Originally posted by papardelios

Originally posted by halflife2

The zones are not huge, what are you talking about. They are pretty much the same size as WAR or WoW zones and that for me is average sized. Like I mentioned before, 5-10 minute to run from one side to another, assuming there are no hills in the way,

I agree. No mounts give an illussion of larger zones but over all they are average in size.  They are decent though atleast bigger than Rift. But nexw expansion is goign to change that.

 

agree

The zones are big, but the world feels very small because of the teleporting. Sure, you have to go there the first time on foot, but in no time at all, the world seems very very small to me, because you can pretty much instantly go anywhere you have ever been before. Now, that is not really a bad thing, imho, it is just the way GW2 is, and while the world is pretty big, it seems to have a shrinking feeling as I level, not an expanding feeling, in spite of having explored and opening more map.

Originally posted by papardelios

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by Hokie

Originally posted by ChromeBallz
 

8) Will there be any world customization at any point? With this i primarily mean player housing, but also guild housing, fortresses or anything else managed by players, instanced or not.

No, not really. Yeah you can claim a keep in WvW but it really makes no difference. Although when you fail or succeed in a DE (think WAR PQ) it can change the whole area around that DE. They happen in stages, so you may see compeltey different enemies depending on the stage (and merchants), or you many not see any at all if you "win" the first stage.

Mostly agree with your assessment. Just wanted to point out, that while they don't currently have player housing atm, they have stated that they are working on guild housing & GvG as a future feature. It is coming, but we probably won't see it for a few months.

i m so sick of all this comments about future content in new released mmo's. its so lame anymore.

Why? Because everything that exists in older MMOs existed and functione dperfectly from the start and nothing was ever added into the game later through updates and expansions?

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by papardelios

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by Hokie

Originally posted by ChromeBallz
 

8) Will there be any world customization at any point? With this i primarily mean player housing, but also guild housing, fortresses or anything else managed by players, instanced or not.

No, not really. Yeah you can claim a keep in WvW but it really makes no difference. Although when you fail or succeed in a DE (think WAR PQ) it can change the whole area around that DE. They happen in stages, so you may see compeltey different enemies depending on the stage (and merchants), or you many not see any at all if you "win" the first stage.

Mostly agree with your assessment. Just wanted to point out, that while they don't currently have player housing atm, they have stated that they are working on guild housing & GvG as a future feature. It is coming, but we probably won't see it for a few months.

i m so sick of all this comments about future content in new released mmo's. its so lame anymore.

Why? Because everything that exists in older MMOs existed and functione dperfectly from the start and nothing was ever added into the game later through updates and expansions?

No, because they can and will say anything about things that might get added sometime in the future to keep you playing the game. That does not make any difference to what you are currently playing unless that next thing is schedules to be patched in.

Originally posted by ChromeBallz

Just a few questions i hope i can get an answer to before i go out and buy the game.

1) Are there invisible walls - found some but not many, and in places most players I know don't go. I'm one of those weird explorer types that try to jump on top of everything while traveling LOL

2) What are the options for customizing your character, mechanically? Is it only items and skills, or are there talents, glyphs or stats (ala wow and diablo 2) you can customize? Is the only mechanical difference between one warrior and the next the weapon and the skills they have equipped or is there more?

I customized my engineer to be an infinite swiftness/vigor, explosives + extended burning style talent tree. No cookie cutters here.

3) How fast is levelling? I'm going to play with at least 1 more, and i don't want to rush to 80. We want to take our time and just have fun along the way. Is the game made in such a way that levelling goes quickly regardless of what you do or does it allow you to take it easy?

When you reach level 60 if you concentrate solely on hearts you will most like level very quickly to 80. I've done mostly exploration/gathering with few if any hearts and i've noticed it's really quick. I'm now 72 took only 2 days to get there from 60. The beginner zones aren't like that. HOWEVER, keep in mind there isn't a lack of things to do, these posters on here who scream that are just really not that into playing the game like you and I play games, they rush through everything and want the best armor weapons instantly as their only goal in any game.

4) Are the zones as big as they look? I'd like the game to really 'feel' big - That there are areas in the game where i don't feel i HAVE to go in order to get everything, if you know what i mean. Like in WoW, if you pass an area you didn't have to be before you immediately start thinking about what quest you missed or are going to get, this feels pretty annoying to me since it holds the world back from 'coming alive'.

Zones definitely feel big! The only time i use teleport is when I'm with friends trying to get to them. Most of the game is running around on foot. You can walk from one end to the other of a zone and feel the size of it.

5) It might seem like an irrelevant question to most, but can you go into houses and buildings, or are most of them locked off? I hate how especially Korean games never actually let you go inside anything unless it's a massive castle with a 15 square mile throneroom.

Only experienced this in places that are specific to personal stories. They are the only few and far between buildings and caves i can't get into. Most of the rest are open or locked puzzles.

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how "open" and fleshed out is the world? 1 being something like a Korean game with a mostly featureless landscape with little to no small details and pretty much 0 buildings you can go into, 10 being like Skyrim where everything is handplaced, handcrafted and there's pretty much nothing you can't explore or go into, and there's no mountain you can't climb.

Small details are Anet's thing. They literally looked for nooks and crannies in their world design to stuff things into. I can't tell you how many times I've passed by a hole in the wall that I never noticed before that lead to a large cave system or some underwater cave system that was well camo'd from view. It's amazing. The detail to characters is fun imo, npc's of all ages will do some random things while standing there in cities and talk about their day. :)

7) On a scale of 1 to 10, how consistent is the world? 1 being the schizophrenic WoW style where one zone flows into the next like a brick through a wall of wodkabottles, to 10 being like (again) Skyrim where all the areas blend into one another so seemlessly that the world truly feels like it's one big place.

Well this is something people would complain about. I for one don't care, I like it how it is. There's portals leading from one zone to the next, most of the time tho, you don't notice them because once you see how the world is laid out it sometimes takes a long time to get to one of those. There is no summoning so you have to walk there the first time. Since starting to play I've seen why they decided on this and it's to help with the flow of players. It does wonders for a server to be able to place people into instance shards of azone if it's overflowing with login attempts. Makes the game play more fluidly. I usually load before anyone else and that's not happened in YEARS in any instance on the P2P games.

8) Will there be any world customization at any point? With this i primarily mean player housing, but also guild housing, fortresses or anything else managed by players, instanced or not.

I've heard rumors and seen posts about player housing and guild housing. Not seen anything concrete can't imagine with all the detail they put into the title that they wouldn't put this in there too with the way they feel and support RP players.

The game world is very important to me. As you may have suspected, i'm looking for an MMO that comes as close to an Elder Scrolls game as possible as far as exploration and the feel of the world goes. The game has to feel consistent across the board, not just within a zone or dungeon, and it has to offer something beyond the beaten path, something that rewards you for thinking "i wonder whether i can get up there". I already saw some jumping puzzles in GW2, but they look rather artificial for this purpose - I wonder if there's more that isn't explicitely designed to be explored, but the game lets you do it anyway.

They definitely make it a fun experience to explore and to figure things out. When exploring i find it is very rewarding to sneak around and figure out a jump puzzle I've never seen before or try to figure out how to open a door that's sealed shut. :) Most of the little things look like someone decided to throw them in during the drawing board process, it's nice to see such detail in a game again. I've even seen caves with trap systems you have to work out how to shut off or you die if you try to get through them.

Originally posted by Yamota

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by papardelios

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by Hokie

Originally posted by ChromeBallz
 

8) Will there be any world customization at any point? With this i primarily mean player housing, but also guild housing, fortresses or anything else managed by players, instanced or not.

No, not really. Yeah you can claim a keep in WvW but it really makes no difference. Although when you fail or succeed in a DE (think WAR PQ) it can change the whole area around that DE. They happen in stages, so you may see compeltey different enemies depending on the stage (and merchants), or you many not see any at all if you "win" the first stage.

Mostly agree with your assessment. Just wanted to point out, that while they don't currently have player housing atm, they have stated that they are working on guild housing & GvG as a future feature. It is coming, but we probably won't see it for a few months.

i m so sick of all this comments about future content in new released mmo's. its so lame anymore.

Why? Because everything that exists in older MMOs existed and functione dperfectly from the start and nothing was ever added into the game later through updates and expansions?

No, because they can and will say anything about things that might get added sometime in the future to keep you playing the game. That does not make any difference to what you are currently playing unless that next thing is schedules to be patched in.

And in a P2P game this matters why? this isn't some sub only game title that the devs are worried people will leave for a short period while they finish things.They do care if their title is a success and the sooner haters realize that the better but to argue the logical fallacy that somehow players leaving this game for a time while content is being developed will hurt GW2 or Anet in any way is just amazingly wrong. Anet has given us everything else they promised in their game (speaking of game only as I'm waiting on their Apps thing to finish developement but understand that the Mac players would like to play too) so why not give them a chance to finish what they started. They are more importantly worried about bots, cross platform, and apps in that order.

Originally posted by ChromeBallz

Just a few questions i hope i can get an answer to before i go out and buy the game.

... a lot of blah blah blah ... deleted ...

Why you just do not cut short and say how much you hate wow? You are actually not interested in any answer you might get.

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Originally posted by daltanious

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Originally posted by ChromeBallz Just a few questions i hope i can get an answer to before i go out and buy the game. ... a lot of blah blah blah ... deleted ...

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Why you just do not cut short and say how much you hate wow? You are actually not interested in any answer you might get.

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How you got to this interpretation i have no clue. I played WoW since release on and off, i've got all the collector's editions except MoP. I like the game, i just got tired of it since i've "outgrown" the style. I haven't really played it since a little while after the Firelands patch.

All i'm looking for is a game with a consistent and fleshed out world. WoW only has one of these qualities, so it's not the game for me anymore. Guild Wars 2 was on my radar because of this and i simply wanted to know more about it.

I've gotten a lot of answers that i'm happy with, as i already stated before. If the thread just goes on to be trolled and flamed like this i hope it gets locked >_>

Seriously, people can't even read anymore, they just see what they want to see.

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Originally posted by Dulu

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Originally posted by evolver1972 Instead of not really adding to what everyone else has said (already some really good posts on the subject), I'll ask you this:   Do you worry this much over paying $60 for a single player game?  Would you ask the same questions of a game like Skyrim or KOTOR?   Either way, I think GW2 is more than worth the $60.  And there is no subscription.  So basically, it's a AAA MMO for the same price as a SPRPG.  I don't think you can go wrong there.   On top of that, it's got more content than even Skyrim has.  And way more than COD: Black Ops would ever dream of having.

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    It's really not a triple A MMO.   It lacks the depth of EQ, DAoC, WoW. It's really just a shallow, boring grind to 80, and some woefully boring PvP.   But, it plays smooth, and has beautiful graphics. Much like dating a gorgeous model, who doesn't speak your language. All of the aesthetics are there, but there is no substance.   Your money is best spent else-where. [mod edit]

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Originally posted by ChromeBallz

Just a few questions i hope i can get an answer to before i go out and buy the game.

1) Are there invisible walls...

2) What are the options for customizing your character, mechanically?

3) How fast is levelling? 

4) Are the zones as big as they look?  

5) It might seem like an irrelevant question to most, but can you go into houses and buildings, or are most of them locked off?

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, how "open" and fleshed out is the world? 1 being something like a Korean game with a mostly featureless landscape with little to no small details and pretty much 0 buildings you can go into, 10 being like Skyrim where everything is handplaced, handcrafted and there's pretty much nothing you can't explore or go into, and there's no mountain you can't climb.

7) On a scale of 1 to 10, how consistent is the world? 1 being the schizophrenic WoW style where one zone flows into the next like a brick through a wall of wodkabottles, to 10 being like (again) Skyrim where all the areas blend into one another so seemlessly that the world truly feels like it's one big place.

8) Will there be any world customization at any point? With this i primarily mean player housing, but also guild housing, fortresses or anything else managed by players, instanced or not.

The game world is very important to me. As you may have suspected, i'm looking for an MMO that comes as close to an Elder Scrolls game as possible as far as exploration and the feel of the world goes. The game has to feel consistent across the board, not just within a zone or dungeon, and it has to offer something beyond the beaten path, something that rewards you for thinking "i wonder whether i can get up there". I already saw some jumping puzzles in GW2, but they look rather artificial for this purpose - I wonder if there's more that isn't explicitely designed to be explored, but the game lets you do it anyway.

1. Not really, no. I havnt seen any invisible walls at all at least.

2. You choose 2 weapon sets for each character besides ele and engineer (right hand and lefthand weapon) which give you certain attacks. You choose a heal, 3 utility skills and a elite skill. You put points in 6 trees, up to 30 points (out of 70) and each 10 unlocks an ability of you choosing, 20 and 30 offers more choices.

You can change all those things including passive abilities for free out of combat but respeccing the trait points costs a few silver and can only be made at a class trainer.

3. I hit 80 after a month taking it rather slow, in about 180 hours playtime or so with plenty of exploration. You might get it to last longer, it depends on you but leveling is not that slow. 

4. Yeah, they are pretty large, several times the small zones of games like AoC and WAR.

5. You can go into some but many are locked, particularly in the main cities. As rule you cant get into peoples home but you can go into public buildings.

6. Hmm, it is pretty handcrafted. I would compare it to Skyrim in that part, only complains is that I wish the forrests were a bit more dense.

7.  About a 6. In some cases the zones are very distinct, in other places a zone holds many areas very different from eachother and in some cases like Orr the area spanns over several zones.

8. Not so much. Both player and guildhousing have been in work for at least 2 years (source: interview with Jeff Grubb 1 1/2 years ago) but neither are live yet. I think we will see that with the first expansion. There is your home zone that do get somewhat changed depending on your personal storychoices but it is not a big part and how well players perform in the world events effect how the world is doing. That is not so much in the beginning but in the last zones you wont even find a merchant or a friendly place if the players have gotten a too hard beating.

This part needs improving, but they are working on it and I expect it to go live with the first expansion.

If you want exploration I think you will enjoy this game as muchas I do. There are a lot of hidden secrets and jumping puzzles all around the world, some needed for 100% exploration (they are shown on the map) and some really well hidden and only found by a few people. Exploration is in fact the thing this game do best, I myself had missed this a lot for the last 10 years.

Originally posted by Enigmatus

Originally posted by Connmacart

Originally posted by ZigZags
The definition of triple A is a game that brings innovation and new features with top of the line graphics and replayability that appeals to enough people to bring a healthy profit over the long run. A game that overcomes the initial hype and release period of a game's release. (first 12 months)

Since the GW2 fanaticism will die off significantly over the next few months as it gas already started. I would not call GW2 a AAA mmo. Also GW2 did not innovate enough, is f2p and theme parks are losing their appeal greatly.

The next AAA mmo will be a lot different from what we're used to.

Triple A only pertains to the budget. Not the quality of the game, but more important your preference has nothing to do if it is AAA.

What this guy said. ZigZags is just twisting the definition of Triple A to fit his dislike of GW2.

You mean in exactly the same way that evolver1972 twisted the definition of Triple A to fit his like of GW2?

See how that works?

Driz

Originally posted by ImperialSun

You mean in exactly the same way that evolver1972 twisted the definition of Triple A to fit his like of GW2?

See how that works?

Driz

It have a good budget and you cand find a physical copy if it in almost every game store anywhere.

AAA does not mean that a game is perfect, that you have to like it or even that it have to be well made, both Wow and AoC are AAA after all. Something like that cant be measured in how good or fun a game is, it needs a simple rule that allows you to recognize AAA games easily and without questions.

Go to 10 random game stores, if 9 of them either have a copy or sold out a MMO and waiting to get it in again it is AAA. That way noone can really twist it one way or another.

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by ImperialSun

You mean in exactly the same way that evolver1972 twisted the definition of Triple A to fit his like of GW2?

See how that works?

Driz

It have a good budget and you cand find a physical copy if it in almost every game store anywhere.

AAA does not mean that a game is perfect, that you have to like it or even that it have to be well made, both Wow and AoC are AAA after all. Something like that cant be measured in how good or fun a game is, it needs a simple rule that allows you to recognize AAA games easily and without questions.

Go to 10 random game stores, if 9 of them either have a copy or sold out a MMO and waiting to get it in again it is AAA. That way noone can really twist it one way or another.

So how come another posters opinion which was also presented as fact in this same thread stated quite clearly AAA status is based purely on the budget? That poster seems to disagree with your opinion?? By that posters definition SWTOR is AAA with a budget of circa 200 million (allegedly). By that definition GW2 is not AAA due to having a much smaller budget than SWTOR.

See how subjective AAA status really is?

And to those quoting Wikipedia as definitive proof of what makes an MMORPG AAA....just lol.

For what its worth I like the look of GW2 and am considering getting it but it still does not sound like a AAA game to me. There are many, many complaints about the game all over these forums and lets be honest it had a mediocre launch at best with all of the problems....luckily I appreciate games for what they are and if they look like fun I will buy them.

Currently I am trying to decide whether to buy GW2 and drop my Rift sub for it :)

The biggest turn off right now is purely the rabbid fanboy community. This community is definitely one of the most aggressive and blatantly hypocritical communities I have ever seen in an MMORPG and I have been playing them since EQ.

Driz

to answer from my point of view too : )

1) there are invisible walls but yes you to go to the edges or you have to be a really annoying explorer to find them, and why is this so bad ? as they are not in the middle of the maps ... it doesnt matter, otherwise they have to make a game where you can visit the moon you see in the sky :P (or go play EVE )

2) there are item builds/ skills to choose (limited )/ and finally traits, so there is customization and strong i would say, compared to other MMOs i have played..

3) well leveling is pretty normal for casual players, but if you get 80lvl you havent seen enything ..! propably the half of the themepark part of the game ...

4) well they are not HUGE (sad) but they are big and you have to do many different things ...

5) except human cities, the rest of the world is accesible to 80% i would say, which is good .

6) i would rate it 8 cause there are so many details so many things you can reach even if there is nothing to get just ot know you were there ..! its not 10 cause of some unreachable tops of mountains, and some closed doors ..

7) i hope you enjoyed WoW cause its similar to this, anyway its and MMO ^^ only WvWvW you have that pleasure like Skyrim ..!

8) for fortresses in WvW there is already, for player houses i dunno, for guilds they said they will add for sure, i hope they will add something like Rifts housing, it amazed me when i saw it ..

well i dunno, its pretty close to Skyrim, just the fights are much more active as you get lvl and go in harder zones...

Well, thought i'd post here again after i got it and played a little.

Most of my questions were answered, through experience, satisfactory at least. Some thing were less good, others better. However, i'm really enjoying the game now and for some reason my GF is actually playing it more than i am :>

Still waiting on the housing etc though. Would be nice. More than enough doors in Divinity's Reach for example where you can implement EQ2 style housing :)