Guild Wars 2

Post-Launch Review

Guild Wars 2

Developer: ArenaNet

Released: August 2012

THIS REVIEW IS OUT OF DATE! The game has changed so much since I wrote this that I should probably do a full re-review. Keep that in mind as you read this - some of the problems are gone completely, there's a lot more content and stuff to do, but there are also some brand-new problems.

Warning: this is a very long review, because it's a very big game. As of this writing I've played well over 400 hours and I still have plenty more to do.
Also, this is sooner than I usually review a game, but I love Guild Wars and I couldn't not play it.

About

Guild Wars 2 is a fantasy MMORPG set 250 years after the first game. In the world of Tyria, the elder dragons have awoken, causing devastation and corruption on a massive scale. The five major races - humans, charr, asura, norn, and sylvari - must unite to defeat the dragons. The first and most pressing: Zhaitan, the undead dragon.

At Launch

Guild Wars 2 was received very well, earning an average review score of 90%. Critics were impressed with the scale of the game and its focus on cooperation, as well as the attention to detail and the removal or improvement of most of the problems associated with MMOs. Some reviewers complained about repetitive content, and some were disappointed that the game wasn't as revolutionary as its marketing made it appear.

Post Launch

Only two months in, ArenaNet's post-launch support is fairly incredible. The plan seems to be to release a major free content update every month that includes both one-time and permanent content that has a lasting impact on the world. ANet seems to be keeping a close eye on balance and includes frequent fixes and updates in that regard, but they're cautious to avoid knee-jerk reactions. In response to player feedback, ANet has done things like improve dungeon loot and scaling, re-balance too-difficult encounters and missions, and add requested features.
A year after launch, a lot has changed. Design philosophy has shifted, rewards have been boosted and upgraded all over the game, a new tier of gear is slowly being rolled out, and updates are rolling out every two weeks. So much has changed that I wrote a whole new article to cover the changes.

The Good

No Subscription Fee

You buy the game and that's it, you can play as much or as little as you want without feeling pressured to get your money's worth every month. There's a cash store, but it's entirely optional. You don't actually buy stuff directly with real money; instead you buy gems, which you can then exchange for items in the shop... or you can trade gems for gold on the player market. Coming at it the other way, it means you can use gold to buy gems and therefore cash shop items without spending any more real money. Unfortunately the gem/gold exchange is much higher than it used to be, but early on I managed to buy extra bank and character slots without spending any real money.

Graphics & Art

Guild Wars 2 looks great at high settings. Characters are highly detailed and very well animated. Even the idle animations look great - for example, my female sylvari warrior has an incredibly expressive face, even when just standing around. The environments are gorgeous, with tons of variety and many different climates and architectural styles. The attention to detail is impressive.

Classes & Gameplay

I never roll alts in MMOs or RPGs or whatever. I just don't see the point in playing the same content over again with slightly different abilities. But the classes in Guild Wars 2 do such a good job of feeling unique that I can't help but play all of them. At the time of this writing I have my main character, a level 80 elementalist; a 54 ranger; 62 warrior; 28 guardian; and 50 engineer, and I plan to eventually start work on thief, necromancer, and mesmer. 

Each class is extremely versatile and can fill any combat role, but they still each have a distinct feel to them. It's really cool. And you might think that "any class can do anything" means they're all the same, but you'd be wrong. Some classes are still better than others at certain roles - for example, the elementalist can't be beat for AoE damage, and the guardian is easily the best for support. But the thing is that they aren't restricted to those roles - I can play a tanky elementalist or a pure-damage guardian, for example.

Combat is hectic in a good way. Attacks don't automatically hit like in most MMOs, so moving and dodging are key to staying alive, as are controlling the enemy and supporting allies. Losing your health drops you instead of killing you, giving you a smaller assortment of skills. If you kill an enemy while downed, you rally to half health and continue fighting. Allies can also revive you. I've had some ridiculously fun and suspenseful fights where the entire party is dropped, only to have one person rally, start reviving others, and make a huge comeback and kick the boss's butt.

Exploration

There's SO MUCH TO DO. It's absurd. I'm a big fan of exploration; it's one of my favourite things to do in a video game. But Guild Wars 2 takes it to an extreme level. To achieve 100% world completion, you have 1,993 locations to visit and tasks to accomplish - and that doesn't include all the hidden jumping puzzles, secrets, mini-dungeons, or full dungeons. You get rewards for completing each zone (35 of them!) and a special reward for 100% completion.

With all the events and cool stuff that pops up as you play, it's very easy to set out with a goal in mind, get distracted, and an hour later say "oh yeah, I wanted to make my way over to that vista...".

Dynamic Events

Events are the real meat of Guild Wars 2's PvE content, and they do a pretty good job. The results of an event are not quite as permanent or long-lasting as the game's marketing lead me to believe, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Many events are part of a chain, and success or failure moves the chain one way or the other. For example, centaurs might attack a watchtower. If they take it down, they then move on the nearby trading post. If they take that, well, you can't access the trading post until you push back the centaurs, which will then allow you to push forward to liberate and rebuild the watchtower. Most chains tend to move fairly quickly so that many players can experience the events. Some move more slowly so that you'll see differences if you revisit a zone later.
Everyone who participates in an event automatically receives a reward based on their level of participation, which is unfortunately often counted solely by damage dealt, meaning heavily support-oriented players might earn lesser rewards.

One thing I have to note, though: the big world boss events are FANTASTIC. The dragon lieutenants and the starter zone bosses are pretty incredible, and will regularly draw dozens and dozens of players to participate in a colossal battle with multiple objectives, such as protecting the siege weapons or closing portals. A boss event like the Shadow Behemoth is something that would be an epic-tier raid boss in most other MMOs, but in Guild Wars 2 you can find him in the human starter zone. WHAT.

Dungeons

Guild Wars 2's dungeons are five-player instances with some neat quirks. The first time you play a dungeon, you go through its story mode, which across the 8 dungeons combine to tell the story of Destiny's Edge, a now-defunct adventuring group that once challenged an elder dragon all on their own. Story mode is designed to be accessible by almost all players, but they feature some really cool and unique encounters.

You can replay each dungeon in explorable mode, which will offer you a choice of 3 different paths. Explorable mode takes into account what happened in story mode - for example, in Twilight Arbor, you drive out Faolain, the leader of the Nightmare Court. When you return in explorable, three of Faolain's lieutenants are fighting to fill the power vacuum, and you can choose which of them you want to eliminate. Upon completion of an explorable run you're awarded dungeon-specific tokens, which you can trade in for unique rewards.

Dungeons tend to be quite challenging and require a well-coordinated party to be successful. Some of them have their tedious bits and are a bit lacking in variety, but overall the dungeons are pretty strong.

Crazy Free Updates

It's only been two months since launch as of this writing, but ArenaNet's free content updates are INSANE. The Halloween update was very impressive, including a brutal jumping puzzle, a huge scavenger hunt, two holiday-themed PvP modes, new areas, a dungeon, new crafting recipes and item skins, AND new events and achievements... but that was just the warm-up. The Lost Shores update was even bigger, adding a permanent new zone (Southsun Cove) as well as a weekend-long story punctuated by three one-time events. On Friday, the crablike karka attacked the city of Lion's Arch, and the players had to fight them off. This kicked off a scavenger hunt to find a way to damage the elder karka. On Saturday, the Lionguard made an offensive push, landing on the island home of the karka. This one-time event had players exploring and actually establishing the camps and waypoints that will remain permanently on the island. Finally, on Sunday, there was a massive attack on the karka hive and elder, a huge two-and-a-half hour long event with fantastic rewards.

Yes, there were some technical problems with both of these events. However, that means that ArenaNet will learn from their mistakes, and future events will be even better. The most important thing to keep in mind: these aren't paid expansions. They don't even call them expansions - they're "just" content updates. They're adding content faster than I can play it. Remember how I said above that the amount of stuff available is ridiculous? Well, it gets more and more ridiculous every month.

Hall of Monuments

Players of the first Guild Wars get a few exclusive bonuses for their dedication: unique weapon and armour skins, pets, and titles. Many of these look fantastic (particularly the light armour set) and are a nice carry-over for GW1 veterans. Even awesomer is that you can go back to the first game and earn these whenever you want - right now, for example. If you want to play the story of the first game before heading into the second, you can earn your rewards for GW2 as you do so.

Combos
GW2 has a simple but awesome combo system. Some skills create an area with some sort of ongoing effect, and are tagged as combo fields. Other skills can interact with fields to produce a bonus effect; these are combo finishers. There are 9 types of field and 4 types of finisher, and each combination creates a different effect. So, for example, shooting an arrow through a fire field applies burning to your target, but using a blast finisher within the same fire field grants might (damage bonus) to your allies. Good use of combos is a mark of a good player or team, since you can produce all kinds of effects that aren't directly attached to your skills.

Guild Wars 1 References

Hidden around the world are locations and landmarks that will be interesting to new players, but a blast to find for veterans. The ruins of many cities, temples, and monuments can be found (for example, Temple of the Ages, or Ascalon City and the wall), as well as certain iconic landmarks (searing crystals). There are also some new landmarks that weren't there in the first game but are references nonetheless - for example, the empty tomb of Saul D'Alessio, founder of the White Mantle.

Conveniences
There are so many little conveniences in the game that just make everything better. The best is the ability to deposit crafting items straight to your bank from anywhere in the world. That and the prevalence of merchants vastly extend the amount of time you can spend adventuring without having to return to town, which is great, because no one likes running back and forth between town and the field to clear inventory. You can also access the trading post from anywhere (though you do have to physically visit a trader to pick up purchased items or selling profit).

World vs. World vs. World

This is Guild Wars 2's big-ticket PvP mode. When you start the game you're asked to pick a "world" (or server or realm). This determines which team you fight for in WvW, a massive three-way, week-long battle for control of four huge maps full of castles and fortifications. Battles range from one-on-one skirmishes to small-group camp assaults to huge sieges with dozens of players on each side. Doing well in WvW gives your world bonuses in PvE play as well, so even if you're not hugely into PvP, it benefits not just you, but your entire server to put some effort into WvW. And you can claim a captured structure for your guild, which will put up your banners to show it's yours. Cool.

You get XP and loot as normal, while being scaled up to the stats of a level 80. In fact you could start a character and play 1 to 80 entirely in WvW, if you wanted to.

Asura & Charr

The best two races (IMO) are actually the least popular, and that's kind of disappointing. Each is pretty unique visually, they have strong physicality and animation, and their racial stories are (also IMO) the best by a long shot. The asura are my favourite for a few reasons, but the most notable is their animation: all races have the same speed and jump height for balance purposes, but with asura being half the size of a human and weirdly proportioned, their "clumsy/graceful" animations make them believable and hilarious to watch.

Community

People are just so nice in GW2. Part of that is due to the game's focus on cooperation, and part of it is due to strictly enforced community policies. Hate speech is not tolerated and will result in a ban (temporary or otherwise), so abuse is practically non-existent. Players are very willing to help each other out in the world because the game is built to reward everyone for everything. You get experience for reviving a downed player, for example. If you help another player kill a monster, you both get full XP and loot. In fact, you progress some events and tasks faster with more players, and I don't just mean it's twice as fast with two people, it's more than that. So there's no reason not to help someone, because it benefits everybody.

The Neutral

Personal Story

For all the hype of the story of Guild Wars 2, it's actually not that great. The lore is fantastic, but for the most part the story is a fairly generic heroic tale of bringing disparate races together to fight a threat larger than themselves. The lower levels are where the story is strongest, when you're dealing with your character's background and establishing your personality rather than determining the fate of the world. Asura gets my recommendation for a starting character because their stories manage to simultaneously be hilarious, show you the facets of asuran culture, and have high and personal stakes.

sPvP

PvP works fine mechanically for the most part, but it's still lacking in features. ArenaNet has revealed that they're working on more additions, some of which they've already discussed, so it will get better, but currently it's a little feature-light and doesn't have many maps. They're working at it surprisingly slowly, though, considering how they've hyped up GW2 as an esport.

Repetitive? Maybe.

For the amount of content, there isn't quite as much variety as some people would like. For example, there are nine basic types of dynamic event, but almost all of them involve a lot of combat, and the main differences are the number of enemies, whether or not there's a fail condition, and whether the objective is mobile. Fortunately combat is fun, but if you disagree you'll find the game repetitive.

Mostly Optional Grind

Eliminating grind has always been a big thing in Guild Wars, and curiously, Guild Wars 2 is just a slight step back. The problem is the time spent between steps in the story. Each story chapter spans about ten levels, but there isn't a story step at each level - usually there are 2 or 3 levels between steps, and one step doesn't give you a full level worth of XP. So to experience the story you typically play a story mission, wander around until you reach the level of the next one, play your story mission, then level up some more, etc. You can't just play the story straight through, you're forced to level up between steps. It's not like that's torture, since there's so much to do and a lot of variety, but it's a little weird for a game with so much emphasis on playing how you want. If I want to play through the story before I focus on anything else, well, tough.

The Bad

Looking For Group

For all the hype of making it easy and fun to play how you want and when you want, Guild Wars 2 is absolutely awful at helping players create a formal party. You need a five-player party for dungeons, but the LFG tool is atrocious. Here's how it works: if you open an obscure section of the friends menu, you can flag yourself as "looking for group". When you do, everyone can see that status... as long as they're in the same zone and looking at the LFG tab. You can't even say what you're looking to do. As a result, if you want to find a dungeon group, you stand around Lion's Arch or the dungeon entrance shouting LFG into map chat, hoping there are enough interested players. If you're lucky you can put together a group in ten or twenty minutes, but if you're not, you could stand there for an hour and not find anyone.

What's very disappointing is that ArenaNet has flat-out stated that they currently have no plans to improve the LFG tool or create a dungeon finder.
EDIT: it's been pointed out to me that ANet is in fact working on improving the LFG tool in some way. No specifics or timeline yet.

Culling

ArenaNet has a system in place to keep both your machine and your connection running smoothly in extremely high-population or intense battles. What happens is that when there are too many players or creatures, the server will only tell your client about the closest ones. The intention is to lighten the load on your internet connection and prevent your computer from struggling to render too many models at once.

The problem is that those players or creatures are there, and they're attacking and doing stuff, but your client doesn't even know they're there. So what can happen is that you're attacking a keep in WvW, and it looks like everything is going well and you're overwhelming the defenders, and suddenly your entire squad is wiped out for no apparent reason... and THEN the game renders the enemy force that attacked you from the side. There's no way to defend yourself because there's no way to know you're being attacked.

ArenaNet has stated that they're currently working on some optimizations to improve things, so hopefully that happens soon.

Home Instance

Each character has a home instance that will change and populate based on your choices on the story.

At least, that's what you're told. In reality the home instance is pretty much just a waste of space. Yes, an NPC or two might show up there after you rescue them in the story, but you can't even talk to them. They just stand there. Before launch it sounded like you could earn exclusive rewards and decorations based on your story choices, but that really doesn't happen.

The Verdict

Recommendation: play it, especially if you don't like MMOs.

Guild Wars 2 is not a major revolution or a completely new approach to MMOs. It's more of a quiet revolution in design philosophy - the entire game is built around the idea of cooperation, and as a result, the player base is tends to be very friendly and helpful. The gameplay is unique, deep, and action-packed, and feels much more active and varied than a typical MMORPG. You'll never want to go back to standing still to cast spells after you've played an elementalist or necromancer. It's also full of little modifications and quality-of-life improvements that make routine tasks (like inventory management) far better than other MMOs. Guild Wars 2 does away with almost all of the problems with the genre and looks great at the same time. It's currently my favourite game and looks to stay that way for quite a while.