Guild Wars 2

[WhatThePho]

And if you log off before that...?

[Blizt]

GURU: Press Closed Beta Test!! - Guild Wars 2 Guru Forums
GW2 Beta Footage - Guild Wars 2 Guru Forums

Tons of new footage in the above two threads...

I had trouble deciding on being a Ranger/Engineer/Mesmer, well now it's decided! Engineer will be my first priority class I'm gonna play!

But among those footage, what really impressed me were not those about PVP/PVE/WvW or whatever...it was the city tour!
(I especially loved the Hoelbrak one...do watch it in fullscreen 1080p please, they look just ****ing amazing)

Guild Wars 2 - Guided City Tour - Hoelbrak


Guild Wars 2 - Guided City Tour - Divinity's Reach



P.S. Oh and this video about Emotes is just nice, when you got a Charr doing them, they look so cute and hilarious XDD

[Routine]

https://beta.guildwars2.com/ beta signups are open for 48 hours now, though a lot of people are trying to sign up, obviously, so the servers might not be responding very well.

I haven't high hopes of getting accepted, but hey, I can dream, right?

[DarkRayne]

Different set of videos by Curse.

Guild Wars 2 Guru » Blog Archive » Closed Beta Test Coverage

[Blizt]

Well, I dunno about you guys, but this would probably be the first and most serious beta event I have seen in my life...whether I get selected or not...

I mean, even if you got selected, by signing the NDA with them, not only you can't talk about anything about the beta, you can't even say stuff like: "Oh I got into GW2's beta event yay!" to ANYONE.

I might sound like it, but I'm really not complaining, I'm just...blown away @_@

[RoflKnife]

There'll probably be a forum for CBT players. NDA doesn't matter if you're talking to someone that's in the CBT anyway...

[Kongro]

Here's a pretty good list of 100+ videos from the PBT.

[Ickypoke]

https://buy.guildwars2.com/

Pre-purchase = Access to Beta Weekends even if you don't get picked for closed beta. Can't wait to throw my money at Anet on 4/10.

[Lovenia]

Still waiting for it to come out.
It seems to have all the solutions to every problem in every MMO ever.
Worth a try, surely. (:

[WhatThePho]

Originally Posted by Lovenia

Still waiting for it to come out.
It seems to have all the solutions to every problem in every MMO ever.
Worth a try, surely. (:

Closed beta invitations started last night. fyi.

[Lovenia]

Originally Posted by WhatThePho

Closed beta invitations started last night. fyi.

YES!
That is brilliant.
The game is coming along quicker than I thought~!
Simply cannot wait...
And thanks for the info.

[Kongro]

We'll be getting some details regarding the microtransaction philosophy some time tomorrow.

src: Guild Wars 2 Guru Forums - View Single Post - Gems: In-game economy and P2W

[Kongro]

In this month’s closed beta event, we’ll do some early testing of the Guild Wars 2 microtransactions system. Our microtransaction content isn’t nailed down yet, but we have a good framework in place to support it. So, I’d like to take a moment to explain our goals and the system we have developed to meet them.

We believe in microtransactions because they fund ongoing development of the game in a very straightforward and open way. You, the customer, get to decide how much money you spend on the game after launch, based on how compelling it is to you. You get a complete and playable game no matter what, but we think we can provide additional content and services that you’d be happy to pay for. And when you pay for them, you help fund our support of Guild Wars 2 in a way that benefits all players of the game.

Here’s our philosophy on microtransactions: We think players should have the opportunity to spend money on items that provide visual distinction and offer more ways to express themselves. They should also be able to spend money on account services and on time-saving convenience items. But it’s never OK for players to buy a game and not be able to enjoy what they paid for without additional purchases, and it’s never OK for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time.

I know none of this is new; the original Guild Wars also had microtransactions. But microtransactions were an afterthought in Guild Wars, whereas with Guild Wars 2, we had an opportunity to integrate the microtransaction system from the ground up, giving players more options and more convenience without sacrificing our design principles. So, here’s what we’re doing differently this time.

In Guild Wars 2 we have three currencies: gold, karma, and gems. Gold is the common in-game currency. Karma, which players earn in-game but cannot trade, is used for unique rewards. And gems are the currency that’s bought and used to purchase microtransactions.

We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold. If you want something, whether it’s an in-game item or a microtransaction, you ultimately have two ways to get it: you can play to earn gold or you can use money to buy gems. We think that’s important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.

MMO veterans will note the similarities of our system to EVE Online’s PLEX system. As in that case, our system takes gold trading out of the hands of real-money trading (RMT) companies and puts it directly in the hands of players.

We think that’s a great thing.

From a player’s perspective, RMT companies have all the wrong motivations: the more money they make from selling gold, the more they spam ads in the game, run bot networks to farm gold, and hack accounts to loot them for gold. Conversely, under our system, players have all the right motivations. If a player buys gold from another player, he gets the gold he wants, the selling player gets gems she can use for microtransactions, and ArenaNet generates revenue from the sale of gems that we can use to keep supporting and updating the game. Everyone wins.

“… it’s never OK for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time.”

We also like the tradability of gems and gold because it makes the rest of the game’s economy more compelling. We’ll have a player-to-player Trading Post in the game—it’s like an auction house but better—which we’ll discuss in an upcoming blog post. Because gems can be traded for gold and vice versa, we don’t need two different trading systems, one for gold and one for gems. In Guild Wars 2, everything on the Trading Post is traded for gold, but of course, somebody who wants to earn gems can just sell items for gold, and then convert the gold to gems.

We have always taken our responsibility to players seriously with the original Guild Wars, and we will continue to do so with Guild Wars 2. We believe the foundation I’ve described here is the right foundation for us to build upon, and we look forward to sharing more details with you in the future as we nail down our microtransaction content.

-Mike O’Brien

Mike O’Brien on Microtransactions in Guild Wars 2

I love this. So so much.

[Blizt]

There are a great deal of people on the guru forum debating whether this system is good or bad, and oh god, I think a lot of them worry a bit too much...
ArenaNet: Mike O’Brien on Microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 - Guild Wars 2 Guru Forums

I wanted to voice my opinion, but I only got to 11 out of 49 pages...so I gave up >_>
(I'm not comfortable posting when I haven't read all the posts/pages)

EDIT: Oh god it's 54 pages now >.<

[Kongro]

Originally Posted by BliztForever

There are a great deal of people on the guru forum debating whether this system is good or bad, and oh god, I think a lot of them worry a bit too much...
ArenaNet: Mike O’Brien on Microtransactions in Guild Wars 2 - Guild Wars 2 Guru Forums

I wanted to voice my opinion, but I only got to 11 out of 49 pages...so I gave up >_>
(I'm not comfortable posting when I haven't read all the posts/pages)

EDIT: Oh god it's 54 pages now >.<

There are no downsides, really.

"Some players have time in abundance. Other players have money in abundance.
With this system those two distinct types of players can profit from one another without supporting illegal and detrimental 3rd parties, and in the process, ArenaNet sees a bit of revenue to keep making the game better for everyone moving forward."
- Redditman Evidicus

[Blizt]

I don't really see any problems either...it seems like too many people carried their disgust and worries from other F2P game to GW2 -.-

Like some of them kept saying this won't stop gold farming company or whatever, but I wondered if any of them stopped to think that in GW2, before any RMT company started farming gold, they have to pay for a minimum of $59 entry fee per gold farmer...

And A.Net always gave out harsh punishment almost instantly, so you farmed lots of gold and starting selling them, once any trace of imbalanced trading is found, instant banning there - and RMT company lost time and money with nothing or little gained.

[Kongro]

People also forget that buying gold and trying to speed up the game is completely redundant in Guild Wars 2, because the
end-game is the only game.
And that end-game starts at level 1.

Speed your way through content, all the way to level 80 and you'll miss a significant part of the game.

Paying to burn through the content isn't a fun thing to do.

(GEMS!)

[WhatThePho]

I don't really want the value of ingame currency to be based on cash shop items though...

[Vith]

What I find most fascinating about GW2 is that it is very different from many MMOs. The dynamic quest system, as well as the highly encouraged grouped play (no such thing as kill stealing since everybody gets the same loot and XP regardless if they 'KS' you or not) as well as the exploration and casual leveling system is right up my alley.

I never played the original GW, but I have a feeling GW2 will be my ultimate favorite MMO of all time.

[Blizt]

Originally Posted by Vith

no such thing as kill stealing since everybody gets the same loot and XP regardless if they 'KS' you or not

Actually, from what I remembered, it's:

Everyone who "participated" will all get loot and exp, but those who had "contributed" more will get more exp and 'possibly' better loot.

So if say there was a large group of bandits attacking the village, you killed one and stopped, after the event end, you will get rewarded just like everybody, but not as much as them.