Guild Wars 2

The Death of Prince Rurik #GuildWars

stargrace June 26, 2012 3 Comments

I haven’t given up on Guild Wars, today is a stress test for Guild Wars 2, and I’ve decided to avoid it. I have already purchased the game and am just waiting for it to go live. So I’ve been completing the missions in Prophecy, and the further along I go the deeper into the story I get. My monk / warrior is sitting at a comfortable level 11, and items that drop in missions are starting to show higher powers and when I salvage them I have a chance to take these items and re-apply them onto other things. I think that’s neat.

SPOILERS:

I just finished completing ‘The Frost Gate‘ which included a dramatic ending where Prince Rurik ends up getting knocked down and then killed by Dagnar, something I really wasn’t expecting! The cut scenes are well done despite the age of this story, and I really enjoyed completing the mission. Me and Ninga even managed to complete the bonus stage, something I’ve been trying to do (but have missed one or two along the way). Bonus stages are great because they reward you with a large amount of experience and they also give you a skill point. I’m learning about the importance of these skill points as I level up.

I still need to continue trying to complete Hall of Monument achievements, but in the mean time while I wait for GW2 to release I’m finally enjoying myself in GW1. It feels a lot like my time in EVE Online, where it takes me a try or two (or three) before I find my ‘groove’ and can figure out what (or rather, how) to play the game so that I’m enjoying myself. I’m very glad that I decided to stick with things this time, and I think it will help me appreciate aspects of GW2 even more.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Finding Myself in Guild Wars 2 #GW2

stargrace June 9, 2012 No Comments

I’ve never been one to ‘spoil’ games by participating heavily in betas – although don’t get me wrong, I love betas and I do take part in them. I just tend to stick to specific testing grounds instead of ‘completing’ the entire game. For the past few months my inner circle of blogging / twitter / G+ friends have been talking about Guild Wars 2 and I showed very little interest. I always had plans of picking the game up, but I would get distracted with Diablo 3 (briefly) or Wurm Online (constantly) or something else would come up that prevented me from looking very far into the game.

Until this weekend. I could hold back no longer. I pre-ordered the game, which automatically allows access to all of the beta weekends. It was a fast download (for me at least, 3 mb/s) and I was ready to go when servers opened on Friday. The problem initially was that my friends had already picked a server and by the time I logged in ready to create a character – it was full.

Gah!

I hate the idea of servers. I always have. The main thing any one person wants to do in game and I have said this countless times is be able to play with their friends without limitations. New friends and old friends alike. No matter when someone has started playing the game. In GW this was easy, there are no servers only districts and you simply port to a new one and ta da you’re with your friends. I hear there are ways around this in GW2 with guesting and server transfers, but they’re still just band-aid solutions to the greater issue (imo).

Looking past this – I was incredibly impressed with character creation. My character has a history. A ‘life’. She is not just made up of statistics and dye colours, but has a background. I instantly felt bonded with this beta character, sad by the prospect that hey, it’s beta. Having played a mesmer in GW, that’s what I created for GW2. Then I spent the next hour running around, exploring. I didn’t do anything else. I don’t know how anything works in game. I was enthralled with the spell graphics, and with all of the graphics in general. It runs wonderfully on my machine, and looks amazing. For now, that’s all I need.

I can’t wait for this to go live.