Well, life is back into the swing of things. I hate to see summer go. Especially recently, with releases galore and things I want to do. But I'm back to being a responsible person, going to class and going to work. (Well, during the summer, I do work a lot, but I've been on a nice week long vacation prior to this Sunday.) But that's boring information. Let's get to the good stuff.
Background Story and Characters
So I did play headstart. You read my
woes there. I guess I should actually talk about the game and not the headstart/launch.
So, it's an MMO. And it's "Free to play"... kind of. You don't need a subscription, but you still pay for the game to access it. So its a non sub Pay to Play? It has aspects of Free to play. You can buy diamonds to purchase cosmetic upgrades, more character slots, extra bonuses, keys for lock boxes, etc. But to access the game, do PvE and PvP, WvWvW, all you need to do is pay the 60 bucks for the game.
I'm not really sure what's going on in Tyria (the setting). I've only played the Humans, and a very little bit of the Norn and Asura. I'm assuming it's tied somehow to Guild Wars 1...maybe....who knows...maybe not. I mean its a new game entirely right...Anyways, obviously I didn't care enough to do any sort of research. In fact, it's safe to say I am not really invested in the game's story at all. I do like the idea of the human race being in danger. I guess we're being driven around by centaur. I'm not sure I'm convinced about my own personal storyline, but it's nice to have variety. Basically you can choose if you're from nobility, common folk, or the poor. You also can decide what your biggest regret is (of three, of course), what god or goddess you're from, and how you deal with things (charm your way through them, fight, or show some dignity). These are just for human, by the way, each race has a different thing. The Asura, who are more technological, get to choose their teacher and what kind of school they're in. Norn choose an animal spirit and Char choose a military section (kind of).
Battle System
The game's battle system is a bit different too. Each profession (basically your class) learn skills from weapons. Equip a different weapon and you gain different abilities. This also changes with off-hands/shields as well. You can have dual pistols, or a pistol and a shield and maintain the first 3 abilities from having a pistol, but get 2 different abilities for the shield. You also learn skills by using skill points you gain through leveling. These are tied to your last buttons, since your weapon abilties are keybound to 1-5, and your healing ability is 6. That is one thing that is interesting- your abilities cannot be moved, or changed, and in general, you are stuck with your main abilties (there are plenty of skills to choose from, but at max level, looks like you can only have 3 or 4 total...can't remember). Casting does not require being stagnant. That's right...you can jump and cast/channel! FUN. Your first skill acts as auto-attack and for some professions, it changes different attributes (different debuffs etc) which I thought was pretty ingenious. Professions are well ranged as well, with 3 different casters, 2 ranged, and 3 melee. I've really only tried out Engineer, Elementalist (in beta), Mesmer and Necromancer.
Dynamic "Questing"
So...there is a small questline, that you follow that is the main story.
Then there are heart side quests, where you do tasks for people around the area and fill up a bar to feel good about yourself and gain access to some decent rewards. Finally, there are dynamic events. These are random public quests that open up when certain circumstances are met. Usually, and I'm not 100% sure if this is right, it involves there being a certain amount of people in one area. I find that these events start when more people appear in the vicinity. Not all are like this though. You can start them by speaking to NPCs as well. Now these events are fun, especially since the realms are ripe with people. But honestly...dynamic's pushing it. They still feel like quests after a while, especially when you've done the same ones over and over.
And I can't stop thinking about rifts...from Rift when I do it. I just hope these things lasts. Right now there are plenty of people, and if that stays the same, then this thing won't be so bad. But if things change, subs drop, or activities change (maybe people focus on dungeons or PvP when they hit cap), I wonder if dynamic events will still be around. See a huge problem I've been finding is that I lack experience to move to next areas. After doing side quests and exploring, I'm still short on the next bubble. I assume these dynamic events are supposed to fill that void. (That or PvP/WvWvW...I heard those things give massive amounts of EXP). But if activity falters, will there be enough? Of course, this will all be interesting to see play out later. (These and other critical points of view can be found on a great
article from Massively).
Engineer
Currently I'm leveling an Human Engineer and have finished up the first area, Queensdale, which lands me around level 15. I promised the boyfriend I'd wait for him, although it more benefits me than him. I am having a TERRIBLE time trying to complete the storyline quests and definitely need a partner to soak up the damage.
So besides the weird heart grinds that you do around the world, the actual "quests" you have involve your personal story. You phase into your own instance to do them. Honestly, the human storylines are mediocre as far as interest go (although I do like the human race story in general). They do have a level besides them (suggestion maybe?), although it doesn't really seem to matter because you scale to that level when you go to do it. Every time I go to do them though, even if I outlevel the requirement by quite a bit, I somehow get my ass handed to me. Usually I just get overwhelmed with people, and I've found that some skills do far more damage then other ones. For example. Getting shot in the face does very minimal damage, but
getting hit by one slice of a "whirlwind" type move halves my HP. When I'm fighting "elite" mobs (bronze circles around their portrait), I usually eventually just can't survive against them. They damage me a lot more than I damage them, and my healing cooldowns usually run out. I can kite okay, but only for so long and a lot of my enemies have been ranged. My healing abilities are minimal, and I've even switched to the healing technology to double my healing efforts, but that seems to not work.
I thought maybe it was a gear problem, but gear is hard to find, and I've crafted the best that I could wear. I can't rely on my own drops, and I can't rely on others. The Trade Market has been down the entire time, so no use shopping, and I've tried buying from the mass amounts of people in chat, but usually I'm out of luck or just too late. If its a choice of skills, well too bad for me because you can't reset skills. I've switched traits twice, but will probably settle on firearms or grenades or something.
The only way I was able to overcome the fights was to set up a turret, which basically acted as a dummy. It would usually gain the attention of the elite, allowing me to kite and kill the three or more adds that come with it. Then I have to hope the turret survives a decent amount so I can damage the elite, then kite to survive long enough (which has even involved me running to other areas to LOS them) to set up another turret. It's worked, with a bit of trial and error, but I'd rather just wait for my boyfriend, one because I want to play with him, and two because this shouldn't stress me out as much.
I don't know how I feel about the Engineer. I feel like I have a lot less abilities then everyone else. In fact, weapon skills, we only have about 3 sets. A rifle, 2 pistols, or a pistol and a shield. We do make up for that with kits that give us a whole new set of abilities. So far, I have unlocked a Healing Kit, which allows me to drop healing packs for people to pick up; a Grenade Kit, with several different types of grenades; and my favorite, a Flamethrower, which is....a flamethrower. In fact, since I've picked up the Flamethrower, my damage has skyrocketed.
Final "initial" thoughts
In the end, I feel that Guild Wars 2 successfully does its own thing great, while adding its own mix of other features MMOs have used. I enjoy the game, and been slowly moving my way around. It's a gorgeous sight to behold, although I'm more impressed by the artwork on each load screen....it's so...pretty. I'm really thankful for the battle system because it's not another WoW clone type (coughRiftSWTORcough). I have yet to try out PvP or WvWvW which is another one of the big draws of GW2. I'm also still trying to find a nitch I feel comfortable in as far as profession goes. So far, it looks like Engineer, although I'm enjoying Necromancer.
It's been hard finding time for the game though. Lately, I feel like I can't quite juggle this game with WoW...there's lots to do in patch 5.04 and since a few of my old guildmates came back. I like running stuff too. That and school and work are back in full force. WoW will always have that pull...
