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- Publisher: NCSOFT
- Release Date: Aug 28, 2012
User Score
Generally favorable reviews- based on 2623 Ratings
User score distribution:
Positive: 2,047 out of 2623
Mixed: 170 out of 2623
Negative: 406 out of 2623
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Dec 13, 2012Had a great start and tons of potential but the devs have squandered it. Storyline starts out great with your choices having impact but around halfway through it gets hijacked by a Mary Sue who saves the world for you. Graphics are marginally better than the originals and most of the music is recycled from GW. Gameplay is dull with each weapon having a locked set of skills leaving you with 1 healing skill, 3 "utility" slots, and an elite skill. Most skills are bland because the devs have killed the "trinity" (aka an actual class system) leaving everyone being tanky DPS for dungeons and glass cannons for pvp. 4 months after launch and there are still tons of gameplay bugs, elite skills are almost all garbage (so bad that you forget to use them), CC & debuffs are unbalanced and boring (stuns last 1-2 seconds but cripple can stack to over a minute easily), and class customization is non-existent with barebone traits. The world is beautiful and at first fun to explore, but if you go for map completion the hearts are very tedious and all the starting zones feel the same. Endgame consists of unevenly difficult & boring dungeons, chaotic & pointless server vs. server PvP, KOTH PvP with cosmetics-only rewards, and grinding for hundreds of hours for "legendary" weapons. Overall, this is a terrible sequel and has nothing to do with the original Guild War series apart from races and some skill names. The devs are clearly building the game for the "WoW audience" and have not only abandoned their original fans but are actively alienating them.… Expand
Sep 17, 2012Having put countless hours into Guild Wars, I can now say with confidence that this is the MMORPG that stands the best chance of dethroning World of Warcraft. It's also one that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Guild Wars 2 is the modern MMORPG that offers a more streamlined and comfortable experience in open-world exploring and PvP for players of all skills/experience. And instead of ignoring players who want to be crafty or explorative, GW2 rewards them. I've really enjoyed some of the elements Guild Wars 2 has borrowed from other excellent action/adventure games (like Skyrim or Assassin's Creed). Those elements help give you drive to do certain things to completion, which often nets you achievements and bonus gear, XP, and an assortment of treasures. The game isn't a radical departure from MMORPG's, but it offers enough of a refresh to earn your $60 investment (without forcing you to buy into a subscription). There is a small learning curve to parts of this game, but nothing is unlearnable or un-masterable. If you've been waiting for a game to come along to pull you away from WoW's stale-ish experience or you just gave up on MMORPGs because of their lack of innovation, Guild Wars 2's world is one you need to experience.… Expand
Jul 30, 2014Beautiful 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
Feb 15, 2013This 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
Jan 18, 2013While ArenaNet has definitely succeeded in making Guild Wars 2 different to anything else out there, it has taken away some of the endearing qualities of the original Guild Wars such as a greater variety of skills and placing a greater focus on storyline missions. For newcomers, the game will keep you entertained for awhile but long-term enjoyment boils down to PvP, WvW and popular dungeons.
Oct 20, 2012I failed to see what all the hype was about. This game is by no means special.
HOWEVER: having said that, it is a very good Online RPG. Many characters to play, tons of items, skills, spells, etc. But for me - what's important in an online RPG is to play with someone i know. Otherwise - it's just no fun - even less fun if there was a single player campaign.
Aug 28, 2012If you've played just about any MMO in the last 10 years, you are intimately familiar with floating exclamation points, dungeon grinding, and gear treadmills. Guild Wars 2 turns much of what we know, and have unquestioningly accepted about MMOs, on its head. The most obvious difference is in the questing. The vast majority of "quests" in GW2 are spontaneous and dynamic. You don't bump into someone who tells you their life story right before they ask you to kill 10 rats. Rather, you might come upon a farm under attack by bandits - if you or your companions manage to drive them off, it may lead to another stage where you go on the attack, and raid the bandits lair. If you fail, however, a different quest starts, where you may have to repair the damage the bandits caused. People passing through the area are free to join in or leave at any time, and the difficulty scales to however many are participating. Combat itself is vastly different from the usual 'stand still and mash buttons' you see everywhere else. Movement is key, and with no specific tank or healer class, players must be aware at all times and be ready to dodge whenever the boss winds ups for a special attack. It's refreshing, and, at times, difficult - there is a definite learning curve. Additionally, combat skills depend on your weapon type. A mage might throw a fireball while wielding a staff, but if he equips a dagger, it turns into a a completely different, aoe type attack. Various other quality-of-life improvements have been made. You never directly compete with other players for quest objectives or resource nodes. Fast travel works from any point on the map. The graphics are some of the best I've seen in an MMO, and the solo storyline is actually pretty good, varying wildly depending on what race/background choices you made during character creation. Max level pvp is accessible as soon as you create your character, and is easily the best system I've seen in an MMO yet. Exploration is fun, and there are rewards for doing it. Crafting has a unique experimentation aspect to it. And, of course, the biggest selling point - there is no subscription fee! Now, all this isn't to say GW2 doesn't have any flaws. There are still a lot of launch bugs floating around, ranging from minor (trouble grouping with players) to major (the auction house has been down for days). It's still up in the air how "end game" will be received, bearing in mind there is no traditional gear treadmill. The cash/gem shop is a little sketchy, and the game has many subtle and not-so-subtle ways of nudging you toward it. Anyway, I've been playing the game since beta and I can honestly say I've been having a lot of fun. The burning questions on everyone's minds (whether or not this will kill WoW, or if they should drop WoW for this game) are largely irrelevant, they are different games with different mentalities and approaches to MMO gaming.… Expand
Feb 12, 2013Sure, GW2 was a fun game for a while, I enjoyed it, but after playing World of Warcraft for years before this, despite wanting to, I couldn't quite get into it and I stopped playing after reaching only level 16.
Sep 6, 2012I highly recommend that you try this game out on a friend's account or wait until there is a free trial available before you buy this game because it is very different than other MMOs and also very different than what all the hype says about it. Many of the ones who rated this game 10 seem to be "yes men" drinking the Guild Wars 2 "kool-aid" without critical thinking. I get the impression that many of them have played only the original Guild Wars but have never played another MMO, or have only played World of Warcraft around 2004-2005 before all the major improvements that improved WoW over the years such as phasing, etc. After reading an aritcle where ArenaNet Founder Mike O'Brien said "We were number two to World of Warcraft with Guild Wars, now we want to beat them" and over-hype such as how the Guild Wars 2 web site currently says "Join the MMO Revolution..." I got suckered into thinking this game was going to be something great and pre-purchased it. I soon learned after 60 minutes of gameplay that I had been duped. I kept playing it to see if it would grow on me, but after every two hours of trying to get myself to enjoy the game I just would have to log off out of sheer boredom. This is the first time I have bought a game and been so dissapointed that I regretted the purchase. The reasons I don't like the game are: 1) The combat system is horrible. When you press one of your action bar keys, it does not feel like your character is responding, It is hard to see what you are hitting with your abilitie what hitting you. The combat is very similar to WoW vehicle fights where you just spam buttons 1-5 on cooldown. Add running in a circle to dodge stuff and you've pretty much mastered the game.. Due to lack of mob tagging all of the dynamic events involving bosses or waves of NPC foes seem to be zergfests where a dozen or so players are attacking the same boss/foes and really you feel like your part is so minimal that you are insignificant. 2) Poor story telling: The personal story NPC cut-scenes where you see two badly voice-acted NPCs standing at the left and the right of the screen in front of a painted backdrop are lame.What was extremely annoying for me for the personal story was the way that every time you completed one or two simple steps in the personal story you would have to leave the personal story and go and grind your level up doing other things because your weren't high enough level for the next personal story step. They need to either make the personal story scale with your level or just get rid of the personal story all together imo, the personal story does not seem to be connected to the outside world anyway.3) World Questing: WoW-clone quests just without the middle-man: If you've played WoW or any WoW-clone you've done these types of quests before, fetch a number of these things, kill a number of these things, place a number of these things over there, etc. Guild Wars 2 presents them a little differently however. Instead of list of fetch 0/10 things, kill 0/10 things, put 0/10 things there, you get a bar that says something equivalent to "Help Bob by fetching things, killing things and putting things there" and you can do any or all of the things repeatedly until the bar fills up at which point you get mail from "Bob" saying something like "Thanks for the help! here's some coins and a piece of armor!", you don't even have to go to a mailbox. For me personally, it feels like I am just doing a bunch of random tasks. I prefer the old way where you talk to an NPC and listen to him speak and/or read his test giving you a back story to why you are doing what you are doing and return to him when you are done because it gives you a sense of purpose for doing stuff, without that it really just feels like just a grind, when according to the hype, Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be less grindy than other MMOs.I originally gave Guild Wars 2 a 3/10 I've lowered it to 0/10 for a few reasons. a) Someone seems to be gaming the metacritic system to remove negative reviews (including b) there are way to many guild wars fans just giving the game a 10/10 without any critical thinking c) a large number of accounts have been hacked, d) Guild Wars 2 policies to ban players for 72 hours for swearing when they have a profanity filter build into the game makes no sense, e) Banning players for 72 hours for minor naming offenses when it is a first offense is extreme. I think some cases such as names that contain swear words or making racist remarks are indeed worthy of a 72-hour ban, but being banned for 72 hours for naming yourself something "Adolf Critler" is a little excessive for a first offense, a forced name change and a warning would've sufficed. I'm also not clear if a parodied name like "Spruce Willis" for a Sylvari would get me a 72 hour ban or not. I also had a few nice things to say but had to remove them due to 5000 char limit, but they cannot make up for the bad things.… Expand
Oct 2, 2012Fans of fantasy RPG have had to wait a long time for a game where they can imagine themselves as heroes in 'another world' without paying by the month for it. This game fills a gap that Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2 both sorely failed to fill. Guild Wars 2 scratches the itch of Fantasy RPG fans with an expansive, beautifully presented world. There is exploration, crafting, swords and sorcery. There are guilds and social elements if you need them, or you can solo if you prefer. If you want PVP. There are plenty of different builds to play around with, and five races to delve into. The developers appear to be doing their best to offer a gamer-friendly experience and have certainly worked very hard to make this game big enough and flexible enough for everyone except the most head-up-the-arse hard core-nutters. The elements of killing mobs and bosses, and grinding levels are all familiar, and not really better than youve already seen elsewhere. But the art IS better. Many small details of presentation ARE improved. And the pay-once play-forever model is a SUPERB challange for Blizzard to start trying to earn money with better games rather than milking and exploiting their customer base all the way. If you are an RPG fan, you can't go wrong with this game. If you haven't tried an MMO before THIS is the place to start. If you play WOW and are curious, play some of a friends account and choose whichever game you prefer. Thanks Arenanet for expanding our choices, and thanks for Trying to upgrade and evolve the model. If this game gets Blizzard to try harder we all win. For that reason alone... for daring to compete we should all appreciate and applaud what this game represents. The trolls giving this game 0s and 1s should understand just how this game might end up helping them enjoy better games at better prices and repost with scores that reflect an understanding of how Arenanet efforts will finally IMPROVE their gaming experience. 8/10 for the game. 10/10 due to its entirely positive influence on game design for those games to come which will be better and cheaper because of Guild Wars 2.… Expand
Jan 10, 2013Guild Wars 2 does a lot of things right and is an enjoyable game However, there are already other big games like RuneScape which has got it 99% right, so in conclusion forget Guild Wars 2 and play RuneScape.
Sep 17, 2012I will preface this with a caveat - I tried very hard to like the original GW and just never got into it. I am also very picky about my games right now and fantasy games are a bit stale to say least.
I much prefer a more recent game that I will not go into but it lacks any sort of decent end game. To me that is where GW2 shines with the open world events, sidekick level system (so you can't face roll content lower than you) and the dynamic events that alter the world - but what really shines is the PvP, both structured and WvWvW - Especially the WvWvW. I can lose days in that setting.
The instances are decent and the lack of a trinity is AWESOME. However there are things that drive me nuts:
- the game gets repetitious and leveling an alt is tedious at best
- the dynamic events follow about 3 or maybe 4 templates and get old
- there are some unresolved bugs that seem to continue to evade the devs
- Its another -ANOTHER - fantasy game
- Asura are annoyingly cutesy and should be exterminated like the rats that they are
- The setup for the cash shop makes it seem like ArenaNet constantly has its hand out
- There are parts of the game that should just be totally reworked (the abysmal writing and voice acting in places - especially the Norn area)
So its a decent game and for $60, assuming you don't go CE or use the cash shop, is better than most single player games - and it has no sub fee so you can come and go guilt free.
So its a decent game - but is it revolutionary? Not really. Its a very VERY safe game compared to other recent games and in the end will be a nice diversion from things that are truly revolutionary that I consume like a rabid animal.… Expand
Jul 29, 2013My story with this game was probably typical. I gave into the marketing hype and bought it as soon as the Mac version came out. Then 2 weeks of fun. I loved this game. It was just better than WoW in many respects. So many nice features which fixed mistakes in WoW. This "constant end-game" mode is great. And you don't have to run to the auction house. And the interesting weapons-depending abilities system. Etc etc. Until I went into the first instance. It was like a bad Dead Mines run in WoW (i mean, during the vanilla WoW). The boss kept running at me (I was the mage and surely specced as a glass cannon, WoW-style). Everyone was dying. The tank couldn't keep the aggro. Some guys were telling me there is no aggro. I have to kite the boss. Ok, I went to the forums and found out, that the PvE is different here. Namely, it's like a bad noobish run in WoW. I was so frustrated I quit that very day. 4 months later I came back for 2 days to give this game another chance (since I paid for the CD anyway and there is no subscribtion) but alas, the fun was gone. I just didn't remember the spells anymore and didn't care about the zone progression etc. So, I still have it on my laptop, installed, with a shortcut on the desktop, but i never play it. I suppose, just like everybody else.
A few other things I didn't like from the start were: the Asura characters (which I naturally took as a mage) are so ugly that I forced myself into playing them, yet there was emotional detachment compared to what I had to the gnome mage in WoW. Artists, you did really a bad job there! Whoever drew those Asura models deserves to be fired. Also, the storyline of the game was not fun. Was your goal to annoy all the mage players? What's the point of introducing an ugly class (but not a funny ugly, like undead in WoW)? In WoW, I had this immersion, the attachment to the world. Even though I didn't read every quest, it still was a very personal world to me. In GW 2 the world is very mechanical. I only read the quests in the first 1-2 zones, but after that it was just grinding.
Since I don't play this game, I regret buying it. Also, a good lesson to NEVER buy a game without trying a demo (but those guys didn't offer a demo, how clever of them). They give a refund now, but just too much time has passed and I don't qualify.
All in all, I feel like I was cheated by their marketing campaign. 2 weeks of playing are not worth 60 dollars. And surely I won't every buy anything from this developer.… Expand
Dec 2, 2012This is never going to be your primary MMO unless your a student maybe. The lack of a subscription is nice meaning that you can keep it on a back burner just in case you want to play it one day. The launch went well with less bugs than normal and the graphics are pretty enough. However, boy does this get tedious fast. For once, its not the quests that make it dull but the combat. I have tried a couple of different classes so far but they share one thing. Click target hit attack then repetetively hit one button (maybe 2 if you can be arsed) over and over. So many characters all the same as you wander around that it should be renamed clone world. This really kills the game for me. The skill tree just doesn't have diversity and the drip feeding of rewards is not satisfying enough. Compare this a game with much more diverse character development like Rift for an example of what is better. This is a new MMO. Massive Mediocrity Online. Nothing to detest here, but may as well move along because there is nothing to see here either.… Expand
Dec 2, 2013I really don't know about this game. It is not bad MMO, but it have some really weird parts like: skill system classes could be more interesting (esp. necromancer) underwater combat is total trash, when you wonder in world you complete events you don't even participate and so on.
Nov 14, 2013Sound: Great voice acting, nice memorable theme soundtrack. 10.
Graphics: Probably the best MMORPG graphics I have seen to date, alongside Rift. 10.
Gameplay: This game is much different than your typical MMO. Its quests are all based on areas you walk into. So for example you walk to a farm, you get an objective list that pops up and as you work towards completion it fills a heart on the map. There are map completions which require you to get certain things such as vistas, viewpoints, and etc., from each continent (which is how you level up). The game also lowers your level if you enter a zone lower than your achieved level. Which balances it out if you want to quest with a lower level friend. Dungeons do the same. The annoying aspect is that you may be a high level and still not be strong enough to finish that dungeon, plus it lowers your level. So it's an interesting take, but at the same time a con. Samething with questing, after a while it gets way to repetitive but sure it's like any MMO, but the thing is this games questing grows old on you much quicker. The game updates with special events like Super Adventure Box which pays a homage to classic Nintendo games, and is actually really fun. So overall it's a great MMO but at the same time there are features you wish were in this game. The whole fact of having no support class really hurts the game (no healers for dungeons). Also, the dungeons are scattered all over the place, and the game could use a tune up for easier access to dungeons (such as ques). Also, there are no mounts what so ever but that's because you can teleport to areas, but still that's no excuse. Still a fun game, still worth picking up. 9.
Story: There's heavy focus on story, it has some interest but that quickly fades away. The way the story is presented could be better. It's mostly presented in dialog with only a few cutscenes. 7.
Replay Value: Definitely has replay value, it's got PVP, world VS world (servers on servers), you will still get your money's worth. 10.
Overall Score: 9.2 out of 10.… Expand
Dec 5, 2012A fantastic and fresh take on MMO's, most notably due to the unique combat system and PVP activities. The game, however, lacks engaging end-game content. Musically and graphically the game is fantastic. The story is generic though, and not very memorable. I had a blast playing this game for about a month, well worth the price, and hey, ITS FREE TO PLAY!
Apr 5, 2014When I initially played Guild Wars 2 I enjoyed the graphics and game play because it was something new. Sadly though I quickly got bored and stopped playing when I hit level 50. The world itself is massive and there are many quests, but it gets repetitive after a while and kind of stale in general. I know though that opinions on MMO's don't mean much because some people like them and some people don't. I am starting to get the feeling that MMO's aren't for me, or maybe they need to release something innovative instead of the same thing over and over.… Expand
Dec 15, 2013I am impressed. After putting some hours into it and understanding some of the basics. I think I have a good feel on most of the game. I like how the map layout is just so the way it is. Enemies are scattered all over the place and keep their distances for the most part. The automated leveling up on everything was a great idea but i think the player should choose if or not to. When you go into a too high leveled area, the game will sometimes set the level right where it should be so its comfortable enough to sit back and level up all day long. I think 8/10 should do it. Good game.… Expand
Nov 7, 2012This is a title that has something for everyone...well everyone except grief players. For the grief player, you are not invited. The game is more like an artists canvas that you manipulate. The graphics are simply beautiful, the races are very well done complete with histories, and the classes are perfect. When I say perfect, I truly mean that. You can play whatever you choose and not have to worry about waiting forever to find a pick up group that will let you in. If you want to group you can, or you can just adventure and help out where ever your ADD takes you. No monthly subscription nonsense, no grief players, and you have the freedom to play whomever you want and can still bring value to any group you happen to meet. There are so many more positives about the game it would be impossible to name them all. Suffice to say, If I could score this game higher than a 10, I would.… Expand
Feb 14, 2013This is a tacky review, sorry.
THE GOOD: The aesthetics of this game are amazing. If you like looking at pretty pictures and running around a finely crafted world listening to good voice acting telling a better than average story then you are in luck. THE BAD: GW2 plays like a bunch of people who really liked playing pvp as dps classes on WoW got together and made a game. The laundry list of boons/conditions that all last half a milisecond quickly becomes meaningless spam that does not lend itself well to a game you play for hours on end (pve that is, it is great for pvp). Though overall most things about the gameplay are frantic and after a short time get filtered out. Along the same lines the constant battles when you travel anywhere get tiresome. Sorry, I liked being able to run freely through newb zones in other games without constant harassment. Hey devs, if you wanted people to play together why did you put in 80 levels? Because WoW has 80 levels? Exactly. The leveling down is a cool feature, but is forced on you like so much else in GW2. Speaking of which, not being able to assign your own weapon ability hotkeys! This throwback to when games sucked for technical limitations is inexcusable in 2012/3.
THE UGLY: Abandoning the mmo trinity makes for a chaotic cluster#### in groups. Dungeons feel like 5 individuals who happen to be doing the same thing instead of a group working together. Along those same lines the zone/group chat on GW2 is the quietest and lamest of any mmo I have played, though maybe that was just my server. Lastly, butter. This vendor will sell me milk, cheese, sour cream, and BUTTERmilk, but if I want butter I have to go kill monsters? The asari can build portals all around the world but haven't figured out butter? Why is a cave dwelling monster man able to make butter (into perfect bars that they carry in cloth bags) but nobody at the huge crafts/artisan market in the sprawling city can? What crap.
VERDICT: A very pretty package for a game that makes huge advances for MMOs while still managing to be a WoW clone that utterly fails at finding good solutions to MMO problems. Maybe worth a playthrough for the story in a purely solo run, but overall a bad online game.… Expand
Sep 30, 2013There are big risks associated with buying this game in terms of account security. If you buy the game you may never be able to play it. if you play there are few guarantees your account won't be hacked or the game won't become unplayable if you had an old Guild Wars account and you forgot that password after a few years of doing other things. In short this fails the vital test of safety and security in a modern internet environment. Buy at your own risk. You have been warned.
Orctowngrot… Expand
Sep 17, 2013I like Guild Wars 2 a lot, but feel the MMO genre as a whole is losing touch with the world. There will always be a fan base and this is clear by the number of reviews. However, having played through the MMO's of years gone by I'm finding it a struggle to get through GW2. Maybe I'm just getting older and the patience reqired to climb the level ladder eludes me. It's a beautiful game and I applaud the creators. The combat is solid, graphics are very good, the score top draw and gameplay as near to perfection (in an MMO) as I've experienced. It is missing some basic tutorials (crafting in particular). There's logic to it but for the novice MMO player some hand holding would have been nice. GW2 is a stellar release and if MMO's are your thing it's worth you money. Having now monthly sub fees alone makes this an essential buy. Enjoy.… Expand
Dec 3, 2012Ah, 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
Feb 20, 2013Guild Wars 2... I have such mixed feelings about his game. I will start with the PROs I will say it is a good game. It is high quality and it very detailed and adventurous. I love the world, the artwork and most of all the character creator. The character creator is possibly one of the best I have used and I had a lot of fun (In the beginning) playing this game. I waited a good long few months so i soak up what this game is all about from the gameplay and 'is it fun?' perspective. But, after the things I have encountered... though high quality, the game seems to be unfinished. I will explain. CONs First thing that annoyed me unlike other MMOs, is there are certain things that must come as standard in every MMO. By these I mean, trading with other players, mounts and a well designed and easy to use Auction House. This game lacks all of those. No trading option still puzzles me, but the auction house feels unpolished since it was first created, the text is choppy and the filters are terrible, ontop of that, the way the auction house is set up makes is EASY for other players and gold farmers/seller to exploit and drive up the currency market. Mounts, I understand Arenanets solution to no mount is to create instant teleport points. Yea, that is convenient, but personally I like buying/earning mounts in a game. I also love galloping through the environments. But, (I may be speculating) That taking the mounts out of the game frees up time and money creating the animations, skins, programming ect, making this a cooperate decision and not a game one. Next is the combat system and skill system. No trainers, no weapon learning, no nothing. Around level 30 you will unlock all you skill slots and spell you will use for the rest of the game exspereince. You will only have 5 weapon spells (5 more for underwater) and 6 buffs/cooldowns. That is it. i personally could not bare with using the same 5 or so spells over and over till lvl 80. The combat is just not fun. The weapon skills and spells are so limited. I feel brain dead though right now. This maybe the worst review I have written, but I feel I touched on the things that greatly disappointed me about this game. So to sum things up. PROS: No monthly fee, Excellent Character creator, Amazing world and environments, refreshing questing and story concept, good graphics and animations, and finally fun exploration and puzzle mechanics. CONS: NO mounts, NO player to player trading, Poor (But tolerable) Auction House and currency system, Limited spells and abilities, no tank/dps/healer concept (Which makes boss fights nothing but freelancing spell spamming chaos with no team work.), and a boring and repetitive combat system.… Expand
Sep 20, 2012This is the best MMORPG I have ever played so far. It doesn't suck your money like a hungry vacuum. Leveling is at ease. Full voice acting in main story. Exploring is also fun and actually rewarding. Very soothing music. Please, try the game, it doesn't even need monthly subscription to play.
Nov 2, 2013Fantastic game with heaps of things to do with NO SUBSCRIPTION FEES!! The game is still regularly being updated and more things are always being added. I must say I don't generally play MMOs but this game has me hooked!
Sep 2, 2013Terrible RvR system where the map is too big, Planetside 2 did it better tbh. Loot is boring, always crap, you craft your gear and then you're done...you don't even need to grind/hunt for gear. Event drops are crap too. Puzzle drops are even worse. Raids are a terrible bore because enemies have tons of health. Stat system is simple there is no allocation and only a few secondary stats. The grind is pretty easy but boring because you have 4-8 skills and no tactics required to level in high level areas...you can just solo and mechanics and skill required is no problem. Gear is generic with no interesting abilities/stat variations. GW2 is pretty though.… Expand
Oct 15, 2012A revolution in MMORPG design. Guild Wars 2 presents an amazing amount of positive disruptive changes to the status quo that it corrects so many of the problems the MMO industry has with existing game templates. Artfully designed and wisely thought game mechanics make this game a must-have for MMORPG fans the world over.
Aug 28, 2012Super early review time! After only a few days of being released, it isn't really appropriate to review an MMO, but I'm going to give it a shot. Let's start with the good news. Guild Wars 2, for me, basically grabbed a lot of the best ideas from other MMOs, and threw them all together, while adding a couple new things of it's own. You have dynamic events like Rifts, you have a quality personal story like you get in SWTOR, and you get "builds" and considerable class freedom like in the Secret World (although Guild Wars 2 does still have distinct classes). The biggest innovation is the "exploration" style gameplay. GW2 does not have quest hubs at all. You just run around the map exploring, tasks pop up on your screen, you do them if you feel like it, and then you run over to the next part of unexplored map, joining in dynamic events along the way (when they appear and if you feel like doing them). Even crafting has an explorer feel, as you mostly just make stuff and discover recipes through the "making stuff" process. In terms of running around wasting time, GW2 has mostly eliminated this. There's no flying around on a gryphon for 5 minutes in this game. If you want to go to a waypoint, you just click the icon on your map, and you go there. This is fantastic, and the game goes out of its way to not waste your time in most areas. This is probably linked to the wonderful lack of a subscription fee. Big points for that. Now for the bad news. Like the Hangover movies, in GW2, it's all just the same thing. Gameplay is very, very repetitive. In each zone, the scenery changes, but you're basically doing whatever you did in the previous zone. Your character also feels powerful at level 1, and doesn't really feel much more powerful as you level up and gain abilities. The feeling of "progression" seems a bit absent from this game. Also, in the "kind of bad" category, this game is addictive. It's really, really addictive, more so than other MMOs. This stems from the lack of natural breaks in the game (things like ok, I just cleared this quest hub, lets stop for today; GW2 lacks break points like this, it's just go go go). Even the standard pvp matches continually re-load new zones when your previous match finishes, and you have to actively quit to stop playing. This is great for not wasting your time, but bad for limiting the amount of time you spend in this game. You've been warned! On the whole, though, this is one of the best games of the year, and a must play for anyone that likes MMO style gameplay.… Expand
Nov 21, 2012edit 70 hours of gameplay one warrior lvl 48 and map completed to 25%; after the first two weeks of intense play I found myself playing GW2 really casual and even if i stop tomorrow, the price of the game is money well spent. Advice do not expect to find a WoW clone because the two games are very different in everything from PvE to PvP.
Oct 1, 2012A terrific blend of social questing, incredibly flexible game mechanics that engage rather than bore, and a deep, beautiful, and magical world to explore is something we've seen from many games in years past. But take that and apply it to an MMO...and do it incredible well...that is truly a remarkable accomplishment. It's fun, It's huge, and it's abounding with far too much content for a single human being to comprehend. The grind is there, but is masked by the ingenious social events and fun and varied quests that you accomplish. It's the art style that is truly wonderful, ranging from massive snow topped peaks to the depths of Tyria and everywhere in between. Jeremy Soule's score is, yet again, magic. I love it, and I hate MMO's. Consider me a believer; ArenaNet has produced a remarkable package, and if you pass for any reason you'll be missing out on an incredible adventure.… Expand
Sep 14, 2012Guild Wars 2 is one of the best MMO's to be released in many years, its skill based mechanics is superb creating a really fun and addictive PvE PvP and WvWvW content and environment. ArenaNet has crafted their game very well, the aesthetics have been carefully crafted and fitted together, coupled with Jeremy Soule score it makes Guild Wars 2 look, sound and feel amazing while still setting its grim yet beautiful tone within the Guild Wars lore. Guild Wars 2 innovates the genre with very simple and yet very effective innovations and sets new high standards and mile stones for future MMO and all this with no subscription fees, ArenaNet as just not only put everything else in the genre to shame, but most of the MMO developers and their publishers too deep shame.… Expand
Jan 24, 2014This is the only MMO I still enjoy after 3000 hours. I've done all the content, built a 300-adult superguild, made legendaries, full top-tier everything, a 600gold emperor title just for fun... And there's STILL STUFF COMING OUT! Sometimes the living story gets kinda boring but this is definitely redefining what good MMO's require. Kudos arenanet.
Sep 11, 2012This MMO is amazing. It does ape so many of the mechanics that make MMOs great (and, yes, if you're sole intention is to level up you will certainly be grinding), but it's ambitious in so many ways. Events are dynamic, so in just roaming the country side you'll find yourself joining in on dynamic world events, harvesting resources to craft weapons, armor, and jewelery or even just traveling to all sites marked on world map for the completionist players. I must say, however, that the greatest thing about it is the Black Lion Trading company, GW2's online market. Ever get tired of storing stuff in your inventory just to sell them back in town? Right click on your inventory objects and sell them right away on Black Lion - you'll get money for them later when people buy what you posted. So awesome. Tired of grinding for gold to buy armor on Black Lion? If you're like me, paypaling ten dollars is definitely the way to go - the gold I got in return was more than enough to amp up my character and still have plenty left over for my character bank account. I'm on level 45 so far and GW2 remains one of my favorite games this year. GW2 is a triumph of the genre and you're missing out if you don't pick it up.… Expand
Nov 9, 2013I've never been into MMOs but this one compelled me because it had a very appealing pay once, play forever model, which any game should have. It didn't turn out to be as great as I thought it would be though, it's still fun and entertaining to play once in a while with a bunch of friends, but there are a couple problems that I'm going to explain.
First of all, the world is absolutely MASSIVE, it's just that, there isn't that much to do in it, pretty much every quest is the same generic "kill 5 rats and feed my cows!", the skill challenges are the same thing, fight this one guy, get a skill point and you're done. Another problem which I find huge is how utterly annoying the wildlife is. Say you want just relax and take in the scenery, while peacefully walking through the mountains, no can do sir. There are literally tens of mobs on your screen at ANY given moment and EVERYWHERE, even some towns are infested with mobs. The worst thing is that these mobs are extremely aggressive and attack on sight, which makes getting anywhere a real pain. I'm trying to walk to a quest objective, not fight a thousand wolves for two hours for god's sake!
One last thing that I'd like to criticize is the lore of the game, I'm just not feeling it, it's pretty shallow and with all the barbie dolls and Halloween pumpkins frankly quite unbelievable. And the last thing I almost forgot to mention, daily events. What's the point of these? Kill thirty bunnies? Twenty-five underwater creatures? Collect twenty pieces of wood? Why would I wanna do that? Why force people to grind? Well whatever, it's not a mandatory thing to do, just completely pointless in my opinion.
Other than that the game is fairly solid and can provide countless hours of fun if you have friends to play with, for solo action I would recommend a classic single-player RPG backed by a strong story and quality lore. I'm not going to review the PvP element, it's solid, don't really care about it, look elsewhere for that.… Expand
Sep 4, 2012Probably the best MMO to be released since World of Warcraft in 2004. It's been a long time, with alot of wannabes, and in recent years, there have been a couple of games that tried to shake the formula up in one way or another, but not a game that really, overall, produced something special. Guild Wars 2 doesn't completely revolutionize the genre, but if you want a game that perfects idea brought forth in Tera, SW:TOR, Rift, War, and yes, even WoW, and throws them in one pile, polishes them nicely, and improves upon them in almost every way, then Guild Wars 2 is worth a try. The PvE experience in terms of exploration and immersion in a world that always keeps you occupied and always keeps you playing and always keeps rewarding you is unmatched. World of Warcraft's questing system will truly show its age. Things like WvWvW are exhilarating. and for gamers keen on guilds and organized grouping will be rewarded by it. The thing that truly sets the game apart though is how seemelssly the experience flows together. There is a gentle guiding hand in Guild Wars 2, but it's so light of a touch that you won't even notice that you are being led along. It's doing what every MMO before it since WoW has claimed to do: improve the genre in almost every way imaginable. It's not a complete re-imagining of MMO's, but it certainly is the long awaited step towards the future that I think we have all been waiting for. Give it a shot.… Expand
Sep 5, 2012After playin wow more or less 7 years i think tht GW2 is very very promising, i tried some others mmos in those years but didnt like any, except EVE online which is very good but another setting and kind of mmo.
GW2 in my opinion is mostly based on PVP, the world vs world is very fun and the structured pvp is imo a lot better then wow, especially the fact its not gear based, its a lot more skill based.
The PVE is a lot less structured then wow, there are no raids, and instances are more about kiting / controlling.
Its needed to understand how to play it, positioning, pulling, and the weapons used are key factor to beat the instance in the right manner in exploration mode.
There is no more tank/healer/dps trinity which is imo really a great idea, ofc it leads to a PVE totally different from wow based games.
If you like to pass the time stayin back of a boss pulling out max dps this is not the mmo for you, you will die every 2 seconds doing that, ive seen in those starting days a lot of ppl used to other mmos not understanding that the game here is different, its needed to be on the move, use the right weapons, hide when needed, use los and help the team with traits/utility skills.
The quest system is great, very fun and well made, compared to wow its a blast.
In many occasions its possible to complete events with follow ups that carry you around a lot before finishing.
Every zone have a world boss event and at least a hidden puzzle zone to be discovered.
Most of the new ideas are lightyears further compared to wow, the AH is the best one ive seen in any mmo, and overall i think this game will be a winning one.
Anyway its not the mmo for anyone, ppl who are interested in raiding or really like tanking/healing system will not find those activities and mechanics in GW2.… Expand
Aug 29, 2012Great game. Only problem at launch is the lag, they got more players than they expected obviously. And I've encountered a few bugs. But given that the game is just out, I'll let that pass. The design is excellent, love the atmosphere of the game. It's better than WoW in my opinion as a leveling game, but I've yet to experience the end-game content so this rating may change in the future.
Dec 28, 2012My, my, ArenaNet surely did it's homework in researching "things that every MMO fan seems to want". Beautiful graphics, excellent music, huge open world, no subscription fees - all of that you can find in Guild Wars 2. Too bad that in their pursuit for a perfect MMO formula, ArenaNet forgot to add one critical element to this otherwise perfect equation - fun. No argument for PvP balance can overrule the fact that restricting your class to only a handful of skillsets (as opposed to hundreds in GW1) was an absolutely horrible design choice that doomed the entire experience from the start. The new questing system is also vastly overrated. It really doesn't matter if I have to walk to the NPC or have the quest activated on the go, when it's still the same kill & fetch bullsh*t every other MMO has already done to death. Biggest disappointment of the year.… Expand
Sep 14, 2013Best MMO of 2012 for me. This game's worth downloading. I have really enjoyed the gameplay of this game. The graphical details in this game is above any other MMO. I love all those powerstyles. Those power effects are well programmed. There's almost no glitches. The game runs smoothly. It clearly deserves a rating of 10.
Mar 6, 2014It 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
Jan 31, 2014Don't get me wrong, the game is good, but the way people were speaking and writing about it you would expect it to be the next huge evolution in the MMORPG genre. It is not.
There are a few great improvements, such as "dynamic events" which let you join in on any world event regardless of your level (won't scale you up though). But if I am being honest this is more of a convenience than a major game changer, it simply makes it faster to run around and engage in the world rather than having to find a party/guild, etc.
The gameplay/battle is standard cookie-cutter MMORPG fare from 2006. If you enjoy pressing tab to target, then your character auto attacks or you use a few skills till its dead, then this game will live up to your expectations. I will say the dodge system is a nice small change, but it only goes so far.
sPvP is your standard capture points, etc. While the game brings a few new welcome changes to the genre, it in no way redefines MMOs. Dull target/autoattack engine from WoW 2006.
I spent about a month thinking over whether to buy this game, looking at gameplay, reviews, etc. I finally bought it on sale for $40. I was sorely mistaken. I had more fun with Terraria and I bought it for $2.50.
Simply put, do NOT buy into the hyped up reviews from 2012 who reviewed it the day after it was released and use all sorts of nice words like "fantastic, amazing, beautiful, game-changer".… Expand
Dec 3, 2012Guild Wars 2 was my last MMORPG. The meaning of a MMORPG is progession, progression gets you too keep playing. I can now say, as I've had a lvl 80 for just about as long as the game has been released that progressions ends when you reach lvl 80. The Graphics: They are decent for an MMORPG, but it's very bad optimized. I've changed my old gaming desktop out for a completly new one and I see no increase of FPS. The gameplay: I love how you actually need some skill to be good in this game, it's not just about the gear, but about your skill of playing. This falls apart though, because the PVP system is not very good I'd say. SPVP is a nice addition for those WHO wants completely fairplay, but where does that leave the progression? You can't get stronger, faster or better by this. In WvWvW all your progression Means nothing, because 1 man can't make any difference. The Dungeons: Not rewarding at all, I hate how it's all bout those emblems and not about what bosses actually could be dropping. I loved in WOW how I always was so excited when we were in raids. Oh yeah, raids those doesn't exist in GW2. There is also a lack of dungeons. It's all just the same, there really isn't such big difference about them. I'm giving this a 6 because of the great idea and there is no monthly subscription. It lacks of content though. As said before, reach lvl 80 and feel the pain of nothing to do.… Expand
Sep 10, 2013I don't like MMORPG's. But I do like RPG's. And I see Guild Wars 2 more as a RPG than a MMORPG. The gameplay is perfect. No Quests that go like this: "Kill X and bring Y to Z". They all just Pop up and if you dont do them, some other guys do.
The graphics are awesome, too. The music is made by Jeremy Soule, who also made the music for Skyrim. The sound-effects are really good, too!
I highly recommend this game! Buy it!… Expand
Nov 5, 2014Guild Wars 2 was on a good way when it was released. The developers did many things right and all it would have taken was a little fixing to make the game the milestone of MMOs they wanted it to be. Graphics are nice. Controls are the best of any MMO, the combat is super fluid and feels great. The story is pretty dull and the way the NPCs act feels childish and unrealistic, but that is the world of Guild Wars and the story is still better than in most other MMOs (and Twilight), so I can't really fault the game for that. The game has great world vs world battles between the servers that draw in many players. Most things were good and the ones that weren't could have easily been fixed.
Two years later, the game is a mess. Anet are cashing out, milking the players for their money. They are so desperate to make players buy stuff from the ingame store, there are even many gameplay changes to promote buying items for money. There are a lot of ways to increase your storage and they make sure you need to do just that. Where you needed 20 of a collectible item before, you now need 200, so storage requirements grow tenfold. Yes, you can get along without buying the upgrades or you can use ingame gold to buy them, but it's way too much effort and at this point not having any of the upgrades really has a negative impact on the game.
The other critical flaw is the ingame economy. Inflation for gems, the currency that lets you exchange real money for ingame money and is used to buy items from the store, often rises by as much as 10% per month. That means players who were there from the beginning and invested in gems can easily afford anything they could ever want, while new players are completely screwed, because of the increasing prices. While the upgrades from the store took a few hours to farm in the beginning, it now takes days or even weeks and it's impossible to catch up to players who have been there since the beginning - unless you spend money.
While they did all this, they completely failed to adress other important problems the game has and even when they try, it seems like they're just making it worse. World vs world for example has seen some patches to balance the servers, but all the patches just give servers with more players an even bigger advantage, which leads to players all joining a few zerg servers and abandoning servers with a lower population.
There have been great suggestions from the community, too, but they have been ignored. Anet seems to only ever listen to the community when they see a way to increase their bottom line.
tldr: Game was completely screwed by Anet's greed and inability to fix the problems.… Expand
Feb 19, 2013As a long time disillusioned WoW player I was looking forward to Guild Wars 2 as a new MMO to play. I prepurchased the game and began playing immediately in August. I enjoyed the game at first and liked that it tried to do a lot of things differently, although my friends didn't share my opinion. However I quickly became bored and within a month I was no longer logging on at all. The game is not terrible by any means, but I can now safely say it is a rather lackluster MMO:
Successful Mechanics:
- Everything is rewarded with experience really simple and great idea to reduce the grind and give people motivation to try everything
- Very nice sense of exploration with beautiful Zones and vistas
- A social approach to quests dynamic events leveling in GW2 is not nearly as boring as standard MMOs and it can be fun to group up with other people constantly Skills being tied to weapons is an interesting and innovative idea
- Gorgeous Graphics Poor Mechanics:
- PvP is a horribly-designed, horribly balanced zerg fast. This is by far my biggest gripe with the game, as I was a hardcore PvP/arena player in WoW. WvW is just a huge zerg fest with little to no strategy, and the "battlegrounds" are boring and stale.
- The combat and controls in the game just don't feel smooth. WoW players will know what I mean.
- The "downed" mechanic is silly in PvP and adds a tedious element to killing enemies.
- Every class has basically the same set of skills with slight differences (for example, damage, heal, escape, CC, etc). At first the classes look different but really the differences are quite small as everyone can do a little bit of everything and you can see how similar a 99% of the skills are. The story side of the game is very cheesy and boring… Expand
Feb 23, 2013GW2 is a buy only MMO with no subscription .Pros: Graphics and animations-by far the best, sound, interesting classes, pvp- both the tournament and the world vs world, good crafting, discrete store for fluff and not pay to win, attention to small details that make you feel like the world is "real". Minus: since they dont use the classic tank-healer-dps system, group combat becomes confusing, especially with pick up groups. I like the soloability of GW2 classes and their pvp performance but in dungeons, group pve is not fun-for me at least. It doesnt have raids but i m not so fond of them anyway. Some people love to grind for the uber weapon/armor. Not so here and i personally like it. Also it has frequent events, improvements etc. Overal: best MMO today.… Expand
Sep 11, 2014I am changing my original score for an up to date score. I have put in over 1500 hours into this game which is the most time I have ever invested in a mmorpg so I think GW2 deserves a really really good score.
Some Good Points
Beautiful graphics Good character creation, the ability to change your character hairstyles and other cosmetic stuff can be bought from cash shop which is ok by me.
Interesting and alive world with funny NPC's having funny conversations.
Achievements are fun and rewarding.
Lovely and feminine armours. Being able to dye my armours is such a bonus and the new system of once you buy an armour that skin is unlocked for all your characters is really fantastic! BEST THING EVER!! Of course you have to buy the transmutation token things to change your skins but again I can live with that!
Armours are made from different fabrics which show colours differently when they are dyed. Such great attention to detail from the artists in this game. There are hundreds of dyes to unlock and they are cheap and easy to obtain and are unlocked account wide. Each dye looks slightly different based on what material your armour is made from. It gives you the opportunity for a lot of experimenting with colours and fabrics and each armour can look so different depending on the colours you use. I have never seen an mmo use this system- it is fantastic!!!
The open world events are a great way to level up collect loot. Your character feels really powerful when you are levelling, I love that and I love some of the fun skills you have with each class. Like electricity for mage, bombs for engineer, cutie pie pets for ranger, Mesmers and their mirror images and the love hearts and pink effects everywhere, a girl gamers paradise!
You are not limited by your level in open world questing. I like the way the achievements work and the chests of reward everything so often.
Crafting is nice and easy and levels well. It's great to craft stuff to gear up my own character with and sell too.
Map Exploration is a lot of fun with events and loot. Anet seems to be on the ball with updates and improvements, new armours and weapon skins.
The Not So Good
The story in this game is pretty meh, not much excitement level. For each character I created I played the story up to about level 60 just for the odd chest key you sometimes get as a reward. I never got the chance to finish my personal story as for the very last story you need a well trained and equipped group. We tried one night and wiped out so badly, my husband and I decided to watch the ending on YouTube. I'm not sure having a storyline that you can play solo all the way to 80 and then forcing you into a group suddenly is the way to go, at least not for me and my tastes.
The Bad
For me this would be the dungeons. As you level you get a series of invitations to go and do various story dungeons. The first arrives just before level 40 I believe. However if you make the mistake to pop along and join a dungeon using the dungeon finder you might find yourself at the mercy of dungeon elitists who will either see you there and leave the group, kick you out or politely tell you that the dungeons really are too difficult for low levels and to wait until you are level 80 and geared in exotic stuff. I actually did wait and ended up doing many dungeons with many types of players and some of whom were much lower level than 80 to find that yes, groups with lower level players would wipe and very often too. It would be disheartening and a struggle and unnecessarily stressful. It certainly makes me wonder why the dungeons are opened to low levels at all when they are exceedingly way too hard for all but the most experienced. Of course in my time learning the dungeons (a steep learning curve it is too for someone with mostly PVE background) I met many nasty, impatient, rude people who just wanted to rush through the content, skipping mobs and leaving the less experienced to die and respawn over and over or to be kicked out by other group members. Of course there are some SAINTS doing those dungeons who you might be lucky enough to get teamed with, but for every one of those there of plenty of the other type. Behaviour of players is obviously not strictly monitored or policed and you can really tell this in the course of a month of doing dungeons every day.
So for the more genteel, soft of heart or just light hearted players out there I would recommend giving that aspect of GW2 a miss.
Its got so much going for it though I would say buy this game and play it and enjoy the parts that make you happy. That's what I do.
(Anet I removed 1 point from your perfect score as the abuse and nastiness going on in the dungeons is really unpleasant)… Expand
Aug 30, 2012This is an -initial- review, as the game just came out and my guess is as I become more familiar with it, the score will go up. But from a die-hard Guild Wars fan who has been sitting on the edge of his chair waiting YEARS (and then years on top of years) for this sequel - some of the air has been let out of my balloon. I'll just say what every other poster has said, because it's true in my case, too - I'm a die-hard MMORPG and RPG fan in general - have played every single major MMORPG release (and many minor ones) over the years since 1997 when I was addicted, truly addicted, to the original EverQuest. I'm much more a single-player RPG'er and will build an entirely new computer just for new releases like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (which lived up to the hype and was worth the PC construction). But EverQuest hooked me, DAoC hooked me, WoW hooked me, Conan hooked me, and, most recently, Star Wars hooked me. But none of those experience even barely hold a candle to the good times I had in the surprise hit of (2005 was it? 2004?) - Guild Wars. GW was so completely different. Absolutely re-wrote the book for MMORPGs and was underappreciated in this regard by both critics and players alike. Not just because it didn't cost a monthly fee, but because the game was more a hybrid between a collectible game like Magic: The Gathering, and a standard grinder like WoW. It was the collectible skill system that was the most innovative feature, and the endless hours of PvP trying out different combinations of found skills that kept me coming back.
So I'll begin by saying that the move by Guild Wars 2 away from the collectible skill set system of the original game to a hybrid of very typical WoW grinding, Warhammer Online/RIFT area event quest generation, and so forth - was the first thing that let air out of my balloon. This line sums it up for me - GW2 is not the innovative MMORPG that GW was. It's not that it's a -different- game, like GW was, it's that it is a combination of many very -typical- games. Happily, the combination does work on many levels, and it is generally fun, albeit quite confusing at first. And VERY confusing if you're a diehard Guild Wars fan who expected this to be a sequel of some sort. Aside from the lore, there's not a lot of similarity between the first GW and this one. As with so many games nowadays in which critics praise the graphics as the "BEST IN ANY MMORPG TO DATE" - the graphics are actually just nice. They're not ground-shakingly good or making use of anything new in the genre, necessarily, but there are some nice vistas and good looking character models and animations. Still, I find myself saying that with almost every release nowadays. Finding one's way around massive cities is one of the more aggravating experiences in a new MMORPG, and GW2 is no exception, compounding this problem with multi-level cities in which you must hop into portals to get to some upper levels (took me quite a while to figure that one out). Slightly goofy camera controls add to this frustration a bit. But overall, the world is fun to explore and the new ability to JUMP in a GW game is nice. (Although again, this doesn't really feel like a sequel to me at all, but an entirely new game, more a spiritual successor to Aion or RIFT than to the original Guild Wars). There is indeed a TON to do in this game and you will never, ever be bored. Collect stuff and craft, dye armors, hop into a big local event that just sprung up, PvP in a smaller setting or PvP in a World-vs-World setting, follow the main quest, or just explore (you are rewarded for just exploring, which is awesome) ... there's never a dull moment. I guess so far for me this is the big selling point. But at this writing, I just can't get past the fact that I am still heartbroken that this isn't a sequel to the Guild Wars system of collecting, mixing and matching "skill cards". Oh well, over time, this may make me a whole new fan in a whole new way. For now though, I give this game a solid 8, because it stands strongly on its own. Can it pull me out of Skyrim (as I originally thought would be a no-brainer)? That's a tough question. When I get home from work and log into my computer my finger first hovers over the Skyrim icon and then hesitantly heads over to GW2. So, yeah, so far it's working. But only barely. This isn't the innovative ALL NEW game I thought it might be - we've seen all these elements in other games before (unlike in the original GW) - but they've been put together in a new way, and I think it might just stand a chance of being the trendy game to play for a few months before everyone either sinks back into their WoW comatose or goes back to the game they're truly in love with. Then again, maybe this will become the go-to game. Too early to tell.
I'll update in a few months.… Expand
Mar 21, 2013What I want in a MMORPG is incredibly designed bosses requiring great teamwork to kill. By abandoning the staple roles of RPGs in favor of some sort of a weapon-based skill system and self-healing, the game pushes itself way backward in that department. I appreciate Guild War's answer to the dead world instance-play of games like Warcraft, but what we need more is a game with Warcraft's raid bosses and Guild War's leveling and vibrant world. We don't need a game to be 100% different in every way from the competition. I'm not just looking for the next WoW when I play a MMORPG I can deal with games diverging from WoW in a variety of ways but can we please have any other game which features PVE raid bosses as well designed as WoW? Warhammer Online nailed its coffin by specifically ignoring PVE raiding in an attempt to be different. Now Guild Wars 2, a beautiful game with so much to do, manages to do something similar, preventing itself from well-designed content by abolishing the tried-and-true staples of RPG gameplay that have worked so well. I'd maybe recommend this game for people who want PVP over PVE in a MMORPG.… Expand
Aug 28, 2012Now this is how an RPG should be made. No subscriptions but with everything and then some that the leading MMORPGs have. I can't wait to spend more time in Tyria.
Sep 12, 2014Awesome MMO with Gorgeous art work worth every cent, the only thing that bother's me about the game is lack of pvp content and laggy World vs World. The content they add is always just dungeons which is a bore for me i'm a PvP fan all the way. They mix up the way you quest which is nice instead of pick up here return here its just go to area kill and completed.The fighting mechanics are the best of any MMO I have played and I have played a lot unlike wow you don't fall asleep doing low lvl dungeons. The cash shop is also pretty sweet you can buy everything with in game gold so you dont half to waste a penny if you love the game and play enough.
Worth $50… Expand
Nov 25, 2012I am downgrading my score from when it first came out because of some annoying bugs. On two occasions I suffered a rollback which meant I went back to an earlier version of my character, losing all progress. Each time it cost me a day's play. I believe they are aware of the problem but chose to do nothing about it. The rest of my review still stands - the game is fantastic fun to play though I found the story a bit weak.… Expand
Jun 30, 2013Too simple, but better than wow. There could be a lot more to do though...pvp is too accessible and there seem to be very little rewards since they completely removed the gearing and skill allotment features. I understand that the gear grind of other MMO's like wow is ridiculous (and this is better), but there should be some unlockables and other stuff to work towards. I actually miss the system from GW 1 to be honest. If they put those classes and skill systems into this game would have been better. But all in all this is a good game- not better than the first but still as good and different enough to not be a rehash. I quit WoW a while ago and settled on Skyrim as my temporary "mmo" (the npc's in skyrim are more entertaining and engaging than most players on WoW). This game has brought me back online.… Expand
Sep 21, 2012Having played almost every MMO since the dawn of the genre (right back to MUDs) I've been jaded for a very long time and was almost hesitant to try yet another - the fact it was Subs-Free helped me overcome that reticence.
I love it. While I've yet to reach the "Endgame" I can certainly say that so far it appears to be the best MMO ever - to the point that I've got 7 characters already and regularly playing 5 of them without feeling bored or feel like I'm wasting time I should be spending on my "Main" (the fact that a lot of the game is Account-shared helps). Dynamic Events are fun without being annoying like Rift's Rifts, the Hearts revolutionize questing and deliver on the promises WAR made about questing but absolutely failed to deliver.
It's almost a no-brainer this one: once you've bought the box it's free forever. You'll probably find you do spend money on increasing the stingy Bank space and you might want more than 5 characters but otherwise the rest of the opportunities to spend money look easy to ignore/resist.… Expand
Aug 30, 2012From the ashes of the long burned-out MMO genre emerges Guild Wars 2. The original Guild Wars, which I still say is better tham WoW, should have set the standard for MMOs, but instead was marketed into obscurity; not this time. This time around the differences are noticeable and long-overdue for the genre. It's not just the gameplay, it's the choice. For once in an MMO, the illusion of choice is no longer an illusion. Tank, DPS, and Healer are no longer specializations, just positions. To say that all professions (as the game's classes are called) can do all three is abit of a misnomer. ArenaNet has officially ended the need and use for Tanks, DPS, and Healers altogether! All classes have self-heal, tank, and damage skills built right in, and when downed, can still fight and revive themselves, so wipes are almost completely eliminated. Each class also has access to a wide variety of skills that are almost completely dependent on what kind of weapon you're using (utility skills, as they're called, can only be unlocked by skill points). What's more: The pregame character custimozation actually does have an effect on character progression--by influencing the entire story! Quests? Sorry, the WoW,TOR, and TSW reviews are two pages away. In Guild Wars 2, action finds you. True, there are still some static quests, but the vast majority happen in real time and are completely indiscriminate of one another (you can be doing a quest to deliver a message only to be caught in the middle of a massive undead invasion), and if you fail one of these massive public events (numbers are no guarantee of success, as I found out the hard way), the game shows the results of failure and opens the door to more events that would be unavailable otherwise. To top all of this off, the game is subscription free! THANK YOU ARENANET, you're the smart ones in this industry; keep up the good work.… Expand
Sep 4, 2012The Best MMORPG on the market today, no.. the best MMORPG on the market since Ultima Online. This is close to perfection and Arenanet have delivered everything they said they would, a near flawless release and an experience unsurpassed in its genre.
Aug 30, 2012This game is beauty incarnate. When discussions involving games being works of art occur, this game will be up there with Shadows of the Colossus and ICO.
Gameplay is brilliant. A mix between the old and the new really gives the combat its own unique flare. The leveling curve has you level up every 60-90 mins regardless of how close you are to the cap. In addition, you can level up in so may different ways, if you're ever bored of doing something, you can try something else.
This game is, imo, the best MMO on the market right now. I am giving it a 9 because even after all the stress tests, it still has a buggy trading post and mailing system. However, should those get fixed in the first week post launch, I'll change my score.
In short: buy it now, or buy it later; just make sure you make this one part of your PC library.… Expand
Feb 24, 2014Even though I no longer play Guild Wars 2, I still think it probably is the best MMORPG currently on the market. The developers got many things very much right and some of the mechanics are spot on. I spent very long time in this game, levelled one character to the max. level and explored a significant part of the world. The graphics look very nice, the combat system is extraordinarily good for an MMO, crafting works pretty well, exploration is by far the best in the MMO genre and there is even a decent story telling. There is no monthly fee, yet the game is updated quite often. The atmosphere is mostly fine. If you play as a human that is. The other races have far less immersive setting in the starting areas. Some of the class quest suffered of bugs after release. Overall however, this game is outstandingly good.… Expand
Sep 17, 2012There 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.
Nov 25, 2013After one year of playing GW2 I can tell you with honesty that this game is NOT what the developers told the public that they were going to create. The game is top to bottom full of grind. The combat is repetitive and boring. Expect to Zerg when in open world events. Expect to Zerg in WvW. Expect terrible performance with top end hardware. Expect most items that you would like to be in the gem store only(you can pay with ingame gold but the exchange rate is rediculous).
Expect one shots
Expect time gated content...yes you look at a timer for things to do....
Expect the worst story from an MMO ever, even the Living Story updates are akin to an episode of Scooby Doo.
Expect terrible class balancing
Expect these things because that is what you're going to get with GW2. Future updates will in all likelihood NOT change the core issues that are mentioned.
GW2 has no Guild Wars...yes not even guild halls. The game should be called Zerg Wars 2, the rise of Trahearne.
The positives are that the game does look pretty good. The world is well designed but that is all I can pretty much think of really … Expand
Feb 23, 2013The game tries hard and gets a lot right. And it gets a lot wrong. On the bright side there's the distinct lack of quest NPCs, but rather quest areas marked on the map that you just need to reach in order to be on the quest. Then again all these are the same. Kill waves of attackers, gather stuff off the ground, maybe even... do something else (no, not even remotely often enough). There's no reason to really care about that. Wander around the map hoping for events to pop up until you have gained enough experience to progress to the next map. Sure, there are VISTAS! Which serve no purpose, as they did in Assassin's Creed. Geez, there's a whole world around this point! Nope, no reason to care. There are a lot of fun things too, like the whole cattle launcher affair, but they're fun once only. Otherwise it's a grind and then some more grind. And tedious exploration for the sake of map completion achievements. As for the Multiplayer and Role-Playing parts... This is pretty much an anti-social MMORPG. You can resurrect others and you can work for a common goal if you are at the same event, but you don't even remotely care about others' classes or builds or whatever. This is especially bad in dungeons. You literally have no reason to bother with tactics just mash everything you have and maybe some combos will happen maybe, or maybe not, or whatever and you know, being a tank is not a good thing it's actually not a thing at all and rogues make the best tanks due to jumping around and I'm not even motivated to find flaws in this because it's BORING AND STUPID. Also you have 30-40 skills to unlock, out of which a whopping 5 (yes, FIVE) are available for use at any time and you pretty much don't even need anything beyond the five you actually like because if you want situational skill A you can't just use it anytime unless you unequip the always useful skill B beforehand. The personal story is good, somewhat personal and influenced by your character creation choices, but... After you're done with the first arc of it you are forcefully sent on an amazingly stupid and overwhelmingly boring and hugely pointless task of getting to know more of one of the lesser races of the world. WHY? WHY ON EARTH WOULD THE DESIGNERS THINK YOU WOULD EVER WANT TO DO THAT?! Oh, and as for the 8.0 user score can't help but notice the amazing amount of 10 points reviews published on 28/8/12 (the day after launch, no less).… Expand
Sep 18, 2013An amazing MMO especially for buy to play. I still play WvWvW occasionally and the ability to level via pvp was a godsend. The gem store is kind of annoying but tastefully done and you can easily get gold from 3rd party sites cheaper than you can by converting from gems if you want it but you don't NEED it. 10 times better than the original GW which I hated.
Nov 24, 2014Quick, 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.
Dec 12, 2012I've been playing Guild Wars 2 almost everyday since release, and I love it. I don't think I've enjoyed playing a game this much, especially exploring and completing dungeons with friends. I would have to consider this my favourite game. The reason I'm not giving it 10/10 is because it still has its problems.. It was incomplete on release, several bugs which still exist now, crappy loot, the progression has left everything empty except fractal dungeons and I don't believe the classes are evenly balanced (Warrior). I haven't had much experience with MMO's to compare GW2 with anything else (quitting through the beta of SWTOR is about it). There is definitely a grind aspect to the game, however they do a decent job of covering it up and give players options and experience towards that goal. Despite its issues, Guild wars 2 is beautiful and enjoyable with unique classes and races with a variety of areas to explore. There are a number of dungeons to participate in which can challenge and frustrate players. This game is definitely worth its money for casual and experienced players giving them flexibility of how they want to play.… Expand
Oct 28, 2012This is a shockingly good game, fully enjoyable either as a massive RPG campaign across a sprawling world, or as a highly challenging MMO with enough content and almost unachievable endgame goals (getting legendary gear or 100% dungeon completion is a worthy challenge). PvP offers an absolutely unforgiving environment to E-sport geeks, while World v World offers environment to fight enemy players that is easily accessible to everyone including newcomers. The world is rich, graphics amazing, engine flawless, character development has a distinctly fresh touch to it. If you have ever at all enjoyed the MMORPG genre, you absolutely owe it to yourself to try this one. There are people everywhere, whether to group up for PvE, or to compete with in PvP. No lag, no waiting time. Oh, and, you know... no subscription. Amazing. After a 100 hours, this game remains a source of ever-fresh enjoyment, and a lasting credit to its creators.… Expand
May 18, 20133rd review all in all this game was meh and i wish I hadn't wasted my money on it tbh. the first few months of when it came out was good because you had people all over the starting zones etc. they're now dead graveyards with noone in them. all the casual gamers have left the game and u hv a load of people at end game wondering what to do. its lost its edge for me as a casual gamer. i think the thing is mmorpgs get good when u devote a lot of time to them. i hate running around a map getting somewhere for ages, and u hv to do that quite a bit in gw2 but if ur willing to put the time in the game is hella awesome and im sure ull hv a blast. i just find the events hv dried up now, noone does them in the starting zones.… Expand
Nov 20, 2012While I can't quite bring myself to rate this game as a zero even now, and while it is still enjoyable in many aspects, refugees from the hamster treadmill can no longer expect to find a home in Guild Wars 2. If you're a casual player or someone who enjoys large scale PvP but does not enjoy a dungeon gear grind, stay far away from this otherwise beautiful MMO.
Oct 7, 2012I followed Guild Wars 2 religiously for years. I played every single available minute during the beta tests and stress tests. The PvE is better than any MMORPG overall, especially because it is fun, never frustrating or tedious. Exploration is especially enjoyable. My only dislikes are the lack of public group options, and World versus World PvP. WvW PvP is an unbalanced frustrating mess. I spent over 100 hours over few weeks in WvW, and have since written it off. I have no plans of touching it until it is severely overhauled. However sPvP and PvE is very fun still. There is also a serious problem with hackers... something I've not seen hurt an MMO in nearly 8 years.… Expand
Oct 3, 2012This isn't an mmo. It's smash brothers with a F2P "world explore" mode tacked on. You can level straight to 80 and play the real game at any time. Items and "builds" (they're a joke) don't really effect much. Pve is a gank-fest, pvp is a gank-fest. You just find a group of madness to join and blaze through. Don't go here looking for strategy, community or depth. You'd be surprised how quickly it gets old (for god sake their are jumping puzzles). It's completely different than the original Guild Wars. I give six months.… Expand
Sep 1, 2012So, I've been looking for a good MMO for awhile, and I think I found it. GW2 is no doubt a great MMO. The character creation seems to provide players with enough to make their character unique, in terms of looks and even play style. The combat I find to be really interesting. Each weapon type has its own skill associated with them and the more you use these weapons, the more you use the weapon type, the better skills you unlock for the weapon. Fights are pretty strategic at times, especially when fighting higher level enemies and using your various abilities, including the new dodge mechanic. Crafting is pretty much the same as other MMOs, useless, but in GW2, Crafting gives you tons of XP. The in-game world is pretty huge and with a way point system, discover way points and teleport to them later for a small fee. Now, the really reason to play an MMO is to play with your friends and tons of people, which GW2 doesn't disappoint in their new PvP game type, World v World v World. Its really exactly what it sounds like, 3 servers fight each other on 1 map, for 3 days. each server has their own area to defend from the other 2 servers but theirs also an unclaimed section of the map where the servers fight for constantly and which ever server holds this area, pretty much wins the match. But this game type is some much fun, in a flock easily 20 to 40 people heading to an enemy controlled base, clashing with their group of 20 to 40 people, and its all out war and so satisfying when you are slowly gaining ground. I would tell you to get the game just to play WvWvW, but honestly, every aspect of the game makes this a good buy, and hey, you pay the flat 60 bucks and no subscriptions, if you want to put more money into it you can, to get things like XP boosts or vanity items. I wouldnt be surprised if we start to see WoW fade out because of this game.… Expand
Sep 8, 2012If I want to describe GW2 with one sentence, I would say: "an MMO that gets most of what it intends to do right." There are three separate worlds of the game, sPvP, WvW and PvE. sPvP features flat progression: there's build differences, but there is no vertical gear difference (you can choose different gear but it's always about trade-offs). This is imo the most important feature of GW style PvP. Newcomers shouldn't have an unfair disadvantage of having worse gear than old players. Also good players shouldn't need an artificial faceroll advantage over lesser players. sPvP should be skill based instead of gear based. Classes can build into different roles and adds more variety to PvP. WvW may seem like a zergfest, but mindless zerg will seldomly win you games. Supply control, being responsive to opponent movements and strategies are all important. Three faction is also a good thing to bring back from DAoC. While two factions can't artificially ally, when your server claims more land, there is indeed a higher chance of being attacked from both sides. The only problem I have with WvW is that some servers have heavy Asian/Russian/Oceanic population and they have different time schedule, and their rating often under/over estimate their strength. Hopefully Anet can release an Asian server to alleviate this problem. I also wish there would be more focus on open field battle rather than base offense/defense. The PvE world is, unfortunately, not that awesome, and quite a few issues needs to be fixed. Exploration reminds me of Skyrim and is a pretty good part of the PvE world; The reward system is quite nice, coin/karma segregation design is elegant: it discourages annoyances such as gold farmers (they'll have to farm a lot harder than usual), but is not so frustrating to normal players. However, a few problems: dynamic events could be a little more friendly towards solo players; right now some events take too long for solos or 2-3 players and may become an issue once the heat from release is over and newbie zones become less populated. The PvE world, especially the personal storyline, is also quite buggy unfortunately. Some dungeons are also too hard, especially Ascalonian Catacombs; it seems to have an unreasonable difficulty. Trade post was not so good for the first week. Though I heard it's a conspiracy theory to discourage gold farmers, and in that case it's not good but understandable. Overall the PvE world isn't on a smooth release. I also happen to not like the dungeon reward system that rewards you more for going to a same dungeon over and over again than going to all dungeons. Overall it is a good MMO and a pretty smooth launch, and since it doesn't have a subscription fee, I can play at any time I want and don't feel "I have to play tonight, or it's not worth my subscription". Cash shop items are also not unfair towards free players. Problems of the PvE world needs to be patched, and hope Anet adds some more varieties to PvP. Other than that, the game is pretty damn good and I have been playing it almost non-stop.… Expand
Aug 29, 2012maybe my expectations were just too high. It isn't a bad game, nice graphics and smooth gameplay, but everything in the game is just a rehash of every other MMO, nothing innovative, nothing to really get you excited that this is something new and different, also nothing really to get you hooked early on.
Aug 28, 2012I don't give 10s lightly, but this game deserves one.
The World... wow.. just wow. It's like you're actually living in another realm, with the amazing vistas, adventures and people you meet - the story is good (not narrative driven, so not as deep as say SWTOR's) but it really plays second fiddle to the living, breathing world ArenaNet has created.
When you log in you feel like you've been transported into another place and time, you do missions - battle other servers for dominance and glory and the sPvP is AMAZING. The amount of tactics/pre-planning/skills required is phenomenal, a much higher standard required when comparing it to WoW et al.
Pick this game up now, you will not regret it.… Expand
Aug 31, 2012Remember all those MMO's that were supposed to take world of craft down? Well... GW2 might be the messiah we were hoping for!
The put it in one word, GW2 is "dynamic"! You walk around the world and random events occur, and player all gather to fight back what ever threath is coming. No grouping, no kill still. Everyone fight together and get's rewards. Seriously, you will NEVER need to call for help or search a group in this game. You never fell alone as you do quest. Arenanet did a perfect job to encourage players to work together and make it FUN at the same time.
The game is also very beautifull, and things like points of interests and views encourage you to explore.
The combat system can be confusing at time, and the camera dosn't allow you to zoom out enough. As range class it's ok but as a melee you often don't see what's going on behind you and finding your next target can be a bit challenging. Still, the combat is very FUN!
The story : I am going to have to compare with SWTOR, as the story is THE factor that was suppose to make TOR better than GW2. Well... In a way, story in TOR play a much more important part than in GW2, and i really loved the fact that all side quests in starwars add dialogues options. Still GW2 as a main story quest arc that is interesting enough to keep you interested and unlike TOR, you will make decisions that will trully affect the outcome.
PvP is not an afterthough in this game, the WvW maps are hudge and still it's easy to find something to do on them. The game really succeds in making you believe that you are taking part in a war. It's not as simple as capturing a flag and getting points. You must fight off enemy invaders, gather ressources to repair the door, construct siege weapons... But because those battles are so massive, it will put your rig to the test.
Crafting is also interesting in this game. I can't say much about it yet but i really enjoy experimenting with materials to get new reciepes.
Dungeons are nice but i have yet to try the end game content on that part. Overall, GW 2 is by far the best MMO that came out since WoW, and the fact that it has no subcription fee makes it the biggest threath that WoW ever faced.… Expand
Mar 31, 2013This game is like WoW just done right. There is no way to really summarize this game into 5,000 characters so I am simply going to say this. This is like all MMOs it is just 5,000 times better and more entertaining. And you don't have to pay a monthly fee!
Sep 27, 2014Probably the most creative mmorpg at the moment.It's obvious that GW2 is tried to make a different mmorpg than the others.Combat system ,levelling system(you can level up by just crafting),events,story,graphics,exploring,PVE,dynamic content and No subscribtion everything is just great and well prepared.
Mar 4, 2014Best MMORPG so far. The best things in the game that count in score : graphics, background, personal story, living story and dynamic events. Teleportation points, vista, skill points, most jumping puzzles are good choices. We have 8 different class with some special bar per class Dungeons in scenario mode are relatively nice but need a certain level (80) and looking for group interface which existed lately. Dungeons in explorer mode is mush difficult and buggy. We can't do all 33 paths. We have also fractals with different levels. More accessible then dungeons at low level between 1 and 10. But after a certain level around 15 it is very difficult.
Pve is far better then pvp. pvp is unbalanced in general, maps smaller then pve and often the same and mush more lag. Their is 2 kinds of pvp : WvW and structured. WvW and structured pvp contributes like pve to the duration of the games. They are complementary. WvW is nice because you have to take castle, garrison, tour, camp in a raid group using siege weapons. Structured pvp is nice because we need to take control of places and need some group tactic. Structured pvp is disappointing because we don't have nice skins affordable for characters.
We have also a lot of activities for players how are bored from fighting.
We can have up to 5 guilds per account. Not limited members. 10 levels of responsibility. Guild craft and missions. Need to represents a guild to chat with every member
Game play : 8/10, graphics : 8/10, back ground : 8/10, lifetime : 8/10, sound : 8/10, community : 7/10, world : 8/10,
personal story : 8/10, dynamic events : 8/10, living story : 7/10, normal pve : 8/10, jumping puzzles : 7/10,
vistas : 7/10, teleportation points : 7/10, remarkable sites : 7/10, skill points : 6,5/10,
yellow hearts : 5/10, achievements : 7/10
fractals : 6/10, mini-dungeons (Vexa Lab, etc...) : 6/10, dungeons in scenario mode : 6/10, dungeons in exploration mode : 5/10,
edge of the mists (WvW) : 7/10, wars of the mists (WvW) : 6/10, heart of the mists (structured pvp) : 6/10, activities : 5-6/10
craft : 7/10, trade (auction house) : 7/10, character customization : 6/10,
races : 7/10, classes : 7/10, mini-pets : 7/10, pets (ranger) : 7/10
skills : 6/10, attributes : 6/10, fights : 5/10,
titles : 5/10, guilds : 5/10,
swim : 7/10, jump : 6/10, dive : 6/10, climb : 6/10, dodge : 6/10… Expand
Sep 3, 2012As users like Chaiwallah and others don't understand with their supremely entitled natures, is that a launch of a huge game, such as Guild Wars 2, is not without it's hiccups. Games have gone from being a platform completely forgotten by a developer after release (so the finished product needed to be 100 percent out the gate) to living environments that need to be upkept and maintained. Nobody cares one little bit that you spent extra money to make a machine to play this (graphically intensive game?) That is a red herring, it has nothing to do with the issue at hand. Likely, your account was hacked and you need to visit Reddit to confirm that. The game is great for a non-subscription game, which is exactly why I tend not to play games like WoW, I can't justify playing a grind game that I pay extra for each month. Anyway, the game deserves a 10 just for treading in a new area in a different way. Also, to counter dumb arguments for jaded, entitled consumers that think the world revolves around them.… Expand
Aug 28, 2012Fisrt, i am no fanboy and no hater, i am here to give my honest opinion, hope to help you design if this is your game or not.
gameplay~ i was told by a friend this is an action based mmo, but it is not. it is another wow kind of point and clikcer. you hold your left mouse button to perform autoattack. the action feels very limited when i am spoiled by true action mmo like DCUO and Tera, it makes me feel going back in time, playing wow holding my right mouse button to get a better angle,so i can stand there and hold tight to my left mouse button. plus, i cant even lock my camera to make the game feels better.
QUESTING~ questing is a big plus for me, it is not like other mmo that u pick up a quest from npc then returning. they have pop up live event, so suddenly everyone on the map goes to the area and do quest togethor, which is interesting as i remember when i was playing other mmo i always feel like a lone wolf when my friend is not online questing by myself.
pvp~ still didnt get to that part but i seriously doubt it when i dont like the combat system at all.
graphic ~ not the best but surely live upto todays standard. and detail of the world is very rich, which creates an enjoyable enviorment. sound ~ wonderful
charactor customization~ very very limited for mmo released in 2012
other thoughts, this game is hyped up too much and i just make another other mistake buying a game before doing enough research. and my friend has never played either dcuo or tera so he doesnt know what action mmo means. i wont play alot of it until they improve the gameply. one more thing, this game has the worst community i have ever seen. i was just asking in the map chat that if there is a way i can lock my camera. response are " omg another console gamer" " go back to your xbox" "the camera is design for having better position yourselve, u should play that way...... i am like wtf...... i was expect answer like "yes you can, go to...... or "no you can not" , but hue hue .. guess too many fanboy in game u shouldnt even ask question… Expand
Nov 19, 2012This game has EVERYTHING for be, in 1 year, in the MMORPG most played in the world. More played than World of Warcraft also. You only have to pay the two discs, and then you can forget the money and enjoy this huge world of Tyria. A world bigger than Azeroth, I think. So much hours of playing, but not as "drug" as is World of Warcraft I think. I don´t play this game a lot, because of the class, because of the new PS3 games... But when I get bored, I know I have an amazing game in my computer which enjoys me for hours!
The best in this game, in my opinion, are the graphics ( Best visual desings in the MMORPG history), an amazing Soundtrack, the huge PvP *World vs World, thousands of players against thousands of players), and the different localitations of Tyria, like beaches, forrests or freezing mountains.
The worst for me is the small characters you can have, only 5. Sometimes, the dungeons gets too long and too difficult. The level decreasing in some areas is absurd.… Expand
Apr 13, 2013A fantastic game worth every penny. A game everyone should try playing. Fabulous graphics along with great original new ideas in game play make this game great. Story of Guild Wars 2 is decent, but having tons of variations in a story depending on ones selections is very cool and adds a whole another layer to this great game. I have to admit that not everything is perfect about this game, thats why I gave it a 9. Unfortunately the end game of the game is underwhelming. Your character doesn't feel that strong and generally game becomes boring by the end. Hopefully Arenanet will be able to improve on their shortcomings in the addon for Guild Wars 2.… Expand
Sep 6, 2012I like how all the troll posts are spouting lies that are so obvious you can see them a mile away and a quick search on youtube will prove them to be false. Of the negative reviews that are not troll posts, I'd like to point out a couple of things: 1. People complaining about there being no Raids, no Holy Trinity etc and how they bought into the hype and was disappointed are stupid. That stuff has been public knowledge for more than a year and in fact some of those things were actually used by the developers themselves to promote the game. If you know the game won't have those things, why buy it and then complain that they don't have those things? If you didn't know about those things, then why say that the game is different from the hype? Whether you like it or not is subjective of course, but it is exactly as promised. 2. Account Security. First and foremost, the large majority of people who lost their accounts to hackers only have themselves to blame for not keeping their details secure. That being said, ANet does need to improve certain parts of their security features, such as adding a 3 failed tries = timeout on their website (I have not checked recently, so they may have already added this). So ANet has to take partial responsibility for the accounts that were hacked through brute force methods, but the majority? It was their own fault. 3. Banned accounts. Anybody saying "I'm innocent why was I banned?" is likely lying. Go do a search for the Reddit thread with all the ban information. The large majority of those who complained were actually banned for perfectly acceptable, valid reasons. Some of them were so ashamed that ANet knows exactly what they did they actually deleted their original complaint. The minuscule few that were actually innocent were given apologies and un-banned quickly after a review. CS staff are humans too, sometimes they makes mistakes, but looking at the evidence the majority of bans were well deserved. What ANet can actually improve in this area though is to modify their "You we're banned" message to include the reason why. Now for actual comments about the game. This game plays like a TES game in that you are dropped in a world, with a little bit of direction and then you are mostly left to your own devices. People who like exploring and goofing around experimenting with stuff will love it. There are so many little nooks and crannies everywhere, it's insane. People who prefer a more linear, hand-holded/guided style of game likely will not. The combat plays in some ways like an FPS, but from third person view. In a traditional MMO, if you see a mob your own level attacking you, you eat the damage and stand still and attack while consuming stuff like potions when necessary. In this game, you need to actually dodge out of the way, either by moving sideways, hiding behind terrain objects etc (a la FPS games) or using the "temporary invincibility" dodge button that you can only use twice in quick succession and other damage mitigation skills. It's not quite "action-combat" but I would say is a hybrid between traditional MMO combat and actiony FPS style combat. Anybody who says that the Holy Trinity still exists is lying. You CAN get through certain situations using a Holy Trinity type setup (early game), but you will find that it is a lot harder and more inefficient than playing the game the way it's meant to be played, by watching the screen, not the hotbar. And being aware of your surroundings instead of focusing on hp bars. The Dynamic Events system is great, it makes the world feel alive. Everybody who says "it's just WoW questing" are slow people who are either blind or unable to read instructions, they mistake Renown Hearts for Dynamic Events, ignore the real Dynamic Events when they see one and then complain about it. Renown Hearts are static events that the game uses to draw you to Dynamic Event hot spots. They are two different things and serve different purposes, the majority of the PvE content are the Dynamic Events, Hearts are only there as a guide and was only added because initial play testers felt they needed more direction.The only real problem that the game has is that they underestimated the demand for their game and so had some infrastructure teething issues (which has already seen some marked improvements over the past 2 weeks). In fact, other than the usual small to medium bugs here and there that you expect from a software this size and scope, all of the other issues are infrastructure/capacity related. TLDR: The game is well designed with some excellent systems in place. They need to improve some of their backend infrastructure, which they have publicly acknowledged and are addressing. If you don… Expand
Aug 28, 2012Guild Wars 2 isn't a huge revolutionary entry into the genre but it does take a lot of good steps in the right direction when trying to correct what people often see as faults in traditional MMOs. As far as visuals, the game is often stunning. Technically speaking, the visuals aren't top of the line but the art style and aesthetic make it a pleasure to look at. The best element they've added to this game in my opinion that most every traditional MMO lacks is the urge to explore world. With dynamic events, mini dungeons, and puzzles, and more, traveling and exploring is actually a pleasure instead of a bore and the main element that drives PvE. The dynamic events aren't as amazing as they were made out to be, however they're still much more fun and engaging than your typical MMO "Kill 5 boars" quests. Because of all these things grind, for once, is extremely minimal and the leveling process doesn't have to be an annoying chore but rather the appeal of the game. Bad news is, that for now, a lot of things aren't up and running as they should be. Guild, trading posts, and more are either screwy or don't function at all. However, I expect these things to be corrected fairly soon after launch.… Expand
Mar 23, 2013First of all let me state this: It is one of the best MMOs out there and you can find lots of reviews that will tell you all the reasons why it deserves a high rating, but here are the reasons why I didn't really like it.
1. There is no traditional leveling: Each weapons uses another skill set but you can unlock all of them really quickly in under 30 mins. What's left to unlock are just skills that I would consider minor and mostly not worth playing for. Leveling up is one of the biggest motivational points for me in such a game and GW2 doesn't offer enough for me to keep me interested
2. If there is no real leveling system the game needs something else to keep you involved like the story and here lays the next problem. The emotional arc of your character concludes after the second arc is finished. From that point onward you are, just a tag-along. The story is affecting other people, and you're just along for the ride. A good part of this is due to the segmented nature of the quests 3. Crafting: You need to level up your crafting skills in order to be able to craft valuable gear and that's when crafting becomes an exercise because creating one level 10 recipe does not increase your level to 11 as it would appear. No, you get experience toward level 11, meaning that the problem of leveling up by making useless items is exacerbated.… Expand
Oct 13, 2013This game is so different than Guild Wars Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall and EotN. It is a massively multi-player game that feels so so singleplayer. There are no more Cooperative missions and every explorable area has dynamic quests that can be done with anyone. Despite this, there is little player to player interaction in the PvE mode and it has nothing compared to the thrills of Cooperative Missions in the first Guild Wars games. I don't like the graphics as much either and I prefer the art direction in Guild Wars 1. It's really too bad Guild Wars 1 is a dying game because it was such a great game and much better than Guild Wars 2.… Expand
Oct 8, 2013From this game, you can tell GW2 is trying to evolve the standard MMO genre to be somewhat more engaging. So I'll try to cover the things it tries to add, that are a bit different from other games. Before I start, let me say that on a base level, GW2 does it well: balance, graphics, sounds, story, character creation, replay-ability.
- Somewhat customizable story line based on answers to different questions during character creation (leads to replayability among same classes/races)
- Random large events that happen which everyone is free to join in (if you're passing by that area)
- EXP for exploring, logging, mining, gathering and pretty much everything you do asides from walking
- No subscription based billing, Buy to play (B2P) system no penalizing players that don't pay like F2P model often does
- Continuously added content
- Grouping for team quests is quite good and significantly improved
- Dying and getting downed, doesn't necessarily mean you're down and out if you can kill an enemy and get back up
- items do not give you so much of an advantage in playing, more rewarded for good play style and personal skill
- ability to dodge attacks (sort of doesn't really always work)
- It would have been nice if you got to choose the first 5 skills related to each weapon/secondary weapon instead of being only able to choose the latter 5 skills (this was actually what made gameplay a bit too repetitive for me) yes you can swap weapons sets and this gets you more variety, but thinking high level, if I'm using a bow shouldn't I have more than 5 ways of shooting it...and be able to choose how to shoot it?
- crafting was a bit tedious and difficult to figure out without an actual tutorial (I might have missed the tutorial somewhere in the game) downplayed by the fact that items didn't make or break your character really
- the game tries to vary the quest a bit so that it's not just Kill X number of Y monster, but in the end was still quite repetitive (i.e. Kill X number of Y monster OR pick up X item and bring to Y location). If the individual quests were more like events, it would be much more fun as you'd have a sense of urgency to kill Y monster instead of counting each one and hoping you reach the amount required to end the quest
- I'd probably would have like advanced classes to be included in the game as well (for variety), but I guess that's personal preference
Still a great game, with room for improvement. World is engaging, story keeps you entertained and is still a great MMO to explore.… Expand
Sep 25, 2012hmm 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..
May 9, 2013I started playing GW2 end september and I'm still playing it. I have over 1000 hours of gameplay already and I keep coming back. GW2 enjoyed me every moment: When I was leveling, I loved exploring the maps, on my way to a Point of Interest A thing you need to 'complete' you map I encountered countless Dynamic Events. Some of them were boring, others were fun and interesting, sometimes even a small story that is told with Dynamic events. This form of PvE is only one of the few amazing things in GW2. Honestly, I love every aspect of the game.
When I hitted Lvl 80 (Max level), I started playing WvW more often, first it seemed a bit confusing, but I learnt fast, there are awesome, large scale battles. Many people think that WvW is just running around mindless on the map... It really is not, you need a sense for tactics. You need to place siege on the best locations possible and you need to learn to use your supplies when the time is right. The two other forms of PvP are sPvP and tPvP. Both focus on smaller scale battles, on smaller maps. Not many tactics are involved, just kill and take areas for points that will contribute to your victory. There also are alternate objectives that differ for any map, these give extra points or bonus stats that makes you more powerful. Both sPvP and tPvP are part of a different leveling system called glory, though this rank really doesn't matter, unless you want good looking armor and weaponskins.
Back to PvE now, apart from Open World PvE and Dynamic Events, there also are dungeons. Dungeons for me are not that exciting. Dungeon mobs are very strong, and regular mobs can kill you in a few hits. Because of those reasons, I don't run Dungeons that much.
Then you also have your "Personal Story", not that amazing, unlike you are like me and be a lover of the GW lore and story and you just want to know what happens.
Come with that ANet rolls out a major content update every month, useally with both permament and temporary content. All this awesomeness packed in a game that you only have to pay once, because there is no monthly fee. It was absolutly worth my 55 bucks.
Why not a 10? There are still annoying bugs ingame that need a fix.… Expand
Aug 29, 2012What is there to say? It's a lovingly crafted, very fun game. There's constantly things to do and joys to find, and yet no monthly fee. Beautiful, engaging, often hilarious and full of wit. The devs are hard not to love for what they've created here.
Sep 23, 2012Don't listen to the naysayers they are just WOW fanbabies who are upset that GW2 is so popular and good. It really is fantastic and the graphics are some of the best I've ever seen. It also puts RIFT to shame and the world is HUGE and you get 5 starting areas and several classes and 5 races. It has one of the most unique skills systems I've ever seen with 5 of the skills out of the 10+ you get attached to each type of weapon you use. It truely is one of the best MMO's on the market now and well worth the $60 I paid for it. There is lots to explore and an very simple combat system but still enough to do to make it skillful and not just a roll face type of combat system.
It has daily achievements for you to do, monthly and many many more types to grant you titles and money.
The endgame is well not really an endgame because there's really no raiding required, there's no grind required UNLESS you want to grind for OPTIONAL ARMOR and WEAPONS that are PURELY COSMETIC and nothing more. Too many WOWbabies whine because it's not easy to get in 3 weeks time playing lol.
Trust me if you want a great fun MMO to play that doesn't take all your time away this is the one. Nothing out there is as good as this and so much fun. :)… Expand
Sep 6, 2012This is first MMO since Wow that has all the potential to be a hit for many years to come. ArenaNet have taken a lot of risks with going away from the traditional MMO style, but most of them have been received quite well. The game attracts all of types of players and provides a great amount of content fit for any player, whether casual or hardcore.
Mar 9, 2013Guild Wars 2 challenges whole genre of MMORPGs, and succeeds. ArenaNet got rid of silly rudiments, proving that they are not needed to make a fun, interesting and thrilling game. Just a simple example are you sure you need mana itself to make a complete, balanced MMORPG? It is not about graphics it's about artistic direction, it's not about sound quality it's about sound design. This game is not flawless, but it is the best MMORPG by far. It is not a milestone too, but a logical leap. I love this game and strongly recommend it to every gamer.… Expand
Sep 13, 2012GW2 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
Jan 15, 2013Perfect game for casual players. That doesn't mean hardcore players can't play it. But it's fun, it's not hard to lv up (everything u do, EVERYTHING gives you exp), many people complain it's hard to lv up yet they haven't played the game for more than a couple of days. You'll reach 80 even before you know it, and you'll feel like there's still so much left to do.
Yes, some people may not agree or like the game, but people that give this game a 0 are just haters... Only thing that I feel it's missing is a normal pvp or duel mode on the pve environment, or even a pk mode, as the pve world is just too nice and peaceful, sometimes you feel like you need some "bad guys" that are not just npcs. But even then, the WvWvW is really fun, you don't even need to join the zergs... sometimes you can just wander around the maps and you may even find a chance to 1 on 1 or at least fight with smaller groups of people.… Expand
Sep 2, 2012Im sorry, i really reallt tried to like this game, but i just cant bring myself around to like this "revolutionary" mmo. The combat is stale at its best, the term "Dynamic combat" may be something cool for a WoW player, but if you have played a game with a true dynamic combat system (TERA) you will find the fighting in GW2 just as autonomous as in for exampe Warhammer online.
Speaking of Warhammer online, this game has to be compared to that game, leave out games like WoW. GW2 has taken alot of the things from the Warhammer game and tried to make it better, the result is a lukewarm mix where nothing really feels thought thru. The exploration part is uninspired and offers little to the game, im Warhammer Online, you were also encouraged to explore and more then often you were rewarded with some unique cloack, title or decoration for your armor. In GW2 all i get is a xp boost and a camerashot of something the devs are perticulary proud of. Shure, you get a chest when you complete all the different Heart quests, points of interest and vistas in an area, but the journey to that reward is long and tedious. Another feature lifted from the Warhammer game is these "Dynamic events". You get to an area where an event is happening, you participate in this event and get a reward upon completion. On some events there are maybe two three stages, with new rewards for each stage completed. Warhammer did this to, but had a problem with scaling depending on the amount of ppl there. Most of the time you would get nowhere since the event dident scale down and the world was fairly empty. GW2 sees to fix this issue and does it pretty good, most events are managable no matter how many are participating, but the reward system is a joke. I once came to an event, shot one spell towards one mob and got a Gold Medal for my role in the event. One time six out of eight cubs i was set to protect died, still got a gold medal. In Warhammer, the event would count the acctual amount of work i did (dmg, tanking, healing, mobs killed) and add that amount to a random dice roll, the higher the score the better the loot. This was a system that encouraged people to do their role and do it well for the phattest loot. In GW2 i can just afk thru the whole event and still get a great reward.
The mentioned combat is very chaotic. In events with more then five people attending im having a heard time figuring out who does what, what spells are hostile towards me and what my character actually is doing. This is part to this "role-less class system" where there are no clear "Tank" or "Healer", everyone can do everything and they all do it equally bad. Insead of having clear class-roles that you need to protect (help the tank, heal the tank, make shure healer is not getting killed) the GW2 approach seems to be to "zerg" everything. Shure, it looks pretty awesome when 20+ people cather at one spot to do an event, but in the end it feels like none of us have a real identity. I cast some spells, i gave some buffs and debuffs, but so did everyone else. Playing GW2 feels to me like beeing an ant. Im a small insignificant person with generic abilities and skills. Im in a huge world with tons of stuff to see but when i do get to that ellusive mountain top, all i get is a nice view and then have to face the long walk back down again. The world keeps on going without me, events will keep on happening and quests will be solved. I dont feel like a hero, i feel like me, an ant in a big world that manages to go on just fine without me, and thats not what i want.… Expand
Sep 29, 2012Masterpiece of an MMO-RPG game. Let me start by saying I'm not a fanboy of GW or Arenanet, nor I'm a person that takes sides first before critically thinking, or devotes himself to a product/idea/politics, etc etc before having an objective analysis. I'm simply extremely happy with this game and I praise Arenanet (a company unknown to me before this) for what they have accomplished here. GW2 is better in almost everysingle aspect than any other MMO out there right now. Their PvP, Classes, Dungeons, Combat (TERA might arguably be better), inventory, UI, questing, Storyline (SWTOR was equally as good), itemization, gathering, community (oh boy, this is the best part), side-dishes (things to do extra), crafting, graphics, major cities.....(I could go on for a while), are far superior and well done than their competition (WoW). All this put together, gives the player a sense of adventure, challenge, journey, community, and above all Epicness. This is something that a lot of MMOs are losing (WoW spearheading the idea) in favor of faster, easier on demand mindless GRIND. I can't simply understand how Blizzard has the face to charge their customer $15/month for their junk, after watching what Arenanet did with this game, it's even more unbelievable is the fact that people would still pay for it. Bottom line, this game is as good as it gets in MMOs, and best part is that I see Arenanet very much involved in listening their customers and taking the game in the right direction.… Expand
Nov 16, 2012First of all, I am not a fanboy of World of Warcraft or Guild Wars, this review is based only on my overall opinion on Guild Wars 2.
Overall: excellent game, ArenaNet really showed everyone else how a true MMO must be made. If you have money for it and you like MMO's (and even if you don't, but you want to try something new), buy it! 10/10. Brilliant.
This game is hilarious, whether you play alone or with your friends. High fantasy setting can be felt actually, with so many things happening around you. Roleplaying part of the game is also great, as you can even write personal story to your character! Yes, yes, your own personal story! If you wish, you can complete plot missions to advance your character in the world, he is the part of it. Not a player's puppet, but a character with his own characteristics which can be set by you! Combat is great, also. Making combinations with players is also a nice way to make the game more social-specialized. However, there are few things that I don't like in the game: for example lack of trading option. There's much more to tell about this game, like no unholy-trinity system in dungeons and interesting crafting system, but it's way too hard to describe everything about Guild Wars 2, as it's too massive and great!… Expand
Feb 14, 2013Simply put, I like Guild Wars 2. I think GW2's graphics are impressive, the sound and music top notch, the environments are interesting, monster variety plentiful, crafting is useful, and the combat is fluid. At first I failed to make it past level 15 and quit for a bit (my initial excitement faded fast). I then decided to come back around Christmas and did the themed quest and various PvE content. After a few days I became more interested in playing, but I could feel the old complaints creeping back in (lack of desire to invest time). Then I was invited into a active PvP World vs World based guild and that has made all the difference for me. I'm amazed at how being a member in an active and friendly guild can make normally mundane things fun. We've done class quest, fractals, normal content, and world vs world on a regular basis. Of course, there are flaws and some of the reviews express them well. However, I have come to appreciate GW2 regardless of my initially disinterest (perhaps more for the community rather than for the game itself).… Expand
Feb 6, 2013GW2 has made a powerful impact on the MMO scene, confirming years of expectations. Stunning presentation and revolutionary design guarantee a thoroughly enjoyable experience. However, it's not flawless, nor complete. The beautiful vistas, the massive PvP element, the rich leveling experience- those can offer hours of gameplay, but the endgame is desperately seeking for enrichment. [November 2012]
Jan 2, 2013Guild Wars 2 surpasses the original in every aspect, from its massive and atmospheric world to its addictive and engrossing gameplay.
Nov 28, 2012After spending fifty hours with GW2, I have a lot of praise for ArenaNet's work and the way it changes up some of the typical trappings of the MMO. And yet, I find myself thinking less and less about it each day. It's not a declaration against the product, mind you, but simply a fact that this game still is very much an MMO, and your enjoyment will directly relate to how much you enjoy the genre. For many who were hoping for a clean break from MMO design philosophy, Guild Wars 2 will probably come across as a slight disappointment. It pushes the genre slightly forward, however, and could lead to even further development in the future.