Guild Wars 2

Recently I was told that I had to play GW2. GW2? What is that? I asked the excited gf. Apparently it was the bee’s knees of mmorpgs. Fair enough I figured, let’s give this a try then.

As I usually stay far and wide away of any mmorpg besides Lotro (sorry, got a knack for that game) I was skeptical when the 14 gig download slowly crawled through my internet pipe for several hours. Didn’t watch any video or read any news article either, “if you’re that good, you can surprise me” I thought.

After installation I went to pick a woodland forest type charracter. Or as I like to call them “Ents with growing issues”. Granted , I was impressed by the graphics. But here it comes. Upon starting the dream quest I got massively confused. I think the game could use a better tutorial system. But let’s not digress. As I continued on said quest I came to a place where I was asked to whack some evil dream demons on the head. Finally….some action! Some action it was. For the next 30 minutes all that came out of my mouth was “wait? What happened? Stop moving! How did my pet die? Doesn’t my pet have a health-bar? This is not good for my blood-pressure, I got a new skill?! How?!”.

This game action “stuff” is comparable to a 6 year old who just had 6 gallons of red bull. It’s insane. But, I kinda enjoy it. I have to get used to it, but I enjoy it.

Well done GW2, you have managed to convince me. I shall continue playing this game till either Ragnarok arrives, or I become a father. Which are the same two things I suppose. And oh, hi btw! waves

waves back Hi!

I love the “Ents with growing issues” XD

It’s a new game and that always takes getting used to. On the other hand … good luck going back to Lotro… standing still to cast, no dodge, no weapon swaps …. The most stale combat possible exists only in MMO-type games. So fun for GW2 to shake up things.

Welcome I can’t even go back to standing still to cast anymore…

Hi, hope you continue to enjoy the game. I still get a kick out of Asura doing backflips and cartwheels when they dodge.

Man… if you think lerning the open world PVE is hard wate tell you start doing some dungeon runs. I suggest runing with a few people who know what there doing with builds focused on sapport and control rather than just high damage.

Oh and ask people about how combo fields work

marnick.4305:

On the other hand … good luck going back to Lotro… standing still to cast, no dodge, no weapon swaps …. The most stale combat possible exists only in MMO-type games. So fun for GW2 to shake up things.

NOT quite, one can very well have a more dynamic fighting style in LotrO as it also incorporates flanking.
What really is a deal breaker for going back is GW2´s awesome Art style and the incredibly dated LotrO engine, at least for me.

HawkMeister.4758:

marnick.4305:

On the other hand … good luck going back to Lotro… standing still to cast, no dodge, no weapon swaps …. The most stale combat possible exists only in MMO-type games. So fun for GW2 to shake up things.

NOT quite, one can very well have a more dynamic fighting style in LotrO as it also incorporates flanking.
What really is a deal breaker for going back is GW2´s awesome Art style and the incredibly dated LotrO engine, at least for me.

“Watch the Tail” and “don’t stand in the fire” are not dynamic fighting styles

Welcome! It’s lovely to see someone with some deep experience with Lotro come and give a fair appraisal of this game. I hope you like the Sylvari!

Alloy.2839:

Hi, hope you continue to enjoy the game. I still get a kick out of Asura doing backflips and cartwheels when they dodge.

I love the Asuran “toppling” jump, the way they launch themselves, flail a little bit and then right themselves mid air. The Charr run is just gorgeous, too!

I also couldn’t go back to stand-to-cast or quest-hub games (although SWTOR piqued my interest for a little bit). And I love the way Guild Wars 2 incorporates the art and painterly effects right into the interfaces. Quite remarkable!

Lotro can be as dynamic as you want it to, that said, the game mechanics of lotro won’t work for this game, and the game mechanics of this game won’t work for lotro. In my opinion one is not better than the other. Both are good games. I doubt I will do dungeons in this game though. I have a hard time remembing all the various ways/rules/things not to do with lotro.

I gave GW2 the benefit of the doubt, and thus far I am pleasantly surprised. It takes some getting used to. And that’s what makes it fun. Besides, you can play as a walking talking herb! How awesome is that?

Don’t bash lotro too harshly though, with the “riders of rohan” , open tapping and mounted combat fights can be quite dynamic.

I really like Lotro but have played too much of it so it is on vacation atm. The dungeons are not really similar as you can bypass so much of GW2 dungeons, also they play more like 3 man such as Library than the larger dungeons. Fairly straight forward as mechanics go so jump in to the AC story (lvl25 exploration mode at lvl 30) to see what you think before you decide never to do them.

I see, they are kinda like the 3-man dol guldur instances I take it then? I’ll give it a go once I reach that level.

I really like Lotro but have played too much of it so it is on vacation atm. The dungeons are not really similar as you can bypass so much of GW2 dungeons, also they play more like 3 man such as Library than the larger dungeons. Fairly straight forward as mechanics go so jump in to the AC story (lvl25 exploration mode at lvl 30) to see what you think before you decide never to do them.

I see I got a double post somehow, yeah like dol guldur, imagine warg pen where you can run past all the wargs.

The combat gets really fun when you get a handle on it, what at first seems quite simple has a lot of depth. The ranger has a lot of tricks it can do with its skill and its pets.

Your going to name your child Ragnarok O.o

The constant movement is what makes it. Dodging, casting while running, all the mobility moves… it all adds up to making for a great pace of gameplay.

Going back to standing still casting, you realise how dull and stodgy the combat in older MMOs is.

Welcome, mellonamin!

As they said, Ranger is incredibly versatile-it(well everyone can for most part) do everything just OK. Don’t listen to ppl that say that Ranger sucks! Sure it does in dmg department compared to, say, Warrior, but 5 Signet GS n00b Strategies simply are not fun(and are not Strategies-they are abusing OP weapon). So, by choosing Ranger, you have picked slightly UP class that is bound to get buffed/fixed, instead of varyingly OP class that is bound to get nerfed. That is good!
Second-bows are used for different strategies: Long for sniper Like strategies(dmg+critical) and Short for hit and run DoT strategies(condi dmg+either HP or Armour).
Third-considering Utilities, they can either nicely round up your character or seriously Buff its strongpoints. For Shortbow you could take(as a Norn-that huge human) Sharpening Stone(next 5 attack inflict Bleeding)Muddy Terrain(ImmobiliseCripple afterward-ranged trap Like skill)Call Owl(3 stacks of Bleeding on demand) OR you could take Signet of Hunt(increased movement speed)Muddy Terrain+Lightning Reflexes(dodge on demand+Vigour Buff). Both are good. There’s bound to be Third and fourth way to do it-just experiment!
Next-if levelling starts to get Slow, it’s because the area has been badly designed. One of the best starting experiences has got to be Norn one. It just feels Like you aren’t wasting a moment of playing-compared to Human one where there are literally useless patches of ground(no resources, no DEs, no nothing in them). That is lvls 1-30. Norn recommended, avoid Human one(imho).
Also, try everything for yourself. Currently kinda OP classes(Warrior, Guardian, Mesmer) simply do not interest me because they feel drab to me. On the other hand, classes that Community deems UP and those would be Engineer, Ranger and Necro, all feel awesome for me(especially Engineer, the awesome feeling when you are standing by your Turrets while surrounded by mines can’t really be described with words). You never know what and when you will “click” with something(I certainly did not Expect to Like Necro, for example)…
Pets-they follow more the Logic of either Raven or Lynx(I think, never got that far in LoTR:O) than of the Bear. Which means you use them for their Special abilities(F2) and keep changing them(unless RP Reasons stand in the way ofc). They can be Wicked really and Bears-if you take 4 of them can and will Act as your typical single Bear in LoTR:O. If you want better Pets, spend points in “Beastmastary” trait line.
Last, but CERTAINLY not least, have fun! GW2 does not really tolerate overextended play sessions, so if you feel Like logging out-LOG OUT! You are losing NOTHING! Yeh that’s right! One big fat naught/zero is your loss. Also, do whatever you want whenever you want! Crafting/PvP/PvE/Dungeons/WvW/Trade Post Tycoon(you being from LoTR:O could be interested in this) can be done at anytime in any order. Now tell me when you had such freedom?

Considering LoTR:O, it must’ve been one awesome game(before f2p conversion). Unfortunately, I tried it after and was not amazed(seeing how I hail originally from GW1/WAR-and yes, I AM NOT a PVP PLAYER!!!) with it. The things that let me Down the most were a)engine(it feels so…choppy)combat(LoTR:O has an awesome slew of classes but incredibly choppy animations and effects) C)skill descriptions/tutorials for some classes(I am looking at YOU Loremaster!) feel incredibly lax D)some Quests that have been obviously introduced with “f2p” update(all those go fetch my hanky that is literally 2 meters from me-are they really necessary?) and e)nickel n’ diming. This is coming from a guy that HIGHLY respects LoTR(imo-only better Fantasy franchise is Warhammer Fantasy).

Namarrie and have fun in GW2!!!

Little piece of advice…check out the “things I wish I knew when I started” stickied thread in the players helping players section of the forums. It has lots of little tricks that newer players miss.

Also, look in to the traits system. Starting at level 11 you get one point per level and spend them on the hero screen. That’s where the meat and potatoes of your character is really at and how you tailor it to your play style. It may seem like a “durr” thing to most people reading, but I’ve known more than a few players that didn’t have a clue about traits or what to do with the books from the trainers until they were way past level 11. You can go to the mists pvp area, which unlocks all skills and trait points, to experiment with different things before investing the skill/trait points in PvE. It lets you find a build and flesh out your character so you know what direction you want to go in as you level.

Kvasirdor.5378:

Recently I was told that I had to play GW2. GW2? What is that? I asked the excited gf. Apparently it was the bee’s knees of mmorpgs. Fair enough I figured, let’s give this a try then.

As I usually stay far and wide away of any mmorpg besides Lotro (sorry, got a knack for that game) I was skeptical when the 14 gig download slowly crawled through my internet pipe for several hours. Didn’t watch any video or read any news article either, “if you’re that good, you can surprise me” I thought.

After installation I went to pick a woodland forest type charracter. Or as I like to call them “Ents with growing issues”. Granted , I was impressed by the graphics. But here it comes. Upon starting the dream quest I got massively confused. I think the game could use a better tutorial system. But let’s not digress. As I continued on said quest I came to a place where I was asked to whack some evil dream demons on the head. Finally….some action! Some action it was. For the next 30 minutes all that came out of my mouth was “wait? What happened? Stop moving! How did my pet die? Doesn’t my pet have a health-bar? This is not good for my blood-pressure, I got a new skill?! How?!”.

This game action “stuff” is comparable to a 6 year old who just had 6 gallons of red bull. It’s insane. But, I kinda enjoy it. I have to get used to it, but I enjoy it.

Well done GW2, you have managed to convince me. I shall continue playing this game till either Ragnarok arrives, or I become a father. Which are the same two things I suppose. And oh, hi btw! waves

I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying the game. I played LoTRO for several years, up until the free to play transition. That game certainly has a great amount of depth to it and an incredible story line, one of my favorite in an MMO.

The action systems are incredibly different, each with their own merits. The skill queue was a nice feature of the LoTRO combat system; unfortunately, the game felt a bit stilted in some areas because of it. Guild Wars 2 is certainly more fluid, but lacks the depth seen in LoTRO.

marnick.4305:

On the other hand … good luck going back to Lotro… standing still to cast, no dodge, no weapon swaps ….

I get so many ‘you cannot do this while moving’ errors on my loremaster now. ^^ I also keep trying to dodge through the nasty clouds on the ground (like on the Saruman fight.) I still like Lotro somewhat, but it does feel quite archaic being rooted to the spot!

I can play both games just fine. Just a case of flipping a switch. I agree that the loremaster is gimped in that way (at least on foot, mounted combat doesn’t have these issues". But there are other classes which can move around just fine.

As for GW2, I’m getting the hang of it. Crafting is a bit “meh” though. As are the overall “hints and tips”. But those are small issues.

Yeah. LoTRO has Like one of the best craftings Save Vanguard and such games. Blows GW2’s right out of airlock…

Loremaster is gimp no matter how you look at it. My impression when playing him was that they tried to recreate the Enchanter from EQ but failed miserably. His CC is better than Burglar’s tricks but Burglar is more useful as a class(if he gets lucky with those gambles of his…oh boy!).

So after a week I have come to the conclusion that this game isn’t so bad at all. In fact, it’s rather fun. I dislike the pve system but WvW is a cool concept minus the fact that I never get badges of honour (just 2 in maybe 8 hours?) and our server being the underdog and all.

To me this game feels like dungeon siege (1 / 2 and not 3) on steriods with extra people hopping around. Just a few skills (like ds 1 and 2) compared to the 50+ skills my lotro hunter has. Gives it a more of a hack and slash feel. Actually quite fun.

Yeah, GW2 kind of takes everything you knew about MMOs and blast it right away by tossing much better and refreshing mechanics at you.
It actually takes a lot of dedication to learn a class, rather than just learn the current meta rotation and apply it.

The red circles mean what you think they mean. Have fun!

Welcome Kvasirdor!