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Mintchip offers her thoughts and observations after stepping into the GW2 beta pool. Lucky girl!! I'm so jealous!! You can find the original article here or stay on-page and read below.
Thanks go out to Mintchip and Guild Wars Insider for sharing with the Guild Wars 2 fans!Mintchip Plays Guild Wars 2
By: Mintchip | Apr 10, 2012 | Editorial,GW2 News
Like you, I’ve been following Guild Wars 2 closely for any new information, but perhaps unlike you, I have been a bit frightened of getting too enthused. A new MMO poised for release promises innovation, excitement, and hours of fun for me and others like me, but – like rules – promises are made to be broken. I have some high expectations, no one seems to have anything bad to say about this game. Does that make me nervous? Of course it does, doesn’t it you?
As other MMOs have not done so hot in the past, will Guild Wars 2 live up to it’s hype?
Unfortunately – as many of you know and can be explained in my video on why Guild Wars 2 better not fail proves there may be no escape from the mediocre. The damage it does to a loyal fan is devastating! So is this game living up to the hype? Well, that depends on what you’re expecting.
Skepticism vs. Devotion
Guild Wars 2 got me excited. It has excited many people. Near the point of blind fanboism. Even constructive criticism on social mediums such as Twitter or Reddit can be met with harsh repercussions. It is important that the community critique this game, and quell the excitement to insure that ArenaNet makes the game we /actually/ want.
So when I started playing the beta is was a mix of selfish and altruistic motivation. On one hand I wanted to find something new and interesting to show people, but on the other I was deciding if this game was worth my unnatural giddiness when in its presence.
I will not say that the beta played like a fully polished completely finished game. It most certainly did not. Some loading delays. Invisible Walls, and creatures that haven’t any models. There were even times when I got to hang out in the presence of the invisible people.
Combat
The combat is easy to get into but definitely something you would need to put time in to master. It can come across at first as ‘spammy’, or ‘simple’ but as I went along I started to realize I was playing the game incorrectly. I played it way too much like I would World of Warcraft. Those of us who have been playing MMOs will have to be cautious of that. The combat reminded me a bit of Dragon Age 2 meets League of Legends or Dota. Dodge is a really interactive ability that I didn’t use enough and felt the consequences. Moving around and kiting your enemies like you might in Kingdom Hearts or the Fable trilogy. When I stopped thinking about the game as a “MMO-WOW” and started thinking of it as an “MMO-RPG” It began to feel like I was wearing a glove.
One of the things that I was worried about in Guild Wars 2 was a situation I ran into with Aion, and slightly with Tera. It’s where a casting animation will ‘stick’ your character and you won’t be able to move or cancel a cast while the animation is happening. This isn’t as noticeable with quick casts or instant abilities – but it is apparent when you start a cast and want to move to cancel it. Tera has a little bit of this “locked into” a casting animation but thankfully Guild Wars 2 does not have this at all, the casting animations do not affect the physical position of your character. This gives you the feeling of being completely in control of your character to a feather’s touch.
Dying wasn’t that big of a deal as a ranger. Although the downed state was a tad stressful! Really prolongs the dreaded “Holy hell, I’m gonna die I’m gonna die!” feeling one get when one knows they’ve encountered a situation they probably won’t survive. I had my loyal kitty Cold Snap along who could revive me in battle, which was pretty over-powered.
Immersion
The city is massive. Just huge! Watching over footage of playing the beta and roaming around Divinity’s Reach just brings back a little of the emotion and power that the city really inflicts. This truly is a game that you won’t fully understand until you step behind the controls and play it yourself.
Wandering around there’s no pressure to continue on a path or get to a predetermined area. I could just walk around head toward an area and find things to do along the way. You need some help at your farm? Sure! You need me to collect you apples? Never in my life! And there’s no guilt for not participating in the activities that are not fun.
Traveling
Waypoints around the city for fast travel. The cost within the city, I believe was free, and the costs to travel long distances outside were not overwhelming, which made the traveling waypoint system very enjoyable. Did I also mention it is instantaneous? No more waiting 4 minutes to “arrive” at a destination. For some reason this made my enjoyment of the beta heightened. At the same time, I didn’t use it as much as I thought I would – generally “hoofing” it was the mode of transportation I was default on.
Things I Would Change?
I wouldn’t say there’s anything that I would take out of the current game, or even change because I believe in the vision that is arena net, but there are a few things I would love to add.
-Key modifiers. This is something that isn’t elitist or weird, it’s just being able to modify keybinds to something like shift+R, or CTRL+4. This isn’t everyone’s issue because not everyone binds their abilities. Some people bind to what is comfortable and then just click the rest. Or you can do an elaborate action bar shift dance that always amazes me. For the rest of us, we have used modifiers. Especially those of us with tiny hands who can’t hit T G and 6, comfortably.
-Addons. Okay calm down! Before you comment about how addons are for elitist pricks. Let me make my case. Addons don’t automatically mean DPS meter. Just like Combat log, doesn’t automatically mean DPS meter. That being said, Addons made by the community for the game allow the Game Makers (ArenaNet) to focus on different things. It opens it up for the community to be creative.
-Rangers entirely. Yeah, rangers are a little lacking. Although, I haven’t tried the traps yet. The wonky pet AI and the inability to really have any control over my pet, made the experience very frustrating. If anything I would love a whole overhaul of the profession. I sort of feel like Engineer and Thief took all the good things that make a Ranger awesome, and sort of left Ranger with the bare bones. If you give a character a bow, and a pet – doesn’t automatically make them a ranger.
Will Mintchip Buy This Game?
I already have; my pre-purchase case is sitting beside me right this moment. Am I still worried about getting my heart broken? Well, to quote my personal dear friend Alfred Tennyson, “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.”
When Mintchip isn’t working on articles and videos for Guild Wars Insider, she can also be found on her own YouTube channel. Go check it out!
