Guild Wars 2

Hello guys! How is it going?

So I played GW2 for a couple months before ESO was launched. Since then I play ESO all the time. That said, I do not like the changes they are making to the game and I’m considering coming back to GW2.

I have two lvl 80 (? max) characters, Necromancer and…Rogue.

I have some generic questions and I appreciate any feedback on that.

1) How is the overall performance of the game? Does it crash a lot, have lags, bugs, that sort of thing.

2) What is to do at End Game? I remember this was an issue back then.

3) WvWvW is balanced? People still enjoy it? What other PvP content is available?

4) I like challenging end game things, like raids, dungeons… we have that?

5) Does the Cash Shop only sell vanity items?

6) Would you make a comment about the game as a whole and your perspectives?

I know some questions are more personal, but I want to know before hopping in again.

Thank you!

1) It’s good except in large-scale combat situations. It depends on your hardware, of course, and there are some settings you can tweak to have acceptable FPS in zergs, but you’ll definitely experience at least SOME stuttering when there’s more than about 30 players on screen. Besides that, the only crashes I’ve had were at Tequatl.

2) There is no endgame. The journey is the game. That has not and will not change. Better than Mastery Levels, though, right?

3) WvW can’t be balanced, but if you mean is it competitive, well, it depends on which server you’re on. For the most part, I think it’s still fun and active, though some worlds (cough BG cough) don’t seem to show up unless it’s a tournament.

4) No, but the upcoming expansion, Heart of Thorns, is supposed to add more difficult group PvE content. No one’s calling them “raids” yet, but hopefully that’s the kind of thing we’re getting (without the gear treadmill part of it).

5) It sells items that give you in-game bonuses, but they’re marginal at best. Then there are the items that provide massive convenience, like everlasting gathering tools and the Copper Salvage-O-Matic, but since you can pay for Gems with in-game Gold, it’s not outrageous.

6) The game is fun, it’s still aimed towards casuals, and you’d probably enjoy it most if you play it for a while but take breaks and don’t focus on it like a hardcore MMO. Heart of Thorns sounds like it’s bringing a lot of things the game needs, but there’s no release date or price yet (though it’s confirmed that you’ll have to buy it).

My 2 Cents:
1.) I play on an average 2-3y old laptop and I’ve got no issues running the game, even in large-scale fights (at which I do turn my settings down.) My main focus is solo and 5-man content however and I hardly got issues there. (Except right now, but I broke my laptop… ^^")

2.) Mainly vanity-hunts. You can hunt Achievements for titles or just the points, do Dungeons/Fractals (5-man content, quite a few things can be done solo if you enjoy the challange) which are usually meant to make Gold to buy skins or similar vanity-items. There’s WvW/sPvP which is always a fun way to spend your time. Once in a while a new Living Story gets added for an hour of story-fun.

3.) WvW is too server dependant. I’m on SFR and they tend to either not bother playing at all or to face-roll a lot. It’s to be expected from one of the more succesful servers, but it differs per match-up and time of day. There’s also sPvP which is mainly 5 v 5 Conquest, I personally enjoy it a lot, but I tend to prefer small-scale over big-scale fights.

4.) Not quite, Fractals/Dungeons are relatively short instances you do with a group of 5 generally. They won’t stay challanging for too long unless you’re into solos, but like mentioned above, there are promises of more challanging group-content when the expansion comes out.

5.) Vanity and Convenience.

6.) I personally really enjoy the game. It’s one of the few games geargrind isn’t a constant pressure (which pressures me to be in a Guild because counting on my luck has never got me geared in other MMOs.) I enjoy not having the Tank-Heal-DPS trinity but everyone being focussed on damage and having to make sure you stay alive by dodging or other means, it’s a refreshing and nice change. Soloing content can provide a refreshing challange when I feel like it. But as you can likely judge from all this, is that I’m seeing Guild Wars 2 as a casual game, not 100% sure that’s what you’re looking for.

1) I don’t have a particularly special PC and have no trouble. I only recall it ever crashing when one of those “you need to exit for an update” message was up and I hadn’t yet.

2) Dungeons, Fractals, new high-end areas, acquiring max gear.

3) You only mentioned WvW, but there is an entirely separate PvP available. Plus more coming with the expansion.

6) I still enjoy it, but do take breaks where I do other things (ie, Civ5) if I feel I’m getting bored. There are now rewards simply for logging in on a daily basis, which is nice.

1) Its usually good. There could be some connectivity issue from time to time, but they are really rare. GW2 demand more of your CPU than your video card so a lot of buy a good video card and then complain that the game have issue in large scale fight.
2) There is no end-game or the end-game is what you want. This wasn’t an issue at launch, its just that a lot of ppl didn’t find a traditional end-game. The game don’t give you an end-game, you will have to find your own end-game. Achievement hunting, skin hunting, PvP, WvW, Dungeon speed run, Solo dungeon, fractal, etc…
3) WvW is better as ppl balanced themselves the different server, but don’t think we gonna have perfect balance ever. There is also sPvP, which is better in my opinion.
4) The game is base around the concept that anyone in any build can complete any content. So no there is not much challenge in the game (PvE side I mean). But we figure out ways to get challenge. Record and Solo runs need a lot of coordination and are challenging. Fractal 50 is kind of challenging if you try to melee everything. Triple Trouble is a the only challenging world boss, but with a good organized group its not that bad (it need about 100 ppl to be organized together).
5) Mostly vanity stuff. There is some little object that give you a boost in stats, but they are temporarily and you gonna ruin yourself for a really small boost.
6) It’s the only MMO that keep me in the game for so long. The main aspect of the game is the cooperation atmosphere, you want ppl to help you, they won’t steel your stuff (loots, gathering nodes, etc). The fact that you can get back after 3months and still have the best gear and run anything with your friends. The level scaling keep most content fresh (you don’t 1 shot everything in low level zone) and worth running again. You can do whatever you want, everybody go after their own goal and nothing is forced on you (mostly).