Ok..the stress test is over for some time now..what did you think?

I myself had no lag all the time, there were some rlly tiny changes compared to BWE1, but ofcourse since its a stresstest it wasnt made to show off new stuff or anything. Again i had a blast...the pvp is so dynamic and the pve keeps surprising me.

during this stresstest i did mostly structured pvp..something i didnt do at BWE1

Noob footage of me testing 5v5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weM0Swqfe4I&hd=1

overall i found it yust like BWE1 ...a real refreshing moment in a time filled with games that only give more stress. Especially since i had a big guild, we had alot of fun selfmade events and ofcourse nothing more fun then jumping from the divingspot in LA with 50 people :D

Overall yust like bwe1 the game still is a real break from other games i play atm and i cant wait for bwe2

It was great, if a little marred by only having 4 hours to play it myself. This put a little dampener on it, however 2 friends also got to play for their first time and their cheesy grins said it all really.

Just hope by next BWE they have whatever system for joining friends in overflow in place. Overflow roulette/portal camping isn't cool.

Can't wait for the next proper BWE!

Still kinda neutralish on it. I enjoyed what I got to play, but I'm not sure about the long-term.

I had a great time for the hour or so that I got to play.  Can't wait for the next round!

I am so looking forward to sink into WvW at launch and I feel I got already my money back without ever touching the full game. As for the actual stress test I think it went pretty well, read successful, because they fixed a lot of server issues quickly and the game was mostly playable (for me) for most of the time. I wonder what they could fix and improve between two BWEs, since their server team works pretty efficiently.

Originally posted by Irus

Still kinda neutralish on it. I enjoyed what I got to play, but I'm not sure about the long-term.

Just think of it this way. Is it worth your $60/£50? And is it the kind of game you will come back to, after taking a break from it?

Just like with LoL, even if I drop the game to play another game for a while, I see myself coming back to GW2 time & time again. But it simply isn't the kind of everlasting game that will keep me hooked endlessly.

Had a good time also. No lag really to speak of. Logged in and away I went. Looking forward to next BWE and hope to hook up with some ppl for full scale server meltdown. Muuhahahah...

Had fun again and I really like what I see but the game still needs a lot of work. Being in melee range is deadly. I am not sure what my Guardian has a melee weapon for as it just means death. Range classes are a lot more fun and I see 90% of the people playing will end up playing a ranged build over melee weapons in the end. Got a couple crashes to desk top still my wife and I both and some lag spikes. For the stage the game is at I think its looking good. IMO looks like its worth the 60 bucks. 

Tried organised pvp this time. Won every game, came second in all but 1 of the 4 battles I fought in but to be honeswt I haven't a clue HOW since all I did was mash buttons. Obviously didn't know the class as I've played it a few hours only. Never been a fan of organised pvp anyway so it's probably not the games fault.

Decided to play with my necro which I had started last time and enjoyed. Honestly found it boring this time, maybe because the newness had worn off already I really don't know. The thought of facing my human personal story was too much for me so I made a Norn ranger instead. The story is better, not great mind you, but better. I see they took on board the suggestion that you aren't called a hero after killing one giant worm.  Enjoyed the ranger but still felt somehow this game was on rails somewhere in the background. When I found myself literally asleep at the keyboard (it was late in the UK :P) while fighting a boss I decided to completely forget ALL content added to the game and just explore and gather things. I found this much more enjoyable and did the occassional heart quest if I happened to run into one as well as events. Still find it difficult to see how either of these are story driven in any way that is related. Maybe you have to get to the end of the game for it to make sense. 

So all in, I enjoyed gathering and exploring. Enjoyed the ranger  quite a lot. Graphis are still beautiful. Norn city isn't nearly as impressive as Divinity's Reach. In fact I'd be hard pressed to call the Norn city a city at all though I didn't explore it fully.

My husband and sons tried WvWvW. My husband hated it so much which makes me a little sad. He was such a bigt fanboy  regarding this game. I did try to warn him to lower his expectations but it wasn't until last night that the shine wore off for him. Beating on a keep door for what feels like forever is apparently not too enjoyable. Also he said the replayability of content is just non existent as he felt bored the second char character he made. I suggested he do what I did next time and ignore personal quests and to ignore trying to follow the road. We'll see how he gets on next time. He did enjoy the organised PvP though.

I'm not disappointed by the way. I already knew what to expect and in all honesty I wouldn't have gotten the game at all if it weren't for the fact I wanted to play a game with my family. So it serves it's purpose in that regard and much less painfully so then other games out there recently. But it's not the sort of game I could sink myself into long term and I generally don't enjoy esports very much and I can't imagine feeling any motivation to rp in this game.

In closing, I suffered NO lag at full settings but I built a new ivy bridge pc 2 weeks ago with a nice graphics card. Noticed many things graphically that I didn't notice on my family members pc's which I played on the last beta weekend. This game really is stunning and the textures and attention to detail are really quite amazing. Though I do wish the characters skin looked as detailed as some of those of the NPC's in the personal story.

I think a lot of people simply have no idea what a stress test is. So many complaints eventhough they stated they didn't really fix anything from the last BWE. The stress test was not for our enjoyment and any enjoyment we got was a by product. The Stress test was purely for Anet to try out things to help them prepare for the next BWE better.

Anyone that thinks he can extrapolate anything from what he experienced during the stress test is diluding himself. We know nothing about the internal build they are running and what they still need to do.

Originally posted by Connmacart

I think a lot of people simply have no idea what a stress test is. So many complaints eventhough they stated they didn't really fix anything from the last BWE. The stress test was not for our enjoyment and any enjoyment we got was a by product. The Stress test was purely for Anet to try out things to help them prepare for the next BWE better.

Anyone that thinks he can extrapolate anything from what he experienced during the stress test is diluding himself. We know nothing about the internal build they are running and what they still need to do.

I dont think people are giving complaints because they are upset. ANet does not have an official forums and they read this one and a few others like Guru. They need to know the problems we come accorss and whats not enjoyable. 

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by Irus

Still kinda neutralish on it. I enjoyed what I got to play, but I'm not sure about the long-term.

Just think of it this way. Is it worth your $60/£50? And is it the kind of game you will come back to, after taking a break from it?

Just like with LoL, even if I drop the game to play another game for a while, I see myself coming back to GW2 time & time again. But it simply isn't the kind of everlasting game that will keep me hooked endlessly.

LoL is not an RPG, so the comparison doesn't work for me. If I take a break from the game without, like, doing most of it (i.e., finishing it or nearly finishing it), it probably failed me. This doesn't mean I play it 24/7, but at least as a once a week thing.

I think it can be worth $60, but I am a bit concerned with the combat mechanics and how that's going to play out in the long term. I'm also concerned with Arena.net's attitude towards the game in terms of fixes and patches.

Originally posted by Nanfoodle

Originally posted by Connmacart

I think a lot of people simply have no idea what a stress test is. So many complaints eventhough they stated they didn't really fix anything from the last BWE. The stress test was not for our enjoyment and any enjoyment we got was a by product. The Stress test was purely for Anet to try out things to help them prepare for the next BWE better.

Anyone that thinks he can extrapolate anything from what he experienced during the stress test is diluding himself. We know nothing about the internal build they are running and what they still need to do.

I dont think people are giving complaints because they are upset. ANet does not have an official forums and they read this one and a few others like Guru. They need to know the problems we come accorss and whats not enjoyable. 

They do have official forums (located at https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/). The difference is that they're not public (you need to have pre-purchased or have been in one of the betas to enter) and they're open only when there's a beta or test going on. They were very active on last BWE, and after a day or two of the BWE ending they closed the bug report forums, but kept the others open, few more days after they made them read only, and few days later took them offline.

Originally posted by Connmacart

I think a lot of people simply have no idea what a stress test is. So many complaints eventhough they stated they didn't really fix anything from the last BWE. The stress test was not for our enjoyment and any enjoyment we got was a by product. The Stress test was purely for Anet to try out things to help them prepare for the next BWE better.

Anyone that thinks he can extrapolate anything from what he experienced during the stress test is diluding himself. We know nothing about the internal build they are running and what they still need to do.

 I could have stood in one place and helped them just as much as I did by going out and doing something but why would I want to do that? Sure a body on the server to test the load but if I'm going to be there I'm going to explore or SOMETHING. It's wrong to assume people don't understand what a stress test is about.  There were changes by the way, I mentioned one with the Norn personal story. A change for the better imho but hey ho what do I know :)  I don't believe by the way in magical builds hidden from beta testers that make all  things ok for all people. Not in this game or any game and I've tested a LOT of games. Somehow that same statement creeps up in every single beta test. I certainly don't think it's the worst game in the world. It's better then any that have come out for awhile that I have tried anyway. However if there are parts I don't think are great or well thought out I'll speak up just as someone who thinks it's the bee's knees will speak up. Room for plenty of opinions honestly :)

Originally posted by L0C0Man

Originally posted by Nanfoodle

Originally posted by Connmacart

I think a lot of people simply have no idea what a stress test is. So many complaints eventhough they stated they didn't really fix anything from the last BWE. The stress test was not for our enjoyment and any enjoyment we got was a by product. The Stress test was purely for Anet to try out things to help them prepare for the next BWE better.

Anyone that thinks he can extrapolate anything from what he experienced during the stress test is diluding himself. We know nothing about the internal build they are running and what they still need to do.

I dont think people are giving complaints because they are upset. ANet does not have an official forums and they read this one and a few others like Guru. They need to know the problems we come accorss and whats not enjoyable. 

They do have official forums (located at https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/). The difference is that they're not public (you need to have pre-purchased or have been in one of the betas to enter) and they're open only when there's a beta or test going on. They were very active on last BWE, and after a day or two of the BWE ending they closed the bug report forums, but kept the others open, few more days after they made them read only, and few days later took them offline.

LOL, thanks for the load of uesless info. So the forums are closed and people are forced to express them selves on 3rd party forums like I said. <<<<eye roll>>>>> 

Had a great time again mainly played WvWvW with my ranger was realy nice learned alot better playing with my pet and get siege weapons up and running destroying gates.

Now im again in deep dark depression why oh why you tease me ARENANET DAMN YOU:D

I was disappointed wth the stress test because it seems no progress was made at all. Still lag and still meele is horrible in big events.

Well it was basically the same as BWE for me.  So Instead of continuing to play mesmer I tried to get more playtime on Guardian and Necro to see if my first impressions really fit.

As I suspected Guardian was much more fun once I got greatsword and staff and scepter/focus going.  Mace and shield did not do it for me so much, although I can see a use for them.

Necro was ok, but I think I would need to get well into the 30s to really see the performance out of it I think its capable.

I was much strong with Mesmer than I was on either of those two.  I was hoping once I got into the groove of things I could take two veterans simultaneously without not much fear the way I felt on mesmer.  But for the most part on either one a single veterna at level 10 was a tallish order.  Mostly probably because it just feels way easier to kite on mesmer and its also way easier to skirmish in and out.

I sort of came to the conclusion that builds that use alot of mitigateions need a number of levels to really mature.  For example I am fairly sure you can easily take a veteran or even two by using a combination of high life force production and alot of death shroud.  But that build take a number of traits to work.  Similar with Guardian you can get some nice triats like heals on GS attacks and alot of blinds+fire conditions.  But again that needs a number of traits.

Basically the classes that can kite/skirmish well because of the their weapon sets (either through movements stuff or temporary invulns) feel ALOT more powerful initially.  But I don't think they are necessarily any better past about 40+.

Originally posted by Mephster

I was disappointed wth the stress test because it seems no progress was made at all. Still lag and still meele is horrible in big events.

You don't typically do balance changes for a stress test.  In fact its a bad idea to do so.

Originally posted by Mephster

I was disappointed wth the stress test because it seems no progress was made at all. Still lag and still meele is horrible in big events.

It's kind of unfair to judge a stress test for thesse things, as that kind of changes is for the next BWE. Maybe you could talk about the lag if thats was meant to be addressed with the stresstess, but on the other hand i had NO lag issues at all.

But i saw a few things broken that worked in the last BWE, wich is kind of worrying , but on the other hand non of them was issues for a stress test anyway (chat, friends contacts, some skills).