Guild Wars 2

Until the news post I was 100% certain that this would be just like the HoT beta weekends, where we’d get a duplicate character and all progress on that duplicate would be wiped at the weekend’s conclusion.

But “You’ll be able to play the first part of the Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire story, which will kick off your journey to the Crystal Desert. Once you arrive, the Crystal Oasis map is yours to explore. Take in the sights, unlock the raptor mount, and have fun with other players!” is ambiguous. If it said “let you experience the start” or some such, it would be more clearly a test session.

I’m still 99% sure no preview progress will convey to live accounts when the weekend’s done, but I’d appreciate ANet clarification on this.

(Yes, I know the answer will be “obvious” in the opinion of many, but I can see it being argued either way, hence my calling it ambiguous. I’m not reading anything into it one way or another, I just had my 100% certainty shaken by the phrasing and would like it restored so I know how to approach the initial session ).

Clarification here would be nice. Do we get to keep the shinnies? In an MMO progression is everything and the answer may make a difference in how much time is spent there.

So ANet, thoughts?

Gaile Gray.6029:

I hope you can join us for the Preview Weekend. I can’t wait for you to see the Crystal Desert and have a look at some of the starter content!

Will we be able to preview the elite specs in anyway during this be it in heart of the mists or the starter map?

Gaile Gray.6029:

That’s a fair question. The Preview Weekend is a chance for anyone to experience the first part of Path of Fire. Even if they’re not a Guild Wars 2 player, they can dive in an see how things look in Tyria. However, the Preview Weekend is not an early start or anything of that nature, and naturally attainments and acquisitions will be wiped before the launch of Path of Fire on September 22, 2017.

I hope you can join us for the Preview Weekend. I can’t wait for you to see the Crystal Desert and have a look at some of the starter content!

Thank you for the reply and clarification. Good gaming to you!

So how does a preview weekend work? Do I take in my level 80 main, or do I need to create a new character, or is some sort of “preview-only character slot” provided?

If existing characters go in, how does loot and consumables work? Loot gets removed when exiting, gold gets reset, consumables return to whatever quantity they were at?

DeanBB.4268:

So how does a preview weekend work? Do I take in my level 80 main, or do I need to create a new character, or is some sort of “preview-only character slot” provided?

If existing characters go in, how does loot and consumables work? Loot gets removed when exiting, gold gets reset, consumables return to whatever quantity they were at?

It’s normally done either on a separate “beta” client and you create a new character which goes straight in at max level with some on level gear to get you going or you create new said character from a special slot on your normal client and go in from there. At the end of the preview, everything gets deleted (or possibly carried over to the next preview weekend).

Randulf.7614:

DeanBB.4268:

So how does a preview weekend work? Do I take in my level 80 main, or do I need to create a new character, or is some sort of “preview-only character slot” provided?

If existing characters go in, how does loot and consumables work? Loot gets removed when exiting, gold gets reset, consumables return to whatever quantity they were at?

It’s normally done either on a separate “beta” client and you create a new character which goes straight in at max level with some on level gear to get you going or you create new said character from a special slot on your normal client and go in from there. At the end of the preview, everything gets deleted (or possibly carried over to the next preview weekend).

Other MMOs have done separate downloads/clients, but I seem to recall for HoT that there were simply extra “Beta” slots that you made throwaway characters for.

August 18th, I’m looking forward to EVERY solo roamer either bringing a Deadeye, or Rage-quitting because of Deadeyes.

Every BL will be like EotM in that you might as well wait for the zerg to return to spawn.

As I recall. For the last beta we got a new char slot that was used for a beta “mirror account” and you switched back to your regular char to play on your regular account. The “mirror account” was identical to our old account and had our wardrobe, dyes, mats etc, etc. It couldn’t interact with the trading post and all vendor purchases, mystic forging, drops, event rewards, etc were all on this temporary mirror account when we played using the beta char and were not saved.

So
1) new temporary beta char slot
2) mirror account accessed through the beta char
3) no permanent rewards on the mirror account
4) switch back to regular account by switching to your old chars.

Also from what I recall this beta slot in HoT had a rather (annoying) feature:

It was not in a guild.
So you didn’t see guild chat.

Will this be resolved in this beta weekend?

Has it been revealed what time tomorrow this starts ?

Gaile — Thanks for the clear answer!

Byakhee — I had forgotten that, thanks for the reminder. What I don’t recall is if the beta weekends were before we got the multi guild chat. It could be that now we’ll be able to see chat even though we can’t rep (so as to avoid exploits using the guild bank to collect mirror account items). I hope so, that was troublesome. At least now I can chat on Discord with guildies if in-game channels are silenced.

dbarron — There was a tweet yesterday from Rubi (or Regina? I never recall which one has the “2”) “We’re planning for sometime Friday morning PDT–similar timing to Living World releases. ~RB2” Which means probably by 9 am Pacific but could go later in the day depending on any problems.

Dang forums…ate my post.

^As for the time…oh, good! I was hoping for Friday morning (PDT), but was afraid it might be available only during the same time period as the Screenshot Contest.

Phew!

So 9am Pacific is 5pm GMT right? I am in UK and get confused with these times lol… :/

Starfyre.5743:

So 9am Pacific is 5pm GMT right? I am in UK and get confused with these times lol… :/

Yes it is

Gaile Gray.6029:

NeuroMuse.1763:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I hope you can join us for the Preview Weekend. I can’t wait for you to see the Crystal Desert and have a look at some of the starter content!

Will we be able to preview the elite specs in anyway during this be it in heart of the mists or the starter map?

Check out this blog post, where you’ll see that players can experience and experiment with the new elite specializations in a second weekend event on August 18-22.

In other words, we won’t be able to preview the new elite specs in pve environment at all?

Astralporing.1957:

Gaile Gray.6029:

NeuroMuse.1763:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I hope you can join us for the Preview Weekend. I can’t wait for you to see the Crystal Desert and have a look at some of the starter content!

Will we be able to preview the elite specs in anyway during this be it in heart of the mists or the starter map?

Check out this blog post, where you’ll see that players can experience and experiment with the new elite specializations in a second weekend event on August 18-22.

In other words, we won’t be able to preview the new elite specs in pve environment at all?

Far as I understand it, which personally I find quite disappointing & annoying as pve is 95% of what I play, so I would have quite liked to be able to test them there. I don’t do PvP, and have only just started to try WvW, where it’s going to be hard to try them out as you’re either in a zerg, or dying because roaming solo just means dying (for someone inexperienced in the mode like I am)

So that just leaves test golems I guess, which I imagine being a nightmare to see anything as every pve player who doesn’t do PvP/WvW will be there. Plus you won’t learn how the specs play in actual combat against mobs etc

killermanjaro.5670:

So that just leaves test golems I guess, which I imagine being a nightmare to see anything as every pve player who doesn’t do PvP/WvW will be there. Plus you won’t learn how the specs play in actual combat against mobs etc

I disagree. The test golem servers its purpose. It’s there so you can simulate certain scenario’s in terms of endgame content. Like enhance your rotation to push out that minor extra damage. or compare certain build etc etc. If that does not help you, then you can always hit the fractal. There is a similar test function there where you can set the golem in “engage” mode. That should help you out

This is going to be a pretty boring beta weekend if we don’t even get to take a look at the elite specs in PvE. Mediocre story telling is just not as compelling as new combat mechanics and build crafting. Seems like a huge mistake making the first preview weekend be such a let down.

Better luck next weekend I suppose.

MinhT.9876:

This is going to be a pretty boring beta weekend if we don’t even get to take a look at the elite specs in PvE. Mediocre story telling is just not as compelling as new combat mechanics and build crafting. Seems like a huge mistake making the first preview weekend be such a let down.

Better luck next weekend I suppose.

I was thinking the exact opposite.

New elite specs are 1 trait line and a handful of skills on each character. Not bad but not enough to keep me occupied for an entire weekend. Whereas this beta is new story, a new map, new masteries which are basically new ways of moving around the maps. That opens up a lot of possibilities.

I admit I’ll likely spend a lot of my time trying to break out of the map (and if we can take mounts out of Elona all of the maps), but I feel that’s a valid form of beta testing – if it works Anet will probably want to fix it before the release goes live.

But either way I’m far more excited about this beta than the elite spec one.

GWMO.4785:

killermanjaro.5670:

So that just leaves test golems I guess, which I imagine being a nightmare to see anything as every pve player who doesn’t do PvP/WvW will be there. Plus you won’t learn how the specs play in actual combat against mobs etc

I disagree. The test golem servers its purpose. It’s there so you can simulate certain scenario’s in terms of endgame content. Like enhance your rotation to push out that minor extra damage. or compare certain build etc etc. If that does not help you, then you can always hit the fractal. There is a similar test function there where you can set the golem in “engage” mode. That should help you out

Ah ok didn’t realise there was an engage mode on them. Still though I’m guessing with how packed it’ll be it might be hard to do much.

But ultimately I should probably just be happy that there’s any form of open beta / preview we can try anyway XD