Guild Wars 2 First Look

http://www.facebook.com/stradus.woods Stradus Woods

Fast overview made me laugh so perfect.

Leon O Gorman

Great video .. thanks once again.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz

Mike, are you going to release in depth looks at the starting zones like you did for the other races?

QSatu

You will always die during 1st boss fight. They try to show you death mechanic this way but imo they could teach you this somehow better.

jgelling

It was extremely silly to get one-shot on the first boss fight. That’s just a bad design they should change.

There’s a good reason other games don’t do something stupid like that.
Imtabca

And the hound that “mysteriously” appears when you go down is there for you to defeat in your downed state, as defeating it will revive you.
- Old Ben
  
  Except they don’t even bother to mention that, so new players will just continue to attack the boss (since the minion can’t actually kill you in that fight – your HP goes down to 0 but you never die).

http://twitter.com/KliffUndersn Klifford von Undersn

I did have fun playing as the Sylvari. Good to have something new and different as a race. Plus Jennifer Hale it’s pretty much my main race now. The best race? I don’t know though. I just know my Sylvari puts on her planties, one leaf at a time, just like every one else.

Kagitaar

Now the real question is, how many Sylvari Shepards are we going to see?

pandora005

The Sylvari story and starting zone doesnt feel appropriate since they should have turned it into a “discovery zone” for all those fresh younglings who are taking their first steps into the world. That way the GAME could have told the PLAYER the different ethics of Sylvari (different from Charr and Humans and so on) and obviously the history of the tree and such. To get all this information we have to read it in the wiki and that is disappointing.

I was also kinda annoyed about there being “experts on old and obscure topics” in a race which is only 25 years old. The firstborn should rather have concentrated on “important knowledge” which would help the race survive in the world, because the dream cant really explain everything and the Sylvari have to establish a presence in the world (among the other races) on their own; the other races DONT share the dream and dont know about the Sylvari.

Thus the whole starting zone and storyline was kinda disappointing.

http://profile.yahoo.com/7XSXJCSSBCCFQ6DZYE7ZYPP6SY Summoner

Really? I easily found out about the ethics (Ventari tablet, Dreamers vs
Nightmare), the Pale Tree, the different cycles (how other sylvari feel
about people born in other cycles/how they feel about being born in
their own cycle), and being a new sapling being preyed upon by the
Nightmare recruiters, or going out on your own as a Wyld Hunt Valiant.
All I did was walk around and talk to NPCs, listen in on their
conversations, and do my personal quests.

Also, there’s Firstborn who do study things other than what Trahearne
did, who was on a Wyld Hunt himself. “Expert” would be in sylvari terms.
Just like “25″ is considered old to them (one of the sylvari NPCs
expressed how another was almost pressing 20 or something, like it was a
big deal to be that old), so anything over 25 would be old.

As for “other races dont know about the Sylvari,” the sylvari already
sent out ambassadors to the other races, so they already “established a
presence in the world.” Aife, the Dawn Luminary, is a diplomat and had
traveled to all the major cities in Tyria. There’s already outsiders in
the Grove, and curious sylvari wanting to seek them out and ask them
questions (again, from random NPC convos when running around the city).
There’s already random sylvari wandering the cities of other races too.

I didn’t even aim for them, tbh. Was busy trying to get 100% on the
Grove, and help my sister who couldn’t figure out the layout of the city
with its broken elevator pods.
- pandora005
  
  With “other races dont know about them” I meant that other races dont know how they would behave in a time of crisis. Such a short time as 25 years isnt enough to actually get to know a new race without any history whatsoever. Thus it would be illogical for other races to actually give such a – potentially dangerous – race any important information about any past super magical kingdoms or artifacts. To me that is a clear logic bug in the assumptions of Arenanets storytellers.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/7XSXJCSSBCCFQ6DZYE7ZYPP6SY Summoner
    
    I’m sure if dragons who could lift islands, and destroy the world in general, came about, and the sylvari proved themselves capable warriors (this said from the charr) and their ambassadors doing their jobs, it would not be illogical for the other races to be like: “All the help we can get. *brofist*” Same with asura surfacing and joining the team.
    I bet people weren’t free with their information to Trahearne about Orr, either. Probably a part of the reason why his Wyld Hunt is so difficult.

Cirdi

Question: I saw a few early videos of sylvari and they had awesome leafy armor. When I finally got to play, the armor was the same as every other race with no leafy-ness. When does the Sylvari actually look Sylvari-ish as we’ve seen in videos and screenshots? Inquiring fashion minds want to know!

Kicknpups

Around level 35 you can you use Karma to purchase for that race’s cities and only for those Race.The weapons can be used by all race but the armor (Unless you have faction earned with that home city).
- Cirdi
  
  Thank you Ben and Kicknpups for your responses. You rock! I did take a trip to Grove before the last beta ended and saw a few vendors with armor for 10g each piece. I also saw a karma vendor but it was empty. I’ll check it out again at launch!!! To Leafy-ness! :) thx again!
  - Kagitaar
    
    Also, your initial town clothes are leaves.
http://www.facebook.com/omartellers Omar-Gabriel Tellers

You can get Sylvari flavored armor from the following: The Nightmare Arbour dungeon armor, or the sylvari racial armor available at level 40,60,80. http://imgur.com/a/YJSyC#9 Some examples.
Old Ben

There is leafy armor in the game, but you can wear other kinds if you want.

Some types of armor and town clothes do change depending on your race (ex., the cook’s outfit from the gem store has a different style depending on your race), but as a rule I think it’s preferable if armor type X looks roughly the same on every race (adjusting just for size / shape), so people can pick their own style.

If you want leafy armor, I think you can get it from karma vendors at The Grove.

I do agree that their _starting_ armor should probably be “leafier”, though. Maybe Arena Net just copied the armor from other races to save time, and will have more appropriate starting gear for launch.

M H

I love MikeB exclusives. I feel you hit it right on with the Sylvari.

koujow

I was wondering about the Sylvari and their same sex relationships. I mean, is that even right? Are Sylvari actually different genders or do they look cosmetically different and thats all? They are all born from a tree like fruit, and fruit doesn’t have a gender. I just thought it was kind of confusing.

http://profile.yahoo.com/W76UOX2IDTRMMYTPASSJDLXLRM Bob

It has been speculated that the Sylvari took their form and mannerisms from the human druids who disappeared during the original Guild Wars. So they don’t really have a sex but they look like male and female humans (at least an approximation of that form).
Old Ben

Many vegetables do have male and female versions, and I think some trees can have male and female flowers (on the same tree).
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Some groves of trees will only flower and bare fruit if both sexes are present. Aw, now I feel bad for the gay Sylvari couple if they want to create fruit. Hmm, maybe they are dioecious.
  - Old Ben
    
    > bare fruit
    
    Speaking of “bare fruit”, what kind of perverts do they hire as 3D artists that felt the need to model _underwear_ into the sylvari? They’re plants, FFS, it’s not like they’re going to have nipples or dangly bits. Why do they need a “special” leaf covering the place where those body parts would be in a human? To call people’s attention?
    
    It’s nearly as bad as skeletons wearing boxer shorts in WoW.
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      and what was it with the twitters for the rest of the day. Seem like everyone was sending out twitters with pictures of their dinner salads (i.e. Sylvari cloths)
    - koujow
      
      I didn’t know plants had genders. That is kind of cool to know.
      
      The salad people need to cover their ‘dangly bits’ because if they didn’t, some kids mom is going to come in and see a bunch of naked green people and freak out. Even if the race was depicted as being entirely without gender, or something like the Angels out of Dogma, or whatever, someone would throw a fit.
    - Old Ben
      
      Someone might freak out about the fact that women in GW2 are allowed to go outside with their hair uncovered. Someone might freak out about the fact that there’s a race named after hindu demons (Asuras). And (unlikely as this may seem) someone might freak out about the fact that the Sylvari are in favor of gay incest.
      
      Of all the things someone might freak out over, I really don’t think that the _absence_ of genitals on the sylvari should worry Arena Net. Especially since the alternative they chose was to (barely) cover those areas with a leaf of a different color (calling _more_ attention to it) that looks like it could fall off at any moment.
- pandora005
  
  Yes, that may be true, BUT nature doesnt waste anything and since Sylvari dont reproduce by themselves and only come from the tree it is stupid for nature to provide them with something like genitals in the first place. So either there is some deeper thing we dont know about yet (crossbreeding between humans and sylvari?) or the whole thing is going to stay illogical.
  - Old Ben
    
    > nature doesnt waste anything
    
    So why do men have nipples?
    
    Lots of animals and plants have horribly inefficient designs in some parts of their body; they’re the result of progressive mutation and selection (i.e., evolution), and fixing those inefficiencies would require a change too sudden to be achieved by natural means.
    
    “Nature doesn’t waste anything” is just a short description of the way living organisms feed off each other (i.e., one being’s poo is another being’s banquet). There is a lot of waste in actual animal (and plant, and fungus, etc.) anatomy.
    
    And this game takes place in Tyria, where people and creatures cast spells all the time. As in magic. In a place where you can turn yourself into a cloud of steam or teleport whenever you want, your problem is that some magical tree decided to create plant beings shaped to look like humans…?

http://twitter.com/Elenandaron Elenandaron

Downed is a part of the tutorial mission. This part is the same for all races: you take fatal damage from the first source of damage from the tutorial boss. A minion will spawn at the location you got downed at (in this case, the nightmare hound), which you can easily defeat to get back on your feet thus teaching you the purpose of the downed state. So there you have it.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Lazarowitz/100000420795554 Steve Lazarowitz

This simply isn’t true. I never died during the Sylvari opening and did it three times in a row to make sure. Actually this misnomer comes from an article written on another site to prepare people for the BWE. It said, you WILL die. But it was wrong and people are still quoting it.
- Old Ben
  
  It was written in the official forums by one of the lead developers. I think he might know.
  - MMO_Doubter
    
    Given the development history of other MMOs, I would not assume that.
- dawolv
  
  True!
  actually, you cannot die in Tuts.
  Getting downed can happen but when your downed health runs out you just keep lying there until something dies and you rally (or the end boss is killed with you in near vicinity)
- http://twitter.com/Elenandaron Elenandaron
  
  You have to still take damage for it to trigger. It is possible to avoid it – I did it myself with the Charr tutorial by actively dodging every attack the baron made. I’m not quoting anything, either, it’s just the how and the why these sudden deaths seem to work for me. Just explaining their purpose, that’s all. It’s not foolproof.

Bobby K

You are ment to die at every starting zone boss encounter.Thats why the 270 dmg is out of nowhere.They said in a blogpost or interview(I cant remember) that its made that way to show you the downed state

Old Ben

A very silly and unfair way to do it, TBH. The downed state and other game mechanics (mail, skills, entering PvP, etc.) should be in a separate tutorial, available by talking to your profession trainer (which is right there at the start but completely useless until level 10).

Most people I played with were just confused about:

a) Why had they died (they had managed to avoid all hits, and suddenly the get 1-shotted).

b) Why every NPC was treating them as “the hero” who had defeated the boss when in fact they had just been lying on the floor during most of the fight.
- Jay
  
  Lol still stuck on the whole “hero” thing? The way I see it, there are many forms of “heroes” in the world. Someone who saves a kid from drowning could be considered a hero, or even just someone yelling at a bear to scare them off… You don’t have to save the world to be a “hero”… Sometimes it’s just being brave enough to do something about the problem.
  
  I remember NPCs saying, great job or I heard about you, or something similar. Never did it make me feel like I saved the world, but instead made it seem that I was someone deserving of respect from doing an extraordinary act. The stories don’t start off as deep as some of the best selling novels, but remember the game has to cater to a large audience, old and young. There are some nice moments that stuck with me, and some, not so much.
  
  I agree with you on the whole “one shot you so you learn about the downed state” mechanic. If someone is good enough to never see the downed state the whole game, I say, so be it. I do think there should be a short tutorial section right before the first boss fight teaching you about various mechanics… NPC should ask, “Would you like some basic combat training before you go out into the field?”. Maybe something ANet will add eventually, but I rather them just get the game out the door. =D
  - Old Ben
    
    > Lol still stuck on the whole “hero” thing?
    
    Huh? Had you played the Sylvari story before…?
    - Jay
      
      Yes. In fact, it’s my new favorite race in GW2. I was pleasantly surprised by how different the paths in the story become with the choices you make before and after you start the game.
      
      Compared to other MMOs out there, I think GW2 personal stories stack up well. Especially since we’re not even at the high level content yet. One thing I noticed about GW2 this weekend is that it’s not really one big thing that stands out, but rather it’s a bunch of little things that make the game special.
    - Old Ben
      
      > Yes.
      
      Huh?! How did you play through the sylvari story before BWE3?
    - Jay
      
      I guess I need to break it down for you a bit… “Still stuck on that “hero” thing?” You were complaining about being a hero so early in the GW2 stories for awhile now, so I’m not sure how you thought that to mean I played the Sylvari story before BWE3… I know you’re borderline trolling at this point though (no point in trying to deny it, since were both clever). It’s kool, I just think you’re more of the minority than you may realize on this particular topic.
      
      Could the stories be better? Yes. Could any story ever written be better? Sure.
      
      Peace & love.
    - Old Ben
      
      > You were complaining about being
      > a hero so early in the GW2 stories
      
      Arena Net stated that “each race’s story is completely different”, so I didn’t make a pre-judgement about the sylvari story until I actually played (wait for it…) the sylvari story.
      
      If they make the same mistakes, then obviously I’m not suddenly going to like those mistakes just because my character is now green instead of pink. Just as I wouldn’t like them (and would mention them as downside) in any other game.
      
      Conversely, if the sylvari story had a good narrative structure, that made players feel like they had earned some recognition (or treated them honestly, instead of in such a childish and partronizing way), I would have mentioned that as an upside.
      
      If a game doesn’t let you change key bindings (for example) and you mention that as a downside, and then mention it again about the sequel, that doesn’t mean you’re “stuck on that keybind thing”. It just means you are writing stand-alone critiques or comments about each one.
      
      Whatever I wrote before about the human, charr and norn stories obviously did not automatically apply to the sylvari story because I had never seen (let alone played through) the sylvari story.
      
      > I’m not sure how you thought that to mean
      > I played the Sylvari story before BWE3
      
      I think it was when I asked “had you played the sylvari story before?” and you replied “yes”.
      
      But I guess that wasn’t trolling, it was just an innovative use of the word “yes”.
    - Jay
      
      Seems you were jumping to conclusions, yet again… I said “Yes.” after giving you the benefit of the doubt. I gave you no reason to think I played the Sylvari story before BWE3. Why would you ask that in the first place?.. You must’ve thought I implied I played the Sylvari beforehand, and where you got that impression is what I wasn’t sure of, based on my original comment. Try to follow the chain of events/comments… I know you make many, but you’re jumping around just trying to prove your case. Playing the (wait for it…) Sylvari, has little to do with you having a problem with becoming a “hero” early in the personal stories. You simply don’t like the narrative structure it seems, and that’s part of the game design itself… Not racial.
      
      It would be nice if game designers at ANet could make games that cater to each person specifically, wouldn’t it? Just a tad unrealistic though.
    - Old Ben
      
      My post _had_ one sentence: “Had you played the Sylvari story before…?”
      
      Your reply was “Yes.”
      
      And I’m the one who needs to “follow the chain of events”…? Yeah…
      
      If you’re replying to some other post or to someone else (or if you can’t even be bothered to read the _only_ sentence in my post), don’t blame me for “not following the chain of events”.
      
      > You simply don’t like the narrative structure it seems, and that’s
      > part of the game design itself… Not racial.
      
      Nothing in the game’s engine forces the plots to be identical or even similar. What’s more, Arena Net stated that the stories had been written independently, by different people, so I hoped these two wouldn’t fall into the same mistakes.
      
      Since they do, I mentioned it. If that bothers you, simply don’t read my posts (from your reply above it seems you’re already doing that, although for some reason you still post replies).
    - Jay
      
      What you fail to understand is, while trying to be clever, you showed that you either misread my comment, or just didn’t understand what was being said. I never mentioned playing the Sylvari story before BWE3, and I never implied it… Being sarcastic is nice and all, but it proved to work against you in this instance.
      
      Once again, my first comment had no implications of me playing the Sylvari story beforehand. Your question was so random, I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you were asking, “Had you played the Sylvari story before…?”, to say it was terrible and you couldn’t understand why I would defend it (I still think that’s what you were doing.). I can’t break it down for you any simpler than that…
      
      I don’t care enough about a comment section to be bothered, I’m just expressing a different view than yours. Maybe that bothers you…
    - Old Ben
      
      > I’m just expressing a different view
      
      You’re free to “express” whichever view you want, but if you can’t even be bothered to read the _only_ sentence in my post, please “express” your views in separate posts, don’t pretend they’re replies to mine.
      
      > I still think that’s what you were doing.
      
      There was no need to “think”. It was a simple yes-or-no question. You replied “yes”. As it turned out, that wasn’t true.
    - Jay
      
      That simple yes or no question demonstrated that _you_ in fact, either did not read my post, or simply misunderstood… I’ve explained it numerous times, but I suppose you’re choosing to ignore the truth of the matter. That’s kool, whenever you actually feel like understanding, take your time and read it over.
      
      Good day to you, sir.
    - Old Ben
      
      The only thing it demonstrated was that you either didn’t read the question (which was the entire contents of my post) or you were deliberately lying.
      
      I guess your definition of “the truth of the matter” must be fundamentally different (in fact the complete opposite) of the one used by other people.
- astarael8
  
  Actually its possible to make it through the starting stuff without dying. :p Just have to avoid all the crap on the ground which is err not always doable. >.>
  - Old Ben
    
    As you can see in the video at the top of this page, Mike avoids “all the crap on the ground” and still gets insta-killed. It’s scripted. Sometimes it fails, but the developers _want_ players to die in that fight, they’ve stated several times that it’s part of the thing they call “the tutorial”. Someone should tell them what the word actually means.
    - astarael8
      
      Then how have I made it through those starting events without dying?
    - Old Ben
      
      Because you’re just so damn good.
pandora005

Having the characters start as “heroes” is super stupid simply because you are still level 1 (well level 2 after the event) and get sent out to do rather menial quests like protecting farmers from worms or bandits. Thus it goes from being on top of the fame ladder to the muddy part at the bottom and thats terrible.

http://twitter.com/Nin3r Richard Martin

1. The Morgan’s Spiral jump puzzle leads to a chest, which you did see, and you get an achievement. You cán fight your way up there aswell, which is that cave with lvl8 mobs, you can reach the chest but you won’t get the achievement.

2. You can even get those mortar plant seeds as a tier 2 utility skill and further in the zone they use those things aswell. The asura actually have a similar personal story quest where you plant mines, set up lightning conductors and place golems.

Ben Cornforth

I’m sensing a GW2 Darnell Reincarnation with that Sylvari…..???

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

As one of the salad people, I did feel bad killing the undead. Maybe there were some of Darnell’s friends or relatives.

boarderdog

LMFAO @ 0:42

http://twitter.com/ron6405 mouse

for some reason I only liked playing human and asura find other race boring :S

Old Ben

Are you talking about the stories, starting areas, or the way your own character looks?

You can create a norn character and go level in the human or asura zones, for example.

http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

lol Salad People.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawna-Daniels/1135007726 Shawna Daniels

‘Budding is a form of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud on another one. The new organism remains attached as it grows, separating from the parent organism only when it is mature. Since the reproduction is asexual, the newly created organism is a clone and is genetically identical to the parent organism. Current hypotheses suggest that asexual reproduction may have short term benefits when rapid population growth is important or in stable environments, while sexual reproduction offers a net advantage by allowing more rapid generation of genetic diversity, allowing adaptation to changing environments. Developmental constraints may underlie why few animals have relinquished sexual reproduction completely in their life-cycles.’

I guess that’s how they do it.

Jay

This was worth watching for Mike B’s video editing alone… Gotta watch out for them cliffs, Fony. =P

jgelling

I tried the Sylvari in the latest beta – and strongly considered canceling my pre-order. I still might: the story seemed unbelievably cheesy and I didn’t like anything about the look or animation. That and GW2 has a very strange take on what a necromancer is.

It was my first experience with the game and it was extremely disappointing. The production values just aren’t there. This may go back into the wait and see category for me if the entire game is like this.

Old Ben

I find that, if you completely ignore and skip the “personal stories”, the overall game quality immediately doubles.
- jgelling
  
  That’s probably a good idea. I guess they feel like they have to compete with SWTOR and have some kind of cinematic personal story, but it made me embarrassed to listen to it.
  
  SWTOR has a lot of problems, but I guess I got spoiled there over what cinematics and voice acting should sound like. This was like something written by and for an 8 year old child.
  
  As I was listening to it, I was thinking, God I hope no one ever sees me watching this.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan
    
    More like pretty much every game wants to have voice acting these days. Even some of the indie games seems to have it.
    - astarael8
      
      Actually I am pretty sure the personal story stuff has been planned for quite sometime, had nothing to do with Swtor.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan
      
      I am not the one who thinks it has anything to do with SWTOR, that is jgelling.
  - Jay
    
    LOL SWTOR wasn’t much better at all… Personal preference maybe, but TOR just relied on Star Wars to set the tone. GW2 is a fantasy game, so I’m not sure what you expected. If you’re only buying an MMO for the personal story, I think you may be doing it wrong.
  - MMO_Doubter
    
    Being someone who has read strange things called “books”, I was not impressed with SWTOR’s stories.
  - Old Ben
    
    > This was like something written by and for an 8 year old child.
    
    The Sylvari story, you mean? If so, it looks like they’re aiming for a more mature audience. The other races’ stories seem aimed squarely at the 5 year old demographic.
  - Shogunz
    
    I’m a bit perplexed that you would point to SWTOR for decent cinematics and VA. It was “novel”, if only in the mmo sense, but it’s hardly good (that said a few bits of VA was great, but not much).
- pandora005
  
  The personal story of the Charr fits the race, the human one too, but the huge disappointment is the Sylvari one, because it isnt different at all from the others but should be. The Sylvari are a completely different race and should have a “non-standard” view on things (which the players should be taught in the first zone) and thus their “problems with the world” in the personal story should be drastically different. They arent and its the same traitors and oppositions stuff (just “plant flavored”) the other races get and that is terrible.
  - Old Ben
    
    The people writing the story are the people who _invented_ the sylvari. If you think “the story doesn’t fit the race”, you probably just hadn’t understood the race. The race is being defined by that story.
    
    My problem with the personal stories is that they don’t fit things like “plot consistency”, “logical thought” or “mature storytelling”.
Randa_Sue

Maybe it’s just my view differs as it comes from a female standpoint, but i liked the Sylvari story. Also, you said that this was your first experience in the game; did you try any of the other races before making this judgment? I only ask this because each race has a very different story and overall feel to it.
ArsenicSundae

The voice acting is perfectly fine. It’s the writing that needs work. Not the concepts, just the dialog. Conceptually, the sylvari have one of the most interesting and unique lore backdrops out of all the races. If you’d bothered to learn what the Dream is exactly, and why the Nightmare Court want to poison it (ultimately to save the world from itself) you might have seen that.

As for low production values, that’s because you’re obviously viewing the screen through a haze of bong smoke.

Enjoy whatever game you leave this one for.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  I did find the emotional tone for most of the voice acting to be a little flat. The only time NPCs got a little excited was when they wanted me to try out crafting.
  
  The art style seems to have a “watercolor” feel. (or watercolour for our commonwealth friends.) But, once you try the combat, the art style grown on you. (no Sylvari pun intended.)
  - Jay
    
    Lol nice pun… They grew on me too. :3
  - Jado Cast
    
    HaHa “commonwealth friends”

Kagitaar

I wanted to try out the Sylvari, but after experiencing my first and only two crashes of the BWEs within the first hour, I gave up and went to go try more classes with the Norn. From what I saw it looked interesting, that month can’t go by fast enough.

Colonel17

i found the Sylvari to be very interesting. i wanted to save them for launch and only play asura this weekend but after an hour i just had to walk away from my asura. sylvari so much better.

fallos24

i got my sylvari to level 16 and it was a blast the entire time. the found the world to be immersive and fun, and aren’t we all just brothers and sisters what what.

RolyVento

My race come launch will also be a Sylari, the character animations and graphics was awesome. I like the fact that this race has so many character customization options, specially the “Glow in the Dark” aspect. I specifically liked the hair option with the branches and leaves coming out of the head, looked wicked good!

The story line for ALL races is a bit childess and cheesy at times and the voice acting is teribad! But the game offers so much more that I am overlooking this, the game has a bunch of game mechanics that are so much fun, so different, so involving and so deep that I can for the 1st time in my gaming life ignore the horrible story lines and voice acting.

Also, I noticed the cinematic had a logo in the background stating “Work in Progress”, isn’t this the final client for launch? Some cinematic didn’t even have VOICE! Oh well….the pve and sPvP was so much fun that I will just ignore these weak points.

Old Ben

> I noticed the cinematic had a logo in the background stating
> “Work in Progress”, isn’t this the final client for launch?

Lots of things are still missing or incomplete. In some cutscenes the text doesn’t match the speech, the characters aren’t actually looking at each other, etc.. I suspect they were planning to do at least one more BWE (with everything finished, just to check for bugs) but decided to launch a bit earlier due to some other factors, like trade shows.

http://twitter.com/websome7 websome7

Sylvari was my race of choice when I decided to play GW2 and it did not disappoint, awesome story, OP racial, glow in the dark (I was purple and glowed yellow-green). Whats not to love all I have to say

Jay

Yeah, I fell in love with the Sylvari… Even though I like all the races so far.
- Jado Cast
  
  same here. I had really thought I would go with Charr but the Sylvari are just too awesome. Looks like my main will be Sylvari Necro now. I’m a serious Alt-aholic, but I’m going to do my best to stick with one main and one alt since there is going to be so much in this game. I had 5 alts in GW1 through all the campaigns, expansions, and patched content and it was really hard to keep going back and doing the same content over again to get them through the story. I thought about doing all five races to see all the story lines (which I will probably end up doing at some point), but rather concentrate on achieving everything possible with just one main this time.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Hamad-Ali-Al-Jalahma/512893526 Hamad Ali Al-Jalahma

Loved this review. Amazing Editing.

DoctorOverlord

I really thought I would like the sylvari but those darn asura were just so entertaining that I ended up liking them and their zone more in the BWE. I never would have imagined it when I first read about the races. The zone is beautiful and it certainly captures a sense of mystery. Maybe I need to have gotten further into the sylvari story but I suspect I’ll be leveling my asura first

Anthony Botz

Great gag at 0:42 Perfect timing. Brilliantly executed.

http://www.hhportals.com/izhelara Lash

Hey guys! Just wondering; How will it work if i start as a human, can i easily do/access the other(like Sylvari) starter zones? After the intro-quest thingy yeah.

Austin Adams

Ya after the into thing turn around and head in to your races main city and hop over to Lions Arch and in Lions arch there portals to all the major cities
EndrzGame

Yup, very easily. After you get through the initial tutorial you can head to your races home city which is conveniently located. From there you can find the large Asura Gate, (looks like a StarGate), that will take you to the city of Lion’s Arch. In LA there are Gates that are connected to every races major city.
So say you roll a human. Do the tutorial, walk into Divinity’s Reach, go through a gate, then go through another gate of your choosing. Where ever you want to go. Then, after you find the waypoints on the map you can travel anywhere in the world instantly, (ala Elder Scrolls), for a small fee.
http://www.hhportals.com/izhelara Lash

Sweet! Thanks so much for the info guys!
- Old Ben
  
  Or just open the hero panel, teleport into PvP (“enter the mists”), and you’ll find a gate from the PvP island into Lion’s Arch, after which you can use the gates to all the other cities. I’m not sure which path is shorter.
  - Jay
    
    I was going to suggest the same… Teleporting ends up being a bit quicker.
  - http://www.hhportals.com/izhelara Lash
    
    Ah that might be faster yeah =) Thanks!

MMO_Doubter

All I have to say is:

Plants with breasts.

Old Ben

Which part of the coconut do you think coconut milk comes from…?
- MMO_Doubter
  
  Why – from the nuts, of course.
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    Aeee, looking this stuff up. It’s a drupe, not a nut. The flesh inside the coconut is the endosperm and the milk/oils is a nutrient.

Rich E.

heh… more boss fights with “wtf just happened?” and “huh??” deaths…. love the game, played each beta, but the boss fights are pretty lame overall.

http://www.facebook.com/toph1980 Christopher Fischer

Blip.tv connection rejected. Working fine a few hours ago.

http://www.facebook.com/liam.williams.184881 Liam Williams

Incest is best!…. Right?

Jadedsheamus

I’m pretty sure that the bosses in all the starting areas down you once no matter what, to give you a little experience with it, as some mmo vets might not die in the starting areas for quite some time, the dog popping up would be for you to kill and rally and experience that as well.

Old Ben

That is the objective, yes.

The problems are that a) you’re killed by something you can’t see (the damage is scripted), so players will be confused or think the game’s hitboxes are broken and b) no one tells you that you’re supposed to kill the minion, so a lot of players just lie there on the floor, and continue to attack the boss until the end of the fight. And since they always win the fight (the victory is also scripted), they think they did “the right thing”.

In other words, new players “learn” the wrong thing and get the impression that the game has dodgy hitboxes, which probably doesn’t improve their opinion about the game.

Giving new players a tutorial about the downed state (and other things) is a great idea, but the way it’s done fails badly.

jonathanmi10

Ya know uhh, since Sylvari don’t exactly have genitalia (or I’d assume). So, wouldn’t incest not be a problem to begin with? (Let alone gay relationships)

Also, why Sylvari have breast I will NEVER know.

Justin Bania

Stop staring at that flower’s pollen sacks!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Lazarowitz/100000420795554 Steve Lazarowitz

Because the pale tree modeled them after humans, having been mostly surrounded by humans during its growth.
- MMO_Doubter
  
  Wrong. It is because ANet didn’t want to make plant characters that weren’t ‘hot’.
  - http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.hornsby.7 Jonathan Hornsby
    
    Considering that the females of the charr are not generic
    cat girls like those things in Final Fantasy I don’t think they have a problem
    with non-sexualized characters. It is simply a part of the lore, not only did
    the tree choose to make sylvari look humanoid; the tree itself was planted on a
    mass human grave, so there is a little…um… “recycling” going on.
    - MMO_Doubter
      
      It is ANet’s IP. They WROTE the lore. They are not tied to someone else’s vision.
      
      They could have made the ‘plant people’ look and function like plants. They CHOSE not to.
      
      Do the female Charr have breasts?
    - Old Ben
      
      > They could have made the ‘plant people’
      > look and function like plants.
      
      They probably considered it, but for some reason decided that gameplay revolving around standing still, being watered now and then, and doing photosynthesis during the day might not be very exciting for players.
    - MMO_Doubter
      
      Have you heard of Ents?
    - http://twitter.com/gmartinqc Gabriel Martin
      
      yes but I doubt playing as one would be very entertaining. Sure they got a hot action scene in the movies but they are really content just standing there not moving or doing anything aka being a tree.
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      Did someone say Ents. Are we back to comparing Sylvari to elves and other archetypes from high fantasy.
    - Old Ben
      
      You mean the huge trees that walk and talk? Is that your definition of “behaving like real plants”…?
      
      And weren’t you ranting about the lack of original IP and how companies shouldn’t tie themselves to pre-conceived medieval races?
      
      Back to random trolling, eh? Well, saves me the trouble of reading your posts, let alone reply.
    - Jado Cast
      
      so basically you would have preferred the oakhearts to be playable races? Is that what you were looking for vs. a humanoid like creature?
    - MMO_Doubter
      
      I don’t know what Oakhearts are. I am saying that plant people would be more interesting to play than just some green elves with leafy underwear.
      
      Have them recover in wet and sunny areas. Don’t give them mammalian body parts.
      
      In short – make them PLAY differently than just another standard MMO race.
      
      Ent-like characters could be pretty damned cool to play.
    - Jado Cast
      
      Oakhearts are basically Tyria’s version of Ents. You will run into them in pretty early in the starting zone for Humans.
  - Old Ben
    
    Yeah, everybody knows that plant characters must be hot. It’s one of those unwritten rules. Whenever people think “vegetable”, their mind fills with erotic images.
    - http://twitter.com/morpheusxp Ken McDowell
      
      I know everytime I think of a tomato I get all hot and bothered.
    - MMO_Doubter
      
      You would if it had nice tits.
      
      ’Tomato’ is an old slang term for an attractive woman, BTW.
    - MMO_Doubter
      
      Ask the devs why the ‘female’ Sylvari have breasts. Plants are not mammals, therefore do not nurse.
      
      They have breasts to look good. That is a marketing choice, not a lore choice.
      
      The SAME reason WoW’s female pandas are slim and cute, rather than fat bears.
      
      Does GW2 have ‘jiggle’ physics?
    - Jado Cast
      
      depends on the vegetable, XD
- Old Ben
  
  Where “the pale tree” is obviously a euphemism for “our art department”.
  
  It was probably bad enough having to make completely separate models and rigs for asura and charr characters; if they manage to reuse the human armor and animation for the sylvari, that’s several months of development they save.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Boiwka/1167985586 Mike Boiwka

Plants sexually reproduce too, you know. It’s just that their sexual organs are flowers. Think about that the next time you smell a rose. And yeah, inbreeding in plants can cause issues too.

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

I’m starting to wonder if there is some type of combat lag in the system. When I decided to retreat (runaway for Monty Python fans) instead of dodging away, my character would sometimes fall over dead (downed) after 10 to 15 seconds and a mob would pop out of nowhere.

DoctorOverlord

Ewwww, They could be seen as direct siblings couldn’t they? If I see a pair named Jaime and Circe I will be really grossed out.

Nice review Mike B! Thanks for pointing out the sparkling, I didn’t know about that!

MMO_Doubter

LOL. I think you can certain you WILL see that.

I JUST finished the third book, myself.
Eboran

I’d say the Sylvari are in the same position as Adam and Eve in the Christian mythos. Just replace “God” with the Pale Tree.

kavashy

That instant death is to introduce the downed and rally mechanic. It has done that with every new character i create. That is also why the low health wolf appeared in front of you.

http://twitter.com/gmartinqc Gabriel Martin

Yup gotta love how they are hinting at key game play elements without ever just telling you. Look you were downed but if you defeat this thing we conveniently spawned on you you will get back up.
- Old Ben
  
  Except people who don’t know that killing an enemy while downed brings you back to life will simply keep attacking the boss, with no idea of what is going on (why did they die if nothing hit them? why did their ability bar change? what are they supposed to do now?).
  
  So new players simply lie there, attacking the boss instead of the minion (because that’s what they were told to do at the start of the fight), and when the fight ends (because the NPC always defeats the boss, regardless of what the players do), they get back up, and haven’t learned anything.
  
  The middle of a confusing boss fight is not the place to teach players about fundamental game mechanics (especially if their idea of “teaching” is just expecting that new players _guess_ that killing a minion will bring them back to life).
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Smith/100000531128393 Ian Smith

Would also like to point that you can’t actually die on the starter boss, I think. Just watched a Yogscast video and he lost all his life on the boss and couldn’t even figure out to kill the mob attacking him and yet still lived. Like you say, I think it’s just a teaching tool. In my opinion right now, Sylvari has the coolest starter boss, Asura get second.

P V

Mike B gets owned by dragon due to running in the path of AoE then blames static wolf , how sad?
Then Mike B goes on a rampage about naked people , while Sylvari are tree’s not people they just “born” into that image of mankind.

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

MikeB seem more excited that he found a bug that caused invisible armor and then realized this was a story mechanic.

Vidina_SS

Vid

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R35J5EUERGS3E6JRIQMBCDTRRY Nathan I

The “suddenly dead” thing is deliberate, it wasn’t explained well, but basically at a certain point it is scripted that you will get downed (confirmed by a dev), this is done to teach players about the down mechanic.

zeint ernetz

It’s possible to avoid the auto death in the tutorial area, though it is not easy.
- Old Ben
  
  Considering it’s scripted and deliberate, being able to avoid it is probably considered a bug, and something they will “fix”. My guess is the immunity from dodge is superseding the damage from the script, so if you happen to be dodging when the script says “kill player”, that gets ignored.
  
  It’s really just a matter of chance, since the damage that downs players doesn’t come from a visible source, as is pretty clear in MikeB’s videos.
  
  Of the eight characters I played in the three BWEs, I think only two didn’t get downed, and four went down without being hit by anything during the entire fight.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R35J5EUERGS3E6JRIQMBCDTRRY Nathan I

with sylvari sexuality, technically, a relationship between any two sylvari is not only an incestuous relationship since they all came from the same tree like Mike B says, but also all same-sex relationships since they are all technically genderless.

MMO_Doubter

If they are genderless, sex would be pointless.
- http://twitter.com/morpheusxp Ken McDowell
  
  Being that all Sylvari come from the same tree a pair of Sylvari can’t reproduce anyways. So if a sexual relationship does occur between two Sylvari its just as a form of affection being that they can’t reproduce.
  - dawolv
    
    Arenanet hasn’t fully discussed yet how they will reproduce. Maybe there are more Seeds to plant more Pale Trees, maybe at some point the race will figure out how to use their plant junk (after all, theyr entire race is only 25 years old, most Sylvari are teenagers!)

Darkholme

I’d say sylvari are pansexual since it’s been stated that they don’t see genders, just the person. So technically it’s not homosexual, it’s just… sexual. They’re attracted to the people that inspire, intrigue and amaze them, which could be anyone of any race. I like this approach as it doesn’t put emphasis on any type of relationship, such as waving a big rainbow flag (*cough*Bioware). It’s presented as naturally as any relationship, nothing more nothing less.

Jay

Attraction on a mental and spiritual level… I get that. I mean, they don’t even have sex since they’re born from the Great Tree. Just another area where ANet is trying to do something special… For the record, my Sylvari male only likes plants with boobs.
- http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.hornsby.7 Jonathan Hornsby
  
  Actually Arena net confirmed a while back that they can, and do, have sex. There is just no point beyond intimacy because they can’t sexually reproduce. As to why they have sex organs at all then? because they are a race of knockoffs. They are bootleg humans, a cheap imitation. The Pale Tree designed them, modeled them after the human body, and humans have sex organs. Heck the tree may not have even known what those parts were for when she did it, but she did it just to honor the human who tended the tree up until his death hundreds of years before GW2.
  - Jay
    
    I know they said they were intimate with each other, but I missed the part where they said Sylvari have sex. Was it at a convention panel, or one of the blog posts?

Jado Cast

Not sure if anyone else had this issue, but I had a bug on a few faces I picked in character creation for Sylvari which changed once I started the game. I filed the bug report. Also, my female Sylvari’s death shroud animation was messed up pretty bad.

Old Ben

> Not sure if anyone else had this issue, but I had a bug
> on a few faces I picked in character creation

They’re plants in the middle of a forest. Of course there are going to be some bugs crawling on their faces.
- Jado Cast
  
  Funny Funny Man!

Jado Cast

I see a new show like Blizz Blues coming soon with Sylvari Shenanigans in the world of Tyria. Will his name be Darnel?

Old Ben

Grove Greens, starring Dandel(ion).
- Jado Cast
  
  That name gives me a very descriptive image in my mind! Good one. XD

http://www.facebook.com/victoria.collon Victoria Collon

wheres that plants vs zombies ? if i got it right u had it in personal story.. i didn’t see it in three different ones ( including Nekro) PLZ tell

http://twitter.com/BeVa93 Benjamin Vanhees

You roled exactly the same race/profession combos I did, Asura Guardian and Sylvari Necromancer x)

Guild Wars 2 First Look - Sylvari

Last Stand At Southsun May 28th

Guild Wars 2 Microtransactions: Still Consistent and Strong

Guild Wars 2 Expansion In The Works

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