon strategy
- Every class has CC available
- Talent trees for each stat that give you unique bonuses
- mmo-champion.com and guildwars2guru.com for more info (also adding in gw2wiki)

[UniversityMisc]

edit: holy fcuking wall of text. don't let it intimidate you, it's a very brief overview of an extremely intricate game

too late

[trepz]

Not srs, good post.

Cliffs:
- No trinity, each class has a basic self heal and 2 unique healing abilities (you can equip 1 of the 3)
- No standard rotation, you use your abilities strategically based on your opponents manoeuvres
- Dodging is manual and can make or break a fight (dodge by double tapping a directional movement key)
- Two pvp game types so far
- Structured pvp, 5v5 domination, comes down to intense team coordination
- WvW pvp, huge open battles between servers
- 5 man dungeons are the main pve content, there's also huge open world bosses as part of events
- No aggro table, aggro is actually a unique mechanic that differs between NPC's, the most common is proximity, damage and specific abilities but tougher mobs have more complex mechanics which adds to dungeon strategy
- Every class has CC available
- Talent trees for each stat that give you unique bonuses
- mmo-champion.com and guildwars2guru.com for more info (also adding in gw2wiki)

[iTzDevo]

Not srs, good post.

Cliffs:
- No trinity, each class has a basic self heal and 2 unique healing abilities (you can equip 1 of the 3)
- No standard rotation, you use your abilities strategically based on your opponents manoeuvres
- Dodging is manual and can make or break a fight (dodge by double tapping a directional movement key)
- Two pvp game types so far
- Structured pvp, 5v5 domination, comes down to intense team coordination
- WvW pvp, huge open battles between servers
- 5 man dungeons are the main pve content, there's also huge open world bosses as part of events
- No aggro table, aggro is actually a unique mechanic that differs between NPC's, the most common is proximity, damage and specific abilities but tougher mobs have more complex mechanics which adds to dungeon strategy
- Every class has CC available
- Talent trees for each stat that give you unique bonuses
- mmo-champion.com and guildwars2guru.com for more info (also adding in gw2wiki)

beauty cliffs, thanks brah

[angelfire2005]

EPIC POST

dude read it all twice, it sounds awesome!! really can't wait for this game. an mmo that is both fun AND rewards skill instead of time invested sounds like heaven... and a 2.0 gpa next semester fuark. WvWvW sounds like the tits. can't wait to storm some castles braveheart style with some misc brahs. i like the idea of everyone pitching in on heals and that strategy is key in group encounters. also have seen some vids of raids (look epic) and have seen vids of jumping puzzles that look tight as fawk and apparently give really good loot cause they're so hard to finish.

can't wait for this game man, thanks for detailing it so well, someone should move that explanation and cliffs to the OP's post cause it sums up the experience that is GW2 pretty well I think. now all that is left to decide is whether i wanna play guardian or elementalist. i be leaning towards guardian since i like the way they look and apparently they're tough as hell to bring down. brb doing their bubble thing in the middle of battle and leaving comp to make protein shake

[Strengthftw]

Devo what don't you like about the game?

[FIREnICE]

if you have the patience to read, then this thread will probably answer any question you have about guild wars 2.

most informative thread ever

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...iated.-READ-ME

[Brofessional]

Good post by wall of text brah.

[iTzDevo]

Devo what don't you like about the game?

as of right now the only thing i've come to dislike is the leveling process. I think it's because I'm an impatient person and brand new to the guild wars games, whereas I could level a character in WoW from 1-85 in two weeks. I've read from high level GW2 players from the last BWE that grinding and taking advantage of a mechanic ingame called killstreaks is a quick way to level up, and I'm not a fan of grinding. however, this has been changed for the next BWE. after some research, I found out that there are several ways to level your character including: grinding, running dungeons, WvW, crafting and gathering professions, questing of course, and dynamic events, which is supposedly what GW2 will revolve around. I really enjoyed the dynamic events, but I think they could use a little more experience. in all of the 30 or 40 events that I played, I received a gold star in each of them which means I contributed the most I possibly could and ended up with the best reward. unfortunately it would only reward ~5% of a level which was not very good because some events took 5,10 or 30 minutes to complete -- 30 minutes being the massive world boss event.

cliffs: the game is fun as fcuk and I dont mind a slow leveling pace because once you get bored of it, you can just go play sPvP; however, I think the experience rates could be improved.

[iTzDevo]

dude read it all twice, it sounds awesome!! really can't wait for this game. an mmo that is both fun AND rewards skill instead of time invested sounds like heaven... and a 2.0 gpa next semester fuark. WvWvW sounds like the tits. can't wait to storm some castles braveheart style with some misc brahs. i like the idea of everyone pitching in on heals and that strategy is key in group encounters. also have seen some vids of raids (look epic) and have seen vids of jumping puzzles that look tight as fawk and apparently give really good loot cause they're so hard to finish.

can't wait for this game man, thanks for detailing it so well, someone should move that explanation and cliffs to the OP's post cause it sums up the experience that is GW2 pretty well I think. now all that is left to decide is whether i wanna play guardian or elementalist. i be leaning towards guardian since i like the way they look and apparently they're tough as hell to bring down. brb doing their bubble thing in the middle of battle and leaving comp to make protein shake

added the cliffs. I have been unable to choose a profession which I think is a great thing because all of them are so new to me and interesting, it almost forces you to try them all and get a small dose of their playstyle. for this stress test i'll be working on a necromancer build and using it in sPvP. if it's successful, I might roll necro for the release.

if you have the patience to read, then this thread will probably answer any question you have about guild wars 2.

most informative thread ever

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...iated.-READ-ME

nearly all of my information comes from the GW2 section of mmo-champ. there are a lot of neckbeard *******s over there (which is why I dont have an account to post, otherwise i'd be banned), but there is also a lot of accurate and helpful information about the game. gotta sift through the sh!t to find the gold.

Good post by wall of text brah.

Wall of Text? hhhnnggg you may have just named my necromancer brah

[Jinru]

cliffs: the game is fun as fcuk and I dont mind a slow leveling pace because once you get bored of it, you can just go play sPvP; however, I think the experience rates could be improved.

You can reach max lvl faster than WoW. Here's my warr in just 2 beta weekends and 1 6hr stress test. 90% of it all in WvW.
http://i.imgur.com/Am9yE.jpg

[BanWagon]

You can reach max lvl faster than WoW. Here's my warr in just 2 beta weekends and 1 6hr stress test. 90% of it all in WvW.
http://i.imgur.com/Am9yE.jpg

Was just going to post about this, the other high level characters said PvP was much faster than PvE in terms of leveling so expect it to get nerfed come release.

But damn lol, congrats on being hardcore.

Curious but did you do any dungeons?

[Jinru]

Was just going to post about this, the other high level characters said PvP was much faster than PvE in terms of leveling so expect it to get nerfed come release.

But damn lol, congrats on being hardcore.

Curious but did you do any dungeons?

Did the story mode with another lv35 miscer and 3 randoms. We were near the end when one of the party members had to leave. We didn't know that when someone leaves the party, everyone is kicked out of the dungeon.... we all raged quit.

[JahRo225]

as of right now the only thing i've come to dislike is the leveling process. I think it's because I'm an impatient person and brand new to the guild wars games, whereas I could level a character in WoW from 1-85 in two weeks. I've read from high level GW2 players from the last BWE that grinding and taking advantage of a mechanic ingame called killstreaks is a quick way to level up, and I'm not a fan of grinding. however, this has been changed for the next BWE. after some research, I found out that there are several ways to level your character including: grinding, running dungeons, WvW, crafting and gathering professions, questing of course, and dynamic events, which is supposedly what GW2 will revolve around. I really enjoyed the dynamic events, but I think they could use a little more experience. in all of the 30 or 40 events that I played, I received a gold star in each of them which means I contributed the most I possibly could and ended up with the best reward. unfortunately it would only reward ~5% of a level which was not very good because some events took 5,10 or 30 minutes to complete -- 30 minutes being the massive world boss event.

cliffs: the game is fun as fcuk and I dont mind a slow leveling pace because once you get bored of it, you can just go play sPvP; however, I think the experience rates could be improved.

In GW1, the max level was 20 and that took FOREVER. Slower is allllllwaaayyyyyys better

[UniversityMisc]

Logitech is coming out with a new MMO gaming mouse. BRB pre-ordering with my amazon giftcard.





Here's a side by side comparison of the Naga and G600. Turn on captions for subs.

Link??

[iTzDevo]

You can reach max lvl faster than WoW. Here's my warr in just 2 beta weekends and 1 6hr stress test. 90% of it all in WvW.
http://i.imgur.com/Am9yE.jpg

ah yes, you're the fabled brianne. I made a reference to you in my great wall of text. at what level did you start playing WvW? I was in it for a long time at level 12 and I probably got 1-2 levels in 6 hours.. I have a feeling I was doing it wrong

[BanWagon]

Did the story mode with another lv35 miscer and 3 randoms. We were near the end when one of the party members had to leave. We didn't know that when someone leaves the party, everyone is kicked out of the dungeon.... we all raged quit.

What was your opinion of it besides the dungeon shutting down? Was it doable as melee or without a ranged weapon? Did you have a guardian in party and if so did you think they were a must have party member? Also was it fun?

[FIREnICE]

they should make lvling a bit slower. i don't want to reach max lvl right away. i want to enjoy everything.

and gw1 was too easy to reach lvl 20. i played for about 2 weeks and got the best armor at the time including weapons, etc. i quit after a month.

[Atlas_Army]

What was your opinion of it besides the dungeon shutting down? Was it doable as melee or without a ranged weapon? Did you have a guardian in party and if so did you think they were a must have party member? Also was it fun?

this isnt WoW.. getting annoyed with all the comparisons.

If youve ever played GW1 you would know that healers/tanks were not neccesity for every dungeon/pvp team, that different builds with different combos worked just as effectively in different scenarios. The devs have done an awesome job of keeping that aspect of the game and expanding on it ten fold.



Im curious.. How many of you have actually played GW1?

[Briisk]

this isnt WoW.. getting annoyed with all the comparisons.

If youve ever played GW1 you would know that healers/tanks were not neccesity for every dungeon/pvp team, that different builds with different combos worked just as effectively in different scenarios. The devs have done an awesome job of keeping that aspect of the game and expanding on it ten fold.



Im curious.. How many of you have actually played GW1?

People compare it to WoW because thats the king of MMOs and has been for 7ish years, everyone has played it once or twice.

And answer to you question, I have not played GW1, i think its a 60% not played 40% have played, or maybe an even split.