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Every person is different. I won't try to persuade you of anything, but I disliked all of those MMOs too (havent played TSW tho) and many others too.

To me Guild Wars 2 is one of the best online games ever made. For one specific reason...

Outstanding writeup! Now tell me the best way to approach group combat (minus holy trinity). I'm also looking for links about this, so I can add it to the GW2 Q&D. :D
 
Outstanding writeup! Now tell me the best way to approach group combat (minus holy trinity). I'm also looking for links about this, so I can add it to the GW2 Q&D. :D


GW2 is a very proactive game because your role is not shaped by what class you choose to play, but what tools you use (i.e weapons!) .

For example, Guild Wars 2 turns stereotypes on their heads as a warrior with a longbow can deal major damage, while a ranger with a greatsword can be very effective.

So the ideas about thinking about melee classes versus ranged are gone out the window. Certain classes can use the same weapon types, but they use them in different ways. A Mesmer who is a cloth wearing spellcaster uses a greatsword to shoot laser beams, making clones and applying buffs. A Guardian uses a greatsword to give supportive spells and offensive damage.


You are using two weapons at any time. At lvl 7 you unlock the ability to weaponswap. By pressing ½ , your skill bar changes as you change to your other weapon.

I like for example on my warrior to wear a greatsword as my main weapon, and then swap it with a rifle (great single target damage) as my secondary weapon. So as I engage the enemiy with skills like bladestorm and 100 blades, I apply bleed effects to all surrounding enemies. Then I switch to my heavy attacks to wear them down. if low on health, I can roll out of combat, swap weapon to my rifle, and pick of the enemies one by one as they are bleeding out.

weapon swaping is very important and half your arsenal. you constantly have to swap weapons. this effectively means that you are playing two roles at once. you are a multiclass.

And since I can choose between a wide arrange of weapons (depending on class) like sword / sword, or sword / mace or perhaps mace / axe, I get all sorts of different abiillities. equipping weapons in the off hand also gives completely different skills. so you get different abillities depending if your sword is in your main or off hand.


On top of all this in group combat, everyone are responsible to heal themselves. everyone gets a heal skill, and everyone can ressurect anyone.


another thing is combos. which is nicely explained here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrzwFP1vCag
 
I've asked this already in a couple other threads, but haven't had any replies. Anyone play on a 2010 low end 13" MBP yet? If so, how well does it run?
 
GW2 is a very proactive game because your role is not shaped by what class you choose to play, but what tools you use (i.e weapons!) .

For example, Guild Wars 2 turns stereotypes on their heads as a warrior with a longbow can deal major damage, while a ranger with a greatsword can be very effective.

So the ideas about thinking about melee classes versus ranged are gone out the window. Certain classes can use the same weapon types, but they use them in different ways. A Mesmer who is a cloth wearing spellcaster uses a greatsword to shoot laser beams, making clones and applying buffs. A Guardian uses a greatsword to give supportive spells and offensive damage.


You are using two weapons at any time. At lvl 7 you unlock the ability to weaponswap. By pressing ½ , your skill bar changes as you change to your other weapon.

I like for example on my warrior to wear a greatsword as my main weapon, and then swap it with a rifle (great single target damage) as my secondary weapon. So as I engage the enemiy with skills like bladestorm and 100 blades, I apply bleed effects to all surrounding enemies. Then I switch to my heavy attacks to wear them down. if low on health, I can roll out of combat, swap weapon to my rifle, and pick of the enemies one by one as they are bleeding out.

weapon swaping is very important and half your arsenal. you constantly have to swap weapons. this effectively means that you are playing two roles at once. you are a multiclass.

And since I can choose between a wide arrange of weapons (depending on class) like sword / sword, or sword / mace or perhaps mace / axe, I get all sorts of different abiillities. equipping weapons in the off hand also gives completely different skills. so you get different abillities depending if your sword is in your main or off hand.


On top of all this in group combat, everyone are responsible to heal themselves. everyone gets a heal skill, and everyone can ressurect anyone.


another thing is combos. which is nicely explained here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrzwFP1vCag

Think back- holy trinity- tanks grab aggro, healers heal, dps throws damage.
GW2- Everyone runs around attacking, backing off to heal, and whatever AOE effects and combos they want to lay down? Or is there a systematic means to the madness? :)

I've asked this already in a couple other threads, but haven't had any replies. Anyone play on a 2010 low end 13" MBP yet? If so, how well does it run?

Don't know. Hopefully someone can answer this.
 
Think back- holy trinity- tanks grab aggro, healers heal, dps throws damage.
GW2- Everyone runs around attacking, backing off to heal, and whatever AOE effects and combos they want to lay down? Or is there a systematic means to the madness? :)

That's what I see. To me it's not so much the trinity's dead as every class is a hybrid and dying isn't a big deal. So you can just DPS, run away if you need to heal, and let people die because you can rez them later.
 
This Fire Elemental Boss fight although buggy is really amazing. I can't count how many times I died there. As a hardcore mage in other rpg/mmo's I really enjoy the gameplay of the elementalist. Usually start as earth, summon the earth elemental which can stay alive for more than a few seconds, cast aoe, then switch to water which I am specced to and start doing damage and healing at the same time. Whenever I want to do lots of damage I switch to fire.
Another great thing is the downleveling which adds to the challenge. You can't avoid something in hopes of gaining more levels, go back and steamroll.
 
I too helped out at the fire elemental boss yesterday, and damn it was tough. There were about 20 bodies at the end of the bridge that needed reviving with the Embers AoE'ing the whoel area.

Killed plenty of Embers but not enough hits on the boss to get any reward :(
 
How's everyone doing with the game? I'm having a lot of fun thus far. I'm maining on a level 43 Ranger on the Gates of Madness server.

Aside from the obvious issues (no trading post and guilds being broken) this game has one of the smoothest launches (especially for a game of its caliber) that I've seen (*thinks back to Diablo 3 launch.. shutter*).
 
How's everyone doing with the game? I'm having a lot of fun thus far. I'm maining on a level 43 Ranger on the Gates of Madness server.

I rolled an engineer and made it to level 18. Fun in groups but underpowered so I created a thief last night. I picked that one race that looks like Yoda, made the armor green and white, and named the character Rajan Rondo.

The world is a lot of fun to explore and really feels alive. Really enjoying the dynamic events. They basically took the public quests from Warhammer Online, removed the level restrictions, and made them 100x more complex.

Crafting seems pretty useless. I find better stuff as drops and even if I dump all resources into crafting, I still can't push my crafting skill high enough to match what I need.

I tried WvW for the first time last night. My server is pretty bad
 
I've asked this already in a couple other threads, but haven't had any replies. Anyone play on a 2010 low end 13" MBP yet? If so, how well does it run?

I get 20-25 fps at lowest settings and native resolution. So it's not great, but playable (and fun). ;)

Edit: I get 13-14 fps in Lion's Arch. Ouch.
 
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I get 20-25 fps at lowest settings and native resolution. So it's not great, but playable (and fun). ;)

Edit: I get 13-14 fps in Lion's Arch. Ouch.

Ouch, well I guess I'll wait for some gameplay videos before making any purchase. Thanks for the update!
 
I get 20-25 fps at lowest settings and native resolution. So it's not great, but playable (and fun). ;)

Edit: I get 13-14 fps in Lion's Arch. Ouch.

Any local with a lot of players in it will slow you to a crawl.

How's everyone doing with the game? I'm having a lot of fun thus far. I'm maining on a level 43 Ranger on the Gates of Madness server.

Aside from the obvious issues (no trading post and guilds being broken) this game has one of the smoothest launches (especially for a game of its caliber) that I've seen (*thinks back to Diablo 3 launch.. shutter*).

I rolled an engineer and made it to level 18. Fun in groups but underpowered so I created a thief last night.

I realize I may be beating this into dead horse status, but any links or descriptions on how group combat is conducted is always appreciated. :)

I'm in a dilemma having just gotten sucked into the Planetside beta... I have to decide what game I want to focus on. :-\
 
I realize I may be beating this into dead horse status, but any links or descriptions on how group combat is conducted is always appreciated. :)

I'm in a dilemma having just gotten sucked into the Planetside beta... I have to decide what game I want to focus on. :-\

I don't see any strategy in group combat. If the group has numbers, nobody talks to each other and everyone just swarms mobs like a bunch of ants. Only time I see talking is "rezz please"

Far as being an engineer in group combat, I just set up turrets and blast away. Which is fine in a group but going solo I have 0 tanking ability besides turrets that die in 5 seconds, and limited kiting ability. And every skill that can keep me alive has a long cooldown

Not really complaining though, I like the challenge
 
I don't see any strategy in group combat. If the group has numbers, nobody talks to each other and everyone just swarms mobs like a bunch of ants. Only time I see talking is "rezz please"

Far as being an engineer in group combat, I just set up turrets and blast away. Which is fine in a group but going solo I have 0 tanking ability besides turrets that die in 5 seconds, and limited kiting ability. And every skill that can keep me alive has a long cooldown

Not really complaining though, I like the challenge

So can it be said that high end dungeons in WoW are much more demanding from a coordination standpoint?
 
So can it be said that high end dungeons in WoW are much more demanding from a coordination standpoint?

I haven't tried any of the GW2 dungeons so I don't know how the group dynamics there are.

In general though, the trinity is still there, it's just blurred. Every class has skills for each part of the trinity though some classes are better at than others at tanking, healing, etc. The unique thing about GW2 grouping isn't roles, but combos, where someone can stick an AoE on the ground that magnifies another class's attack. This is fun and I'm guessing in a dungeon, the group would benefit from maximizing the # of combos they throw out.

In outdoor PVE though, where anyone who hits the mob gets credit for the kill, there's basically no coordination, even for elite mobs that take 2 mins to kill. Everyone just does his/her own thing.
 
I've purchased GW2 about 2 weeks ago and registered the serial number. When I launch the client it goes through it's little "download" phase, but then I get a message that "there is no current event, or your account is not authorized, please contact customer support".

Anyone know if the beta client updated itself into a retail state or must the client be downloaded from scratch? I have submitted a ticket to PlayNC but wondering if anyone here might know. Thanks!
 
Every person is different. I won't try to persuade you of anything, but I disliked all of those MMOs too (havent played TSW tho) and many others too.

To me Guild Wars 2 is one of the best online games ever made. For one specific reason;

It encourages cooperative play. It encourages social play. It encourages exploration and discovery.

This. So very THIS. :)

I played GW1 on/off but I played enough to know what I was doing. Plus, PvP was fun (I really miss RA ;)).

GW2 doesn't just feel like a rehash of GW1, it feels like a totally different game.

I could write a very long and detailed post about what I like about GW2 but you've pretty much nailed everything in yours.

One thing I will say, however, is that I have NEVER played a game that rewards you so well for exploration and participation.

You actually ENJOY discovering new locations and scaling platforms to reach undiscovered vistas because the game rewards you for doing so.

You also feel an intense need to rush into that orange circle and help other players with whatever dynamic event is troubling the land at that given time. I've found that it really doesn't matter if you join late or the damage you deal isn't great. The fact that you actually went and helped and PARTICIPATED with other players is enough for the game to reward you for doing so.
 
I've purchased GW2 about 2 weeks ago and registered the serial number. When I launch the client it goes through it's little "download" phase, but then I get a message that "there is no current event, or your account is not authorized, please contact customer support".

Anyone know if the beta client updated itself into a retail state or must the client be downloaded from scratch? I have submitted a ticket to PlayNC but wondering if anyone here might know. Thanks!

Hm, which serial code did you register? The pre-order code or the one from a box? Did you get a physical box copy from somewhere, with a number on a receipt before launch, or a digital copy? I had the same problem, but then I just had to input the number from my box copy and then the game launched fine. If you got a digital copy, no idea about that, sorry.

Haven't had that much time to play yet, only a few hours so far, but the game looks fantastic, I just have a hard time keeping track of everything (when there are like a dozen players running around trying to complete quests, monsters, quest items, and the spontaneous event, I have a hard time keeping track of it all). Although I never played WoW and have only played swtor so far, so its quite different from tor at least, just still getting used to it, as an MMO newb. Haven't tried any group stuff (MMO isn't normally my kind of game, but this game looks too good to pass up, especially with no monthly fee).
 
Hm, which serial code did you register? The pre-order code or the one from a box? Did you get a physical box copy from somewhere, with a number on a receipt before launch, or a digital copy? I had the same problem, but then I just had to input the number from my box copy and then the game launched fine. If you got a digital copy, no idea about that, sorry.

Haven't had that much time to play yet, only a few hours so far, but the game looks fantastic, I just have a hard time keeping track of everything (when there are like a dozen players running around trying to complete quests, monsters, quest items, and the spontaneous event, I have a hard time keeping track of it all). Although I never played WoW and have only played swtor so far, so its quite different from tor at least, just still getting used to it, as an MMO newb. Haven't tried any group stuff (MMO isn't normally my kind of game, but this game looks too good to pass up, especially with no monthly fee).

In several of the emails I've received, I've not yet had Arenanet tell me that I'm using the wrong serial number. This was a digital download, no box, and as far as I know only one serial number was made available to me as a purchase in beta. I plan on talking to Arena Net today.

GW2 is a good game. Looking forward to getting into it in retail! :rolleyes:
 
Hm, which serial code did you register?

UN-FRACKING BELIEVABLE! It turns out that the retailer I purchased the game from, Best Buy, only provided me with a beta serial code. For a digital download there was no retail serial code. As this problem seems widespread, I'm not sure if I should be blaming Best Buy or Arena Net. Best Buy told me they were sorry and they were waiting on the manufacturer to release serial codes to them and they had no idea when they would appear. There seems to be a large number of customers who prepurchased the game left hanging without a serial code. UNACCEPTABLE!! If I did not have Planetside to be playing, I'd be nashing my teeth right now. Hopefully this will be resolved in a short period of time. :mad::mad::mad:
 
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