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Guides and Builds Forum

Neves
posted May 9, 12
We now have a brand new forum, dedicated to PVP Builds and Guides. Head on over to http://www.thetyrianorder.com/guidesandbuilds and write away!
 
The first GW2 BWE has been and gone. The vast majority of people who participated in the BWE agree, that Guild Wars 2 is truely living upto the hype and we couldn't agree more. There are far too many things to report and detail, so in this article we will go through our general feedback and impressions of the BWE experience.
 
Server Stability
 
I estimate that 250,000 people tried to log-in within the first hour that the servers went live. For any server, that load is almost unmanageable and as expected, the servers crashed several times the first night. The fact is, other than day one, there will never be that amount of people in the starting maps, ever again. Arenanet maintained good communication throughout the weekend and were able to get the servers stable fairly quickly. After the initital blip, Saturday and Sunday ran smoothly for most people. I expect the next BWE to run a lot smoother though, as Arenanet now know their servers capabilities and how to fix the problems that arise.
 
General game performance
 
My current rig:
 
i7-860 2.80ghz
Powercolor HD 6970 2GB
8GB Kingston Ram 1333mhz
 
I can run every game I have tried, on ultra settings and always maintain above 60fps with very smooth gameplay. For instance; Battlefield 3 and Total War 2: Shogun, both run fantastically.
 
After loading GW2 for the first time, I immediately had to turn the settings down to medium and it still only ran at around 25-30fps in the open world. In structured PVP the game ran far smoother and I didn't experience any drop in frames or choppy gameplay. For larger events, such as the Shatterer, I went down as low as 10fps. I have heard various reports that the current build was very CPU heavy. However, my CPU stayed below 40% usage the whole weekend. I truely hope Arenanet can optimize the engine to use all available CPU threads and use more of the GPU's power. Furthermore, apparently the game was set to low priority automatically and players reported that changing it to medium or  high priority greatly improved performance. So next BWE, i'll give that a shot and hopefully it improves. This isn't a major concern though, as I know optimization is one of the last things developers do and I am sure it will run much smoother at launch.
 
 
 
Levelling and exploration
 
What a breath of fresh air Dynamic Events are! Whether I was defending an outpost from attacking centaurs or putting out fires with buckets of water - the game was so amazingly fun. In previous MMORPG's I have played, I would constantly be checking the EXP bar and anticipating when I would level up next. With Guild Wars 2, I remember getting a big suprise each time I levelled, as I was having so much fun I didn't notice I was about to level. The Dynamic Event system is a tribute to Arenanet, they are truely the backbone of the game. Levelling in GW2 is seamless, you don't really experience any downtime. As soon as you have finished one dynamic event, it's straight onto the next one.
 
The land of Tyria is truely a magnificent world, full of nooks and crannies that I cannot wait to really explore. The world is littered with little gems, tucked away - waiting to be discovered. Beautiful waterfalls, hidden caverns and sunken cities are some of the things that decorate Tyria - GW2 truely is an explorers dream.
 
World v World PVP
 
I avoided WvW PVP as I knew that once I entered into it, I would forget the rest of the game and just dedicate my whole weekend to it. What I can say is that everyone who participated in WvW PVP, on Desolation EU server, needs a pat on the back. They smashed the other two worlds throughout the whole weekend and gave us all some nice buffs as reward!
 
Structured PVP
 
After getting to level 3 on my necromancer, I decided to join 'The Mists' and get my self ready for some structured PVP. I had Axe/Warhorn and Scepter/Focus as my two weapon sets and focused my traits on being as tanky as possible, whilst grabbing any traits that improved my lifestealing capabilities. Although I found the Necromancer incredibly fun, I was pretty much button mashing for the first hour or so. I switched to a Staff and minion focused build after and I found that required a little more skill - as all of the abilities are ground targetted.
 
Later that evening I decided to roll a Warrior (a class I have never played in any other MMORPG) and instantly found myself at home. The Warrior in GW2, is by far the best sword and board Warrior I have ever seen or played. It had high mobility, a hamstring, a stun and even a full on block. Once I mastered exactly what each skill did and how to use it, I was truely causing havoc on the battlefield. Coupled with a 2-handed hammer, as my off set, I was a CC machine - capable of both dishing out damage and taking a huge amount. If anyone tried to kite me, I would switch to sword and board and use the jump skill to get close to them. I would hamstring straight away and hit the shield bash to stun them in place. Then the hammer would come out and the poor fellow would be stunned and knocked flying within seconds. Once you get into the swing of it (excuse the pun) and truely master your builds stengths and weaknesses, that's when the game really becomes rewarding.
 
My good friend played a heavily support style Guardian and together we was unmoveable objects. Once we gained control of the Clocktower, on the Battle of Khylo, we would pretty much hold it the entire game. I used 'Stomp', 'Kick' and 'Endure Pain' utility spells and Inbetween cycling them to CC the enemy, I would use my Hammer and knock people flying. As this was going on, my buddy would supply heavy support with shields and boons. If things got really messy, he would pop his Elite and be a healing machine for 15 seconds or so. At times it was almost poetic. Once we got into a flow, we would take on 4-5 people at a time and hold them off until the rest of our team came to perform clean-up duty. I truely wish I had better performance in the beta as I would of recorded everything and I could show you guys - just how amazing it was.
 
"I can't believe what just happened..."
"Wow...we just held off their entire team for 3-4 minutes and survived,"
 
were some of the things you could hear on our ventrilo. We really couldn't believe how powerful we were, when we worked together in unison. The more people play this game, the more they will realise that using skills at the right time is key to success. The skill ceiling is sky high and I can see so much potentional for Guild Wars 2 to become an e-sport. It would be amazing to spectate ten, highly skilled players, battle it out.
 
To wrap it up, Guild Wars 2 is definitely living upto its hype. This is the game I have been waiting for...this is the game the MMORPG genre has been waiting for.
 
This article is just a brief overview of my BWE. I have so much more to go through, so expect some really detailed articles within the next few weeks.
 
Until next time,
 
adios amigos!
Shandaila Since Neves has discussed the overall game and touched more on the PvP side of things, I will talk a little about my per ...

Guild Wars 2 BWE: 27/04/12

Neves
posted Apr 18, 12
Arenanet have revealed that the first Beta Weekend Event, will be on April 27th 2012! The wait is finally over, let the games begin!
 
See you all in-game next weekend!
Remember, you can pre-purchase Guild Wars 2 tommorow! This is just a reminder that you can finally pre-purchase the game of the century, within the next 24 hours!
 
Here is a direct link to the pre-purchase website:
 
 
Pre-purchasing will give you the following bonuses:
 
Digital Edition
 
Guild Wars 2 game
 
Digital Deluxe Edition
 
  • Guild Wars 2 game
  • Summon Mistfire Wolf Elite Skill
    This unique elite skill allows the player to summon a temporary Mistfire Wolf pet for use in combat.
  • Rytlock Miniature
    This rare miniature is a perfect replica of Rytlock Brimstone and will accompany your character on all of their adventures throughout Tyria.
  • Golem Banker
    Your very own golem banker, at your command for 5 days! This mechanical man-servant will grant you access to your account storage from anywhere in the world.
  • Chalice of Glory
    Earn some extra Glory with this one-time use chalice. Use Glory to unlock rewards in PvP as well as compare your progress against other players.
  • Tome of Influence
    Give your guild a one-time boost of influence. Useful for unlocking guild vaults, emblems and other items for your guild.
  • Collector's Edition

  • Guild Wars 2 game
  • Summon Mistfire Wolf Elite Skill
    This unique elite skill allows the player to summon a temporary Mistfire Wolf pet for use in combat.
  • Rytlock Miniature
    This rare miniature is a perfect replica of Rytlock Brimstone and will accompany your character on all of their adventures throughout Tyria.
  • Golem Banker
    Your very own golem banker, at your command for 5 days! This mechanical man-servant will grant you access to your account storage from anywhere in the world.
  • Chalice of Glory
    Earn some extra Glory with this one-time use chalice. Use Glory to unlock rewards in PvP as well as compare your progress against other players.
  • Tome of Influence
    Give your guild a one-time boost of influence. Useful for unlocking guild vaults, emblems and other items for your guild.
  • 10-inch figurine of Rytlock
    This meticulously sculpted and painted figurine of the charr warrior Rytlock Brimstone will seize and occupy a place of pride in your home.
  • 112 page Making of Guild Wars 2 book
    Go behind the scenes of Guild Wars 2 in this 112 page hardback book featuring lush art, fascinating facts, and interviews with the development team.
  • Custom Art Frame
    Display your concept art in this finely made art frame.
  • Art Portfolio and Five Art Prints
    Five high-quality art prints featuring work by award-winning Guild Wars 2 artists.
  • Best of Guild Wars 2 Soundtrack CD
    Famed composer Jeremy Soule's sweeping musical score captures the epic grandeur and mystery of Tyria.
  • Let the countdown begin!

    TTO - Guild Wars 2 Quiz

    Neves
    posted Apr 3, 12
    We have just added a new 'Quiz' section to the website!

    Head on over and test your knowledge of Guild Wars 2!

    Official GW2 Blog
    Ever since we announced the Guild Wars 2 Pre-Purchase program and Headstart Access, we’ve had a lot of questions about how name reservation will work for existing Guild Wars players. Here’s how it will work: Character names in th...
    Meet Ameranth, a sylvari who shares the same sense of wonder and curiosity about her world as her kin—and yet who stands out because of how she has chosen to act upon it. You see, she decided to satisfy her curiosity by seeing Tyria fi...
    The other week we hosted our first Beta Weekend Event, when hundreds of thousands of players who pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 got their first chance to play the game. This was a huge milestone for ArenaNet; with no NDAs and no press embarg...
    Last week we held our first-ever Beta Weekend Event, a humble in-game get together attended by hundreds of thousands of our closest friends. This was an old-school beta; a lot of the lessons learned and data collected from the event are ...
    For our first Beta Weekend Event (April 27-29), home-world selection and world transfers will work just as they will when Guild Wars 2 launches. When you log in to the game for the first time, you will have the opportunity to pick any av...
    Announcement of