Guild Wars 2

So, I just recently came back to Guild Wars 2. That’s not to say that I ever really played it in the first place. I was one of the many hundreds or maybe thousands of players who played the game when it launched, but for whatever reason lost interest in it soon after.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked a great many things about the game but it was missing the hook to draw me in for good, or maybe I was just in a strange place in my life at the time. Probably more the latter. Times have changed though, and what’s old is new again. I decided to come back to Guild Wars 2 at the start of this year and have been very pleased with my decision to do so.

I just hit 80 for the first time on Norn warrior and am a few missions off from finishing up the story campaign. I’ve killed Marionette, wiped on Wurm, found some cool gear, done just about every Story Mode dungeon, filled tons of hearts, and taken down a lot of Champs as the underdog. I figure it’s about time to give my thoughts about the game…

I think the game is a visual feast. The art team just really nailed it and knocked it out of the park. I’ve always felt this way though. The game is an absolutely masterpiece to look at, and I think the world of Tyria feels very authentic and alive. It’s a great fantasy world, and it is believable insofar as fantasy worlds go. It “feels” like a world, not just a game. That’s important and rare.

The music leaves a lot to be desired however. For the pieces he did create, Soule has done a great job, but they are too few and far in between. The themes that we hear in the game become all too familiar all too fast. It’s cool to have recurring themes in music, but entire pieces are used and re-used too, too much. The score could have been lengthened considerably in my opinion.

Combat is, for the most part, pretty swell. Coming from the background of World of Warcraft I’ve really appreciate the dynamic, fluid, and active combat system of this game. It’s very pro-active and challenging, and rewards a crafty player who times his or her toolkit perfectly and has some finesse at the keyboard. Very cool.

On the other hand, I feel the game is just a little too punishing towards melee players. Cutting my teeth on the game as a melee warrior has, at times, been a rage inducing nightmare. The particle effects are simply too thick at times to even see the moves you need to dodge, being stunned for days is a thing, and melee in general just seem prone to be at more of a disadvantage when it comes to survival. I often feel pressured into just using my bow or rifle for the majority of certain encounters for fear of losing my life and being a liability to my team. Not fun.

The dungeons themselves range from extremely fun to rage heard round the world due to poor team cohesion and communication. The lack of the trinity roles is sometimes really cool, and other times really annoying. The poetic chaos of Guild Wars is either great, or awful. I really haven’t seen an in between when running dungeons. They work out, or they are nightmares that take over an hour. I ran Honor of the Waves last night and literally was about to scratch my face off by the time we killed the final boss. Sometimes there just seems to be a real lack of any kind of cohesion when it comes to class roles. I know it is there, but perhaps the game could facilitate this more effectively somehow? The dungeon design itself is fantastic though. I really enjoy the sense of place and the layout of the dungeons. I can’t wait to try Explorable Mode soon.

The Personal Story, while oft criticized and a victim of several embarrassing tropes, is actually quite fun. It’s length is respectable, and I’ve come to really enjoy it especially as I grew in levels and got in to the more meaty aspects of the lore. It has encouraged me to learn more about the world of Tyria that I was previously entirely unfamiliar with and has made me grow attached to my character in a cool way. I could point out the sometimes poor V.A. or the cheesy dialogue or this or that, but I’m not, because it takes a lot for me to enjoy a story in a video game and you guys have pulled that off. Kudos. More Personal Story in the future please?

I think the Dynamic Event system is an absolute blast, but my one complaint about it would be that sometimes events need to scale a little bit better. I know things like Champions are meant to be taken on with more than two people, but sometimes that’s all you have, especially on servers like Isle of Janthir. I find myself guesting nearly 24/7 to Tarnished Coast because I simply grew tired of not being able to complete events due to lack of people. I love the way this game encourages the multiplayer, but when I’m downright prohibited from accomplishing things due to lack of people in the area, something entirely out of my control as a player, it gets lame. Better scaling could fix this, and I’d be inclined to actually play on Isle of Janthir instead of just guesting.

Since it’s a hot topic: the marionette event is excellent. It simply is. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in an MMO in a long, long time. It rekindled the genre for me in a big way, and I want to thank you guys for having the courage to put such content into the game considering the trend for the last few years has been to instance, instance, instance and dilute server communities into insular guilds. So, again, kudos. I love this event and look forward to more like it in the future. I hope the majority of the community understand what a special potential they have here with content like this and a developer willing to supply it. Overall I think the Living World approach is brilliant and feels authentic in building the core fantasy of the world.

This is going back to my topic about event scaling to some degree, but I’ll elaborate, and yes, I know this might be an unpopular opinion but: Orr kind of sucks. There, I said it. The more I journey around Orr, the more I love the visual realization of it. It’s a perfectly realized city of darkness that has been under the ocean for a long, long time and it shows. It’s very cool. On the other hand, the hordes of undead in my way (And yes, I know they are Zhaitan’s army and this is his literal stronghold, but running around as a solo player is awful, awful, awful. The waypoints seem to always be contested, and at times I’m unable to even figure out how to uncontest them. Even on Tarnished Coast the population in the Orr zones seems to be thin, so often the zone is locked in an eternal state of Zhaitan domination. It’s not a fun place to play. Which leads in to my last and final observation:

Champ trains in Queensdale are the most cheeseball, lame, uninspiring, no effort way to play the game once you hit 80. It’s my personal opinion that there is something very wrong with the game if zerging down easy level 10 champions is the most rewarding, efficient, or whatever way to play the game. There has got to be something done about this. Not only is it lame from a gameplay perspective, but from a social perspective it doesn’t bring people together in a meaningful way (Read: Marionette), and it doesn’t lend itself to a believable world. It’s just lame. Let me be as blunt as possible with my feelings here: Fix it. Nerf it. Burn it. Better yet: make something better. Maybe Orr was supposed to be the intended “end game” farming zone? If so, then make some sweeping changes to Orr. The potential is there, but like I said, as of now for whatever reason the zone is empty. I haven’t been playing the game long enough to comment on the subtle reasons why, but I know that the Queensdale champ train appears to be pure boring mode. Will I be penalized for not taking part in such activities?

Can’t comment on PvP because I haven’t touched it, but looks promising!

Overall, despite my criticisms, I am really, really enjoying Guild Wars 2 and I’m thrilled I gave it another shot. It has truly grown on me. For the first time in many years I am feeling the joy of playing a true MMO again. A game that empowers servers to band together, creates a world lovingly, and engages my gamer spirit with great gameplay.

So, here is to many more moons in Tyria and the future.

Thanks for reading and thanks for the game.

Pretty fair assessment I thought.

The only comment I have is about the group communications and stuff. I have a different experience, mostly because I don’t enjoy pugging. I’m usually on mumble for dungeons with my guild and we usually fly through them…though sometimes we just goof around and take our time. We’re more on mumble for the laughs and we coordinate when we have to.

But yeah, if you’re pugging it’s very hit and miss.

I pug 90% of my dungeon runs for all the easy ones: AC, CoF, SE and TA mostly.
I have the get in get out mentality, tbh you can spot a fast run from the very 1st encounter.

- group cohesion, most of the time I have no problem pugging these dungeons and hardly anything needs to be said or explained.

- though yes sometimes there is someone messing up the run aggroing stuff that doesn’t need to be killed and gets replaced very quickly.

- punishing to melee players you say
the only time I play range is when it is absolutely not a good idea to melee, other than that I love to get close and personal with my foe and bash his head in with either my greatsword or my hammer.

EDIT:
My only regret is that I still do not own a legendary weapon
those kitten RNG precursors !
dropped 1200 GS into the mystic forge and got nothing for my troubles.
I should know better than to play the RNG game with as much bad luck as I have with it.

Milkduds.7109:

Not only is it lame from a gameplay perspective, but from a social perspective it doesn’t bring people together in a meaningful way (Read: Marionette), and it doesn’t lend itself to a believable world. It’s just lame. Let me be as blunt as possible with my feelings here: Fix it. Nerf it. Burn it. Better yet: make something better. Maybe Orr was supposed to be the intended “end game” farming zone? If so, then make some sweeping changes to Orr. The potential is there, but like I said, as of now for whatever reason the zone is empty. I haven’t been playing the game long enough to comment on the subtle reasons why, but I know that the Queensdale champ train appears to be pure boring mode. Will I be penalized for not taking part in such activities?

I am wondering if maybe you are just not on the right server. The champ trains you really are not missing out on much if at all. Queensdale train I believe is more for leveling than money. Frostgorge train I know is used tons by some of my guild members who may only have 20 minutes to play and need a little extra cash. It definitely is not the best or fastest way to make money so you are not missing out there either.

I know I would be crushed if they took out Orr. This is where most of my favorite people hang out. We get full temple runs going at least 3 times a day and almost always have an overflow during reset runs. Usually after many runs someone else takes over and then does a world boss train or like today, we go and do a jump puzzle train for the monthly. People go crazy for this ’Temple Time* and although they may get a little feisty at times, for the most part everyone is laughing and having fun.

Yell at me in game some time and I will show you how fun the zone can be! I would love the chance to change your mind about the zone I love most of all.

Scorching.3406:

Milkduds.7109:

Not only is it lame from a gameplay perspective, but from a social perspective it doesn’t bring people together in a meaningful way (Read: Marionette), and it doesn’t lend itself to a believable world. It’s just lame. Let me be as blunt as possible with my feelings here: Fix it. Nerf it. Burn it. Better yet: make something better. Maybe Orr was supposed to be the intended “end game” farming zone? If so, then make some sweeping changes to Orr. The potential is there, but like I said, as of now for whatever reason the zone is empty. I haven’t been playing the game long enough to comment on the subtle reasons why, but I know that the Queensdale champ train appears to be pure boring mode. Will I be penalized for not taking part in such activities?

I am wondering if maybe you are just not on the right server. The champ trains you really are not missing out on much if at all. Queensdale train I believe is more for leveling than money. Frostgorge train I know is used tons by some of my guild members who may only have 20 minutes to play and need a little extra cash. It definitely is not the best or fastest way to make money so you are not missing out there either.

I know I would be crushed if they took out Orr. This is where most of my favorite people hang out. We get full temple runs going at least 3 times a day and almost always have an overflow during reset runs. Usually after many runs someone else takes over and then does a world boss train or like today, we go and do a jump puzzle train for the monthly. People go crazy for this ’Temple Time* and although they may get a little feisty at times, for the most part everyone is laughing and having fun.

Yell at me in game some time and I will show you how fun the zone can be! I would love the chance to change your mind about the zone I love most of all.

I see where the OP is coming from though. When I had first got 80 I saw Orr as empty as well and I still do. From what I’ve heard, Orr got a massive nerf to farming so that’s why nobody goes there anymore. Now I know there are world bosses littered all over the map but:
1. It’s hard to know when those are going on.
2. It’s even more difficult to know which server is actually doing them or not
3. You really have to be in a really good/organized guild in order to know when and where and what server these events and other world boss events are going on.
I’ve gone through a lot of guilds until I finally found one that was organized, has 1500 members, thus does world boss events all the time. They really need to fix the farming in Orr and destroy it in QueensDale imo.

Sadly, leveling in GW2 is at a horrible state compared to launch. Leveling at launch was probably one of my best gaming experiences ever. However, the zones are typically empty now.

So, I just killed Zhaitan… my oh my…

I could probably write an entirely new post about this but it has been beaten to death. I was SUPER excited going in to the fight, but MAN, WHAT?! It was… awful. What happened? lol!

Milkduds.7109:

So, I just killed Zhaitan… my oh my…

I could probably write an entirely new post about this but it has been beaten to death. I was SUPER excited going in to the fight, but MAN, WHAT?! It was… awful. What happened? lol!

Don’t worry, they gave up on the whole personal story thing and are supplementing the living story as a world story that the hero takes part in. Its… never really been tried before and an interesting concept, but ultimately after a while seems lacking when content disappears. Before marrionette there was the whole Krait tower business and before that there was Scarlet’s invasions (happened every hour on the hour and was a massive influx of wealth from all the champs). Before that was… Queen’s Jubilee…? I think they intermixed SAB throughout… and of course the Halloween/Christmas specials as those holidays happened. Scarlett’s invasions (a nerfed and far less profitable encounter now) and a replacement TA dungeon path are some of the only things still in game from back then, I think. It puts value on transient “stick around or you’ll miss something” content. We’ll see later this year if its paid off enough to keep folks or if they have to start changing things up.

As for your own draw to the endgame, you shouldn’t have trouble finding that for yourself. Don’t expect a legendary unless you’re willing to either grind dungeons/mats or play the market (buy low/sell high). Don’t expect anything in the “living story” section of your achievements to stick around past two weeks (hit those metas if you want the prize). Don’t get attached to content of of the living story. If you have Black Lion Scrap tickets, buy new weps as they come out and they’ll be 1 ticket a piece for a short time before going up to 5 (and gaining value on the TP).

You might also try and play the other classes to get an idea of your ideal class, even if its already what you are playing. Warrior is a great all-arounder either way. I personally started with guardian, playing through just about everything up to 40 and found my favorite gameplay to be the mesmer (which is amazingly fun at the end game). Try the different races to see what animations/forms/voices work best for you. I started a tiny Asura and ended up the shortest Norn (bigger and broader (and manlier) base than human male, but doesn’t feel fracking gigantic slowmo stomping around). Keep in mind you can be a gigantic Charr ele or thief if you want, your great size not keeping you from playing a sneaky or finger wiggler type class like in other games (imagine a tauren rogue :P) Most of all, keep it light and have fun.

The Zhaitan fight is complete bollox, to put it very mildly. Towards the end you just spam #2 button iirc. It could have been so much better, so much more engaging, but I think the creative team ran out of puff with that one.

Everyone was expecting a boss fight with Zhaitan and it wasn’t one. The fight with Zhaitan starts when you’re level 70. You kill his food supply, you partially blind him, you steal his ability to make more undead…and then in the end he’s a weakened being killed with technology designed to be anti dragon magic (which only people who played the Asuran story would know).

It’s only bad if you went in thinking it was going to be a boss fight.