I seriously need to stop paying attention to these videos because everything I see makes me want to play it. With 7 months (at the very least) until release, this is just painful.

I was hoping he would expand on #2, skills for folks. He had the basics right. Your first five skills are based on your weapon (or weapons) of choice with duel wielders getting their first 2 skills based on their primary weapon and last 3 weapon skills based on their secondary. Thieves get their 5th based on the combination of their weapons.

You might say that this limits class variety, even if there are a heck of a lot of weapon options in the game. *Deep Breath*.. Axe, Dagger, Mace, Pistol, Scepter, Sword, Focus, Shield, Torch, Warhorn, Greatsword, Hammer, Longbow, Rifle, Showbow, Staff.

However this is not the end of your weapon customization because you also have perks that you can use to alter your weapon skills. So a Warrior who uses sword/shield will have the same 5 weapon skills but do to individual choices in how they customize them those skills might do very different things. The last 5 skills is based on both class and race and there will be plenty to choose from. The first is a heal (every class has one), the next three are class/race based skills that are not directly damage oriented but are cc or buffing (thus why there is no trinity in this one) and the last is a long cooldown alpha attack based on your class and race of choice. Combined with as I said, there being a lot of them to choose from and that you can alter them (and the 5 weapon based skills) with further customization as you advance through the game, this is going to make absolutely sure that when you meet another player of your class it isn't all but guaranteed that they have the exact same setup as you do.

Also there are other things that are going to make GW2 stand out that weren't in this list. A personalized storyline based on choices you make at character creation (see the choices we know about here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Biography). As you play your story you'll make decisions that change the world around you in your 'hub' area (IE the changes affect your own storyline areas, not the major game world simply because some of those choices can mean the end of major characters in the game or the destruction of a village and you cant have people do that individually without having to reset those changes.

Last... no quests! Your personal story will be fairly similar to quests but much more story oriented. But the vast majority of the gameplay is quest free!

Oh and I must comment that Jeremy Soul is a hell of a good video game composer. But in my opinion nobody can best Knut Avenstroup Haugen, the composer at Funcom. Say what you will about their games, but the music in them is by far the best in the industry.

Guild Wars 1 was one of the best games ever, so you're an embarrassment to gamers everywhere if you don't try Guild Wars 2

@Xaielao both composers are fantastic.

I have guild wars running right now, gambling it up in Shing Jea, because guild wars just turned SIX.

Eh... composed music is overrated. One of my favorite aspects of WoW, even moreso in BC was the ambient noise. The sound was damn near experimental but always felt rock solid along with the art direction. I liked the new Cataclysm content for 1-60 but after burning through the 80-85 bit I'm done with WoW, forever. I will always fondly look upon the years I played it on and off.

GW2 looks great and I'll definitely get it - but seriously, we need to get back to basics. Forget WoW for a second and let's make a virtual world, remember one of the first MMO's Ultima Online? Yeah, we need to revisit something on that scope in 3D. Do you remember how much more was possible in UO than in 99% of these shite MMOs? I used to walk upon entire PC run cities, I used to have a two story house by a productive mine, I used to live there! I used to have ship battles with many other people. One time I stole a rival guild's ship that was filled to the brim with weapons and armor and unloaded it to guildmates in a port outside of another city.

WoW is an amazing game but people have to realize that it isn't necessarily that WoW recycled all of it's elements from elsewhere... it did so with so much style and balance (not so sure if that balance is still there). Blizzard are king's of gameplay mechanics of which they have many armchair critics. I think probably that they are always changing the mechanics to always make the game feel like the gameplay is changing because it is the only way to make the game feel like it is a tad different because obviously, the player has no impact on the world of Azeroth. It is original in the way it tackled many MMO problems. But, stop trying to mimic it, it's a losing battle. Zones were cool in WoW, but the other original MMO UO was a full on virtual world. That is where we need to go again. If someone wants to get rid of their old armor and set it on the ground, they should be able to do so. If they want to build a vendor outside of the city, they should be able to do that. If they want to explore the open seas - they should be able to do that. If they want to try to pickpocket a PC or a NPC's wares... If they want to set portals to certain areas attached to a rune... fully customizable gear... Where are you Lord British, hiding in your castle? For the most part MMOs are a terribly, shitty waste of time and money.

Oh I agree we need a solid virtual world/sandbox so very badly for those of us who just don't really enjoy Eve. But if your going to play an upcoming Themepark MMOG, GW2 is easily your best bet. At least they are trying to get away from WoW and the stream of lookalikes that dominate the genre at the moment. Even ToR is trying it's best to be as similar to WoW as it can get.

Oh and for the record I think the upcoming MMOG with the best chances of being a damn good sandbox game is the World of Darkness MMOG. Still a ways off though.