(GW2) Continued Beta
Well, I got in a little bit of time playing, but not much over the weekend. I think my previous assessment still holds true for the most part. I didn't perceive it as being as busy this time around (no overflow server messages), but that could have been adding more servers on their end, or the population being more spread out between zones, or just luck of when I was on.
Maps are still only vaguely helpful when you have to deal with caves and cities - the map helped me find the charr asura gate, but I still had to run around for several minutes to find the right way to get to it. The auto-loot setting helps, but the game still badly needs the ability to area loot when things get cluttered and running around hitting "F" may have you talking to people instead of picking things up. I still don't like the lumbering feel of playing a charr, and even finding someone in the home city that grants a temporary speed buff didn't make the city feel any less impractically huge.
I got stuck once. I jumped to attack some harpies and somehow got stuck in the terrain. It took a few minutes of wiggling around and jumping to actually get unstuck.
I think I experienced five dynamic events, none of which (that I saw) were part of a chain. In two cases, I entered an area just before completion and got credit without doing much of anything. In one case, I ran along and helped free some prisoners. In two cases, I saw the event and went to participate, but as I reached the area I was overwhelmed by mobs at 5 or ten to one odds and died almost instantly, certainly before I could get my bearings on what to do, much less to actually contribute. So out of that very limited sample size, I had one positive experience and two negative ones. There still needs to be some sort of tuning done.
Secondary skills seem to have been reworked some. I was looking at a smaller list than I remember, spread over tiers (where you have to learn 5 skills of one tier to learn any of the next). Though for all those that you choose to unlock with the skill points you earn, you only get to equip two at a time. Elite skills aren't unlocked until level 30, I believe it was, so I haven't seen those.
The leveling flow seems "off" to me, though perhaps I'm missing something. In those few levels between character story instances, I found myself finishing up the at-level area missions as well as the level+1 ones. So I left off at level 12 with the next unfinish area or character quests in the charr area showing level 14 recommended. If I'd stumbled across more events, maybe that wouldn't be an issue. If I'd gained some experience through crafting, maybe that wouldn't be an issue. Certainly, I could go to a different racial region and gain a couple levels there, but even that breaks the flow as far as I'm concerned.
Combat still leaves me a bit dazed and befuddled. Oh, I can run in and kill things, sure. But conditions pop up with some regularity, yet they're so fleeting that I barely have time to mouse-over and see anything of what they are, much less think about their implications. It's neat to be able to dodge, but it still only seems to really be useful/necessary to break away entirely or for some sort of boss battles with telegraphed moves. Having the primary/auto-attack change is still annoying to me. I guess it adds some variety to the attacks, but the alternate form should at least be viewable somewhere outside combat. And I still have no idea what any of my four "fight to survive" abilities really do, because they come and go so fast in an already-frantic situation. Maybe that'll all feel better with more familiarity.
I have to give the game points for atmosphere. The sprawling cities, idle NPC chatter, and dynamic events would all be great for actual roleplaying in. I think it'd be easier to stay in character in GW2 than most MMOs. But the game part is still not really impressing me. It isn't bad, but it's also neither particularly good nor helpful.
Next time, I really need to make some effort to check out 1) crafting and 2) grouping.
Maps are still only vaguely helpful when you have to deal with caves and cities - the map helped me find the charr asura gate, but I still had to run around for several minutes to find the right way to get to it. The auto-loot setting helps, but the game still badly needs the ability to area loot when things get cluttered and running around hitting "F" may have you talking to people instead of picking things up. I still don't like the lumbering feel of playing a charr, and even finding someone in the home city that grants a temporary speed buff didn't make the city feel any less impractically huge.
I got stuck once. I jumped to attack some harpies and somehow got stuck in the terrain. It took a few minutes of wiggling around and jumping to actually get unstuck.
I think I experienced five dynamic events, none of which (that I saw) were part of a chain. In two cases, I entered an area just before completion and got credit without doing much of anything. In one case, I ran along and helped free some prisoners. In two cases, I saw the event and went to participate, but as I reached the area I was overwhelmed by mobs at 5 or ten to one odds and died almost instantly, certainly before I could get my bearings on what to do, much less to actually contribute. So out of that very limited sample size, I had one positive experience and two negative ones. There still needs to be some sort of tuning done.
Secondary skills seem to have been reworked some. I was looking at a smaller list than I remember, spread over tiers (where you have to learn 5 skills of one tier to learn any of the next). Though for all those that you choose to unlock with the skill points you earn, you only get to equip two at a time. Elite skills aren't unlocked until level 30, I believe it was, so I haven't seen those.
The leveling flow seems "off" to me, though perhaps I'm missing something. In those few levels between character story instances, I found myself finishing up the at-level area missions as well as the level+1 ones. So I left off at level 12 with the next unfinish area or character quests in the charr area showing level 14 recommended. If I'd stumbled across more events, maybe that wouldn't be an issue. If I'd gained some experience through crafting, maybe that wouldn't be an issue. Certainly, I could go to a different racial region and gain a couple levels there, but even that breaks the flow as far as I'm concerned.
Combat still leaves me a bit dazed and befuddled. Oh, I can run in and kill things, sure. But conditions pop up with some regularity, yet they're so fleeting that I barely have time to mouse-over and see anything of what they are, much less think about their implications. It's neat to be able to dodge, but it still only seems to really be useful/necessary to break away entirely or for some sort of boss battles with telegraphed moves. Having the primary/auto-attack change is still annoying to me. I guess it adds some variety to the attacks, but the alternate form should at least be viewable somewhere outside combat. And I still have no idea what any of my four "fight to survive" abilities really do, because they come and go so fast in an already-frantic situation. Maybe that'll all feel better with more familiarity.
I have to give the game points for atmosphere. The sprawling cities, idle NPC chatter, and dynamic events would all be great for actual roleplaying in. I think it'd be easier to stay in character in GW2 than most MMOs. But the game part is still not really impressing me. It isn't bad, but it's also neither particularly good nor helpful.
Next time, I really need to make some effort to check out 1) crafting and 2) grouping.
http://www.gw2db.com/ This is where you go if you want to see all your skills and everything.
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