Guild Wars 2

Do we actually sit in them, and we fly to Div. reach? or do we step into a loading screen :P

Magnetron.5823:

step into a loading screen :P

That.

Mkalafut.1273:

Magnetron.5823:

step into a loading screen :P

That.

Wouldn’t surprise me tbh.
Each zone is in it’s own instance, having the hot air balloons travel from their spot to Divinity’s Reach would be impossible the way I see it.

It will most likely function like the trade ship from LA to the Cliffs or Southsun. It just sounds like there will be more of them in all of the cities.

I guess it’ll be more of an instant warp, so not too cool, but I guess convenient if you’re out in the world and want to quicken the process to get to the Queen’s Jubilee content in DR.

Ahh too bad, i guess my hopes for this game are a bit too high.

As stupid as it sounds, AFAIK WoW is still the only MMO to date that has successfully implemented mass transportation without loading screens. Take the zeppelin from Orgrimmar to Thunder’s Bluff and enjoy. You can cram 100 people in there and still no one is warping or glitching one bit. And you can jump off any time you like, just make sure you’ve got your flying mount or parachute ready.

Just sharin’.

Tom Gore.4035:

As stupid as it sounds, AFAIK WoW is still the only MMO to date that has successfully implemented mass transportation without loading screens. Take the zeppelin from Orgrimmar to Thunder’s Bluff and enjoy. You can cram 100 people in there and still no one is warping or glitching one bit. And you can jump off any time you like, just make sure you’ve got your flying mount or parachute ready.

And it looks like something that was made in 1999. You cannot compare such an old game with ho-hum gfx to gw2.

aspirine.6852:

Tom Gore.4035:

As stupid as it sounds, AFAIK WoW is still the only MMO to date that has successfully implemented mass transportation without loading screens. Take the zeppelin from Orgrimmar to Thunder’s Bluff and enjoy. You can cram 100 people in there and still no one is warping or glitching one bit. And you can jump off any time you like, just make sure you’ve got your flying mount or parachute ready.

And it looks like something that was made in 1999. You cannot compare such an old game with ho-hum gfx to gw2.

Yes because GW2 looks like it was made in 2012, right? With DX9 and all the bells and whistles?

Anyhow, it has absolutely nothing to do with graphics and everything to do with server-client communication and architechture.

99 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Divinity’s Reach

Al least we should have a “take off cutscene” before the loading screen and one “landing cutscene” after it Something similar to the “elevator” in the Grove

Hm….

I see mainly three posibilities:
1. Directly getting a loading screen. This is the most likely.
2. A short skippable cinematic that shows you going up in the air in the baloon, then loading screen.
3. The whole path, parts of it as skippable cinematics, parts of it fending air attackers.

hopefully it is an entire cinematic of the flight. Obviously skippable

If anything, we will probably get a cinematic of the balloon landing after a loading screen.

Tom Gore.4035:

aspirine.6852:

Tom Gore.4035:

As stupid as it sounds, AFAIK WoW is still the only MMO to date that has successfully implemented mass transportation without loading screens. Take the zeppelin from Orgrimmar to Thunder’s Bluff and enjoy. You can cram 100 people in there and still no one is warping or glitching one bit. And you can jump off any time you like, just make sure you’ve got your flying mount or parachute ready.

And it looks like something that was made in 1999. You cannot compare such an old game with ho-hum gfx to gw2.

Yes because GW2 looks like it was made in 2012, right? With DX9 and all the bells and whistles?

Anyhow, it has absolutely nothing to do with graphics and everything to do with server-client communication and architechture.

It has a lot to do with graphics, namely the size of the assets. WoW has very low-res textures and low-polygon models making for quick loading so that you can always keep the areas you need loaded before you need to show them. As models and textures become more detailed they take up more space leading to slower loading which makes seamless travel much harder to pull off. It has very little to do with server/client communication. That comes in purely for mob positions and updating your own position.

Shiren.9532:

If anything, we will probably get a cinematic of the balloon landing after a loading screen.

I like this idea but I doubt even that would happen. loading screen seems more likely

Could just be a platform that goes into the hair and floats around on a set path within DI

Within a map (i.e. all the way up to the “portal” that connects a map with the next one) I don’t see why it couldn’t be just… a balloon ride?

• The balloon would follow a fixed path over areas that you can also walk through, so you wouldn’t be able to jump out and on top of things that you’re not supposed to walk on.
• The engine already supports this: a balloon ride is not different from character movement under water.
• The balloon wouldn’t go up very high (i.e. would stay closer to the ground than the steam ogre platform or that weather-based jumping puzzle) so you can enjoy the sights from up there in real time, no cinematics needed
• And once you hit the border of the map, boom, loading screen (same as always) and the loading screen could even take you directly to Divinity’s reach.

And voila, enjoy the sights.

What I’m saying is: there’s no technical reason or limitation that I can see that would force balloon ride to be lame.

According to Dulfy’s preview, unless I’ve missed something, we only get to accompany dignitaries TO the balloons… not ride the balloons ourselves. I might be wrong.

The edges of the map have nothing in them, so a balloon ride would show the vast empty space surrounding the map.

I may be alone in this but I always feel like the world is small. I think it has to do with the zones being separated and the fact that each zone is a square or rectangle closed in so that you HAVE to go through a portal. Wish it was more open and seamless. I’m guessing you’ll instantly teleport to the zone that Divinity Reach is in and fly in from a distance. I doubt they would make you go through all the loading screens of the zones you’ll pass by.

Ronah.2869:

Al least we should have a “take off cutscene” before the loading screen and one “landing cutscene” after it Something similar to the “elevator” in the Grove

You mean the ones where you see your character standing at your destination as the seed pod that is supposedly carrying you there slowly floats down next to you? :P

They just showed it in the live stream and it is literally an instant transport. Really a let down. I had hoped we were going to see a bit of Tyria from the air while enjoying a balloon ride towards Divinity’s Reach (or at least the nearest zone border).

So more “hot air” and less “balloon”, then.

ArenaNet, you’re really dropping the ball(oon) here. Even the pod in The Grove has a cutscene that shows you travelling. If I just want a loading screen, I’ll waypoint. We step into the basket of a hot air balloon because we want to fly over the landscape of Tyria.

Even as a short cutscene, hot air ballooning would’ve been fun for me. Now, it’ll be to get the achievement and then soon forgotten.

I still cringe when I think back on the balloon ride on Tatooine…

Anyway, every time I see this thread title my brain wants it to say ‘Hot Air Baboons’. I think hot air baboons would probably be more fun than hot air balloons.

Gibson.4036:

Ronah.2869:

Al least we should have a “take off cutscene” before the loading screen and one “landing cutscene” after it Something similar to the “elevator” in the Grove

You mean the ones where you see your character standing at your destination as the seed pod that is supposedly carrying you there slowly floats down next to you? :P

Lol, they still need to fix that… xD;;

I do like the idea of a cutscene like that, but I kinda doubt it will be there though

Sieg.8439:

Gibson.4036:

Ronah.2869:

Al least we should have a “take off cutscene” before the loading screen and one “landing cutscene” after it Something similar to the “elevator” in the Grove

You mean the ones where you see your character standing at your destination as the seed pod that is supposedly carrying you there slowly floats down next to you? :P

Lol, they still need to fix that… xD;;

I do like the idea of a cutscene like that, but I kinda doubt it will be there though

It’s a huge mistake when they add hot air ballooning and the pod travelling in The Grove looks better!