Originally posted by BlahTeeb

I have played both pretty extensively. I bought TSW to cover grounds until GW2 released, so I have played quite a bit of both.

 

The majority of this will be opinion based, so as usual, take this as someone elses point of view, not yours.

 

Combat---

Both feature a more actiony combat than the standard mmo. Both feature a dodge. Both feature a deck of equally powerful skills that you chose from. There is pretty much no tiered skills in either game. A skill I unlock at level 3 (or third skill in TSW) will often be just as powerful as a level 10 skill (or tenth skill in TSW.) This is different from the standard where I unlock a skill at level 3, only to replace that skill at level 10.

 

GW2 ultimately WILL have more depth. TSW will give you 8 active and 8 passive. From these, you can build many decks, but once you build a deck, your deck is very set in stone. That deck, will be that deck, and nothing more. The only way to change this is actually change your deck. But again, chosing a different deck will only change the deck, not the depth.

GW2 however, offers 10 skills, which are active and passive, depending on what you chose to bring along. Every passive skill also has an active skill once you activate it. The difference comes into play when you take a look at each skill. A lot of the skills come with little tidbits on them that make them have more depth. A skill may do so and so damage when you use it. But if you use it again in succession, it will cause bleeding. If you use it a third time, it will knockdown if the opponent is bleeding. At first glance, this is not that incredible. But it is, because it basically takes 3 skills and puts them into one skill. So skills can be and often are multiple skills layered into one. The other big difference is the amount of situational use that GW2 forces upon you. A skill may do this in a regular setting, but in a slightly different situation, it will do something entirely different. This is also true in TSW, but pretty much the entire GW2 engine and combat is designed to exploit these little changes.

 

The last and most important thing to me, is the control of your character. While the TSW uses active combat, it also uses a lot of dice rolls. With each roll, you take a little bit of control away from your character. GW2 offers a more direct control then a dice rolling game. When you are blinded, you don't have a chance of missing, you simply miss the next three attacks. When you block, it isn't because the dice rolled and blocked for your character, it is because you used a skill to block. Actually, the only thing that I can think of that uses RNG in GW2 is criticals. Criticals, cannot be manual in a third person game though. In a first person game, a critical can happen when you hit the legs or the neck or whatever, but in a third person game, having manual criticals is very difficult.

 

Story/Lore/Setting---

The story in both games a actually pretty similar. The settings are vastly different, but the story is more alike then one might think. In both games, there are multiple factions fighting some great evil. In both games, you are assisting and/or uniting the factions to overcome this great evil.

 

Though the lore in GW2 is vast and detailed, it is still a generic fantasy setting. Mages, dragons, swords, castles. They have different races to fill different taste, but the setting will always be high magical fantasy.

This is the biggest selling point for me about TSW. The setting is modern and filled with conspiracies. There is no need for a back drop, because we all know the story already. We know about Area 51, we know about Stonehenge, we know London, New York, Tokyo, and Paris. The setting in the TSW is fresh but not so fresh that we get lost.

 

PvE---

Both are incredibly strong in this aspect, and I would advise against believing anyone who says either game has weak PvE.

Both games are very open. They are very non-linear, and very explorable. Neither game directs you to a location before you can advance. You simply play the PvE and move on if you need to. There is no requirement for doing quests or any of the "artificial" limitations that exists with quest hubs.

TSW does this very well by using open, tiered quests and by limiting them. You can have your main story quest, one major quest, and a few minor quests. Though it seems small, this is actually very clean and organized. This system tells you where you are on your story, where you should go next, and where you can goof around. It keeps the game organized and it "forces" you to miss some quests. This is good, because if you had to complete every quest in that zone, the game would become very stale and very static. So with this sytem, you can only help out so much. You will always come back and find some quests that you missed because you couldn't pick them up. Youll also have a lot of exploring to do, because quests are scattered around, even in the deepest of corners. There are no hubs, just random quests lying around the world.

GW2 does not underperform either. GW2 uses a different system, but accomplishes the same type of gameplay. You have your main story, which you can do whenever you want. You also have a few renown hearts around the map, which are very basic questing used to pull you off the beaten path. It is only until you get into dynamic events that you appreciate the world. You cannot store events in a quest log. They just happen. You will miss lots and lots of events as you progress, which like I said, I prefer. This, like in TSW, will always "force" you to skip some and comeback later. Events are triggered randomly, by players, and by world status (weather, time...) Events are also scattered in the deepest parts of the sea and darkest parts of corners.

Both systems will have you exploring all over if you want to see what happens.

It's hard to give an edge to either game. TSW presents its PvE a lot better than GW2. They have excellent cutscenes that really pull you into the quests you do. However, TSW falls victim to a very static world. Nothing changes, nothing moves. I will give a quick example for quests that would be identical in both games.

Say you have to go to a mansion and kill some ghosts.

In the TSW, you would most likely start off with an excellent cutscene. The quest would have you go and kill 15 ghosts. After this, you might have to go back and remove some ancient books from the mansion to help ease the haunting. The problem is, like many mmos before it, you don't actually kill all the spirits. Nor did you actually effect the world. Someone could literally come by seconds behind you and pick up the same quest and kill the exact same ghosts.

In GW2, if this was the quest. You would have to the mansion and fight off until every single ghost was defeated. Some players would be killing spirits, while others would be burning ancient books. You would walk away and know that the mansion is no longer infested with eveil spirits. Players who come by after you wouldn't even know that spirits normally infest that building. Slowly, over the course of several hours (or days or weeks depending on the event) spirits would manifest themselves until they again infested the mansion. Only then would the event kick off again.

 

PvP---

 

I cannot say much about the PvP because not enough players (including me) are good enough to actually give an accurate overall feeling of how the PvP will be in the long run. GW2 is aiming for an e-sport like PvP. They balance their skills differently for both PvE and PvP making sure PvP is absolutely balanced and fair as can be. I could say a lot about the TSW world PvP, and it is great, but I have not played enough of the GW2 PvP to make a comparison.

 

General Gameplay---

 

TSW is designed for a mature audience. It's erie and dark as hell. It is not a horror game by any means, but it's not a game you'd want your third grader to be playing. The game has the freshest setting in all the recent mmo's simply because it is designed for an older group.

GW2 shines in its vastness. GW2 will no doubt, emcompass a larger array of gaming then TSW. TSW is designed to be played as a story and solve the game until the end. There are very tiny bits of extras tossed in here and there. You craft, PvP, and do a few other things, but just subtly. GW2 will offer much more, and offer in a more integrated way. From the samllest things like minigames, in-game sports, to full blown global tournaments. The game will simply, in my opinion, fill a larger plate than that of TSW.

  

 

Now that was a fantastic good reply . +10 from me.

I strongly advocate that everyone read this wall of text before posting further in this thread.

Guild Wars 2 for me.

I am sure TSW is a great game, just not my cup of tea.

I'm impressed *most* of the posts here are giving pros/cons of both and not fanboying all over.

As some people have said, they're just completely different games with pros and cons in different areas.  It's like asking if pokemon or god or war is better.  One is a cutesy environment and one is serious, one has blood and gore and one has asura.  One has top notch PvP and one has top notch PvE.

If you think you'd enjoy both and you can afford it, play both.  GW2 doesn't have a sub fee so you still wouldn't be paying more than $15/month and pick it up when you want a break from TSW.

I have more experience with TSW though so I'll comment on that...

As a previous poster said, TSW has some of the most amazing missions you'll ever do that have never been done before in any MMO.  You'll also get cutscenes and dialog that are what SWTOR should have had.  Every NPC you meet is memorable and you'll never want to skip dialog or not read something.  In the first area you'll find a phone book thats an actual phone book with the names of stores in the town you're in.  You can go and visit each one, the address in the book matches the one on the map.  It had nothing to do with the game but I loved reading all the ads in the phone book and the store names and slogans.  I loved finding the store in the book.  There are full websites created by Funcom for in game purposes like orochi-group.com.  You'll need to visit this website to solve a few missions.  Its little things like that that really make TSW shine.

Originally posted by Ohn03s

I have played both games and TSW appears to be more my thing, however what I love about the game is also what most others hate :)

GW2 has a huge "rewarding" curve at the start, with new abilities etc. This slows down later on and due to that I consider TSW to be more durable.

Both games are great, but I recommend you to try TSW, if TSW is your thing if you played kingsmouth, you will love it. If it isn't it won't get any better.

If you love GW2 from the start, you will defenitely love the start of the game but please remember that the flow of new abilities will reduce a lot whenever you process.

You will still be unlocking utility skills and elite skills and traits (you can compare these to passives).

Sure GW2 has less skills compared to TSW and even its predecessor (GW1) but I find the GW2 skills better designed.

Additionally you will also be tracking runes and sigils for armor and weapons which also work as another kind of passive.

For story, setting and puzzles - TSW. 

For mechanics, PvP, and more care-free fun environment - GW2. 

Now if only soemone could combine setting of TSW with the mechanics of GW2 that would be awesome. 

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by Ohn03s

I have played both games and TSW appears to be more my thing, however what I love about the game is also what most others hate :)

GW2 has a huge "rewarding" curve at the start, with new abilities etc. This slows down later on and due to that I consider TSW to be more durable.

Both games are great, but I recommend you to try TSW, if TSW is your thing if you played kingsmouth, you will love it. If it isn't it won't get any better.

If you love GW2 from the start, you will defenitely love the start of the game but please remember that the flow of new abilities will reduce a lot whenever you process.

You will still be unlocking utility skills and elite skills and traits (you can compare these to passives).

Sure GW2 has less skills compared to TSW and even its predecessor (GW1) but I find the GW2 skills better designed.

Additionally you will also be tracking runes and sigils for armor and weapons which also work as another kind of passive.

I count ~94 skills for warrior.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_warrior_skills

I count ~162 for the elementalist.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_elementalist_skills

Considering there are 8 classes, it looks like GW2 has more skills available to players than TSW. Across separate classes though.

GW2 hands down. Everything is so ridiculously polished and thought out that it makes every other developer in the industry look like incompetent morons.

TSW was fun but once you play through all the zones there really isn't much more to do than repeat all the quests for more anima points or grind instances. Investigation quests are nice, but they have also been the most frustrating things ever, spending hours upon hours only to find out they are bugged. Same with many other quests they just seem to bug out whenever they feel like it. The skill system is nice, building your very own deck and find out it works great is just so damn rewarding, unfortunatly the combat is stiff and at times unresponsive. The atmosphere and sound is however the greatest strenght in my opinion, not to mention the voice acting. The NPCs can babble on for minutes and you still want to listen to what they have to say as opposed to the ever dulling dialogue in SWToR. The PvP is a complete mess, I dare say it's the worst PvP I've ever had the displeasure of trying out. Abilities that one shot you and other completely retarded balance issues that most likely will never get fixed. Another thing I like is that they are rolling out content updates every month, but seeing as how they manage to bug out every quest still I doubt they will be very enjoyable at first.

As for GW2, they combat just feels so damn right, it's got that responisveness and feedback that you'd expect. The whole game just feels so damn dynamic, you are never forced down a specific path and it all just feels so varied. The art style is probably among the best I've ever witnessed, large epic structures and beautiful landscapes all coupled with the awsome soundtrack of Jeremy Soul (for those who don't know he's basically the John Williams of gaming). The PvP is just the best to date and that's juding by the beta, I mean how can this go wrong they have many key personel from DAoC Realm vs Realm working on it. And then there are those small touches that just make you go "wow why didn't any of those other dumbass devs ever think of this", like the ability to simply send all your crafting mats to your bank with two clicks in your inventory. I mean besides Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, GW2 is the best game I've played this generation. Oh and no subscription fees.

I was in TSW closed beta (the one you could access 24/24 and not only week ends), and I didn't buy the game.

I was in GW2 beta and prepurchased, played the beta week ends, and don't regret it, I can't wait for Aug. 25.

Now that's just me, and my 2 cents ;)

I didn't enjoy either of them.  

I played 3 weekend betas on both, and enjoyed them both up to a point. I've purchased GW2 and not TSW, at the end it boiled down to the pvp. I really enjoyed it in GW2 and didn't in TSW, but that only works for me, everyone has to decide for themselves whether to buy a game or not its not gonns break the bank to buy either or both and theres always ways of trying them out if money is tight.

TSW is to hard for me,  it is more for old school players. I like more casual style of GW2 where i don't need to spend 30 min to think how to solve quest.

GW2 will develop into a game of anonymous zergs full of social disconnected players leeching xp and if you like that sort of playstyle its for you.

TSW is a game about people playing online solo, or in small groups, dwelling in the setting and story seeing the combat as a sidekick.

My online friends wont play either game as both "suck" so dont let strangers decide for you ;)

I like them both but I think GW2 is the better one to get 'first'. TSW will be much better once there have been plenty updates and tons more content/features added, meaning that when/if you do sub you are straight up getting more for your money. Hopefuly getting a better product as well.

That's what I plan to do anyway. I already have TSW but I won't be subbing until I am getting a bit bored with GW2, if something like Neverwinter doesn't distract me away.

Originally posted by Thorqemada

players leeching xp

Not possible.  If you don't do anything, you don't get xp.

Originally posted by JasV

Originally posted by Elikal

I can hardly imagine anyone who played/tried both would actually suggest TSW over GW2. No, seriously.

 

So your flavour of the month is now GW2? Can't wait until I see you bitch and moan about that game once it has launced.

Reading his posts it seems that he's one of the most negative posters in this site and I'm sure he'll find something to complain about GW2 too. I'm not saying that TSW is the best game ever created or something but I just like it. I like it's atmosphere, story, all PvE, almost everything. I want to know why my character exists in this game (an old D&D habit I guess) and TSW is the first MMO where I actually want to listen to and read every quest.

But I see that Elikal cannot accept this because he has moved to yet another FotM. Well, as I said before - to each his own. But I don't go to GW2 forums to talk that game down. I don't like many MMOs and you cannot see me, for example, in Lotro forum bitching and moaning.

I bought TSW, played hardcore for 2 days, then got incredibly bored of it. I can see why people enjoy it, it just seemed to have no longevity for me. 

The PvP was a shambles.

I've had way more fun in the GW2 beta weekends than I had in my time of release TSW.

I think that says a lot. 

Well.. to be honest your comparing apples and oranges here without giving any other notes of what you really like.

They are two different games with their own styles and ways in which they function. Its quite hard to pick one or the other. This thread pretty much will be giving fanboys a place to cry out "*Name* is a lot better game then *name* play this one!" While everyone elses opinion would be more personal or simply unable to really help you.

Having played both, I really can't say one way or the other that one stuck above the other. In some ways its funny but they both seem to have the same issue with trying to be more 'action like' in combat (GW2 more so but eh) and both feeling quite clunky in the process. Probably should not of added that cause I'll get flamed by fanboys for both games but yeah, to me they are pretty much on even playing fields, just a matter of what you like in terms of time period, story, and over-all flow.

Hmmm TSW or GW2 ? 

Why not both ? 

I have always paid for a subscription of some sort for one MMO or another, I prepurchased GW2 in April like alot of other fans of the game, i own TSW and i gladly pay the sub for it. 

Fact of the matter is they are 2 very different MMOs. 

TSW is when i need to play a Trinity game and actually have fun with it. I love the dungeons, the stories, the community, and the setting.

GW2 will be my main squeeze when it comes to the lions share of gaming i will do, I love the PvP, the co-op feel of the PvE, and the sheer immense size of exploration. 

While GW2 has great stories with the personal quests TSW writers seem to have 1 up on the GW2 writers so its a very good and enjoyable distraction when i need a break from GW2. 

The great thing is since GW2 is subless i can pay for TSW and play both and not feel i am wasting money.

Other than Wildstar i do not see another MMO coming out that interests me or will pull me away from either TSW and GW2, and well Wildstar needs to start impressing me some more cause its not been that stellar as i thought it would be.

Oh now that i think about it i might try out MechWarrior Online, i was a huge Battletech player back when i was into table top strategy games, along with warhammer 40k / Epic, but MWO just does not look like a true MMO its more World of Tanks with Mechs.

SO i am gonna keep rambling.

TLDR: Buy both you only have to sub for one. Wildstar and MWO semi interest me.

As far as I can tell, both TSW and GW2 will have the same problem: Endgame.

TSW has the standard gear progression endgame and PVP, but the PVP is not very engaging at this stage.

GW2 is "not about gear progression", so I've no idea what the PVE endgame will consist of. But the WvWvW PVP certainly looks attractive at this stage.

So I'd have to say that if PVP is your main focus, (at this stage) it looks like GW2 will keep you entertained for longer.

I emphasize "at this stage" often, because we have yet to see what the verdict will be on GW2 once players have played 134 hours of it in 2 weeks. Playing any entertaining game intensively for 2 days (BWE) is a huge high. But that high is not sustainable in the long term, anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves.

A month after launch, some people have finished all the content (that they want to do) in TSW. GW2 has not launched, but over in the GW2 forums people are speculating that it will take the hardcore players a week at most to reach L80. Another week or 2 to explore the world and they'll be done with the content they want to do. So the PVE end-result looks pretty similar for both games.

Will WvWvW matches (that last 2 weeks and then reset) against random opponents (whom you may not fight again for weeks or months) keep people entertained forever ? Only time will tell...

EDIT: But why not hedge your bets ? Buy and play both. You can see most of TSW's PVE content in the free 30 days, and a 1-month sub every 3 months will keep you busy with some very entertaining quests. The rest of the time, play GW2. No additional cost there if you can resist the CS.