Guild Wars 2 has finally launched. In our latest column devoted to ArenaNet's newest game, we take a look at whether or not it has all been worth it. See what we've got to say before weighing in on the conversation in the comments.

Wow, what a weekend! I can’t believe it’s over. I’ve spent every spare moment playing ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2, since I’m a lucky person with the 3 day head start, and I’m loving every second of it. But I’m still in a bit of shock. I still can’t believe that the wait is over. It’s been years and years of waiting, and these days it seems a bit odd for a developer to have so many years to make a game. Honestly, it’s the way games should be developed. A rushed game is really a waste of the developer’s time, and the player’s money. ArenaNet has had a unique opportunity to work on Guild Wars 2 until it was actually done. They wanted the world to receive a game that was a true evolution to the MMO genre, and in this fan’s opinion: it is and more.

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Worth the Wait.

I’ve been playing almost nonstop.

Everything i hoped it would be and more. A sincere thank u ANet. U have proven and outdone yourselves with this MMO. Enjoying every little bit of it possible at it's fullest.

Game developers u should ALL take notes on how a game should be made and for WHO it should be made. It should be for you AND the buyers not "just" for you and your pockets. On the long run if buyers are happy...then your pockets will be as filled.

GW2 is a capital example of how a game should be and how a game should surpass predecessors.

I held off on playing/beta testing so that I could be 100% unbiased when the game came out. I avoided threads, pictures, etc. And it was so well worth the wait. I didn't think I'd like the game but... I love it. I also love that it's B2P, which means I can keep FFXIV subbed for 2.0. :)

All-in-all, they have a winner on their hands. I've been completely absorbed since Early Access launch. I think I've maybe gotten 2/40 winks in the past few days. Haha.

"With rushed development you end up just taking another game’s design and switching the visuals, and changing the name of features, just so you could call it a “unique” game."

This.  I feel it's one of the most important things about this game and why ANet deserves praise and respect.  They didn't try to jump on the quick cash train, they spent a long time on something they put their hearts into.

I have that feeling again, you know when you step onto a world and your breath is taken away from the beauty of it all. That is the feeling i got from playing my very first mmo, WoW when it launched. I started that one right before the patch that added pets to hunters for the first time, and that was soon after the hunters were added to the game for the first time. 

This game really has lived up to it's promises of fun stability and being completely different then those other titles out there.

Originally posted by Thillian
Not disappointed, because I didn't expect much. The game is average on every respect.

[mod edit]  As engineer myself i have to completely agree with this aricle.  And from a purely technical and design perspective this game is the most incredible feat in the last decade of gaming.  The level of inovation this game has brought to the gaming world will forever change it regardless of whether the game ends up as  just a game or becomes a dynasty.

I don't understand how this game is worth the wait when someone has maxed a character already?  That really irks me that a new MMO allows such fast progression.  Tells me the developers did not do their homework and made the game far too easy. What happened to any sort of challenge in a MMO.  This is just another themepark MMO that has been so simplified it will be full of bored players in a few months.

Tired of people getting excited by MMO's that should be vilified for weak design issues.

Yes some of you are having a great time in the game now, that is great, but give it time you will be whining about lack of challenge or things to do in a few months.  MMO's did not used to be like this.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I don't understand how this game is worth the wait when someone has maxed a character already?  That really irks me that a new MMO allows such fast progression.  Tells me the developers did not do their homework and made the game far too easy.

Seriously?

You OBVIOUSLY didn't read HOW he did it.  His guild funnelled ALL THEIR MATS to him for a majority of crafting.

The game lets you level via PvP, PvE, Crafting.  Oh the developers don't care.. blah blah blah.

Broken records.  Not your game, fine, move on.  But seriously when you have NO IDEA what you're talking about, spouting off gibberish makes you look like a troll.

Originally posted by ZeGerman

Originally posted by Thillian
Not disappointed, because I didn't expect much. The game is average on every respect.

[mod edit] As engineer myself i have to completely agree with this aricle.  And from a purely technical and design perspective this game is the most incredible feat in the last decade of gaming.  The level of inovation this game has brought to the gaming world will forever change it regardless of whether the game ends up as  just a game or becomes a dynasty.

 

People like you have no idea what innovation means. You in theory want innovation, but in practice, you want to play the same old crap. Guild wars 2 is exactly that. It's same old while pretending to be innovative. 

Dynamic events are not innovative, nor map exploration, nor zerg-festing PvP. Apart from that the only really "innovative" thing I can think of is that the game has no mounts.

In fact GW2 is as old in its design as its server technology, in an age where single-server tech exists, we still have to cope with queuing, 8k limit servers and Overflow crap.

Originally posted by Thillian
Not disappointed, because I didn't expect much. The game is average on every respect.

Average when compared to what mmo?

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I don't understand how this game is worth the wait when someone has maxed a character already? 

Yeah, someone as in ONE person who had an entire guild helping him.  Don't expect this kind of thing to happen much.  I played the entire weekend and am only level 25.  If this were WoW I'd be lvl 50 by now just from spamming LFD.  Don't talk about "fast progression" until you get educated.

Definitely worth the wait, I think this game genuinely has massive potential, far more than anything since WoW.

I've not seen anything I don’t like about the game design yet, in fact I think it’s incredibly well designed. As already pointed out the guy who hit 80 had his full guild helping him so a regular player just starting out would never be able to get to 80 as fast, so for me that’s a non-issue.

Originally posted by Ikeda

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I don't understand how this game is worth the wait when someone has maxed a character already?  That really irks me that a new MMO allows such fast progression.  Tells me the developers did not do their homework and made the game far too easy.

Seriously?

You OBVIOUSLY didn't read HOW he did it.  His guild funnelled ALL THEIR MATS to him for a majority of crafting.

The game lets you level via PvP, PvE, Crafting.  Oh the developers don't care.. blah blah blah.

Broken records.  Not your game, fine, move on.  But seriously when you have NO IDEA what you're talking about, spouting off gibberish makes you look like a troll.

Gibberish?  I played the Beta, did not say the game was not fun, just that it has huge design issues.  Makes no difference how the character was leveled, you can bet non crafting characters will be maxed within the week too.  I noticed this in beta play how extremely easy it is to level and there is very little challenge.  It is not that different than SWTOR except that there is no sub, little thought has been put into the longevity of the game.   I also have found nothing really innovative about it.  Sure they have mechanisms that work differently, but they are just reworked from past games.

Even Wow, when it was released, took people months to max level a character.   Why have all the developers abandoned any sort of challenge?