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Ignore This In Ten Minutes

Nov 14, 2012
By .
Gaming

We (I say that cautiously, as I'm no longer really a part of "us") don't blog about games as we used to, which is sorta sad but people move on.

That said, one of the things I'd meant to be blogging about back when I was actively blogging here is Guild Wars 2, a "buy-to-play" (meaning no monthly subscription fee) massive, multiplayer online roleplaying game, which I think is the best game of 2012. I didn't, because I sorta ran out of steam on the whole blogging thing around July, but I have a few trial subscriptions for a free four day weekend trial of the game, which begins tomorrow night.

If you'd like one, say so in comments, using a real email address (in the email address field, not in the body of your comment), and as supplies last I'll provide you a free trial.  If you choose to play on the Ehmry Bay server in North America, you can even join the Popehat guild, which is pretty much just me.

Of course, if you try the game and like it, please consider buying it through the Amazon widget on the right sidebar.

Last 5 posts by Patrick Non-White

36 Comments
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36 Comments

  1. Patrick  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:11 pm

    While I'm no longer active here, I am sort of upset about a certain professor in New Jersey, and may write a substantial post about him in the near future.

    So that people can shout "WHERE'S KEEEEEN?!?" as I discuss the ancient history of eastern Europe and Asia.

  2. Ricolat  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:18 pm

    I'd absolutely give it a shot!

  3. Connie  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:26 pm

    I would say yes but then I'd need 2 of them, one for me and the other for Mr. C.

  4. Dustin  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:26 pm

    I'd be happy to give this a shot.

  5. Kevin  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:42 pm

    I'd love to try it out!

  6. Eric R.  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:43 pm

    I'd love to try GW2

  7. Luke  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:57 pm

    Bah, the 10 minutes is up and I see 5 comments but if there are any still available I would love to try it out.

  8. J. Grizzard  •  Nov 14, 2012 @5:57 pm

    I've pondered trying Guild Wars for a while now, I'd love an invite! Thanks!

  9. CarLitGuy  •  Nov 14, 2012 @6:21 pm

    I will be playing the still buggy open beta of Mech Warrior Online, a free to play with some promise to old table top geeks like myself. Rolling dice to determine hit location, by the way, is far easier than actually hitting a Jenner doing 130+kph through a congested cityscape. I suggest you wait for him to miss a turn, then alpha strike on him as the pilot tries to peel his/her 'mech off the corner of the building.

    Oh, and use a VOIP service (Teamspeak3, Ventrilo, etc) to communicate with your group. Coordination and concentrated firepower > honor and single combat.

  10. Jon  •  Nov 14, 2012 @6:32 pm

    Wish GW2 would let us create alts on different servers — can't really move all my chars over to one server to say hi.

    But, well, "hi". Good hunting! I hear the new mini-xpac will be good.

    What class(es) are your main(s)?

  11. Patrick  •  Nov 14, 2012 @6:36 pm

    Invitations have been sent. Again, even if you didn't win (and I won't say who did), it's a great game, the best investment I've gotten out of a game since the original Guild Wars (which I played off and on for 7 years). Games I've gotten similar mileage out of include Team Fortress 2, Alpha Centauri, Pirates!, and Ultima IV.

  12. rsm  •  Nov 14, 2012 @6:59 pm

    Patrick, if more people need invites, I can provide invites as well. (Also on Ehmry Bay for what it's worth).

  13. Patrick  •  Nov 14, 2012 @7:04 pm

    rsm, I'll send you some email addresses as things progress. If Connie is willing to get her husband to comment here, perhaps they could both get a trial.

    By the way, anyone attempting to impersonate Connie's husband (I can check ip addresses) risks being banned.

    Jon: My main is a Charr (sort of a satanic cat-goat hybrid for those who haven't played Guild Wars) necromancer, and I've also gotten a human mesmer (spell-casting class that relies on illusions) to 80. I'm presently working on an Asura (miniature super-genius people with fangs) engineer.

    And I have five others, one of each class. Eventually, I'll get them all to 80, and then decide on a permanent main.

  14. Jon  •  Nov 14, 2012 @7:29 pm

    Very cool. I'm on Sanctum of Rall (I have no idea how to pick servers… it was the lowest populated at the time.)

    I started out with a Norn (think Viking) Guardian (sort of a Cleric, if you played D&D — a melee support class), but it got a little boring by 28 and the lack of effective ranged and kiting got to me. My highest is a human (hooman) warrior (HULK SMASH) at 70. I have a feeling close behind is my Asura necromancer.

    I've always played healers (in WoW and SWTOR) so the lack of an effective healer class has gotten me all verklempt.

    None of the other classes have particularly appealed to me. Elementalist sounded on paper like it would have been perfect (heals, massive AoE — right up my alley) but the fact that I get turned into paste in two hits makes me a sad squirrel.

  15. SA  •  Nov 14, 2012 @8:16 pm

    How connection-intensive is this game?

    How quickly can it be picked up? I'm interested, and I'm a long-time table-top D&D-style gamer. I've never played the online MMORPGs, however. I'd love to learn it, but not if lack of experience is going to cause problems for the rest of the team.

  16. Jon  •  Nov 14, 2012 @8:21 pm

    SA,

    Most MMOs don't require a particular high throughput or low-latency connection. I did fine on an old DSL connection that barely managed 85k/s. I wouldn't suggest it on a modem or over a satellite/Dish connection though — those have so much latency it can be frustrating since the server can go out of sync from what you see.

    I think GW2 has a little less handholding than, say, WoW, but it's also a lot simpler. There's a decent learning curve. You can get the basics in a few hours, but there can be a lot of details that will take weeks, if not months, to absorb.

    GW2 is also different in that the first 30%+ of the game is almost necessarily played solo, unlike WoW. (Yes, yes, I see you in the back raising your arm — I'm not talking about "endgame" and "raiding" and "WvWvW PvP" yet. Don't scare the poor boy/girl. Shush.)

    And honestly, everyone begins somewhere. I tend to like to explain things to newbies. The GW2 community tends to be a little less nasty than the WoW one too, I've found.

  17. Sean DeVries  •  Nov 14, 2012 @8:53 pm

    I would be interested in trying GW2 if it is available.

  18. Randy  •  Nov 14, 2012 @9:14 pm

    Definitley a great game well worth the 60 bucks.

  19. Earle  •  Nov 15, 2012 @12:19 am

    I'm down if anyone still has a trial to share. Hopefully plays on Linux Wine, would hate to get hooked on a game that requires obeisance to Redmond.

  20. Thomas  •  Nov 15, 2012 @2:49 am

    Not interested in a Guild Wars trial, but since you mention computer games, is there any chance of a review of the greatest Starcraft 2 match of 2012; by which I mean the American Presidential Election?

  21. Rich  •  Nov 15, 2012 @5:25 am

    I'd love an invite!

  22. Brett  •  Nov 15, 2012 @6:36 am

    Hi from the Isle of Janthir. Yes, the GW2 community is a good one, and the game is designed to foster ad-hoc cooperation in open-world PvE. There is no ganking or griefing, and you get XP credits for reviving other players who have been downed or defeated. Everybody who participated in a kill gets full XP from it and a chance at loot, so there is no kill stealing. You find yourself welcoming the presence of other players rather than fearing them, because they can only help you or ignore you, never harm you.

  23. Alex  •  Nov 15, 2012 @6:43 am

    If there are still some available, I'd love to give it a try

  24. Patrick  •  Nov 15, 2012 @8:39 am

    I've sent a few more email addresses to commenter rsm, who generously offered to make his or her invitations available.

    The game will have a rather large, world-altering patch tonight.

  25. Anglave  •  Nov 15, 2012 @10:10 am

    If there are more available, I'd been looking to try this game.

  26. TPRJones  •  Nov 15, 2012 @2:32 pm

    Ehmry Bay?! That's my server, too!

    I must remember to join the guild tonight.

  27. Brandon  •  Nov 15, 2012 @2:59 pm

    Id like to give it a shot. I've been a fan of WoW but pay to play has always been a hinderance.

  28. Careless  •  Nov 15, 2012 @8:01 pm

    Curse.com is giving away keys, I discovered when I got here too late to ask. Requires a free sign up on their site

  29. Jon  •  Nov 15, 2012 @8:03 pm

    I think I also have invites – just checked. Patrick, if you'd like to dole them out, let me know.

  30. Careless  •  Nov 15, 2012 @8:14 pm

    23 gigabyte client download? That might be bigger than WOW these days.

  31. SA  •  Nov 15, 2012 @11:04 pm

    YIKE. That's more than my entire monthly limit.

    OK. So. Assuming it gets downloaded via the bookstore's free wireless: How much bandwidth does the game use outside of the initial client download?

    I'd love to give it a try.

  32. Ancel De Lambert  •  Nov 16, 2012 @2:37 pm

    It's insanely easy to hit top level in this game, worthless I made it in 2 weeks on my first character. Further characters take even less time. Thankfully, the game's not about that. The Charr are AWESOME.

  33. jayperson  •  Nov 17, 2012 @1:39 pm

    you've picked my interest. via email?

  34. Careless  •  Nov 17, 2012 @9:14 pm

    SA: MMOs generally take very little bandwith to run, playable on a decent dialup connection. I haven't played enough of this one to tell, and it's all been on an 18 mbps connection anyway.

    I'm only a couple of levels in, and interested enough so far, but it's insanely annoying coming from WOW (and FPS) in the past to not have instant turn via the mouse. Even though I've been playing Mechwarrior Online for the past few months, which you'd think would get me used to that sort of thing.

  35. Connie  •  Nov 23, 2012 @2:20 pm

    Aww, thank you for the reply, Patrick. I couldn't get him to sit down and check in though. I hope people have fun with the game!

  36. Cephas Australoscepticus  •  Nov 28, 2012 @2:46 pm

    I also enjoyed TF2, Patrick. I usually tried to be the medic, but it was early on, and there were just to many kiddies rushing around dying in hails of strategy-free lead. Ah well. Fun to play a cartoon-based world.

    I was involved in the first beta of MechWarrior Online, and got involved in the joystick development. I even bought in to the Elite guild. Very cool gameplay, much like the original PC series way back when. It was good then, and it's even gooder now. I'm a Jenner pilot by preference. I like scouting for the team, and I'm great at running away, or shooting the legs off Hunchie or even an occasional Atlas. Wonderful back story, too. Not as complex as Eve (I'm a Minmatar miner going solo), but then Eve is just so far ahead of everything else it's hard to compare.

    Loove my games. They keep me sane while I'm housebound, and with Teamspeak, I'm never really alone. Just the ticket to keep the Big Black Dog at bay!