Guild Wars 2

Time magazine lists Guild Wars 2 as #1 best video game of 2012

Since I am a sole PVP player and I haven’t touched any of the PVE contents., I had to turn an eyebrow when I read this article on the time magazine website.

What these guys think? All the reviews, if we go back in time to August and September, touched on the PVE side and praised its innovation. And now that the game of the year awards are rolling by, GW 2 is popping up quite frequently. But I can’t help but think, oh spvp if only you could be the game of the year.

I don’t want to call these reviewers care bears or dragon slayers, but if guild wars two wins these accolades then it should be for the entire Game. Of course if it was in fact for the entire game, and Guildwars two would be rated as much a lower contender because of the lack of spvp qualities and features.

What worries me is that the game is seen by the mainstream as PVE game in the spvp gets brushed aside. As a consequence what if the higher up’s and corporate bosses see this trend and as a result invests further into the games PVE but not the games spvp.

On the official Guildwars two website the spvp section states that spvp is a core pillar of the game. I believe this when trying to decide whether to purchase the game, but now it has taught me a hard lesson not to trust PR marketing spin doctors.

The PvE is ok, certainly better than many MMO’s.
WuvWuv is awesome, except for culling… and thieves… but mostly culling(andthieves)

SPvP was supposed to be the promised land but….
Well, I’d almost rather go back to arenas as sad as that is.

But WuvWuv is great(exceptforthieves)

(I mean cullingthievescullingthievesthieves)

First of all, this should be move to the appropriate section.

Regarding the question “is GW2 the #1 best video game of 2012” ?

To answer this question, we have to think what’s GW2?

Advantages:
- No monthly subscriptions : This model is completely outdated. These days a lot of players only want to play 1 or 2 hours, due to work and family. This meant that a monthly sub payment method was very harsh for them.

- Dynamically adjusted content : This is one of my favorite aspects of the game. Gw2 have such a degree of freedom, that makes players being able to wander low levels areas without loosing the difficulty of that players area. As someone once said, why would a lv5 bear be easier than a lv50 ant? Does this makes sense? Level? What is that? Gw2 solved this question by adjusting the players to the área being able to fight a brown bear almost with the same difficulty being at lv5, 30 or 80!

- Cross-Server playing. This a feature that I like a lot. If you like me have been playing in MMo’s for a long time, you should have a long list of friends. The problem is that in other games, they tend to be in other servers that you’re in. This makes playing together a hard task. This don’t happen here, due to the overflow servers (and future Guesting… i hope). More, the overflow, came to help in those nagging queue times to enter in the game and play… Who haven’t been a victim of queue’s poison in a game yet?

- New content – Events are monthly based. This makes the players more immersed into the game. Nice rewards for those who plays them, custom titles, gear and such…

Disadvantages:
- Game Bugs. This is one of the worst thing that GW2 have, and a lot. With new content every month, more bugs are added into the game. With ANet promise to deliver a final product with their marketing “When it’s ready”, they clearly failed. There some basic bugs (skills, traits), that aren’t still corrected. If you think your class don’t have any, just have a pass at the game wiki and see for yourselves in every class skill. (a lot say: BUG: " don’t work with this trait or skill", etc etc). Another is culling, simply game-breaking. A lot of us were willing to loose a monthly event, if the team focused on wiping these bugs out of the grid.

Balance: Classes are not balanced. Often we see feedback about Thiefs, Mesmers and Warriors being OP. Others we see that lack something else. With the game having 3 types of gameplay every skill should be adjusted to meet them individually. Balance is specially important if we are trying to take GW2 to the E-Sports level.

Lack of content: Although newer content is always kicking in every month, it is mostly PvE content. WvW and sPvP have very small changes. Newer and improved sPvP types of game (capture the flag, etc etc) are needed to captivate players to join and to make players that already are playing to stay. WvW needs more things. Why do we play if there is no reward attached? This is one question that needs to be attended.

Vertical progression: If not the most important feature that was advertised into this game it was one of them; the “NO-Grind” game. Every player that have played other MMo’s knows, that achieving the top, was very demanding. For the case of GW2, this didn’t happened. Although some players needed the “Grind” feature cause they felt they had no goal after, some loved it, cause now they could enjoy every aspect of the game, other than grinding again and again. However, this crumbled when they introduced new gear from fractals. The sense of having gear more powerful than those already existing created the feeling “Oh, and yet again i’m going to grind gear…”. If only the already owned gear could “evolve” somehow, thus reducing the grind and making the old gear not obsolete.

TL:DR - This game for me is the game of 2012. Simply because it is a complete new game with a new innovative mechanic and play style. For me it’s a good game, but it could be greater. It had the potential to be a colossus, but not yet! However, it’s still a young game (3 months old) and nothings lost, but i sure hope that they attend to it’s problems, or it will be an epic fail!

In all the categories that have the game listed on multiple sites/award shows. I mostly voted for something else. While it is a great game and a fun play. It is missing a lot and could use work. SPVP gets boring after an hour or two. WvW is getting repetitive (Feb update may change this) and once you hit max level the PvE is stale with no real character progression. (except through gear that is only cosmetic.)

It’s generally considered a fantastic game overall, and they spend just as much time on PvE as PvP, it’s just that PvE stands on it’s own once it’s in a certain area, and typically, PvEers don’t complain nearly as much as PvPers do about complexity or difficulty.

Considering this game features PvE, WvW, and PvP, I would say PvP getting about 1/3 of the attention sounds about right, and despite the bugs and drawbacks of PvP, it’s really one of the most balanced first drafts I’ve ever played in any MMO. There are many complaints about being forced into a build, which isn’t true, but at least you HAVE the option to counter anything, whether you like it or not. Rogue vs. Paladin in another famous game, tough noogies Rogue, you can’t win, go fight a Shaman.

You have a lot of people that get stuck at the “thief is OP” point in the game… if that’s where you top out, then I can see how this game will never be that much fun. The core problems with losing player base have nothing to do with thief mechanics, it has to do with the fact that PvP always comes in waves based on incentive, and the current points scheme and risk/reward for paid tournaments isn’t balanced correctly, and the lack of matchmaking, custom servers, etc.

And thankfully those types of things are top of their list.

I think those of you that stick it out, slow and steady with this game, will be part of something really special in the long run, something that years from now will have just as many fond memories and community nostalgia moments as any other great PvP MMO out there.

Just my two cents. Which I saved, because I pay no monthly subscription for this amazing game.

It is a great game when you play pve version, however pvp needs to be work on a bit.

Nevertheless it is a good game because if it wasn’t…most of us would not bother to post on here or playing the game.

Can anyone think of a better candidate for game of the year?

Sure, PvP is in its early stages, but it’s definitely a good game overall. And the exploration/open world PvE is fantastic.

To be honest, this game would have been the game of the year if it had a more wide and better competitive PvP mode as Guild Wars had.
The sad thing is that PvP is still under construction, so the game of 2012 is Far Cry 3 to me.

It’s GotY because of cost/value and no subscription.

Far Cry 3 is fun, but like Skyrim, I’ll be done and bored after a month.

Gilgamesh.2561:

It’s GotY because of cost/value and no subscription.

Far Cry 3 is fun, but like Skyrim, I’ll be done and bored after a month.

I don’t evaluate games when considering the amount of time it entertains you, neither the value/price ratio, I just consider the quality of this entertainment.

Far Cry 3 gave me a really good time, probably the same good time Guild Wars 2 had the chance to give me if it had a proper PvP.