Guild Wars 2: The Re-Review

It's been two years since Guild Wars 2 released, and almost that long since I posted my original review. I was looking over that review the other day, and it's... really outdated. I briefly considered updating the review, but so much has changed that it would actually be easier to write a whole new review.

So here we go!

Guild Wars 2: The First Year

I posted my original review of Guild Wars 2 in December, three-and-a-bit months after GW2's launch at the end of August. It's now been one year since the game's launch, so I figured it was time to revisit my review.

I was planning to update the original review to account for the changes made in the past year. But after thinking about just how much has changed since that review, well... I think it's better to make a standalone post and link to it from the review, because a lot has changed. Read on to see how Guild Wars 2 has been developing!

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THIS REVIEW IS OUT OF DATE!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.

Mechanics and Narrative: MMOs

MMOs are a bit of a special case in how the game tells a story. Most MMOs are also RPGs, so I won't retread that ground. But one area where MMOs excel is telling the story of a world, rather than a handful of characters.

MMOs tend to have absolutely massive worlds to explore, with hundreds or thousands of non-player characters to talk to and hundreds of locations to visit. With all the effort that goes into creating this kind of world, you end up with enough lore to fill several books.

Of course, most people wouldn't actually want to read those books. Most people just don't have the interest or the attention span to read an entire history of a world, with very little to relate to in terms of personal stories. It's the same reason why most people wouldn't sit down and read a history of their own country.

Why You Should Care About Guild Wars 2

As a disclaimer before I start: This is a more technical article that deals not so much with story or graphics, but with game design and mechanics. If you've been following Guild Wars 2 for some time, you won't really find anything new here, but maybe you'll want to show your friends who aren't normally into MMOs.

I know there have been a lot of “Why Guild Wars 2 Matters” articles already. They all talk about how Guild Wars 2 is changing the rules of the MMO, throwing the tired old stuff out the window, making the genre feel fresh again. That's cool and all, but mechanical innovation is not the not the most important reason to play Guild Wars 2. It's the design philosophy as a whole.

Guild Wars 2 may well be the first MMORPG where YOU, the player, actually matter.

In a standard MMO, you don't matter. Everyone is the prophesied hero destined to save the world. Everyone does the same quests. No one has any measurable effect on the world. MMORPGs seem to have forgotten the meaning of “RPG” — roleplaying game, where you make choices that have an effect on the world and story. Guild Wars 2 hopes to change that.

Guild Wars

Post-Launch Reviews #3

Guild Wars

Developer: ArenaNet

Publisher: NCSoft

Released: April 2005

About

Guild Wars is an MMORPG (or as some would say, co-op RPG) set in the world of Tyria. It's a diverse world with three major settings: a recognizable fantasy world called Tyria populated by several races facing the threats of the undead, the Unseen, and the Flameseeker Prophecies; a feudal Japanese-styled continent called Cantha under siege by the returned plague-bearing spirit of a long-dead traitor; and an African-inspired continent called Elona afflicted with a corrupt ruler trying to bring about Nightfall, the return of a long-forgotten mad god. Guild Wars uses a unique eight-skill system inspired by trading card games and focuses on a level playing field where the winner is determined by skill alone.