Or just about, for some of you. It’s Friday, at the very least. Guild Wars 2 has temporarily sold out on the official site as ArenaNet addresses the concerns of the current and already-massive pool of players. I’ve been playing it for the past three days, working my way up to an immortally powerful level 7. SEV-UHN.
Guild Wars 2 has been a bit of an odd experience for me. Launch day on August 28 went by unnaturally smoothly, with the game whisking me off to character creation without a hitch and plunking me right down into the game with no mysterious error messages or sudden prompts to register for something I’ve forgotten about. Simply put, best launch experience ever.
The following day, I set out to create a second character and ended up going through character creation at least five times, because at the end of the first four attempts, the game simply kicked me back out to the character select menu without saving my new creation. On the fifth attempt, the game finally started, and one hour had come and gone, along with my good mood.
The game itself is incredibly detailed, and the amount of content available looks staggeringly huge — more so if you decide to delve into the game’s extensive wiki. Every so often while playing, however, I found myself thinking: “That’s it?”
“I spent fifteen minutes waggling my dagger in the air and I’ve already unlocked all the skills?”
“The quest instances are just slices of the same regular maps?”
“Crafting is just the World of Warcraft system with a discovery pane bolted on top?”
“I have to deal with a herd of stampeding minotaurs again?”
Hey, it’s an MMO — one without a subscription fee, sure, but I guess some part of me was just anticipating something intense and personal that hits the ground running like the original Guild Wars did. Remember the first story mission in Guild Wars, where you and your group had to venture out into the wasteland, killing stray Charr left and right, only to find yourselves in a mad scramble back to the safety of the city after encountering a huge Charr invasion force? Okay, we exploited that quest shamelessly once we knew what to expect, but it was epic and unique and it really set the tone for the rest of the game. On our first attempt, we really ran for our lives, and it was exhilirating in a way that people just don’t expect from an MMO.
In Guild Wars 2, my first task on my road to legend was to pick a flower in a monster-infested cave. That’s not just unexciting. That’s cookie-cutter. The second quest followed suit, with some overwritten dialogue, excessive running (or fast-travelling) around, a brief defend-the-area-from-baddies task, and more talking.
Don’t get me wrong — the combat is fantastic. The multi-character combo system just about blew my mind on concept alone. The environments are some of the best in the industry, too. I just expected more. Maybe I was expecting something original. People might argue that playing in a group of like-minded people makes it more fun — and it does — but playing anything decent with a group of friends will certainly be fun. The banter and the interaction enhance and elevate the game in immeasurable ways.
Guild Wars 2 then turns around yet again and asserts itself as a completionist’s paradise complete with point-of-interest icons on the amazingly manipulable and flexible map, and area collection progress indicators on every loading screen. In that respect, it’s like a modern platformer or action-adventure game, and that I do appreciate. The game also considerably cuts down on PvE party planning and scheduling by adjusting overleveled characters appropriately for an area, which is a novel and welcome feature.
Ultimately, more often than not, Guild Wars 2 has been a fun game so far. It hooks you like a cartoon aroma tickling your nose with its incorporeal hand, leading you along with your ass high up in the air and a big smile on your face as you happily run through the beautiful vistas, getting caught up in randomly-occurring events that make you do all sorts of things from herding little birds into a pen, to solving a series of riddles, to the traditional stabbing monsters in the face.
The bottom line is that I’m nowhere close to getting sick of the game and I’ll definitely be playing it more during the weeks to come, so I’ll have lots of time to decide whether my initial impressions are right or wrong. What about you? What do you guys think of the game so far?
“I just expected more. Maybe I was expecting something original.”
The originality was 7 years ago in the prequel. The sequel is evolution of the original ideas.
Interestingly, this evolution was also a step towards more generic and familiar genre conventions, which the original bucked totally. Like I said, it works for the most part and I still enjoy it immensely.
I don’t see that but I think its because I played the original a lot. They really refined the competitive arena and evolved it compared to the first game. WvWvW is the logical evolution of Factions where alliances could battle and control outposts on the map. The PVE is basically the same concept of the original. Remember there were events and quest chains inside the instance. The only difference between then and now is that you aren’t locked in with your 4-8 man party. Even the skill system is basically the same concept, except now you can get the skill through a simple challenge instead of getting a signet of capture and then going all the way to the mob in question.
I actually think that being so much like the original is one of the games bigger flaws. They added in a bunch of stuff to make the game simpler to understand for the mass market player but the end game and goal structure is exactly the same. What happens when people realize that they rushed to 80 and all of the content rewards are aesthetic only?
Yeah, here is where our points of view differ. While I did play GW1 for an extended amount of time, I didn’t go on to play the expansions and I never got into the “endgame,” so to speak. I did enjoy the story missions because they took you places and it legitimately felt like, you know, playing through a story.
GW2 may have developed some aspects of the original into arguably better and more accessible forms as you describe, but all I initially saw was 1) a story quest with boring dialogue and a far less interesting start, 2) a crafting system that does feel like the tried and true MMO standard, and 3) an open world where things can get too chaotic if too many people jumped on the same heart quest or event at the same time.
Hey, I love GW2 and I’m not much of an MMO fan, but those things felt just like they did back when I played games like WoW. I wonder if anyone else feels the same way?
@Jed: have you tried doing your personal story?
Just the first two missions (Norn Elementalist here). I found them kind of boring despite the fun combat, but I’m sure it’ll ramp up as I level up and do more quests. The potential for greatness is already right there in the game. :3
A most likely future scenario? Me a few weeks from now, enthusiastically raving about my most recent GW2 personal story experience.
The change of direction from an overarching campaign to individual stories was something I did not agree with at all. Then again you had to ace all of the missions in normal and HM to get a trophy which took a hell of a lot of play so the story ended up being skipped more often than not.
You should try to focus on WvWvW and PVP during your next weeks. They are leaps and bounds more interesting than PVE and we seem to be ok at them as a crew. I mean OMGk was rolling trebuchets day one like a boss.
Definitely! One thing I can’t complain about is the sheer size and the multitude of options in the game. I feel slightly overwhelmed everytime I sit down and try to decide what I want to do next.
I feel overwhelmed from all the things I could do. Bored of finding mats for crafting? I’ll head out for some story. Bored of Story? why not PvP and WvWvW, heck, why not entire chain group events. The options are just limitless. I just wish I could craft all the lower level stuff as the completionist in me compels me to complete it.
I agree there Sharky. Guild Wars 2 is the first time I have never bothered to look at my level or exp bar while running around. Logging in and having fun alone is enough to quickly progress your level.
Agree 100% with everyone that the shift to individual stories is totally dumb.
I think the real barometer of GW2 is this: would you pay a monthly subscription fee to play this game? I certainly won’t.
I didn’t enjoy WvWvW or PVP very much because of the lag and the fact that I am a warrior who fights at close range. So basically it takes 3 seconds for me to die whenever there is a big engagement. I’ll probably start enjoying this when my skill lever grows.
99% of the quests are boring. I am at level 20 and I have yet to see a quest/dungeon design that is comparable to WOW.
The main problem is not the lack of variety. It is the lack of compulsion, structure and meaning. Who the hell cares if I place raven eggs in nests or if I help John’s farm? There is no connection to the bigger picture. WOW made simple fetch and grind quests seem compelling because they always connect it in some way to a bigger, overarching problem. WOW made it feel that not doing the quest would result in the death of a small village. WOW made it feel that you were progressing to bigger and greater things after each task. WOW made it feel that what you were doing was IMPORTANT, despite it being as simple as delivering an urgent message to someone in a new region.
Jed, if you love PvE, I strongly recommend that you start playing the free trial of The Secret World. It has some of the best quests in any MMO. I got really hooked into it when I played it during their beta weekend. If it had the same combat system as GW2 I would have subscribed to it for a year.
The above post is mine by the way. Still having trouble navigating this forum. Sorry!
I’m still working out some kinks in the blog-forum account relationship at the moment, so no worries. :3 I’ll be sure to try The Secret World when I can spare the time — the setting really intrigued me. The gameplay videos didn’t. 8(
There’s something to be said for having actual quest briefings, I guess. Most of the heart quests are hard to connect to the bigger picture because they’re just there — you actually need to make an effort to seek out the heart quest guy and chat with him for a bit to actually know what’s going on. From a gameplay design standpoint, however, it definitely improves the flow of the game. Sometimes, I feel like it’s okay to slaughter heretics and pick daffodils for no reason at all, you know? HERETICS. DAFFODILS.
This weekend’s obsessive-compulsive FUN EXPERIENCE: I spent a couple of dark early mornings completing the Norn starting areas — Wayfarer Foothills and the city of Hoelbrak. I simply ran around and hit all the waypoints, points of interest, and viewpoints, and I am pleased to report that it was legitimately FUN. I got into a bunch of chain events and it was the first time in any MMO that I appreciated the completely natural way that you can run into a bunch of strangers and team up without any artificial mechanisms like “officially” joining a party. By the time I had completed both areas, I had leveled all the way up from 7 to 15, and I was ready to move on to another area. Total percentage of the world explored at that point: 6%.
Wow.
Mind if I add my two cents?
Before I first started with the Beta Weekend Events most of my time was spent absolutely absorbing everything I could about this game (although a large part of that was combat mechanics and lore), I had gone a complete Guild Wars 2 binge, to the point where every one of my friends had gotten sick of hanging out with me solely because it literally was the only thing I could talk about. I am not joking. Once I got in the BWEs, I spent most of my time getting used to them…the dodging, the weaponry, the dynamic events. Most of that was hampered by lag, however, so I usually ended up going back to YouTube, watching every video and reading up the wiki. I learned a lot of the current story through these primary means…but I never got to experience it properly.
In comes launch day. I’m excited, I’m ready to go, lunch is on the desk and I’m ignoring my fiancee for a while. I log in with the Asura, a race I haven’t played past the tutorial area before, and I’m stoked. Cue two hours later capping waypoints and vistas and here I am, saying…is this it?
For a while, it had felt like a chore. I had fun, sure, especially with you guys, but it still felt like a chore. I was concerned. This is the game I’ve been hyping to my friends and I was feeling bored! What do I do? What do I say to them when they finally get off work and play?
They finally come in! I was happy most of them got by registering without a hitch (one never got his serial code) and we were all in. But something was different…hearing them together in the same room…they were shouting, laughing and dropping their jaws in astonishment. Something I didn’t experience. I ended up being the guy they went to if they didn’t understand certain things, like the concept of WvWvW, or crafting. But they still were having fun. Unlike me. And then I slowly started to realize…these guys came into the game without any experience of an MMO or the Guild Wars universe.
So I completely hosed myself down and decided to stop going for that level progression, stopped caring for that gold grind, stopped working towards that ultimate DPS build. I decided to slow down and shut down that 100% completionist attitude. I joined my friends in adventure and wonder, and only then I started to really appreciate the dedication and hard work ArenaNet put into this game. There are so many pop culture references, sometimes it’s difficult to even take this game’s historical and epic setting serious anymore. The scenery, when not rushing through, is absolutely breathtaking. I am not regretting getting this game anymore.
If any of you are feeling the same as I was when I first started, there is always the option of slowing down and embracing the game for what it is. It’s not a competition. We have PVP servers for that. Enjoy your one-time subscription fee. Take your time. Love it, caress it.
If that doesn’t work, you can always jump in on TeamSpeak for the dick jokes and sexual innuendos. Don’t worry, we’ll bite.
Thanks for sharing Joey! Apologies for the guest-account confusion. I’m banging the site into shape with a rusty crowbar as I type this.
Sometimes, I wish we could reset ourselves to that state of unknowing. We can make a new character and do all the quests and rediscover all the lands again, but it’ll never be quite like the first time. You always remember your first time. :3 It’s admittedly hard to break out of the gamer-completionist-mix/maxing mindset, but I agree that the social interaction of Guild Wars 2 could be the game that can do it.
I regret coming across Meatoberfest and the cattle-pult at Diessa Plateau while I was exploring solo, because I know we’d have been joking and laughing about them had I discovered them with friends. I’ll be happy to accompany anyone to discover those areas, though. 8)
The one source of disappointment for me continues to be the limp-wristed personal story quests, but everything else is turning out to be superb both as a game experience and a social experience.
I completely agree with what Joey said (even the bit on obsessing about the game pre-launch). I was a Guild Wars fanboy. WoW was actually my first choice but that did not fit my play style so less than a month later I bought and played Guild Wars. I did not even know about the game much when I bought it from the store, all I know is that it is not grindy. I played that game for 3 years.
WoW had the rich lore and good story (from what I hear) but it was too grindy for me. GW1 had the tactical gameplay and story I liked and none of that grind. GW2 felt grindy at first when I played it like a completionist, ie going for the hearts and leaving right after satisfying the “quest giver” completely ignoring the fact that ANet only intended the hearts as placemarkers for where the events are happening, but now I just explore, taking my character where ever there may be an event and not going for the achievement of completing the maps unless I’m so close to it.
But when I compare my experiences in all three games, there is only 1 absolute reason why I enjoyed the two Guild Wars games and did not like WoW. What the two GW games shared, and WoW lacked is the community I played with. I played WoW not joining a guild at all. I feel like this community will be the main reason for me to keep playing the game even after I reach level 80 with all my characters. I am already imagining a scenario where the whole Goat roster ventures out to the higher level zones to fight the Shaterer or splitting our forces into three to push back the undead forces in the Straits of Devastation and meet up and conquer Orr together. Man, that would be awesome.
Oh and re: personal story, yeah it sucks being alone in those quests. Re: teamspeak, “this guild…no hope”
The world events really come alive if you watch local chat and play with the sound turned up. You can follow people around after you complete an event and see the story of a zone unfold. The hands on storytelling approach engages the player more easily than wows “Wall of text”, Mob, repeat method.
I think the issue is misconceptions as to what GW2 is. Case in point: one of my real life friends was bitching that he had to farm jute because the TP was down and the game wasn’t fun. Never mind that there were tons of zones he had yet to play in, WvWvW working at the time without queue, and the entire structured PvP system waiting, he was upset because he was treating GW2 like every other MMO in existence. GW in general isn’t about levels or loot. The series is about players overcoming challenges and the only reward being a visible indicator that you are a badass. The best way to enjoy the game is to relax and explore everything, balling hard the whole time.
I just started playing PVP and WvWvW and I agree with everyone that it is a totally different experience. I also agree with everyone that joining a guild and playing with them is loads better than playing alone. I can’t talk in TS because my mike is broken (BUT I’m in the process of buying a new one) but listening to you guys was a nerd blast. Is there a guild hall in this game?
As for PVE, I just wish that the quests were better structured so that players will be slowly introduced and guided by the game’s concepts. Case in point, in WoW, your starting area was a beginner town. But by finishing the main quests, you were slowly guided to the main town by around level 15-20. And it was amazing when you compared it to your starter town. In GW2, everything is already accesible from the very beginning and is kind of a let down in terms of progression. I wish there was a forced PVP quest (do you guys remember the original GW1 where the tutorial actually forces you to play PVP to progress?) or a quest where you were forced to enter the Asura or Charr zone, or WvWvW.
Btw, I am tremendously underpowered in WvWvW, how do I get better items? Is it from loot drops or by buying weapons? I actually bought a rifle with my karma points because I couldn’t hit any invaders with my sword.
Were you playing last night Rob? We had lots of fun defending the castle. 8)
I got most of my good stuff through drops and things that our guildmates have crafted. We now have a guild stash too, in case some kind soul is willing to leave some good items in there for others in need.
I read somewhere long ago that WoW used a sort of amusement park guided tour approach to building its quests, carefully designing them to let players experience an area and then gently move them along to the next as they leveled up. GW2′s personal story kind of felt like that at first when I was asked to scoot back and forth between my starting area and my main city, but it lost its momentum quickly and turned into a big, wide-open mess.
I appreciate how we can go and explore any area within or below our current level, though. Getting to pick where to go next helps make the experience more personal and less of a guided tour.
So I’m only just level 11 (weekend can’t come any faster!) but I’m having mixed feelings about the personal story thing. When the game was still in the works, I kept myself up to date and I thought the personal story part would be really cool. It still seemed pretty cool in character creation as well, but then I wondered whether I would regret what I picked while making my character and would be stuck with it (much like how I regret my GW1 toon’s hairstyle. Bleh). But more than that, it sort of feels like a single player game since the instances are for my story. I know I can have a party join me, but it’s a bit weird coz they won’t have the same “attachment” to what’s going on in my story. I don’t think I’m explaining this well haha. Anyway on the plus side, there’s a lot of replay value if I play a new race
But the important part is, I’m having fun
I love the fact that I don’t feel pressured to play because of a subscription fee too. Hopefully I can do some WvWvW… soon?
I posted that btw. Whoops.