• Publisher: NCSOFT
  • Release Date: Aug 28, 2012
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3192 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    Guild Wars 2 is the long awaited sequel and it's been worth every day of the wait. Fun dynamic events that chain together, In-depth personal story, engaging combat. Guild Wars 2 is a well polished MMO. Worth every penny.
  2. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    So many things to find, so many hidden areas, treasures that exist in incredibly out of the way places just for fun. My expectations were high going into this, they were exceeded.
  3. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    Great evolution of the Guild Wars story line. Quite enjoy the free-roaming sandbox nature of the game play. Minor 'fresh out of the box' bugs, but if the history of the Arenanet team is anything to go by, they'll be fixed up quickly.
  4. Aug 29, 2012
    10
    Love the game. Best of all, no monthly fee. We'll see how things are 6 months from now content-wise. One small downside is the way you pick servers and how all your toons are solely on that server.
  5. Aug 29, 2012
    10
    Guild Wars 2 gives you an amazing fantasy world to explore. Many times have i been on a mission only to get sidetracked by something at the horizon, a group of players running past me clearly onto something interesting, NPC:s chatter hinting at hidden stuff and last but not least hidden jumping puzzles with even more hidden content!
    Do Not Play This Game As Other MMO:s!
    Dont just do the
    Guild Wars 2 gives you an amazing fantasy world to explore. Many times have i been on a mission only to get sidetracked by something at the horizon, a group of players running past me clearly onto something interesting, NPC:s chatter hinting at hidden stuff and last but not least hidden jumping puzzles with even more hidden content!
    Do Not Play This Game As Other MMO:s!
    Dont just do the Renown hearts and think that thats it, explore, think outside the box and you will be rewarded with hundreds of hours of pure joy.
    The engine isnt the best out there but thanks to the fantastic artists at A-net the game looks astonishing with a new sight around every corner.
    At the moment of writing this theres some problem with the Party and Trading features but thats minor issues that will be sorted quickly im sure.

    This is a Must Buy!
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  6. Aug 29, 2012
    9
    Best MMO out there for old hardcore MMO veterans that have families. Doesn't matter if you have all the time in the world or only a few hours a day, Guild Wars 2 is the most enjoyable MMO out there. The PvP is visceral and skill-based, and most of all extremely engaging.
  7. Aug 29, 2012
    10
    I followed the development of this game for years.
    I played all betas and I can say that the game delivers what it promises.
    Some problems occurred at launch, worse than in betas, but this is normal in any launch of a massive online game. Even with these problems the servers are full and yet I had no trouble logging in, the game has no queue, when an area is full you is sent to
    I followed the development of this game for years.
    I played all betas and I can say that the game delivers what it promises.

    Some problems occurred at launch, worse than in betas, but this is normal in any launch of a massive online game. Even with these problems the servers are full and yet I had no trouble logging in, the game has no queue, when an area is full you is sent to overflow server to play the game while waiting for a vacancy on the real server, all what you do in the overflow is kept on your character, that's wonderful! The dynamic event system is also wonderful but not when you have over 100 people on it, when people spread the maps we can see how the events are fun with a reasonable amount of people, and how the events change the world! Many people make the events and leave the place without waiting a few minutes to see the change happening! The world seems Alive! NPCs have their tasks, they do not stand around waiting for the player, they do things without players!

    ArenaNet made no changes to spoil the game. If someone bought the game thinking that something is wrong then it should not have bought! They will not make drastic changes in their combat, PVP and quest systems to please the haters, just some tweaks that all MMOs have.

    The game delivers what it promises, then people should read up on the features before buying.
    One thing that you will only find with it on hands is that it is fun, but you need to learn how to play, do not play it thinking you know everything because you're a veteran of other MMOs
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  8. Oct 2, 2012
    5
    This game has its great and its not so great I loved the pvp it was great I love every second when i play, yet the questing and zones for me do not feel right, the quests feel like a grind always killing and collecting which for me is very annoying and quite tiresome the zones although beautiful do not feel like they apart of a world but more of a playground of stuff for you to kill. ForThis game has its great and its not so great I loved the pvp it was great I love every second when i play, yet the questing and zones for me do not feel right, the quests feel like a grind always killing and collecting which for me is very annoying and quite tiresome the zones although beautiful do not feel like they apart of a world but more of a playground of stuff for you to kill. For me this game was also hyped up too much, I felt that when everytime i saw a trailer that i needed this game, well i do not believe it lived up to this hype. Expand
  9. Jan 11, 2014
    4
    a good, typical mmo. with fascinating graphics, a large open world.
    full of grinding farming and gold.

    but not what people were waiting for at the very beginning.
    not "a game for casuals". not "a game without grinding".
  10. Aug 30, 2012
    10
    I play mmos since WoW came out. I literally tried out everything since then. I know there are more HC gamers, who started before me. For me this game is the best MMO I ever played with yet, I really do not have anything to add. Easily a 10/10 for the time being.
  11. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    10/10 definitely. DE's are an awesome change from the traditional questing system. Combat is more tactical, skill based and fun than any other MMO. WvWvW creates a setting for meaningful PvP. The game is one of the better looking MMO's on the market. It's got some issues atm though, traders down and the overflow system is a massive pain... but with that said, it's still a 10/10. Most fun10/10 definitely. DE's are an awesome change from the traditional questing system. Combat is more tactical, skill based and fun than any other MMO. WvWvW creates a setting for meaningful PvP. The game is one of the better looking MMO's on the market. It's got some issues atm though, traders down and the overflow system is a massive pain... but with that said, it's still a 10/10. Most fun I've had in an MMO in a very long time. Expand
  12. Nov 30, 2012
    1
    Played this game for a couple of months and found that its just too buggy. Many dungeons to not work and the new fractals dungeons crash constantly (usually toward the end). The game is full of cheaters and its just a very bad game would not recommend it to anyone. Give it a year or so for them to work out the bugs and stop the blatant cheating.
  13. Nov 10, 2012
    10
    Best MMO I have played ever. It is really good. WoW fanbois dont like it, because it isnt reliant on a gear treadmill and requires skill. This game is REALLY good. I love it.
  14. Aug 28, 2012
    9
    OK, cant logon to servers, so I'm taking my time to write this :). Took pre-purchase. Played for some 35 hours already. Now, I did have 1 guild wars 1 game, but I didnt like it, so I didnt play it very long, hence I cant compare this game to guild wars 1. But I can tell you that this game has been huge fun for me for the past 3 days, and thats only start :). It seems that people inOK, cant logon to servers, so I'm taking my time to write this :). Took pre-purchase. Played for some 35 hours already. Now, I did have 1 guild wars 1 game, but I didnt like it, so I didnt play it very long, hence I cant compare this game to guild wars 1. But I can tell you that this game has been huge fun for me for the past 3 days, and thats only start :). It seems that people in arenanet have done their research, looked for everything that players of MMO's didnt like, and found a way around that. Materials clogging your backpack? you can put them in a bank from anywhere in the world. Production made easy cause you can access the bank directly from that window. If an area is full of players, and the game would be laggy otherwise, you will be thrown into overflow (copy of that area) to wait your queue. Everything you do in overflow counts just as it would if youre on a main zone. I understand that some people find this a minus, but to me it's realistic solution to computer and networking limits we have today. World vs Word is everything I hoped Warhammer online would be (warhammer looks like a todlers game in comparison). Before I thought that 10 keys in total would be somewhat on a minus side, but trust me, combinations are endless and fun, and you will use that 10 keys, not like wow where you have ton of abilities of which you use what? 3 keys for pve and additional 2 for pvp?
    Graphic is nothing groundbraking, but looks very very nice. Caracter control are inferior to those of wow (again), but better than any other MMO I have tried, so close 2nd :). All in all, this is a game that knows the limits of todays technology, and deals with them in a right way. Programmers were not on drugs (hey, give us 300 million dollars, we will make you best game ever in the whole unknown and known universe, riight). And most importantly, this game is fun to play :).
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  15. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    What the reviews say is in fact the truth. ^^
    Yes, some minor things need to be ironed out, but the game just launched. It is also really nice to see such a great community. Seems like a lot of sane people are playing this game...unlike let's say another MMO.
  16. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    So far so good. I absolutely love the art style and the combat, while very shallow at a first glance, is incredibly deep and demanding. The launch has been incredibly smooth and I have had no problems accessing the 3 day headstart. I am very pleased with the game and I am fully happy with my purchase.
  17. Nov 26, 2012
    3
    After playing this game since release, ArenaNet are probably one of the most inefficient developers ever to grace the MMO industry. The game is riddled with bugs only to be riddled with more bugs every update. These bugs rarely even get fixed let alone be noticed. Take note that they have a tendency to ignore genuine player complaints and they fail to keep their promises. The fact thatAfter playing this game since release, ArenaNet are probably one of the most inefficient developers ever to grace the MMO industry. The game is riddled with bugs only to be riddled with more bugs every update. These bugs rarely even get fixed let alone be noticed. Take note that they have a tendency to ignore genuine player complaints and they fail to keep their promises. The fact that their PvP side of the game doesn't even have a global leaderboard is certainly troubling (yeah, e-sport, right). The PvP is a huge let down (the only mode is conquest) and the PvE side is just subpar. Class balance is totally out of whack. The actual classes have bugs from the beta to this day. The developers are slow and incompetent and It's honestly inexcusable. They'll be the ones to actually kill their own game.

    I originally gave this a 10 but it looked so great at release. Now they've shown their true colors when it comes to how horrible of a slow and inefficient development team they are. I'm pretty much fed up with MMO's after this.
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  18. Oct 2, 2012
    10
    Fans of fantasy RPG have had to wait a long time for a game where they can imagine themselves as heroes in 'another world' without paying by the month for it. This game fills a gap that Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2 both sorely failed to fill. Guild Wars 2 scratches the itch of Fantasy RPG fans with an expansive, beautifully presented world. There is exploration, crafting, swords and sorcery.Fans of fantasy RPG have had to wait a long time for a game where they can imagine themselves as heroes in 'another world' without paying by the month for it. This game fills a gap that Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2 both sorely failed to fill. Guild Wars 2 scratches the itch of Fantasy RPG fans with an expansive, beautifully presented world. There is exploration, crafting, swords and sorcery. There are guilds and social elements if you need them, or you can solo if you prefer. If you want PVP. There are plenty of different builds to play around with, and five races to delve into. The developers appear to be doing their best to offer a gamer-friendly experience and have certainly worked very hard to make this game big enough and flexible enough for everyone except the most head-up-the-arse hard core-nutters. The elements of killing mobs and bosses, and grinding levels are all familiar, and not really better than youve already seen elsewhere. But the art IS better. Many small details of presentation ARE improved. And the pay-once play-forever model is a SUPERB challange for Blizzard to start trying to earn money with better games rather than milking and exploiting their customer base all the way. If you are an RPG fan, you can't go wrong with this game. If you haven't tried an MMO before THIS is the place to start. If you play WOW and are curious, play some of a friends account and choose whichever game you prefer. Thanks Arenanet for expanding our choices, and thanks for Trying to upgrade and evolve the model. If this game gets Blizzard to try harder we all win. For that reason alone... for daring to compete we should all appreciate and applaud what this game represents. The trolls giving this game 0s and 1s should understand just how this game might end up helping them enjoy better games at better prices and repost with scores that reflect an understanding of how Arenanet efforts will finally IMPROVE their gaming experience. 8/10 for the game. 10/10 due to its entirely positive influence on game design for those games to come which will be better and cheaper because of Guild Wars 2. Expand
  19. Aug 29, 2012
    10
    The game is absolutely gorgeous, they are tons of stuff to do in this game and very varied ones, you really are never bored playing it and want to stay a bit longer each time you have to go to bed :p One of my best mmo and i'm a computer gamer since the first apple c. Thumbs up to Anet and thank you for that great game.
  20. Aug 30, 2012
    10
    Amazing game. So much stuff to do. Loving all the additional activities, art direction and music. I've actually uninstalled all other games from my PC and left only GW2, cause that's all I'll need for the months to come. And the biggest advantage over other AAA MMOs is the lack of subscription. You don't feel any rush to do anything, and you play when you want and have the time for it. NoAmazing game. So much stuff to do. Loving all the additional activities, art direction and music. I've actually uninstalled all other games from my PC and left only GW2, cause that's all I'll need for the months to come. And the biggest advantage over other AAA MMOs is the lack of subscription. You don't feel any rush to do anything, and you play when you want and have the time for it. No feeling of wasted money if you're busy and can't play. I absolutely love it! Expand
  21. Nov 11, 2012
    3
    I tried really hard to like this game, seeing how I played the first Guild Wars for 7 years. I'm mainly here to score the game because 8.1 is a farce. It was a huge let down for myself. However, i would highly recommend the game to people who may not be familiar with the first or don't want to pay subscription fees. The Graphics aren't that much of an improvement over the first... If youI tried really hard to like this game, seeing how I played the first Guild Wars for 7 years. I'm mainly here to score the game because 8.1 is a farce. It was a huge let down for myself. However, i would highly recommend the game to people who may not be familiar with the first or don't want to pay subscription fees. The Graphics aren't that much of an improvement over the first... If you have a high end gaming machine like I do... you'll notice very little difference... you can tell they catered to the low to mid level gamer machine. Not that that's bad or anything but come on people... time to upgrade your computers, you're ruining it for the rest of us who do upgrade. It was said that the grind would be gone... no, the grind is still there, except now it has a dress on and its not that pretty. You're still going to grind. I was very very disappointed in the skill system, skills are now bound to weapons instead of having a choice. There are no longer dual professions and no way to create uber builds. You no longer have to use your brain to calculate a build. They've dumbed it down to make balancing the game easier for the company and the mediocre players. You now pay a fee to portal, which isn't so much a gripe if the wait time wasn't so ridiculous (and no, it's not my connection, I'm on a T3 line). There are many bugs within game play, sometimes I wonder if they didn't pay attention to the beta trials or if they even played the game themselves. The story line... is okay. Puzzles and W-v-W is okay. The dungeons are where its at... but again, here comes the grind. I give this a 3 because its a three for me... but for someone else... I would say a 5 or 6. Expand
  22. Dec 2, 2012
    0
    I am giving a 0 to this game cause my account was just hacked , i lost everything i had , all my money , gems , karma , guild were deleted and everythign and still arena net can't do anything , they cannot give you back your gold , your items be4 your account was hacked , they can't do any rollback on their character so if you ever try going for a legendary weapon and you are almost thereI am giving a 0 to this game cause my account was just hacked , i lost everything i had , all my money , gems , karma , guild were deleted and everythign and still arena net can't do anything , they cannot give you back your gold , your items be4 your account was hacked , they can't do any rollback on their character so if you ever try going for a legendary weapon and you are almost there and get hacked , you'll have nothing left to play with and they won't give you back any compensation at all, even if you spend real money to buy their stupid gems. Expand
  23. Oct 29, 2012
    0
    not an mmo revolution, but still as wow's getting older and older, this is it's best alternative (also sub free!). i don't care about pve in general but there's very of it little even to my liking. pvp-wise it's much better, still there's no incentive in the long run (i mean spvp, which lacks ranked teams, arena ladders), also pvp feels like just burning all your skills asap and waitingnot an mmo revolution, but still as wow's getting older and older, this is it's best alternative (also sub free!). i don't care about pve in general but there's very of it little even to my liking. pvp-wise it's much better, still there's no incentive in the long run (i mean spvp, which lacks ranked teams, arena ladders), also pvp feels like just burning all your skills asap and waiting on cooldowns. WvWvW is too hectic with too may people that makes the frame rate drop to single digit number (4 core cpu, 560ti, 8gig ram). i would be really interested in statistics about the active players as a function of time, i have a feeling that its a small fraction of the peak value. graphics are great, story and crafting and pve are well below swtor. level grindig is horrible, despite of or partially because of this "everything is a dynamic event" craze Expand
  24. Nov 20, 2012
    4
    Overhyped. The graphics are excellent at the time of launch, but the good features stop there. It has a disguised form of grinding that tries to fool players into thinking they are not grinding while doing exactly what grinding is: repeated kills over and over.
    The classes are a huge let down. Most have cool animations and effects but these have no impact on gameplay as the abilities are
    Overhyped. The graphics are excellent at the time of launch, but the good features stop there. It has a disguised form of grinding that tries to fool players into thinking they are not grinding while doing exactly what grinding is: repeated kills over and over.
    The classes are a huge let down. Most have cool animations and effects but these have no impact on gameplay as the abilities are weak and generic. All classes can do all the functions as melee damage, ranged damage, healing and support and as such excel at none which just furthers the feeling of weak classes. Furthermore you can be up-leveled (rarely) or down-leveled (more commonly) to provide a fixed challenge level. While some people like the constant challenge, this only increases the feeling of weakness since you can never enjoy the power you accrued.
    Mobs are repeated through several areas, just leveled up and with maybe a different name (not always), which contributes to the tedium after a while.
    Add to all this that it has no demo nor trial nor the possibility to sell the game you bought (as per the aggreement) nor a money-back guarantee and we have a trap where we just sank our money. All this fear of losing money on the part of the company only reflects a lack of confidence on the tittle.

    Bottom-line: not worth it.
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  25. Sep 20, 2012
    5
    Like many others - Ive now played alot more and Ive got abit of diffrent opinions about few things. The big bad thing about the game is the dungeons. They are just bad in so many ways. The settings are underwhelming. The encounters are just boring most of the time, unbalance and now ANet devs have changed alot of things and broken ALOT and created alot of new bugs that make them evenLike many others - Ive now played alot more and Ive got abit of diffrent opinions about few things. The big bad thing about the game is the dungeons. They are just bad in so many ways. The settings are underwhelming. The encounters are just boring most of the time, unbalance and now ANet devs have changed alot of things and broken ALOT and created alot of new bugs that make them even worse. FOr example - ppl are not getting rewards cause of a bug that penalies ppl that run the dungeons to quickly. THe thing is - some ppl that are not doing speed runs are still getting low or no rewards.

    SO stay away from the dungeons if you want to enjoy the game abit longer. If your like me - you would probably quit when you see how badly they are designed and implemented.
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  26. Nov 22, 2012
    3
    It much like WAR started off well and much like WAR was actually better in beta, however all they builds now are condition, crit builds and the maps are so small you end up in an endless and boring zerg every time. There is very little deviation or choice in specs and weaponry and the combat feels like a badly implemented 3rd person shooter, since you are all dps anyway. These are problemsIt much like WAR started off well and much like WAR was actually better in beta, however all they builds now are condition, crit builds and the maps are so small you end up in an endless and boring zerg every time. There is very little deviation or choice in specs and weaponry and the combat feels like a badly implemented 3rd person shooter, since you are all dps anyway. These are problems they could have fixed but instead they decided to betray their manifesto and introduce a gear grind without saying anything about doing it. PVP is a broken morass and now they are concentrating on Fluff and getting WOW kids. You ex WAR players know exactly what I mean, Except WAR actually has better pvp than GW2. Expand
  27. Dec 16, 2012
    2
    This game is nothing like Guild Wars. There is nothing to do after lvl 80. The pvp is embarrassingly bad. They just ripped off lotro and wow and called it a sequel to guild wars. Im dead serious the pvp is a joke and they dont even have guild halls.The world is way smaller and it turns into a grindfest rather quickly. the few limited skills they give you arent very imaginative and createdThis game is nothing like Guild Wars. There is nothing to do after lvl 80. The pvp is embarrassingly bad. They just ripped off lotro and wow and called it a sequel to guild wars. Im dead serious the pvp is a joke and they dont even have guild halls.The world is way smaller and it turns into a grindfest rather quickly. the few limited skills they give you arent very imaginative and created no chance to make creative builds, you are pretty much stuck with the 4 or 5 skills that are decent. prepare to see tons of bots grinding away. good luck reporting there you will still see the same bots there day after day. lost shores was terrible and handled very poorly. please dont buy this game if you love guild wars. Expand
  28. Aug 28, 2012
    10
    Reasons why I love guild wars 2 [not a review]
    Every MMO I played generally states that humans are a new race and they are so majestic, dignified and young race. Guild wars 2 is different instead they say they are a **** up race who **** up so much that they are left to such a small kingdom.
    Everything/Anything I do gives me XP, So i dont have to worry about grinding at all and the
    Reasons why I love guild wars 2 [not a review]
    Every MMO I played generally states that humans are a new race and they are so majestic, dignified and young race. Guild wars 2 is different instead they say they are a **** up race who **** up so much that they are left to such a small kingdom.
    Everything/Anything I do gives me XP, So i dont have to worry about grinding at all and the dynamic events you like you are given the same XP for any number of times you try.
    Professions and their powers are way different than other MMOs, you dont have to reach level 30 to get a specific good spell. At level 7 you can have 10 different spells from 2 weapons you can swap, one healing power and one utility power. And the interface is so clean.
    you dont have to wait in queues, you can play all the time[thanks to overflow servers]. You can be level 80 anytime in W v W v W and have fun.
    And the best one No monthly fee

    there are so many articles, reviews stating their experiences in guild wars 2, which are so overwhelming, if you are reading this probably you have already read all those. So I am not gonna share my experiences all over again. I would just say "you know how MMO are supposed to be that alternate life where you lose yourself and enjoy and you can be awesome at it, GUILD WARS 2 does this best". If you enjoy RPG or MMO, this is a must buy. It is just 60$ for life, what is wrong with it. Buy it now.
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  29. Aug 29, 2012
    9
    I am so sick and tired of community reviewers that feel it necessary to compare new MMO's to WOW which has had close to a decade to mature and polish itself. This game is amazing, and far more polished and entertaining as a 'new game' than WOW was. The graphics are great, you dont need a computer powerhouse to run it, and there is sooooo much to do. There are a few bugs, and problems withI am so sick and tired of community reviewers that feel it necessary to compare new MMO's to WOW which has had close to a decade to mature and polish itself. This game is amazing, and far more polished and entertaining as a 'new game' than WOW was. The graphics are great, you dont need a computer powerhouse to run it, and there is sooooo much to do. There are a few bugs, and problems with the system... of course. These things take time to correct, and im sure they will be. Enjoy the game, and the first MMO that really sets forth a legit challenge to the MMO throne. Expand
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 69
  2. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 6, 2013
    90
    GW2 has made a powerful impact on the MMO scene, confirming years of expectations. Stunning presentation and revolutionary design guarantee a thoroughly enjoyable experience. However, it’s not flawless, nor complete. The beautiful vistas, the massive PvP element, the rich leveling experience- those can offer hours of gameplay, but the endgame is desperately seeking for enrichment. [November 2012]
  2. Jan 2, 2013
    95
    Guild Wars 2 surpasses the original in every aspect, from its massive and atmospheric world to its addictive and engrossing gameplay.
  3. Nov 28, 2012
    80
    After spending fifty hours with GW2, I have a lot of praise for ArenaNet's work and the way it changes up some of the typical trappings of the MMO. And yet, I find myself thinking less and less about it each day. It's not a declaration against the product, mind you, but simply a fact that this game still is very much an MMO, and your enjoyment will directly relate to how much you enjoy the genre. For many who were hoping for a clean break from MMO design philosophy, Guild Wars 2 will probably come across as a slight disappointment. It pushes the genre slightly forward, however, and could lead to even further development in the future.