Azel
07/05/2012, 22:00
http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/zojablog-304x62.jpg
Last week we held our first-ever Beta Weekend Event, a humble in-game get together attended by hundreds of thousands of our closest friends. This was an old-school beta; a lot of the lessons learned and data collected from the event are being applied toward improving the game as I write this. We want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who played. Your feedback, bugs, and participation are absolutely crucial to our goal of making Guild Wars 2 the best game possible at launch.
Let’s take a look at what they’re saying out in Internet land about the Guild Wars 2 Beta, shall we?
The Escapist’s Justin Clouse presents a general overview of Guild Wars 2 (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/9593-Guild-Wars-2-Preview) based on his experience during the event. “The part I enjoyed most during my time with Guild Wars 2 was how it encourages players to actually work together,” Clouse writes.
Over at Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/05/01/guild-wars-2-beta/), Carol Pinchefsky admits that while she’s not an MMO player, she was won over during the Beta Weekend Event. “If GW2 is an example of how MMOs roll, then I might be rolling with GW2,” she says.
Kotaku’s (http://kotaku.com/5906933/a-gorgeous-living-world-sets-guild-wars-2-apart) Kate Cox was swept up by her character’s narrative journey, manned a trebuchet during PvP, and just enjoyed wandering around the living landscape of Tyria. She writes, “Ultimately, though, my main impression of the weekend is a buoyant sense of having been carried away with the joy of exploration.”
The staff at MMORPG.com was busy during the Beta Weekend Event, and they have the coverage to prove it! They created a video preview (http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/view/videos/gameID/473/videoId/2415) of the Gem Store and Trading Post, offer an analysis of our crafting system (http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/6352/Guild-Wars-2-Crafting-Preview.html), and take a hard look (http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/6366/Great-ExpectationsMet.html) at whether Guild Wars 2 delivered on its promise of dynamic events and cooperative, social adventuring.* “Everything was collaborative, not competitive,” MMORPG’s Michael Bitton says. “Don’t get me wrong, I love competition, but I’d rather leave that to PvP than adventuring.”
http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Player3_LionsArch-600x375.jpg (http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Player3_LionsArch.jpg)
Massively was equally busy last weekend. They’re offering a video tour (http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/see-guild-wars-2s-lions-arch-for-the-first-time/) of the classic Guild Wars city of Lion’s Arch, which has had a serious makeover for Guild Wars 2. Elisabeth Cardy shares her impressions of Guild Wars 2 in this Flameseeker Chronicles post (http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/01/flameseeker-chronicles-after-beta-action-report/), while Justin Olivetti offers his ten favorite tombstone epitaphs (http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/03/the-perfect-ten-guild-wars-2-gravestone-epitaphs/) from the graveyard outside Divinity’s Reach (one of my personal favorite corners of Tyria).
Over at Gamebreaker.tv, Scott Hawkes lists seven key takeaways (http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/blown-away/) from his Beta experience. You should read the whole article, but this quote best summarizes Scott’s impressions: “I bloody loved it.”
Not to be outdone, Bio Break offers 30 things they gleaned from the Beta Weekend Event (http://biobreak.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/30-things-about-guild-wars-2s-beta-weekend/). Syp writes, “Guild Wars 2 feels quite familiar to anyone who played Guild Wars 1 , even though it’s a new game.*There’s just enough of the old, particularly in style, to carry on the tradition and keep the connection between the two games alive.”
It looks like Distilled from Talk Tyria (http://www.talktyria.net/2012/05/01/the-gw2-beta-a-wvw-weekend-with-a-wild-eyed-dolyak/) spent much of his weekend in world vs. world, and he “loved every single second of the terribly bloody affair.”
On a similar note, Ravious at Kill Ten Rats takes a look at the Bank and the Trading Post. He concludes, “ArenaNet has put serious thought and love in to these two simple features.”
PCWorld offers a lengthy look at their (http://www.pcworld.fr/2012/05/04/jeux-video/guild-wars-recit-week-end-beta-epique/527509/) experience during the Beta Weekend Event, *complete with loads of screenshots. And from the other side of the Atlantic, French site Gamekult (http://www.gamekult.com/actu/zoom-guild-wars-2-A101178.html) provides a thorough overview of their Beta experience, with plenty of gameplay videos.
And to round things out, how about a preview of the special reward armor (http://www.guildmag.com/guild-wars-2-dungeons-rewards-lore) players receive upon completing a dungeon in Guild Wars 2? Well, GuildMag has it!
More... (http://www.arena.net/blog/link-roundup-beta-weekend-event)
Last week we held our first-ever Beta Weekend Event, a humble in-game get together attended by hundreds of thousands of our closest friends. This was an old-school beta; a lot of the lessons learned and data collected from the event are being applied toward improving the game as I write this. We want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who played. Your feedback, bugs, and participation are absolutely crucial to our goal of making Guild Wars 2 the best game possible at launch.
Let’s take a look at what they’re saying out in Internet land about the Guild Wars 2 Beta, shall we?
The Escapist’s Justin Clouse presents a general overview of Guild Wars 2 (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/9593-Guild-Wars-2-Preview) based on his experience during the event. “The part I enjoyed most during my time with Guild Wars 2 was how it encourages players to actually work together,” Clouse writes.
Over at Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/05/01/guild-wars-2-beta/), Carol Pinchefsky admits that while she’s not an MMO player, she was won over during the Beta Weekend Event. “If GW2 is an example of how MMOs roll, then I might be rolling with GW2,” she says.
Kotaku’s (http://kotaku.com/5906933/a-gorgeous-living-world-sets-guild-wars-2-apart) Kate Cox was swept up by her character’s narrative journey, manned a trebuchet during PvP, and just enjoyed wandering around the living landscape of Tyria. She writes, “Ultimately, though, my main impression of the weekend is a buoyant sense of having been carried away with the joy of exploration.”
The staff at MMORPG.com was busy during the Beta Weekend Event, and they have the coverage to prove it! They created a video preview (http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/view/videos/gameID/473/videoId/2415) of the Gem Store and Trading Post, offer an analysis of our crafting system (http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/6352/Guild-Wars-2-Crafting-Preview.html), and take a hard look (http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/473/feature/6366/Great-ExpectationsMet.html) at whether Guild Wars 2 delivered on its promise of dynamic events and cooperative, social adventuring.* “Everything was collaborative, not competitive,” MMORPG’s Michael Bitton says. “Don’t get me wrong, I love competition, but I’d rather leave that to PvP than adventuring.”
http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Player3_LionsArch-600x375.jpg (http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Player3_LionsArch.jpg)
Massively was equally busy last weekend. They’re offering a video tour (http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/see-guild-wars-2s-lions-arch-for-the-first-time/) of the classic Guild Wars city of Lion’s Arch, which has had a serious makeover for Guild Wars 2. Elisabeth Cardy shares her impressions of Guild Wars 2 in this Flameseeker Chronicles post (http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/01/flameseeker-chronicles-after-beta-action-report/), while Justin Olivetti offers his ten favorite tombstone epitaphs (http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/03/the-perfect-ten-guild-wars-2-gravestone-epitaphs/) from the graveyard outside Divinity’s Reach (one of my personal favorite corners of Tyria).
Over at Gamebreaker.tv, Scott Hawkes lists seven key takeaways (http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/blown-away/) from his Beta experience. You should read the whole article, but this quote best summarizes Scott’s impressions: “I bloody loved it.”
Not to be outdone, Bio Break offers 30 things they gleaned from the Beta Weekend Event (http://biobreak.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/30-things-about-guild-wars-2s-beta-weekend/). Syp writes, “Guild Wars 2 feels quite familiar to anyone who played Guild Wars 1 , even though it’s a new game.*There’s just enough of the old, particularly in style, to carry on the tradition and keep the connection between the two games alive.”
It looks like Distilled from Talk Tyria (http://www.talktyria.net/2012/05/01/the-gw2-beta-a-wvw-weekend-with-a-wild-eyed-dolyak/) spent much of his weekend in world vs. world, and he “loved every single second of the terribly bloody affair.”
On a similar note, Ravious at Kill Ten Rats takes a look at the Bank and the Trading Post. He concludes, “ArenaNet has put serious thought and love in to these two simple features.”
PCWorld offers a lengthy look at their (http://www.pcworld.fr/2012/05/04/jeux-video/guild-wars-recit-week-end-beta-epique/527509/) experience during the Beta Weekend Event, *complete with loads of screenshots. And from the other side of the Atlantic, French site Gamekult (http://www.gamekult.com/actu/zoom-guild-wars-2-A101178.html) provides a thorough overview of their Beta experience, with plenty of gameplay videos.
And to round things out, how about a preview of the special reward armor (http://www.guildmag.com/guild-wars-2-dungeons-rewards-lore) players receive upon completing a dungeon in Guild Wars 2? Well, GuildMag has it!
More... (http://www.arena.net/blog/link-roundup-beta-weekend-event)