Guild Wars 2 Beta Thoughts

Recently I have been doing some deep thinking about the Guild Wars 2 open beta, a little about the closed too. The Guild Wars 2 beta is something ArenaNet isn't taking lightly. They understand that when we, the players, play the game for the first time it should be perfect. They want the game to be extremely polished and with as little bugs so our first experience is one to remember. This totally makes sense and I cannot complain one bit about.

My complaint with others not doing this is that too many times there have been game-breaking bugs in betas that aren't ironed out until after or during the beta. This really is disheartening to the game as I feel like that will be included in the finished product or it provides a bad portrayal of the game. I think ArenaNet understands that we are changing, the players expect more. This isn't some mediocre game being released, it is 2011 we have extremely advanced gaming technology and this is a triple A title. ArenaNet sees that we deserve the best they have to offer, and they are right.

Another thing I have discovered during my pondering and abstract mind tumbling that there is the Paris Games convention from Oct 21-25. And if they are playing demo's there how could open beta be released before this? This completely solidifies my sad and unwanted belief that Guild Wars 2 will not be a 2011 title. As many times as I have denied and wanted it to be untrue, it is true. There is no way humanly possible for ArenaNet's 270+ crew can rush this amazing game out for 2011. However the beta is confirmed for this year so I am assuming it will be sometime after October, unless something happens at PAX, because big news should be there. I don't know what more big news is left really? The Sylvari redesign, guilds, PvP, last profession, one more book and maybe beta. There really isn't a whole lot of information left for ArenaNet that is something we don't already know and is groundbreaking. We have now seen underwater combat, one of the bigger ones on their to-do list, so what is left?

Not a whole lot, and man does that make me happy.

Ramble complete, good day!

Guild Wars 2 PAX Prime

The lull in news for Guild Wars 2 is to be expected. I imagine they are working their asses off to get finalized for the conventions this summer. My guess is that PAX Prime will be the biggest of them all. After all  "our entire studio will descend upon PAX Prime...expect big surprises..."


 I would go in heartbeat being only about 5 hours away but I guess all the tickets are sold out? Checking the website it appears so, I might try to find some online or something. It would be a once in a lifetime experience for sure. After all, ArenaNet is going to change the MMORPG gaming world forever. 


The conventions this summer seem to be building up for something big, my guess the open beta! The open beta will be very dependent on the release date so it is very important. I will be fervently playing the beta and reporting bugs like a madman. I will contribute to progressing the bug fixes as fast as possible.


Now as for the next race week I am unsure when this will be. I am going to guess the Asura week will be first as the Sylvari redesign should be a big reveal during one of the conventions. Hopefully ArenaNet has tweaked the Sylvari more and found it's niche in the Guild Wars 2 world.


The suspense is killing me!


Oh and the blog before this I said I would blog each day. And then I miss June 7th... haha. Sorry! Don't hurt me!


Ramble complete, good day!

Surprises All Dried Up

It seems to me the surprise is gone. Of course I am not the one for surprises, I would always pester my parents before christmas because I couldn't bare waiting. I would want to know immediately what I was getting. It was quite funny because as I became a teenager mostly I wanted to know because it was fear of getting something I wouldn't like, this is sort of my feelings toward Guild Wars 2. At the moment mostly everyone has stabbed at the Mesmer becoming the returning profession. I really don't know like everyone else. But, that being said, I don't think it will be the Mesmer. I mean everything points to it but something tells me ArenaNet has something up their sleeve. I do not know. If it is the Mesmer I am wrong and life continues.

The point where we hit a speed bump is the excitement. The build up towards a profession release. If ArenaNet were to just release all the professions at once there would be no excitement. They are Hype-Masters keeping us all glued in our seats. We speculate and guess at each profession. Now as the final profession is coming closer and release too I think I will miss that excitement. All the hype of ripping apart every new interview or article. Shredding it for all of its credible information is so thrilling. I think ArenaNet has nailed down how to keep their fans hooked until release. There will be no lack of excitement this summer as ArenaNet has already stated for huge plans at the upcoming conventions. To go PAX in Seattle would be a dream come true for me. Hopefully around that time in summer I might have saved up enough to head out there. Of course if I had my N I would be planning on driving there already! But of course, I had to be born in December. Meh, life goes on...

Ramble complete, good day!

Demo Focus

It seems from most of the PAX 2011 videos I have managed to find all revolve around combat. People playing Guild Wars 2 only seem interested in fighting. Sure combat is what holds an MMORPG together but it isn't the only thing. I just wish there was more videos of people actually exploring. Instead of people just doing the same events over and over again with the same weapons, more should have tried to explore. Granted there was a few very nice videos. The Vigil Keep was explored nicely and I saw some great video of Hoelbrak. It just seems every video all people want to do is run around fighting meaningless battles. The majority of clips I have seen are unsatisfying most of the time. It seems like most people have no idea what game they are playing. I understand they have never played the game before but basic knowledge of MMORPG's can carry over nicely. A lot of people weren't even switching weapons when they started and this made me a bit helpless to be completely honest. I would just love to be there and tell the person the information I know :D

If I got the chance to head to PAX east I would be thrilled first of all. But mostly I think my play experience would differ greatly from those that I have seen. One I would select my weapons and sets of the bat instead of just running in not knowing what I have equipped. Two I would quickly dye my armor so I don't look like every other adventurer wandering around. Three I would focus my attention on picking utility skills that match my current weapon. Four I would at least try and remember what each skill did so I could be at least prepared. Then I would adventure and explore!

I find too many times people just mash skills where they have no knowledge of what it even does. Also I am not sure if people know that right clicking on a skill makes it auto activate whenever it can. I am not sure if that is still in the demos but from an earlier convention I heard this. Supposedly right clicking on the skill activates it whenever it is available. This would prevent the common button mashing I could see apparent during PAX. This would be useful for having the first skill constantly going and using the others when needed. I really hope this is kept in the game as I do not want to have to mash 1 for each basic attack I want to perform.

Anyways, it seems the main focus of demos is revolving around combat. The few scarce videos of people actually exploring and trying new things is a blessing, hopefully more is to come. It seems that more videos are popping up from PAX and I just have to keep scouring I guess until someones focus is different.

Ramble complete, good day!