Guild Wars 2

I’m posting this for anyone else that might be interested in working on their GW2 achievements, but never played the first game.

It’s on sale now on Steam through September 7th for half price.

Wow thanks so much for this post I’ve considered buying GW1 for a long time but always considered it to be slightly too expensive for the sake of achievements and stuff… Definately getting it now! Wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for this post, thanks again!

Those that haven’t played it will be blown away by the numerous builds GW1 has.
Get this…you can put any skills you want on the skill bar, your weapon doesn’t determine it.

Yeah…you read that right.

Shen Slayer.3058:

Get this…you can put any skills you want on the skill bar, your weapon doesn’t determine it.

Any skill that your two professions has access to, although you can’t level up the primary skills of your secondary profession (but you can slot them!)

And some skills are weapon-reliant, but that’s not nearly as close to the percentage of weapon reliant skills in gw2 (aka every 1-5 skill in the game, bar down or transforms).

Shen Slayer.3058:

Those that haven’t played it will be blown away by the numerous builds GW1 has.
Get this…you can put any skills you want on the skill bar, your weapon doesn’t determine it.

Yeah…you read that right.

Mind isn’t blown. There are other MMOs that don’t tie all skills to weapons (unless something like shield slam is in and needs a shield).

Gw2 at least tried something different. Now, my mind WOULD be blown f you could customer weapon skills. Course, that would be a balance nightmare (as it was in gw1)

Shen, you neglected to mention that you still have to run all over creation to get your hands on those skills, and still need to hunt down bosses to get elite skills (assuming you know which boss has which skills)

Berelious.3290:

Shen, you neglected to mention that you still have to run all over creation to get your hands on those skills, and still need to hunt down bosses to get elite skills (assuming you know which boss has which skills)

Unlike the trait you have to unlock in GW2, it was very fun unlocking Elites in GW1.

Also, don’t forget about GW1’s awesome gem store.

£6.49 for the trilogy you cant go wrong really

hmm wonder if this sale will increase activity on gw1 next week. Would be nice to get a 12 man group together for the deep I miss that place lol

i’ll consider this, but i can still go play pwi absolutely free

So annoyed. LOL

I just bought the Trilogy for my friend 8 days ago. Then he bought EotN.

With the Trilogy almost all the skills are available for purchase in Kaineng City and Kamaden. Yes, you need to get to the Fire Islands to get all the Prophies’ only skills (you can get most of them in Lions Arch), but you need to get to Fire Islands for most of the good Elites anyway.

As pointed out above, Elite hunting was freakin’ awesome…one of the best parts of the game.

Mind blown? Am I the only one who likes GW2 a lot more than GW1?

GW1 frustrated the hell out of me with its missions where you have to restart everything over on the first wipe. Then you get tons missions especially in Factions where you have to keep Leeroy Jenkins alive. Just frustrating. I didn’t even finish War in Kryta. The only reason I kept playing was because I’m an armor set addict and I wanted the Heritage armor set for my GW2 character.

This isn’t to say that there’s nothing in GW1 I wouldn’t like to see the devs bring over to GW2. Far from it. Elite skill hunts were very cool, subclassing was very interesting, the number of viable builds was impressive, heroes would be super cool in GW2 instanced content, the variety of skins was such that whatever look you had in mind, GW1 had something for you. I could keep going, GW1 had a lot of very good ideas that should be brought over to GW2, but so far I had more fun with the second game by a long shot.

Thanks for the info. I just bought the trilogy. I’m interested to see how it plays compared to this game.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Thanks for the info. I just bought the trilogy. I’m interested to see how it plays compared to this game.

i hope you don’t like jumping!

Hmmmm…

Fellblade?

I’d do it for fellblade.

maybe.

mhh. mmm.

~gets comfortable on fence~

Shen Slayer.3058:

Those that haven’t played it will be blown away by the numerous builds GW1 has.
Get this…you can put any skills you want on the skill bar, your weapon doesn’t determine it.

Yeah…you read that right.

They’ll also be blown away by the amount of redundant skills.

FLEES

Liewec.2896:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Thanks for the info. I just bought the trilogy. I’m interested to see how it plays compared to this game.

i hope you don’t like jumping!

Well I hate jumping puzzles. Does that count? O-o

Bearhugger.4326:

Mind blown? Am I the only one who likes GW2 a lot more than GW1?

GW1 frustrated the hell out of me with its missions where you have to restart everything over on the first wipe. Then you get tons missions especially in Factions where you have to keep Leeroy Jenkins alive. Just frustrating. I didn’t even finish War in Kryta. The only reason I kept playing was because I’m an armor set addict and I wanted the Heritage armor set for my GW2 character.

This isn’t to say that there’s nothing in GW1 I wouldn’t like to see the devs bring over to GW2. Far from it. Elite skill hunts were very cool, subclassing was very interesting, the number of viable builds was impressive, heroes would be super cool in GW2 instanced content, the variety of skins was such that whatever look you had in mind, GW1 had something for you. I could keep going, GW1 had a lot of very good ideas that should be brought over to GW2, but so far I had more fun with the second game by a long shot.

Yes, you’re the only one.

Also for anyone buying this, the correct order is Prophecies (Tyria) → Factions (Cantha) → Nightfall (Elona) → EotN (Tyria GW2-tie-in)→ the GW:B stuff (WiK (Tyria) → HotN (Tyria) → WoC (Cantha)). If you ever finish all that, expect to feel like the story just dropped off, and then you’ll see why the Lore subforum is always so angry.

Azure The Heartless.3261:

Hmmmm…

Fellblade?

I’d do it for fellblade.

maybe.

mhh. mmm.

~gets comfortable on fence~

I love my Fellblade, but good luck trying to get 23 points when you’ve never even played the game before. That could take a while.

Shen Slayer.3058:

Berelious.3290:

Shen, you neglected to mention that you still have to run all over creation to get your hands on those skills, and still need to hunt down bosses to get elite skills (assuming you know which boss has which skills)

Unlike the trait you have to unlock in GW2, it was very fun unlocking Elites in GW1.

It’s the same thing! Make a new character in GW2. Go hunt for your traits in the world, instead of buying them. Bam. It’s elite skill hunting in GW1.

Take off your nostalgia glasses or else admit you’re a hypocrite.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Skill_tome#Elite_skill_tome

Shen Slayer.3058:

Also, don’t forget about GW1’s awesome gem store.

http://store.guildwars.com

Roger that.

(Bonus: The gemstore we have in GW2 tends to offer most of these things a lot cheaper and with the option to pay for it with in game currency.)

I’m a veteran GW1 player. I have the complete series. I used it’s gemshop. GW1 was a great game.

But this whole “GW2 sucks GW1 was the best game ever” thing… it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

Further if you like GW1 so much, you know, it’s still there.

This is an excellent deal for any who may be interested in trying the game. I bought it about a month ago using the physical only Complete Edition (P+F+N+EotN for $30US at a regional GameStop), and do not regret the purchase.

The two games are fairly different, but they’re both enjoyable, and both worth a play through.

CETheLucid.3964:

It’s the same thing! Make a new character in GW2. Go hunt for your traits in the world, instead of buying them. Bam. It’s elite skill hunting in GW1.
Take off your nostalgia glasses or else admit you’re a hypocrite.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Skill_tome#Elite_skill_tome

This is more or less a direct comparison to having to run out somewhere in GW1 and do some menial task to put another point into a trait. Does that sound fun to you?
Also, tomes don’t unlock anything that isn’t already on your account. Nearly all non-elite skills can be bought from trainers, with some exceptions.

CETheLucid.3964:

http://store.guildwars.com
Roger that.
(Bonus: The gemstore we have in GW2 tends to offer most of these things a lot cheaper and with the option to pay for it with in game currency.)
I’m a veteran GW1 player. I have the complete series. I used it’s gemshop. GW1 was a great game.

The GW1 “gem store” was not advertised at all and had practically nothing compared to what you see in GW2. Your “bonus” is in fact a detriment because Anet is encouraging the player to make microtransactions and use real-world money for to buy gold.

CETheLucid.3964:

Further if you like GW1 so much, you know, it’s still there.

Indeed.

It’s not available in Steam for my region (I’m in Brazil). I’m sad.
Anyone knows any tricks for being able to buy it on Steam anyway?

Azure The Heartless.3261:

Hmmmm…

Fellblade?

I’d do it for fellblade.

maybe.

mhh. mmm.

~gets comfortable on fence~

you will be mad when you see how the GW1 one looks better

and you can dye it

CETheLucid.3964:

It’s the same thing! Make a new character in GW2. Go hunt for your traits in the world, instead of buying them. Bam. It’s elite skill hunting in GW1.

Not really. GW1 elite skill capping was tedious and often painful and unrewarding. How many times did you enter that out of town instance with henchman (before Heros) and fight your way to where the boss might have spawned only to find it didn’t? Repeat……repeat…….repeat……….ugh.

While I miss the potent feeling GW1s elites actually gave me, I don’t miss capping them.

GOSU.9574:

CETheLucid.3964:

It’s the same thing! Make a new character in GW2. Go hunt for your traits in the world, instead of buying them. Bam. It’s elite skill hunting in GW1.

Not really. GW1 elite skill capping was tedious and often painful and unrewarding. How many times did you enter that out of town instance with henchman (before Heros) and fight your way to where the boss might have spawned only to find it didn’t? Repeat……repeat…….repeat……….ugh.

While I miss the potent feeling GW1s elites actually gave me, I don’t miss capping them.

Nah bro, you gotta grind PvP until you can unlock it with Favor and then use a Tome to get the Elite without having to do that pesky map rerolling. Oh wait…

Don’t forget you can get skills though Tomes http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Tomes

I do miss the chests found in open world. Gw2 trying to bring that back with sandstorms, not as much fun to me though.

Esplen.3940:

grind PvP until you can unlock it with Favor and then use a Tome to get the Elite without having to do that pesky map rerolling. Oh wait…

Trinnitty.8256:

Don’t forget you can get skills though Tomes http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Tomes

Sniped.

Don’t forget about the Hall of Monuments.~

Hnrgh, I played GW1 before, only got as far as the Ring of Fire, iirc… but the problem is I never got any of the expansions and it was long before GW1 was available on Steam.

Not quite sure how I’m going to go about associating an account made with a box key and expansions with Steam keys… guess I’ll have to start Googling.

Berelious.3290:

Shen, you neglected to mention that you still have to run all over creation to get your hands on those skills, and still need to hunt down bosses to get elite skills (assuming you know which boss has which skills)

Unlocking skills was a very enjoyable part of the game. The elite capture was a really great yet simple system, the exact opposite of the trait unlock system implemented in GW2.

If they had simply looked at the great system they had in GW1 and emulated it in GW2, trait unlocking would actually be enjoyable and something that small groups would get together to do – getting people to explore AND enjoy it.

Instead of the current system which makes people loathe even bothering to unlock more than a few traits…

Good news for current Anet employees, you should now be able to pick up the game that you are supposedly working on the sequel to. I’ll take this opportunity to quote from the latest POI episode.

QA guy: … it wants to leave it there until you have enough space in your inventory to get it out.
Rubi: Can you dump it all on the ground at your feet?
QA guy: Everquest style, hahaha

Anet please. Play Guild Wars. You can get the trilogy for $15 right now, you really have no excuse left.

narwhalsbend.7059:

This is more or less a direct comparison to having to run out somewhere in GW1 and do some menial task to put another point into a trait. Does that sound fun to you?
Also, tomes don’t unlock anything that isn’t already on your account. Nearly all non-elite skills can be bought from trainers, with some exceptions.

Sounds fun to folks who loved them some elite skill hunting in GW1, yet inexplicably hate trait hunting which might as well be the same exact thing with tomes serving as trait books.

The point you make regarding tomes actually works against you in the fact that it required you to skill hunt. GW2 gives you the option.

You can skip the skill hunting. As you pointed out, GW1 did not give such an option.

You were forced to first either unlock it with skill hunting or by PvP, and then (granted the later and not the former) you had to obtain an Elite Tome either as an RNG drop in Hard Mode, RNG chest, Zaishen grinding, or again, from PvP.

So hey. There’s that. Thanks for pointing that out.

narwhalsbend.7059:

The GW1 “gem store” was not advertised at all and had practically nothing compared to what you see in GW2.

Actually, it greets you every time you log in at character selection. It’s still the same.

It offers quite a few of the offerings of GW2, for a bit more than GW2, with no option to pay for it with in game currency.

narwhalsbend.7059:

Your “bonus” is in fact a detriment because Anet is encouraging the player to make microtransactions and use real-world money for to buy gold.

As opposed to withholding from you the option altogether?

Anet’s crime is that they hope you’ll buy gems with real money to support them as opposed to always using in-game currency to get what you want…

While giving you that choice none-the-less? Seems legit. Can’t argue with this kind of logic.

I need to find this on sale not on Steam…been thinking about screwing around with it but I have 0 Steam games and really don’t want to have the client on my system.

Some differences between trait hunting in GW2 and elite skill hunting in GW1:

GW1
If you don’t have an elite skill yet in GW1 you can just slot a non-elite skill and have a full array of skills. Admittedly under most circumstances this will be less optimal than having an elite that suits your build, but it is better than having nothing at all.

To get an elite skill in GW1 you go out and kill a named boss who possesses the skill in order to use a signet to, “capture,” it from him.

GW2
If you don’t have a trait yet in GW2 you just do without until you can get one. Your build is not only sub-optimal, it is partially empty.

In GW2 unlocking a trait might require 100% completion of an entire zone or participation in a form of PvP. In either case the trait will likely be completely unrelated to the content required to unlock it.

I completely agree that GW1 had its flaws but Elite hunting is only marginally similar, if that, to trait unlocking. Only in the broadest strokes can one accurately paint them as, “the same.” It would be like saying that because they both can involve sitting at a computer, looking at the screen, and entering commands through keyboard and mouse, doing your taxes is exactly the same as playing GW2.

Ashen.2907:

It would be like saying that because they both can involve sitting at a computer, looking at the screen, and entering commands through keyboard and mouse, doing your taxes is exactly the same as playing GW2.

And complaining. Don’t forget we complain as much about game design as we do about tax codes.

Pandaman.4758:

Ashen.2907:

It would be like saying that because they both can involve sitting at a computer, looking at the screen, and entering commands through keyboard and mouse, doing your taxes is exactly the same as playing GW2.

And complaining. Don’t forget we complain as much about game design as we do about tax codes.

Well duh : )

Some background info on my own experience: I have had no prior experience with GW – GW2 was my first game out of the two Guild Wars games – and I haven’t even seen trailers of the predecessor prior to buying GW2. Seeing it for sale on Steam, I did some searching and found a free trial which lets me start prophecies. Well, I was somewhat unimpressed as expected, but mostly disappointed… but the disappointment was at GW2, rather than GW1. GW1 seemed a lot more vibrant, immersed me into lore instantly, and had a certain type of charm to it that GW2 has. I prefer the GW1 camera, skill flexibility, exploring, and even the questing. The characters look a lot better too. Also, humans being the only selectable race is actually something I prefer. The first cutscene with that King and Scribe had better voice acting than anything I’ve heard in GW2… What went wrong with the sequel?

I also felt a bit ripped off after running around and doing stuff for about 30 minutes… The music was way too familiar and some of the skills I unlocked I recognized right away… Whether or not it’s acceptable to recycle your own content is a different discussion topic altogether, but personally I felt like I was playing Sims 2 after buying Sims 3 (and several expansions)… In Sims 3, everything was presented as some authentic, unique feature. To a Sims newbie like myself at the time, it was true. Then I managed to try Sims 2 and was surprised to see a lot of that “new and authentic content” actually be recycled content from the previous game… Sorry about digressing, I hope it is at least a helpful metaphor for some.

I realize that people will disagree, and if you do, I see your point. There is no reason in reinventing the wheel. We have all seen that over-development play out in the traits update, which people are still being vocal about it on and off forums. So maybe it was a good idea to recycle things after all. I was not there to experience the transition from GW1 to GW2, so I don’t know how this impacted the people who did go through it.

The only thing stopping me from purchasing GW1 and expansions is just the age of the game… but aside from being evidently dated, the game to me felt like what GW2 failed to become. If Anet just remade GW1 with GW2 character models and skills, I would’ve happily bought it.

tl;dr: I have never tried GW1 but my experience with the game was fun and enjoyable. It made me wish GW2 was more similar to GW1 in many aspects.

Berelious.3290:

Shen, you neglected to mention that you still have to run all over creation to get your hands on those skills, and still need to hunt down bosses to get elite skills (assuming you know which boss has which skills)

Which, IMO, was/is one of the BEST PARTS OF THE GAME. I still play.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Liewec.2896:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Thanks for the info. I just bought the trilogy. I’m interested to see how it plays compared to this game.

i hope you don’t like jumping!

Well I hate jumping puzzles. Does that count? O-o

He is trolling you, you can’t jump in GW1. -LOL

Reisinger.4203:

Some background info on my own experience: I have had no prior experience with GW – GW2 was my first game out of the two Guild Wars games – and I haven’t even seen trailers of the predecessor prior to buying GW2. Seeing it for sale on Steam, I did some searching and found a free trial which lets me start prophecies. Well, I was somewhat unimpressed as expected, but mostly disappointed… but the disappointment was at GW2, rather than GW1. GW1 seemed a lot more vibrant, immersed me into lore instantly, and had a certain type of charm to it that GW2 has. I prefer the GW1 camera, skill flexibility, exploring, and even the questing. The characters look a lot better too. Also, humans being the only selectable race is actually something I prefer. The first cutscene with that King and Scribe had better voice acting than anything I’ve heard in GW2… What went wrong with the sequel?

I also felt a bit ripped off after running around and doing stuff for about 30 minutes… The music was way too familiar and some of the skills I unlocked I recognized right away… Whether or not it’s acceptable to recycle your own content is a different discussion topic altogether, but personally I felt like I was playing Sims 2 after buying Sims 3 (and several expansions)… In Sims 3, everything was presented as some authentic, unique feature. To a Sims newbie like myself at the time, it was true. Then I managed to try Sims 2 and was surprised to see a lot of that “new and authentic content” actually be recycled content from the previous game… Sorry about digressing, I hope it is at least a helpful metaphor for some.

I realize that people will disagree, and if you do, I see your point. There is no reason in reinventing the wheel. We have all seen that over-development play out in the traits update, which people are still being vocal about it on and off forums. So maybe it was a good idea to recycle things after all. I was not there to experience the transition from GW1 to GW2, so I don’t know how this impacted the people who did go through it.

The only thing stopping me from purchasing GW1 and expansions is just the age of the game… but aside from being evidently dated, the game to me felt like what GW2 failed to become. If Anet just remade GW1 with GW2 character models and skills, I would’ve happily bought it.

tl;dr: I have never tried GW1 but my experience with the game was fun and enjoyable. It made me wish GW2 was more similar to GW1 in many aspects.

The problem with this is that you probably didn’t “really” play Guild Wars 1 at all, at least not end game stuff and high level PvP.

So stuff you think should be carried over, say the secondary profession, the huge number of skills, and the affect builds have on the game over all, might be seen to be a huge boon..but by the same token, they were the game’s strongest weakness as well.

You’ve never had to deal with permasins and 600 monks and that sort of thing.

Some of the stuff that wasn’t brought from that game wasn’t carried over for good reason. And those things can still be missed. But it was what prevented Guild Wars 1 from going mainstream.

Trinnitty.8256:

Don’t forget you can get skills though Tomes http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Tomes

Not if you’re a new player, you can’t.

Ashen.2907:

GW1
If you don’t have an elite skill yet in GW1 you can just slot a non-elite skill and have a full array of skills. Admittedly under most circumstances this will be less optimal than having an elite that suits your build, but it is better than having nothing at all.

That you had to first unlock with coin, capture, or in the case of PvP both.

Further after you purchased so many skills from a trainer, the game hard caps you at a platinum per skill.

Getting the full collection of your classes skills, across the multiple campaigns and multiple trainers (not all trainers had the same selection) would often be a fairly time consuming effort that would require you going out half-kittened most of the time and/or a very costly endeavor.

And since you can secondary every class in the game… I sure hope you’re not a completionist. You paid very much for that build variety, in multiple ways.

Ashen.2907:

GW2
If you don’t have a trait yet in GW2 you just do without until you can get one. Your build is not only sub-optimal, it is partially empty.

As it was in GW1. Ergo, the comparison. In GW2 you’re given an option, a real option as opposed to a faux option that existed in GW1.

I imagine they must have introduced tomes as there was a demand for the option to skip the exploring and discovering aspect.

As it is now.

Some people like to explore and earn their skills, and some people just want it ASAP gib now now now.

GW1 through a very convoluted system offered a kind of faux option to skip elite hunting for veteran players.

Whereas GW2 is much more honest and straight forward with this dilemma in that regard. Go earn it in the game or pay for it.

Both player types are sated with no weird convoluted system that was GW1. GW2 get’s it right here. Get’s it right on a lot of things compared to GW1.

Ashen.2907:

Only in the broadest strokes can one accurately paint them as, “the same.” It would be like saying that because they both can involve sitting at a computer, looking at the screen, and entering commands through keyboard and mouse, doing your taxes is exactly the same as playing GW2.

You’re as free to feel that way as I am free to laugh at the blatant hypocrisy of folks who say “Elite hunting in GW1 was great fun” out of one side of their mouths and say “Trait hunting in GW2 sucks” out of the other.

We disagree, however. In that regard your definition of fun and my definition of fun are vastly different.

Bumping to front page for all the people who still haven’t seen So I bought the trilogy last night and played it for hours with my boyfriend, found it a bit funny how 2 hours into game play it starts telling you you need to take a break xD

Celestina.2894:

Shen Slayer.3058:

Those that haven’t played it will be blown away by the numerous builds GW1 has.
Get this…you can put any skills you want on the skill bar, your weapon doesn’t determine it.

Yeah…you read that right.

They’ll also be blown away by the amount of redundant skills.

FLEES

I doubt it, they got used to it here in gw2.

Welp, caved in, got the Trilogy and EotN (associating the new keys to my old account was easy, thankfully), now I have to relearn the game, helps that I already have 4 level 20s, though I think I’m effectively broke because I only have one ecto.

I bought the trilogy. How to associate that game to this one so I can get the HoM stuff and achievements? They seem completely separate. Do I need the EotN one?

Pandaman.4758:

Welp, caved in, got the Trilogy and EotN (associating the new keys to my old account was easy, thankfully), now I have to relearn the game, helps that I already have 4 level 20s, though I think I’m effectively broke because I only have one ecto.

If you already knew your old account information, you could have just redownloaded the client instead of buying the game again.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

I bought the trilogy. How to associate that game to this one so I can get the HoM stuff and achievements? They seem completely separate. Do I need the EotN one?

You do need EotN.

narwhalsbend.7059:

Pandaman.4758:

Welp, caved in, got the Trilogy and EotN (associating the new keys to my old account was easy, thankfully), now I have to relearn the game, helps that I already have 4 level 20s, though I think I’m effectively broke because I only have one ecto.

If you already knew your old account information, you could have just redownloaded the client instead of buying the game again.

It was cheaper by $5 just to get the Trilogy and EotN than all three expansions separately. I suppose I could have just bought EotN for the HoM stuff only, but I actually do want to see what all I missed over the years.