Check Up

So, I've spent some time over the pre-launch weekend playing my thief and leveling him up. During this time, I have chosen my Order (the cinematic are fantastic by the way), was wrong about the "inevitable launch trailer", on the verge of getting my first elite skill, and seriously busy in real life. The auction house is still down, the WvW queues are still long, but the world of Tyria is still riveting.

The auction house has been down the entire weekend, and is still down even today.  The economic impact that this glitch is having is drastic. People are spamming map channels to sell equipment they cannot use, and generally the players are just lower geared than they would have.  It also makes many avoid crafting, though not enough to make it useless.  (As evidenced by the guy who leveled to 80 in 18 hours through crafting almost exclusively).

WvW queues on my server are nearly outrageous, but it's seems odd.  If my brother who's close to level 40, and I queue at the same time, his queue is always drastically shorter than mine.  I'm not sure if it's a glitch, or if the system prioritizes higher levels, but it sure is frustrating.

At this point, it almost seems like the game refuses for us to be together occasionally.  Often partying and trying to be on the "correct" server does not function properly, or we are stuck waiting on one person because of a queue.  It's frustrating, but I understand that it is just barely reaching the real "launch".

That being said, the personal story has been an enormous success for me.  I think one of the reasons why so many people disliked it was the story's slow start and mediocre progression for the first 20 levels or so.  Let me just say from 20-30, I had tons of fun, and I LOVE the Order of Whispers.  When you decide on the Order of your choosing, (the Vigil, the Order of Whispers, or the Durmand Priory), it sparks a cinematic very similar to the one found after creating your character.  These are fantastic, and I can't speak highly enough of it.  Oh, and watching Destiny's Edge fight wasn't so bad either.  (Also watching some of the dialogue was hillarious.  There was a group of children pretending to be Destiny's Edge, and one of the Charr yelled "I'm Logan and I'm....going to run away."  I died.)

I also am surprised that I having so much fun exploring.  Like I've been to every zone I've been in so far through the stress tests or beta weekends, yet, I keep finding something new. And the vistas, at first I thought yeah they are nice, but they aren't that exciting.  I was wrong, I find them hilariously fun puzzles.  One of the most memorable ones is the vista found in the Charr 15-25 zone.  There's a vista at the top of this tower.  And so I waked all the way around the tower thinking there would be something to start jumping on...Yet, there was nothing.  I scratched my head and re-circled the building.  Yet..still nothing.  Out of shear exasperation, I started asking the guards.  One mentioned seeing flying cows in the sky, and I was like...what?  Needless to say a shortwhile later, I was using a cow-launching machine to launch myself onto the top of the tower.  Yes, it was that amazing.

Some of the content is pretty overtuned, but I actually enjoy it.  It really provides a certain aspect that breaks some of the monotony of grinding events and renowns, you always have to be on your toes.

On a side note, I found the Kodan Sanctuaries, well at least 2 of them.  I ran my level 15 arse up there to a level 70-80 zone.  I died quite a few times, but through some ingenuity (and extreme amounts of luck), I made my way to the sanctuaries.  Unluckily for me, one was going through a crazy event where one of the NPC ran around killing everyone onboard.  The other featured one of the eight major dungeons in Guild Wars 2, and the premise is essentially the sanctuary is sinking, and that's really all I caught.  xD

Like I said previously, I would love to play some more WvW and become a economic-force with the Trading Post.  But, to be honest, out of all the places to be stuck in, I'm glad it's the PvE world of Tyria.  There's always something to do, even if it is another renown.  I might try to learn about crafting a bit, it's one of the black holes of my knowledge of Guild Wars 2.  I know almost nothing about it, besides the technical rules and such.

 It's been a little bumpy, but I am still loving every minute in Tyria.