Hey all,

Basically the reason for starting this thread was in the hope that someone could persuade me to get off the fence and purchase GW2 and start playing; disclaimer: I appreciate it is no-one responsibility to persuade me, however I am hoping that someone who has played the game will be able to give me information that I haven't been able to find myself that'll help me make my decision either way.

A bit of background about myself, as the title states I'm an MMO vet (29) and I've played pretty much every mainstream MMO out there and although I enjoy the levelling experience, I usually find endgame very tedious due to the large number of hours you have to commit to it regulary or you get left behind. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to commit a large number of hours to playing an MMO (20+ a week), but those hours have to be on my terms and they do differ slightly per week. My most recent MMO experience was with Tera and although I did enjoy the refreshing combat style, I found Frogsters support and the endgame options a little lacking (dungeon crawling the same dungeons over and over gets a little tedious). I'm a PVE player and I play with my SO, however she isn't as willing as me to commit such large hours to play so I do kind of get held back a little by her. I tend to enjoy playing in a small group of people as opposed to joining large guilds and becoming just another number.

I kept an eye on Guild Wars 2 for a long time and Tera was only supposed to be a temporary home while I waited for GW2 to hit, but now it has, I'm really struggling to find a good reason to play it. I'm guessing the real reasons are that I'm finding it very hard to find a MALE profession/race combination that really appeals to me, I'm not so keen on the idea that gear doesn't really play a part, that its only for looks and also that I'm primarily a PVE player and it seems that GW2 is more focussed on PVP (please correct me if I'm wrong). Regarding the class/profession, recently I've favoured a melee tank character as I preferred the heavily armoured look, but have recently decided to go back to my roots and play a caster in my next MMO. If I did that I would really only have 2 choices in GW2 IMO and that would be either Necromancer or Elementalist (not a fan of the pink Mesmer). From what I've seen of elementalist, I'm not really a fan of the 'clean' look of them and I think I would prefer the darker Necromancer, but it seems that Necromancer is seen as a weak/easy class to play in the reviews I've read, is this true?

Sorry for the wall of text, I just want to be 100% sure that GW2 is going to be a suitable home before I lay out some cash. Guess you could see this as a cry for help, but as I'm getting older I'm finding it harder and harder to find a community of people my age to play with that play in GMT, so if there are a group of friends looking to adopt another in GW2, please let me know.

Originally posted by darkcircuit

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Sorry for the wall of text, I just want to be 100% sure that GW2 is going to be a suitable home before I lay out some cash. 

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You will never be 100% sure and that goes to every person playing the game. There will always be a risk that it won't be a suitable home. Depending on your economic situation, you may though want to take a bet and hope that it entertains you for a few months. 

I am an MMO vet as well but unlike you I am more into MMO PvP than PvE. That being said I enjoy GW 2 PvE far more than the PvP. The Elementalist is really fun as you get 5 spells per attunement (fire, water, air and earth) and an additional 5 utility skills which gives you a total of 25 skills to play around with, and this can be quite challenging and fun.

The Necro I haven't tried, mostly because I read the description for their skills and was not very impressed. Some weak insect-like pets, dots, lifesteal and mostly ground targetted buffs/debuffs. And unlike the Elementalist, but like all other classes, you get to play with only 5+5 (per weapon) plus another 5 utility skills which gives you only 15 skills total. Not enough for me.

However, altough the path to level 80 has been quite fun (PvE-wise), now that I am now level 80 I have absolutely no urge to continue playing my Elementalist. Reason is that the end-game is incredibly weak. Basically it is about really hard dungeons which has rewards which are mostly for looks, as they are only marginally better than the full set of lvl 80 rare items I am using right now. Then you have a huge grind for getting so called Legendary weapons, which again are marginally better than my current equipment.

Other than that you have PvP which for me was a huge dissapointment. There are basically two modes of PvP play. One is some sort of arena based PvP which is completely separated from the rest of the game as you are instantly leveled to max and given equipment based on your class. Completely pointless if you ask me because I would much rather play MOBA games for that as it is much more fun for a quick PvP fix.

Then you have the World vs World PvP event which is again mostly separate from the rest of the game as it is in a separate zone and only have some small bonuses which I think, but not sure, carries over to the PvE world. Regardless, it is basically about moving from control point to control point and flipping them back and forth to get exp, loot, karma (special currency). It is also almost completely pointless as the bonuses for holding control points are small and meaningless because the PvE is pretty easy anyway (except dungeons) so it is fun for a while but quickly, atleast for me, gets boring when you realise that it does not matter much who controls what.

So anyway, if you want to have some great PvE fun for a month or two then GW 2 is a fun game and well worth the box price. But if you are like me, who is looking for the MMORPGs of the past which you could get stuck for months, if not years into an immersive virtual world, then forget about it. They don't make MMO's like that anymore...

I'll try to give you an answer that will cover both a comparison with Tera and your unique (or not so much) situation with your girlfriend.

The good:

• The game has a more interesting world to explore, less "weird" and with none of those cuttie style enemies that seem to plague all eastern mmorpgs.
• It doesn't matter what level you are since you are always adjusted to the level of the area you are in. Running the exact same hearts back to back can get boring I guess, but not if you both start from different areas (with difference races).
• While heart quests are nothing special compared to other mmorpg offerings, they are a level above what Tera is offering. Dynamic events more so.
• No subscription means you can stop playing at any time and pick it up at your leasure.

• The combat system is decent, but not as good as Tera's. No collision detection, soft tab targetting and invulnerability buttons seem like a step backwards.
• There is just one type of combat offered, dps, with different flavours for every profession. Despite their name, guardians cant' really tank and no class can really heal the others, though since everyone can heal a bit, every bit stacks up. This has an effect on ...
• Dungeons are not as dynamic or entertaining as Tera. In fact, they can be really frustrating, until you realise that you are low and undergeared when entering a dungeon despite the suggested level. To rectify somewhat this, you need to be as tankish as possible regardless of profession (glass cannons are useless) and you need as much utility as possible (dps in dungeon is the least important for a smooth run).

• You will level a lot faster than you did in Tera, especially if you use crafting along with the special exp buffing tokens.
• All crafting is relevant in endgame, but due to fast levelling, you'll probably outlevel your crafting by a long margin.
• It is very possible to get the best gear for your build the second you hit level 80, though looks may suffer.
• Cash shop will always be a temptation, especially for inventory and bank space.
• PvE is finite, especially if you're not into jumping puzzle stuff or a completionist. PvP has a lot more replayability, especially in WvW.

Originally posted by Xasapis
Yamota, the legendary is just looks, it has zero stat differences than the equivalent exotic.

Yeah, I was comparing to rares. Exotic's is another grind which I am not doing because they are marginally better than rares.

I'm a MMO vet too, playing those game in their graphical version since early UO beta (and MUDs before too).

Compared to Tera, everything is much better. Gameplay is better, "quest" style content is miles above the utterly bad Tera quests, the world is much better, the mob design is much better (no crap asian style manga mobs, like those small things that are in packs in Tera I don't remember the name of), the combat is much better and you're not stuck with one type of weapon per class, and you have more classes too. GW2 is a superior game in every aspect.

To me, it's by far the best MMORPG released in these last 8 years.

Originally posted by Yamota

Originally posted by Xasapis
Yamota, the legendary is just looks, it has zero stat differences than the equivalent exotic.

Yeah, I was comparing to rares. Exotic's is another grind which I am not doing because they are marginally better than rares.

Well, the difference adds up but getting full exotics the second you hit 80 is hardly difficult, if you are ok with buying crafted. Assuming an average of 2g per piece, that's 6 pieces of armor and, say 4 weapons, ends up costing 20g total. You can use the karma to buy exotic as well, or honor badges (kind of a waste, they are hard to come by, karma in WvW is easy), or just run dungeons like a drone for the tokens there.

Thanks very much guys for both of your replies, I appreciate that it takes time to write such long and detailed posts and that you're probably sick of answering the same questions again and again :)

I think you've both persuaded me that my initial thoughts were correct and that Guild Wars 2 isn't really for me, think I'll stick with Tera and hope that things improve while I wait for the next 'big thing'. Thanks again, really appreciated.

Originally posted by darkcircuit

Thanks very much guys for both of your replies, I appreciate that it takes time to write such long and detailed posts and that you're probably sick of answering the same questions again and again :)

I think you've both persuaded me that my initial thoughts were correct and that Guild Wars 2 isn't really for me, think I'll stick with Tera and hope that things improve while I wait for the next 'big thing'. Thanks again, really appreciated.

You should wait to get a few more opinions to be honest...

For $60 (or even less at some places), you never have to pay a sub, you don't have to use the cash shop at all (or you can use it with in game money too), you will get more play hours than most single player games wich cost as much if not more.

Personally I'm pro testing everything on my own. Opinions can get you so far and are always biased one way or the other (we're human after all). 

Unfortunately I don't think that GW2 offers a trial or buddy key yet, it's still too early for that.

Personally I had great fun in Tera, but unfortunately the really bad EU support drove me away (that was the second game this happened, first one was Warhammer).

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Originally posted by halflife25
OP after reading your post i don't think you will like GW2 if you are looking for a long term home. GW2 is fast food MMO designed to sell millions and like any other recent themepark MMO you will be bored after a month. However, being B2P you can quit and come back whenever you feel like but i don't see you settling long term in GW2. This MMO isn't designed that way.

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Originally posted by darkcircuit

Thanks very much guys for both of your replies, I appreciate that it takes time to write such long and detailed posts and that you're probably sick of answering the same questions again and again :)

I think you've both persuaded me that my initial thoughts were correct and that Guild Wars 2 isn't really for me, think I'll stick with Tera and hope that things improve while I wait for the next 'big thing'. Thanks again, really appreciated.

Well all I can add is that I too played Tera before and found GW 2 to be superior in almost every aspect except the technical graphical quality which is better in TERA however I hate the stupid, cutesy manga style GFX in that game.

Originally posted by TeknoBug

 

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Originally posted by halflife25
OP after reading your post i don't think you will like GW2 if you are looking for a long term home. GW2 is fast food MMO designed to sell millions and like any other recent themepark MMO you will be bored after a month. However, being B2P you can quit and come back whenever you feel like but i don't see you settling long term in GW2. This MMO isn't designed that way.

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This doesnsn't even fit with GW2, GW2 fast food designed to sell millions? Anet didn't even expect the numbers they got at launch and had to disable digital sales!

 

It fits perfectly with GW 2 as it is an ultra casual game with little end game to speak of. The fact that Arena Net did not expect the sale numbers is something else and just shows that they had inaccurate projections. The game design is certainly not for the hardcore gamer.

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Originally posted by Yamota

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Originally posted by TeknoBug  

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Originally posted by halflife25 OP after reading your post i don't think you will like GW2 if you are looking for a long term home. GW2 is fast food MMO designed to sell millions and like any other recent themepark MMO you will be bored after a month. However, being B2P you can quit and come back whenever you feel like but i don't see you settling long term in GW2. This MMO isn't designed that way.

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This doesnsn't even fit with GW2, GW2 fast food designed to sell millions? Anet didn't even expect the numbers they got at launch and had to disable digital sales!  

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It fits perfectly with GW 2 as it is an ultra casual game with little end game to speak of. The fact that Arena Net did not expect the sale numbers is something else and just shows that they had inaccurate projections. The game design is certainly not for the hardcore gamer.

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Originally posted by TeknoBug

 

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Originally posted by Yamota

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Originally posted by TeknoBug  

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Originally posted by halflife25 OP after reading your post i don't think you will like GW2 if you are looking for a long term home. GW2 is fast food MMO designed to sell millions and like any other recent themepark MMO you will be bored after a month. However, being B2P you can quit and come back whenever you feel like but i don't see you settling long term in GW2. This MMO isn't designed that way.

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This doesnsn't even fit with GW2, GW2 fast food designed to sell millions? Anet didn't even expect the numbers they got at launch and had to disable digital sales!  

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It fits perfectly with GW 2 as it is an ultra casual game with little end game to speak of. The fact that Arena Net did not expect the sale numbers is something else and just shows that they had inaccurate projections. The game design is certainly not for the hardcore gamer.

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I'm a hardcore pvp'er and this game fits perfectly for me, and ~300 hours into the game I'm not even 100% completed with the exploration, and haven't even done all the dungeons yet and haven't even entered some of the zones- therefore there's still the endgame I haven't reached yet after hitting level 80.

 

I don't want to hijack this thread into a pointless flamewar so OP, if you are still looking at it, GW 2 is not a hardcore MMO and has never been advertised as such so dont expect it, no matter what some people might say.

Originally posted by TeknoBug

 

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Originally posted by halflife25
OP after reading your post i don't think you will like GW2 if you are looking for a long term home. GW2 is fast food MMO designed to sell millions and like any other recent themepark MMO you will be bored after a month. However, being B2P you can quit and come back whenever you feel like but i don't see you settling long term in GW2. This MMO isn't designed that way.

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This doesnsn't even fit with GW2, GW2 fast food designed to sell millions? Anet didn't even expect the numbers they got at launch and had to disable digital sales!

 

You sure?

http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml

Mike O Brain wants to beat WOW in sales and he said this long before GW2 was released. So that is their aim. You can not sell millions without catering to masses. Since when niche titles sell millions?

OP I am a PvE person as well and I'm finding it to be worth the purchase.  As this game offers multiple leveling paths alts are a legit way to extend your PvE time (unlike SWTOR or TSW).  Also the nature of the DE's and heart quests make this more tolerable for multiple run throughs.  The gear does mean a lot as your level up, it is not just cosmetic.

I see a lot of people obsessed with "endgame".  I've yet to find a themepark MMO that has any "endgame" that was worth anything, so this is much of the same.  Most of the fun to be had would be leveling alts on the multiple leveling paths.

The combat is the best tab target combat available.  If you really hate tab target combat, regardless of how action packed it feels, you won't like this.  No animation lock here, which is a huge plus.

Ultimately, if you think your would enjoy leveling up more than one character this can be a fun game for a PvE only person for multiple months and well worth the money.