What makes Guild Wars 2 different from generic MMOs?

[Fidelias]

I've been playing it for a few days now, and I can say, Guild Wars 2 isn't really that different.

Sure, the combat is more action oriented, but it doesn't give you as many options as The Secret World. Once you unlock 5 skills for whatever weapon-combo you want to use for your class, that's it. You can only unlock Healing/Utility skills that are more about passive buffs, healing, or traps, rather than actual attacks.

The questing is kind of interesting. You have dynamic events (Random events happen in certain places that you have to take care of) that are pretty cool. The main quest is nice and well-made. But the other side quests are boring and un-interesting. You just go to a certain area, and you have to do small jobs, REPEATEDLY, to fill up a meter. Sure, you're not fighting giant rats, but it gives the same feeling as doing mundane task number 22.
And then, you can't even go back and do these again for more experience.

This game relies on you to do the Dynamic Events to gain levels, but since they are RANDOM you could go hours without stumbling into one, halting any progress towards the next part of the game, until you're lucky enough to find one.

It's not that Guild Wars 2 is a bad game, it's actually pretty great, but there are some SERIOUS pacing issues that need to be addressed.

Edit: Oh and also, some people have extremely bad lag, while others don't. Sometimes I log in and I can't even play the game, the server lag is so bad, while other times I don't have a single problem. You just never know.

 

[Denamic]

It removes a lot of unnecessary tedium and makes playing fun and interesting.
For example, as an engineer, I can be a ranged DPS by throwing grenades, AoE specialist by using a fucking flamethrower, or a unique take on melee by setting powerful timed bombs where you stand, among many other things. The variety is staggering, and playing never feels restricted. Quests are all dynamic. They happen in the world whether you're there or not; you only need to go there and take part if you feel like it. And there'll often be world bosses as well. You don't have to organize a raid or even a group for that either. Just go there and start; people will eventually show up for it. There's no competition or kill stealing either. See someone taking down a group of mobs? Go there and help! It's pure win-win, and he won't get reduced XP, both of you gets loot, and you both get bonus XP for taking down mobs faster. Same with quests. Everyone in the area are doing the same quests as you, meaning that everyone helps progressing it, you no need to compete for quest mobs or items.

All in all, they use many old tropes in new ways, making for a fresh experience.
I also love how you can travel to anywhere you've been in the world at any time simply by teleporting through the map.
I'm kinda tired of 30 minute travel times.

 

[Friendly Lich]

It seems to me that WoW players always want new games to be different from WoW but then they get whiny when its too different for them.

 

[Folji]

Guild Wars 2 doesn't make me feel like I'm following a pre-arranged rope through zone after zone, completing quest after quest in a carefully planned string. I feel like I can explore more, go where I want to go, meet up with someone along the way and just head somewhere, and when I get there we'll find something we can all jump into without needing to worry about quests people have or haven't done, criteria people do or don't meet and so on.

It feels liberating.

 

[smartalec]

It seems to me that WoW players always want new games to be different from WoW but then they get whiny when its too different for them.

It does make sense... kind of. That yearning for something 'better' will always conflict with that wish to stay within one's own comfort zone. Everyone always hopes for something that will occupy a 'sweet spot' between the two, a sweet spot that may not exist.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Not saying the fella wasn't trolling somewhat there but is he actually wrong in that assessment? I mean it seems like The Secret World is doing more innovative crap albeit to mixed success while guild wars is getting absolutely fellated to death for trying less?

I'll likely give it a try some point but I'm just not seeing the radical appeal.

The Secret World has indeed done a few innovative things, but tied them to some extremely retrogressive mechanics. It also suffers from "TOR-itis", in that it has high-quality first time through game play in the form of its investigation missions and voiced story content, and then that's it. Once that's exhausted, you're left with a very old school loot and raid treadmill to run on to justify your subscription fee.

GW2 is the more mechanically progressive game. Many elements of its game play have appeared in other MMOs, but never collectively. Certainly not in the venerable Asheron's Call. As usual though, people will see what they want to see, because most of us live to have our confirmation biases reaffirmed.

TSW is not having "mixed success", by the way. They estimated 500,000-1,000,000 boxes sold. They ended up selling 200,000. Funcom laid off half their staff and have announced an intention to "focus on smaller projects in the future". In every measurable business sense, it's been an unmitigated disaster.

This game relies on you to do the Dynamic Events to gain levels, but since they are RANDOM you could go hours without stumbling into one, halting any progress towards the next part of the game, until you're lucky enough to find one.

What level are you? I've got a level 31, and several lower level alts. I went past level 20 twice in the betas. I've never gone longer than 5-10 minutes without seeing a dynamic event.

And it doesn't really "rely" on the Dynamic Events, although they are a major part of the content. I play with my GF and she's a bit of a laggard when it comes to reacting to nearby events, so I miss more than my share. And I'm finding the pace of XP gain to be ludicrously fast.

 

[Krantos]

The digital version of the game, sold by Arenanet themselves, has the unique ability to be sold out, even though it's digital. Only one other MMO managed to achieve that, that MMO being TOR.

Seriously, fuck Guild Wars 2. I probably won't buy it now. This is pathetic. No, Arenanet, I will not buy the collectors edition just because you want to nickel and dime me by refusing to sell the normal version of the game.

Go to Amazon or Impulse.

That's what I did when I bought my wife's account.

I really don't get what the point of that was, really. I wanted to give Arenanet all the money, but they wouldn't let me. Suit yourself AN.

OT: pretty much everything Guppy and omicron said. It's just different enough for me to want to play it, but familiar enough that I don't feel lost.

 

[zumbledum]

its just extremely well stream lined, from being able to auto summon crafting items through the production window without running to a bank to the standard quests and they are there and it is the normal grind and progress to the next its just you dont have to pick them up or drop them off and there is usually several criteria you can use to complete it.but believe me you follow those hearts across the map as you would any quest hub.

its done the impossible its more casual friendly and simpler than wow, dont get me wrong i quite like the game and im putting a few hours a day in but its not the crack substance ive got off some mmo's before.

for me the one massive fail is the skill systems, by about level 6 you have all of your skills, yes theres a bunch of utility based ones to get and the "elite" skill or dps timer button as you choose. but even with weapon swapping your looking at a staggering small amount of skills to use and with no choice of how the sets are put out you have little to no choice how to play as you either use the skills you get correctly or badly.
I think its the lack of choice rather than the number i mean GW let you have 6 or was it 8? been a few years since i played but you got to pick them, i started as a necro and i basically have 3 sets to choose from and well im a bit bored of them already at level 12.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

This game relies on you to do the Dynamic Events to gain levels, but since they are RANDOM you could go hours without stumbling into one, halting any progress towards the next part of the game, until you're lucky enough to find one.

Or you could craft, explore, do hearts in other starter areas, collect mats, do structured PvP or do WvWvW which has plenty of dynamic events.

Sooo Asheron's Call circa 2000? Primarily solo play, with and around others? No real end game outside of constant PvP? And no gear, sparkly foozle collection, or escalating group challenge progression to appeal to the PvE players. Gotcha!

There is plenty of high end gear skins to get from getting Karma or by doing the various jump puzzles if you're into that or doing the dungeons in explorable mode for high end pve.

OT: There are a lot of traditional elements like crafting and getting materials but it acts differently to some other games as seems a bit less cunty. Also the combat is completely different to other MMOs aside from still having the hot bar look.

 

[Cette]

Not saying the fella wasn't trolling somewhat there but is he actually wrong in that assessment? I mean it seems like The Secret World is doing more innovative crap albeit to mixed success while guild wars is getting absolutely fellated to death for trying less?

I'll likely give it a try some point but I'm just not seeing the radical appeal.

The Secret World has indeed done a few innovative things, but tied them to some extremely retrogressive mechanics. It also suffers from "TOR-itis", in that it has high-quality first time through game play in the form of its investigation missions and voiced story content, and then that's it. Once that's exhausted, you're left with a very old school loot and raid treadmill to run on to justify your subscription fee.

GW2 is the more mechanically progressive game. Many elements of its game play have appeared in other MMOs, but never collectively. Certainly not in the venerable Asheron's Call. As usual though, people will see what they want to see, because most of us live to have our confirmation biases reaffirmed.

TSW is not having "mixed success", by the way. They estimated 500,000-1,000,000 boxes sold. They ended up selling 200,000. Funcom laid off half their staff and have announced an intention to "focus on smaller projects in the future". In every measurable business sense, it's been an unmitigated disaster.

I was referring to execution in regards the success being mixed. Tis a fun and interesting game but not everything in it works so smooth and the number of broken quests can get annoying. Especially since it's the more mechanically interesting ones that tend to break. I find it's financial failure pretty disappointing but given when it was released and how niche it's appeal not super surprising.

I really like it personally but I can see why someone wouldn't and it's entirely too different in tone and setting for comparing head to head with any of the big fantasy MMO's.

If it's just a very finely tuned traditional fantasy type deal then I'll likely give it a go next time that's the sort of game I actually feel like playing. Would absolutely kill for something like an MMO version of Tribes Ascend though.

 

[Friendly Lich]

The digital version of the game, sold by Arenanet themselves, has the unique ability to be sold out, even though it's digital. Only one other MMO managed to achieve that, that MMO being TOR.

Seriously, fuck Guild Wars 2. I probably won't buy it now. This is pathetic. No, Arenanet, I will not buy the collectors edition just because you want to nickel and dime me by refusing to sell the normal version of the game.

Its not sold out the SERVERS ARE JAM PACKED!!! no more room right now. So they had to stop selling for a bit on digital copies.

 

[ramboondiea]

sorry to jump in with a somewhat unrelated post, but I am curious about this game and wondering if anyone would recommend it for someone who has never played an MMO before? just asking because the game looks good and having never played an MMO before whether its got generic MMO bits it wouldn't really effect me haha

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I was referring to execution in regards the success being mixed. Tis a fun and interesting game but not everything in it works so smooth and the number of broken quests can get annoying. Especially since it's the more mechanically interesting ones that tend to break. I find it's financial failure pretty disappointing but given when it was released and how niche it's appeal not super surprising.

I find it pretty surprising, to be honest. It's an utter marketing/launch window failure on the part of Funcom. The game needed more time and polish, and needed to NOT launch immediately before GW2 and MoP. It was begging to be run over. It should've been launched in October closer to Halloween, once the post MoP surge had died down. And really, it needed a different business model. Putting a sub fee on it in today's marketplace was a stupid, stupid decision. And it's at least partly to blame for the game getting shackled to a godawful dungeon grind treadmill once the quality content has been exhausted.

It's sitting at about 100K subs, and GW2 has only just now launched, and MoP still to come. TSW is in pretty grim waters.

I think its the lack of choice rather than the number i mean GW let you have 6 or was it 8? been a few years since i played but you got to pick them, i started as a necro and i basically have 3 sets to choose from and well im a bit bored of them already at level 12.

GW1 gave you a deck of 8 skills, in which you chose all 8.

GW2 gives you a deck of 10(15) skills, in which you elect the first 5 from a choice of 2-10ish, elect one from a choice of 3-4, and elect the last 4 from a choice of 25. These are further altered/effected by traits.

You don't have access to all your skills until level 30, and even then you won't have access to all of them until you've picked up sufficient skill points to unlock them, which can take quite a long time. The top rung elite skills take 30 skill points to unlock.

sorry to jump in with a somewhat unrelated post, but I am curious about this game and wondering if anyone would recommend it for someone who has never played an MMO before? just asking because the game looks good and having never played an MMO before whether its got generic MMO bits it wouldn't really effect me haha

Without knowing your gaming preferences it's impossible for me to give an informed recommendation. You might love it, you might hate it. What things about it interest you? What things give you pause? What are your expectations? What kind of games do you play now?

 

[Maeshone]

sorry to jump in with a somewhat unrelated post, but I am curious about this game and wondering if anyone would recommend it for someone who has never played an MMO before? just asking because the game looks good and having never played an MMO before whether its got generic MMO bits it wouldn't really effect me haha

Wait, you've never played an MMO? But... you have the templar symbol from The Secret World for your avatar...? I'm confused...

As for recommendation, for sure. As long as you don't mind hotkey-based combat and can afford the initial purchase prize, you should definately check it out. It's probably on of the easier MMOs to just jump into, next to WoW anyway.

Captcha: Which one is food? Uhm... I'm just gonna go stand over there now...

 

[ramboondiea]

sorry to jump in with a somewhat unrelated post, but I am curious about this game and wondering if anyone would recommend it for someone who has never played an MMO before? just asking because the game looks good and having never played an MMO before whether its got generic MMO bits it wouldn't really effect me haha

Wait, you've never played an MMO? But... you have the templar symbol from The Secret World for your avatar...? I'm confused...

As for recommendation, for sure. As long as you don't mind hotkey-based combat and can afford the initial purchase prize, you should definately check it out. It's probably on of the easier MMOs to just jump into, next to WoW anyway.

Captcha: Which one is food? Uhm... I'm just gonna go stand over there now...

had that avatar since i joined like 2 years ago, i was interested in secret world, my interest waned over time and with the game apparently not being good, which was a damn shame, also im just too lazy to change it so yeah, hope that helps the confusion ahha

the price doesn't put me off, if i get it it will be on next pay day, just curious as a game called guild wars probably emphases the whole guild thing, and having never played any kind of mmo before, I don't have any experience with it or people to join up with, I mean at most I may be able convince 4 people to get this game, but i assume i miss out on a lot if its not big groups, like that whole world against world mechanic they have.

 

[if_then_else]

the price doesn't put me off, if i get it it will be on next pay day, just curious as a game called guild wars probably emphases the whole guild thing, and having never played any kind of mmo before, I don't have any experience with it or people to join up with, I mean at most I may be able convince 4 people to get this game, but i assume i miss out on a lot if its not big groups, like that whole world against world mechanic they have.

Actually, the "guild" in the name it's a reference to an actual war of guilds that (I think) took place during the first game, or a bit before the first game. It doesn't mean that you guilds are actually a big thing in the game, they're not, or at least not more than in other MMOs. The only place that I've seen they are really important is in WvWvW, because you can organize attacks better with a guild, plus guilds have "perks" that the leader can buy to get certain bonuses.

You don't really NEED friends to play and complete content, if you see an event going you can just play alongside the other players without the need for a party or raid group. Of course, friends can always make any game more enjoyable.

Anyway, you can always wait for a trial to come out after all the initial influx of players have settled and judge for yourself, but the game being 60 dollars just like any other game and no subscriptions fees, you can't really go wrong, I'm having such a great time playing it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

the price doesn't put me off, if i get it it will be on next pay day, just curious as a game called guild wars probably emphases the whole guild thing, and having never played any kind of mmo before, I don't have any experience with it or people to join up with, I mean at most I may be able convince 4 people to get this game, but i assume i miss out on a lot if its not big groups, like that whole world against world mechanic they have.

Ironically enough for a game called "Guild Wars", GW2 is arguably the most solo friendly game on the market (you could probably make an argument for TOR as well, at least prior to end game). You can experience all of the content except dungeons without ever having to join so much as a group, and those are only 5 man.

 

[ramboondiea]

the price doesn't put me off, if i get it it will be on next pay day, just curious as a game called guild wars probably emphases the whole guild thing, and having never played any kind of mmo before, I don't have any experience with it or people to join up with, I mean at most I may be able convince 4 people to get this game, but i assume i miss out on a lot if its not big groups, like that whole world against world mechanic they have.

Actually, the "guild" in the name it's a reference to an actual war of guilds that (I think) took place during the first game, or a bit before the first game. It doesn't mean that you guilds are actually a big thing in the game, they're not, or at least not more than in other MMOs. The only place that I've seen they are really important is in WvWvW, because you can organize attacks better with a guild, plus guilds have "perks" that the leader can buy to get certain bonuses.

You don't really NEED friends to play and complete content, if you see an event going you can just play alongside the other players without the need for a party or raid group. Of course, friends can always make any game more enjoyable.

Anyway, you can always wait for a trial to come out after all the initial influx of players have settled and judge for yourself, but the game being 60 dollars just like any other game and no subscriptions fees, you can't really go wrong, I'm having such a great time playing it.

well that's just a misleading name then ahaha.

well yeah, it looks good, will probably pick it up next month then or soon there after, especially as its not a requirement needing to socialises ha.

and is it actually $60 over there? because that means uk actually gets it cheaper, that's a pleasant surprise.

Thanks for the info.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I actually used my super MLG pro leet 360 no scope hacking skillz to locate an online store that still had keys. (Read: checked the official Guild Wars 2 website again and got linked there.)

GamesRocket.de or something. Actually legit as fuck. I am downloading the game as we speak. (And FUCK this is taking a long time. I want to play, dammit.)

Good work! You technically bought the game retail, you just managed to find an online retailer that still had keys.

I do hope you have fun. You can be a hard guy to please at times, although not unreasonably so (your Diablo 3 review was uncommonly even handed). I do love the game, but I also recognize it cannot hope to be all things to all people.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I think I'll like it - from what I've heard till now, it should be right up my ally. One of my IRL friends loves it and trust me, while our taste in games is simular, he's a lot harder to please than I am.

Anyway, I'm keeping my expectations reasonable. I never really got caught up in the hype train for GW2, in fact, the only reason the game caught my attention is because it's Guild Wars and it has no subfee. All I'm expecting is fun combat, a varied world that's nice to look at, and engaging PvP. So far I've seen or heard nothing that argues it doesn't fulfill that criteria.

And hey, if the game does turn out to fail on me somewhere, it's not that much of a big deal, because I can drop it and return to it when I feel like it, without having to buy another month of playtime.

EDIT: Also, it wasn't really a good job on my part. All I did was go to the official site to dig around for 5 minutes and bam, I found it.

EDIT 2: Another also; I might write my second user review about GW2. If I have enough things to say that haven't been said a thousand times before.

Moderating expectations is key. There was some pretty pie in the sky rhetoric bleeding out of the GW2 community about how the game was going to be a panacea for every ill in the genre, and obviously it's not. The first day I played it way back in BWE1, I was disappointed. The second day, I was intrigued. The third day, I was having fun. The fourth day, the beta was over and I was whining to my girlfriend about how I missed my GW2.

Biggest issue you're likely to run into is just flat out server load and crowding and the effect that has on dynamic events. Too many people and it's just "LIGHTS! NOISES!" while you smash your buttons and hope not to die. It's fun in a visceral "things are happening!" sense, but it has zero tactical depth when it's like that. Those same events with a small group of people can be quite bracing, though.