So today I'll try liveblogging my stress test experience. I'll buy another character slot with my leftover gems and start up a new necromancer.
8:51--Up a bit early to prepare for GW2 stress test. Coffee is percolating. Cardio-vascular system is partially functioning. GODDAMMIT, the servers aren't on yet. WTF is wrong with these Arena-Net clowns!!!
9:05--Come ON guys! It's 55 minutes before the servers are supposed to be up, so why aren't the servers up?
9:20--Sigh. /pointsatwatch Hey fellas! Let's get this party started!
9:36--AaaaaaaHA! This time I briefly got a "connecting..." message before it told me that nothing was going on and I should get a life! This means (in my perception of an improbably consequence-filled existance) that some part of the infrastructure is now on that wasn't on before, probably the authentication server. I can almost taste the necrogoodness now!
9:45--Where game? Why no game? Hulk SMASH!
9:54--Purple/green/white on my chroma hash so my password is right...I don't understand why they won't let me PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
9:56--I know why it's called a "Stress Test"...it's because I'm about to pop a fucking aneurysm.
9:58--One of my guildies said "Connecting!" over vent. False alarm. That lying bastard. I shall hate him forever. Or until the servers actually come up, whichever comes first.
10:00--OMFG the servers are UP!!!
10:04--It looks like the character slot purchase option isn't working right now. No necro for me :-( What's to do, what's to do...
10:18--Ding 8 on my guardian! But I was all keyed up to do some necrotizing (without the fasciitis). Ah well.
10:24--Doh...I need a bathroom break! I must be getting old, I don't think I'll be able to hold it for the 3 hours and 35 minutes left in the stress test.
10:29--There's 5 minutes of my play time wasted!
10:42--Hah! There will be no poisoning of the water on MY watch, evil NPCs!
10:49--Time to quickly check the forums to see if it's just me that can't by character slots. Sigh...report bugs in a beta!? What is up with THAT?
10:52--Yup, some issues with the store.
10:58--Wow...some of the names. I wonder where "xTEXANx" is from. And there's "O M Gawd".
11:02--And we have a scatplay sighting! Picking up a "Cow Pie" gives you the "Throw cow pie to damage and confuse opponents" option.
11:04--I kind of want to stand in this field next to this clearly labelled "Brown Cow" for a while, yelling "How now?"
11:33--More bad names. "Censual Seduction", "Angels Deathblade", "V E R M I L L I O N", "Lik A Som Bo Dee", "Elly Mentia" (the elementalist), "Peowpewpew" ("Pewpewpew" undoubtedly and unsurprisingly being already taken no doubt) and so on.
11:37--Doh, I should have made lunch in advance...I'm missing game time!
11:47--Zug zug, lunch complete! Meatloaf w/ melty cheddar and swiss on whole grain toast, chipotle mayo and roasted garlic hummus. Sweet pickle chips on the side.
11:50--Character slot added via store successfully...necromancer incoming!
11:56--My first choice for name was taken (or inappropriate) so...you may call me Zombiemuffin!
12:12--I'm doing better with necro this time by aggressively using Death Shroud. Because...helLO, it's like being shrouded in death!
12:21--Ding 2! Killing things with death is redundantly fun.
12:49--Dammit! Barely an hour left!
12:50--It would be nice to get a couple more weapons to train up...I kinda feel like I'm going to have to grind later rather than skill them up more organically.
1:12--Ding 4! Still no weapon additions though :-(
1:28--Ding 5! Skills! No more weapons yet...unless a trident counts.
1:34--And a new harpoon and a new focus...but no new main hand/off hand goodies to skill up unless I want to fight underwater :-|
1:49--Aaaaaand a pistol. Necros can't use pistols. I would weep if I weren't a stoic necro.
2:06--An extra hour of stress test! We <3 you ArenaNet!
2:07--Finally...an alternate item! War horn for off-hand.
2:17--Dammit, I'll now have to watch the Euro Cup semi shoot-out. Gah.
2:27--Penalties are the worst way to decide an important game ever. No wonder so many Americans don't "get" soccer/football...the famed passing and ball control of Spain and one of the most explosive scorers ever on Portugal and it ends 0-0 and goes to penalties. :-(
2:35--Hmmm, stop the bandits from burning down the hospital or the orphanage? This hero business is hard!
2:48--Wooo, ding 7! Weapon swapping...if only I had more than just the axe for a weapon. So about 3 hours to level 7. Of course I am already familiar with the content.
3:01--And we're done. I laughed, I cried, I kissed 5 hours goodbye.
So a few points in summary:
Necro worked better for me this time. Either I read up on it enough that I had a better grip on it, or it received a buff. Probably I was just less dumb at it second go-around.
Divinity's Reach is the best-looking and most alive-seeming city I've ever seen in a game, especially a fantasy game. There are places where it looks like people actually live. In WoW, where do the people of Stormwind live? How many houses does it look like there are in Bree in LotRO?
I bought The Secret World over the weekend (the headstart begins Friday, my next blog!) and the difference in polish between GW2 and TSW are staggering. And TSW expects people to pay $15 a month? I'll drop $50 for a month of diversion, but I don't think I'll buy a single month in subs. I expect TSW will be free-to-play inside 6 months and I'll have gotten whatever the benefits are of buying at launch. Maybe F2P sooner, especially with GW2 coming. Seriously, the difference in polish is really stunning, going from one to the other in the course of a couple days.
As far as game polish goes, GW2 looks just about release-ready. I obviously have no idea what the Sylvari/Asura starting areas look like as we haven't seen those yet, but the rest of the game seems damned close to done. But I'm willing to wait because I want this puppy to be so polished it freaking glows at launch. I'm still thinking October.
Have I mentioned that I wants it now? Me wants my Precious!
-Lens
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