Guild Wars 2

[RollCasket]

Semi confused...so you get skills according to the weapon you're using? So are they class based weapons then? How do you get the other skills?

As far as classes didn't they add a bunch with the expansions? I only played one of them but didn't each add like two or something? You still pick two classes right?

I should prolly jus check the site itself it would prolly answer this stuff...

[Doctor G33K]

You only get one class. They did this for themselves. GW was highly unbalanced because there were so many possible combinations. By restricting you to one class it was much easier to balance.

This is GW2. Not an expansion, a new game. Everything was scrapped. The essence of guild wars exists, the universe is still there, but the whole gameplay is totally new. The only similar thing is a fast trip to level cap, and a limit of skills.

For the weapons, I'll give the example of the warrior.

He can use a sword. So he gets sword skills. As he uses swords to fight he unlocks all of the skills for swords. He'll learn them fairly quickly.

As he levels up he gets skill points to spend on utility skills. This is the second half of the skill bar. It's 4 additional special skills, and 1 elite skill. You should really do some more research yourself, as this is a brand new game from the last one.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/gui ... 25557.html

^^That is a huge guide covering everything.

[Bear]

[ThePaul]

I still don't know what I'll do, too, but that's more cause I only resnetly desired to play this game. I have to say, I have always like the idea of a Necromancer, though I never really found a game that had one worth playing. If this game really manages to do all the stuff it says it will, then I look forward to finally being able to happily enslave the resnetly deseased for my own amusement.

Still, I can't shake the feeling that I'll give up on my mmo dreams and just go with something easier (like I resently did when I gave up on a Bounty Hunter with the future Jawa companion, and switch to a nice sneaky Agent with healingness). I don't wanna do that again. You guys make sure I don't do that again!!

[RollCasket]

The dual classes thing was like one of the most interesting things the game had going, saying they're hard to balance is lazy. Fast to level cap is another negative as leveling is fun and relaxing for me and what killed GW1 for me was lack of end game.

I skimmed through the link a bit and I dunno, there isn't anything that's jumping out at me. The absolute last thing I want to do in an mmo is underwater combat. The dynamic quest thing isn't doing it for me either. The closest thing is the more action-y combat and I'd have to try it to see how good it feels.

So far I dunno...I might just get it to play with everyone but everyone seems so excited and I'm not sure what I'm missing >.>

[RollCasket]

I forgot to mention "The Holy Trinity" which is the tank/healer/dps model. This was mostly all said in another thread...or maybe it was earlier in this one...but I enjoy and prefer that model. Having played all roles in multiple different MMOs, I really like how different it can make the game for you. My gf played a warlock and only a warlock in WoW BC and in Wrath tried shaman healing and fell in love, as of now she has Druid and priest max also and working on pally so she can get a feel for all of them.

Yes there are cons, like needing certain roles for certain things, but I think the pros outweigh the cons. Healing gives that feeling that you saved the day, tanks the feeling of planning and leadership, and dps that mass numbers orgasm. Having specific roles encourages party play and working together, and the feeling that everyone has something they need to do to make it work.

This is sorta side note, but part of the reason I like FF4 over 6 is the classes. In 6 everyone might as well be the same generic character, all you're doing is picking which sprite you like better.

I'm not saying a game can't work without those roles, just saying I prefer them and lack of them is another negative for me.

[Luc of True Wind]

Hmm I would have to disagree a bit here. I also like the idea of classes and the idea of set roles (seeing as I am adamant about playing support roles exclusively in MMOs), but I think the prospect of having new, more dynamic ways of working together is just as exciting.

I liked the example you brought up of FF4 vs. FF6 because these are also two games I love dearly, but the reason FF6 wins out for me (besides the story and the characters) is because if this freedom to choose what you would like to compose your group of, and have the ability to always change your configuration when you see fit. In FF6 certain characters still have unique abilities, e.g: Celes with her Runic, Edgar with his Tools skills and Terra with her Morph/learning spells by leveling, so each character does have something unique to contribute. In addition, you have the choice of selecting which espers to attach to each character to determine what spells they will learn and what stats will improve when they level up, essentially giving you the choice as to who will be what class without affecting their unique skills.

Such is the case in Guild Wars 2. You have a class with a unique set of abilities that can allow them to be more versatile according to the situation. For example, if I have my elementalist, I can do AoE damage with a certain weapon set and attunement, and if I see enemies coming to close, I can use my close range skills to defend myself without having to depend on someone having to take the monsters off me. Also, if need be, I can switch to healing to help out my allies if they are in need of recovery skills.

Guild Wars also adds the cool idea of combining skills to help each other out, for instance if I cast a fire wall it will keep enemies away, and allow rangers to shoot arrows through it to become fire arrows. Or, I can freeze the floor and a warrior can break it to help us all gain ice armor as a form of defense.

In this model, we are more able to choose a class we like, and play it many different ways, still have the option being more defensive or offensive, and ultimately have unique contributions to help in ever changing situations. Finally, I feel like this system also makes it so that if you lose one character, the whole party/battle does not fall apart because someone can temporarily take up that role while the fallen ally is being ressed. The incentive to revive that person is welcome them back for their unique role, or in the elementalists case, the AoE damage, defensive skills and the ability to do damage while continuously healing.

Wow that was long But I wanted to express what I liked about the game from the perspective of someone who was just as skeptic as you Roll. Those are my two cents


*edit* Added paragraph breaks for you because @_@ -Bear

[Doctor G33K]

You're still probably going to have people better at certain roles than others. Furthermore, they wanted the classes to be different playstyles, rather than roles. So you can play an Engineer as a tank, or a Guardian as a tank, but they'll play differently. Guardian would play more like your traditional tank. Engineer would play focused on reducing ranged damage and healing yourself up with special powers.

I really doubt the trinity is gone though. That's something that's hard to get rid of in games. We'll see about that when it comes out. Right now I'm looking at:

Engineer is your traditional debuffer. He'll get conditions out via his pistols.
Guardian is a tank. I really don't see how you could play much else, I mean I do, but everything is tank feeling. Possibly also elementalist if earth skills work out.

I can see those two classes dominating those areas based on the skills I've seen.

Priests - Probably guardians, engineers, and elementalists. They appear to have the best healing skills, and most focused towards it.
DPS - Probably engineers, elementalists, warriors, necromancers, thieves, rangers, mesmers, everything but guardians really. Again, I see Guardians as your main tanking class. But everything else can function as DPS. If I had to pick a class specialized to DPS itself, it would be warrior, then elementalist. Warriors will be damage dealers, and elementalists have the ability to focus dps or AOE it.

Necromancers might be considered tanks for their ability to distract via minions.

So like I've pointed out, with time we'll see everyone of one role falling into it. People will be able to deal with it via an alternate class, but it'll be more difficult. Furthermore, since traits and utility skills can't be changed mid-battle, those things will be specialized themselves. Looking at the traits, you can try and focus on armor or damage, or special utilities. People will sort themselves out.

And about the secondary profession thing. 132 classes is a lot harder to balance than 8. Wouldn't you agree? Less combos to worry about. Even without repeats that's still over 50 classes.

I'll admit GW had a lack of endgame. They did add new content often enough though that I didn't get bored though.

And there was a fast level cap in GW1, that worked fine there. Level cap shouldn't be endgame.

And if you want to grind, there are the traditional guild wars challenges you can spend a lifetime trying to achieve for a title.

But yeah, if you like older styles of MMOs more GW2 may not be your slice of cake. It's significantly different from older MMOs. When open beta pops up give it a shot, and then make your judge. It's pretty different from old MMOs, so you might find yourself liking it more than you'd expect.

[RollCasket]

I was afraid to put that in fear of turning this into a 4 vs 6 thread, but story is a matter of opinion as I like the story in 4 better. However, there is no real "freedom to choose" party when everyone is exactly the same, and that was my point. Everyone has practically the same stats, same spells, with the exception of like Umaro and Gogo who are garbage. The character's abilities themselves are also pointless and you never use any of them again after a point. The characters are then even further broken by things like genji glove+offering and vanish+doom. Also kinda pointless when you can have any character just spam cure 3 on all on every turn if you really wanted to breaking it even more.

Don't get me wrong, I like 6, I just think they lost a lot by doing the things the way they did them.

Anyway back on subject, I didn't say leveling should be endgame, but when you get to cap in like a day it's kind of dumb when you then have nothing to do other than pvp which gets boring after a while. If they make the story stronger like Star Wars did, maybe there will be something there. Like in GW1 that whole pre-searing stuff and a lil bit after was some of the best stuff but then it felt like it took a huge drop off from there.

I'll definitely at least try it though, so I guess I'll just reserve further judgement till then.

[Doctor G33K]

Cap is never endgame in a guild wars game. In GW the level cap was about 15% through the first game, 35% through the second game, and 20% through the third game. That doesn't include PVP. That's pure campaign. Cap doesn't mean the end games at all. Cap means you don't worry about health getting any higher, and damage averages out. The game itself can still get harder. You just need to learn more diverse skills, get better gear. And ultimately just play better.

And I mentioned FF4 or FF6 during any point in my discussion? Or was there some invisible post between me and you...

Also, if you only played Prophecies you may have gotten bored. That was an extremely slow and long campaign. I promise the other two were much more interesting, as was Eye of the North.

And my point with the classes is that everyone is different. They start with different health amounts. They are only given specific types of skills to chose from at one time. They can do it all, but not all at once.

And personally, I thought the GW1 story was fun. =P