Guild Wars 2, anyone?

[XifengLao]

(Disclaimer: I'm a bit biased, I've been playing since a few days after this game launched, and am thoroughly addicted to the fact that it's not copying and pasting the WoW/Everquest formula) 

So! Back in August, during the anniversary event for the game, a third expansion was announced! But first, some general overview

Guild Wars 2 takes place a couple hundred years after Guild Wars 1, the Elder Dragons have woken or are starting to wake, and are slowly consuming the magic in the world. Humanity is on the decline compared to other races, as they're last major settlement is located in the walled city of Divinity's Reach, in Kryta. 

Gameplay wise, there are nine classes, one of them is an expac class. Each class has two elite specs, one from each expac that add a different aspect to the class. 
Different classes use different weapons, and those weapons determine which skills a certain class will use for basic attacks 1-5. Attacks 6-10 are slot skills, that you can choose which ones you want at any given time. 

The holy trinity is, for the most part, non existent. It is still entirely possible to play a tank or healer, should you wish to do a gear and talent-tree build around that. Most people tend to just maximize DPS, however, which is unfortunate as the theory-crafting in the game has a lot of potential. 

The game has events that pop up in the world, some have different effects on whether you complete them or not, and typically these cycle every so often. You can gain experience through almost anything in the game. Crafting gives you pve experience, gathering, exploration, story quests, the heart activities (which are honestly the most mundane way to level, don't do this unless you are wanting map completion for legendary crafting. At least in the base game), 

The base game (pre-expacs) is entirely free to play with a few restrictions. And I believe both expacs are bundled together at $30 base cost. 

Now, forewarning. The game has something called living story. Every 2-3 months between expacs a new story update is released. This typically comes with a new map or location each time, a new series of story quests and new activities or masteries. The living story episode is free for the 2-3 months that it is active. If you have missed it, it costs gems (the cash-shop currency) to be able to get. I believe they are 200 gems each ($2.50)

However, there is currency conversion system, so you can turn gold you earn in game into gems and just buy them like that if you want to. (The game is not pay 2 win, legendary and ascended have the same stats, and structured pvp is completely scaled without gear mattering. World vs World, gear and level does matter though I believe. But you won't need legendaries for that, ascended will do just fine as they have the same stat levels as legendaries) 

Anyhow! if you want to check it out, here's the latest expac teaser! 
 

Also, here's a picture of my main character, an RP character on the unofficial RP server of Tarnished Coast! She's a necromancer. 

[Luminara]

Played it for three or so years, until I moved.  The basic game is easy enough to figure out in ten or fifteen minutes, understanding stats and gear and such.  Some of the legendaries have nice graphics, and they're all simple enough to craft, just time consuming and heavy on materials.  The meta changes frequently enough to keep it fresh.  The player base isn't quite as friendly or open to sub-optimal builds as the people here, in my experience.  Not a fan of open world special mobs, either, like the mushrooms who drop the invisible boots.  A lot of nicer costume parts are locked behind the micro-transaction/gold exchange barrier, too (but no stat options.  only skins for gear).  Had to spend money to get a skirt on my thief, and grind to go barefoot.

 

I liked it well enough, but I'm glad to be back in Co*.  I do miss the fingers and toes, though.

[krj12]

Played it for a few months after it first came out, got a character to max level, and that was enough.   As someone who played and enjoyed GW1, I was very disappointed.

The game play was modeled after something like WoW vs the original game.   The graphics were a bit underwhelming after all the hype,

and beyond that there wasn't much to keep me around.

[Teh_Artic]

On 10/30/2020 at 3:02 AM, XifengLao said:

(Disclaimer: I'm a bit biased, I've been playing since a few days after this game launched, and am thoroughly addicted to the fact that it's not copying and pasting the WoW/Everquest formula) 

So! Back in August, during the anniversary event for the game, a third expansion was announced! But first, some general overview

Guild Wars 2 takes place a couple hundred years after Guild Wars 1, the Elder Dragons have woken or are starting to wake, and are slowly consuming the magic in the world. Humanity is on the decline compared to other races, as they're last major settlement is located in the walled city of Divinity's Reach, in Kryta. 

Gameplay wise, there are nine classes, one of them is an expac class. Each class has two elite specs, one from each expac that add a different aspect to the class. 
Different classes use different weapons, and those weapons determine which skills a certain class will use for basic attacks 1-5. Attacks 6-10 are slot skills, that you can choose which ones you want at any given time. 

The holy trinity is, for the most part, non existent. It is still entirely possible to play a tank or healer, should you wish to do a gear and talent-tree build around that. Most people tend to just maximize DPS, however, which is unfortunate as the theory-crafting in the game has a lot of potential. 

The game has events that pop up in the world, some have different effects on whether you complete them or not, and typically these cycle every so often. You can gain experience through almost anything in the game. Crafting gives you pve experience, gathering, exploration, story quests, the heart activities (which are honestly the most mundane way to level, don't do this unless you are wanting map completion for legendary crafting. At least in the base game), 

The base game (pre-expacs) is entirely free to play with a few restrictions. And I believe both expacs are bundled together at $30 base cost. 

Now, forewarning. The game has something called living story. Every 2-3 months between expacs a new story update is released. This typically comes with a new map or location each time, a new series of story quests and new activities or masteries. The living story episode is free for the 2-3 months that it is active. If you have missed it, it costs gems (the cash-shop currency) to be able to get. I believe they are 200 gems each ($2.50)

However, there is currency conversion system, so you can turn gold you earn in game into gems and just buy them like that if you want to. (The game is not pay 2 win, legendary and ascended have the same stats, and structured pvp is completely scaled without gear mattering. World vs World, gear and level does matter though I believe. But you won't need legendaries for that, ascended will do just fine as they have the same stat levels as legendaries) 

Anyhow! if you want to check it out, here's the latest expac teaser! 
 

Also, here's a picture of my main character, an RP character on the unofficial RP server of Tarnished Coast! She's a necromancer. 

What server are you on, I have a semi large guild on Stormbluff isle, but if u wana ever play u can guest or we can guest over to you

 

[Saikochoro]

I played for a couple years and enjoyed it, but eventually got burnt out a few months after path of fire released. 
 

I am somewhat intrigued though with another expansion. New specializations might be enough to bring me back for a bit to try them out. 

[Aeroprism]

I leveled a ranger to level cap a few years back but I hit the party wall really bad (where you can't solo anything anymore): I wasn't in a guild and the PUGs were either people who knew the game inside out or clueless noobs like me and there was no communication so every instance I played was a nightmare.  I quit.

 

A shame.  The progression was a lot of fun.

[Xeres]

I just picked this game up again.  Leveling a Guardian now.  I enjoy it, but usually doesn't last long.  We'll see about this time around.

[Mopery]

GW2 is just plain terrible.

 

Also, DEATH TO NCSOFT!

[DougGraves]

I played GW2 until I found CoH again.

 

I think GW2 has better design for solo characters than CoH.  But group combat is so much  better in CoH.

[rookery.]

Took me a long time to get into GW2 after the COH shutdown but I did enjoy it for the most part.  Got lost with all the expacs and such and then yeah...COH came back into my life. 😛

 

I love the costumes and character models....I mean no offense to COH but I can be Pink, Flouncy, and Deadly with my Mesmer. 

 

Still miss her.

 

Never found a good RP community going on there. I assumed it existed just never found it.

Edited March 22, 2021 by rookery.

[WanderingAries]

I played the first one for a bit before CoH and then realized how much I 'truly' hated the whole "buttons everywhere!" interface. That's probably kept me on CoH at that point. WoW and EVERYBODY ELSE use that interface and I find the extra movement and clicking just so slow and it takes up screen space. I primarily play on console, so I'm used to combinations of buttons for tasks and use a ton of muscle memory in general.

 

Well, that and I realized how much I didn't really enjoy the whole fantasy variant of Sci-Fi.

Edited March 22, 2021 by WanderingAries

[Doomrider]

I got into GW2 as a bit of side project about a year and a half ago. It started out as a game for me and my GF to try and play since she doesn't really dig COH (probably because the age of the game).
We both found GW2 to be surprisingly fun and still play it about once a week. I've gotten 1 or 2 other CoH buddies into now and we usually play Saturday nights casually, we're kind of still the early nooby stage.

The combat is super fun and frantic, so I immediately enjoyed the busy playstyle of the Guardian - Firebrand as well as the flexibility and utility of the class, especially coming from mainly playing Tri-form Khelds. If anyone else has started recently or is thinking of trying the game, feel free to drop me a line in game if you want; Doomrider.6872.

[Bunmaster]

Played non-stop from early access to Heart of Thorns. After that it's on and off, mostly 1 month on, 6 months off. Logging in for free updates whenever they come out.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Bunmaster

[Xeres]

Yeah I stopped.  Again.  There is a frustration level with that game that isn't present in most other games I play, so I start playing it for a while and the frustration level builds until the game is no longer fun to play and I leave again.  Fortunately it's F2P so I'll probably try it again in about 18 months or so.

[Gulbasaur]

I play pretty much daily and have a nice guild I do events with. Looking forward to the expansion!

[Shonen XIV]

I didn't know what GW2 was until a YouTuber called AlexRidiculous promoted the game and why it'd be better than WoW during the Mists time. I fed on the hype and reasoning. I bought the physical edition and playing it. I enjoyed it a bit and appreciated the multiple choices in our character's story and level scaling. But I was burnt out and never played it until a few years ago but I didn't have the energy for it as I did.
I sucked badly at games and MMOs but I enjoyed my time with GW2!

[Moka]

Ever since the Scarlet stuff in GW2, it's lost me forever. That was terrible. That said, the actual gameplay and everything is spectacular and one of the best I've played in a MMO. So if you're able to just ignore the bad writing, you'd have a blast.

 

  

On 3/22/2021 at 10:45 AM, rookery. said:

Never found a good RP community going on there. I assumed it existed just never found it.

It was bad. Humans roleplaying wanna-be Game of Thrones and nobility jerk sessions, Charr whining about furry racism, or Sylvari doing...Lewd things. All the time.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Moka

[rookery.]

Agreed. Loved the gameplay. Loved the character outfits. but the writing... I seriously wanted the main races to somehow get technomagiced away, Damn Asurans, and the world left to the skritt, polarmen, centaurs, and so on...would have been SO much more enjoyable!

 

😄

 

Also considering how much pollen is in the air down heah n the South and what that REALLY means is going on all around us...I have to give a pass to the Sylvari.  😛

[Grindingsucks]

Downloaded it.  Tried it.  Wouldn't run on my old potato, even at the lowest graphics settings.  I wasn't terribly surprised, really.  😁