Thougts on Guild Wars 2?

[Crenshinibon]

The newest game to join the ranks of MMOs - has anyone tried it yet and have any opinions to share?

I'm personally not an MMO game (I dislike those subscription fees) and absolutely loathe the mindless grinding, or, what World of Warctaft turned out to be.

I'm looking for information on the following:

1. How fun is it?
2. How does it differ from every other MMO out there?
3. How is the story? I saw there were RP servers, how good is the community?
4. How grindy is it? Am I stuck killing monsters over and over for most of the day?
5. How much is there world versus world combat? Is it an event that happens once every blue moon or is this something that I can participate whenever?
6. Thoughts on content - unique, captivating, memorable?
7. Is it worth the money and the time investment?
8. Is there any cash spending - where players that throw money at the game tend to have an advantage (as many free to play games tend to use this model).
9. Are there enough things to do to not get bored? Can I choose to do quests and level up/grow my character just as fast as the character that is massacring all monsters around him?
10. How is the group play? How many people can I have in a party? How well do the classes interact with each other?
11. How flexible are the classes? Is there a variety to the builds? How unique is your character from my character of the same class?
12. How well does the world interact with your character and recognize your story, versus the generic greetings?

I look forward to hearing some responses soon, and in the weeks to come, when people would have a bit more time with this game.

[Pekka]

1. Hmm, a very generalized question. What's fun for one person might not be so fun for another ) I am personally having fun so far, although only been playing since Saturday.
2. 2 differences primarily - questing mostly hinges on dynamic events and personal story line as opposed to the traditional MMO questing mechanic. Also there are no dedicated roles (aka tank/healer/dps), but certain classes can still kind of fill the niche. So, its more like the roles are still there, just much less pre-defined.
3. The story of some races is rather interesting (I personally like the Asura), others get a somewhat generic approach. Too early to say anything about the community, as usual there are some bad apples I suppose.
4. You get very little xp from killing mobs, most of your xp comes from quests (dynamic events and storyline).
5. Think that WvW will be on some sort of schedule, but not 100% sure. Once every 2-3 hours sounds about right.
6. Hmm, the visuals and music are very well-done and as for the rest, I dunno.. Tastes differ. Eg. I don't particularly like some of the character models, it seems they were done with a younger gamer in mind, but I guess it's a minor complaint )
7. Impossible to answer, everyone decides for himself.
8. There are microtransactions, since its an MMO without subscription fees. Most of these revolve around vanity and utility items (eg. buying more banking space, different dyes for your gear and such), no direct pay-to-win far as I can tell.
9. My biggest concern thus far - dunno if there will be enough to sustain my interest in the endgame. Only time will tell I guess.
Will answer the rest once I get bit more playtime with the game.

[Xandax]

WvW are zones you port into, and can take various strongholds in. So basically - it's there for you to do whenever (almost straight from level 1, although you need to go through tutorial so likely level 2).

There's also battlegrounds you can queue up in.

In WvW - your level is scaled to 80, but you retain the abilities and weapons you have. WvW will be organized for many, and 'jump in' for others. It depends on the people you play with.

In the battlegrounds your level and abilities are scaled to level 80, but traits aren't.


As for most other things - it's a MMO. The dynamics will be well known to anybody that's played one before.
If it is worth your money is for you to decide. It seems it's worth mine after the disappointments that were TOR and TSW.

[Pekka]

One thing I dislike about the GW community is the wide-spread vocal disdain and constant bashing of WoW. I feel it's totally needless and somehow demeaning. Granted, this strange phenomenon has been seen before in other "non-wow" MMO's .

[dragon wench]

Hmmm...
I've actually had similar questions about GW2. I played LOTRO for a while during two different periods, but in both cases the constant grind, and "go kill 10 boars" quests simply became too tedious. There was also a lot of WoW bashing amongst the community there as well, and while some of the negativity may well have been legitimate, it became annoying and excessively sanctimonious. I can't stand self-righteousness in any form.
However, I suppose I'm not surprised to hear about the WoW bashing. On a positive note, from what I've gathered they've went a fair ways in substantially reducing the grind. I'm quite tempted to pick this game up, and the lack of a subscription makes my interest in checking it out that much more. I'll have to see.. still waiting for more comprehensive reviews before making a final decision.

[Pekka]

One more thing, the game seems to have some connection issues right now. Sometimes I just can't log in. Hoping they will be able to fix these soon.

[Crenshinibon]

Thanks for your responses.

I'm still unsure about it. A lot of people seem to have jumped on the bandwagon and since I usually tend to play games mostly alone (due to work or the head start people had in the game), that grind really worries me.

While I still semi-actively play Diablo III, I do want something that I can enjoy a year from now - a game that has long lasting value, though that seems to be almost impossible to find in these recent years.

I'm also a bit curious about these dynamic events... they seem fun, but by the time I'm nearing end-game, will I just ignore them and run past them, thinking of them as an annoyance, or will they still be interesting?

[Pekka]

I think they will still be enjoyable in the endgame, and these events don't usually take up much time anyway. Usually about 4-5 minutes if you are close by when it starts. I guess if you are max level events will give you gold or karma instead of xp, so you are still motivated to do them.
As for lasting appeal in a game, yeah I miss that too. Still remember when I started playing WoW back in 2004, don't think any game has ever since sucked me in so badly. Maybe its a good thing, dunno, or maybe I have just grown old ) But Vanilla WoW was damn good fun, shame its been going downhill from that point (I stopped playing it 1,5 years ago). So yeah, its either we've changed or the games have changed, but most likely both.

[Pekka]

I came to the conclusion that GW 2 isn't the right MMO for me, it just doesn't have that many things to keep me interested. Oh well, at least I know what it's about now.

[GawainBS]

I'm under the impression that GW2 is (vastly) overrated by the reviews. What do the people who've played it think about it?

[Pekka]

Yes, it seems to have been overhyped a lot. It has a few things going for it, namely the no-subscription model and the somewhat innovative questing system, but other than that, I don't know. I guess the idea of skills being tied to the weapon used is kinda interesting as well. In the long run though, it feels like I have seen it all before. PvP is a huge part of the game and I am just not into pvp at the moment.

[GawainBS]

This may be the cynic in me, but I've always felt that GW's only viable selling point was the "no subscription", and that most praise comes from people who don't want to admit that.
I have really, really tried to like GW1 (Heck, bought all the games), but it was so boring & plain... So I'm probably not going to touch GW2.

[Crenshinibon]

I caved in and got the game (can't miss the rare opportunity when my girlfriend wants to play games!) and have been playing it a lot. I play casually, without any sort of guild and have been trudging through the game just fine. People are often friendly, and if you die in the field they are kind enough to revive you.

The game itself feels no different than any other MMO and as advertised, you gain hardly any experience from killing monsters. The bulk of experience comes from (greatest to smallest) the following: Dynamic Events, Tasks, Skill Challenges, Exploration, Crafting and Gathering.

I'm not really finding a particular need to spend money in the trading post as most of the gear I find is suitable. Even then, for items your level, the prices aren't bad at all.

Levels make a very significant differences, where for example two level 30s stand absolutely no chance against a level 40 normal monster, however, you can generally fight within three or four levels of your level without too much trouble.

I've only played one dungeon, but I thought that it was tough - it required a complete change in strategy. Whereas usually I play a warrior focused on damage and critical chance, I was forced to play a ranged warrior with a lot of defensive skills, especially since the boss could kill me in two blows.

Unfortunately I haven't dabbled too much in World vs. World vs. World, but it seems to be a 3 way capture the points kind of game.

All in all, it's not too different from your standard MMO, but I'm still having fun playing it.

[GawainBS]

Are the skills still basicly randomly unlocked? More importantly, is it still hectic "play the piano" on your keyboard to keep up your 4 sec skill, 5 sec skill and your longterm buff of 12 sec?
Is there less "railroading", or is there more freeform?

[Crenshinibon]

When you first create a character you start off with one weapon skill (per weapon) and one healing skill.

The first five skills on your bar are the weapon skills, as you kill monsters you will unlock each skill. This isn't a terribly slow process, and if you switch to every weapon you find, you should be all set by level 5. Two handed weapons provide all five skills for the weapon slots while one handed weapons provide three. Whatever your offhanded weapon is provides the last two. So, say a mace will have 3 main hand skills and 2 off hand skills - tell me if I need to elaborate further on this.

The rest of the skills, called "Utility Skills" are unlocked using skill points, which you get from level, but more often than not (assuming you explore the world - they're marked on your map) skill challenges. The first tier of skills cost 1 skill point each - you must have five total skills from a tier to advance to the next one - the second tier costs 3 per skill and the last one costs 6. Healing skills have different costs as well, but there are usually only three per class - two class based and one racial. Elite skills are independent of the previous tiers and are unlocked at level 30. Tier 1 of elite usually costs 10 skill points while tier 2 costs an amazing 30. Just like the healing skills, these are a mix of class-based and racial skills.

I can imagine what you mean by "railroading" but is this in regards to the gameplay or skills? You'll have to give me an example here.

[GawainBS]

Thanks. Very torough response.
By railroading, I meant quest-railroading. You get a quest, then go to your instance, which is one straight road, and you can't even jump down a hill. When you arrive at the next hub, you get a quest which requires you to follow the *exact same trail* you just did, and all enemies are respawned now.

[Crenshinibon]

Events generally are bound to a single area, and by area I mean the huge map that you are currently on. All of the events generally take place "outside" though that also means in caves and buildings, but don't get me wrong - it's all the same area. Loading screens are very rare here - you only get them when you travel far away via waypoint or if you go to a different "section" of areas. By that, I mean that it appears that these large areas are like stitched together - you can traverse several of them and not hit a loading screen.

Back to your question - as they take place outside, you get an event indicator, which is generally an orange circle of varying sizes that shows you where the event is taking place, such as a fight, or a gathering frenzy, or a defense or something else. Any targets of note are also marked on your map and have a symbol above their heads. As it's all in the world, if you die, or decide it's not for you, you can return or run away without any problem - no instances required.

The events do respawn however - some of the larger ones are part of event chains, where several events must be completed - part of a small story, that all lead to one point, usually a large boss fight.

Dungeons on the other had do take you into a different area where you fight VERY tough monsters with a group. It's only possible to exit through the same door you came through and it is one area. I believe that some dungeons have alternate paths as well, that will lead you to different bosses, but will all end up at the same place. Dungeons do not respawn enemies, and neither do personal instances - the open world does - but these are just your regular mobs.

Personal quests will teleport you into an instance as well, which will look exactly like the area you were in, except that you will have your NPCs there and no players, unless you want to invite them to partake in your story. If you stray too far away from your story, you will be teleported out (areas that aren't allowed are marked in red on your map for the personal instance).

[GawainBS]

Thanks, Crenshinibon. I won't pickup GW2 immadiatly, as I'm fully invested in MoP now, but I will when it gets discounted. It sounds more intresting than the format of the predecessor.

You haven't answered one thing, though: Are skills still a bunch of extremely short term effects?

[Crenshinibon]

If you do, let me know, I'd be glad to plat with a fellow GameBanshee resident.

Unfortunately, I have never tried the first Guild Wars. I would suggest that you take a look at some gamplay videos to see the game in action, and speaking of that, I'm running it on a three year old W500 with no problems whatsoever, so it's pretty modest in what it demands in terms of hardware requirements.

As for skills, I apologize about that, I must have missed that. The skills vary from your offensive types, to buffs, crowd control, movement, this just from what comes to mind. The weapon skills (first five slots dependent on your weapon(s) ) will actually be serving as your main attacks - there are no more autoattacks. The first skill has no cooldown, and the rest vary depending on class and weapon and can go anywhere from 8 to 40 seconds. When I play, I don't generally find myself spamming my utility skills (last five), but do use the weapon ones a fair amount. The piano key syndrome varies from profession to profession and build to build. I know for sure that you can do that with the engineer if you decide to build him that way (he has kits which replace your weapon - so you can spam your different weapon skills if you want), I think the Elementalist class may do so as well, but I'm unsure.

All of the skills do have cooldowns, and for normal monsters, you may only be using them once or twice during the course of the battle. I hope this answers your question.

P.S. What is MoP?

[DaveO]

If the ads have not changed, scroll to the top to find out what MoP means.

SPOILER - MoP is Mists of Pandaria, which is the latest expansion to World of Warcraft.

P.S. - I generally refer to WoW as "World of Borecraft".