Last weekend was the first beta open to the public for Guild Wars 2 (granted you had to buy the game... but thats all you had to do to get in). And I'm already a fangirl. I thought I'd post my personal pros and cons from the beta to perhaps sway some people's minds and recruit more friends into the game
Or perhaps clarify some things to those who don't want to buy it to see what its like.
I've seen mixed reviews of this game, but really... those who gave it a bad review hadn't even played it, and were totally basing their opinion off of the overall hype. I do think the game was a bit over-hyped, but so were Rift and SWTOR. It's certainly not the holy grail of MMOs, but its great compared to others.
Pros:
- Purchase and its yours, no subscriptions
- Good variety of classes and races from the start (5 races, 8 classes)
- You are given a few options to alter your character's story in the beginning, so you could make a bunch of characters and never have the exact same storyline.
- You don't feel like warrior #4857987450987 in your storyline. You
feel like a
character.
- ALWAYS something to do. You can take part in events.
- You are not limited by roles in your class. Each class is capable of all roles. Maybe some more than others... but there are no healer classes, or tank classes, etc.
- Aside from your character's personal storyline, you don't have to quest in your hometown. Each town has a portal that takes you to a neutral town of sorts, and from there, you can take a portal to the other main towns.
Mix (Don't know if pro or con):
- Still got a cash shop (but I heard its mostly vanity and tiny boosts like exp boosts. There won't be stat boots or anything that gives one player an ability-based advantage over another)
-Leveling pace is okay... just depends. I heard this game is not going to focus purely on end-game content, so I have a feeling it isn't designed to race to level cap. In 3 days I managed to get to level 17 (I think the cap is going to be 80).
- (not sure about this one) Their current index of dungeons seems a little lacking... though I'm not 100% on this. In WoW you got to go into your first dungeon at level 14. We were level 16, and the lowest dungeon we could find was 30. And their list of dungeons seemed lacking for a level range up to 80. I think there was 5-6ish.
-Your weapons equipped determine your skills available to you.
- They hardly tutor you in the beginning, you just get in, go talk to the NPC, and go, and if you're not getting something, little tips will pop up on the screen.
- For your personal story you cannot bring friends into the instanced parts but throughout your storyline, you will recruit NPC comrades to join you in fights.
Cons:
- Finding quests can be a bit odd... you have to find scouts or run into the area of the quest to get them. You never really have to actually talk to the NPC to get the quest, it'll just pop up in your log. This can leave you feeling a bit lost in the beginning or when you're at a slow point and you need to level.
- (balance issue?) Easily overwhelmed by mobs. They spawn and aggro quick.
- (balance issue?) They claim the events ease and difficulty levels will alter based on how many people are currently taking part. I didn't quite see this... I had many instances where we were totally destroyed.
- Each server has a queue and overflow channels (and I don't think you can choose channels), so you might not be able to play with your friends if your server is overpopulated.
- (bug?) Currently no way to exit PVP modes without fully signing out.
- Still same ol in a lot of ways--- its not as action based, though some dodging and such is involved. It's also your typical fantasy-based MMO.
Other:
- I've heard guilds will be able to have guild halls of their own. A private place to meet!
- Tactic based raid boss fights. So its not going to be just tank and spank.
- Haven't experienced this yet, but the pvp is going to be battleground and guild based.
- Also I've heard there won't be much of a difference stat wise between raid gear and regular mob drops and such... raids will be about skin/look/effects. Not sure how this will play out for those who really don't give a crap what their character looks like.
- At the beginning you choose a color scheme, and that is what your color scheme will be on ALL of your armor throughout the game. I think there will be a dye merchant so you can change it, but choose wisely.
- You can apparently draw on the map and your party will see it.
Now for pictures!
Epic opening
My character conversing with her friend.
Awesome effects when you jump out of water!
End of beta event. Graphics are kinda crappier because I had to turn them down not to lag x.x Basically all of the critters (rabbits, frogs, rats, deers, etc) turned into big tough bosses.
Juggle Mania Champion!
Linear Mode
