Guild Wars 2

There was a time, not long ago, where a guild was more than being with friends or carrying around a tag. It was pride, dedication and excellence.

A time where competition was fierce, a time that you needed to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, a time where a single mistake could push you back months your chances of reaching the top.

A time where people not only played, but lived, practiced constantly, because to be in the top was not a question of showing how good you were, but how good your guild was.

A time where team-play was everything, a time where people spend countless hours calculating skills and their effects, studying your opponents before every battle.

You would know your team so well, you knew the the sound of their heart beat, move together like souls dancing synchronized, where communication was the river that took you further away, would know when to push harder, or when to fall back so you could push forward.

A time where thousands would stop to watch guilds challenge other guilds, a time where people represented not only their guild but also a nation.

Watching players defend their territory, America vs Korea, Europa vs America, where they would give everything they had till they had no more to give and hope it was enough.

Watching The Last Pride(KOR) vs War Machine kitten , Irresistible Blocks(EU) vs Idiot Savants(US), Esoteric Warriors(EU) vs Cow Level(US).

Every movement was magic, every swing of your weapon meant something, everything was calculated, like a match of chess, where your ability to predict your enemy was crucial.

So many more, that came and went away, like a generation of artists, that some forgot, but they remain unforgotten, because forever they will the ones that made Guild Wars a place where staying united and strong was everything

This time seems to be no more, we have a new game, but we don’t have the old heart.

Michael O’Brien bring us back to live, break the dam, let the river flow, let it bring back a morning spring, flowers blooming, the time for resurrection has come.

Guild Wars, we loved you, and we miss you.

Less QQ, more pewpew.

I actually used to like that phrase once. Now it grinds on my soul.

NExt time you make thread OP say “i miss you i loved you” Please don’t speak on behalf of other people.

I much prefer GW2 than GW1.

Less QQ more pew pew indeed. Go back 2 GW1 if u please. Actually, u can play both games, nobody forces you to pick just one.

Nostalgia’s a hell of a drug.

Out of curiosity, how long did it take GW1 to develop into what I can only assume was the most dramatic and emotional experience of some people’s lives? Was it like that from launch, or did it take several months? Or maybe years? I’m genuinely curious.

I agree with you, although I feel your argument is far more flowers and roses than an actual argument.

People don’t understand the difference between GW1 and GW2. GW1 was a competitive game without even trying. They never intended for the pvp to be as competitive as it was. Their original design was a game that mixed pvp and pve into a single cohesive experience. On release, that is exactly what they released. They didn’t give us a half finished game, they gave us the experience they promised.

Gw2 is their attempt to make an e-sport where they tried entirely too hard. They didn’t trust their product and instead tried to copy it from other e-sport games. If I wanted to play those games, I would go play those other games… don’t want to play those other games, I want a game that is as coordinated as GW1.

If you want my full argument, look up the post entitled “lost potential.” It’s entirely too long for me to explain the downfalls of GW2 pvp. (Btw, I will mention it is a fun game, but it will never have the same enjoyment and depth gw1 had.)

Totally agree, the PvP in this game is trash tbh. Guild Wars 1 brought the type of gameplay where you had to work together and being in a guild meant something. Being in a guild in GW2 means nothing, what good does it do? Gain influence to build worthless stuff. No thanks. There is no guild recognition in this game like there was while playing HoH in GW1 or GvGing. The game is fun but the competitive portion is horrible and they ruined it by going to a domination type gamestyle, which is what Guild Wars 1 never did. All I can hope for in the future is they bring back the original GvG format, and make guilds mean something, because right now they are pointless.

This is the truth. Any 1 who played GW1 and was in a good GvG guild will tell you so. GW2 dosn’t go anywhere near that, yet.

I think GW2 still has a lot of content to release, like GvG, Raids and stuff like that.

I played GW1 with just the second expansion (and didnt buy the rest because i was lacking money) and i got mind kittening blown with the variety of skills you could use to make your own character, specially in pvp. kitten for 8v8 you needed TITLES to enter the random teams.

I’m was about to buy the two expansions that i have left just to play it again, but then i remember that it’s probably just a dying game that will be left in the glory.

I played GW1, but I wasn’t in an elite guild or anything. I loved PvP, and I watched a LOT of GvG.

I prefer GW2, because before long these technical issues will go away and the team will have time to bring the things that kept you in GW1 forward.

Keep in mind, all of these features have to be re-programmed from scratch.

Sky.9347:

I played GW1, but I wasn’t in an elite guild or anything. I loved PvP, and I watched a LOT of GvG.

I prefer GW2, because before long these technical issues will go away and the team will have time to bring the things that kept you in GW1 forward.

Keep in mind, all of these features have to be re-programmed from scratch.

That’s why we gave them 5-6 years… And the argument is, it takes 5-6 years to get to a place that isn’t even half as far as the last place they were at (gw1 pvp.)

Diage.6451:

Sky.9347:

I played GW1, but I wasn’t in an elite guild or anything. I loved PvP, and I watched a LOT of GvG.

I prefer GW2, because before long these technical issues will go away and the team will have time to bring the things that kept you in GW1 forward.

Keep in mind, all of these features have to be re-programmed from scratch.

That’s why we gave them 5-6 years… And the argument is, it takes 5-6 years to get to a place that isn’t even half as far as the last place they were at (gw1 pvp.)

Because writing an entirely new engine for a MMO focused on PvP is easy, right?

Lol, so, to you it’s ok to finish the engine, slap a couple of things together and call it done?

Sorry to tell you but development has a couple more steps than
-finish game engine
-release game
(and it sure as hell doesn’t take five years to make an engine)

Especially when they want push for a competitive game. They spent a lot of time analyzing other esports and trying to figure out why they were good. The thing they didn’t do is analyze their own game. They had a model, which granted needed work, but it was a great model at its core. If they would have polished the team oriented combat up and released that, they would of been a thousand steps further in pvp development AND would have a better product. They tried to recreate the games everyone plays in an mmo context, I for one, don’t play an mmo to feel like I’m playing an FPS or a moba. I wanted to see the first true e-sport that was an honest to god rpg. Guildwars 1 was close, they just needed to fix a few things. Instead they said screw it, start from scratch.

Point, they took something easy and made it complex.. They simply tried too hard to make something like everything else.

Isn’t it a bit too early to be drunk on nostalgia? Usually it takes a few years.

Yup, there must be some huge in game problems if people are already being nostalgic

An ex-guild mate hit the nail on the head when we were discussing why we’ve stopped playing and it was this “Some of us are upset because we see the potential in a game and how it is often not lived up to”.

Sadly there always going to be more people who think something is “good enough” and not enough people who think “how great it can be”. Personally I’ve given up trying to convince the “good enough” crowd.

To the OP I thought that was a well written sentiment, maybe 6 years from now we’ll be able to say the same about Guild Wars 2.

Sky.9347:

Diage.6451:

Sky.9347:

I played GW1, but I wasn’t in an elite guild or anything. I loved PvP, and I watched a LOT of GvG.

I prefer GW2, because before long these technical issues will go away and the team will have time to bring the things that kept you in GW1 forward.

Keep in mind, all of these features have to be re-programmed from scratch.

That’s why we gave them 5-6 years… And the argument is, it takes 5-6 years to get to a place that isn’t even half as far as the last place they were at (gw1 pvp.)

Because writing an entirely new engine for a MMO focused on PvP is easy, right?

GW2’s engine is in fact far more PvP focused than GW1. The problem in GW2 PvP is the format of organization, not engine at all.
For some reason, they decided to give up the highly successful formats in GW1, RA/TA/HOH/GvG, and tried to mimic some sort of FPS organization. It turned out to be a totally failure. GW2’s engine has tremendous potential in PvP. I just hope that them could realize the fact that they are heading to a totally wrong direction before it was too late.

I was in Cow in GW1. Guild Wars will always be the best in my eyes. Nothing has ever came close to that level of competition. It was fierce competition…the monks got g-kicked by Kry any time we lost.

I knew GW2 wouldn’t be 1, but I hoped at least it would go more toward the direction it created than the way WoW went. Wow and GW came out around the same time, it looks like WoW’s style won out over GW.

In fact, GW2 is so much like WoW that it’s absolutely nothing like WoW in any regard.

Try to name one. I’ll wait. “There are swords” and “You move with wasd” don’t count.

I meant mmo’s developed in the style of WoW and not in the style of Guild Wars even though I feel Guild Wars was far superior.

You’d think if an MMO was developed in the style of WoW, it might have more in common than “You fight mobs” or “You move around a 3-Dimensional world”.

Honestly waiting to hear 1 true similarity between the two games, because I spent a bit of time thinking myself, and I came up empty-handed.

Cogbyrn.7283:

In fact, GW2 is so much like WoW that it’s absolutely nothing like WoW in any regard.

Try to name one. I’ll wait. “There are swords” and “You move with wasd” don’t count.

GW2 traits == WOW talents, duh.

Theres a holy trinity system in both games. Tank/healer/dps == guardian/thief/mesmer right?

Both games are significantly different, gw2 borrowed little from wow, and theyre stronger for it. Even this truly 1/2 kittened pvp is worlds better than world of warcrafts

Having played both GW1 and WoW, I find GW2 to be far more like WoW arena.

Guys really, forget about GW1 pvp. It’s over, Anet made their choice, they denied the old pvp mechanic and logic.

Go find another game, this one wont never be similar to what you (and I) experienced on GW1. Anet don’t give a kitten about Pvper from GW1. It was an elitist world, which is not really trendy in games these days.

We’ve bought the game anyway, at least.

yeah it is a lot like wow arena.

just trust in Anet they won’t fail.

look at it like this, the game you’re playing now is only the foundation for the rest of the game. what we’re playing with right now are just the initial building blocks Anet used to build their game. learn some patience and get excited for the future.

HERO.2057:

There was a time, not long ago, where a guild was more than being with friends or carrying around a tag. It was pride, dedication and excellence.

A time where competition was fierce, a time that you needed to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, a time where a single mistake could push you back months your chances of reaching the top.

A time where people not only played, but lived, practiced constantly, because to be in the top was not a question of showing how good you were, but how good your guild was.

A time where team-play was everything, a time where people spend countless hours calculating skills and their effects, studying your opponents before every battle.

You would know your team so well, you knew the the sound of their heart beat, move together like souls dancing synchronized, where communication was the river that took you further away, would know when to push harder, or when to fall back so you could push forward.

A time where thousands would stop to watch guilds challenge other guilds, a time where people represented not only their guild but also a nation.

Watching players defend their territory, America vs Korea, Europa vs America, where they would give everything they had till they had no more to give and hope it was enough.

Watching The Last Pride(KOR) vs War Machine kitten , Irresistible Blocks(EU) vs Idiot Savants(US), Esoteric Warriors(EU) vs Cow Level(US).

Every movement was magic, every swing of your weapon meant something, everything was calculated, like a match of chess, where your ability to predict your enemy was crucial.

So many more, that came and went away, like a generation of artists, that some forgot, but they remain unforgotten, because forever they will the ones that made Guild Wars a place where staying united and strong was everything

This time seems to be no more, we have a new game, but we don’t have the old heart.

Michael O’Brien bring us back to live, break the dam, let the river flow, let it bring back a morning spring, flowers blooming, the time for resurrection has come.

Guild Wars, we loved you, and we miss you.

Im getting chills reading this. Man, that PvP is still unmatched by any other MMO, so hectic, so much fun, massive competition in every single form of PvP (and there were a lot). I think I had over 2k hours in the PvP, no other game can even come close to that.

Turbo Whale.1738:

Isn’t it a bit too early to be drunk on nostalgia? Usually it takes a few years.

The game has died 4 years ago.

No, people love to farm “glory” in hot-join. That is why there is no real PvP in GW2.

I wouldn’t necessarily blame the engine for GW2’s struggling PvP community. GW2 has good character balance, even though some would say there are issues with certain classes and skills, and mechanics in general are an improvement to GW1. Builds are kind of cookie cutter in 8v8 in my experience, but at least every other character or group you face isn’t IWAY.

What made GW1 so great was the fact that there was so much variety in what you could do, in terms of team builds, maps, game modes, etc. If you were bored of GvG, you could go stomp on the HoH/HA for fun, or you could test builds in RA, or you could practice 4v4 in TA and still feel as if you are doing something productive in terms of PvP development. In GW2, you have 4(3 in tournament) maps on repeat and you can either do 8v8 by yourself which serves the same purpose as RA in GW1 but with an added glory grind, or 5v5 with your friends against randoms. Rating/Rank grind helps you get through the rough spots, but when all that is left is to grind rank until new features get released, people just burn out.

There was also a way to separate the best teams (Those who could hold HoH/HA all day long, top GvG teams) from the rest. Currently, there is no way to do this. Paid tournaments will help to solve this as bad teams will just lose all their tickets, as will custom servers to allow for third-party tournaments, but Anet NEEDS to develop a rating system similar to GvG that will help to distinguish teams. Even a Hall of Heroes-style informal rating system of “dethrone the best team online” could work. But until there is a way for high level teams to face off against eachother consistently, and to be able to distinguish who the high level teams are, they will just burn out after going up against 5 man pugs and the occasional good team all day long for no meaningful reward. Gear is nice and rank is an alright way to distinguish who the better players are, but there is no easy way to tell who the better teams are, because rank and glory do not necessarily mean skill.

It’s a good start in terms of basic game mechanics and I’m glad that ANet is working on making things better, but the current sPvP/tPvP system is quite simply lacking any lasting content and no decent PvP or “e-sports” community will form until these issues are resolved. The options we have compared to GW1 at release are rather lacking. And sadly, there is no way to tell how soon these game essentials will show up, whether it will be a month or a year or longer and it is frankly disappointing to wait weeks for a update only to be told that they will be working on features that should have been included with release.

This thread deserves a bump because it should never ever ever go away.

We might as well make a petition and get a million signatures to attempt to make them see how god awful capture points are for competitive play

Oh also, this thread also deserves mention

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Lost-potential
But then I realize its anet and they aren’t going to change their recreational playing system anytime soon.

Bloodclot.4896:

I didn’t really like GW1 but think GW2 is epic.

I feel the same way.

Oh kitten I wanna cry:( No game has ever come close to Guild Wars. Actually, Guild Wars was not a game at all, it was art, it was a lifestyle. ArenaNet created the most genious combat system ever, and now it’s all gone… Oh ArenaNet, you can’t even realize what Guild Wars 2 could have been…

They realized it most likely,

But then scrapped it for something non-competitive people would enjoy.

PvE

There are many gw things i miss… Gw1 pvp is not one of them

Warmage Timeraider.5861:

There are many gw things i miss… Gw1 pvp is not one of them

To me, it is the only thing I miss about GW1. Never played PvE in GW1, always PvPed. Now I’m not enjoying PvP that much in GW2.

I think the GW1 skill system was the best designed skill system I’ve seen in an MMO. Together with the secondary profession concept it allowed virtually limitless choice in builds. A good chunk of the fun of the game was just trying out new builds & skill combinations.

Why they threw that system away for WOW-style talent trees and fixed choice weapon skill sets I just can’t fathom… it’s so limited and dumbed-down in comparison.

Today is Sunday, the day of the week with the highest amount of players online yet sPVP server list are VERY empty.

@Op, @Kimi and the rest of you feeling the nostalgia seem to forget— That game, as I remember it not only took months to get to the point you speak of, but years. This has been a great start to something completely new.

@Zero, Name one successful competitive esport that is based of a deathmatch model. Nevermind, you cant.

@teknobug, I dont see this population drop your implying at all.

Objective evidence of declining interest in GW2: http://beta.xfire.com/games/gw2

While there are some great aspects to the game (WVW, art, accessibility), other areas are really disappointing (skill system, traits AKA WOW talents, downed state).

Teknobug:maybe they were playing some tournaments.

@mjharrison – I have never used xfire, and don’t know a single person that does. Could you explain how that is objective evidence please?

@Obi – It’s objective in the sense that it’s a non-biased, statistical look at a data set.

Unfortunately, that data set is tiny, and xfire seems like a niche community. You could probably run a correlation between what games are most popular on xfire against GW2 to see patterns emerge, but data analysis is far beyond these forums for the most part.

See how the line is going down? Game is dying, clearly.

Can’t agree with the OP any more. PvP in GW1 was the finest PvP I’ve ever experienced. I hoped with all my heart that they would build upon such success. Alas, they have not and are yet to fill me with confidence that they will ever step in that direction again.

I’d also like to mention, GW1 started with all these game modes that we all fell in love with. It didn’t take years, it didn’t take months.

War Machine and the Last Pride are now PvE guilds. So there.

Guild Wars 1 is old now. Why infuse old mechanics in a new game? it’s like mixing rotting bad apples to freshly picked apples.

HERO.2057:

Every movement was magic, every swing of your weapon meant something, everything was calculated, like a match of chess, where your ability to predict your enemy was crucial.

i literally loled.

@teknobug, I dont see this population drop your implying at all.

Oh the population drop isn’t the case, it’s the amount of servers on the sPVP browser with 10 or more players that has shrunk. I’ve been doing sPVP since launch and in the past week alone the amount of 16/16 slot servers has dropped, I think I remember there being 260+ servers with 16 players on them, now there’s about 40-50.

So after the initial hype phase for an MMO, a group of people have left.

We should report this to the MMO Population Science division. I doubt they’ve seen this phenomenon before.

Never forget GW1!
GW1 was an amazing game that had depth and competitiveness to it. The raging on vent and people screaming like crazy only made it better.

I think though it would be unfair to compare GW1 to GW2 at the moment though simply because GW2 has only been out for like a month and a half whereas GW1 has been out for ages albeit GW1 did release with a more “complete” package.

I like GW2 and think it will only get better, be patient.