Guild Wars weekend

[FoxBat]

But what *I* feel about Guild Wars or WoW doesn't matter, because I'm not going to be running content for these games...
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Maybe it does. Could you see yourself doing the hosting work for an RTS-Strategy site like Warcraft 3 or Starcraft? Because as you mentioned, PvP is probably where the hardcore players will end up.

[Occhidiangela]

Hello fellow Lurkers,
http://www.guildwars.com/preview/default.html :
Given that GW has so far been considered a possible "next step" for this lovely site,

And many other interesting posts.

[right][snapback]58456[/snapback][/right]

Do you smell the sweat from all the exercise that has been going on? I refer to the "jumping" to conclusions based on the preview and a few comments from those with a bit more experience. :D Remember the delta between the Diablo II Beta, Diablo II Stress Test, and Diablo II issued?

Maybe Guild Wars is just more of the same, and we are approaching, asymptotically, a certain limit on the flexibility of the fantasy RPG, MMO and otherwise, genre. Maybe Guild Wars is aimed at the niche market of a player who likes elements of both Everquest and Starcraft, and who yearned for a better Diablo II PvP to sate gaming thirst. As in Diablo II, particularly LoD version, no game can be all things to all gamers.

Since I did something very rewarding IRL this weekend, and missed the bulk of the gaming, and also missed hooking up with the Lurkers Friday due to my on and off peek at the game, I have this to say:

My son wants to play GW. He is 12 and a half. If he plays with friends on line, or if I ever get the time to unscrew our home network and he plays along side of me, I'd say we will have enough fun to warrant the purchase.

He got to try out a few of the missions, with henchmen, while I was in Vegas (where I met some wonderful friends and did well enough in craps to pay for the trip, laughing a great deak of the time).

He has had three straight grading periods of all A's. Payback is due, though we have to keep an eye on the grades not dropping. I will be pre ordering the game next week. I still think it has team madness-fun possibilities, and am recalling that new content will indeed by streamed over time. New Modules, anyone?

Interface confusion for me was a detractor, though I am sure I will be able to overcome that with a bit more practice. Not enough time to sort out the nuances.

Unlike many of you, I have zero MMORPG experience, have not touched WoW(was otherwise occupied) have no XBOX/SEGSA/Nintendo/PS2 games, dont' play FPS, and completely missed about 15 years of Console and PC games as they grew from Pong to Pacman to a whole slew of "mo betta games" after I stopped playing SSI's Pool of Radiance (loaded from 5 1/4 inch disks onto a 4088 machine . . .) In the interim, my golf handicap has worked its way down to 17-18, my kids know how to ski, and I still carry 10 pounds of Italian food that I have not lost, courtesy of cuisine in Regione Campagne. Ya might say that's how I spent my time. :lol: )

That disclaimer aside, it appears that either all Fantasy RPG genere games are alike, and the subtle differences are the margins in which the preferences play out, or there is not enough depth of information available to make a decision.

Which way does the worm turn? This weekend was a tease meant to entice many folks into ordering the game. Not a beta, a marketing ploy. It is like the trailer to a movie. So, did they show it all to us? Did they reveal too much of the game? Or, is there a lot more to this than meets the eye.

Until Beta players can report out, and NDA's limit that at present, I'd guess there is a ways to go before this game's permutations can be fully explored, and a verdict established on its quality.

But that was not the exam question. The exam question was:

Will it earn enough Lurker support to warrant its own section here? If Lurkers choose to indulge in a bit more guild like activity, I'd say yes. If not, then probably not. See our comrades in arms at the Basin for an example.

OBTW, my Ranger Elementalist had the most fun when she used a rams head hammer, since I never did find any arrows for the long bow that dropped. There she was, "smashing it with a hammer!"

Fun is where you find it.

Occhi

[TPJ]

And I just don't like the lack of solo play.  I like that in WoW or Diablo, I can get on and play for an hour by myself whenever I please.  You can't do it in Guild Wars.[right][snapback]58851[/snapback][/right]

Why don't you feel you can log in and play for an hour Bolty?

[FoxBat]

Why don't you feel you can log in and play for an hour Bolty?
[right][snapback]59071[/snapback][/right]

Some of the missions last longer than that.

The explorable areas would seem to fit this need, but take everything that's wrong with WoW and most conventional MMOGs, multiply it by 10, and that describes them IMO.

Add to the fact that for quick co-op, while you don't have to waste 15 minutes of your life traveling to the same location as your friends, you might have to waste from 5 to 45 waiting for them to exit a mission, or else learn to play with pubs.

[kandrathe]

Some of the missions last longer than that.

The explorable areas would seem to fit this need, but take everything that's wrong with WoW and most conventional MMOGs, multiply it by 10, and that describes them IMO.

Add to the fact that for quick co-op, while you don't have to waste 15 minutes of your life traveling to the same location as your friends, you might have to waste from 5 to 45 waiting for them to exit a mission, or else learn to play with pubs.
[right][snapback]59077[/snapback][/right]

I thought he was talking about hopping in and playing alone.

I don't know what you experienced, but whenever I was in a party staging area I had to brush off a half a dozen party invites while waiting for someone. I think if you just wanted to hop on and hook up with a group and get going it would happed pretty quickly, if you didn't care who you partied with. If you insist on partying with friends, well you can either restart the mission, or wait.

[Scrape]

My son wants to play GW.  He is 12 and a half.  If he plays with friends on line, or if I ever get the time to unscrew our home network and he plays along side of me, I'd say we will have enough fun to warrant the purchase. 

He got to try out a few of the missions, with henchmen, while I was in Vegas (where I met some wonderful friends and did well enough in craps to pay for the trip, laughing a great deak of the time). 

Howdy.

Was he using your account, his own, or both? I whispered Reprobate Rogue a couple of times, but I never received a response.

OBTW, my Ranger Elementalist had the most fun when she used a rams head hammer, since I never did find any arrows for the long bow that dropped.  There she was, "smashing it with a hammer!" 

Ah, but GW is similar to D1. You do not need arrows to use a bow. You just equip it and fire away.

Glad you had a good time in Las Vegas.

[LochnarITB]

Do you smell the sweat from all the exercise that has been going on?  I refer to the "jumping" to conclusions based on the preview and a few comments from those with a bit more experience.  :D  Remember the delta between the Diablo II Beta, Diablo II Stress Test, and Diablo II issued?

Maybe Guild Wars is just more of the same, and we are approaching, asymptotically, a certain limit on the flexibility of the fantasy RPG, MMO and otherwise, genre.  Maybe Guild Wars is aimed at the niche market of a player who likes elements of both Everquest and Starcraft, and who yearned for a better Diablo II PvP to sate gaming thirst.  As in Diablo II, particularly LoD version, no game can be all things to all gamers.
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Thanks Occhi. I thought this often while reading this thread and always forgot to make that point. If the release doesn't show added features (I really want to see the idea of the henchmen expanded) I will be disappointed. At least for me, this is a real jewel but it hasn't received its final cut and polish.

OBTW, my Ranger Elementalist had the most fun when she used a rams head hammer, since I never did find any arrows for the long bow that dropped.  There she was, "smashing it with a hammer!" 

I was going to make fun of you for being such a n00b but I see someone beat me to it. I understand though. When we get old, the memory goes. Diablo was a long time ago and I'm sure one of D2's failings is fresher in your mind. :P

[TriggerHappy]

Here's an interview a player held with one of the developers about where Guild Wars is heading:

http://www.s90947942.onlinehome.us/phpBB2/...topic.php?t=120

One has to remember that this game is stil in alpha. Alot of content is yet to be added and much tweaking needs to be done.

Also, remember that what we saw was a small sandbox given to us as preview. The closed alpha going on at the moment is quite abit more extensive.

[FoxBat]

I thought he was talking about hopping in and playing alone. 

I don't know what you experienced, but whenever I was in a party staging area I had to brush off a half a dozen party invites while waiting for someone.  I think if you just wanted to hop on and hook up with a group and get going it would happed pretty quickly, if you didn't care who you partied with.  If you insist on partying with friends, well you can either restart the mission, or wait.
[right][snapback]59082[/snapback][/right]

We aren't in disagreement here. I presume Bolty's comments about difficulty of soloing have to do with a distaste for pubs. Because as you mentioned, quite the opposite is the case if you want to get a game going. Nonetheless, combining party staging time, mission time, and shopping, you may be hard pressed to fit that all into an hour. I think that would be well remieid by breaking up some of the larger missions into smaller parts.

[FoxBat]

One has to remember that this game is stil in alpha.  Alot of content is yet to be added and much tweaking needs to be done.
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Considering that A) despite what everyone says this isn't an MMOG, B) there will be no beta, and C) they are shooting for early next year release, that doesen't mean quite the same thing.

Q: How many accounts can someone make with 1 CD key?
A: Once account, four Characters.

This sucks. Royally. Especially since they are now talking about a cap on acquired skills. I would love to know their reasoning behind this, aside from "buy more boxes!" Purchasing double expansions would quickly become unfeasible for anyone that crazy anyway.

I am still holding out for the PvP aspect of this game, but I really need to see more. Something like the above is a border-line deal breaker with my over-tendancy to start new characters instead of sticking with the old. I'd be suprised if other people don't have problems if this isn't changed in the future.

Q: Will all my characters be forced to belong to the same guild? Because my brothers also use my PC.
A: Number of players per PC does not matter – each player needs an accound, and guild membership is account based.

Wonder how they plan on enforcing that.

[LochnarITB]

Here's an interview a player held with one of the developers about where Guild Wars is heading:

http://www.s90947942.onlinehome.us/phpBB2/...topic.php?t=120
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Thanks for a good read. I am really hoping my faith in this game will be merited.

[Bolty]

Why don't you feel you can log in and play for an hour Bolty?
[right][snapback]59071[/snapback][/right]

Because joining public groups is about as much fun as root canals.

Remember, I didn't like WoW at first, either. But I had lots of time to turn my opinion around (and I admit I'm thoroughly addicted to it now). I didn't have time with GW.

-Bolty

[SoulEdge]

My Guild Wars (GW) World Preview Event Experience (1)

Disclaimer: everything is just my personal take and based on what I gathered in the four days of play time, while I try my best not to misinform, I am basically a clueless newbie playing the game for the first time. Also, English is my third language so forgive my grammar, spelling, typos, et cetera.

Thursday evening, just had a major meeting with my research project sponsors, had been slaving away preparing for the meeting for a few weeks now, so I was pleasently surprised to find that GW World Preview Event has begun a day earlier. While I was sleep-deprived, I was even more game-deprived, so this couldn't have been a better timing. Yay!

Created my account and was brought to the character creation screen. Hmm... well, melee is my least favorite so Warrior was out, magic and spell are my favorite, so my choices were Elementalist, Mesmer, Necromancer and Monk. From past MMORPG experience, I know healers are in great demand so I created a Monk/Mesmer, named Soul Edge The First (for the person who took the name Soul Edge, I hate you! :P).

I was taken to the tutorial, with those pop up messages that informed me what to do. Before I made a move, I checked the menus, looked at the skills descriptions, and toyed with the user interface. I was worried my graphic card won't cut it, since I have a GeForce2 and the minimum stated was GeForce3, but everything seemed alright. I used the auto-detect in the advance graphic option menu and was glad it didn't set everything to the lowest quality. I also remapped the "log off" key to "End" (default is F10), and assigned F5 to F12 for selecting party members, I like to have a quick way to select party members since past experience has teached me healing and buffing are very involving matters. I suppose the maximum party size will be 8 since there were only 8 keys.

After I am reasonably comfortable with the menus and had a rough idea about the initial skills I was given, I went on to meet the person who had something to say, he had an exclaimation mark above his head. He gave me a weapon and sent me to find another person, I was more than eager to start my adventure.

The enemies in the tutorial were easy, so even given mostly healing and defensive skills, I had no problem with the tutorial. I am a curious person and I like to explore, so I found Oink and the piggy tagged along when I moved. I was expecting it to do something but it was quiet content just to follow me around and yelp "oink" once in a while, so I thought it was just a cute pet (I found out what to do with Oink when I created my second character). Soon I found the other person with exclaimation mark on his head and was given passage into Lion's Arch.

From the tutorial and looking at the keyboard setup, I found out the available shortkeys, that "space bar" will engage and use default attack on selected enemy, and the use of the world map ("M"). The mini map at the lower right hand corner, while handy with the red dot showing enemy location, was not sufficient for the directionally-challenged yours truely, since I was not used to 3D view and the camera changing angle of view, I was pretty disoriented and had to use the world map frequently. Marking the passage one has gone through with red dots is really a nice feature, I also found out we can zoom in and out of the world map by left clicking, and drag it around while zoomed in using the right mouse button.

So, I concluded the tutorial and noticed there were two "shields" but only the left one lighted up, I tugged this observation away so I could find out about what it meant (which I did later). Game loaded and I was in Lion's Arch, for a while I was
rather overwhelmed by the amount of chatting going on and the amount of people moving around. There were many questions and few answers, after reading the chat for a while I gathered almost everyone was new and that I won't get much help by asking the players (blind leading the blind). I was trying to shut off the chat messages but I could not find that option in the chat menu, perhaps ArenaNet can implement a filter system of some sort? Two things I learned from the chat were the use of "ctrl" and "alt" keys, the former to show players' names and the later to show the NPCs' and signs.

That's all I needed to get started, using the "alt" key and left click on the name that showed up (which results in auto-running towards the selected NPC/sign) I explored Lion's Arch and found out what NPCs were available, where they were and what they do. I talked to all the NPCs and found out where to obtain more skills, where to craft armour, where to get material, dye, et cetera. Firstwatch Sergio (or maybe it was someone else) asked me to report to someone, which led to the first mission staging area, I was not used to the controls and wanted to rub off some newbie-ism before I do coop mission, I don't like to be a burden or to let the team down, so I headed back to Lion's Arch and went out the other exit to the
Northern Kryta Province, an explorable area.

So off I went hunting and exploring, using "C" to select the nearest enemy and space bar to engage and do combat, I soon found out that monk/mesmer was given too little offensive skill to start with, and I was not really enjoying attacking with my default attack. I headed back to Lion's Arch and got myself a warrior henchman, I thought I would have to pay for the service but it was free of charge. So out I went again to explore with the warrior henchman, healing him when necessary but mainly to get myself familiar with the controls and get used to the camera. I consulted the world map a lot, and I noticed that the pointer changed when I hover over the Lion's Arch town icon, so I clicked it and found myself back in Lion's Arch, however, I was not able to go back to where I left using this method. Ops. Well, better to find out about this now rather then to find out while in coop mission and be accused of a quiter.

I ended up using this instant teleporting quite a lot, I would normally play solo (with henchmen) since I am in a different time zone with most of my gaming buddies, and also because Battle.net experience had left a bad taste about playing with random gamers. When my gaming buddies were online and ready for coop mission, I finished the battle I was in, and used the map to instantly teleport to the mission staging area to meet up with them, I find that really handy. I have never tried to teleport to town in the middle of a battle, so I am not sure whether that will work, if it does, it will be an easy escape, but one does lost all the progress and has to start from the beginning. I hope it doesn't work in battle though, I don't like the idea of an easy escape, if the battle was really that bad, the worst that could happen is a whole party wipe, which would mean losing the progress, just like teleporting to town. So might as well die fighting, might even pull through!

Anyway, I found myself back in Lion's Arch and learned about this instant teleporting usage of the world map. I took a break for dinner.

[Occhidiangela]

Howdy.

Was he using your account, his own, or both? I whispered Reprobate Rogue a couple of times, but I never received a response.
Ah, but GW is similar to D1. You do not need arrows to use a bow. You just equip it and fire away.

Glad you had a good time in Las Vegas.
[right][snapback]59086[/snapback][/right]

He was on. He was also instructed not to play with strangers, and then of course, did I leave him a list of Lurkers to look up, or a link to this thread to use as a reference for trusted friends?

No! Idiot me. Sorry for my rubishness, did not think it through. Blah.


As to the bow, I equipped it, did a shift click to shoot, and nothing happened. After a couple of tries, I gave up, and went back to mashing the crap out of things with a hammer, which was much fun, and using a few fire spells to burn things up, and that edge of destruction thing against groups.

Wonder why the bow and arrow thing did not work. Probably was working and I just did not notice the effects.

Occhi

[Drasca]

Wonder why the bow and arrow thing did not work.  Probably was working and I just did not notice the effects.

At that time, there is no force fire. No abilty to shoot, swing or sling spells randomly into the air. From a lag/synch standpoint, it makes sense. Target the enemy and shoot using his server-side location, not some player-side location which may or may not be the same place as where he "actually" is.

I admit this method is tactically limiting,--and confusing for us "fire into the air" folk used to Diablo, et al. However, your bow worked the same way as other attacks. Target an enemy (with C or Tab etc), and hit spacebar/action--or just left click the enemy. That should select and begin attacking.

Personally what I'd like to see is the ability to target allies for destructive area of effect spells. It won't hurt them, as there's no friendly fire, but it'd be easier to aim against enemies around him.

[TPJ]

Because joining public groups is about as much fun as root canals.

Remember, I didn't like WoW at first, either.  But I had lots of time to turn my opinion around (and I admit I'm thoroughly addicted to it now).  I didn't have time with GW.

-Bolty
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Gotcha.

FoxBat doesn't like the explorable areas of the maps, but I didn't find them nearly as appalling has he did. If I had under an hour or so to play, I found myself hiring a couple of henchmen and heading out into those areas for some 'solo' play. I didn't have to put up with pubbies once.

[SoulEdge]

My Guild Wars (GW) World Preview Event Experience (2)

After dinner I created a new character, an elementalist/necromancer named Soul Edge Da Second (Soul Edge The Second was too long and yes, I am very creative, not). Back in familiar ground playing as an offensive spell caster, and being more used to the controls and the camera, I started to really enjoy the game. Although an option to fix the camera position will be very nice.

I went through the tutorial, got Oink to follow me, party with the warrior henchman found on the way, and reached the settlement before entering Lion's Arch. Instead of talking to the man with exclaimation mark straight ahead, I explored the settlement and came across a father and son pair, who were farmers and the son claimed Oink back, after that the warrior henchman was promoted to level 15 (he was level 5) and I received the right "shield", which I realised is for bonus quest within a mission. I then talked to the guy with exclaimation mark, got the left "shield" and ended the tutorial.

Upon arriving Lion's Arch, I found that the warrior henchman was still in my party. I didn't find out whether this warrior henchman was any different from the one we could party up before entering a mission or explorable area though, because after I spent all my money buying myself some extra skills, I logged off to take a shower. When I logged on again, the henchman was no longer with me.

Enlisting the help of a new warrior henchman, I went to explore Northern Kryta Province again, I had been using the mouse to maneuver till that point, I started to use the WASD keys and found that I like that more, I can strafe easier using the Q and E keys, select target with C and engage with space bar, all nicely grouped together. I also found out that we can autorun by pressing W twice.

I started to formulate a skill sequence for battle, I would stop at a long distance from the enemy, basically stop when I saw red dot(s) on the mini map and use "C" to select it, then I would start the battle with Life Siphon, the one necromancer skill in my collection that I always had in my skill bar, it causes negative life regeneration for the enemy while I gain a positive life regeneration for a few seconds, that's my "healing" and anti-negative life regeneration skill. Using "C" and then shortkey for Life Siphon, my character would run to casting distance and cast the spell. Melee enemy would then start approaching me and the warrior henchman would engage it, I would hit it with Shard Storm, a water skill that deals damage and slows the enemy down, to make sure it didn't come too close to me before the henchman engaged it, I don't like to be in melee range. Range enemy would start firing back, I would either strafe to avoid incoming fire or just start casting offensive spells at it while the henchman charged, since I had a positive life regeneration going on. After the enemy was engaged by the henchman and stayed in place, I would cast Fire Storm to rain fire down on it causing damage over time. Then I would bombard with Flare, a low mana cost instant recharge skill, renew the Life Siphon and throw in Shard Storm when the skill recharged. Often I would not need to cast Fire Storm again before the enemy was killed.

If there were more than one enemy and they engaged the henchman, I would cast Fire Storm and Ice Spikes, both are area effect spells and deal damage over time. If any of the enemies engage me while other engaged the warrior henchman, I would run to the henchman and cast Ward Against Melee, make sure I have the Life Siphon going, cast area effect spells, and then focus on the one the henchman was fighting and concentrate on killing one enemy after another.

The Fire Imps and their Immolate skill was fun, Immolate would set me on fire and caused negative life regen, sometimes it overcame the Life Siphon positive regen so I had to renew Life Siphon as soon as it recharged. When they came in group it could be deadly without direct healing skill, but after I started to solo with warrior and monk henchmen it was alright. In fact, enemies that cast negative life regen skill were my main problem, I could usually counter with Life Siphon but sometimes the negative regen magnitude was way greater than the positive I could get from Life Siphon, that's the uh oh situation for me. If I had direct healing skill(s) it would be a lesser issue, luckily I didn't come across many enemies with such skills, the Fire Imp type with their Immolate, necromancer type with Life Siphon, and deadliest of all I found were the Wind Riders, I didn't catch the name of the skill they use, it turn the life bar pink and has large negative regen magnitude (a lot of < signs!).

While exploring Northern Kryta Province, I found a group of bandits and after killing them, I recieved a pop up message informing me to talk to Firstwatch Sergio. Ah, so we do get mission in explorable area, nice. I carried on exploring the area and found a settlement, but no NPC wanted to talk (I found out about Captain Greywind later) so I carried on until I reached a seaside, a group of enemies killed both the warrior henchman and I there, meh. Well, teached me to be more aware of the social AI of the enemies, they will help their friends within certain distance. Back in Lion's Arch I talked to Firstwatch Sergio and got 100 exp for killing the bandits.

From then onwards, I solo with warrior as well as the monk henchmen. I went out exploring again and found another group of bandits with a named boss, and after killing him, I was informed that I had killed an escaped murderer and I should talk to Firstwatch Sergio for my reward, again! I later found out that if I had returned to the spot where I killed the first group of bandits, an NPC would have given me this mission. But I did it anyway without first getting the mission and the reward was another 100 exp. I returned to Lion's Arch and bought myself a basic salvage kit and used it on the unwanted items I found from loots, since selling them to merchant would net me 2 gold per piece each, might as well salvage the items to get raw material for crafting. Item crafting was not a priority to me, I used what I found, I spent almost all the gold on getting skills. I finally did some crafting on the last day of the world preview event though, just to try it out.

I would have played more if I had not been so sleep deprived, I was too exhausted to continue so I called it a night.

[SoulEdge]

My Guild Wars (GW) World Preview Event (WPE) Experience (3)

Day two, the official starting date for the World Preview Event. I logged on as Soul Edge Da Second and made a party with a friend who played a Necromancer/Elementalist (exact opposite of my character!) to do the first coop mission, we took the warrior and monk henchmen with us. The game went faster than when I was playing solo, mainly because I was not the one leading, a really good choice honestly, for I am rather slow at navigation. We went through the mission at a comfortable pace, the level of challenge was about right, not too tough but still required close attention. I soon got used to the partner's combat style, he would charge into melee range for he has a lot of skills that required touching, I would bombard with spells to assist. We completed the first mission but missed the bonus quest, I was a bit worried when I was viewing the animation after mission completion, because I did not see my character knighted, it only showed the leader (my friend) being knighted. For a second there I thought we would have to redo the mission to get my character knighted, that would have been really silly, luckily it was just me being silly. We both got the credit and we went on to try the second mission.

Again, the level of challenge was still about right. I was confident that I could do the mission solo with the warrior and monk henchmen, just slower, but definately doable. But I prefer to do it in a party anyway, not only it was more interesting and faster paced, I didn't have to navigate! :) All went well, we got the spooky eye and sent those chosen ones into the hands of the Shining Blades, meh. Again we didn't get the bonus quest, and my curiosity was starting to bubble up, I just had to find out what the bonus quests were!

But before we could carry on, there was a message saying the GW server needed to do an emergency maintenance, and we had to log out in fifteen minutes time, and log back on after a while. So we headed to town to do some shopping and selling and logged out. I am not sure how long it took for the server to be up again, I tried a few times but after I logged on, much slower than normal, my character would only be able to move a few steps before being rooted to a spot. It was the prime time for the poeple in the States to start playing, probably the sudden influx of players has flooded the server? Anyway, I took a break and checked the GW site, there was a gameplay guide for the WPE (http://www.guildwars.com/preview/guide/default.html), I learned some new slash commands and emotes, as well as ways of acquiring skills. I logged back on after an hour or so, everything was working again, though there seemed to be a slight lag now, but it could just be my imagination.

My friend has gone offline, so I was back to solo game. I heard from the chat that there was a skill trainer in Northern Kryta Province, named Captain Greywind, situated in a settlement. Hmm... I remember finding a settlement, but all the NPCs I met had nothing to say, but how could I pass up a chance to learn more skill? So I headed out with warrior and monk henchmen and worked my way to the settlement (consulting the world map a lot). Sure enough, Captain Greywind was there, and I picked up a few skills, and bought two Signet of Capture, I then explored the area as thorough as I could, found a "mist wall" to another area on the north east but when I ran through it, I was sent back to Northern Kryta Province, perhaps the area was not available at that time? I also found the way to Farmer's Market, a small town that added another icon on the world map. There was a crafter in Farmer's Market that can craft level 19+ items. Since I was not keen on crafting at that time, I readied my new skills and headed to the staging area of second mission, Divinity Coast.

Initially I wanted to do it solo so I could explore thoroughly and find out about the bonus quest, but I was invited to a party as soon as I arrived so I just joined. Typically the leader just wanted to rush through everything, party members scattered all over the map, most of them just trying to catch up with the leader. I selected the leader in the party member list and use space bar to aut-follow him, I had to ask him to stop every so often to let the others catch up, sometime he listened, sometime he did not. I did informed all to select him in the party list and use space bar to auto-follow, so towards the end it was not so bad. The thing with auto-follow is that once the leader stopped and you stopped, you would have to press space bar again to auto-follow when the leader starts to run again.

However, I learned a very handy thing in that game, there were constant messages from the party leader informing us which monster he was targeting and we that could use "T" to target the same monster. Of course I could have just asked how he did it, but on a hunch I press the "ctrl" key, it showed the names of all the monsters within mini-map range and when I click on one of the names, I got that message and party member could use "T" to target what I have selected! Woohoo! Instantly I fell in love with that, I called it "calling a target/call target", it was so handy to focus fire and kill the enemy one at a time instead of spreading out the damage to various ones. It became my preferred choice of engaging enemies, I would press "ctrl" to see what's lurking ahead, and assess the danger level of the enemies, I like to take down healer type and caster type first, then only the warrior type, if all the enemies were of same category, I would check with "C" to make sure I select the nearest, and "ctrl + click", then "space bar". My character would start running towards the selected target, and I would press the shortkey for Life Siphon, so when she reached casting range, my character would stop and start casting, I would que the skills I want to use, and since I already pressed the "space bar", whenever I was waiting for the energy or the skill to recharge, my character would use her default attack (I used a cold damage wand).

Oh, new skills. I bought Fireball, a projectile direct area effect spell, I like it very much; Inferno, most damaging direct area effect spell I had but it only hurts those around me, so I seldom use it since I was usually not in melee range; Water Trident, a fast recharge low energy usage direct damage projectile spell that knocks down moving target, it's an elite skill; Mist Form, an enchantment spell that makes me immune to physical attack for a short duration, but cannot inflict physical damage as well, also an elite skill. I tried the Mist Form but picked Water Trident as the elite skill to bring into mission most of the time, we can only bring one elite skill. Some of the skills I bought from Captain Greywind, I also used the elementalist ring I obtained from loot to learn from skill charm bought in Lion's Arch. I was constantly broke buying new skills and the expert salvage kits.

After that mad rush through mission 2, which we didn't get the bonus quest as well. I decided I had enough of that mission for that day, I went back to Northern Kryta Province with my Signet of Capture and found the Fire Imps, I wanted to get their Immolate skill but when I tried to use the Signet, it informed me that those Fire Imps were not boss monster, meh. I ran around trying to find a named enemy that uses Immolate, no luck there, and apparently I could only capture the skill of either my primary or secondary class. While I found a few named enemies that used necromancer's skills, they were either purchasable from skill trainer or were not something I want, Life Siphon was the only skill I used from my necromancer class in the end, touching skills (melee range) and skills that required sacrificing of health just did not interest me. I had decided to use only the Blood tree of necromancer class, and used my time during the WPE toying with the Fire, Water and Earth trees of the elementalist. I only found one named enemy that used elemtalist skills in Northern Kryta Province, but it didn't have anything special.

After the unfruitful attempt to use the Signet of Capture, I retired for the day and got some much needed sleep.

[Brista]

The exam question was:

Will it earn enough Lurker support to warrant its own section here?&nbsp; If Lurkers choose to indulge in a bit more guild like activity, I'd say yes.&nbsp; If not, then probably not.&nbsp; See our comrades in arms at the Basin for an example.

It has been argued in this thread that the difference between whether people liked it was whether they pvped or pve-ed

I don't think that's the case

I think the difference was actually whether you played it with friends or with random pickup groups

PvE was great fun in pickup groups although I still doubt it will have the replay value of D2. That's because taking all 6 character classes through all the quests means you've seen everything whereas in D2 it means you've seen 6 builds out of thousands of possible variations

Back to the group dynamic point I don't think GW will be great for Lurkers unless you play together. As Bolty mentioned he had the most fun when he hooked up with Kandrathe

There is of course the Basin and you're welcome to hook up with us just by messaging us in the game. Being in the guild offers a minor communication advantage and the option of gvg but I'm sure if you ask people who are both Lurkers and Basiners if anyone fancies doing quest X then you'll get some amiable company and there are non-gvg pvp options

But if the Lounge is to get the most out of the game as an independent body then it is absolutely necessary imo to get a guild going and to want to do stuff together

Random pickup groups can be very entertaining but best in small doses than as one's only option

[kandrathe]

...
But if the Lounge is to get the most out of the game as an independent body then it is absolutely necessary imo to get a guild going and to want to do stuff together

Random pickup groups can be very entertaining but best in small doses than as one's only option
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I agree. I will buy it anyway, but it would be the most fun to play it within a dedicated guild.