Guild Wars 2

Bought GW2 pre-launch and enjoyed the path to 80. After a few weeks, however, the relative lack of endgame started to bore on me (I could only do the same event so many times in a week before my eyes started bleeding). I returned to “that other MMO” and had a good time with “the Trinity” and all, but it’s starting to wear on me (guild dynamics, etc). I’m thinking about returning to GW2, but since I’ve been away from 6-8 months, I honestly have no clue how things have evolved (not story, but gameplay). I’ve more or less forgotten what build I was working on at the time, but do know I was sick of Orr. A few basics on me…

80 Norn Guardian w/ level-below-exotic gear (but exotic weaps), 40k karma, no “laurels,” in need of guild, etc.

So, to “tl;dr” this…

Has GW2 improved from a gameplay perspective (I know this will bring a variety of responses), and what would you do if you returned as a guardian?

there’s fractals which is a new dungeon that increases with difficulty. but if you’re after. end game content this really isn’t the mmo for you. gw2 is still much more focused on exploration and the changing world. Orr is much less popular with the new patch and people are doing the evolving storyline in South sun cove. really pretty place with fun stuff to do. if you plan on playing hardcore or a looking for a endgame treadmill mmo this really isn’t for you. it’s much more focused to casuals and those after adventure.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_release

the most important things:
-) daily achievements & being able to choose which to do
-) monthly achievements & also being able to choose from a list
—> playing the game how you wanna play + rewarded with laurels

guild missions
-) content for larger organized guilds http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_mission
-) start a mission in the open world for your guild. Others can participate and support the guild

fractals
-) mini-dungeons which are getting more difficult each time you comlete a set of 3 in a row

living story
-) temporary content which revives old zones with a new storyline, new content (last month we had a decent dungeon)

SAB
-) a retro-jumping puzzle zone (it’s HUGE)
-) a mishmash of Mario & Zelda-games – buy upgrades, open new secrets
-) Level 1 was active, it will return with level 1 & a new level 2

WvW
-) traps, a progression system, more armor for badges

sPvP
-) new maps

Thanks to you both for helpful replies. I know GW2 isn’t really about an endgame grind (and I do confess to liking those), but on my first pass, it felt like endgame amounted to basically “going back” to what I’d done before, and very little “moving forward” (even if it was horizontal movement rather than vertical). It sounds to me like the game has been fleshed out a bit more, so that’s good.

If I could ask one more question: I currently have 14g (lol) and could but a full set of exotic armor. Is that something I should do? Or do I stick with my “yellow” armor and wait for the exotics as I play endgame. It seemed to me it was quite a grind in the beginning months for exotic gear, so I wonder if that’s eased up or not.

Why not try just come back and try it again. if you like it then play some more and take a break again. No game will appeal to everyone so you just have to find the one that is to your tastes

I think yellows and fine unless you’re doing high level fractals or speed runs. You can experience most things in yellows easily. And guardian is a strong class overall. Stuff I recommend doing is play each dungeon path once and repeat any you enjoy, try fractals of the mists, get involved with the living story and explore what’s happening, do jumping puzzles, find a guild and do some of the group stuff, I don’t like guild bounties and guild treks but guild puzzles are so much fun. Requires voice communication to some bits or else commutation can become cumbersome.

OK, great. Thanks for the tips/