As I’ve said again and again and again… I really enjoyed last weekend’s Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event. The developers at ArenaNet did a really great job of putting together a really terrific game. Not just a great MMO, which is in itself an amazing feat, but a great game overall, one that challenges standard MMO conventions, much to the chagrin of those that are used the more hand holding that others give at the early levels.

There are a few weeks to the next expected beta weekend event. Odds are it will be near the end of May, as ArenaNet has said they don’t have a date, but they should be about once a month. So what to do until then, and just as importantly what to do during that next weekend?

First thing is probably play some Guild Wars 1, get used to the lore and the like, after all it is MMO Gaming on the Cheap. I suspect this will fill a good bit of my gaming time… well that and building Portal 2 levels…

Small break from Guild Wars 2 talk for 2 really great Portal 2 videos…
The announcement video about the DLC pack that will let fans make Portal 2 test chambers quickly and easily.

And a video about how it is used. My 8 year old son, Ari, is already planning on some levels for the game.

Okay back to Guild Wars 2 related stuff…

Anyhow, where was I? Oh yes, what I’ll be doing, so the three weeks or so until the next beta weekend event will be spent playing the original Guild Wars and making Portal 2 levels (probably badly… I’ll probably be playing Guild Wars badly too, but that has more to do with the fact that while I love gaming, I tend not to be very good at it). I really enjoy learning the lore of a game. I am never a lore master, but I do enjoy the lore that the developers put into the game, which is why I’ll be playing the first Guild Wars. I might… key word, might, pick up the two Guild Wars novels that are out right now that bridge the game all the more between the first game and the upcoming Guild Wars 2… but odds are I’ll only be a level 20 to 30 or so character on the first campaign, let alone through all 3 and needing more lore to absorb.

As to what I plan on doing in the game at the next weekend event.

• Play it more for one. I got very few hours in and only got to level 8, some of that may have been my fault as I am a bit of an altoholic and rolled two other toons that I each got to level 3 or 4, so I probably could have at least got my “main” up to level 10. Still I didn’t dedicate enough time to the game. Next time, I’ll leave the kids to others, and hopefully can get some time off work if we get the date nailed down soon enough… working the prime playing time was a big killer last weekend…
• Try WvW. I didn’t bother trying last time, but I really want to check it out. I am not a huge PvP fan, and I avoid PvP servers, but I do get into some PvP matches from time to time, and it sounds like this one is a lot of fun… though as I write this I can’t recall what made it different from say WoW’s PvP or TOR’s PvP.
• Explore the cities far more. The cities really wowed me last time. They were what I often thought game cities should be… well at least fantasy based cities… They were truly epic and detailed and they made me wish I could rent a room there for my character and let it serve as a base of operations rather than just hang out standing around somewhere. I really didn’t get to look around Lion’s Arch past the Lion statue and the portals there, and it seemed like it is likely more epic than the ones I had been to by that point.
• Take better notes. Take screenshots and some videos. As to better blog about it here, and to give better feedback to the developers regarding the beta to help them make the game better.
• Research more. Gain more insight on how to play my class/profession. Learn to gather and craft. Figure out how the economy works and how to use the trade market. In WoW I am lost without the Auctioneer addon. So game economics and trading can be hard for me for some reason. I guess I should be glad I don’t play Eve Online, which beyond having perhaps the most complex economy of any game, is also fairly ruthless as the whole thing is pretty much PvP, and I can’t see paying the monthly fee for it…

That is my general plan anyhow.

Get select items from this post:
Guild Wars 2… get it.

The original Guild Wars.

The first Guild Wars novel, Guild Wars : Ghosts of Ascalon.

The second Guild Wars novel, Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny.

The third Guild Wars novel, Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows. The release date here says February 1, 2013 though some have said December 2012, either way odds are it will be out after the game itself.

Portal 2. The DLC patch to make levels for it comes out real soon… and it really is one of the best games ever…

The Passage, a really good vampire novel I am reading now and really should try to finish, but odds are I’ll get distracted with all the above, it is good though…