Guild Wars 2: Need Moar Info

So, there's this GW2 forum I hang out on. A lot of people are asking "What are you going to play?" The answer I have is, "Don't know. Ask again when we know the rest of professions." [Blather follows:]

Guild Wars 2: Ghosts of Ascalon (spoiler-free)

So, for those of my imaginary readers who aren't either Guild Wars players or just aren't keeping up on the Guild Wars 2 news, here's the sitch: They're releasing books. The first one officially came out this past Tuesday (I've had my copy since Saturday, though) and it's really pretty good.

Mah Elite Armor, Part 4

I mentioned in passing our "main" native Canthans were nearish the end of their campaign, which we finished up the last mission of last night. They're not quite done done, as they need to go back and get the Master's award on two missions (one of which is a big PITA to get), and there's a few lingering quests (some of which we're deliberately putting off, as there's two competing factions and we're currently only working on the title for one of them, though we'll go back and do them eventually), but close enough. But that means they got their elite armor, yay!

Mah Elite Armor, Part 3

Yeah, I started to get determined about getting enough money to get all the oldest characters elite armor. These guys are Nightfall natives, so their armor is from a slightly creepy area late in that game. The one thing I don't like about it is how little you can dye, but I like the overall style and the undyable parts, thankfully, go with the colour scheme for this character, so I went ahead and got it anyhow. Pics behind cut (clickable for bigger versions):

Guild Wars 2: The Ranger

[ETA new info x3; shoulda waited before posting, but, well, Ranger is usually my favorite profession, so...]

So, I'm a little surprised; the ranger doesn't have access to guns. However, they have access to more hand-to-hand and/or thrown weapons than I would've guessed. So there's that.

The article could use a bit more detail (it feels a little rushed, frankly) on how pets work, but it sounds as if basically by being a ranger, you can have a pet without compromising your other skills, having access to up to three pets and those pets having access to skills of their own. I hope that's truly the case; one of the more frustrating parts of playing a ranger in GW1 is trying to put together an effective skill bar that makes it worth taking the pet but still allows you personally to do much of anything except shoot things. I've got a bar I like with a couple variations on Xylia, especially now that I've got Heal as One (which gives a self+pet heal and lets the pet steal health with attacks for a while), but having more freedom is something I'm looking forward to.

I'm less happy about this:

Not Elite Armor

These guys were languishing in idle land for a long time but recently we finally got them out of the beginner area and ran them up to where they could get max armor (and makeovers). ("Ran", in this case, means taking them past a lot of earlier areas.) Since mesmer armor is just lovely even in the non-elite versions, I figured I'd take a couple screenshots.

Mah Elite Armor, Part 2

Made a bunch of money farming this week to get back what we spent on one of the games over the holiday, and decided to pick up some more elite armor for my other ranger, Lujayn. This time I thought to take screenshots outside with weapons and stuff, including one with my SO's necromancer Leila to complete the pair. I may do some for Xylia and Asimenios next time I think about it, too.

What I think of Blizzard's new Real ID

Well, it sure does mean we'll be saving the cost of two copies of Starcraft, and it definitely ended any lingering temptation I might have to have resubscribed to WoW. So there's that.

Quick rundown: Starting pretty much immediately, all Friends (and Friends of Friends) on your battlenet account will see your real, legal identity. In addition, all Blizzard official fora will make posting IDs your real, legal identity. This is being done in the former case, allegedly, to help people "network", and in the latter case, for "accountability" for trolls.

This bullshit about "accountability" is just that: bullshit. Blizzard already has all your personal info, possibly including a credit card # to boot. If you troll on the fora, and are reported, there is nothing stopping them from using the banstick or (if necessary) closing your account even without that information in any event, but with it, they also can potentially keep you from making a new one. The only people this will be revealing your name to is other players.

Oh, there's some bullshit about how on the WoW fora, you can change which character name you post under to get away from being known as a troll, but the point is, you can't change the underlying login, so Blizzard can still banhammer away even if you manage to post 50 times under 50 different names before they review any player reporting of your trolling. So, again, the only people this is now revealing your name to is other players. And other players have no need to know your real, legal identity.

I would venture to guess that a lot of people will simply be driven away from both battlenet and the online fora by this decision. Some, like me—and I'm not completely averse to using my "real" name online (though I sure as hell refuse to use my legal first name, which I abhor and only use when forced to), but I want to do so under my terms, not someone else's—will simply cease to do business with Blizzard.

It's a bad idea. It's a bad, stupid idea that could lead to stalking, harassment (especially over now-highly-guessable gender), and simply bothering a whole lot of people. The first two are worrisome; the last is simply an annoyance, granted, but it's an annoyance I personally am choosing to live without.

ETA: And here's someone who breaks down why it's a bad idea. (via the news on today's Penny Arcade)

Guild Wars 2: Combat Isn't Everything

With the introduction of the branching personal storyline and the existence of world events—some of which can be triggered by non-combat activities—the quest and goal system for Guild Wars 2 seems to have been covered fairly well, however much I might want for a lot more details that I imagine I'm simply going to have to wait until the game is released to find out. But most games, Guild Wars included (where I'm currently standing on a ring trying to increase my Lucky and Unlucky points), have a non-combat feature or two. Guild Wars 2 is planning on having a few more than usual.