All posts tagged gw2

GW2 – Not For Me

This is a strange post for me to write. I focus on my first impression with the last BWE for GW2. And, sadly, only the first several hours of the event. I enjoy the community behind the game and the developers are definitely top notch, but something is lacking. Something about the game that had me checking, reading, and hyping daily… just doesn’t deliver. I’ll do my best to recapitulate what I experienced on Day 1 of the third BWE and why I uninstalled on the same day.

I was lucky enough to snag a beta key last week from curse and excitedly downloaded the client to prepare any patches and so-forth. I waited in anticipation for the 20th of July to roll around the corner. I had purposely denied myself GW2 information since late May, in the hope that my expectations would return to a normal level. I have had my own lofty expectations ruin first impressions for games, especially MMOs, in the past. Let’s skip ahead to today. I start up the game around noon/noon-thirty (PST) and love the color scheme, painterly aesthetics, and music. I’m starting to get drawn in. I select my first race, Norn of course, and start dabbling in the character creator. First thing that disappointed me was the overall flatness of the character models. Everything just felt very… blocky.

I decide to try a different race. Switch to Human and am sadly delivered a similar impression. I’ll pass on that as well. Leap for joy to Sylvari. I had some great fun creating my character from this point. I ended up with a tree bark, branches with leaves, semi-ME3 Garrus look. I was happy. Continuing down the creation tree, I was an engineer by the way, the personal choices were interesting and birthed questions in me about their outcome (this is good). Then the cinematic introduction in the unique GW2 style. I’m completely drawn in. The voice felt right, the story was interesting, the colors were a feast for my eyes. Then the starting/tutorial zone…

The intense color of everything in the Sylvari dream-world was almost dizzying. I worked my way through the short, very short, story to a very large shadow dragon, tree, thing. I was thinking it was time to fight some awesome dragon thing that was tainting the Sylvari’s dreams. I get ready for the fight, but then it’s over. I maybe shot the thing 3 or 4 times. That was it. I was rather disappointed, but I let it slide and continued on. The color palette in the real world was more vibrant than I’d like. I decided to work my way over to the human lands for a change of environment.

Skip to a few hours later. I had done a number of activities for various NPC’s outside of Divinity’s Reach. However, the whole experience was rather mundane. I felt like I was charging into never ending Public Quests (WAR). I wanted to experience a little more of the Engineer so I decided to hop into the Mists and level 80. I test out the various weapons and utilities in the area and come away feeling very unimpressed. I don’t know what it is that I didn’t like about the whole experience, I wish I did. I thought it might just be the profession. Perhaps it didn’t fit my tastes. I make an Asura elementalist and give that a go. I skip the Dynamic Events this time and fly back to the Mists. I dabble with all the skills and weapons and utilities, but again I felt like something was missing. It was all interesting to finally see first hand and use on whatever ways I could think up, but… still.

I wasn’t having fun. I was playing the classes that interested me most, joined a few Structured matches, and even ran around WvW. Yet, I had more fun playing Dungeon Fighter Online, TERA, FFXIV, and even Warhammer Online than I did with my short experience in GW2. I shocked myself when I came to the thought.

It must just be me. I can say with certainty that I will not be buying GW2. Sorry Arenanet. You put some strong effort into your game, but it’s just not for me.

Please, don’t take this as a review of the game in any sense. If you enjoy the game keep playing. This was simply the impression left on me by my experience.

- TTred

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by Thrangis The Red on July 20, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Guild Wars 2

Tagged ANet, ArenaNet, asura, beta weekend event 3, BWE3, dynamic events, Elementalist, Engineer, Guild Wars 2, gw2, Impression, Level 80, not for me, PvP, stuctured, sylvari, TTred, world vs world, wvw

Posted by Thrangis The Red on July 20, 2012

http://thrangisthered.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/gw2-not-for-me/

MMOs: Design With the Controller in Mind

What has happened to your dearest, red, Thrangis? He’s been very busy with the vast difficult challenges summer vacation presents someone working in the educational field. Over exposure to nada coupled with heat. I’ve been taking it very easy and casually bouncing between games. I picked up a Raptr shortly after starting TERA about a month ago. Oh yeah, TERA. I haven’t played that for a few weeks or so. It’s rather… depressing. Perhaps it’s how my mind has adjusted for age or possible other factors that have completely eluded me. I enjoy the game for basic reasons: The character designs and the combat (big surprise there).

Here’s the biggest issue I have with the game: There’s no incentive to play the game.

Sure, playing the game all on its own is rewarding, for a time. However, once you knock a few alts over the 60 mark and you’re sitting around for Nexus, or whatever other content to grind gear or mats for enigmatics, the experience as a whole loses its initial luster. I don’t think I’ll be renewing my subscription to the game, come time. Not with the way things are moving. It entertained me for a time. But, I yearn for depth. Sorry TERA.

I’ve recently found myself playing an assortment of games that allow me to use a gamepad instead of the keyboard. TERA offered a similar setup, but it was very clunky and horrible for navigating the UI. My biggest switch has been to FFXIV. I played a limited time about a year ago, testing the waters of a game that I was painted in the worst light. I agreed with the assessment after my own experience. However, I return to find everything rather palpable. So many features of the game I must have overlooked, because the subtle nuances of the game now speak volumes to me as a play. A beautiful detail to character expression and story. Best of all, the game is perfectly tuned to be played with a gamepad. Surprisingly so. I prefer it to the keyboard for the game and it definitely illuminates a fondness to the previous Final Fantasy games. If you’re keeping an eye on FFXIV 2.0, I’d wait the full period for those who vividly remember their first experience. I’m attempting to see what story I can before it all changes and I hope to achieve the Legacy Campaign. I’ll be cutting it really close.

In other news…

I’m sure you already know and I’m already breaking my earlier resolve. GW2 will be releasing in two months time. August 28, 2012. Much earlier than many speculations, but I can bet no one minds. I said I wouldn’t discuss GW2 until two months after the game released, but it appears that I can’t resist.

- TTred

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by Thrangis The Red on June 28, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Thrangis the Red

Tagged 2012, august 28, controller, ffxiv, ffxiv 2.0, final fantasy 14, gamepad, gaming, Guild Wars 2, gw2, legacy campaign, max level, mmos, nexus, release date, tera, Thrangis

Posted by Thrangis The Red on June 28, 2012

http://thrangisthered.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/mmos-design-with-the-controller-in-mind/

TERA, GW2, and… Tribes?

Ok, first off. I want to address the fact that TERA is nearing release. I’m ready. Second, I’m getting what I want:

“Tera CBT1″ Feb 18, 2012

The rest of the quests are simply there to grind up my levels. If the combat weren’t so interesting… I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind if more MMOs, at this point, implement something akin to the Rifts from Rift. Spice up the task oriented questing with a little random… something!

Challenge the Nexus

EME Apr 13, 2012

A nexus is the perfect place to go when you want a great action experience but need to be flexible about grouping and time. When you enter a nexus, it all happens automatically: you’re put in a group, you’re given the relevant quests, and you’ll receive your fair share of the rewards. Participate as long as you like. The nexus is a dangerous place, and it’s not going to run out of bad guys anytime soon.

I’m happy to see this. Very happy.

_____

My plan for GW2 is something strange. I know that the game is going to get a ton of coverage from media sites and the whole range of bloggers, myself included. However, my approach to blogging about GW2 will be very different from others.

I will be playing GW2, but only after the game has been out for a couple of months. A 2 or 3 month delay should suffice. I will be writing from the perspective of a “new” player. I just heard about GW2, but it’s been out for a few months. Will the community be easy to step into? Will the content provide enough group play experiences for me? Will I feel left behind the other players who have been playing the game since release? Will WvW and Structured PvP be balanced?

I’m sure I’ll have some other questions as I play, but it should be an interesting experience.

Until that point in time, I will be going dark on GW2 information. Nothing new about the game will show up here until I start up my account. :)

_____

I just downloaded Tribes the other day, when it launched, and I am having a blast. Wow. I played Aerial Assault on the PS2 back in middle school and loved the game. Never played it online, I was a weird kid, but it’s a blast! Hi-Rez did a great job with the game. Skiing was never so enjoyable.

Keep an eye out for me: TTred

- TTred

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by Thrangis The Red on April 13, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Guild Wars 2, TERA Online, Thrangis the Red, Tribes Ascend

Posted by Thrangis The Red on April 13, 2012

http://thrangisthered.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/tera-gw2-and-tribes/

Ready for release

I’m eagerly awaiting April 28th. The date I can “start” playing TERA online. My beta experiences have been good. I had to scrap making any videos about the game, I am lucky when I get 20 FPS without Fraps running. I snagged a new GPU for the game, but my CPU is just below par. Need to look into fixing that at some point in the future… yeah.

I can’t say I want to test anything further in the game. I’m ready to play. I don’t want to experience all the content before I can claim all the content I experience. It all gets wiped before release. TERA is, insofar, linear up to level 30. Judging from the size of the world map there is plenty of content to fill up the higher levels. I’ll jump in every now and again during each beta event, but I won’t exhibit any intention to level.

TERA delivers the sensation that “endgame” is going to be where all the focus really starts developing. Not my favorite method, but I’m willing to give a go before I make any claims. Also, crafting is looking tedious. I doubt I’ll do much with that. I really want to try politics in this game. I liked the effect and role it played in EVE, but I am partial to fantasy settings.

Ok, did they really not think they would have over a million sign ups? I find that hard to believe. I love the thank you however. Really touching. I’m touched. Thank me with a beta invite next time. <3

The videos displays some much sought after WvW engagements. Huge trebs tearing up a wall and other crazy, large-scale, shenanigans.