Guild Wars 2

Dynamic combat (the feel is different from other games)
Moving while casting spells (this is probably my number one, although certain channeled abilities still bug me)
Reliable travel that doesn’t involve some sort of Taxi (lol, wyverns pfffff)
Chained events that are tied with the state of the zone (zone story)
Lack of “falling behind” feeling (all grinding is optional)
Amount of variation in the beginning of the Personal Story (Lord Faren is love)
A story that moves forward at an acceptable pace (two weeks…ish)
Community that isn’t as Toxic as it seems (for the most part)
I can play however I want (within the rules set by the game)
Meaningful crafting

All of these systems have changed the way I play games considerably, and the inclusion of some has become a gamebreaker in certain cases (other MMOs). I think the game has a long way to go in terms of content wanted/needed by the community but as far as mmo’s are concerned I believe GW2 is a step in the right direction towards a system that caters to both sides of the playerbase (casual/hardcore). What do you guys think?

Edit: becsause what sides of the playerbase

The fact that most “quests” (e.g. optional hearts and events) so greatly encourage cooperation and don’t have people fighting for some special item or mob to spawn (for the most part) is huge for me. I tried Archeage during the open beta and it bugged the heck of me that it was back to the old, “Compete with other players who are trying to complete the same quest.”

Same thing with dynamic events and optional hearts, versus “go here, go there, quest hub” nonsense. I’m amazed that more games haven’t taken after such an amazing QOL design choice.

I’m tired of being yanked out of any immersion by games that insist on using the same old “John Doe has 3 quests for you. Go do them halfway across the map and then come back, where he will have 3 more for you that you couldn’t do before. The next 3 are also halfway across the map. Have fun!”

So yeah, that aspect has spoiled me for sure. Traditional questing is just hard to stomach now. It feels so technical and dull.

I have to agree with you on that one and I will expand on my fourth listing. Traditional questing is very hard for me to get behind, especially with my experience in the current system. While I think that leveling systems are an archaic design choice for progression, I am glad they have taken the evolution they have; mob grinding —> quest farming —> Dynamic events/areas. Even single player console/pc rpgs that adhere to a questing mechanic are starting to bug me. FML

A lot of the things GW2 does well is remove a lot of the hassle that comes from other game design. If you think that dungeon kicking is bad now, you should’ve seen how bad it was in some of the other games I’ve played. Phantasy Star Universe had different item acquisition modes (round robin, random, first come first serve), but it also had a “leader decides everything” system along with a bunch of random drops at the end of each mission. So, if the leader ever found an item he wanted, he would just quickly kick every other player in the team so he could get it. Given that most of the game was gear based… it wasn’t a pretty sight.

But in general, the thing with a lot of conveniences is that a lot of the content of the game is in dealing with these inconveniences. For example, no roots while casting means that everything becomes spammy, with less emphasis on positioning and timing. The gameplay is certainly different, but better? I’m not so sure.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

A lot of the things GW2 does well is remove a lot of the hassle that comes from other game design. If you think that dungeon kicking is bad now, you should’ve seen how bad it was in some of the other games I’ve played. Phantasy Star Universe had different item acquisition modes (round robin, random, first come first serve), but it also had a “leader decides everything” system along with a bunch of random drops at the end of each mission. So, if the leader ever found an item he wanted, he would just quickly kick every other player in the team so he could get it. Given that most of the game was gear based… it wasn’t a pretty sight.

But in general, the thing with a lot of conveniences is that a lot of the content of the game is in dealing with these inconveniences. For example, no roots while casting means that everything becomes spammy, with less emphasis on positioning and timing. The gameplay is certainly different, but better? I’m not so sure.

Better is always a value judgement. Compared to other MMOs, for me, this game is better. That’s why I support it so strongly. I acknowledge other games are better for other people of course.

What are some of the things that make it “better” for you Vayne?

The only better thing in this game for me is that this game is not pay 2 win or grind 2 win.
Everything else is meh.

If I can put my 2cent in this topic one thing that has spoiled me is the pace of the combat. GW2 combat almost feels like a console game on how quick it feels. Their are both channeled skills that lock you in place and others that allow you to move but I think they are nicely balanced. For example Warrior dual axe skill 5 is soooo deadly it does huge damage to multiple people and can move BUT it is slow in moving and easily interrupted. Having said that; it all comes down to how you set the skill up so balanced imo.

While I still think there is some work to be done balancing skills (does it ever stop?) I do agree with you Zoso. The flow of combat in more recent games has really detered me from making any sort of long term commitment to them.

Alteraphim.4629:

What are some of the things that make it “better” for you Vayne?

I’m a big fan of cooperative stuff. I love that no one can still your node or your kill. That you can rez anyone without using a skill slot. I love that if people participate in an event, everyone gets credit.

I like small details in the world, often hidden. Stuff you wouldn’t normally see unless you go looking for it. I love the way some dynamic events interact with each other. Like if you’re doing an escort and the bridge is out, it’ll stop and then you have to do the bridge event to finish the escort event.

I love the way combat works in this game. It’s fluid and I feel involved. Compared to other MMOs the combat in this game is great.

I love the whole Sylvari concept. And the grove. I like how I almost always get the daily just playing, without doing anything special.

I like the wardrobe, and how it’s set up.

And I love the little hidden links to Guild Wars 1.

Alteraphim.4629:

While I still think there is some work to be done balancing skills (does it ever stop?)

Lol very true! Balance dev team have a hell of a job!

Ooooo, nodes and kills being personal is a BIG one for me. I don’t like that form of open world PVE competition.

Alteraphim.4629:

Ooooo, nodes and kills being personal is a BIG one for me. I don’t like that form of open world PVE competition.

I don’t really mind competing for nodes and stuff but what it does is it breaks immersion. When I played Rift, I used to use knockbacks and stuns on monsters so I could gather during fights, to get it before someone else came up. Ruin the whole fight mechanic for me.

Could you imagine doing that if you were there? lol

lol, I think it was worse in a few other games which had people camping high level nodes in several areas. Which made it a latency competition. Which was fun for no one.

I tried playing another MMO after GW2, and it just didn’t do anything for me. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it was; the artstyle, sound, interactions with others – but something about it bugged me.

I suppose I enjoy Guild wars more than I thought I did.

I do agree with you OP.

I realy like this game and sometimes I support it so much so I am sure I am blinded by Fanboyism :P
Just now I have after 2 years of playing starting to play less and less though… But life goes on and there are new games on the market that I have to try but as soon as the LS starts again I will play alot as usuall and that is one BIG thing with GW2 and it is that I can play it whenever I want too, I don’t have to pay for a month to play a week.

And as AxleSauce says… I can’t play other MMO’s anymore, they all feels so slow, stale and just way too ‘meh…’. When it was new I was trying ESO with my brother but for every quest I did I became tired and started asking me ‘what am I doing?’ I went from quest to quest and just followed a silly quest marker and I did the quests just so I could level up and get more skills and stuff. That is how every single MMO I have played works accept for GW2. I can’t speak for everyone else but when I Leveled my characters I never played to level up but too explore and what I realy did love was that I could explore and do whatever I wanted and I leveled up anyway, so what I am saying is that the “regular” MMO’s you more or less has to do Quests to level up as the quests is the only thing that gives you decent EXP but that is far from how GW2 works.