Guild Wars 2

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

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3192 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,380 out of 3192
  2. Mixed: 386 out of 3192
  3. Negative: 426 out of 3192
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  1. Horcos
    Aug 7, 2013
    7
    I really wanted to play this game, i found some new friends and i really tried to play this game, but i found a lack of spells, i just wanted lots of useless spells with cool animations, all so the quests, or the yellow hearts was repetitive
  2. DominikCZE
    Nov 9, 2013
    7
    I've never been into MMOs but this one compelled me because it had a very appealing pay once, play forever model, which any game should have. It didn't turn out to be as great as I thought it would be though, it's still fun and entertaining to play once in a while with a bunch of friends, but there are a couple problems that I'm going to explain.
    First of all, the world is absolutely    I've never been into MMOs but this one compelled me because it had a very appealing pay once, play forever model, which any game should have. It didn't turn out to be as great as I thought it would be though, it's still fun and entertaining to play once in a while with a bunch of friends, but there are a couple problems that I'm going to explain.
    First of all, the world is absolutely MASSIVE, it's just that, there isn't that much to do in it, pretty much every quest is the same generic "kill 5 rats and feed my cows!", the skill challenges are the same thing, fight this one guy, get a skill point and you're done. Another problem which I find huge is how utterly annoying the wildlife is. Say you want just relax and take in the scenery, while peacefully walking through the mountains, no can do sir. There are literally tens of mobs on your screen at ANY given moment and EVERYWHERE, even some towns are infested with mobs. The worst thing is that these mobs are extremely aggressive and attack on sight, which makes getting anywhere a real pain. I'm trying to walk to a quest objective, not fight a thousand wolves for two hours for god's sake!

    One last thing that I'd like to criticize is the lore of the game, I'm just not feeling it, it's pretty shallow and with all the barbie dolls and Halloween pumpkins frankly quite unbelievable. And the last thing I almost forgot to mention, daily events. What's the point of these? Kill thirty bunnies? Twenty-five underwater creatures? Collect twenty pieces of wood? Why would I wanna do that? Why force people to grind? Well whatever, it's not a mandatory thing to do, just completely pointless in my opinion.

    Other than that the game is fairly solid and can provide countless hours of fun if you have friends to play with, for solo action I would recommend a classic single-player RPG backed by a strong story and quality lore. I'm not going to review the PvP element, it's solid, don't really care about it, look elsewhere for that.    … Expand
  3. petunius
    Sep 1, 2014
    8
    this is the best mmorpg game i have ever played and it does not make it worse that you just have to pay for it once and never again. if you like mmorpg games you will probably like this one! it's by no means perfect but way better than anything else!
  4. funchrist
    Apr 22, 2015
    10
    Amazing game! very smooth detailed graphics. plenty of thngs to do for thext 2 years. no fees. 1 price and you are ready to go. incredible vast maps. always something to do.

    cons: it might take a while to get used to. some things are a bit complex. crafting, teams lays. some interface should be simpler.
    i recommend 100% if you are a fan of Dungon Siege (x100 better)
  5. CalScott
    Nov 6, 2014
    4
    Amazing game. Outstanding game. Just a shame that PvP is trash and WvW gets boring after about a month. Dungeons are no challenge and too easy to farm. Gear is way too easy to obtain (yes including legendary). After level 80 the game slows down and creating another character is the most boring thing on the face of the earth. Not to mention the story is a big big let down towards the endAmazing game. Outstanding game. Just a shame that PvP is trash and WvW gets boring after about a month. Dungeons are no challenge and too easy to farm. Gear is way too easy to obtain (yes including legendary). After level 80 the game slows down and creating another character is the most boring thing on the face of the earth. Not to mention the story is a big big let down towards the end with small rewards and underwhelming plot. The living story was supposed to bring it back to life but that failed too and just felt like an extremely dragging way to coax players back which didn't work as I know my old guild has gone from 300 members to around 190 mid living story and gone to Archeage or a different MMO. It really is a let down and I expected to play it for more than I did.800-900 hours so not just a newbie with no experience. In comparison I have played Archeage for 375 hours since head start, so that is nearly half the game play in a quarter of the time and I haven't even started to craft, farm or gear up correctly. 110% a good game for the first character and first 500-600 hours but after that you're best of setting it down in a corner to let it gather dust.

    P.s. The boss fights are **** terrible and the only good part about this game that I couldn't fault it the art style and the fact that it isn't pay to play.    … Expand
  6. meatwagon
    Sep 27, 2012
    3
    While the world is pretty and full of detail, unfortunately the beauty was only skin deep, for me. The game is severely repetitive, kill centaurs, water flowers, feed chicken, collect tree branches... over and over and over and over. The WvW pvp was just a zergfest, you either roll or you're getting rolled.Dynamic events, which are supposed to change the world around you as you participateWhile the world is pretty and full of detail, unfortunately the beauty was only skin deep, for me. The game is severely repetitive, kill centaurs, water flowers, feed chicken, collect tree branches... over and over and over and over. The WvW pvp was just a zergfest, you either roll or you're getting rolled.Dynamic events, which are supposed to change the world around you as you participate and finish is no different than finishing an event in WOW. You succeed until the event you just finished re spawns... and it starts all over again.… Expand
  7. ItaJohnson
    Sep 27, 2012
    0
    Ok, time to finally let this drop. i tried to give them time and it was (fortunately for them) a busy month, but it wasnt enough.

    Guild Wars 2 is the latest in a growing line of mmorpgs (IT IS NOT AN ACTION GAME!) that are severely over hyped and under developed. Despite all their nonsense about not releasing it "until its done" what we have is bugs across every possible system in the    Ok, time to finally let this drop. i tried to give them time and it was (fortunately for them) a busy month, but it wasnt enough.

    Guild Wars 2 is the latest in a growing line of mmorpgs (IT IS NOT AN ACTION GAME!) that are severely over hyped and under developed. Despite all their nonsense about not releasing it "until its done" what we have is bugs across every possible system in the game. Almost asif NC Soft said "finish it up or we are not paying you" and they did. From account security (always fun having 200+ emails fill your inbox to tell you that ip addys from china are attempting to log into your account) to quests in general (there is nothing "dynamic" about scripted events sorry kids) bugs bugs bugs. Perhaps if they had done a proper beta test instead of a bunch of B/S hype generating weekends they could have fixed them before launch... but no, the AH still goes down daily, the guilds bug daily... there is nothing that isnt broken on this game!

    Visually it falls short of the mark too, while they assured us it would "support dx10" LIES! the closest thing to this game is honestly AOC, both in the amount of hype concerning it, and the dismal product that got released.

    Gameplay... [tab]1-2-3-4 ever heard that one? well thats all you are getting here too.

    Sound- the sound is really good actually, too bad it is the LEAST important thing about a game! But hey, they atleast got something right... although its kind of stupid to be told you have been poisoned 3 min after it wears off... but again BUGS!

    Over all i would give it a solid 5, meaning that this game is average in EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. It is not above average on ANY level! But seeing all the BULLS HIT 10's i am going to do the right thing and drop it. if anyone actually reads this theyll know the truth, otherwise metacritic is kind of a crap metric since it LETS B/S scores through.. even on such a MASSIVE turd such as guild wars 2.

    i cant express enough what a totally disappointing turd this game is.    … Expand
  8. MrUnpredictable
    Aug 29, 2012
    6
    Very unoriginal game, it steals a lot from Warhammer Online. Dynamic Events are no better than regular quests not to mention a lot of events never fail because events are way too easy. The overflow servers were a horrible idea. They prevent players from actually playing together. There is no room for error in Guild Wars 2. The game was made so players can succeed with ease. GW2 is only theVery unoriginal game, it steals a lot from Warhammer Online. Dynamic Events are no better than regular quests not to mention a lot of events never fail because events are way too easy. The overflow servers were a horrible idea. They prevent players from actually playing together. There is no room for error in Guild Wars 2. The game was made so players can succeed with ease. GW2 is only the flavor of the month. As soon as people reach max level there isn't much replayability left because dynamic events are boring, easy and too repetitive.… Expand
  9. Kassdhal
    Sep 22, 2012
    5
    Very mixed in multiple respects... the first view of the game is that it is fantastic. At least a refreshing view on the MMO world, really well done and finished, with innovative quest system and fantastic innovative levelling mechanism.

    And after a while you're logging in and you don;t really know why you're accepting silly limitations like the stupidly think inventory system, the    Very mixed in multiple respects... the first view of the game is that it is fantastic. At least a refreshing view on the MMO world, really well done and finished, with innovative quest system and fantastic innovative levelling mechanism.

    And after a while you're logging in and you don;t really know why you're accepting silly limitations like the stupidly think inventory system, the lacklustre crafting mechanism, the stupid "personnal story" system that for some quests is just so close to impossible that it is frustrating beyond relief (with no hope of overpowering the quest... my engineer has been stuck on a lvl 28 quest since the beginning...)

    It could have been fantastic but it is barely passable due to these limitations. It is not a hazard if blizzard has simplified the silly things in wow... guild wars should have thought about it too...

    WvW is very well thought but individual contributions are pretty much close to zero so the strategy is either zerg grouping or smaller "pro" groups which is boring after a while

    I see this game performing very well over time but will require a LOT of refining to keep players in. NC Soft does not care because there are no subscription.

    In some respect this game gave me the same feeling as TOR: an initial "Waouw" and then "but..... why did they... why didn't they....?"

    Sad...    … Expand
  10. iiro
    Sep 12, 2012
    5
    My character r was engineer, and it was ridiciusly underpowered!
    I leveled till 35 and entered first dungeon, and my skills SUCKED in there.
    All i could do is practically auto attack from further away on bosses, becouse i dont have any other ranged skill, Seriosly? Im **** engineer, i got a rifle and bullets, Why does it sucks and doesnt have any skills? Was disappointed in that.    My character r was engineer, and it was ridiciusly underpowered!
    I leveled till 35 and entered first dungeon, and my skills SUCKED in there.
    All i could do is practically auto attack from further away on bosses, becouse i dont have any other ranged skill, Seriosly? Im **** engineer, i got a rifle and bullets, Why does it sucks and doesnt have any skills?

    Was disappointed in that. Otherwise its good solid game, Just skills on engineer sucks, thats why im not playing it.    … Expand
  11. JaxsonP
    Jan 2, 2013
    0
    From a PvP perspective this game is 100% fail. No comment on PvE as it's limited (no raiding) and dungeons are bugged and extremely limited w/out holy trinity. GW1 was an amazing game and we all had high hopes for the PvP in the sequel. There are only a few PvP maps and they are all capture the point. Balancing is unbelievably bad and the developers make idiotic, boneheaded classFrom a PvP perspective this game is 100% fail. No comment on PvE as it's limited (no raiding) and dungeons are bugged and extremely limited w/out holy trinity. GW1 was an amazing game and we all had high hopes for the PvP in the sequel. There are only a few PvP maps and they are all capture the point. Balancing is unbelievably bad and the developers make idiotic, boneheaded class balance tweaks every month or so that satisfy nobody. No public test servers! Only TWO (yes two) developers working on class balance for the entire game, and they seem to be completely clueless about the game. This game may be more suited for casual players, but for people serious about PvP, it is a major, massive step back from GW1 and a very big disappointment.… Expand
  12. sa0ldax
    Sep 26, 2012
    1
    GW2 is loose MMO RPG and it is likely that you will get tired of it at some point.

    GW2 fails to deliver a good story - in both content and form

    No flight paths. Just teleporting.what a disappointment.
  13. wordy_actions
    Dec 5, 2012
    8
    A fantastic and fresh take on MMO's, most notably due to the unique combat system and PVP activities. The game, however, lacks engaging end-game content. Musically and graphically the game is fantastic. The story is generic though, and not very memorable. I had a blast playing this game for about a month, well worth the price, and hey, ITS FREE TO PLAY!
  14. Reaper70
    Oct 5, 2012
    9
    Like many of you I have been disappointed by so many games over the years but I decided to get Guildwars 2 yesterday and it is awesome!
    I am a MMO fan and have enjoyed playing such games as WOW, SW:TOR, Everquest 2, Rift and Tera but I have to say Guildwars 2 blows them away. There is so much to do and see. Believe the hype!
  15. yesterdayatnoon
    Oct 6, 2012
    9
    It's pretty exciting to have an MMORPG that doesn't kick you out of immersion in the fantasy on a regular basis. The story is nice, it isn't over the top epic quite yet, and while your personal stake in the story takes place in instanced zone, it still happens in the game world not some other place. A large portion of the story occurs in the open world as well, allowing for freeIt's pretty exciting to have an MMORPG that doesn't kick you out of immersion in the fantasy on a regular basis. The story is nice, it isn't over the top epic quite yet, and while your personal stake in the story takes place in instanced zone, it still happens in the game world not some other place. A large portion of the story occurs in the open world as well, allowing for free participation and rewarding all who do participate.

    When you find a new area, rather than looking for a quest hub, you just explore and things will pop up on the side of the screen letting you know what's happening and how you can help. There are still quests out there that aren't like this, but for the most part you are adventuring to adventure.

    Loot is useful in some way, either by salvaging or actually using for long spreads of game play making any reward at least partially valuable.

    Even if you don't like the game play, or if you are a dedicated adherent to some other MMO, I recommend looking at GW2 and checking out the various tools for making playing with alts and crafting much less cumbersome. Crafting materials all go in to a shared character inventory with a limit I have yet to reach on how many of what can be stored. Banking is also shared. This allows a player to back up their main with crafting alts, allowing them to never leave the field, putting materials into their crafting inventory and then accessing their crafted goods from the bank later. This also gives your alts a way to levelup from crafting xp to help them along their way.

    Equipment looks amazing also. While some items do suffer from the floating pauldrons effect seen in other titles, you can turn these items off visually. The armor slots are also far more interesting than the skin tight armor textured pajamas from DDO, WoW and others. A coat looks like a coat, skirts can go anywhere from just covering your bum to knee length or the floor. Using the whole body to add multiple shapes makes the world look a lot more reasonable than most other item designs we see in MMOs.
    Without getting to endgame, I'm already very satisfied with this purchase. The only major short comings are the pay walls around keys to randomly dropped chests, you get way more chests than keys. and the pay wall around the amount of alts you can have (5 for free) and inventory space.    … Expand
  16. drobik
    Oct 5, 2012
    10
    In my life i've played a lot og MMO's, and i thought than Guild Wars 2 would be an average MMO. But when I saw some trailers and read a bit more about this game, i found it very interesting and i was right. After playing on the closed beta test i understood that it was the most amazing game I've ever played. There is a lot of features and describing all of them can take a lot of time.In my life i've played a lot og MMO's, and i thought than Guild Wars 2 would be an average MMO. But when I saw some trailers and read a bit more about this game, i found it very interesting and i was right. After playing on the closed beta test i understood that it was the most amazing game I've ever played. There is a lot of features and describing all of them can take a lot of time. Usually, as it often happens with games which are having too many "cool things", these games looks like cut piece of cake and when you begin playing for the first time you will say:"Yes, it's amazing, but after some hours you will understand that this game can't provide you everything it was told about in the beginning. But not in Guild Wars 2, each elements of the game looks like the hole piece of one cake.
    In my opinion it is the best MMO game of last five years    … Expand
  17. Ectogamut
    Sep 11, 2012
    2
    Unfortunately, I fell for the overwhelming amount of great reviews for this game. After seeing that the game had "sold out" of digital download copies, I thought, "maybe this is the mmo to end all mmos." So I rush down to a brick and mortar store to pick up a hard copy, install, create an account. Within 8 hours I get an email telling me that some clown in China is trying to access myUnfortunately, I fell for the overwhelming amount of great reviews for this game. After seeing that the game had "sold out" of digital download copies, I thought, "maybe this is the mmo to end all mmos." So I rush down to a brick and mortar store to pick up a hard copy, install, create an account. Within 8 hours I get an email telling me that some clown in China is trying to access my account....great! Anyhow, I launch the game expecting pure awesomeness. What I see is a graphical amalgamation of Wow and Aion, which works out pretty well, because if you average out the years in which those engines were put into play, then you come up with graphics circa 2007...that's generous. Everything else is completely predictable - kill this, collect that, don't worry about the story. This is what killed SWTOR in my opinion; you can't try to polish up the things you like about various MMOs, slap them together and expect a miracle. And that's what you see here - a little bit of WoW, Aion, Rift, SWTOR, and a few of the legacy items that made the first GW successful, but ultimately the game is devoid of any revolutionary mechanics. On the other hand, I've been playing The Secret World for a little over 2 months now, and besides the very few bugs remaining, it has captivated me from day one! Fantastic gfx, engrossing storyline, challenging skill system, the ability to be absolutely anything with the mere swapping of skills that are available to everyone. While it may not be for everyone, at least it advanced the genre so that people can see where we could and should be with these games. How fans tolerate the same mediocre fodder is beyond me.… Expand
  18. alecient
    Sep 3, 2012
    0
    For me this game looks quite unattractive because of high fantasy setting that is so popular in MMO genre in our days. Visuals are also not so great, world design is quite childish and of course tons of too colorful SFX in more or less large combat. CPvP is the only thing that can save this MMO since there is no other end-game content because mass PvP seems to be random zerg based byFor me this game looks quite unattractive because of high fantasy setting that is so popular in MMO genre in our days. Visuals are also not so great, world design is quite childish and of course tons of too colorful SFX in more or less large combat. CPvP is the only thing that can save this MMO since there is no other end-game content because mass PvP seems to be random zerg based by design (due to long queries all serious guild coordinated action is usually impossible).… Expand
  19. Dretch
    Sep 4, 2012
    5
    The low level zones are polished the higher level zones are buggy at best. Some of the dynamic events don't work at all. The Dungeons on story mode Leave a lot to be desired unless you like to corpse-run your dungeons. AC is ludicrous. Our guild ran CM on explorable last night way over leveled and side-kicked to level, and we only managed to get 2 bosses downed. At the staggering cost ofThe low level zones are polished the higher level zones are buggy at best. Some of the dynamic events don't work at all. The Dungeons on story mode Leave a lot to be desired unless you like to corpse-run your dungeons. AC is ludicrous. Our guild ran CM on explorable last night way over leveled and side-kicked to level, and we only managed to get 2 bosses downed. At the staggering cost of about 30-50 silver makes them not worth your time at the moment. And not fun at all! For 5 tokens a boss towards gear that is under level. Arenanet what are you thinking here? I realize there are pressing issues Ie. trading post and hacking. You better rethink balance in this game fairly soon. Especially for those of us that want to pve as well as wvw. Overall the potential for a fantastic game remains high. I am skeptical that it will be addressed in a timely manner though. Apparently Arenanet does not want much feedback either. No forums. Posting daily updates to the wiki.? No in game option for feedback.
    Now crafting: What a joke! (not a funny joke) This is one of the worst crafting systems I have seen in an mmo. It's so convoluted. I typically enjoy crafting too. So between the lack of balance for pve a poor crafting system and Arenanets total lack of Input/feedback the best I can do is a 5, and I think thats optimistic at the moment. I'm also tired of seeing you fanboys fawning over clearly broken un-balanced systems. Have you kids made it out of the starter zones yet?    … Expand
  20. Bovinus
    Sep 21, 2012
    6
    Guild wars 2 is the most bizarre MMO of all times, it is a MMO made for people who doesn't like MMOs, it's pve is horrible, monsters doesn't give xp so you can't grind, you're forced to keep running around the world searching for boring events that, at first sight, looks awesome, unltil you note that there is no difference between the other players and a bunch of bots, there are noGuild wars 2 is the most bizarre MMO of all times, it is a MMO made for people who doesn't like MMOs, it's pve is horrible, monsters doesn't give xp so you can't grind, you're forced to keep running around the world searching for boring events that, at first sight, looks awesome, unltil you note that there is no difference between the other players and a bunch of bots, there are no interactions between players, the event starts, they come, the event ends, they disappear, there is no talking, no grouping, you really think that you're just playing a single player RPG with a ridiculous story line and a bunch of NPCs.

    The SPvP is good, thanks to the simplified gameplay, the problem is the lack of many support systems like "Look for group", more statistics and a better glory distribution, today playing on pubs is really annoying because most players just want to duel and farm glory, playing on tournaments solve this problem but is too hard to find a group.

    So i do not recommend this game, the PVE is not a MMO and paying 60 dollars for a PVP is not worth, there are better options.    … Expand
  21. Leijona
    Aug 31, 2012
    6
    So, this is my first critic.
    GW2 is nice. Not more, not less. I have never seen so many problems at a mmo start. From account security over hackers to guild chat / menu problems. I have never seen such a horrible communication as Arenanet is having it. No patch notes, no forums, only twitter and reddit.
    Group play is more like a lottery right now, overflow server system not working as it    So, this is my first critic.
    GW2 is nice. Not more, not less. I have never seen so many problems at a mmo start. From account security over hackers to guild chat / menu problems. I have never seen such a horrible communication as Arenanet is having it. No patch notes, no forums, only twitter and reddit.
    Group play is more like a lottery right now, overflow server system not working as it should. And all you hear is "We are working on it".
    Dynamic events aren't as dynamic, as they seem to be. They are more like static-events-that-appear-at-random-times.
    XP balancing is not working right now.
    All the lore, that can be found in the wiki and the books is not really in the game. Even TOR had better a story. They could have put lore in the vistas, some text with information about the place. Something. But no, there's nothing.
    Over all, the game is nice. I play it, I will go on playing, but only because it is F2P. Otherwise, I wouldn't.    … Expand
  22. noisnam
    Aug 28, 2012
    5
    Fisrt, i am no fanboy and no hater, i am here to give my honest opinion, hope to help you design if this is your game or not.

    gameplay~ i was told by a friend this is an action based mmo, but it is not. it is another wow kind of point and clikcer. you hold your left mouse button to perform autoattack. the action feels very limited when i am spoiled by true action mmo like DCUO and Tera,    Fisrt, i am no fanboy and no hater, i am here to give my honest opinion, hope to help you design if this is your game or not.

    gameplay~ i was told by a friend this is an action based mmo, but it is not. it is another wow kind of point and clikcer. you hold your left mouse button to perform autoattack. the action feels very limited when i am spoiled by true action mmo like DCUO and Tera, it makes me feel going back in time, playing wow holding my right mouse button to get a better angle,so i can stand there and hold tight to my left mouse button. plus, i cant even lock my camera to make the game feels better.
    QUESTING~ questing is a big plus for me, it is not like other mmo that u pick up a quest from npc then returning. they have pop up live event, so suddenly everyone on the map goes to the area and do quest togethor, which is interesting as i remember when i was playing other mmo i always feel like a lone wolf when my friend is not online questing by myself.
    pvp~ still didnt get to that part but i seriously doubt it when i dont like the combat system at all.
    graphic ~ not the best but surely live upto todays standard. and detail of the world is very rich, which creates an enjoyable enviorment. sound ~ wonderful
    charactor customization~ very very limited for mmo released in 2012
    other thoughts, this game is hyped up too much and i just make another other mistake buying a game before doing enough research. and my friend has never played either dcuo or tera so he doesnt know what action mmo means. i wont play alot of it until they improve the gameply. one more thing, this game has the worst community i have ever seen. i was just asking in the map chat that if there is a way i can lock my camera. response are " omg another console gamer" " go back to your xbox" "the camera is design for having better position yourselve, u should play that way...... i am like wtf...... i was expect answer like "yes you can, go to...... or "no you can not" , but hue hue .. guess too many fanboy in game u shouldnt even ask question    … Expand
  23. Ixnatifual
    Apr 13, 2015
    5
    Yet another overhyped MMO that turned out mediocre. Basic gameplay feels really clunky here, perhaps even worse than Warhammer Online. It's missing that MMO feel of games like World of WarCraft and EvE and feels more like a kindergarden. Somewhere in the construction of this game ArenaNet missed many of the important things of the genre. Building your character, the feel of being in aYet another overhyped MMO that turned out mediocre. Basic gameplay feels really clunky here, perhaps even worse than Warhammer Online. It's missing that MMO feel of games like World of WarCraft and EvE and feels more like a kindergarden. Somewhere in the construction of this game ArenaNet missed many of the important things of the genre. Building your character, the feel of being in a world, and perhaps most importantly, HAVING FUN.… Expand
  24. ComplexConf
    Sep 4, 2012
    6
    This game is by far the one of the most boring MMO's I have ever played. It is a over-hyped game with loads of people riding the bandwagon claiming it is awesome and cool with an ingenious quest system and dynamic off the **** events. Some will even say that the next big MMO's to come out will take pointers from GW2.

    Let me just say I hope not, 'cus I have never been more disappointed    This game is by far the one of the most boring MMO's I have ever played. It is a over-hyped game with loads of people riding the bandwagon claiming it is awesome and cool with an ingenious quest system and dynamic off the **** events. Some will even say that the next big MMO's to come out will take pointers from GW2.

    Let me just say I hope not, 'cus I have never been more disappointed and bored playing an MMO. I liked SWTOR, TSW, TERA much more than this drivel. The combat is boring and repetitive, you have an extremely limited number of skills that you can have active. It is said that they designed the combat to be more action-oriented and more skill-oriented. Well that is nonsense. There is nothing that is more skill-oriented about gw2's combat and it doesn't really feel action-oriented (I can recommend TERA for action oriented/skill combat tho'). It falls flat along with it's questing which boasts itself on a boring story quest set in an uninteresting world with lore you don't give a halflings hat about, and with a multitude of sidequests (Heart icon-shaped NPCs that will appear on your map) that are triggered by being near the NPC's, then you will have multiple objectives in the area close to the NPC, which are all, "click some stuff on the ground and such" or "kill some mobs". It is not very exciting. Yes you don't have to click the NPC to get the quest, yes you don't have to use your brain to go somewhere and do something for him. No no. You just trigger the quest by being in his general area and then you click things on the ground and kill mobs to complete the quest. Yay.. fun? no. No not really.
    Questing for kids with no attention span sry. Surely a step back in making questing engaging and exciting, instead it is just a nonsense uninteresting grind.

    I have said enough about this game. I bought it thinking it would be good, everyone seems excited about it and praising it. All the articles I read pre release was positive and happy about the game.

    Mega Huge Disappointment. Everyone are mass delusional thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread. *facepalm*    … Expand
  25. Surrealis
    Sep 2, 2012
    2
    I rather dislike a lot in this game. For all the hype, I expected a lot. However, the graphics are nothing to write home about, the story is not that enjoyable, and the combat system simply isn't engaging. I cannot recommend it enough that you try this game for 6-8 hours before buying it. Be sure to play it for a while, you'll notice many people are adjusting their reviews as time goes on.
  26. dtater
    Sep 10, 2012
    6
    I have never written a metacritic review before, but I needed to make an account to review this game. I was incredibly excited for this game, but it simply has some issues that cannot be ignored. It IS well polished, and the team is constantly patching any bugs. Trading post glitches are pretty much gone. The problem with the game is not serves or bugs for me, but in the fundamentalI have never written a metacritic review before, but I needed to make an account to review this game. I was incredibly excited for this game, but it simply has some issues that cannot be ignored. It IS well polished, and the team is constantly patching any bugs. Trading post glitches are pretty much gone. The problem with the game is not serves or bugs for me, but in the fundamental game play.

    It was a novel idea to get rid of defined roles like tanks and healers, but ultimately, I feel it was a poor decision. The professions play far too similarly to one another. The destruction of "roles" means that everyone has a heal, everyone does some damage, everyone has some debuffs. And even ignoring the similarities between professions, the skill choices WITHIN a profession are lackluster with the weapons you pick defining over half of your skills that DO NOT CHANGE THE WHOLE GAME! So most of the skills you enjoy at level 1 or 2 are probably the same 5 you'll be using up until level 80. At least in games like WoW you can look forward to gaining new cool skills all the way as you level up. Because your skills are the same, combat becomes quite repetitive VERY quickly. The talent tree is a nice addition, but it simply isn't very deep. Just very small benefits, nothing substantial that you really can't wait for.

    Also the loot drops are not as quite as enjoyable or rewarding as they are in WoW. There ARE more useable types of loot and more magic item drops; HOWEVER, they are all very, very generic. There is a Greatsword of Precision, a Greatsword of Might, a Greatsword of "such-and-such-a-stat". There are very few weapon and armor models, the weapons/armor are all generically named, and the only difference are a few points in what attribute is affected. There need to be more "boss-type" special loots. Not like dungeons, but just elite type named mobs that drop some nice named, custom, non-generic weapons and armor. These are very very few and far between in this game. Therefore getting loot is just not exciting or pleasurable.

    I have played this game quite a bit. I've really really TRIED to like it, because, after all, I spent $60 on it. But each time I play, I find myself getting bored and forcing myself to keep playing just because I don't want to feel like I wasted my money. But I can honestly say that I wish I would have had my $60 right now, and wouldn't really the miss the game.    … Expand
  27. natix
    Aug 16, 2015
    0
    it was a waist if my money every time i go to log in it thinks i'm trying to hack my own account even tho i know my username and password then to make it worse their tech support is of no help at all they just ask for the same info over and over again
  28. Thunderballs
    Oct 26, 2013
    4
    Guild Wars 2 is a bad game Let me spell it out for you.

    The whole game can be defined by one coin phrase that is used over and over by the GW2 community. The phrase I am reffering to is, "ZERG!" Yeah, you know The Zerg... zombi-esque space aliens that infest victims they overrun with their sheer numerical advantage. The ironic part of this is that the origin of the zerg comes from a    Guild Wars 2 is a bad game Let me spell it out for you.

    The whole game can be defined by one coin phrase that is used over and over by the GW2 community. The phrase I am reffering to is, "ZERG!" Yeah, you know The Zerg... zombi-esque space aliens that infest victims they overrun with their sheer numerical advantage. The ironic part of this is that the origin of the zerg comes from a game that's not a total steaming pile of dog crap. This must be why people can relate to the zerg so well, because most people know what game they are from. Even more ironically, the same people that developed the zerg... also developed another little fantastic game that goes by the name of World of Warcraft The single biggest and ruthless MMORPG out there that caters to PvE and PvP players alike.

    This one single term (ZEEEEEEEEEEEERG) pretty much sums up the entirety of PvP and PvE in GW2.

    For instance early level gameplay revolves around farming... Now if that doesn't sound boring already let me extrapolate on that even more. In the low level zones, people form a "zerg" (a large group of people who skip around the map without a care for zone content). The sole purpose of the group is to farm a few specific bosses on a spawn rotation over and over until they either get bored, give up, get trolled by other people farming the same bosses, or are satisfied to move on to other content.

    Further continuing on the explanation of PvE, are instances (dungeons). These group based zones consist of simply overwhelming enemies, running through them, or beating them by exploiting clearly broken mechanics that have not been fixed by ArenaNet since the games launch. Example being something along the lines of killing a group of enemies through a wall, while they cannot fight back and would normally be a challenge if the exploit did not exist.

    Now the game rewards high level players for playing low level content. I like this because it encourages group play, but when this aspect of the game BECOMES the endgame, it gets pretty boring pretty fast.

    So, what about PvP? The original Guild Wars had a fantastic PvP setup, so surely GW2 would expand upon that system right? No... Not at all. The game adopts an identical model to World of Warcraft.
    There are 2 different types of PvP.
    There are small arenas consisting of around 5 players. These PvP instances require you to obtain PvP specific gear. Before joining one of these instances you enter a lobby where you have access to vendors, all skills you would have at level 80, and all usable item types. Just another grind earn currency and spend it on PvP gear, which is only usable in the instanced pvp arenas.

    World vs World is pretty much the most disappointing thing I have seen in the game. This “crowning” development of PvP has been prasied by GW2 fans since pre-release. The sad fact is that it isn't anything we haven't already seen in World of Warcraft. Several realms (servers) compete over control of instanced zones for +benifits to things like crafting and experience gains. The zones have large keeps and trade routes making it seem very expansive. However, in order to get to these zones you have to queue for them through the interface. Yes they are instanced and yes their is a limit as to how many people can be in them. The only difference from WoW is that these zones are an ongoing conflict. In WoW a battleground lasts 30 minutes. In GW2 these WvW zones are essentially perpetual, resetting weekly to match the highest rated realms against one another. In WoW you can expect to wait about 30-40 seconds before your PvP queue pops and you can queue for ALL battlegrounds available to you. In GW2 you are limited to queuing for one WvW zone at a time and expect to wait anywhere from 30min to 4hours in queue. Once inside WvW we move back to that word again... A commander plays follow the leader by creating a zerg. People follow the commander and attempt to take out objectives along the way.

    However, TRUE WORLD PVP does exist in WoW, where it does not exist in GW2. In WoW a player can go to any zone (aside from the newbie zones) and slaughter people mercilessly. There are also world PvP objectives (that start around level 50) that players must take to secure PvE benefits for their faction.

    I am honestly surprised that no system like this was implemented into GW2. Why is that? Well the answer comes to us in the solo quest storyline. (I am level 68/80 and it’s fair to say that I gave an honest effort at attempting to enjoy this game.) The storyline pointed out that the races of Tyria (GW2) are banding together and setting aside their differences to play nicely together and live in harmony after they defeat the evil dragons. So, it's possible ArenaNet didn't want to make this type of hostile PvP enviorment simply due to the nature of the story.    … Expand
  29. Pecheckler
    Oct 7, 2012
    10
    I followed Guild Wars 2 religiously for years. I played every single available minute during the beta tests and stress tests. The PvE is better than any MMORPG overall, especially because it is fun, never frustrating or tedious. Exploration is especially enjoyable. My only dislikes are the lack of public group options, and World versus World PvP. WvW PvP is an unbalanced frustratingI followed Guild Wars 2 religiously for years. I played every single available minute during the beta tests and stress tests. The PvE is better than any MMORPG overall, especially because it is fun, never frustrating or tedious. Exploration is especially enjoyable. My only dislikes are the lack of public group options, and World versus World PvP. WvW PvP is an unbalanced frustrating mess. I spent over 100 hours over few weeks in WvW, and have since written it off. I have no plans of touching it until it is severely overhauled. However sPvP and PvE is very fun still. There is also a serious problem with hackers... something I've not seen hurt an MMO in nearly 8 years.… Expand
  30. ReggiWatson
    Mar 31, 2013
    7
    As a great fan of Guild Wars i set myself to purchase this game as soon as it was released. I was not (too much) disappointed, its a great game, and a must have in for any MMO players. Go ahead, buy it, its worth it.

    Why an 7 then? Well, despite being a great game, its not perfect. And its definitely not the experience i was expecting since i played for like almost 7 year of Guild Wars.    As a great fan of Guild Wars i set myself to purchase this game as soon as it was released. I was not (too much) disappointed, its a great game, and a must have in for any MMO players. Go ahead, buy it, its worth it.

    Why an 7 then? Well, despite being a great game, its not perfect. And its definitely not the experience i was expecting since i played for like almost 7 year of Guild Wars. Let me do this in topics of Pos and Cons.

    Pos:
    - Gorgeous Graphics. Certainly a very good upgrade.
    - Free group questing, If you are in the are with more random players, everyone contributes for that same quest.
    - 5 distinct and interesting races. (personally i never had any issue of having a full human race on GW)
    - Weapon and skills mechanic. Each weapon gives you a set of skill based on which hand its equipped. 3 skills for main hand, 2 for off hand. All 5 for a 2H weapon.
    - Dedicated skill slots. 1 for healing skill, 3 for support skills, 1 for an elite skill.
    - The removal of the "healer stress". Since everyone must have a healing skill, its up to you to make your own survival.
    - The last stand mechanic. Which allow you to get back into the battle after you have been defeated if you kill 1 enemy before the timer goes down.
    - The still rich lore.

    Cons:
    - Lost its originality, compared to the original GW. Its just your regular MMO now.
    - Old mechanics. Dungeons. Elite Mobs. Auction House. Regular "collect X", "kill Y" and such quests.
    - Instant travel now costs gold, compared to the free travel of the original GW.
    - Skill limitation. I loved to mess around with the enormous quantity of skills of GW, now classes like Engineer are limited to like 3-4 weapon sets.
    - Dual class system was removed.
    - Special class traits where removed. No more get energy with each dead enemy for necromancer, and such.
    - Some classes where removed. Hope they get back on an expansion or so.
    - Loss of tactical action. Since Monk was removed and everyone can heal themselves, you consider each class as a DPS. Just spam attack skills.

    There are some other things that where added that in my opinion bring nothing to the game:
    - Pseudo durability system. Pointless
    - Jumping key. Sorry, i think this was a huge fan service, i think its pointless to have it compared to GW, i liked the fact i could use the space bar to do focused actions and not jump.
    - The complete loss of character customization, where you had a complete different set of faces and hairs for each class (and campaign) in GW, now its just same sets for each race, leaving you probably recycling the same face/hair for many characters.
    - No more skill hunting. You get a weapon, you use it to train the skills, that's done.
    - Amped up level cap. Why? I loved the fact level cap was only 20 in GW, and the real game started from there on, where enemies got stronger and above that level cap. (lvl 31 Dragon Glint anyone?)

    Bottom line, Guild Wars 2 is a great game, but lost the Guild Wars originality and became mainstream. If you like WoW or SW TOR you will like this game, if you loved Guild Wars, you might get a bit disappointed with this new installment. Let's hope new expansion will make things different.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PC Game of 2012
5
#5 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 69
  3. 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. Gaming Nexus
    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.
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  3. RPG Fan
    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.
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