E3 2004 Demo Changes

I am curious how much has the game play changed from the May 2004 E3 demo? I realize that graphicaly the game has improved, but what has changed with the core game?

Thanks,
Old Saint Nick

The game's changed a lot. Firstly, in the E3 demo there was no leveling. You started at lv15 and that was it. There've been a lot more skills and armor choices added - the Mesmer at that time was about half a profession compared to everyone else, for example. More areas of the game have been added, more maps, more Arenas, Guild versus Guild combat. The way you acquire skills is completely different. The GUI is drastically different and very customizable now. The inventory system is different. It used to be there was a miss chance when you attacked witha weapon and attributes could influence that, for example, Warrior's had an attribute something along the lines of "Melee Defenses", the Mesmer's primary was "Distortion" and so on - basically when you swung a weapon or cast a skill you'd have an opposed check to see if it landed. Everything now automatically hits, except for ranged projectiles which can be dodged manually, unless you have certain skills that will give attacks a miss rate. Attributes have also seen some changes. There used to be a cap of 250 Attribute Points, it's now 200. A lot of skills have been shuffled between various attributes. Some attributes that were in game are now completely gone. I mentioned the Mesmer's primary attribute but the Monk's "Elemental Resistance" was taken out and the Ranger's planned "Stealth" never made it in. There's probably more I'm forgetting, too.

I never knew Rangers were supposed to have a stealth attribute at one point. That's interesting.

I kinda miss the colourful skill gems dropping like candy from routine e3e kills...aquiring skills has changed quite a few times but it's looking good now.

Oh, and they added a 'trade' function after e3e, no more dropping stuff on the ground & hoping the other guy keeps his part of the bargain.

Bah, I must be growing old, or why's my vision blurring at the memories already ??

Bleys