So there it is at last, lying on my desk. Things are getting more tangible. A white sober DVD case – nothing fancy. Very under-statement. It’s shockingly empty inside, just a card with a serial key telling me to go online and register. Not sure why it comes with the standard case at all, staring at me with a naked eye but there you go. Beta weekends, three days headstart is all I need to know. First time I ever paid for an MMO that doesn’t even have an official release date yet. How odd! But then, I didn’t know either how great the LotR movies were gonna be when I bought out two complete theater rows for the EU premieres several weeks in advance (every year!). I knew my friends were going to be there though; that tends to have a reliably positive effect on one’s enjoyment. There’s also an oddly lackluster trailer full of old footage. For once the goons on youtube got it right. Not that anyone cared.
On the beta weekends
Some players stay away from the beta for spoiler reasons but I’m way past that stage. Not sure what I could possibly spoil at this point; the game is as overdue as a Swedish bus and I just want to FINALLY see something for myself. The only thing the WoW beta did for me was confirming what I already suspected, along with exclamations of “omg I want moar of this!”. I can’t wait for end of April now. I’ve watched too many videos by other people. As for bugs – bugs don’t bug me. There’s something strangely nostalgic about them.
On playing GW1
I’ve wondered briefly whether to follow other players in giving the first title a go. There’s the wait time until release and it might not be the worst idea to have a quick look at GW1. Not sure what it can truly teach me though – aren’t the dissimilarities going to be a lot bigger than anything? I’m still undecided whether I should really expose my eyes to this ancient predecessor. Feels more like spoiling for no good reason to me. The real deal is still out there and in desperate need of an ETA.
Time to part
As I worry about my dated PC specifications a little (will I be able to play in PvP battles of 300 people with a “WoW machine?”), it’s definitely time to pull the plug on an old love. Disc space is running low and it feels strangely well timed: good-bye WoW, time to uninstall. It was fun for a very long time, thanks! I’ll keep the screenshots folder. May GW2 be worthy of your passing. May it bring us new stories and epic memories.
We are waiting. (And definitely prepared!)
P.S. Priest T5 and Anathema forever in our hearts!
Couple of things that chime with me on this post.
1) I’ll avoid pre-purchasing GW2 as I will be playing it so I see no reason to beta. I do find the concept of pre-purchasing somewhat distasteful.
2) If you like story play Guild Wars: Prophecies at the least. It’ll give a lot of background ‘history’ that will otherwise be spoilers in GW2. It’s a pretty good game, there are some hidden learning curves though, Zubon of Kill Ten Rats has some very informative posts on the issues.
3) Having played some of the WoW beta it’s made my mind up finally that I have to give up on WoW when my 12 months is up – I won’t be buying MoP, there are simply better games out there to play IMHO.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll be looking into that!
Apparently pre-purchase is one of those novel things that take some time getting used to; lots of people seem to feel uneasy about it. I don’t share the misgivings, but I’m also not ashamed to admit that I’m simply very impatient to see GW2 now! 😉
I already said it over on my blog: I’m surprisingly uninterested in GW2.
That said, I’ll definitely watch what people like you will have to say after release. I might give it a try after all, just a bit down the road.
And yeah, I never was a fan of these standard DVD plastic boxes to start with. I liked the old cardboard ones much more. Now that there’s not even a disc in there any more, could they kindly go back to that format? 😉
Tbh it’s quite un-ecological to keep sending those plastic cases out – it bugs me especially when they’re totally unnecessary. indeed a cardboard would have been enough to convey the code physically. I first expected to find an install CD as well (wouldn’t have minded that) but nope!
And I’ll definitely keep the world updated on my GW2 experiences, heh!
Guild Wars 1 is worth a look, but..
I started it 4 months ago, not as an mmo but more like a single player/coop game. Since most areas are instanced you can play the game without meeting alot of people, if you want to. Also, european servers are very quiet.
Together with a friend of mine it was a very nice experience, learning a totally new game and discussing bits and pieces along the way while getting deeper into it, without looking up every single step and cookie cutter tactics on the net.
The last part of the game I finished alone with my AI-heroes and I liked the story line and game play alot.
I too would recommend playing through Nightfalls and Eye of the North, because of the easy access to heroes and being independent on help from strangers or the struggle to maybe find a semi active guild without being pushed and hurried through the experience that is actually playing the game.
Yeah I see. that’s partly my reluctance, I’m no fan of joining MMOs that late into the process. it’s harder getting on as a noob and servers aren’t the same. To me, MMOs are about group play but then this would only serve as sneak-peek, anyway.
I might get the free trial first and have a look, thanks! 🙂