Yesterday’s entry is here. I left off yesterday’s entry just before I logged off for the night. I had a few disconnects, which persuaded me that it was probably time for me to go to bed anyway. See, I can take a hint.

I’d switched back on to my ranger at the end of the day to do some crafting, but when I went to the Huntsman crafting station, there was no Master Huntsman in Lion’s Arch … and I hadn’t bothered to take that as one of my crafting disciplines, so there was no point in trying to use the facilities.

When I logged in again on Saturday morning, there was still no Master Huntsman NPC, so I moved on. My regular teammate from BWE1 and the stress test managed to track me down again so I had someone to keep reviving me after I forgot to dodge that last attack…

I did want to try playing other professions, now that I’d had lots of experience on my ranger and some on my mesmer, so when Natural had to log off, I rolled a male engineer. I didn’t spend much time on the aesthetics of any of my characters, since they’ll only be around until the servers get wiped for release, but I do wish ArenaNet will add a few “real” beards for male human characters. There are a few varieties of lightly or heavily unshaven, there are a few “Starbucks barista hippy-dippy frappé latté” chin decorations and one beard that only looks appropriate if it has birds nesting in it, but nothing in-between.

Anyway, aside from his lack of facial hair, my engineer was fun to play: rifles and pistols are very entertaining. Having so few weapons options means it’s pretty quick to achieve all the weapon skills, but I did miss the weapon-swapping ability once level seven rolled past. I’ve only unlocked one turret so far (and I keep forgetting to deploy it until I’m already deep in combat), but I’m looking forward to working with the other engineering kits when I can access them.

The theme of the day on Saturday seemed to be missing NPCs. Aside from the lack of a Master Huntsman I mentioned yesterday, there was a missing renown heart NPC in Queen’s Forest, and the return of my ghostly friend Veteran Gort (his voice showed up regularly in Ettin country, but I never did see him).

I’m definitely noticing changes in the dynamic events I’ve experienced on my various characters: mostly good changes. A few new ones — or new to me — and some changes to others. It’s nice to encounter something you’ve “seen before” and have it turn out differently.

One thing that is a problem however: the game is too addictive. I just jumped into game to see where I’d left my engineer and double-check what skills I’d unlocked and before I knew it, I was out in the countryside, harvesting aspen wood, fighting wolves, and reviving fallen players. I meant to be in for a couple of minutes and nearly half an hour went by…

The final BWE2 entry is here.