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Final Guild Wars Beta Weekend
The folks over at ArenaNet are throwing the Final Pre-Release Beta Weekend Event. It's specifically aimed at folks who have preordered the game. If you're in, you can download the client and get into the game world early. From the article: "This BWE might be called our polishing event. Aside from the brand new maps that are being presented in their newer form, and which we know might need a bit more refinement, we're moving in on release (just 14 days and counting!) and we'd really like things to be just perfect on April 28th."
The release data hasn't been pushed back that I know of so I dont know why the emphasis on REAL final beta. There has been any implied final beta before. With the pre-order you get a box with a soundtrack and your authentication key. You actually get something for the money you put down on the pre-order. I dont think they are going to chase you down if you pre-order and dont buy the game, but it would make sense to puy the pre-order just to try it out this weekend before you dump the whole $50 to buy it. Maybe its not what you think it is in gameplay. But this game will sell out the first week, you can't get a pre-order on the weekend that a beta even is going on. So if your going to do it start looking now.
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Im giving up Wow Due to lag and their crapy servers, what do you all think of GW, worth trying as next step after WoW ?
(but i should be programming not playing games)
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I'm playing both GW and WoW. Both are excellent games and I enjoy both very much. Next step after WoW? Its too different to call it a next step. The graphics are different, the game mechanics are different, the whole way you play is extremely different. ArenaNet don't even call their game an MMORPG. They call it a role playing game that you play online.
Giving up WoW is your choice, but Guild Wars isn't a drop in replacement for it. Crafting and a pretty decent trade system are just two examples of things that I've gotten used to in WoW but are really missing from Guild Wars. Also, the commands are entirely different which can get confusing at first.
Having said all that, I really like Guild Wars. I play the Beta weekend and then when its over, go back to WoW. Not sure how I'm going to split my time between the two after the 28th, but I'll figure it out. ;-)
Would I leave WoW for Guild Wars? Not initially. Maybe when I build up a community of friends there, but I have far too much time invested in WoW to drop it completely and permanantly. Lag and crappy servers in WoW? I'm on a medium pop PvP server and rarely have I had lag so bad I couldnt play the game as it is intended. The server downtime is easily addressed. You get free/credited days out of it. Not many other games do similar.