Guild Wars 2 Review

[Julio Franco]

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Guild Wars 2 Review

With a mix of familiar MMORPG tropes and new, modern approaches to delivering them, Guild Wars 2 is an excellent, welcoming take on the genre.

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Please leave your feedback here.

 

[treeski]

Admittedly I didn't read the review... but I am currently enjoying GW2 and it is a very solid game. There are definitely some rough spots but overall it's really great.

 

[LNCPapa]

I love the game and feel the same way as the writer of this story in most cases. Just wish I had more time to play.

 

[Route44]

What hardware does your system have to run this smoothly?

 

[Guest]

GW2 has a lot of polish, to be sure, but I found the core mechanics to be quite dull. The main activity once your character reaches max level appears to be mind-numbing grinding for prettier clothing. Disappointing for such a hyped game.

 

[psycros]

GW2 has a lot of polish, to be sure, but I found the core mechanics to be quite dull. The main activity once your character reaches max level appears to be mind-numbing grinding for prettier clothing. Disappointing for such a hyped game.

Name one fantasy MMO that isn't exactly what you described. Of course, the point was to enjoy the journey, as the reviewer made clear. No doubt you skipped as much content as possible to hit the level cap as fast as you could.

 

[Guest]

"What hardware does your system have to run this smoothly?"

To really get this game running smoothly, you need quite a beast of a system, especially during huge battles. I'm on a i5 2500k @ 4.0 with xfire 6870's and it will start lagging in those scenarios. For the most part, the game is smooth as silk. My friend has xfire 7970's and it runs smooth for him in every scenario. I would suggest getting a card that has 2gb vram or more, there are definite limitations with 1gb with all the settings turned up to max imo.

 

[psycros]

I hadn't given GW2 much thought because I'm opposed to being limited to only as many spells as I can put on my action bar. Its an absurd handicap derived from consoles and has no place in a PC game. However, with the MMO landscape as bleak as it is right now, I might have to overlook this one design flaw and give it a shot anyway. An MMO that actually promotes playing together for some reason other than farming end-game loot sounds pretty darn cool and hearkens back to the early days.

 

[Mister_K]

If you are looking into this game for PvE purposes then keep looking, the PvE side of things is rather appalling although Dynamic Events are not too shabby at first but simple zerg most of the times. PvP wise its a solid game but the way the characters move and those whole combat feel is rather odd (just feels awkward, not bad or good just sort of not use to it). Plenty of glitches but that is expected since the game has just released so il let that one pass. Content difficulty is a joke.

B2P, better then a lot of single players which you complete within few hours/days so yes its worth the money if you are looking for a months of fun (assuming you like MMOS). Other then that, nothing amazing.

(oh and graphics are wonderful)

 

[yorro]

I hadn't given GW2 much thought because I'm opposed to being limited to only as many spells as I can put on my action bar. Its an absurd handicap derived from consoles and has no place in a PC game. However, with the MMO landscape as bleak as it is right now, I might have to overlook this one design flaw and give it a shot anyway. An MMO that actually promotes playing together for some reason other than farming end-game loot sounds pretty darn cool and hearkens back to the early days.

I don't think it is a design flaw. More of a balance feature, makes you think which adds more depth to the game.

 

[treetops]

It would be cool when questing if you heard a shriek in the direction of the dead player when a player died and a soul float up if your partied with them or not

/off topic

 

[Alexmx]

I played gw1 almost from the beginning and I'm playing gw2 too. The difference is that since I got married I became more of a casual player instead of the hardcore one that I used to be.

It really is a beautiful game, and the open world feature helps a lot when interrupting the game, I don't have to repeat a mission that takes 1 hour, but almost always I start from where I stopped.

The scenery? well, it is just astonishing the level of detail anet put into it.

 

[flynn444]

Name one fantasy MMO that isn't exactly what you described. Of course, the point was to enjoy the journey, as the reviewer made clear. No doubt you skipped as much content as possible to hit the level cap as fast as you could.

Hmm...most of them? At max level in GW2 you're not progressing your character' through the accumulation of more powerful items and abilities; instead, you grind for currencies to purchase prettier cosmetics or "skins".

And no, I haven't really skipped much content; I don't even have a level 80 yet. The reason is as I stated: "the core mechanics [are] quite dull".

 

[Guest]

My big question is : Where will GW2 be when all the players have left the starting zone? Where will a new player find those to help him in the wave after wave of endless "dynamic events"?? This game, while beautiful and different falls onto the same problems we saw with WAR and we see with RIFT ... large public events trigger and no one is around to help someone who starts the game at a later date. The game is riding on it's early groups but in 6 months or 1 year I suspect we'll see them rushing to figure out what to do with a game built entirely around dynamic events and no one in a lot of zones to help complete them.

 

[Guest]

I agree that the mechanics felt very dull. I know people like to tout the lack of the 'holy trinity' as a boon, but I see it as a curse. I *enjoy* healing. I *enjoy* tanking. I don't enjoy doing mediocre dps, healing that doesn't make a difference in anyone's health bar, or getting 1 shot to something entirely unseen. The group events outside were enjoyable for a time, but once my husband and I reached level 40 we found out we were simply trying to uncover all of the map to get money. "Oh. There's another heart." "Another heart." "Another heart." It became old too quickly. We feel our hearts sink when we think of logging in to GW2 anymore...we were so excited, and now are so very disappointed. Money wasted, to say the least.

I like being relied on and in this game, you don't really feel very helpful...you're just *there.* More people = more success but no one really shines. They all just Zerg until some event ends.

 

[psycros]

I don't think it is a design flaw. More of a balance feature, makes you think which adds more depth to the game.

A phony limitation that kills immersion is hardly what I would call a "feature". It doesn't add balance, it emulates it.

 

[Havoq]

Every event that shows up in or near my path is a moment that inspires a silent but fervent hope from me that there are other players around?That spirit of perpetual cooperation in a living, breathing world is truly what sets Guild Wars 2 apart. ~Kate Cox
------
Warhammer Online pioneered public quests, not GW2. Thank you for the review, by the way!

 

[Guest]

This game, as compared to any well executed application is just awful. The market system is a joke, the lag in WVWVW makes the game effectively unplayable. As a PVE game it appeals to folks that like smoldering ugly. No attempt was made to make it fantastic, just a horrible to navigate, un fun, and as of 7/25/2013, more buggy than most betas. Targeting is at best a guess, you never know what your "hero" is going to attack. The market search engine, 5% accurate. Did I mention getting locked into environment features and having to PAY to get ported out? Or the lack of any customer service, when the game starts crashing that is it, there is no one at A-net to help. Your money and account are just gone.