The Engineer - First Impressions

Lock n' load, at first I wasn't attracted to the engineer; I was actually totally stoked about the thief before the Beta Event Weekend had even come out - mainly because in every other MMO I have played I chose a ranged character and this time I wanted to make the change! Interestingly as soon as I logged in instead of playing a thief I rolled a ranger then a elementalist and then I was drawn to the gun wielding, turret placing, bomb throwing engineer. Now don't ask me why I didn't roll the thief at all, who knows, I really regret not trying it now actually, in the next weekend I'll have a gander and see how it plays but the funny thing is I know for a fact that in the long run the engineer is the class for me. I'm sure a lot of you made a final decision on your class that last weekend, however I'm sure a lot of you are even more confused than ever. I'm not going to try and sell the engineer to you although I'm sure a PowerPoint Presentation would help greatly, but maybe we'll leave that to next time.


Boom and bang, a mash of onomatopoeic words pretty much sum up how I'm going to explain the engineer. In reality, it truly was all boom and bang, constant action; quickly rolling out of the enemy's way and then kiting them with your standard bombs! Then I'd jump out of my Bomb Kit and throw down a Glue Shot to slow them, finishing up with an electrifying Static Shot! You can tell I really enjoyed myself out in the environment! 


In PvE the damage is immense, for me at least, I would just watch the as their health bar dropped like a bullet. Along with damage and thrills, the engineer is also very sturdy, he can take a few hits and has a plenty of options when it comes to healing and negating the enemy's damage. You may choose to whip out Med Kit which primarily heals you back up to full health and allows an easy escape; perhaps you may want to use  the Healing Turret which gives constant small amounts of healing and a burst once every minute - then you may quickly grab the Elixir R for the free escape! It really is incredibly fun, and also not that hard, I'm sure as the game goes on however it'll become more challenging, but with all of the utilities and turrets in PvE I found myself having a fairly easy ride.


In PvP the engineer is very different, suddenly they seem to become far more of a challenge to play. The engineer is easily targeted and their turrets really don't benefit them that much, although if played well - the engineer can rampage a group of three players all by his or herself, only to then get off scot free and laughing. In my opinion, it seems best in PvP to run a pistol and a shield, to grab the Med Kit for some quick-and-easy healing and to use the Bomb Kit for the huge amount of burst damage with kiting techniques (Also the trait Incendiary Powder, making bombs inflict burning on critical hits, proves to be a  very useful addition). Additionally, I choose to grab the Elixir R for the get-out-of jail-free-card. The remaining build is pretty much personal preference and fairly optional; however, I chose the Supply Crate because it seems to be extremely resourceful in PvP. However, turrets are rather lacklustre with this build, the Elixir X could be used to provide another method of escape: which is something that is very beneficial to the fairly squishy engineer in PvP.

I don't have a much more to write about as of yet; as I struggle to remember much of the game-play, due to the fact that I was hallucinating because of the eight Relentless energy drinks I decided to drink to keep alive and kicking for the 40+ hours I remained awake. In a nut-shell, I simply love the engineer, the profession provided such an exciting and thrilling twist to the game and it has a huge amount of diversity, with plenty of interesting skills and traits to try out and experience. And that pretty much sums up my experience with the engineer last weekend, at least what I can remember...


I'll leave you with a couple of videos you should all definitely watch: if I have successfully persuaded you into looking into the engineer! 

Luluriana's Journal Entry #1

The dawn of this day brought with it hope, growth and the laughs and tears of more newborn.

Today's morning session with my most prominent group of students proved to be a particularly interesting experience. With more brothers and sisters being born each and every day, my teaching schedule has become far more demanding, not that I mind of course. This class however, have been with me for a few weeks now, but will no-doubt move on to far greater things - and I feel only proud that I could be an impact on their lives, regardless of how small it may be.

I decided that the class was to work primarily on focus and control today - I asked the students to try and attempt projective cloning techniques, resulting in some rather exciting and wondrous creations! One of my students, Amaryl, produced a marvellous replication of herself and another, Deirdre, confounded me as he created multiple clones! It simply amazes me how far they have come, in such a short period of time, but such are the ways of my kind. Whether unfortunate or not, the fact remains that both students are extremely competitive... It leads me to wonder if there is more to it, but perhaps I am being a bit too analytical about the matter. I could see them both making an interesting couple, should they decide to pair.

We were all young, naive, desperate to impress, improve and grow once. When I watch my students learn, I feel the similarities of how close they are to what I once was. We are young, but the truth of the matter is that: our growth is only really dependant on our will to grow. Every day, each lesson they learn, whether it be a thought or even a mere feeling - may it be curiosity, amusement, frustration, joy or even love - they grow.

Love...

Unfortunately, I still remember what love was like when I first encountered the emotion, for me at least, it felt very unique. When I think about how it felt, I can only describe it as gentle, yet swift but determined winds; I remember feeling it pass through every fibre of my entire being... It spiralled, twirled and danced within me and then it chose to carry one of those fibres away, far away. Without it, perhaps I would still be that naive, young woman, who tried so desperately to find meaning and purpose - I may be scarred from the events of the past, but without them I would not have blossomed as I have.

Sometimes I cannot help but ponder as to whether I have truly changed at all, deep down... But to question such a thing is truly naive of me. Of course I have changed, I have grown and I have improved.

And I am no longer just a mere sapling, I have become as sturdy as the Mother Tree herself.

Talking Lore: The Humans of Tyria

Hey readers! This week I’m going to spend some time writing about the intrinsic lore surrounding each of the five main (and playable) races of Tyria! Just in case you didn’t know already, they are: the Humans, the Charr, the Norn, the Sylvari and the Asura. Each race plays a vital role in the overall lore and storyline of Guild Wars 2. I’ve decided to write a summary of each race, though it should be noted that this’ll be the bog-standard nitty-gritty basics for those of you interested or perhaps keen to learn more!

Without further ado, the humans!

The humans of Tyria have always been known as the most dominant race in the original Guild Wars game. Unfortunately for them, 250 years has cost them their long-held title - with the loss of Ascalon, the subjugation of Elona and the political turbidity within Cantha, the humans of Tyria have had an exceptionally rough time of it.

Not all is lost for this courageous race however; they have showed unity in such dark times – Ascalonian, Elonian, Canthan and other human survivors made their way to Kryta, and with the Krytans’ aid, they established Divinity’s Reach – a place for all humans to live in safety, after the destruction of the original Lion’s Arch.

Rather than being ruled by separate bodies, the humans of Divinity’s Reach all follow Queen Jennah’s rule: the descendant of the ancient royal bloodline of Krytan monarchs. Krytan royalty has had a bad reputation in the past, having abandoned Kryta in their time of need in Guild Wars Prophecies. Thankfully, the return of the Krytan royalty 250 years ago saw the demise of the White Mantle (a corrupt political government controlling Kryta previously) along with their spectral leaders: the Mursaat.

Despite Queen Jennah’s influence and the strength that remains in the hearts of her people, this race has little time to feel complacent – Divinity’s Reach is the last remaining true foothold for the human nation.

Kryta unfortunately harbours many enemies – bandits roam the countryside, centaurs wage an eternal war, the White Mantle remains (although their presence is very subtle), political battles rage on and the great Elder Dragons threaten the human’s entire future.

Ascalon, the capital of Rin, was once one of the most powerful human kingdoms. Although, with the war against the Charr finally reaching a penultimate point – King Adelbern of Ascalon used Magdaer, his mystical and fiery sword, to cast a spell which would forever change Ascalon: the Foefire. 

Upon losing Ascalon to the Charr, the crazed king saw no alternative other than to use the sword’s dark magic and in doing so, he cast the spirits of the fallen humans to rise and be forever bound to defend and protect Ascalon. These dreadful spirits cannot be killed, only temporarily defeated - once beaten in battle it can take mere seconds for these terrifying creatures to return once more and slaughter their enemies.


Legends suggest that if Magdaer's twin sword, Sohothin (currently in Rytlock Brimstone's possession) is returned to the hands of one of King Doric's descendants (the only known descendant is currently Queen Jennah) and placed in the remains of Ascalon - the relentless spirits will finally be put to rest, once and for all.

Despite all these issues, the greatest threat to the humans of Tyria exists in the lost continent of Orr: Zhaitan. Orr was once one of the three great human nations - renown for its great mages and the city of the six gods: Dwayna, Lyssa, Melandru, Grenth, Balthazar and Abaddon. However, with the sinking of Orr, performed by Vizier Khilbron the adviser to King Reza, Arah was believed to have been lost forever. Unfortunately, 250 years after the events of the Cataclysm that to saw the destruction of the Orrian peninsula, Arah rose from the depths of the Sea of Sorrows upon the awakening of the Elder Dragon Zhaitan.

Zhaitan’s undead minions now launch attacks against the coastline of Tyria, threatening the humans of Lion’s Arch and other races. Much is left unsaid as to the reasoning behind the rise of the elder dragons, where they originate from or their goal. However, it can be safely said that the humans will find no easy solution to surviving these difficult times.

General - Talking about cities.

In the official Guild Wars 2 open beta weekend we got a chance to see 4 of the main 6 cities in Guild Wars 2, the grand city of the humans, Divinity's Reach, the stronghold of the norn, Hoelbrak, the dark metallic city of the charr, the Black Citadel and last but certainly not least the diverse centre of Tyria, Lion's Arch. All of these cities had something to offer in terms of sheer size, and depth. Each city had hold to hundreds of small details that really helped the player feel truly immersed. I'm going to try and stick to what the city actually looks like, and how it made me feel when I explored it rather than the lore, that's Lewen's business! Also this is mostly from my memory as I hadn't decided whether or not to start a blog based on Guild Wars 2 at the time of the game, as the next BWE rolls around I will take the time to make many detailed screenshots and dedicate full posts to these wondrous cities.



Divinity's Reach is home to the humans, at the centre of all the human's problems and quarrels, but also a place where humans can feel truly safe from the rampaging centaur of the Tamini tribe and the Elder dragons themselves. When you walk around the city you get a feeling of reassurance, you see people walking around and looking at markets, I think this just ensensuates the statement that the humans have what it takes to come back from their problems and rise above them, I think this is what ArenaNet wanted to do, give the player a feeling that the humans are not done for yet and they are still willing to fight for their land and their people. I really enjoyed where they placed a majority of the Crafting trainers, like the cook, they were placed in sort of alcoves in side of the walls in the centre of the city, it's difficult to explain and sadly I don't have an appropriate screenshot, I'll make sure to get one for next time! For me the most spectacular part of the city was the gardens placed in the middle of the city, it was such an interesting concept, with the dial moving around at the top holding a sun and moon showing us the time of the day, and when the sun glared through I couldn't help but gasp in astonishment, I'd never seen anything like it in a city in a game. The sheer size of Divinity's Reach really captured the scale of the world of Tyria and the scale of the game itself, I'll make an example here to one of the most famous human cities in gaming, and one with great influence, that city is Stormwind from World of Warcraft, I loved that city and spent the majority of my time there in a que for an instance or a battleground. Stormwind was quite a cool city with lots to explore and some interesting points, but Divinity's Reach is just on another level, the amount of areas to explore, the different places and levels, it really takes your breath away, especially someone like me who just didn't expect anything on this scale in any Mmorpg in the near future. Now, I may be getting a little carried away with the size because of the fact that it took longer to travel around without a mount, but it is undoubtedly larger but not just that, also the fact that I truly felt like I was there smelling the smells and hearing the people speak, feeling the floor and the walls and slowly observing a markets goods. I loved Divinity's Reach and out of the 2 other faction cities I think it took the number one spot for me.


Next up we have the grand stronghold of the norn, Hoelbrak. Hoelbrak was a really cool city, I didn't have as much time to explore it as the others but from what I did see it had the same effects, with the chilling air and the crunching snow, it added to the immersion, I felt like I was there. The scale of the structure was impressive, the large wooden beams holding the structure up really put the size of the place into perspective, not everything can just tower over a norn! Seeing Jormag's actual tooth was really awesome aswell, and put the size of the Elder dragons into a better light, the tooth was brought back as a trophy picked up by the greatest norn hero that ever did exist and also the norn who founded Hoelbrak, Aesgir. It's a pitty I can't really say a lot more about Hoelbrak, I'm sure I could dedicate a whole blog post to it, next weekend, right?


The community has given the charr capital a nice little colloquialism, we've dubbed it 'The Death Star' (happy may the 4th, may the fourth be with you), the actual name of the city is The Black Citadel. The city worked like a clock, every little part of the city which moved played an ultimate part in the way the city itself worked, each little cog and every screw mattered, that really came across when you walked around the city. Everything in the city was metallic, it all cranked and creaked like a lose step. It seemed like the majority of the city was made from scrap collected by the charr, you could see that everyone was involved in the building of the dark city, it fitted the charr perfectly and worked with the race in every way, once again I was truly impressed.


I was completely stoked when I saw each of the cities, it's something that really set the bar for me in the game, I knew once I had saw these wonderful structures that my eye's were in for a real treat. At each turn every city grew on me, I kept on finding things, and felt like I needed to grab all the waypoints I could and all the points of interest as well, it really grabbed onto you and hung onto you, that feeling that you need to take part in things and see everything all the way through the game.


The fifth city is the capital of diversity, Lion's Arch. Lion's Arch, where do I start? The city was something absolutely out of this world, the layout of the city was awesome, with all of the roads, and the little extras like the cave behind the water fall with the ogres in it (ogres right? I might be wrong). I liked how we saw the familiar red arena, it really was a nice little obvious easter egg for those of us who cared. The fact that bridges, shops and inns were made out of sunken ships was such a cool and immersive idea, it made the city feel far more dynamic and alive, and the colour scheme worked perfectly. Another little thing was the lanterns/lights hanging around the city, they were fish with what seemed like candles inside of them to make them glow, just another minor detail which really caught my attention and set the tone of the city. There was just so much to explore, too much for one weekend. The cove with the pirates was awesome, seeing the Tengu again was a nice touch as well. Something that really impressed me was the underwater ruins of the old Lion's Arch, I was surprised by the fact that it was slightly recognisable, and that it did resemble parts of the city in the original Guild Wars 1, ah memories.

I think Lion's Arch is just the perfect example for ArenaNet to show off their amazing art team and designers. The amount of detail in all of the cities continues to impress me, and will continue to all the way through the game I'm sure, I think the cities have helped immensely when it comes to setting a new standard for art teams in games, and especially raised the bar in mmorpg's.


Don't forget to share this if you liked it, it helps us grow loads, and thanks for reading!


Pictures taken from the official ArenaNet blog.

Grintt's PvP chat

Along with the amazing art, enjoyable events and in depth lore Guild Wars 2 also offers an amazing PvP section which seems to have managed to impress casual PvPer's and hardcore players alike. ArenaNet made it clear that they wanted to give the player a strong and compelling experience in PvP.

At first I think a lot of the community had some concerns when they found out about WvW, usually when PvP is introduced on this scale there are some problems, for example a lack of skill needed, a lot of people prefer smaller scaled PvP like 3v3 or 10v10. But after playing it this weekend I was surprised, I really didn't think I was going to enjoy it all that much, but I really did. It took more skill than I thought, it took organisation and interaction between the players, splitting up and zerging on your own most of the time really didn't work well at all. You had to organize yourselves in a fight, and when people didn't it just went badly, really really badly... 

Now I personally didn't get that much of a chance to experience WvW which was disappointing, this was mainly because I was busy levelling characters and experiencing the world. I know some people did dedicate their weekends to experience WvW, but I also know that the majority did not. I think in the next BWE WvW will get a lot more coverage, many more people like myself will dedicate the majority of the weekend playing and experiencing WvW and I think that everyone will be able to give more of an insight on what's going on over there, and the mechanics and tactics will be better understood by the community. Although the little that I did play I enjoyed greatly, even though for the most part we were losing, I found myself getting something out of it and better understanding it quickly, so I do think that WvW will be picked up by players easily, but I also think that the servers who understand it best and know how to communicate and organize themselves will have a very easy team steam rolling the opposition. 

Having level 80 in PvP automatically is pretty cool, I like the idea. In WvW they did what SWTOR did in battlegrounds and made you max level, although they didn't give you all the skills, you still had to earn those which I think is a good thing, some people complained that level 80's will still dominate in WvW even with the level buff, but I couldn't disagree more. A level 30 will have a full skill palette to work with just like the level 80's will, granted they will still be lacking some diversity, but they should be able to hold there own, and considering there will be large team fights, it's not like you are only against each other 1v1. But level 80's should also have some advantage in WvW, there is no reason for a server with more casual players to be doing better than a server with people who are dedicated to getting level 80 and playing there best, the latter should have the advantage over the casual players, in terms of character power and also skill.

I am probably not the ideal person to give my opinion as to whether or not skill transfers over to WvW, although I do think I played enough to be able to give a justified opinion. In the end I do think skill transfers over to WvW to a certain extent, although I don't think it is the be all and end all, it is clear that a server with more skilled and organised players will trounce a server with a bunch of players who are running around like headless chicken. 

I'll leave you with a couple of videos that I think cross over the skill level in PvP in Guild Wars 2, and show the diversity that is needed to dominate. 

All videos taken from youtube, and are not my personal work. The header of this post is taken from the ArenaNet blog.

An article showing my initial thoughts on the game.

The original post made by me on the Gw2 subreddit.

Thank you for putting this weekend up, I can't wait for the next one. For me personally, this was better than Christmas. Sitting in skype with my friends, who are all equally excited and interested in the game. Thank-you to my friends for experiencing all this with me, it was bloody awesome.

I'm going to sum up my favourite parts of the game, and my least favourite parts.

Awesome Stuff

• With out a doubt my favourite part was playing with my friends, and enjoying something equally with them.
• The things to see, this game is a piece of art. The sheer size of Divinity's Reach made me shake with excitement, as I explored each and every nook and cranny, got all of the points of interest and spoke to as many NPC's as I could. They nailed it, they made me feel immersed, like I was my character, like I could feel the air and smell the smells. The same goes for Lions Arch, the idea was absolutely stunning, and the size of it as well. Going into the ruins of the old LA from Gw1, and seeing the Tengu brang a lot of memories flooding back, and that statue in the grand plaza.
• Finding the Engineer, my God I love that class, it's so interesting. I know it seems to be a bit lacklustre in Pv* P, but I found that using the bomb kit and kiting people worked quite well, as well as some 'tactical' healing turret placement. 
• The WvW. I loved it, it was full on and action packed just like I hoped. While I don't think it showed off a players skill to much, I do think that it offered a really (once again) immersed atmosphere. I felt like I was there fighting off those Red bastards trying to take our castle, in the midst of all of the bombs and spells flying back and forth. 
• Events and tasks, I felt like I couldn't just leave them. I'd see an event, and know it would be quicker if I just left others to do it, but I couldn't, I had to join in and get involved with fighting off those Centaur, or those bandits. For the sake of everyone who likes drinks milk and eats beef!
• The Charr, I totally expected to not enjoy them, but they turned out to be my most enjoyable race. Although I did go back to Queensdale and complete that area first, I am pretty sure at release I'll be a Asura, but without a doubt my second character will be a Charr!
• Coming across bugs and looking for them, then sending a bug report in. I finally felt like I was part of the community, and actually helping ArenaNet make a better game. 
• The opinion survey you got after each event/instance. I thought it was a really cool way of gathering data from players, once again helping to improve the experience. 
• Killing the Behemoth in the Godslost swamp. That shit was extremely awesome.
• Being fairly zoomed in on your character. At first I didn't like it, but it grew on me, and I think it helped with the overall feeling of immersion that ArenaNet has masterfully pulled off.

Not so awesome stuff

• The initial lag and server difficulties we had. Now I know that they can't be helped, and yes as someone who has taken part in other early beta's I did expect it. But it doesn't defeat the fact that it was generally boring, and frustrating, regardless of whether or not it could be helped. I didn't expect it to be smooth, nor did I expect to even really get to play in those initial hours, but having everyone sit there and click log in over and over again was boring, and frustrating.  
• Not enough communication in /say. I was expecting a lot of random chatter from people, and debates/conversations throughout. I guess people were busy experiencing the game though. 
• I didn't really meet anyone, leading on from the last point I was expecting to make a couple of new friends, but alas not. Nothing to bad, and obviously nothing that can be blamed on anyone but perhaps myself, I could of started the conversations but chose not to. 
• Seeing my friend out level me, and being jealous of him when he got on earlier!
• The fact that I found myself a little under levelled. I think perhaps the events/tasks should be a little longer and award more xp/coin. I'm not one for a nerfed and overly casual experience, but I'm also not one for grinding. Although I do think that they made the events irresistible, so I didn't really notice it until I went back and considered it.
• Personally I didn't enjoy the initial human story that much, obviously this is just a personal feeling but still, I was expecting it to be a bit more exciting. I can't quite put my finger on what it was lacking, but for me it was definitely lacking something. 
• The fact that it has to end.

This was originally posted by myself on the Gw2 subreddit, a link to that post is provided at the top.

If you're having withdrawal symptoms, which you no doubt are, check out the awesome video made by o0Lemon0o below!