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Guild Wars vs GW2


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Beyond the name, there's nothing much in common between GW1 and GW2.

Of course, GW1 is outdated on many things like graphics, UI, QoL, some combat mechanics, but GW1 had some of the healthiest roots. Namely : the game plays by its own rules. Translation : some miscelleanous skills aside, all the mobs' skills were accessible to the players. That even was the core of the skill acquisition system. This is its most priceless feature, and it's a deep wound to see that GW2 is both a massive fireworks stunfest and condifest for mobs, yet at the same time, an abandoned windy mansion for player's.More specifically, the hexes and enchantements system, and all its variations (shouts, chants etc.) was also really rich and could provide lots of interesting builds for various roles in each professions.

GW2's manifesto was encouraging in my opinion. Some ideas were worth trying, some were eventually good ones, some other turned out terrible (skills tied to weapons...). There're still very flawed things all around, but the saddest to me is the fact the game ceased to evolve its core mechanics somehow before HoT, eventhough they're unstable and partially rotten. Just roll a new toon to see how far the gaming experience is when you just play core, compared to lvl. 80 XPack zones. Even items are different ! Nowadays, it's only a leap forward, for more and more disposable content, more and more power creep, more and more repetitive tasks...

I won't say I didn't enjoy GW2, I had a lot of fun in it, and I still sometimes do. But the amount of disappointement with GW2 is overwhelming compared to GW1.

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Well... This can contain spoilerish things....

I like both for different reasons.

Guild wars 1 was a truly great story... I loved the development and growth, the return and recognition of characters. I really was not all to fond of Gwen but i felt deeply for her. Having seen her before the world started turningm notably the flute and such in the training area , followed by seeing her rise through ranks, find a love and a goal.I felt immersed in the stories a lot if not all of the time. The fact I prefer solo play makes GW1 also a more suited game. I bougfh Gw1 for 6 or 7 euro's from a dump bin and played it for nearly 4000 hours, which should make it the cheapest ever game I played per hour easily... I was looking for something to do and was very happy to hear about gw2, I have 10 characters in gw1. though combat and mobility are limited the skills and builds are more interesting then it's succesor will likely ever be. I never did instanced content in gw1. PvP could not keep me interested as I was a nooby entering in the 5th or 6th year of guild wars 1 's exixtance. And as a cpnsequence I never felt compeditiveI went looking for the traveler and his companion, went to places I revisited recently and saw the jade sea. I attended Gwens Marriage.

Guild wars 2 appeals to me in its vastness and explorability, I prefer dungeons and fractals, I do own a legendary armor (~175 LI) but I notice I like the Living story and the sidequests more. I have 24 characters in guild wars 2 and spend over 12000 hours. The combat system is more interesting as are mobility options and customisation and appearance. also the dye system feels more appealing. WvW is nice, PvP is not my thing. I find some trends concerning however and I noticed PoF was not holding my interest like before. Mounts ruined much of my immersion and removed a lot of the size of the world and this is a probelm as I loved the big expanse. the older maps feel tiny now and it was a hard hitting mistake ...I decided not to give up and I'll try to get myself aquainted with the new raid wing... I'd like to fight Dhuum... like several years ago.

I've been in tyria for a total 16000 hours and still have stuff to do. Thats roughly 1 year and 10 months of 24/7 ingame time in total

Oh and sorry for typo's It's to late and I cannot focus too well so my typing skills suffer

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Without bashing gw2 in any way, I did enjoy gw1 more, and maybe part of it is nostalgia, and having had more ingame friends, I don’t know.But one of my primary remarks is probably storytelling.In gw1 the story is slowly built up, while in GW2 they seem to have more than a few instances to tell an entire story.It took me 3months to get to the underworld in Nightfal. Let alone half another month to clear the Gates of Madness, Torment, etc.Now, in GW2 Balthazar appears, and in just rush after him, and kill him.There’s no build up, no character development.Everything and everyone dies as soon as they get on screen.

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@Ayakaru.6583 said:Without bashing gw2 in any way, I did enjoy gw1 more, and maybe part of it is nostalgia, and having had more ingame friends, I don’t know.But one of my primary remarks is probably storytelling.In gw1 the story is slowly built up, while in GW2 they seem to have more than a few instances to tell an entire story.It took me 3months to get to the underworld in Nightfal. Let alone half another month to clear the Gates of Madness, Torment, etc.Now, in GW2 Balthazar appears, and in just rush after him, and kill him.There’s no build up, no character development.Everything and everyone dies as soon as they get on screen.

That's not true! Balthazar was on the screen lots of time!Just like Vlast! Vlast did not die as soon as... oh... oh crap...

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  • 10 months later...

I know this is an old thread, but I just came across it and wanted to share my thoughts on both games. GW2 is a good game, it is just a bad sequel. Sure we didn't have the jumping, swimming, dynamic events, and the "action" combat. But we had something far more important: The build system based on attributes ( not traits), the secondary profession, and the amazing integration between various professions in the party composition; that made GW1 a very unique game. GW2 would've been a truly amazing experience if they only kept the build system of GW1.

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I like GW2 more because it’s more action based and the freedom of movement is absolutely astounding, it almost feels like an MMO platformer at times.

That being said I still love GW1, it’s a completely fantastic game, it’s just very different than GW2. Wish they would finish the GW1 Beyond stuff tbh, but whatcha gonna do.

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@"PaxTheGreatOne.9472" said:Well... This can contain spoilerish things....

I like both for different reasons.

Guild wars 1 was a truly great story... I loved the development and growth, the return and recognition of characters. I really was not all to fond of Gwen but i felt deeply for her. Having seen her before the world started turningm notably the flute and such in the training area , followed by seeing her rise through ranks, find a love and a goal.

Oh dear God, Gwen. I started GW1 in Prophecies, and did all the Gwen stuff there, and then later I got a character into EotN, trekked up from Boreal Station, and there's the Eye itself rising above me as I clear the ridge and step down to the frozen lake, and the cinematic starts, with all the Ebon Vanguard soldiers on the steps, and behind them this young woman...

And she explains where you are, and finishes by saying, "I'm Gwen." What a moment!

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I had very very fond memories of gw1I played it a lot more than gw2 in terms of hours I actually stayed online playing. I played mainly PvP in gw1. In gw2 I tried the PvP but it's nothing like gw1 sadly. Gw2 PvP game play is only capturing points .. I'm very sure it can be better. But pve is not bad overall it's a free game to play.

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I liked gw1 for different reasons than gw2, but I like both. The two games are so different in spite of the underlying story and maps. One I liked as a strategizing solo/small group game and the other I like as a mmo with large numbers of players everywhere with the ability to spontaneously group up when events occur.

GW1 felt more immersive. The maps felt bigger. I remember doing the run from Ascalon to Lions Arch and it was a lonnnnng way through multiple maps and past tough mobs. The mobs in that game were better designed and you had to strategize to get past many of them as they were grouped up and had skills to support each other. You couldn’t just go running in and do a Hulk Smash as they’d kill you. Me and a friend did the story line and various other content together for HoM rewards and it was hard in some places. We had to advance in slowly being careful not to agro too much at once. You couldn’t zerg a boss and overwhelm its mechanics by sheer number of players and dying during a mission had consequences as you got a death penalty which increased for each death unless you used consumables. Consumables were a real need in that game in a way they’re not in this one. In this game they’re more of an ‘also have’.

However when I go back now gw1 feels lonely on its maps as there’s no chance you’ll run across another player. The maps feel lifeless with no events and mobs either standing in spot or making their endless circuits. So what I like about gw2 is that there are players around. There is a trading post where I can list items for sell. I don’t have to spam trade chat and I don’t have to guess/research the prices. The addition of mounts and gliding also made a big difference to the enjoyment of the game.

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Gw2 is more of a cluster-f of combat that gets real hectic and hard to read, but the combat is fun and provides a lot of flavor for classes. Skills being tied to weapons is somehwat a bummer but it does allow for a unique fighting style combat. I do prefer the more classic mmo styled combat and large skill selection of gw1 more than the action oriented combat of gw2. Gw2 can be more fun in terms of just fighting, but gw1 was more tactiful, easier to read, and more fun to strategies about and didn't get as stale as easily due to the ease of re-balancing skills with easier coding giving us large skill rebalances quite frequently. Also, even though their whole point of of weapon skills was to provide an overall larger amount of viable builds, with less builds overall, didn't really work how they wanted. I had way more fun just creating super focused or themed builds and then making them work just fine. I'm pretty sure I beat the game using a hydromancer dps build and as all gw1 players know that ice and water skills aren't really damage oriented and more conrol oriented. But the theme was fun, and maelstrom and all the freezing skills were fun.

Gw1 maps and locations had much more ambience and were just breathtaking. Now idk if I prefer the instanced zones as much as the open world, but the instanced zones allowed them to create these maps that made you feel really small in a good way. You experienced the zones as if you were treading accross a treacherous zone that was trying to kill you canstantly. The open world allows for a bunch of just ignoring mobs and never really having to survive the environment.

Oh and ritualist, assassin, dervish, paragon, and the old mesmer. These were some of the coolest classes and its a shame they dont exist in the same light in gw2. I also think the old necro was a lot cooler thematically with blood letting skills and basically being a big boi of pestilence.

Something about gw2 that has always made me mad was the attempt at creating an mmo with no trinity or roles. First off we can see this fell flat on it back, and second off roles give the user some purpose within the group. It also allows for strategic battles that require synergy, but instead we get combat scenarios that are the equivalent of killing waves of zombies in left 4 dead and then at the end fighting another big zombie. It just sometimes feels like a dungeon crawler beat-em-up game instead of an actual mmo. And, we can see this failed because we have druid healers and chrono tanks that seem to be almost required for raids. So this whole "oh we have to wait to get a monk for 30 mins" thing is still present.

With all that said, GW2 is a great game with a lot of QoL features that other games are missing. I love the game but to me GW1 was the superior game. It's pvp modes were also amazing.

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@ScottBroChill.3254 said:Skills being tied to weapons is somehwat a bummer but it does allow for a unique fighting style combat.I think that sometimes people forget that GW1 also had skills that were tied to weapons, at least non-caster weapons. So for example the elite skill Hundred Blades would only work with a sword equipped.

What's different in GW2 is of course that the first half of your skill bar has a fixed skill set that you cannot deviate from. So where in GW1 you could choose to use weapon specific skills or generic ones and where you put them on your skill bar. The advantages were that you had the skills where you want them and you never had skills that you felt you wish you didn't have to pick like in GW2 and you could do different builds with a weapon. So you were not fixed to one set of skills.

But skills that were tied to weapons did exist in GW1 and allowed for unique combat styles between weapons but also for each weapon individually. Also because weapons were tied to specific classes (except casters), it made each class feel more unique than in GW2 where weapons overlap generally to half the classes out there or more. So in GW1 an assassin was way different because of the dagger combat and chaining of skills for example. Caster classes were differentiated on other things and more spell related. An elementalist, ritualist, Mesmer, monk or necromancer however were very different in playstyle even though they had the same weapons.

I suppose that some people will think it's an improvement that weapons are overlapping between classes but they had to do that in my view to make up for the lack of choice with the left side of the skill bar and to me the classes are less distinctive to me than they were in GW1.

Mind you, I'm replying to you but my comments aren't specifically targeted at you. I just had a few cents to add on the line that I quoted :)

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@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I liked gw1 for different reasons than gw2, but I like both. The two games are so different in spite of the underlying story and maps. One I liked as a strategizing solo/small group game and the other I like as a mmo with large numbers of players everywhere with the ability to spontaneously group up when events occur.

GW1 felt more immersive. The maps felt bigger. I remember doing the run from Ascalon to Lions Arch and it was a lonnnnng way through multiple maps and past tough mobs. The mobs in that game were better designed and you had to strategize to get past many of them as they were grouped up and had skills to support each other. You couldn’t just go running in and do a Hulk Smash as they’d kill you. Me and a friend did the story line and various other content together for HoM rewards and it was hard in some places. We had to advance in slowly being careful not to agro too much at once. You couldn’t zerg a boss and overwhelm its mechanics by sheer number of players and dying during a mission had consequences as you got a death penalty which increased for each death unless you used consumables. Consumables were a real need in that game in a way they’re not in this one. In this game they’re more of an ‘also have’.

However when I go back now gw1 feels lonely on its maps as there’s no chance you’ll run across another player. The maps feel lifeless with no events and mobs either standing in spot or making their endless circuits. So what I like about gw2 is that there are players around. There is a trading post where I can list items for sell. I don’t have to spam trade chat and I don’t have to guess/research the prices. The addition of mounts and gliding also made a big difference to the enjoyment of the game.

Consumables werent even a thing at the start. :p They were blessings from ressurrection shrines mostly, and even then never a requirement. Ofcourse by the time hardmode came I had played with my builds already so much that the increase in difficulty wasnt that bad. Ofcourse alot of gimmicky builds that made it tons easier and not being able to load up on heroes for a full party, so you would have to take other players or the barely viable henchmen. But I agree with the general sentiment.

GW2 environment and map design is amazing. GW1s strategizing and building your character heavily outshines GW2s need to monetize (ingame) on any stats.

Ofcourse even then its about most damage most health or most healing, rather than any strategy.

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Guild Wars the first was my first online game. The music was utterly amazing, the game looked awesome, it PLAYED well even if you couldn't jump. The story was interesting and it certainly hooked me. The sheer nostalgia gets my vote. Not to mention the actual rivalry of Kurzick or Luxon made alliance battles amazing.

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I have played GW2 more than GW1. But I really loved GW1 before the loot farming changes. It was tough, the story was great and I had a lot of fun doing stupid things like hugging the walls for map completion. In many ways early to mid GW1 is better than GW2.

But GW2 surpasses GW1 in many other ways that gives' GW2 the crown. As good as GW1's graphics were GW2's is so much better. Plus WvW and Jumping Puzzles and events and mounts and, the list goes on and on.

There is still a lot of stuff I would like to go back and complete in GW1, but after the farming changes they also made the game kind of face roll. Not much of a challenge so it gets boring pretty fast. Both games are still better than most mmos. Win Win.

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Both equally.I just wanted to talk about a weird but cool feature in GW1 : you could add more music in game. The OSTs were available through the composer's own online store (directsong), and there was a way to implement them, as well as bonus tracks in game. you could even start from there and add your own choice of mp3s. That was a fun feature, albeit a bit messy. ^^

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@Gehenna.3625 said:

@"ScottBroChill.3254" said:Skills being tied to weapons is somehwat a bummer but it does allow for a unique fighting style combat.I think that sometimes people forget that GW1 also had skills that were tied to weapons, at least non-caster weapons. So for example the elite skill Hundred Blades would only work with a sword equipped.

and ontop of that you could get up to 4 weapon swaps which were never really utilised because if you had skills for sword in your build, switching to anything else was making these dead weight slots on a skill bar. I was at the time considering if suggestion of making weapon sets have binded variations of weapon-specific skills baked in (so if you put in let's say 4 sword skills on a bar, and have axe on f2 you could pick 4 axe skills to replace those sword skills when you move to that axe)

What's different in GW2 is of course that the first half of your skill bar has a fixed skill set that you cannot deviate from. So where in GW1 you could choose to use weapon specific skills or generic ones and where you put them on your skill bar. The advantages were that you had the skills where you want them and you never had skills that you felt you wish you didn't have to pick like in GW2 and you could do different builds with a weapon. So you were not fixed to one set of skills.

to be honest when I first heard of gw2 weapon skills my first though was kind of "just as if they were reading my mind" although, to be fair it was still in the time when many of us were delusional and expected ability to pick our weapon skills from a broader array of them just as we do with healing skill, elite skill and utilities

I suppose that some people will think it's an improvement that weapons are overlapping between classes but they had to do that in my view to make up for the lack of choice with the left side of the skill bar and to me the classes are less distinctive to me than they were in GW1.

well while it is fair personally I do not share this specific sentiment - I mean for me GW2 classes are more distinctive between each other than in gw1, but I may be coming in here from perspective of maining a warrior and trying to run DoA, ending up as wanna-be-ritualist, because that was only accepted build for DoA for everything that was not monk, mesmer or imbagon - and speaking of imbagons theywere for thsi sort of content permalocked to warrior secondary for "save yourselves!"....

Mind you, I'm replying to you but my comments aren't specifically targeted at you. I just had a few cents to add on the line that I quoted :)

HA! That's funny - it applies very well to my post as well ^-^

as for commonly thrown out in here arguments of "more build diversity" and "better balancing"sure, gw1 had more theoretical builds to have, but tiny bit of issue in here - 99% of them were borderline useless, and depending on a mode you were playing in it was all narrowing down to mostly one or two "viable" builds per primary class (note, mostly because some lucky classes enjoyed more variety per mode - although some of them didn't even had one commonly accepted good build for some modes)

as for balancing....well it's funny, dunno maybe years of stagnation have made it all correct itself over the time since last time I was playing GW1's PvP, but no, it didn't have better balancing in overall. You had a broad array of builds that were beyond broken (to the point where all gw2 complaints about broken classes would blush when seeing these bits from there) and unless you brought one of these yourself to the table it was not uncommon to run into oponent you simply cannot mathematically kill, despite putting way more effort into crating, fine tuning and mastering the build to your personal playstyle, than your oponent did.

but in overall I enjoy both games equally, both for slightly different set of reasons, but that's ok - these are after all greatly different games on very basic design levels.

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