5 Things To Do During Beta Weekend 3

With less than 24 hours remaining to go before the final Guild Wars 2 Beta weekend begins, I've put together a list of five things I'd recommend all players to undertake at least once before the servers close.   There really is so much to see and do in Guild Wars 2 that a weekend alone just isn't enough.  Even so, I feel that the five below activities really will demonstrate a great deal of what the game has to offer.  If you do know friends who are playing for the first time this weekend, I'm not sure there would be a better induction.

Take part in Tournament PvP

Hot Join Structured PvP is a whole lot of fun when you are by yourself, especially when you want something a little more casual with no pressure.  But there’s nothing quite like getting a full group of friends together and coordinating against an opposing team.  Even if you happen to have no friends (poor you!) and are by yourself, there are plenty of potential tournament teams seeking players in the heart of the mists.  Don’t be afraid to chat to the players looking for party members as they’ll be desperate to fill their group and get started.  Some might ask whether you have a microphone and are willing to join a Ventrillo/Mumble channel or Skype chat so it might be worth ensuring you have all of those components before hand so you can jump right in.  Using voice chat makes the whole process so much easier and you’ll be wracking up tournament prizes in no time.

Take part in World versus World

If you enjoy Player versus Player on a larger scale, rather than the 5 versus 5 offered in structured PvP, what better way to do it than representing your server against hundreds of other players, fighting back and forth for control of giant keeps and supply lines.  If it’s one thing you must do in World versus World, it’s fire a trebuchet.  Although it’ll take some coordination with others to build after you’ve purchased the blueprint, there’s nothing more satisfying that seeing a giant burning ball of death descend onto a Keep wall, sending the enemy flying.    If you prefer something a little more subtle, supporting your realm by capturing the Weather Machine at the center of the eternal battlegrounds (the big island in the middle of the lake) is a great deal of fun.  Not only will you see the ridiculously awesome Quaggan, but capturing the Weather Machine will guarantee lightning strikes down from the clouds onto your realms foes.

Take a Swim

Water in Guild Wars 2 isn’t there just as decoration but is as much an important part of the games content as anything on land.  Part of the fun in the underwater content is the exploration and the unknown as you look into the deep from the surface.  For those of you who enjoy crafting, exploring what the water has to offer is even more worth while as the giant lakes are littered with rare resource nodes just waiting to be gathered.  If you do happen to be in World versus World and heading out towards the Weather Machine controlled by the Quaggan, the lake you have to swim through to reach it is probably one of the most exciting places to explore out of the lower level regions.  Not only is the lake enormous but it is filled with caves and hordes of Krait to fight against.

Take a Tour

For the first time during the Guild Wars 2 Beta, each races capital city can now be explored. It will be difficult for most to decide whether or not they even want to explore them at all, to ensure they can save the content for release. What I would say is that the sheer size of each capital city, including Lions Arch, is so vast that you simply couldn’t uncover what one offers in a weekend, never mind all of them.  If I was to suggest anything and trying to remain spoiler free, it would be to travel to Divinity’s Reach, the human capital city, and head towards Eastern Commons.  For nothing more than absolute visual splendor, there you’ll find a carnival of colours and ticker tape streaming from the skies.   So far, it’s my favourite spot in the entire game.

Take on the Mystic Forge

I like to see this as Russian roulette, only minus the guns and bullets.  The Mystic Forge is a sort of crafting station in Lion's Arch Mystic Plaza and holds the imprisoned djinn Zommoros.   By offering gifts he will create new items for you, which is nice of him. What is fun or torturously addictive about the Mystic Forge is the prospect of receiving a rare item dependent entirely on what you throw in.   Mystic Forge recipies do however require you to place in four items and you can learn specific item recipes.  If for nothing else, it's worth visiting the Mystic Forge just to use the crafting menu as it looks lovely and if you have a personality like mine, you'll quickly be sucked in with trying your luck. 

So they are my five suggestions for this coming Beta Weekend 3, what are yours?