It's been a long time coming, but after months of teasing little updates, news about character classes, combat, questing and story, and some tantalizing glimpses of gigantic monsters, I finally had a chance to sit down and play Guild Wars 2 . Before we get into the nitty gritty, however, let's recap: Guild Wars 2 is ArenaNet's sequel to Guild Wars, which was a sort-of-but-not-really MMO that didn't have a subscription cost and blended group-based combat with trading-card-game-style tactics. For the sequel, ArenaNet began making wild claims. Claims like "you won't need be in the same party to get credit for helping people" and "there won't be any quest text." Naturally, we, the gaming public, nodded our heads and agreed, the way you might as a homeless person yells at you that the illuminati is controlling his mind, and that he, in turn, is controlling yours with the soiled rag he manically grasps in his trembling hand.

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So, I sat down and played Guild Wars 2 . It began, as most games of the genre do, with character creation. It was, I was told, greatly dumbed down from the character creator that we'll see in the final version to get into the action quickly, rather than spend fifteen minutes shaping our character's eyebrows. Instead of being able to mess with the cosmetics of the character, I was whisked off to things that would actually affect the way my character played, and the way Guild Wars 2's storyline would play out. For the first part of the demo, I had to play as a human. My class was up to me, so, being that I generally like to play caster classes the most, I chose the Elementalist. From there I had to choose an elemental affinity. At this point in the demo, I don't think it actually made a difference, so I chose earth, picturing my character to be a new-age hippie in a land of battle-hardened warriors.Then there was a small string of biography questions. I was given a few choices as to what my strongest personality aspect was. I chose "ferocity." Out of three options regarding my upbringing as a street rat, a commoner or a court noble, I chose a commoner. Then I was asked what, of three options, was my greatest regret. The first two were boring things like avenging my sister's murder or something. I didn't even really pay attention to them, because the third option completely overshadowed them. My character's greatest regret is that he never had the opportunity to perform in the circus. This could only play out in the most awesome of ways, although I never got the chance to see ramifications of that particular choice.From there, my character entered the world. I found myself standing before a collection of buildings, and immediately an NPC ran up to me to inform me that the village was under attack from centaurs, and that I needed to rally survivors and tell them to head to the town's inn. With that complete, I was told to head to the local fortress -- currently overrun by the half-beasts -- and take back what was ours. Other players were present during the demo, and I could see them running towards the fortress too. It was there that we all coalesced and began wiping out waves of attacking centaurs. Each kill netted me, and all the other players involved, experience and loot, despite me never having invited any of the other players to a group. We were in the same world, working as separate entities for a common goal, and all being rewarded equally. It was very communistic.But the world would soon splinter, as I later made my way back to Divinity's Reach, the human home city. Wandering through the town, I soon came across a swirling portal, indicating I was about to enter an instanced area. On the other side was a homey little area. In the local tavern I met what could potentially be a love interest, and what was most definitely a rival. Words were traded, and all hell broke loose, with my rival and his posse wrecking the bar and its patrons. I took action and disabled the rabble-rousers with fiery justice.On the real-world side of the monitor, another was looking over my shoulder and asked how I started all of that. One of the developers informed us that, because I had chosen to play as a commoner, I had that bar-fight scenario. If I had chosen to play as a noble, I would have had to help some sissy-man with a horse or something, and the game's story, from the get-go, would be different.