Sell me on this game.

I haven't played an MMO since APB launched. I also haven't played an MMO that I liked since I was born.

So, internet people, would this game appeal to me? I've been thinking about getting into it for a week now, maybe also convince a friend to join me, and I also see that the GB guild is more or less active. I've seen it receive so much praise at launch, but I haven't really been interested until now.

Is it good?

If you haven't liked any MMO you have ever played, I doubt this would change your opinion.

I was looking forward to it before it came out but when I finally played it I thought it was one of the most boring games I'd ever played.

Maybe I'm just not into MMOs anymore.

It is pretty good, but it also won't change any minds about MMOs because it is, in fact, an MMO.

If you do not like MMOs you will not like Guild Wars 2.

I hated games like Diablo until I got my hands on Diablo 3, which I found great, and rather refreshing, as most of today's games are shooters and the like.

I was hoping Guild Wars 2 could be something along the lines of that.

It's not really structured like other MMO's. Quests are done pretty dynamically and you can still progress even if you were to ignore most of them (although you'd obviously have trouble leveling). Partying up with other players isn't necessary, except for dungeons, so you're always free to do things at your own pace and there isn't a subscription or any kind of "gear grind", so if you decide to take a break from the game for a few weeks/months, you aren't wasting money and won't find yourself at any kind of disadvantage against regular players.

I think anyone saying "if you hate MMO's, you'll hate this" is being very unfair to GW2, since it's done away with most of the conventions people tend to hate about them. But I'd still recommend you at least try it before you jumped in, it's definitely not a game for everyone.

I don't mean that as a negative. I can't be dishonest with a game like Guild Wars 2 any more than I can be about Madden 2013: If you don't like football or sports games then you won't like Madden 2013. It isn't bad but it is also very much of the genre.

There are plenty of good things GW2 does that make it distinct and improves on the MMO genre but it is still firmly a MMO with many of the positive and negative trappings. To really advance you are going to need to do some heavy time investments. I wouldn't recommend it unless you know or have friends who play it regularly with you. You need to be open the cycle of nerfs, stagnation and revamps. If one doesn't like playing MMOs because of those features then they should avoid GW2.

Its an mmo so if you don't like mmos then you probably won't like this game. But if your wondering, yes its quite good.

It kept my interest for two months or so, while the friends that convinced me to buy it left after a week. I quit when I found out the best looking gear was obtained by grinding their version of Heroic Dungeons, which were incredibly difficult at the time. I spent all my endurance for that on years of WoW-raiding. Loved the PVP and PVE. If I ever jump back into the game, it'll be to see the new content they added and play some of those epic World versus World battles.

GW2 was worth every penny I spent on it, but it's most definitely an MMO, no matter what people say to the contrary. Especially if you care about advancing your end-game character (still only aesthetical?), you'll be knee deep in MMO tropes.

If you want to play around in a world without having to group up or actively seek quests it's great for that. Or if you want large scale PvP or arena PvP it's great for that too. The combat is active and not merely watching cooldowns as you stand in place exchanging blows.

It's nothing like APB though, and is more an MMO than Diablo. Coming off of the Neverwinter beta weekend, that reminds me much more of Diablo in terms of loot and the whole slotting skills thing, and the combat's actually more fast-paced and actiony than Guild Wars 2.

@fireprince: If you want a small MMORPG kick then I'd suggest trying out Tera which is currently free to play. It has an active combat system much like Guild Wars 2 except it's a bit more satisfying and all the systems in place are really well done. It's a huge download but it won't cost you a dime and it's not an insane grind fest unless you start shelling out a ton of real world cash.

I never really liked MMOs until I played Guild Wars 2 which has gotten me more into the genre, so maybe it could do the same for you. While it is an MMO it does story pretty well and the combat is more action based than most other MMOs I've seen.

To be honest Guild Wars 2 is one of the few MMOs that I like.
It does away with most of the traditional MMO features like the questing, and the EXP curve doesn't go up with each level which I like. The combat is enjoyable as it's a nice mix between action and MMO, my favourite thing about the game is the fact that you don't have to stay still when you're casting a spell.

It's really amazing. I tried a few other MMOs, like LOTRO and WOW, but hated them. Guild Wars 2 is different. The combat is really engaging and swapping weapons and skills leads to huge variations in playstyle with the same character. Weapons also morph around what class you're playing as, so an Axe as a Necromancer won't have the same skills as an Axe with a Ranger. There is a lot of replayability and exploring with your skills is really fun. I play an Engineer and I have a few builds that I can easily switch up based off what skills I have swapped in.

For instance, I can equip a mine kit, a wrench kit, and placed mines as skills 7, 8, and 9, respectively. With my mine kit, it basically is another weapon type that lets me lay mines around the field. (Engineers are unique in that they have kits - essentially weapons only they can use) I can run in a straight line and place mines from both my mine kit and placed mine skills, and use my wrench kit which has a magnetizing skill to position myself behind the mines and pull an enemy towards me, setting them all off for massive damage, espeically when augmented by Traits. Now that he's close, I can hammer at him with my Wrench skills (which does crazy damage too). There is just so much shit you can do in combat.

Hell, if you're using a shield there are even timing-based counter skills.

It's a very beautiful game too, with amazing music.

I really really tried to get into this game, but I just couldn´t.

After about 30 hours on one character and near the supposed end of his class "story", I was soo freaking bored by the game and the combat. I put the game down for a bit and then tried to play other classes/characters. While some of their stories seemed more interesting, I still thought the combat sucked balls and every single "quest" or event or whatever seemed just so arbitrary and not interesting at all.

This fell into the same hole as Kingdoms of Amalur did for me: Interesting premise and systems, but I couldn´t stand playing it after a while. The quests, characters, stories and locations just seemed so bland.. and I´m not a fan of the combat. Maybe it gets more complex after like 40 hours, but I honestly doubt it. You basically do the same thing over and over and over again during combat. Maybe it would be better to play with actual friends, but I doubt it.

So if you hate MMOs, don´t think this changes everything around. It does some things right, like the fast travel, but on the whole it´s still an MMO-ass MMO.

If your not a fan off MMO's this may be a good fit for you, but only if your a fan of RPG's. The reason I say that is because while like most MMO's theres lots of stuff (PvE repeat-ability, World Vs World large scale PvP, Small Group round PvP, etc) there is also a structured story line (albeit sometimes REALLY CHEEZY) that has a finite ending.

In this game there is an end boss and final fight befitting a rpg (hint, giant dragon RAWR!) Just most folks keep playing on and off after beating him, some I'm sure still haven't even fought Zhaitan. However, one thing that may deter is you do still have to get a group together to do some of these things like the final fight (it takes place in one of the instanced dungeons).

So yeah, its very much a RPG and a MMO, plus there's no sub fee so you can stop it whenever you like after you drop the initial cost to play then play it again a few weeks later.

I'll echo the experience of some other posters and say I haven't enjoyed any "MMO-ass MMO" like I've enjoyed this game (though I did play MapleStory casually for a couple of years and the first Guild Wars off and on through its seven-year lifespan). Here's a bit I wrote concerning the major difficulty you might encounter as a brand-new player, though I suspect your general lack of experience with MMOs might help you in that regard.

If nothing else, you can grab GW2 during one of its frequent price drops (it's gone as low as $35) and rest easy knowing you've gotten one of the finest cash:content values in gaming.

If you liked Diablo 3, there's a good chance you'll enjoy Path of Exile. Its FTP (in the best possible sense), and is currently in open beta.

Edit - I used to be a heavy MMO player back in the day (Everquest, FFXI) and I thought Guild Wars 2 was good at what it set out to do. If you're a casual player, (like I am these days) or just generally new to the genre, I think you'll be able to derive a lot of enjoyment out of it. Although saying that, I was refunded my digital copy by ANET, since the game ran really bad for me at launch on my GTX 660 ti. I'm sure the issue has been fixed by now.

My only concern for new players entering the game at this stage (and it really shouldn't be - its still a relatively new game by MMO standards) is whether there are enough low level players doing the public quests to make it worthwhile.

It's a super generic MMO fantasy world, but it's free after the initial game purchase. That's pretty much it. It doesn't have the flair of World of Warcraft, but hey, it's free.

I'm not a "hardcore" MMO player by any means. I put a lot of time into FFXI, and have also played some WoW, CoH, EVE. Never played GW1, and wasn't paying attention to GW2. But noticed some coverage of it close to release (including the quick look) and thought it looked pretty good, so gave it a shot.

• As mentioned, GW2 changes a lot of the things that are annoying about traditional subscription MMOs. Since you're not paying for TIME, there's really no incentive to slow you down with leveling grind and slow or expensive travel options. While I've put quite a lot of time into the game, I never felt like I had to grind in order to advance.
• Practically everything gives you xp. Combat, quests, exploration, harvesting, crafting...
• There are a number of events in every zone that show up at various times. It's an easy way to join in with other players without having to put together a party.
• Between drops and karma vendors (where you can spend points earned from quests), I've never had to resort to the auction house to buy armor and weapons.
• It's very solo-friendly, apart from instanced dungeons (which I haven't even bothered with yet). Even if you plan on playing with a group, it's not a requirement.
• It looks great. One thing I like in MMOs is taking lots of screenshots, and GW2 does a good job of this. I've got Hide UI and Screenshot mapped to mouse buttons.
• Since it's free to play, you're never wasting money on a subscription if you put the game down for a few weeks.

I've heard there's a grind associated with getting Legendary weapons, but I haven't even worried about that yet. I'm not focused on getting the best weapons or maximizing all my stats. I'm just having fun exploring and leveling along the way.

It's an MMO. A very well made MMO but still an MMO. If you haven't like any before that this ain't going to change your mind.

I'm not sure how one can say "I'm not a a hardcore MMO player" but then say "I put a lot of time in FF11" :)

I don't want to be negative but a drawback but the way GW2 works is that it removes a lot of "burden of progression" but that cuts both ways: You can easily stop playing GW2 for a couple of months, come back and be competitive and suffer little penalty or punishment. That also means you can play GW2 for months straight and still are not that much more powerful than the guy who left a couple of months ago.

I can't do that. If I were to recommend an MMO at this point it would have to be Tera. Love that game so much.

I don't play on a set schedule, I don't run regular raids/dungeons/whatever, I don't really care whether I'm better or worse than the next guy, I usually don't do PvP, I don't know all the ins & outs of a game's various systems. I don't try out every big MMO release.

Maybe XI is seen as a more "hardcore" game, but I was never an expert, never even hit the level cap. GW2 often seems like a polar opposite of what I experienced in XI. You get a lot more reward and advancement for shorter play time, whereas everything in XI eventually turned into a slog, unless you had a regular group to push through those levels and do the same quests at the same time. Though I liked XI at the time (remember it launched Halloween 2003), I got tired of the time investment required to make any sort of progress in the game (be it leveling, crafting, traveling, making money to afford decent armor). GW2 is certainly a better fit for me now.