Dolyak Delivery - 23 July 2012

Reddit moves quickly, so I wouldn't be surprised if you missed this entry but I'm unsure if its intended to antagonize or is genuinely truthful.  I think for many all that is complained about could be debunked instantly but what I did find interesting was the impression dodging is overhyped.  I don't think I'm the only one that would suggest dodge is one of, if not the most important part of surviving especially in PvP.  Without doing it you would undoubtedly die in seconds.  The other two points I feel are from a lack of experience but there is some interesting discussion to have in this post.

Still with Reddit, what was your impression of the final event? I must admit I loved the idea behind it but felt it wasn't quite realised.  The map was too large, resulting in too few conflicts and lack of any run speed skills made it laborious to run around.  All that aside, I love the idea of the Asuran robots supporting the survivors although I did cry a little when I turned into a robot just for joining my friends on the main server. 

Raphia over at Guildmag kept up an excellent journal of his exploits throughout the entire weekend.  You'll  be able to read through all three days from that one link so do make sure you head on over and check it out.  I always a lot of fun to see and read how others got on.

For anyone partial to a bit of eye candy (who isn't?) Guild Wars Insider have kindly provided imagery for various high level armour sets from light to heavy.  I'll award 200 extra experience to anyone who can guess my favourite combination of armour type and appearance! 

Ravious raises a valuable point I'll be discussing in the coming days, specific to introducing professions and what they actually do. From his account he found the Mesmer relatively confusing, which I can entirely understand, but I feel the issue is much wider than this.  My brother took part in the Beta weekend for the first time and has never played an MMOG before, despite him knowing of my love for them and he too being a journalist (crazy I know!) I spent a great deal of time with him and it was absolutely fascinating to hear his thoughts on what works and what doesn't for a true beginner.  For many of us who have experience in the genre, we already know a great deal and rightly assume most things but for those new to the genre, Guild Wars 2 really does fall far short. 

Jon Peters has made an excellent post over on the official Guild Wars 2 forums (now copied to GW2Guru).  In it he briefly discusses the method of how they go about balancing and what is 'on the cards' in the coming weeks.  With the hysteria on every single profession board you would think that no profession was working, which couldn't be further from the truth.  Every single I've played is really in an excellent place and while none are perfect and some have too few viable builds, with a little work on the players part all of them can be formidable.  If anyone has any good tactics to fighting a hammer Warrior as a Mesmer, do let me know!

A post close to my own heart, as I too have a family and a young daughter, "Lagg" over on the official forum raises a glass to a time when he could have sunk hours upon hours into Guild Wars 2 if it had only released before age and responsibility reared their ugly heads.  All I can add is that if gaming is your passion, just like for some it's cycling or reading, you will always find the time.  Life is too short not to.

Have you seen this video of a playable underwater organ? I can't wait to find it!

Lastly, my postcard from Tyria has just arrived!