The Guild Wars 2 beta had a lot going for it, but there are still some problems that need to be worked out.

The art style is very reminiscent of the early concept art; Arena Net has chosen to go with an art style that is neither super realistic nor very cartoony. It looks almost like a painting at times.  This art style was undermined by the often low framerates—about 20 fps while questing, around 40 fps in less populated outposts, and sometimes 5-10 fps during some of the enormous fights.  

Some of the loading screen art.

Character creation in Guild Wars 2 is far more in-depth than in the original game.  In addition to customizing character appearance, gender, race, and class, the creation screen asks a handful of questions that help you better define your character.  My first Norn character was an adherent of the Wolf spirit.  My second Norn, who followed the path of the Raven, had a separate storyline to follow.  Another question asked what my character’s biggest regret was.  Thinking this was little more than filler that would have no impact on the story, I answered that I regretted getting drunk and losing a fight.  By the time I reached level 11, my questline took me to a brawl where I had an opportunity to regain my lost honor.  It seems that the opening questions of character creation are in fact somewhat important to one’s own story.  The voice acting varies between cheesy for the Norn and actually quite good for the Human characters.

This conversation is the result of my choices at character creation.