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.
Pros | Cons |
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Easy learning curve, No subscription fee | Not much endgame content, somewhat grindy |
Ratings