Server stability:
Generally I've been able to get on and play from the time the game launched without too much trouble. I had some issues logging on Saturday morning, but the game started working fairly quickly and I haven't had any hiccups since then. The overflow servers have worked well, and the queues to get into the regular server haven't been overly long.
Grade: B+
Performance:
I'm a little biased on this one. I have a reasonably good system, but it's not top of the line or anything. It was a budget build that I did back in November. For some reason, my computer runs much more slowly than my wife's, so while I'm stuck at like 20fps, she's getting like 50. Our builds are very similar. My screen is larger, but I don't know that it's big enough to make that much difference. I've also heard that AMD is coming out with new drivers soon, so hopefully that will make a difference in my performance.
Grade: B
Grouping:
I like the group system. It is hugely improved from BWE1. It still has some issues though. The major one for me is that it doesn't seem to function unless both characters are in physical proximity to each other. That's irritating when I'm on one side of the map and Lira is on the other. We have to pick a waypoint or some other place to meet before we can use the "join in" feature. Even when we're both on the same server it won't detect the other person unless you're physically close. Things that force players to behave in a strange way to make your system work drive me a little nuts.
Grade: B-
Balance:
I think the game is pretty well balanced even at this point. There are definitely some issues, but for the most part I don't feel like any class is particularly gimped. GS warrior is probably a little too powerful in pve, but since there's no raiding I don't really mind pve balance being a little borked. I'm told that ranger pets still get shredded like tissue paper--which is bad--but in groups I've seen far fewer dead pets than I used to (and before you say anything not everyone is using a bear).
Grade: A-
Fun:
I know, this is totally subjective, but frankly all of the grades that I'm giving are totally subjective. I've been having a blast with the game. It's a good mix of directed objectives and random events. I can't tell you how many times we've been running around and decided to go explore some random corner of the map, where conveniently there is an interesting cave or something sitting there. This game really rewards you for just looking around and being curious about what you can find in the world around you. It makes the experience feel more organic and interesting.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts:
I feel like in general ArenaNet has been responsive. In my real life, I'm a performer and I have a performing philosophy that applies well to game launches. There are two kinds of mistakes (or bugs): The kind that you've had before and the kind that are new to the performance. If you make a mistake that you've already made in a performance, it represents inadequate preparation on your part. On the other hand, every performance will have several brand new mistakes that you've never made before. You can't beat yourself up about those because in all your rehearsals (or stress tests) you never experienced those mistakes and thus had no way of predicting or countering them. In general I feel like the people running GW2 have done a good job of fixing mistakes that showed up during beta, and while there have been some new and irritating bugs, they generally haven't been game breaking.
Final Launch Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment