Old player, is it worth coming back?

Hello!Long time player here but first forum post so tell me if I've messed up!I played from launch, but stopped just after HoT got released. I enjoyed the game a lot and enjoyed all shapes of playing the game. That being said I played mostly PvP towards the end before quitting due to work and other time restraints. I find myself missing both the game and the community a lot! So I'm wondering if it's worth for me to come back? I know nothing about the new expansion and I'm afraid I'll have to relearn the whole game.I appreciate all the help! Thanks!

The question is rather subjective and you'll get skewed answers here. You already own it so best advice I can give you is: jump back in and see for yourself if you like the current state or not. Worst case scenario; you'll kill a few minutes/hours to find out you don't like it. Best case, you fall in love with it.

The PvP scene isn't what it used to be sadly, and the new specs the PoF expansion brought are currently dominating the WvW scene. Other than that, with the exception of ever present meta enforcing groups, I think you'll find it pretty much the same with a little more of everything :)

HoT brought ways of moving quicker/easier through zones (still without mounts), especially in HoT areas. Maps are more complex (multi-layered) and there's some wonderfull chain events that are connected with each other resulting into a final boss event, very enjoyable!PoF brings various mount types (6 iirc) with their own benefits, 2 of them are optional (and a pain to get), bounties, racing and many other things.

Sorry I don't know anything usefull about PvP, WvW or dungeon, fractals or raids.

Another thing: HoT and PoF got their own Living Seasons and each their own chapters. They were free during their launches but now they cost $2,50(?) to unlock. Right now there's 10 of them, it's optional. And it's fun for the players who like the game: More events, more bosses, new currencies, items , dailies, etc.

Subscribe to GW2/ArenaNet's newsletter and don't miss the upcoming chapters. When they are released you can unlock them for free in their first week(s), even without owning the expansions!

I love the game, it's pay and play, no pressure from a subscription that eats your money each month (I've been almost nonstop WoW subscriber from release-->2014) .Character level is still the same so no worries about having to level your toon(s one by one).

It's up to you, it's a one time money investment and then you'll have loads of more things to do in GW2, if you have time for it. And of course there's always discount, I assume X-Mas will be the next chance to get a discount.

@"Excisionist.8901" said:Hello!Long time player here but first forum post so tell me if I've messed up!I played from launch, but stopped just after HoT got released. I enjoyed the game a lot and enjoyed all shapes of playing the game. That being said I played mostly PvP towards the end before quitting due to work and other time restraints. I find myself missing both the game and the community a lot! So I'm wondering if it's worth for me to come back? I know nothing about the new expansion and I'm afraid I'll have to relearn the whole game.I appreciate all the help! Thanks!

So your question is "is it worth coming back to a game I've already paid for to experience all the new patches and content they have released?"

To me that answers itself but it's your opinion that matters most and your own enjoyment...

Although I find the community a bit less friendly than 3 years ago, it's still a very good game imo. If you enjoyed more the PvP mode, you may consider to buy also PoF, as many PoF elite specs became a better option for PvP (not all of them, but most of them - they had to sell PoF...).There are new elite specs, new chapters of the story obviously, the mounts, but all in all, nothing really overwhelming to learn since HoT. They didn't really introduce any new system, like it was with the mastery. Just new stuff/choices to old features.If you didn't quit because you found the game boring, etc, you can fairly try it again.

I came back recently after about a 5 years break.My review this far:

PvE: (HoT and PoF) are fun, but outside of the story its just another grindfest. A well made grindfest though with metaevents.Dungeons are quite dead... but fractals is alive and well.

WvW: quite dead most of the time. a few hours every week it sparkles back to life once a decent/famous commander tags up, but thats about it. Cheesebuilds will always dominate the roamingsceene, which is nothing but frustrating to play against. ATM. Condimesmer(mirage), Deadeyes(thief) & Soulbeasts(ranger) are kinda on the top of the foodchain when it comes to cheesing ppl with stealth, range and mobility.

sPvP: more alive than WvW. Its the go to if you want pvp but its a bit more toxic than it used to be. Meta have shifted over the years, most "classes" got atleast 1-2 specs that works well.. You kinda need PoF to enjoy it though.

PoF feels like it brought more PvP based professions, while HoT brought more PvE based professions...

@Noha.3749 said:I came back recently after about a 5 years break.My review this far:

PvE: (HoT and PoF) are fun, but outside of the story its just another grindfest. A well made grindfest though with metaevents.Dungeons are quite dead... but fractals is alive and well.

No grind at all. Youre not forced to do metas for endgame.Dungeons and fractals are correct.

WvW: quite dead most of the time. a few hours every week it sparkles back to life once a decent/famous commander tags up, but thats about it. Cheesebuilds will always dominate the roamingsceene, which is nothing but frustrating to play against. ATM. Condimesmer(mirage), Deadeyes(thief) & Soulbeasts(ranger) are kinda on the top of the foodchain when it comes to cheesing ppl with stealth, range and mobility.

WvW isn't dead at all. Everyday there are multiple commanders up. You just got to find the right server. (EU)Correct about roaming classes.

In the end you got to decide what content you want to play. It doesnt hurt to just start the game and try .Get in a WvW guildExplore the new maps at your own paceMute people in PvP

And Im sure youll enjoy it :)

@Sariel.2143 said:

@"Noha.3749" said:I came back recently after about a 5 years break.My review this far:

PvE: (HoT and PoF) are fun, but outside of the story its just another grindfest. A well made grindfest though with metaevents.Dungeons are quite dead... but fractals is alive and well.

Stop right there. Yes there is. This game is all a grind (actually, ALL MMO's are). Of course you're not forced to do meta's (or anything in the game actually).

Exotic gear = grind. either for a small amount of gold for the really cheap stuff, karma for decent stuff, and tokens for better stuff or the "looks" of it.Ascended gear is a farming grind. Either for gold to buy most of the stuff or to actually farm it yourself.Legendary gear is more of a grind than Ascended due to the added PvP and WvW tokens, on top of the ascended materials.

WvW is a grindPvP is a grindFractals and Raids are like dungeons and raids in other games so, naturally they are a grind as well.

The thing with MMO's is that you pick which grind is the most fun either from story, environment or mechanics.

On topic: I came back in March and played around for a week or two, after being gone since just before HoT (i had all of season 2 unlocked). work, life, WoW, and catching up to my steam library all took priority. Ive been playing since.

I tried to get into Elder Scrolls online, and still do from time to time. That game also has action based combat like GW2. I find the combat there to be "clunky", theres no a.h. or t.p. outside of a guild, and finding a group was always troublesome. GW2 has a game wide T.p, not so clunky combat and getting a group is usually pretty fast (depends) and the community is pretty good.

I think the best part about your question is that GW2 has no subscription. It's always going to be worth it. You never feel forced to play. You can just download and go because you already have it. play around for a couple weeks and if you're having fun grab PoF. the others have already told you that PoF sepcs are a little better in PvP and HoT is a little better in PvE.

PoF also has the mounts, you get a raptor right after the first mission. That may persuade your decision and ArenaNet said themselves that they want to do Living World Season 5 before a new expansion. So you have all kinds of time to take your time.

@"Sariel.2143" said:WvW isn't dead at all. Everyday there are multiple commanders up. You just got to find the right server. (EU)

Maybe if you are new, supercasual or a PvE player, so basically have no reference to what WvW was like when it was alive, but for most WvW players/guilds it is dead (which is why most have either left or play a fraction of the time they once did) and has been for some time.

You now have T1 & T2 matchups made up of 5-7 servers which have less activity than evenT4/T5 matchups used to have back in the day and that is with only 3 servers in those matchups, "primetime" is shorter than ever, outside primetime is so dead in comparison to when the game was healthy it is laughable, the quality of the player-base is lower than ever, the number of public commanders & guilds is pitiful and as for roaming or GvG, well...

Even reset is a joke that is often basically done by 10pm, WvW is a pale shadow of its former self which for most WvW players / guilds means the level of activity is so low it is no longer worth playing, hence is considered 'dead'.

If you can consider putting your CC into the gem shop a grind, then yes it's very grindy.

You can insta-80 now and buy a complete set of zerk armor jewelry and weapons, and smoke through all content in about 24 minutes.

I don't see the grind.

The game is doing great and progressing nicely, bit by bit.

You will probably need to buy the expansions and living world chapters since you quit the game. Professions changed quite a bit with the new elite specializations, especially for PvP. (In open world PvE, you can basically run anything you like but see here what is recommended) Heart of Thorns is much more difficult than the original game, but it has been toned down a bit over the years. In HoT it is generally recommended to do dynamic events with a group or you will find yourself defeated a lot. Path of Fire brings mounts which makes navigation a lot easier. The difficulty is somewhat between the core game and heart of thorns. It can be a defendable decision to go for Path of Fire first because this will most likely give you a more enjoyable experience and gives you mounts and specializations you can use throughout the rest of the game.

You will miss on some of the possible achievement points, most notably the ones related to past festivals. It is unclear if this will make a difference in the end.

Overall you will return to a beautiful game with a nice community and good future forecast, but it may take much time to get on par with players who never left.

@"Ralistu.1965" said:

Stop right there. Yes there is. This game is all a grind (actually, ALL MMO's are). Of course you're not forced to do meta's (or anything in the game actually).

Exotic gear = grind. either for a small amount of gold for the really cheap stuff, karma for decent stuff, and tokens for better stuff or the "looks" of it.Ascended gear is a farming grind. Either for gold to buy most of the stuff or to actually farm it yourself.Legendary gear is more of a grind than Ascended due to the added PvP and WvW tokens, on top of the ascended materials.

WvW is a grindPvP is a grindFractals and Raids are like dungeons and raids in other games so, naturally they are a grind as well.

Just by playing the story you can play every content without grinding. By your logic every game is a grind.

@Sylosi.6503 said:

Maybe if you are new, supercasual or a PvE player, so basically have no reference to what WvW was like when it was alive, but for most WvW players/guilds it is dead (which is why most have either left or play a fraction of the time they once did) and has been for some time.

I wasnt referring to how it was back in the day. I was giving an other view on what @Noha.3749 said.Stating WvW is dead when Im everyday in queue waiting to enter makes no sense.

Come back, you really have very little to lose for it.

I'm going to have to agree with everyone saying that GW2 is not very grindy. They've made good on their promise not to introduce a gear treadmill, exotics are more than enough for everything outside of raids and higher tier fractals. Relative to most other games, GW2 practically gives away gear.

Let's clarify on what do you mean by 'grinding' ? I'm an old RPGMMO player and for me 'grinding' would always be 'killing mobs, over and over to gain exp/level'So for me GW2 doesn't have grinding.It has farming, mobbing, literally running in circles and tagging mobs to FARM mats, gold but not grinding.Leveling HoT masteries at some point might look like a grind, I admit.

@Sariel.2143 said:

@"Ralistu.1965" said:

Stop right there. Yes there is. This game is all a grind (actually, ALL MMO's are). Of course you're not forced to do meta's (or anything in the game actually).

Exotic gear = grind. either for a small amount of gold for the really cheap stuff, karma for decent stuff, and tokens for better stuff or the "looks" of it.Ascended gear is a farming grind. Either for gold to buy most of the stuff or to actually farm it yourself.Legendary gear is more of a grind than Ascended due to the added PvP and WvW tokens, on top of the ascended materials.

WvW is a grindPvP is a grindFractals and Raids are like dungeons and raids in other games so, naturally they are a grind as well.

That's not "my" logic. That's the point.

sitting here saying that this game is NOT a grind, is a lie.

@phs.6089 said:Let's clarify on what do you mean by 'grinding' ?

grind·ing/ˈɡrīndiNG/adjectiveadjective: grinding

1.(of a state) oppressive, tedious, and seemingly without end.

@Ralistu.1965 said:(of a state) oppressive, tedious, and seemingly without end.

Which is very different here than in so many other games. Here, when you work towards some harder-to-reach goals (like full ascended set, legendaries, masteries, mounts), the work stops when you reach the goal. In so very many WoW-like games, you restart all the work once a new map/instance cluster/level cap raise comes - everything you got earlier is obsoleted, and you need to start all the work again to get you back to position (e.g. raid spot, challenge runs) where you were already. That is what I call grinding, truly never ending tedious farming to stay in the bandwagon, to keep you able to do the content.

@TamX.1870 said:

@"Ralistu.1965" said:(of a state) oppressive, tedious, and

seemingly without end

.

which is how GW2 runs when you stay "meta". like almost all other games.

"The thing with MMO's is that you pick which grind is the most fun either from story, environment or mechanics."

@"Ralistu.1965" said:which is how GW2 runs when you stay "meta". like almost all other games.

Well, not exactly, or at least not like in many other games. If you happened to work for legendaries already, there is no gear treadmill left anymore. Ascended pieces are anyways account-bound and their (armor & weapon) stats can be changed. Exotic pieces are character-bound, but they are (usually) not that hard to get. I admit that new things involve new work, and that meta changes cause regearing in a way or another, but I like also point out that this is different than in many other MMOs, where you need to get all the same gears again.

Imagine, that when a new map is launched, your current Berserker set stats get inflated, and you need to start gather new materials, new currencies, new recipes, new achievements to get new Berserker set for raids & WvW. Or that AR infusions get inflated, and you need to start to work for higher infusions (switch from +9 to +13 or so), or you need to start work for new ascended gears (with same stats than your previous pieces) which have extra infusion slot, so that you can again enter to T4 fractals.

Yes, new things introduce new work, but not that many times you are forced to do new work to keep your old things running.

@Sariel.2143 said:Stating WvW is dead when Im everyday in queue waiting to enter makes no sense.

It makes perfect sense unless your definition of 'dead' is literally no one playing, but that isn't what most people mean when they say dead, they mean the level and quality of activity has reached such a low point it is not worth playing any more.

You can have a queue on EB, even a commander, but it can still be dead if you have no meaningful opposition to fight, PvE players who want to AFK in EB or PvDoor might be fine with that, but most of the actual WvW players and guilds aren't, which is why most have left the game.

Same thing for when you play, if you only play at primetime then there will be a queue at least on EB, but if play outside of prime then most of the time there is no queue. Compare that to say three years ago when FSP was the bandwagon server there were queues in the afternoon on EB plus a border and people to fight, 50+ in teamspeak, etc and opposition blobs to fight, outside of prime is so far from that now it is pitiful, i.e - 'dead'.

Same thing with guilds, on raid nights big servers used to put out many guilds, so not only were there plenty of other guilds to fight against it was also relatively easy to find a guild of a similar level. That became increasingly difficult as the game aged to the point it was not uncommon for raids to be called early because there were a lack of opposing guilds to fight. So people quit and refer to WvW as 'dead'.