Share your best/favorite moments in Guild Wars 2

Something that's stuck with me all these years was during the invasion of Southsun back during Lost Shores watching all the corpses pile up when that first karka went rolling through the crowd trying to kill it. Good times.

7 year veteran here:Using Deep Freeze on someone in mid-finish on a downed ally. They froze in the air!
Using sanctuary on a downed body to push back another stomper, while rushing in for the rez.Catching a thief in a dragon’s maw/whirling blades trap combo when they tried to steal to me.Any time I can provide support with a ward or block to save someone.Landing a killing death’s judgement shot after Shadow Return faked out an enemy thief one hit away from getting me.Every time I come face to face with the Mouth of MordremothFlying over Kralkatorrik in the Auditorium.Any time a map’s beauty gives me pause.Unexpected invite to RP a picnic at Minister Wi's mansionComing across a band circle in gameCrafting my first legendary, MeteorlogicusRecovering memories in the Domain of the LostGoing to the PAX afterparty, and winning Tyrian Tarot.The Branded/Hunger Games Beta eventsGetting my Griffon after that secret boss battle

Getting 2 blues and a green from a chest.

Memories, right? Not just one? :tongue: Because I have a few.

Creating my first character. My sylvari walked out of the Dream (well...he kind of flailed out of it, truth be told) and I stepped into Caledon Forest. The sun was shining, mist rose from the jungle floor, the water sparkled in the sunlight.... I spent the next several minutes just gaping at the gorgeous scenery and listening to the soothing music. Aaaand that's when I knew that this was going to be a great game.

The end of the Personal Story. I couldn't decide between cheering or crying. Hearing Fear Not This Night tipped me over the edge into tearing up - the good kind of tears, mind you!

Doing Dragon's Stand for the first time. Couldn't stop grinning. Actually, every time I've done Dragon's Stand, I can't stop grinning at the Mouth of Mordremoth fight. It's just that amazing.

Stumbling across a Legendary Bandit Executioner event for the first time and that epic music started playing. My sylvari yelled out "BLOODY THORNS!" in surprise/awe, and by the end of it, I couldn't help but agree with him.

My first PVP match with my friend, who dragged me into it kicking and screaming persuaded me to play with her. It...it went poorly, because I had no idea how to PVP. But by the time we were done, I excitedly said to my friend over voice chat, "Can we do that again!?" It took her a while to reply because she was laughing so hard. :tongue: (And yes, we did it again and again throughout the next several months. Win or lose, we always had a blast.)

That moment in the Heart of Thorns story where

! you find a fallen sylvari, one of the Mordrem Guard, who is momentarily lucid away from Mordremoth's corruption. His voice - shifting and changing back and forth from a rasping, growling Mordrem Guard to a very young-sounding, scared sylvari - was so viscerally disturbing that it's stuck with me even months later.That was horrifying. And brilliant. I want to shake the hand of whoever thought of that little touch...and then run away screaming.

There will never be "one" because there are too many.

• First seeing the giant elemental hands in the human starter zone
• Starting in Queensdale and first seeing the magnitude of Divinity's Reach towering above
• Seeing underwater environments done so well
• Seeing The Shatterer for the first time
• Getting my first legendary (The Moot) - February 1st 2013
• The beta of HoT and really seeing something new and special for the first time
• Enjoying the ambience of Amnoon the first time entering PoF. Think I spent most of PoF launch week just in that first bit

But, rght up there is seeing The Elder Dragons come to life in the game for each of their first appearances. Zhaitan was an awesome looking creature. Mordremoth was fun to fight. Primordus was breathtaking in scale as he just sat there motionless. But, Kralkatorrik was always the big one from his build up from the books. The one I wanted to see most. And whilst his presence, his raw power in game was sadly reduced by his humanisation, looking up and seeing views like this below, well that had epic fantasy written all over it for me. Nothing has had the same power since.

This was the Eldritch, raw forces of nature I had hoped to see from the Dragons.

This was GW2 not being all touchy feely as it was to become, but GW2 getting it so, so right.

(apologies, everything prior to HoT is on an older PC so I lack many of the older memories in image form)

Purifying Orr with Trahearne. It was a long-sought, hard-won victory, immediately followed by...Killing Zhaitan. Epic (loved the airship), satisfying and with a great party afterwards. Then as a coda...Restoring Caladbolg. Paying respect to its previous bearers and carrying on their legacy.

These three major things, plus a lot of smaller ones - fighting Mordremoth's influence alongside Canach in HoT, protecting the Pale Tree during the World Summit, and their own (generally) noble and compassionate nature - have made the sylvari one of my favorite races to play in any game ever.

tip-toeing around the spoilers here.

There was a point in the story where I met an NPC whose journey I wanted to follow even more than my own. This woman, who was a teacher in life, was judged in death to inhabit the most unlikely place. Despite the rising tide of entropy and demons clawing their way in through the seams, she gains a fleeting opportunity to learn things lost to all but the gods. I spent more time than I care to admit pouring over each pixel, trying to translate those pages: (with the help of the language wiki)

There's nothing more we can do for her in this chapter but pray that her spirit is guided to safety. Hers was the most impactful journey, and it occurs unannounced and off in the margins. I can only hope that we get to see more of it....



edit:I know most people are going to dig way back to regale us with stories from the early days, but can I tell you how rewarding it was ..after all that time.. to finally earn a griffon saddle? There was a legit celebration on that day. Hats off to the team in regard to mounts, which are easily the most fluidly, organically animated that I have seen.

...



edit2:I have shared this screenshot before, but I have never mentioned the context.

A big draw in MMO games is exploration for me. I relish the idea of wading into the deep places, discovering and cataloging the things that I find. (Durmand Priory 4life baybee) That's why I felt a special kind of hype when I saw the reveal trailer for Heart of Thorns. It felt like they were reading my mind with Maguuma Jungle. I was daydreaming of becoming a pioneering botanist, recording the new species of flora and fauna as I went, and on launch day those dreams were playing out before my eyes:

Many hours were spent in this jungle, filling the corners of the map-- its wild, twisting paths held secrets both above and far below.Triple-A content ArenaNet, I loved it start to finish. :+1: :heart:...



edit3:People are out here talking about Zhaitan and Kralkatorrik like they were the real threat.

Let me tell you, this infernal bouncing plasma-beachball has defeated more players than the elder dragons ever have. Talk about community though, when we realized that we had actually, FINALLY DEFEATED that frikin orb, the entire map rejoiced and congratulations rang throughout the chatlog for something like 10 minutes hah ha! I had planned to go elsewhere that day but I didn't want to lose the transformation lol. A few of the crafters even dropped what they were doing to experience the orb's reward. Was stuck in there floating for an hour basking in all that raw-victory. 10/10 :triumph: :+1:

So many amazing moments. A lot of the take-my-breath-away ones were my first time through various story steps, before any spoilers, before I'd repeated them into the ground. The return to Claw Island was one of those. Nowadays I know the fight mechanics, I know when the fear will happen, where to stand, I know the script. But that first time, when suddenly there was a dragon and I and a whole freaking army were charging it as triumphant music soared, I was pumped. I felt like a hero, I also felt like I was facing major danger.

The attack on LA was another. We'd had enough warning to know something was coming, but not the scope. The RP that spun out of that episode in Tyrian history reverberates to this day. It ICly broke our guild. One character perma-died in the miasma. So many RP moments through the years -- including an epic typo for which we rib one of the guild officers to this day, she meant to shout "Consign you TO DARKNESS" but on the line break it came out "YO DARKNESS!" Speaking of RP, our guild founder and I had set up pre-beta that our characters were half-brothers unbeknownst to each other, and so a year after they first saw the light of day in forum RP, six months after game launch, they found out in a grand reveal to the guild. Many gasps!

Non story? The Marionette and Breachmaker fights were epic fun. The beta weekend free-for-all closers remain some of the best times I've had in an MMO. My first time in Orr, I don't even remember which map I was in but it was before the mob nerf and was one long run of terror for my Thief, dodging and caltropping and stealthing with no safe place to catch breath. First day of early access our guild got together for a synchronized dance party in the little mini-arena in old LA; I still use a cropped screen from that as my Enjin header. I've attended several Pink Day in LA events and they have always been awesome.

I have plenty of more recent great memories but I thought I'd share (a few of) the ones that have stood the test of time.

Twisted Marionette boss encounter. (Upcoming Fractal when!?)

Everything about Joko.

Divinity's Reach is still the most impressive looking map in the game.

Beetle is the best thing about MMO mounts in the history of MMO mounts.

Removing a certain ... problematic individual that snapped at the community for no reason.

Best festivals of any game ever, with Labyrinthine Cliffs being my all time favorite regardless of the fact that it's happening now. (SAB a close second).

A.net's sense of humor in each year's April Fools ideas.

Good times!

Completing my first legendary doing everything myself instead of buying from the to... Except for a random stranger who donated the unidentified dyes asking for nothing in return. From one bifrost owner to another. I felt so triumphant when I finally mystic forged it.

The first time an entire zerg followed the commander to their deaths when he was typing and ran off a cliff (before gliding).

After playing the last episode, getting to Dragonfall, someone said Praise Joko and about 20 others typed it too.

First raid kill. And many many others.

Think my greatest one was when in the Beta came out into the first zone as a Sylvari and realized the stunning graphics and then that could jump ... wow had to spend a while just watching the views.

Also fact that my pet was finally allowed to go every where with me. As a cat person also enjoyed finding all the spots that cats were lurking watching over the world :>

Loved being able to share the world with others and rushing to help each other - or the joy when you discover something you missed before because someone points it out.

Hats off to all the people who put in those slightly out of the way hidden stuff to surprise people :>

Just recently have enjoyed the 2 boat rides that I could find :> Fun to just be able to chill and watch the world go past especially if with friends after a hectic treasure hunt.

One of my funniest moments in GW2 came in WvW. I was fighting this guy in the canyon behind Hills and an enemy zerg ran up and stopped. They let us fight until I got the other guy down. Then they attacked and stomped that guy and downed me as well, but they didn't kill me. They let me res a little bit then the guards took turns using their hammer skill, Banish, to knock me around. They would let me heal a little bit then do it again. It was so funny. One of the best laughs I have had in game. I whispered on of the guys in the zerg and he told me they were all rofl as well. After a few minutes of his they let me res all the way, saluted, and thanked me for being such a good sport about it. Good times.

There's so many. Personal favorite is the first time I completed the Silverwastes JP. Took me well over an hour :) but it had beautiful scenery and was really fun. First time doing the Clocktower JP, Dragon's Stand meta, and world completion are also memorable.

The best excitement I've got (and that I remember so far) was while I was lvling my first character back to launch with my friends.

We were arriving to the blazzeridge steppes and we saw that massive shape in the sky. And then we discovered for the first time the shatterer world boss !

My heart was bumping so hard. One of the best feeling i've got in this game . I probably gotthe same with the claw of jormag but I don't remember as much as the shatterer.

Same for the mouth of mordremoth and more or less with krakaltorrix in the episode 5 (more than the episode 6)

Playing with CoT on Ehmry Bay when wvw was still exciting

Gen 2 Legendary weapons

Pre-HoT WvW when there were no elite specs.

My favourite moment was definitely assault on Lion's Arch, the beautiful city assaulted by the alliances the giant watchknight, and the huge stunning breachmaker :o The orange sky, the miasmas, scarlet hologram such great memories and unbeliviable moments.

The second one is when I did my first personnal story and that I've discovered the world boss the first time. Festival of the four winds was amazing and still is.What I loved the more are the original core maps and hot/pof ones.

Personnal story is so great with its references like the golem over-9000! All the story steps where you are working for a krewe, legions or whatever. The ancient LA is over the top compared to the new one. I like a lot classes apart mesmer because I hate clones. Specs are also very cool, like a lot scrapper, weaver, holo, scourge, berserker, deadeye and dragonhunter,.

I certainly share some good, sometimes let's say wild discussions on this Forums. Thanks to the people like @Konig Des Todes.2086 , @Ashantara.8731 , @Randulf.7614 , because they made me realize so many things about the game I had no idea about.

My brother showed me GW2, and he used to be a PvPer, I was much more into PvE when I finally created my character, and to this day my main, my dear once blondy human elementalist with Staff and wearing pink Quaggan backpack (cos why not) Michram.

When I played the Personal story my brother translated the dialogues to me. And the best part of discovering Tyria was that he was with me, helping me.I was getting into GW2 even more and more, but then... The Source of Orr happened - I will never forget how the whole scene made me feel - I felt emotional, happy, filled with joy when all the sounds went off, nothing mattered at all - just this beautiful instrumental Fear not this Night. It was just me and this music, nothing mattered, just taking this all inside.

The music has always been important to me, and Jeremy Soule didn't disappoint us. But to me the only special composer that I felt a bond is @Maclaine Diemer.8271 's music.Twisted Marionette music, Lament of Lion's Arch and more... it was so perfect, but when I heard the Nightmare Court and Shadow of the Dragon music in season 2 and found out it was Maclaine's... it was such a good feeling someone can understand me musically, and also feel the music as I do. Lena sure have some unforgettable music pieces like the Battle on the Breachmaker, but to this day Maclaine is my favourite composer in the world.

What happened later in HoT, Season 3, 4, PoF with the music - pure magic.

If not for GW2 I'd not meet Aurora Peachy, that helped me a lot. And PRTY community is simply the best community in any game, built on positivity, love, helping one another and empathy. This game is so special to me, because it helped people like Aurora Peachy to build an amazing community in general - she is an absolute founder of GW2's being so friendly. And I can't thank enough the Developers that have built this game on such values.

• Fear Not This Night. Every single time without fail.
• Every moment in the personal story, HoT and the Caladbolg mini-arc in which you get special dialog as a sylvari character, especially with the Pale Tree.
• The Shadow's attack on the Pale Tree during LS2 ... then finally killing it after learning the terrible truth.
• The various visions from the Pale Tree and Aurene's egg.
• Playing with and teaching Aurene.
• Poor Vlast dying for my character, then finding his memory crystals.
• Regaining my memories in the Underworld.
• "Still standing."
• The Zephyrite hymn for Aurene.
• Dragonflight.
• Aurene's ascension.
• Wintersday and the Festival of the Four Winds. There's such an air of delight and whimsy to it, just being able to kick back and have some relaxing fun. The Wintersday jumping puzzle and maneuvering the Labyrinthine Cliffs are a "joy of movement" thing for me. And the music for both is good too.

And some memorable firsts!

• First world boss, which was the great jungle wyrm in Caledon.
• First time seeing Tequatl burst out of the water.
• First time beating Triple Trouble.
• First time doing the Auric Basin meta.
• First time in Dragon's Stand.
• First time on a raptor, griffon, jackal and skyscale. They add so much fun to the game.

Other fond memories relate to what I did with good people, but this is what made the game itself memorable.

Seems like most of my old screenshots have gone missing. Still, I did find one that summarises my experience in WvW nicely. I had a habit of doing it without armour, or, in this case, with a couple trash drops arranged more for style than function.

It was 4-5 years ago, a known (to my server) wvw commander, one of our best, took his time to answer my every question about wvw, I was a total newb then. No trolling, no bad mannerism, simply polite. Even my dumb questions. And that made me stick to wvw, my main mode till today. I am trying to do the same with new players who need help with their classes.Lib, thanks.

Also, whoever paints the majority of your ingame art, Anet, deserves a raise. So many wonderful paintings everywhere!

After playing a bit in 2015 I took a 3 years break for several reasons, before HoT. Last year, when I reinstalled the game and started to play for real, I was so happy and thankful that my characters were still right there. :) I had remembered most of them by name, but I had forgotten much of the core story. Still, I did have some connection to them and since I didn't know Anet as a company very well, I had rather expected old inactive characters to be deleted after some time. Yet, they were still there. Awesome. Thanks a lot, Anet. <3

So, with little experience, strange stats and without LS2, I then jumped right into HoT. :lol: That felt really deadly. Great content, I still love it. When I play the story for the first time, I tend to really follow the story and not go ahead to new maps too much. So I also visited Tarir for the first time through the story instance. One of my all-time favorite GW2 moments, seriously. After all that deadliness, suddenly there's such a beautiful place, amazing music and friendly NPCs. <3

Also, lots of great memories connected to my guild. <3