really had a lot fun. I especially enjoyed those moments of continuity when I came across old GW locations - like diving to the bottom of a swamp only to find the Temple of Ages. GW environments have always had a strong sense of character, which is a lot more than can be said for recent mmos like Rift, and even swtor.
On the other hand, i'm a little worried at how much depth GW is losing by making the changes it has made - ditching multi-classing, reduced skill numbers, solo combat, etc. I enjoyed myself, but I love making builds and tweaking them and GW was perfect for that. What this needs is a skill pool for each weapon. Like maybe 20 skills per main hand item, 10 per offhand and 30 for two-handed to be substituted in and out under the current restrictions. The second passive trait in each trait level actually adds some depth I didn't anticipate, but I'd still like to see more.
Loved the dynamic questing. I keep in mind that these are sidequests that I'm doing, so the goal should really be to keep things fun and avoid monotony. As much as I love the extensive voice acting in swtor, it doesn't make up for the fact you're getting the same handful of quest types over and over that don't get any more fun no matter how good the voice acting is. With that in mind, I prefer what GW2 is doing here. I wouldn't call it revolutionary, but rather another step in a good direction. So one example, it started off pretty simple, escorting a charr warband to a staging location for an assault on these decimus stones that were somehow increasing the presence of ghosts in the area. Not random ghosts, but the long dead spirits of Ascalonians that were rended in the Searing. The new Charr empire finds itself besieged by the remnants of the Flame Legion and the magical residue left behind by the destruction of Rin. And instead of telling you that, the game shows you with this quest. So when we get there, the charr start building a war camp, erecting tents and such. So when that's done, the second part begins and we go to blow up the decimus stones, fighting through the rising undead as we escort the engineers to the bomb sites. Finishing that, as we leave the area behind, come to find the undead have launched a counter assault on the camp while we were gone. Well, we got wrecked here. So don't know where it would go after that. They tore down the warcamp.
Real quick, another example actually ends with the third stage opening up a completely optional dungeon style area complete with puzzles, traps and a champion boss at the end. I like how these quests are built both ways, too. That fort Salma and its clashes with encroaching centaur; you might find yourself assaulting their camp and killing their warlord, or you might find yourself pushed back into the town firing catapults. Afterwards you can go around with water buckets, putting out fires and such. I think the main problem is that with the number of people playing the beta, often things just became a massive zerg rush and one often didn't get to see the real push and pull of these quest strings unless he/she was far outpacing the other players on the server. Even still, i found myself doing a lot of these quests over and over because they're so fast-paced and the scaling combined with the whole "effective level" set-up kept them interesting and relevant.
As far as balancing, not sure if we aren't gonna just have to rethink the tank concept. I mean, GW2 is already doing away with the healer concept, so it shouldn't be a surprise if it also lacks characters that can stand stand in the middle of on-rushing mob sponging damage. I do know that a mesmer has phantasms that buff allies with retalliation and added defense. She can also deny ranged attacks. Also, a guardian positioned just behind the frontline attackers can do the same, as well as maintaining a regen field and a damage reduction effect of 33% so long as he isn't hit. It's a new game with some new concepts...let's just wait and give some time to learn how to play it before we clamor for the rebalance.
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