MrX

Played this afternoon for a few hours and enjoyed it. I went with a sylvari ranger.

The areas are gorgeous and I like the group events.

DaveyJoe

I'm on the Borlis Pass server. I have a level 6 Guardian named Barristen Selmy. Account name is DaveyJoe(I forget the 4 numbers).

Decker

Can you pre-load this game with a free internet download like you could with Diablo III before launch?

DaveyJoe

Yes, I prepurchased the game and downloaded it on Saturday. You can even play the game in a three-day head start if you pre-purchased the game in full. I've been playing it and it's pretty cool so far. I think the official launch is tomorrow.

Decker

I knew if you purchased a digital copy online you could. I meant if you purchased the game from another retailer (like New Egg, in my case), could you pre-load the game, pending arrival of your game box and CD Key. It's unorthodox, but that's what they let you do prior to the launch of Diablo III, and I was hoping it was the beginning of a new trend...

DaveyJoe

Oh, I see. I'm not sure, I just bought my game directly from their website. I would go to their website and check out the FAQ or something, I'm sure that's a common enough question that they have the info posted somewhere on their site.

Blade

Played all weekend, and had a bunch of fun. Sadly work's not been letting me play much since then.

It's been a pretty successful launch in my eyes, but no MMO launch is without problems. Probably the most serious right now are the online trading store is down and partying with friends is much more difficult than it should be most of the time. Sadly (though not unexpectedly) there have been a number of hacked accounts, so be sure the password you use is unique to GW2. They are also keeping the official forums closed until things settle down. More info on this reddit update from president of the game company: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/c...day_august_29/

Also, they're suggestions for keeping your account secure: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/t...ccount-secure/

I've been spending way too much time doing the Vistas and a few jumping puzzles. I need to get out of town and start doing heart quests and dynamic events to get into the story and help level up more.

Also, check out the crafting stuff. If you always send your collectable inventory to your bank (click the gear icon in the upper right corner of inventory) then you'll be able to make 8 slot bags pretty easily and quickly. Try leatherworking for that. You get decent XP from it too.

Server changes are still free until the populations settle down a bit. Then you'll have to pay gems (more for high pop servers, less for low pop) but you will be able to guest if your friend sends you an invite.

Well, I think they do it by using a different server technology, and also they don't offer some of the features that other MMOs do, like having in game GMs (though I hear they will be doing something like this). I think Setzer also made a good point (though it is possible to buy gems with in game gold, I just read that someone paid for a digital deluxe upgrade that way) about the online store.

GW1 was different in that nearly everything was instanced, so the server set up was much cheaper.

I took a quick look on the main site and they didn't have anything for people who didn't already have game serial number. But the following link was what was used to download the beta client. The Beta Weekend Three client is the same as the live client, so if that's what this link is, then once you download, run it and then it downloads all the patches, you'll have the full game on your PC:

http://cloudfront.guildwars2.com/client/Gw2.exe

Decker

I'm pretty tempted to use my Gamer Unlocked coupon for 50% off any guide on that hard-bound Guild Wars 2 guide so I could get it for a more-managable but still-expensive $18.50. It looks sorta amazing.

Edit : Reviews of the guide are brutal on Amazon. Guess I'll hang onto the coupon a little longer...

Artman

I've used mine for some help on crafting...still getting the hang of it. While it's true you could probably find the info online, it's nice to have everything in one spot (and all the artwork, etc). Also it doesn't show puzzle or vista locations. I have the regular edition but the book is so big, the hardcover would be the way to go imo.

wlj

i bought this yesterday. I spent about an hour with it and really liked it. I chose a norn ranger, however i may try another class before getting too far with him

I was worried about my laptop running it, but so far it does at medium/low. I haven't taken part in one of the HUGE group fights I have seen in videos so I am interested in how my laptop handles that.

wlj

I have a fairly middle of the road Asus laptop. I was running the game on everything low and somethings off to get the game to work above 30 FPS. All that was a 1024 x 768 resolution. I took a break from the game when TL2 came out. I played some GW2 over the weekend and I can run the game ALOT better now for some reason. I am running everything on medium and a couple of things on high and getting 30+ FPS, and I am using my laptop's max resolution of 1366 x 768(i think). The only thing I have done different is I downloaded the program "Gamebooster" but I don't think it would make that big of a difference....would it?

wlj

anyone playing this? i would be happy to get a friend to play with.

I got GW2 back in September and only put a handful of hours in. Torchlight 2 came out shortly after I got GW2 and I switched to it. Low and behold I haven't gone back to GW2 until last week. I started up a Sylvari Ranger and am loving it. I think it is a very good noob class. Your pet that runs around with you helps to kill things and lots of times the enemies just focus on him and you can shoot them from a distance. I had a low level warrior and elementalist already but I just wasn't feeling it. I really like the starting area for the Sylvari. It was green overload at first, but as you progress it really gets very pretty to look at. The environments are enormous and full of quests. My favorite parts so far are the dynamic events that pop up randomly. It is cool to see everyone just drop what they are doing and run to the dynamic event. It helps break the monotony. I can't wait to take on one of the huge world bosses where you will have tons of players trying to take out a gigantic boss. However, I am only level 14, so I don't know when those start or how to get to one. I plan to take a stab at crafting in the near future. I just have to decide on my two professions and figure out how all that works.

My game performance is also alot better. I was running most things on low when I got it, but now I am able to run alot of things on medium and high. I guess the developers have done a good job with their patches and optimizing the game. I haven't made any hardware upgrades at all. However, I am a tech moron so that may have nothing to do with it.

Setzer

I played it for a couple months after the game launched and then got bored. I really thought it was going to be "the" MMO and I would be spending the next few years playing it. Don't get me wrong, the game is very enjoyable...like you mention, the events that pop up and people jump in to help out is really cool. The crafting is also pretty decent and I liked World vs. World pvp.

My problem with GW2 was it's classes and how they were designed. I thought at first I would like only having one hot bar but then realized how much that limits the utility of each class. You can only choose 3 out of several hundred skills to use at any given time. Very limiting. It's not to say I want several hundred skills to use at once, with 20 different hotbars cluttering the screen, but I'd like more skills than just 3 to define my class.

Also, the lack of the "trinity" makes doing dungeons chaotic. This was another thing I thought was great about the game....no tanks and no healers required to run dungeons! Then I get into a dungeon with a group and its just an absolute cluster fuck because no one doesn't know what they're suppose to do other than just fire away. It was a wipe-fest most of the time. Thus the problems of having no defined roles in a group.

I guess if you're a casual player and like an MMO without any real depth to it then GW2 is the perfect game for you. It pretty much plays like an action-RPG.

wlj

Yeah, I am just a casual mmo fan. a couple hours here and there is pretty much all i can put into an mmo having a family and full time job. GW 2 is perfect for that in my opinion.

I put some more time in last night and headed to the norn's starting region because I was tired of the sylvari region. this game is enormous and the environments are gorgeous. It is quite thrilling being in the mountaintops in the snow. I did a little crafting last night and I didn't realize how much experience points you rack up. It was a ton. I chose chef as one of my profession and I just crafted a few items and I got as much as experience as if I had done several of the dynamic events.

I am still pretty overwhelmed by the game and all of its content, but I am getting the hang of it.

mhg83

75% off this weekend