Guild Wars

Anyone gonna play the beta this week-end?

I''ll check it out again at least but unless there''s some new content I foresee it getting pre-empted by WoW pretty quick.

I might be there, simpilot. Look for Xan Grievious/Xan Ludicrous when you''re on.

If they open up a new region let me know, otherwise I''ll probably stick with WoW this weekend.

I probably never log back into it sadly. I would just rather spend my precious gaming time with WoW.

Quick heads-up on the changes:
[list]
[*]You can now affect the explorable areas around you via quests
[*]Revamped inventory (including paper doll for character)
[*]Revamped GUI
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Haven''t been in myself, so I can''t comment how this all looks. All characters have been wiped, but names are still intact (so you''ll be level 1 with starting gear). Apparently the guilds were wiped too, so whoever''s playing will have to recreate GWJ.

UI looks pretty, some new keys to learn for opening packs/etc. I''m Bravo Walker and Aerol Flynn. I''ll be playing all weekend. If i''m the first to 50 gold, i''ll start the guild.

I am liking it again so far. The new interface will take a bit of getting used to, but the detail in the levels has definitely gotten better. The game is looking much more polished than the last few times I''ve played it. I''ll sink some more time over the weekend to see how it pans out.

Oh yeah:

I am ""Sephirah Stoneborn"" and ""Hastur of Merath"" so if you see mein game, say Hi.

Tsk, I kept checking in over the weekend but I never found you guys.

At first glance not much has changed (except obvious things like the UI). A few things were reaffirmed in my mind though:

1) A good group really is critical to having fun with the co-op missions. When I did the 2nd mission we had a lvl20 n00b running away from the party and getting lost in the map. So we had to sit around and wait for him to find his way back. Only he didn''t, so one party member had to backtrack and lead him back by hand. Sigh.

2) Solo areas are still pretty empty and boring. They''ve beefed up the quests but the directions are absolutely horrible. ""Go to the Serenity Temple"" is all they''d say. Buh?

3) Item drops are still really uninspiring. It probably doesn''t help that there aren''t any armour drops. All armour has to be crafted and, again, the options available are rather bland. (Three types of leather armour, for instance, are available - all look the same, the only difference being the armour ratings.)

All in all, not a bad couple of hours I killed in there. But the lack of fellow GWJ''ers and the clumsy item drops/crafting are slowly grinding away what excitement I initially had for the game. I haven''t even played WoW, yet I know it''s more fun than GW at the moment.

Even if WoW hadn''t come along I don''t know if I''d be enjoying this game as much. I''m pretty bored of the content that''s available, (which isn''t a knock on the retail game just the beta weekends) although they were great the first 5 or 6 times. I really don''t enjoy the way items work in the game. I actually like the combat though, the skill system is interesting but I find being limited to 8, well limiting even though I know that''s the point.

Part of my problem with the game is it''s increasingly clear that the focus of the game is going to be PVP which I hate in this game. A lot of the limiting factors that are found in the single player game are a result of tweaking for PVP.

It''s weird. Until December I loved this game. I thought it would save me from pay for play MMORPG''s, something I''ve always held a very hardline stance against. Once again however this damn place made me weak and I bought WoW on opening day. It''s hard to go back, as it turns out.