Guild Wars 2

… Thats what Mike says in the manifesto video.

First things first. I don’t want to start another kittentorm about wheter Anet lied to us or not.

I simply want to know if GW2 took the things YOU loved about GW1.
Because most of the things i loved about it, seem to be non-existent in GW2.
It’s still a pretty great game imho.

To keep things easy please write about the 5 things you liked the most about GW1. After that please tell me if you can find these things in GW2.

So here are the 5 things i loved most about GW1:

1. “Build Wars”. Countless combinations out of hundrets of skills. that was the best thing about GW1. Even after 6 years you could still do something “new” and try different builds.

Is this in GW2? Not really. There are 4-5 Builds/Class that are worth to be played and it starts to feel repetitive very soon.

2. Fast and easy character preogression. It was so great that becoming level 20 was really easy and fast. Also getting the best equip in game was super easy.

Is this in GW2? I don’t think so. Getting exotic gear simply takes to long. Not even mentioning ascended gear which seems to be a hell of a grind.

3. Skill-descriptions. They were absolutly perfect in GW1. I have never played another MMO with such good skill-tooltips.

Is this in GW2? Sadly not. Both traits and skills are poorly described. They tell you what they do but don’t tell you the exact numbers. Thats sad.

4. No monthly fee. This was great in GW1 and is even greater in GW2! Thank You!

5. Healing. Playing a Monk in GW1 was fun and i love beeing a support character.

Is this in GW2? Kinda. I can support my group but it feels strange. I know Anet wants to remove the trinity and i like this idea, but still i feel a bit lost in this game because playing supporters is so uselless. 5 pure DD’s are blasting through any Dungeon while a balanced group of DD, CC, Support is just slow…. i was even kicked out of some groups because i traited in defensive skills instead of playing a pure DD-guardian =/

6. (Breaking my own rules here =P ) Mesmerz….. i love them

Does GW2 have them? Hell yeah =)

So, please tell me about your 5 things you loved about GW1 =)

3. plus many of them are just plain wrong (or the skill/trait is buggy).

Dont get me wrong im loving gw2 i cant really complain, but if i had to answer that question it would be.

1. the most thing i miss more then anything else in gw2 is the henchs and heros you can equip and put skills on. that was so much fun. i didnt have to wait around to get in a group i could just grab and go and i miss that alot.

2. alot of skills to choose from 2 different professions.

3. gw1 had a great story that really drew me in to it. the story in gw2 is just not as good in my opinion, but i guess after so many mmorpg’s how many different ways can you have a mage or corrupted guy or dragon ect… wanting to destroy the world. which i ask myself sometimes, what if these guys did destroy the world. what would they do after that? their wouldnt be noone left to conquer or anything for them to do.

4. i miss bosses that drop certain weapons only that boss can drop. that was fun farming for them and it gave you a little something extra to do. if you were looking for something you knew where to find it and not rely on a random drop.

5. i havent played gw1 in a few years, but i seem to remember alot of the costumes looking better. i could be wrong as i said its been a few years.

Here’s mine:

1. Intelligent mobs that don’t attack you in a total suicidal manner. Right now the mobs are just HP pumped punching bags. Their AI is pretty much reduced to using different spells.

2. No zergs. Instanced explorable was probably the thing I loved most about GW1. Zergs are boring and repetitive.

3. Dungeons that required skills instead of button bashing. Dungeons in GW1 are challenging and require a certain degree of skill and knowledge about your char. Dungeons in GW2 are pretty much button bashing and getting the mob to die before you do (see 1.)

4. Spell diversity. HUGE array of spells in GW1 meant more customization for your character. Made things a lot less linear and the game a lot more fun to play.

5. Signet of capture. People might or might not agree but I loved having to work for my elites that way.

Tranquillity.8697:

1. “Build Wars”. Countless combinations out of hundrets of skills. that was the best thing about GW1. Even after 6 years you could still do something “new” and try different builds.

Is this in GW2? Not really. There are 4-5 Builds/Class that are worth to be played and it starts to feel repetitive very soon.

This is probably the main thing I wished they had carried over from GW1 into GW2. The many options of skills allowed you (the player) to create a character that felt very unique and personal

Tranquillity.8697:

2. Fast and easy character preogression. It was so great that becoming level 20 was really easy and fast. Also getting the best equip in game was super easy.

Is this in GW2? I don’t think so. Getting exotic gear simply takes to long. Not even mentioning ascended gear which seems to be a hell of a grind.

Thank god they didnt carry this over. Too many companies have let lazy players dictate that they want more, easier, faster. AND the ONLY thing this has achieved is removing the longevity of that game. Anet have made a lot of mistakes, but this isnt one. The effort / long term commitment needed to level/gear your character only serves to make you appreciate your efforts. WD to Anet on this one !

Tranquillity.8697:

3. Skill-descriptions. They were absolutly perfect in GW1. I have never played another MMO with such good skill-tooltips.

Is this in GW2? Sadly not. Both traits and skills are poorly described. They tell you what they do but don’t tell you the exact numbers. Thats sad.

Skills I found to be fine. Traits… yeah have to agree. Seemed a little vague at times, could do with re-wording !

Piriel.5197:

5. Signet of capture. People might or might not agree but I loved having to work for my elites that way.

OMG yes… I so wish they would bring this back, geez Id pay to have this back…lol

:)

The only things I really miss from the original game are henchmen/heroes and the instanced zones.

Phantax.1369:

Piriel.5197:

5. Signet of capture. People might or might not agree but I loved having to work for my elites that way.

OMG yes… I so wish they would bring this back, geez Id pay to have this back…lol

:)

Seconded. That was the best part of GW1 for me, it was (almost) endless endgame content and I had a blast with it.

Thanks for your replies. But isn’t there something in GW2 that you enjoyed in GW1 as well?

1. I loved playing my Necromancer and Mesmer in GW1 and I love playing those professions in GW2. Very different but both very cool. I do miss my Dervish from GW1.

2. I liked playing around with builds in GW1 but I really like how you can change skills on the fly in GW2. I liked that Necromancers had more build options in GW1. In GW2 they seem to be more limited I think.

3. I like many of the armor sets from GW1 better. Even though my Necro had a set of Obsidian, I like him better in Elite Luxon. My GW1 Mesmer still looks better in his Obsidian Armor than any of the Mesmers I’ve seen in GW2. Many of the sets in GW2 look clownish or like something you’d see in a Mardi Gras parade.

4. I got a full Mercenary pack for GW1 and was able to have clones of all my main characters travel with me. I really miss that. However, I can’t even imagine setting up a hero or mercenary in GW2 – the cost would be enormous to kit them out.

5. I hate to say this, but I miss being able to observe PvP matches. Many of my friends were avid PvP-ers in GW1. It was cool to see them in action. I learned a lot from watching matches and MATs.

Edited to add: Targeting – I still prefer the GW1 target mechanism to the way it is in GW2. Target the closest meant just that – not the closest enemy at full health out of aggro range.

Hexes. Seriously, cut the “living Hex” stuff. I will never see my phantasms be Hexes such as Diversion, Backfire, etc…. Yeah, if you let a phantasm live, it will punish you, but Hexes caused a huge drawback because you did (x).
PS: Who ever says “confusion” is very….. Confusion will never replace hexes such as Diversion, Wastrel’s (worry/demise) etc..

agree with most points you posted.

I love the pets in GW2, but in Guild Wars, I wasn’t tied to a pet (unless i wanted to play with my Rainbow Phoenix ). If I didn’t want a pet, I would go disruption (like Broad head arrow), damage (splinter barrage). But in Guild Wars 2, I have a permanent leash to my (horrible/lovely) pet

1-Skills variety. After playing my ranger for 6 years I came up with a build that I think no one ever used and was a lot effective to vanquish.
2-No molthly fee.
3-My ranger’s playstyle. Nope, it’s gone….
4-Heroes ascent. 9 maps, four modes: deathmatch, king of the hill, cap points, relic run and one build to rule them all.
5-GvG. Lots of competition going down here, also quite fun to watch.

LumAnth.5124:

Hexes. Seriously, cut the “living Hex” stuff. I will never see my phantasms be Hexes such as Diversion, Backfire, etc…. Yeah, if you let a phantasm live, it will punish you, but Hexes caused a huge drawback because you did (x).
PS: Who ever says “confusion” is very….. Confusion will never replace hexes such as Diversion, Wastrel’s (worry/demise) etc..

/sign. All the different hexes in GW1 are great. Maybe a bit overwhelming for newcomers but very interesting.

Tranquillity.8697:

Thanks for your replies. But isn’t there something in GW2 that you enjoyed in GW1 as well?

Aside for the one-time-buy thing… I dunno… the way char look?

Seriously, GW2 is so different in many aspects it’s hard to actually find things that are similar and most of the similar things I enjoyed more in GW1. Probably one more feature present in both that I like is the reduced spell bar, since I hate MMORPGs and their customary 20 button spell bars.

1. In GW1 – No Monthly fee.

-In GW2 – Yep. Can’t deny that they kept this.

2. In GW1 – Horizontal progression. Level 20 was fairly easy to get to and then it was all end game. Exploration. Searching for and acquiring new skills, new skins etc. Grind if you chose to do so!

- In GW2 – Getting to Lvl 80 was ok. Limited horizontal progression, new skins etc. if the grind for them was your thing… until the Lost Shores update of 15th Nov. Since then no! And the likelihood is that this model looks likely to continue.

3. In GW1 – Build variety based on skills and secondary professions etc.

- In GW2 – No! poor skill choices are limiting and lacking imagination. Poor build diversity.

4. In GW1 – Genuinely massive world to explore after leaving the starting areas. Most of it Lvl 20 which made it feel relevant and worth investing time in. Elite areas… the Underworld, FoW, Domain of anguish etc.

- In GW2 – Large world, but currently limited to only 3 lvl 80 zones (The Cursed Shore, Frostgorge Sound & now Southsun Cove). No Elite areas to speak of, unless you choose to describe FoTM as an elite dungeon? Less reason to revisit lower level areas.

5. In GW1 – Hard Mode & vanquishing. Endgame. Replayabilty… genuine reasons to revisit zone for loot and a challenge that scaled to your level. Possibly the one positive aspect of using instanced zones.

- In GW2 it can’t really be implemented because of the open world design. So no!

Something I didn’t like in either GW1 or GW2 is the whole anti farming/diminishing returns coding. Why! Just why? Sure, bots, gold sellers… I understand. But to allow it to impact on your legitimate players is just plain daft!

I play games to have fun. Somehow, the sense of fun is being/has been drained out of GW2 faster than I would have thought possible.

Piriel.5197:

Probably one more feature present in both that I like is the reduced spell bar, since I hate MMORPGs and their customary 20 button spell bars.

Thats a great point! That’s really one of the best things in both games =)

GW1: repeatable storyline/mission[HM/NM]…i really miss that since i like to see my character talk >_<

-GW2: there no option to replay your story [yet]

i played 2k hours gw1 and i cant play more gw2 after 50 hours, no build diversity, boring skills and the downed state kill the game for me.

Things that GW2 took from GW1 that I like:
-Builds based on having limited skills available at any given time. You have a pool of many skills, but you have to pick which ones to equip. This is better than other games where you have dozens of skills available at any given time
-Lack of focus on consumables. Yes, there is food…but no endless health potions, mana potions, etc.
-Campaign missions within the game
-Fast travel. It costs, but it’s still there

Things they added to GW2 that I’m glad to see:
-z-axis
-underwater, even though it does have its problems
-improved mobility in general
-skill bar compression. No need to carry rez skills. Chains take up only 1 slot, some skills have multiple modes (ie press deploy minion/turret, press again to do something else), signets have passive ability and active
-more options in itemization
-profession mechanics are more interesting than in GW1

Things I miss from GW1 that didn’t make the cut:
-I’m going to agree with others on here: signet of capture was great
-Vanquishing, hard mode in general. I know not feasible for non-instanced explorables
-reaching max level with max gear was very quick
-huge variety in skills and builds
-heroes, ability to build an entire skillset for a party. Team builds instead of just characterbuilds

Nope. There’s only two things that carried over. What amounts to lore, and no sub. Although I won’t be surprised if “no sub” carries a korean f2p connotation in the future.

vox.5019:

What amounts to lore, and no sub.

^These plus
Its pretty(Gw1 was beautiful when it was new-ish)
…and thats all.

As someone who loves both GW1 and GW2, I have to say that Guild Wars 2 took nothing I loved about GW1. They’re totally different games and I can’t really see how they have any demographic overlap in terms of MMO players.

That’s great for me and it’s what I expected. Now I have two games, instead of just an update of my first game. I went back and played some GW1 today, had a blast.

But the first game is absolutely a slower, more deliberative game in PvE with a much higher skill requirement for even basic play; and a faster, more dynamic, more skill-based PvP game. The design philosophies seem radically different; they’re both great philosophies, but they produced very different games.

I don’t recommend people who love GW2 go play GW1, or vice versa – they’re just not going to find a lot that they recognise, gameplay-wise.

I miss costumes and cosmetic headgear that can be worn in combat, and I think they were a little more adventurous with armor and character design in GW1 despite the limited customization options. I’d love to be able to get more of the classic Necro armor in GW2, although I think they did a horrible job porting over the Profane set, which looks much better and more detailed in the first game.

1- Build wars, of course. I loved that and miss them soo much. Bunny thumper? backbreaker sin? Give it back too me already… Also, loading/sending your build in chat or saving it in a template, simple but REALLY handy. now I have to pay everytime I want to change a build? kitten please…

2- RA/GvG: simple pvp format. Why is it called guild wars in the first place?

3- The hexes and interrupt system: that was brilliant. You always had to be alert, nuff said.

4- I agree with the Signet of capture, it was a nice concept and also gave you something to do. It was vital if you were going to play different builds.

Generally speaking I really do like GW2 as the game it is, but a few GW1 concepts I’d like to see make a return are:

Meaningful Multiclassing
In GW2 multiclassing was removed because of racial skills, but racial skills were made vastly underpowered compared to class skills in order to prevent super-advantageous, and thus pigeonholing class/race combos. Overall I feel like that was a good idea, but I feel like we could bring back some of the “feel” of GW1 multiclassing if we used a racial skills system similar to EoTN, but limited players to choosing one racial discipline of learned racial skills.

Basically, think of it as a set of “Affinity” racial skills, learned with skillpoints, and unlocked by family like a crafting discipline. Thus, you could only have “affinity” with one race at a time. You’d get your starting race affinity for free, and unlocking the other four affinities would require a little personal story chain wherein you gain the respect of some of that race’s most influential members. You could respec cheaply in the same manner as traits, and would remember all skills learned in all affinities in the same manner as “forgetting” a crafting discipline. In this manner you’ve got a meaningful choice that adds a lot of build diversity to the game, but doesn’t affect the aesthetic freedom of fairly balanced race/class combinations. Heck, you could even give players a bonus trait line to go with their affinity.

Skills, Skills, Skills
I’m not suggesting 200+ skills per class, as that excessive number was a contributor to the massive number of just plain useless and frustrating builds in GW1. I understand the idea here was to streamline the skillbar, making it much harder to put together a “trash build” and in that respect, GW2 is fairly successful. Sure, there are several utilities and elites that players don’t favor already, but equipping them doesn’t just make you plain unable to function as it did in GW1.

The weapon bars are a big part of this, and the concept of 1-5 being tied to whats in the hands is one I think we should keep, but if there were some way (crafting?) to customize the 1-5 on any given weapon from a pool of maybe 2 possible options per slot it would seriously enhance build options without leading to overcomplication.

Capturing
Capping elites was fun. It was a very individual thing for every build, and was an optional thing that people did for extra content. I don’t think elite capping would mesh well with the way GW2 is set up, but some type of replacement mechanic that keeps the incentive to buy something slightly expensive, and use it to trap some part of specific powerful monsters for a unique benefit is a mechanic that should definately return. Perhaps it could be part of the crafting system, using a trapped “essence” of the fallen foe to scribe a plan for a unique skin or rune set or something?

Challenge Missions
I’m a sucker for high scores. Challenge missions may not have been the most popular type of content in the first game, but I really enjoyed them. Granted, fractals have a sort of neat high score mechanic, but its not mechanically the same as what drove challenge missions. Scoreboards, rewards for setting the daily/monthly/all time high, and heck, why not a title granted only to the current reigning champion of the challenge mission?

Agree with all that’s been said (I do play and enjoy GW2 however).

I miss all the skills and the creativity and skill one needed to create a build, along with secondary classes. Signet of capture was a great system.

Henchmen/Heroes was a genius design. (This, and/or with other players the 8 people party facilitated how there could be an increase in difficulty and skill required to play without your character becoming any more powerful – great game design.) And I loved how monsters attacked in packs too, and that they were more powerful than your own characters. I don’t find the mmo style one-man-army that interesting.

Quick leveling, just to prove that level didn’t matter. Only how well you thought out your build and how well you played.

Story and instanced style was better, unlike GW2’s claims of feeling a ‘change’ through dynamic events, the fully instanced ways of GW1 did this much more effectively. The game played as well as a single player game did.

PVP system was far far better! The old deathmatch style was so much more exciting compared to the capture the point system we’re left with. 1 mistake and you could be dead in a couple of seconds. Now it seems more like a war of attrition.

The GW1 world scale seemed bigger, mainly because it wasn’t open world style with jumping. But the world from a design POV looked more interesting and varied.

None of that 20,000hp rubbish like all other mmo’s. GW1 you had on average around 500hp, all damage you took and dealt could be easily understood. You knew if you were getting hit for 120hp each hit you were in trouble. Now all these numbers – 2500str, 400 condition dmg etc. doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.

Nice that all the classes had their own unique look and didn’t share armour skins.

As someone else mentioned, hex’s and interrupts were brilliant. Much better than the ‘confusion’ system.

Capes were so much cooler than the ugly emblems on armour or the really simple and boring red vs blue design.

Many titles were great to give yourself a challenge, such as a survivor title. Now it’s a monthly every now and then and you get some achievement points – so what?…

Again, the skill of the player was the central point (like 99% of games out there) and made it more enjoyable than any grindfest. Yay for hard mode and challenge missions too.

1. 100’s of builds per toon
2. fast leveling(but not too fast) and most content was made for max level(end game content)
3. Armor/Weapon skins were much better and profession dependent( you could tell a ranger from an assassin by their armor)
4. Elite areas like Fow and UW to get Hard to find weapons and crafting mats
5. HoH and GvG (I know these are supposed to be in the works, but not here now)

Please, don’t remake GW1. The game was a niche for a reason. Anet wants something bigger than that for GW2.

GW2 is not GW game anymore or at least not as we thought it would be, GW1 is…just special and different…GW2 is just another mmo now… It breaks my heart because I love the game so much…

Many have pointed out the quantity of builds that could be used across pvp and pve, endless in some respect with new ones being created everyday, so this one for me kind of goes without saying.

Anyhow,

1. Classes using any weapons they wanted, not a huge deal I guess, but I liked my casters carrying axes/shields/swords or w/e. Also, the weapon swapping was ok in GW1, if only we could do 4 in GW2.

2. I miss casting times and the real effects of hexes, conditions like dazed, blind, burning, poison and the others. Hexes would punish you for not doing aanything or for doing too much, I loved that. Degeneration builds were so fun and I felt the real panic behind not reacting to them correctly. Interupts, too fun…what more can I say. Disrupting shot on a ranger would make a caster think twice about what skill to pop.

Mesmer interupts could totally shut down the majority of skills in the game.

Not many games actually allow you to see what the enemy is casting at all times.

3. As you pointed out, skill hunting or better yet, Elite skill capturing. In GW1, you had to earn it or when it was later introduced, buy them. In GW2, eventually, just by gaining xp you will have them all per character in no time, no need for skill challenges at all. Then again…roaming from skill point to skill point, you could have the majority of your elites by the time you hit 50.

4. Green weapons dropped by bosses. Liked farming those. In fact, majority of themepark mmo’s out there have this and is something I enjoy, farming for particular items. I remember doing strathholme approx 200 times solo before I got deathchargers reins to drop….and once it did it made me feel like all that time spent was worth it. Same thing for the first green I got to drop solo in GW, the Rotwing Bow.

5. GvG participation and spectating. I liked the idea of having a real front/mid/back line. I kind of see it here when 2 large groups are going at it in WvW. It’s non-existant in spvp. Haven’t really done tpvp so I can’t speak on it.

honorable mentions: Energy management, Guild Halls, one guild/ alliance system, chaos weapons, FA/JQ, Luxons/Kurzicks, Dervish/Ritualist/Monks, spears/scythes and better looking daggers.

What I want: Alliances, GvG , Guild Halls, Housing, LFG tool…something like list of dungeons I que for and others looking for the same dungeon can see me and we contact each other through tells or w/e, 8-10 man dungeons, MORE LEATHER ASSASSIN LOOKING ARMOR, Additional WvW content, some moba style pvp ala Reapers Rumble, more armor looks in general across the 3 types, better looking weapons, more weapon skills and types, gambling (not real cash gambling via BLC)…something like poker or blackjack Tyria style. Many other things come to mind but will probably post those in depth via suggestions board.

The people, it’s just a lonely game.

The lights are on but nobodies about.

1. Build complexity (It’s been said above, so I won’t elaborate).
2. Max armor/weapon is max. It remains to be seen whether Ascended then Legendary is the cap.
3. Numbers-balanced Alliance Battles > Wv3. If you got steamrolled in AB, it was because you lacked skill in building and/or playing. In Wv3 it’s because you are outnumbered.
4. Bosses felt challenging and the fights were often engaging. In GW2, too often they are just large health bags to be ablated.
5. Appearance customization. This may change over time, but for now while GW2 has many good-looking armor pieces, too many of the medium chests are long coats, and too many of the female light legs either are skirts or skirts over pants. Also, male hair styles look more like the styles I see at the mall. Where are the fantasy-ish male hair styles?

[img]http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/thumb/1/11/Nicholas_the_Traveler.jpg/150px-Nicholas_the_Traveler.jpg[/img] Does he not have family in the modern Tyria to take up the traveling gig?

Tranquillity.8697:

Thanks for your replies. But isn’t there something in GW2 that you enjoyed in GW1 as well?

For me, just:

Warrior (both had warriors), Mesmers (like gw1 mesmer better, but still like this one a great deal), chaos storm,eles so far(still early leveling), FDS, centurions dagger, mini-pets, Black Moa/Widow, finding places from old world tyria.

Other than that, I can’t seem to enjoy the necro or ranger enough to make me want to spend a great deal of time with them. I loved my necro and ranger in GW1. I loved the majority of the classes in GW1 so much that I had 2 of every class.

GW2 takes everything you love about GW1…

…and abandon’s it for a dumbed-down WOW-based talent tree and gear stat-driven progression system.

I loved the story of GW1 and I love how it continues in GW2 after 250 years.

But when it comes to gameplay mechanics I can’t think of anything that I loved in GW1 and that is in GW2 too. Most professions don’t even work in a similar way, build diversity is gone cause there are not enough skills, leveling takes way longer so having alts is very timeconsuming and the last patch also seems to be the start of a gear treadmill.

I love the idea of not having the Holy Trinity, but that’s something new, nothing they carried over from GW1.

1. Guild Wars 1 is a global game, you can play wit players from around the world.
In Guild Wars 2 you can do it as well, think there are not yet asian Worlds…

2. Diversity of skills and diversity of builds. When you where doing a missions and you were overwhelmed one day it was nice to find that after changing some skills or build you were able to go through.
In Guild Wars 2 I do not find this, and builds are preset to weapons or fully preset like in downed state.

3. No re-spawn, in Guild Wars 1 there is not re-spawn and foes AI is excelent, the environment is quite alive.
In Guild Wars 2 the is a dire re-spawn (it one of the worst re-spawn systems I have found in a MMO) and foes AI is nasty, you feel annoyed when traveling through the world.

4. UI. The Guild Wars 1 UI is very nice and fully customizable, and with quite good skill descriptions.
The Guild Wars 2 UI is rigid, and the life in presented in as a red ball that makes very difficult to calculate how much life you have left when you need it more to know, I mean when your health is low. A life bar is much better in my view.

5. No Vistas, no JPs, and no POIs. Guild Wars 1 is story centered, there are not distractions, and it is very fun to follow the story, that you do entering in cooperative games or that you can solo together with heroes/henchies.
Guild Wars 2 seems to be about Vistas, JPs and POIs, the personal story is not cooperative, and the dungeons can not be played solo.

1. H&H for instances.
2. Total Number of skills + easy attribute adjustment.
3. Customizable UI.
4. I wish the veterans etc in gw2 had NAMES and glowed like they did in GW1 id much rather fight a powerful entity with a name than just a “veteran” mob
5. unique weapon drops from the named bosses.

1. GW had incredible build diversity because it had so many skill options! That was my favorite part.
- Sadly, this is the most glaring difference between GW & GW2. Very limited skill & build choices.

2. Repeatable End Game dungeons were strategic and didn’t get boring.
- Haven’t taken part in any GW2 dungeons yet. But I keep hearing they’re not strategic but more smash fests.

3. Dual professions gave our skill options so much variety. Not just number of skills, but play style.
- Nope, not in GW2. But I’m not too disappointed. I knew this wasn’t going to be an option.

4. Beautiful world.
- GW2 exceded my expectations here. The world is gorgeous! Tyria has such a great feel, the music adds to it, and the vistas force you to take a look around. Something I really strive to do when running around. Don’t just look at your feet, look around!

5. Henchmen let you play without having to spend half an hour everytime you needed to PUG for a quest.
- Hench were nice because GW was designed to be played in a group. You couldn’t wander the Crystal Desert alone & live for long. But GW2 is designed to be played both solo & in groups, which I like better. I don’t miss the hench in GW2.

Lets see, what I loved about GW1 …

1. Random Arenas
2. Alliances
3. Heros
4. Mixing dyes
5. Direct player to player secure trade
6. Salvage everything for materials
7. Polymock
8. Scavenger hunt
9. When attacking automatically move into weapon range
10. Could use what ever weapon I wanted
11. Underworld

So 11 things I loved about GW1 that never quite made it to GW2.

What is obviously overlooked in GW2 in terms of consistancy is ruins from GW1 settlements. Sure we get to see a bit of old LA under the water but the rest of Kryta, Ascalon Ruins, Shiverpeaks and Maguuma Jungle are all unrecognizable, and no points of interest/reference of old world ruins. And as for Crystal Desert and Fire Islands … missing from core game.

Tranquillity.8697:

Thanks for your replies. But isn’t there something in GW2 that you enjoyed in GW1 as well?

I like that GW1 is a global game, and GW2 too is a global game.

I like Dynamic Events that there are in GW2, and there are not in GW1.

I miss mounts in GW2, whilst I do not miss them in GW1.

The only thing I miss in GW1 is not being able to jump, but jumping in GW2 has been made something to be regretted, in my view, through Vistas and JPs that make manifest the geometry flaws of the game and that distract from the lore and from the dynamic events.

Not having a monthly fee, whilst being something interesting, is not a necessary feature. I can afford to pay a low cost monthly fee (6~7€ or 7~8$), besides the game may have a cash-shop. And if the lore allows it, I would not mind seeing embedded advertisements.

I do not want to reject GW2 because so many years playing GW1 and waiting for GW2, I will wait until the next expansion that I hope it will be for the Asian market with some new profession that I may like.

Apart from lore and no monthly fee there’s really not much let alone best bits. The best bits for me were things like hard mode, vanquishing, and especially signet of capture. I also miss heroes and henchies trying to level alts in GW2 ghost zones.

GW1 was all about varied and achievable goals. GW2 I find has tunnel vision in comparison and seems to have suddenly become very alt unfriendly.

ETA: Oh and being able to change districts to play with others find yourself in a quiet area change district and find ppl. GW2 if it’s dead it’s dead.

I think what he meant was “GW2 takes everything OUT you love about GW1”.

I was never a big fan of Guild Wars 1, but here’s a few things I like:

1- No monthly fee. Yeah, <3 for keeping that. =)

2- Great and varied-looking gear. The gear we have looks good, but I feel there could be a LOT more variety in gear style. Of course it’s only the first game though, the first game has 4 full games with several sets each.

3- Easy to get max gear. That was true until ascended gear was introduced. Although ascended gear could be compared to the green weapons of GW1, I guess.

4- PvP designed around player skill rather then gear. Yep, that one came back.

1. No monthly fee. They kept it. Nice.
2. Cosmetic appearance that I can have from level 1-cap if I so desire. Nope. Either need to constantly transmute stuff or just get to BiS gear THEN transmute it until the next tier of gear comes along.
3. Instanced zones. Sadly no. I see both sides of the coin on this one, but I really liked the zone instancing in GW1 and the things it added, like vanquishing.
4. Story missions gating zones. Dang. I think I’d care at least a little about my “personal story” if I couldn’t get to cap and grind out BiS gear while completely ignoring the story.
5. Skill and Build variety. As others have said, this was fun. “Whoop, big bad special boss. Swap out for a skill or two that are perfectly suited to this fight. Go!” We had 55’s, the SABway necro trio, and the builds completely reliant on a specific elite.
6. Hero’s and Henchies. Oh man do I miss them. Without the instanced zones the theory is that you have real people instead. Meh to that.

Overall I’m still in the “It’s okay” phase with GW2, but it’s down at the bottom of the list. The things I loved most about GW1 just aren’t in GW2.

Stuff I liked about GW1
1. Skill capping, made an awesome endgame activity
2. As other’s have mentioned build wars.
3. Dual class done correctly imho.
4. Hardmode AI, having a grawl healer train you through many melee grawl’s then park by another healer was a fun frustration for me.
5. Storyline, was really good for each campeign.

Stuff I like about GW2
1. Actual character crafting.
2. Graphic’s.
3. Lack of holy trinity.
4. WvW. I don’t spend all my time in there but I find it fun.
5. Actual jumping, don’t use it much but I like being able to jump around being silly.

I tried my best being objective realizing they are different game’s. But with having some amazing talent behind GW2, it just feel’s bland.

Im just gonna mention the 5 things that i feel this game is lacking (and just because i mention these 5 things i still love the game to bits but like everything else it does have some bad points for me):

1. I enjoyed having 2 factions luxon/kurziks, Guild Halls, Guild Capes and ur guild being part of an alliance made up of other guilds etc ( the types of things u would expect in a game with the word “Guild” in the name).

2. Im not a very sociable player and dont like to team with randoms and im sure im not the only person who feels like this. The only ppl i will team with are guildies and if they busy or not online i cant just toddle off for a dungeon with me and my heros in this game bc it dont have any. So here I feel im being forced to team with randoms bc i enjoy doing dungeons, and nobody likes being forced to do anything they like to have options. Im not saying i’d love to have heros in this game but some alternative way would be nice.

3. As many have mentioned above about the skill diversity, I played GW1 for 6yrs and even to the last day i could come up with a build combination i have never used before. And with the skills and traits in this game i cant even predict how much dmg im gonna do to a mob because i cant take the traits into account because they are poorly described with not much info on how much they buff ur dmg etc.

4. I do like the idea of a chest spawning after u defeat some bosses etc because it gives everyone a chance to get loot, but also miss the fact that u could get specific items/weapons etc from specific bosses, but in this game i could do loads of dmg too a champion and still have a low chance of even getting anything at all.

5. Im also not a big fan of the targeting system u have. GW1 was spot on it would pick up ur nearest/next foe nps, this one seems… idk not quite right. Also the ground targeting seems slow in combat and if rushed not accurate, whereby in GW1 the AoE would be cast around ur target etc (im not a big fan of this ground targeting at all)

This last one is out of the blue its not something miss but instead something i would like to see, something like a new crafting discipline for potions/serums etc to regain HP/ remove conditions/ Speed Boots etc, give ppl that extra aide while skills on CD etc.

1) “Skill Based” – I didn’t know that meant traveling the world and farming various areas for specific skills and class setups for all my heros, but it was a lot better than gear based grind, esp since I could share them with my minions. – This isn’t in GW2

They did borrow the limited skill bar from GW1, which I think was a good choice. I hated having to have all those macros and junk in WoW to use my 30 some skills and items.

2) No Gear Treadmill – This took me a LONG time to even wrap my head around after 5 years of wow, but once I got it, I loved it. I went to Cantha, found the guy to make my set, and then started saving for a cooler looking set that I could rune up a slightly different way for a different skill build. – Obv NOT in GW2.

3) FTP – In GW2, Thanks! (I wouldn’t have bothered if this was $15 a month).

4) Codex – Obviously since this isn’t about different skill combinations this doesn’t work in GW2.

5) The ability to solo stuff, or bring a hero if our party needed 1 more. – This was very valuable to me in GW1 since I started very late. I did 95% of the campaign with minions. This is not in GW2, but I’m not really sure it should be. With a few notable exceptions they have done a pretty good job with dynamically scaled events, and I don’t think you should be able to solo minion farm dungeons.

There are other things GW2 has to offer that GW1 didn’t, like WvW, crafting, nixing the trinity. (I played a monk because I knew it would get me groups, but I wasn’t the best one).

47 posts and almost 2.5k views but not a single one from Anet. If they looked at this thread they’d see what the playerbase wants

Piriel.5197:

Probably one more feature present in both that I like is the reduced spell bar, since I hate MMORPGs and their customary 20 button spell bars.

Man, my Necro has between 23 and 25 skills available at any given time, depending on my Elite!

• 5 each from 2 sets of weapons = 10 total
• 5 for heal / utility / elite (+3 from Plague, +5 from Lich) = 8 – 10 total
• 1 to activate Death Shroud (I do consider it a skill because of the health bar if nothing else) and 4 once in DS = 5 total

Sure they aren’t all displayed or available at once, but I think this system in GW2 is actually a little more complicated than having them all at once because you essentially have to choose which ones are available in an instant if you need something in there.

I love it. Feels more dynamic than, let’s say, WoW