Much to my personal surprise, Anet announced the release of the last two Guild Wars 2 races for this upcoming and final beta weekend of July 20th. Yeah that was last Monday, I am somewhat behind on commenting – that said, the new job is exciting and things will go back to a more relaxed schedule once I got the hang out of all my new tasks. Did I mention there are free cookies here?
So…Asura and Sylvari. I guess it makes sense for this third beta weekend, fans were clamoring to see them and you want things to end on a high note and give players a reason to log on once more. Truthfully, I was toying with the idea of skipping this beta – like Zubon I feel rather satiated of GW2 testing and eager to play the real deal with a character I am likely to keep. How much is too much beta playing? I am careful not to burn myself out on the starting areas and spoil too much before end of August. I was very relieved to hear there won’t be any more BWEs after this one, although I am all for polish and releasing when things are truly ready.
I guess now I do have a reason to log on this weekend after all, even if just to take a peek….I don’t expect to ever warm towards the Sylvari (is there anyone who intends to play one??) but I will definitely check out that Asura CC for myself and see how different they truly feel to your staple MMO shorties. And until then? Well, Paeroka has some suggestions on what to do until this BWE. Or you could always start planning for launch, as some particularly dedicated individuals do, get your guild forums ready, plan your spec and rosters, pick a server….or scratch all that and play The Secret World instead. I think I would, after all!
Pretty close to my line of thought. I am already deeply involved in “The Secret World”, so boredom is not a problem. But spoiling the GW2 experience through to many beta weekends might be one. I am about 50:50 on playing either a Sylvari or a Norn hunter, the former because I don’t know the starter area and the later because they can be so wonderfully rugged and robust.
oh yeah, I love the Norn for this reason. 🙂 I am very set on playing one, although you got a point that checking out other starter areas is fun. I will certainly visit the Asura and Sylvari places and probably roll an Asura alt on the side, they are quite awesome. I like how the event system in GW2 also makes “low level questing” more appealing, so checking out areas is always fun no matter your level.
To be honest I was expecting/hoping for a couple more beta weekends. Mostly because I have been using those to get a good feel of each class rather than because I think it needs more polish. Albeit I can do the same thing after the game is released too and if it doesn’t work out I can just delete the character and remake him. 🙂
And do Sylvari alts count as playing one? :p
If so, I intent the Sylvari to be 3rd or 4th character (I want one of every race!). Right now they are fighting for the spot with the Norn. 1st and 2nd place are already reserved for a charr and asura. 🙂
I guess that counts! 😉 it’s odd, I keep reading about people excited to play Charr, Norn or Asura but not anything much on the Sylvari (I’d say humans are rather unpopular for obvious reasons). I know why I dislike their design (:cabbage:) but it would be interesting to get a more general feedback on this.
Hm. True. I always thought the Sylvari would be more popular than the Norn. I guess part of the reason we haven’t seem people talking about them much is because they haven’t been available on the Beta Weekends so far. Plus they lack the crazyness of the asura.
Personally, I am finding the Sylvari very intriguing. I love what I found out so far of their lore. I also like they have such a unique look. But I found the centuries of history between the charr and humans more interesting, specially considering the current alliance between the two races. While Asura they are just natural crazy scientists. Need I say more? 🙂
If it wasn’t for those factors I would be torn between Norn or Sylvari for my first character. The Norn because I just have a fascination with snow. I also like their more rugged way of life. While the Sylvari are so unique that it is hard to pass the opportunity of finding more about the race in-game. 🙂
I wasn’t intending to play GW2 this weekend. I’m working Saturday, I’m deep in TSW, GW2 launches in six weeks so what’s the point? and as if that was enough Mechanist Games have decided to have the first City of Steam alpha weekend on the same dates!
But… I’m not working Sunday, TSW can be gruelling, six weeks is a long time and I have yet to receive a CoS alpha invite. Also, GW2 BWE posts pull in a lot of new readers.
So, my current plan is a Sylvari Sunday. I have no intention of playing a plant-elf in the live game so I shouldn’t be spoiling anything and with luck I can find something amusingly snide to post about them afterwards. If a CoS invite comes through, plans may change.
Well, I look forward to your Sylvari review after this weekend then. 😉
I have plenty of steam games waiting, so from that PoV I am certainly busy until GW2 launches, too – I do wanna play around with the Asura CC at the very least though!
I’m not surprised Norn are more popular than Sylvari. The norn are giant heavy metal vikings, and the Sylvari are the ultimate tree huggers 🙂 Anyone who can remember the glory days of Dark Age of Camelot will remember that Midgard (vikings) tended to have more population than Hibernia (generally seen as a bunch of hippies).
Most popular of all, of course, was Albion – closest to generic fantasyland with knoghts and wizards – which even though it wasn’t seen as ‘cool’ attracted a larger but arguably less dedicated population. In the same vein, I expect GW2 will actually have more Human characters than any other race, it’s just that people playing humans will enthuse less in public about it.
For the record, I was a tree-hugging Hibbie in DAoC (and then an Alb when I went seeking a new home after a messy guild implosion), which is part of the reason I’m going to let my hair down and drink, brawl and boast my way to glory as a Norn in GW2 🙂
Hehe….I admit I’m one of those boring players who mostly played humans in the past and I certainly do love the typical fantasy, fairyland setting with dragons! somehow that never gets old for me. 🙂
the humans in GW2 are too posh and attractive for my own tastes by far though, so yes – Norn all the way! I like a more barbaric look and the Norn are essentially that, taller and more rugged humans (visually speaking).
I sorta appreciate that ANet tried to find an alternative to the typical elf question in their game – but the thing is that the Sylvari aren’t all that different and if anything, worse imo..
I’m also passing on this latest BWE. I’ve already decided on my starting characters (Charr Engineer and Ranger and an Asura Mesmer) and since I’m already sold on the game I don’t want to spoil too much for myself.
Deciding which races/classes to play was the main reason I wanted into the BWEs in the first place; problem is all of them sound interesting! It was hard enough just keeping it to three characters.
I’ve spent plenty of time just creating characters and combos myself. playing around with different CCs is fun too, even if you don’t intend to play that particular race. I decided very early on what I want to be in GW2, but that won’t stop me from designing more characters! 😀
I usally don’t play human, since I like roleplaying as something I am not.
most likely the Asura will be my first choice, though Sylvari do have something intricuing about them.
In most fantasy settings the naturebond races are the eldest in the world, the typical elves, some even semi-gods that slowly lost their powers while the newer races came into the world.
The sylvari on the other hand are the exact opposite, with the first sylvari being born not even 20 years ago. Secondly a race that is born/grown by a tree is something special that makes not only the looks fantastic.
My first choice of playing will most likely be Asura Guardian/Elementelist or Norn Warrior, because I really liked the asura and norn NPCs in GW1.
Iirc someone on guildcast at gamebreaker.tv said, that humans might turn out the race most played, because it was the only race playable in GW1 and people who want to know how the/their story goes on will want to continue playing as human.