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On June 11 2012 16:58 Neurosis wrote: How are the dungeons in this game? I consider WoW the benchmark for pve in an mmo (yes, still lol) so can someone compare it to that?
There was only 1 dungeon accessible in the beta which had 2 modes, story and explorable. I managed to do the story mode of the dungeon. It was different than wow's dungeons. The dungeon was very chaotic, since there is a lack of a proper tank or healer in the game. It involved some easy to solve puzzles, a small amount of trash mobs and around 5-6 bosses, it took around an hour to complete with 1 wipe for the group. There was also a large emphasis on story with cutscenes throughout the dungeon, im assuming this would be different in the explorable mode of the dungeon. Overall it seemed like a fine introduction to dungeons in guild wars as it was fun and challenging imo.
@Executor1 i agree that there is not enough leveling content at lower levels, however arenanet have stated that they will be adding more DE's before and after the game's release. Also there seems to be more leveling content as reach a higher level. I seemed to level ok in gendarren fields(25-32) without repeating events.
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On June 11 2012 17:09 Callycam wrote:Show nested quote +On June 11 2012 16:58 Neurosis wrote: How are the dungeons in this game? I consider WoW the benchmark for pve in an mmo (yes, still lol) so can someone compare it to that? There was only 1 dungeon accessible in the beta which had 2 modes, story and explorable. I managed to do the story mode of the dungeon. It was different than wow's dungeons. The dungeon was very chaotic, since there is a lack of a proper tank or healer in the game. It involved some easy to solve puzzles, a small amount of trash mobs and around 5-6 bosses, it took around an hour to complete with 1 wipe for the group. There was also a large emphasis on story with cutscenes throughout the dungeon, im assuming this would be different in the explorable mode of the dungeon. Overall it seemed like a fine introduction to dungeons in guild wars as it was fun and challenging imo. @Executor1 i agree that there is not enough leveling content at lower levels, however arenanet have stated that they will be adding more DE's before and after the game's release. Also there seems to be more leveling content as reach a higher level. I seemed to level ok in gendarren fields(25-32) without repeating events.
I think you are not supposed to stay in one area...
The experience gain is fine, professions(crafting) would be broken otherwise.
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Some of you people are terrible.
Last beta I played human mesmer up to about 14, then I started norn guardian. Got to lvl 13 last beta (mind I wasn't playing all the time). Leveling was pretty easy, also did some WvW which gave me about 3-4 levels.
This beta I continued with my norn guardian, started straight with some WvW, got maybe 1 level, and we were winning too much so not much xp there as there was nothing to capture. Then I did some more exploration in Battlegrounds and went to sleep afterwards. The next day I went to do some PvE and crafting. Saturday/sunday I was playing maybe 8 hours each, I got to lvl 27 easily. I cleared the whole human area, never felt like stuff is repetitive, if I've done something and didn't feel like doing it again, I just ran past.With the downscaling some quests are still kinda hard to do solo. You can die very quickly if you get targetted and the enemy is around your level. Anyway, I was running around the human area up to 17 (didn't finish it at that point just yet) then went to higher level area for lvl 15+ with a friend. We had some epic fights where we got easily outnumbered and were fighting at 150-300 health (out of approx 1500-2000) for two minutes straight. After some time I went back to do some crafting, I got ONE AND HALF level just crafting. And I really enjoyed it. I spent maybe two hours toying around with crafting, not counting gathering resources. Also sometime I went to gather crafting materials and ended up doing 1-2 more events and bosses on the way. Then went to do some more WvW to get even more levels.
I don't know where you have the feeling that you're grinding. If you're doing stuff just to get levels, then whatever you do is considered grinding and you have no right to complain. If you want to feel like a 'hero' at level 5 then you're doing it wrong too. There are so many places where you can die easily, and with downscaling you can die even at newbie areas (even though traits and better items help). Exploring gives tons of XP, doing achievements (including finishing everything on the map) gives a ton of xp, crafting gives a ton of xp, wvw does a ton of xp when you capture stuff.
I am considering making a char and level up solely by gathering/crafting/WvW just to prove it's possible.
To whoever said he doesn't like necro, just don't play it. Play something else. I also went through all the chars before I ended my beta run and I will probably stick to guardian mesmer thief necro as I liked them the most. Other people like other chars. That's why you have options.
On June 11 2012 10:12 trainRiderJ wrote: That said, does it get old after awhile using the same few weapons, and therefore skills? I know the utility skills are interchangeable, but you unlock them relatively slowly and in tiers, so I would think you would just concentrate on the few skills per tier you want and leave the rest alone.
I never had problems with skillpoints. Actually I took few that I liked the most until I unlocked more slots, then I spent like 30 skillpoints for all skills in first tier 5 in second and some in third. And I didn't go through the charr area yet. I am more afraid I'll have all the skills pretty soon I believe at level 27 I had all tier 1, all healing, almost all in tier two and 2 or 3 in tier 3.
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As poster above me said..there is just so much to do in this game compared to the last ones I played(Rift, WoW, D3), everything is filled with creativity and decent content, I spent hours just toying around with PvP builds(engineer is fun and I feel like I need to play decently to actually perform with it, always a plus), the whole BWE went and I didn't even touch WvW and Crafting...things are shaping up nicely (: .
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I don't get why people are crying about the leveling... Do every single heart quest, while doing story quest when you're at the right level and you'll be progressing fine if you sprinkle in a DE every third heart quest or so.
The problem with the game is the buttonmashy combat and the boring skill progression, not the fact that you have to do an extra DE before your next story quest...
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Have to agree with the 3 guys above me.
Seriously. -_-
Oh and Neurosis I understand you might have played a lot of WoW, but I'll have you know there are many others who don't agree with you.
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Lets be honest i cant be the only one that prefers gw1 skill system(skill system only not overall game dont start flaming)than gw2, also the double profession system gave even much more customization on your skillbar.
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I hope they change leveling or the exp system around a bit as well. Basically if you want to do one thing for any period of length you will hit a wall. For me on my charr warrior I was interested in the story mode but I kept hitting level walls trying to follow it, so I HAD to go do other things.
But then on another character I just kind of did a bit of everything and it worked out. There is a handful of stuff to do and I really like the scaling down for the new zones.
My only other problem with exp is that I wish you got exp for playing in a sPvP game.
Also im really hoping they have more maps in sPvP before release. I know they will "add more eventually" but I would like there to be some variety when it comes out. Anyone have any information on this?
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I had this same problem in all of my experiences of playing guild wars 2 (4 experiences) in which, once you've done every single heart and event dynamic event in the area, you are FORCED to play your personal story to progress, or visa versa. For example, i had done every single quest and heart and dynamic event in the norn area that i was in level to do, searched every cave in that area, discovered most "points of interest" and waypoints, and was progressing my personal story, however, once i hit the 11 personal story mission, the next one was level 14, and i had NOTHING to do, in my level. So i was forced to play WvWvW, which i might add was actually very boring unless you're in a huge group, otherwise you're just by yourself not really knowing where to go or what to do.
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On June 12 2012 00:41 Silencioseu wrote: Lets be honest i cant be the only one that prefers gw1 skill system(skill system only not overall game dont start flaming)than gw2, also the double profession system gave even much more customization on your skillbar.
And yet it was impossible to balance
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On June 12 2012 02:16 Josh_rakoons wrote: I had this same problem in all of my experiences of playing guild wars 2 (4 experiences) in which, once you've done every single heart and event dynamic event in the area, you are FORCED to play your personal story to progress, or visa versa. For example, i had done every single quest and heart and dynamic event in the norn area that i was in level to do, searched every cave in that area, discovered most "points of interest" and waypoints, and was progressing my personal story, however, once i hit the 11 personal story mission, the next one was level 14, and i had NOTHING to do, in my level. So i was forced to play WvWvW, which i might add was actually very boring unless you're in a huge group, otherwise you're just by yourself not really knowing where to go or what to do. You could always go to starter areas of 2 (in full version 4) other races. You will want to go there anyway as there're achievements, exploration, skill points.
As for the WvWvW being boring.. maybe you should come to TS then, there were always people willing to do some WvWvW. This weekend was very sad for me as it was mostly only me and my friend on TS as NOONE else joined the EU TS channel (except for Valashu few times and few other people) but we spent several hours only in two people on TS. Still it was fun in WvW, even in a pair. It's a multiplayer game after all. And social aspect of these games is usually the biggest part. What happend to you is what is expected to happen. You were alone. Do you go to a bar alone for few beers? No. You go with friends.
Last beta we were running around in a group of 5 people and were able to actually have some nice fights ambushing supply caravans and capturing of supply camps, eventually joining with another groups of people to ram down those keep gates.
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Yeah, the game definitely encourages what I lovingly call an "Ooh, shiny!" play style. It's really evident in the way the leveling flow is sitting at the moment, with the idea being that if you're working on a renown heart and a DE pops up nearby, you should want to go help out. If you're single-mindedly focusing on completing a single zone and rushing your personal story, you'll almost certainly get stuck a level or two behind at least once, encouraging you to go explore or check out events in other zones.
It's also encouraging that sort of play style by the inclusion of lots of simply neat little areas and easter eggs sprinkled throughout the world in places you might not expect. Just this past weekend I was running around Kessex Hills on my necromancer to pick up waypoints, and got distracted by another player nearby who was being attacked by a few ettins. So I helped him (or her) out, and looked to the side where there was a nice cliff-diving spot overlooking the coast. Apparently the devs thought so as well because there was a pair of diving goggles on the ground that allow you to do flips and spins in midair while diving off said cliff. It was a neat little diversion that I never would have found if I had just kept along my way of traveling from waypoint to waypoint.
So, it really depends on how you choose to approach the game. If you want to just plow through a specific set of content on your way to max level, you're probably going to be incredibly frustrated with the leveling process. If you allow yourself to constantly get distracted by events and exploration, gathering and crafting, and dabbling in WvW even if you're not big on PvP, leveling shouldn't be very painful at all.
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On June 12 2012 00:41 Silencioseu wrote: Lets be honest i cant be the only one that prefers gw1 skill system(skill system only not overall game dont start flaming)than gw2, also the double profession system gave even much more customization on your skillbar.
The classes feel more unique now, but I love both systems(how awesome was the Scythe Mastery Assassin? Too awesome to handle, yes). I love everything Anet does in general none should take my opinion too seriously, GW was probably the game I spent more time playing my whole life. (mostly Assassin and now I'm loving the thief with even more shadowstepping).
About Guild Wars in general, I feel that if you don't like planning and theorycrafting for PvP(and the PvE challenges) it's not the game for you(you may have fun, but it won't have the lasting appeal), GW had the most awesome MMO(ish) PvP experience I've ever had, with its clear metagame and the high difficulty of executing the builds as a team it had a pretty cool niche competitive scene. I'm hoping GW2 will live up to its predecessor organized pvp.
PS: Plan builds with friends, be open to your friends ideas and they'll be open to yours, nothing is cooler than synergizing with a shitton of skills.
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On June 12 2012 02:37 freestalker wrote:Show nested quote +On June 12 2012 02:16 Josh_rakoons wrote: I had this same problem in all of my experiences of playing guild wars 2 (4 experiences) in which, once you've done every single heart and event dynamic event in the area, you are FORCED to play your personal story to progress, or visa versa. For example, i had done every single quest and heart and dynamic event in the norn area that i was in level to do, searched every cave in that area, discovered most "points of interest" and waypoints, and was progressing my personal story, however, once i hit the 11 personal story mission, the next one was level 14, and i had NOTHING to do, in my level. So i was forced to play WvWvW, which i might add was actually very boring unless you're in a huge group, otherwise you're just by yourself not really knowing where to go or what to do. You could always go to starter areas of 2 (in full version 4) other races. You will want to go there anyway as there're achievements, exploration, skill points. As for the WvWvW being boring.. maybe you should come to TS then, there were always people willing to do some WvWvW. This weekend was very sad for me as it was mostly only me and my friend on TS as NOONE else joined the EU TS channel (except for Valashu few times and few other people) but we spent several hours only in two people on TS. Still it was fun in WvW, even in a pair. It's a multiplayer game after all. And social aspect of these games is usually the biggest part. What happend to you is what is expected to happen. You were alone. Do you go to a bar alone for few beers? No. You go with friends. Last beta we were running around in a group of 5 people and were able to actually have some nice fights ambushing supply caravans and capturing of supply camps, eventually joining with another groups of people to ram down those keep gates.
How did you get to other starter area's? I shouldn't have to do that but that would've been fun...
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On June 11 2012 23:41 StarStruck wrote: Have to agree with the 3 guys above me.
Seriously. -_-
Oh and Neurosis I understand you might have played a lot of WoW, but I'll have you know there are many others who don't agree with you.
What mmo has better pve content? I've played pretty much all of them, I'm genuinely curious as to which you think is better. Btw I don't play WoW atm and I don't see myself returning to it so I'm not some fanboy or anything.
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On June 12 2012 02:43 Josh_rakoons wrote:Show nested quote +On June 12 2012 02:37 freestalker wrote:On June 12 2012 02:16 Josh_rakoons wrote: I had this same problem in all of my experiences of playing guild wars 2 (4 experiences) in which, once you've done every single heart and event dynamic event in the area, you are FORCED to play your personal story to progress, or visa versa. For example, i had done every single quest and heart and dynamic event in the norn area that i was in level to do, searched every cave in that area, discovered most "points of interest" and waypoints, and was progressing my personal story, however, once i hit the 11 personal story mission, the next one was level 14, and i had NOTHING to do, in my level. So i was forced to play WvWvW, which i might add was actually very boring unless you're in a huge group, otherwise you're just by yourself not really knowing where to go or what to do. You could always go to starter areas of 2 (in full version 4) other races. You will want to go there anyway as there're achievements, exploration, skill points. As for the WvWvW being boring.. maybe you should come to TS then, there were always people willing to do some WvWvW. This weekend was very sad for me as it was mostly only me and my friend on TS as NOONE else joined the EU TS channel (except for Valashu few times and few other people) but we spent several hours only in two people on TS. Still it was fun in WvW, even in a pair. It's a multiplayer game after all. And social aspect of these games is usually the biggest part. What happend to you is what is expected to happen. You were alone. Do you go to a bar alone for few beers? No. You go with friends. Last beta we were running around in a group of 5 people and were able to actually have some nice fights ambushing supply caravans and capturing of supply camps, eventually joining with another groups of people to ram down those keep gates. How did you get to other starter area's? I shouldn't have to do that but that would've been fun... You go to Lions Arch and there's a portal to every area 
EDIT - let me clarify - there's a portal to every race home town, not every 'area' per se.
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Oh.... that's a shame, however, i shouldn't have had to do that to progress. tbh..
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I don't think it would seem nearly as bad to be encouraged to use other starting zones to level if the possibility was communicated well in-game. Unfortunately, there's nothing that does so at present, so it seems almost like cheating and if you know how to get to these places you're better off, but if not you're screwed. Hopefully they'll be better about communicating these sorts of things in future updates.
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Even if you finish all of the Heart Quests, there are still dynamic events in every area that you can repeat and are really fun to play over and over again. There are usually several of these in the same area (pretty much every heart has one) and can be done easily with the help of a few other players (Which shouldn't really be a problem in the beta weekends since everyone is confined to the same few areas). Some people might consider this grinding, but killing a giant monster with a bunch of other players is much better than the other MMO style of standing in a field killing pigs over and over until you level. Even when I did do that kind of grinding to find mats or just to level, I found that it was a lot more fun. GW2 combat is pretty active and it was fun running around pistoling stuff with my engineer or smashing everything with my guardian's hammer.
WvW is also a great way of leveling if you have a group of people who know what they are doing. You get a ton of xp for taking a keep or tower. The problem is finding an organized group of people to play with, but if you can manage to find a good guild or just get some friends together to play, the game becomes so much more fun.
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I think it's sort of useless to complain about experience gain rates. That's got to be one of the easiest items for arenanet to tune.
I'm more concerned about what people (with more in-game experience than me) think about the weapon-based skill bar mechanic and combat in general. How does it hold up over time if you're using mostly the same abilities? Is the combat varied and "interesting" enough that you don't care? Does it become incredibly monotonous? Somewhere in between?
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