Post and Discuss your First Impressions of Nightfall here! [Merged]

<3 NF . i wish i could play more but the fact that everything accomplished is gonna be deleted stops me from advancing. the last 4 hours feels like a total waste of time.

but anet is definitely gonna have my money for NF in oct.

The Elonian terrain I've seen so far feels much more open and spacious when compared to the cramped, restricted, and often gloomy Canthan environment.

First Impression - From playing it for four hours (the first hour was trying to work through the major bugs with the Hero/crashing), I can say I like it, a lot. I've got a much better feeling about Nightfall now than I did with Factions. At one point I started to get that relaxed and 'at-home' feel I used to get with Diablo II.

The heroes are definately reminiscent of DII's hirelings. I feel like they are an extension of my character, a partner of sorts, compared to the pet-like feeling of henchmen. When a henchie dies, you kinda think to yourself "Pssh, figures"... when a hero dies you tend to think of them as more like a human player and think "Ahh damn!" and quickly res.

The flag/waypoint system was a little bugged (for me anyway) earlier, but it seems the kinks are mostly worked out now, and I like it. Once I get used to it, and assign a few hotkeys, I'm sure it will kick mucho ass. It gives the game a bigger sense of strategy in PvE, I think.

There does seem to be an inordinate amount of quests so far, similar to the mass amounts of Kaineng quests. I think the idea behind this is to give a sense of "you don't have to complete every quest". For people who love questing, or if you're in the mood, they're there, but they're not needed. You can XP just as well by killing things, which they made a little faster with the res shrine scouts that give xp boosts.

Also, about the quests, they're actually pretty creative. Like the food one where you have to find collectible drops to give to certain collectors for certain foods, which you then return for the quest reward. And the Impressive Warthog one where you help an NPC to charm a warthog and show off to a couple of other NPCs (because she can't find and charm a Black Moa, hilarious!).

Little to no locked gates FTW. As far as I can tell, there are none. I think someone said they hit one, but it might be just a preview event blocker or sorts. If this is the case, then taking multiple characters through Elona might be fairly painless. --I hope so!--

I'm loving the Paragon, so far (I plan on saving the Dervish for release). I like being able to help my teammates, but also supplying a good chunk of damage. I went P/E, and I've thrown in Ward Against Melee into the mix. It works well as a nice guard if any melee gets to close to the mid/back-line.

The only problems I have, aside from the obvious bug issues, is that there is a lot added in this installment, and I almost feel like I'm learning a new game. I was a bit confused on how to work with the Hero, and I feel that they should've had a tutorial on Koss the moment you got him, not later in the next city. Though I think a lot of the problems I was having was due to bugs, I'm not sure.

That issue is easily remedied by simply playing around a little while longer. I think when I get the hang of all the new features, it will be super-fun. That being my only real complaint, I think it's safe to say I'm having a ball and I'm gonna love Nightfall. Way to go, Anet!

EDIT: Forgot one more thing I'm loving about Nightfall - the quest rewards are some of the coolest ideas ever! So creative and generally are related to either the NPC or the quest itself. They actually make sense now. Though I do wish we had some skill quests, I'm holding mybreath in hopes that they make it into the final release...

fo sho. im looking forward to NF, its a lot slower(in a good way) than factions was, ie i havent finished it yet lol. and the voice acting seems to be MUCH better!

as does the one after that

ITs funny to read responses where people get all worked up about the most stupidest things.

Anyway, I thoroughly went through a lot of the preview and I am impressed. Anet managed to improve EVERYTHING across the board. There are still tons of bugs but I expect those to be worked out by Halloween. I also like that characters in NF have a lot more personality regardless of how vain some people can be.

Pros:

-Hero System:

I don't care where they got it from, all I know is it works very well. It brings in a new dimension to the world of henchmen. IT also won't affect team making or paring up with a human player since people who have used henchmen exclusively in the past won't have any need to change their habit, Or become disgusted with the game because they were forced to team up with humans.

-Music / Battle Music:

Jeremy Soule decided to give ANET the good stuff this time around. Maybe they upped his pay. But whatever they did, it allowed him to put personality into the music. There is also the addition of battle music that triggers when you cast a spell in battle. Its very catchy and it CHANGES depending on conditions in battle. That was a nice surprise. Its very blood charging and makes battling much more fun.

-Environment:

It looked good from the screen shots and looks even better in game. Plenty of Egyptian influence on the island. Flora and even the monsters themselves look very original. I did notice a couple of plants from Maguuma Jungle but it was completely dominated by the landscape. The New portal animations are a very nice touch and makes the game look current. The environment is much more immersive than both post sear Tyria AND Cantha.

-Cutscenes:

Cutscenes so far have been pretty good to experience. Its Nothing like the random emotes from Factions And its even better thrown together than in Prophecies. The moving jaws on the characters are a nice touch. The voice acting talent is just as good as ever, but THIS time they decided to DIRECT THEM LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO. Good to finally see you guys on your job Voice Directors.

Cons:

-Quests:

The quests are just as weird and mundane as ever. Go do this, bring me that, fetch this, protect that, bring this, visit that. I haven't seen any REAL departure from the norm in the quests yet. Maybe they get better further in the game, but its pretty much the same.

-Outpost Layout:

The outposts so far are very WEIRDLY laid out. ITs very easy for a low level person to wander into an area with groups of very dangerous creatures. This can be easily fixed by rethinking the nature of the the placement of monsters and their power levels or get the player evenly matched for the next area.

-Henchmen AI

I applaud the Hero system but the AIs are another subject. When placing markers for them to perch on, they become very fidgety and bugged. Like they were on some extreme version of speed. Every time you move, they attempt to move with you but the programming keeps them there which makes them display kind of a flicker. They also know no fear so they will not easily retreat from a battle if you leave the area. IT can probably be fixed, but right now its garbage.

Mixed Reactions:

-Professions:

I have a mixed reaction about the new professions. Its most likely because I have yet to see what they are really capable of. I do tend to favor the Paragon since their abilities can greatly affect the performance of your team. Dervishes on the other hand are a complete mystery to me at the moment so they will most likely take more time getting used to. Its the same like Mesmers were to me back in the gap. But I love Mesmers now, so I bet all it takes is time.

-Title Grinding:

This is also another area of murky water. The title grinding is a bit confusing to me. Maybe this is supposed to bring a sense of accomplishment to new players. I mostly see title earning an optional thing to do. Or something you do after you beat the game. Not something that actively affects progression into the storyline. IF this is necessary or needed for the story, it needs to be balanced with varied storyline events and feel like fun, not kill a species until its extinct.

Final Thoughts:

I have much praise about Nightfall so far. I had quite a few doubts and worries about Factions which actually materialized. But, I have hardly ANY doubts about Nightfall. Guild Wars really feels NEW to me again with NF. Its a bigger experience than Factions. Its like a more stylized and interesting Tyria. It doesn't feel like they are trying to rush you through the game. The new graphics are much smoother and modern.

IF you didn't buy Factions then you MUST buy Nightfall.

I didn't like the "bog-down" of getting 10,000 faction points before moving on in Factions, and I'm not liking the "bog-down" of getting all those points for the 30 extra attribute points, even though the double XP + points guys are a nice touch. (Kinda surprised me that they're available at the lower levels)

The artwork is excellent! I'm liking the wide-open feel to the areas, even the places with trees aren't claustrophobic. It has the same feel as Propechies, which is a huge improvement over Factions. Most of the monsters are pretty cool looking - those drakes are very well done!

I didn't get the "rushed" feeling that some did. For a lark, I went through the tutorial & all that. I like the way they set up quests from the various commerce related NPC's. I think it's a creative way to give people XP while at the same time introducing new players to the game.

The Female Paragon's dance is just "OMG WTF?" I didn't even watch the whole sequence before I decided that I wouldn't be using that emote! The "music box dancer" thing the female Dervish has is so-so, but it fits with the armor they wear.

I didn't look at the Dervish characters, but I didn't see anything wrong with the female paragon's faces - except the one with the silver lipstick - YUCK! The hairstyles were fine, there were 2 or 3 that I was debating on before I made my pick.

I liked the many different quests - I hope that food I've got in my belt pouch doesn't go bad before I find that drake meat so I can finish that quest! I also had fun finding some of them - I thought it was kinda funny when I was hunting for that meat, when I see: "Psst, Hey you. Come here." I'm going to wait to level up before tackling that mime again!

Heros? Meh, whatever. I do like the option to flag them to keep them back while I aggro. I do like the fact that I can set up their skill bars, but I don't want to be bothered by using their skills for them. I'm treating them like henchies. Hopefully, when grouping up in PUGs and whatnot, people will honor any requests to leave the heros behind.

I'd like to see skills given out as quest rewards. Getting trained in the skills is just as important for character developement as levling up.

The first mission was fun - a bit on the easy side, but getting to blow stuff up is always a bonus! I didn't like the fact that it was timed, regardless of how fast it can be done. I HATED HATED HATED the timed missions in Factions, and I don't like the idea of them turning up in Nightfall. That's a sure way to give people the "rushed through" feeling and was, IMHO, one of the big reasons for the dislike of Factions.

Awesome! That's exactly what I wanted to hear

So far it's a 9.5/10 or 10/10 for me.

Taking a long time to download the maps, though. Currently going PvP. But I definitely like it. Can't wait to buy it when GW4 comes out and it goes on sale!

(Guess I'll be getting Factions in October, eh?)

Delight comes to mind when I think about how much destruction I can rain down on this new world with my prophecies and factions maxed characters... Simple its an expansion, and if you play regularly its a no brainer to grab it. From the preview its a damn good one. I agree with nightfall being able to instill that fresh epic feeling factions somehow lost... With games like this its all the same...

We want better weapons, more armor, more destructive skills... and this is a good answer.

On the hero system, I like it. It elimates the horrors of relying on pure random pugging. Koss proved to be smarter than the average Wammo... and thats always a good thing. He healing hands'd me! OMFG he broke the wammo taboo! Get a ban! Ban him quick before "they" find out!

Gee, from what I'm hearing, maybe I should just "skip" buying Factions and just wait for Nightfall.

Probably o.o

On another note: Has anyone seen any gates that have blocked off the cities yet?

Factions was a let down for me....i play Proph about 100x more than Factions, the only thing i like from Factions is the 15k Kurz Helm :/

NF is looking wonderful and is a definate purchase from me

I am loving NF. I already have my CE paid off. Glad to know it will be for naught.

- Ryo

My Comments on Nightfall:

• i like the new faces and the new haristyles, the moving mouths in the cinematics and the darker skin choices ... the choice of blue eyes are off though.
• i love the details on the necromancers skin or is that armor? the reddish hues stains, the vein details, teh facial paint, the mini wings ...
• the hero system reduces the need for people to interact in this game ... seriously anti-social but it does help when you wish to avoid idiotic pug's so it works both ways i guess.
• big let downs: timed missions (what gives? can't think of good sub-plots?) and the size of elona - it is small, roughly similar in size to cantha ...

i'll be holding back on purchasing for a while, i never liked timed missions and the boringness of cantha.

At this point, I'd see only three reasons to get Factions if you don't already have it:

1) Skills & profs

2) Items & Armor

3) The ability to start a PvE character and have it level 20/both 15 point att quests and ascension in 3 hours or less with almost any skillset you would want, if that appeals to you.

Slightly OT: You can get to mission number 3?

Anyways, I agree, so far I'm liking Nightfall a lot, and I also absolutely love the hero system .

I know I'll be purchasing it in any case .

I still think some of your guys' opinions might be a bit premature though. The features definitely seem better/improved, but what really will matter along with that is if the campaign isn't too short, and left with a lot of gaps like Factions was.

If it is, it wouldn't really matter how good some of the new features are if the game itself can be completed in a short amount of time.

well besides the fact it took me 5 hours to get to level 7...

(in prophocies i got to like lvl 11 in 4)

its good

took me an hour b4 i found out there was a place you could farm for the promotion points

level 8 with glads def FTW

not having any monk skills FTL (seriously my monk sucked)

I really liked the customized hero, but the scout-killing thing is just too easy to farm exp and points. Second thing is I like how you can order your henchies arround to avoid random agro, u can make them stay in 1 spot, so you can solo

Nightfall has the same "space-saving" system as Factions did. Some quests bring you back into the places where missions took place. It makes for a more compact world but still full of plenty of things to do. I personally like this.

The second mission had a bonus to it, not a time limit to get masters. Nightfall might combine the two throughout the whole campaign and hopefully come up with other creative ways.

Loved the preview, I just beat it ( it ends rightbefore your supposed to leave the island).

cant wait to see more of it, there was so much variation in just the begining of the game. and it seemd to have the right ballance of mechanics from the first 2 chapters.

I really love all the little things they've put in like the music changing when you start to fight monsters or the fact you can change second proffesion instantly. Also its just so fun putting evicerate/executioners on koss.

Played for about 20 minutes just to try out the seemingly only new feature to PvE. Thoughts:

1. Good idea if you like playing with henchmen. Can make for some interesting scenarios if you enjoy clicking all over your screen with 4 or more hero skills up. Still, controllable or not, playing with hench = boring. The hero system doesn't benefit anyone with a good PvE guild.

2. Overhead map reveals a very unvaried landscape. Ch1 had 4 or 5 distinct areas. Ch2 had 2 or 3. Ch3, 1 or 2? Might change with release, who knows?

3. I haven't heard of any challenge missions or any alliance features migrating from Factions so I'd have to say PvE is a step back from Factions, which is a step back from Prophecies. The rushing bonuses in Factions was a disappointment for lack of mission creativity, but the alliance missions and challenges were fun. Too bad the waiting game killed it.

4. Stop this tutorial nonsense in missions.

5. The Factions team is working on Ch4 so that means alot of chance for improvement. Looking forward to it. In the mean time, I might pickup Ch3 if it's ridiculously cheap, but at this point in time, I don't care for the heroes system or the new classes.

FINALLY! Someone that thinks the same as I do! Nice Post.

I love Nightfall's atmosphere and new titles etc. but I am disappointed in how much like Factions this is in it's mechanics. Having to buy all my skills as opposed to getting them through quests, will make me 'pass' on many quests I've done once and simply don't feel I want to do again. I liked the skill rewards because they were motivational.

Also, I found a locked door and I really, really hated them in Factions. Having to play through every aspect of the game, just to get a particular armour set, gets tedious after the first couple of characters.

Wow, a lot on the negative side toward NF. I, on the other hand, am having a blast. I went through all the new looks for the chars just for fun. Some are better then the previous factions/prophecies, and others arent as good IMO. However, the ones that arent as good, I already have chars for, and luckily, the one I dont have is a warrior. I found the NF female warriors far more appealing then the proph and factions, so I'm gonna make a warrior in NF. Anyway, after I finished making some chars, I made a derv to play. I played her for a little while and she was fun. She was a little on the squishy side and I kept dying in some of the newb areas. Honestly, I can see derv as a very decent secondary, but not sure about primary. After this I went to school and came home. Deleted the derv and made a paragon. Now that was around 2pm my time. It is now 3:30 am and I've been playing my paragon that whole time. I absolutely love how the paragon plays. Has an essence of a ranger, warrior, and ritualist. As for the looks of the female paragon, its a love-hate relationship. Very eligant and majestic... in one color. The problem is that the only decent hair style has a head piece as part of the art. Now changing the color of the armor set looks aweful when the head piece remains gold. Simply put, the devs need to link the head piece art colors to the chest piece color so that it doesnt look so awkward. Anyway, I used the face that teenchi up there didnt like. The overall look is angelic in nature. This, however, doesnt escape the fact that I cannot customize my character without her looking awkward. Anyway, back to gameplay, I found the balance to be pretty close in pve. The overall pace of the game is just about perfect. I thought factions was way to fast and prophecies way to slow as far as leveling goes. Progress through the missions is average. The one with the chef was insane due to a very low drop rate of the materials needed. That needs to be fixed. Lets just say, I was level 9 when I finished that mission which I started at level 2. Henchie controls... I just cant go back to the old way lol. It's so nice to be able to have the whole group retreat when things arent going well or have the healer run away when myself and the rest of the group is down, and lead them back when the coast is clear. One thing still missing is the ability to turn off certain spells (like res) at certain times so that a char does not get res'ed right before the healer dies, thus accruing more then needed dp. One other thing that needs to be added is an auto reset function on the waypoint system when the group wipes. As it stands right now, the group wipes, I forget to clear the waypoint and the henchies take off running for the waypoint still active. When a wipe occurs, the waypoints should automatically clear so that we dont get a henchies meat grinding effect. Asside from that, I am going to have a tough month waiting for NF; and actually a tought month and a half after it releases until christmas break. Anyway, that is my 3:30am view and first impressions of Fridays preview for NF. Good Night!

All I can say is totally awesome - can hardly wait for release in october- way to go ANET

just finished

Just finished here too.. Guess I'll complete couple of quests I missed and get the commander rank if I bother that much...

Annoyed a lot at the start, the game seemed to toss the player against silly odds (being L5 and fighting L10+ monsters), apparently I just took the wrong turn at some point. After breaking the L10 limit things started rolling nice, hooray.

I hope they do get the loadable skillbars done well on the actual release, micromanaging my chara, and 3 other charas isn't really fun... Hopefully the AI gets improved some over the current one, the henchies ignore some skills, and atleast I don't find myself being able to micromanage so far to play all 4 charas at the same time..

But overall, me like.

First Impression: Glitch Wars is living up to its name.

It took a while to get in after something hinkie messed up my files, but once I was in and the DLing was done, I started to enjoy Nightfall. the world is comfortable, easy to navagate and nice to look at. Enemies aren't excessivly hard (yet; we are on the nub island) or crammed toe to toe making pulls a pain in the rear.

of greatest improvment over the first two is the henchman system. I think Koss said it best:
Yup. My brains. The heroes aren't noticibly smarter than other henchmen, but the ability to customize their builds (take out Helaing Touch and no more front line monks anyone?) makes for a much more enjoyable soloing experience. When it comes to groups, I foresee future PuGs sticking to RL players over hench. But when they do need an 8th, a monk, they will get one exceedingly more competient than Alesia. No more 1 build fits all; take what you think you need for the group you're in.

You still have to kick them in the butt now and then; notable that Drunkoro whatshisname has a tendency to spam RoF when everyone is suffering from conditions; koss tends to run away from enemies unless they are targettied and under attack from players (not what I'd call 'agressive', really). But thanks to the hero panel, if the AI gets fixated on one skill, you can gently nudge them off it...and back to mend C where he belongs when the whole team has degen. koss wants to do wind sprints between you and the enemy? click an attack skill; that'll fix that.

Comparing Heroes to henchmen, heroes will hands down all around. Some people complained that they couldn't "see" anything when they were running their heroes. I saw everything I needed to. My bar, their bar; their mana and health. Very nice.

Even sweeter is the waypoint system. Not just heroes; you can sit your whole party somewhere and kite small groups to them (instead of the infamous bow pull and pray Denova doesn't "CHARGE!" too close to that second mob while you're kiting out the first). It makes things a lot easier and swear word free.

I've leveled rapidly--more rapidly than I'd like to on a first toon, slower than I'd prefer on a second--and felt a little of the treadmill grind that comes from this locked door issue recorded a few posts above.

2 things Anet should have learned from Factions but didn't:

1. No matter how abundant the money, some people prefer to quest for their skills. Translation: when the RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO are we going to get the skill reward system back? We had three different ways to get most skills in GWP. More player options ftw?

2. repeat players do not like locked doors. Translation: repeat CUSTOMERS don't like locked doors. I heard more than a few complaints about this and the promotion system "locking players out" of content.

I like the titles system. this--first!--time. But I worry it will come down to the same Factions shoot em up grind that players complained about with Factions. "Geez! How many more of these stupid bugs do I gotta kill before I get Commander?"

Beacons/Droks (and the other three less famous runs) was, imho, one of the single greatest inovations in an RPG ever. It was the embodiment of "no grind unless you want it". Those who didn't want to or couldn't afford to "cheat" didn't have to. Those who did? Pay a runner and God Speed son. As i see it, GWP had greater replay value than Factions without this grind system shoved in our faces. remember Anet: people who keep playing for 6 months, are more likely to want to buy the next game. peoplw ho get sick of it after 2? They moved on 4 months ago...

So. A lot of nice new things fixing a lot of annoying old problems. cudos. But theres still a long way to go to undo the factions fubar.

I'm stuck at this point too. I'm level 6 and the primary quest (Leaving a legacy) is sending me to Dohjok Cliffs to fight level 12 mobs, which wipe the floor with me. Probably gotta just level up a bit.

what i've played of nightfall so far is kicking the baked husks out of factions which i find absolutely unbearable to play. Dervishes and paragons both being something new to the play system.

As some of you know me, I am an avid critic of GW Factions. I really criticized and hated the game. But there's something different about Nightfall...

With much skepticism, I played through and finished that Jokanur Diggings mission. I must admit, I am very impressed with the new cutscenes. As expected the mouth movements were a nice addition together with the very much improved voice acting. (GOD, I hate Shiro and Danika)

What really caught my attention was that compared to Factions (which was a major disappointment imo) they never used the in game emotes too much. In fact many of the movements between the that chick in the purple gown and her teacher were scripted. Even the spy hiding in the corner has scripted movements which made me go "WOW, what has Anet done? This is shocking!". The way she peered around the corner and her facial expression as well.

I know Anet is split up into teams one working on one expansion while another works on the next one. The team that made nightfall fortunately was the original team that made Prophecies. I enjoyed playing Prophecies and the nightfall preview even has shown how well they can make a game.

A BIG thumbs up to ANET. You've turned an angry critic to an optimist.

Anybody agree?

Eek, level 17? I just barely hit 13 when finishing

And customizing henchmen is great, boonprot henchies go!

I didn’t play Nightfall to much, mainly because after first hour I just knew I’ll be buying retail, and didn’t want to spoil the fun for myself.

But after seeing the looks of dervish, paragorn, and the whole settings, I can say this is going be so more original gaming experience, qute refreshing to be honest. When I was playing factions I had a weird feeling I play some crappy anime series with dual wielding machos, assassins, oh, and turtles (though I liked the turtles).

In faction I find the whole African setting to be damn sweet, kind of gets me in a mood to explore and see stuff. Brave thing to do for Arenanet to use a less “hyped” settings, and use references to real cultures instead going for usual elves, orcs, and anything else that kiddies like these days (when GW will see big breasted dark elves we will know the end is near)

And to be honest, I was all sold after I saw that big guy with an afro ;P

I like it. The PvE would be perfect if we could have Skills Quests again.

It's ****ing amazing! REALLY love the hero system, though I don't think heroes should be able to use elites on the island. I only wish the leveling was a bit faster, between what it is now and factions.

Meh.

Fundamentally it's the same old game, which isn't bad really since the mechanics basically work and the game is fun.

The hero system is spiffy, I like it. I'm not entirely convinced yet that it's going to be anything more than a gimmick, but only time will tell on that.

I still hate these locked gates though. I realize the "get run to the last outpost at level 6 and then whine for money to buy armor" is annoying, but I'd rather listen to the idiots beg for money than not be able to go exploring when I get bored of the "kill x number of monsters, get item, talk to Joe Blow" quests and need a break.

Also, I wish leveling was SLOWER. I don't want to just ramp my guy up because, frankly, the Guild Wars storylines suck donkey ding dongs and if there's no backstory to the PvE worth speaking of I want something to work for.

I'm not about to preorder after the disaster that was Factions (which I didn't buy at all for a number of reasons and am quite happy for that). I have a better impression of Nightfall going into the release though than I did of Factions, so barring any dealbreaker problems or bad design decisions, I'll probably buy it eventually.

I think I'm going to change Koss to a hammer warrior for a while.

I am having a great time with the hero's and the landscape is just pefect ....or atleast to me!

My only gripe is that you cannot equip the heros with charm animal yet :/, but as it says, this is still being worked on.