Guild Wars 2 diary: Brave new world

I should have expected this. Rarely does an MMO launch without a hitch and, sure enough, Guild Wars 2 continues the trend. The masses wanted to dive into GW2 as badly as I did, which meant I ran into some connectivity issues throughout the day. It took a few tries, but I eventually managed to jump into the GW2 character creator.

After playing through most of the races during the GW2 beta, I opted to restart my journey with the Sylvari. The game's resident plant-like people, the Sylvari have only been in existence for 25 years, first coming into being long after the events of the first Guild Wars. Considering my own status as a Guild Wars newcomer (I never played through the first GW or any of its expansions), I found it fitting that I take the role of a race exploring Tyria for the first time.

The character creator is expansive, a must for anyone looking into a long-term journey. I chose a male Sylvari Mesmer, since I've often had an affinity for the power of illusion magic -- illusion more in terms of Doctor Strange, not so much Criss Angel. Then came the mind-boggling task of determining a color scheme for nearly every single piece of skin and attire on my body. I dyed my Sylvari's skin color blue (any resemblance to certain other blue-skinned creatures is purely coincidental, I assure you) before giving my character's outfit a mixture of jalapeno greens, autumn reds, and buttercup yellow eyes. He's clean-cut, but I'd like to think of him as a baby-faced avenger.

My Guild Wars 2 character

With that in mind, it's time to come up with a personal biography, so I picked answers all based on my own personality. I was asked which mask to select, opting for the Fanged Dread, which looks suitable for a brave warrior. When asked how I overcome trouble, I opted for Dignity. Then came the Sylvari-specific questions. My character dreamt of a quest and saw a vision of The Shield of the Moon, the image of healing and magic whose protection I'll strive for. I found Ventari's most important teaching to be that all things have a right to grow. Still on a bit of a Transformers kick, I kept hearing Optimus Prime say in my head, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!" Finally, I answered that the Pale Tree awakened me during the Cycle of Dusk, the cycle of thought and curiosity. After all, I originally chose to undergo this journey out of a curiosity for what's out in the land of Tyria. What is this world that I hear the masses, both Shackers and non-Shackers alike, rave about so much? With my character's backstory prepared, I signed in as The Eye of Carumba (a play on my gamertag) and prepared to begin my journey.

I began the game fully-armored inside the Dream, which was being invaded by Nightmare Hounds. I spoke to Caithe, a firstborn Sylvari of the Cycle of the Night, who informed me that the Dream was being invaded by nightmares. To protect the Dream, I had to take out the nightmare plaguing it. In this case, it was a large enemy called the Shadow of the Dragon. With the help of fellow Sylvari, I quickly made short work of the Shadow. If I could take a giant creature down this quickly with a few strangers, surely this would bode well for the journey ahead.

That's when I woke up from the Dream. Another fellow Sylvari named Mender Serimon, who congratulated me on being called for a Wyld Hunt. He instructed me to start out in the forest and get some training in before heading out. With that, I ventured out, fully confident in my ability to master the Sylvari Mesmer.

Although now my character was now half-naked. I'm guessing he would need some clothes.

Shacknews' Guild Wars 2 diary series follows Ozzie Mejia's journey into NCSoft's online world. Read the ongoing series here.