This morning Ten Ton Hammer took the opportunity to get our first

hands-on time with upcoming style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2.

While we were aware that developers ArenaNet would be allowing you to

experience gameplay as either a low level human or higher level charr

character, we were in for a pleasant surprise in terms of the

professions available in the demo. The three previously announced

professions – Warrior, Elementalist, and Ranger –

are all available, however, much to our surprise the Necromancer is

also fully playable at the event as well.







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While many of the defining mechanics of necromancers in the original style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars

have made a return, the profession has been completely reimagined and

features some incredibly cool gameplay. For example, as you use the

different skills slotted on your bar, you’ll begin building

up a health resource which allows you to enter a wraith-like state. In

this state you gain access to a new set of potent skills, such as a

powerful AoE ability. This state only lasts as long as your health

resource holds out, but the cool thing here is that you can exit the

wraith form at any time and doing so will return you to your original

location. It’s almost like a perfect marriage of necromancers

and assassin’s Shadow Step abilities in the original style="font-style: italic;">GW,

only you get to do all sorts of damage to your enemy while in this

state before returning.







Pets are also back, and this time you’ll even have some in

the mix that are persistent rather than having the limited lifespans of

the original. The wraith state even comes complete with a temporary

(and very powerful) pet that can be summoned and used so long as the

wraith state is active. And if exploding corpses and making pet bombs

is your thing, fear not, as those will also be staples of the class.







Be sure to check back soon, as we have a full hands-on video of the

human necromancer in action live from the show floor. In it,

we’ll also have a first look at character creation, including

background selection and more dynamic events than you can shake a stick

at. The big question on everybody’s lips: does style="font-style: italic;">Guild Wars 2

live up to the hype? From what we’ve seen of the demo so far

it certainly does - so keep your eyes peeled right here at Ten Ton

Hammer for our continuing gamescom 2010 coverage, and our exclusive

hands-on with one of the hottest titles at the event!

