Guild Wars 2

Heya guys. Thought I’d make this thread for a few reasons. Been talking to people in game and had some fun with this, so thought I’d give it a whirl. Also on a more personal perspective I’ve been quite scathing recently, and while I stand by the criticisms and frustrations I have, I want to do something to show to myself as much as anything that the game is still very much one I love, and want to share the good stuff as well as the bad.

The question is simple; what have been the most memorable moments you’ve had in game? The ones that make your jaw drop in disbelief about what just happened or what you have seen (in a good way). Those moments where you think to yourself, perhaps even say out loud “oh wow”. Those moments that will stay with you for the rest of the time you play the game.

I’ll kick off with mine;

Weyandt’s Revenge – I was on a puzzle hunt, doing many for the first time, and remember finding this one in LA. Got into it, and started off very interesting. Just following the white light. Going through walls (thinking it was a nice little bit of trickery), to going through the gauntlet of spike traps, the lights on/off room, having to choose which hole to fall down. It felt like a huge instance rather than a part of a main hub in the game. Every step I took i was wondering what was going on, and was blown away by the sheer number of amazing ideas packed into one puzzle. I felt like Indiana Jones must have felt at the start of Raiders, navigating the traps of that first tomb. All the while the maniacal captain was taunting me. It was just such an experience that it made me think “this game really sets a benchmark”. and then thought “how in heck did I play this game for 2 years and not seek out these places?”. It mad me want to find all the puzzles, and while some came close, none ever matched this piratical wonderland.

The first Halloween event. – One of my endearing memories of GW1 was Halloween. I love Halloween as a slightly camp fantasy festival of ghouls and goblins. Rather than watching the scary films, I prefer something like “Hocus Pocus” or “Casper” to capture my Halloween spirit. Anyway, in GW1, I loved the Mad King, and while I expected to see him in the game, when I finally did I just stood in awe. I had ported to LA for some reason (not for Halloween purposes, just going about the usual business), zones into the original waygate area, saw the place had some nice Halloween decor and thought it was cool, turned around to see a freakin’ huge Mad King doing his stuff. it was the moment in the game that first felt epic and made me think “this game is awesome”. The entire joy of my first few months of place can be summed up by the indescribably joy of seeing the Maddest Guy Ever at proportions to intimidate the Stay Puft Man, I felt so small and puny, and yet I was won over by the guy. Makes me look forward to GW2 Halloween more than any other in game festival, and indeed makes me want it more than any other festival in any other MMO game I play. So much show it is my dream to one day go to a Halloween party dressed as the Mad King himself.

My final one is less one that praises the skill of the developers, and more commemorates the one time, in my history of MMO playing, that the gods of RNG truly smiled upon me. It was the run up to the NPE changes, and was we were unsure about what rewards were staying or changing etc, I decided to get all my characters (32 at the time) past the first chapter of PS just to have all the keys. I did my first 5 characters (I had done the PS a couple of times up to points, but mostly didn’t bother with it), and got the 5 keys, decided to just open them (I’m too impatient to wait). The first two chests were the usual stuff. A couple of scraps, a booster, a dye pack and some other stuff. The third had the permanent hairstyle contract. Truly jumped for joy that day and had a smile like the Cheshire Cat.

So, over to everyone. What are those moments that are truly memorable? Happenings ingame, the lucky drop, something that happened with friends or guildies.. Lets celebrate what makes the game great for us on a personal level. Can’t wait to hear from you all!

In terms of rng and random things the only “wow” moments I’ve had in game have come from other players. All the game generated ones have been overshadowed by unrelenting disappointment.

Now I have had quite of bit of admiration for the graphics, game play, and such, but none of those have really giving me that “wow” feeling.

Positive ones: GW2 after release and the first months. Wow, such a beautiful world and made with so much love and creativity. The devs really planned the whole thing trough.
The first Halloween, Christmas Event, SAB and the start of the LS. It was just so amazing how much and how good they made them of the things they had.
And the Karka Event was one of the few which made the time you invested into the LS worth by giving you a high chance for a precursor.

Negative ones: After Scarlet popped up things went downhill. LS Season 1, large parts of Season 2, Megaservers in Citys, NPE, Gemgate. These were just a few things which made me say: Wow, what the hell guys. You just managed to rewrite the definition of abysmal.

Whenever I get an exotic drop. I’m currently averaging about 1 exotic per 200-250 hours of gameplay.

Watching the camera pan around for the vistas in the maps I visit. I get a lot of “wow” moments from those, showing off the environment, especially if there’s action nearby.

Arah path 4. In the first few months of release Simin, High Priest of Dwayna, was considered one of the toughest challenges in the game. My friends and I spend almost one full night on that path and finally gave up (the sparks would sometimes bug).

The following weekend a friend of mine from another guild asked me to fill in as their group was in hour number 3 and players kept dropping. They needed dps so I brought my zerker Mes and her awesome Timewarp. 2 more hours later (lost a couple more pugs) we defeated Simin! It was so exhilarating that I shouted very loudly at 3am and kittened off my sleeping neighbors:D

The other wow moment would be when I finally, after a full year of trying and hundreds of gold, I finally got a precursor (Dusk) from the Mystic Toilet. I scared the crap out of my roommate with the yelling!

Plenty of smaller moments too with beautiful scenery and other hard fought battles but those two stand out the most.

My first Jormag fight. I was downed a billion times as I just stood there and stared at that dragon. And people were reviving me actually – something that hadn’t happened before.

Winning a 5 vs 20 in Garrison’s Lord’s without siege, without anything.

Playing thief for the first time.

“The cannons have been adjusted. This time we’ll bring it down, for good. Fire away!” — first time I saw that was pretty epic.

The other awe moment was the first time I ran the molten facility. I was grouped up with a bunch of pugs who probably weren’t even in full exotic gear, and I swear that fight was harder than the fractal version we have now. The whole facility was fun to run through the first time, but the moment that final boss dropped I was legitimately scared.

Then, once the fight began it was Armageddon. People are flying and dying left and right, I’m having to dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge through shockwaves and fire fields, and the worst part is I’m the only one who was figuring out what was going on, what with the whole enraged status thing. Eventually, my underdog team of low deeps and low durability managed to kill that darn mole, only to discover that the charr fully heals and becomes much more powerful.

Nowdays that fight is down to a science, but back then it was utter chaotic fun.

When I beat Liadri in the first Queen’s Arena after what felt like a thousand tickets. kitten . My heart was racing and I sat there for a second in complete disbelief. That was probably the only time I thoughtv"Wow… Guild wars is really hard".

Getting Dusk then Dawn back to back from the mystic forge.

What are your “Oh wow!” moments?

When that’s what she said

when I killed three stinking piggies from GoM in wvw solo. stay bad. O WOW

I have a “oh wow” moment every time I drop a finisher on another player, it is awesome.

Finally getting my first map completion.

Was waiting for a chance in EB to get my final vista when a commander whisped me, I’d totally forgotten it was a guy I’d helped out a few weeks earlier in PvE on his alt in some lower area, but he steered the whole zerg to the vista I needed and bling!!!

Finally got it.

Stoked and couldn’t get over the fact he indirectly made 50+ players help me map complete.lolz

First time I fought a world boss, before knowing about them. Old style Tequatl, after hearing people in map talking about a “dragon”.

First Halloween.

First time I logged in.

First time I played SAB.

First time in WvW.

When I realised the traits thread was approaching 150,000 views.

First day I had the game. Went to do a heart, turned into a snow leopard and could kill a moose… sold me on the game

Seeing Lupicus for the first time and seeing the solo videos… it’s been my goal for the game, once I get it done and can repeat it consistently I’ll consider the game beaten

When i saw many player with a mini Gwynefyrdd in the new trailer for Tangled path.
That was a real slap in the face.

In no particular order:

All the times I’ve stumbled onto a jumping puzzle without expecting it. The most memorable are when I was randomly passing a ravine in Caledon Forest, decided to see what was at the end of it (expecting nothing but a wall, maybe a veteran), climbed up some rocks and found myself at the start of Spekk’s Lab and when I saw a ledge at the top of a waterfall in Lion’s Arch, thought it looked like somewhere we could climb (as opposed to scenery with no actual terrain built into it) and started exploring the surrounding areas for a way up. An hour later I’d almost forgotten that’s what I was originally looking for so I found it quite funny to finish that puzzle and end up on the exact ledge I’d been looking at.

The first time I did the Font of Rhand mini-dungeon and really got to see the benefits of being able to play cooperatively without being in a party. There was a small group of us doing it, about 4-9 at different points and we were all discussing the puzzles, splitting into different groups to do different rooms, coming together to fight enemies, doubling back to hold the gate open so everyone got through and coordinating attacks against the boss, all without having to worry about forming official parties.

The feeling of excitement I got when I’d reached level 80, gotten my exotic gear and was finally free to do whatever I wanted in the game without having to worry about if it would get me good XP or contribute to gear I needed or if it was above my level. I went to Southsun just because I hadn’t been there since Lost Shores, then explored Diessa Plateau, again just because I hadn’t seen much of Ascalon.

I had many oh wow moments, but this was my last ow wow moment

When I jumped this jump for the first time, I was like: WHUUUUUTT!?!?!?

I’ve had plenty, and have about three minutes to type … aiee.

In beta I found the Kessex JP just by exploring into a cave. I didn’t solve it, but I got through to the overlook near Garrenhoff. Also in beta I got a Pirate Outfit (with sword) and did the Walk the Plank option and died laughing.

The whole world was an oh-wow every time I went to a new zone or found a new heart mechanic. I felt so immersed in the landscape!

Marionette was a continuous oh-wow. Loved that fight. Same with the dragon attacking the Grove, first run through was epic for me.

More recently the Machine cinematic and the current Lair just visually blew me away. Jumping into the Breach the first time not knowing what was down there. The Priory library secret area had me squealing, and then the cinematic after you do all the ciphers, wow.

Synced dancing — never saw that in any other MMO before. The first time I saw various armor skins. Sure they’re common as all get out and I can salvage them without preview now, but coming from WoW to this real wowing … Love the armor in this game.

The attack on LA was astounding. Heck, the first one, with the karka, I loved that. I never dc’d, so I didn’t get a second shot at a precursor, but I didn’t mind.

So many more, but I have to depart now!

Looks of LA first Halloween.

Gaile Gray.6029:

For me:

• Go to vista
• Watch video
• Have a “Oh wow!” moment.

Happened last night in Ascalon Settlement. Happens to me just about every. single. time. I can’t tell you how much I love the game world.

Another one, recently: The fun of the Mad King’s Labyrinth. I forgot the frenetic pace, the swirling leaves, the sounds — I really love that romp.

Come on, Vistas? Two years ago they were nice to watch, once. Now, I can’t hit the Escape key fast enough. What I did like was when my Warrior, in Queensdale, came up out of the water for the 1st time, & there were all of those little droplets of water coming down the sides of the screen. For a second that was immersive. If there were more times where I felt like that, I don’t remember them.

Many of my most memorable moments are tied to jumping puzzles. The first time I did the pirate JP in Lion’s Arch, I had to be dragged kicking and screaming. Afterwards, I hadn’t had that much fun in a game in a long, long time. It converted me from “Kitten platforming” (coming off of SWTOR) to “When can we do another one?!”

My first Pig Iron JP. I was so nervous that my hands were sweating. Scare me some more, please!

The first time I saw the Griffonrook Run JP. It’s still one of the most beautiful settings in the game to me.

SAB. That is all.

Scouring the Bazaar of the 4 Winds for crystals.

The first time I saw Shadow Behemoth and the first time I saw Jormag. Epic fights back when the game was new. Fire Ele pre-launch…though that wasn’t necessarily positively memorable…

Omadd’s machine and the Eternal Alchemy.

Every single time I go “what’s in/under/behind here?” and there actually is something. Look, a secret! It delights. I don’t mean loot, just little things like an NPC with an interesting tale, a cave full of bunnies, or a fabulous view .Even after 2 years, I still stumble across such things now and then.

I cannot thank the developers enough for creating this beautiful, detailed, interesting world that so richly rewards exploration. If you had asked me prior to playing GW2 if I was the explorer type, I would have told you no, but that’s because other games had never rewarded me with things worth finding. My favorite part of GW2 is simply…Tyria.

Day one of the pre-release. After I created my main and got through the human tutorial, I ran into my very first dynamic event. Bandits chose that moment to barricade the bridge leading from the city to the farmlands. They never stood a chance.

Another happened during the first time I was in Blazeridge Steppes. After a giant shadow passed over me, I looked up to see what had cast it. I literally said, “OH MY GOD! That’s a dragon,” when I realized how huge it was. I had another later when someone informed me that the Shatterer is only a dragon champion and elder dragons are much bigger.

The most recent was when I was when I was collecting crystals during the Festival of the Four Winds. When I got one that was near the top of the airship, I happened to turn the camera towards the cliffs at sunset. Even on medium graphic settings, real sunsets don’t even come close.

Like most, I’m usually quick to cancel vistas’ camera sweeps when I’m mapping with new characters. The exceptions are any that play the instrumental of “Fear Not This Night.” I have to hear the whole thing. It’s amazing how just a few notes can compose such an emotionally gripping melody.

My most “wow” moment in this game was at the end of the fractal where you save a collosus from his chains. When I look at him and he was facing me, he bowed so I thought it was common courtesy to bow back. I had no idea there was an achievement for actually doing that, which I think was a very nice touch.

Malkavian.4516:

My most “wow” moment in this game was at the end of the fractal where you save a collosus from his chains. When I look at him and he was facing me, he bowed so I thought it was common courtesy to bow back. I had no idea there was an achievement for actually doing that, which I think was a very nice touch.

I totally forgot about that one and I actually smiled when I got that achievement. It was very clever.

^ I also rate very highly the fractal where you get an achievement for returning the bow. Loved that.

Also the first time I saw a dragon flyover. I was in Snowden Drifts, heard a faraway roar, and looked up JUST in time to see what I thought at the time was Jormag. I hadn’t expected that kind of thing to actually be implemented and I was rather terrified.

But the absolute best moment I’ve had was doing the Molten Facility. I went through dozens of times and people always had varying amounts of trouble with the end bosses. We took down the Firestorm together, but against the powered-up Berserker, people started dying fast. (I always thought it was better to defeat them the other way around.)

Around 75% HP, all four of my party teammates are dead, and I’m downed. They of course all sigh in frustration and start preparing to restart the fight, but being a Ranger, I can get myself back up on my feet a bit easier. I thought I’d see how far I could get on my own.

I don’t remember how long it took but I took that Molten Berserker down, plinking away with my bow, for ages and ages all by myself (well, with my pets), while the defeated party cheered me on. I dodged all the shockwaves and just kept at it until I won. The yelling in disbelief from my party was the best bit.

Discovering Goemm’s Lab during the pre-release. Me and a couple buddies were leveling in Metrica, and exploring like crazy as we went. Didn’t even know there were jumping puzzles in GW2. We found this little cave obscured by plants, and kept following it, and ended up on floating rocks up in the sky, not knowing what we were doing or where it would lead us. Ah, good memories.

My last wow moment is to see that guy at rata sum maize balm farm spot trolling everyone until no one left here and realize he is currently multiboxing on 3 accounts and making like ~100 gold/hour if he is alone .

Ah, I forgot to mention a serious oh-wow: Cleansing Orr the first time, no idea what the boss would do, I got knocked down, I got up again. And then all the game sounds went away, replaced by the instrumental Fear Not This Night while I was still fighting, and it felt like I was in a major motion picture doing slow-mo fighting to beautiful music.

Ever since, I’ve told anyone I’m helping with that PS to make sure their game music is on before we begin. I don’t tell them why.

Before that of course there was the battle to retake Claw Island, when a freaking dragon appeared and I charged it with an army and we killed it to glorious music I’d not heard before. Now I can just speed through that step (hello 14 80’s) but the first time was magic.

• First time seeing Tequatl and Clawr of Jormag appear. (Shatterererererer never impressed me until I fought her with siege and I could finally see her from afar.)
• The vistas. (Someone said, “yeah, that’s boring now,” and it is, because I’ve done so many. But the first time: wow. and wow again. Every so often, I stop just to watch and remind myself.)
• The first Tarnished Coast victory against the new Tequatl. People didn’t really know how things worked yet and Rekkt led us through it and it was amazing.
• The first time we defeated Little Scarlet, aka Made Marion, aka the Marionette. The particular map I was in had no commanders, just a bunch of us scrubs added calm reminders about what to do, where to focus, etc. Organized raids are fun for the machine efficiency, but PUG raids are “wow” moments when they work, because they aren’t run perfectly.
• The Branded part of Ascalon. Stunning.
• The Colossus bowing in Cliffside (I didn’t know it was coming). The way he breaks away from the cliff and stops to turn.
• The Karka Roll, during the first attempt at Living Story stuff. Tons of issues, but when it was working: wow.
• Same with the destruction of LA both times. Amazing before & after.

Some will point out that many of these things happened before the 1 year anniversary. True enough. I’ve had plenty of “wow” moments since, but I didn’t want to create a 4,000 word post.

The Eternal Alchemy.

Edit: Oh yeah, and the Colossus, of course.

For me is getting a precursor from a champ bag when they first came out.
But the best would be just looking at the sky just before teq spawns the animation on the clouds ect. thats a wow moment for me and makes me wonder how many people actually just look at the sky of the world they are walking around.

First time seeng the Cthulhu fractal boss.
First Teq kill on Desolation.
Two Sparks in one day (MF + drop).

My most epic moment was definitely while commanding one of the lanes against the Twisted Marionette. My entire platform goes down, and it’s just me against the boss. I manage to solo the boss, and kill it just at the last second, thus giving Aurora Glade another victory. The cheering in map chat was absolutely fantastic. It’s one of those rare moments where you get to be the hero.

8-orb’ing Liadri on my Asuran Engi.

Got to the very, very end but I got downed by a clone. BUT! Managed to kill her from downed just before Shadowfall got me with about 2 seconds to spare.
That made my whole week.

Creating my first and still my favourite, sylvari elementalist. I remember spending around 2 hours creating her, but i was eager to play sooo much, but i wanted to see every class and race and…. just…i.miss that feeling when everything is new and exciting

First time I’ve seen it in game, now I know what all the fuss was about.

WoW!

Loving these amazing tales of memorable exploits (no, not the bad kind!) and happenings. Making me want to seek out some of the easily repeatable ones (getting pres in bags, i won’t say no, but I ain’t holding out hope!)

@ Gaile, i share your sentiments with the game world. So many amazing little nooks and crannies about that makes exploring a joy in itself, not just as a goal for rewards. Can remember stumbling into the Observatory in Kessex, and wasn’t sure it was a puzzle til halfway through. So seamless and so fitting. For all the criticisms I know I do have on certain aspects of the game, I’ll never say a bad word about the world. It is truly a work of art.

There was a person on Straits of Devastation begging for 3 silver in map chat for ages the other day. That’s a different kind of wow though :P

First wow was probably seeing the Swamp Behemoth for the first time back in the day. Thought I was Rambo and ran in to save all those players and died almost instantly doing 0 damage. Good times.

The kiss with majorie and Kasmeer at the end of the Scarlet Story <3

Gaile Gray.6029:

Hoaxintelligence — and lived to tell about it.

Fake Asura? XD

Overhere some other Ow Wow! moments of my life in Guild Wars 2

1 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977689.jpg
2 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977687.jpg
3 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977685.jpg
4 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977678.jpg
5 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977676.jpg
6 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977675.jpg
7 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2977674.jpg
8 http://assets.enjin.com.s3.amazonaws.com/users/1681238/pics/full/2762486.jpg

BWE2: First time doing the Font of Rhand. A group of 15 people figuring out how to solve the puzzles, then getting 1-shot by his auto (yet alone his Boil), then finally winning and seeing about a dozen chests pop up floating in the water. It was intense, fun, and a little disappointing how easy it is now.

The first time doing each dungeon, each Fractal, and the story the first time. The first time doing each jumping puzzle (no matter how fun or frustrating). First time beating each world boss. Some living story event (SAB1, Flame and Frost dungeon, Mai Trin dungeon, and the first Labyrinthine Cliffs event. Nightmare Tower I didn’t like at the time, but grew on me).

Buying GW1 this past August, and seeing how everything was connected. Especially enjoyable to see the ghosts I fight in GW2 AC as living people in pre or post Searing. They’re very different games, but both are still enjoyable. Earned my 30 HoM points, but still working slowly on 50 and GWAMM. In there, finishing each story, the grueling finish of War in Kryta, first time I completed Sorrow’s Furnace, the Fissure of Woe, and the Tomb of the Primeval Kings (still need to finish UW and DoA), beating Winds of Change (just normal so far) and fighting the GW2 style clone mesmer.

The view from the top of Mount Maelstrom impresses me every time I see it.

However, that very first time I saw it completely blew me away. It was so cool how big the world felt and how free I felt as a player to explore something so awesome.

:)

That feel when marionette died for the first time… I freaking miss it

That was one of the best moments I ever had on GW2 or any other MMO.

Everything about this game is just Wow.

Hmm…my first wow was indeed the first time I logged in, during a stress test pre-launch…for the game is superior than anything I had ever seen before, in everything! (And still is, truly )
Then many wow moments following, when I created my first Charr and.."WoW!!! They go on all fours!!! " , when I first saw Twilight on a player, a looooong time ago…the mini dungeon in the first halloween event was a big WOW! Q.Q
When I saw revamped effects given on Eternity was another wow moment…and…mini Zuzu - Aaand…when I got my first Tequatl Hoard yesterday, definitely the best drop I’ve ever had ever -
And the most epic and I mean EPIC wow I’ve ever had though was…when I entered Bria’s house in Iron Marches during her event, still WOW whenever I go back inside again!