Guild Wars 2

Leiloni.7951:

As far as combat, it’s quite different from WoW. Don’t think of it as a tab target game, think of it as an action combat game. You should actively be dodging, blocking, using various forms of CC (blinds, stuns, slows, etc.). You should be using both weapon sets in combat as well as your 5 extra healing/utility/elite slots. You don’t have 5 skills in combat, you have 15. As far as CDs, it’s expected that the longer CD skills will be used with thought, not spammed every CD, and mixed in with the fact that you have a second weapon set to switch to, combat in this game is very fluid and fast paced. Some have even called it too chaotic and wish they could go back to the simpler WoW style combat. Although most CDs in this game are not that long – most weapon skills are between 10-25 seconds (unless you play Elementalist but they have long CD’s to make up for the fact that they have twice as many weapon skills as everyone else).

Dungeons in Story Mode are not hard. They’re fun and meant as an introduction to the dungeon as well as an opportunity to play through the main story. The harder dungeons that everyone talks about are “explorable” mode. Each dungeon has an Explorable mode in which you can take one of several different paths. These are GW2’s answer to hardcore PvEers who in other games would have done Hardmode dungeons or raids. They require the same type of skillset and teamwork and are supposed to be endgame content, except you can do most of them pre-80 (the first one is actually only level 35).

Oh I forgot your point about ranged classes. For starters, every profession (not class in this game) has a variety of weapon sets. No profession is ranged or melee, everyone has options to do both. Also, every class has a multitude of Cc abilities like stuns, blinds, slows. Some also have stealth. Some have knockdowns/knockbacks. Some have protective shields, some have skills that reflect or simply protect you from projectiles. Some classes have various types of “pets”. So there are a variety of ways for a person using a ranged weapon to kill stuff regardless of the type of enemy you face and if you prefer melee, you can do that instead and only save your ranged set for certain circumstances.

This are some very interesting thoughts and ideas which i admittedly did not have.

For one, i do know the idea of swapping weapons for another set of skills so you have more skills to use while waiting for other CDs. But at least for me, i like to stick to the weapon i like, then again that’s my own personal preference which i think i should change so good point.

Regarding dungeons, well in that case i guess i can try out story mode at least.

But with regards to ranged, i don’t really agree. Yes they have the option to stay at ranged or melee. But i feel like they ’re kittening their own survivability at melee. At least in pve. But then again i might be wrong so any ranged experts can give their opinion on this?

I am what most people would call a casual gamer. I have played WOW for almost 7 years. I used to raid hardcore, but as i grew older and had more commitments IRL, i had to change my playstyle. I would belong to the group of gamers that mostly play solo or have a small grp of guildies or friends.

As most would know, WOW is experiencing its pre-expansion lull, so i thought i can give guild wars 2 a try since i had some friends joining and reviews were pretty good in general.

So after playing for roughly a week, trying the various professions, reading up the forums, here are some of my opinions on the game.

1. Its a breath of fresh air. As someone who is so used to WOW’s casual friendly difficulty level, the possibility of dying to normal mobs in the open world if you don’t play carefully is challenging. At least at the lower levels.

2. It feels different, or should i say awkard in the pacing of gameplay. Took me a few days before i realise its mostly because besides skill#1, every single spell had a considerable cd. Considerable at least compared to wow, where your next useful spell takes 20-30s before u can use it. I would say i don’t like the feel of it because i am too used of having something to do without a break in between. But of course everyone has a different feel of this, so no right or wrong here.

3. Dynamic Events are a pretty good idea, like the rifts in RIFT. Open world events where everyone can take part in is always very appealing to players. And its also a great world to level up.

4. I love personal story quests. They add an extra personal touch to your character. Love it.

With all that said, i find that i am finding that i am somewhat lacking motivation to play the game.

Firstly, like i mention having too many spells with considerable CDs. Do anyone else feel the same? I like to use my spells and i don’t like being able to only use them once in a while. At least to me, 20-30 second on your second or third most important spell is too long to wait.

Secondly, the difficulty level. Yes it is challenging. But i would admit here that i am casual. I might be ok with it now as it is new but as time goes on, would i really enjoy having “boss-type” fights with every single open world mob out there? Its no surprise i play a guardian. I am casual, and i don’t really like to die.

Seeing how ranged classes in this class perform; ie. kite or die. A particular comment in the elementalist forum struck gold for me. It was something like this: Why must even a wolf seem like a boss fight for us. I can kite mobs if needed, but if i need to kite every single mob out there, its not really fun.

Lastly, dungeons. Admitedly i am not even high enough level yet to get into one. But reading about all the various opinions on its difficulty level is not giving me a good vibe.

Why? Because at the beginning of the current WOW: Cataclysm, Dungeons were tuned hard, maybe not as hard as GW2 dungeons are now, but still harder than alot of WOTLK casuals were used to. I actualy was up to the challenge then, i was sick of the casual friendly, idiot-proof heroics WOTLK had. I had no problem with taking upwards of an hour to complete a normal dungeon and gearing up in normal before moving up to heroics.

But then not everyone felt the same. Alot of my friends who came back after i persuaded them did not like the challenge and the long grind for gear. So gradually i had lesser and lesser friends to dungeon with. PUGS were out of the question, with the hard difficulty, playing with unknowns had a even higher possibility of wiping, agony and ninja-looting. Didn’t took me long before i took a break from wow, and only returned after Blizzard tuned down the difficulty level and made it easier for casuals like me.

So now in guild wars 2, the dungeons seem to be at quite a high difficulty level, at least from what i read, i am starting to wonder whether i can find anyone to play with. I have casual friends playing but i doubt they would get to 30 any faster than me. And if i can’t find friends, the idea of playing with strangers doesn’t appeal to me at all.

So, are there other gamers like me. ie. casual gamer, plays either solo or with a small grp of friends or guildies, who feels the same? Or you have other opinions?

If any of my points are conflicting with actual game play, please do correct me as i am also a noob to this game.