Guild Wars 2

Fisrt of all, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed this beta. I won’t be able to play much tomorrow, so this is my final veredict of BWE1. It made me a lot more hyped for the launch of HoT, but I cannot say it was entirely perfect. But that’s what betas are for, to spot those imperfections and be able to correct them. (Disclaimer: everything said in this post is entirely my opinion and it can differ from everyone else that played the beta)

Verdant Brink

Daylight meta events feels really good. They are fun and engaging, and I really like the character interaction during the events.

But as you may already know, there are a couple issues, mostly related to bugs. Here is the list of bugs I was able to find, you probably know them already, but just to be sure:

. Itzel chain: Feed the Itzel and protect the basket bugs as you fill the baskets but the event doesn’t recognize it

. Itzel chain: Wyvern died so quickly it surprised me. It didn’t feel nearly as threatening as I expected. I think a simple buff to HP might help in this case.

. Laranthir chain: Escort event can stall when they arrive at the ruins

. Laranthir chain: I think the Vinetenders’ health are too big and they spawn too quickly, making the event take really long.

Other minor bugs related to the area:

. Visual bug after the event of planting the bombs to explode the Vinecrawler

[img]http://i.imgur.com/kzXk1pl.jpg[/img]

. I don’t think this is intended, but you can get this mastery point without getting to the top of the stone by jumping from where my character is and spamming F until you get the dialog screen

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Gbq918I.jpg[/img]

And my last issue is with the bouncing mushrooms, mostly due to the fact that you take fall damage after using one. Some mushrooms bounce you to lower levels and can kill you from fall damage (like this one for instance)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/IP77gFY.jpg[/img]

And some may bounce you toward obstacles in the way, making you hit it and fall down to your death (like this one, that can make you hit the branch over it)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/XVEDFMe.jpg[/img]

The place where you stand over the mushroom, if you are in the center or near the border, can slightly change your trajectory and cause these sort of problem, so I’d suggest checking the bouncing mushrooms for potential accidental deaths.

I won’t say much about the nighttime event, since it has been stated that it is an early build, but because there is no character interaction, no interesting chain of events and no explanation about the progress bar and what “Security Level” means, it’s just a bunch of escort and defend events. Not really that interesting yet, but I can see the potential and I understand the concept.

Finally, I really liked the new enemies. Each one has something new and interesting, like the snipers who are just like a zerker player, reking if unattended but die quickly, and the Smokescale, that can be really dangerous if you don’t know how to fight it. It does make you think more about what are you fighting before you engage.

Map Bonus

I tested the map bonus for a couple hours. I went toward and item I really need and its pretty rare to get by other means than the TP currently, that is Silver Doubloons. The only map that offered Silver Doubloon was Brisban Wildlands, so I spent a lot of time there.

While the concept is really good, I think it still need some work done to achieve what it aim to. Here are my main issues with it right now:

. The UI is fairly lackluster and ambiguous. I feel it needs to explain better what Next Reward and Other Reward means, since it could mean that I’d get the next reward until a specific time when it would rotate, or that I’d get the next reward for the next event and then it would rotate for the subsequent event, or if I’d have a higher chance of getting the next reward, but with some small chance of getting any of the other rewards from any event.

. There was no clear visual sign that I’d gotten the bonus. Yea, it appeared on the right side as any new item that gets dropped in the inventory, but at first I didn’t know if it was just a random drop or the event reward, and if I wasn’t paying attention I could easily miss it.

. There was no explanation about when I’d get any item from an event. Some events gave it, some didn’t, and I didn’t understand the item rotation. Because of that, I couldn’t say how many events I’d have to do before I get one of the item I needed.

. It felt unrewarding. After the couple hours I was in Brinsban Wildland I probably did about 10~15 events and got 2 Silver Doubloon. That’s too little. And when I didn’t get it, I got itens I didn’t care about. And because Brisban is a wide, open area with sparse events occurring here and there, it doesn’t feel engaging enough to hook me there for long enough for me to actually get enough Silver Doubloons to compensate for my time there, when I could be in Silverwastes, Dry Top, the new HoT maps or doing dungeons and fractals, where I’d have more fun and greater rewards.

Things I’d suggest to make it feel better:

. UI revamp and a UI component to be seen while playing, instead of just in the World Map, maybe somewhere in the minimap or next to the Event info on the top right side of the screen

. Bouncing chest after completing event

. Reward something at every event completed

. Give better reward to longer, more challenging or time gated content like group events, Jumping Puzzles and mini dungeons.

. Make it clear how many events it take to get each specific item, or maybe be able to select your prize after events, so its easier to farm for specific materials.

Mastery System

In the course of the weekend, I was able to finish the second tier of gliding and the first tier of Itzel Lore. As of now, I think the progress is well paced, it doesn’t take long enough to fell like grinding, but doesn’t take too short to be able to rush to the end of the tier and be done with it. I still don’t know how fast I’ll be able to get it with the complete maps and all the Personal Story chapters, so if any change is going to be made, I hope it takes a bit more time to get it.

I really like the feel of training a new reward track. Every track you train, mainly the first tier, open a new way to traverse the map, get to new places, new heights, be able to excel in the adventures. The mastery system can truly become the best possible way I’ve ever seen progression being handled in a MMORPG, but it needs to keep me invested. It cannot be too fast to get, and each tier I get must change my view of the locations and the content, it must be meaningful, like the first tier of gliding and Itzel was, and more importantly, I think the later tiers must be even more impactful to justify the increased difficulty to get to them. I haven’t seen many updrafts in the current explorable places, so the second tier of gliding didn’t feel that much impactful, but I expect other parts of the map and other maps to have more updrafts, battles on cliffs that you can fall and get back using them, like the first version of the Wyvern fight, and such. And the same to be true about every other tier.

Adventures

I really like this. It is a simple, casual minigame that adds to what you can do in the jungle. I saw myself repeating an adventure over an over trying to get gold, and it wasn’t easy (I actually couldn’t get gold in any, but I blame it on the event stall that kept me from being able to activate and practice more). And the leaderboard added that indirect competitive level that I love as a PvE player, the competition where everyone wins, but you try to see who wins better. Now I’m really curious about the other kinds of adventure there will be in future maps.

Revenant

I really enjoyed the profession. I played it last beta and felt it was kinda weak, but with the recent buffs to the profession I felt it was really strong and fun to play. I’m not an expert on meta and min-maxing to say how it stands in the current meta compared to other profession, and what is the optimal build for the revenant, but I don’t have complaints. I played a more power based build with Shiro and some support from Ventari, using sword/axe and hammer, sometimes switching to staff. I had a lot of fun with it and I can see myself playing a lot more with it when HoT releases.

Dragon Hunter

As a guardian main, I decided to go for the Dragon Hunter in this beta, since it would be the elite spec I’d be able to give better feedback on. I actually enjoyed it, even if I have some issues with it. I like the traps, it can be used for really burst builds, stacking tons of bleeding and vulnerability. I like how Guardians are really verstile when it comes to utilities, and the traps adds even more options to be used depending on the situation.

The bow feels good, but I don’t really like being grounded for the skill #2, and because the skill #3 is so gimmicky, since you have to hit a shot with a shot and it doesn’t last long, I think actually hiting a big projectile should be more rewarding and impactful, maybe reflecting the shot instead of just destroying it or giving a bonus damage or effect if a projectile is destroyed by the shot, like stacks of burning, maybe a daze or stun, what would interrupt the skill that generated the projectile, like if it was a ranger longbow #2.

Most of my complaints are on the traits, though. I think it lacks synergy with other weapons and lines, and it only feels useful if I use the longbow and a bunch of traps. We have two traits that only works with longbow (Hunter’s Determination and Heavy Light), and Piercing Light is the only place guardian can access bleeding, and it has no sygergy with anything else.

I’d suggest making Piercing Light also reduce cooldown of traps, since it is the only utility type that doesn’t have cooldown reduction trait, make Dulled Senses apply cripple for any hard CC (stun, knockback, knockdown, pull, launch) to work better with hammer #4 and GS #5, bundle Heavy Light and Hunter’s Determination together and make another condition based trait, since I feel Dragon Hunter still don’t add enough to a condi guardian with just a single bleeding trait. It’s still better to get Zeal for Kindled Zeal and Symbolic Power, radiance for Inner Fire, Renewed Justice, Radiant Fire, Radiant Power and Amplified Wrath, and Virtue for Inspired Virtua, Supreme Justice and Permeathing Wrath (there might be an even better build, but that’s what I use). Maybe make cripple do damage, like Necro with fear and chill, or something to synergyze with the bleeding trait, or even something else for burning, like bleeding or cripple cause burning, or vice versa (of course with some ICD). Also, Hunter’s Fortification isn’t a fun trait, I don’t see me getting a simple 3 seconds radial protection as a grandmaster trait since guardian has other sources of protection, like hammer auto attack and shield #4. I don’t feel it as the sort of support a Dragon Hunter gives, I think it should give more active support, like the block from Shield of Courage and the Longbow skill #3. As the theme of Dragon Hunter suggests hunting rather than protecting, it would be better to at least apply weakness to enemies instead of protection to allies, or it can be a condi cleanse trait that synergyze with the line in some way.

Other issues

Besides everything, I think there are a few issues that stopped me from testing more builds. Mainly the fact that not every stat set was available (no Nomad’s nor Sinister’s) neither every rune and sigil. For that reason, I’d suggest instead of giving the boxes with those items, make a beta only instance where people can buy whatever they want like in the WvW borderlands stress tests, and make stats swappable in equips whenever you are OOC.

Well, I hope to have helped, even if just slightly. If anyone has anything to add or to correct me, I’d love if you reply.

~ArtVeigar