Guild Wars 2

I know you guys get a lot of complaints, and I’ve had my share of unhappy moments as well. I’m not here to dwell on the negative though, I want to take a look at something I’m very happy about.

I play a thief as my main, and my fiancee a guardian. Now back in World of Warcraft, if we wanted to do PvE, OR PvP content, we pretty much had to adhere to perfect cookie cutter builds, or else we were considered gimped.

This has been an issue in every MMO I’ve ever played, EXCEPT for Guild Wars 2. When I decided to help my fiancee look into a new build to use for Fractals, I was absolutely overwhelmed. The sheer amount of viable builds, and variations of said viable builds was astounding; I hadn’t seen anything like it before. She could take one basic build idea, and tweek it into a variation that fit her play style. (In this case, I’m speaking of the versatility of Altruistic Healing) She could be the tanky version, sword version, more heal-oriented version, hammer-wielding version, etc, etc… And that was only for an AH build, there were apparently quite a few OTHER perfectly viable builds that each had their own unique variations as well.

Even as a thief, I have found quite a few viable combinations that are amazing, and completely useable; the weapon combinations and their uses are far and wide-spread, and rather than having the issue of not being able to switch my build due to usefulness, I have the problem of wanting to try EVERY useful build combination and simply not having the resources. (I’d much rather have that issue.)

Guild Wars 2 lets us pick a build we want to use as an outline, but erases the universal cookie cutter-ness that plagues most other games of this type. Pick your outline, and then tweek it to your play style; hell, you can even come up with your own build outline and still do just fine.

I’ve never once had a player in game ask me for the build I’m using, or criticize me as such; the closest I ever get is having people expect me to use certain utility skills in certain situations, which no one should EVER have a problem with. Being expected to pop Shadow Refuge as a thief is not the same as someone expecting you to fulfill ONE role, and to have ONE specific build.

So I just wanted to say thanks for giving me this freedom; I’m in the process of mulling over SIX different builds I want to use for dungeons on my thief, and I love it.

Keep up the good work; issues with class balance are BOUND to happen, and yes, they do exist. The fact of the matter is that they are FAR LESS than games like World of Warcraft, and the Arena Net team seems to have an innately better grasp on what constitutes as “balanced,” and “intuitive.”

Thanks again, and good luck with future endeavors!

ArenaNet are doing such a stellar job that we’re getting spoiled!
- Since beta I’ve attempted to dodge in many different games that didn’t allow it…
- I’m not a graphics elitist, I still play many old games from the 80’s and 90’s but now I can’t look at some games either because I compare them to GW2! (Depends on the game for some reason, other games I’m fine. Weird)
- In other games now, when I swing a melee weapon, I feel ripped off when it only hits one foe.

There are many other great things that Guild Wars 2 does that we now take for granted. Just a look back at older MMO’s will reveal just how different it was back then. Every MMO’s has its teething pains and their associated dummy spits but I think this game is one of the best I’ve ever played. Big thanks ArenaNet! You da best!

Yeah, completely agree with both previous posts. Of course, it’s in human nature to take everything good as granted and to find a thing to complain in any given situation. That’s why “there’s nothing ideal”. But try just once to play other MMO, and all complaints fade. Just because any other MMO is some kind of kfsjsjncuenladasdfffuuuuuuuuu!… after Guild Wars 2. And it is a fact.
At least until any other company gets their heads out of their… boxes and try to do something new like ANet did.

It’s not because some people complain about certain aspects of the game that we never thanked a-net before ! o.O

I remember thanking them for GW1 through mail, they even replied, which I thought was shocking but fun.

Btw: Ty A-net <3

They randomly gave me a Christmas card two years ago. No other company in any field has gone to the effort to give me a homemade Christmas card with staff signatures.
I still have it in my desk here.

Thank you again ArenaNet