Guild Wars 2

This was a post I made in response to a forum entry asking whether or not the author should buy GW1.

Many other comments had already discussed the HoM benefits and the story components so I decided to focus on the combat – something I enjoyed about as much as the lore of the 1st game.

FrigginPaco.4178:

Skill interaction was the highlight of GW1 with regards to combat and I continue to believe that GW2 has a much more limited reach where that’s concerned. The drawback was that combat overall was still “slower” because the skills had such widely ranging effects, and a lot of time could be spent simply reading skill effects, at the beginning of learning to play, of course.

But… that was the whole point. The skill selection was so incredibly ample and varied, both for PvP and PvE. Builds for very profession numbered quite high and evenly amongst all of them and you could even make themed builds work well in legitimate combat settings depending on the situation.

Considering the fact that in GW2 weapons don’t have a 2nd set of skills that you can individually swap for each 1-5 skill, you can only really have diversity through the 6-0 skills and the trait system. Even for engineers*** who can’t switch primary weapons, that’s like limiting 1/4th their potential combat customization (my rationale being 1/4th 1-5, 1/4th 6-0, 1/4th stats from armor, and 1/4th traits).

I understand why they’ve done it that way, fewer skills to learn means less time learning how to enjoy the game before you actually start playing the game. This benefits a more casual audience which I’m not directly opposed to, but for people seeking more from the potential that the game engine has to offer, since it’s a modified gw1 engine I believe that they’re not tapping into what gw2 could be.
…

Before I digress further, let me simply state that GW1 is different for many of the reasons people have been stating. It is very customizable where combat is concerned, but that’s the limit to its really strong points. There is simply more “stuff” in gw2.

• I’m fully aware that they have access to kits. *

This is geared more towards veteran GW1 players, though all opinions are welcome here.

Thoughts?

I got all 50 points in GW1, but I don’t find myself using the rewards very much. I did it more so I could say I did it. But, some of the rewards are interesting.

I wouldn’t buy the old game just to get the points. But, the lore stuff can be interesting. There are hundreds of places in GW2 where something from GW1 is referenced. In one of those Shiverpeaks zones, there’s a renown event where you have to figure out what the dwarf who is buried there did in life. Without the old game, there’s no chance without either guessing or going to the wiki. But, many of them are well-known to old-time players.

Statues in Black Citadel, a whole set of objects in Fields of Ruin relating to Gwen and Thackeray, etc. But, it’s probably easier to just read about it on the Wiki.