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Since I changed my avatar and title to show one of my characters from Guild Wars 2, I thought it would be fun to write up a little review of the game. [Disclaimer: I don't work for the designer of Guild Wars 2 or any of its affiliates. I just like the game.]
I haven't played any MMOs for years. But my BF got me into GW2, and I'm enjoying it. It's accessible for a casual gamer like me, while still having enough challenge for a more serious gamer like my BF. Here's some of the things I like about it:
If you're not sure what to do next, the game will give you suggestions, such as nearby quests and events.
Quest tracking is the easiest thing ever. Most quests are associated with a location, and a notification will tell you when you're in the area for the quest or when you've moved out of the area. The notification also says what things you can do to complete the quest. Most quests have multiple options, so you don't have to do parts you don't enjoy. There are also story quests, which start every 10th level. These can range all over the game world, but the game guides you along the path to the next part of the quest.
Events also show up on your minimap, with a notification popping up when it starts or when you get near it. Hovering over the icon for the event will give you information on the event, so you can decide if you want to do it.
Although killing enemies is the central gameplay, you don't have to concentrate on that. It's a massive, open world that's beautiful and fun to explore. You're rewarded for exploring that world with experience points and achievements.
Achievements aren't just bragging rights. When you've accumulated enough achievement points or completed a set of achievements, you get a reward, usually in the form of items and experience points.
You never lose experience points, not from dying, not even if you fail an event. In fact, you will likely get some experience for participating in an event, even if it fails. And dying isn't much of a punishment, unless you're in the middle of an event and don't want to have to run back from a waypoint. You simply rez at a waypoint and return to playing. Your armor will degrade if you die multiple times, but all you need to do is find a repair npc, and they'll fix you up for free.
Related to that, you don't need to seek higher and higher level enemies in order to level, either. The game scales your level to the area you're in, so that you can continue to gain experience points from the enemies you kill. And while your level is reduced, you still have access to all your class abilities.
Teleporting between waypoints costs a pittance. You can go all the way across the world for only a silver or two. It's wonderful for getting to a quest or event in a short amount of time instead of having to run all the way.
You also gain experience points and achievements from crafting. I do have a slight issue with this, though. I don't seem to be able to make level-appropriate items for my character when I'm crafting things for them. I get better equipment from drops and merchants than I do from crafting. That may change when I get to crafting level 80 items, perhaps.
Now for my absolute favorite thing about this game: playing dress up!
If you don't like the look of your equipment, you can change it. My characters who wear heavy armor sometimes end up with boob armor or bikinimail. But I can spend transmutation points (which the game gives you for completing certain quests and achievements) to change the style of the equipment (called skins). Once you've gotten a skin (usually by equipping a piece of armor or a weapon), you can apply that skin to any weapon or piece of armor of the same weight. According to my BF, once you've got your 80th level armor, you never need to change it again. But you can change the look of it whenever you want.
In addition, you can change the color of your armor whenever you like. You start the game with a small set of dyes, which you can mix and match to color your armor, though not weapons. Additional dyes can be gained through story quests, random drops, crafted, or bought off the trading post. I have spent lots of time getting my armor just the right color, just to change it the next day.
Other thoughts:
Like any other MMO, GW2 can be very addictive. It's easy to say, "I'm just going to get this next way point, and then log off," and then see an event starting and say, "I'll just do this event, and then log off"... and next thing you know, it's an hour or more later.
I haven't done much end-game stuff, such as dungeons or world vs. world. But now that I have a level 80 character, I'm going to try it.
My favorite character right now is my norn revenant, though that may be as much because she's voiced by Claudia Christian as that she's fun to play.
Anybody else play GW2? What's your favorite race/class? Favorite thing that happened in game?
I haven't played any MMOs for years. But my BF got me into GW2, and I'm enjoying it. It's accessible for a casual gamer like me, while still having enough challenge for a more serious gamer like my BF. Here's some of the things I like about it:
If you're not sure what to do next, the game will give you suggestions, such as nearby quests and events.
Quest tracking is the easiest thing ever. Most quests are associated with a location, and a notification will tell you when you're in the area for the quest or when you've moved out of the area. The notification also says what things you can do to complete the quest. Most quests have multiple options, so you don't have to do parts you don't enjoy. There are also story quests, which start every 10th level. These can range all over the game world, but the game guides you along the path to the next part of the quest.
Events also show up on your minimap, with a notification popping up when it starts or when you get near it. Hovering over the icon for the event will give you information on the event, so you can decide if you want to do it.
Although killing enemies is the central gameplay, you don't have to concentrate on that. It's a massive, open world that's beautiful and fun to explore. You're rewarded for exploring that world with experience points and achievements.
Achievements aren't just bragging rights. When you've accumulated enough achievement points or completed a set of achievements, you get a reward, usually in the form of items and experience points.
You never lose experience points, not from dying, not even if you fail an event. In fact, you will likely get some experience for participating in an event, even if it fails. And dying isn't much of a punishment, unless you're in the middle of an event and don't want to have to run back from a waypoint. You simply rez at a waypoint and return to playing. Your armor will degrade if you die multiple times, but all you need to do is find a repair npc, and they'll fix you up for free.
Related to that, you don't need to seek higher and higher level enemies in order to level, either. The game scales your level to the area you're in, so that you can continue to gain experience points from the enemies you kill. And while your level is reduced, you still have access to all your class abilities.
Teleporting between waypoints costs a pittance. You can go all the way across the world for only a silver or two. It's wonderful for getting to a quest or event in a short amount of time instead of having to run all the way.
You also gain experience points and achievements from crafting. I do have a slight issue with this, though. I don't seem to be able to make level-appropriate items for my character when I'm crafting things for them. I get better equipment from drops and merchants than I do from crafting. That may change when I get to crafting level 80 items, perhaps.
Now for my absolute favorite thing about this game: playing dress up!
If you don't like the look of your equipment, you can change it. My characters who wear heavy armor sometimes end up with boob armor or bikinimail. But I can spend transmutation points (which the game gives you for completing certain quests and achievements) to change the style of the equipment (called skins). Once you've gotten a skin (usually by equipping a piece of armor or a weapon), you can apply that skin to any weapon or piece of armor of the same weight. According to my BF, once you've got your 80th level armor, you never need to change it again. But you can change the look of it whenever you want.In addition, you can change the color of your armor whenever you like. You start the game with a small set of dyes, which you can mix and match to color your armor, though not weapons. Additional dyes can be gained through story quests, random drops, crafted, or bought off the trading post. I have spent lots of time getting my armor just the right color, just to change it the next day.
Other thoughts:
Like any other MMO, GW2 can be very addictive. It's easy to say, "I'm just going to get this next way point, and then log off," and then see an event starting and say, "I'll just do this event, and then log off"... and next thing you know, it's an hour or more later.
I haven't done much end-game stuff, such as dungeons or world vs. world. But now that I have a level 80 character, I'm going to try it.
My favorite character right now is my norn revenant, though that may be as much because she's voiced by Claudia Christian as that she's fun to play.
Anybody else play GW2? What's your favorite race/class? Favorite thing that happened in game?
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