I actually wish you DIDN’T get rewards for achievements, because then I could avoid the vistas…
I actually like vistas, they provide a nice distraction and the views are often breathtaking. Of course even a bit of a lag can screw up your jumping but I haven’t had much troubles with lag.
The game is definitely much better without 50 people doing the same events. After a few levels, people spread out a bit and I had some really cool fights.
I think it depends on where you start maybe. Having done a bunch in the WvW borderlands now I’m stunned at how easy and simple they are compared to a lot of the ones in the Sylvari area. Nevermind the achievement for Morgan’s Spiral…
jg93
2884
Can someone educate me how to get into the WvW zones? I hit the button in my menu, did a tutorial and then spent some time in smaller PvP servers (which was very fun, ) but I’m still confused as to how to get into the larger WvW battles? Are they from the ports in Lion’s Arch?
Thanks!
I’m sure it’s been mentioned a bunch of times already but I really want to comment on how Arenanet solved the biggest problem that I, and most other people, have with MMOs.
Whenever I’ve played an MMO I am quickly left in the dust by the community I play with. As a result I’m forced onto the solo train and never get to properly experience the game as it’s meant to be played. GW2’s method for allowing higher level players to play in lower level zones is a brilliant solution to this problem.
You are not penalized as a higher level player, you are actually rewarded! Despite the fact that you get bumped down to the effective level of the zone you still retain all of your abilities and weapons/gear. You’re not totally overpowered but you are more powerful than someone who is the natural level for the area.
You get a ton of experience from doing events, killing monsters, finding new waypoints, filling up hearts, not to mention gobbling up all those valuable skillpoints. There is never any excuse for not being able to play with friends no matter what the level difference. As a lower level player you don’t have to feel guilty about enrolling one of your higher level friends to come help you out, AND the higher level players do not totally break the zone.
These guys have some serious balls. They took a gigantic hammer to the MMO genre, removed most if not all of the nefarious conventions, and remade something that is not only stunning - i’ve rarely been stunned by graphics and environments as a gaming adult, but man some of these places they’ve made are unbelievable, for example, Lion’s Arch basically put me on the floor it was so grand - but brings the MMO genre back to what it was supposed to be all about.
I can’t believe they did what they said they were going to do. How fucking cool is that?
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Tonight I spent the entire evening questing with a couple of our new guildies in the Sylvari starter zone (I am Charr). We had a huge amount of fun exploring, fighting, and discovering. By the end of the session I had gone from lvl 17 to 20 and I did not even notice. It’s a magnificent game that emphasises fun on a grand scale. It get’s a resounding 10/10 on my personal game score meter.
tryte
2887
I am loving this game; favorite playstyle so far is my dagger Elementalist, it really is like a playing a magic wielding rogue. It’s got lightning whips, flame breath, boomerang icicles–the abilities are so cool.
There’s a Hunter’s lodge in Queensdale that I popped into to explore and ended up hanging out in for a couple minutes to rejigger my bags. Wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings until, while parked by the bar, an NPC patron belts out: “Ugh, my wife is pregnant.” The bartender responds, “Again?!”
I cracked up; just one more detail that’s made the world feel alive. They have some additional banter as well, I’d recommend stopping by that bar if you’re in the area.
Derbain
2888
Hit B. Click the go to World v World at the top. Select Eternal Battlegrounds or one of the Borderlands from the dropdown menu.
Hope that helps.
Derbain
2889
I just want to echo your sentiments. Without a doubt, GW2’s success is going to revolve around their decision to remove the barriers that keep players from playing together.
Marcin
2890
This is true for most of the story stuff I’ve seen so far. I’m pretty sure the Norn female voice is Claudia Christian and even she sounds like she’s phoning it in.
However, every single incidental conversation I heard (the overheard stuff) is spot on. I’m not sure why, maybe because they are just conversations and thus people read them more naturally? So perhaps it’s the overwrought writing of the stories that’s at fault. :)
Absolutely loving this game. I blame Blizzard for the fact that we haven’t been playing these types of games 5 years ago.
I think I agree with you here and it took a bunch of badass iconoclasts at Arenanet to bring the ship around.
Oghier
2892
I can’t group with my friends. There is a way to do it, to end up on the same overflow server, but it rarely works for us. We’re now approaching it as another massively single-player game. Also, it appears there is no group content until level 30.
The combat, classes and setting are all excellent. The cities are stunning. There’s no lag, and I like their take on a quest system. They really need to figure out how to let folks group with their friends, though.
flyinj
2893
I really got boned pre-ordering from Green Man… they didn’t allow head-start access. Any idea when the real launch time is supposed to be? Is it tonight?
I still haven’t gotten a key or anything from Green Man. This is getting familiar with them…
I thought there was a level 15 dungeon? I found one in a level 15 charr area, at any rate. As for no group content until level 15, I’d disagree. The entire world is group content! :)
-Tom
mystery
2895
The fans turned on/up today on my computer for the first time since I got the thing 2 years ago (big ole HP Blackbird). It was during a “protect the bridge” event in the human 15-25 area. A bunch of players had gathered there, anticipating it, and had laid down all sorts of turrets. When the event fired up, and the centaurs started pouring it, I just sat at the end of the bridge firing wildly – couldn’t even see my targets for all the explosions and spellfire flinging around.
And then, 5 minutes later, it was done. I was, to say the least, exhausted just watching that.
Strange, I got mine immediately after ordering it about a month ago. I’ve been in the head start with no problem.
I played with my wife all weekend. It can be finicky and it gave me bad flashbacks of Hellgate London’s opening day. The “Join in” option on party member’s menus seems to work sometimes but not others. When it doesn’t work just have everyone zone into a town and it should get you together with your groupmates. After you’re together it does and okay job keeping you together.
Logging out and back in doesn’t put you in the same instance as groupmates. Zoning to the PvP area and back doesn’t put you with them either.
The trick here is to leave the zone and then reenter it, then try to join on your friend. This has worked pretty much 100% for me (as long as they are in overflow). If I don’t cycle out of the zone the 'Join in" button seems to do nothing.
This has also been my experience. Works like a charm.
Gedd
2900
I really hope, other than maybe login/lag/stability issues, that keeping the party together in the same phase when zoning is priority number one right now. My wife and I have been having a blast playing, but anytime we transition to Queensdale, we end up in a different overflow 9 times out of 10.
Join in worked once for us, then never again (a lot of times the option doesn’t appear). Logging in and out and various reforming the party tricks don’t seem to help us. The only thing that has worked is to go back to Divinity’s Reach, have one of us zone out into Queensdale, then the other zones in and out until they finally get in the right phase. It’s not so bad when we’re traveling to Divinity’s Reach anyway, but when we log out in Queensdale or hop out of a story instance in Queensdale, it’s very frustrating.
That said, it’s far better than dealing with the queues normally associated with these launches. I just find it really surprising that there isn’t some mechanism in place to either specify which overflow phase to jump to, or to keep parties together no matter what.
