Originally posted by colddog04

Pretty good so far. I feel like there are a million different things to do right now and I want to see them all. It leaves me feeling a bit overwhelmed.

 

Lag has been a bit of an issue. Graphics could run smoother on max settings. But these are things everyone should expect on a massive BETA event like this months away from release.

 

The onlyother issue I've had so far is that my brother wants to play more than me. He is rolling around structured PvP as a ranger and is apparently having too much fun to hand the controls back over.

Pretty much the same for me. ^^

Lag is bad.. but it's beta and forgivable.. it's entirely playable, but the lag is bad and would not be acceptable for a live game.

And same on ppl wanting to play/share... it's MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! 

I chose a class that I will not likely play when it goes live, Engineer... I chose the support abilities, too.. to even further keep it from what I'd like to eventually play. It's a lot of fun .. especially the elixir gun.. but I'm so going to play a caster or melee when it goes live. I'm so not into this quasi support stuff even if it's fun for now.

I do not regret purchasing and would do it again.

I'll give a much more detailed version after beta ends.. this is just an update since the servers came down to address some problems (overcrowding, lag... my god there are a lot of people on the NA servers).

Just a few thoughts after a few hours in-game:

I like the art style but even on maximum the graphics aren't as detailed and don't "pop" like I thought they would. They are decent but nothing great.

5 GHz 3960X and 4 GTX 680's nearly idling while playing the game (with very low FPS) = ya ok. Low GW2.exe priority keeps killing my USB DAC sound and Logitech G-13.

Are all the maps and cities going to be linked in retail? Makes the game feel small when you can just fast travel everywhere and exploration is basically nill. I miss the old days of having to travel and explore things.

PvP feels very "arcade-ish". Seems like whoever spams their abilities the quickest in a key-smash fest wins. Seems like very little strategy to anything.

Particle effects are way over done and we need a way to turn them down. Fight with more than a few people turns into a particle effect demonstration and it's hard to tell what is going on.

This is all I see on my screen when PvPing:

Originally posted by stringboi
Having a ball so far, lag seems to be the only issue...which is to be expected.  Not worried one bit.

same here

Originally posted by Rivalen

Originally posted by Fir3line
The server routing is bad, in portugal i got no lag, everyone in uk on my guild does

Same Portugal here.

Zero lag.

Well my server is a quite laggy since it is full.. (Sea of Sorrow)

So far, other than the real bad lag in human starter area, its been pretty good.  The thing that stuck out at me after playing a necro then a mesmer through the first bit of the starting area is that it doesn't actually really get stale the way other MMOs do you can stay much more in the moment.

This is for two reasons:

1) The events are not static.  IN the Quarry I was fighting harpies in one play through and Earth elementals in another

2) you aren't really chasing after quests.  Basically its exploration and "found" activities.

Also advancement really isn't that fast.

So far game is quite full featured.  Has some very nice visuals.  You can run around a zone for hours and not have to do a load screen, of course the personal quest will run you in and out of instances so doing that you may see many load screens in an hour.

One of the surprises is crafting actually looks like its pretty good.  One great thing is resource nodes are often look just like other terrain features.  you don't find nice little piels of wood, you actually chop down a tree that looks just like the other trees.

I wouldn't say there is anything in here that is all that new.  There is very little feature wise where I have not seen something similar in some other game.  But alot of things are slightly evolved and it has almost every feature you could think of. Crafting, sieges, auction house, armor dyes, exploration nooks and crannies.

I think the thing that really got me is I was running down a stream to see where it went.  I wound up at a lake and said to myself "Oh nothing big here I guess just run along shore".  Then I was said "Oh Duh this is Guild Wars 2.  The water is a whole area to itself and I need to train my water weapons this not nothing is exactly what I needed."

Originally posted by Honner

Originally posted by Rivalen

Originally posted by Fir3line
The server routing is bad, in portugal i got no lag, everyone in uk on my guild does

Same Portugal here.

Zero lag.

Well my server is a quite laggy since it is full.. (Sea of Sorrow)

Istan was full to.

No lag, but like i said some french i was playing with had but loads of lag.

Originally posted by CallsignVega

PvP feels very "arcade-ish". Seems like whoever spams their abilities the quickest in a key-smash fest wins. Seems like very little strategy to anything.

I didn't feel that way at all.  I've already gotten a few strategies down to deal with certain classes, and rotating abilities and knowing when to run, as well as doing everything in your power to stay alive until help arrives, can mean all the difference.  I actually have avoided a downed state by using my skills wisely and ended up rallying without getting knocked down, then coming back with my "rescuers" to take the other team head-on.  It's thrilling really.

I enjoyed it a lot. The whole exploration thing really is something else. I literally found myself unable to follow my character's personal story because there is so much stuff going on around me and I would get distracted. Like I would be running towards a mission point and an event would happen. So now I'm doing an event. By the time I'm done with that event, it changed to a different event or another event started... It's pretty nice.

The game does have some issues, I'm not going to lie. It's poorly optimized and there is lag and abysmal FPS. The difference in difficulty between the human 1-15 zone and the charr 1-15 zone is very noticable. In the human zone I never died, in the charr zone I die all the time. It's pretty brutal at times and I like it. I think that the characters are a bit too squishy though. It could be because the events scale and the damage ramps up due to the amount of people but being 1 shotted is not fun.

I've experimented with a few weapon sets on a thief character and a lot can be said about proper skill use. You can't just spam attacks, you actually have to think about what you're doing or you'll die. The thief's F1 "Steal" ability feels gimmicky to me. I've used it a few times in the beginning but eventually stopped and haven't missed it yet. It may be useful at higher levels, I can't say for sure. The warrior does get some pretty nice F1 attacks.

All-in-all, I'm having a blast. There is so much shit going on in the game that this day has literally flew by and I barely noticed.

Originally posted by Rivalen

Originally posted by Honner

Originally posted by Rivalen

Originally posted by Fir3line
The server routing is bad, in portugal i got no lag, everyone in uk on my guild does

Same Portugal here.

Zero lag.

Well my server is a quite laggy since it is full.. (Sea of Sorrow)

Istan was full to.

No lag, but like i said some french i was playing with had but loads of lag.

Well I'm in AUS the server on NA that could be a good reason :)

Originally posted by CallsignVega

Just a few thoughts after a few hours in-game:

 

I like the art style but even on maximum the graphics aren't as detailed and don't "pop" like I thought they would. They are decent but nothing great.

 

5 GHz 3960X and 4 GTX 680's nearly idling while playing the game (with very low FPS) = ya ok. Low GW2.exe priority keeps killing my USB DAC sound and Logitech G-13.

 

Are all the maps and cities going to be linked in retail? Makes the game feel small when you can just fast travel everywhere and exploration is basically nill. I miss the old days of having to travel and explore things.

 

PvP feels very "arcade-ish". Seems like whoever spams their abilities the quickest in a key-smash fest wins. Seems like very little strategy to anything.

 

Particle effects are way over done and we need a way to turn them down. Fight with more than a few people turns into a particle effect demonstration and it's hard to tell what is going on.

 

This is all I see on my screen when PvPing:

 

 

 

Not sure what you mean about no reason to explore.  You can't fast somewhere you haven't been.  Also Fast Travel isn't free everytime you use it charges you even for a respawn after death.

By definition you can't explore somewhere you have already been.  So fast travel does not preclude exploration in anyway.

Originally posted by Fir3line
The server routing is bad, in portugal i got no lag, everyone in uk on my guild does

Only getting the odd spike in WvW every half hour or so from UK also.

Good!

If they get a handle on the lag/overflow and add tweaks for the camera a bit / add more modes (I don't like certain things about the camera in certain situations atm) I'd say GREAT :)

Originally posted by Eir_S

Originally posted by CallsignVega

PvP feels very "arcade-ish". Seems like whoever spams their abilities the quickest in a key-smash fest wins. Seems like very little strategy to anything.

I didn't feel that way at all.  I've already gotten a few strategies down to deal with certain classes, and rotating abilities and knowing when to run, as well as doing everything in your power to stay alive until help arrives, can mean all the difference.  I actually have avoided a downed state by using my skills wisely and ended up rallying without getting knocked down, then coming back with my "rescuers" to take the other team head-on.  It's thrilling really.

It's because most people are new, and don't know what they are doing. I noticed I was facerolling on my engineer. At first I was like 'goddamn! This class is so OP!' and then I realized most people were just bad. Only good guardians gave me some trouble.

The game is definitely a lot more skill based than most people realize. Not only does good skill useage help in PvE, but you survive soo much longer in PvP. It does feel a bit 'easy' when you are roflstomping skillspammers, though. I guess that's what you get for trying to charge into an army of turrets.

Originally posted by Mephster
Having an awesome time. I love my Charr Engineer!

*whispers*  I do too!!!!

Originally posted by Rivalen

Negatives:

Took me 1 hour to log in.

Going straight to pvp is quite overwhelming, you do need to pratice.

Zerged events aren't that fun.

WvWvW without proper guilds is just wrong. No strategy = no fun.

Cash shop....mystic keys? Really?

 

Positives:

Literally no lag. (Though some french were complaining about it so it could be dependend to region)

Literally amazing FPS, i tested this game on the weakest pc i have at home (Dual core 2.8, ATI 4870, 2GB Ram), on medium i had no problems at all, i was amazed! But i didn't test the keep door zerg, though i'm certain that will just crash this machine.

I rolled Eng, partied with like 12 people in a matter of 2 hours, did preety much everything from really cool events to discovering combos, to check hidden chests, to just chilling and having fun in the canteen, i expected the community to be bad, honestly, this was by far the best community i've experienced since Lotro.

The world is marvelous, i expected events to repeat, and they do, but i tested a couple to check the enviroment and it doesn't feel repetitive at all, most events have chains or take you to a part of the story, this is best progress i've seen in questing ever, it's just fun.

Zones are HUGE and filled with life, misteries and challenges, i hope they take the time to do this to all zones.

Had alot of really though PVE fights, expected much easier, most events with up to 5 persons are really cool, with more they're too easy.

PvP is thrilling and it makes a world of difference with whom you're playing, i never expected combos to make a big difference  but my eng did some amazing things with an elementalist, it's quite easy to know who's playing well.

WvWvW zone is awesome, had quite a few ambush moments, the maps are HUGE.

I literally only stopped playing because they're doing maintenance, i didn't even notice the time go by.

 

TLDR:

Cash shop got me worried but the game is amazing, surpassed my already high expectations.

Forgot to specify that i was playing on ISTAN-EU, from Portugal.

Somehow alot of the lag issues seem to be depended on your location.

Well so far it is interesting. Most of that is because it's just a new MMO to explore. But enough is the game's style and the tweaks on the core WoW/EQ MMO gameplay.

I've levelled a Necro and Ranger to 10 and done the character stories, which are very interesting and almost a must have in today's MMOs. Fortunately the stories do not bore. They are interesting and draw your attention in. Unfortunately, they are also so free form that it is very easy to out level the story missions leaving you to do a fun story with boring combat. But on the next playthrough you will know to do the stories first. So that works out.

Combat is pretty WoW/EQ MMO standard, there are combos that are difficult to chain at low level since things die so quickly, but eventually become much more noticable. However, this comes after enough levels that a pattern of play sets in and its easy to miss the combos for a few levels after you start being able to do them, simply because they are not obvious right from the start.

When someone dies near you you can click on them to rez them. But since it takes time and people only die during the public raids (mostly) then I have noticed most people just ignore the dead, and continue to fight. Why? Well I can only guess its greed. They don't waste time rezzing you so they have a better chance of ranking high, and you are dead so you can't compete with them. This really is an ignorant attitude though, and it is being propogated by old warhammer players, because there is no 'beat everyone else to be #1' aspect to the public quests. Getting the gold result in a public raid is super easy and you can fight for about a third of the total time of the raid and still get gold. This leaves plenty of time to help others and continuing to complete objectives does not raise you to 'super gold' or 'mega platinum' rank. there is only gold and its easy to get. So help the deaders. (and don't be greedy)

Both the Necro and Ranger felt powerful as I played them, but the Necro felt more powerful due to AoE and not needing a nice weapon to lay down the hurt. Of course this also made me die a lot as a necro because I aggroed everything in the public raids. Ranger on the other hand was a bit slower starting off. Once I picked up a 6th level longbow thought, my necro looked like a joke. (I am sure the necro will come back into the spotlight when he gets a nice warhorn)

The crafting is easy and no failures. It's not a deep crafters type system like EQ2 or Vanguard, but it's also not nearly as frustrating as those. It's basicallt WoW crafting but even easier. Important items can be made immediately upon starting your crafting career. So far I have tried leatherworking, cooking, and artificing, and all three are easy to level in, make great items right off the bat, and multi-part builds are doable from things you kill/loot right from level 1. A casual crafters dream.

Cash Shop items are pretty serious at the start. No Pay2Win items but bank slots and bag slots right off the bat. Many things will be needed at the beginning like bank access tokens since there is no bank in the first city (Norn only I did not see the other starting cities.) Banking seems to be a pain in the butt at the beginning for that very reason. (oh and don't click 'deposit to your collectibles in your inventory menu unless you don't want to be able to use those items for a few levels or are willing to spend cash gems to get at them. you have been warned)

More to come after the servers come back up...

As of this morning I hadn't received my key or email yet, went off to work for the day.

Got back home at 2:00 PST, already had the client downloaded just incase my email finally showed up. Check inbox and the email is there! Yes!

I'm pumped, I launch the game and go to login.....

Only to spend the next three and a half hours being spanked by login errors. My rear end is sore and battered by this point, at approximately 5:45 PST I finally manage to login.

I create a character, watch the opening video, and boom! Disconnected back to login.

Spend the next twenty minutes fighting login errors again, manage to log back in and load my character.

Start playing and am having a great time, until half an hour later when out of nowhere a virtual tsunami of mind numbing lag hits that completely destroys playability. Spend the next two hours fighting the lag monster in a near futile effort to accomplish anything. End up getting disconnected, but manage to log back in immediately.

Decide to try and transfer to a lower pop realm in an effort to relieve network congestion.

Transfers are not working for most people though, go figure.

Servers down for 30 so ANet can deploy a new build.

So yeah, it's been something alright, I'm not entirely sure what yet. Until I can get some form of relatively stable testing done I can't really make a sound and fair judgment.