Guild Wars 2: Eager Anticipation

So last night my wife and I went on an adventure in our area trying to find the retail copy of Guild Wars 2.  And I was rather surprised that it was pretty difficult to find.  Since the games launch I have found the retail box version of the game at both of our local Walmarts, our local Best Buy, and both of our local Gamestop stores.  However, last night I looked up our local Gamestop stores online (which showed neither had in store stock available - which I know is sometimes not accurate) so I avoided wasting time stopping by those stores.

Hit up my local Best Buy (so I could the last couple points on my rewards card) and there were no copies of the game to be had there.  So as a last resort we dropped by both Walmart stores only to find two copies of the game on the shelf at the last Walmart we stopped at.  Feeling almost as good as if I won a lottery, we ate dinner and went home where I would start the installation process.

Upon cracking open the case, I found little in way of documentation (the original Guild Wars included pretty details booklets on the lore of the game) and there were two game installation DVD's.  Installing from the DVD's took a little bit, but nothing major.  Then the patch process started.  And continued to run... For several hours.  As of this writing, the patches are almost complete so hopefully I'll be in the game soon.

The patching process wasn't unexpected, I just hate that part of the installation of any MMO.  Because it takes so freakin' long.  Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that the game is being improved and updated.  Because in the end, the players benefit from this.  But it has been a while since I had sat through the MMO installation for any game.  And the original Guild Wars seemed to be a fairly quick installation, but the game was setup a little differently from my understanding.

In either way, I have no qualms with how the installation has moved along, and have yet to encounter any errors or issues.  After I get a little time in-game, I'll post some of my initial thoughts.