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guild-wars-2

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#1 ·
guild-wars-2

Description:
A full 250 years after the original Guild Wars, massive upheavals, cataclysms, and globe-spanning events have changed the world of Tyria. Human civilization is in decline. Other races are rising up, taking control over large portions of the world; the balance of power has shifted. The dragons have awoken.
 

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#2 ·
Guild Wars 2

review by obrien

I'm probably the least impartial reviewer possible as I've been awaiting this game for 5 years.

If you watch the "Manifesto Trailer" by ArenaNet then you'll know what to expect from this game. It most certainly delivers on all the points with varying levels of success, all of which are at least "successful".

The only issues I've found thus far are many of the events (quests) in high-level areas tend to be bugged, this is likely due to the extensive testing on the first 40 levels of the game and the focus on making sure the beginning and middle of the game are pristine for release while leaving the later content to later work.

*edit: as of today many if not all of these issues have been resolved. Some "heart quests" in late areas may not be working at 100% but at least 1 or 2 of the options to complete them do work.

The Auction House (trading post) has been down for a few hours every day but has been improved immensely since initial release. Currently the only issue is the occasional error in transaction but no transaction will take place in this case so you loose nothing.

Expect these two problems to be ironed out shortly as the developers progress over the initial hurdle.

Currently there are also issues with the level of sales the game is having. Physical copies are reportedly sold out in some countries and ArenaNet has stopped selling digital copies temporarily. Currently ANet is working on improving their hardware and such in order to accommodate more players.

Controls are awkward and not suitable for laptops unless you are very comfortable playing a FPS with ten buttons. Combat is often FAST and unforgiving so you need to be on top of things. NO AFK outside of town as events may cause enemies to spawn in your immediate area. I'd STRONGLY suggest a Razer Naga (17 button) to cover the skill bar weapon swap and special profession features (F1-4). Most people have their own setups that work.

There is some concern developing in regards to the end game content. When you reach max level there isn't much gear to get as the game is much more skill based. The gear you can get is only minorly better stat-wise and otherwise purely cosmetic. Dungeons are where you want to go for challenging PVE content as they can be absolutely BRUTAL not to mention they are different almost every time depending on player choices and random factors in the advanced "explorable" Otherwise 8v8 pvp or World vs World "server vs server vs server" for all your ganking and zergfest needs (or tactical deployment depending on if you have a dedicated guild and such.

This is a game you play your way. If there are carrots on a stick its pretty minor and there's several ways to eat it. This may be poor for players heavily rooted in traditional mmo methods but those who are tired of the old methods should find it highly welcoming.

If there's any game you get this year whether you like RPGs, MMOs or Fantasy games in general. Get this game and you won't be disappointed (unless your the 1% that posts over and over on forums and message boards because your expectations exceeded reality, which is OK just move on.)
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ProsCons
Meets expectations, a clear progression in the genre. Not a revolution, an evolution.Unconventional in its idea of "endgame" which may be difficult to adjust for some players. Controls may be awkward at default settings.

Ratings
Overall4
 
#3 ·
#5 ·
Innovative, casual friendly.

review by unstableiser

This is the game we've been waiting for to start the revolution in the MMO genre. Many have tried and failed but GW2 succeeds to be innovative in so many ways. Gone is the sub fee, gone is the grind, gone is the old triage of tank/heal/dps, gone is XP tapping. Welcome to a world that feels social, shared, dynamic, continually fun. It's sometimes hilarious, always beautiful and while it may not tailor to the die hard raider type, there is no denying this game scores in every other aspect. It doesn't force you to be a hardcore player, and it seems to be helping to redefine the MMO into a better light.

It feels revolutionary and it is. GW2 ticked all the boxes we want to see MMO's moving in this direction.

ProsCons
It's goodIt has some issues with bugs in higher level areas but they do not break the game.

Ratings
Overall4
 
#6 ·
Innovative, casual friendly.

review by unstableiser
I wish i could buy it.
store salesman quote: "IF I HAD THIS game i would've sold it long ago to my guild members" ROFL
 
#15 ·
The Best

review by aforesaidace

I pre-ordered the game back in April when i thought it was actually coming out. So i had to wait a couple months a drool over the betas they had going. Once the game hit the market i was nicely surprised on how the game play felt and got so worked up by how much fun it was i got my wife interested in playing it.

ProsCons
EveryhtingNo huge end game activities

Ratings
Overall5
 
#16 ·
Not the sequel I hoped it will be

review by ganni87

Let me start off by saying I'm a huge GW1 fan and had been playing it since release till it's death (that well over 7 years), I've pre ordered GW2 the day it was available and partecipated in every beta and I truly expected more from the sequel.

GW2 surely is an innovation amongst other MMORPGS of today and the lack of a subscription fee makes it appealing. The lack of a traditional quest system, no classic player to player trading boxes and more free roaming than most MMOs I've played.

However with all these different approaches how well does the game hold?

PvE wise the game is very casual friendly, you can do the so called Renown Hearts (which replace traditional quests) whenever you want and can stop half way and come back to finish them later. Unlike GW1 you don't have to scrape every wall to explore the map and getting 100% is done by doing various accomplishments.

Leveling is a drag, getting to maximum level is unrewarding and is merely the key to the best equipment and the high end content. Speaking of equipment, in GW2 you don't have to grind for days or months to get that special (stats-wise) gear. Getting the best stats gear requires little effort which is probably the strongest point when it comes to gear in an mmo.

PvP in GW2 is highly dumbed down and lacks variation, whereas in GW1 you had over 5 game types in GW2 you have only 2 which are very similar. One is a hybrid PvE-PvP 4 section map called World vs World against other players where you capture areas, construct battering rams, arrow carts and more. The other is traditional arenas each with 3 capture points and a different bonus objective in each map to boost points, first team to reach 500 points wins, this kind of PvP comes in 2 flavors, structured (organized) and hot seat (drop in drop out).

Conclusion and GW2's biggest problem - So far everything I mentioned above sounds nice, but how does the game fare after a few months? What is there to do in the end? At some point or the other you may start hating to do the same dungeons everyday, you've explored the whole map and probably also discovered the fabled (I mean more like cursed) Mystic Forge and the grindy weapons that can come out of it.

GW2's nice skinned weapons are plagued by a long grind and dungeons offer very little in terms of rewards, the game was meant in a way that even a high level player in a low level area is rewarded however this falls short of true and most money grinders end up in the usual 2-3 areas. At some point getting the newly introduced tier of amulets requires almost a month of doing the daily tasks.

To sum up this review, GW2 is awesome in the beginning but may become boring and highly repetitive after a few months especially if played very often everyday. For the casual player it may be well worth the money.

ProsCons
Easy learning curve, No subscription feeNot much endgame content, somewhat grindy

Ratings
Overall2
 
#30 ·
Good, but could of been better.

review by exzacklyright

Bought it when it first came out... got 100% map completion in 2months... and then now what? It just got boring. I loved the jumping puzzles and stuff though. It was definitely the best MMO I've ever played. I stopped as well because a lot of my friends just stopped playing it.

ProsCons
The variety of play styleGot bored of it.

Ratings
Overall2
 
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