About 7 years later, what was/is your opinion on Guild Wars 2?
- Thread starter SolVanderlyn
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It's odd that people say the zones all look alike when each area of the world had a distinct visual theme to it and since release they have added a slew of new, unique zones.
Best game of all time. I'm glad it didn't have the trinity. The trinity is boring, locks you into specific jobs, and makes the combat feel slower and less hectic. All you have to do is learn to move and dodge. Season 4 was also the first season where the story actually grabbed me a bit. Fingers crossed the game has a long future yet to go.
If you simply follow where the story leads you it will be quite samey since the story takes you through a bunch of the zones in your race's part of Tyria. So for humans that would be Queensdale, Kessex and Gendarran and those zones are quite meh. Norn will see mostly snow, charr will mostly see Ascalon and so on, but at least those zones are not just green hills with lots of centaurs and bandits on them.
New players might not know that they can hop away and level in any starting zone so their view of the world will be restricted to those samey zones.
Same. Solo or with my SO and/or brother. I would love to play FF XIV since I think I would like many parts of it, but apparently to experience the story you are forced to group up to do dungeons and I can't stand that. It puts a type of pressure on me that I don't want when I play games. I hate playing with people I do not know.
Most folks here have dropped the game in the first year it came out, judging by the comments about playing in 2013 and stopping. Naturally most complains have been dealt with, but the first impressions remains, and I think it's unlikely they would change playing the game now.
But those zones are only a fraction of the world, and even then have distinct aspects to each one that ties into this or that. Once you move out of the low level areas the zones diversitfy quite a bit, and once you get to the expansions things really get interesting. Heart of Thones had some amazing vertical aspects to the design while Path of Fire's made great use of various mount abilities.
Sure Kryta has a lot of centaurs and bandits, both are chief antagonists in terms of the story for that area. Ditto for Risen in the jungle, The flame legion/marked/ghosts in ascalon, the icebrood in the shiverpeaks etc. Each zone had a distinct map and design though, and nothing ever really felt copy pasted like say FF14's original maps.
It's also interesting how, at least for the vanilla zones, the storyline advances the farther form a starting zone you are. In WoW each zone was more or less an isolated story or such while in GW2 the entire world is used to tell different parts of the overall plot. Even if you entirely skip the personal story the world itself tells you a lot of lore and gives a sense of the passage of time.
i ruined my sleep schedule for months just to play with an Oceanic guild because we consistently busted much larger zergs/raids in WvWvW. I miss the call outs so much! anyone on the core team could take the lead at any time.
I have considered trying to come back but I don't think I'd be able to have an experience better than what I had years ago.
I have considered trying to come back but I don't think I'd be able to have an experience better than what I had years ago.
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More or less quit shortly after the first expansion came out. Wasn't about lack of content or anything, just wasn't pulling me in anymore and I accomplished what I wanted to do in the game and not about to sink hundreds more hours to grind the new content.
Do miss playing with the old GAF guild though. Playing with them during the launch era was magical.
Do miss playing with the old GAF guild though. Playing with them during the launch era was magical.
Reading some of the replies leads me to think that many have only played vanilla or invested little time into the game, then dropped off. Which is fine, they're still valid criticisms, but I do think there's more depth to the game than what's stated. I do dislike the minimal content per major update (I understand the studio is going through some changes) or not being able to replicate HoT-like events in the new maps (other than Istan). They should have a lot more unlockable skins, new PvP modes, GvG, more ideas for WvW. Though, GW2 finally has build templates
They do have a dedicated healing/support class, the Druid (Ranger sub class) and various group healing builds for Elementalist, Engineer, and Guardian(Firebrand).
I read the posts about it as either just criticism of the leveling experience or that they disliked it so much that they stopped playing when nothing really changed.
I love the whole world of Tyria but I can definitely see the problem with only playing in Kryta for a long time. It's by far the most "normal" zones and doesn't show off the beauty and diversity of Tyria.
The personal stories up to meeting the Orders really feel like isolated stories to me, especially later when people you have met in earlier parts are introduced to you as if you didn't know about them. I like them but the vanilla game story is not really good. Dragon's Watch is also so much better than Destiny's Edge.
GW2 is amazing for what it tries and tried. Over the years it's been pulled more into the traditional mmo shape by the demands of the community, but when they go out of the wheel house they create special things.
Season 1 is reviled because you could only play it if you were there for it, but no other mmo had the brass to try something like that at the time. It's was a really cool experience.
No other game really handles mounts like Anet did. They didn't make them just a speed boost or a cosmetic, they all handle completely differently from each other to the point even two flying mounts have different purposes in the game and they're all just realized so well.
They tried to break the holy trinity, probably for better and for worse. I love how different each profession is mechanically but I can understand why people can feel like they are all samey due to being able to self sustain, etc. It's a funky balance that you're either going to love or hate.
Anet does a great job building the world you wander around in. Exploring the map is just a fun experience and you can find all sorts of dialog, events and puzzles to mess around with. At it's best GW2 is a game that has a quest line but it's better enjoyed by just experiencing it. It's in no way a sandbox but I think this whole "walking simulator" thing people are throwing around could be a good term to explain it. It's definitely something that's been lost as the game has aged.
GW2 is a strange beast, but one I've enjoyed since release.
Season 1 is reviled because you could only play it if you were there for it, but no other mmo had the brass to try something like that at the time. It's was a really cool experience.
No other game really handles mounts like Anet did. They didn't make them just a speed boost or a cosmetic, they all handle completely differently from each other to the point even two flying mounts have different purposes in the game and they're all just realized so well.
They tried to break the holy trinity, probably for better and for worse. I love how different each profession is mechanically but I can understand why people can feel like they are all samey due to being able to self sustain, etc. It's a funky balance that you're either going to love or hate.
Anet does a great job building the world you wander around in. Exploring the map is just a fun experience and you can find all sorts of dialog, events and puzzles to mess around with. At it's best GW2 is a game that has a quest line but it's better enjoyed by just experiencing it. It's in no way a sandbox but I think this whole "walking simulator" thing people are throwing around could be a good term to explain it. It's definitely something that's been lost as the game has aged.
GW2 is a strange beast, but one I've enjoyed since release.
I loved this game ... to this day I feel like a baby born from this and FF14 would be the prefect MMO for me.
But artstyle wise ... they picked a style that I don't think ages well (something that would be improved by a FF14 baby)
Combat wise ... I like that it tossed the hard set holy trinity but they didn't think of a good alternative when playing with a GROUP. PVE doesn't feel like group play or team work, it feels like a single player game where other people just happen to be popping in. Part of why I LOVED Tera was because it got the combat right. Yeah, there's a "soft trinity" in that there are healers and tanks and melee/ ranged/ mid ranged DPS ... but it's an action game where no matter what role you're playing you're dodging and running and doing all manner of cool shit. Only reason I stopped playing Tera was cause none of the 2-3 people I know who play MMOs would EVER play it...
I love may of their QoL features, I love how you can walk around as a character is doing a monologue and hear their voice grow softer as you explore the instanced area. The glam system! I LOVE THAT! You only have to buy a dye once and you can use it forever and outfits you gain are forever in your glam locker (I think WildStar was also like this). You can dye any part of you gear unlike in FF14 where you gotta deal with complete non-sense dye behaviors.
I like the gear system! It's more horizontal progression, you can have different gears for different play styles for different weapons and skills with in your class ... lovely!
PVP is actually fun and not a joke like it is in FF14.
All that being said the reason I stopped playing is ... mostly cause I started playing FF14 and my lil group of friends moved me to that. The presentation of the game is lacking compared to FF14, the combat, even it it's a more engaging system, doesn't LOOK as good animation and effects wise. Group combat, as I said, is basically single player with other people. Mobs can't be "tanked", they will run after random people so everyone just zergs. Glams are way worse, can't change your hair without a cash shop item(I know, you can convert in game gold into Cash shop points ... but it's super easy to just change your hair in FF14), cut-scenes are not nearly as cinematic and the art style of the gear doesn't seem as cohesive.
Overall I really do hope they make a GW3 some day that addresses these problems but IDK if that's ever gonna happen.
But artstyle wise ... they picked a style that I don't think ages well (something that would be improved by a FF14 baby)
Combat wise ... I like that it tossed the hard set holy trinity but they didn't think of a good alternative when playing with a GROUP. PVE doesn't feel like group play or team work, it feels like a single player game where other people just happen to be popping in. Part of why I LOVED Tera was because it got the combat right. Yeah, there's a "soft trinity" in that there are healers and tanks and melee/ ranged/ mid ranged DPS ... but it's an action game where no matter what role you're playing you're dodging and running and doing all manner of cool shit. Only reason I stopped playing Tera was cause none of the 2-3 people I know who play MMOs would EVER play it...
I love may of their QoL features, I love how you can walk around as a character is doing a monologue and hear their voice grow softer as you explore the instanced area. The glam system! I LOVE THAT! You only have to buy a dye once and you can use it forever and outfits you gain are forever in your glam locker (I think WildStar was also like this). You can dye any part of you gear unlike in FF14 where you gotta deal with complete non-sense dye behaviors.
I like the gear system! It's more horizontal progression, you can have different gears for different play styles for different weapons and skills with in your class ... lovely!
PVP is actually fun and not a joke like it is in FF14.
All that being said the reason I stopped playing is ... mostly cause I started playing FF14 and my lil group of friends moved me to that. The presentation of the game is lacking compared to FF14, the combat, even it it's a more engaging system, doesn't LOOK as good animation and effects wise. Group combat, as I said, is basically single player with other people. Mobs can't be "tanked", they will run after random people so everyone just zergs. Glams are way worse, can't change your hair without a cash shop item(I know, you can convert in game gold into Cash shop points ... but it's super easy to just change your hair in FF14), cut-scenes are not nearly as cinematic and the art style of the gear doesn't seem as cohesive.
Overall I really do hope they make a GW3 some day that addresses these problems but IDK if that's ever gonna happen.
I started playing Guild Wars 1 back in 2006 because it didn't require a subscription. Little did I know that it would 'ruin' my perception of MMOs. When Guild Wars 2 came out, I fell off pretty quickly. The world was beautiful and great to explore but the switch of combat style and removal of the party system was...too much for me.
I still read into the newest lore from time to time and its OST remains among the best work Jeremy Soul (yeah, I know...) has done, but overall I wish the game was more of a natural evolution of Guild Wars 1 than a complete reversal of direction.
I still read into the newest lore from time to time and its OST remains among the best work Jeremy Soul (yeah, I know...) has done, but overall I wish the game was more of a natural evolution of Guild Wars 1 than a complete reversal of direction.