Guild Wars 2 PlansFollow

Man, altitis. Got an 80 ranger, a 55 elementalist, a 55 engineer, a 16-ish fighter, a lv.3 rogue, and now I feel like I wanna get some character slots to make a guardian and mesmer.

lol, you get last names too Maz.

Also, I really need to log on one of these days...

Me too! Only my characters are much lower leveled lol. I'm really liking my Mesmer though! I'm getting a bit tired of all the snow in the Norn areas, but I love the play style of the Mesmer. I start out with staff to lure the mobs in and summon a clone and warlock phantasm, then I switch to double swords and cut the sh*t out of them bastards! I kill stuff so fast! And I'm a lot more durable having gone into the Chaos tree first, which gives you perks to toughness. Once I get 10 points in I think I'm going to switch to the one that gives you perks to power.

Ya go for it, I think we're approaching 5k in influence.

Yeah, when I read your post, I figured I'd get it started since it was like a 72 hour build time.

I'm buying WvW upgrades, but only after buying drinks to cover the influence cost.

Maz, it should be noted that at some point, they are supposed to introduce guesting, in which you could be a guest on another server to quest or do other activities (basically everything except WvW). So you could join a server with a strong community during your playtimes, and just pop on the Zam guild during offtimes or whatever. You don't have to be on the same server to be in the same guild (though guild perks are server-specific).

But, most people play these games to take a break from reality . . .

I logged on and sent you guild invite since I didn't see anyone else send one. I'm not on a lot becuase of well, WoW. But you know I'm trying to pop one every few days. I dropped some Sigils and crafting stuff in the GBank.

I've been playing a couple hours a night (or day) at least long enough to finish the daily achievement and finish up some zone exploring.

My brother is on constantly though.

Yeah, that really is awesome. I don't feel guilty for not playing, nor do I feel pressured to play. It's a lot more casual...

Who knows, maybe the F2P genre is worth looking into... I'll have more data come November when TOR goes free.

Yup not in a hurry to get to some "end game" first. Just enjoying the ride super casual and loving it so far.

The only thing I'd really call different compared to other MMOs I've played is the more action-y feel of combat rather than just simple math functions going off automatically or with a button press. Some might argue Tera did it first, but I think GW2 took it a step higher. Meanwhile, Rift did meta-events to basically comparable quality and ingenuity. Honestly, they're just randomly triggered quests. So I can't quite say they're innovative there, and Rift is also looking to up the bar on their events come their November expansion release. The rest of the game mechanics are pretty standard fare, maybe even a bit too much on the mundane side. The prevalence of bugs also isn't help Anet's credibility, F2P or no.

I won't speak on PvP much because it generally disinterests me. I can also point out three glaring reasons why. First, queues. @#%^ that. Second, the general futility of being an individual player. Some may revel in the power and concept of collective zerging, but you're just not going to be organizing random people well enough to adopt actual strategies. Third, off-hours capping. Did you work hard to capture and upgrade that keep? Too bad, some people in a different time zone are gonna undo your work while you and everyone else sleeps.

Two and Three are points I've had contention with when playing Aion back in the day, though with a slightly different spin on the third point. Zerging prevailed there, too. Didn't help when you had a bunch of PvP twinks headbutting with a bunch of PvE casuals, either. But the real issue I'd disliked about their fort system was restricted windows of access. This is sort of the inverse of GW2's problem, where you could've had all the people in the world ready and willing, but you simply couldn't conquer a fort because the game wouldn't let you.

I'm honestly not sure what Anet could do about it other than making it easier for smaller groups of people to invade whenever, but some might argue it'd make it even easier for night crews. On the other hand, keeping a fort when you can defend it usually isn't too tough. So the only defense is to have your own night crew at present. Either way, blah at it all, and add a fourth gripe in WvW repair costs on death.

Well, to each their own of course. But GW2 hasn't really revolutionized any formula. They've definitely done them well--no arguments from me there. And many systems are new enough for it not to be so bad. For instance, questing in GW2 is about 87% old school. Just now the quests are consolidated into one master node, and you can complete it with a variety of objective ratios. But you still have escort quests, still defend nodes, still gather stuff, still kill x mobs.

Even the events are mostly just typical MMO fare. You just have a time limit and they're random.

And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Just that I'm a little burned out on it right now.

Thinking more about TOR and why I think it was far easier for me to get into it, it's because of the way they managed the story. It was much, much better than in GW2. As it should be--it's development costs were astronomical and it was produced by a studio known for their writing.

Thing with TOR is that you are deeply connected, from the get-go, with the central plot lines of the galaxy as well as your characters' personal plot line. That's just not the case in GW2. It's a LOT more like typical MMOs in that area, where you spend your time doing "newb" tasks and working your way up to the actual challenges. As a level 5 Sylvari you're going to be playing with some puppies, gathering firefly something or others, fighting some undead, and getting your introduction to the Nightmare Court. Asura will be testing inventions, fighting Inquest, and killing local fauna. Humans pretty much just fight spiders and bandits, with occasional centaurs.

Which is fine. I'm just craving something more--I'm craving what TOR gave me. As a level 5 Trooper? You're working as part of an elite tactical unit sent to a war-torn planet to help put down an Imperial-funded Seperatist Movement, and the first 10 levels give you some pretty great character and plot development for your personal story on top of all that. You feel like a rookie next to the elite badasses of the military, sure, but you're already a highly trained professional and your missions reflect that. Even the typical "Help, we lost the medicine!" quest sends you right into an active war zone. The Jedi Knight quest? Congratulations, you're fighting darksiders in the form of both Dark Jedi and Force-Sensitive primitives, as well as trying to negotiate peace with a local tribe of Twi'leks, all while completing your trials to become a Jedi Knight. It was like playing KOTOR all over again, but with even more awesome. ETC.

Playing the first 10 levels of TOR really introduces you to the gameworld AND your personal story in a meaningful way. You learn about internal squabbles and the larger picture, you learn about your place in the mess, and it sets up a plot arc that will be fully relevant for the next 20 levels, at least.

I'm seriously not saying this to put down GW2, at all. I'm not trying to do a "which is better" evaluation here. I'm just trying to explain why I connected to TOR in a way I'm having trouble connecting to GW2. Because it's not like story doesn't exist in this game. It has a decent overall story, and I like the world a lot. And they go well and beyond what most of the competition does in terms of personal stories. It's just still TOO MMO for me to really want to dive right in.

[EDIT]
I also want to be completely fair here--TOR has the serious advantage of having a huge IP already established for it. 40 years and an avid market of nerds. GW2 only has one previous game and some books to its name. That just can't hold a candle to the dozens of SW books, the 6 movies, 2 television series and all the SW games (including the 2 KOTOR games that directly precede TOR). So TOR has a set stage that's very strongly in its favor in a way GW2 doesn't.

I think GW2 has done a great job working with what it has. And maybe it's actually done the best it possibly could--TOR may have just spoiled me.

Edited, Oct 2nd 2012 10:43am by idiggory

The personal stories get better if you stick with it Dig. I'm 67 on my thief now and my personal story is getting pretty epic. Even along the way their were memorable characters, tough decisions, and even some loss of a NPC I was quite fond of.

Sure the character acting is not as top notch as SWToR but the game play is better imho. I really like how I can get a good new weapon and totally switch my play style without much of a respec hassle. My trait build is generic enough that I can just swap majors without paying a dime and be just as effective. That might not be true for all classes however.

I started out sword/pistol and pistol/dagger loving for a long time. But since then I have learned to love Dual daggers again and dagger/pistol and discovered ways to use them I never thought possible. Helps keep the game fresh.

In Tera the loose combat was very actiony but no where near as varied once you earned your good stuff. You just used that all the time from the moment you got it. Plus I like how in GW you can still actually tab target. Even though you still hit if you don't with many skills. I will say though on big dragon fights I wish I could lock the dragon. For some reason with 50-100 people around I constantly re-target green allies which gets annoying.

(This is the part where someone tells me I am a noob and the target lock is some button I never bothered to look up yet )

Edited, Oct 2nd 2012 12:43pm by Shojindo

For some reason, this post made me super aware of your lack of signature. I found it... disturbing.

Anyway, I definitely agree with this. I don't think it's necessarily a problem (particularly since it comes with the benefit of not having 38 abilities, which is a huge issue with TOR's system). But I do miss that idea of getting stronger. PARTICULARLY because there's no talent tree (which is why MoP really holds no interest for me).

I really need to stop though, because I don't want to be a downer. Because despite everything I think GW2 is a great game and I really like the systems. I just don't think they were designed for me. I fully intend to keep playing though.

Also, I'm happy to hear that the personal stories get better. They weren't bad by any means, but they weren't really pulling me into the world.

Karma Vendor Gear Sets: Clicky!

I was looking for the conquest set of medium armor a few days ago, and can confirm that it comes from Fireheart Rise, and also the Straits of Devastation and Malchor's Leap normal karma vendors. In all cases the helm is replaced by the gunner's helm, though, which is a pity. That tricorn hat is awesome and Iwantit Iwantit Iwantit. Good leather helms are hard to find.

I kittened your kitten so kitten hard that you were walking with a kitten for a kitten week.

Don't forget you can head to the Mists, to try skills out before you actually buy them. I've been doing this on my ranger this time around. There are a few static npcs to hit in the lobby area (as well as some that fight back, and the golems are just fun to aoe). Plus there is a fire pit, that you guessed right, starts you on fire, so you can check regen spells.

Yup, elite skills are 10. Well, the first tier is anyways. I picked up the haste skill as well today, and that unlocked the second tier. Those cost 30 points.

I did try out Moa a few times. Doesn't seem to render the mob helpless, it still attacks but I'm assuming the attack is much lower and they obviously cannot use any of their skills. Doesn't seem that OP to me, especially considering the 120 second CD.

I think it more has to do with the fact that 10 seconds is sufficient time to burn down just about anything (assuming you have a burst weapon, and you should if you are doing PVP), assuming you aren't waiting on all your CDs and used Moa just to survive.

But even then, that's essentially -10 to every CD when you use the skill, plus a fair bit of damage even just from your auto-attack.

And Moa would be especially awesome for a phantasm build, because they would need to use all their endurance to dodge your attacks, which means the smaller (but still powerful) phantasm attacks are going to really needle their health.

It's definitely a skill that's very hard to recover from, even if it isn't a guaranteed I-win.

The cultural armor is more about the skin than the stats. There are a few gold sink armor skins around like that.

I don't mind the stats that much, I just wish you could transmute the cultural gear. Seems stupid for it to be that expensive, not have balanced stats, and then not be transmutable. Oh well, that's what the gems are for. Thanks for that Digg, I'll keep that in mind.

The best I can say is no but yes.

Strictly speaking, the answer is no. Your gear has a set of stats and an upgrade slot. These stats don't change.

But it's also kinda yes, because it's not much of a problem.

You have complete freedom to transmute your gear in GW2. So you CAN keep the same look you want forever. It might get somewhat expensive over time, but to be fair so does buying mods. The transmutation stones for levels 1-79 are easy enough to come buy in game by doing your daily achievement and completing maps. The level 80 ones are much rarer, but you can still find them. And exchange rates for gold to jewels (RMT currency) are so favorable right now that even level capped you're looking at like 5-6G to transmute a whole set. Now that's not cheap, but it's definitely not super expensive either.

More importantly, the actual stats on your gear aren't THAT important. That's not to say they're irrelevant, but what really matters is the upgrade slot. These are essentially where the really interesting aspects of your gear come from, like set bonuses. When you use a transmutation stone, you choose which upgrade to keep (if there are two involved), so the real essence of your item is always transferred with the skin if you want it.

Finally, because GW2 gives you complete freedom to dye your gear (well, each item has 2-3 dye "slots" that correlate to parts of it), you'd be surprised what you can do with some skins that don't seem attractive at first. It's not going to salvage something you hate, of course, but the colors right and outfits really do come out seeming completely different, depending on how you downplay or highlight components.

So yeah, it's really not hard to keep your look in GW2. If you are dead set against paying real money, it does get harder. But as long as you aren't transmuting your gear nonstop, it's nothing a level capped player shouldn't be able to realistically handle purely through in-game currency (especially once supplemented with random quest rewards and Black Lion Chests, which contain items from the RMT shop but are found in game).

The flip side is that GW2 is 100% free with purchase. There are NO content restrictions like in other F2P games. Real money is used for boosters (items that give temporary buffs to things like magic find chance, experience gain, karma gain, etc.), aesthetic items (skins, dyes), and other upgrades (additional bag slots, additional bank slots, additional character slots). The only thing like content you have to pay for is the tournament (essentially, WoW's arenas), and you can get those tickets with gold if you want. So even if you DO feel like using real money now and then, you'll probably pay less than you would even in other F2P games.

TL;DR: No, you can't mod items. But you can transmute the skin onto a new one, and the "upgrade" you put in it usually matters more than the actual piece of armor anyway. If you want to keep the same look forever, you can, but it might be annoying if you aren't willing to pay real money.

Moa's a joke. If you try using it on a Veteran or a Champion (i.e. nasty things you actually WANT to lock down), they can still hurt you really badly. It would just be like fighting a Veteran or Champion Moa instead of whatever race they are. Plus they can and will daze you in Moa form with that screech, which is really annoying.

It's really much better in sPvP, where it makes people rage at not being able to press their i-win combo buttons. :) But Time Warp > all still for Mesmer Elites.