Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
edited May 2012
I know everyone had their own goals, but I cannot understand how going through the games leveling process in a beta test would be something you want to do. I guess because it should be fun over and over again, but the joy of leveling a character is something I want to enjoy when its permanent.
But if people didn't want to do that, it wouldnt get tested, so there is that. I simply did not get anywhere NEAR the playtime others did so I would have accomplished absolutely nothing if I had tried to check out leveling.
I got the just of it then headed over to the mists to run my own numerical tests of the games balance. I think that in of itself is a good thing for testing too, and I should try to organize my thoughts into a post on their forums to let them know what I learned.
I can say though, which I posted in the other thread, if you found any amount of the combat not as rewarding as you hoped and you did not get to fully customize and toy with your profession in the mists, you will be soooooooooooooooo surprised when you do, or when you get closer to 80. Whichever comes first. They definately did a GOOD job of making you chose a way to play and being rewarded for it. And you will find something that clicks and will feel so much better to you than it does to anyone else.
The games combat early on is a mere shell of what it truely is at 80, moreso than any other game I played. While this is slightly against the no endgame type of idea that is supposed to be there, it means you have something to look forward to later on. While it seems growth slows down due to getting most of the abilities you need early, the traits slowly but surely deepen your profession.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
So. I recorded about an hour and a half total of gameplay. Would there any interest in having me compile these into proper videos, and if so, what type of videos would you guys prefer? Commentary, music, gameplay highlights, what?
If you want to make a commentary about gameplay highlights that you captured, I wouldn't mind watching it. A first impressions clip would be nice to see as well.
It'd be interesting to see more community videos from here. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much because somebody had to have technical difficulties this weekend and could only get footage on Friday.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
I know everyone had their own goals, but I cannot understand how going through the games leveling process in a beta test would be something you want to do. I guess because it should be fun over and over again, but the joy of leveling a character is something I want to enjoy when its permanent.
But if people didn't want to do that, it wouldnt get tested, so there is that. I simply did not get anywhere NEAR the playtime others did so I would have accomplished absolutely nothing if I had tried to check out leveling.
I got the just of it then headed over to the mists to run my own numerical tests of the games balance. I think that in of itself is a good thing for testing too, and I should try to organize my thoughts into a post on their forums to let them know what I learned.
I can say though, which I posted in the other thread, if you found any amount of the combat not as rewarding as you hoped and you did not get to fully customize and toy with your profession in the mists, you will be soooooooooooooooo surprised when you do, or when you get closer to 80. Whichever comes first. They definately did a GOOD job of making you chose a way to play and being rewarded for it. And you will find something that clicks and will feel so much better to you than it does to anyone else.
The games combat early on is a mere shell of what it truely is at 80, moreso than any other game I played. While this is slightly against the no endgame type of idea that is supposed to be there, it means you have something to look forward to later on. While it seems growth slows down due to getting most of the abilities you need early, the traits slowly but surely deepen your profession.
Just bumping yourself to 80 gives too many options to get a handle on. Leveling is good for slowly easing you in to the game.
Also, alot of people wanted to get a look at how it worked.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
You do? Weird, I didn't see an option marked "Only let the person accept this mail if they respond with 5 ectos and a yak's bladder".
Overflow sucked this time because it was poorly implemented and lacked a method of switching to the sever of your party members.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
You do? Weird, I didn't see an option marked "Only let the person accept this mail if they respond with 5 ectos and a yak's bladder".
If you want to trade, there's a trading post for it. They may at some point add a COD feature to the mail.
They may not though. I'm betting they are gonna avoid that to continue to emphasize the game wide economy.
Overflow sucked this time because it was poorly implemented and lacked a method of switching to the sever of your party members.
Basically you put down a "combo field" via various skills and then use a "combo finisher" in relation to that field and you get a combo.
So, like, Fire on the ground is a fire combo field. Fire a projectile finisher through it and your projectile now has fire damage on it too. Leap onto it and you get some other effect.
You'll see "Combo Field: <type>" or "Combo Finisher: <type>" listed under the skill descriptions.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
You do? Weird, I didn't see an option marked "Only let the person accept this mail if they respond with 5 ectos and a yak's bladder".
If you want to trade, there's a trading post for it. They may at some point add a COD feature to the mail.
They may not though. I'm betting they are gonna avoid that to continue to emphasize the game wide economy.
Overflow sucked this time because it was poorly implemented and lacked a method of switching to the sever of your party members.
Yes, that's why the game is still in Beta.
I think they'll add it right quick when their CS department is overwhelmed by people complaining about scammers. "Oh, a mighty sword of manliness dropped? Mail it to me and I'll mail you this staff of ultimate awesome!" And no amount of blaming the victim will keep them from writing CS and demanding they return the MSOM, ban the scammer, and a pony.
Yes, it's a beta. But it's troubling that the first major non-NDA public viewing lacks those features. I'm already in for $150. But after this weekend, I'm waiting a month before selling it to the rest of my unconverted friends.
Seeing as a handful of body type options for both Norn and Human females were identical, I can only assume they must have been placeholders for more variety
They wernt. Each of the body type was different than the next. Some of them would only adjust things like arm thickness though so you had to look and click between them a few times to see what they changed.
Basically you put down a "combo field" via various skills and then use a "combo finisher" in relation to that field and you get a combo.
So, like, Fire on the ground is a fire combo field. Fire a projectile finisher through it and your projectile now has fire damage on it too. Leap onto it and you get some other effect.
You'll see "Combo Field: <type>" or "Combo Finisher: <type>" listed under the skill descriptions.
For a direct example, I played an Elementalist. With a staff I get Lava Font, which puts down a Fire Field. One of the skills I slotted was Arcane Wave, which has a "Blast" Combo Finisher effect. So using Arcane Wave while standing in my Lava Font would do fire aoe damage.
Or I could put down Healing Rain, a Water Field. Using Arcane Wave while standing in it does aoe healing.
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
edited May 2012
My problem with Norn is that they're too much like bigger stronger humans. Honestly, I would be happy if they stayed as animals permanently but were human-like. Upright bears and wild cats and such.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Don't change the norn. I am quite fond of them how they are.
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reVerseAttack and Dethrone GodRegistered Userregular
My problem with Norn is that they're too much like bigger stronger humans. Honestly, I would be happy if they stayed as animals permanently but were human-like. Upright bears and wild cats and such.
Yeah, the norn are visually really boring. Ooh, big humans. Isn't that quaint.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
You do? Weird, I didn't see an option marked "Only let the person accept this mail if they respond with 5 ectos and a yak's bladder".
If you want to trade, there's a trading post for it. They may at some point add a COD feature to the mail.
They may not though. I'm betting they are gonna avoid that to continue to emphasize the game wide economy.
Overflow sucked this time because it was poorly implemented and lacked a method of switching to the sever of your party members.
Yes, that's why the game is still in Beta.
I think they'll add it right quick when their CS department is overwhelmed by people complaining about scammers. "Oh, a mighty sword of manliness dropped? Mail it to me and I'll mail you this staff of ultimate awesome!" And no amount of blaming the victim will keep them from writing CS and demanding they return the MSOM, ban the scammer, and a pony.
"If you want to trade, use the trading post" replies are alot easier and cheaper.
They've worked hard to make the economy game wide, I doubt they are gonna go back on that.
Yes, it's a beta. But it's troubling that the first major non-NDA public viewing lacks those features. I'm already in for $150. But after this weekend, I'm waiting a month before selling it to the rest of my unconverted friends.
I'm not sure you quite get the Beta concept if you think this.
Also, this was the first test of the overflow system and they've already said that making it work properly is first priority.
My problem with Norn is that they're too much like bigger stronger humans. Honestly, I would be happy if they stayed as animals permanently but were human-like. Upright bears and wild cats and such.
Yeah, the norn are visually really boring. Ooh, big humans. Isn't that quaint.
They've got a pretty neat culture, though.
The Norn are interesting as a concept, but visually are kinda dull, even if they are very well done giants generally.
Not gonna change though, so we gets what we gets.
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reVerseAttack and Dethrone GodRegistered Userregular
Norn and asura are really garbage race designs. Interesting ideas behind both, but whoever was in charge of the visuals really fucked up bad.
Charr and sylvari at least are pretty interesting visually and conceptually.
Yes, it's a beta. But it's troubling that the first major non-NDA public viewing lacks those features. I'm already in for $150. But after this weekend, I'm waiting a month before selling it to the rest of my unconverted friends.
This is exactly what actual beta testing is for - most/all features in, heavy testing and tuning commences. ANet has stuck to the *actual* definition of Alpha/Beta for this development process rather than the newfangled 'beta means free preview!' model other MMOs have taken, that's why there's only one beta weekend a month right now. Cancelling over something like this would be exactly why companies like ANet are so hesitant to ever let people in w/out NDA and why they're doing one weekend a month rather than 24/7.
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CorehealerThe ApothecaryThe softer edge of the universe.Registered Userregular
So. I recorded about an hour and a half total of gameplay. Would there any interest in having me compile these into proper videos, and if so, what type of videos would you guys prefer? Commentary, music, gameplay highlights, what?
If you want to make a commentary about gameplay highlights that you captured, I wouldn't mind watching it. A first impressions clip would be nice to see as well.
It'd be interesting to see more community videos from here. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much because somebody had to have technical difficulties this weekend and could only get footage on Friday.
I'm sorry! I'll try harder in May, I promise. It's complicated ok?
Is there a place that explains how combo skills work? Because I don't get how they work...
From what I've gathered, it's very very complex. To the point that you not only have to know your own abilities but everyone else's as well. Don't worry about that too much as people are more than happy to completely spam local chat with every move they make. It's like twitter for gamer twits.
The basics of it are this:
Someone lays down an area effect.
When you fire through that area effect you gain a combo bonus. Alternatively you simply active an ability and it does something special when in that AoE
Nothing tells you what that combo bonus is when you do it so it may as well be nothing for all we know.
So, where the prior knowledge comes in is that you A) Have to know the above about combos and have to know what will actually work within a certain AoE (as well as know what an aoe is when you see it on the ground) to make the combo work.
From what I've seen, next beta I'm making a character called Stomps Mcgee who's going to activate stomp in every AoE I find just to see what the heck happens.
Norn and asura are really garbage race designs. Interesting ideas behind both, but whoever was in charge of the visuals really fucked up bad.
Charr and sylvari at least are pretty interesting visually and conceptually.
I think the Norn and Asura are interesting designs. Norn work well as a design, and their theme is one that's constantly repeated in the fantasy genre, which may lead to being being "sick of norse" for now. The Asura are sort of a different take on a repeated trope, the short inventor type. However their not-so-cute exterior and constant insults make them a very different type of character.
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
The body types that were close were slightly different. It always seems that companies are very conservative with character creation builds.
I went through all the sizes comparing them to see what I was actually choosing, and human females have a good set. Only one of them is really overweight, the rest go from really skinny to only kinda skinny and vary in the big and small boob variety.
If they were different they were so minutely different as to be completely indistinguishable on low settings
Like, the exact same model
Maybe on higher detail settings I'd have seen a difference
I'm sorry! I'll try harder in May, I promise. It's complicated ok?
Haha, it's alright man. Hopefully you'll get the problem solved by then, I'm sure there are some people who will be looking forward to the next BWE being streamed.
I mainly played as a charr necromancer this past weekend, with a small helping of norn ranger thrown in.
Likes:
The combat system. Seems really simple at first, but I can see the complexity behind it. I think it's a nice combination of being newbie friendly while allowing those with awesome builds to shine.
Questing. I know the hearts are the new quest hub, but it was nice to just wander into an area and start doing stuff right away.
Needs improvement:
Mostly echoing what others have said. Scaling in DEs and story quests needs to be better.
I wouldn't mind a little extra hand holding in the beginning, just in regards to learning the various systems like crafting.
I didn't get to play much, and I didn't get to PVP at all, two things I'm looking to change next BWE. Necromancer was already on my list of character classes to play, but once I started getting the hang of it, it was totally kick ass. I'll have to try other professions in the future, but I think that's only going to make it harder to pick a main.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
I think its been established that EVERYONES con list is full of shit its obvious is going to be fixed before beta ends.
Thats really good.
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
Seriously though, if someone has pictorial evidence that I was imagining they aren't the same models please share
fuck gendered marketing
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
I dont, but I know the human ones were different. Mostly in the legs/breasts.
Norn it was barely noticeable, but it was there. You would only see it if you removed the armor on creation while switching between two of them, and it was subtle as hell.
Some look identical, but with more definition. I noticed this with Norn in particular (also human). They look the absolute same in terms of proportions, but one has a flat stomach and the other is packing a 6-pack. You can also see more muscle definition around the thighs/knee caps. I'm sure there is more around the arms, too.
My one complaint with combo fields was that most of the time they disappeared too quickly for me to take advantage of them. I'd be a'firin my rifle, see a flame thing go down, try to dodge to it and maybe get one shot off before that thing went away.
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
I dont, but I know the human ones were different. Mostly in the legs/breasts.
Norn it was barely noticeable, but it was there. You would only see it if you removed the armor on creation while switching between two of them, and it was subtle as hell.
I did that
I checked from multiple angles
I saw no differences (again, from low settings)
character creation is my thing so, if they were that subtle (and I like subtle) they were maybe a bit too subtle
I'm not talking about all of the models, just a few that were identical to the base model
fuck gendered marketing
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
Some look identical, but with more definition. I noticed this with Norn in particular (also human). They look the absolute same in terms of proportions, but one has a flat stomach and the other is packing a 6-pack. You can also see more muscle definition around the thighs/knee caps. I'm sure there is more around the arms, too.
Oh, if it was a normal map/texture difference that explains it, as that would be much harder to tell on low settings (and I wasn't looking for it)
I think its been established that EVERYONES con list is full of shit its obvious is going to be fixed before beta ends.
Thats really good.
Really my biggest negative right now is that gw2 has killed the will to play another game right now.
I want to playyy.
By Balthazar, tell me about it.
Been pretty aimless all day today thinking about it, and wanting to play moar.
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Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
GW1 is actually still enjoyable for me.
The only problem there is the current anniversary event has killed any interest in doing anything but farming for money. And the only option available for me is farming zkeys.
Currently up to 25. If I can make 50 or so before the end thats a huge moneytary gain for me. It would allow me to buy my way up 3-9 HOM points depending on how that flows.
The overflow thing would have made my GF cancel her preorder if it weren't a presale. Logging in at the same time and having no way to play together is not acceptable, and it's a thing that GW1 had handled so well, too. For me, it was the lack of a trade interface. The game is this far along and trade isn't implemented yet?!
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
You do? Weird, I didn't see an option marked "Only let the person accept this mail if they respond with 5 ectos and a yak's bladder".
If you want to trade, there's a trading post for it. They may at some point add a COD feature to the mail.
They may not though. I'm betting they are gonna avoid that to continue to emphasize the game wide economy.
Overflow sucked this time because it was poorly implemented and lacked a method of switching to the sever of your party members.
Yes, that's why the game is still in Beta.
I think they'll add it right quick when their CS department is overwhelmed by people complaining about scammers. "Oh, a mighty sword of manliness dropped? Mail it to me and I'll mail you this staff of ultimate awesome!" And no amount of blaming the victim will keep them from writing CS and demanding they return the MSOM, ban the scammer, and a pony.
"If you want to trade, use the trading post" replies are alot easier and cheaper.
They've worked hard to make the economy game wide, I doubt they are gonna go back on that.
Yes, it's a beta. But it's troubling that the first major non-NDA public viewing lacks those features. I'm already in for $150. But after this weekend, I'm waiting a month before selling it to the rest of my unconverted friends.
I'm not sure you quite get the Beta concept if you think this.
Also, this was the first test of the overflow system and they've already said that making it work properly is first priority.
Don't get the beta concept? Haha... I paid my $4 to beta test UO. (Or was that free and EQ wanted $4? Long time ago.) I think you're drinking the white knight kool-aid a little hard if you don't get this: Some fairly obvious features are missing, and that worries me enough to hold back my evangelism. The idea that these features are deliberately missing is completely ludicrous.
The fact of the matter is the beta has been going on for a while. Missing features are troubling because this is generally the time for tuning, not adding. And this is MOST CERTAINLY the time for fans to say "Hey, this shit sucks, change it", and a bad time for EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Because the last game that I saw where the EVERYTHING IS AWESOME folks dominated the conversation so hard during beta was Hellgate: London.
My one complaint with combo fields was that most of the time they disappeared too quickly for me to take advantage of them. I'd be a'firin my rifle, see a flame thing go down, try to dodge to it and maybe get one shot off before that thing went away.
My gripe with combo fields are that there's often too many of them down to tell what's what. There's just this giant sea of white circles, in most cases.
Missing features are troubling because this is generally the time for tuning, not adding.
What's missing? Seriously, what's missing? There's nothing I was expecting that isn't here in one form or another - Anet has been good about not tossing out lofty promises for features that do not yet exist. Some need lots of improvement (Overflow, FPS, pets, etc), others are in great shape already (skill selection, combat, art/music, etc). For a game 2+ months out minimum GW2 is in great shape, especially when most people seem to be having tons of fun inspite of the issues.
I have encountered no issues that I think couldn't be resolved before a release.
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I don't see the problem with not having peer to peer trading without using the trading post.
If you want to sell or buy something, go to the trading post. If you're standing around yelling WTS Sword, you're doing it very very wrong.
If you're friend gets an item they can't use and you have an item you can't use you can just mail each other the items. You don't need COD because you know each other and there should be a degree of trust.
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But if people didn't want to do that, it wouldnt get tested, so there is that. I simply did not get anywhere NEAR the playtime others did so I would have accomplished absolutely nothing if I had tried to check out leveling.
I got the just of it then headed over to the mists to run my own numerical tests of the games balance. I think that in of itself is a good thing for testing too, and I should try to organize my thoughts into a post on their forums to let them know what I learned.
I can say though, which I posted in the other thread, if you found any amount of the combat not as rewarding as you hoped and you did not get to fully customize and toy with your profession in the mists, you will be soooooooooooooooo surprised when you do, or when you get closer to 80. Whichever comes first. They definately did a GOOD job of making you chose a way to play and being rewarded for it. And you will find something that clicks and will feel so much better to you than it does to anyone else.
The games combat early on is a mere shell of what it truely is at 80, moreso than any other game I played. While this is slightly against the no endgame type of idea that is supposed to be there, it means you have something to look forward to later on. While it seems growth slows down due to getting most of the abilities you need early, the traits slowly but surely deepen your profession.
But, both of those things are obviously going to get fixed, so I'm not a doubter yet. Now the atrocious Norn faces and voice acting? Eeeep...
If you want to make a commentary about gameplay highlights that you captured, I wouldn't mind watching it. A first impressions clip would be nice to see as well.
It'd be interesting to see more community videos from here. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much because somebody had to have technical difficulties this weekend and could only get footage on Friday.
And I hated kessex hills a LOT.
You trade through the mail system.
Overflow sucked this time, but that's why it's beta.
Just bumping yourself to 80 gives too many options to get a handle on. Leveling is good for slowly easing you in to the game.
Also, alot of people wanted to get a look at how it worked.
You do? Weird, I didn't see an option marked "Only let the person accept this mail if they respond with 5 ectos and a yak's bladder".
Overflow sucked this time because it was poorly implemented and lacked a method of switching to the sever of your party members.
If you want to trade, there's a trading post for it. They may at some point add a COD feature to the mail.
They may not though. I'm betting they are gonna avoid that to continue to emphasize the game wide economy.
Yes, that's why the game is still in Beta.
Here's a blog post: http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-wars-2-development-update-by-jon-peters
Basically you put down a "combo field" via various skills and then use a "combo finisher" in relation to that field and you get a combo.
So, like, Fire on the ground is a fire combo field. Fire a projectile finisher through it and your projectile now has fire damage on it too. Leap onto it and you get some other effect.
You'll see "Combo Field: <type>" or "Combo Finisher: <type>" listed under the skill descriptions.
I think they'll add it right quick when their CS department is overwhelmed by people complaining about scammers. "Oh, a mighty sword of manliness dropped? Mail it to me and I'll mail you this staff of ultimate awesome!" And no amount of blaming the victim will keep them from writing CS and demanding they return the MSOM, ban the scammer, and a pony.
Yes, it's a beta. But it's troubling that the first major non-NDA public viewing lacks those features. I'm already in for $150. But after this weekend, I'm waiting a month before selling it to the rest of my unconverted friends.
They wernt. Each of the body type was different than the next. Some of them would only adjust things like arm thickness though so you had to look and click between them a few times to see what they changed.
For a direct example, I played an Elementalist. With a staff I get Lava Font, which puts down a Fire Field. One of the skills I slotted was Arcane Wave, which has a "Blast" Combo Finisher effect. So using Arcane Wave while standing in my Lava Font would do fire aoe damage.
Or I could put down Healing Rain, a Water Field. Using Arcane Wave while standing in it does aoe healing.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Yeah, the norn are visually really boring. Ooh, big humans. Isn't that quaint.
They've got a pretty neat culture, though.
"If you want to trade, use the trading post" replies are alot easier and cheaper.
They've worked hard to make the economy game wide, I doubt they are gonna go back on that.
I'm not sure you quite get the Beta concept if you think this.
Also, this was the first test of the overflow system and they've already said that making it work properly is first priority.
The Norn are interesting as a concept, but visually are kinda dull, even if they are very well done giants generally.
Not gonna change though, so we gets what we gets.
Charr and sylvari at least are pretty interesting visually and conceptually.
This is exactly what actual beta testing is for - most/all features in, heavy testing and tuning commences. ANet has stuck to the *actual* definition of Alpha/Beta for this development process rather than the newfangled 'beta means free preview!' model other MMOs have taken, that's why there's only one beta weekend a month right now. Cancelling over something like this would be exactly why companies like ANet are so hesitant to ever let people in w/out NDA and why they're doing one weekend a month rather than 24/7.
Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4
Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles
On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts
Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
I'm sorry! I'll try harder in May, I promise. It's complicated ok?
From what I've gathered, it's very very complex. To the point that you not only have to know your own abilities but everyone else's as well. Don't worry about that too much as people are more than happy to completely spam local chat with every move they make. It's like twitter for gamer twits.
The basics of it are this:
Someone lays down an area effect.
When you fire through that area effect you gain a combo bonus. Alternatively you simply active an ability and it does something special when in that AoE
Nothing tells you what that combo bonus is when you do it so it may as well be nothing for all we know.
So, where the prior knowledge comes in is that you A) Have to know the above about combos and
From what I've seen, next beta I'm making a character called Stomps Mcgee who's going to activate stomp in every AoE I find just to see what the heck happens.
I think the Norn and Asura are interesting designs. Norn work well as a design, and their theme is one that's constantly repeated in the fantasy genre, which may lead to being being "sick of norse" for now. The Asura are sort of a different take on a repeated trope, the short inventor type. However their not-so-cute exterior and constant insults make them a very different type of character.
If they were different they were so minutely different as to be completely indistinguishable on low settings
Like, the exact same model
Maybe on higher detail settings I'd have seen a difference
Haha, it's alright man. Hopefully you'll get the problem solved by then, I'm sure there are some people who will be looking forward to the next BWE being streamed.
Likes:
The combat system. Seems really simple at first, but I can see the complexity behind it. I think it's a nice combination of being newbie friendly while allowing those with awesome builds to shine.
Questing. I know the hearts are the new quest hub, but it was nice to just wander into an area and start doing stuff right away.
Needs improvement:
Mostly echoing what others have said. Scaling in DEs and story quests needs to be better.
I wouldn't mind a little extra hand holding in the beginning, just in regards to learning the various systems like crafting.
I didn't get to play much, and I didn't get to PVP at all, two things I'm looking to change next BWE. Necromancer was already on my list of character classes to play, but once I started getting the hang of it, it was totally kick ass. I'll have to try other professions in the future, but I think that's only going to make it harder to pick a main.
Thats really good.
Norn it was barely noticeable, but it was there. You would only see it if you removed the armor on creation while switching between two of them, and it was subtle as hell.
I did that
I checked from multiple angles
I saw no differences (again, from low settings)
character creation is my thing so, if they were that subtle (and I like subtle) they were maybe a bit too subtle
I'm not talking about all of the models, just a few that were identical to the base model
Oh, if it was a normal map/texture difference that explains it, as that would be much harder to tell on low settings (and I wasn't looking for it)
Really my biggest negative right now is that gw2 has killed the will to play another game right now.
I want to playyy.
By Balthazar, tell me about it.
Been pretty aimless all day today thinking about it, and wanting to play moar.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
The only problem there is the current anniversary event has killed any interest in doing anything but farming for money. And the only option available for me is farming zkeys.
Currently up to 25. If I can make 50 or so before the end thats a huge moneytary gain for me. It would allow me to buy my way up 3-9 HOM points depending on how that flows.
I REALLY hope I can buy a moa chick though.
Don't get the beta concept? Haha... I paid my $4 to beta test UO. (Or was that free and EQ wanted $4? Long time ago.) I think you're drinking the white knight kool-aid a little hard if you don't get this: Some fairly obvious features are missing, and that worries me enough to hold back my evangelism. The idea that these features are deliberately missing is completely ludicrous.
The fact of the matter is the beta has been going on for a while. Missing features are troubling because this is generally the time for tuning, not adding. And this is MOST CERTAINLY the time for fans to say "Hey, this shit sucks, change it", and a bad time for EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Because the last game that I saw where the EVERYTHING IS AWESOME folks dominated the conversation so hard during beta was Hellgate: London.
My gripe with combo fields are that there's often too many of them down to tell what's what. There's just this giant sea of white circles, in most cases.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
What's missing? Seriously, what's missing? There's nothing I was expecting that isn't here in one form or another - Anet has been good about not tossing out lofty promises for features that do not yet exist. Some need lots of improvement (Overflow, FPS, pets, etc), others are in great shape already (skill selection, combat, art/music, etc). For a game 2+ months out minimum GW2 is in great shape, especially when most people seem to be having tons of fun inspite of the issues.
I have encountered no issues that I think couldn't be resolved before a release.
Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4
Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles
On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts
Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
If you want to sell or buy something, go to the trading post. If you're standing around yelling WTS Sword, you're doing it very very wrong.
If you're friend gets an item they can't use and you have an item you can't use you can just mail each other the items. You don't need COD because you know each other and there should be a degree of trust.
Use the trading post.