Guild Wars 2

Fuz

Mar 6, 2014

2

It was a good game, lot of potential. The premises (and prOmises) were amazing: No grinding, no gating...
Sure, it would have needed some bit of changes and fixes here and there (the greatest being the lacking of a proper LFG tool), but it was overall pretty great for a new MMO.
But with the Lost Shores patch they trashed it all. They broke ALL their promises, they went against their ownIt was a good game, lot of potential. The premises (and prOmises) were amazing: No grinding, no gating...
Sure, it would have needed some bit of changes and fixes here and there (the greatest being the lacking of a proper LFG tool), but it was overall pretty great for a new MMO.
But with the Lost Shores patch they trashed it all. They broke ALL their promises, they went against their own manifesto. They went for an HEAVY grind style, a terrible gear treadmill. On top of that, the economy is ruined and prices are a real problem, especially for new players. So, if you want to buy or craft something now you pretty much have to buy money from their shop, making this a Pay to Win game.
Really disappointed, it had potential, but now it's just another WoW clone, and WoW still does those things better.… Expand

Geist06

Aug 28, 2012

8

As I've been toying around with the pre-purchased head start, I've been enjoying myself in the universe of Guild Wars 2. Let me be fair by saying that I'm not a big MMO player (Tried several, and tend to get bored easily), and that I did play the original Guild Wars for a bit...

The quick n dirty: B. World feels alive. Fresh take on standard MMO quests. Fun classes. Excellent PvP.As I've been toying around with the pre-purchased head start, I've been enjoying myself in the universe of Guild Wars 2. Let me be fair by saying that I'm not a big MMO player (Tried several, and tend to get bored easily), and that I did play the original Guild Wars for a bit...

The quick n dirty: B. World feels alive. Fresh take on standard MMO quests. Fun classes. Excellent PvP. No monthly subscription - lots of content.

I think the game is pretty. It doesn't quite have the WoW cartoon style, but still sticks itself in a fantasy look. Easily scale-able to fit different machine configurations. Sure, if you've got a solid gaming PC - you'll not have any problem and you've probably seen tons better in different games before. But I feel that they work and fit the environment / atmosphere ArenaNet wants.

You do get 5 character slots (additional cost real world money). There are 5 different races and 8 classes. The races each have a fair amount of customization (some prebuild heads, hair, sliders to then adjust) to tweak your looks. Character classes, so far, all have a fairly unique design behind them. They feel fresh when you decide to branch out and try something else.

The environment is littered with random things to do. Dynamic Events replace the exclamation points. Sometimes they take a little while, as you could be one of three people doing a group collection quest. Other times, a whole raid worth of people will be there to utterly destroy whatever is happening. Random "boss style" encounters, defend X position, and other events appear as well just while you're out exploring. I prefer this to randomly running to a town, loading up on quests and setting out. Just feels like I'm out in the world and things are happening around me.

PvP and their W v W v W are pretty solid. Interesting. Dynamic. Definite team oriented combat slug fests. PvP you're boosted to max level, given appropiate leveled gear, and access to skills / talents for your level. Creates a fairly even playing field for you to go toe to toe against others in. Realm Fighting I haven't dove into much yet - but ganking is going to happen. Once again, Boosted to max level, but not with the gear (I think..) and skills I'm unsure of. With a team / guild, however, it'll be lots of fun.

I have yet to really get involved in crafting. Its more complex than other MMOs I've seen. Something that you could really loose yourself in for awhile. And it gives experience.... so those super crafty people may just harvest and build for their levels.

Lastly, price point. This is what sells it for me. The game costs as much as most new boxed games (and same price when MMOs first come out too). There isn't any monthly cost afterword. Sure, there are some item shop things (costumes, particular looks, extra character slots, boost potions), but I can go at my pace and leisure. I'm not a big fan of paying per month. And there is quite a bit of content.… Expand

Rumpelstiltskin

Aug 28, 2012

8

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros:
Beautiful scenery
Detailed character models
Intuitive and addicting crafting system
Smooth combat once adjusted to integrating dodging/weapon swapping into your combos

Cons:
Skill selection is highly limited to certain dedicated slots
Overflow (hopefully temporary) is highly irritating, especially when trying to coop with friends
There can be some level gaps when advancing through the story that force you to grind out a level or two
Clunky inventory/banking system
High repair and fast travel costs (compared to the rate at which money is earned)

First off, this isn't a bad game; not by a long shot. When Guild Wars 2 was first announced, I was ecstatic. I was looking forward to even deeper build customization and even deeper PvP. The original Guild Wars did so well what many MMO's failed to do on a massive level; and that was create a balanced and completely skill based PvP community. However, on being introduced to the beta and playing for a few days now on the headstart I realized the build customization and PvP took a small step back.

Gone are the days of tinkering with 1,000's of different skill combinations, putting any skill in any slot. No matter if it was a boon, a shout, an adrenaline attack, spell, etc. Now you have dedicated skill slots with considerably fewer choices. You are given a weapon with a minimal amount of skills to use, in fact you don't even get to pick the skills for whatever weapon you are using; they are predetermined and unlocked within five minutes of killing a few devourers. This can be problematic to players looking to say, build a straight up tank when many of the skills and abilities you can choose from wouldn't benefit your desired build. Slot skills, or utility skills, are the biggest selection but for many classes, a good majority of them are either no used to do to just being useless or, just aren't powerful enough to say, take the spot of something that would just give a large damage increase.

Secondly, the PvP has been largely turned into a massive zerg fest; and it has been directly affected by the changes to the skill slotting system I mentioned. Now that you are forced to only take a certain amount of each type of skill it cuts down the amount of possibilities considerably, and also lowers the usefulness of some classes to a degree; if a class cannot, say, choose to grab a bunch of cc or something like that they might be passed up entirely in favor of someone who provides raw damage; instead of 50% damage and 50% soft cc.

Third and last, and definitely least, the map/ui needs a lot of work. It is hard to tell where one zone ends and another begins. Which can become problematic when trying to clear out a zone or search vistas, points of interest or anything else regarding map exploration. While the absence of traditional quests is a fresh change of pace but it also presents a very big problem. Many world events take way too much time to not be considered a waste of time. especially when you could walk twenty feet in the other direction and complete a heart assist; not too mention you're not even guaranteed to get a gold contribution level or decent loot on completely what can sometimes be a 30-45 min world event. For example in Diessa Plateau, you help some townsfolk fend off a giant who is attacking their town. I spent 30 min helping roughly 20 people kill this sucker; guess what? I got a bronze contribution level even though I'd be willing to bet I did probably 10% of the damage and revived people over 50 times.

All in all, for an MMO of this size to be running so smoothly (compared to other launches), I am highly impressed. NCSoft has released a game that is subscription fee free, but has the content of other premium MMOs, and then some. What usually breaks a game at launch (massive server load without proper planning) has been alleviated somewhat buy the overflow system. It can be highly annoying but at least it has made the game playable and enjoyable. Hopefully it's only temporary as this game has massive potential with everything that has been implemented. Long story short, NCSoft has crafted a fantastic game that might not succeed in being better than it's predecessor, but, it succeeds in being a rich and engaging MMO with rich combat and a great story.… Expand

MuthSera

Sep 12, 2012

0

Pros> The game is so damn beautiful it's astonishing. The voice acting and pacing are pretty nice, for sure. Probably the best WoW-like MMO that I've ever played in every single aspect.. But this game only excels when compared to WoW.. which is like comparing yourself to a chimpanzee with down syndrome.
Cons> Guild wars 2 does not even began to compare to Guild wars 1 when it comes toPros> The game is so damn beautiful it's astonishing. The voice acting and pacing are pretty nice, for sure. Probably the best WoW-like MMO that I've ever played in every single aspect.. But this game only excels when compared to WoW.. which is like comparing yourself to a chimpanzee with down syndrome.
Cons> Guild wars 2 does not even began to compare to Guild wars 1 when it comes to PVP. PVP was all I did, really. We had the previous capability customize all our skills and come up with unique combinations, and we had the ability to select 2 classes. We had structured PVP, 4v4, GVG, HA, Hero Arenas, Codex Arena, Kurzicks vs Luxons in capture point battles, fort aspenwood, and even 2 team colaberative missions. We had hundreds of hexes with unique effects, now reduced to causing some condition or another. All of that was lost. I mean, I really think the game is AMAZINGLY polished, but what made guild wars 1 so damn good, what brought all us fans to it, was that it was very unlike WoW.. and BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THIS: In the ways that guild wars 2 is like WoW, it's better than WoW, but if it had been able to keep it's own unique strengths in the process instead of ditching them to be like WoW, we'd have really, actually, had the perfect game. :x I still have high hopes, however, as Arena net is nothing if not made up of brilliant members capable of correcting design mistakes.… Expand

VonBrewskie

Aug 28, 2012

8

I didn't give this game a perfect ten because it's in no way perfect. What is? I've seen lots of little bugs, lots of stuff that is dynamic, but not really that different from other MMOs. The "Go here, kill 10_ to progress" is still present, but it's done in an engaging way. The events around the world you can pick up on and take part in on the fly are extremely fun. There is someI didn't give this game a perfect ten because it's in no way perfect. What is? I've seen lots of little bugs, lots of stuff that is dynamic, but not really that different from other MMOs. The "Go here, kill 10_ to progress" is still present, but it's done in an engaging way. The events around the world you can pick up on and take part in on the fly are extremely fun. There is some "zerging" that happens in the more populated areas. (I just learned that term.) Honestly, more often than not your glad to have the help. The jumping puzzles are fun too. I will also be spending the next few days crafting. I'm...oddly attached to the gathering/crafting process. The 8 is a high mark from me for an MMO. I played World of Warcraft for 34 levels, (over maybe 3 months) on one character before I got bored altogether. I'm no expert on MMOs. I actually bought the game because a friend told me it would be a bit different. He was right. It's a bit different than what I'm used to. I really like it a lot. It's free to play so you really have nothing to lose. I highly recommend this game to anyone.… Expand

TitanKing

Aug 28, 2012

8

As excited as I was, disappointment soon set in. No tanks, no aggro, that is disappointing. But the most disappointing aspect of the game is the broken trading post whit is basically missing since pre-purchase. That is what MMO is all about. Overall, the game is not bad, but it is certainly missing a few things to make the game more exciting. Is it PvP factions, is it the characterAs excited as I was, disappointment soon set in. No tanks, no aggro, that is disappointing. But the most disappointing aspect of the game is the broken trading post whit is basically missing since pre-purchase. That is what MMO is all about. Overall, the game is not bad, but it is certainly missing a few things to make the game more exciting. Is it PvP factions, is it the character simplicity, is it missing true MMO soul? I don't know, as I progress, I hope to find something making the game more entertaining.… Expand

vahn

Feb 15, 2013

0

This is going to be my last attempt on trying to be serious on this game...since everytime I boot it up, it gets worse and worse everytime and I'm myself impressed by how bad this game gets the more I play. I have leveled over 50 and played a lot by exploring and doing all sort of quests, all sorts of actions, and again I tried the crafting after months of its release (since I bought it onThis is going to be my last attempt on trying to be serious on this game...since everytime I boot it up, it gets worse and worse everytime and I'm myself impressed by how bad this game gets the more I play. I have leveled over 50 and played a lot by exploring and doing all sort of quests, all sorts of actions, and again I tried the crafting after months of its release (since I bought it on launch). I initially said it was a great game due to the classes being well detailed, which ended up to be sort of a fake statement since all classes are basically "jack of all trades" class: you only get a different set of skills and while I appreciated the fact that they tried to remove the "holy trinity" (tank, dps, healer), this lack of feature makes every class basically a boredom due to the fact that you'll never feel unique: you're one of the crowd, and I don't see that point in a mmo where you'd wish to stand up among the crowd: it's that what makes an mmo worthwhile. I also mentioned how the game gives you different ways to quest. and events that are varied and different...but after a while you'll just discover that it's still the same quests just disguised as a "different" event, without mentioning that they can be boring too since you are, again, one of the crowd and I saw myself just spamming the same skills. About the skills, I initially mentioned that I liked it, but eventually I opened my eyes and I saw just how limited it was, since you'll just be spamming 5 skills in total, plus 5 more that can be set by yourself later on...but it is just not enough to keep the game fresh and I remember being bored just after few weeks of gameplay after release. Also the combat states that they hoped to be dynamic and always on the move, by giving you also the possibility to dodge and to fight while moving...and again you'll see just as a disguise for the same old routine; the dodge works sporadically and unless you're EXTREMELY precise, you can still be hit and make your dodge completely useless. Also, you have only 2 dodges, and once you're over you can easily stand still: even if you run their hit range is bigger than yours, and unfortunely this leads into some very overpowered enemies that can take basically 1/10 of your health in one hit (worst example: as a warrior, I received a critical hit of 990 from a NON-veteran/elite enemy...and I was level 11-12, and had only 890+ hp). It is engaging at times...and at first, but then you'll see the truth in a second: it's not fun and it is repetitive. I also mentioned how the shared resources is good...and is still good! But on the other hand the crafting system, while a little improved by lowering some items (I "think"...) it still remains hard to improve and I honestly never tried to improve it due to the fact that it requires so much material grinding that it would turn off any will of trying. And while some may say "get a guild" or "use a guide" to me, I say instead if I'm forced to ask for help, what's to enjoy about the professions?". The graphics are still great and I haven't got much to say: it still remains the best graphics I've seen so far. Although, the dubbing can be mediocre at times. The story, while I liked that you could create a story for your avatar, it's the same as the rest of the game: it's just a disguise that after some quests completely disappears and reveals nothing more than a simple questline with choices to make (which changes only few things by the way). While interesting, AGAIN, the freshness disappears rapidly and becomes a boring campaign that shows nothing more, and nothing less. I also mentioned that while there are 5 races, this is the game where I basically played one, since most of the races are...ugly. This is still personal and while I enjoy that they added more races than the first game, to me the human is still the only good race to play with (or the charr: they're awesome!). And for last, the community. I play in one of the most crowded server (Aurora Glade) and everytime I play...I hardly see anybody around! What happened? Even when I started a new character the places had barely few people around: I was playing alone all the time! Nobody even talked in the general chat (except cities) and while I'm not at cap level yet I've seen more players in the starting zones in many other MMORPGs, and this game supposed to encourage team work! That alone is why I quit, and why everyone should be aware of this game: I wouldn't bother if it wasn't of it's welcoming appearence but it soon shows how fake all the premise was and how basically it has nothing fresh into it. Not the worst MMORPG, but it's very close to it. You have been warned.… Expand

BrosefStalin

Aug 28, 2012

7

Being a fan of the original Guild Wars I decided to buy the second one. I was very pleased, the gameplay is smooth, has a lot of customization and the story (in my experience) was entertaining. Also the graphical quality is very nice for an MMO. The game was however streamlined to be more like other MMO's which might turn off a few of the original Guild Wars fans. However it is wellBeing a fan of the original Guild Wars I decided to buy the second one. I was very pleased, the gameplay is smooth, has a lot of customization and the story (in my experience) was entertaining. Also the graphical quality is very nice for an MMO. The game was however streamlined to be more like other MMO's which might turn off a few of the original Guild Wars fans. However it is well executed and well done.… Expand

otinanai

Sep 12, 2012

3

GW2 starts off very strong in the first 20 levels but most players quickly realize how poor the quest(dynamic event/heart) variety is. I can't even count how many times I had to defend a camp from X waves of enemies, or collect objects on the ground for an NPC. Entering a new zone doesn't feel new at all. Dynamic events become trivial when the players make a zerg, and most are impossibleGW2 starts off very strong in the first 20 levels but most players quickly realize how poor the quest(dynamic event/heart) variety is. I can't even count how many times I had to defend a camp from X waves of enemies, or collect objects on the ground for an NPC. Entering a new zone doesn't feel new at all. Dynamic events become trivial when the players make a zerg, and most are impossible when solo/duo.

The game makes it difficult and not fun to group with friends. If you get 20 meters away from someone in your group, they disappear both on the screen and on the map. Doing hearts pretty much forces group members to solo, and ignoring hearts doesn't feel right as you are skipping a lot of content.

The PvE endgame is mediocre at best. The level 80 zone requires absolutely no skill, only a big enough zerg, time and patience.

PvP combat is plagued by poor class balance and unnecessary new features like the downed state, which creates frustration whether you kill or die. sPvP is completely cut off from the rest of the game, and its progression is only cosmetic, which only a small minority of players will find interesting.

WvW has poor performance on most computers (for example my PC gets 60+ fps in PvE but only 15 in large battles in WvW), lacks any progression which will turn off most PvPers, and only allows one and only one playstyle if you want to be effective: Zerging. Arena.net tried to imitate DAoC's brilliant RvR, but they decided not to copy important features like realm ranks/realm points, long duration crowd control and 8-man groups (to allow more playstyles like group vs group, small group, soloing) and a huge PvP dungeon like the amazing Darkness Falls.

The positives are that the game is buy to play and doesn't require a subscription, and that the developers seem to have ambition, which gives me hope that the game might improve over the next years.… Expand

Epsilum

Aug 28, 2012

5

NOTE: Take reviews both bad and good with a pinch of salt for they are only opinions and not gospel. Fanboys and Haters would have scored the game 0 or 10 before it was even released. By all means read, but check out vid's as well and make an informed decision.

MY OPINION: Another fantasy MMORPG *sighs* , So much hype, so much potential wasted. One thing this game isn't and that is aNOTE: Take reviews both bad and good with a pinch of salt for they are only opinions and not gospel. Fanboys and Haters would have scored the game 0 or 10 before it was even released. By all means read, but check out vid's as well and make an informed decision.

MY OPINION: Another fantasy MMORPG *sighs* , So much hype, so much potential wasted. One thing this game isn't and that is a revolution of the MMO genre. It's more of and evolution making the game more accessible for the casual market. It does nothing new just adds it's only twist to systems seen before and sometimes better in other games. But that evolution comes at a price, the game has a very Xbox feel, offering little challenge. GRAPHICS: Are good, a bit to cartoony for my taste but they do the job but are not groundbreaking in anyway. PVE: GW1 was a mainly PvP game and it shows, GW2's PvE is the standard mix of kill x quests and Dynamic Events set on a repeat cycle , quickly becoming boring and degenerating into a zerg train.
PVP: So much potential with the WvW but not fully realised yet by Anet, when the player strategies come to the for it wil be much better but at the moment is just another zerg. The long queues are to be expected but adding PvE elements to the maps has only added to the problem. To many slots are filled by those just doing the said PvE and not PvP .
COMBAT: Is very limited and brings nothing new to the standard key sequence button mash of other games. Hit 1, Hit 1 again, Hit 2 then Hit 1 again . Same old same old system thats seen before. Active dodge and LoS mechanics add a small tactical element but don't save it from being mundane
GENERAL: Badly voiced and scripted NPC's that drifts from mediorce > to cheesey > to downright bad.
Certain bugs and Missing features such as the Trading house are to be expected for a new launch and will be addressed in due time and do not effect my score.
SUMMARY: GW2 is marmite, it will be loved or loathed based on your own personal taste, but any potential buyer should inform themselves fully before a purchase and do not just follow the hype generated by the fans… Expand

Koala5

Aug 28, 2012

6

Is it a good game? Well, it's not a bad one... however you should know that the hype has painted an unrealistic picture of how good the game really is. On the surface its a solid, well crafted game with few technical flaws and a good eye for details that shines through in things like the crafting. It's certainly among the better MMO's to have been released in recent years. But... at theIs it a good game? Well, it's not a bad one... however you should know that the hype has painted an unrealistic picture of how good the game really is. On the surface its a solid, well crafted game with few technical flaws and a good eye for details that shines through in things like the crafting. It's certainly among the better MMO's to have been released in recent years. But... at the end of the day it's really not much more fun than it's fantasy MMO contemporaries. At least where PvE is concerned.

Sure it mixes things up somewhat, and the dynamic events that temporarily changes the "lay of the land" are interesting. However it is still very much like the questing in all the other MMO's you have played. Same old, different wrapping. Grind X or collect Y, often longer and with less variety than other games due to the open nature of the events. I guess my main gripe is that GW2 is almost to streamlined, most of the time there is little challenge to be had, all while moving at a really fast pace. And that may be one reason why I found it difficult to get attached to several aspects of the game. While the graphical design is good and certainly doesn't bother me, it does however look dated in places if that should be a concern.

Many will find pleasure in GW2, but I'm afraid I'm not one of them. GW2 simply doesn't bring anything profound to the table. So if like me, you are tired of the same old easy cookie cutter fantasy MMO's, chances are your time in Tyria would be short lived as well.

It's simple, mindless fun, no more, no less.… Expand

Lolbbqcabbage

Aug 28, 2012

6

I'm quite unsure with my feelings on Guildwars 2. First of graphically it's not a terrible game, how ever it feels a bit dated in terms of it. Textures for anything other than armour and weapons is rather "meh" nothing special about them, they all appear somewhat blurry and lacking in detail. Water reflections are beautiful as well as shadows, but the water does lack allot of tessellation.I'm quite unsure with my feelings on Guildwars 2. First of graphically it's not a terrible game, how ever it feels a bit dated in terms of it. Textures for anything other than armour and weapons is rather "meh" nothing special about them, they all appear somewhat blurry and lacking in detail. Water reflections are beautiful as well as shadows, but the water does lack allot of tessellation. Its just seems to be an animated texture. They need more options for those with higher end systems, I understand this is an MMO and they target a broad market of people and systems, but it's quite disappointing to have system that could do so much more.

In terms of gameplay, it feels lackluster. Yes it's a completely new system to Guildwars 1, but I feel the new improvements have no place. Even though you can roll to try get away from opponents, it does nothing they still with out fail deal damage to you. So the rolling system is just pointless to have. When It comes to questing its all the things we are familiar to. They do throw in a few quests where you get to control a giant cannon etc etc they still feeling kinda boring.

The way point and point of interests are just repetitive and will drain hours of time trying to reach all of them in areas. You will find the majority of the game is just doing these anyway, they "Help quests" (The gold heart ones) Are pretty much all the same "Clear an area of X monster and fix X or collect X"

PVP is a large chunk of the game (as was Guildwars 1) But Guildwars 2 pvp is pretty much the same as Guildwars 2 except Guildwars 2 introduces the concept of World vs World. Which is quite addictive, but the large amount of players on causes a fair amount of lag. If you loved PVP in the first you will love it in the second.

I personally am not attached to the game as I was with the first. The first Guildwars I could play for 6 hours+ straight easily. Everything I did had a charm to it, which made the game more enjoyable. I fail to have this connection with Guildwars 2, It's NOT a bad game by all means. I'm sure there are plenty who will love it. I just believe it lacks something to it, I can't play for more than 2 hours with being bored or over it, everything I do seems all the same and quite bland.

How ever this is all JUST my opinion. Which I am sharing to you all.… Expand

Coeco

Dec 3, 2012

4

Ah, Guild Wars 2. How the Internet have been waiting for you so long. What are they greeted with? A polished wow-clone. Channeling spells, lag, outdated graphics for it's time and an insane amount of bribes going to the critiques to cough out "Unique combat system" quotes whenever possible. As much as I like one-time fees, like with single-player games, it will only do harm to MMORPG'sAh, Guild Wars 2. How the Internet have been waiting for you so long. What are they greeted with? A polished wow-clone. Channeling spells, lag, outdated graphics for it's time and an insane amount of bribes going to the critiques to cough out "Unique combat system" quotes whenever possible. As much as I like one-time fees, like with single-player games, it will only do harm to MMORPG's because they will need a steady stream of income to offer a continuous service. Otherwise, bankruptcy or P2W is inevitable. This fate can already be hinted towards on how they locked out the ability to purchase the game, being too cheap to have an adequate amount of availability on the servers while banning more users than Origin, clever NCsoft. In It's core, the game isn't by any means bad but it's just very, very, very average.… Expand

stratzvyda

Aug 28, 2012

5

Game is fantastic, support is an unholy abomination. On top of taking days to get a response, all bans are treated the same as the system and accuse you of wrongdoing. If say someone from china tries to access your account, you immediately boot them off and change your password. A few hours later they'll helpfully ban you and a message accusing you of "unacceptable behavior" pops upGame is fantastic, support is an unholy abomination. On top of taking days to get a response, all bans are treated the same as the system and accuse you of wrongdoing. If say someone from china tries to access your account, you immediately boot them off and change your password. A few hours later they'll helpfully ban you and a message accusing you of "unacceptable behavior" pops up when you log in, but they won't even email you to let you know the real reason so you need to wait a day to get an automated response and it's probably going to be a few more days to get it fixed. Additionally you can't party up with your friends because the overflow system is broken. Gameplay is enjoyable however, and very beautiful scenery.… Expand

ZteamOverlord

Sep 3, 2012

3

So when I started the game, I was impressed by the voice acting and the polish of the graphics. I was also impressed with the amount of character classes i could choose between. I was also impressed with the idea of being able to customize my character's story line by choices made before the game began. Once the first 5 hours of game play was completed I was then let down by a tediousSo when I started the game, I was impressed by the voice acting and the polish of the graphics. I was also impressed with the amount of character classes i could choose between. I was also impressed with the idea of being able to customize my character's story line by choices made before the game began. Once the first 5 hours of game play was completed I was then let down by a tedious quest sytem, repetitive random events and ptiful PVP system. Im just going to get this out of the way right away, I come from the old school of everquest, Asheron's call, Ultima online ect... and am really only interested in pvp but i can apreciate a deep story driven PVE system like The Old Republic Online. In the old days you had an active choice to make at the beginning. Do I join a PVP server or a PVE server, This game gives you no option witch worried me right away. As I am going through playing multiple classes and multiple levels feeling real lonely because the quest system does not encourage teaming up, instead if you happen to be in the same area as another player,guess what, you are a team, and once the event is over you all disperse, never exchanging names or talking at all because well, what the point? Ok so I kept on going, deciding to join the pvp system at lvl 20 just so I knew what I was doing with the character before I joined. I expected a dynamic PVP experience. Instead all i got was a chaotic combat system and yet another linear experience. Go here to defend this, Run here to defend that, with no clear and defined rolls to play in the battle.The PVP was just like the rest of the game, Linear and lonely. Overall i cannot give the game the lowest score because it has pretty looking skills and spells with clean graphics that cover up a hollow role playing experience. in short, good graphics, linear and repetitive PVE experience, and pathetic and totaly seperate from the game PVP sytem. Not exactly what i was expecting, but when its free to play, how good can it be? as a side note, what the hell happened to open world PVP servers where anything goes? I miss those days.… Expand

heech

Aug 28, 2012

2

I haven't gamed much over the past decade, so I'm not "tired" of WoW-type style games like others might be. I started playing SWTOR earlier this year, and fell in love with much of it.. but with so many people checking out GW2 (and also a lot of questions about TOR's future), I decided to try it as well. But... it's just not working for me. I don't understand those who insist GW2'sI haven't gamed much over the past decade, so I'm not "tired" of WoW-type style games like others might be. I started playing SWTOR earlier this year, and fell in love with much of it.. but with so many people checking out GW2 (and also a lot of questions about TOR's future), I decided to try it as well. But... it's just not working for me. I don't understand those who insist GW2's graphics are superior to TOR. I heartily disagree. Looking at the animations of my toon, looking at how he + other players appear.. to my eyes, it's just decades apart.. with what I see in GW2, it's literally something I might have seen 10+ years ago. The scenary on GW2 is certainly well done if you go for that artistic style, but not good enough that I really care about "vistas".

I'm also just not that impressed with the gameplay. Someone compared to the SW:TOR style of combat to "playing a piano" (in a dismissive/critical sense). Well, I actually liked that... a lot. I have 2 quick bars = 24 keys I use in literally every single warzone on TOR. I'm constantly watching CDs + my opponents cast bar, working with LOS, and rotating through actions as appropriate. In contrast, I think the 5 + a few buttons in GW2 makes combat extremely boring. I auto-attack, occasionally evade, and hit whatever is off CD. I really found it extremely boring to play, and quit after about an hour. (Maybe console players used to smashing 1-2 keys will find it just fine?)

I love GW2's WvWvW layout though. If there was a way to combine that with the SW:TOR's combat interface, I would be in heaven.… Expand

HelloWTF22

Aug 29, 2012

0

We'll start with the dated graphics. once again an MMO designer makes a game to run in the lowest systems making a mediocre graphics experience for everyone. Then we continue with the character controls. Floaty and disconnected. You start an attack and your character takes over - you don't have real control over it.. Just like a dog you tell "attack" and "stop" and lead by a leash.We'll start with the dated graphics. once again an MMO designer makes a game to run in the lowest systems making a mediocre graphics experience for everyone. Then we continue with the character controls. Floaty and disconnected. You start an attack and your character takes over - you don't have real control over it.. Just like a dog you tell "attack" and "stop" and lead by a leash. Auto-attacks and tab target, once more. Not even SWTOR relied on auto-attacks and they criticized its combat as WoW clone. This is far more clonish to WoW than anything else I've played in the genre. In fact, Ranger plays the exact same as Hunter. Their in game Cash Store is ever present like any F2P title, hounding you to conveniently purchase with cash things that will take you more work to get online. People already simply purchase advantages in PvP and save themselves the time. Finally its players are very much like a cult - they'll hound anyone not sharing a perfect opinion of GW like a pariah. Death threats have been lobbed on personal emails, that's how fanatical they get. Between the mediocre gameplay, dated graphics, and mindless- aggressive cult core of players it's something to stay away from.… Expand

Katabug

Aug 29, 2012

3

Try this game before you buy it! Borrow a friends account or wait for a free trial or something, but don't spend money on it until you actually know what you're buying into. There's not much more I can say that the other negative reviewers haven't already covered. But this game is simply not worth $60 ($20 maybe). Don't fall for the hype!

Livskis

Dec 9, 2014

7

I'm a 2+ year veteran of this game and have been playing since launch. I have 3000+ hours logged on all my characters combined. This is hands down the best MMO out there. The graphics are fantastic. The character models and animations are amazing. The combat is the best combat out of any MMO that I've ever played, and I've never had as much fun leveling a character in other games as I haveI'm a 2+ year veteran of this game and have been playing since launch. I have 3000+ hours logged on all my characters combined. This is hands down the best MMO out there. The graphics are fantastic. The character models and animations are amazing. The combat is the best combat out of any MMO that I've ever played, and I've never had as much fun leveling a character in other games as I have in this one

On the other hand, the game hasn't changed much since launch. The developers are SLOW at releasing patches. In the PvE department, Arenanet is experimenting with their Living Story which is about 30-60 minutes of new content released every 2 weeks followed by an endless grind for cosmetic gear. There is no end game. The hardest dungeon in the game is called Fractals, and it's incredibly easy even on the hardest difficulty. To reach to the hardest difficulty you need to run this dungeon 50 times, each time advancing in a difficulty tier. Furthermore, during the later levels you receive an irremovable debuff that will just kill you until you have the right gear. To obtain the right gear you complete Fractals over and over and over again for an item that will drop once per run per day in addition to crafting armors and weapons with dozens of materials that, again, you can only create once per day. It's a long and tedious grind that becomes stale very quickly.

The world bosses, while impressive looking, are stationary structures (yes they are actually classified as structures and not creatures) that occasionally fling attacks at you. For the majority of the world bosses, players gather at its feet and attack its toes until it dies and don't even get me started on the game's primary antagonist. Everything is just disappointing.

World vs World vs World (or WvW) is a mode that pits 3 different servers together for control of various structures in 5 different and huge maps. At first it was amazing. The giant battles that were waged at launch were simply spectacular, if not rough on my PC. However there are glaring balance issues in this mode from the different types of food you can eat which grant you obscene buffs that would just break the game. Furthermore as a competitive PvP player, I did not find much competition. There were instances where I would face off against 10+ people by myself and would end up victorious. Of course I can't completely fault Arenanet for the prowess, or lack thereof, of the players of its game. But quite frankly the game mode doesn't promote skill progression as much as it does reliance on gear and food.

PvP is the game mode which I enjoy and play the most. One of GW2 PvP's biggest strengths is the even playing field. There is no gear or level advantage. When you enter the PvP area you are immediately boosted to max level and have all your abilities unlocked. You are also given the same equipment as everyone else. Then it's all a matter of entering an arena and brawling. However like I said earlier, Arenanet is incredibly slow at releasing patches. This is very problematic when it comes to balance. For example, at a certain point in time Arenanet overbuffed the Warrior class and did not tone it down for over a year. Warriors dominated the entire PvP scene and simply put it was not fun to play (I do not play a Warrior). Balance patches come every 6 months and often aren't great though the current metagame is quite good.

There is only one game mode and quite frankly it's extremely stale 2+ years in. The devs have promised new things and, once again, are extremely slow at delivering. New content is being worked on they said over a year ago. A big problem with this single game mode is that Arenanet has balanced the classes in accordance to this game mode. That means if and when new game modes are released, there will be glaring balance issues. For example the current and only game mode is conquest which focuses on capturing and holding points. The Thief, which is an assassin type class, have a build that's focused on stealth. It's nearly unkillable and deals a lot of damage but isn't commonly used because while in stealth you cannot capture or prevent the capture of a point. If something like deathmatch is introduced, these once useless builds will now be dominating and further toss balance into disarray. And we do not want this because of the speed in which Arenanet releases patches.

The PvP population is extremely tiny relative to other competitive games. There are a few community organized tournaments every week/month and the same teams win every time simply because there is no competition. Part of that I attribute to the toxicity of the community. While nothing compared to other communities like DotA or LoL, players in this game just can't seem to get along much less form a team with one another.

I've run out of room so I'll just say that despite my disappointment for the potential of the game and the ineptitude of the devs, I still think it's the best MMO out there. Buy it now… Expand

SpaceRaptor

Jun 21, 2015

6

It's not awful, but it's not all that great either. While I don't hate this game, since people give it so much praise I'm going to focus on where it falls short. GW2 advertises itself as a lot of things that are only really quarter truths. I think the most outlandish false advertising was the "dynamic event system". To quote:

"The living world of Guild Wars 2 is filled with thousands ofIt's not awful, but it's not all that great either. While I don't hate this game, since people give it so much praise I'm going to focus on where it falls short. GW2 advertises itself as a lot of things that are only really quarter truths. I think the most outlandish false advertising was the "dynamic event system". To quote:

"The living world of Guild Wars 2 is filled with thousands of dynamic events that constantly change based on the actions of players like you. You never know what you’ll discover when you log in!"

This is true, until you log in the second time. The "events" are inherently no different than your standard "My dog **** on my neighbour's lawn so I need you to to deliver this apology cake 3 meters due south." generic MMO quest. The only thing GW2 changed is that now they walk and talk, and you have to repeat them over and over and over and over. And no they don't impact the world in any meaningful way because just as there are no permanent consequences, there are no permanent solutions.

Some other half truths from their video on their combat page: "If a big attack comes your way, you can dodge roll out of the way" - Yes, if your endurance is full. And you can only dodge roll twice before you have to wait for it to recharge, making it feel entirely pointless. "It has the action of a shooter, the strategy of an RTS and the depth of an mmo". Haha, no. The action is entirely third person and repetitive. The "strategy" is practically non existent given the ridiculous limitations on evasion, cool downs, heals, skills, blocks and what have you. A common cause of death is not lack of skill, but lack of skills.

The story is at points questionable, laughable or boring. The writers start by trying to prop you up as an unbelievable speshul snowflake which is most evident in the human starting story, where despite the military evacuating the entire town allow you, random civilian #4832, to stay and fight for no apparent reason. Or perhaps the Norn, where at level 1 you slay an ice wurm people widely praise and give you a title for and they continue to praise you for it even when you get to a level that you could've one shot it at.

I should also mention both story and game mechanic wise, NPCs are inherently useless unless they're Trahearne. In which case, he is a paradox of being the most uselessly important person in the entire world. By this point the writers are really trying to make you feel like you're just another John Smith in a world populated by characters no inherently more important or special than the other. While commendable in theory, it's entirely awful in execution given Trahearne just takes credit for everything you do.

In one of their promotional videos before the release of the core game, one Anet spokesperson said something along the lines of “If you're a FPS gamer you'll like playing Guild Wars 2”. Hilarious, because my boyfriend who exclusively plays only FPS and RTS games absolutely reviled this game. I could never get him to play it with me for more than an hour. His major gripes being the combat system which I already semi elaborated on (and it hits harder for FPS/ RTS gamers) and the levelling system (linearity).

You're very much locked into an area of what you can do via arbitrary numbers. And you're not rewarded for seeking out challenges (I mean real challenges, not the “but it's your level” kind of challenge), in fact you're outright punished for it. And if we keep in mind how relatively fast it is to level, the entire system just makes itself redundant. You could have maps and characters where everything is just “a challenge” instead of a level, but instead you're punished every time you make a new character by being restricted to repeating the same content over and over. “Oh god, not this event/ map again”. And then there's dead maps problem caused by this.

And speaking of end game, there isn't one. Yes, by all technical means there are things to do at level 80. The problem is, these are the same things you've already being doing in your treadmill climb to end level. Anet did at one point say "The whole game is the end game". That is the one whole truth they've said. So you kind of end up with a game that is marginally more enjoyable than your average MMO by a couple inches, but after a couple level 80's and tiring of the lack of features you find yourself logging in maybe once a month to play one new content release, get bored of it and then let it collect dust on your desktop till the next time you get bored of your other games.

The one good thing I can say about GW2 is you don't feel like you have to spend a year to catch up to other players when you do return. Given this, I wouldn't call it a waste of money.

In summary, meh. It's kind of OK.… Expand

DukeRaoul

Jun 21, 2013

5

Ah, I just wrote a five thousand character review. I reached the limit, and prepared to backspace a few times, then a few seconds later everything I wrote was gone. I don't think I'll be writing another review on this site. Nonetheless, an extremely brief summary of what I wrote:
-Reasonably good graphics, though that's not really important
-Arenanet lied to their fans and a lot of theAh, I just wrote a five thousand character review. I reached the limit, and prepared to backspace a few times, then a few seconds later everything I wrote was gone. I don't think I'll be writing another review on this site. Nonetheless, an extremely brief summary of what I wrote:
-Reasonably good graphics, though that's not really important
-Arenanet lied to their fans and a lot of the stuff promised in the promotional content isn't true the 'dynamically changing world' is utter claptrap (all it comes down to is you being unable to teleport to certain waypoints at times and a bunch of monsters roaming around those areas, wahey) and the game was going to lack a gear treadmill 'fixed' in the Southsun Cove patch (another promise broken)
-Abilities are not enjoyable, and you're far more limited than you think one ability is just an autoattack, elite skills are next to useless, so you're practically limited to eight abilities (with one being a mere generic heal). You'll find your preferences quickly and probably never change out again, meaning you're using the same eight abilities with very little strategy no complexity equates to no enjoyability or actual 'gameplay'
-Events are quite literally nothing more than 'Zerg rushes'. This is an undeniable fact; the more people involved, the better spam your eight abilities and hope for victory. If repeating this over and over sounds fun to you, Guild Wars 2 has you covered
-The game DOES have some positive points, such as four unique races not seen in any other fantasies that have some genuine lore and personality behind them; something I'm sure any fantasy fan would appreciate who's tired of the typical 'orcs and humans' format (or just humans in the case of some fiction)
-The personal story is a joke. The first half; you'll feel like you're experiencing the outcome of those background choices you made and truly enjoying your own 'personal story'. Around half way through, you encounter a sylvari called Trahearne, and without spoiling anything (though why you'd care about spoilers for the plot devoid of quite literally... er, everything, emotion, intrigue, drama etc), the story is now about Trahearne, not you. You are his mere accomplice and sidekick; enjoy taking a back seat for the rest of what was meant to be your 'personal story did I mention Trahearne is a character without any distinguishable personality and likeability and is something most people would consider a 'Mary Sue'? That's the guy who's taking over, folks!
-Arenanet has committed to some particularly scandalous behaviour. There have been several controversies over so-called 'exploits' that were merely poor programming on the behalf of Arenanet. The most well known of which was the case where over four thousand accounts were banned within the first month for simply purchasing items that Arenanet had mistakenly given a low price no other company to my knowledge would take such a brash action; certainly not the exemplary Blizzard of which almost all MMORPGs are compared to the infamous WoW. However, evading comparing the two, Arenanet made some ridiculous decisions that simply boggle the mind and suggest inexperience on their behalf they damaged their reputation while banning players who could potentially purchase from the real money store in the future, rather than fixing a simple error that was undeniably THEIR FAULT you should never be punished for taking advantage of an opportunity; especially when it's extremely vague that it's an 'exploit' anyhow

Overall, would I suggest you buy Guild Wars 2? Actually, yes. Because despite all these immense drawbacks, it's still an undeniably fun game. However, with its many flaws, I have to give an extremely mixed review as it feels like the game is outright broken in some regards while spectacular in other ways. As of current, I believe any future content will only improve the game although that could just me being optimistic. Good luck, Arenanet.… Expand

MarcTryon

Jul 16, 2014

6

This is a game a really wanted to like and I did give it a good six months. It has beautiful character models, an fun combat system, a non-gear based pvp system, and dynamic content (DC). The latter, DC, is what really got my attention, and is, in fact, what the publisher hyped about the game.

Other things are interesting too, from the little (account wide banks and currency) to theThis is a game a really wanted to like and I did give it a good six months. It has beautiful character models, an fun combat system, a non-gear based pvp system, and dynamic content (DC). The latter, DC, is what really got my attention, and is, in fact, what the publisher hyped about the game.

Other things are interesting too, from the little (account wide banks and currency) to the big, especially the hub-free questing.

Yet, somehow, for me, the whole is much less than the sum of its parts. I did enjoy maxing out a few characters and exploring the world. But after all, it just seemed a bit stale. The DC is quite weak in the end, much less interesting to me than RIFT's DC. The questing gets tedious and, quest-granting method aside, is still the same old kill-this/fetch that.

Maybe they fixed this in the last few months but when I left, many folks were doing a very dull zone boss spawn loop in the starting zones collecting goodies. It was quick, it was efficient, and it was terribly boring. It's also a travesty of dynamic content: yes you had to wait for a boss to spawn but they spawned in the exact same order. No variation in timing or bosses.

Pre-launch they promised that your actions would affect the world. If those in zone don't stop the bandits poisoning the water supply, it remains poisoned. Trouble is, while sometimes it does get poisoned, it doesn't really have any effect and more typically, if an event fails, you just immediately go to the next "fix it" step in the chain, essentially getting a slightly longer version of the quest.

PVP was fun for a while and I think the cosmetic gear only rewards is interesting but A) why couldn't I wear this gear as town-wear so I could show it off outside of PVP and B) after level 30 or so, there was 50 or more levels of grind before there was any more gear I was interested in.

In the end, I just got bored with it. I do sometimes pine for those gorgeous character models and sexy gear but when I pop on again after the publisher sends me their latest hook, I feel the same distaste for the game that I felt for WoW after playing it for three years solid. I just can't face the tedium. There's too little to hold my attention.

Most of the gamers I know are the same way- fun for a while but easy to move on to something else. So if you can get it cheap, I think you can expect a few months of play out of it but don't be surprised if it does not hold your long term interest.… Expand

MothaFlippin

Aug 10, 2014

5

First of, this game has an amazing potential with it's innovative action-based combat system and awesome PvE. From the moment you create your character you get to know the main mechanics of the game and of your class. The classes give you big variety and a lot to choose from.
From level 1 to 80 the game is amazing, lots of exploration, a nice way of telling you the plot and making yourFirst of, this game has an amazing potential with it's innovative action-based combat system and awesome PvE. From the moment you create your character you get to know the main mechanics of the game and of your class. The classes give you big variety and a lot to choose from.
From level 1 to 80 the game is amazing, lots of exploration, a nice way of telling you the plot and making your character progress through that plot. The exp rate is high making it a smooth expirience and not focusing a lot on repetitive grinding quests. The new dynamic events are pretty good however could be better. You can easily reach lvl cap (80) in about a month and from that moment on the game just goes downhill.
After you hit lvl cap the game turns into a gigantic grind fest, with everything in the game consisting of mindlessly zerging around certain zones and that's it. The PvE after reaching lvl 80 is all that, there is no character progression everything you do is grind grind and grind for a hope of better skins, you have no objectives nor rewards for doing better or poorly at certain situations. There are a few dungeons (about 5) in the entire game, which are pretty decent but that get pretty repetitive and boring after a while with no enemy mechanics other than: "Dodge or Die/Get Knocked Back into a Hole".
The game population has been decreasing a LOT with the bad decisions and back feedback of the devs that seem to let everyone confused. Dubious the development paths being taken day after day, the developers seem to ignore most of the requests on the forums and just do their own thing.
The PVP and WvW is a mess (even tho it's still probably the best PvP MMORPG game), with certain classes just being dominant in every aspect and other classes just being completly irrelevant since day 1 of this game.
The lack of patches to focus on balancing classes just lead to classes such as Warrior being dominant both in PvE and PvP with no one to ever representing any kind of challenge to them and other classes (eg Ranger) being so weak that it doesn't justify having any of them in any part of the game.
The lack of holy trinity (Healer, Tank, DPSer) instead of leading to everyone feel useful just leads to everyone feeling useless and easily replacable and just leads to not justifying any build other than full-DPS.
Overall the game represents no challenge at any point, badly balanced (leading to a bad WvW / sPvP expirience), with little to no-content being added and dubious development paths being taken over and over again.
If you are looking for maybe a month or so of content, go ahead, otherwise you will be very quickly hit in the face by boring and monotonous events.… Expand

Phantomassassin

Feb 21, 2014

10

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Better than TOR, The Secret World, and TERA, all things considered.
I've been purchasing every major MMO release this year and have left extremely disappointed each time. I would log in, see "kill X and Y", do the standard number mashing combat that you find in every MMO, and end up unsubscribing. I did try to give these games my all and see if I could break past the tedium, but I could not.… Expand

TimTeamTebow

Nov 15, 2014

7

I have a little over 1000 hours into GW2 and I really enjoy it.
The only real complaint I have is with the devs.
The game just isn't growing the way it really should. They've added 2, maybe 3, new PvE areas and a new World vs World vs World area since release. They've added a lot of cosmetic items and items to craft, but I wouldn't call that something that all players could enjoy.I have a little over 1000 hours into GW2 and I really enjoy it.
The only real complaint I have is with the devs.
The game just isn't growing the way it really should.
They've added 2, maybe 3, new PvE areas and a new World vs World vs World area since release.
They've added a lot of cosmetic items and items to craft, but I wouldn't call that something that all players could enjoy.
Wheres the new dungeons, the new classes, the new PvP maps??
The combat for PvP is great, its mostly based on your timing so its fairly rewarding and doesn't stale too easily...Except you play the same handful of maps.
PvE combat isn't too good, the first few hundred hours are exciting, but then the flare goes away and it becomes a bit boring. You run dungeons for gold, but there is little to no challenge anymore. Open world content is equally easy. There are ways to challenge yourself, like soloing a dungeon , but its not really supported. No achievements from it, no loot bonus, much slower than a full group which is easy to find.

Given the cost, I would encourage everyone to atleast try GW2. The cheaper heroic version is good enough. the extra $20 for the deluxe edition has very little impact on your gameplay.… Expand

AdamM88

Mar 2, 2021

0

GW2 is one of those buy once, play whenever MMOs. Which would be nice, except, if you only buy the base game you are terribly limited, but at least you can figure out whether you want to spend more money on this garbage. If you want all the classes, the minimum amount of character slots, all the playable territories at least a small amount of Quality of Life features, then you'll need toGW2 is one of those buy once, play whenever MMOs. Which would be nice, except, if you only buy the base game you are terribly limited, but at least you can figure out whether you want to spend more money on this garbage. If you want all the classes, the minimum amount of character slots, all the playable territories at least a small amount of Quality of Life features, then you'll need to spend over 200 EUR on the game, and then you didn't spend any of lootboxes, cosmetics, gold, or other items. That's just the bare minimum you should spend, if you want to play this game "seriously".

Yes, you can buy gold. You can choose to grind days for a legendary item, or... You can deliver pizzas IRL for a few hours and spend some EUR to buy said legendary item. You can spend money in the game, so you have to play the game less!

And you should. As the economy is, and always was, and will be, in complete shambles. Meaning, that 99.9% of all items are sold for vendor price on the auction house.

Professions are really boring, and besides their forced and stale "legendary and ascended item crafting" "feature" there is nothing interesting about them.

Items in general are ridiculously bland and dumb. There is almost no gear progression. Once you hit lvl80 (and you should not grind 1-80, just pay around 30 EUR for a lvl80 boost!) you can buy the second best gear for only a few gold. After that you may get a legendary or ascended gear, which is only a few percent stronger than the starting gear. In other words: LOOT IS MEANINGLESS in this game, as you'll never ever find equipment that is an upgrade for you.

The world might seem big, but - and I am NOT exaggerating - they are pretty much the same area copy pasted on each other with the same textures and layout. Almost all areas contain the exact same mobs, doing the exact same thing (mostly nothing, really). The developers have less creativity than a 3 year old.

The game is ugly, even for a 9 year old MMO. If you spend some money on the cash shop you can look alright, and some boss monsters look nice, but generally the whole world and the enemies your fight and the loot you wear is U-G-L-Y.

The game is not new player friendly AT ALL. If you start to play this game then for the first hundred or so hours will be spent googling and reading wikis, as the game doesn't teach you anything at all.

Classes are really boring and badly designed except for a small handful of specs. Abilities are pathetic and you only have a tiny few of them. There is no balance either.

Everyone, even PvPers agree that PvP is one of the worst in all MMOs. The game mode is pretty much abandoned by the devs and also by the players - population is really, really stow. There are bots, afkers, win traders in almost all games. The meta is stale, and the class imbalance is nowhere close this big in other MMOs. The matchmaker mixes together everyone from all rank brackets.

PvP has a big brother called Realm vs Realm. Think Alterac Valley just bigger and dumber and abandoned by the devs.

The reward loops are super awful in the game. If you are looking for some of the MMORPG looops, GW2 has almost none of them.

The game incentivises one player having multiple accounts.

The community is quite anti-social and autistic.

The developers don't care, they never did, and never had any talent to make MMORPGs.

Two things are nice in this game:
Fractals (a sort of PvE dungeons)
Music -> The composer, Jeremy Soule was metood from the company, so you will not hear from him again.… Expand

abotogar

Oct 29, 2021

4

the skyscale collection is the most frustrating quest i face in a videogame, it is almost impossible to do this quest without a group in cetain point, to make the matter worse it is not good for the business since guild wars if filed with cosmetics in game purchases.

BeatHour

May 29, 2022

4

Just reviewing the story missions of the base game here. This is one of the worst story experiences I've ever had. Mediocre voice acting; a lot of the minor actors sound like they just wandered into the studio. Very strange mechanics, like turret sections where you have to press the number keys to move and shoot the turret, or escort missions where you have to stand right next to but alsoJust reviewing the story missions of the base game here. This is one of the worst story experiences I've ever had. Mediocre voice acting; a lot of the minor actors sound like they just wandered into the studio. Very strange mechanics, like turret sections where you have to press the number keys to move and shoot the turret, or escort missions where you have to stand right next to but also slightly ahead of the NPC at all times to get them to move. TERRIBLE story progression. All that happens is you meet a few new characters, they die or betray you, and the other characters (most of whom have no personality beyond their fantasy race) are surprised. Then you beat the main boss by hopping on a turret and spamming 1 for 5 minutes straight.

After peaking ahead at some story content for the "Path of Fire" expansion, it does seem like their writing ability and use of mechanics gets better over time. But the base game is so atrocious and skippable, please do yourself a favor and just skip all the cutscenes. You don't need to know anything besides the Jolly Green Giant guy is the main hero for apparently no reason. That's it.… Expand

jonesen

Oct 15, 2015

6

Okay decent mmorpg but nothing in the game that keep me interested for long. The weapon and spell mechanic combination were a very nice touch. Great graphics but beyond those two things nothing else felt interesting.

Constipator

Mar 16, 2021

0

First off just let me say that for the era this game came out in, the visuals were second to none. It had breathtaking and imaginative landscapes. This was further expanded on with vistas on the map being interactable showing what was probably the art team's vision of certain maps. The in game soundtrack also has songs I've actually looked for and listened to as background music when I wasFirst off just let me say that for the era this game came out in, the visuals were second to none. It had breathtaking and imaginative landscapes. This was further expanded on with vistas on the map being interactable showing what was probably the art team's vision of certain maps. The in game soundtrack also has songs I've actually looked for and listened to as background music when I was studying or doing other hobby work. The characters and voice acting does a stellar job of immersing yourself in the world(albeit the main VA's do a lot of background characters so sometimes it can break immersion). The B2P model in this game seems fair although I wish there was incentive to buy larger quantities of credits as there is no bonus for buying larger credit bundles.. that's just my take on it though, the dye does seem TOO pricey though. I also really like the story and got invested into it more than most MMO's. I personally really liked having Rytlock, Canach, and Taimi around. PoF was a breath of fresh air from this game. I tried it out on a whim and it really sold me on the game when the initial release was so underwhelming.. and HoT(Heart of Thorns) didn't garner any interest whatsoever. Honestly it's a stroke of genius the way they handle leveling and expansions. You have a max level and afterwards there are masteries for the content, think of them as additional benefits that give you utility and survivability in the expansions. The way they handled mounts is also great, I really love this system. There's also dynamic map events that are really cool, I've participated in the ones in the HoT area and would recommend people check out.

So after all this I imagine most people are wondering "Well, why the low score?" and to that the answer is simple. At the end of the day this game is an MMORPG and it should play like one. I've always HATED the combat. A lot of people defend it saying it's the best of the genre. Imagine doing world quests in WoW, killing the mobs you need, then afterwards when you go to loot the mobs your character decides to auto attack another pack when you're at low hp and then you die. Idk why your character queues up auto attacks when your current target is dead, this is a huge oversight. Also unlike WoW where your character can auto target nearby hostile or only auto attacks mobs that are targeted, this one will just auto target mobs like 80 yds away. It seems like these people and myself are playing 2 entirely different games. There are monsters that fall into normal, bronze, silver, gold, and then boss quality. Some of the mobs in the game are normal(looking at you LWS2&3 and HoT mobs) that are as difficult as silver quality mobs. Silver quality mobs are like impossible for the normal person to solo. I feel like this game has a lot of BS moments where there was nothing I could do in the fight to guarantee my survival.. and I mean vs regular mobs, not even special boss mobs. Unlike in WoW where you fight a group of mobs, and it's uncommon for a group to chain CC you.. in this game you pull a group, every one of them is going to CC you and YOU WILL DIE. I know it makes the game "more challenging" but it also amounts to having a very poor player experience. The combat in the game is very janky overall, very akin to the trash combat in ESO.… Expand

Mudgee

Nov 24, 2014

6

Quick, fast-paced and semi-fun. GW2 was a slight change of pace for the MMO scene. In honesty however, it couldn't manage to find myself spending much time with this game. Despite its relevant fun and semi interest, it quickly dried up and just became another MMO incapable of maintaining a flailing interest. Playable, not replayable.

sheogorath

Jul 24, 2013

10

Guild Wars 2 is an MMO that is not for the average MMO players. If you like grinding mobs, you will be disappointed. If you like grinding quest, you will be disappointed. If you like grinding for god like equipment, you will be disappointed. If you like more endgame grinding to feel like God, boy are you going to be disappointed. In short, if you are looking for old school MMO qualities,Guild Wars 2 is an MMO that is not for the average MMO players. If you like grinding mobs, you will be disappointed. If you like grinding quest, you will be disappointed. If you like grinding for god like equipment, you will be disappointed. If you like more endgame grinding to feel like God, boy are you going to be disappointed. In short, if you are looking for old school MMO qualities, this is -NOT- the game for you. If you are not, welcome to the future.

Guild Wars 2 is the ONLY MMO that allows me to level in multiple ways. To get my exotic equipment in multiple ways. To complete "achievement/task" in multiple ways.

In old school MMO, everyone and every character level up the same way, either grinding quest or grinding mobs. In Guild Wars 2, there are many ways to get yourself to level 80 because everything you do reward you with EXP proportional to your level. You can craft your way to level 80. You can travel the world and explore your way to level 80. You can grind dungeons to level 80. You can join WvW and fight (pvp) your way to level 80. Of course, the gods of grind can even grind themselves to level 80 (I do not recommend this though).

Gears are no different. You can get them from multiple sources. You do not have to rot in certain dungeons to get IMBA gears only to be obsolete come next update. Top tier equipment are equal in power and they can be obtained from multiple sources. If you want to look good (like me), then you will have to play harder to earn the "best" looking skins. (Beauty is in the eye of the beholder)

The art-style in this game is "beautiful" and simply brilliant. Instead of trying to be too realistic or too flamboyant, the entire game looks like a painting, with brush strokes even. This gives the game a unique and lasting visual appeal. I believe it will age very well.

I feel that ArenaNet is sincere in trying to make a revolutionary game and they are financially very generous. You buy the game once and you can enjoy living update every 2 weeks a month for as long as Guild Wars 2 is running. They deserve no less than a 10.

p/s: If you do join us in Guild Wars 2 and find yourself in a rather empty zone, it may not mean that the game has not enough players as some would claim. Unlike -OLD- MMO games, players in Guild Wars 2 do not need to cluster in some quest hub or leveling zone doing the same thing to level. Players are more spread out but you can still find enough of them around world boss spawn points.… Expand

beanshee

Jun 19, 2014

10

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Лучшая РПГ ММО на данный момент. Бесплатные обновления и никакого заплатил и победил. Спасибо Аренанет… Expand

myndpyre

Jul 28, 2013

10

Absolutely excellent MMO. Great graphics, excellent story lines, variety of classes that are fun to play, constant influx of content, best events in the industry. PvP stands out with both completion based combat, and world conquest. No subscription fee, and micro transactions cannot effect competitive PVP.

FrenziedRoach

May 5, 2014

8

This game wins in that I didn't find it frustrating to play most of the time. However, I was greatly let down by it's character story and it's rather Meh PvP.

That being said, I don't regret a minute I played in this game. Very solid game.

forgath

Jul 8, 2014

10

Very beautiful game.
Wonderful areas, great story and a very interesting mass pvp.
Seeing the latest MMOs like TESO or Wildstar, it's still the best on the market.

PuppetMazter

Jul 11, 2014

10

The best game ever created. After logging about 700 hours into the game, I decided that it was time to create a metacritic account and write my review. The game play is fantastic and has had me hooked for 2 years now. I personally love the graphics and the cartoony-ish feel of the game, although I know a lot of people don't. The community is amazing. Everyone is very friendly and helpful,The best game ever created. After logging about 700 hours into the game, I decided that it was time to create a metacritic account and write my review. The game play is fantastic and has had me hooked for 2 years now. I personally love the graphics and the cartoony-ish feel of the game, although I know a lot of people don't. The community is amazing. Everyone is very friendly and helpful, and I love talking to my fellow players. Same goes for the staff. I've only had one problem with the game (which was my fault) and they addressed it and took care of it immediately for me. The map is great as well. Tyria is very large and beautiful, with much to explore and many different events to take part in, such as fighting dragons. I'll admit that the story can be lacking at times, but I still found it very enjoyable. And it's not a big deal, since there is still so much more to do in the game. I know people that play countless hours every day and still haven't even started the campaign yet. PvP is also great, it's a simple "capture the points and kill each other mode" which I have found to be very enjoyable. And the best part about this game: It is constantly being updated. Every two weeks Arenanet comes out with a massive amount of free content that keeps me coming back every day. Overall, this game is incredible, and I would recommend it to anybody and everybody.… Expand

Pakla

Aug 5, 2014

9

Awesome game, everything is great until you will do everything. Endgame almost isn't existing. Stopped playing this regularly year ago after 1500 hours and completing all my tasks - get nice looking armor, legendary weapon and all achievements from pve. PvP as for me is boring, only edge of the mists give some fun but how long you can do one and the same thing over and over. There was noAwesome game, everything is great until you will do everything. Endgame almost isn't existing. Stopped playing this regularly year ago after 1500 hours and completing all my tasks - get nice looking armor, legendary weapon and all achievements from pve. PvP as for me is boring, only edge of the mists give some fun but how long you can do one and the same thing over and over. There was no new content, maps and all that could force me to play more this game for long time. Lately Arena Net started to release updates regularly with more interesting story and permanent content to pve what brought me back to game. To play this you only need to pay for game and believe me, this is worth it. No subscription, not using gem shop will not make you looser. Just some skins and other things that no one really needs. There is a lot of content to do. If you care about content to price value go ahead and play this. As new player you will be overwhelmed by content… Expand

Shimmeywill

Mar 3, 2020

7

While this MMO has some decent mechanics, the overall gameplay and mission experience isn't something I want to return to. Combat is stale.

WOWisthebest

Nov 25, 2020

0

Very, very trash game only low iq players like it. Even TESO is better. I recommend you World of Warcraft the Greatest game what ever made.

32Threads-

Jan 1, 2021

0

Absolutely horrific customer service. 5,000 hours into the game and forgot my password. I have 10 or 12 characters fully leveled and spent a couple thousand dollars on the game over the years. I'm trying to reset my password and the customer service is no help at all. It's almost like they enjoy it. I told them two character names on my account and then they wanted more. I tried reallyAbsolutely horrific customer service. 5,000 hours into the game and forgot my password. I have 10 or 12 characters fully leveled and spent a couple thousand dollars on the game over the years. I'm trying to reset my password and the customer service is no help at all. It's almost like they enjoy it. I told them two character names on my account and then they wanted more. I tried really hard all day long to remember and came up with two more character names. I described their class, race, sex and dye colors. I told them how many hours I had in playtime, the last time I played. They just keep saying "Nope. We need the information on file." So vague about it. I couldn't remember my address from 8 and a half years ago. Then I remembered it and told them. "Nope." It's very simple why they won't give me a password reset. They want me (like so many others they've forced) to repurchase the game and DLC's. I wouldn't buy an ANET game if it was 90% off and I was using someone else's money. The EA Games of MMOS… Expand

Norfarell

Feb 4, 2021

0

Whoever thought of making the underwater quest maps should be FIRED ON THE SPOT. I really try to like the game. I even have 600h hours played in it. Byt playing ONE OF THE **** WATER QUESTS makes me want to commit suicide, or at least delete the game. Thing that should take 15 minutes and be a Ipeace of cake tool 90 minutes because of **** up level design. I kept going back to the sameWhoever thought of making the underwater quest maps should be FIRED ON THE SPOT. I really try to like the game. I even have 600h hours played in it. Byt playing ONE OF THE **** WATER QUESTS makes me want to commit suicide, or at least delete the game. Thing that should take 15 minutes and be a Ipeace of cake tool 90 minutes because of **** up level design. I kept going back to the same spot time after time again.
I really want to love GW2, but being forced to play those mentally retarded quests makes me want to puke, and throw the laptop into the wall...
This "quest" was made 8 years ago. They had 8 years to make it reasonable. They could not be bothered to fix it... That is why I have to give it low score.
Shame, but it has to be done. For the future of the game itself. If they can't fix one thing for years, then you cant trust them with anything.… Expand

kouradas

Nov 24, 2021

0

zero for this trash.

1.You buy the game yet are subtly forced ingame to buy more bags, storage, convenience items etc etc through the most imaginative ways. 2. game engine is obsolete. You would think they would do something with all the money they get. NOPE 3. zero QoL updates. Absolutely zero for a game that is out 11 years now. Finished a quest? you need to go back to deliverzero for this trash.

1.You buy the game yet are subtly forced ingame to buy more bags, storage, convenience items etc etc through the most imaginative ways.

2. game engine is obsolete. You would think they would do something with all the money they get. NOPE

3. zero QoL updates. Absolutely zero for a game that is out 11 years now. Finished a quest? you need to go back to deliver it. In other mmos you get your reward and continue playing, not here. here you must go back to deliver your quest and go back to wherever you were. nice

4. Mounts are the worst i ever seen. So heavy and cumbersome

5. said mounts are in steps. The first mount runs, the second jumps a bit higher, the third hovers on water, the fourth glides, and the fifth flies a bit better :D see what they did here?

6. No option to hide other peoples magic effects-cosmetics etc. obviously this game was not done for raiding, the term wow rejects has some basis here

7.Progress is horizontal, this means that if you play 3 years and go back to starter areas you are still weak. This has led to expansion areas being empty. Good luck finding help to kill x-y-z boss or anyone to help you qith quests. Everyone is at tyria, no one at expansions

8.The game is structured in such a way that you make zero gold to be forced to pay to buy gold.

9. If you want to raid you must play specidif builds. No matter what they tell you. If you dont do enough dps you dont raid. simple as that

10. Classes are boring and weird. Rogue with staff? mage with sword? ranger with double daggers?

And a ton of other fails i could mention here but dont take my word, go play the free version and make up your mind. Imma head back to wow, the true king. Other mmos should copy what wow does if they want money… Expand

Montel

Jun 23, 2022

0

The game WAS fun until i went in WvW. Theres lots of cheaters. Using the report tool ingame do nothing because they are still there after months, reporting in the forum end in a ban but not of the cheater, you get a ban for something called "name and shame". Asking why you get a ban and the cheater not end in a ban because "you cant talk about anet decisions". Any post with proof ofThe game WAS fun until i went in WvW. Theres lots of cheaters. Using the report tool ingame do nothing because they are still there after months, reporting in the forum end in a ban but not of the cheater, you get a ban for something called "name and shame". Asking why you get a ban and the cheater not end in a ban because "you cant talk about anet decisions". Any post with proof of cheating and expoiting get deleted (videos and screenshots). I did bit of search in google and ive found that the same cheats are there from 10 years ago. rofl.… Expand

Vald44

Aug 25, 2022

0

what kind of racism against Russian players? why did you block access, and even my account, which I didn’t log in for 2 years? you guys are nasty nazi clowns, i spit on you and laugh out loud

CaptainMushroom

Jul 13, 2014

8

Not the groundbreaking, revolutionary game we were promised, but great nonetheless. This game combines the best features from other games, and adds its own flavour, making it even better. It's not as good as its claiming to be, but one of the best choices right now anyway. It does at times tend to feel like a singleplayer RPG though, so find a group to play with and you should be fine.

mikelovichNor

Jun 9, 2014

5

This game should have two reviews, one pre-megaserver and one post it.
The pre-megaserver game was great. It had servers with their own communities and faces that you will most likely recognize. It also bolster the World V World population by how easy it is for guilds to recruit.
Each server/world has their own pride, much like a nation. And it was very easy to organize guild events.This game should have two reviews, one pre-megaserver and one post it.
The pre-megaserver game was great. It had servers with their own communities and faces that you will most likely recognize. It also bolster the World V World population by how easy it is for guilds to recruit.
Each server/world has their own pride, much like a nation. And it was very easy to organize guild events.
---------------------------------
With the advent of the megaserver, everything I mentioned above were destroyed.
Everyone now pve in one server which feels very bad to me because it's like helping your enemies in WvW get items/gold which they will use against you in WvW. What a stupid concept. Before this patch you know at least that most of the people you're helping on events were your own server pop with a few guests, now it's just mostly strangers. It's like taking a road trip, but instead of going with friends you pickup unknown peeps.------------------------------

Now, the only people that would like gw2 is newbies who didn't know about the pre-patch gw2. It's like Anet deliberately culled the veteran population of gw2 so they could appease the casual newbie players(newbies who will realize later on that there is now no meaningful endgame content). ------------------------

I don't know what anet is thinking. Besides, vets are the ones most likely to spend real money in the gem store. The only money they'll get from casual/newbie players are the game initial purchase. If it is their plan to gain short term money instead of guaranteed long term then it's probably an indicator that gw2 won't last much longer, and they're trying to get as much money before bailing out.---------------------------

This is why I'm leary of Wildstar too. The same publisher(NCSoft) in gw2 manages wildstar. It's easy for me to think that what changed the gw2 into a megaserver is a financial decision(so they would incur less bandwidth). And I have a nagging suspicion that NCsoft has a hand in that. If that's the case then what would NCsoft do in wildstar that changes game mechanics so much like the gw2 megablunder.
---------------------------------------
I gave a 5(average) for the review because it is now just one of the one world generic mmo out there.… Expand

Severianizer

Aug 9, 2013

8

Guild Wars 2 is an exciting new MMO. Instead if hardcore gear grinding and repetitive questing, thre are dynamic events. These can occur anywhere in the world, with a huge boss at the end sometimes )

If I have any complaints, it's the dungeons. They are way to hard, and you should be level 80 with moderate gear to actually do them well.

Swindlemoontwi

Aug 21, 2013

8

This is not entirely the greatest game on earth but its not the worst and it shows. I took a break after a while because I was a wee bit disappointed in how long it takes to find certain events to get XP because this game doesnt hold your hand very much (Consider this a grateful thing) but it still shows promise basically because of almost everything you do gets you XP and thats what IThis is not entirely the greatest game on earth but its not the worst and it shows. I took a break after a while because I was a wee bit disappointed in how long it takes to find certain events to get XP because this game doesnt hold your hand very much (Consider this a grateful thing) but it still shows promise basically because of almost everything you do gets you XP and thats what I needed from a MMO for a long time. Because basically I dont last one very long and if I did, I would get bored but this game doesnt get you bored as fast as other MMO's however if you play long enough you feel like you want to take it easy and move on to something else which is totally fine. Its still money worth spent and please ignore these negative reviews because these people LOVE to complain about how much they dont like it and thats the problem with certain people's attitudes these days. Anyways this is still pretty fun and a great gem, you will not be disappointed. Unfortunately you still need a good computer to run it at ULTRA graphics that being said playing it on low settings isnt all that disappointing considering thats all my laptop can do for now till i get a better computer. This is revolutionary because its the first game to choose what you want to do without restrictions. World is really big and you can go to other races locations if you feel like it. However the personal story needs a really big facelift because I want it to be more personal rather than choosing what they made... THAT ISNT PERSONAL UNLESS YOU MAKE THE STORY YOU WANTED! Other than that I love this game I love the dialogue that non important characters say and the Asura is the most clever race I ever played on. GO ASURA! Thank you Arenanet for impressing me and not making me look bad. Yes I played the original but its nowhere near as fun as this one. This a truly a great gem you should try out and plus check the website because there is signup for a three day trial coming up this week!… Expand

BecauseIcan

Sep 28, 2013

10

After experiencing an MMO like guild wars 2, the thought of playing a game with backtracking fetch quests makes me shudder. The innovation in this game is like no other. Even though some MMOs such as DCUO eliminate backtracking it still has fetch quests and a ruptured community. In gw2 the graphics are stunning. The community is very pleasant due to the dynamic events system in the gameAfter experiencing an MMO like guild wars 2, the thought of playing a game with backtracking fetch quests makes me shudder. The innovation in this game is like no other. Even though some MMOs such as DCUO eliminate backtracking it still has fetch quests and a ruptured community. In gw2 the graphics are stunning. The community is very pleasant due to the dynamic events system in the game which require you to cooperate with other players instead of camping there and waiting for someone to kill it and loot its chest. It also paves the way for new MMOs as previous MMOs have either a pay-to-win or a monthly subscription fee, GW2 however doesnt need either of those. In game purchases are mostly for aesthetics and you only need to make one payment to play the game as long as you'd like.… Expand

DeusXCom

Jul 30, 2014

8

Beautiful and incredibly extensive world, which despite it's gigantic size doesn't lose the touch for details. I generally don't like MMO's and this is essentially still an MMO with many of it's annoyances, but for some reason GW2 seemed much more sympathetic than the rest. Tyria is an amazing world to explore with many gorgeous vistas and I enjoyed my time spent in there. I loved theBeautiful and incredibly extensive world, which despite it's gigantic size doesn't lose the touch for details. I generally don't like MMO's and this is essentially still an MMO with many of it's annoyances, but for some reason GW2 seemed much more sympathetic than the rest. Tyria is an amazing world to explore with many gorgeous vistas and I enjoyed my time spent in there. I loved the character creation and all the differences in the branching story lines and different races, lots of replayability here. After capping the experience levels on 80 it lost the momentum for me and I was finishing the story for the sake of finishing it more than anything, but it still entertained me in a good way for hundreds of hours and that's an achievement that many other games can only dream of. 8/10… Expand

Kylonas

Oct 9, 2020

3

The game is unplayable rn because of lags. Everyday, all day. I love this game but it has such bad performance :/

Joey_Matakias

Sep 19, 2016

10

In my opinion the mmorpg's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) are the best game in the life, i create a review of Guild Wars 2 cause i play lot of time to the first Guild Wars, and i play lot of time to Guild Wars 2 ( i have play 1238 hours in 1484 days, for the moment). For me Guild Wars 2 is the best mmorpg's in the world but I have played a lot of mmo such as World ofIn my opinion the mmorpg's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) are the best game in the life, i create a review of Guild Wars 2 cause i play lot of time to the first Guild Wars, and i play lot of time to Guild Wars 2 ( i have play 1238 hours in 1484 days, for the moment). For me Guild Wars 2 is the best mmorpg's in the world but I have played a lot of mmo such as World of Warcraft, Rift, Neverwinter, Star Wars The Old Republic and many more, Guild Wars 2 is the best mmo cause he have a beautiful open world the graphics, in max is beatiful, the history is so interesting, Guild Wars 2 have a good living world, for me Guild Wars 2 is just perfect, the pve is enormous (i like so much the donjons, raid, and my favorite THE FRACTALS), Guild Wars 2 have also a good Pvp, the competitif games was extremely good to play, and for the real gamers with a good guild, the wvw (world versus world) the wvw is perfect cause when a big team fight enter 2 guilds or just a bus it's so exciting a 200 vs 200, mostly when we are a tempest (
meteor rain ;p). For conclude if you hesitate to play Guild Wars 2, well then do not hesitate(and I think Guild Wars 2 has the best community)… Expand

rubs23454

Aug 23, 2022

0

Probably one of the best MMOs on the market right now and i wish that it changed the industry to be more like it. unfortunately the ability to convert in-game currency into premium currency made players that have reached endgame irrelevant to the microtransaction based monetization system and caused the game to have no good endgame content releases for over half a decade and a balanceProbably one of the best MMOs on the market right now and i wish that it changed the industry to be more like it. unfortunately the ability to convert in-game currency into premium currency made players that have reached endgame irrelevant to the microtransaction based monetization system and caused the game to have no good endgame content releases for over half a decade and a balance patch timeline of 9 months that usually make the meta worse… Expand

DUBB01

Sep 3, 2022

0

dirty fascists fight against players for the sake of the west, spanish shame

CinderellaMan

Sep 4, 2012

9

I am not a big MMO fan. I did play Age of Conan and LOTRO for about a year... but they could not keep my attention. The reason: some quests require a party. I don't play enough to join a guild; I just want to jump in for 30-60 mins and have fun. I have played GW2 for about 10 hours and have not had to join up with anyone. I can essentially play the game solo with group events occuringI am not a big MMO fan. I did play Age of Conan and LOTRO for about a year... but they could not keep my attention. The reason: some quests require a party. I don't play enough to join a guild; I just want to jump in for 30-60 mins and have fun. I have played GW2 for about 10 hours and have not had to join up with anyone. I can essentially play the game solo with group events occuring randomly... no need to "get organized". I really like this approach that caters to my class of gamer. Now, how well this works in high level zones with smaller populations remains to be seen... but for now I'm very pleased with my $60 purchase.… Expand

Yoshiwol

Sep 17, 2012

10

The game is astonishing, I have played WoW for 6 years and every other MMO I haven't even bothered to try, all of them have been the same. Finally a game breaks the mold. I quit WoW almost a year ago now (DS my final raid after raiding everything since Vanilla). I won't sit and explain what most of the critics have already said, suffice to say, even if you don't like RPG's or MMO's, giveThe game is astonishing, I have played WoW for 6 years and every other MMO I haven't even bothered to try, all of them have been the same. Finally a game breaks the mold. I quit WoW almost a year ago now (DS my final raid after raiding everything since Vanilla). I won't sit and explain what most of the critics have already said, suffice to say, even if you don't like RPG's or MMO's, give the game a go, it has something for everyone.… Expand

Jacksonbauer

Sep 5, 2012

10

Simply put, if you give the game your time, you will get the fun the game allows. It starts you right into the action, and craving more in between. I've been excited for this game since its announcement; I was a huge GW fan. But to say the least, this game has still beaten my expectations even 72+ hours into game, and i don't see it getting boring anytime soon. Skipping the details, thisSimply put, if you give the game your time, you will get the fun the game allows. It starts you right into the action, and craving more in between. I've been excited for this game since its announcement; I was a huge GW fan. But to say the least, this game has still beaten my expectations even 72+ hours into game, and i don't see it getting boring anytime soon. Skipping the details, this game deserves a 10. The story is really well thought out, though the dialog can be a bit strange, and the combat system is fresh into the MMO scene, considering GW1 technically wasn't an MMO. That being said, this game feels like an RPG, and still sucks you in like the best of the best MMOs. So do yourself a favor by getting this game. Without a subscription fee, its impossible to pass the temptation.… Expand

mahuang

Sep 3, 2012

10

Played the betas, and read all the hype. I'm max level now, and it was even BETTER than expected. By FAR the most meaningful dynamic combat system in any MMO, despite not advertising it. Dodging and positioning actually matters in this game, unlike TERA or Mabinogi Legends where it's mostly for show. If you're not dodging in the endgame dungeons, you're gonna die. That's it. Graphics notPlayed the betas, and read all the hype. I'm max level now, and it was even BETTER than expected. By FAR the most meaningful dynamic combat system in any MMO, despite not advertising it. Dodging and positioning actually matters in this game, unlike TERA or Mabinogi Legends where it's mostly for show. If you're not dodging in the endgame dungeons, you're gonna die. That's it. Graphics not the best but big MMOs always have toned down graphics to attract more people. GREAT armor design. Not stupidly sexy or ridiculously fantastic, but fashionable and realistic. The only game with similar amount of content is WoW. SWTOR, Aion, TERA, Secret World etc don't even come close. And best of all, NO PAY2WIN. Only pay4skins. There isn't a single item in the shop that makes you better at PvP. Like Guild Wars 1, GW2 has staying power. Games like Aion and Rift quickly dropped to a few thousand concurrent players, GW1 still has several times that amount after 7 years. GW2 will be even better.… Expand

Kallwren

Aug 31, 2012

10

I'm a bit of an mmo fanatic, I tend to try out (if not purchase) nearly every major mmo release. I'm a long-time WoW player (I started on day one of release and only very recently stopped playing regularly), and I've also made my way through FFXI, Rift, SWTOR, Warhammer, FFXIV, The Secret World, Tera, and a number of others. For years I found myself returning to WoW because other games,I'm a bit of an mmo fanatic, I tend to try out (if not purchase) nearly every major mmo release. I'm a long-time WoW player (I started on day one of release and only very recently stopped playing regularly), and I've also made my way through FFXI, Rift, SWTOR, Warhammer, FFXIV, The Secret World, Tera, and a number of others. For years I found myself returning to WoW because other games, while ambitious, frequently fell down in one area or another and failed to really capture my attention. Often the graphics lacked any real art style, or the questing was repetitive or the story lacked distinction. Guild Wars 2 finally seems to have gotten it right. Unlike many games I don't get the impression that they were trying to make the next wow-killer. Rather they seemed focused on just making the most engaging game they could and it really shows. The art and graphics are beautiful and atmospheric, I often enter a new area and find myself screeching to a halt to stop and appreciate the environment. The story, while unfamiliar to me (I didn't really play GW1) seems well crafted and the personal storyline is drawing me in to this new world and making me care about characters that aren't Thrall or Jaina. I recently received a msg in my game mail in response to a completed quest that was so charming that I haven't wanted to delete it and frequently my guildmates and I are sharing snippets of npc conversation that we overhear as we travel this online world.
As for gameplay, I'll admit that initially part of me was doubtful about doing away with the holy trinity of tank, dps and healer. But removing these set roles seems to make everyone have to focus on working together, an interesting and at times difficult challenge but it's proving to be rewarding. Being able to change up abilities by swapping weapons really helps keep combat fresh and interesting and the combo system encourages you yet again to learn how to play well with others and then rewards you substantially for doing so.
Above all I love the questing system, I feel like my job is to go off and explore and find adventure rather than to follow a trail of breadcrumbs and perform a list of chores and that's why I play games, so I can be a big damn hero. GW2 has definitely won me over.… Expand

Atreidesx

Aug 31, 2012

10

I started Guild Wars 2 a skeptic. It looked like WoW, controlled like WoW, and follows the same basic structure that revolutionized the genre, but grew stale (for me) over the years. Comparisons to WoW are definitely fair, but somehow Guild Wars 2 makes everything fresh and fun again. The ability to instantly teleport to any waypoint you have visited is incredible. The action packedI started Guild Wars 2 a skeptic. It looked like WoW, controlled like WoW, and follows the same basic structure that revolutionized the genre, but grew stale (for me) over the years. Comparisons to WoW are definitely fair, but somehow Guild Wars 2 makes everything fresh and fun again. The ability to instantly teleport to any waypoint you have visited is incredible. The action packed combat feels like more then a numbers game. You don't just stand next to your foe exchanging blows and cycling skills. Rather, you jump and dodge, switching weapons on the fly. Colossal world bosses inhabit even the starting zones, and I love the jumping puzzles (essentially platforming segments) that inhabit hidden caves and lead to treasure. The way that higher level characters get downleveled in lower zones in brilliant. It makes it fun to run around with friends that are higher/lower level then you. When you face a boss, you both get to contribute (instead of a max level character one shotting it for you). So yes, I give this a 10. I wanted to be disappointed by this one, but I'm having a blast so far.… Expand

Qwald

Sep 12, 2012

10

It's the first time in many years I had that much fun playing a video game! It's not that new, but it's so refreshing! With all the dynamic events, the view points that requires some jumping here and there, points of interests, crafting and gathering. Everything is fun and worth doing in any zones! You always get xp and challenge! It's always different.
Best game for me in the 5 years

ClowLiReed

Sep 23, 2012

9

Really funny game! I already spend 300 hs on it and don't regret buying it. Some times the non-story-quest get really boring(but it always happen in all MMOs). For me this game has four strong points: -It encourages you to explore the world
-If people help you in a quest is really helpful and not annoying like in others MMO
-No monthly fee, Play whenever you want without guiltinessReally funny game! I already spend 300 hs on it and don't regret buying it. Some times the non-story-quest get really boring(but it always happen in all MMOs). For me this game has four strong points: -It encourages you to explore the world
-If people help you in a quest is really helpful and not annoying like in others MMO
-No monthly fee, Play whenever you want without guiltiness
-And the best it's the WvWvW and PvP, really really addictive… Expand

johann1978

Sep 9, 2012

7

Its a good Casual Game, with great PvP. But it is NOT the best MMORP of the last Years. The story is lame and presents acts thrown together, Events seem to have nothing like quests ( kill XY 90% of the Events) still to often as a Hack & Slay ( more then 3 Players at a Event)
There are many other examples where you realize that it's just standard, only the PvP is great! But it is GuildIts a good Casual Game, with great PvP. But it is NOT the best MMORP of the last Years. The story is lame and presents acts thrown together, Events seem to have nothing like quests ( kill XY 90% of the Events) still to often as a Hack & Slay ( more then 3 Players at a Event)
There are many other examples where you realize that it's just standard, only the PvP is great! But it is Guild Wars, I expected this.
My Score ist 8.5 /10… Expand

Singgihsatch

Sep 25, 2012

9

hmm worth to spend buck for this game..
altough i aint play the first sequel but when im play GW 2 i fall in love with this game..

best graphic and story make a player enjoy play this game..

unlimitednk

Nov 7, 2014

6

Stealth implementation in this game is bad. It’s not about thief, or mesmer or any class, but about stealth. I played all classes, you can try and see for yourself too. We won’t agree ever on everything, some people just like it as it is, and unless you played other games too, and have somehting to compare, can really understand how fun can be, when your opponent can counter whatever youStealth implementation in this game is bad. It’s not about thief, or mesmer or any class, but about stealth. I played all classes, you can try and see for yourself too. We won’t agree ever on everything, some people just like it as it is, and unless you played other games too, and have somehting to compare, can really understand how fun can be, when your opponent can counter whatever you do.
Can someone who uses stealth be killed, defeated? Sure. You need to learn what to do and what not, but that’s true always.
Can any class and build defeat any class and build? Certainly will be more difficult to do it on some or next to impossible on other (even if network latency, lag, player skill and so on is ignored).
Then what’s wrong with stealth? “Learn and adapt, and stop crying” – true… just do that, but some will end with a bitter taste after these fights, and no fun at all. That’s the problem – games meant to be fun. For some, it is, no matter what, they like it. Let those who don’t like to tell you why we lose players…
I despise stealth and I feel shame, guilt and I know I almost cheated, whenever on my thief I decide to use stealth, to get away from a fight that vent badly, or just recover and try again. Since that can be done endlessly, most of the time, unless you are not skilled enough. I know that rarely, if ever, my opponent enjoyed that fight. It all comes down to your personality: if you can be proud and taunt after such fights, then stealth is for you. That’s you, have fun. Play with those who feel like this.
The others will post things like the OP, will play other games, or like me, will prefer to play on other class, and ignore thieves – I fight back if attacked, but don’t care to chase them and don’t care to kill them – they are just like other negatives in this game, such as lag when occurs – you have to endure these and find something else to do. Can stealth be changed, so it’s use or playing against won’t “kill” the fun in some of us? Can everything be improved? Can we listen to each other and try to find solutions together? I hope so. Very much.… Expand

AlienMagi

Sep 3, 2012

10

The game brought everything that was promised. It's an excellent example of an mmo that tries something different successfully. A purchase is definitely recommended.

redfrick

Aug 31, 2012

9

Guild Wars 2 is without a doubt the best MMO on the market today and it is only 3 days old as I write this. After playing the game since Beta it has ruined every other MMO out there for me. No game available today can touch it. There are pieces of other games that when added up could be as good as this game is but not one MMO has as much awesome as this one does. While waiting forGuild Wars 2 is without a doubt the best MMO on the market today and it is only 3 days old as I write this. After playing the game since Beta it has ruined every other MMO out there for me. No game available today can touch it. There are pieces of other games that when added up could be as good as this game is but not one MMO has as much awesome as this one does. While waiting for Guild Wars 2 to be released I played a few of the "top" MMOs out to kill time. Let me tell you this, I didn't last more than one hour in any of them. After getting a taste of what Guild Wars 2 had to offer every one I tried seemed stale, tired or just plain boring.… Expand

hidefrompublic

Sep 1, 2012

8

GW2 is not a "WoW" killer because "WoW" is already been killed by blizzard maybe 3-4 years ago. First thing i experienced was that you don't spend time talking to NPC in order to receive a quest which i believe is a great way of making mmo-rpg fun because you already consume time walking around the world clueless. However i'm gonna make it easy for those that are debating to try a new MMOGW2 is not a "WoW" killer because "WoW" is already been killed by blizzard maybe 3-4 years ago. First thing i experienced was that you don't spend time talking to NPC in order to receive a quest which i believe is a great way of making mmo-rpg fun because you already consume time walking around the world clueless. However i'm gonna make it easy for those that are debating to try a new MMO by stating few key points on why you should get GW2. Of course i might have missed few things but i only wrote on what interested the most. Everyone is different and experience differently (not everyone is gonna like GW2).

Positives
+If you are sick of WoW, then you should try GW2. +If you don't like talking to NPC's then you should get GW2. +If you love "zergfest questing," then you should get GW2 (i actually like zergfest, not sure what people are complaining about).
+Better graphics than WoW (anything is)?
+No rush on leveling
+Free to play
+No more debating on healers/dps/tanks
+Easy questing overall
Negatives
-Getting use to a new MMO (especially after playing WoW for 4 years).
-Walking/moving dynamics feels a little weird and camera view (maybe it's just me).
-Not user-friendly for those that are new to GW2.… Expand

LVCritic

Sep 3, 2012

9

This Is The Best MMO So Far ! I usually never write reviews but this game deserves it. I played WOW from the beginning and this game actually made me stop playing WOW. SWTOR failed to do that and I thought I would never see a MMO that would change that, but it did. I know it has some problems but I'm sure they will get them fixed in the coming updates. The one thing I really don't like isThis Is The Best MMO So Far ! I usually never write reviews but this game deserves it. I played WOW from the beginning and this game actually made me stop playing WOW. SWTOR failed to do that and I thought I would never see a MMO that would change that, but it did. I know it has some problems but I'm sure they will get them fixed in the coming updates. The one thing I really don't like is the ingame store and the biggest grip I have with that is the extra bag slots you have to purchase and crafting bag slots for every new character I'm really against that or they should change it so karma points will buy bag slots. As for the rest of the items in the store there no big deal since leveling in this game is best so far it doesn't feel like it drags so you don't feel the need to purchase store XP boosts. And I like how it slows down gold farmers since you can use your gems to buy gold. I Like that idea. That would be my biggest grip with the game. But the this game has awesome gameplay you really have to try it to see how it puts to shame all the other MMOs. And one guy who reviewed this game said that he doesn't like the way you have to unlock skills. He is wrong WOW does that this too once you get to a certain level you have to buy more skills with gold. But this game uses skill points to buy more skills and it seems you can buy more skills even after you level capped but don't worry there is a limit to the skills you can get. But once you get them all it's like getting more ways to play the game. I Have to say this even with the store flaw this game. This is the Best MMO to date ! The reason I didn't give it a 10 is because nothing is perfect. Sorry for the spelling mistakes and grammar issues But I'm Limited on time I have to leave Town on a trip. All the users reviews that are low are most likely WOW fan boys and you tell by they way they compare this game to WOW.… Expand

Andore

Sep 5, 2012

9

This game restored my faith in MMOs. It's the best thing since Ultima Online.
Not only the best theme park ever made, but one of the greatest games ever.

hitthegoat

Sep 7, 2012

7

I like this game. Is it perfect? No. But I dare you to name a perfect game. Sure, the dynamic events was done in Rift, and sure the combat system is similar to Tera, and the quest system is similar to Warhammer, but who really cares? IMO they were done better in GW2 and that's more important. I find the graphics to be good, not the best ever, but then again, I'm not a graphics fanaticI like this game. Is it perfect? No. But I dare you to name a perfect game. Sure, the dynamic events was done in Rift, and sure the combat system is similar to Tera, and the quest system is similar to Warhammer, but who really cares? IMO they were done better in GW2 and that's more important. I find the graphics to be good, not the best ever, but then again, I'm not a graphics fanatic and I certainly can't believe anyone finds them to be "bad." I haven't experienced any of this "floaty" or "disconnected" game play/controls, I honestly don't get it, I find the controls and the combat to be fun. And personally, I find the smaller amount of available skills to be fun, the one thing that I came to dislike about WoW (and saw that SWTOR has done) is the insane amount of skills on action bars you would have on your interface, which just caused annoying clutter to me, almost half of your screen is buttons and menus. To me that seems less like I'm playing a game, and more like I'm monitoring equipment of some kind, almost like working. One complaint that I do have is the lame selection of Elite skills, at least on my Norn. 3 of the first available 5 are shape shifting, and 1 of the 2nd tier is shape shifting, they might be fun, but that's not really my style. And whilst perusing through the numerous negatives, I see a lot of comparison to SWTOR, and that just irritates me to no end. Quit comparing games to other games. There's a reason this game is called "Guild Wars 2" and not "Star Wars: The Old Republic," they're different games made by different people with different features, the only similarity is that they're MMOs.… Expand

AcFree

Aug 31, 2012

10

An excellent breath of fresh air in the field of MMO's: While not ground breakingly different from the standard formula it does more than enough to keep both MMO veterans, and new comers alike entertained for hours on end.

Humblehawk

Sep 1, 2012

10

Many of tje negative reviews here are personal issues, rather than true reviews of the game. Sad really. If you review at least say you do not like the graphics or mechanics, something objective. Anyhow, Guild Wars 2 in my humble opinion is simply awesome. Easily worth $60 investment and perhaps even some cash shop appearance items. Who can resist a few cool or cute minis following youMany of tje negative reviews here are personal issues, rather than true reviews of the game. Sad really. If you review at least say you do not like the graphics or mechanics, something objective. Anyhow, Guild Wars 2 in my humble opinion is simply awesome. Easily worth $60 investment and perhaps even some cash shop appearance items. Who can resist a few cool or cute minis following you around. The best part of the cash shop is that there are no items in it that are needed t play play the game to its fullest. Its simply cosmetic or convenient. I think the look in the world is awesome. I've caught myself just looking around in awe more than once. Coming out of one particular shore town I walked out on to the beachand rounding rock cropping there on the water line, I looked up to see in the distances across the water a huge floating rock island with a castle on it. Mega awesome moment. The graphics are not state of the art, using older tech, but the way Anet uses that tech is stunning. And optimized for even slightly older machines. I use 5i intel with Nvidia 460GTX average fps is in the 60s. Do not listen to the griefers or the haters. Buy this game and enjoy the sovial aspect of the game. Play at your own speed. A++… Expand

stefmor90

Sep 2, 2012

10

First off, this game is nothing like the first. Each have their own qualities and differences. The world is beautiful and there are decently sized zones which I wish were less rectangular and maybe a bit larger, but no game is perfect. Then there are the classes. As someone who loves combat and strategy in a combination, the engineer is dominant in both categories. And the best part isFirst off, this game is nothing like the first. Each have their own qualities and differences. The world is beautiful and there are decently sized zones which I wish were less rectangular and maybe a bit larger, but no game is perfect. Then there are the classes. As someone who loves combat and strategy in a combination, the engineer is dominant in both categories. And the best part is that the engineer neither feels underpowered or static in its abilities. It takes factors from games like TERA such as real time dodging and weapon size making a factor on how much is required to back up to dodge. Also there is nothing more badass then being a mesmer with a floating two handed sword that shoots magic. There are tons of ways to mix up your class depending on what you can use, like an engineer can use a unique pistol and shield combination, hunters using guns and throwing weapons at the same time, and so on. As stated by others, this game has a strange dynamic questing system, as in there are no quests, but rather areas for completing various tasks for a final quest-like reward. This makes the game not a back and forth rinse and repeat game, but lets you explore the world without constantly checking the quest log where to go. If there was any way to describe this game shortly I would say it's a game that takes the good qualities out of other MMO's and combines them in a new and interesting way, as well as adding new elements on top. It's the correct way an MMO should be made.… Expand

Shadows_Of_Fall

Sep 4, 2012

10

I have to say, it's been a very long time since I've found so much enjoyment in a game. A long time since I got so much for my money. A long time since I can say I've truly enjoyed almost every aspect of a game. And that game is GW2. The game does have its flaws, but they're nothing major.

The combat is a little less 'actiony' than TERA but I welcome the change as I felt TERA was aI have to say, it's been a very long time since I've found so much enjoyment in a game. A long time since I got so much for my money. A long time since I can say I've truly enjoyed almost every aspect of a game. And that game is GW2. The game does have its flaws, but they're nothing major.

The combat is a little less 'actiony' than TERA but I welcome the change as I felt TERA was a little too 'all over the place' and chaotic. GW2 finds a nice balance between TERAs combat and WoWs combat. All classes heal themselves, can survive if you play them well and can be good at dealing damage. I have yet to see a situation where I went 'damn, I need an _____'. If I die, it's cause I failed to dodge, stood in AoE or ignored my heal.

Questing is a combination of Dynamic Events (events which happen in the world around you and often tell the story of a zone (centaur attacks, portals to the netherworld, ongoing struggle against dragon minions etc)) and Renown Hearts ('standard quests' marked by large hearts where you have several ways to help out locals, Renown Hearts generally tell the story of the people who live in their zone/their daily lives). Together, these make the game unique and interesting. I also have to say that it really rewards exploration and getting lost in the world.

Each race feels truly unique (and in 4/5 cases, unique to the genre itself) and classes all feel different (I love how a Warrior uses a Longbow differently than a Ranger). Some people are complaining that your first 5 skills are determined by your weapon, but I rather enjoy the concept of having a certain fighting style with a weapon versus it simply being a stat stick. I do however wish there were slightly more options within a weapon, just incase I didn;t like 1 out of 5 greatsword skills or wanted to change things up.

Perhaps the biggest current complaint is the supposed 'lack of endgame' but that's, in truth, almost a non-issue. If you take your time enjoying the game as you go, taking time to explore and craft and perhaps even jump into some World vs World vs World or structured PvP, you won't have to worry about any sort of grind and the game will feel plenty full. Pair that with 12 dungeons JUST for level 80 and a total of 32 dungeons in the game AS WELL AS continuing support from ANet in the way of added Dynamic Events and possibly even more dungeons or regions ASIDE from planned Expansions, and the game has a ton of stuff to do now, with more on the way.… Expand

Nimraphael

Sep 8, 2012

10

Stop for a second and just take a long, hard look at Guild Wars 2... and open your mind. The game is not infallible - no game is and a 10 is not an indicator hereof - but the game does so, so, so many things right. From encouraging people to help each other and be nice by not punishing team efforts, to its marvellous artistic vision, to its engine's sheer ingenuity and power (compare thisStop for a second and just take a long, hard look at Guild Wars 2... and open your mind. The game is not infallible - no game is and a 10 is not an indicator hereof - but the game does so, so, so many things right. From encouraging people to help each other and be nice by not punishing team efforts, to its marvellous artistic vision, to its engine's sheer ingenuity and power (compare this game's engine to other MMO engines of the past half decade - it's fantastic), to it's wonderful gameplay. We have not seen anything this well crafted for a decade. With Guild Wars 2 you're watching not only one of the best games of the last decade, you are also given the opportunity to herald in a new age of gaming; one where subscription fee isn't a given, one where a cash-shop doesn't equal monetizing people shamelessly, one where fun, cooperation and team-effort is rewarded and encouraged rather than not. An age where a game's longevity is determined by its fun and enjoyment rather than grindy gear treadmills. You can support this by buying Guild Wars 2.... Or you can breathe a bit of life into a stale, stagnant and dying iteration of the genre by holing up in your comfort zone and buying MoP. The choice should be easy; GW2 is not only a better game but also comes from a company that respects corporate CSR, whereas the other comes from a company that hasn't delivered a unique IP in over 12 years, who shamelessly monetize consumers through treadmills and who's under the aegis of Activision, notorious for its lack of Corporate Social Responsibility.… Expand

whatever523

May 12, 2019

9

- Graphics are nice.
- The world is big, detailled and believable.
- Controls are the best of any MMO, the combat is super fluid and feels great. - World vs World PvP is super fun - The story is pretty dull and the way the NPCs act feels childish and unrealistic. It's a better story than WoW and Twilight, but still... - I don't like the shop system. Prices between ingame and real- Graphics are nice.
- The world is big, detailled and believable.
- Controls are the best of any MMO, the combat is super fluid and feels great.
- World vs World PvP is super fun

- The story is pretty dull and the way the NPCs act feels childish and unrealistic. It's a better story than WoW and Twilight, but still...
- I don't like the shop system. Prices between ingame and real currency fluctuate and inflate too much and while in theory you can get everything for ingame gold, it's too expensive.

Overall, the value you get here is quite insane. GW2 is arguably the best MMO and it has no monthly costs.… Expand

Sideline

Sep 7, 2012

10

I played and enjoyed the first Guild Wars for years. When Guild Wars 2 came out I wasn't sure what to expect, I tried the beta and I loved it immediately. Everything that annoyed me in Guild Wars is fixed in Guild Wars 2. The only thing that worried me at first glance was the absence of the dual profession mechanic which I loved in the first Guild Wars; it offered so many possibilities!I played and enjoyed the first Guild Wars for years. When Guild Wars 2 came out I wasn't sure what to expect, I tried the beta and I loved it immediately. Everything that annoyed me in Guild Wars is fixed in Guild Wars 2. The only thing that worried me at first glance was the absence of the dual profession mechanic which I loved in the first Guild Wars; it offered so many possibilities! But the weapon swapping in GW2 is probably even more interesting simply because it gives you access to a larger bank of skills; skills are defined by the weapon you are holding. You can switch weapons dynamically during combat which is awesome and you can even change your skills any time during the game, no need to go to an outpost to reorganise your skill bar. Elementalists don't have the weapon swapping ability but they can switch between four attunements(air, fire, water and earth) anytime during combat... awesome! What sets GW2 apart from other games of the genre is the dynamic events which can occur anywhere, anytime in the world, and they require cooperation between players; downed allies can be revived eliminating the frustration of being teleported to a resurection shrine and having to walk all the way back. Areas are no longer instanced except for dungeons and story line missions. There is no tedious fetching quests anymore. Instead quests occur in specific locations on the map and you don't have to stray too far to complete them. You can now choose between five different races: Human, Charr, Asura and Silvari. They all have the same stats and abilities but they add a nice flavor to the game. Crafting disciplines were added which opens up a whole new dimension to Guild Wars. The trading post (the equivalent of the auction house in WoW or Diablo) is a nice addition. Item stats are more varied and make more sense than before. Graphics are amazing for MMO standards and the areas are breathtaking. I cannot comment on the PvP aspect of the game as I haven't tried it yet. The only annoying thing I can find is the constant pop-ups telling you that you are in an overflow because the instance is full but that will hopefully be fixed soon. So if you love MMOs or RPGs Guild Wars 2 is a must!… Expand

JakeLunn

Sep 8, 2012

10

I am stunned. Truly stunned.
There has been a long line of MMORPGs ever since World of Warcraft designed the genre. Many were predicted to be "WoW killers" or "Revolutionary", but many lost their subscribers or switched to a free-to-play model a few months later. It's only been a few weeks for Guild Wars 2, but the content I have experiences so far is so breathtaking that I see no wayI am stunned. Truly stunned.
There has been a long line of MMORPGs ever since World of Warcraft designed the genre. Many were predicted to be "WoW killers" or "Revolutionary", but many lost their subscribers or switched to a free-to-play model a few months later. It's only been a few weeks for Guild Wars 2, but the content I have experiences so far is so breathtaking that I see no way now, or any time in the future, that this game will die out. This game adds so much depth, creativity, and fun to the MMORPG genre that I can see it becoming a new home for the MMO players who have been looking for a new one. This game IS revolutionary, and it IS going to last a long time. I don't have to go into detail about the game to prove my point, just go out and buy it. No subscription fee makes this an extremely worthy investment.… Expand

OhRly

Sep 17, 2012

10

There is something fishy about the ratings, I aggregated the critic scores and it was a 97, I think someone fiddled with the review, or was poorly aggregated. Mistake or not, this needs to be fixed. Also, don't consider loisho's review, he/she seems to hate everything, giving Dead Space 2 a 0/10, Skyrim a 0/10, GW2 a 4/10 (his/her highest score!) and DD (not D&D) a 1/10.

sin151

Sep 4, 2012

9

Let me start of by saying two things first of all I do NOT give high scores for the sake of giving them and I usually only take time to write reviews if I really like the game. Second of all, all I have seen from the lower to mid ratings is complete jealousy that it beat out their favorite MMO. I'm sorry, but AN did so many things right and so little wrong.

I would like to go over someLet me start of by saying two things first of all I do NOT give high scores for the sake of giving them and I usually only take time to write reviews if I really like the game. Second of all, all I have seen from the lower to mid ratings is complete jealousy that it beat out their favorite MMO. I'm sorry, but AN did so many things right and so little wrong.

I would like to go over some things that I felt were not touched upon in several of these other reviews that are just so brilliant. First off the story, music, atmosphere, combat, pvp, and events are perfectly done and incredibly engaging anyone who says otherwise; it's just not their cup of tea or again they are jealous that it really is done this well. Arenanet's attention to detail is unfathomable, the amount of work that went into their puzzles and mazes and keeping it varied consistently is nothing short of extraordinary, you always feel like you are doing something new or different when you come upon these. Then their are skill challenges and if you are lucky enough to solo of these it really does give you a sense of difficulty and what you still need to master, whether it be timing, precision, or just combos. I really enjoy a particular one where the guy kept you laughing the entire time. Next, the group events these are not so much engaging as game changing literally. If you fail to stop a Giant attack on a city for example, then you will not be able to use any merchant or events in this area until that Giant has been taken down. Likewise whole areas can shift from control to NPC to enemies based on if you succeed or fail an event. There is alot more to touch up on, but I feel these few should give players an idea just what makes Guild Wars 2 so enticing.

Then we have to cons these range from miniscule bugs to the very simplistic crafting. The bugs from what I have seen so far are few and far between whether it's getting stuck in the map, creates that just give up, or NPCs that don't want to advance the story. There is always a workaround and they never bring you out of the experience. Then there is the crafting, which is mainly build up resources, refine said resources, use special materials to make inscriptions or insignias and repeat. I do like the discovery tab, but they give you almost zero recipes that are not common sense, really taking away the feeling of making something special to just the next thing on the list to get your bar higher. I feel if they added more mystery and adventure to their recipe making that people would have alot more fun crafting.

This is just a small slice of what GW2 have and the PROS well outweigh the CONS, do yourself a favor and give it a try for yourself with no subscription fee you never locked into anything and can quit anytime and pick it back up later. I feel that my purchased was well justified and I hope you will feel the same. I did want to say one more thing the WvW feels exactly like the brilliant mode from DAoC and can be jumped in at anytime, which offers its own rewards and xp towards PvE. There simply is too many thing to about, I just hope people who read this actually see a better reason to pick it up, as for me I am back to enjoying this game 100 fold.… Expand

NastyN8

Sep 6, 2012

9

My experience with Guild Wars 2 has been exceptional. There are some minor flaws but the good qualities far outweigh the bad in Guild Wars 2. I'll start with the flaws: 1. I have come across one or two skill challenges and events are broken. 2. The way in which quests and events are presented does encourage players to work together towards something but I feel like it almost discouragesMy experience with Guild Wars 2 has been exceptional. There are some minor flaws but the good qualities far outweigh the bad in Guild Wars 2. I'll start with the flaws: 1. I have come across one or two skill challenges and events are broken. 2. The way in which quests and events are presented does encourage players to work together towards something but I feel like it almost discourages social player interaction because in many cases, nothing needs to be said to accomplish a goal. 3. Many of the utility skills seem useless to me for PVP or PVE. However, this could just be due to my lack of experience with my profession or the game in general. 4. Lack of tutorial. This is actually a plus for me because I like figuring things out, but I can see how this would frustrate some people.

The good points in Guild Wars 2 result in a much longer list for me, so I will just stick to the major points: 1. Doing arbitrary redundant tasks (such as traveling back to a city to free up inventory space) are nearly eliminated. 2. With the character creation options, armor dyes, utility skills, trait points, transmutation, and weapon selection - character customization is on par, if not better, than any MMO out there. I have yet to see another Charr Necromancer that looks like me, so finding one that does look like me and has the same weapons/traits/skills seems highly unlikely. 3. Questing/exploration structure is very well thought out and dynamic events prevent the boredom from setting in. 4. Compared to other MMOs and similar games, the launch of GW2 went VERY smooth. There are minimal bugs and plenty of content at launch 5. Doing lower level content is still challenging and rewarding. To my knowledge, this is the first MMO to accomplish this and it opens up a staggering amount of additional content to play through. 6. Any race/profession combo is allowed 7. Players are encouraged to work together. You get good rewards for participating in an event, you get exp for reviving another player, exp and rewards are given to all players that participate, and resource nodes cannot be "stolen" by another player. 8. Graphics are really good. I have a very nice gaming computer and I still can get 95-100% use out of both my GPUs on high settings. Not many games on PC do that for me. 9. PVP is well balanced at launch! Making everybody level 80 for PvP is a brilliant idea too.… Expand

HunterZolomon

Sep 11, 2012

8

This is a near perfect MMO. Incredibly well polished and rich in content. All systems, combat, crafting etc. are all well thought through and beats every competitor out there. The PvP, WvWvW etc. is awesome. Excellent sound (Soule score!) and graphics top it all off. So, why an 8/10? Guild Wars 2 lacks something the original game had in spades, an exciting storyline. The first Guild WarsThis is a near perfect MMO. Incredibly well polished and rich in content. All systems, combat, crafting etc. are all well thought through and beats every competitor out there. The PvP, WvWvW etc. is awesome. Excellent sound (Soule score!) and graphics top it all off. So, why an 8/10? Guild Wars 2 lacks something the original game had in spades, an exciting storyline. The first Guild Wars pulled me into the world of Tyria and refused to let go. I'll never forget fleeing across the Shiverpeaks with the survivors of Ascalon exploring the world as we went. Guild Wars 2 has none of the excitement that went with the original game storywise. The first 20 levels are about hunting random bandits and centaurs! No sense of urgency, excitement or scale at all, despite the stunning environments and vistas. The game would have benefited greatly from a much stronger story hook from the start.… Expand

Lionhearted

Sep 13, 2012

8

GW2 did what the last 7 years (and 100+) of mmos haven't really successfully, and thats innovate over WoW. The question is does it matter? The game is much better than other mmos gameplay-wise, and has "some skill", it's terrain complexity is a 10 of 10 also. The questing isn't rat race driven ect. I gave GW2 an 8 and that is rated on a curve, the amount of sheer creative input in thisGW2 did what the last 7 years (and 100+) of mmos haven't really successfully, and thats innovate over WoW. The question is does it matter? The game is much better than other mmos gameplay-wise, and has "some skill", it's terrain complexity is a 10 of 10 also. The questing isn't rat race driven ect. I gave GW2 an 8 and that is rated on a curve, the amount of sheer creative input in this game is impressive. GW2 is also the best MMOPVP I have played except maybe Champions online Zombie apocolypse, it's tailored largely like Lotro. But still, is this what weve been waiting for? It still has most of the immersion breaking mmo qualities, it gives you ability to "do your own thing" but the carrot on the stick has simply been switched from quest completion to "map completion". Is that better? A little, but I think only because it's newer. Also the dynamic events and pulling the social "level" walls enhances the game greatly. but again does that make mmos worth your time? I think it is finally with GW2 that we can see MMOs are deeply and fundamentally flawed, and it isn't just the trinity, it isn't just a lack of story of combat immersion. It's a lack of everything else, environments that are intelligent, personal social roleplay, all this replaced with cartoony mass media appetite filler, ect. online games need to be brougt back to the drawing board .. back down to why nerds actually played social games in groups 30+ years ago (and no they weren't addiction based every-night-entertain-me games). Because even 13 years after EQ began the first farm questing, we have still been seeking some actually engaging "imagination play". And it is simply not possible under mmo business as usual gameplay function. We need to start understanding what makes a game a game roleplay ~ roleplay~ and simple online interactive media .. just media and not a game~ After having said all that I can still say I "enjoy" the game and wish Arenanet even more success.. they did themselves proud ~ for a mmo. (and PS innovated many more things beyond whic a single post can hold)… Expand

Footstick

Sep 23, 2012

9

Very refreshing mmo, and with no monthly fee, it's a winner! The "quest" system is what i liked most and why I find it so refreshing. Great job Arenanet, can't wait to see where you take this game.

fiRsTcLAiMs

Sep 2, 2012

10

This game is amazing. i love wow and all blizzard games but this game is better than wow in almost every way. all the young kids or ignorant adults that are giving this game a 0 because there computer sucks or has no good maintenance are stupid and quickly show that they wont ever rate any game fairly. for one, they gave the game a 0 on day 1 of release. which shows they didnt even botherThis game is amazing. i love wow and all blizzard games but this game is better than wow in almost every way. all the young kids or ignorant adults that are giving this game a 0 because there computer sucks or has no good maintenance are stupid and quickly show that they wont ever rate any game fairly. for one, they gave the game a 0 on day 1 of release. which shows they didnt even bother to check the whole game out before reviewing it. or they can just be wow fanboys. a lot of work had to go in this game from what i see and i cant disrespect the developer by giving them a 0 because the game has a few bugs or small launch issues that will be fixed. when diablo came out it was unplayable for me because i would get kicked every 30 seconds but as frustrated as i was, i didnt come in here and gave them a 0. the problem is now fixed and the game is great. metacritic needs to figure out how to get these dumb 0 score reviewers out of here soon. be fair with this game and all games and dont hate or be mad that your computer sucks and makes the game play like crap. this is the wow killer and i love wow but i admit that this is it. but now is diablo, starcraft and guildwars 2 from now on for me.… Expand

Timber

Sep 19, 2012

10

First, as a GW VETERAN there are some things I can say as negative. Problem (or not so much) is that GW2 works, and it works very well. Could it be better with henchman? with monks? With the old currency, without damn repair and pay for map travel?? sure. But it's still a FAT 10 out of 10 to me. It's beautiful and huge and a pleasure to play.

Sugewise

Sep 3, 2012

10

Absolutely amazing game. This is the mmo that I've been waiting for. A wonderfully beautiful pve experience and a skill based meaning full pvp system! If you're an mmo fan, you are doing yourself a dis-service by not playing this game!

ynotndalton

Sep 3, 2012

9

First off, i don't see how people can say the graphics aren't good in this game. Turn all the settings to max and turn on supersampling and the textures are awesome .. that mixed with the art style and the world looks fantastic along the lines of AOC.. way better textures than skyrim.. (not hating on skyrim just proving a point). Hear people saying the dynamic events aren't reallingFirst off, i don't see how people can say the graphics aren't good in this game. Turn all the settings to max and turn on supersampling and the textures are awesome .. that mixed with the art style and the world looks fantastic along the lines of AOC.. way better textures than skyrim.. (not hating on skyrim just proving a point). Hear people saying the dynamic events aren't realling dynamic they are static and repeating, while that may be true they do a fantastic job in making the world feel alive and making it way easy to end up playing with other live people.. Loved it in Rift but the problem was they were always the same.. rift events.. no variety.. in GW2 they are different.. maybe repeating at the same area but as you explore they are varied.

I think the real seller though is the convienence factor.. everything that was a waste of time or annoying in other mmos they have made super easy.. Mail from anywhere, fast travel everywhere but only after you've explored it. No incredible grind. Quest rewards are mailed directly to you. Ways to gain xp are so varied. Head to unlock a vista encounter a dynamic event on the way back complete with 20 others.. do a heart find a point of interest.. etc etc. VS with other mmos -> Go to hub collect 10 quests on a list of tasks such as... collect 20 rat hides and vice versa .. go out and grind them down .. run back turn them in.. rinse and repeat. Armor customization is a breeze . Pvp is so easy to get into. Combat is Awesome for one reason really.. u can freakin move while channeling spells and abilites .. no stand in one spot for a 3 second channel .. Your constantly moving positioning.. casting channeling all at the same time. People say customization is limited.. only because it appears that way at the beginning.. throught traits , race abilites .. weapon skills and utility and healing skills and elite skills.. and 2 swapping weapons .. you actually have more options in the long run of interesting abilities than in other mmos.
Take for example .. i'm and elemental norn.. i can equip dual daggers ... and have 5 skills x 4 elements for 20 skills at one time just on that weapon loadout.. then u have sceptor / focus.. staves rods all with 5 skills x 4 elements.. on top of that is the utility skills unlocked and healing slot.. then transform into a bear or other creature with the norn race.. thats alot of thinks to do imo. Bottom line... Other mmo's is akin to clocking in and grinding... GW2 is akin to logging in and playing..
puts the fun back in this genre… Expand

jigme

Sep 3, 2012

9

Fun, if predictable and uneven. I have played all the major MMOs and have had the most fun with this one. It is well designed, accessible, and yet with depth and detail. My only issues have been minor and largely have to do with this being a new game (no auction house yet, etc). I can see this having the most playability and longevity of any game I have played in years.

Antisceptic

Sep 5, 2012

10

Looks great, feels great, sounds great, plays great, runs great. PvP is perfectly balanced, PvE is dynamic and interesting, World vs World is always changing and has such an epic scale. The Music is by Jeremy Soule. The achievements system rewards you for every aspect of the game, which is good, because this is the best MMORPG ever created.

Muan142

Sep 19, 2012

8

In the longer portion of this review I'll try to address some of the common complaints I see leveled against the game, but, in short, my opinion thus far is that It is an enjoyable improvement over every other MMO I've ever played, though it has some weak points and takes some getting used to. The most common complaint I see is that the graphics aren't that great. I haven't played TheIn the longer portion of this review I'll try to address some of the common complaints I see leveled against the game, but, in short, my opinion thus far is that It is an enjoyable improvement over every other MMO I've ever played, though it has some weak points and takes some getting used to. The most common complaint I see is that the graphics aren't that great. I haven't played The Secret World or Tera so I can't make a real comparison, but I can say the graphics don't look bad and I'm even impressed every once in a while when I turn around or look up to see a view like a landscape painting and realize I just travelled over that. Besides that, I've been playing games since the SNES and Genesis and I have to say, I haven't seen any major graphical improvements in the past 5 or 6 years, so saying it looks like a game from 2006 really doesn't strike me as a big insult. Guild Wars: EotN came out about then though, and GW2 does look significantly better than that. Secondly, there is the zerg-rush style combat people have complained of. To be absolutely honest, yeah, combat in big groups does feel pretty disorganized and I haven't been in a party since I started the damn game. Despite never joining a party though, I have to say that I've fought alongside other players multiple times every single time I logged on to GW2, unlike the solo grindathons I encountered in other MMOs, and if most of that group combat was a glorified zerg-fest, I don't really see too much wrong with that. It's a side-efect of making each player able to fight independently because you are never able to count on having a group in any MMO without AI partners. In other MMO's I've played, I can't remember being in a party most of the time anyway. In Phantasy Star Universe, I believe I partied up with someone else exactly once in the 6 or 7 months I played. This is the first MMO I've played that really felt like a multi-player experience through and through, and if we had to turn it into a glorified zerg-fest to do it, it doesn't take away too much from the enjoyment. As to the content of the events, it is basically the same as quests in other MMOs. Renown Heart quests are generally a little more complex but most of the dynamic events either involve killing bosses, escorting NPCs, or defending locations. All I can say is that, while you're basically doing the same sot of things you might have done in other MMOs, at least dynamic events generally bring players together so you won't be working alone. If you're in a big group and you don't know how to fight in a group, your role can feel insignificant. You fight differently in a group, shifting between support capabilities and ranged attacks and if you try the same tactics as when you fight alone you'll be ineffective. I haven't played WvW yet so I can't say anything to defend it. My own criticism of GW2 would be that it does a horrendous job of explaining itself. It is very easy to start thinking of it in terms of other MMOs and get frustrated. It's not a revolution, but neither is it quite cookie-cutter enough that you can't just pick it up and play like any other MMO. The professions work differently, the events work differently, even the way you acquire items works differently. Not a ninety-degree turn, but still, enough to through you off, even if you come to the table expecting something different. Also, I think I liked GW1's solo-oriented play-style better, but that's only after having played it for like six or seven years before putting it down. I also have several other minor complaints like the insane respawn rate and that the settlements on the map generally are not labelled, the early human storyline was so boring I just decided to forget about it for a while and enjoy leveling my character and exploring foreign lands. Events tend to cycle in rapid succession meaning that the effects of your actions last about 20 seconds, but that's mostly due to the massive number of players constantly triggering new events. It would be unfair to them to make your achievements last twenty minutes and force them to wait around that long to play the event themselves. This will probable change over time as concurrency rates go down. There are also several bugs, but that's what it means to be an MMO at launch. I give it a 9/10 because so far I haven't found any glaring issues I can identify and I've really started enjoying the game now that I realized there's a lot more depth to the professions than I'd previously thought. There are, however, several improvements I see they could make in the future updates, and if they don't address these issues my opinion will likely drop to a 7or 8.… Expand

Intox

Sep 11, 2012

10

Amazing Game, unlike any other mmo when it come to leveling.
Experience is gained from almost doing anything, from crafting to exploring and all things in between.
There is something for every type of player, no need to play 500 hours to feel your character is getting some wear. Anet's very strict enforcement of the rules is making the play experience that much better, I am sure manyAmazing Game, unlike any other mmo when it come to leveling.
Experience is gained from almost doing anything, from crafting to exploring and all things in between.
There is something for every type of player, no need to play 500 hours to feel your character is getting some wear.

Anet's very strict enforcement of the rules is making the play experience that much better, I am sure many casual players are familiar with the "rage" that follows when 1 mistake is made.
NO such thing in Guild Wars 2, unlike some other MMO's where abuse of fellow players is ignored
Suspensions and bans are handed out to the abusive players.

No need to be afraid to try something new because you don't know if some other player is going to start harassing you for not knowing how to play your first time.… Expand

Kuzzi

Sep 12, 2012

10

Hands down the greatest game I've ever played, and I have close to a thousand titles under my belt. Not sure why, but the critic score is lower than I expected...

Decretorius

Sep 2, 2012

10

Guild Wars 2 is the most fun I've ever had playing an MMO, and I may end up deciding it's the most fun I've ever had with any video game.

To provide some context, I've played Ultima Online, Wow, the original Guild Wars, and SWTOR. For a variety of reasons, none of them kept my interest for too long. GW1 showed promise but didn't feel like the full-fledged MMO I was looking for. ThenGuild Wars 2 is the most fun I've ever had playing an MMO, and I may end up deciding it's the most fun I've ever had with any video game.

To provide some context, I've played Ultima Online, Wow, the original Guild Wars, and SWTOR. For a variety of reasons, none of them kept my interest for too long. GW1 showed promise but didn't feel like the full-fledged MMO I was looking for.

Then GW2 came along. It retains all of the best parts of GW1 (the environments, emphasis on skills, etc.) and improves on everything the original got wrong. GW2 is fully persistent, has improved crafting, improved presentation, improved questing (i.e. "dynamic events"), open-world PvP ("WvW"), and still doesn't have a subscription fee. This is a big point for someone like me with a job that demands long hours and a six-month-old. I play when I have time, and if I don't have time, I don't have to worry about "wasting" $15 per month. Also, the level of polish is extraordinary. You may say that many of the features listed above aren't new, and that's true. But they all work so well that they still feel refreshing.

There are other little things that really increase my enjoyment in game. These include being able to deposit collectibles into the bank from anywhere in the world, fast travel, and getting experience rewards for just about everything. It's hard to imagine playing an MMO without these features after having experienced them.

Perhaps my favorite improvement is the combat. Gone are the days of staring at my skill bar and going through rotations. Just as ArenaNet intended, I find myself actually watching the fight, using skills on the fly as appropriate, dodging, and focusing on positioning. It may not seem like much, but considering that a big part of any MMO is combat, these improvements make the game much more fun than the other MMOs I've played.

Is there any room for improvement? Of course, The trading post was down for a while (but is up now), and there have been a few bugs to work out, but: (a) that's to be expected with any MMO launch; and (b) it hasn't detracted from my enjoyment of the game. Simply put, I've had an absolute blast every second I've spent in GW2.

One final thing I want to say is about the reviewers who are complaining about bans and giving the game a zero. THIS IS A GOOD THING. 99.9% of people who play the game will never have to worry about being banned because they won't pick racist character names or intentionally exploit bugs, thereby ruining the economy for others. And make no mistake, the people who were banned were intentionally exploiting things. ArenaNet stated that the only people who were permanently banned were exploiting the same bug hundreds of times, and the bug itself was that rare gear was priced at 1/1000th of its normal price. If you bought something hundreds of times at 1/1000th of its normal price, you knew what you were doing and have no excuse. For the rest of us, we should be thrilled that ArenaNet is sticking to their guns and preserving the integrity of the game for the non-exploiters at the expense of a few 0's on Metacritic.

Bottom line: if you have even a passing interest in MMOs, get this game. And if you don't, watch a couple videos and read some more reviews, and if you're at all interested, get the game. Without a subscription fee, GW2 is a relatively low-risk purchase with a ton of upside.… Expand

SadlyNot

Sep 1, 2012

8

Starting with the good, this is a fantastic MMO. The combat is a big improvement on the standard button mash and stand still that a lot of MMOs have established. The world is gorgeous, you actually have lots of motivation to explore instead of grinding the same spot. Leveling is easy, so if you want to hit end-game you can do so. Even then, you don't need to hit end-game to enjoy the PvPStarting with the good, this is a fantastic MMO. The combat is a big improvement on the standard button mash and stand still that a lot of MMOs have established. The world is gorgeous, you actually have lots of motivation to explore instead of grinding the same spot. Leveling is easy, so if you want to hit end-game you can do so. Even then, you don't need to hit end-game to enjoy the PvP and WvW because you are scaled up. Overall, awesome experience for the first few days playing with friends. Also, the launch was great. I logged in the second servers became available at 9 pm PST and enjoyed hours of play. A few things were down, like trading and mail, but compared to some other big launches (Diablo 3) at least I could play immediately.

The bad - I haven't been able to play for three days. Won't get into details but in short I changed my password because of recent hacks and now I can't log in. Support is being swarmed with users having similar login issues, so as a relatively young company not used to dealing with this much traffic don't expect much help beyond a confirmation for a while. Not saying they are a trash company - I'm saying that if you haven't bought this game yet, do yourself a favour and wait a few weeks. By then support will be working, there won't be in-game problems like mail system and trading being down, and you can fully enjoy the game from day 1 of purchase.… Expand

Krushull

Sep 2, 2012

9

I think the average user score is quite fair. There are obviously some people who may not like the game, Blizzard fanboi's aside. The days of tough, complex MMO's are long gone to make way for the 10 year old gamer generation. The lack of End Game will probably affect this game sooner or later, while PvP is fun the imbalance really affects it and constant battles just outside our world'sI think the average user score is quite fair. There are obviously some people who may not like the game, Blizzard fanboi's aside. The days of tough, complex MMO's are long gone to make way for the 10 year old gamer generation. The lack of End Game will probably affect this game sooner or later, while PvP is fun the imbalance really affects it and constant battles just outside our world's spawn area have really ruined the experience for me. After a few hours of WvW I really haven't seen any of the mechanics apart from spamming each other in the middle of nowhere. Unless there is some balance in place PvP at the moment really minds me of the old Tarren Mill vs Southshore days of WoW.

PvE is fun but getting locked in to 4 skills per weapon is starting to become old already and I'm not even very high level. Traits etc might break this up but it doesn't really seem to be enough. Instead of swapping weapons it would be good if you could just use both weapon skill sets on the fly to make it a little less monotonous.

F2P is a good feature especially on a high a end title but I'm sure content will be released quite quickly that we will need to fork out cash for and buying gems etc is already looking quite tempting.

Will it stand up against Mists of Pandaria or the test of time? We will see.… Expand

hrangel92

Sep 2, 2012

10

The game is amazing. One of my biggest concern with most games is combat. I've played ToR, Aion, and Rift. One of the things i hated about most of those games was the combat. especially ToR. Some abilities would have the animation take priority over the effect, so you would basically use and "instant cast" stun but it's animation would take 2 seconds! To some this isn't really a big dealThe game is amazing. One of my biggest concern with most games is combat. I've played ToR, Aion, and Rift. One of the things i hated about most of those games was the combat. especially ToR. Some abilities would have the animation take priority over the effect, so you would basically use and "instant cast" stun but it's animation would take 2 seconds! To some this isn't really a big deal but to me it's pretty game breaking especially in PvP. One of the major reasons I kept going back to WoW was because of the combat, it just flows way better than any of those games. Guild Wars 2 combat isn't as great in terms of flow but the way its structured is really good. You run around with 2 weapon sets (1 for elementalists but you get 4 elements to swap through instead) and you swap them around during combat. You can really customize your play style by having a burst combination in set and a tanky combo in the other or w/e you like. The pvp in this game is also amazing. The sPvP is really putting an emphasis on skill rather than gear as everyone has equivalent gear. World vs. World vs. World pvp is HUUUUUUUUUUUGE think of like 4 or 5 Tol' Borads put together. Although you can only zone into one of the four areas it is still pretty big area. Combat and more specifically PvP are an important part for me playing an MMO and this game has great combat and great PvP. If you're like me and enjoy these aspects of the game I really do recommend this game. I mean even Arena Net are hosting their own tournaments for this game and have high hopes of it becoming an eSport.… Expand

eboko

Sep 2, 2012

10

First MMORPG I've truly enjoyed since oldschool Star Wars Galaxies. Tyria is utterly gorgeous, and yet it's not the kind of resource hog you find in games like Age of Conan - the setpieces are absolute art, and everything is very efficiently rendered. The gameplay itself is a breath of fresh air. Everything feels fluid and natural - for once I can explore areas at my leisure, go follow myFirst MMORPG I've truly enjoyed since oldschool Star Wars Galaxies. Tyria is utterly gorgeous, and yet it's not the kind of resource hog you find in games like Age of Conan - the setpieces are absolute art, and everything is very efficiently rendered. The gameplay itself is a breath of fresh air. Everything feels fluid and natural - for once I can explore areas at my leisure, go follow my friends around and just enjoy the game world without worrying about quest "chore" lists. I'm just getting into pvp, but so far it seems like it'll be fun and challenging, and not entirely dependant on gear. Another amazing aspect of this game is that it's free to play after purchasing the box. You're probably thinking, "Oh, well that means it'll be full of flashy, obnoxious cash shop buttons and pay-to-win gear." I'm extremely pleased to inform you of the contrary. The in-game gem store is not only subtle and polite, but it is filled with legitimately interesting cosmetic and convenience-providing items that in no-way harm the balance of the game.

The only downsides I can think of so far are related to the growing pains that any newly-released MMORPG is guaranteed to experience, but even those aren't that bad compared to other launches in my recent memory. Almost every "issue" GW2 is currently facing is related to the extreme burden placed on their network by the million + people enjoying the game. Over the week, secondary game features such as the trade post and mail system have been sporadically unavailable, but it's clear that they are making great progress in getting those services back up. If you're burnt out from the tedium and grind of linear themepark MMOs, take it from me: you should definitely check out Guild Wars 2.… Expand

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3	#3 Best PC Game of 2012
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