Just a few notes on my opinion on the beta so far, which is thankfully very positive
Firstly, gliding. I didn’t expect this mechanic to run so smoothly, it’s amazing. The first thing I did when I unlocked it was go to the first waypoint in Verdant Brink and leap off the cliff, and it felt so natural, like a normal response. I can’t wait till in the future to unlock advanced gliding to see how velocity affects it. Basically, I love it. Props to Arena Net.
Next, mushrooms. I was never that interested in the Itzel mastery track as they’re…y’know, mushrooms. But after unlocking the second track in gliding I moved on to Itzel to unlock the ‘shrooms, and I was pleasantly surprised. I originally thought the ’shrooms would be glitchy like the lightning zephyrite crystal animations, but it’s actually really fun to shoot up in the air. However, I hope that they give us the ability to glide when you start falling, which isn’t available right now. So if the bounce glitches, you’ll fall to your death regardless of unlocking gliding or not. Whoops. Overall, I definitely suggest unlocking the bouncing mushrooms after basic gliding.
The enemy AI is definitely a strong point of the beta in my opinion. I’ve seen people complaining that they’re too hard, but they aren’t hard per say, just challenging. You can’t activate a lava font and adk while auto-attacking these guys, you need to pay attention, which is great! My only complaint about the Mordrem Courtiers (Nightmare Court much) are the snipers, because holy hell they are powerful. I might just be a noob around them due to not seeing them often and missing clear animations that they’re gonna do that weird thrasher-like underground vine thing, but still, they are hard. Still love them though.
The map itself is by far one of the most gorgeous maps in the game, on par with Southsun Cove. I absolutely adore the verticality and complexity of the map, just how big is this thing?! Jesus Christ, the 25% of Verdant Brink we can explore is nearly the same size as the Silverwastes, it’s ridiculous. And then with the supposed 3 biomes per map? Arena Net, you sexy kittens.
The first story instance we enter in the game is amazing, but I might just be saying that because I’m a lore nerd. When I first walked into the instance, I kinda sorta slightly forgot that the PC speaks, and you should’ve seen my face.
Actual representation: 8O
I almost started crying. I haven’t heard my characters’ voices in so long, and now they’re ordering people around? I didn’t expect the character speaking to have a very big impact, but dude, it changes the game. I’ve never felt more immersed in the game than I am in this beta, it’s fantastic. Even out of the instance, the PC speaks at certain points. It’s absolutely glorious.
And don’t get me started on how the Sylvari story is different form non-Sylvari.
YOU CAN HEAR THE BLOODY DRAGON.
Now for the elite specs. I’ve never been much of a fan of Necromancer, and the same applies to Reaper. However, I definitely like the elite shout and the Reaper’s Shroud. The greatsword itself doesn’t really fit my playstyle, and neither do most of the shouts, so I didn’t play much of it. Sorry about that Necros :c
I was originally hyped for Tempest despite the community’s negative response, but after playing it for a while I kind of understand where they were coming from. I tend to run the Burning build on ele and even with warhorn, I still do the same thing. The biggest impact the Tempest has that I can see is extra burns from Fire Overload and the break bar from Earth Overload which I use to run away. Maybe it’s because I’m not playing supportive, but still, not my favourite part of the beta.
Writing this now I realise I completely forgot to test out Dragonhunter, so I can’t provide much information. However, I have heard from several people I was playing with that the longbow is rather lacking in the damage department and you’re rooted in place for the animation? Can’t legitimise it, but that’s what I’ve heard.
The Chronomancer is without a doubt my favourite of the elite specializations in the beta, and I don’t even play mesmer. The shield is amazing with it’s dual-block phantasm summon and the shield 5 is sooo much fun to use! Almost every well is super impactful on the bigger battles, and Continuum Shift is super fun. I’m surprised it’s duration is so short (1 3/4 of a second) although I understand it from the balancing perspective and how unfair it would be in PvP to spam all of your skills…twice.
I think that covers everything I have to give feedback on so far, so adios o/