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Guild Wars 2 - The Journey So Far - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Guild Wars 2 - The Journey So Far - MMORPG.com
Since returning to Guild Wars 2, I have had a lot of fun on the journey to end-game. I’ve really learned a lot about what I enjoy about MMORPGs and what I don’t enjoy while playing this game. I’ve been dabbling into more activities in this game than I have in any other game, period. I’ve enjoyed the majority of my journey so far and in this article, I would like to go over everything so far. Let’s begin, shall we?
Comments
it looks like you've got a lot of choice at first but once you look at endgame stuff and what you want to do you'll most likely find that it is extremely limited in choice even more so than other games.
you'll play what the community has deemed meta or you will play solo.
I had fun once, it was terrible.
Mmm.. Why?
"What would you change about Guild Wars 2"
Nothing. I love this game, this is my second favorite game (after Atlantica Online) that i played for years. Even that i cannot recommend it to anybody. But i think the base game is amazing. I quit the game because i didnt liked the way they dicided to go with Xpacks. They did stupid updates before, but that was fine. After HoT i couldnt just have fun anymore. Challenges are stupid, I already have enough in D3....And in HoT they started forcing you to do them. >.>
At this point i only wish i quit before i bought HoT.
"what is your most memorable moment in Guild Wars 2?"
Alot of em. Mostly its fun that i have talking and playing with other people. ^ _ ^
The open world pve is fun. I like the story. Love fractals.
I wish they would update skills and traits and balance more frequently in general.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
I also don't really like the PvP. What is a guild wars game without, well, guild wars? The GvG and Hall of Heroes PvP from GW1 was amazing and the fact that it didn't make it into the second game baffles me. Nothing was more fun than getting to a high enough place in ranking to get on guild wars TV, competing with the best guilds in the world, coming up with new builds etc.... If GW2 had these features, I'd be all over it.
That said, I think you're spot on with the world/adventuring/questing/music etc... the game itself from a PvE perspective is very well done. Immersive and expansive, the game does a great job of pulling you in. I do appreciate the art style (always have, incredible artists) but the lack of the PvE gear treadmill turns me off progressing through end game PvE.
I really hope they continue to do well though, always like Anet as a company.
Two things I'd add. One, more underwater content including associated class, mount, and elites specs. Two, templates like in Rift that allows players to switch pre-made builds along with the appropriate gear and weps.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
I'd just recently set foot in Frostgorge Sound for the first time and a friend whispered to me 'Oh I want to show you something'. So off we ran towards Trionic Lattice. And that's when I saw it; The Claw of Jormag perched in the distance on that small bluff of rock. I was amazed at it's size, that I could see it from so far away and the grandeur of the proceeding battle (albeit now one of the more stale of all world boss battles).
That still sticks in my mind as my first really 'wow' moment in GW2. Though I must admit seeing The Priory for the first time - namely the huge mountain of rock it's built in via the vista nearby - was another great moment.
Now perhaps my greatest wow moment of all was gliding about with updraft gliding for the first time in Verdant Brink, I simply adore that area (I thoroughly enjoy all of Heart of Thorns) but the sheer magnitude of the vertical scope of that area is great. Oh also if you're there up in the canopy at night and dawn approaches (the 5 minute timer begins) it's definitely worth watching the sunrise. Where you fight the Tetrad is my recommendation, but anywhere really works, just get up high!
Okay I'll stop now, I could keep going with my 'wow' moments, GW2 has so many...
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
Theres so much in this game. Heart of Thorns is probably a top 3 expansion for me across any MMO ive played, including any WoW expansion. The class system with the elite specs is a breath of fresh air and I hope they continue expanding on it. Same thing with masteries.
My only gripe at the moment is that I hope they bring back some of the wonder of actual exploration, wandering off and finding something interesting. I think the expansions have lost that. The zones are a bit too corridor-like. And with mounts, which are a boon to the game, its difficult to let your self be immersed in the environment. Oh, another gripe is aside from a daily, theres still little reason to consistantly head to Tyria 1-80 zones and just play. If you return to these zones, its for a daily, part of a legendary, etc. Not just to be play and be rewarded.
My only disagreement with the OP is that the classes by default don't lend to the holy trinity. You have to build your character as such. For example, your revenant (first char I leveled when I returned). A DPS herald is amazingly viable in endgame. The single target damage is huge. But, you can also go support/tank which is what Im doing in WvW. You simply have to spec and gear for it. Herald doesnt automatically mean heal/tank/support.
You're just doing everything you're doing so you can salvage thousands of things. That is literally the point of the game.
However, playing GW2 i felt the journey to completing the map 100% is much better than the end-game content. I love exploring and finding new activities. I love this game, i just wish that mmo genre did not have the daily spin offs, daily anything, which makes routine, and routine is a job.
I suggest you try thief as your second character, it is a totally different experience from the revenant and players who mastered thief tend to do better with the other classes as well since the class forces you to learn how to move and dodge like nothing else.
Also, the thief mechanics means you don't get cooldown on your weapon skills, instead you have to manage your initiative to get out most from your class, it is awesome.
GW2s thief is actually my favorite MMO class and I been playing since M59. But it does depend on the playstyle you prefer.
I can confirm this. The game in its first year was great, but with the expansions they kept adding statistically superior builds that eliminated most other builds, in other words, the 'meta' got a lot more significant.
This was left to fester for years, and still does today, and it created an extremely toxic environment, of which fractals and WvW reign supreme. Hell in WvW people will go as far as literally insult you for joining the map while using certain builds or classes (try bringing a longbow ranger into WvW and count the commentary per hour you receive).
People just got extremely overzealous and forget that it is supposed to be a game.
wvw is a cool concept but when the community try to bully anyone out of the map that don't play what they want then they can enjoy empty maps for all i care.
I had fun once, it was terrible.