......................pation.

Guild Wars 2's 3-day headstart is on the horizon. There's an energy of excitement in the air around our store this week. Many of us who are now friends met through our mutual love of the first Guild Wars (and subsequently, World of Warcraft as well). There was something special about Guild Wars, about how we essentially had freedom to play it whenever we wanted without worrying if we were wasting money on a subscription. It's something we are all looking forward to feeling yet again.

In the original, my main was a Warrior/Necro. Coincidentally, my brother played as a Warrior/Monk, and we did a LOT of Drok's runs for people (thereby making shitloads of money). Aside from that, our group of friends also ran a lot of Sorrow's Furnace trying to get perfect greens, played a lot of PvP, and did a lot of Elite skill capturing. In short, we never felt like it was a grind because we could spend a couple of hours with the game, feel like we accomplished our general goals, and then move on to something else. Guild Wars was the "MMO" where you didn't try to plan your real life around the game, but planned the game around your real life. It was the odd man out, the middle finger to the industry saying "we'll do it our way, and we'll be successful at it".

Sadly, many of us quit playing some time after the launch of Factions, namely because we got sucked into WoW way too much. Since then, we've tried multiple different MMOs - Warhammer Online, DDO, Rift, and SWTOR are the main ones, but none of them were nearly as entertaining as our time with Guild Wars. In short, we were never looking for a game to replace WoW, not even one that was better than WoW. We didn't hold WoW to nearly the high standard we held Guild Wars. WoW was a job, while Guild Wars was always pure fun.

So we sit here...and we wait... Guild Wars 2 is on the horizon. We'll all be joining the Yak's Bend server to be alongside the Giant Bomb community as we explore Tyria, fight the forces of evil, and maybe draw penises in the general chat. We hope to see you all there on Saturday.

Until next time, piece.

P.S. - I'll be making a Charr warrior named Finlee. If you guys feel the need to throw me a friend request, go for it.

My god, I don't think I have given a crap about any MMO since I played WoW all those years ago. Star Wars was the closest thing to excite me and that wore off quick (never buy a game without trying it)

I hate to sound sentimental, but it warms my heart so much to see others recognize the amazing achievement that the original Guild Wars was. 
 
...Though the compass is typically where penis drawings go.

Hold on, I didn't think you could draw penises in general chat? Is this true? If so, it changes everything.

I just hope the Giant Bomb staff tries to pay more attention to the game. It really deserves it.

8==D @Subjugation:

PENETRATION!

On a less silly note, good read!

@Dark_Lord_Spam said:

I hate to sound sentimental, but it warms my heart so much to see others recognize the amazing achievement that the original Guild Wars was. ...Though the compass is typically where penis drawings go.

Same here. It's actually kind of sad to see the changes to GW2. Now, a lot more of my friends are getting into it and "understanding why Guild Wars is awesome", while I secretly think that Guild Wars 2 isn't enough like Guild Wars. Nobody understands.

Bring that shit on, head-start begins on Saturday morning, after that it's all game for 48 hours. I love it.

LESS THAN A DAY NOW!

not sorry for caps.

IN 24 HOURS WE WILL BE PLAYING GUILD WARS 2 AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

LINCOLNFORCE WILL LEAD THE WAY! FEAR NOT THIS NIGHT!

GO TEAM GO!

Oh god stop this hyping, I still have a 50 bucks coupon somewhere round here and as luck would have it the gamestore it belongs to carries GW2 for 50 bucks.

UUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Let all those distractions slide. Give yourself to Guild Wars 2!

I've got a bunch of crap to start/finish up too, but I managed to get through Spec Ops last week and finished Walking Dead episode 2 tonight. Both are most likely going to be among my top 5 of 2012, so I'm glad I played them before GW2 garnered all my attention. Walking Dead is interesting enough to pull me away from GW2 for a night. God I really fucked shit up in episode 2.

My backlog/currentlog got so out of control for so long at some point I had to say "fuck it, I'm playing whatever I feel like". It all just started to feel like a chore, and that's no fun.

I remember reading @jakob187 's post back when he decided he didn't like GW2. I don't think his initial assertions were wrong considering what he's looking for in an MMO. Heck, I usually stay clear of topics like this because they're self-serving and useless for the most part, but w/e I'm bored.

Suprised to see you picked it up Jakob, and good luck. Luckily enough, GW2 is a good game in its own right - MMO or no - I hope you give it that chance at least (and haven't wasted your cash).

ok

@TaliciaDragonsong: Yeah, I can't imagine a price reduction anytime earlier than a couple years. But if you keep an eye out you can probably get it discounted from somewhere like Green Man Gaming. I've heard folks get somewhere around 20% off with a coupon, and that was for a prepurchase too.

Yeah, there are servers in both regions. The GB guild is on a US server (Yak's Bend), but EU players seem to have nonetheless all had a good experience, connection wise.

If you're sure you're gonna get to down the line, you could always pick it up, create some characters to get your names locked down (names are unique across all servers) and join our server, then come back to it later since there's no monthly fee. But I always hate buying games and not playing them, and like I said you may be able to catch it later on sale.

I don't know why but I gave the original Guild Wars a number of tries and it always failed to grab me, thusly I haven't really given GW2 a whole lot of thought. But something about this post kinda got me all like "Hmmm, Guild Wars 2 eh?".

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@Dark_Lord_Spam: Well...they don't have a janitor? Thing is, I'm liable to become very addicted, I really liked the beta as well, and I'm not sure I can cope with that. Still got to finish Darksiders 2, Sleeping Dogs, my newgame+ in The Darkness 2, my second Witcher 2 playthrough, finish all the minigames in Plants Vs Zombies and finish Dead Island, to name a few!

I still haven't touched Darksiders 2, and I've got a backlog of about twenty other games.

Fuck all of them. Guild Wars 2 AHOY!

@selfconfessedcynic said:

I remember reading @jakob187 's post back when he decided he didn't like GW2. I don't think his initial assertions were wrong considering what he's looking for in an MMO. Heck, I usually stay clear of topics like this because they're self-serving and useless for the most part, but w/e I'm bored.

Suprised to see you picked it up Jakob, and good luck. Luckily enough, GW2 is a good game in its own right - MMO or no - I hope you give it that chance at least (and haven't wasted your cash).

Huh? I can't remember a time where I wasn't hyped as shit about Guild Wars 2! If there was such a time, I give you permission to travel back in time and beat the shit out of that idiot with a tire iron.

A rusty tire iron.

Made of metal.

@TheHT said:

@TaliciaDragonsong: Yeah, I can't imagine a price reduction anytime earlier than a couple years. But if you keep an eye out you can probably get it discounted from somewhere like Green Man Gaming. I've heard folks get somewhere around 20% off with a coupon, and that was for a prepurchase too.

Prediction: Guild Wars 2 will be on sale for Black Friday.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@jakob187: I would have gotten it today but the store isn't selling them yet (fuckersssss) and they ran out of those pre purchase versions. I think they hate money.

Hey, at least you weren't sitting around all day at work yesterday knowing that you were 73 cents short on your card from ordering it online for the pre-purchase, then debating on whether you would be able to get to the bank on time in order to put some money in your account in order to procure a copy...and then almost be late to work today in order to do so.

Luckily, it all worked out. Copy is pre-purchased. I have the game installed on 36 computers at work.

FINLEE SHALL VANQUISH HIS FOES DUTIFULLY!

My body...is soooooo fucking ready.

Ya know...until they pull a SWTOR 1.2 or a Diablo III 1.03 and fuck the game up...because it seems all the PC games I'm wanting to play this year are following that trend. = /

@ProfessorEss: I played some DAoC back then as well. Guild Wars was just this breath of fresh air in a time when mob stealing in the open worlds was a problem. Most people don't remember those early days of WoW, but they were filled with assholes stealing Hogger before you could get to him or generally being douches and following you around, tagging mobs you needed so your questing took longer than needed. Guild Wars was the antithesis of that, and it did it well. Many hated the instanced world, but it did what few other MMOs have pulled off well: I could play it as a single player game when I wanted to and still feel like part of a larger community in an immediate fashion. Moreover, I loved the mechanics of the game: dying your armor, only having a limited amount of skills, going out and capturing new skills from bosses (something I wish other MMOs would offer, as it makes going after bosses and running dungeons a much bigger deal and feels less like a grind), dual professions, random stats to gear...

If anything, there was a grind in there, but I never knew it. I had fun every time I journeyed into the "open world". The cities were big enough that I didn't feel alone, and the open world in most MMOs tends to be rather empty anyways, so I never understood people bitching about it. At least there wasn't a bunch of lag!

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@jakob187: I hope that's not the case then, but at least like Diablo 3 its only one purchase!

I actually did load up D3 yesterday because my friend came up here and started playing it since the 1.04 patch hit. They've fixed a lot of stuff, but yeah......they really killed the difficulty of Inferno mode. At least legendaries are worth a fuck now, though.

Oh god stop hyping it up. I told myself I wouldn't get it early yet I'm sitting at the purchase screen.

@supamon said:

Oh god stop hyping it up. I told myself I wouldn't get it early yet I'm sitting at the purchase screen.

One of us, one of us, one of us.

I really can't believe I'm getting excited for an MMO again. A few months ago, I figured that despite loving GW1, I was going to pass on GW2 because I was over MMOs. Then I got into BWE3, tried it out, and have spent the last month more giddy with excitement for a game than I have since I can remember.

Timing worked out really well too, I got told by HR the Monday right after BWE3 that I needed to use some of my vacation time, so after work today, I'll have 9 days off to slack as I've never slacked before. Going to be good times.

@Silvergun said:

....after work today, I'll have 9 days off to slack as I've never slacked before. Going to be good times.

May God have mercy on your soul. Please don't become a news story about someone dying from a Guild Wars 2 playing spree.

@jakob187 said:

May God have mercy on your soul. Please don't become a news story about someone dying from a Guild Wars 2 playing spree.

Nah, other than maybe tonight, I plan on actually sticking to my normal sleep pattern. I learned a long time ago that I'm actually a lot happier going to bed at midnight and getting up at 7 to play than going to bed after the sun comes up and sleeping in until mid afternoon. Plus, instead of shoveling pizza and crap down my throat, I've got a rice cooker and a big bag of rice, a freezer full of marinaded tri tips to grill, and loads of corn because corn is great.

I did get a couple bottles of calvados though since it's a special occasion!

All in all, it's going to just be a nice quiet relaxing week with lots of GW2 punctuated by grilling.

@makari said:

@supamon said:

Oh god stop hyping it up. I told myself I wouldn't get it early yet I'm sitting at the purchase screen.

One of us, one of us, one of us.

I caved in... Now we are all sons of bitches.

@supamon said:

@makari said:

@supamon said:

Oh god stop hyping it up. I told myself I wouldn't get it early yet I'm sitting at the purchase screen.

One of us, one of us, one of us.

I caved in... Now we are all sons of bitches.

Don't feel guilty, we love you

@supamon said:

@makari said:

@supamon said:

Oh god stop hyping it up. I told myself I wouldn't get it early yet I'm sitting at the purchase screen.

One of us, one of us, one of us.

I caved in... Now we are all sons of bitches.

That just made me think of Ellis in Left 4 Dead 2.

"Kill all sons of bitches. That's my motto."

I would totally play a Left 4 Dead MMO...

Also, welcome to the fold.

@jakob187:

Have fun in tonight! I, unfortunately, will be trottin' around the GW2 universe on another server up with the Penny Arcade folks on Fort Aspenwood - but maybe I'll guest in every now and then (if/when that gets implemented) to join the shenanigans with some GB-Comm.

"I'm going to try to get some sleep, because I'm exhausted, and tomorrow is going to be a very long day. There is such a range of emotion I'm experiencing right now, but mostly I just want to say that I hope you guys love it. Love it forever, or love it and then move on to something else, but just love it, and know that three hundred of us melted down our hearts to give it to you. It's all yours soon."

Rawr. It's been a hell of a wait... I'm ready to explore the hell out of this game.

@DeviantJoker: Where did that quote come from? It's quite a nice, heartfelt thing to say to a community that has given the game rabid support. = D

@jakob187: It's sourced as a ANet employee who belonged to a fan site community and posted it there before she left that night. SAUCE

SO much hype in my brain!! I can't handle it!

 I'm sad I couldn't get a copy and join in soon but I guess there's always next week.
Bloody hyped thanks to this thread however!

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

I'm sad I couldn't get a copy and join in soon but I guess there's always next week. Bloody hyped thanks to this thread however!

I am glad to know that my services have been useful. = D

Hey guys I pre purchased and wanted to make sure I am ready to go for tonight....

I got two emails. One email was 'Thank you for pre purchasing guild wars 2!". It has the serial code and info.

i got another email telling me thanks for registering my guild wars 2 account (with that code).

Now, nowhere on my account page does it show that I have the digital edition purchased. And when i log into the game client while its downloading it says " either no event is in progress or your account does not have guild wars 2 activated". I am assuming that this is because the headstart is not going yet and that is considered an "event".

The other weird thing too is that I had a handle and everything on my account that I made before, but when I registered my key, it made me put the info in again and my handle's number changed.

I just want to make sure this is all common practice and I will be good to go tonight.... thanks!

Oh one more thing! I downloaded the client, and there was no install process.... it just downloaded a ton of files, and in my guild wars 2 folder I have the executable, gw2.dat, and gw2.tmp. Those are the only 3 things in it..... is that normal?

@xSeanZx:

Re: Not showing edition.

It doesn't show you have standard or digital deluxe in the account page, you'll check in game. If there are any issues, contact support.

Re: remaking account

I didn't think it was possible to make an account without buying.

Re: client

Yep, that's it. gw2.dat has ALL the files, just launch gw2.exe when the time comes

@xSeanZx said:

Oh one more thing! I downloaded the client, and there was no install process.... it just downloaded a ton of files, and in my guild wars 2 folder I have the executable, gw2.dat, and gw2.tmp. Those are the only 3 things in it..... is that normal?

Yeah, that bugged me out a little too...and I had to get this on 36 computers total!!! Imagine how much I was freaking out while I said "where the fuck are all the files...there were, like, 170,000 of them!!!" before I realized that they are all in that .dat file.

I should be used to this, however, since League of Legends kind of does the same thing with their "RADS" folder.

Is a 14.3GB dat file all ready to go for tonight?