Question for guild wars one players

[Sylent.3165]

So, I was I big Guild Wars fan. When gw2 was first announced I for 4 really hyped when I started seeing videos and was extremely extremely excited for this game like crazy.

Of course I pre purchased and played in all the betas and loved every single second playing. Then the game released I was literally clicking login every 2 seconds on launch night to try to get some rare names (which I did yay). I played like a crazy person that night.

I truly enjoyed the game like no other game before and had a blast. I then beat the game and got bored so took a long long break. I came back during the silverwates period and o boy did I enjoy the map like crazy. I got all the tiles associated and just kept farming there. Shortly after hot was released, I was disappointed. Didn't like the maps, thought masteies was a boring grind.

Then took a break. Tried hot, mounts are ok but wasn't really yay about them, each expansion felt like I was slipping away from what Guild Wars was entirely.just didn't feel like it anymore. Now I can't even tolerate the game anymore. I feel like I'm barely playing Guild Wars anyone compared to what we got at release.

I'm just overall curious to you Guild Wars 1 fans or players who started at launch are you happy with the games direction from launch? I just feel the game could have been so so much more if they stuck with an original guild wars theme instead of making it like every single mmo (mounts, raids, everything being gated behind something else).

So you veterans what do you think of gw2 currently?

[Ashantara.8731]

@Sylent.3165 said:I just feel the game could have been so so much more if they stuck with an original guild wars theme instead of making it like every single mmo

That statement I can sign 100%. :+1:

[Ashen.2907]

I think that Anet has done a decent job of putting their own spin on traditional mmo elements, but would have been happier if more of what I loved about GW1 had made its way into GW2.

[MedievalThings.5417]

@Ashen.2907 said:I think that Anet has done a decent job of putting their own spin on traditional mmo elements, but would have been happier if more of what I loved about GW1 had made its way into GW2.

This pretty much sums it up. I feel like they are slowly putting a lot of GW1 back in to the game. Even with the half-assed approach to the trinity we currently have, it seems like they will eventually just add back real tanking and primary single-target healing. They are fixing things that have been broken since launch, and it seems like the new team might actually have a chance at balancing a few things. I'm not holding my breath, but I am hopeful they will start to mold the game in to what it could have been.

[Rhyse.8179]

@"Sylent.3165" said:So you veterans what do you think of gw2 currently?

GW2 is a good game, albeit one with deep flaws, but pretty much every MMO has some, so whatever. What GW2 is NOT is a true sequel to GW1. They are connected by name only. There is nothing at all in common between them. Unless you count skill names, the roughest map outlines or easter eggs. In every meaningful way, the two games are completely different.

-GW1 was a tactical squad-based rpg. GW2 is an open world action rpg.-GW1 was a deck-building RPG where you carefully built your character to counter the situation you planned to face. GW2 goes to great effort to make that unnecessary by making every combat system universal.-GW1 had limitless build and team possibilities due to complex skill interactions and cross-classes. GW2 locks half of your skill deck at all times.-GW1 had a complex give and take between the player and their opponents based on what skills you an they had available. GW2 allows you to dodge literally everything.-GW1 was a loose collection of separate but related stories set in a deep fantasy world. GW2 is a single ongoing saga that retcons or ignores the previous world and lore as needed to serve this weeks plot.-GW1 endgame was driven by personal challenge, allowing us to seek and perform various tasks if we wanted or not - hard mode, vanquishing, building titles, collecting skins, hunting skills. GW2 endgame is driven by gathering currency.

To be fair GW2 has probably the best open and explorable world in any MMO I've played. Also, GW1 had a clear "best build for each map" in spite of it's limitless potential for variety - a problem that has become terminal over the years since it's getting no updates and balance changes anymore. It's also basically unplayable to modern gamers because of it's old school control scheme. Nonetheless, I still feel more was lost then was gained. I still go back and play it on a regular basis.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

GW2 is not the game I'd hoped it would be. While it is a better MMO for me than any other MMO out there, I wish ANet had not incorporated more standard MMO elements into GW2 after launch. I can see why they did it, and I don't see what they could have done differently, but I still wish that they had pushed against the MMO envelope more.

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

I like both. I keep playing GW1 regularly. I simply don't play the same in both. In GW2, I do WvW, raid, fractals and of course PvE explorable. In GW1 I do Fissure of Woe, Domain of Anguish, Underworld and PvE explorable, especially vanquishing that I really miss in GW2. I also do solo runs like the Droknar one.I clearly prefer to control my toons in GW2. In GW2, toons can jump, swim, mount... But there are also a lot of things that I terribly miss from GW1. It would be too long to go in details.All I can state is that if someone would ask me: What comes spontaneously to my mind regarding what I miss from GW1 in GW2? A long list immediately spawns: Menagerie, cape, vanquishing, skill chaining concept of assassin, ritualist, foes on compass, heroes, henchies, Kaineng, build templates, and so on.Now if the question is the opposite one: What would I miss from GW2 in GW1... Spontaneously, nothing comes! Even mounts, that are one of the main differences, are - for me - not essential. Yes, true, they have enormously simplified loads of things and allow being faster. I like them, use them and get fun at them, but I don't need them.

[Vayne.8563]

To me Guild Wars 1 had as many flaws as Guild Wars 2, just different flaws. I mean, just not having a trading post killed the game for me, more or less completely. The one reason I could never really go back to that game.

[Rinn.2375]

@Vayne.8563 said:To me Guild Wars 1 had as many flaws as Guild Wars 2, just different flaws. I mean, just not having a trading post killed the game for me, more or less completely. The one reason I could never really go back to that game.

This. And for the record: Spamadan is/was NOT a trading post.... :P

As my 5 cents: If they want to make a game like GW1 now it would be a Free to play browser game. It's just not enough modern for the needs of the current AAA market. They did some desperate move to change those elements they have to add to GW2, but they hands are tied up. They have to earn money.

[Algreg.3629]

I don't think it is like every single MMO - if only for the reason that not every single MMO is really alike. I am ok with GW2 as its own game, but would have preferred it being closer to GW1, especially in tone, storywriting and looks (really, it is not that far from TERA).

[Danikat.8537]

I don't think GW2 is just like other MMOs. It's certainly not similar enough that I'd want to play any of them just because I like GW2.

Yes we have mounts now, but to me that's a trivial comparison. You may as well say it's the same as any game which has magic and medieval weaponry, or or any game with humans and a selection of fantasy races. That's why I could never understand why so many people wanted mounts - you move slightly faster than with a speed boost. So what? How is this the essential game-changing feature that people cannot possibly bare to play without? Of course Anet made them more interesting than that and I do enjoy the novelty of using them but I still don't see mounts as a big deal.

And as for raids GW1 had those too - they just called them Elite Missions instead. I suspect GW2 would have re-used that name except they wanted to appeal to the section of the MMO crowd who won't play a game without raids and apparently didn't trust them to do the research.

I do sometimes miss the deck-building aspect of GW1, but overall I think making a build is more complicated in GW2. In GW1 it was all about your 8 skills - you had to think carefully about choosing them but then everything else just fell into place - you took the attributes that matched those skills and runes to boost those attributes, or to give you enough energy to use them.

What I really miss is the complexity of GW1's combat system as a whole - the variety of conditions and hexes and different types of boons and enchantments, the fact that ranged attacks did more damage if you were on higher ground, the fact that different enemies were strong and weak to different types of damage etc. I understand why they changed it - that works when you're heading out from an outpost to do 1 quest (or a chain of related quests) and can plan for what you're going to encounter, but not so much when you're roaming around an open-world map doing whatever you come across.

Overall though I've played GW2 a lot more than GW1 and I think I enjoy it more - there's more things from GW2 I miss when I'm playing GW1 than the other way around.

@Vayne.8563 said:To me Guild Wars 1 had as many flaws as Guild Wars 2, just different flaws. I mean, just not having a trading post killed the game for me, more or less completely. The one reason I could never really go back to that game.

The lack of a trading post didn't bother me in GW1, but probably because I'd never played one that had it. My only previous MMO was Ultima Online, which had pretty much the same trading system as GW1, I thought that's just how trading in MMOs worked. Now I've played GW2 it really bothers me. I have a bank tab almost full of stuff I could sell in GW1 but every time I'm playing I just can't bring myself to spend potentially a few hours stood in Kamadan spamming chat and hoping I happen to come across someone who wants what I'm selling.

[Ithilwen.1529]

I play GW1 regularly.

The energy system adds a great deal to the strategy of things. Energy management cuts skill spam.

The GW1 style hex also adds an element of strategy and management. You're hexed, you can; choose to attack or whatever and accept the penalty, do nothing or refrain from some specific action like spellcasting or actively remove the hex.

There is far more room for interrupt style play, because casting times are long enough to identify what's being cast and react.

Healing classes like Monk and Ritualist mean that not every class needs to be able to do everything. Classes are more distinct in role and style.

In particular I like the gw1 Mesmer over the GW2 Mesmer.

GW2 has strong story telling and a detail rich world that's a pleasure to be in. The combat system? Not so much.

[Kovac.4372]

Similar story to yours, Gw1 player, beta GW2, preorder and headstart ... I stopped playing after living story S1 ended and only continued like a month ago.

I still don't have HoT or PoF (hoping for a discount) ... but it looks interesting.

My main issue back in the day was that story started going in a whole new direction, completely ignoring established GW1 lore and potential tie-ins. But from what I've seen of PoF that's fixed (even Livia appears, apparently) ... so, yeah.

[ImTasty.2163]

Honestly I enjoy the direction GW2 is heading in. Both GW1 and GW2 have their flaws but none of them ruin the game experience honestly.

As far as the "traditional" MMO aspects they aren't really traditional. I have not played a MMO where the mounts, dungeons(fractals), or raiding play in a manner similar to GW2. They are "traditional" in name only.

[Randulf.7614]

I prefer the overall game to GW1. GW1 was great, but also did a lot wrong (hard mode was abominable in terms of implementation). GW2 is more accessible, more fun overall. It gets a lot wrong mind you - the story has been a massive let down in direction. Whilst GW1 was poor writing too, it at least was structured and presented well enough for its time. For me GW2 has not really moved with the times and upped its game enough for modern story telling (trying too hard to be an HBO TV series doesn't help). It also lost its sense of identity with all these flashy looks and particle effects which is a real shame, although I get it drives the income. Open World though is unbeatable in any MMO I've played.

Overall, so despite weak storytelling and GW1 possibly being the better rounded/structured game, but GW2 is more fun for me.

I don't really understand the dislike and hatred for having raids and mounts though. GW1 had elite missions which were raids in all but name and the mounts here are soooo much better in than other MMO's

[starlinvf.1358]

Yeah, just have to accept the fact that they're aren't the same game, and were never really meant to be the same game. Porting GW1's combat into market thats used to highly responsive actions, and smooth combat flow, wasn't going to happen given how it worked. The slower speed allowed for more strategy, but I also distinctly remember "meta" mind set was a lot less common outside of PvP. There was always room to tweak skill combos, and you tailored it to each area. But a huge difference is that everything was instanced, and that has a huge influence on the game flow and player culture. Given the efficiency drive of modern players, that game would drive a lot of people nuts.

[Runic.8507]

Whenever a friend and I talk about particular GvG matches from 10 years ago, my adrenaline spikes just thinking about it. I still vividly remember key moments in GvG, HA, and TA. The mechanics, controls, and slower action made it a thinking game, and not a quake style camera positioning game. The major mechanical differences that remove the chess like gameplay are all core design concepts in gw2.Moving while casting means you do not need to choose between kiting, or using a skill. When we need to choose, it means your warrior will be able to catch his prey at some point; since the auto pathing is more efficient than free movement. It means you can tell when a skill will be used and time your interrupts. Hitting a 1/4s Shield of Deflection with Distracting Shot feels super good.Jumping feels more freeing, and helps immerse a player in the beautiful world the artists created. It also means players are not locked into certain paths. It sounds trivial, but look at the PvP maps in GW1. You cannot jump off a ledge, or over a fence. This is done to help balance the map and make your movement choices matter.Removal of support classes also feels freeing. You can explore the world the artists created on your own, and not need to lfg for a monk. It also means newer players are not going to get the experience a healer or support class can carry them through. Newer players benefit from a balanced team. Healers are watching their position and keeping them alive until the point they understand how not to be a burden.Removal of support classes also feels freeing because everyone can do anything. This is a huge balancing issue as we have seen. If something was overpowered in GW1, it was usually on the mesmer to keep it under control. In fact, balance updates to GW1 helped to rotate the meta. New skills would be the FOTM, and everyone had to adapt to shutting down key skills. Balance almost takes care of itself when your team has all the tools it needs. In gw1, we do not have roles. This means every class has to have the same DPS potential, same survivability, and so on. We end up with copies of the same role with different themes. Balancing in gw2 is a numbers game of tweaking the professions to be more in line with each other; where GW1 was making sure players had the tools available to overcome the other team.Static skill bars based on weapons feels interesting at first. Just holding a weapon gives you a new bar to work with. After a month or so, you realize you have only ~4 builds. This is good for the developers. They know how much power your characters will have at any point in the game, since you are running one of their couple of builds. However, for the player that enjoys a particular profession's theme, and want more from their class, they are out of luck. In GW1, you would take a different secondary profession and mold your own playstyle with the profession's theme you like. In gw2, players are incentivised to go to their profession's page on the forum, and make hopeful write-ups of builds they wish they had.PvP was created with the intention of being easy to jump into and jump out of. This comes from arenanet's own developers. This feels freeing at first. No one likes getting flamed for being bad, or waiting on people to join your lfg with the correct professions you want to use. It is certainly easier to jump into WvW where you just being there means you are contributing.What we end up with are one dimensional builds, in a one dimensional game mode wondering where it all went wrong.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

@"Danikat.8537" said:I don't think GW2 is just like other MMOs. It's certainly not similar enough that I'd want to play any of them just because I like GW2.

Yes we have mounts now, but to me that's a trivial comparison. -- snip --

Mounts, while a common MMO feature, are not central to the game genre. Imo, the features that are central to the genre are those which facilitate the genre business model. SPRPG's recoup costs and make money via box sales and sometimes via paid DLC. Some MMORPG's recoup costs via box sales, but some don't. What all MMO business models have in common is that they make most of their money over time. This means that it is vitally important they keep players engaged. Players who've left the game won't pay a sub, buy XPac's or buy from a cash shop.

So, MMO's have to have features that keep players in the game. This type of thing is going to be interpreted by some as grind -- goals that take a (relatively) long time to complete. Those exist to keep players interested in logging in and playing long enough for the company to put out the next update, which theoretically will have enough long-term goals to hold player interest until the update after that.

Of course, the devs have to do a balancing act. Long-term goals that are too involved postpone gratification so much that people complain. Too much grind is as bad as not enough. We've certainly seen those kinds of complaints on these forums. :p

So, look at the features that keep people playing. Putting stats on armor is one. This is a central feature in most MMO's. In many, it enables the endless gear grind. Most of the stats that fueled GW character builds were intrinsic to the character. This is not true in GW2. ANet compromised with stats on gear. One pre-launch statement asserted that players would have max-stat gear by the time they got to level cap. Even by launch, this was not the case for a lot of players. However, ANet had to up the ante. Ascended armor/weapons were put in because gaining exotic was not long-term enough, primarily because there were too few materials needed. Other longer-term goals are collections and AP, or Legendary crafting. Anything that keeps players playing longer-term is probably something that can be found in similar form in at least some other MMO's.

The thing is, GW had long-term goals, also. Titles and faction rep come to mind. I remember endless Worm runs during double Lightbringer Rep weekends.

Some people (such, as yourself) are going to find GW2 dissimilar to other MMO's. Possibly, this is because the things you like about GW2 are not so much found in other MMO's. Others are going to find GW2 to be too similar to other MMO's, because GW2 does contain one or more aspects of MMO's they dislike.

My biggest regret with regard to GW2 is that ANet was unable to fully promote the aim expressed in:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success/

Had I known then what I know now about how MMO's work and how MMO audiences react, I would not have believed they could pull it off.

[Sir Vincent III.1286]

@"Sylent.3165" said:So, I was I big Guild Wars fan. When gw2 was first announced I for 4 really hyped when I started seeing videos and was extremely extremely excited for this game like crazy.

Of course I pre purchased and played in all the betas and loved every single second playing. Then the game released I was literally clicking login every 2 seconds on launch night to try to get some rare names (which I did yay). I played like a crazy person that night.

I truly enjoyed the game like no other game before and had a blast. I then beat the game and got bored so took a long long break. I came back during the silverwates period and o boy did I enjoy the map like crazy. I got all the tiles associated and just kept farming there. Shortly after hot was released, I was disappointed. Didn't like the maps, thought masteies was a boring grind.

Then took a break. Tried hot, mounts are ok but wasn't really yay about them, each expansion felt like I was slipping away from what Guild Wars was entirely.just didn't feel like it anymore. Now I can't even tolerate the game anymore. I feel like I'm barely playing Guild Wars anyone compared to what we got at release.

I'm just overall curious to you Guild Wars 1 fans or players who started at launch are you happy with the games direction from launch? I just feel the game could have been so so much more if they stuck with an original guild wars theme instead of making it like every single mmo (mounts, raids, everything being gated behind something else).

So you veterans what do you think of gw2 currently?

I have many issues with GW1, for example;1) My most peeved aspect of GW1 is - there is no jumping. So to get from point A to point B, I have to go around wasting time when I can simply jump down.2) No mounts. I hated the fact the GW2 also was released without mounts. Big maps require mounts.3) No Auction House.4) Limited skill slots to 8. This only gives 3 skills for damage, 2 utility, 1 heal, 1 elite, and rez signet. I always have to drag a pocket healer all the time if I want more than 3 damage skills.5) Death Penalty in GW1 is brutal.6) Finding a group is horrible.

GW2 fixed all that;1) Jump, dodge, swim - yes please.2) Yes mounts, finally.3) Trading post4) 5 skill slot for weapon plus weapon swap. Healing slot, utilities & elite slots, and everyone is wearing a rez signet (no skill slot needed).5) Death penalty is fair.6) No need to find groups. I see a person fighting, I can join that person on the fly.

These are just some basic aspects of the game that makes GW2 greater than GW1 in terms of playability, replayability, and overall enjoyment.

Thus I disagree with the idea that "the game could have been so so much more if they stuck with an original guild wars theme instead of making it like every single mmo".

[Washikie.9602]

The thing about guild wars 2 that I really did not like is that they abandoned the skill and class system of the original. My absolute favorite part of Guild wars 1 was the incredible amount of build craft and variety within the game. The skill system was in my opinion the best skill system ever implemented in an mmo, limited enough number of skills that you can use at a given time like Guild Wars 2, to avoid the wow problem of having a bar of 30+ skills of which maybe 10 are actually useful to you. But also tremendous variety in skills and systems such as energy regen, degen, interrupts, enchantments, enchantment striping, conditions, hexes, hex removal, healing,minion summoning, shouts, weapon enchantments, spirit summons that kept the number of combat mechanics sensible while allowing for a ton of different variety in builds both in pve and pvp. Guild wars 2 has an amazing world and a ton of features I always wished were in 1 like open world areas, jumping and movement based mechanics, multiple races but I would give all that up if they had just delivered me an up to date mmo with the same core systems as GW 1. Ultimately it was the repetition of Guild wars 2 that soured on me, don't get me wrong its a good mmo, but I just got to bored to fast of having such limited builds with limited choices, especially in a franchise who's bread and butter used to be the fact they had the best skill system in an mmo ever. The weapon-> skill system is just to restrictive, new class variants with expansions, weapons swiping, and talents help but they just are not nearly as exciting to me as the amazing build variety of Guild wars 1 skill and duel class systems. Was it hugely hard to balance a game with that variety of skills and skill combinations between classes. YES, was it worth it YES. Ultimately I became burnt out on Guild wars 2 despite its good story telling, fun world exploration,innovative questing system, and beautifully designed zones. because it just did not provide the deeper mechanical systems that made guild wars 1 great. For me the game just did not offer the depth I was looking for in a Guild Wars Sequel It was still worth playing though, just did not grasp me the same way One did. Recently I started playing One's story campaign with a group of friends and I was blown away by how much fun I'm having again, maybe its just the nostalgia trip but it was so fun to spend literally 3 hours deciding what primary class, secondary class, and skill build I want to make for our play through, It was especially fun because of all the various synergies classes have with each other on top of the already incredibly divers skill system, I get why Guild Wars 2 does not have this system It's a nightmare to balance, and its very hard to make that many unique and mechanically interesting skills that all combine with one another in cool ways but man is the Guild Wars One system good.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

@"Sir Vincent III.1286" said:4) Limited skill slots to 8. This only gives 3 skills for damage, 2 utility, 1 heal, 1 elite, and rez signet. I always have to drag a pocket healer all the time if I want more than 3 damage skills.

While I agree with several of your points (no trading post/auction hall is a huge time waster and source of frustration in GW1) this point is kind of absurd.

GW1 is entirely a party-based game. After the very first tutorial areas you are never supposed to leave an outpost without a full group - that's why there's a selection of NPC "Henchmen" to simply add to your party in every post-tutorial outpost (except elite missions).

"Dragging a pocket healer" is a really strange way of looking at that, because not filling up your party (either with players or NPCs) is actively hindering yourself barring super specialized farming routes. Bringing a single healing skill for yourself stops being relevant faaaaar before you get your first Elite skill!

For the vast majority of the game, you have 8 people to spread what you need over. I usually whent 2 defense (heal/protection), 1-2 control (interrupts etc), 4-5 damage dealers.

[Ayakaru.6583]

I’m kind of sad the serious/gritty tone from gw1 is gone.What was a true sense of terror, or maybe the feel for “i have to do this or the world is ruined” is somewhat absent in gw2.It feels like threats in gw2 can be dealt with at your own pace, as the enemies gladly wait for you to get ready, and give you as many tries as you need to beat them.

So, while i still enjoy gw2 as a game, its far some the serious game gw1 was

[squeegee.4320]

You're asking GW1 players, so all the responses are going to be heavily weighted in favor of GW1.But yeah, GW1 is the best.

There is no skill involved anymore. It's just button mash outrun the red circles.The story lacks any seriousness that was in GW1. There is zero consistency to the story.

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed the Living World, Silverwastes/Dry Top, and WvW.

[Poormany.4507]

I played GW1 for many years and still play it occasionally, but think each game has its own advantages and disadvantages. If I want exploration or group content, I usually go to GW2 but if I want strategic gameplay, solo content, or strategic competition, I play GW1. Biggest problem with GW2 is that combat in GW1 was honestly much better to me and involved so much more than just pressing 1 repeatedly until an enemy dies, or mindless mob vs mob competitive gameplay. Also I liked how GW1 had actual challenging story missions that you could actually fail, not just rez and throw yourself at enemies repeatedly like in GW2. However, GW2 is far superior in exploration and environment as well as group play and map events. Storywise, I feel like both do a good job, but GW2 is more lighthearted and jokey while GW1 is more on the serious side. I just play whichever based on whichever type of content I feel like playing at the moment.

[Dami.5046]

I went in to GW one yesterday, mashed a few heroes together and went and kicked Shrio's bum. Got masters. Did it again, failed :P went in third time got masters.More sense of achievement in that one task than most of anything I did in Gw2, even getting FoW armour felt like I had achieved something over a warehouse full of ascended GW2 gear.
I Got GWAMM title on 2 chars and was on my third and still wear that title with pride in GW2.In a nut shell, if GW had gotten jumping and a decent trading post I would of been happy. More than happy. I also think the achievements were more satisfying.
GW2 lost it's way at launch. It lost where it came from.They could of called it Chronicles of Tyria. shugneedless to say, my love of Tyria keeps me playing.