Alright, I’ll start out by saying…wow. The look of the beta was stunning. Better yet, my fps seemed solid throughout the entire 2 hours. Max graphics and GemFX mixed for a great looking experience. But as we all know, looks aint everything.
The Story Instance:
I loved all of the voice acting here. Not much text to read. Just sit back and let things play out in fully voiced conversations. Having the player character have a voice was a nice touch, even though I knew it was coming (as WoodenPotatos mentioned such prior). I know people might say “But that’s not what I envisioned my character to sound like.” True, for those that RP (and I do RP) you have a voice in your head fro your character, but come on, it’s the game’s story, not yours.
I wanted to take the option that was locked out, but I’ll be able to come release, no sense in bashing it ‘cause not everything I want is there. The fights weren’t at all that hard until the boss guy summoned his dogs. Man those things are annoying. Overall, not super hard (at least for me) but was a nice fight. Not much more to say about the story part.
Map Section:
Small portion of the map that was open to us didn’t have that much in it. But when I zoomed out on the map and saw just how big the map really is I was excited. I can’t wait to have free reign to explore and soar. And also considering we’ll have three levels to traverse just makes it that much bigger.
The mobs were the same old same old, but it’s just a demo. Further into the jungle we go the more we’ll see.
Now, the wyvern was just awesome. That’s the kind of boss fight I’ve been waiting for.
Will I fall off or can I hang on? This fight makes you need to position yourself to not die instantly or fall off the edge. The damage you take (though based on gear) wasn’t too much nor too little. Overall was a really fun fight. Hope to see more engaging fights like this one.
On a side note: +1 to the breakbar mechanic, I really liked that.
The Revenant:
Now I know things are likely to change, but I would like to voice my concerns with the class as I played it today.
The weapons are pretty cool. Hammer was interesting as a ranged weapon. Drop the Hammer seemed a little slow to cast, and in pvp if you didn’t see it coming you’re either blind or new (or both). I’d think it’d be a little too easy to dodge. Haven’t seen the effects of Skill #4 (Sorry I don’t know the exact names of the skills) since nothing really used projectiles. I didn’t like how long Skill #3 kept you in place. I know some skills do (e.g. Meteor Shower or Barrage) but this skill just didn’t feel fluid like others do. Needless to say, I didn’t use it much. Skill #2 was really spammable, but I can’t say if that’s good or bad considering the gear I was in. The auto seemed to be solid. One thing I noted was that it is 100% projectile finisher and attacks at the same speed as many other classes’ autos (e.g Necro staff auto). Will those skills be tweaked as well?
Mace/ax felt…underwhelming to me. I actually really liked the ax offhand, but mace…blah. The skills seemed a little too spammable and the auto just seemed weak. I know there’s more weapons to come for the Rev, but I didn’t feel I had any sort of burst damage there. I tried the wyvern fight with both setups, I liked hammer the best overall. Mace Skill #2 needs to tell you it’s a fire field as it doesn’t currently. Skill #3 was nice, but seemed weak. Ax #4 seemed really good, wouldn’t change anything with that one as of now. Ax #5 didn’t see much action so I can’t say one way or another.
The Legends:
First thing to note is that you basically have access to two heal skills if both are off cd. That just seems a little unfair. The CD on legends is only 10s, seems a little too short to me.
The dwarf skills are pretty nice. The heal is effective and clears condis (has good synergy with the Mallyx skill to pull condis to you. Skill #7 I think). The Stab field…oh boy. At wyvern I just spammed the skill. I could maintain 5 stacks no problem. Longer CD for that one is needed imo. Skill #8 and #9 I think are nice and I can’t say one way or the other at this time. The elite’s cast time seemed a bit long. I’d shorten the cast time but maybe add on a cooldown to it.
Mallyx skills are really cool. I like the effects they have. The heal is effective and I can’t really see it being too strong. Skill #7 is really strong with the new boon, Resistance. Skill #8 I can’t say yet, mobs normally don’t have boons to strip. Skill #9 is awesome. It’s like an instant knockback but not exactly CC. I can see it being fun in pvp/wvw. The elite I didn’t even touch. Why? Just didn’t see the use of it during the beta.
Overall good, but there’s some work to be done. I know what we’re seeing is far from the finished product, but just wanted to share my thoughts about it all. I look forward to the release of HoT though. Can’t wait to explore the new areas with my own characters. Cheers~