Played Lately: Guild Wars 2

• For some reason, everything leading up to Guild Wars 2 gave me the impression that I would not enjoy the game. Even playing in the beta test left me cold. I don't know if it was the level of hype or personal issues, but I was not looking forward to the game launching, except that maybe people would finally shut up about it. Oh, how wrong was I?

• While I've read any number of blog posts for people trying to decide with races and classes to play. For me, it was no choice at all. As in Guild Wars, I would be playing a human ranger. I knew my first character would be a descendant of my GW character. And I really have wanted to see what happened to the humans after I saved the world several times, even killing a god in the process. Evidently, that kind of thing doesn't last for long. One day I'll probably try a sylvari or norn, but I'll stick with humanity for now.

• My short time playing the beta did not prepare me for exactly how much fun it would be exploring this world. Since I'm unconstrained by the quest chain, I feel to say "I'd like to see what is over here" and just take off. And that's an entirely valid way to play! I found myself in an underground complex in the middle of Queensdale for which I was a little underleveled. But there was an event going on that I could take on and there were harvesting nodes to clean out. There was no reason for me to be there, but there was every reason to look around. I'm rather stunned how great it feels to be unshackled from the WoW model.


• It was great seeing crowds of people everywhere. And it was even better that I enjoyed having them around. Since I am an inveterate soloer, I usually hate having people around killing my mobs and clicking my items. But since whatever they are doing can only help me during events and there is plenty to do while filling hearts (Is there an official term for that? Filling hearts sounds so dumb.), I've never been angry to have other people around me. Of course, it would stupid to base my opinion on the crowds in the newbie zone during these early days. Hopefully the dynamic side of the events work just as well when the population thins out.

• For all the time I spent adventuring, I spent equally as much time exploring Divinity's Reach. That city is amazing. It seems like everything that WAR's cities wanted to be, but couldn't pull off. I loved wandering throughout that vast urban area and taking in the sights. There is so much to see. And there is so much potential to fill out the city. I spent a few hours just running around and looking at stuff. And, of course, seeking out all of the vista spots. What a great concept! I just about wore out my Print Screen key this weekend. I'm sure that I'm not the only one posting that exact screenshot today.

• Two other things to touch on. I love having a seperate set of town clothes to wear when I'm not adventuring. Please comment if I'm wrong, but it sounds like additional outfits will primarily be available in the gem shop. If so, good job, ANet. You can take my money now. Also, I picked cooking as my first crafting profession despite the warns of how expensive it can be. I played around with the discovery for a while before I remembered that I had more items available in my collections. Then I discovered grilled mushrooms and hamburgers. There are hamburgers in Guild Wars 2, folks. I don't think I've ever been happier with a crafting system in my life. (Aside: I am never going to look up recipes on the wiki [should it ever work again]. I had way too much fun playing with the discovery system.)


• So that's where I am now. My play time was limited due to real like circumstances. But you can bet that I will be in Guild Wars 2 for a long time to come. I could not be happier to be so wrong about a game.

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