Share your best/favorite moments in Guild Wars 2

[ReaverKane.7598]

@"NanoEliteSixSixSix.8935" said: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.

Yeah, i have to second this...Actually, my best memories are all from before HoT:

• My first Beta Experience... I was completely blown by how great the game was, the small things like the deposit materials, the unique gameplay (my first experience was an engineer, which seemed like the more unique departure from "classic" classes in MMORPGs) i was just completely mind blown. It was one of the stress tests, so it lasted only a couple of hours, but i couldn't wait to get back into it!
• The first GW2 halloween was awesome with the Mad King bursting from the Lion Statue in LA! That cinematic was amazing, even though it lagged everything, it was brilliant, and a great start to what promised would be a revolutionary game (this was little over a month after release after all).
• The conquest and settling of Southsun, again riddled with lag due to it being a timed event, was amazing.
• The first release of Super Adventure Box. That was amazing, and running through it with 3 other mates back in 2013 is definitely my best memory of GW2.
• Then there's Season 2. The promise of it got me back to the game after burning out after the second SAB release. It was great, the first run of Labyrinthine cliffs was one of the greatest moments in the game. We could see devs reinventing the game, and creating new tools and new tech to push the game onward, it was amazing! Not as memorable as the first SAB, since by then, most of my original group of friends had quit playing during the same break i took before Season 2. But it was great!

That's pretty much it... HoT was pretty forgettable, even with gliding and all, it couldn't match the epicness of the early season 1. Season 3 was a bit of a revival of the game for me, and without it i wouldn't have bought PoF. But Season 4, even though the story is pretty good, feels stale. That innovation, that drive to improve the game it's all gone...I mean just thinking about all the hype about Sun's Refuge, the way it was touted as a great technical achievement, and it's pretty much a worse home instance... This is why i barely touch the game now, i went from playing 2-6h a day to playing that a week, and that's only during festivals or recent story releases... It just feels like the same thing over and over.

[Frostfang.5109]

Why did I delete my 7 year old main (probably because we got kids - i killed all but three characters to play less. I do play less, but it's still equally fun!)? My New main just only turned one year. Stupid, stupid me....

Wel, 7 year veteran here. I have spent many hours playing with my husband and made many IRL friends through the game. Had so fun (and still have) I love the rich lore and Aurene, and that we now can ride our own DRAGONS!

[otto.5684]

Probably the first time I defeated Zhaitan.

First time I finished ranked sPvP placement games. I though I will end-up in silver and had to climb my way-up. I was in platinum right off the gate and I was like :#

[Xstein.2187]

One of my fondest memories was on June 23, 2015 when care was given about PvP and WvW class balance and build variety.It was a time when it was understood that Illusionary Persona was practically mandatory in PvP+WvW builds, cutting down viable build variety, since it was the only way to use your class mechanic without meeting certain mandatory conditions and constraints.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

The first meeting with Tybalt.

The Battle of Lion's Arch, with all sub-chapters. The evacuation of the civilians, the battle against Scarlet's Army and the final encounter on the Breachmaker including the awakening of Mordremoth.

The pursuit of Aerin in Dry Top. The only NPC Engineer I have met in this game who appeared to be a real challenge.

My first time in the Special Collections. Felt like a child who was allowed to spend the night in a toy-store.

The first encounter with the Shadow of the Dragon in the Omphalos Chamber in the Grove. Until today, one of the most epic battles this game has to offer.

The first encounter with Viirastra. At the day of the release, we did the fractal with a guild-group, some GW1 veterans. I asked them "who is this NPC?" And for the first time in ages, I got no answer. Learning her mechanics was tough but quite enjoyable. It is one of the few rare battles in the game I do not enjoy to finish.

My first visit time descending into the Primal Kiln. The place scared me a lot, quite vertigo-inducing. And then I saw the dragon. Have not found anything more mind blowing than this in the game yet.

Wounded Logan Thackeray saving the all-mighty-commander and the most powerful mesmer in the game. Until that moment, I always sided with Rytlock and Zojia.

Flying with the Griffon.

[Danikat.8537]

So many memories. I've been here since the betas so, although it doesn't seem like 7 years, there's been a lot. But here's a selection of my favourite experiences:

Before I ever got to play GW2 I read about it, especially the dynamic events. I loved the idea that if an NPC says centaurs are attacking and they need your help they mean now! Then I finally got into a beta and OMG, guess what? Centaurs are attacking and they need my help now! I just about figured out how to move (I hadn't played a WASD game in ages), decided I'd work the rest out later and went dashing through the introduction like a mad thing trying to save everyone and everything. I don't think I stopped until I woke up in that farm house. Of course later I realised the intro doesn't work like that and I could have taken my time...

Still in the beta's, but later on, there was the day I heard that the Temple of Ages (an important GW1 location) was somewhere in southern Queensdale and went looking for it. As I approached the swamp I heard this noise...and looking around to try to work out where it came from I saw this gigantic creature looming over the trees. I was only about level 9, I couldn't even fight off the drakes and here was this impossibly huge beast from another dimension...this game was crazy. I hid in the trees and watched other players fight it, but I couldn't wait for the day I'd get to be one of them.

The first time I joined in with Pink Day in LA was pretty amazing. I'd heard about it before, but didn't really understand it - how could you do a real-life fundraiser in a game? I soon found out, but I certainly didn't expect it to be so much fun, and I don't mind admitting I both laughed (at peoples antics in-game) and cried (at the stories shared), sometimes within seconds of each other. Emotionally it was exhausting, but it remains one of my favourite player-made events in any game.

Doing the Battle for Lion's Arch also stands out in my memory. The event itself was pretty dramatic, I don't remember a game permanently destroying a major location like that before. But one particular round of the event stuck with me - the EU server overflow map I was on had a roughly equal mix of English, French and German speaking players with relatively few bilingual people. Normally that would be a disaster in an event requiring a high degree of coordination with no time to prepare, but a few kind people volunteered to translate and we went for it. After a while we found we didn't even need the translation all the time. The Dynamic Assault Knight phase was especially amusing:"Aller Bleu""Blau""Blue""We know!"

Then there's the time my amazing friends were mad enough to help me win a mini llama in the Tournament of Legends 2. I had never played PvP before, but I love llamas and mini pets so I had to have it, but putting a team together seemed impossible. Who would be willing to humiliate themselves entering a PvP tournament alongside a total noob? My friends of course. They didn't even hesitate, I told them I wanted to do it and they signed up to help. Below I present Team Llama, in our super-serious uniforms, right before our glorious victory. (Also known as getting through one round by default, before our opponents didn't show, then getting crushed in round 2.)

My last memory actually starts long before GW2, even before GW1. It starts with a teenage girl discovering the slightly crazy world of free-form role-playing, and brainstorming a weird mish-mash character based on a screen name. Danikat was half elf, half human, part cat, part bat and part...who knows. (And no the maths doesn't add up, the gods of evolution weren't going to let silly things like that stop them.) Oh, and she rode a golden dragon called Alzaranth. Something that crazy could never make it into a game, could it. Or could it? Fast forward 15 years or so and...

[Kodokuna Akuma.9570]

Oh so many

• Tybalts death on claw island.
• The purification of orr.
• The final instance in the personal story listening to Fear not this night while the credits played.
• The toxic tower in kessex hills.
• The first festival of the four winds.
• The big sylvari origin reveal in season 2.
• Becoming a reaper in HoT
• Crafting my first legendary, Twilight.
• Getting the Griffon
• Joko getting eaten.

Just to name a few ;d

[Super Hayes.6890]

It would have to be the first time I felt useful in WvW. I was roaming in Alpine Borderlands and just couldn't find other people to group up with. I was new in that mode and running a warrior with my PvE build. I was chilling in one of our towers when it came under attack but there were no enemies at the gate. I ran around the walls looking down and found a group of five enemy players that had come up the back ramp and built two catapults. Everything that occurred after was pure beginners luck. I jumped down and used stomp which sent four of them over the ledge two thier death (pre-gliding era.) The last one I was able to take down and finish. I destroyed the catapults and went back into the tower. I was so pumped until the very next encounter where there were no ledges for stomp to save me and I got owned. I learned about meta builds that day lol.

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

Season 1 events, doing dungeons the first few months of the game, crafting 1st legendary, old wvw fights with guild.

[Edelweiss.4261]

Can't seem to get spoilers working, so skip my last paragraph to avoid season 3 spoilers.

This is actually really difficult because I've had so many great moments interacting with other players. My first time fighting the Shatterer(before the update) was a great feeling. I remember playing a staff guardian that focused on healing.

In terms of the story, I really liked that moment after

! Balthazar is revealed. Not the reveal itself, but how it affected Marjory and Kasmeer. The idea of your lover not being able to choose you over their god really stung for me.

Also, I think I'll always remember joining an order(it took me a while to decide) and experiencing Claw Island. I wish I got to make other choices that let me express my characters even if they don't change the larger plot. There was one such occasion in season 4's Long Live the Lich that I really appreciated. I was very grateful for the roleplay it provided. Kudos to whoever worked on that.

[Donari.5237]

@Edelweiss.4261 said:Can't seem to get spoilers working, so skip my last paragraph to avoid season 3 spoilers.What you do is type your text, then! highlight the spoiler section and click on the paragraph symbol thingy above the text box and pick Spoiler.

(Testing this, it didn't do a close bracket) -- (edit: ahah! It needs to be entirely its own line/paragraph, not embedded in another).

Seeing a post above about WvW reminds me: Although I have not touched WvW in a long time, I did run around in there in the early days with some guildies. And there was an awesome moment where we were defending a keep and the sections of wall on either side of us got disintegrated, leaving us on a high platform from which to snipe the intruders. It felt cinematic.

[vyncius.6105]

First week I ever cleared all raids... what are week that was...

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

First impression of the game that inspired me and made me stayThe quest at norn starting town where we run with sacred wolves pack and smash stuff around

FunnyNpc dialogues and taimi's witty commentsThese dialogues sound more real rather than scripted... They are lively... Each npc in player's party has their own personality and it reflects through their dialogue their voice... So cool

Few npc momentsReluctant asura inquiring a golem about the safety of asura gatesA skritt and a kid stealing apples in LAWild eye jack near the airship in LAthe cheating nuhoch froggy who gets 2 gold and runs away(this one's really funny. I won't forget it)Nuhoch frog idle animations(grabbing live bugs and eating, licking the eyes with their tongue)

I love all the mounts idle animations... The funny ones are:Skimmer pokes you with it's tailRaptor shakes you off from the saddle

Awesome thing is... Even the enemies express themselves... "You ran from skritt" "die two legs" "for tamini" afaik, all other games out there have silent enemies... Only gw2 has interactive and chatty enemies X)

I'm grateful for all the NPCs and their dialogues created in gw2

GraphicsGraphics in gw2 is breathtaking ....First time I visited Caledon Forest and the Grove , I spent hours just watching all the water filled flowers the stream, the plants and shimmering bugs near the flowers and lights....

Dragonfall melandru's domain mist Warden area is so cool...The fungus spore area where our characters become Chibis and the events that transpire... is funny

Asura running animations are nice and funny... Their jumping and their halting after a run... I love it...

[Lauren.3061]

What a great thread idea. Can't believe it's been 7 years nearly. I have so many good memories of this game it's hard to pick just a few.

• The first time I heard about GW2, from a friend, while it was still in early development. I remember visiting the website, and reading the game's "manifesto", and feeling such hype because I loved the philosophy the game was based on.
• The original beta weekend events! The community was SO stoked for launch, and we all had a blast running around with the ANet team. I loved the fun events that were organized, and that feeling of exploring Queensdale and Kessex Hills (my beloved Caledon Forest wasn't around yet -- those of you from back then will remember Sylvari and Asura weren't "ready" for the first couple weekends) for the first time was one of the best first impressions I've ever had of any game.
• One of my earliest memories in WvW - players from Tarnished Coast will remember Nightlight - I'd gone into a borderlands map, and found him in spawn with some golems built, needing extra golem pilots to go sneakily cap an enemy Hills. This was probably late 2012, long before pips, and even WvW rank. I was SUCH a noob, and it was so much fun, it hooked me completely on WvW then and since.
• Wynne: She'll torture me until I tell my secret. That will be the end of our kind.Caithe: The end of sylvari? What do you mean?Wynne: We come from the jungle dragon. We belong to it. We're meant to serve it.I still get chills remembering seeing that cutscene the first time.
• Crafting my first legendary weapon.
• Running WvW raids with [sTUN] on TC back in the day (during the WvW tournaments era)
• The sense of awe I had exploring the Heart of Thorns maps. It felt like every corner contained a mystery or lost secret, I love those maps still.
• Finishing the griffon collection chain - it was expensive, but it really felt like an accomplishment, and I adored the Sunspear storyline that accompanied it.
• Taimi: Oh man... what's...what's Aurene eating?Braham: [chuckle] Her dinner.
• Basically all of LWS4 storytelling and maps - especially Thunderhead, Sandswept Isles, Jahai Bluffs, and Dragonfall in that order. SO many amazing stories lately, and can't wait for more!

[SexyMofo.8923]

My favorite moment was when NCSoft told anet to stop all side projects and focus on gw.

[GWMO.4785]

...When Signet of Inspiration was actually boonshare.That time when confusion and torment had a higher base value tick in pve. So mirage made more sense outside of specific encounters.Before lead attack got nerfed.Or when daredevil was working properly...

... yeah... good old times...

[b k.1648]

Aha. Found some backups.

Soloing the devourer queen in Iron Marches with permanent reflect, back when phantasms stayed active:

And from back in the betas, my favourite pub with a view, many years before it got bombed:

Finally, no collection of old memories would be complete without the bartender with a wardrobe malfunction (or maybe it was one of those bars?)

[lakdav.3694]

Back in LS1, during the Twisted Marionette meta. We were up on the platforms fighting our champions, and at a lucky moment I turned my camera to see the Marionette glare down right at our platform before unleashing her attack. Sent chills down my spine. Similar moments with Zhaitan and Mouth of Mordremoth.

Joko's moments, especially the last ones.

The return of Lazarus (the first one)

Kralkatorrik taking notice of us in Thunderhead.

[aspirine.6852]

I think from one of the betas, seeing the city for the first time, and queensdale. I was almost speechless on how it looked in my eyes.

[Jukhy.2431]

Screenshotted one of my favorite moments, so thank you everyone @ Anet for the last part in this amazing story.Another memorable moment would be the epic personal story ending listening Fear Not This Night.(Sorry if this is considered as a spoiler.)

[Goettel.4389]

Discovering HoT (late) and realizing it's the best GW2 content has produced, so far.

[Alatar.7364]

Hearing core Guild Wars 2 soundtrack in game for the first time.Being a "former" musician the music/soundtrack is immensely important to me, be it games or movies. And so just like Howard Shore made the Lord of the Rings movies immortal to me, so did Jeremy and Julian Soule with Guild Wars 2, for it was when I heard the first Vista in The Grove that I decided I am here to stay. Thank you both for making the choice so simple for me.a Special Thank you to Maclaine Diemer, Stan LePard, Lena Chappelle, Keenan Sieg and of course Matthew Moore for their wonderful work on Festivals soundtrack (and more), Festivals would be nowhere near the joy they are without your indispensable work.

PS: I keep in mind the names of those who worked on the OST of Expansions (some of them being the same composers which I already mentioned) and others, however as I mentioned it was that special memory of hearing Gw2 soundstrack for the fist time which was Core maps and Festivals, no doubt thanks to all of the composers!

(core Gw2 OST)

(In case links are still not working just copy it, should be worth your while in case you got time to spare

[Strider Pj.2193]

Playing WvW when it had some layer of support.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

Before I had HoT and a glider, not to mention mounts, I developed a real fear of virtual heights, and the first time I did the Tribulation Rift JP, it took me about an hour (with other players leapfrogging past me all the while.) When I got to the top, I saw I had a (random) guild invitation, and thought, "Ah, someone has noticed my awesomeness." And for the first time I accepted. Tribulation Ridge gave me shaking hands for an hour afterward, a deep hatred for Dredge that lasted months, and an awesome guild with cool people who did fun things. The JP is no big deal to complete any more, but I have a special place in my heart for that splintery stack of planks now.

Fondly remember the end of the personal story, when we return victorious to Fort Trinity and everyone is cheering for us. It felt very good.

Raising Baby Aurene was sweet. Of all the NPCs, she's the one I care most about.

[Tumult.2578]

The feeling during that first year of constant new events, one after another, often before we neared finishing the last one. Absolutely tons of new content with accompanying good story lines and a general feeling that things weren't very balanced, but it wasn't that important because there was so much to do and so much to look forward to.If a few more Festivals had been created after that first year, and they ran consequtively, I suspect many of those first year players would still be here. Please don't misunderstand. Lots of good things have been added, but that feeling from the first year remains in the past.