Performance: not as bad as I thought it would be. A bit laggy continously but I cranked up stuff which was set lower for me at default because medium textures are a bit drab. No stuttering, loading happens fast, even between large cities.

My pc isn't the best of the bunch at the moment but it is handling the game quite well. My GPU fan isn't blowing its socks off like in many other games, but that migh have to do with the game mainly relying on CPU power for now.

One of my main concerns, the loading screens, haven't been bothering me much because zones and cities are huge and when they happen they are pretty short.

Visuals: Pretty well done. I can tell they implemented quite some scaling options because the level of detail, viewing range, etc is impressive.

Graphics aren't the very best in crispness and texture detail (even after turning off blur) but the actual design of the world and everything it contains, the attention to detail in just about everything, as well as the lighting are very impressive: sheer skill and inspiration in the art department makes up for a lot of uber-crispness. Even for low end machines I reckon, as long as you can display high quality textures you should be fine. Some very talented people working over at Anet, that much is clear.

Music: Best of the crop, nothing to complain about here. Just standing around in Lion's Arch, soaking up the atmosphere with the city's theme playing in the background is awe inspiring.

Atmosphere: overwhelming, really. This is the point I am most positive about. I think you can spend hours exploring the cities alone, they are positively huge and sprawling. There's a silly amount of lively npc's everywhere, stuff happening and conversations going on. Because you can greet everyone, the npc's who offer actual services don't stand out that much which makes the experience feel more real. I thought they would feel much more "backdropish" but they are actually very well done. So far the best implementation of cities in any mmorpg I've played, tbh.

Skyrim's town life might have the same feeling of liveliness because npc's having their own routines, but GW2 makes Skyrim's cities feel tiny in comparison.

Combat & questing: The combat system seems pretty straightforward. Having access to a dedicated range of skills for your equiped weapons from the get go is pretty nice: I think there won't be as much advantage to be gained over others by clever UI management which is so important in games where you have 30 skills at your disposal at any given time (Swtor to give an example).

Playing a ranger and pet AI seems limited and pretty buggy still. My bear just doesn't feel like fighting occasionaly.

The main combat & event gameplay feels pretty themeparkish, though. Doing all events in an area feels a bit like catching pokemon. But I expected that.

Haven't tried pvp yet.

Overall: As of yet I am positively impressed. I came in this fairly neutral, freeloading on a beta key I got from a friend. I was interested but with a lot of gripes about artificial aspects and mechanics. So far the game's liveliness, scope and inspired environments have managed to subdue those

I'd have to play some more for a better, deeper impression though.

edit 1:

I am now at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

+1

personally though, i thought the visuals are quite impressive running everything maxed out. with upcoming optimizations, it should be even better. and i was surprised how well the game ran on my gf's $800 Asus laptop.

Originally posted by DarkPony

Overall: As of yet I am positively impressed. I came in this fairly neutral, freeloading on a beta key I got from a friend. I was interested but with a lot of gripes about artificial aspects and mechanics. So far the game's liveliness, scope and inspired environments have managed to subdue those

I'd have to play some more for a better, deeper impression though.

 

 

 

Lucky bastage...=)p

Originally posted by Distopia

Originally posted by DarkPony

Overall: As of yet I am positively impressed. I came in this fairly neutral, freeloading on a beta key I got from a friend. I was interested but with a lot of gripes about artificial aspects and mechanics. So far the game's liveliness, scope and inspired environments have managed to subdue those

I'd have to play some more for a better, deeper impression though.

 

 

 

Lucky bastage...=)p

*points fingers at Distopia and doing a Cartman dance*

Nah-nah, nah-nah, nah nah!

Distopia can't play the beta!

Originally posted by DarkPony

Originally posted by Distopia

Originally posted by DarkPony

Overall: As of yet I am positively impressed. I came in this fairly neutral, freeloading on a beta key I got from a friend. I was interested but with a lot of gripes about artificial aspects and mechanics. So far the game's liveliness, scope and inspired environments have managed to subdue those

I'd have to play some more for a better, deeper impression though.

 

 

 

Lucky bastage...=)p

*points fingers at Distopia and doing a Cartman dance*

Nah-nah, nah-nah, nah nah!

Distopia can't play the beta!

further proof that utopias have more fun?

When it comes to graphics I agree. The amount of detail is ridiculous. Sometimes I wonder why do those npc's need THAT much detailed chair or forge. GW2 isn't that crisp as some other games but it really makes up with the level of detail.

The combat is fun as long as I don't have lags. It really improved for me when I could press 2 and fire off instantly and not 1 sec later =P

p.s. I am at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

Originally posted by DarkPony

p.s. I am at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

 

Don't forget you can switch weapon sets as well, which would bring your total amount of weapon skills up to 10.

Originally posted by stayBlind

Originally posted by DarkPony

p.s. I am at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

 

Don't forget you can switch weapon sets as well, which would bring your total amount of weapon skills up to 10.

True. But I wonder whether that gives you so much more viability in varying situations. So far it looks to me that each set is pretty viable on its own. Might be wrong though. Curious about it.

Originally posted by DarkPony

p.s. I am at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

 

I can't help but think a more complex number of skills is missing the point. If the combat requires active attention on what is happening at the character, you can't afford to be watching cooldowns and trying to pick out 1 skill from 30 that suits each moment.  So if you feel you don't have enough skills, maybe your not paying enough attention to whats actually going on.

not slammin, just sayin.

Originally posted by stayBlind

Originally posted by DarkPony

p.s. I am at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

 

Don't forget you can switch weapon sets as well, which would bring your total amount of weapon skills up to 10.

I'm finding the weapon switching to be a lot trickier to master than I'd anticipated.  It's not hard to learn one weapon set, but learning when to switch to maximize your effectiveness takes a lot more skill than I'd thought.  But I'm also playing a Mesmer which are supposed to be one of the least straightforward professions, so that might be an influence.

Now for a few hours sleep before getting back at 'er.

Originally posted by DarkPony

Originally posted by Distopia

Originally posted by DarkPony

Overall: As of yet I am positively impressed. I came in this fairly neutral, freeloading on a beta key I got from a friend. I was interested but with a lot of gripes about artificial aspects and mechanics. So far the game's liveliness, scope and inspired environments have managed to subdue those

I'd have to play some more for a better, deeper impression though.

 

 

 

Lucky bastage...=)p

*points fingers at Distopia and doing a Cartman dance*

Nah-nah, nah-nah, nah nah!

Distopia can't play the beta!

:(

Originally posted by DarkPony

True. But I wonder whether that gives you so much more viability in varying situations. So far it looks to me that each set is pretty viable on its own. Might be wrong though. Curious about it.

Ya, each weapon skill set definetly looks viable on its own. My mind has been reeling over the possibilities when weapon swapping is taken into account though.

For instance, if I were playing a Necromancer, I could use a Scepter/Dagger along with Axe/War Horn. The Scepter/Dagger combo provides long range condition application as well as a single damage/per condition skill.

If I were charged by a Warrior or another close combat oriented class, I could switch to the Axe/War Horn offhand. This combo provides mid-range damage skills, an AOE cripple + damage/per condition, a COF stun effect, and a life-leeching speed buff. This bar provides utility agaisnt melee-based classes as well as some direct damage capability if I need to finish someone off or if the enemy is condition-removal heavy.

Perhaps what I love most about the system is the fact that there is a cooldown on the weapon swap. If a melee catches me right after I've swapped to my Scepter/Dagger then I'll have to hope I can live long enough to swap back into my melee defense bar. (Hopefully the Weakness skill from the Sceptre/Dagger set will help.)

Thief also have plenty of weapon swap synergies, as well as Warrior. Heck, you could even build an Elementalist solely around swapping attunements!

While it is true that half of your build is preset by what weapon you are using, that half of your build will always be good at what it does. I do agree that there is a very small amount of utility/elite skills at the moment, and I hope they put more in eventually; however, I'd rather have a smaller amount of useful skills as compared to a larger amount of not-so-useful skills. (GW1!)

Pony, nice impressionette and btw glad you got a key! I was also struck by the talent of the art department. Some of it is just plain lovely.

Agree with your thoughts on questing etc.

Didn't try ranger. My necro minions had a few AI issues. I thought I lost one at one point but it was standing far away not sure why. But this has only happened a few times.

As for your edit and update on combat etc, I have to agree. What you said, the whole edit is the part that  I feel lets me down the most and the  thing I feel the most uneasy and unsure about. At the moment for me it's a case of learning to put up with a system I dont like much.

Lucky you with good performances

My is total garbage: 12-20 FPS most of the time :((

On a rig that handles Crisis on very high with no problems whatsoever

Just have to wait for the optimization I guess

I still higly enjoy the game tho! :P

Originally posted by DarkPony

Originally posted by stayBlind

Originally posted by DarkPony

p.s. I am at the point where I feel that combat is actually one of the weaker points in this game. Even if you unlocked some traits and got your 5 weapon skills unlocked. The limitations to the amount of skills available to you at a given time in combat is maybe a bit too limited compared to many other games which shower you with situational utility skills (allowing for a much higher degree of mastery).

Also there's not much choice in character development tactics because of the sets of inherent weapon skills. (At least not in the early game).

Combat is mainly spamming main skills and cool-down-eyeballing the rest. Not unlike hack & slashers.

Whether this feeling will persist at later levels remains to be seen.

 

Don't forget you can switch weapon sets as well, which would bring your total amount of weapon skills up to 10.

True. But I wonder whether that gives you so much more viability in varying situations. So far it looks to me that each set is pretty viable on its own. Might be wrong though. Curious about it.

Each set is viable on its own but you're still limiting yourself. I'm speaking from experience. I went into this thinking, Staff Mesmer! Traditional! Not doing anything else D:< but I got tired of waiting for my staff skills to come off cool-down. Added a greatsword as my second weapon and everything is faaaaaar more fluid and interactive. The game is built around the system, ignoring it is of course going to give you a different experience than was intended. 

BTW since people seem to be having trouble with mesmers, give my build a shot. I use the staff to drop Chaos storm and some illusions then switch to GS and wail on shit. Love it. Once you get your full utility skills, it really begins to kick off. Actually, if I could suggest anything to Anet, it's to let people get access to those skills much faster. I feel far less limited now that I have my utilities (still don't have Elite yet) than I did without them.

Very good feedback!

Combat & questing: The combat system seems pretty straightforward. Having access to a dedicated range of skills for your equiped weapons from the get go is pretty nice: I think there won't be as much advantage to be gained over others by clever UI management which is so important in games where you have 30 skills at your disposal at any given time (Swtor to give an example).

Playing a ranger and pet AI seems limited and pretty buggy still. My bear just doesn't feel like fighting occasionaly.

The main combat & event gameplay feels pretty themeparkish, though. Doing all events in an area feels a bit like catching pokemon. But I expected that.

Haven't tried pvp yet.

x2pts-multiplier for picking ranger; bears do look borked atm. If you can get some feedback on combat in pvp that would be interesting to compare to pve and also perhaps dungeons if those are available? I'm curious how the limitations in skills may eventually prove to improve the combat, is what I'd expect from GW2 but atst easier for newbie players also?

DEs - this expected to be weakest area in the game for me, but if the exploration and atmosphere are good then it should be enjoyable if not exciting.

Thanks again.

Very strange; I am also playing a ranger and I went in expecting very poor AI responsiveness based on what I had heard, but I haven't had any problems to date. I have three pets and they always are right there, attacking whatever target I assign them to (and they disengage from other battles once I direct them fairly quickly as well; bless the "guard" toggle). I always know where they are and I love the feature that lets me swap them out if one is dead or about to die and my Heal As One is on cooldown.

Favorite combo so far: shortbow/axe+torch. I use the torch to put down a fire field with my #5 skill and throw an axe through it, then switch to shortbow and fire away, setting everyone and everything on fire as I do. Plus poison. Plus a bleed through my utility signet. My bear goes om nom nom.

---

Originally posted by gaeanprayer

Each set is viable on its own but you're still limiting yourself. I'm speaking from experience. I went into this thinking, Staff Mesmer! Traditional! Not doing anything else D:< but I got tired of waiting for my staff skills to come off cool-down. Added a greatsword as my second weapon and everything is faaaaaar more fluid and interactive. The game is built around the system, ignoring it is of course going to give you a different experience than was intended. 
BTW since people seem to be having trouble with mesmers, give my build a shot. I use the staff to drop Chaos storm and some illusions then switch to GS and wail on shit. Love it. Once you get your full utility skills, it really begins to kick off. Actually, if I could suggest anything to Anet, it's to let people get access to those skills much faster. I feel far less limited now that I have my utilities (still don't have Elite yet) than I did without them.

---

This. I'm playing a Greatsword/Staff Mesmer myself and I'm loving the synergy between the two, timing of the weapon switch and watching your cooldowns becomes crucial to being really effective. I'm trying out sword and Torch (off-hand) which is good for getting up close and personal and giving you some protection for when you need to get out but my original set up is the most fun so far.

Agree 100% on the atmosphere, they've done an incredible job of creating a world that is both cohesive and alive, while the starting events are very limited in their scope just that simple difference of not having to speak to a quest giver adds enormously to the immersion factor for me.

One thing I've noted about events is not to walk away once it seems to be finished. As an example I came across an NPC in a cave collecting bug parts for fishing, gave her a hand, completed that stage and then followed her as she walked away, she walked quite a distance then started using the bug parts as lures for fishing, while doing so she was attacked by a veteran fish, luckily for me other players were around to help, the veteran spawned plenty of barracudas and I was downed several times but managed to rally. It was only a two step chain but it told a small story by action rather than quest text, it's a positive step in making quests more 'realistic'.

Look forward to reading more of your reviewette Mr Pony :)