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A great read coming out of the UK over at Reaction Time discussing their impressions of the GW2 beta weekend event. You can find the original article here.
Thank you, Michael Fossbakk and Reaction Time for sharing with the rest of us!Guild Wars 2 Beta Impressions
May 2, 2012 - Michael Fossbakk
I think the first thing I noticed while playing the Guild Wars 2 beta over this past weekend was that this is not Guild Wars. Sure, it has the familiar races (and new ones), some familiar territory, and some familiar professions (classes), but that’s where the similarities draw the line. And for a game set 250 years after the events of its predecessor, it’s in due diligence that Guild Wars 2 is so radically different. ArenaNet has outdone themselves by transforming its beloved Guild Wars into a game that seeks to transform the genre of massively multiplayer online role-playing games by changing core concepts, ranging from how players pick up quests from people that mysteriously have exclamation points above their heads to meager things like how you get around the map. Those that have grown accustomed to the way in which an MMORPG plays and functions might be put off because, well, change scares people. Yet, those that wish to taste the sweet nectar that is Guild Wars 2 will be pleasantly surprised at how different the genre can be and how accustomed people have gotten to the mundane process that is playing an MMORPG.
First things first, personal story is awesome. In Guild Wars 2, the story of your character is everything. Even from the creation of your character, in which you create a unique backstory, you are constantly tasked with creating a story that befits a character you want to play, bringing true role-playing back into a genre that has lacked that very element for years. In the creation steps of my first character, a male Charr (think very beastial felines) Necromancer named Fuzzbuzz, I was asked things about my past, my relationship with my father, my childhood comrade, and which legion of the Charr I have sworn my allegiance to. While these initial steps into the personal story of my character were presented in the form of a simple questionnaire with at most three choices to choose from, I was genuinely delighted that this was even a part of a game that calls itself an MMORPG. But, then I realized, why should I be surprised? For too long has the aspect of role-playing in MMORPGs been absent. So long, in fact, that people (myself included) aren’t even surprised when it’s missing.
My Charr Necromancer, Fuzzbuzz, and his crew.
Throughout the time I spent with my Charr Necromancer, when I wasn’t running around with tons of other players working together seamlessly to accomplish a goal (more on that later), I was progressing through my own personal story. The way in which ArenaNet has set up personal story missions is that when there’s a personal story mission available to do, you simply head over to the location it is going to take place in and a green spark will indicate where you must go in order to enter the instance. Instancing is a term commonly associated with MMORPGs that are basically refers to areas that you may load into that separates you from the world of other players on the internet. Instancing was incredibly common in Guild Wars. In fact, pretty much all of Guild Wars was instanced, which caused many to criticize it for being more of a cooperative, online RPG than an actual MMO. In Guild Wars 2, however, there are instances for when you load into major capital cities, missions, and… that’s about it. Otherwise, you are free to roam the plains of Tyria to your heart’s desire.
In the few personal-story missions I had time to play, I went from being a lowly member of the Ash Legion to being a leader, or as the Charr call it, Tribune, of my legion and partaking in quarrels between the other legions, resulting in the acquisition of a few new members to my legion. Plot points aside, the thing that I took away from these personal story moments were that I was making something of this character and that, to me at least, he would be different from other players’ characters, instead of being homogenized to the point that his existence was negligible.
In addition to rocking a Charr Necromancer, I also took a stab at playing a female Norn Mesmer. I usually don’t play female characters in role-playing games just because it is hard for me role play someone of the opposite gender (go figure), but all of the male Mesmers looked far too ridiculous. In any case, I can safely say that while I was hesitant about playing a Mesmer, considering all of the changes I had heard about the profession that was making a return from the original Guild Wars, playing a Mesmer in Guild Wars 2 is a lot of fun. The profession operates by creating illusions to best their foes, much like they did in the original Guild Wars, but this time around the illusions are mostly of yourself, or doppelgangers. That isn’t to say that the only thing Mesmers do is create doppelgangers, because some of their other skills also entail dealing direct damage or utilizing skills that can save either your ass or your friend’s. It’s an interesting profession that I believe is unique to the Guild Wars series, which makes it attractive to a lot of players, I imagine. Like all of my time with this beta, I just wish I had more of it.
Wasn't sure what to think of these conversation cutscenes, but they grew on me. The full-over work didn't hurt.
In my experience of playing a lot of World of Warcraft, I have rarely felt that any of my characters were integral to the story. In fact, like most players of MMORPGs, I skipped over all the story there was because keeping up with the story meant reading all of that quest text that was presented to me in wall-of-text format and really, how many MMORPG players want to do that? The mind of an MMORPG player is one-track and that is to do whatever possible to level-up faster and reading quest text is only going to slow the process down. ArenaNet has incorporated a system in place of traditional questing called “events.” Whenever you are not advancing your personal story, you may explore the world and while exploring, you will find events scattered throughout. Once you walk into an ongoing event, you will be notified and your list of ongoing events will be updated in the top-right corner of the screen. In my time, I encountered several events ranging from picking up parts for mortar cannons to defeating shamanistic bosses alongside many, many other players.
The feeling I got from taking part in these events was joyful to say the least. The game isn’t easy, either – bosses are powerful and I learned that the hard way… more than once. Lucky for lackluster players like myself, when your character is reduced to zero health points you are placed in a “downed” state, in which you have a red meter you must fill by casting four new spells in order to rally and get back in the fight. If you are continually attacked while downed, the red meter will deplete and if it is completely depleted you will be forced to resurrect yourself from a nearby waypoint at a small fee. However, if you have the lucky opportunity (as I’m sure you will) of other players being considerate enough to walk over to your downed character and revive him/her, you will spring back into action like you would by rallying yourself.
What it was like to partake in one of the many events. There were more players participating than I could show in one screen-capture.
While I found parts of the game to be difficult, they were still fun. This was mostly due to how the combat in Guild Wars 2 operates. First and foremost, there is active dodging. For those that don’t know, most MMORPGs don’t include this feature for whatever reason and instead rely on a system of statistical chance that an attack will hit or miss. A problem that plagued ArenaNet in the post-release development of Guild Wars was that with eight skill slots and every character sporting not one, but two professions, it became increasingly difficult to balance the game, especially in terms of Player vs. Player combat. Secondary professions are gone and the skill bar has been overhauled. The skill bar in Guild Wars 2 has ten slots ranging from the ‘1’ key down to the ‘0’ key on your keyboard. The first five slots (A.K.A. all of the ones to the left of your health bubble) are dependent on the weapons you are wielding, with the first three slots being reserved for the weapon equipped to your main-hand weapon slot and the fourth and fifth slots being reserved for the weapon equipped in your off-hand slot. (I didn’t have a chance to wield a two-handed weapon, but I imagine that all of the first five slots on your skill bar would be altered by that one weapon). The sixth slot on your skill bar is reserved for your healing skill, the seventh, eight, and ninth for your “utility” skills, and your final slot for your “elite” skill. This very structured skill bar makes it much easier for the developers to balance the game in terms of how powerful one set of skills can be, especially when compared to other sets and other professions. This coupled with the active dodging creates combat that is far more proactive than it is reactive, a welcome change to the genre.
I realize that in the 1,600-odd words I have written here I have only scratched the surface of Guild Wars 2. Some of the things I was not able to or did not have time to experience were cooperative dungeons, player vs. player combat, the Asura and Sylvari playable races, and anything beyond level nine as that was my highest level character by the end of the beta (I know, I know. How pathetic). As a big fan of the original Guild Wars games, I have been following the development of Guild Wars 2 since its announcement five years ago almost to the point where I’m sure I’m beginning to bug my friends by incessantly posting things about the game on their Facebook profile pages. A game with such a vast scope in terms of development goals has rightfully earned its place as one that will be ready ‘when it’s ready,’ but if what I saw this past weekend was any indication of the finished product (and it was), I am sure that Guild Wars 2 will impress fans and newcomers to the genre alike when it’s released later this year.
