Guild Wars 2 Previews

In addition to a Guild Wars 2 video preview on G4 that features commentary from designer Jeff Grubb, ArenaNet’s subscription-free MMO sequel is the subject of some hands-on impressions over at Ten Ton Hammer. From the latter:

To a certain degree, the engineer plays almost like a very imaginative melting pot of signature skills from various original Guild Wars professions. Even though you’ll start out with some basic weapons and associated skills, switching sets between a rifle or two pistols gave me a tangible sense of an old world ranger’s divergent path based on the influence of technology.

While a ranger is still firmly rooted in the natural world and the beasts that dwell within it, the engineer eschews nature for the sake of befriending a single of its elements, namely fire. That sure sounds like how the charr would advance tech to me. That’s not to say that fire-based attacks are the only tools in the engineer’s arsenal, but they are fairly dominant. The GW1 ranger as a point of reference can be most easily seen in the skill Explosive Shot that fires a projectile that explodes on impact. This will be one of the first weapon skills you begin the game with when using a pistol as your primary weapon.

Switching to the rifle you’ll be able to use Net Shot, a ranged attack that causes the immobilize condition which hinders movement and prevents dodging. This can help you keep some distance from your target, and then using the ability to right click a skill to set it as an auto-attack also helps you stay focused on mobility, which is key with most professions in GW2’s combat.

This will perhaps be one of the biggest initial differences in combat mechanics for players who are used to traditional PvE MMO combat where you stand in one spot and spam a skill rotation. Skill rotations are still a vital part of combat, but as you progress that rotation can become far more interesting and complex since each utility skill, weapon swap, and unique profession mechanic factors in.