Final Guild Wars Beta Weekend

The folks over at ArenaNet are throwing the Final Pre-Release Beta Weekend Event. It's specifically aimed at folks who have preordered the game. If you're in, you can download the client and get into the game world early. From the article: "This BWE might be called our polishing event. Aside from the brand new maps that are being presented in their newer form, and which we know might need a bit more refinement, we're moving in on release (just 14 days and counting!) and we'd really like things to be just perfect on April 28th."

Damn, I can't wait to get home

[Surye]

I preorded about 3 weeks ago, but have not had any free time on the weekends. I really wanna get in on this event, as I've never played.

Re:Damn, I can't wait to get home

[Meagermanx]

A friend preordered and I played a bit on his PC. It seems to focuse more on upgrading weapons, rather than getting new ones all the time. Also, it bills its combat as diabloesque, but it's more along the lines of Dungeon Siege. Diablo seemed more about swarms of creatures, while Dungeon Siege kind of focused on fewer, tougher monsters. It's also really only an MMO in the towns, as far as I can tell. You get instanced dungeons and levels to explore with your group, and groups are generally easy and quick to

first post!

[AzraelKans]

I hope this is the actual REAL final beta, Ive been dying to buy this game But Im not going to preorder.

omg you didn't just say fp.

[JVert]

The release data hasn't been pushed back that I know of so I dont know why the emphasis on REAL final beta. There has been any implied final beta before. With the pre-order you get a box with a soundtrack and your authentication key. You actually get something for the money you put down on the pre-order. I dont think they are going to chase you down if you pre-order and dont buy the game, but it would make sense to puy the pre-order just to try it out this weekend before you dump the whole $50 to buy it. Maybe its not what you think it is in gameplay. But this game will sell out the first week, you can't get a pre-order on the weekend that a beta even is going on. So if your going to do it start looking now.

Re:the REAL thing

[ReverendLoki]

I think the emphasis was in regards to the rumors going around during the January BWE event that the game was going to be released after the February BWE. Note: ArenaNet never changed the release date.. once they set it.

Mac gamer who will watch & wait

[welkin]

The game looks like fun, and I would enjoy trying it out. I don't have the resources to roll a Windows box to run it at the moment. Of course the initial release is Windows-spec, that's just the name of the game, so to speak. I did check the Guild Wars support pages and got the "we'll let ya know" message in re: "other operatiing systems." If they port it to OS X, or if I somehow stumble across disposabe income (maybe by selling one of my old bass guitars or something) I'll try it out...

<http://support.

Re:GW vs WoW

[Korgan]

----8<----
Im giving up Wow Due to lag and their crapy servers, what do you all think of GW, worth trying as next step after WoW ?

(but i should be programming not playing games)
----8<----

I'm playing both GW and WoW. Both are excellent games and I enjoy both very much. Next step after WoW? Its too different to call it a next step. The graphics are different, the game mechanics are different, the whole way you play is extremely different. ArenaNet don't even call their game an MMORPG. They call

Re:GW vs WoW

[C0rinthian]

I've been with GW since the forst E3 event, and was offered an alpha position. This weekend, I started a new character to get a feel for the game as a new player.

Visually the game is stunning. I love the enviroments, and the character design is quite good. Combat is fast-paced and tactical, and feels tight.

I'm concerned about how the game starts out. You see a short cinematic showing the Charr attacking Old Ascalon, and the guards call for all the fighters the city can muster. First gripe: char

Re:GW vs WoW

[FinchWorld]

Should really read some of the stuff they have on the Guild Wars site. For one, having friendly warriors hack each other to pieces in training isn't all that bad, as they can be resurected afterwards (As a character is in the story at guildwars.com).

If you didn't pick a secondary in Pre Charr ascalon, you can still choose in Post Charr ascalon.

And lastly the game isn't in direct competion with any other MMORPG's, largely because its a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game), think Magic: The Gather

Re:GW vs WoW

[C0rinthian]

Should really read some of the stuff they have on the Guild Wars site. For one, having friendly warriors hack each other to pieces in training isn't all that bad, as they can be resurected afterwards (As a character is in the story at guildwars.com).

I'm fully aware of the fact that fighters are resurrectable, and that it is in the lore. It simply breaks with the flow of the story. If the kingdom is in imminent danger, why only take half of the volunteers? The player is led to believe their going to f

Re:GW vs WoW

[Tanaric]

There actually are voiceovers; they were in the last BWE, at least (I haven't checked this one's beginning yet). ArenaNet has stated they intend to flesh out the cutscenes before release and provide voices for all of them. I imagine the prohibiting factor for beta is that all data must be acquired over the internet. Stuff like voice data will be on the CDs, thus reducing the cost for ArenaNet and the wait for the players.

Re:GW vs WoW

[C0rinthian]

There were voice overs, but there was no character animation to match it. It was a harsh visual break. (my original complaint)

Re:GW vs WoW

[wickedj]

I think the problem there was that the developers used the game engine in order to render those cut scenes. Since the gameplay models don't speak, there is no animation for it. I agree, it is a harsh visual break but it's still only beta. They may fix that in the final (unlikely though).

Re:GW vs WoW

[C0rinthian]

It comes out in 10 days. I doubt they are adding that kind of content in that time. It would soften the blow a bit if there were some character animations during the scenes, (gestures and body movement) but the two speaking characters DID NOT MOVE AT ALL.

Re:GW vs WoW

[wickedj]

If I remember correctly, they did move. They bobbed up and down a tiny bit.

Bravo ArenaNet

[amarc]

This start up development house has managed to see a risky concept through to fruition on their own engine & in the process create an incredibly enjoyable (and addictive!) game. Superbly balanced & fun PvP, beautiful graphics, addictive gameplay and no monthly fee... even though I've been playing in these events since October I still sometimes wonder if it's just a wonderful dream!

Preordered, but no package

[sheared]

I preordered the game, but the preorder package with what I suppose should be a code never showed up. I hope the game actually shows up.

Beta Weekend mini-review by an old EQer.

[Meetch]

I've had an EQ account for probably 5 years. I have hardly played it in the last year... something about being in Australia and never being able to find a group mature enough to really achieve something with at the times I could be on, never mind that prime time down-under seems to regularly coincide with patch time. I've been playing it on a 3GHz P4 with 1G RAM, and an nVidia FX5600 card, using a 512/128k ADSL connection, and when there are over a hundred PCs within the field of vision, the flame rate ge