Guild Wars 2

I’ve been here for maybe two months at the most. I have to say that I’m extremely impressed by the amount of detail put into this game.

This game (Marketed as partially free to play), excels at the generosity of playable content that other free to play games don’t. In addition to that, the variety of skills through usable weapons is actually quite astonishing, the fact that each race/player has a plot to go with their character, and this is one of the few games where I actually enjoy the grind of leveling.

The SAB event absolutely blew me away. I had never seen an event, in any other MMO, that takes you to an entirely different game. To me, that is brilliant.

However, there’s a few issues about the game that could be resolved easily. This game, being free to play (I consider it free-to-play simply due to the fact that the majority of the world and content can be explored without the need for payment), has the potential of expanding into something much more simply through word of mouth and active players.

1. Roleplaying is encouraged through community efforts rather than the developers attempting to hint or encourage RP through certain realm labels. Encouraging roleplaying would open more playstyles, immersion, and also give people a chance to develop their character.

2. I am not kissing the ring of the developers when I comment them on how incredible this game is compared to many I have played before. I want to see this game become much more than it already is, but I am spreading the awareness of this game by word of mouth. I’d like to see this game hyped up, but the trailers don’t do it justice, and advertising (From what I’ve come to see) is all but non-existent. Somehow, this game needs to be hyped and advertised.

3. I use to make WoW videos once apon a time. They weren’t good, but they weren’t bad either. Making game videos is like working with a whole new medium, and the videos I made were more along the lines of using Green Screens and something called a “Model Viewer.” With fixed camera angles, lack of animations, etc, it’s difficult to even attempt to improvise creating a movie. This is understandable though, as animations, camera angles, etc, cost money to adjust and produce. The Model Viewer was an independent project as well. I want it to be added, however, that one of the things that got WoW its popularity was the amount of fan-made videos that people were exposed to.

From 21 years of gaming, I can’t stress this enough to the developers, that this game is amazing by my standards. It’s still in its infancy, and is seeking to mature, but if it goes neglected, it’ll get moody. Give this game attention, advertise, build up the player base, and it will evolve into a great thing!

If I become rich and famous one day, I’ll be sure to contribute to the cause!

I wish this game had a model viewer/machinima tools. I’d love to try making a story about a faction of Charr that can’t be done in-game.

Sartharina.3542:

I wish this game had a model viewer/machinima tools. I’d love to try making a story about a faction of Charr that can’t be done in-game.

Exactly! Model viewers would open a realm of possibilities. However, it’d take a dedicated GW2 player with a knowledge of scripting to do it.

Welcome to Guild Wars 2! I envy you, in a way. I remember how blown away I was when I first started playing, and it’s only gotten so much better since release.

I agree that more advertisement would be a good thing, and I suspect you’ll see just that in the near future. It’s pretty likely that a second expansion is coming “soonish,” and once they announce it I’m certain there will be an ad campaign to go along with the big reveal. I’m guessing we’ll see the next expac before the end of the year, but that’s pure speculation on my part.

I don’t know much about model viewers or how any of that works, but I think it’d be really interesting to see what talented animators might be able to do if they were given such tools. I’ve seen some truly amazing Battlefield and TF2 machinima videos and it’d be cooler than cool to see Guild Wars 2 get the same treatment.

That said, there are already some really impressive GW2 videos made by players and fans that you might be interested in. Some have taken in-game cutscenes and spliced them together in interesting ways, like music videos for example. A forum regular here also made a feature length film detailing all of the events that took place during the first Living World season, events which are no longer available. There are some really talented folks out there—imagine what could be done with direct access to character models!

Relevant links:
Scarlet Briar: “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHsliMTzhg

Guild Wars 2 – The Complete Season 1 Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joLmVI5URak

drunkenpilot.9837:

Welcome to Guild Wars 2! I envy you, in a way. I remember how blown away I was when I first started playing, and it’s only gotten so much better since release.

I agree that more advertisement would be a good thing, and I suspect you’ll see just that in the near future. It’s pretty likely that a second expansion is coming “soonish,” and once they announce it I’m certain there will be an ad campaign to go along with the big reveal. I’m guessing we’ll see the next expac before the end of the year, but that’s pure speculation on my part.

I don’t know much about model viewers or how any of that works, but I think it’d be really interesting to see what talented animators might be able to do if they were given such tools. I’ve seen some truly amazing Battlefield and TF2 machinima videos and it’d be cooler than cool to see Guild Wars 2 get the same treatment.

That said, there are already some really impressive GW2 videos made by players and fans that you might be interested in. Some have taken in-game cutscenes and spliced them together in interesting ways, like music videos for example. A forum regular here also made a feature length film detailing all of the events that took place during the first Living World season, events which are no longer available. There are some really talented folks out there—imagine what could be done with direct access to character models!

Relevant links:
Scarlet Briar: “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHsliMTzhg

Guild Wars 2 – The Complete Season 1 Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joLmVI5URak

I can’t watch the S1 movie, but the first video was great! THAT would make for an excellent game trailer!

1. Roleplaying is encouraged through community efforts rather than the developers attempting to hint or encourage RP through certain realm labels. Encouraging roleplaying would open more playstyles, immersion, and also give people a chance to develop their character.

Role play has never been truly encouraged or supported by this game. They did it no favors when they megaservered not only the PvE maps but also the cities. It took years for them to add a few new emotes. Requests to add a role play chat or to decrease the reach of /say chat have gone unanswered as have requests for such things as a chair to sit on or a mug to drink from (items that could be sold in the gemstore to help recoup the cost of designing them). Their attitude towards role play can be described as benevolent indifference, where they neither actively support nor go out of their way to hinder. I don’t see them changing this as it seems they do not find role play to be of value. I think they are short sighted in this attitude as role play gives people something to do and a reason to log on for long periods of time.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

1. Roleplaying is encouraged through community efforts rather than the developers attempting to hint or encourage RP through certain realm labels. Encouraging roleplaying would open more playstyles, immersion, and also give people a chance to develop their character.

Role play has never been truly encouraged or supported by this game. They did it no favors when they megaservered not only the PvE maps but also the cities. It took years for them to add a few new emotes. Requests to add a role play chat or to decrease the reach of /say chat have gone unanswered as have requests for such things as a chair to sit on or a mug to drink from (items that could be sold in the gemstore to help recoup the cost of designing them). Their attitude towards role play can be described as benevolent indifference, where they neither actively support nor go out of their way to hinder. I don’t see them changing this as it seems they do not find role play to be of value. I think they are short sighted in this attitude as role play gives people something to do and a reason to log on for long periods of time.

The possibilities of Immersion, character development, and most importantly, social interaction would be endless with more catering to Roleplaying! Of course, I’m not implying ERP like I use to see on WoW’s Moonguard server. I discovered fetishes that I didn’t even know exist.

Lahemic.6097:

It’s still in its infancy, and is seeking to mature, but if it goes neglected, it’ll get moody.

This is the big problem of GW2 nowadays.

It plays and feels like a game freshly released. Lots of potential, tons of remaining issues, lots of work to do but can grow into something amazing quickly if issues are fixed in huge sweeps.

Only… this is 4,5 years after release. All of these things should have been fixed 2-3 years ago

Lahemic.6097:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

1. Roleplaying is encouraged through community efforts rather than the developers attempting to hint or encourage RP through certain realm labels. Encouraging roleplaying would open more playstyles, immersion, and also give people a chance to develop their character.

Role play has never been truly encouraged or supported by this game. They did it no favors when they megaservered not only the PvE maps but also the cities. It took years for them to add a few new emotes. Requests to add a role play chat or to decrease the reach of /say chat have gone unanswered as have requests for such things as a chair to sit on or a mug to drink from (items that could be sold in the gemstore to help recoup the cost of designing them). Their attitude towards role play can be described as benevolent indifference, where they neither actively support nor go out of their way to hinder. I don’t see them changing this as it seems they do not find role play to be of value. I think they are short sighted in this attitude as role play gives people something to do and a reason to log on for long periods of time.

The possibilities of Immersion, character development, and most importantly, social interaction would be endless with more catering to Roleplaying! Of course, I’m not implying ERP like I use to see on WoW’s Moonguard server. I discovered fetishes that I didn’t even know exist.

Ha! I used to take the long walk down the tram tracks between Stormwind and Ironforge (PvE server), just to look in the corners and out of the way spots. I came across and Elf and Dwarf doing some ERP, obviously thought ducking way back here would get them some privacy. I nope’d out of there in a hurry.

Welcome to Tyria! The graphics are what pulled me into the game as well. People like to complain about GW2 and of course no game is without its flaws, but taking a step back and looking at what else is available, GW2 is really in a class of its own. If anything, the free to play option is TOO GENEROUS, but it is what it is. Most mmos you cant even get half way to max level.

A side note, arenanet really does need to give this game more advertising both online and television. I can only imagine how many gamers might not even know what its about or that it still exists.

It’s funny that google|microsoft|whoever sees my browsing habits so I get GW2 ads when I already have five accounts.

Are you RPing with more than five people at a time? Making a team doesn’t work? That’s what my guildies and I did when we were RPing. Maybe a squad is worth the investment?

We never had any difficulty RPing within the game’s limitations. Just because we were in a bar but couldn’t actually bring a mug to our mouth in no way lessened the experience. Maybe that’s because most of us harkened back to the pen/paper days? I dunno. I don’t see much of an issue.

Khailyn.6248:

A side note, arenanet really does need to give this game more advertising both online and television. I can only imagine how many gamers might not even know what its about or that it still exists.

I’d pressure them into advertising on popular youtube channels since a good amount of people use youtube. Television is an iffy topic of advertising simply due to the cost of each commercial aired and how many people watch it these days. Joe Rogan, I believe it was, said that “The internet will kill television” and it seems about right. That’s the case for news channels anyway, which definitely shows in their content. Regardless, I’m spreading it by word of mouth.