Once upon a time, ArenaNet created a fantastic online RPG with deep storytelling, competitive PvP, and one of the most dynamic skill systems ever created. While it’s still argued in the depths of Reddit whether or not Guild Wars is actually an MMORPG, it did have a lot simultaneous online players. Regardless, it was a fantastic game with a plethora of unique systems and game mechanics that won multiple accolades and spawned 3 expansions over a 3-year period.
It was so successful that a few years later, ArenaNet released its sequel: Guild Wars 2. However, instead of building upon the complex systems, lore and game modes that defined the original, ArenaNet decided to throw them all in the trash and create a clone of World of Warcraft, which was all know was the first ever theme park MMORPG. The first Guild Wars likely avoided such fate having released too soon after Blizzard’s flagship MMORPG, or it also might have ended with the same fate because every theme park MMO since has simply cloned World of Warcraft.
In an ironic twist of fate, Guild Wars 2 doesn’t even have ‘guild wars’. In the original, guilds would choose their own guild hall and then battle other guilds in large battlegrounds based on the chosen hall. It was all very exciting and a fantastic way to show which guild truly was the best. Instead, Guild Wars 2 essentially stole World of Warcraft’s battlegrounds and World versus World PvP is just Alterac Valley that never ends.
Instead of building on the deep lore, Guild Wars 2 took the main antagonists and made them a friendly, playable race because we clearly can’t have a successful game without cat/cow people; Charr are basically just Tauren druids that got stuck in the middle of a morph. Now, all of the bad guys are dragons because it’s really easy to make people hate big, bad dragons while avoiding any real-life political connotations.
The main thing Guild Wars 2 did to separate itself from World of Warcraft was to stop pretending the PvE gear treadmill is important. All gear after level 80 Ascended has the same base stats, and it doesn’t take very long to gather a full set of whatever specialization you would like.
Instead, Guild Wars 2 fully embraces that fashion is the true endgame goal of any real World of Warcraft clone. Legendary items are worth thousands of more gold than Ascended or locked behind incredibly long grinds, all to add rainbows and flowers to your attack animations. We’ve clearly evolved passed t-bagging our dead enemies. Now we plant flowers on their corpses.
Initially, Guild Wars 2 didn’t have mounts, but it also decided to steal those from World of Warcraft. However, I will admit that the Guild Wars 2 mounts are much cooler than the ones from World of Warcraft because they have specialized utilities and unique skills. I’m sure World of Warcraft will eventually add skills to mounts, and when that happens, we can go back and retroactively accuse all previous games of stealing that idea as well.
Finally, Guild Wars 2 essentially copied the 1-2 year release window between expansions (except for that gap between Path of Fire and End of Dragons that we’ll ignore). Except, I don’t really understand the point of Guild Wars 2 expansions because the level cap and gear essentially stays the same. I’m sure there’s a new dragon to fight or transmogs to collect and more stuff to fill your already overflowing bags.
This column brings Tongue In Cheek takes, which is meant to be silly and not taken seriously. Mainly poking fun at the joke that "everything is a WoW clone" nowadays.
