Hey there OP, 

Yeh I know that feeling completely. I remember I just went off WoW one day exactly like you did. But I stopped playing MMO's for a few years and just played single player games a bit and a bit of League of Legends with friends. And now with TSW and GW2 I've gotten back into it again, but I'm not the same obsessed MMO player I used to be. I play more just to relax and have fun and I have deliberately avoided 'hardcore' guilds in favour of just some people to hang around with and have fun. It did also seem to come with age for me. Gotta realise that too much time in game is not healthy. 

Were you interested in this game before it came out? Why? Why not?:

I played the original Guild Wars a bit, and I loved some of the artwork previews I saw of the game leading up to release. 

Do you currently play this game?:

Yes, I currently play about 15-20 hours a week. 

What MMOs are you currently playing and why do you play these particular titles?:

I'm currently playing GW2 and TSW although my account is going to expire and I'm letting it because although it's a great game I don't want to pay to play. When it goes F2P I'll definitely get back into it because the story and voice acting is incredible. 

What compels you to post in this particular subforum as frequently (or infrequently) as you do?

I've learned to post less and frequent this forum less to be honest because so many people are here purely to bring other people down. The number of people who post on GW2 (and many other games)  and do not own a copy is amazing. 

(Edit: formatting) 

Interesting perspective. I joined a guild very early on. We have 172 players and we chat on Mumble all the time. I usually log into voice chat before I start the game client up. I've also made lots of friends just by sending out party invites with people I see in the same zone as me. Because we aren't competing with each other for crafting materials grouping is a great idea unlike some other games I can mention.  Everything about the game is more enjoyable in a group, even if just one extra player because skill combos are easier to create, and moving around in the higher level zones is quicker with another player. 

Teaming up gives our Guild more influence too which is good for everyone. I can see your experience has been different but I have found GW2 players polite and easy to talk to. 

Although you can just roll with whoever happens to be nearby it's very obvious in WvW when you come up against coordinated guilds because they roll right over disorganised mobs. It's called "Guild Wars" for a reason. I suggest you make the effort to join one first and see if your experience changes. 

I always enjoy your reviews Bill. I have a few annoyances with GW2 lately, many of which relate to WvW and the TP, but I love the game overall and you can't fault the progress with which Anet is squashing bugs. 

Look if you really want to get WvW done create a character on Ferguson's Crossing. WvW queues are very short there although we tend to get crushed by other servers with some regularity. This can actually be one of the tough things about the game for me right now. I love WvW but once a server owns the majority of the map people get discouraged and give up. I do believe it's something Anet needs to address at some point. 

Up until last night I would have said "No, it must be your gfx card." I do a lot of WvW and it's only just started happening to me. I have a Nvidia GTX 590, SSD,  i7, 16 GB ram (most of which is useless) etc., and shadows turned down and the game has run very smoothly, even during siege zergs - until now. Last night I definitely had enemies popping in way too close, which is the last thing you want obviously when travelling across the map solo with the enemy server owning pretty much everything. Ouch. 

I wonder if it's related to some new patched in code or just a latency issue.?

There is not a lot of map channel chat on our server although I am Australian and so play in a time zone that's going to be quieter anyway. GW2 is a pretty action intensive game and VoIP is so much better that I logon to that everytime I get online and chat with guildmates. I type too fast for most people anyway and so type chat is frustrating. 

It's interesting that people laugh at Metacritic when the Industry cleary understands it's influence in decision making by consumers. The opinion of it here on MMORPG is not particularly realistic from many of the posts I have read in this thread. It can and does routinely influence purchasing. 

Note for example this: http://www.funcom.com/investors/the_secret_world_update 

Alexa ranks metacritic at around position 3,000 compared to mmorpg.com at 8,000 so it's reasonable to say that it does indeed matter and that both the critic and user scores are currently doing Arenanet favours. 

Originally posted by Eir_S
Like I've said before, I agree with #1 completely.  No flying mounts, and maybe no terribly fast speeds, but the aesthetic would be wonderful for such a big world.  I mean come on, there are no horses or camels or anything in Tyria?

OMG CAMELS! How awesome would that be?! I do think that GW2 is a very easy game world to get around in, but mounts look great and a lot of people are used to them from other games so hope they make an appearance. 

If they gave any sort of speed advantage at all, they would be necessary for everyone in WvW since mobility is so important there, and being able to rundown people on foot (while cool for the rider) would be a rage inducing issue. On a side note I recently noticed that you can upgrade some castles with waypoints for a massive amount of supply. Have yet to see it happen but very interesting. 

You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.

- Winston Churchill

Edit: Back to the game for me. 

Originally posted by Hyperwolf

 

[mod edit]

Anyway OP, I mostly agree with you. Just logged off from playing for four hours straight which is something I haven't done in a game in a long while. I've played MMO's going back to EQ, and I do feel that  - for me at least - Arena has gotten something very right. I admit i'm very much the sort of gamer who likes to do whatever may come. I'm not a structured efficient player, not in a hurry, not overly concerned about doing things in the optimal order.  I like to just get online and look around, explore a bit. Do some pvp, do some wvw, craft a bit, hang out and chat to people on Mumble., etc and GW2 seems to cater very well to that style of gamer. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but for those it is for, it's great. 

And for me the combat is just right, much more enjoyable than WoW combat ever was. I'm looking forward to making some alts soon and seeing some of the other storylines and starting areas. I can see a lot of depth in the PvP combat, especially in teams, which is no surprise considering GW shone in that arena. 

[mod edit]

Thank you MMORPG.com. Rolling through a large number of posts by one of your 'spotlight' members that contain nothing but attempts to inflame the thread, to remove my legitimate comment pointing that out makes perfect sense. I note you've done nothing about those so I've kindly submitted a large number of reports for you to follow up on. Have a nice day. 

[mod edit]

Anyway OP, I mostly agree with you. Just logged off from playing for four hours straight which is something I haven't done in a game in a long while. I've played MMO's going back to EQ, and I do feel that  - for me at least - Arena has gotten something very right. I admit i'm very much the sort of gamer who likes to do whatever may come. I'm not a structured efficient player, not in a hurry, not overly concerned about doing things in the optimal order.  I like to just get online and look around, explore a bit. Do some pvp, do some wvw, craft a bit, hang out and chat to people on Mumble., etc and GW2 seems to cater very well to that style of gamer. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but for those it is for, it's great. 

And for me the combat is just right, much more enjoyable than WoW combat ever was. I'm looking forward to making some alts soon and seeing some of the other storylines and starting areas. I can see a lot of depth in the PvP combat, especially in teams, which is no surprise considering GW shone in that arena. 

[mod edit]

Originally posted by Kopogero

With what's currently avaliable on the market and bigger competition in the industry any single MMORPG that will cost you more than $30 a year is ripping you off.

Stopped reading. 

Originally posted by thinktank001

Originally posted by Hyperwolf

 An F2P with AAA quality hasn't existed before now, at least not right from launch day.

$60 to play it and you still call it free?   Nobody considers games with microtransactions "free" anymore.   It is an advertising term that companies used to differentiate their products from P2P subscriptions.  

 "A P2W with AAA quality hasn't existed before now, at least not right from launch day." is what you should have stated.

 

The WvW also has the potential to hit a sweet spot that many games since DaoC have been unable to find. The inability to grief people in GW2 is a breath of fresh air that I hope many more games will take note of. Arena has done a lot right. In terms of launch issues I'm sure if they are affecting you they are very frustrating, but looking at the company's behaviour so far it should also be evident that they will be fixed sooner rather than later. 

That point is completely moot.  Rift had a relatively free of troubles launch.  GW2 was obviously not ready and giving it a free pass from " launch issues " because they will be fixed in the future is a ridiculous statement.   I could certainly understand your argument that it is a pointless argument in the first place, since the game has the P2W business model and a player not being able to log on doesn't really amount to any perceived loss of money.

 

Poking fun of people who aren't as cynical and analytical about the game and the state of MMO's as you are because they are having fun and enjoying themselves isn't really rational, which is kind of ironic. And being 'sick' of other people enjoying something is a bit of  a worry. And it's an affliction that seems to be very common here. 

Well here is your problem.  His statement wasn't a personal attack on you.  It was just a simple statement that people are acting irrational with all the excitement from GW2 release.   TBH, I haven't see so many " WoW killer " statements being made in other game forums, since the release of Darkfall.   We all know how well that went.

 

 I didn't respond to it as though it was a personal attack on me, and thus don't have a problem.  I merely note that when pointing out irrational behaviour it's best not to display your own so prominently.

As to your other comments, thanks for your personal perspective. I do believe that whether you like it or not GW2 is doing exceedingly well and has - to an extent - lived up to much of it's hype. I disagree completely with the P2W tag and am not one for labelling anything a WoW-killer, however nor do I get 'amped up' about that in the way that many of you do. 

At the end of the day people are enjoying the game, and being enthusiastic about it. If you don't like it try not to let it upset you too much was my message to the original post. 

Cheers. :-) 

Originally posted by QuicklyScott
Well, there's currently a thread with 150 posts in it, stating that GW2 gets tedious and boring, with many people in the thread agreeing.  I wouldn't of thought a "masterpiece" would do that..

"Masterpiece" is always going to be a very subjective word. I also think you will find that people who are disatissfied with an MMO and want to vent are most likely to do it here on this site. It will be interesting to see whether or not that is the case in a broader sense.

Originally posted by Hrimnir

Originally posted by Izik
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock#Honeymoon_phase

QFT.  Get so sick of that.  People are so incapable of rational thought anymore its gotten to the point absurdity.

People don't even try to look inside and h ave some sort of litmus test to try and determine if what they're about to say is tainted by bias or not.

I liked your post, but what Golden Age are you referring to when rational thought was the norm? Logically, games like GW2 are supposed to equal fun. Even when there are financial motives a product titled 'game' has to be enjoyable to succeed. 

People are enjoying the game, and it's clear from the Internet as a whole, that many more are enjoying than not. Even after the honeymoon period has subsided and the dust has settled GW2 has changed the landscape. An F2P with AAA quality hasn't existed before now, at least not right from launch day. The WvW also has the potential to hit a sweet spot that many games since DaoC have been unable to find. The inability to grief people in GW2 is a breath of fresh air that I hope many more games will take note of. Arena has done a lot right. In terms of launch issues I'm sure if they are affecting you they are very frustrating, but looking at the company's behaviour so far it should also be evident that they will be fixed sooner rather than later. 

WoW for example was plagued with launch problems of a far greater magnitude but they didnt' stop me loving the game. They frustrated me because I wanted to get back in and have fun. I'd actually forgotten how bad things were back then until I read this article recently - http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorial/remembering-the-launch-of-wow - and it all came back to me.  I think the list of issues Arena have to deal with is far less daunting. 

Poking fun of people who aren't as cynical and analytical about the game and the state of MMO's as you are because they are having fun and enjoying themselves isn't really rational, which is kind of ironic. And being 'sick' of other people enjoying something is a bit of  a worry. And it's an affliction that seems to be very common here.