Author: Ravious

There’s a huge laundry list of tips over at Hunter’s Insight. I think it’s too much for a new player to digest, but it is a great list for players that have spent a good deal of time in beta already. There might be a few tricks that have been overlooked. I know for me auto-looting is going on as soon as possible at launch.

There’s one tip that is rightly at the beginning of the crafting section that I believe is critical to an MMO-efficient new player, such as the well-regarded readers of Kill Ten Rats. It reads to pick up tools as soon as possible, and here’s the critical part, because even if you’re not a crafter this is a good way to make money by putting them on the trading post. Continue reading [GW2] Gathering Gold

It’s a weird thing to love a game because of ownership. I love the ideas and rules man has placed with regard to property, especially intellectual property. Property of the mind. Guild Wars was the first MMO that made me feel like I owned the game. Amidst subscription services and embryonic free-to-play games, Guild Wars made me feel like a customer empowered. Memories of Guild Wars 2’s development have amplified that feeling of ownership to an unexpected level for the upcoming game. Continue reading [GW2] Memories of Guild Wars 2 Development

There is a clever attrition mechanic in Guild Wars 2 with armor repair. Sure the developers get points for replacing death penalty and energy with something that basically gives players a few tries before getting penalized. It’s really clever because it’s so maddening.

A good, sane player will never repair armor until it becomes broken, where it no longer provides an armor value. Sure players will die every now and then, but apart from dungeons, actual death should occur less than a few times per level. This all depends on player bravado and sought efficiency of play, but in the beta weekends, I seemed to be replacing armor enough that damaged armor was never an issue. In other words, money is wasted on repairing armor, especially if it’s just going to be mulched to a salvage kit anyway.

The reason that devilish designer is so gosh darn clever is there is an icon that makes sure to let me know that my armor has a dent in it. It’s a small thing for sure, but so is my three-year old, who can give me headaches like you wouldn’t believe. The nasty icon just sits there glaring at me making sure I know how unclean I am walking around like a family minivan with a finger-painted “Wash Me” etched in to the dirty glass. It only thinks it pretends to sit there unjudging with no condemnation for trying to avoid gold-sink tricks.

So, I do my duty and head to the armor repair NPC. It’s nice enough that he lets me know I am doing the right thing, like how the auto mechanic makes me feel good for changing a $300 fluid that is still marginally okay. And, I feel stupider for it.

–Ravious

I came back from a long internet-less vacation on Saturday night. Exhausted from driving for 9 hours, I still had the will and energy to play a bit of the final hours of the Guild Wars 2 beta weekend event 3. Like Zubon, I knew going in to this beta weekend that for pre-release play, I was satiated until launch. Yet, it was still fun to get in there and play, even if temporarily.

Metrica Province

I decided to try an asura guardian in order to get a sense of the asura. I was actually a little unprepared for how my vision of their advancement over 250 years did not align with ArenaNet’s. Instead of the sterilized environment of Science, I was expecting, the asuran region still maintained a lot of organic depth. Sure, it was no palette of nature that the sylvari hold reign over, but it was clear that within the Eternal Alchemy, the asura feel intertwined with their environment. Continue reading [GW2] Tales of BWE3

This is it. The last Guild Wars 2 beta key contest ever for Kill Ten Rats. Instead of getting nuked by ArenaNet’s laser of death and destruction (as gleeful as it makes Rubi), we will be hosting the giveaway via Twitter. Follow @KTR_Ravious and throughout the day today and tomorrow I will be asking various trivia questions related to Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 lore, mechanics, and development. Some will be silly, some hard, and plenty will be answerable with little knowledge or research.

Lawler-stuff: This key is only good for the Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event 3 (July 20-22), and not any stress tests, etc. Contestants must follow me so that I can DM the key. First correct answer to the question gets the key, and one key can be won per contestant.

Those who get a code can register here.  Once registered, you can download the client after logging into your account on this page.  For technical and account support, head over to this handy place.   For general questions, you can view the FAQ.

–Ravious

With this Author Exchange, we’ve paired with Guild Wars 2 Hub to bring you an original editorial from outside of our regular authorship. The Author Exchange is intended to bridge the gap between existing Guild Wars 2 communities and websites to bring a new set of opinions, ideas and content to readerships that might not necessarily know one another. In this Author Exchange Lewis B from Guild Wars 2 Hub brings you an editorial on how he will miss the buzz and excitement of the Guild Wars 2 beta.

Continue reading [GW2] Within Reach

I read Ben Miller’s blog post today. ArenaNet’s golden rules of development sound like they would be stone-forged on the groundbreaking of any MMO studio. I’ll rewrite the rules real quick : 1) prop world is boring, 2) solo MMOs will never be as good as single-player games, 3) pixel bitching sucks, especially in MMOs, 4) copying World of Warcraft is dumb, 5) slap-shod work is only worthy of seppeku, and 6) love thy customer.

Seems pretty obvious for the most part. I think the big missing link is why Miller took the time to write what gamers would think would be as evident as kindergarten rules. Except for rule 6, they can all be distilled in to the conundrum of all work. Quality, cost, speed – pick two. Continue reading [GW2] We Hold These Truths…