We tried the dungeons for the first time yesterday, and they were challenging - and this was on story mode. A good bit was a learning curve, and we got better as we went along. But I do find "boss mobs" in general to be fairly chaotic fights. My biggest gripe is there is no sense of community with guilds. The game doesn't inform you when someone logs on or off, and there are no messages when you level up. You could play for hours without realizing a guild mate is even on. They do show in the guild window - but you have to actively seek it out. Putting in notifications when someone logs on and when they level or do some other type of achievement would just go a long way in building community. You can see when people on your friends list log on or off though - at least that's something.
Caela wrote: Really? How do you set that up? I only know if I click my friends list open ... otherwise I don't get notifications. Hrm. Share?
The little league baseball of MMO's. Everybody wins and you aren't ever wrong as long as you love yourself. Risk v. Reward is non-existent. Just about everything is boring and I wasn't tricked by its new style of putting your quest journal and achievement goals on the map. Combat is more simplistic than any supposed 'AAA' MMO I have seen to date. Oh dodging, you mean the effect that temporarily makes you invulnerable and you 'dodge' attacks even though visually they landed square on? I've already seen this trick in DDO. If GW2 has action combat then DDO is Ninja Gaiden. You can learn every attack available to you from every accessible weapon by level 10 and then that's it. No new attacks. Done. Every individual weapon should have had an attack ability pool as big as the right side of the skill bar. They took one of the best parts of GW1, carefully and strategically picking your abilities for entering combat, and demolished it. What's really funny is because of some mix up I got the game for free lol. I don't even play it anymore, gave the account to my friend who just wants to try porting it to Mac for the learning experience. The half-measure cut scenes just became annoying. I wish they would have just stayed in the standard mode with text box's and the voice overs. The little 'flash' sequences are pathetic when they try and intermingle them with action. Reminds me of the cut scenes in "The Bouncer" "Oh whats that?!" *transition/loading screen* ...oh wow i was so totally caught off guard.... Dynamic events are fuster clucks. I've gotten gold medals for barely participating just to see how little I could get away with. Only way I got a silver medal was when I arrived at a event with only 15 seconds and few mobs left. Participation ribbons got upgraded to 'champion standing' trophies with GW2 and everyone who even tried gets one. "Boss battles" are just zerg fests, with dozens of people simultaneously soloing. No wonder they had to make so many effects AE based, its so people would incidentally help others instead again, of course, not requiring skill. Rift did this way better. Rift still required group skills in public events by automatically throwing people in groups/raids when they entered the area. they still watered down the events a bit but at least you weren't incidentally winning.
Jayne@Kithicor wrote: In one of your chat tabs make sure you you have "Game Messages" selected - it gives you a lot of other spam too - like the items you loot or gather, stuff you craft, etc. But it will also say so and so is online or so and so went offline. It will not tell you who is already on when you log on - just the comings and goings as they happen.
Caela wrote: You can check who's online before you log in to your character, on the character select screen. It's not quite as handy as having it in the chat window though. The icon is in the top left, kinda ghosted out. You can set yourself to invisible or away before you log in too, a feature that I love! On an un/semi related not: I discovered the other day that in your friends list, you have a followers tab. This shows people who have added you, but you haven't reciprocated. Not sure on the use of this, but it's intriguing. Oh, and I finally noticed the little courier pigeon whenever you send/receive mail. How cute is that?!
Oh thanks Caela and Del Del I equate that followers tab to something like Twitter. It's informative, but a bit unnerving (lol one of the reasons I hate Twitter, I don't want some odd stalker following my words without my permission!)
Neiloch@Butcherblock wrote: You mean, even more so than EQ2? If so (& that was a serious question, BTW) that's pretty bad I'm seriously on the fence about this game. OTOH, all my friends, my older brother, & my nephew are all playing it. OTOH, when I watch my brother & nephew playing ... I'm decidedly underwhelmed. The graphics are a mixed bag IMO, & the cut-scene thing turns me off entirely. But I have to be fair & concede that since I haven't actually played the game, maybe I'm judging it too harshly. But here's the thing: the sole reason I'd be walking away from EQ2 is that I dislike SOE a very great deal. But since I'm not paying SOE, that's not as big of an issue ... & EQ2 is still a lot of fun, for me. I'm just not sure what more GW2 is going to offer me, especially when most of my guildies haven't made the switch. So, at this point my "not until October" stance remains.
Freejazzlive wrote: Its just a different combat system than what Neiloch is used to. Yes..there are less buttons than EQ2. But the amount of button smashing needed in EQ2 would be a real pain when you're evading, strafing etc. As far as the dynamic events go...well, they are exactly like the Velious public events. Exactly. Just as unorganized too...except they are scattered all over the maps. They're quite fun too. Dungeons, so far are limited to 5 people, so its unlikely to appeal to those more raid minded. But you had better have a synergy in your group and a knowedge of your character's class. Cause you'll probably be dying and switching builds and strats as you figure out how your party is going to work against the various bosses without aggro control and dedicated heals Graphically, there is no comparison. GW2 is far superior to EQ2. Which is to be expected in a new game and a 7 yr old game. The cut scenes are for personal story lines and are rather enjoyable. But if they aren't to you, then FF thru them. Watching them is just an option. Its a good game. In some ways its better than EQ2, in some ways its not. If EQ2 is the gauge you use to compare games to (as I do), then no other game to date has held my interest like GW2 does. That said...if you go into any game ready to hate it. Then its likely you will. Raf
Our friend who we've played games with for years refuses to play EQ2 and is trying to get us to play Guild Wars 2 (after failing to get us back into runes of magic). I played Guild Wars 1 for a while and hated it because of the lousy graphics and no housing. I have heard this game has no housing or even flying mounts...Is there anything this game has to offer for those of us who NEED housing and depth in our game or is it just another hack and slash game like 99% of the games out there? I am still waiting for ArchAge. That is the only game I've seen that has promise to take me away from EQ2.
Raffir wrote: That's a matter of opinion -- so far, from what I've seen, I disagree. OTOH, I don't see the point in arguing aesthetics. But thank you for your other comments, they're appreciated. FWIW, I have no intention of trying GW2 while having pre-judged it as "bad;" instead, I'm saying that so far I'm not sold on it being "better" than EQ2, which I think is a very different thing. Still waitin' for October, regardless.
decator666 wrote: Im thinking its worth buying gw2, it at least sounds like a great drinking game! Im being kicked out by sony, but really what am I missing? The last months before quitting I only logged in to raid, and I crave more than that. What I will miss is eq2 pre smokejumper, and that eq2 is dead and gone. Thank you for namedropping archeage. Ill keep an eye on it. What I couldnt find was an approximate release date/month/year. Do you know? The concept of the game sounds interesting since it mentions eq and eq2...and Im hoping its pre sj eq2! Lets hope its a sandbox game that will be a hit. Whats negative for me are the asian looking races, and the ffa pvp. I beta tested the sandbox ffa pvp game mortal online, and it was just a gank fest. For me its not sandbox if you are forced to join a clan/guild/friends before even entering the game for the first time in order to survive, and if you want to be a pve/crafter player. Call me a carebear. For me a sandbox is choices: I can enter the world alone, and I dont have to become a murderer. Im not against guilds or playing with firends, but I prefer trying a new game on my own, and if I cant do that its not for me. Archeage devs say they want to introduce something revolutionary, lets hope they do
IMHO, get the game. Install it, play it. The look and feel is really different (no 1st person view which I found odd to start with) and it's a fun game to play. It doesn't feel like a grindfest. You don't feel rushed into the end game. So far, I'd say: Graphics: probably prettier than EQ. But that's subjective although my wife says it's gorgeous and photorealistic. Gameplay: there's oodles to do... in fact, may be more than you can handle. GW2 > EQ2 IMHO. Sound; far superior to EQ2. Quests; it's a public quest fest. Although the rewards are not as good, the fun factor is greater. You have to try it out though; don't take my opinion as gospel. Combat; not as much as a button cruncher and tactics are required. As has been posted, dodging is a viable move. Be aware that you will (read: should) move around a lot more than you would in EQ. Magic effects: again, this is subjective, but I find them better. However, you should note that, in combat, there may be too much going on. Crafting: can't comment as I haven't started this yet. Pets: yep Mounts: none as yet. Housing: no, none. Although I do recall its being brought up once or twice. Experience: you get exp for loads of things. Disco, harvesting, joining in PQ's, vista's, daily kills, finding recall points... and that's a surface scratcher. OK, it's late, so I'm off before my post rambles off into the obscure. Suffice to say, GW2 is looking like my new home now that SOE is forcing me to quit EQ2 (coz of P7S1). Happy gaming and good luck.
Sixten@Crushbone wrote: The date of release for Archeage in the US has been moving and moving. The last update I heard is it is due out in 2014 early, but I am not holding my breath. It is released in Korea, so there are plenty of You Tubes to preview. It has everything I want in a game. It has housing, boats you can carry on your back and launch at will, a huge explorable land, flying mounts, awesome graphics, depth of storyline etc etc etc...I didn't notice the races were all asian looking, I have watched many previews of character creation and have seen many types of looks. I think it would take hours to create a character, it's that in depth. I don't know about PvP. I know the game is PvE based. It is not another AION where you are gankfested the minute you leave town. I won't play that kind of game again. Oh and I wanted to comment on GW2 about the bosses that everyone fights...that is something Tera had too and I did like that. It did away with the stealing of mobs etc. Also, harvesting xp etc has been around for ages. I never considered it game breaking because it's not really enough xp to help much in higher levels. It sounds to me they have alot of the Tera ideas going on and i played Tera for about 1 month before I was bored. I am really picky with depth and creativity. I can only adventure for so long before I need to unwind. It's stressful some days so I prefer a game that I can just enjoy crafting or decorating... That's another thing I like about Archeage, the ability to build your house...Gathering the materials and placing it in an open zone. Similar to Vanguard I'm sure. I loved that about Vanguard. Took me 6 months to be able to make most of the mat's myself (since the crafting system is sooooo complex and fun in Vanguard)...These are the things I'm looking for in a game. I love sandbox. I have found that I am bored very quickly with only fighting.
In terms of combat it still isn't on par with Tera lol. I would love for a solid MMO like EQNext (is hopefully going to be) to combine fantasy style gameplay with Tera combat. I just wish Tera had more dynamics to the game than what it did, would have been marvelous.
Freejazzlive wrote: You would be surprised how much this reflects how I feel or rather 'felt.' I kept playing it over and over against my judgement because i was supposed to like it. It was supposed to be the best thing ever and I just didn't like it so maybe I needed more hours with it. I spent about 40 hours with it and dreaded logging back in. That's when I ditched it. No one anywhere can say I didn't give this game a chance. And yes combat is more simplistic than EQ2. The leap between easiest and hardest in GW2 combat is very, very short while in EQ2 it is a chasm of difference in comparison. I would say EQ2 soloing is easier than GW2 soloing but after that EQ2 has much more depth. Also i'm talking from a raid equipped ranger which means one shotting all solo mobs with auto attack. Raffir wrote: You hardly know enough about me to be that familar with my gaming experience. People in my own guild aren't that familiar with me. When people say 'action combat' or 'skill based combat' I expect something like "Vindictus" or "C9" or at least TERA. This is not skill based combat, not in the slightest and EQ2 challange heroics and raids require much more than GW2's pathetic explorable modes. Soon as you learn how to use the dodge function in GW2 (usually by level 5) you can steamroll just about anything. Its the people who are so bad at games and just stand there or crash the mobs without thinking that die and think GW2 combat is hard or has depth. There is auto face just like EQ2. the only difference in execution of combat is the laughable 'dodging' mechanic GW2 put in. In reality it is just a short invulnerability buff. learn to dodge = win. That simple, that is the extend of GW2 combat depth. The combat does not require some abundance of skill. No matter how much people insist that it does. Its just as stupid easy as WoW or SWTOR. Instead of hitting more attacks or strategically using long reuse temps you just move around a lot. Game won.
Raffir wrote: I had a very different Guild Wars 2 experience... I could fall asleep at my keyboard and still complete events, level up, and destroy mobs. Seriously just running around in a pack of people will run me up through the entire game, don't even have to hit anything; just show up. The hotbar doesn't even matter, I just hit 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 and the enemy will die. My skills change so much mid-battle yet it doesn't seem to affect anything except the flashy effects that fill the screen. Nothing is a challenge in the game, I have no idea why people are pouring all over it as it has the depth of a kiddie pool, and the only thing it has going for it is no subscription fee. Out of every MMO I've played (and there are many) my favorites are still EverQuest 2, Vanguard Saga of Heroes, JunkMetal, Final Fantasy XI, and Final Fantasy XIV. Anyway, I do not like Guild Wars 2, I can understand some do and thats fine, but its little better than the 'new' casual like WoW was.
Raffir wrote: I don't see why you have to be insulting, I personally agree with Neilochs review of Guild Wars 2 and feel he is correct. You have yet to present any counter argument aside from "Oh you aren't used to it." and insults. Edit: WOW you're a class act. You've edited your post so I'll respond to that one as well... Raffir wrote: EverQuest 2 is fun to play and has tons of depth to its gameplay, areas, lore, and raids. It's very fun, especially when in a nice group that works well together and can strategize. Guild Wars 2 is great if you like running in a mob steamrolling everything without having to think about it. Depends on what you're looking for.
