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How would you review Guild Wars 2?


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I'm not sure whether or not this will get hate or sink down to oblivion, but it's worth a shot.

I'm currently working on a massive project that will go into detail comparing two of my favorite MMORPGs, Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

I understand that people's views on things change, but I welcome any sort of opinion on the matter. I would like to ask for the community's opinion on the game in general. You could explore the following topics:

  • Gameplay modes: general PvE, PvP and additional modes such as WvW and mini-games.

  • World: the writing, story progression, expansions and DLC, voice-acting, exploration, jumping puzzles, the maps, NPCs, AI, main cities and hubs, graphics and aesthetics, character customization, etc...

  • Mechanics: abilities and smoothness of the game, animation, classes, and specializations, etc.

  • Community: share your thoughts about the good and bad of the community; the possible experiences you might have gone through.

  • Premium Currency: elaborate if the cash shop and its premium currency(gems) are intrusive or not; the usefulness of said paid items and how it impacts the game;

  • And other points that you might feel like it.

I want to keep this comparison as solid as I can get without technically siding with one game over the other. Your opinion would prove to be most insightful. Please do try to keep things balanced; there is no need for fanboys or haters... unless you do bring up strong arguments.

Thank you guys for your time! I shall be taking notes if possible.

P.S: It seems like people are not getting the meaning out of this at all. It is not in your place to COMPARE the two games(SWTOR and GW2) if you do not know much about the other. I simply request your ELABORATE insight on Guild Wars 2. Doesn't have to be anything too complicated, but short answers that add literally nothing to the argument at hand are not welcome.

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Mechanics: GW2 has a massive edge on both ToR and ESO in combat. ToR (unless it has changed since I was there) uses root-while-using for most skills/powers; and it incorporated the global cooldown mechanic a la WoW. ESO combat movement is closer to GW2, but character movement feels jerky and unnatural, lacking the silky smoothness of GW2 movement.

Cash Shop/Monetization: (when I played it) ToR was heavily pushing the Freemium sub, with basic features like additional quick slots locked behind the monthly rental fee. I tried the F2P version (after heavy beta testing to see what the sub version would be like), and almost constantly faced reminders that the game would be so much nicer with paying the rental. GW2 monetization is to me very consumer friendly. Buy the game and the XPac's and I can be done paying -- or I can pay extra for nice-to-haves or fluff. I can even use gold to get that stuff if I am inclined to. ESO is a lot closer to GW2 than it is to ToR, but is still a bit less me-friendly. Its cash-wall DLC come at a greater pace than GW2 XPacs, and ESO lacks the free Living Season content updates. Also, I see more ads from ESO store than I do the GW2 store.

Story: This is where ToR shines, presenting the illusion of choice to players while still seeing that everyone progresses along the narrow path to story completion. ESO story seems more cohesive than GW2's, and it does not use instances. Since the GW2 instances don't get along with Comcast, I am somewhat prejudiced against GW2 story. ESO story, however, just seems to lack something. Maybe it's a sense of urgency. GW2 has that sense of urgency, but saddles me with NPC's I would not choose to partner with (for the most part), and seems to use every hackneyed cliche from cheap fiction.

That's all I've got. Feel free to take notes or throw it all out, and good luck.

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@IndigoSundown.5419 said:Mechanics: GW2 has a massive edge on both ToR and ESO in combat. ToR (unless it has changed since I was there) uses root-while-using for most skills/powers; and it incorporated the global cooldown mechanic a la WoW. ESO combat movement is closer to GW2, but character movement feels jerky and unnatural, lacking the silky smoothness of GW2 movement.

Cash Shop/Monetization: (when I played it) ToR was heavily pushing the Freemium sub, with basic features like additional quick slots locked behind the monthly rental fee. I tried the F2P version (after heavy beta testing to see what the sub version would be like), and almost constantly faced reminders that the game would be so much nicer with paying the rental. GW2 monetization is to me very consumer friendly. Buy the game and the XPac's and I can be done paying -- or I can pay extra for nice-to-haves or fluff. I can even use gold to get that stuff if I am inclined to. ESO is a lot closer to GW2 than it is to ToR, but is still a bit less me-friendly. Its cash-wall DLC come at a greater pace than GW2 XPacs, and ESO lacks the free Living Season content updates. Also, I see more ads from ESO store than I do the GW2 store.

Story: This is where ToR shines, presenting the illusion of choice to players while still seeing that everyone progresses along the narrow path to story completion. ESO story seems more cohesive than GW2's, and it does not use instances. Since the GW2 instances don't get along with Comcast, I am somewhat prejudiced against GW2 story. ESO story, however, just seems to lack something. Maybe it's a sense of urgency. GW2 has that sense of urgency, but saddles me with NPC's I would not choose to partner with (for the most part), and seems to use every hackneyed cliche from cheap fiction.

That's all I've got. Feel free to take notes or throw it all out, and good luck.

Something that I should point out in regards of ToR is that one subscription is enough to unlock all content when new players are forced to either grind large amounts of gold for the extra DLC in Guild Wars 2 and purchase two expansions separately. Also, ToR has a similar Living World content where they release new Dungeons or areas alongside a new story mode that builds up for a new expansion. I do agree with your statements regarding ESO's monetization system. The game has a subscription system that comes off as futile.

Thank you for taking your time to comparing these. I appreciate it.

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"It's worth way more than it costs, i've been playing it almost everyday for the last years and i'm far from being tired of it, but be prepared to deal with shit balance in PvP and WvW."

Thats what i usually tell friends, i keep it short and just let them try the game by themselves.

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what your asking for is not that easy of a task but will say comparing guild wars 2 to ESO . well and after 5 years guild wars 2 is pretty much over run with many problems and not many good fixes compared to ESO with DX11 and updated hard ware supports . that guild wars 2 fully lacks the only and only saving grace guild wars 2 has it is a free to play game . and that is where it stops fully as other games like ESO over run and out pace guild wars 2 by miles in many ways .

not played ToR at all but if i had another choice like case in point guild wars 2 compared to world of war craft . in them 2 cases world of war craft beat guild wars 2 fully by leap years of hard ware and soft ware support and updates compared to guild wars 2 which is still stuck in the early 2001 years . as world of war craft offers better hard ware and soft ware support as well as DX 11 . world of war crafts biggest down fall tho is the pay to play system . other wise even wow out runs and out preforms guild wars 2 by miles and leap years even .

it is like the ants trying to fight the brog . thing is the brog always wins . :# :#

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@"Alehin.3746" said:"It's worth way more than it costs, i've been playing it almost everyday for the last years and i'm far from being tired of it, but be prepared to deal with kitten balance in PvP and WvW."

Thats what i usually tell friends, i keep it short and just let them try the game by themselves.

Sound advice.

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I have played both GW2 and SWTOR (although I am not a current subscriber), and here are my thoughts as a causal player.

Combat/Mechanics: I like GW2's combat much better overall. In the story releases the boss fights have different mechanics that often make them interesting. In SWTOR they sometimes just give the boss a lot of hp, and the boss fights can be boring. In GW2 I do miss having a lot of spells, though.

Story: SWTOR's base game has a much better story. There are lots of dialogue options and choices, and there are companions to talk to and travel with. There are some good characters in GW2, but the story is not very interactive, and as a player you are mostly just watching.

Unfortunately, in 2017, however, SWTOR's new story releases have been awful: the companions have almost no dialogue, and they relegated the story to flashpoints, which are not a main-story friendly format. So, in 2017 I would say GW2 had the better story.

Cash Shop/Monetization: SWTOR has a monthly fee, which I don't mind if they are releasing content regularly, but lately they haven't been. I don't like paying a monthly fee for nothing, or not knowing what I am going to get for new content. If you are not a SWTOR subscriber, there are a lot of restrictions (and you can't even post on the forum!). GW2 has no monthly fee and so no restrictions. I also like GW2's cash shop better. GW2 releases more new items that you can buy outside of rng packs (although, there are those as well).

World/Exploration: GW2 has a much more friendly open world where everyone gets loot, and there is not much fighting over resources or objectives. It is easy to jump in and contribute to world bosses and events, which is great for a causal player. I especially like the meta events. GW2 has also recently been releasing a lot of new maps to explore. The downside to GW2's open world is the heart quests. These are boring, and I much prefer traditional quests.

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Warning, long post incoming! I'm adding another MMO to my compare/contrast: Secret World Legends. Disclaimer: I quit playing SWTOR after the horrible Umbara flashpoint, and probably will never return due to server merges. RIP, Begeren Colony :'(

All three, very solo-friendly for the most part. All have at least a few segments of top-notch storytelling-- with extra props to SWL. SWTOR and SWL have crappy solo endgames, while GW2's is slightly boring and stressful at its worst.

PvP and PvE: So much of my experience of various game modes depends a lot on the community, TBH. Both SWL and GW2 have top-notch communities. SWTOR has some nice people, but the overall atmosphere is horrible and toxic because Bioware doesn't seem to give a kitten.

SWTOR's PvP is elitist at best, extremely toxic at worst and spills its toxins over into fleet and starter planets' gen chat. Turning off the PvP channel doesn't help. I've only done a little PvP in GW2, but the worst I've seen is a little bit of competitive trash-talk. The lobby's full of debate, but I haven't seen anything that would make me run away screaming. PvP, like group dungeons, are bolted on to SWL's huge primarily solo open world. No one really played Shambala once Tokyo's containers became the best place to farm endgame currency, but while it was in full swing, I thought it was a blast. You're matched up against a bunch of other players in an arena-type zergfest. Then wind either blows you off a cliff, or you keep zerging other players until it's over. There's no real "competition," rewards are equal whether your team wins or loses, and no toxicity either. I played it a lot when the queues still popped. I'll sometimes PvP in GW2, or pop into WvW with max level toons. Lowbie PvP used to be ok in SWTOR until GC pushed the elitists out of max-level brackets. I'd never touch it with a level 70.

I've enjoyed PvE in all three games-- mostly exploration and storytelling. GW2's world is the prettiest, and SWL's is probably the most realistic. I'm a giant Star Wars fan, so I give its environments extra props for transporting me away from reality. GW2 deserves props for its events and world bosses. Informal grouping is a lot of fun, without all the pain and commitment that goes into typical group play in SWL or SWTOR. If you want to do a world boss, you show up at the scheduled time and place and kill it with a bunch of other people like you. You don't have to spend hours forming an ops or raid group, only to have it fall apart. Sharing kills and individualized loot (SWL and GW2) makes for not seeing other players as the enemy. I'm happy to see other players in GW2 and marginally ok in SWL where click objectives aren't shared. I'm suspicious and annoyed in SWTOR.

Endgame is awful in SWTOR. Galactic Command turned stuff I might do for "fun" and income into a horrible RNG-driven gear grind. Solo rewards were insanely low. I got one toon to 300 for the legacy unlock, and pretty much burned out of the game forever. It was long but bearable in SWL until Funcom decided to nerf the Tokyo container keys twice. I was about to spend a little time in the game for the Krampus events, but turning the keys themselves into RNG fodder made me dismiss that thought forever. The containers were the solo endgame grind. The mastery system in GW2 stinks, but at least it's account-wide and you can mostly choose what you want to invest into. I loathe the fact that XP isn't enough, and that you have to perform unholy contortions and/or platforming to get mastery points on top of it. BUT, you only have to do it once, unlike GC, where your stupid crate barfs a bunch of useless garbage at you.

Storytelling: So much blabber, so little substance-- pretty much the case in the last installments of all three games. The Traitor storyline in SWTOR is utterly asinine. Orochi Tower, especially the ending, were utter garbage in SWL. How much emo existential angst can a dragon put out in PoF? And the "Commander" in GW2 and SWTOR has been reduced to an utter idiot, while your Agent in SWL is a huge patsy. You know that if you play Illuminati, but with Dragon or Templar faction lines, it's a little bit of a surprise.

I've loved the beginning of all three stories, though GW2's was probably the weakest. SWTOR's vanilla class stories, aside from BH and SI, were beautifully done. SWL's writing until the tower was probably some of the best VG writing I've ever experienced. Voice acting in all three is top notch-- and so many of the voices are the same :) Theron, I mean Logan, Anise, I mean Vette and the CDC agent... They're all memorable. I've enjoyed the characters so much in all three games-- during the main storyline.

Things fall apart in the expansions for SWTOR and GW2, and the Tokyo storyline in SWL. I'm talking about story consistency in messaging, which lacks in all three. Core GW2 and vanilla SWTOR both have standard heroic storylines. You know, you have a goal and an obstacle, which you then overcome and win. By the time the last couple of expansions rolled around for both games, that's turned into a quagmire. Which is fine, I guess. In both SWTOR (KOTFE) and SWL, however, you're dealt horrible blows and feel like a failure, even as your blabbering narrator (Lana or your faction handler) proclaims your glorious victory. In GW2, everything's messier, but equally inconsistent. You've done the remarkable, but it's a disaster.

Railroading's huge in both SWTOR and GW2. Your "Commander" does what the writing team wants. You have little to no control. You have your deus ex machina characters, Lana and Taimi. You run both stories how the writers and level designers want you to. You stop even being yourself in both PoF and KOTET for large segments of the game. Stealth games become part of the "fun," like the mouse droid garbage, running hidey, platformy things in SWL, "racing" your mount in PoF instances.

Mechanics: Boss fights in SWTOR and GW2 are so much flash, so little plot substance. Boss mechanics make no sense. They just look nice, and have that "ooh, the devs think this is cool" feel to them. SWL was a nice exception. The best dungeon experience I had, and the best storytelling came from The Darkness War in SWL. Every boss' mechanics made complete sense, both in terms of open world consistency and mythological/cultural terms. Even if they could be a little rough, they added to my immersion in the game and the dungeon itself. It's the only dungeon I've ever repeated multiple times on a character just for fun.

I really enjoy exploring GW2's areas now that we have mounts. Most vistas were out of reach because I can't platform my way out of a paper bag. The in-game map is so much better here than in SWTOR, aside from HoT, simply because it's tiered instead of glorking all the altitudes together in a mess. I constantly got lost in SWTOR because the maps are so bad. It's nowhere near as bad in GW2. SWL's navigation is so much worse. The main map for every area is utter garbage. That said, I enjoy exploring in SWTOR and SWL more because the environments suck me in, and because events don't spawn and interrupt me.

Combat-wise, I like SWL's system the best aside from the grind. Reticule targeting allows for so much more flexibility than GW2's weirdness and SWTOR's clunkiness. Movement is the most fluid in SWL, followed closely by GW2. I like being able to dodge damage instead of having RNG determine whether a mob hits me or not. I loved pistols, shotguns and hammers in SWL. Pistols felt fluid and satisfying, shotguns powerful. And playing whack-a-mole with a hammer is a blast. I'd love to see more of that motion in GW2. I feel weirdly limited in GW2, even though the game has a huge variety of classes and weapons. I don't like melee in GW2 at all. Hitboxes and distances are weird, you don't have a lot of predictable gap-closers. Elite specs are ok, I guess, but they radically change the way you play your toon. I love longbows in GW2, except that ranger elite specs are either a glorified healer or a melee class. Scourge and necromancer are both fun. Despite loving lightsaber combat (SI/Cons and DPS juggy) in SWTOR, I loathed my insta-80 holosmith. Powers were so clunky and slow, the holo stuff was so flashy and painful. It felt weird and off. I'm not a fan of several classes that look like they have my speed of elite specs, so I'll probably never play them either. My ranger gets parked for everything but HoT maps because she unlocked them, while I play my scourge everywhere. Unless I'm leveling an alt, that is.

Community: Best: SWL. Everyone's so civilized! Worst: SWTOR. GW2's community is mostly excellent. Enjoy the community in-game in GW2 quite a bit, unless I'm on the Bitterfrost Frontier map. Then it feels like SWTOR.

I leave gen chat open everywhere in GW2, even in PvP. 99% of the time, it's fine. The other 1%, it's a little personally annoying, but basically ok. Imagine doing that in SWTOR! Left it open constantly in SWL. I saw a little stupidity there, but nothing actually toxic ever.

In GW2, I've been rezzed by people in dangerous situations, and they didn't even blink before helping. I've done the same as a result. I like answering newbie questions in chat but someone always beats me to it-- and with better answers than I could give. I love that! I do my best to return the favor. I've had some really nice random conversations here and there. I've had a mesmer group me and another player stuck on trying to platform for a MP in Verdant Brink. The player hopped over to each of us and personally ported us up. I've never experienced anything that nice in another game. I got ported with a few other people through the Ember Bay JP and was given a musical and magic show in the process by several amazing players. Probably one of the most fun group experiences I've ever had in any game :) And one I'll remember years from now.

SWTOR has some awesome individual players, but the overall community atmosphere is pretty much the opposite. I started out on the Harbinger then got stressed out by constant kill and objective ninja-ing. Moved to BC, which was a lot nicer. Still, newbie questions would get ignored as would requests for help. I'm a complete solo player in SWTOR, but even on BC, I saw newbies get trolled with perfectly valid questions. I'd wait a bit for someone to volunteer to help in chat if a person needed help with a quest, but no one ever did. I'd whisper a minute or two later when I was done with whatever I was finishing, only to find out I was the only one to contact them. I got some horror stories from one F2P player that his guild would only help if he paid them for it! Tacky and disgusting.

Like I said earlier, if I see another player in GW2, I'm happy. If I see one in SWTOR, my hackles rise.

Premium Currency: I always felt in SWTOR like I was a lab rat in a maze. A maze leading to my credit card. RNG endgame loot crates condition you to gamble on RNG premium cosmetic crates. The Nar Shaddaa nightlife event conditions you to "enjoy" gambling-- and the few loot rewards left in flashpoints led you to that. More grist for the gambling-addicted. Cartel coins, aside from the tiny subscriber grant, are cash only and everything takes CCs to unlock. Legacy storage, several legacy unlocks, collections. Everything feeds into EA's bank balance. SWL and GW2 have player currency exchanges, which is really, really nice. When I decided I didn't want to deal with unlocking the griffon, I converted my gold to gems and purchased Living World Season 3 instead. Good luck doing that in SWTOR!

Communication: This one deserves special mention. Anet's amazing at communication. The launcher's updated regularly. Several Anet employees regularly engage with players on the forums and on Reddit. I've never seen a company appreciate its players so much. Unlike Funcom, which abandoned its own Reddit for Discord, and unlike Bioware, which totally ignores its own official forums, Anet engages with us. I give them massive props <3

Giant Bummer I can't believe I forgot this, but the scummiest dev action I've seen in a long time goes to Bioware and its stealth move of all NA servers to the East Coast. They wrote off the West Coast and APAC players without even giving them the dignity of a warning. I'm guessing the lauded server merges were a cover for the real plan, which was the migration. Eight hundred billion thumbs down. You don't write off entire global regions. Jerks.

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...and in all that giant ramble, I missed my favorite thing.

SWTOR's companions. I feel far more attached to my SWTOR toons than I ever have to my GW2 or SWL toons. Your companions aren't just a "pet." They're people with stories. And some of those stories include you too. I miss them a lot, now that I don't play SWTOR anymore. I think if it hadn't have been for Aric, Felix, Kira, Vette, Malavai, Vector and Elara, I'd probably have never finished any of SWTOR's class stories, let alone have multiples of every class. I miss having companions in GW2. 'Lil Hoppy, Zoom-zoom, Mr. Whooshy and Fugly Dawg aren't real substitutes, even though I love my mounts.

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GameplayPvE: Feels good overall, and it's the main reason to play, but some of the design choices are really questionable. Conveyance of attacks is something of a major issue from the smallest PvE mob to the huge bosses in every aspect of the game. If you want to face-tank like in older MMOs, or if you like keeping control of your character, GW2 may not be for you.Raids: Taken way too seriously by the fragment of the players who are "serious" about them. Good luck trying to get in if you're not already in full Ascended, copied some build off of meta-battle, run a third-party DPS app that could get your account shut down at any time, and have paid to get carried through your first 100LI as kill proof.PvP: The usual dumpster fire of bad balance/pet classes combined with the true dumpster fire: Salt.WvW: Zerging. That's about it. Follow the commander, and watch as s/he's either cool AF or flails around uselessly while whining about how everyone sucks. Also, if you show up at the wrong time or get paired with an overactive server, get prepared to have a bad time where you make zero progress.

WorldBeautiful, ambient, and full of little doses of flavor that you can discover even 5 years later.StoryVery hit or miss. Main line story tends to be reasonably okay and coherent. Living Story so far has been narratively erratic and full of cringe-worthy character decisions.ExplorationThe Main Reason To Play GW2!Jumping PuzzlesA proud tradition in GW2. Love 'em or hate 'em. They entered a Dark Period when "hard" was more important than "good game design" or "fun", but most of them are interesting little adventures.Voice ActingAlso hit or miss. But mostly good!AestheticsA very sincere aesthetic, until you start getting to the WoW-level shoulders and what-the-huh outfit/armor designs. Trenchcoats and buttcapes, everywhere!

MechanicsSmoothest gameplay I've found in an MMO. Animations on PCs are reasonably well done, and there's enough viability in most classes to run plenty of different builds. Armor stat selection is a major chore, though, and the crafting system needs a 100% complete overhaul.The economy is simultaneously a teetering wreck and yet one of the best I've ever seen. It just needs some decent automated/player-driven sinks to clean up the excess, instead of one-time bursts of legendaries or skins that only a few will covet.

Gem StoreOverall, it's good. It sells convenience and cosmetics without selling power. (Watchwork/Unbound Magic/nodes being a possible exception.) Gold to gem transfer means that anyone can eventually build up to buy even premium gear and even character slots. I haven't had a problem giving money to ANet for this.

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Great thread and great reviews so far! Very insightful.

Might make a lengthy review later if I have time, but in short I feel Gw2 is the mmo-equivalent of Minecraft.

What I mean by that is three things:

  1. Good quality and amount of content for what I payed for: I have gotten many hours of enjoyment from the game since it launched, and the quality of content I like has been improving ever since LS1.

  2. The ability to leave and come back as I like: thanks to not having any subscription I don't feel pressured to play if I don't feel like it. I can take a lengthy break and do other stuff (only keeping track of unlocking LS-episodes). Once I get back to the game, I don't feel left behind and have great fun exploring new content I haven't seen before while at the same time feel confident that my gear and build isn't beyond outdated like it might be in other games.

  3. Exploration: By far the best aspect of Gw2 for me. The enviroments in Gw2 is beautiful and it is always enjoyable to explore new (and old) maps. Every view is a postcard. And unlike other mmos I have never felt boxed in; it always feels like the horizion is so approachable. Seeing how many areas of the world map remains unexplored always makes me think "I wanna go there someday". I have not had that feeling in many other games.

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my review of GW2.....to take AngryJoe's statement. this game has so much content for its price, that i actually wish the cash shop had more i could buy, because i'm so satisfied with how much content it gives me for just the base game.that was from the game's launch.since then, living story and events have continue quite nicely to keep the game alive. with MORE free content. an amazing value.

while many games just copy WoW, and have little to no valuable endgame or incentive to be social.GW2 not only innovates heavily on the MMO formula to be one of the most revolutionary MMOs out there, but all its content can be considered endgame as the level scaling keeps you from being god mode in low level areas.Plus, no fighting over who gets the first hit on an enemy, in GW2 EVERYONE gets to be in the party.

add to that other endgame such as WvW(which is insanely appealing, why have no other games tried this in recent years)Silverwastes (for those who want WvW but don't want to worry about pvp)Fractals (for those who like challenge and story)and more

2 expansions, 3 living world seasons later. and the game continues to maintain that high "content to price" ratio. which so few games do.

its as if the developers are force fed so much caffeine that they type at the speed of light to make new content. its nice.

alot of other games could learn from GW2, specially in the current EA lootbox age......players want to play. not payif a player is so happy playing that they then want to pay (like GW2), then you have a loyal player.

<this is as accurate now as it was in 2012

oh yeah....GW2 has aged really well =D

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Guild Wars 2 for me is the best MMO I've every played. It has pretty much everything I want from an MMO:

1 - Level cap doesn't increase.

2 - Best armor today will remain the best in the future.

3 - Can build your character to whatever you want and still be viable for almost all content.

4 - Jumping Puzzles are fun!

5 - Dynamic Events makes exploration fun!

6 - Story Missions are fun and remind me of single player RPGs where you can have friends join you.

7 - Love boss mechanics starting from Season 2+

8 - Love Hidden dungeons

9 - Love getting masteries to learn new abilities that helps me explore places I never been too before!

10 - The mounts are so interested and have interesting abilities that helps me get to places I couldn't reach before.

11 - PvP is fun

12 - Dungeon is fun!

13 - Fractle is Fun!

14 - I love the world boss events!

15 - I love how many NPCs talk in the open world while you explore. Listening to them chat or following them to see what they say next is fun!

16 - I love how I can take a long break from the game, and come back and enjoy content without having to feel like I need to play "Catch-Up". I love how I can play it on my own pace.

17 - I love the combat mechanics. Damage/Control/Support and the ability to move/dodge while fighting.

18 - Super Adventure Box!

19 - No monthly fee

20 - Devs actually play with you!

Anyways I can't find any MMOs that have ArenaNet quality other than GW2 so I'm sticking with this game for a very long time. I Love the story and everything. At this point I don't care what new mmos are released anymore since I found my home in Tyria and nothing can be like Tyria. Thank you ArenaNet! <3

Also if anyone is interested, please check out my GW2 Season 1 Movie at the link below:

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Okay, I'm not going to get into details, but I do want to suggest that some specifics to the comparison need to be made:The original release of SW-ToR or what it evolved into?The original release of GW-2 or what it evolved into?All expansions included?Freemium design only?

Personally, I think both games went significantly downhill over time, the result of chasing the almighty buck. I enjoyed the original versions of both games a lot more than their current states.

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Since your doing reviews you shouldn’t be biased and be honest with everything. If your rating mmos you review everything they both have and compare. Dungeons. Pve. Story. Playing with people. Loot. Armor. Crafting. Map completion. Basics in mmos that all have. Then share differences. Then share cons you don’t like about both. So it’s balanced.

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@juhani.5361 said:Giant Bummer I can't believe I forgot this, but the scummiest dev action I've seen in a long time goes to Bioware and its stealth move of all NA servers to the East Coast. They wrote off the West Coast and APAC players without even giving them the dignity of a warning. I'm guessing the lauded server merges were a cover for the real plan, which was the migration. Eight hundred billion thumbs down. You don't write off entire global regions. Jerks.

GW2 made the same move recently ...

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I'd rate it very highly overall. I've played WoW, Eve, LOTRO, SWTOR all quite a bit, but this is the one I've stuck with. My only real objection is that I feel like it's too aimless when you reach lvl 80. There's no sense of purpose and really at that point I'm playing more out of habit than anything else.

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i played ALL the big named mmos out there i have max level characters in almost all of them

just to name a few:

Star wars the old republicGuild Wars 2WildstarElder scrolls OnlineBlade and soulWorld of WarcraftTERAAionLineage 2

and some others i don't remember now lol

Now that Blizzard Milking the crap out of the Outdated WoW instead of doing a REAL remake or redesign or something and my passion for it is literally dead....its GW2 and Eso are the 2 MMOrpgs i always come back to....

The world design the classes the combat and animations... and a Quadro billions of events are just fun ... i feel like there is ALWAYS something to do in GW2.....Eso wins in Story telling and Quests tough.... World design is equally good for different reasons...

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Story breaks its own lore, but can very well be explained if you grasp at enough straws to justify the lore-breaking .If you are competitive at the slightest, (with other players hopefully) there's a big chance you will not like this game's PVP.If you're into massive battles among other players, you may like the game but it will get old quick. The WvW mode is rarely updated and noticed.PVE is very casual and if you put even the slightest effort in it, expect to be branded an elitist. Entitlement issues everywhere.End game falls down to subjective cool-looking characters to walking eye-cancer.

Overall, the buy-to-play with cash-shop business model makes the price for content more than worth it. May have a little P2W in PVE (lolwut) or if you consider buying expansions to keep up in the competitive modes as such.

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Gameplay (by mode and submode):Genedral PvE:-Dungeons: This is a game mode that has a lot of potential that was cast aside. Anet has stated that they don't have intentions to do any thing more with them, though I'm going to assume that if they do something with balance patch that results in a single dungeon having a mechanic that is "broken" that they'd look at fixing it for that reason. It seems there was never any intention of having more dungeons than the current ones, as they are a story arc. That said, the existence of the fractals mode makes expanding on dungeons rather pointless. Would love to see implementation of more open world mini-dungeons however.

-Fractals: Fractals are a vast ocean of potential. Anet could create an expansion that included a dozen new fractals, and still not scratch the surface of what could be done with them. The primary limitation would be game mechanics, but raids have shown that the developers who create the combat scenarios are very creative.

-Raids: Raids are doing for GW2 exactly as was expected.

-Open World PvE: A generous portion of why OWPvE is so enjoyable in GW2 is due to the combat system. The vistas are a great concept. Points of Interest are more of an annoyance, but only if you are doing zone/map completion. For those who like lore, etc., they can add to the game. Zone/map completion is enjoyable, but the rewards need to be increased/improved. Right now the only item worth completing maps for is the chance to get a black lion key. The armor you can get as a reward is simply trash mob loot. A brand new player completing Caledon Forrest is going to be fully geared with better gear than they would get from map completion by the time they complete the map. Still, outside of that issue, OWPvE is the best of any MMORPG I've played.

Tyria (the world):If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing about Tyria, it would be to rewrite the core code and change technology to allow for borderless zones. Vangaurd: Saga of Heroes, and Rift come to mind in this regard. having to surround each rectangular map with mountains, or invisible walls takes away from the feeling of how big things are. Zone design itself is wonderful. The varied terrains and themes provide a good amount of variety. The races of Tyria each having their home region is a great idea, but I think they should have been spread out a bit more (meaning having each region be in pockets, requiring players to use an Asura gate in order to get to Lion's Arch in order to get to another region. They feel a bit too tightly packed. The story behind each race is interesting, but some feel a bit rushed or neglected. Overall GW2 feels like it is about humans and sylvari, with the Asura in 3rd, the char in 4th, and the Norn coming in a distant last place. Good stories, but could have been fleshed out more.-Jumping puzzles are fine where they are. There are easy ones, and there are some that are difficult. The ability for mesmers to portal people to the end on puzzles is the perfect release valve for the difficulty. It allows the puzzles to be a challenge for people who are up for it. The rewards for jumping puzzles are so poor and value-less that the ability to portal people to the end is inconsequential. It would be nice if Anet implemented a buff that increased the chance of a good reward if you actually did the puzzles. We have a gate system for "guild rush", so the mechanics are in place, they just need to be implemented.-As appearance goes, the game is stunning. The main cities/hubs fill their role very well, and there are enough small spots here and there in the world that even after 13map completions I still find new things here and there.-Mobs are ...alright. The joke/gimmick of boars being everywhere has gotten old. The targeting system is terrible. Prioritizing mobs by level, then aggro status, then distance needs to be an option. When you're fighting a number of mobs and you hit tab to switch to the mob that is in your face about to stun you so you can interrupt it, and then find an arrow flying off into the distance to hit a moa is not "challenging", it's annoying.

Mechanics:-Combat is one of the things that has kept me in Gw2. The idea of being able to actively mitigate incoming damage by simply dodging out of the way gives combat a much more realistic feel to it. Other games where an enemies arrow always has a chance to hit you no matter how much you move have become quaint and boring in some ways. The pace of combat is quick as well, which adds some excitement to it.

Community:The community is not that different from any other current MMORPG on the market. Anet doesn't take reports seriously enough, nor do they provide social tools that can keep things active. Sure, we have up to 5 guilds, but you can only send 2 mails every few minutes. You can block someone, but if you want to interact with your friends, the people you have blocked can still see what map you are in, etc. These issues have been brought up many times over the years, including some very well thought out solutions, but have been ignored by Anet.
Raids changed the community as was expected.

Premium currency (yeah, y'all knew I'd get to this):The gemstore is the primary reason GW2 isn't #1. The entire game is built around two principles. Scarcity, and chaos. Over time, Arenanet has shifted the best rewards for the end game (cosmetics) into the gem store. On top of that, a huge portion of transactions that take place in the game involve spending gold. The psychological pressure to give in and buy gems with real cash to then convert to gold is palpable. Even cosmetic items that you can obtain in game (example: the Griffon mount) have gold price tags attached to them. Despite the "no grind" claims of the early days, if you want to obtain something of value in GW2, you're going to grind one way or another to get it. Whether it be by spending hours collecting coral so you can drop a special item which is required to build part of a weapon, or grinding gold to purchase 250 of an item that has limited sources, you're simply going to have to do several tasks over and over and over and over if you want a number of items. All roads lead to gem purchases in Gw2. Anet plans their game around impatience, and then amplifies it by "rotating" items in the gem store, thus playing the impulse buy angle. Other gimmicks include items in the store often show up as "x% off!" with some mythical "full price" listed, yet never seem to not be on sale, and items that look like a big package deal that offer no savings over purchasing the items individually.Like most games these days, Anet relies heavily upon gambling to generate income. Locking desireable items behind a random roll using chance rates that are hidden from the players is common.

Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG that has potential to go beyond being just #1, to be one of the biggest games around, but "cash shops" and "gambling boxes" are the preferred method of income for investors right now. A truly fantastic game, ruined by investors who want short term financial gains.

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I find the characters and the story of GW2 just weak. It was a fairly standard story, and a rather good one to be honest until the death of Zhaitan. LS1 made me really appreciate the game for its living, vibrant and changing world, but sadly Anet could not keep up. Then with ls2 came the probably darkest phase of GW2 for me personally, I hate playing the clueless and gullible hero who does not see the need to repent and parades around with the excuse that she is a shadow as if that would solve anything. Mordremoth was Zhaitan reloaded with the death of two characters I liked and ls3 despite it having many funny parts made me even hate the Forgotten, a race I had always admired up until then for their unquencable desire to test you over and over again despite being the chosen of the egg and a prime example for missed chances. PoF is a gripping story but it is quite close to a total triumph of evil with some points to make it look like a draw and I don´t find that desireable in the very least. I suffer through the stories for quite some time now.

Having said all that, GW2 is still a very good designed game that is lots of fun if you see it as a big chat room and the only available place to play wvw in the tradition of DAOC or for some AP. I don´t play it in any way organized.

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