Guild Wars 2

So I’m a long time World of Warcraft player, I like WoW but I hate paying $15.00 a month and feeling like I’m obligated to play, feeling like I have to play every waking minute to keep up with everyone. Is this Guild Wars 2 as well or is it more casual friendly? I hear good things about it so I broke down and bought it hope I’ve made the right choice as things download.

It’s casual friendly in that regard. There is virtually no gear grind or need to keep up with everyone else. It rewards loyalty via daily rewards/gold and by non-expac content being free if you log in during their release period, but that’s about the highest level of obligation it gets.

Just logged in so far loving it nice to hear hope it gets better from here:)1

Pro-tip: Don’t use the Level80 Boost until after you have leveled a character to 80 naturally.

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck.

As someone who has always resented the business model where I rent games, I’d say that GW2 has at least scratched that itch. As with most MMO’s there’s a lot of lists of things to do. I hope you find doing the stuff to complete those lists enjoyable.

Welcome to the game! I’m a recovering WoW player myself. Good points offered so far. My two cents worth – don’t rush. Enjoy it! If you get stumped on something in game, just give a shout out in Map chat…really helpful community compared to WoW.

Again, welcome to Tyria.

Welcome to Tyria, tattyana!

Guild Wars 2 not only is very casual friendly but also has a hardcore parts! You’ll discover it through the gameplay at level 80. But first, you must learn how the world works and rushing the game to do it isn’t my advice. You should read everything people and npcs say and enjoy it! This is one of the best thing GW2 has! Its events are amazing and entertaining, creating the best living world you’ll find in a MMORPG.

In my opinion, if you don’t care about its lore, you’ll miss a great part of the game and you’ll be bored in a few weeks. So this is my advice. Try to learn more about Tyria and its legends and become one you too! You won’t regret it!

About difficult content you have fractals, raids and pvp rankeds! You can learn more about them in the forum. Search their categories and read what the people has to say.

Hope you enjoy this beautiful game <3.

Be warned there is no endgame progression in gw2. Your gear is easily obtained, skins are easily bought and you aren’t allowed to have more powerful stats than other players. So it will be a bit of a shock coming from gear grind wow that supports progression.

Note, progression is different, not non-existent. You’ll need to know rotations for optimal damage for content like raids. While Exotic and even ascended gear is easy to get, gear is not the end-game. Masteries are the end-game which can obtained by getting HoT.

It still takes time to level, unlock masteries, unlock gated sigils/runes/insignias/inscriptions/recipes/items, gear up to full ascended (even multiple sets for different content. Nevermind changing your mind on stats half a dozen times and having to re-gear (again costing more time and gold).

Having said that once you are fully geared, there are several end game choices – wvw, fractals, dungeons, raids, open world pve, or even spvp where you don’t even need gear just spend time learning the game.

But part of the beauty of this game is freedom to do what you like whenever you like – for example I sometimes like to aimlessly wonder through pve maps for mindless “zone out”, if I’ve had a particularly long day and want to not think about anything.

Curunen.8729:

It still takes time to level, unlock masteries, unlock gated sigils/runes/insignias/inscriptions/recipes/items, gear up to full ascended (even multiple sets for different content. Nevermind changing your mind on stats half a dozen times and having to re-gear (again costing more time and gold).

Having said that once you are fully geared, there are several end game choices – wvw, fractals, dungeons, raids, open world pve, or even spvp where you don’t even need gear just spend time learning the game.

But part of the beauty of this game is freedom to do what you like whenever you like – for example I sometimes like to aimlessly wonder through pve maps for mindless “zone out”, if I’ve had a particularly long day and want to not think about anything.

That and forum arguments about how X game mode is being treated better then Y game mode.

I finally broke the WoW addiction back in 2012 and found GW2 community a much friendlier place. In fact GW2 is now the longest mmo i have played, so i guess its a new addiction Pretty much it should be called Vanity Wars as you’re not really war’ing much against other guilds like in GW1, but who cares i just want shiney weapons and pretty armors and as many achievement points as i can collect!

I’d like a personal house to go with so everyone can see my glorious achievements, but that hasn’t happened yet

tattyana.2356:

So I’m a long time World of Warcraft player, I like WoW but I hate paying $15.00 a month and feeling like I’m obligated to play, feeling like I have to play every waking minute to keep up with everyone. Is this Guild Wars 2 as well or is it more casual friendly? I hear good things about it so I broke down and bought it hope I’ve made the right choice as things download.

No you haven’t. After playing wow on global servers for a long time you will be pretty disappointed with quality of content in gw2. I hope you at least got it for 20€ when it was on sale instead of paying the full (highly overpriced) value.

If you still dig wow and paying the fee is your only problem with that game I would rather think about getting subscription paid with gold.

Kelly.7019:

I’d like a personal house to go with so everyone can see my glorious achievements, but that hasn’t happened yet

You mean something like the home instance?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Home_instance

Hi! Former WoW player here as well. I switched over to GW2 almost a year ago.

There is no gear grind in the WoW sense. The best stats you can get come from ascended/legendary (same stat level), which are slightly better than the readily available and relatively inexpensive exotic level gear.

As a player used to the WoW gear treadmill, this is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you aren’t useless in the current tier if you take some time off. On the other hand, there is no “current tier”!

GW2 has only 1 raid, with three wings. More may be on the way in the next expansion, but as you aren’t using the current tier of raiding to gear up for the next tier (you can, but the gear you earn from raiding is no better than the gear you earn from other activities) you are either playing through the content to experience it (which removes the sense of urgency to replay it that exists in WoW) or you’re going for some secondary goal such as crafting legendary armor – which, again, offers no statistical advantage over the far easier to obtain ascended level gear.

The result, in my opinion, is a game that lacks some of WoW’s failings but feels somewhat aimless as a result. In GW2 I find there is less structure. Certainly there are plenty of achievements and other goals to work toward, but with no gear treadmill I don’t always see the point.

It strikes me that GW2 is better suited to casual players for this reason. True “hardcores” will likely experience the familiar burnout at an accelerated rate here. The only exception I can think of are people who just like to try and complete everything. GW2 doesn’t lack for achievements, collections, and skins to work for.

Having said all that, it has a very enjoyable combat system that doesn’t feel much like WoW. There tends to be far more mobility in combat and without the trinity of tank/heals/dps, there’s a lot more room (outside of organized group content) to come up with odd builds for various purposes. Also, your weapon choices can drastically change your playstyle as each weapon presents the player with a completely different set of skills.

Finally, if I had to identify a strength GW2 has over WoW it would be open world content. The event-based maps, jump puzzles, the seamless cooperation between players without having to form organized groups. It all contributes to a very enjoyable experience in open world that isn’t really there in WoW, which feels like far more of a solo game with dated content and rewards (although I haven’t played the latest expansion).

I tried WoW for a week or so, and just can’t suffer it. GW2 was multiple times superior for me, in multiple ways, so I stick to the game.
The real point here is… its all about personal preferences. If you loved WoW, maybe you will not like Gw2. But you will not know it until you try.

IMO, the fast and mobile fight style of GW2, the jumping puzzles, the Asura and Charr races, the simple and easy to participate style of the massive PvE content, and the Engie’s Flamethrower are simply amazing. HoT just add more things I love, like the multilayered “vertical” maps and gliding.

So… try it, if you don’t hate it, give it a time, and maybe you end being a happy captive of the game like me.

That’s exactly why I never got into WoW and other subscription games. That and I didn’t like all the lore changes they made after Warcraft 2.

I like to play games on my own terms, starting and stopping as I feel like it. I also can’t commit to playing regularly when I want to because I’m away a lot for work and seeing family. I could easily end up paying for permission to play 1 month (which is already pretty galling when I’ve bought the game) and then never having time to log in.

For a long time I thought I just couldn’t play an MMO, then I discovered Guild Wars, which is pretty much perfect for me.

Not only is there no sub but there’s very little mandatory vertical progression, so if you take a break or take your time with content you don’t need to worry about catching up or forcing yourself to grind stuff to get to what you want to do.

I can see how it’s boring for some people, but I really like being able to do content for its own sake in my own time.