The Lincolncast, Episode 8: BWE2 Impressions (Dungeoneering Edition)

Hey guys!

For those who don't know, this is the Giant Bomb community's Guild Wars 2 podcast (made by our guild, Lincoln Force). This week, we're going back to our roots and doing a good old impressions-cast, bringing you our experiences from the second Beta Weekend Event, specifically those in PvE, structured PvP and Dungeons. Aside from a couple of technical hiccups, you're looking at a number of hours of us regaling you with what we did during the beta and what we felt about it - although we hint at eventually getting around to WvW and the ending-event, that'll be covered next week instead (spoiler: both were amazing).

Also, subscribe to the show!

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Show Notes

Intro music: "The Pentagon" by The Hamster Alliance

Featured Members:@selfconfessedcynic , @No0b0rAmA , @Dourin , @Rawson , @shinboy630

Run time: 3:11:15

Topics for the week:

• I go around the table on this one, so...
• Dourin tells a grand tale about dungeoneering in Guild Wars 2
• Noob0rAmA wants to be the very best (chef) like no one ever was (oh, and he attempted to do something called Ascalon Catacombs)
• Rawson hit up the Char starting area with his new Mesmer
• Shinboy pretty much did everything under the sun
• ...and finally, I have a serious beef with Anet regarding Structured PvP but continue my love affair with the Human starting areas.

Plugs!

• Check out Dourin's twitch channel it at www.twitch.tv/Dourin
• Check out Shinboy's site, www.plugandplaygaming.com

Enjoy! Also, feel free to leave some criticism or feedback - TheLincolncast@gmail.com or @TheLincolncast on Twitter

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For those wondering, in regards to the part where we were talking about other games we were playing, I finished Bastion! And Darksiders is still awesome.

Also, check out the Lincolnforce T-Shirt I made that totally took me more than 5 minutes! It features the Lincolncast logo on the front with the signature phrase of @selfconfessedcynic on the back.

@shinboy630: woah, that is scary. (and by this I mean totally surreal)

A thing on a shirt? woooaaaah

I may order one....

ED: Doesn't ship outside of US and Canada, but I shouldn't be blowing cash on t-shirts I dont need right now anyway. I may get Dourin to send me one in a while (after I get a new job).

ED2: Fixed the youtube link - oh, and there's a youtube link now y'all

Wait...so does this mean we are a thing now? Do I have to go out and buy a suit? I don't wanna buy a suit! Maybe I'll just buy a shirt instead...

Re: level scaled rewards.

Loot you get while downscaled is NOT always level appropriate. As far as I've seen, whites are scaled to the content, but blues (Fine) or higher are scaled to your level. So, MASSIVE HINT: Get your Magic Find up!

@selfconfessedcynic said:

ED: Doesn't ship outside of US and Canada, but I shouldn't be blowing cash on t-shirts I dont need right now anyway. I may get Dourin to send me one in a while (after I get a new job).

Use a forwarding service, like priceusa.com.au or shipito.com. It'll probably have cheaper shipping.

For the record I think it's funny/great that I made the shirt in like 3 minutes as a little gag, and now people are talking about actually ordering them.

From the sounds of it, you guys had way more of a problem with the jumping puzzle than I did. I got to the area with the caged monsters in about 20 minutes, but that's when the other servers appeared.

There's also a tiny jumping puzzle on one of the WvW keeps, but it doesn't lead to anything.

If we're talking Expansion races, I'd pay anything to be a Quaggan.

@Maystack: The Quaggan are SO AWESOME.

I think my expansion race wish list is....

1. Tengu (more for the way they move and fight - if it's anything like the first guild wars - than for their actual design, though the eagle one looks cool)

2. 

   Kodan (this one prob won't happen - these guys are like twice the size of the norn, who already somewhat fill the seat of bear-people)

3. 

   Quaggan (considering how they continually get their asses handed to them and are supposed to be a peace loving race, this may never happen either)
   

   

Mursaat are by far the coolest GW race.

I lean toward Tengu and Centaur. There was a Tengu in GW1 as a henchman and a Centaur hero. The other choice could be Hylek or Krait. I will have to give this a listen. I did the Catacombs twice. Once with a pug and once a few buds from my guild. Totally different team composition and i LOVED that both teams succeeded. Really nice set up in there and it played well with no hitches or bugs.

@Jayzilla: As a spoiler for the podcast, the catacombs segment is very short and is just Noob explaining the issues they had getting into it.

Sorry, at least around these parts I'm not sure anyone who is also willing to be on the podcast actually got to do that dungeon. (it may have been a Yak's Bend server issue - but the teaming system just didn't work for them, and they tried for a good 2 hours)

Haha, I didn't write a comment when I listened yesterday but this became almost uncomfortably tense when the structured PvP conversation rolled around. Perhaps we should just sidestep the issue and set up camp in WvW. It's like Gary Gannon said on the most recent Guildcast, "Wouldn't be awesome if you could just live in WvW?" Indeed it would, sir.

@selfconfessedcynic: Yeah the Quaggan are really unlikely to be included as a race, but they're so cute. I hadn't even considered extra races before, but now that I think about it the Tengu seem like the perfect choice. The first expansion will probably be set in Cantha and the Tengu have perfect lore and reason to be included. For elona I can't really think of any races that stand out. I guess with the whole Palawa Joko thing, it could be undead?

Just got to listening to the part on PvP.

I completely agree on there being a need for match-making in tournament. Something similar to what they have in StarCraft 2 would be perfect. Right now, I don't believe there is any kind of match-making. It would be pretty stupid to have professional esport teams being matched up against casual teams (and that's what's happening right now).

As for PUGs, I don't mind that there isn't a match-making system. Part of the reason why there are so many noobs in servers is because the game is so new. As the game gets older, it will become more and more competitive. However, I also wouldn't be opposed to a match-making system there as well.

A possible solution to the PUG issue would be to let guilds rent servers with real money (like you can in PC FPS games). This could be an extra source of income for Anet and it would give guilds a server where they can control everything (including server name and toggle auto-balance on/off). From my experience in games like Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead, even though a server is public, it's usually the same crowd of people that hang out in it. Therefore, I would only play on servers where I knew that more experienced players were hanging out. Eventually these servers become that middle ground between true PUGs and clan/tournament matches.

@UssjTrunks said:

A possible solution to the PUG issue would be to let guilds rent servers with real money (like you can in PC FPS games). This could be an extra source of income for Anet and it would give guilds a server where they can control everything (including server name and toggle auto-balance on/off).

This could work now that I think about it. If you use gems as the currency for this, you could also not have to buy it and just convert gold to gems. Also, this would allow for the old guild hall scrims like in GW1, as well as private matches.

@Maystack: Woah, yeah - Tengu would be a cool canthan addition, though their home city is in Kryta, so I'm not sure how that would work. (maybe the unlock both the main city and an off-shore one in cantha). Man. Dreaming about expansions. A bit early, but still fun.

@UssjTrunks: @shinboy630: I love the idea! Especially if it's doable with gems. (though I wouldn't mind just chucking a couple of bucks their direction and skipping the whole gems/gold transaction)

It's like a mix of having a guild hall and being able to architect the sPvP experience the way you want to. Of course, no indications exist of such a system coming... : /

In the end, though, at least something should be done about the current situation imo. I don't think I'll go back to sPvP until well after release, when I'll be more challenged by PUGs and we have more guys who are free to do tournaments.

@selfconfessedcynic said:

when I'll be more challenged by PUGs

[troll] you mean when PUGs will be more challenged by you [/troll]

@selfconfessedcynic:

Two new maps are coming next BWE, I know you won't be able to resist (one of them even has a pirate ship! and an underwater cap point):

@UssjTrunks:

Aaaaaaah fuck.

Well, we'll see - the only reason to check them out would be as due dilligence for the podcast, but if I can get someone on who did it in my stead, then I can stay clear.

And it's not like my opinion is valid for sPvP anymore anyway.

Maybe I'm just too old school but I'd reallllly like to have some CTF as a SPvP choice. I just really like CTF. A lot. It's a totally proven game mode for competitive play so I don't see why they are steering away from it. Having it all as capture point maps just doesn't do it for me.

@Subjugation: Hi5 subs. Agreed - CTF and TDM are where it's at.

Also - check your inbox for the ep9 invite, you'd be a good guest.

@Subjugation said:

Maybe I'm just too old school but I'd reallllly like to have some CTF as a SPvP choice. I just really like CTF. A lot. It's a totally proven game mode for competitive play so I don't see why they are steering away from it. Having it all as capture point maps just doesn't do it for me.

I'd like some more modes as well. However, they seem set on conquest because apparantly you need to focus on a single mode if you want to become an esport or something.

The problem with CTF is that the class with the longest/most frequent speed buff is going to be a must in every party. Then again, for conquest, a defensive/control guardian will probably be a must as well.