The second confirmed Guild Wars 2 profession has been released, with six more waiting in the wings. The warrior profession is a re-envisioning of this iconic choice where the melee class gets a little more diverse piece of the color pie. The warrior in Guild Wars is a mainstay throughout every type of gameplay. They are known for their durability and constant damage output in the first Guild Wars, and in Guild Wars 2, I don’t think they will disappoint.
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First, the adrenaline mechanic has been streamlined. In Guild Wars 1, the adrenaline skills worked like batteries. Each hit filled each skill with one adrenaline strike. Once a skill was full of adrenaline, the skill could be used and that skill loses all adrenaline buildup. Except that every other adrenaline skill lost one adrenaline strike. For such an iconic class, this created a tad more complexity than what I feel was warranted. Compared to World of Warcraft’s warrior rage or Lord of the Rings Online’s champion fervour, finding a skill rhythm was a little harder.
In Guild Wars 2, the adrenaline skills have been reduced to a burst skill which depletes all adrenaline when used, and this brings the adrenaline mechanic more in line with say Street Fighter’s buildup bar or Final Fantasy’s limit break.  There is a twist though in that a warrior is stronger when filled with adrenaline. It seems to be a more elegant mechanic with roughly the same effect as the adrenaline mechanic of old. Warriors also get skill chains, which seem more like Aion’s skill chain mechanic than an assassin’s branching skill chain, where a single skill slot changes according to where it is in a chain.  Stances too have been turned into static effects without duration, but they lower energy regeneration when turned on.
The warrior profession also gets a little diversified with the use of static banners, which complement the prevailing shouts, and the warrior finds new use with a longbow. Except in typically bold warrior fashion, the arrows are big and fiery instead of some pinpointed snare (for a wussy ranger). Watching the amazing skill videos too, it seems that the warrior is extremely mobile throughout the fights. I hate in MMOs when enemies run away (especially in LOTRO with my ranged-gimped Captain), but I would love to quickly switch to a flaming longbow bazooka to fire at their cowardly backs. Or an elephant-gun sized rifle… that’d work.
I’ll be honest. I’ve never really enjoyed playing a warrior in Guild Wars 1. I like playing utility classes like a necromancer or ritualist, where my options are far and wide and require a lot of battlefield awareness. However, the freshly-painted warrior in Guild Wars 2 sounds right up my alley. I would love to create a warrior-captain filled with shouts and banners to inspire the allies around, and a brash flaming longbow to round things out. That sounds like a frontline melee class, I would like to play.
–Ravious
my name is gladiator
It seems they lifted the restriction that only male bodybuilders may become warriors as well.
I never thought I would say this, but this game is looking better and better everyday. I fear my TOR time will suffer for GW2. I hope it turns out how great it sounds.
Warriors in GW1 are a complicated class – easy to learn, hard to master, as they say. But I’ve always enjoyed playing one, even if I’m not very good at them.
GW2 Warriors look pretty damn amazing, I must say; I enjoyed the Eviscerate and Shield Bash videos most of all. Throwing axes and actually using your shield to protect yourself from damage? Sign me up!
Just wish there’d been a video showing the warrior wielding a rifle, though, because I’m ridiculously excited about getting guns to play with (provided they are well-balanced).
This video has me reconsidering a warrior character as well. I like the idea of being able to wade into battle, sword swinging, but for me, having to chase down mobs was too great an annoyance to bear. Give me a bow and flaming arrow to pull or finish them off with, and you’ve got a volunteer.
Personally I never truly, 100% enjoyed playing warriors, in any game and any flavor interpretation, and I don’t think GW2 is going to change that, but that’s the kind of player I am.
There were 42 days between the release of information of the elementalist and the warrior. Given that there are six more classes to unveil before the game releases (assuming the info is released at the same rate), that would put the release date for GW2 in late Feb 2011…
Just speculating of course ;)
I haven’t touched a warrior in Guild Wars either, but if the mechanics are getting streamlined I might give it a go for GW2.
Meanwhile tho, I love my Ritualist (almost pure Ritualist too). I really hope they have a similar class planned for Guild Wars 2.
@Crimson: WEE! Excellent calculation! :D
And in between these new professions we need more info on the NPC-races that we’re supposed to care about…