After my initial feelings about the game, especially combat I made a necromancer. This was the one class I had no intentions of making as I'd played it to death in GW1. Having done so however, I can say I am enjoying it more. Not loving the combat still, but it makes more sense to me as a necromancer then it did as a mesmer or elementalist so it's possible the others just did not suit me. Also it's possible I understand the skills better for this profession as I have experience with it in GW1 even though they are technically different and the combat is very different indeed. So I will hold off judgement on the combat for awhile yet though I think Creslin makes some very valid points regarding it in his thread.

Tried out crafting. Interesting. More so then WoW for sure. I've not gotten very far but it's definately something I would like to delve into deeper. One thing I find annoying however and my first invonvenience is the cost of salvage kits. 80 copper I believe for 1 if I am not mistaken someone correct me if I am wrong. Level 7 and I already want to run to the cash shop and buy salvage kits in order to keep up with crafting for my level. Hoping this doesn't become as big of a money sink as AION's crafting was at release though thankfully it seems blessedly faster to craft things then AION.

Personal story. First time I felt like I was in the Guild Wars universe was during the personal story. Some parts are too easy, some parts are crazily too difficult for one person. For a personal story it should be a consistent difficulty for one person alone as it is "personal". Leveling up to make the difficult bits more manageable does not really work due to scaling. But others have had these same concerns so I hope it's something they fix.

Second inconvenience is money sinks v coin drops. I don't dare use the waypoints incase I can't afford to repair armour later. Simply not enough money dropping in game to begin to play the game using all the options there. So I'm walking....and wanting a mount even though I was against them some months ago.

Third inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Though I didn't try it out much my other half and sons seem to be in love with the pvp. They are having a blast in wvwvw and especially the competitive pvp.

I mentioned things like character movements in my other review so I won't bother mentioning them again here. All in I think this game still needs a lot of work with things like mob scaling and filling in the spaces where you need to grind heart quests or mobs in order to move on. But one thing that I am glad about is the official forum has settled down into a more constructive mode with good feedback and suggestions and will just have to hope that the devs take a serious look at the feedback. Also there does not seem to be much if any forum pvp going on unless the mods are deleting the posts before I read them. I can't say I'm sorry to not see it. Anyway GW2 could be a game I could have fun in for some time though at the moment I can't see it having the same appeal for me as GW1 long term. Though like GW1 I think it could be good for casual players as well as those who love competetive style pvp so long as you can get to grips with the combat.  Personally I'm still waiting for a game with some sandbox in there somewhere and I don't see any in GW2. To be fair, I didn't expect to either.

I would just like to add I don't see this game releasing for at least 3 month and think it would be a mistake to release it before then. But we'll see how it goes.

edit: mats storage is in, just some mats won't fit in it. It's a good start though, hopefully they'll fix that.

also, thanks Gilwen for clarification on the salvage kits! More then 1 use for that price so I'm happy :)

P.S. Just thinking about other things I'd like to add that one reason Sunday was a better day for me is because I stopped following the road. I just walked around looking at everything, found more heart quests along the way and with the change in camera that I hope is coming I think I will enjoy wondering around even more. I began to notice things like dandelion seeds flying around which was quite a nice touch. Also went to Lion's Arch and jumped off into the water and explored. This I think is lovely and I could see myself spending much time exploring this. The game felt a lot less like it was on rails then I initially thought.

Originally posted by EmwynThird inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

Originally posted by Emwyn

Third inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

 

This is why you have cash shop and i am sure you would be able to purchase extra bank slots. it is B2P game after all, can't give you everything for free.

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Originally posted by EmwynThird inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

well that is good news thank you. Me and a bunch of other people on the forums seem to have completely missed it?! Still hoping they increase the 30 to 50 or 60 for the start.

Yeah, you can pretty much carry infinite crafting mats in your bank right now. Not just the base mats, but often the mats you combine as well. For example, juste cloth and jute bolts. Copper ore and copper ingots. From what I can tell so far, infinite space for things like that.

The exception is the mats you get off mobs. The tiny claws. The tiny totems and things. I hope they add support for those things in the bank.

Originally posted by Emwyn

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Originally posted by EmwynThird inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

well that is good news thank you. Me and a bunch of other people on the forums seem to have completely missed it?! Still hoping they increase the 30 to 50 or 60 for the start.

Totally, 30 is weak. Especially since it's over your whole account and not just per character.

It'll be the first think i spend gold to get gems for.

Edit: Let me also add that every time you do a heart quest, they send you a mail with money in it. I didn't realize this in the begininng, but once I did, I had plenty of money.

Originally posted by Emwyn

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Originally posted by EmwynThird inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

well that is good news thank you. Me and a bunch of other people on the forums seem to have completely missed it?! Still hoping they increase the 30 to 50 or 60 for the start.

I think the little tab to bring up the 'collections' is on the far left.  Then there is a crafting section in this with blank spots showing all the crafting mats you can drop in.  Not in game at the moment so can't confirm those details.

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Originally posted by Emwyn

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

well that is good news thank you. Me and a bunch of other people on the forums seem to have completely missed it?! Still hoping they increase the 30 to 50 or 60 for the start.

I think the little tab to bring up the 'collections' is on the far left.  Then there is a crafting section in this with blank spots showing all the crafting mats you can drop in.  Not in game at the moment so can't confirm those details.

I see it now JRonnie. Also includes storage for cooking ingredients and also mini storage. Something I wished for in GW1. Nice.

Well after this weekend I can honestly say I STILL do not know what my main wil be.  I played a Warrior (which was going to be my first choice to 14) A thief to 18, a Mesmer to 11, a Elementalist to 10 and a Guardian to 8.  Right now I can see myself playing the Warrior (love Rifle) Thief (actualy got to enjoy htis guy in WvW ALOT more then any other class) or a Guardian (But I feel he sucks for damage in PvP but he is amazing in PvE).

*should note I have no intentions playing a Necro, Engineer or a Ranger whatso ever.

Originally posted by Zylaxx

Well after this weekend I can honestly say I STILL do not know what my main wil be.  I played a Warrior (which was going to be my first choice to 14) A thief to 18, a Mesmer to 11, a Elementalist to 10 and a Guardian to 8.  Right now I can see myself playing the Warrior (love Rifle) Thief (actualy got to enjoy htis guy in WvW ALOT more then any other class) or a Guardian (But I feel he sucks for damage in PvP but he is amazing in PvE).

 

*should note I have no intentions playing a Necro, Engineer or a Ranger whatso ever.

I don't know about you but I am betting they will be changing things a bit for the melee before release so maybe your guardian/warrior/thief will play a bit differently and hopefully better for you. Fingers crossed!

And maybe consider the rest or at least trying them quickly at the next BWE. I was NOT making a necro at all cost. I am glad I did as I was not having a bit of fun in combat until then. Funny because when GW1 first started I was NOT making a necro then either.

About salvage kits, they have 20 or 30 uses before they run out. So paying 80 coppers for that isn't too much. After level 10 you will start getting bit more cash (although not super much) as I had about 20 silver at level 18.

Biggest thing I bought was the Adept book at level 11 and that cost me about 10 silver (can't remember the cost) and some WvWvW schematics for catapults and ballistas.

Right at the last second, I learned what I want to be. I want to be a warrior that uses a shield to turtle and shout at people to heal them. Here is the spec I was going here.

"For great justice!"

"Shake it off!"

Also, I can bring people back from the dead with TWO spells! My elite skill and my "I will avenge you!" shout, which also can be used as a heal. The shout warrior spec is also better at reviving people than other specs. I found it to be very nice in the battlegrounds.

Fair write-up, Em.

I too, am curious how a completely polished GW2 would play like. All the little things that could use some improvement as well as better performance might make it feel much more enjoyable. Echoing your hopes that they will work on it for a few months at least. (Also hoping that they don't still have loads of work to do on higher level content and the unaccessible races, so polish takes a back seat).

Originally posted by Gilwen

About salvage kits, they have 20 or 30 uses before they run out. So paying 80 coppers for that isn't too much. After level 10 you will start getting bit more cash (although not super much) as I had about 20 silver at level 18.

Biggest thing I bought was the Adept book at level 11 and that cost me about 10 silver (can't remember the cost) and some WvWvW schematics for catapults and ballistas.

<3 thanks so much for telling me this. I had 2 silver at the time and I did not buy one because of that. I think they need to work on their tooltips regarding these things but that's minor. Nice to know they are similar anyway to GW1 and aren't going to completely break my pixel pocketbook!

Originally posted by Emwyn

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Originally posted by EmwynThird inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

well that is good news thank you. Me and a bunch of other people on the forums seem to have completely missed it?! Still hoping they increase the 30 to 50 or 60 for the start.

Crafting tab?  Crafting tab in the bank??

/facepalm

Yup, missed it too.

Originally posted by Unlight

Originally posted by Emwyn

Originally posted by JRonnie1976

Originally posted by EmwynThird inconvenience. Bank slots. 30 is not enough if you want to even think about crafting. Hoping they implement a crafting tab like they had in GW1 with large stack numbers for crafting mats.

Just a quick note on this.  There was definately a 'crafting' tab in my bank vault.  Had blank spots for all the various crafting materials which you could drop the mats in to.  Very handy.

well that is good news thank you. Me and a bunch of other people on the forums seem to have completely missed it?! Still hoping they increase the 30 to 50 or 60 for the start.

Crafting tab?  Crafting tab in the bank??

/facepalm

Yup, missed it too.

Open up the bank, on the left you have a clicky called Collections, space for common crafting mats, cooking ingredients and mini's is in there.

     I managed to play a human necro all the way to lvl 20 and i never once felt like i was in danger of running out of gold. by the time the beta was over i had over 45 silver, and this is after buying my trait book at 11 for 10 silver and i did all kinds of waypoint hopping. Of course that was largely due to my attempts to go back and forth from divinity's reach to queensdale in many vain attempts to get into the same overflow as my gf. Defintly enjoyed the necro, especially after i figured out what weapon combinations i work well with. It seems that figuring out what weapon combinations work well with your playstyle is a big factor in how a class is rec'd.

     My GF actually tried out 4 classes and i was watching over her shoulder as she was unlocking skills. She didnt seem to care much for ranger and guardian, but she absolutely loved mesmer and elementalist. We were both originally going to be a pair of necro's but now she is dead set on her main being a sylvari mesmer. After watching her in action with all the new toys/skills, i dont blame her at all.

Originally posted by DarkPony

Fair write-up, Em.

I too, am curious how a completely polished GW2 would play like. All the little things that could use some improvement as well as better performance might make it feel much more enjoyable. Echoing your hopes that they will work on it for a few months at least. (Also hoping that they don't still have loads of work to do on higher level content and the unaccessible races, so polish takes a back seat).

I'll give my thoughts on the next BWE as long as it doesn't fall on the weekend my inlaws are here. Hoping you get a chance to try it again at some point before release too Pony. Forgot to mention something else that bothered me a LOT but it's bothered many others too and hopefully it will be fixed. I felt like I was in both a huge world and a tiny one at the same time. Because you just can't zoom out very far. I think that is one of my problems with combat as well so if they fix this it'll be interesting to see if my feelings on combat improve as well.