Guild Wars 2

ABOUT
_A long time player of the Guild Wars series (I was around 12 when I first stole my brother’s account but shh), I only joined the game in 2013 no thanks to real life. After almost two years of playing semi-regularly while witnessing the game evolving, I feel the upcoming expansion is a good excuse to give a little feedback of my time in Tyria.

As a player, I obviously have my own preferences, so I might not get highly technical in matters of game mechanics and skills, putting emphasis on lore and storytelling instead. Also, I am not criticizing a precise point, but merely delivering my game experience as a player who embarked a little late ; if this ends up not being useful or badly-worded (I hail from the land of baguettes and stinky cheeses), my apologies. I hope I am forgiven._

GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Been there. Done that. The game was not bad at all to begin with. Truth be told it was not what I expected (choices that don’t really matter on the long run, racial origins being somewhat unrecognized, zones stuck in narrative-limbo), but I did not let personal disappointments spoil my experience ; I also understand there is little to be done on these topics, for they are pretty minors anyway. As a newcomer in a field of veterans, however, I did feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to do.
  Crafting, Dungeons, World bosses WvW, PvP, Fractals, Living story… I remember that particular time when, after a tireless night of mapping the Borderlands, I finally shared my joy of having finished the exploration on my guild channel. Answers were pretty depressing. “Yeah, we’re like, doing a 5TH run”. It is, however, not a problem inherent to Guild Wars— I regularly see “old” players complaining about the lack of content to keep them busy. But while they might leave from the game because of boredom, I tend to leave discouraged in front of all these goals seemingly unreachable, sometimes even unavailable. I realize I don’t have to do it, but I want to and feel like I can’t.
  On the contrary my boyfriend, one of these grumpy veterans, got quite bitter after witnessing improvements he did not get the chance to enjoy ; levels rewards or various changes were making my playthrough “easier” according to him, so I guess it is a matter of perspective. There was this thing with recipes being soulbound, for exemple, and the story of how he bought expensive weaponsmith recipes with his huntsman character. But I think he just doesn’t have much luck in general… :p

GAME MECHANICS

• Look mom, I’m flying ! First thing first, I enjoy the mobility of combats in Guild Wars 2. I’m especially satisfied as a thief, rogues being my favorite classes in video games, with all the twirling and backstabbing fests. Being able to jump is refreshing, and even if I initially loathed jumping puzzles, I got better at it and came to, if not enjoying it, be less anxious about it ; but I still think puzzles such as the Aetherblades Retreat or the Dry Top bamboo jump are not really fun after a dozen falls, and that simply jumping into a mesmer portal is not very cool either. The most agreeable puzzles I did so far were the ones where the journey was more rewarding that the end-chest ; the Silverwastes jumping puzzle was beautiful, for exemple, and my blood pressure thanked me.
  Lastly, bosses have also been improving in mobility, and a certain fight with a certain champion in a certain golden place was immensely enjoyable— challenging enough without getting infuriating.

• “Sounds like too much trouble.” There is less variety in this game than its predecessor as there is only one primary profession— yes, this point is another “I played the old game and I’m comparing them”. But in my defense I will say that the wider range of usable weapons is a fair trade. No pistols for mesmers, though. (Okay, I might be trolling a bit on this one).
  I won’t extend much on that one since HoT specializations are yet to be seen, but I am confident in trying what Anet has to offer. I am merely wondering if we will have more skills implented down the road, because I do get a feeling of “mastering” classes a bit too early. Either it’s me getting too comfortable with my builds, or there are few skills to mess with.

• “ My pet is down !” My favorite class was -and still is although it can be a hard thing to defend – ranger. I loved the freedom it possessed back in GW1 ; traps, spirits, conditions, run… Now, I won’t whine about pets, because I think others have said everything much better than I could ever hope, but I grew to resent that darn pet.

COSMETIC ASPECTS

• “That went better than I expected ! ”The. Customization. Is. Awesome ! Seriously, I think Anet deserve some kuddos for it. But since not everything is flawless…
• Armors, especially women’s. I do not want to stirr anymore fights on the subject, and I am voicing my opinion on this particular thread solely because it represents my own game experience, but I really find it to be an issue that your character, as a woman, will stroll around the battlefield half-naked. I was really upset when I saw the Sneakthief attire for men— a nice, shadowy outfit – and compared it to my lady thief’s stripper attire. And it’s a problem for every professions I made ; my only workaround was to do Asuras or Charrs, but the reverse was sadly true ; it seems you can’t be sexy or remotely sophisticated while being a “beast” race.
  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against sexy, vulgar or half-naked outfits ; it’s a part of the customization to be for everyone’s taste— but that’s the thing. I don’t feel like I have a choice ; you are doomed to get questionous attires on women casters, and it’s lame. I feel trapped with having norn or human light armors, and let’s be honest, the reverse can be true for men ; I can only do bulldozers for my heavy guys. I am not trying to advocate for realism in video games but where is the balance ; where is the choice ?
  So far, this “mere” detail is my most negative point on Guild Wars. I expected more than adolescents designs and less “dolls” effects on characters. At least a way of removing shiny lipgloss ? When I am wondering what my mother will think if she ever see the characters I play with, I draw the line.

GROUP CONTENT

• PvP Content - Back in GW1, I never set foot in PvP. I was young, it seemed weird, and I would get my butt kicked most of the time. Now, I am not saying it got easier, but it is much more accessible, and the addition of rewards are actually motivating me to go once or twice a week— Although I do liked the old daily system, which was quite natural to do— perhaps it was to easy ?

• WvW Content - The only problem I had with WvW was that I had to go there to finish my exploration (another old topic, I know). Now that this title is behind me and that I achieved rank 14 for my legendary, I do find it quite enjoyable ; here I am, fending the land with so many characters I can hardly discern their races, bursting into forts and happily tagging during skirmishes. I do regret the fact that most groups will just endlessely “assault-rince-repeat” the sames places over and over again, without trying to truly conquer something ; I am not saying some commanders or guilds are not well organized and will coordinate scouts as well as builders with their initials troops, but it just seems pointless to rush around the maps for the sake of farming points. I know farming is part of MMO, but it does not have to be everywhere ; instauring cooldowns on forts’ capture or making upgrade imperatif could be sweet move— but I don’t wish to attract the ire of WvW players either.

• Everything is awesome (when you’re part of a team) ! Elitism in dungeons and fractals tend to make me wrickle my nose very hard and very often these days. Some people just want to enjoy cutscenes ; I get you did the dungeon a billion times. But if you want to bark at everyone for failling a stack -which won’t always work depending on your team-, don’t pick the “all welcome beginners team” and go to the “Full Zerg X prof not allowed 5000HP+ only” perhaps ?
  I think it is time for more group content, because it comes to a point when grouping is not even fun anymore and the divide between casual/news players versus hardened warmongers is creating bad karma.

TO SUM UP

• Replayable content is a key focus to me. I don’t care much for zones getting changed and events set in stone since risens are still plaguing Orr two years after Zaithan’s death. Consequences are alright in instanced zones, but Kessex Hills being trashed has no impact on a new player ; time continuity should not be the main concern, while a full access to Guild Wars 2 story and its development should.
• Lack of diversity for armors are a thorn in the side of customization features ; If I want to play a “covered” elementalist, I should be able to do so. Each profession having a distinct “feel” does not justify the same option copy pasted for each light/medium armor ; skimpy female characters or bulky male characters ? It is lazy at best.
• I finished Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall alone and it sucked a bit for a coop game. Now I can be part of massive champions-killing and it’s awesome, but maybe there are too few group content at this state. I am not saying we don’t have enough dynamic group events, but it does feel like we are doing the same things over and over again a little ; I heard about raids, and if Anet is really looking into it, sign me up !

**Final Spell-check in progress