Guild Wars 2

http://www.gamespot.com/shows/best-of-2012-videos/?event=rpg_of_the_year_winner20121213

Congrats gw2 and incoming cliche comments “I’ve enjoy gw2 for 800 hrs but it doesn’t deserve it.” “gw2 is a great game but it doesn’t derseve it” yea yea we heard it all before.

The only game of the year that matters was at the VGA awards. Without Samuel L Jackson, it just doesn’t have any oomph.

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Zeldain.5710:

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Not even remotely true. GW2 is not a hack and slash rpg like diablo.

Yeah, I’d say Guild Wars 2 is nothing like Diablo. Diablo falls into the old Gauntlet style games, where up to four players run through rooms, killing hordes of enemies and collecting loot.

Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG.

hahaha Kevin Van Ord said “incredible execution” hahahaha.

They deserve it. They also deserve PC game of the year. Every other game released is usually some sort of bad console port. The GW 2, being PC exclusive, definitely needs to claim the title and let game developers see that the PC is still a viable platform.

Look at what steam is doing with their new big picture mode. I hope they also had controller support soon so I can sit back in my living room and play GW 2 on my TV.

The really amazes me to look at world war craft in think back about all those people who said the game will be untouched by this year’s MMO releases. Looking at world war craft now it’s clear population is growing in the negative direction and after trying the 10 day trial I have to say the game feels old, too old.

Despite the accolades that’s not to say GW2 is not without its problems, but up until now all those problems are steadily being improve the palm by arena nets. Many people on these forms don’t seem to agree with they’re workflow and design choices, but a compared to the other game companies out there, arena net is still a gem.

Despite the publicity generated through these game of the year awards, I hope Guildwars two will still be a niche game that has a limit population. Maybe arena nets would like to see the opposite on a financial basis, but don’t underestimate the profit you can make from a small loyal player base that highly supports your company. These supporting players will buy more gems, ’cause less trouble with the GM, and genuinely want to see their game continue the way it is.

I think it’s the homogenizing of world war craft in its
It’s efforts to draw more and more subscribers ended up imploding. Rather than having a small to medium sized player base who absolutely loved the game, you end up having millions of people who try the game and then find many things they don’t like. Nobody is passionate about that game anymore.

GW 2 is special because there are some really passionate players are going to stick with this game as long as its developers stick to their vision. Let the ascended gear fiasco the warning to the developers how important this bond is to uphold.

Arena nets said recently that January and February are going to the big months when it comes to content updates for world vs. world and spvp. This may include march as well, but I hope they did not disappoint. The spvp community especially has felt the most frustration with what they have been offered so for and from day one of release, the spvp players had their confidence in arena net shaken when this all the lack of spvp content.

As for PVE, Encourage exploration of the open world. Don’t just give up all your vision and manifesto if initially player behavior is not as you had hoped for. Don’t simply cater to the vocal minority and loudmouths who beg for things that in the cannibalizing the community. No I don’t want to see a bunch of people crowded in Lyons arch asking to do fractal runs. I want to regain the magic that I experienced upon the initial release when everybody was out in the world exploring in questing. That’s when this world felt alive and like no other MMO RPG.

Guild Wars 2 definitely does not deserve GOTY, unfortunately the lack of RPGs with substance this year has allowed GW2 to rise to the top.

I could have never imagined 5 years ago that GW2 would be a big step backward from GW1.

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t deserve game of the year because some people on the Internet said so; therefore, it must be so.

The game does have its flaws and could be considered a diamond in the rough. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it and I know many others did too. No game can ever have enough content to keep you perpetually entertained. Eventually you’ll run out of things to do and make the claim that the game is grindy.

Grats and well deserved :>

Grats GW2 and ArenaNet!

Seriously, I’m a long way from a fanboy, but GW2 beats the pants off the competition. Not a great year for rpgs.

Guild Wars 2 definitely does deserve GOTY, fortunately the lack of RPGs with substance this year didn’t even factor into the rise to the top by GW2. I could have never imagined 5 years ago that GW2 would be a such huge step forward for the MMO gaming community as a whole.

I see what you did there :P

Democracy is the best game ever in the whole world.

The idea of this game was nice but was executed poorly. You have a lot of turmoil in the decisions the devs have made. You have a lot of content that feels out of place or is missing something. Now this game would be GOTY material IF these issues were fixed after launch in a quick fashion. Instead they are not fixed yet so personally I find it not to be GOTY material as much as I would like it to be.

Should be awarded best RPG of all time.

Up there with BG1-2 and probably beats planescape: torment. Much better story and character customisation, not to mention the combat is much more advanced.

Very Gratz Anet! That you were doing something different was visible in all the lead up.

Grats to Gw2 it is a great game and it does deserve it hands down!

In 2011 we had The Witcher 2, Skyrim and Deus Ex:HR, all excellent games and all worthy of GOTY.

This year we had squat. The only big release was ME3, and look what happened there…

If GW2 was released last year, it would not have received a sniff of a chance. Anet were fortunate 2012 was a dud year for releases.

bri.2359:

In 2011 we had The Witcher 2, Skyrim and Deus Ex:HR, all excellent games and all worthy of GOTY.

This year we had squat. The only big release was ME3, and look what happened there…

If GW2 was released last year, it would not have received a sniff of a chance. Anet were fortunate 2012 was a dud year for releases.

That’s the spirit!

The category RPG as they’re using it seems entirely too broad. I don’t feel Torchlight 2 or Guild Wars 2 qualify as traditional RPG’s. They have RPG elements of course, but one is just a hack and slash that has some very basic plot to make you go on and keep murdering things, while the other is an MMO and a category of it’s own. The only MMO I’ve seen that did a fairly decent job of telling a story I might get interested in is SW:TOR, and that game failed in almost every area besides the personal story line.

Of course this year was already a struggle to find just a couple of good RPG’s to nominate, and it’s even worse with an MMO category.

Was this an expert jury or just one of those internet polls that means absolutely nothing?

Grats GW2 well deserved win , after so many years and so many failed projects finally we got a beast of a game. Keep it up

Saying gw2 won because the competition was terrible is just being grumpy. It’s like saying an actor only won an oscar because movied were terrible that year. The bottom line is that he won an oscar. The bottom line is that gw2 won game of the year. That’s all that matters.

alcedonia.7831:

Saying gw2 won because the competition was terrible is just being grumpy. It’s like saying an actor only won an oscar because movied were terrible that year. The bottom line is that he won an oscar. The bottom line is that gw2 won game of the year. That’s all that matters.

Your comparison with the Oscars is a bad one, because there are years with a lot of crap movies and as an artist or creator you cannot feel good about winning a prize when you know there was no competition.

There is a certain lack of quality in RPG land this year and I think Anet would’ve been prouder if they won when there was a lot of competition. It’s what we call a hollow victory.

My cynical side thinks that it is appropriate for GW2, but hey.

Well there are some very strangely sore people in here.

It’s only an award.

There were major games released this year: ME3, Torchlight 2, Diablo 3, WoW MOP, Secret World, to name but a few – and sure not all were great, or to everyone’s tastes.

But really, we know GW2 is the best MMO out there by far, and it’s hugely successful.

There’s nothing wrong with that

alcedonia.7831:

Saying gw2 won because the competition was terrible is just being grumpy. It’s like saying an actor only won an oscar because movied were terrible that year. The bottom line is that he won an oscar. The bottom line is that gw2 won game of the year. That’s all that matters.

Yep, because there are 10 different companies handing out oscars.

Gamespot is dedicated to promoting gaming excellence.

Well deserved indeed! Of all the games I’ve played this year, GW2 is the only one I’ve put 300+ hours into and still am coming back for more.

Don’t know how people can say they don’t deserve this… The game is fantastic!

Arsenic Touch.7960:

Zeldain.5710:

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Not even remotely true. GW2 is not a hack and slash rpg like diablo.

I hate to say it, it’s much more hack-n-slash than it is tactical combat as is the norm in MMORPGs.

It’s definitely more Diablo-like including the level of “RPG-ness” that includes.

Zeldain.5710:

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Do you even know what you’re saying? GW2 not an RPG, its more like diablo ? what the hell?

Story mode: you are playing the part of a hero in Tyria, helping people around your home land and venturing off to join an ancient society to defeat an elder dragon tha thas “risen” the Risen of a long lost nation. Whats not RPG about that?

Is WoW more of an RPG? That game, while rich in lore, has 0 story and 0 role playing. None. Zip. Is Rift more of an RPG? Is Tera?

gwawer.9805:

I think it’s the homogenizing of world war craft in its
It’s efforts to draw more and more subscribers ended up imploding. Rather than having a small to medium sized player base who absolutely loved the game, you end up having millions of people who try the game and then find many things they don’t like. Nobody is passionate about that game anymore.

10 million + are still passionate about it. By most estimates, that’s about 9.5 million more than play this game. And this game is free.

cesmode.4257:

Zeldain.5710:

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Do you even know what you’re saying? GW2 not an RPG, its more like diablo ? what the hell?

Story mode: you are playing the part of a hero in Tyria, helping people around your home land and venturing off to join an ancient society to defeat an elder dragon tha thas “risen” the Risen of a long lost nation. Whats not RPG about that?

Is WoW more of an RPG? That game, while rich in lore, has 0 story and 0 role playing. None. Zip. Is Rift more of an RPG? Is Tera?

Computer RPGs are as much about combat role and style as they are “story” and the simplistic combat and character progression of GW2 pales in comparison to true RPGs. Sorry, they just do.

The story in GW2 also falls short. Where is it? My personal “story” quests every few levels that don’t even tie into the world story until late, late in the game? Same mistake TOR made. But at least TOR’s voice acting and script writing was professional, unlike here.

Also, you haven’t played WoW at all. It has, by far, the best MMO storytelling mechanics in place. You should try it.

bri.2359:

In 2011 we had The Witcher 2, Skyrim and Deus Ex:HR, all excellent games and all worthy of GOTY.

This year we had squat. The only big release was ME3, and look what happened there…

If GW2 was released last year, it would not have received a sniff of a chance. Anet were fortunate 2012 was a dud year for releases.

Exactly right.

This is not an RPG deserving of that title, guys.

I’m glad Guild Wars 2 won they deserve it but I am surprised it beat mass effect 3 purely because of mass effect having a huge fan base + it’s a lot more RPG than GW2 (I never played mass effect 3 just surprised seeing how successful mass effect 2 was).

Zeldain.5710:

bri.2359:

In 2011 we had The Witcher 2, Skyrim and Deus Ex:HR, all excellent games and all worthy of GOTY.

This year we had squat. The only big release was ME3, and look what happened there…

If GW2 was released last year, it would not have received a sniff of a chance. Anet were fortunate 2012 was a dud year for releases.

Exactly right.

This is not an RPG deserving of that title, guys.

It is actually. Your welcome to your opinion though.

Fay.2735:

I’m glad Guild Wars 2 won they deserve it but I am surprised it beat mass effect 3 purely because of mass effect having a huge fan base + it’s a lot more RPG than GW2 (I never played mass effect 3 just surprised seeing how successful mass effect 2 was).

It could have something to do with the ending of ME3….a lot of people, myself included weren’t too happy with that ending, neither the alternate.

As always it’s a matter of opinion. As a game I understand people can like GW2, even though I disappointed with it. But as a RPG there isn’t much to be happy with from my point of view.

Role Playing Game. It lacks the depth I expect, the story is poor, the voice acting is bad. I feel no connection to the story or my characters. Replay value is low for me. As much as I enjoyed leveling my first character to 80, I didn’t like doing it again on an alt….and I am an altoholic.

So as a MMO it may be a great game to many people still. But if you think it’s a great RPG, I can only conclude that most GW2 players don’t have high standards or requirements in the RPG side of it.

I’m not happy with GW2 for a lot of reasons. However, I’m not going to compare previous years to downgrade aka hate on GW2.

They won just like any other title before them, so it was well deserved. Congratz on the award Anet.

Gehenna.3625:

It could have something to do with the ending of ME3….a lot of people, myself included weren’t too happy with that ending, neither the alternate.

As always it’s a matter of opinion. As a game I understand people can like GW2, even though I disappointed with it. But as a RPG there isn’t much to be happy with from my point of view.

Role Playing Game. It lacks the depth I expect, the story is poor, the voice acting is bad. I feel no connection to the story or my characters. Replay value is low for me. As much as I enjoyed leveling my first character to 80, I didn’t like doing it again on an alt….and I am an altoholic.

So as a MMO it may be a great game to many people still. But if you think it’s a great RPG, I can only conclude that most GW2 players don’t have high standards or requirements in the RPG side of it.

I agree that the lore and character building element in this game is pretty dreadful like the things you’ve mentioned. Thus my surprise that it won over mass effect 3.

That said though Guild Wars 2 is worthy of some praise, it has a beautiful immersive world, some interesting ways of approaching an MMO etc. but yes the RPG award has me a bit baffled myself. It would be more worthy of an artistic award, music, pc game of the year… something along those lines.

All GOTY/RPGOTY or whatever else awards are as reliable as the press that is behind them. Which is to say not very much.

Love seeing the typical disconnect – My game gets a bad review, its because the press is corrupted/bought/evil. My game gets a prize, its a sign of pure excellence and professional gaming journalism.

It is a worthless trinket (and I mean all “prizes” given out by websites/mags at this time of the year) given out by people who have long lost and creditability and have a depressingly low ethic standard.

As for GW2 deserving it or not, everyone will judge it by themselves I’m sure.

RPG? Role? LOL What role? Oh, dps, dps or maybe dps? Role! Lol.

Maybe, maybe… It’s ROLE on the floor laughing?

Snowy.9580:

RPG? Role? LOL What role? Oh, dps, dps or maybe dps? Role! Lol.

Maybe, maybe… It’s ROLE on the floor laughing?

Dying every ten seconds? Roll a guardian/warrior!

Gehenna.3625:

Your comparison with the Oscars is a bad one, because there are years with a lot of crap movies and as an artist or creator you cannot feel good about winning a prize when you know there was no competition.

There is a certain lack of quality in RPG land this year and I think Anet would’ve been prouder if they won when there was a lot of competition. It’s what we call a hollow victory.

My cynical side thinks that it is appropriate for GW2, but hey.

it is still a prestigious award. and they won it. i don’t see why people are trying to take that away from anet.

could they have won it if gw2 came out last year? i don’t think so myself. but they won this year. good for gw2, good for anet. there’s no point try to throw a wet blanket over everything.

Fay.2735:

I’m glad Guild Wars 2 won they deserve it but I am surprised it beat mass effect 3 purely because of mass effect having a huge fan base + it’s a lot more RPG than GW2 (I never played mass effect 3 just surprised seeing how successful mass effect 2 was).

I think a lot of that is due to the fact that the ending almost obliterates every good thing about the series. True, the story telling and dialogue in ME3 is phenomenal for most of the game; GW2 could definitely take a page from Bioware regarding story. The combat system is pretty well paced and balanced with respect to guns vs. powers, the classes all play uniquely different, and the AI is fairly smart; ME3 might still not be quite a professional shooter like Gears, but pretty good. And then the end… The end is almost a complete betrayal on the idea that culmination of your decisions from the beginning of ME1 (if you played it), all the way to the last decision of ME3 would have significant impact on the ending. Not only is the ending cliche bordering on unoriginal, but practically ignores all the decisions prior to that point. They tried remedying this with the extended cut, but that really didn’t fix the heart of the issue. It’s like how GW2 said dynamic quests would really affect the world and they really only do so in very minor ways.

There’s also controversy with ME3 regarding the fact that certain parts of the game were taken out of game prior to it’s release as a way to get more money for “the complete game” via DLC…. I say this because these DLCs added major components to the main story arc; one of which was released the same day as the game’s release date. The best analogy I could give is like saying GW2 came out, and on the same day there was a content you could buy which would unlock the faction (priory/whispers/vigil) missions.

GW2 deserves plenty of awards, hell, for me personally it’s my game of the year. Anet has done a lot of dumb crap but the game is still fun for me and the content is awesome.

RPG of the Year though, yeah no. I’ve not exactly been playing a lot of different games this year but for GW2 to win the RPG of the Year award the competition must have been absolute drivel. GW2 Personal Story is a terrible mess, especially once you join one of the Orders of Tyria. Seriously, it’s magnificently terrible storytelling. About the only thing I’ve ever seen that’s worse is the Warcraft books written by Knaak. Even then I’m fairly confident I actually like Rhonin more than Trahearne.

Furthermore the majority of the voice acting left much to be desired, Destiny’s Edge voice actors aside. My human male Guardian feels like a soulless husk devoid of character or emotion when he talks. GW2 is a terrible RPG (in my opinion).

alcedonia.7831:

it is still a prestigious award. and they won it. i don’t see why people are trying to take that away from anet.

could they have won it if gw2 came out last year? i don’t think so myself. but they won this year. good for gw2, good for anet. there’s no point try to throw a wet blanket over everything.

Oh yes, as Ralphy’s dad would put it, “its a major award.”

Gamespot MMORPG of the year goes to SWTOR.

http://e3.gamespot.com/best-of-e3-2010/genre-awards/index.html?page=12

We all know SWTOR was the best game ever.

I also remember AoC getting several “game of the year” awards as well, even before it released… That game was a sparkling jewel too.

Game of the year awards are almost as “prestigous” as today’s nobel prize..

personaly I would have picked Secret World, though I imagine when you compare the commercial success of the two games GW2 wins hand down.

and while I agree there is not much “role” in GW2 it still has classes and is close enough in my eyes to be under consideration as a mmorpg imho

Sirge.8934:

Yeah, I’d say Guild Wars 2 is nothing like Diablo. Diablo falls into the old Gauntlet style games, where up to four players run through rooms, killing hordes of enemies and collecting loot.

Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG.

sorry, you’re right. That 5th player in the room makes all the difference…

GW2 does have a little better ‘lobby’ than Diablo though I’ll give them that. (hint: their open world, or in the case of level 80 Lions Arch outside the door to Fractals)

There is still absolutley NO Role Playing in this Game though so RPG doesn’t apply. I would also love to see companies quit using the name RPG just to sell titles.

FYI Diablo wasn’t even an RPG no matter how hard they try to sell it as one.

It’s basically the same as me slapping mercedes/porsche/ferrari/etc… tags on some Hondas and selling all these lemmings a brand new Mercedes!!

I suppose GW2 can be considered an RPG because you do create a character with choice in backstory, faction choice, quest direction, etc…. granted those choices and interactions mostly end up being meaningless, but enough (bare minimum if you will) to qualify it as an RPG.

Bruno Sardine.2907:

I suppose GW2 can be considered an RPG because you do create a character with choice in backstory, faction choice, quest direction, etc…. granted those choices and interactions mostly end up being meaningless, but enough (bare minimum if you will) to qualify it as an RPG.

But thats not playing a role, thats more like The Sims.

Roles are something a character does, our characters only have 1 , and that is to dps (waits for the support etc kitten row).

At the end of the day the only role is looking after number one, and that isn’t a role, it’s a arcade game… I look after myself in Far Cry 3, I dps, I self heal, I dodge and evade enemies! Is that a RPG?

roles isn’t necessarily what the character does in terms of combat, but how they interact in the world. You as the player are responsible for acting out the roles within the narrative through the decision-making; that’s more the RPG part than the dpsing/healing/evading and tactical choices you make to complete an objective. I’m not saying I approve of the “bare-minimum” approach, but it does fit the criteria by providing “bare-minimum”