Guild Wars 2

(I’m trying to avoid spoilers, so anyone can enjoy the instance when the expansions arrives.)

I really have to write this down, so I won’t forget it. It’s the first time we can play the story instance with different races, it has also been updated to be a bit longer and more involving.

The first thing I noticed (of course, I did know about that before from the stress tests) is that your character finally speaks again! But that’s not all! The lip sync is back!
While this may be a small feature not many will see or notice, I noticed it on a first glance and it made me really happy that Arenanet is bringing this technology back. It looks so much more “alive”.
Also, the characters try to look at each other. While there is more room for improvement (facing the one who is talking), it’s a nice little detail that I really appreciate!

I played the story instance with a newly created Sylvari Revenant. It was challenging. I like that! I died a few times and it didn’t even bother me. It may be because I don’t know how to handle the Revenent yet and I don’t know the mechanics of the Mordrem, but it’s great to see the potential of the combat system is getting used.

For the Sylvari part of the Story (mild spoilers, but not any details): I really love how the NPCs acknowledge what race I am and how differently they interacted with me. I knew the story from a human point of view, but the Sylvari point of view is a really cool twist to the story play.

Please keep that up – it’s great

Edit:
After a second playthrough with a mesmer I noticed the advanced lip-sync is only active during a small portion of the conversation. I hope this is a bug, because it looks so kitten awesome and hopefully it’ll find a way into the old world, all characters and all player shout outs.

As a Sylvari I heard and saw(text), things that I didn’t remember on the BWE from the earlier one, via Heart of Maguuma Portal Stone. I thought maybe things were simply added, but I was curious. Played through it a second time, same choices, human this time, and was able to hear/see small differences between the two. Anet did say Sylvari would have a slightly different experience, and I see what they mean now!

Love the little things, makes each playthrough slightly different, and that’s awesome!

Yea there seemed to be more anti-sylvari sentiments from some of the NPCs than in previous Betas.

Also the lip sync and characters looking at each other was a nice improvement. I didn’t realise what was happening at first when my Charr randomly turned his head but then I realised he was talking to Rox and she was in that direction.

There seem to be some pretty significant differences in the story, depending on your race. Sylvari can actually hear Mordremoth’s whispers, so for example during the first bossfight, the cutscene towards the end (with the tendril/worm thingy spitting out more enemies) does not have any spoken lines for non-Sylvari PCs. If you play a Sylvari, you’ll actually hear the dragon and his minion talk.

I quite liked that.

SunRoamer.5103:

If you play a Sylvari, you’ll actually hear the dragon and his minion talk.

Yes! i heard that! its a nice touch -

SunRoamer.5103:

There seem to be some pretty significant differences in the story, depending on your race. Sylvari can actually hear Mordremoth’s whispers, so for example during the first bossfight, the cutscene towards the end (with the tendril/worm thingy spitting out more enemies) does not have any spoken lines for non-Sylvari PCs. If you play a Sylvari, you’ll actually hear the dragon and his minion talk.

I quite liked that.

Wow, definitely going to make a sylvari and play that before the beta is over.