This is one fantastic innovating MMO. Lots of new things like instant missions "where you are" instead of having to run back to some NPC miles away to get one. Renoun rewards are MAILED to you instead of having to do FEDex quests back n forth. EVENTS that you need LOTS of players to participate to take down the boss mob ala RIFT and from what I read WOW. An interesting equipment system that I haven't quite figured out but as you level you'll find/buy better upgrades to what you have. One of the greatest things I'm seeing is LEVEL REQUIREMENTS on equipment so no more of that running to DROK to get the highest level gear in one or two days of play. You'll have to PLAY and LEVEL UP EACH and every one of your characters.....something I've always liked.  The newbie area is of a pretty good size AND no matter what level you are when you goto a LOWER level area you are DE-leveled to that area. I was a lvl 9 and when I went back into the newbie area it dropped my stats back down to a lvl 3.....I like that so at any point and time you can play with anybody and level won't restrict you except probably on the higher end as I haven't seen it INCREASE my level when I goto a higher level area. But, lowbies shouldn't be playing in high end areas anyways.

The cities are HUGE is all I can say....wow the size of some of them is like an explorable area itself. Everything feels and seems much bigger than Guild Wars I. The graphics are awesomely good and crisp and sharp getting a lot closer to realistic than any other MMO I've played.

Of course now the BAD or at least some things I don't agree with. First and foremost is that 5 of your 10 skills are automatically chosen for you by the WEAPON you use. This pretty quickly boils it down to 1 or 2 best choices and the rest are retarded and you'll be laughed at if you choose them. The 6th skill has to be some form of HEALING skill so that is almost not a choice as well and there's only 3 choices in all. The 7th 8th and 9th skills you do get to pick what you like but it really brings it down to a trifecta combo of the 3 best skills and the rest (like 17 of them) just goto waste. lol Then of course the 10th skill is the Elite skill and you have to be lvl 30 I believe it were to even get to pick one from it. There's like 10 or 12 of those but I'm sure they too will be like the other tiers 1 or 2 best choices and the rest will be worthless.

Now we get down to the overpowered class which I think HAS to be the GUARDIAN, omg this thing is so self sufficient one doesn't really have to or want to play any other. To top that all off the Guardian which is a Paladin type in the first place best weapon combo is the SCEPTER and FOCUS item offhand. OMG I totally stomp with this combo and only for funzzies do I change over to the 2nd most overpowered weapon the GREAT SWORD.....I had been playing around with a sword and shield and a mace and torch and a hammer, but, when I got to the Scepter and Focus there was no going back. I was getting thrashed and almost dying many times with those other combos but not the Scepter and Focus.....what makes them so powerful? A 900ft range is what and a slow and blind skill and a retaliation skill (lowers defense) and an AOE that does 195pts dmg in it's area ring. So, one just fires off a pulling shot with Sceptor the mob starts coming at you, then you freeze it in its spot and toss in the AOE, then keep pelting it with your Sceptor then when it engages you blind the crap out of it for 5 seconds and retaliate it and lol many times they drop before they even get to me. Great skill set on the Sceptor and Focus. My first utility I bought an Arcane Sword and it does 30-40pts of damage for up to 30 seconds every so many seconds (haven't timed it yet but it's pretty quick). Plus if you can time it right you can remove it (like the Mesmers Hex removal dmg thingy) and it blows up for another powerful dmg attack.....up around 100pts depending on AC.

The story plot is meh, it's doable but it doesn't drive me to do it in a hurry. My female characters voice sounds like a dude in drag in the cutscenes....very disappointed in that. lol But, she is a NORN so maybe they all have deep voices and hair on their chests?

I don't plan to play too far into the game with any character because one thing I hate most of all is "starting over from scratch" and just getting to level 10 takes a pretty good while if you don't speed chase the missions/quests/events. Leveling is pretty much quickly done by doing missions and events and story as you'll get tons of XP and level fast if you follow that path but it's sooooo very linear and I don't like linear either. But, if you want to get to the endgame the fastests that's the way to do it.

PVP is where I just don't think this game is going to do well. Mainly because the game has NO HEALERS. Plus each character only really gets ONE HEAL and it only activates every 30 to 45 seconds. So, right off the first thing I see in my mind is 8 Guardians LEAPING (it's a skill that allows the player to jump right to his opponent (like assassin in GW1) that also blinds the foe for 3 seconds) into their foe and using the WHIRLING DERVISH (it's a skill that you spin around 3 times for 100's of points of dmg) Greatsword skill to kill just about anyone INSTANTLY. I see SPIKE city in PVP as soon as the doors open in ORGANIZED PVP settings. Unless they have some plan to allow different skill sets with lower healing times.

Overall verdict it's going to be a fun new version to play for awhile. The world is HUGE and I mean EVERQUEST HUGE and this time everybody doesn't start off in the same old newbie zone. It appears there's one for each RACE as I've also played a human necro and it was in another area. They didn't let us play the pigheads (the lil short things forget their names) or Slyvans yet and sadly there's no DWARVES!! It does have promise though if the PVP system doesn't end up being like I described.

I actually played Guild Wars 1, second to Morrowind in time spent playing RPGs. Glad to hear the sequel is shaping up.

Doesn't sound all that interesting. I am done with MMORPGs until something truly different comes out. Maybe Bethesda will find a good formula or maybe that company Curt Schilling runs.

Originally Posted By Swatter (9 JUN 2012 11:35pm)
or maybe that company Curt Schilling runs.

Not likely ..............................

Sounds like they're shoehorning your skill sets too much.  And also having a bunch of crappy ones (not all that unusual) just shoehorns it further.

I'm sad to hear about that and the unbalanced state of the PvP. 

I like GW1.  But never really gotten that far since I'm not into RPG at all.

I like how GW1 allows you to play quests offline and only interact with the rest of the MMO world when you're in town.

One unique thing about GW2 is if you participate in combat vs a mob you still have a chance to get some loot from it. That means to say if 100 people hit the same mob everybody has the possible chance of getting something from it and not just one person as so many other MMO's do it. This really eliminates what used to be called KSing. Also, during events or non-instanced missions the more you participate and help the more XP you will get from those battles. You get sort of a rank like Gold, Silver and Bronze and then get XP accordingly. THis is where it's simular to RIFT to me as you can just stand back and toss in your basic ranged skill #1 and get Gold easily.

The fun value is there but the restricted method of using skills by weapon type feels a little bit too much hand holding. I know why they did it much like Wizards Coast's doing Magic the Gathering 2012 and now 2013 for BALANCE sake. With really only a handful of choices to make in the actual 4 slots you get to pick it makes it much easier for them to keep the game in balance while reducing the fun factor of trying out many new things.

Something else unique is you can sell your stuff in the Auction House right from your backpack. Just right click on it and there's a menu of things you can do with it and one of the is to sell it in the AH. Once again another streamlined method of doing things without having to run back to an NPC to do it. Although if you want something out of your bank you do have to run back to do that transaction but at least it's an account wide bank this time around.

The biggest complaints on their forums so far is XP by area not being enough to progress to the next level of difficulty. Already the trolls are whinning about having to GRIND the same mobs to get enough XP to move onto the next area. I've yet to play an MMO that didn't require a little GRIND and they are already complaining about this? The DEVS though pretty much came out and told them you couldn't grunt rush the content in this game and expect to keep up or stay ahead of the story curve. Then gave plenty of examples of how to increase your XP outside of "just killing things". Just about anything and everything gives XP in the game like Rezzing someone or doing crafting or Exploring the map (ala GW1), but, you have your powergamers that cry because they just want to "kill" stuff to advance. Not going to happen in GW2. Myself I find the XP gain sufficient and with my Guardian and build I can easily stay up with the content by taking on things 2 levels higher than myself. When I reach a hard part I just GRIND a little bit in the area and then take on the story or mission events that come within my range.

I got a tickle out of the "I'm Quitting" posts that sprung up in a BETA! lol Other complaints were about the UI which I find quite accessible and easy to manage and of course the old graphics lag problems.

For the most part I had a pretty good time and anxiously await the next Beta or release because even with its setbacks or changing of the way MMO's are played I found it very rewarding and not boring at all.