[Game website] The Beta Weekend event will be ending in less than 12 hours, but I think I have seen enough for now. As the first public beta with many, many more players, there are obviously various technical hiccups, though none are really serious. I tried out 2 classes, Necromancer (level 10) and Engineer (level 18), and surprisingly I decided to stick with the latter. This most is mostly about how I find the game, I can’t help it if you have different opinions 🙂
Dynamic events are really fun. Without any parties, players within the same area gets the buffs other players cast and everyone who helped out gets graded from Bronze to Gold, with different rewards. Yes, even if you joined in late, you still have a chance to get a Gold grading. This is also the first time in a MMO I have seen so many players helping to revive each other, since any class, race or player can do it.
Though fun, there are still instances for single or partied players to enter, mostly during the main story quests. I am not sure how other solo players find them, but for me, they are really, really tough. Going into such instances at the recommended level usually gets me killed in no time, along with the NPC aids as well.
I seriously wish these story instances are part of the dynamic quests system as well, but since it is tied to the “My Story” records for each character, I guess something has got to be personalized. A short search led me to believe there is no option to do a skill reset (not traits), and this is something I am not really pleased about.
Through exploring, I found a cave which requires players to jump across platforms to get to the end, which most probably offers a secret reward like an unmarked skill point. Easy, you might think, but not when ravens are swooping down and threatening to knock you off and shamans transforming into beasts to crush you. And if those are not bad enough, there are really strong creatures below waiting to devour you… Argh, I think I must have tried this map around 10 times. Someone over at ArenaNet is a hardcore Tomb Raider fan.
I have 2 minds about the scaling system, part of me says it is not needed while the other part of me says it is to make sure the game is fair regardless of character level. You see, entering areas with lower level mobs will scale your level and stats down. Note the green level and stats in the screenshot below.
I have yet to try World vs World vs World (WvWvW), the PvP map, but I will keep it for the next Beta Weekend since ArenaNet said there will be a couple more before launch. All in all, there are just minor complains and personal preferences on my side, nothing major to criticize. Gameplay and the various systems in Guild Wars 2 certainly provided me with fresh air, hopefully more of you guys will join the game once it goes live 🙂
