Notes on the final GW2 beta this weekend.

[Taolas]

http://www.arena.net/blog/whats-new-...-weekend-event

Biggest thing is that all characters will be wiped before and after the beta. You can purchase gems for real money and the amount you buy will carry over to release. I'll be spending most of my time trying the Asura and Sylvari - I hope we can server hop in PvE this time so I can play with Zoobiers.

If anyone still needs a key let me know.

[Zoobi]

http://www.arena.net/blog/whats-new-...-weekend-event

Biggest thing is that all characters will be wiped before and after the beta. You can purchase gems for real money and the amount you buy will carry over to release. I'll be spending most of my time trying the Asura and Sylvari - I hope we can server hop in PvE this time so I can play with Zoobiers.

If anyone still needs a key let me know.

I'll be spending most of my time on my Asura Thief and Sylvari Ranger. Those are the two race/class combos I will be playing come release. Really looking forward to seeing their starting areas.

[Taolas]

I still have no idea what I'll play. I'll probably choose my Asuran class based on animations, since they did such a good job with them. If they update the mesmer like they have been planing, I'll probably try them again with the Sylvari. I haven't played Engineer at all and barely touched ranger, so I'll mess around with those as well.

I want an all Asuran guild too, but not sure what I should call it. Whirlygigawattzit or something.

[Graveworm]

I still need to try out guardian, thief, and ranger to figure out which classes I won't be rolling at launch if for some reason I don't immediately buy up to 8 character slots. If I have time after that I'll take another look at Mesmer and Engineer because I didn't get a good enough look at them yet. Right now Warrior and Elementalist are my favorite classes and I'm not really digging the Necromancer.

[Zavon]

I'll be playing the Necromancer, not sure which race though (on release).

[Ero Elohim]

Going to be trying a Sylvari Warrior and Asuran Guardian. I was really impressed by how much more enjoyable the Guardian got when they cleaned up the dash code so it didn't stop you in place during the animation. I've heard they're looking to do this with all movement skills, so I'm hoping the warrior feels just as fluid. I did really enjoy the guardian in BWE2, so it's sort of my stand-by class for the moment.

Also want to try the Ranger again and see if they've made significant changes to the utilities and pets like they said they would. Apparently Rangers were missing a few pet related utility skills, plus the AI for their furry friends wasn't up to snuff.

Still sad that the Mesmer feels so awkward to me. Love the idea behind the magic duelist theme, but its incredibly obtuse to control.

[Zoobi]

Still sad that the Mesmer feels so awkward to me. Love the idea behind the magic duelist theme, but its incredibly obtuse to control.

Same and the reason I'm not playing a mesmer as my 4th. I'll still likely play it eventually when they polish it up and flesh it out a bit more, but until then Thief/Ranger it is. Guardian is my distant third but for the most part at release I'll be focusing on my thief and ranger.

[Taolas]

Apparently polymock is making a return. I'm stoked. It's like a mini pokemon game.

[Taolas]

It seems server selection was wiped. For those not doing WvW... anyone want to gather on a medium/low pop server to play on?

/edit: http://www.arena.net/blog/the-worlds...-weekend-event

[Graveworm]

Might I suggest Sanctum of Rall?

http://wildboarinn.net/2012/07/18/my...nctum-of-rall/

[Zoobi]

Still on sorrow's furnace .

[Taolas]

How is the community on Sorrow's?

[Zavon]

Hopefully we can all get on the same server. I want to be able to sexually harass you all in real time

[Zoobi]

How is the community on Sorrow's?

Pretty good, little bit of trolling in the zone chat here and there, but for the most part it's been fine.


REMEMBER TO UPDATE YOUR CLIENTS

There's a huge patch that I had to download yesterday, was a couple gigs IIRC.

[Taolas]

I think I'll go with Rall for this beta. I know sorrows will just be overloaded in the newbie zones, which I hate.

[Zavon]

Well my experience, this beta was plagued with server problems. High population zones or servers ruined the game play for me. It wasnt until I picked the lowest server I could find and went Norn that I could play it all.

Clearly this wasn't case for everyone-- however, the problem seemed pretty common/wide spread. At one point nearly the entire front page of the support forums was threads dedicated to this issue.

Its a blessing though, because I avoided spoiling the Asura, starting experience for release.

Can't decide if I want to be a warrior or guardian.

[Taolas]

Hope they get that particular crap ironed out quick! Maybe they'll sneak another stress test in to try and make sure the servers are ready

My experience: I tried a thief and mesmer Sylvari, but couldn't get into it. Their starting zone is the hardest to get into. Right at the start you can go left to a level 9 area, forward to a level ~5, forward and right, or right to a rather sparse level 2 area. It's just not really clear and there's nothing defining a good path to take. Confusing, but I managed. I didn't really enjoy the zone that much overall. A few nice places to look at, but by far my least favorite of all the starting zones.

I spent WAY too much time in the Asuran starting zone with my Engineer. I barely went anywhere else all beta and hit level 22. So yeah, loved it. I really enjoyed dropping bombs as the engineer and rifle jumping around. Didn't like the other Engineer kits though. I did all the jumping puzzles, which were sweet, then jumped my way into areas you're not allowed to be in and explored some more. Definitely making an Asura. I think I want a Human and a Charr too. Classes will be Elementalist, Guardian, and Engineer - but none of those really fit Charr for me. Need to use the Charr power buff utility with a strong power class, like warrior.

[Zoobi]

TB's last impressions on GW2. Might be particularly interesting for those that are tired of the theme park. Sums up a lot of my thoughts on the game as well. I cannot wait for the 28th of august to arrive.

[Taolas]

25th for headstart via prepurchase.

Awesome underwater puzzle for Sylvari (minor content spoiler): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx4UdIpaCWU

[Taolas]

Found some armor spoilers. Will help me pick which race is a light, medium, or heavy class.
http://dulfy.net/2012/07/21/gw2-armor-previews/#9

[Graveworm]

Clearly this wasn't case for everyone-- however, the problem seemed pretty common/wide spread. At one point nearly the entire front page of the support forums was threads dedicated to this issue.

The fact that the forum was inundated with threads on a single issue in no way indicates how widespread the issue was across the entire player population. Also, they clearly weren't server problems, they were client-side. If anything it was an optimization issue.

Found some armor spoilers. Will help me pick which race is a light, medium, or heavy class.
http://dulfy.net/2012/07/21/gw2-armor-previews/#9

This is what happens when ArenaNet gives me months of waiting:


(Click for Full Size)

[Sillywilly]

The fact that the forum was inundated with threads on a single issue in no way indicates how widespread the issue was across the entire player population. Also, they clearly weren't server problems, they were client-side. If anything it was an optimization issue.

Wait wait wait. You mean the fact that any one single issue doesn't usually result in the entire front page of a forum being covered with the same complaint, doesn't mean that a problem is at least uncommonly widespread when it does lead to the entire front page being covered in complaints? You're just....one of "those guys" aren't you? Arena.net could shut the entire game down and cancel release because of this problem, but if you weren't affected you'd still argue that it wasn't "widespread" or a common problem lol. There should be an actual name created for your condition beyond just a WIDESPREAD side effect of aspergers.

Diablo III didn't even have the entire front page filled up and Blizz started offering refunds.

[Valec]

Wait wait wait. You mean the fact that any one single issue doesn't usually result in the entire front page of a forum being covered with the same complaint, doesn't mean that a problem is at least uncommonly widespread when it does lead to the entire front page being covered in complaints? You're just....one of "those guys" aren't you? Arena.net could shut the entire game down and cancel release because of this problem, but if you weren't affected you'd still argue that it wasn't "widespread" or a common problem lol. There should be an actual name created for your condition beyond just a WIDESPREAD side effect of aspergers.

Diablo III didn't even have the entire front page filled up and Blizz started offering refunds.

Actually, Graveworm is right. Certainly it's not a rare issue, but with the large amount of players in the beta, i'd say that in no way should you assume that the issue is affecting the majority of players. Sample pool is large. People don't go to the forums to say "Game is working great!".

[Zavon]

No, Graveworm is not right. His statement about the distribution among the population was completely irrelevant. I never stated that any specific portion of the population had the problem, like he decided to infer with his unreasoning desire to thwart me at any opportunity.

I merely stated that it was a common enough issue to fill up the front page of the tech forum. I have no idea what that equates to in actual numbers-- just that I knew it wasnt isolated to me.

That being said, if it was a problem on my end, why didn't I have it during previous beta weekends? Why didn't the other people who reported it as well?

The game ran flawlessly
before.

edit:. What class/race interests you guys the most?

[Graveworm]

No, Graveworm is not right. His statement about the distribution among the population was completely irrelevant. I never stated that any specific portion of the population had the problem, like he decided to infer with his unreasoning desire to thwart me at any opportunity.

Actually, I just have a different interpretation of what "common" and "widespread" mean than you do. I'm wasn't trying to say you were wrong so much as I was defending Guild Wars 2 from the accusation that a substantial percentage of people have issues running the game. From all of the feedback I've read on Something Awful (and there is a lot of it, ranging from good to bad to OMG THE GAME DOESN'T RUN), it seems that the majority of players, whether they like the game or not, can play it without any significant performance issues. To me, this says the problem isn't widespread.

That being said, if it was a problem on my end, why didn't I have it during previous beta weekends? Why didn't the other people who reported it as well?

Performance issues my not be widespread by my definition, but they are by far the most common issue people have experienced and are something ArenaNet has been working on. Many people who had issues with performance during previous BWEs have reported that they can now play the game smooth as butter, but it seems some of the tweaks they made have affected you and others negatively. You can bet that they will keep working on and fixing performance-related issues, though, so if you could run the game well before I'd say there is a pretty good chance you will be able to run the game fine again at launch if not shortly after.

What class/race interests you guys the most?

Race - Charr probably interest me the most based on early in-game storyline, though I still like the lore of the Norn the best. Asura are also fairly interesting, but I find Sylvari and Humans to be pretty dull.
Class - Mesmer is the most interesting to me on paper, but in practice I've enjoyed bashing faces in with a Warrior and the versatility of an Elementalist more than I've enjoyed Mesmer. That being said, Mesmer is on the list (along with Necro and Thief) of professions that are getting heavily worked on before launch, so that could all change.