Guild Wars 2 - Page 74

On July 26 2011 00:01 VirtuallyJesse wrote:
If there is one thing that has turned me off to Guild Wars 2, the only thing, is this underwater combat I keep seeing. A new skill set with different game rules just screams one thing to me, unfun gimmick. Then again I'm most excited for PvP so I don't think I will have to touch it much. Anyone else feel this way? I can't think of a single game that had fun underwater combat!

Aside from that, this game can't come out quicker. I've been needing a MMO fix ever since I quit WoW. Only game left I've found myself looking forward to.

On July 26 2011 04:52 shindigs wrote:
I just got back from Comic-Con and I got the chance to demo the game at the GW2 booth. Here's a quick writeup of my impressions.

The demo had a 40 minute time limit and brought you through the intro for whatever race/class you picked. This includes really simple quests like kill a bird or kill a Minotaur to get you used to the race's surroundings/lore and of course the combat system.

The combat system is what stood out as the most unique aspect of GW2. Arenanet's new system is really ambitious, but also extremely fun/awesome to play. It took a while to really understand how the system deviated from other MMO's (probably due to the LOUD NOISES of the convention), but once it clicked the realization on what the combat system actually was simply amazing.

When Arenannet said they wanted to reinvite the MMO entirely, it looks like they really will come to achieve that goal. The combat system is unique in that it's not just click and watch autoattacks, but it's more like a beat-em-up style game where you actually have to make attacks have contact. You can even dodge and block enemies attacks, so it's almost a fighter in that regard as well since you have to time all of these things. You must focus on combat, properly dodging, blocking, and finding openings for attack otherwise you will be punished for it. The biggest change is the fact that you have 10 skill slots, but the first 4-5 are dedicated to more "basic" skills like "attack", "charged attack", "block", "buffed attack" etc. The last couple skills are your standard "advanced" skills that most people are familiar with from the first game. Each hero has its own healing ability as well that falls into this category. To sum up the impressions of the combat: even though it took a while to get used to, it's really fun because you are constantly moving, thinking, attacking, defending etc. It definitely is not the traditional MMO style, so I'd advise not approaching the game as one otherwise you are setting up a mental barrier on learning the mechanics of the game.

The new rez system is pretty awesome as well, as most of you have probably seen in the videos. Instead of instantly dying, one is "downed" when their health goes to 0 and have 4 downed abilities to choose from. The first 2 are standard attacks that allow you to kill surrounding enemies, and if you do, you will be able to "rez" back into the fight. However, keep in mind that these abilities are pretty weak. Another ability allows you to "instantly" rez and get back into the fight for a short while, but after the timer runs out you die for good and must be rez'd at a waypoint. I don't remember the last ability, but it may have something to do with calling for teammates for help.

The best way to get rez'd in your downed state is just to have teammates around. It carries the same mechanics as Gears of War or Left 4 Dead where a teammate can come up to you and just pick you up from the ground. Arenannet stressed this was to provide teams to interact in the open world, and I'm really looking forward to see how this plays out when the game releases.

I had a chance to encounter a "dynamic event", but since it was only a 40 minute demo, my impressions were just that it was another quest event. I think a longer demo or fuller game needs to be released in order to truly see the impact of dynamic events, but for show floor it seemed like another scripted event. Again, this is probably because it was a short demo.

The last thing I'll talk about is something that the developers talked about in the GW2 panel. They said the standard "redefining MMO" stuff but there were a few things that got me especially hyped. First was that the developers did not want the ideas of a "tank, healer, nuker" etc to fall into a particular class like Warrior, Monk, Elementalist etc, and they heavily implied that all classes could theoretically take on roles as a "tank" or "healer" or "AoE damage dealer" of some sort. This seems like a really bold claim to make but from what I played on the show floor, it seemed that the classes were all very versatile but still stayed true to their own class abilities, we'll just have to see how that plays out.

Anyway those are my quick impressions right off the show floor. Sorry if there are any grammatical errors but I'm just vomiting thoughts and memories from my head atm, feel free to ask anything about the game experience and I'll try to answer them. I went to the panel as well if you have questions about that too. I got a free GW2 water pouch and a GW book for attending!

Also my character:

On July 26 2011 02:07 irninja wrote:


I can't think of another mmo that had underwater combat at all, or focused on it like GW2 did besides wow.

Guess well see eh?

On July 26 2011 08:39 Obstikal wrote:



In what way did WoW "focus" on underwater combat? There wasn't any focus on it at all. It's just something you were able to do.

There wasn't underwater citys to explore or anything near that. Besides "Kill 10 Alligators" which happend to be underwater.

In GW2 they actually focus on it. You can explore cities and have adventures, talk to people, you actually have underwater weapons and the fighting style under water is completely different.

On July 26 2011 09:39 Ondas wrote:


One of the starter areas of the Cataclysm expansion (Vashj'ir) is 100% underwater, with a faction and underwater mounts, actually. But the combat was still the same and the place itself didn't get many happy faces from the community.

On July 26 2011 10:29 irninja wrote:


+1. You win the cookie.

I am just looking tobsee if these world pvp maps will in some way focus on water combat.

On July 26 2011 10:53 Obstikal wrote:



Go figure. I had no idea they did that.. I stop playing about 6-8months before Cataclysm came out. I had it with the game.. After being a hardcore gamer for a bout 2years in WoW It just seemingly lost its appeal to me.

But yes I'm also very interested in underwater PvP I feel like its going to force people to be good at underwater combat just in case they may find themselves fighting under water. Which is not something I feel like I'm going to like.. but I guess we will see ? O.o

On July 27 2011 01:32 Knutzi wrote:
i have a question about the pvp system.

if we get instantly boosted to max level and all get acess to the endgame gear, will there be any kind of reward for winning at all?

also will there be arenas (not open world) that dont increase you to max level and give you the endgame gear?