GW2 2nd Beta weekend

Just finished the 2nd beta...well relatively just finished, I quit about 30 minutes before they were scheduled to shut it down.

I experimented with the Mesmer class but just like in GWs I found it lacking in pizazz. I got to lvl 12 with my Engineer which I found interesting and entertaining. The turrets you can set up and long range rifles were awesome. I will definitely be playing an Engineer when the game starts.
I also advanced my ranger to level 12 or 13 and enjoyed the rapid shot arrows as well as my pet. Not as kickass as Engineer but worth spending a character slot on.
My elemental advanced to level 27...easy to tell which I enjoyed the most : , spending trait points really pay off here, I had 10 in fire and 5 something else...I don’t think you can use more than 10 until level 40...or maybe you have to spend 10 in each before it lets you move on...I will have to read up on that. At any rate
This will shock those of you that know how I felt about PvP in Gws, but in GW2 the WvW is awesome and the battles wicked. Friday night the Green server dominated the red and blue, but after a 5 hr. nap I came back to a Red team domination that we (Green) never recovered from, but the efforts were colossal and a blast!
As far as races go I prefer the Norn. The Personal story for humans takes longer than Norn or Charr. The Charr look great when running but the Norn female is the greatest. LOL I will let you all figure that one out. Actually whether male or female the Norn personal story is easier than the human…a bit above the Charr, but not by much. But when push comes to shove it is the Jora like females I prefer to follow around for hours .
All in all the 50 or so hours I played out of the 60 hour beta event were awesome and addictive. Not having to rely on a monk is great…unless you played a monk in GWs, then it might suck. Ele’s, rangers, and Engineer are by far my favorite classes. Warriors are OK, and I will definitely have a warrior and my 5th slot will probably go to a Necro.

Now the bad….warehousing sucks, but is manageable. Banking the same, it will take some adapting on my part and I think it was designed to be inconvenient to promote buying Gems for your hard earned money. A lot of useful perks are available in the Gem store…XP, Karma, and others are all nice and definitely speed up your leveling up progression. But I can see the reliance on Gem Store items getting expensive if you don’t manage it well. Don’t get me wrong, I will be spending $$ on Gems but not extravagantly. I figure $20 every now and then will be OK but I do not want it to be a monthly expense, otherwise I might as well play WOW. Also I did not see…or look for really….a group search function…an area you can go to look for PUGs that are forming. Another research project to look into…how do I find groups to join.
I can’t comment on PvP because I didn’t even try it, but the WvW is a blast and I will be involved in that. I hope to find a Guild that is as fun as TCK was and one that has organized events, but I can see the game being completely solo- able. There are some areas however that you must belong to a group to enter, so you would be missing out on that part of the game. I will even consider starting a guild (TCK) if there is enough interest and taking on the Leadership role…I have more time than most since I am retired but I will have to see what the interest level is. Otherwise I will be looking for a good guild.

Well that’s about it, I haven’t heard any good rumors as to when the official start will be, bt I am anxiously awaiting the date.

Hope this helped.