Poll: Guild Wars 2 Beta Thoughts?

[Kordie]

Waiting for open beta. Not really feeling optimistic about it, considering they forgot about fans who spent a LOT of money on game (two accounts with Trilogy + EotN) and played the game since the beginning (my oldest character just finished 5 years, and my main account is almost 6,5 years old). No beta invite. Kind of disappointed, though not surprising after Eye of the North.

You have to prepruchase the game since they will send you the code (or if you bought the package the code is inside) in order to play the beta.
The beta is not over as they will have another beta weekend for every end of the month until the official release.

Well aware that I have to pre-purchase the game.

My point was that they could've at least given some chance for old-time fans who supported them for years at least some "thank you" instead of "Buy our next game!! then you'll get a chance to see it!".

Unless there's some actual open beta, they lost me to Diablo 3.

In case you weren't aware, the Hall of Hero's from EoTN will return in the Norn area and have exclusive items at each returning GW1's player beck and call decided by all the different achievements the player had completed over the course of their playtime, including armor, mounts, powerups, etc.

As for long time players getting instant access into the beta's.. why? No company that I'm aware of ever does that, and really doesn't have any reason to do so. Hell, no one even had to subscribe to the game to play it, only their time was being consumed. And, the incentive should be playing the game that is the sequel to the one you loved playing, not being rewarded for how long you have been a fanboy. Seriously.

In Diablo 3's open beta, the beta was really, really small in terms of explorable area's and story progression in the first Act. Guild Wars 2 was much larger in these respects.

Guild Wars 2 had an open beta? Didn't realize it.

My point was that they could've at least given some chance for old-time fans who supported them for years at least some "thank you"

Yeah, if only they gave dedicated GW 1 players, i dunno, sweet exclusive weaps, pets, armour, titles...

They also give it to anyone who bought the game just before release and managed to get those 30 points.

Or someone who bought account second-hand off ebay for few bucks to get the weapons.

Again, it's the "old-timers vs newcomers" thing. Old-time players get exactly the same things new players get. What's the incentive for the old players to play the game? Pretty sure if I got to play the beta, like I had the chance with Diablo 3, I might've considered pre-purchasing it.

Now, not so sure. Already pre-ordered D3, and if it wasn't coming out this year, I would've went for GW2 instead.

So... Essentially because they weren't treating you super special compared to the rest, your not going to preorder it?

Well, that plus constantly ignoring the loyal playerbase for some time now (power creep in PvE and ignoring PvP balancing, removing Xunlai Tournament House because they didn't want to try fixing it, releasing a PvE-only expansion that betrayed the original vision of skill > time spent playing game). I'm not that angry. It's just my explanation of why I won't blindly pay a company that has given me nothing to make me want to pre-order their game. Blizzard did give me the option of trying the game and seeing for my own how it works out.

Blizzard isn't exactly known for giving extensive betas in Diablo games. Diablo 2's demo was one class (Barbarian) up to level I think 10 (a lot less compared to D3) and only two first quests (as opposed to a couple of quests from Act 1 in D3).

So I assume you are equally outraged you did not get special attention for D3 because you played D2?

Actually, Blizzard had very little means of checking who bought the game early, who is a long-term fan and who played a lot of D2. Game was released and times when Internet wasn't very popular world-wide, and until recently you had to keep your CDs with you instead of just registering the game on-line to download it later.

Guild Wars has accurate to the minute system checking how old accounts are, how old characters are, how many hours you played each and every one of them and how many hours total. They can tell if someone has been in the game for 7 years, 6 years and who has just joined. Blizzard had no such system.


Also, I did get a beta key for D3 from Escapist. And I've seen a LOT more occasions to get a key from other sites for D3. Not so much for Guild Wars 2. Hell, I got a beta key for Tribes without pre-ordering anything.

So you bought D3 because of the weekend demo they released, which was more of a stress test for their servers then anything else...
And you are glad that Tribes let you into the beta without having to preorder a free game...

Yet as much as you claim to have enjoyed GW1, and from the sounds of it, got plenty of entertainment value out of your dollar, you are not getting GW2 because you feel betrayed that they didnt recognise your awesome fandom and let you into the beta yet...

Pre purchase was at the start of the month, beta weekend was at the end. Take it at face value, this was more of a reward for those who are not saying they are fans, but those that are actually paying customers. There will probably be a beta event open to everyone in the future where you can try the game out before you buy, or quite possibly a free trial set up some time after release.

Too long? You got exactly what you paid for with GW1, and got exactly what you didnt pay for with GW2. Don't like the policy? Too bad for you. There was no mention at anypoint of someone saying hey, play our game and well let you test our future games for free too. And if your chief complaint is that you want to try the game before you buy it, give it time, I am certain they will let you do that. Just don't expect it to happen any time soon.

 

[Abedeus]

Waiting for open beta. Not really feeling optimistic about it, considering they forgot about fans who spent a LOT of money on game (two accounts with Trilogy + EotN) and played the game since the beginning (my oldest character just finished 5 years, and my main account is almost 6,5 years old). No beta invite. Kind of disappointed, though not surprising after Eye of the North.

You have to prepruchase the game since they will send you the code (or if you bought the package the code is inside) in order to play the beta.
The beta is not over as they will have another beta weekend for every end of the month until the official release.

Well aware that I have to pre-purchase the game.

My point was that they could've at least given some chance for old-time fans who supported them for years at least some "thank you" instead of "Buy our next game!! then you'll get a chance to see it!".

Unless there's some actual open beta, they lost me to Diablo 3.

In case you weren't aware, the Hall of Hero's from EoTN will return in the Norn area and have exclusive items at each returning GW1's player beck and call decided by all the different achievements the player had completed over the course of their playtime, including armor, mounts, powerups, etc.

As for long time players getting instant access into the beta's.. why? No company that I'm aware of ever does that, and really doesn't have any reason to do so. Hell, no one even had to subscribe to the game to play it, only their time was being consumed. And, the incentive should be playing the game that is the sequel to the one you loved playing, not being rewarded for how long you have been a fanboy. Seriously.

In Diablo 3's open beta, the beta was really, really small in terms of explorable area's and story progression in the first Act. Guild Wars 2 was much larger in these respects.

Guild Wars 2 had an open beta? Didn't realize it.

My point was that they could've at least given some chance for old-time fans who supported them for years at least some "thank you"

Yeah, if only they gave dedicated GW 1 players, i dunno, sweet exclusive weaps, pets, armour, titles...

They also give it to anyone who bought the game just before release and managed to get those 30 points.

Or someone who bought account second-hand off ebay for few bucks to get the weapons.

Again, it's the "old-timers vs newcomers" thing. Old-time players get exactly the same things new players get. What's the incentive for the old players to play the game? Pretty sure if I got to play the beta, like I had the chance with Diablo 3, I might've considered pre-purchasing it.

Now, not so sure. Already pre-ordered D3, and if it wasn't coming out this year, I would've went for GW2 instead.

So... Essentially because they weren't treating you super special compared to the rest, your not going to preorder it?

Well, that plus constantly ignoring the loyal playerbase for some time now (power creep in PvE and ignoring PvP balancing, removing Xunlai Tournament House because they didn't want to try fixing it, releasing a PvE-only expansion that betrayed the original vision of skill > time spent playing game). I'm not that angry. It's just my explanation of why I won't blindly pay a company that has given me nothing to make me want to pre-order their game. Blizzard did give me the option of trying the game and seeing for my own how it works out.

Blizzard isn't exactly known for giving extensive betas in Diablo games. Diablo 2's demo was one class (Barbarian) up to level I think 10 (a lot less compared to D3) and only two first quests (as opposed to a couple of quests from Act 1 in D3).

So I assume you are equally outraged you did not get special attention for D3 because you played D2?

Actually, Blizzard had very little means of checking who bought the game early, who is a long-term fan and who played a lot of D2. Game was released and times when Internet wasn't very popular world-wide, and until recently you had to keep your CDs with you instead of just registering the game on-line to download it later.

Guild Wars has accurate to the minute system checking how old accounts are, how old characters are, how many hours you played each and every one of them and how many hours total. They can tell if someone has been in the game for 7 years, 6 years and who has just joined. Blizzard had no such system.


Also, I did get a beta key for D3 from Escapist. And I've seen a LOT more occasions to get a key from other sites for D3. Not so much for Guild Wars 2. Hell, I got a beta key for Tribes without pre-ordering anything.

So you bought D3 because of the weekend demo they released, which was more of a stress test for their servers then anything else...
And you are glad that Tribes let you into the beta without having to preorder a free game...

Yet as much as you claim to have enjoyed GW1, and from the sounds of it, got plenty of entertainment value out of your dollar, you are not getting GW2 because you feel betrayed that they didnt recognise your awesome fandom and let you into the beta yet...

Pre purchase was at the start of the month, beta weekend was at the end. Take it at face value, this was more of a reward for those who are not saying they are fans, but those that are actually paying customers. There will probably be a beta event open to everyone in the future where you can try the game out before you buy, or quite possibly a free trial set up some time after release.

Too long? You got exactly what you paid for with GW1, and got exactly what you didnt pay for with GW2. Don't like the policy? Too bad for you. There was no mention at anypoint of someone saying hey, play our game and well let you test our future games for free too. And if your chief complaint is that you want to try the game before you buy it, give it time, I am certain they will let you do that. Just don't expect it to happen any time soon.

tl;dr

I pre-ordered Diablo 3 because I got a closed beta key few months ago, but unfortunately didn't play long (barely got Wizard and Monk to Skeleton King, got Barbarian and Hunter to level 4-5 and didn't get to play the last guy) due to many, many exams and classes plus high ping on US server.

I pre-ordered Diablo 3 because I got a first-hand experience of it.

I enjoyed GW1 until Eye of the North. Then it was downhill and haven't really had much fun since. That's also why I didn't play it for over a year, returned to get 30 points required for the all the non-title awards in GW2 and that was it.

I have multiple reasons why I didn't pre-order GW2 and you keep focusing on the one point, like the straw-men you are. Not going to respond any more to this thread. Seems people are simply unable to understand why I was disappointed with the way A.Net treats long-time fans and are apparently on some sort of crusade for justice. I'm a fan, not a fanboy.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I have multiple reasons why I didn't pre-order GW2 and you keep focusing on the one point, like the straw-men you are. Not going to respond any more to this thread. Seems people are simply unable to understand why I was disappointed with the way A.Net treats long-time fans and are apparently on some sort of crusade for justice. I'm a fan, not a fanboy.

I'm late to this discussion...did I miss the multiple reasons? The conversation you've had in this thread seems pretty focused on the fact you feel burned that they didn't give you, a long time fan, access to the closed beta, but did to people who pre-ordered. Does that about sum it up?

The game is still many months away from release. I suspect there will be more betas, including (most likely) an open beta to allow you to "try before you buy" as it were.

 

[Qitz]

I have multiple reasons why I didn't pre-order GW2 and you keep focusing on the one point, like the straw-men you are. Not going to respond any more to this thread. Seems people are simply unable to understand why I was disappointed with the way A.Net treats long-time fans and are apparently on some sort of crusade for justice. I'm a fan, not a fanboy.

I'm late to this discussion...did I miss the multiple reasons? The conversation you've had in this thread seems pretty focused on the fact you feel burned that they didn't give you, a long time fan, access to the closed beta, but did to people who pre-ordered. Does that about sum it up?

The game is still many months away from release. I suspect there will be more betas, including (most likely) an open beta to allow you to "try before you buy" as it were.

He did go into it somewhat further with:

Well, that plus constantly ignoring the loyal playerbase for some time now (power creep in PvE and ignoring PvP balancing, removing Xunlai Tournament House because they didn't want to try fixing it, releasing a PvE-only expansion that betrayed the original vision of skill > time spent playing game). I'm not that angry. It's just my explanation of why I won't blindly pay a company that has given me nothing to make me want to pre-order their game. Blizzard did give me the option of trying the game and seeing for my own how it works out.

He just made the dumb mistake of leading off with "I'm a super awesome fan and didn't get beta so screw them!" which is what's getting him all the facepalming.

As for the game itself, from what I've seen in various videos it looks extremely promising. Dynamic Events actually playing out depending on pass or fail, skills working off of each other, dodging and positioning mattering and all that without a sub fee so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[snekadid]

-HUGESNIP-

Actually, Blizzard had very little means of checking who bought the game early, who is a long-term fan and who played a lot of D2. Game was released and times when Internet wasn't very popular world-wide, and until recently you had to keep your CDs with you instead of just registering the game on-line to download it later.

Guild Wars has accurate to the minute system checking how old accounts are, how old characters are, how many hours you played each and every one of them and how many hours total. They can tell if someone has been in the game for 7 years, 6 years and who has just joined. Blizzard had no such system.


Also, I did get a beta key for D3 from Escapist. And I've seen a LOT more occasions to get a key from other sites for D3. Not so much for Guild Wars 2. Hell, I got a beta key for Tribes without pre-ordering anything.

until recently? as in 2-3 years ago is recently? And the only reason they wouldn't track this kind of information is because if you went a month or so without playing they deleted all your characters. Thats not customer friendly nor is that a reason to stand up for a failing in their system.
Your argument is either that because guild wars didn't treat you like the pretty self-entitled princess that you are, your not going to play their game in a "cut off my nose to spite my face" maneuver, or that because blizzard employed inferior technology in their previous games and got desperate enough after the constant delays and negative fan reactions to throw out keys to anyone that made eye contact that it sounded like the superior offering.

No I'm not a guildwars fanboy, I think ive played the free trial twice and never felt that it was worth the cash. No, I'm not interested in D3, because as far as im concerned the story ended with Diablo and both his brothers getting smote into oblivion in a way the story described as final, so either its not diablo or they're pulling some kind of comic book "you died! I got better" scenario or its just rubbish. D2 was great but theres been plenty of other hack and slash treasure hunter games that have come out since that are better gameplaywise and aren't run by Activision.

 

[Scarim Coral]

tl;dr

I pre-ordered Diablo 3 because I got a closed beta key few months ago, but unfortunately didn't play long (barely got Wizard and Monk to Skeleton King, got Barbarian and Hunter to level 4-5 and didn't get to play the last guy) due to many, many exams and classes plus high ping on US server.

I pre-ordered Diablo 3 because I got a first-hand experience of it.

I enjoyed GW1 until Eye of the North. Then it was downhill and haven't really had much fun since. That's also why I didn't play it for over a year, returned to get 30 points required for the all the non-title awards in GW2 and that was it.

I have multiple reasons why I didn't pre-order GW2 and you keep focusing on the one point, like the straw-men you are. Not going to respond any more to this thread. Seems people are simply unable to understand why I was disappointed with the way A.Net treats long-time fans and are apparently on some sort of crusade for justice. I'm a fan, not a fanboy.

So wait you claim you're not a fanboy and yet you would of like them to have given the beta for free (no pre-purchase) for those who have played the game right from the very beginning? That sound fanboy-ish to me.

Yes I did read that another reasons you're not buying GW2 is due to how much change had been made throughtout the years. Who are you kidding? Do you honestly believe the game would be kept the same all these years? I mean look at World of Warcraft, they too had become different when compared to the first release and to their latest expansion Cataclysm.

Unless you state the other reasons why you're not buying it I will take you're just whinny about it especially when you act ignorant by pulling the whole "tl:dr" act.

Let put this another way, if Anet did or will release a free beta to all or a free trail would you then play it?

 

[WoW Killer]

Something about this that I was "yeah, it's another MMO". And then there's something that says this is awesome. Like, freaking cool. Here's some random play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lri52km1xY4