The GW2 BWE Phase One: Character Creation (Human)

At this point, the Beta Weekend Event allowed creation of a Charr, Human or Norn.  All classes were playable and crafting was present.  This is the first event without an NDA in place so I was actually encouraged by Arenanet to take pictures and video.

I tried human first, being the boring sort that I am.  The character creation process is pretty intense and could actually take you all day if you care that much.

So far, pretty standard.  We're just giving her a base face, hair, etc.  Then adding colors.
Ok, still nothing groundbreaking.

Whoa...wait!  I am getting asked about my back story now.   Since I tried elementalist, I can see why it'd matter which element I chose.  It should be noted that, though I picked earth, I started with fire and water skills and earth appears to be the last to unlock.  I don't know if this is because of the Beta or if it's just that you start with fire like you did in original Guild Wars.  I do know that the gems look different but didn't notice a real difference in function.

Now comes the fun part, it will ask you about your personality.  

I still don't really understand the mechanics but I noticed some shifts in dialogue (I spent a lot of time rolling and re-rolling to figure this out) which are either background or personality type based.  Yes, as early as the opening cutscene following creation, you will be seeing the effects of what you've made and you'll be hearing different dialogue based on it.

I didn't try out middle class but I did try "on the streets" and "noble" with my humans and noticed some major plot changes in the first 10-20 levels (I only went up that high) - the story was completely different.

As a noble, I seemed to wind up getting "puzzle" storyline more often than combat although there was a mixture.  Your set of NPC friends will change based on background as well.  I met Thackeray (yes, the one who is the descendant of the GW1 Thackeray) more often earlier in the story as a street urchin though - presumably he's arrested me a few times as it seemed like he knew me really well.

Your regret is actually relevant - pick one which you think you'll enjoy seeing come into play.

I have no idea what the gods have to do with anything, unfortunately other than very, very miniscule dialogue alterations.  I presume that there is more to it though and we'd be learning about it later on.

At the end, you confirm your appearance and story and sign your character name.  Cue cutscene!

I actually made one that looked like my mother did when she was in her 20s.  She hates video games so she'll probably never know.  Below are the results.

If you're an Engineer, you will get asked about your gear, I assume it's class specific like the element for the Elementalists.  The gear choice didn't seem to do anything in the game though - or maybe the monocle just did nothing.  This could just not be configured for Beta though. 

If my mother ever finds this, at least she'll be flattered when I have to explain everything.  I gave her a noble background, a nice monocle and an awesome patron deity.