Recently I was reading some comments on blogs when I came across a statement saying that Guild Wars was a really bad game because it was way too hard so much so that it is impossible to solo. My first reaction was what’s this person talking about? I made it a point to finish the entire Guild Wars storyline including expansions solo and while I struggled a bit in a few place I did succeed in finishing every single mission without a single human player on my team. But then I thought a bit more. I too had struggled a bit at first, wait what I am talking about, in places I was still struggling after 300+ hours of game time. You see Guild Wars isn’t like your typical MMO. In most MMOs if you’re struggling it means you need to level up or get better equipment but that stuff is just a minor detail in Guild Wars. The game tries to tell you that with its really low Level cap of 20 and the fact most equipment has the same stats with just different looks. In Guild Wars if you’re struggling it instead means you need a better strategy.
Guild Wars 2 Has Great Game Story and Content
At its core in Guild Wars essentially what you depend on are 8 skills that you select out of a pool of 100s. These 8 skills range from Damage dealing, buffs, heals, conditions and Hexes. At first glance many of them seem similar but what sets them apart is how they interact with each other and with their target. For example a particular skill might do more damage if its cast on an enemy that’s set on fire thus it is useful if you intend to use such a skill to have some other skill that inflicts a burning condition. There are really countless combination such as this that a player can make use of. Additionally with you one can either take 3-7 other player characters, henchmen or Heroes. Henchmen and Heroes are AI controlled companions with the deference between them being Henchmen come with there own immutable set of skills while you get total control on what skills, armor and weapons Heroes carry. It is amazing how important your choice of skills is. There is a particular dungeon called Glint’s Challenge. This was just beyond me, I spend two whole weeks trying different builds to tackle this but I never made it past the 1st wave and there are 8 waves on has to complete in order to finish the dungeon!. I tried focusing on healing, group damage, interrupts nothing seemed to work. After two weeks or so I was ready to give up and thus I turned to the internet for advice. Someone was suggesting a Build that they said was able to complete the dungeon without any player interaction. I just couldn’t believe it but turns out it was true. That’s the level of difference your choice in skill makes.
But I am running out of point, why does all this give me high hopes for Guild Wars 2. ArenaNet have promised a lot of things for Guild Wars 2 some of which is just amazing. I understand why some people are skeptic I would be too if I had not experienced Guild Wars before. People who did not give Guild Wars a chance probably walked away with the idea that the game is cheap and devoid of content since it has a level cap of 20 and items have essentially the same stats. Had they experienced it properly I believe they would have realized that these design choices were needed because of the fine tuned balance of the game. At max level, if you do not pay attention you can still die in low level areas! Players that didn’t play Guild Wars might view the game as being cheap because it was instanced when in fact the instancing added to the realism. I still remember my first day in Guild Wars an NPC asked me to pick up some eggs for him as giant spiders made it impossible for him a simple farmer to accomplish the deed on his own but while in other MMOs you would expect the guy to just stay there waiting while you risked your life for him, in Guild Wars he came with me and asked me to guard him while he picked up the eggs, if he got killed I wouldn’t be able to just walk back and take the quest again as he would no longer be there were I met him the first time, well at least until you close and restart the whole instance. That simple act got me hooked to the game. For me that simple event added a lot to the immersion in the game world.
Guild Wars 2 Has The Best PVP System
What I am trying to say here is Guild Wars already had a hint of what is being promised to us in Guild Wars 2. It might not have been a living persistent dynamic world but while in an instance things followed logic as one would expect. If an NPC died it stayed dead while that instance existed. NPC behaviour made sense. If someone asks you to join their fight, they’re gonna be right there next to you when the fighting starts, they will not expect you to win the war for them while they remain comfortably at home. These little things made me realize how much attention to detail ArenaNet pay and because of my experience with Guild Wars I have no doubt that they know what it is that needs to be done to create a great impressive MMO.
I understand that knowing what needs to be done and doing it are two different things and obviously we’ll not know if they will deliver on their promises until we play Guild Wars 2 ourselves. However if anyone can do what they have promised I do believe it is them. From what we have seen so far Guild Wars 2 has an excellent art style, amazing music and great lore. They also certainly have the right idea of how to build an impressive experience. Knowing all this I cannot help myself but have high expectations for Guild War 2. If they deliver all of it as they promise and I believe they really can, then we’ll certainly get one great MMO that should not be missed.
So far my favorite Guild Wars race isn’t ingame yet 🙁 At least, not so far as I’ve seen. In GW1, the Order of Whispers were filled with these naga-looking dudes. There were a few that were monsters in Factions, but up until Nightfall I don’t think they had any real personality. There they served a bigger purpose and seemed far more mysterious and intriguing, I really liked them. I’d love for them to be playable at some point, though I doubt that will happen. BTW, check out guildwars2beta.org, might as well get a beta key for the open beta.
I agree that in some terms guild wars, especially if you exclude PVP, the game felt a bit like an offline game but thats also what the main focus of guild wars 2 has been on in my opinion. Guild Wars 2 encourages Team play without even needing to go through the hassle of grouping up or forming teams. I have no doubt in my mind that Gw2 will not feel like an offline game at all! Quite the contrary actually I am excited about everyone helping everyone else!
Guild Wars 2 Is The Best MMORPG So Far
Expansions were not pay to win in guild wars at all! the only advantage you’d get is a new character class and more heroes, well strictly speaking not really an advantage either. heroes will not give you an advantage against other players as all pvp is solo and the new classes were not overpowered compared to the existent classes or anything like that! To me nothing in guild wars felt pay 2 win!
As for buying the expansions the only people who I imagine might not want to do that are perhaps hardcore pvp players who have no interest in PVE side of the game. The expansions in Guild wars to me were primarily a vessel to advance the storyline and the lore and provide tons of PVE content. I am sure the same will be with guild wars 2 as someone who enjoys both pve and the story I am already looking forward to them :).
if having to buy an expansions sound like P2W for you, then that makes games like WOW that charge for expansions P2W.
i see a lot of P2Players on many sites trying to discredit GW2 clearly because it is B2P, they always have the same BS lines. it’s not a true mmo, you will have to buy expansion, it will be crap like the rest of the F2P/P2W games.
i have news for all the P2P suckers,
Arena Net clearly knows they will make enough money with a Buy 2 Play game, unlike P2P games that milk player for cash with subs, they will just sell the same stuff that all P2P mmo’s sell the make that extra money,
i for one am glad the see a company that isn’t asking for cash up front for the game, more for subs and more cash for expansion and even more cash from cash item.
Personaly myself I plan on wanting to play Guild Wars 2 and from my experiances with Guild Wars I feel the 2nd one will do preety awsome. Personaly I dont mind paying for expansions, I got all the ones for the first guild wars, its how they made their money other than the truly optional store. Not sure if they will beable to do the store like they did in Guild Wars for the 2nd one but hey if they can make it where it dosent feel like you need to pay into it to keep up and its all optional like the first ones store was I feel this game will go very far, but I personaly think they will think of something to keep it truly optional like its been.
one thing that you should consider is how many of the promises are going to be delivered. i heard guild wars 1 made a lot of these and not all of them ended up being fleshed out and some of them being abandoned.
guild wars is a great game for soloing if you know what you are doing. most of it can be soloed, but it is far easier in groups. the only thing i have a problem about the game with is that as time goes on, it becomes more costly to get into the game due to the fact that you have to buy expansions to access new content.
Well I believe thats why Guild wars 2 came into being, originally it was supposed to be another expansion but because of technological limitations with their guild wars engine they decided starting from scratch would be better. So in a way they’re still working to deliver those promises. But Like I said in the blog we will not know for sure until they release.
Every company needs to make it money, be it selling the game and its expansions, an item shop or a subscription. Some games even employee multiple of these including all three models! In buy to play you’re buying the content when every you want it. It allows you to play at your pace without forcing you to hurry up as to not waste subscription and it is overall cheaper then if you had to pay a monthly subscription. a Free to play game could potentially be cheaper if you’re willing to invest more time in it but if money is an issue it also possible to just wait a bit until the expansion get discounted before you buy them. Over all i think its a pretty fair model besides if they deliver what is promised they will certainly deserve the money!
The only thing you have to buy for GW1 is the boxes. Everything else is fluff. You can get Prophecies and Nightfall for pretty cheap, but if you want the collectors edition of factions, you can spend a hundred or two. Oh, by the way, I have it all, and have never spent another dime on the game. Been there almost 6 !/2 years.