Guild Wars 2

Hey, guys.

I see quite a few topics comparing certain aspects of GW1 to GW2, especially when it comes to classes and PvP. I, personally, have never played GW1, but I was wondering if some of the vets could give input on what they think the pros and cons of the GW1-style vs the GW2-style are. Maybe we can even gather some dev attention and give some ideas for future updates.

What are your opinions on:

Classes.
PvP.
Open World.
Overall Game Balance.

Where does GW2 shine over GW1 and where, in your opinion, does it fall short of its predecessor?

I could write a 50 page essay comparing the two games, but it won’t be a pleasant read…

There are many, many things that I consider better in Guild Wars 1 than in Guild Wars 2. The community, first of all, was much more interactive and polite when trading, talking, or recruiting for guilds in Guild Wars 1. Comparing the two games, Gw1 had a lot more communication between players because communication was needed to trade items. Another aspect of GW1 was the fact that all the classes were balanced nicely. Classes weren’t being smacked with the nerf hammer every few weeks, or even months, but in GW2, it feels like my Ele gets stealth nerfed every week. The only positive thing I like about GW2 compared to GW1 is the pvp. The pvp seems more alive and something could happen at any moment that could shift the game into a team’s favor. Like mage said, I could continue on and on with how Guild Wars 1 was better than Guild Wars 2, but I’m afraid I’ll get chastised.

Galtrix.7369:

Another aspect of GW1 was the fact that all the classes were balanced nicely. Classes weren’t being smacked with the nerf hammer every few weeks, or even months

This is the point where I realized you were talking about a different game than Arenanet’s Guild Wars 1. >_>

I played GW1 from the day it released until 2 months before GW2 released, and then started GW2 at the first day of headstart. I can say that, so far, the nerfbat has been extremely lax in comparison.

There are a lot of things that GW1 destroys this game in, but when it comes to that GW1 loses hands down. Every month I had to redo my ele build and at least the builds of 1 or 2 of my heroes because of hardcore nerfs to skills.

Especially the Seering Flames nerf. God, that was the worst…

Searing flames was always viable though… even after the nerfs. It’s like how ANet nerfd shadowform but didn’t really. It just gave you godmode in a different way. Lol I never understood their logic in “nerfs” like that. It just came to be that other heroes were better, no one used ele’s anymore because mes were way better except for the E/Mo infusers.

Anyway, to make a LONG list short:

Guild Alliances
GvG
HA
AB
RA
TA
HB
JQ
FA

All 10x funner pvp modes than lolconquest. Or maybe it was just that I had so many options I never got bored? Either way.

Skills were a lot more fun, tons of options. There were meta’s but they changed all the time with nerfs/buffs, result = never bored. Some people saw this as a down fall… I see it as keeping the game from becoming stagnant. Kinda how GW2 is right now, using the same exact build and skills 24/7 for eternity… ukk no thanks.

Pve was more fun, you had mobs that patrolled and had to carefully pull everything instead of steam rolling through it all in hardmode. There wasn’t even a dungeon as easy as CoF, there were speedruns but not no 6-8 minutes. Dungeons were a lot bigger and far less annnoying, more engaging with monks and protection support + front liner/backliner/midline etc. it was just way more strategic.

It was much more a cooperative game with everyone pitching in not just DPS this DPS that, and that’s my main reason for it being better but like I said another big thing was more variety, skills and such. Also instead of learning skills (in prophecies quests did reward them) you would go hunt elites off of bosses, once you killed them you can capture normal and elite skills. That was fun.

Like the first poster said.. I could make a 50 page long essay, but no one wants to read that. Just take my word for it GW1 was much better

Maybe I should add the only con GW had… ANet stopped putting out new content for it. Also DR only affected bots, you would never notice it as a normal player. Everything was rewarding including pvp, it wasn’t completely split like they are in GW2. You could get mass wealth in pvp and take it to pve if you wanted to get skins and all that.

Just more friendly in general.

GW Pros:
dual profession
huge skill library
more strategic group fighting
FoW
amazing storyline
build-saving for variety & experimentation

GW2 Pros:
graphics (amazing)
control/movement
groupless co-op
unique professions (they each have their own soul, not carbon copies of one another)
DEs
world bosses
dynamic combat
No elite mob/elite skill hunting (only thing I really hated about GW)
combo fields/finishers

*the GW Pros do not becessarily mean they should be in GW2, just that they were awesome parts of that game. Some should though

Here’s the ugly truth that the other GW1 fangeezers won’t tell you…
GW1 started out HORRIBLY. (and not just b/c I was a “Melee Necro”).

I couldn’t even play it past Iron Horse mines…. and its cash-shop REALLY WAS PAY TO WIN at the time(the dirtiest little secret of all). I just gave up on it until Nightfall came out. Now as far as the spritual successor to my Melee Nec goes in this game, it’s already started out a LOT BETTER and surprisingly it even outdamages my Ranger & Guardian in a number of unexpected situations.

But I’m not kidding. GW1 when it came out was NOT a PvE game. The PvP’ers will try to tell you that’s what was so great about it. But guess what… I was a PvP’er myself, I PvP’d in every genre that allowed it…. RPG’s like Diablo, FPS’s since Doom1, even RTS’s since their earliest days on Kali. And I just found GW1’s PvP incredibly Dull, and unforgiving, and lacking appeal. Even when I PWN’d someone, I thought it was junk. About the only format I really enjoyed at all was Costume Brawl and FortAspenwood (what WvW’s was supposed to be).

The important thing is…. over the years, GW1 went from being a terribly un-intersting or frustrating game with everyone standing around outposts for 30 minutes tying to find a Monk before they could start (b/c all the monks were out 55-farming solo) …. into a modern marvel of Convenience and Depth.

It obviously took a LOT OF WORK to get there. Anet could do it again with this game too, but they have to stop catering to the Cash-shop & Social-FAD flash-crowd mentality (all these stupid fill 1 single zone with a Farming Zerg “updates”) as much as they are and get back to doing what they did best: Making the best Quality-of-Life game they possibly can

GW1 was an single player game that you could play with other ppl.
GW2 is an mmorpg so you NEED other players.
Other then say the story i am not sure how you can compare the 2. So far i am liking GW2 story more then GW1 mainly because you could see the same stores in GW2 from different points of view other then just humans from GW1.

Pros of each game

GW1: Strategy
true teamwork
high flexibility in skill choice
ELITES
hexes and conditions
unusual gameplay mechanics (dervish and ritualist)
easier and faster to size up the battlefield
simplified critical chance based on positioning
auto run to target
quests with unique stories
easier armor and weapon setup
More fun PvP
Straight money numbers, not an additional tier (Gold)

GW2:
MUCH better character creation
MUCH better dye system
more expansive 3D world
more places to be social and foster communication
BLTC
multiple guilds
more side things to do outside of main story and just quests
crafting

GW1 is about strategy, quick reflexes, and the setup before the battle. GW2 attempted to fix the problems of GW1 (high skill library, fast reaction time needed, “Build Wars”) via reduced skill library and weapon linking to create homogenization. They also modified conditions to be either less strong (blindness) and made it so conditions can attrition (stacking, Vulnerability).