First Hit For Free : GW2

I wasn't planning on saying anything until Monday, but I can't resist a very quick summary of my impressions so far.

It's a beta. I really wasn't expecting that. I was expecting a shop-window with everything on show polished to a gleaming sheen but there are "Work In Progress" warnings slapped on every cut scene and I've already run into one or two minor bugs. Every time an Event ends or you complete a stage of your personal story a questionnaire pops up so you can review it and give feedback. I feel at least a little as though I'm doing meaningful beta-testing, which is great.

Log-in congestion was minor. Mrs Bhagpuss and I were both making characters within twenty to thirty minutes of the doors opening. Once in game I've had none of the graphical or frame-rate issues I've seen reported elsewhere. I let the game set its own defaults, which appear to be mainly "Medium" for me and the game runs smooth as butter.

Always darkest before the dawn

It also looks absolutely stunning. Screen shots and videos really don't do it justice. The whole thing looks like a hand-painted, animated movie. The color tones are just gorgeous, especially in the Charr capital. I have already spent more time taking screenshots (or more accurately framing up screenshots) than I have adventuring. Exaggeration for effect, obviously. If this quality is replicated throughout the whole world then I foresee this iteration of Tyria providing years of entertainment as virtual tourism, let alone whatever gameplay value it might also have.

The Cat in the Hat is Back

Ah, that gameplay. Is it a paradigm shift? Is it a game changer? A step change? A new generation? No it flippin' well is not. I'm very glad I wasn't banking on any of that nonsense because boy, would i have been in for a disappointment. Caveat being that any comments are based on just a few hours gameplay that have taken me only as far as level 6, but what I've seen is an excellent implementation of traditional, standard and familiar MMO tropes. Guild Wars 2 looks to be a really first-class AAA theme-park MMO. If that's what you want then you're going to be very happy.

My gameplay so far has consisted of:

A very familiar "throw him into a battle and keep him running about as if something matters" introduction.

A busy starter area filled with the usual quests, Public Quests/Open Events, random mobs to farm for crafting raws, and countless places to poke your nose into for discovery experience.

A huge, superbly atmospheric home city to explore.

Follow me! I have no idea where I'm going either!

A "personal story" questline that leads you by the nose through a series of instances and cut scenes. Well-written, good voice acting, involving if utterly unoriginal storyline and pretty good characterization. Overall, literally nothing gameplay-wise that I haven't seen elsewhere. But, and as the joke goes it's a big but, I can't say I've seen any of it done much better before. I've been having a blast.

I was apprehensive before I got my hands on the controls that combat would be too twitchy. It isn't. I picked a Charr Ranger deliberately to avoid having to deal with melee combat and so far fighting seems identical to any other MMO. Certainly nothing like the "action combat" of DCUO (which I like anyway) or even the micro-management of GW1. All I'm doing is targeting mobs manually, like I always do, hitting the special attacks on the hotbar with the mouse pointer, like I always do and occasionally hammering the left mouse button. Stuff dies, I don't (much) and I get "Gold" awards in the Events quite often so presumably it's working. To be honest, half the time I have no idea what's going on because I'm in a vast gang of Charr all pounding away on something I can't even see for all the fur and horns.

Anyway, much, much more to say but it'll have to wait for later because I have the game running in the background and the lush, evocative music is calling me. Must play more!