The things Nerdy Bookahs do on a Sunday evening (while watching the European football finale… go Spain!): We are trying to remember when we first heard about Guild Wars 2 and, more importantly, when we thought: “Wooooah, that’s something we definitely want to play!”
I know that Guild Wars has had a special place in my gaming-heart for quite a while and I remember thinking: “Guild Wars 2? Cool! The game I love, just as a real MMO!” Now I know, that Guild Wars 2 will not be like Guild Wars 1. It takes place in the same world, but so many things, game mechanics, etc. are different. I still am very much interested in it. Actually, I’m more interested than I ever was in Guild Wars 1 when I had first heard of its existence. I’m counting the days until its release because I can’t wait to finally be able to play it! And more importantly, Guild Wars 2 made me start my own blog which then led to Nerdy Bookahs’s creation.
What I don’t remember is when I realized what Guild Wars 2 will really be about and that I’ll want to play it. It’s probably just been a too long time since then. ;) But look at this. It’s the report from our GamesCom trip in 2010. As you can read there, our first trip inside was straight to the NCSoft booth to see Guild Wars 2. Last year, we did the same: We went straight to their booth. This means that before August 2010, we already knew we wanted to play Guild Wars 2. But what it was that caught our attention, we don’t remember. What it is now is easy to say: Asura! – Okay, maybe that’s not the whole picture. But this is also not the point of this short article.
Bookahnerk remembers reading about Guild Wars 1 not receiving more campaigns because ArenaNet announced they’re working on Guild Wars 2 instead. The next thing he remembers is us reading all the articles we could find about Guild Wars 2. ;)
What I’m curios about is: Do you remember? When did you first hear about the game? And what was it that told you “I need this game”?
Nerdy Bookahs 
Well, I knew about Guild Wars 2 but didn’t expect to be shocked by the awesomeness of the game until I saw the first trailer. It was so high on production values, it was nothing like the “Guild Wars sequel” I had in my mind. Then came the manifesto video and I was so blown away, my approach towards all the other games changed and more and more I wanted to be playing Guild Wars 2.
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Looking at all the answers I’ve gotten, it seems that the manifesto was very important for ArenaNet. Lots of people either even noticed the game at that point or it made them realise it really is a game they want to have. ^^
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I don’t remember when exactly I first heard about Guild Wars 2. I know that for a long time I didn’t care much about it because by then I had already being disappointed by following too closely a few games before their release and biting into all the hype. So my attitude for a long time was more of a “wait until I can play for real and then see if it is really lives up to all the talk going on about it.”
What changed that was when an article on Massively about Guild Wars 2 caught my attention. It was talking about how the game wasn’t intended to have a “Holy Trinity” of classes. Since I am pretty tired of that gaming model that piqued my interest. I read it, looked for more information about it and everything that was written about how ArenaNet wanted to implement it seemed reasonable, not something they were just doing for the sake of hype. From then on I kept following the news more closely and knew it was a game I wanted to play. The betas not only confirmed that but also raised my desire to play it more. :)
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The lack of holy trinity was actually one point where I became skeptical. ;) Thankfully, I haven’t missed the healer per se yet. I do miss “healing” if that makes sense? But I’m sure I’ll find a suitable substitute – just probably not on my warrior. Or not that much, at least.
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Well, I was a little skeptical about it at first. It was just enough to get me intrigued. It was enough for me to do more research about it and since what I was reading seemed to be out of pure pragmatism rather than “let’s do something different for the sake of doing something different!” it convinced me.
I guess the fact that Guild Wars 1 was already a game where ArenaNet did things their own way, with much success, rather than just implementing a laundry list of what is considered a MMORPG helped too.
It does make sense. Healing, like tanking, is usually where there is a lot more decision making to do. Healing is also a lot easier to feel and see how much you are helping the group unlike the other classes where that can be a bit nebulous.
So far during the betas the class I found that felt closely to that were the Mesmer due to the amount of skills that could give boons to nearby allies. It might have been due to my choice of weapons and utility skills that gave me that sensation though.
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“I guess the fact that Guild Wars 1 was already a game where ArenaNet did things their own way,(…)” – Definitely! While I was skeptical, I also said that since it’s ArenaNet we’re talking about, I will give them a chance to convince me. I still remember when I first read the wiki entry about how aggro works in Guild Wars and it confused me so much. I had only known how it works in WoW, so having a game with a different mechanic seemed weird but it made perfect sense and I liked it.
Speaking of WoW, I had always complained that at the end of a battleground, we couldn’t really see how much support a class gave. We only saw healing (I think), damage, etc. Of course, by now the addons give you a lot more information. ;) But even back then, I would have loved to have a class that supports in different ways without necessarily only healing.
I will have to check out the guardian more post-launch. They did say it’s the class that monk-players will love. I actually don’t remember which skills I had as the mesmer but I did like some things like the mass invisibility for a while, etc.
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My boyfriend would feed me snippets for the past 5 years or so (we’ve been together for 6 years as of July 20th) and at first I was kind of interested. I didn’t get rabidly into it until last year when I finally got bored of EverQuest 2. Then I got heavily addicted to 1 and really excited for 2. I was always really interested in it, I just didn’t have my interest spark like it is now until recently.
As for what did it? I’m not really sure. There is so much I’m excited about the game for. I think one of the main things is no griefing, though. I really like that two people can kill a mob or gather resources from nodes without trying to beat each other to it. That’s pretty darn awesome to me.
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That sounds like me and Warhammer Online. Bookahnerk told me about it here and there and I listened but wasn’t interested myself because I was too invested in WoW. I remember one morning when he was still in bed and I was on the PC and read about the so far revealed classes in the game and read it out to him and guessed which class he’d probably love to play (I think I guessed correctly, even) and then I was hooked and started reading every little bit I could find about the game. ;)
That also was at a time where I’d started to get bored with WoW. ;)
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It was May of 2010… roughly a year had passed since the last time I had logged into an MMO, and a friend was urging me to join them in a game I had quite a few doubts about. I tried to explain to them that I just wasn’t interested in another “grindfest.”
I described some of the enjoyment I was having playing more “active” style combat in a few first person and third person rpg shooters, and that I liked the feeling of true “teamwork” I got from playing a character that felt “complete” on their own, but could also work with others to achieve more difficult goals. I was tired of the co-dependency of “trinity-based” class systems and the rigid combat mechanics those inevitably result in.
My friend mentioned he had recently read a blog post about the development of a MMO that sounded like something I might be interested in and recommended I check it out. That blog post was:
http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-wars-2-design-manifesto
and I was indeed intrigued by what I read there. A little bit later, ArenaNet released their “Manifesto” video… it felt like that video was speaking directly to me when I heard the lines, “If you love MMOs you’ll want to check out Guild Wars 2, and if you hate MMOs you’ll REALLY want to check out Guild Wars 2!” Both of those applied to me. Combined with the incredible music and the spectacular gameplay scenes – NOT a cinematic trailer – actual in-game scenes, stuff anyone playing the game would be able to see as they played… with the perspective and attitude of the development company… well, I was pretty much sold at that point. I called my friend and told him that if ArenaNet could achieve even half of what they were shooting for in that Manifesto video then I would be playing an MMO again.
I had played a combination of MMO titles (EQ, Vanguard, WoW, LotRO, and a few others) at that point for roughly 10 years, and I had simply reached my fill of pretty much the same style of systems and mechanics with only minor nuanced changes from one to the next. I honestly didn’t expect any MMO developer to attempt anything else. I held hope for SWTOR for awhile with promises of a “lite trinity” but those turned out to be truly hollow words when it became clear in the fall and winter of 2011 that SWTOR was not only a trinity-based class system, but actually the epitome of such. If anything, RIFT was the “trinity-lite” of all the MMOs that still saddled players with those co-dependent combat mechanics. At the very minimum, at least RIFT allowed players to switch between rigid trinity class roles more fluidly (even though you were operating within a rigid trinity role of some type once you entered combat – you could switch between such roles smoothly when out of combat.)
One of the reasons I was able to maintain faith in ArenaNet was they weren’t promising “trinity-lite.” They were saying the old trinity system was pretty much scrapped – gone… in favor of a system and mechanics that allowed for more active combat, and didn’t rigidly “pigeon-hole” players into narrowly defined roles dictated by the class they chose.
Many long months followed during which I had to see this constantly questioned by the player community in various forums and blogs. Every single time I saw someone claiming that there would still be trinity roles in GW2 it killed a little bit of my hope, and every time I read an article by Jon Peters, or an interview of Jonathan “Chaplain” Sharp where they flatly refuted such claims it would restore my faith and hope for something actually worthy of the adjective “new.”
It is in my nature to “call it like I see it” and view things with an analytical and critical eye. There have been several occassions where I have disagreed with a design level decision from ArenaNet, and have said so without equivocation. However, I have actually had my hands on the game in the Beta Weekend Events. I no longer have to rely solely on faith, hope or speculation. I have seen for myself exactly what is on the horizon. ArenaNet not only achieved “half of what they were shooting for” in the Manifesto video (as I once hoped for.) In many ways they have exceeded the expectations I had for the game from that video.
The world and environments are beautiful and extremely detailed. The combat is active, fast-paced, and challenging. I have played 7 of the 8 classes and they are each diverse, flexible, versatile and they each have their own distinctive “feel” while each being equally capable. I do not feel like “one third” of a complete character. Not only can I participate in teamwork with other players, the means to do so are even more varied, and the access to this type of gameplay is even easier. Gone is the co-dependency of the rigid trinity. It wasn’t just a promise – it IS a promise fulfilled. Every class can support their teammates, AND focus on dealing damage, AND favor resiliency in combat – all depending on the personal preferrences and inclinations of each player.
The way “I” play a necro may not be the way another player prefers… GW2 not only allows us to each mold the profession in the direction we prefer, they encourage it and enable easy access to multiple different play styles within each profession. (Although the fact remains that “my” style of necro is the most bad@$$, name taking, @$$ kicking SOB you’re going to see in the game… just sayin’)
It’s been over 2 years since I knew beyond a doubt that I would want to play GW2. Less than 2 months to go before I get to lose myself in Tyria whenever I want, for as long as I want.
*Snoopy happy dance*
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I’ll definitely be looking forward to hearing more about you and your necromancer. ;) I still haven’t connected with that class but it may happen. I just need to get my hands on a sylvari to test the class again! ;)
I vaguely remember Bioware saying something about trinity-lite. I’ve only played a tiny bit, so I don’t know much about it… but it did sound like your regular MMO. Whatever they meant with “lite”, I seem to have missed it.
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Well it’s actually something like this, just about two years ago… when I was idly chatting with my friend
Me: Hey do you remember our Guild Wars trial a year ago? Cool game huh?
Friend: They’re working on the sequel
Me: What?
And then the hype begins :D
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Hehe, so you’ve only played the trial of GW but got instantly interested and hooked to GW2? Nothing wrong with that, of course. ;)
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It was about 4 years ago when i logged on to the Guild Wars website to find out why the servers were down. Anyway I found a page about GW2 and became very exited! Thats my ealiest memory of GW2… But the first “OMG-I-NEED-DIS” moment came when I saw gameplay….Holy shit did i need to change my pants!
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I first heard of it the day they announced eotn/gw2. I was pretty into gw1 at the time. But after it quit for a while around when I completed eotn the first time i thought about the sequel in a long time was about a month after the first trailer was released, happened to cruise by the Guru forums and saw that there was now a guru for gw2, and then saw the trailer from there.
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I have been playing GW1 for about 3.5 years now. But I was always the kind of player who would enjoy the game for a month or two, and then have a long break again. Basically, looking back, I think I played GW1 in between the other games coming out. I was never in a guild (until a year ago) and had no friends to tie me to the game more permanently.
I heard people speak about GW2, but didn’t pay it much thought as I wasn’t very involved with it. But then I found out that a friend of mine also played Guild Wars, and during one of those periods where I was playing the game again, he mentioned how excited he was about Guild Wars 2. This was right around the time we saw the first screen shots. The next occasion, he told me that he had bought the books and was really excited about them. He let me borrow them. This is when the “spark” finally lit.
This finally got me interested in Guild Wars 1 more permanently. I even went and joined a guild which is something I never thought I’d do (I am absolutely not an MMO player at all). I haven’t had a break from Guild Wars since. Still, I didn’t really want to know anything about Guild Wars 2, fearing that I’d just be stuck craving it the whole time until release.
I found I could no longer avoid it when the closed press beta rolled around though, and I got super, super, super excited and have been following all the details since then.
I’ll say it plainly, I don’t like MMOs at all. I don’t like endless grind and fetch quests, I don’t like gear based play, the combat systems, the mechanics, the list goes on. There is almost nothing about the traditional MMO that attracts me. But I trusted ArenaNet, because I loved Guild Wars 1. And it only got better and better. ArcherAvatar said it better than I could, it IS a promise fulfilled in many ways.
Funnily enough, what made me say “I need this game” most.. I think it’s my guild. Coupled with the fact that ANet are developing the first MMO that I am going to absolutely love to pieces and that seems to have everything I want in a game. Either way, Tyria has become my world and my home. Not playing GW2 suddenly seems like it was never an option.
I can safely say I have never been this excited about a game before!
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I first heard about it from the manifesto. Was still plunking around with GW1 and needed to look up something on the dervish. I happen to come across GW2 in the search and the rest is history.
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I started playing GW1 in 2008, bought and played the individual campaigns one by one over the following 2 years or so. It was at some point during that time that I would have heard about GW2 for the first time, but I didn’t really care as I still had GW1 to play though at that time.
By 2010 I had just about done everything I wanted to do in GW1, and then the HoM calculator was introduced. That alone added another year or so to my time in GW1 as well as beginning to build my interest in GW2.
During 2011 as I reached GWAMM and 50/50 in GW1, more info was coming out about GW2 that I wasn’t sure about, like no secondary classes, for example. My feeling at this point was I was probably going to skip the beta and just check it out on release if I could be bothered.
But when two of my closest friends pre-purchased in time for the first BWE earlier this year, I gave in and did the same, going in with mixed expectations. Well, I was completely blown away after just a few hours wandering around Wayfarer Foothills; that was when I truly knew I “needed” this game. Been hyped for it ever since. :)
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I have to admit that the one time where I was really skeptical was when they announced there was no healer. I’ve always loved playing healers and I didn’t want to let go of the holy trinity that fast. I had already expected the tanking to not work like it does in WoW, for example, as it’s not been like that in GW1 either.
I didn’t miss it when I played during the BWEs, though, so I’m really optimistic now that it will work. :)
Anyway, thanks for telling your story! It’s always interesting to read about how people heard about the game and about their initial reactions. :)
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