Guild Wars 2

If you had to describe the game to a friend who wanted to start, what would you tell them?

I would say while it is a unique game with stuff going for it (different skill and stat setup and lack of Trinity), what I will remember from my experience would be a unnecessary dragged out story line (called Living Story) and a story that the only personal aspect is you can pick somewhat what you do (Personal story), skin grind, and bugs that have existed since the game started that really pop up when you do map completion and an unbalanced pvp/pve mode (WvW).

It’s a korean style MMO with focus on periodic, PvE-focused updates. Strong point is visuals and bad points are gameplay and lack of QA.

Perks
Has a great pick up and play vision
Fantastic foundation
Great art style-beautiful world, characters, and art (cutscenes, wallpapers, etc)
Fun combat
WvW game mode holds plenty of players to the game, til CU is released maybe (nostalgia heavy).
Fun class abilities (limited though)
Megaserver
Lore IP (not LS)
Character customization
Affordable
Good CC’s and forum coordinators
Generally a helpful and friendly playerbase
Customer service (my experience)

Cons
Quick returns over longevity & community-Cash shop development focused
Direction & focus for revenue choice (we have whales!)
Pointless stats, for example Healing. I would love to see an emphasis on this, and the impact it would have on PvP/WvW w/o having a hard trinity
Guild missions
Living Story
No expansions
Leveling now
NCsoft (publisher w/too many mmo’s spread thin)
No mounts

Superior Arrowcarts – Superior Arrowcarts everywhere.

AngryCat.4825:

Superior Arrowcarts – Superior Arrowcarts everywhere.

;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcYmlfhShIg

The chosen one who fell to the corruption of the money. Once the one who should bring salvation to those who desperately searched for a game like GW2 after release. Now the game tortures the veteran players with abysmal updates, stealing the fun of casuals and scaring off beginners. The game in the current state doesnt need rivals, its already killing itself.

“You should have been there at launch.”

Nothing to see here. Move along.

boring, lazy, the armors are ugly, the weapons are stupid, grind fest, lack of diversity in builds, lack of personalization options…..i can continue until next week

well, at least you get what you pay i guess

Great game with huge unused potential.Best MMO graphic soo far,awesome combat,beautiful environment,beautiful armor designs,LS,best events that MMO genre had….but with all its beauty…no end game content,too easy and casual game,no proper 1vs1 pvp,nothing to do after you play for few months.

The prequel is better.

narwhalsbend.7059:

The prequel is better.

This sentence hits the nail on the head so quickly and accurately that it should be the box quote.

Guild Wars 2: The prequel is better.

Great initial effort, leading to at least 3-6 months of fun and exciting gameplay. Quickly falls down into a cesspool of bad management decisions which affects the enjoyment of the gamplay, shortly there after.

slamfunction.7462:

Great initial effort, leading to at least 3-6 months of fun and exciting gameplay. Quickly falls down into a cesspool of bad management decisions which affects the enjoyment of the gamplay, shortly there after.

Leaning more towards the 3. It was the November 2012 update (Ascended Tier + untested event) that really foreshadowed everything.

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

High-pace MMORPG with expanding PvE zones and amazing PvP.

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

Also this ^

A TON of good content, both old and regularly added through updates. But lacking a solid completed gameplay system, causing the games content to have continually less engaging and enjoyable ways of playing through it.

But really, I wouldn’t say anything. I’d just buy them the copy. It’s cheap enough now. And hell, I’ve bought full price copies for friends.

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

I actually enjoy the GW2 forums. They are moving slowly and with enough popcorn around, you can have a few minutes of fun entertainment if you want. Most other forums are just boring.

On topic:

Step 1: Most promising MMO in nearly a decade at release.
Step 2: November 2012 update + all stuff after that
Step 3: Game is now more or less a copy of most other generic asian grinder MMOs out there. Nothing to see here, time to move on.

Decent base game experience with interactive story chunk updates. Lacking support to the competitive side (PvP/WvW) . Best game if you have only 5-10 hours a month to play and you don’t like being challenged.

Guild Wars 2 is an MMO that has some great ideas but I am hesitant to recommend it. One of the things I really like about it is the active combat system where you must maneuver and react in combat rather than just passively locking on and hitting all your keys. You spent the first 30 or so levels experimenting with different weapons and skills, and you get a lot of exp simply just for exploring, which is great.

But then after about level 36 you’ve pretty much gotten all the skills you really want to get, and this is where the butchered trait system makes the game boring as heck to level up. Traits are kind of like alternate skills that have awesome effects. They really make the game fun because traits are how you build your character and it’s fun to experiment and learn what traits compliment what skills or other traits.

It used to be that you could pay a small fee to unlock a whole tier of traits, which includes a lot of traits you can use. But now you have to unlock each trait separately one by one and it’s painstakingly slow. It’s bad enough that it feels like you’re literally not earning anything from level 30 to 80. And that’s why I quit.

Positives

• Interesting combat mechanics
• Can play any build you want in PvE, but only in solo
• Charr and Asura depart the usual MMO character designs of “burly beast males” and “big breasted humanlike females with animal ears who wear armored bikinis”

Negatives

• In PvE, 2/3 of combat mechanics fall into heavy disuse, as those combat mechanics are designed to combat “longevity”
• Open world PvE mobs designed to die, too fast for some content, instead of fight the player and offer engaging combat, once gear is atleast lvl 80 Fine with Power as main stat
• Huge majority of mobs use same design that is highly vulnerable to direct dmg only, while having traits that pretty much resist or leaves out any other mechanics, like condition dmg or boon/condition manipulation
• Ranks are used very poorly, anything below Champion rank are trash mobs

If you are a player like me: “Casual PvE Adventurer” who moves around the game world and enjoys the combat and the rewards it offers, do only short farming of resources (once per day or so), rarely tread into hard content or PvP unless it’s organized

It’s gonna end soon after you realize the over simplified mobs that just die instead of fight (No enjoyable combat scenarios, group or solo) and uneven build capabilities in PvE, due to ANet thinking that “this mechanic is too hard for casuals” and giving Power/DirectDmg the superior chances over those other mechanics…

Can I ask do you all think raids are whats missing in GW2? I’ve been reading a lot about people being mostly frustrated with hard content maybe raids will fill that void. This is just a personal question that I have and want to better understand the other half of the player base lol.

I would probably say:
-It’s a game made with casuals in mind. This is a huge factor for people I know that plays games/mmos.
- The PvP gets zero focus from the developers, still having a single conquest game mode, like arathi basin or eye of the storm. Again, everyone I play games with care most about PvP. They’re mostly LoL, smite and dota 2 players.
-The game doesn’t feel like it has an endgame, but that could change with the introduction of raids.
-Most of the PvE fights in the game are zergy, as DPS is the best role 99% of the time.
-Absolutely beautiful art. It is one of the best looking mmos out there.
-Combat has a more action-y feel. Almost all skills can be cast while moving.
-The game is very RNG based when it comes to rewards. Lots of gambling in the cash shop.
-B2P, no monthly sub!
-The living story updates are terrible imo. The updates leave so much to be desired. Might be an expansion soon. It’s possible I would feel different if it wasn’t for all the temporary content in season 1 living story.
-The game is extremely solid. Worth every penny at even $60.

I would highly recommend everyone buy the game at the $19.99 it’s sitting at now. unless you immediately dislike the game, you will get your moneys worth.

gw2 has the most fluid combat system in a mmo ive ever seen,and a bunch of different unique classes to play with.

while all classes have the same stats at lvl 80 (except for base armor and base hp) they all play and feel differently. And while they can all equip gear with the same stats, and they can all go full dps, condi dmg or tanky/support they all do it in their own unique way

This is unfortunately something that a lot of people that are typing on the forums dont understand and then you see QQing posts about how a certain class sucks and isnt accepted in a dungeon/fractals, and how another class is horrible for pve,but facerolls every other class in pvp

Has several aspects of the game and might not all be for you.

1) PvE world is huge, it encourages you to explore and rewards you as well, secret areas, mini dungeons and jumping puzzles. Dynamic events,some even that have a chain,a series of events that shape the zone around you. There are also series of Living world story events that tell a story and have a huge impact on the world.
Playing any profession is fine here

2) PvE Dungeons, even tho there are a handfull of them, and each one has 3-4 paths to take they are unfortunately runned by speedclear groups almost all the time. Unless you go with your guildies expect a lot of leetizm.

Higher requirements are expected from you from other party members unlike the game itself (it might say the dungeon can be compleated at lvl 40 but they all WANT you to be lvl 80 in order to join).. only a few professions are welcomed to a dungeon party.

Not all paths are normally runned (only the shorter and simpler ones that can be speedcleared for rewards)

Even if you do join a pug party for speed clears most likely you’d have no idea whats going on around you…the dungeon will be over before you know what you just killed and looted from.

3) Structured PVP. A place where all players have access to all gear in the game and are thrown to fight in small teams in various pvp maps. While you could play any class here,you will most likely play the meta builds you see on youtube and forums

4) WvW PVP. Some may call it the current “end game” of gw2.
You represent your server in a fight against 2 other servers on (usually 2-3) maps. Defending your own, conquering the enemies map,and trying to conquer the 4th neutral map as much as you can.

You get to collect resources camps, and use its resources to build siedges to take down forts,strongholds and towers.

Unfortunately (i guess) there are only 2 real ways to play this part of the game.

-solo roaming,using a specific build for your (any) class to roam around the huge map in order to fight other lonely roaming opponents (or 1vs2-3-4…6 if youre pro enough)

-Blobadon zerg style, Banding up with 50+other players,stacking up on top of each other and crushing anything that comes in your path.

At first glance it seems boring and braindead, but there is actually much much more to blobadon style. You have to listen to your commander(leader of the blob) commands,follow him, use a build that contributes to your blob members, time your skills correctly (fire,water,static fields, blast finishers,veils,portals,banners,plegues ect) outmaneuver your opponents blob…set up sieges,destroy your opponents siege.

While all classes are welcome in the zerg, each one has to know when,how and what to contribute to the blob.

DPS eles can cast meteor shower to destroy a scattered/stationary enemy zerk,as well as destroy arrow carts and trebuchets,while defensive elementalists can call waterfields in front of the zerg and expect the zerg to blast finish it to fully heal the entire zerg

Warriors and guardians are usually tough enough to become commanders,but can also shout vital boons and use banners that keep the zerg up and running.

thieves are normally used to scout,they are the front eyes as well as back eyes of the zerg, they can notify the zerk of any danger thats ahead, or coming behind them.

Mesmers can use a series of portals that can transport quickly and efficiently a whole group of heavy siege golems that tear down the enemy forts gate that is normaly far far away from the base where the golems are build. It gives the element of surprise,instead of slooowly moving trough the whole map with golems…
They can also cast a veil in front of the zerk and make 50+people invisible for a short period (longer if more veils are used in a sequence) to give a huge advantage when fighting another zerg.

These are the most common professions/roles used in wvw blobadon style, but other classes do their part just as good.

There are a ton of more things i could say about gw2 my friend, but these are the core aspects that the game offers you to play with.

The TL;DR of how I would describe GW2 is this:

Overreaching.

To put more details into it:

I feel that (most of) the people actually making the game do love the game and have good talent for expanding the game, but that the strings behind them are greatly hindering them. I feel that somewhere behind the developers themselves – be it team leads, management, NCsoft, shareholders, whatever (I’ve heard different aspects that in all honesty, point to all of those as the problem) – are expecting too much in too little time/with too few resources, and pushing too much for a quick buck rather than a lasting game.

This, in time, will kill the game. It may take a year or two – it all depends on how much the playerbase’s love of the game that came from GW1, and how much the people who only know traditional F2P MMOs as the type of online games, keep to GW2. Which is unpredictable. And the trend will not stop until the malicious puppeteers are removed (yes, I’m making it malodramatic).

I’ve recently gone back to GW1 for Halloween. And in all honesty the only thing I find irregardlessly better in GW2 is the ability to jump, dodge, and not having to reclick the identification and salvage kits for every single item that I need to use it on. The “crafting system” was simple and easy to understand; the quests were innumerable, enjoyable, and though the reasoning behind doing them was poor (“someone told me that doing this is for a just cause”) the story and lore behind them was exceptional. The main plots don’t take time to explain the backstory or development of the henchmen and heroes – side quests or simple dialogue during the main plots do that enough.

This isn’t nostalgia speaking either, which likes to exemplify things, but I recently did various missions and quests in GW1. And it was all still enjoyable, even though I knew all of it. If I try to redo events or personal story steps in GW2, it becomes mostly dull – especially living world stuff.

All GW2 has over GW1 is that it looks and sounds fancier – arguably player combat (certainly some aspects of it). The art is great and the music awesome, don’t get me wrong there, but the writing is amateuristic, the mechanics are pure hit or miss, and it’s taken years for Anet to begin fixing things that GW1 had done right, and some simple things they still haven’t gotten right that GW1 had! And they’ve even hindered GW2 here and there.

Second TL;DR:

Guild Wars 2, unlike Guild Wars, is a “just for profit” game that is nothing but a shell of what Guild Wars was; a fancy, sparkling shell, but a shell nonetheless.

My love of the franchise and the first game will keep me around for the so-called “living world” (which it isn’t), and maybe the holidays, but for the breaks, I’ll be spending my time 250 years in the past, if in Tyria at all, from hereon out.

Zoso.8279:

Can I ask do you all think raids are whats missing in GW2? I’ve been reading a lot about people being mostly frustrated with hard content maybe raids will fill that void. This is just a personal question that I have and want to better understand the other half of the player base lol.

Hard content is just one of many voids GW2 has. Those who go to play GW1 for a couple days will quickly realize this.

I’d just say that while there are a lot of kittened off, for various reasons, vet players right now, it’s still the best there is for a new player, unless you’re a sucker for some specific things like PvE heavily built around teamplay, roles, gear progression etc. There are a lot of cool things there, so enjoy while it’s fresh. What happens later — who knows, maybe you’ll still like it, maybe you’ll get bored, but there’s no sub fee, so you shouldn’t be worried about that.

Been playing GW since prophecies. Bought GW2 about one month after release and I’m still enjoying every minute of the game. But I’m more a casual player. I don’t rush things and rotating between PvE/PvP/WvW holds my attention.

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

Because some of them admit that the gw2 forum PvP is the best thing they got going for them. Sad. You would think they could do forum PvP on a game they both like and play.

Pro: Ele animations are pretty cool.

Con: The devs only care about $$. Like seriously, I dont know why these people dont work for free while living off of government cheese in a van down by the river, just so we dont have to pay anything to spend hundreds of hours in game without running out of stuff to do.

“First few months: The most fun and well-made mmorpg experience that is out in the world right now.
About a year: Fun endgame experience with very wide character cutomization.
Two years and more: Grinding simulator with occassional gem store updates…”

At least that’s how I feel.

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

Refer to my perks list, and not everyone has a quitter mentality.

Criticism doesn’t mean said player should quit or doesn’t have reasons to play,& change happens all the time.

Great game.

Not such a great MMO.

+Nice Graphics

+The very basic idea of a fluid pvp system for an mmo was very interesting.

-The very basic idea of a fluid pvp system for an mmo was completely squandered, in particular with many static signature skills that completely contradict this model.

-Crafting system is a mess, it really shows they left if up to some korean dev or something.

-No trinity = stack and dps all day long

-Lots of meaningless traits that end up with only 1 or 2 viable builds per class

-Arena net takes ages to address the most basic and relevant things. IE they took next to 2 years to put a kitten back piece filter on the “auction house”.

-None existent deep system improvement and redesign. WoW changed its traits system every expansion until they came up with something they liked. Anet still some times looks at its failed current system, no action thou.

-Balance is none existent neither it acknowledges the most often heard and basic player feedback.

-Summoned minions are useless unless solo or in spvp. Necros and Rangers go kitten your selves.

I have no problems recommending it. Sure there are issues I and many others dont like, but what am I gonna do? Go spend another 8yrs at WoW? Play WS, AoC or (insert tried and failed MMO here)? What you have here is a one time investment up front. Anyone should easily be able to have $60 (give or take) worth of fun here. After that, keep playing or move along.

If the content becomes old or unfulfilling…guess what? It wont cost you one red cent to come back later. You could even log in, do the dailies and go play something else till an expansion or something happens in the game to pique your interests.

The discontent comes from people that love this game. They want to see content and expansions delivered on a timely basis. I do think they forget however that once Anet has your money, there is no flow of new money into the game besides the gemstore and I think that is not sufficient to pay out a dedicated team to deliver new content. If anything, it may just be paying to keep the lights on and the salaries of the few still there.

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

Game is fine for me. After all I got all traits, lots of gold and many cool toys.

Maybe you missed this part of the op.

If you had to describe the game to a friend who wanted to start, what would you tell them?

Good graphics, bad everything else.
That about sums it up.

GW2 the product: best value for money since GW the original.
GW2 the ongoing service: ANet is trying to please as many as possible while sticking to their original intent as much as possible. This is, however, hampered by paradoxical design considerations that don’t mesh well. Also, like every MMO, GW2 cannot generate content fast enough to please an MMO audience.

1. MMO for noobs (aka casuals)
2. Grind + Zerg game = boring = no thinking required
3. Nice graphics
4. Bad lore compared to the previous game
5. Bad game mechanics, or almost no game mechanics + bad design of how the skills work.
6. Jumping puzzles are awesome, also just jumping around in cities
7. Anti-social game
8. Has crafting and i like it.

Conncept.7638:

A TON of good content, both old and regularly added through updates. But lacking a solid completed gameplay system, causing the games content to have continually less engaging and enjoyable ways of playing through it.

i agree with this most.

but i also find it amusing players who hate the game and have stop playing linger on the forums to spread the venom.

Strong start, weak finish.

Relshdan.6854:

Conncept.7638:

A TON of good content, both old and regularly added through updates. But lacking a solid completed gameplay system, causing the games content to have continually less engaging and enjoyable ways of playing through it.

i agree with this most.

but i also find it amusing players who hate the game and have stop playing linger on the forums to spread the venom.

They got to have something to hate on, don’t they?
Only reason I can think of. (And no, don’t give me that ‘I care about the game’ line of bull crap that a lot of haters hide behind. It’s one thing to give constructive criticism. But the way some go on about it… makes as much sense as screaming ‘I love my dog!’ while kicking it in the teeth…)

On topic…
How would I describe the game to a potential new player? Probably something like this…

“It’s a huge, gorgeous looking world, and despite what some people will want to tell you, there is a lot to do there.
It has it’s strong and weak points, just like any other game ever made.
And my biggest piece of advice? Just play the game. Enjoy the scenery. Learn at your own pace. Get out there and explore Tyria.
And last, but most certainly not least…
Have fun.”

It’s an MMO that removes a lot of the frustrations of MMOs before it. If you love traditional MMOs it’ll take some adjustment. If you’re frustrated by traditional MMOs, then this might be a good alternative for you.

Zoso.8279:

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

Also this ^

Simple answer: because of the potential and the promises made.

I still wait for Anet to fix beta bugs, and turn their mindset into less money-grabbing.

On second thought, you are right! What the KITTENING am I still waiting for.

lordkrall.7241:

One would of course question why people that quite clearly don’t like the game still hang around on these forums everyday instead of just moving on.

Honestly I’ve never understood the logic when people say this ^
People still talk about movies and TV shows they’ve seen in the past but no longer watch anymore. Same goes for books or stories we’ve read before. Even though we are no longer participating in those activities it can still be enjoyable to talk with others who have experienced those same activities. Why cant former players read the forums occasionally just to see whats new or what people are talking about?
I haven’t really played LoTRo or SWToR for years but I still occasionally read up on whats new and participate in threads that I find interesting.

On Topic:
“So you’re thinking about getting GW2 and want to know more about it?
Pros:
It has no sub fee, amazing artistic style, Some very convenient design decisions that will have you wondering why other MMOs haven’t thought this. (gathering nodes that you don’t have to fight other players for? Genius!) And an in game shop that even now, over 2 years later, remains purely cosmetic / fluff. No pay to win!

Cons: Large focus on Gem Store, An Economy that will leave a new player in the dust unless they are extremely lucky with drops. Many of the more recent decisions made for the game leaves most players scratching their heads. This game is now the complete opposite of what was promised to us before launch. Threads have been known to go on for 6 months or more expressing legitimate player concerns without a single Dev response. And the combination of the new Trait system and leveling system will probably make your head explode.

great basis, destroyed potential by company, trying to copy LoL in competitive sports, nothing to do in end game, cash shop spamming, lost all self-respect, super repetitive, you will quit multiple times until u quit forever. if you cant get the game for free, dont bother buying it.

those are some of the things i say.

“If you had to describe the game to a friend who wanted to start, what would you tell them?”

Graphics ok but not as good as FFXIV
Combat is simple button sequences and rolling all over the place while you go cross eyed trying to see through the kitten on the screen.
Unrewarding unless you want to grind.
Story is pants.
Updates are limited.
Non PVE gameplay is zerg or dead.

Ok for… well it’s not ok. It was a good game from beta until the day after Karka island.

I’d tell my friend that it’s a good MMORPG to start with if he is just getting into the genre. It’s simple, intuitive, pretty, engaging and fun.

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