By Alec Meer on May 29th, 2012 at 10:00 pm.
There’s to be another beta weekend for Guild Wars 2, the MMO that resolutely refuses to launch. Which means, once again, I won’t be able to play the thing due to weekend plans. Specifically in this case, camping in Sherwood Forest and listening to indie bands. Can’t we have a beta weekday evening or two instead, please?
If you are around for the 8th to 10th of June, you should be able to hop onto a GW2 beta server presuming you’ve either pre-ordered or already managed to snag a beta account from somewhere. The good news of previous beta-barons is that characters from the first weekend haven’t been wiped, so this might be your chance to have a nose at some of the higher-level contentydoodledoo.
As for what’s different from the first weekend, an Arenanet blog post offers this :
“We’ve made great strides toward resolving many of the issues you’ve helped us identify. These include party movement into overflow servers, chat functionality, key bindings, server stability, performance, and many more that we will detail in the near future.”
Well, next weekend is quite near as futures get, so they’d better get a move on.
29/05/2012 at 22:10 aliksy says:
What is that in the screenshot?
Also: Yay gw2.
29/05/2012 at 22:16 Enzo says:
I think it’s some videogame.
29/05/2012 at 22:26 Maldomel says:
Some what?
29/05/2012 at 22:27 Wreckdum says:
Female Mesmer. Looks like the Sylvari race. (That race isn’t playable in the beta yet.)
30/05/2012 at 04:29 dellnych says:
Car Steering Wheel Bluetooth Adapter + Wireless Earpiece
http://vvb-sl.tk/361
30/05/2012 at 08:32 Obeith says:
I read this spammer as “Charr Stearing Wheel” …
Can only imagine what that is.. Probably furry
30/05/2012 at 08:31 Roshin says:
Just release it already, dammit.
29/05/2012 at 22:18 Phantoon says:
How the hells would anyone have made it to 35? I grinded beyond the current content and got to 26.
29/05/2012 at 22:28 Wreckdum says:
You can’t grind beyond the current content. The game dynamically scales you down. I was level 25 in the level 8 starter area getting full experience except I got busted down to level 8.
Technically you could grind 1-80 in the first zone if you wanted to. (Would be boring as shit but someone will probably do it.)
30/05/2012 at 14:16 jrodman says:
Too bad we can’t be automatically scaled up as well, and then in engage in duels on the border.
29/05/2012 at 22:23 Chris D says:
My hopes for a June/July release are looking a touch optimistic, sadly.
29/05/2012 at 22:44 Grey Ganado says:
I thought they already mentioned something about the release being in November.
29/05/2012 at 23:01 trjp says:
I’m 99.9% sure they’ve never committed to a date – or even a year.
Mind you – if they don’t deliver it this year, I think the internet will drown in tears…
29/05/2012 at 23:27 Rattlepiece says:
Actually it is confirmed to be released this year.
30/05/2012 at 00:57 Koshinator says:
There is absolutely no solid information on release date yet – if you follow their twitter it’s almost every third response to a question – any and all rumors about release schedules are false
30/05/2012 at 04:53 65 says:
https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/202409833360654336
https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/203656406941970432
https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/203225266347180032
https://twitter.com/GuildWars2/status/200981948527677440
2012 has been confirmed for ages.
30/05/2012 at 08:41 sneetch says:
Their FAQ says:
“We expect to ship Guild Wars 2 in 2012. The final release date will be determined by beta-testing feedback.”
The “we expect” part is new, I think, I believe that it previously just said that it’ll ship in 2012… I’m getting a sinking feeling here.
30/05/2012 at 10:24 Azhrarn says:
They haven’t commited to an exact date, no. But at the start of the year they did mention a release year. 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, and they want to release the game this year.
I’ve included a link to the specific Dev blog mentioning this, so it should come out this year.
http://www.arena.net/blog/dragon
29/05/2012 at 22:27 trjp says:
All these rumours of a release in late June are obviously cobblers – I’m actually thinking that we’re looking at August or later for this now.
I actually think that when you start asking people to pay for your game, you should tell them when they’ll be able to play it. It’s all fine and well saying “it will be done when it’s done” but you don’t get paid for that shit – you need to DELIVER it first.
All this pre-purchase shit is tiring – either admit you’re begging (Kickstarter) or offer a date…
29/05/2012 at 22:31 Wreckdum says:
I’m betting later than August like winter holiday season. They haven’t even shown a playable Sylvari or Asura or their zones… Which leads me to believe it’s because they’re not done making them.
29/05/2012 at 23:37 Vorphalack says:
Yes they have, PC gamer covered the Azura zone last month.
29/05/2012 at 23:49 sneetch says:
The Asura and Sylvari were also playable at some earlier trade events. Pax 2011 I think.
30/05/2012 at 00:19 Wreckdum says:
Then I’m curious why they weren’t in these beta weekend events. They are definitely still doing work on them because Felicia Day who voices the main Asura character posted that she was in the booth doing voice work on the GW2 twitter page a few weeks ago. So the plot is definitely not finished yet. PC Gamer probably got to play with a bunch of filler art and text in their playthrough.
30/05/2012 at 07:19 Nick says:
Pure assumption here, but I think its probably because they want to limit feedback to certain areas to start with (not least because the other areas probably only have sections that are fully voiced and “ready”) so they could focus on improving those areas based on the large scale feedback and not have every possible aspect of the game to look over.
30/05/2012 at 08:38 sneetch says:
They’re definitely still working on the voices and the cutscenes throughout the game, they replaced a bunch of the teenage models in the human storyline between the last two beta weekend events with older ones (the voice for the old lady alchemist fitted a lot better when she didn’t look like she was 19).
They may just want us all playing in the same few areas to see how the game performs and how their events scale with large player numbers.
29/05/2012 at 22:37 Chris D says:
“It’s all fine and well saying “it will be done when it’s done” but you don’t get paid for that shit – you need to DELIVER it first.”
Given the number of pre-orders, actually they do get paid for that shit.
On the release date I suspect we’re looking at October/November at this point just based on the fact that I’d expect beta events to be more frequent closer to release and also I’d expect them to announce the date a couple of months in advance. On the other hand I’ve never produced an MMO so what do I know?
29/05/2012 at 22:45 trjp says:
It’s amazing to watch people scrabbing to hand-over £50 to play in a few beta weekends (which would traditionally have been free).
People are, essentially, paying to be guinea pigs – something you used to get to do for free (and in return you got to check-out the game and potentially save yourself from buying a dud).
It’s bonkers – everyone who’s handed-over money needs their head checking – you’re paying for a demo, in effect – something I assume you’d whine about if it was just a bit more obvious…
29/05/2012 at 22:52 Runs With Foxes says:
Actually they’re paying for the full game. It’s just not out yet. It’s not like they need to pay any more money later. The concept of pre-purchasing is nothing new, and many people pre-pay for games they haven’t played yet. And this one’s been playable at conventions for a couple of years already, so a lot of people have had access to it.
29/05/2012 at 23:11 trjp says:
Actually, I cannot think of many games where people paid the full-price without knowing when they’d get the final game.
Diablo III for people who went down the 12-months WoW subs route
Some of the recent Kickstarter stuff
and… ????
Normally, pre-orders are a deposit only – or even a promise to pay (card charged on despatch) – wheras this is asking for 50 quid with no actual promised delivery date – has ANY other game actually done anything like that??
29/05/2012 at 23:34 Struckd says:
i agree with Runs, its not like people had no idea what they were paying for…i pre-pruchased cause i knew i would be playing the game…why? well before evening announcing that you were able to prepurchase they had quite a few demos in quite a few conventions, which made shit loads of videos, and there was i think 2 press beta weekend…which again lead to many videos and articles praising the game…
they have released alot of information about the game already, the content, the lore, the mechanics, i have prepurchased a game for much less information…and still not get access to beta OR a head start…there have been some people who have whined, but anyone with even a slight interest in the game and find an abundance of stuff that would literally make the choice for you
30/05/2012 at 08:23 Lightbulb says:
I reply to your post with:
“and… ????”
Just because something doesn’t happen often is not a reason why it should not happen.
If it becomes a more common trend – no one is forcing you to pay. But I don’t think many games would justify full price pre-orders…
29/05/2012 at 23:00 ScubaMonster says:
I didn’t pre-pay just to play in beta. I pre-paid because I had faith in the game and will buy it on release anyway. Why not pay now and get in for free anyway?
Yeah I know companies use pre-purchases as beta invites, but the days of free stuff are quickly disappearing. I remember when FPS maps were free.
29/05/2012 at 23:58 sneetch says:
Well, I’m not paying for a demo, I’m paying for the full game. As for why I’m paying for it now, well I’m paying for it now for the ability to beta-test* it, to get a few days early access when it releases and some random tat that we’ll get for pre-purchasing that I can’t really remember, a ring or something.
I’ve done the same with other games, not full price ones but any alpha funded game I bought, Minecraft, Xenonauts, Project Zomboid, Intersteller Marines and so on. They are/were all gambles, but GW2 is a sure thing for me. Giving the money now or later doesn’t really matter to me, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this game since I first started seeing videos of it, I knew I’d enjoy it and the first BWE just proved that.
I’m looking forward to more but I do agree that the lack of a release date is shitty at this time. I grumbled a bit but it wasn’t a deal breaker.
* That is, I get to play it before it releases, I’m not one of those who pretend that beta testing is some sacred and noble trust. I file bug reports, give feedback but I’m there to play mostly.
30/05/2012 at 03:59 SketchyGalore says:
I’d agree if this was the usual “pay for our dem… er… I mean… ‘beta test’…” style set-up, but I genuinely like how they’re doing this. It feels like a sneak-peek, which is sort of worth the money in itself, but it also feels like they’re actually testing things out. They’re accepting feedback, making changes, evolving and developing live. It’s kind of fun to be there to see all that take shape.
Plus, the game is a ridiculous amount of fun, which is kind of… weird for the genre. Typically the futility of an MMO beta would kill my interest, since those games are primarily about progression, but in this case I feel more interested in just playing and having fun. It’s nice to see MMOs swinging around in that direction instead of playing out like second jobs.
30/05/2012 at 08:20 Lightbulb says:
You’re looking at it backwards. You’re not paying for a demo, you’re paying for the game. The game will not be discounted soon after launch with the GW business model. There will be no low priced games to lure people in the pay subs. You may be able to get the game from other stores cheaper than £50 but I doubt it will be a lot cheaper.
—
So, the Game on release will be £50. I will buy the game on release. Why? Everyone says how great the game is and I am a big GW1 fan.
So starting from the premise that I will spend £50 day one this lead logically to paying £50 now to play the beta. This must be better value as I get to play the game sooner. I have fun on the beta weekends for no extra cost. The only down side is that I have to pay now not in a few months but that’s no big deal.
Ok maybe I could order the game from Play for £35 but at the end of the day I don’t care about £15 in the grand scheme of things.
30/05/2012 at 14:39 trjp says:
GW was discounted to hell and back – I have 3 of the 4 parts of it (2 of them are Collectors Editions) and didn’t pay over £8 for any of them!!
It seems they intend to release a ‘boxed’ version of GW2 (it’s pre-orderable in a few places) – and that will mean it will be discounted sooner or later (retailers have margins and will always use them to drive business).
NCSoft themselves did deals on digital keys for GW too – I don’t see why this will be any different so stop kidding yourself that you’re not paying a premium for a demo and 3 days of play (on probably knackered servers!!) :)
30/05/2012 at 12:20 Trith says:
They did this for the first guild wars 7 years ago.
29/05/2012 at 22:57 ScubaMonster says:
And when they have to push the release date back (possibly more than once) people will bitch up a storm. It’s a lose lose situation. At least this way they aren’t giving false hopes and promises.
Come now, you’re posting this on the internet. You know people will never be happy no matter what. A picture of a crying infant would sum up the entire internet community.
29/05/2012 at 23:55 KaelWolfcry says:
An infant crying in front of a gigantic ice cream sundae.
There, now it’s correct. :)
30/05/2012 at 00:00 sneetch says:
I’d just like to clarify: there’s nothing really wrong with the sundae that might cause the infant to cry, right?
30/05/2012 at 00:52 TsunamiWombat says:
Given that it’s the internet, the banana’s may or may not be penis’s
30/05/2012 at 01:02 Byron_Black says:
There was the stress test after the first beta weekend that was a “beta weekday evening” where you could play for 7 hours.
30/05/2012 at 01:52 Dances to Podcasts says:
Sometimes I suspect they’re waiting for Blizzard to announce a date for Pandaria. Sometimes I suspect it’s the other way around. Sometimes I suspect it’s both.
30/05/2012 at 08:17 Chalky says:
With no sylvari or asura playable in this new beta, it seems that the game is still pretty far from being finished (unless they’re never going to show us these races until after release)
30/05/2012 at 08:27 Lightbulb says:
I can think of some possible reasons:
1) They aren’t sure these races will be that popular and so will run a beta event with only these races to ensure high traffic – leading to better test results
2) They don’t want to spoil the whole game so when it launches people aren’t bored of all of the starter areas
3) They want higher traffic in the other areas initially but will open up the others later.
30/05/2012 at 03:53 SketchyGalore says:
Hey-hey! I was just saying “dang I want another GW2 weekend” yesterday! I’m sure as the year goes on I’m going to be pulling my hair out over an official release, but for now, I’ll be happy just to spend another weekend with a sword-wielding ranger… Oh, if you haven’t done that yet… do it. Thank me later.
30/05/2012 at 08:17 apocraphyn says:
Two-handed sword, I take it? Definitely my favourite way of playing Ranger. Very fun.
On that same note, it was hilarious how many people were making threads on the beta forums saying stuff such as “RAYNGERS SHUDNT BE YUSING TOO HANDAD SORRDS, ONLI BOWZ!11!” and “RAINGURZ MUST HAFF RIFULLZ!!!”
30/05/2012 at 09:23 Screwie says:
I really enjoyed using an axe-and-torch ranger, myself. Drop a bonfire or a healing spring and then throw a clutch of axes through it = funtimes.
30/05/2012 at 18:58 ElderJymm says:
The sword / torch combo is also a good choice, the Ranger Aragorn did quite well with it fighting Nazgul at Weathertop. :)
30/05/2012 at 06:01 abandonhope says:
As someone who generally dislikes MMORPGs and got bored of GW rather quickly, I’ve gotta say GW2 looks pretty good.
30/05/2012 at 06:36 Nick says:
Oh good, the shakes were starting to get unbearable.
30/05/2012 at 08:52 Rudel says:
08./09. of June? I know what I will do at the time and for the three weeks after that date – grab a lot of beer and watch Football.
30/05/2012 at 10:25 aircool says:
The summer of sport; Cricket, football and wimmin’s hockey :)
30/05/2012 at 10:45 sneetch says:
Fooootbawl? Futbowel? Footbal?
No, you’ve lost me. I know not of this “fowtbarl” of which you speak.
30/05/2012 at 10:24 aircool says:
8th of June? That almost gives me enough time to download the client.
30/05/2012 at 13:48 zergrush says:
The first beta weekend was marked by my disappointment with this new Mesmer. Can’t believe they managed to make something so boring and completely unlike the awesome GW1 class, as a Mesmer player it saddened me to try it in GW2.
But on the bright side, Engineers are pretty fun.
30/05/2012 at 13:57 sendmark says:
RPS guild details on the forum:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?3854-RPS-Guild-for-Guild-Wars-2
30/05/2012 at 16:55 MiKHEILL says:
Damn, exam season down under..
30/05/2012 at 22:25 Devan says:
“presuming you’ve either pre-ordered or already managed to snag a beta account from somewhere.”
Where do these “beta accounts” come from? Do pre-orders get an extra beta key to give to friends, or are they obtained through some kind of voodoo?