Quick Look: Guild Wars 2

This game is awesome.

I'm intrigued to see what you show off in this Quick Look. Thanks, duders!

The "After I've First Commented Edit": As people who don't know as much about the Guild Wars franchise as I do, I think you guys did an alright job of explaining the game to people. Obviously, as any fan, there are a handful of things I could correct or recommend to you that would make things make more sense, but honestly, I think you've got the basic idea of the game down. I also had some trouble at first understanding what all was going on, especially when coming from Guild Wars 1, which was very different from this. If anyone has any questions about the game, I think there are some deeper answers to be had, but in my personal opinion, I would highly recommend this game. Once again, thanks for the Quick Look, duders!

I bought this game with no intention of paying it.

I'm going to cynically reserve this space for corrections.

EDIT: AND HERE THEY AARRRRE!

• WvW, though enormous and incredibly fun, is NOT Guild Wars 2's primary PvP mode. That would be structured player vs. player (short-hand sPvP), a mode where you actually get boosted to max stats, max gear, and have all of your skills and trait points unlocked for you. It's set up with an FPS-style server browser that you can select matches from, as well as a tournament system with weekly, monthly, and annual tourneys that places you in an 8-team ladder and gives great rewards for winning. There are also ranks in sPvP, and by ranking up you earn additional glory (sPvP currency) that you can spend on better skins for your stuff.

• I can't really blame Jeff for never utilizing his dodge properly here, because early-game stuff tends to not really require it, but it would have vastly increased his survivability. Further on (starting in the back half of the 1-15 zones), dodging becomes an absolute necessity if you want to do content solo or with a small group.

• Level-scaling is one of the most awesome parts of the game. Not only does it mean that no content is ever completely irrelevant to your character because you still get rewards appropriate to your unscaled level, it also means you can't go back to a low-level zone and grief the shit out of other people. Most importantly, it means you can hang out with your friends at any time and still have fun (e.g. no feeling of "carrying" or wasting your own precious time).

• When Jeff says "daily quests," he means daily achievements. The functional difference is that they're tied to your achievements panel and so track your progress and reward you automatically. Also, they're really most useful for people who only have a couple of hours to play during any given session, to boost their experience and coin gain during that time. There are also monthly achievements, which are significantly harder to finish and presumably reward you as such.

• MOSTIMPORTANTPOINTEVEROHMYGODAHHH: the reason everything was so big was because norn are, like, eight-feet tall minimum. Jeff's character looked just about as short as you can set the height slider for the race.

EDIT #2: Just to clarify my position, I think Jeff not getting a great feel for the game is totally fine. This isn't the magic MMO that will unite all peoples and lovers of video games under a universally accessible experience.

That said, I feel as though he's forgetting what really made GW1 special. It wasn't the way it was structured, with persistent hubs and instanced content. It was that ArenaNet used that structure to provide players with as hassle-free a time as they could, with no way for the game systems or other players to fuck with your enjoyment.

GW2 continues and expands on that promise, making it a reality in a persistent world with vastly expanded combat, story, and other assorted systems in both their cooperative and competitive scenarios. Yes, it's a very different game. It's also the culmination of everything they've set out to do from the start.

Just my thoughts.

Never really cared for MMOs, but I liked the first Guild Wars. Too bad I don't have the time to spend on this game...

Game seems great this far atleast!

Game plays great with a controller, too! No built-in support, but some really easy workarounds. I dig it.

Jeff, Vinny, and Brad! Alright!

Edit: There isn't random PvP while roaming around (everyone are friends!), but there is a separate structured PvP other than World vs. World.

Loving this game so far.

Sweet! I've been waiting a long time for this.

Loving the hell out of GW2 at the moment, interested to see what the guys think of it.

@Brewmaster_Andy said:

Game plays great with a controller, too! No built-in support, but some really easy workarounds. I dig it.

How? I haven't found anything on it.

Jeff move around more in combat you don't play this game like WoW. Also use dodge, it's an integral part of the game. I feel that Jeff really doesn't like GW2 at all and yet he is the one playing it, atleast get someone who knows the basics of the game and who is interested in it.

Looks really neat, might be the MMO I can get behind.

What I like about GB the most? When they post quick looks to games I wasn't aware of being released.

I might hop on the GW2 train since I just bought a new laptop that from looking at the specs looks capable of running this GW2.

oh, microtransactions... pay2win..

Silent Spring reference? Rachel Carlson? Vinny? What?!

@Hatp: It's not pay 2 win. Why do people jump to conclusions? Most of the stuff on the Gem store are cosmetic, the booster can only be used in PvE and the Black Lion Chests and Keys can be found whilst playing the game. Any more questions?

@Hatp said:

oh, microtransactions... pay2win..

Its not..at all.

pay2advantage in generic fantasy mmo. no thanks.

Looks like a far better than game than Diablo 3.

@Hatp: Its all cosmetic stuff.

Check out my upcoming game The Temple of Sentimental Evil.

Going to get this as soon as I get some money together.

@Taklulas: @CaLe: nothing on the ingame store gives you any advantage over other players whatsoever. You can buy it with ingame gold too.

@CaLe: Once again, it's not "pay2win". None of the items on the Gem Store give you an advantage over another player. Nothing. The boosters are only used in PvE and as I said in another comment to another uninformed person, the Black Lion Chests and Keys can both be found whilst playing the game in PvE. You can also buy these gems with the in-game currency, so you don't even need to spend any cash.

A Fighter eh, is that like a combination between a guardian and a warrior?

As someone who hasn't really spent any time in an MMO since Dark Age of Camelot (pulled into that by the promise of Arthurian Mythology that didn't exactly pan out, but I still loved the game at the time), I pre-ordered this because it seems to have a lot of the things that I liked in DAoC. Haved played for maybe 3-4 hours and like it so far, curious to see how long the legs are on it tho.

I'm laughing at all the people who thing it's Pay2Win/Advantage/whatever.

You can buy gems via in game money, and essentially, you're looking at about 2 gold for a bank slot/bag slot/etc, and getting 2 gold in GW2 takes about the same amount of time as getting the equivalent cost in GW1. Plus, I've been playing nonstop, and I've never run out of bag or bank space. They give you a separate bank that you can store ANY crafting mat in at ANY time, and can hold 250 of EVERY crafting mat in the ENTIRE GAME.

On top of THAT, you get cash shop items/boosts/etc for 100%ing an area or finishing your daily/monthly achievements. I've already opened 5 Black Lion Chests, gotten around 15 Transmutation Stones, and a whole mess of other things.

Finally, nothing in that cash shop is going to help players in the harder areas, at all. Particularly explorable mode, where four friends and I failed for 5 hours, and we're all experienced raiding/MMO vets, even if we did get 1% away from clearing it.

The cash shop is pretty much exactly like it was in GW1. People seem to forget that GW1 also had this exact same thing, and no one complained.

I think Jeff is looking back at Guild Wars 1 with slightly rose-tinted glasses. The game was pretty good, but it was obvious it was trying hard to be an MMO while keeping costs low by instancing everything in PVE. Things that it did do well (limited skill bars, fast travel, pvp) it still does well in Guild Wars 2. I think he's overstating the uniqueness of the first game.

I will say, however, the 'personal story' elements are an awkward fit with the rest of the game.

@isnipeyoudie: Fair enough, but it's still a generic fantasy mmo.. No saving it from that.

Jeff needs to learn to dodge.

@isnipeyoudie: I am trying to inform the uninformed about this, people just seem to be ignorant about the subject. As soon as they see micro transactions they think Pay2Win and I don't blame them, most Free to Play MMOs out at the moment do use Pay2Win micro transactions. They don't believe that a game would not have it but in this case it's true.

Eh looks like just another mmo to me.

@CaLe: That's fine you are entitled to think that, but what you said about it being Pay2Win was wrong and It's good to see someone actually believe that for a change and not stay ignorant. Thanks.

@CaLe: Well that's just like, your opinion man.

In all seriousness, it's a lot less "generic" fantasy than GW1. It has steampunk and even some Warhammer-style feel here and there, but yes, it's primarily fantasy.

In terms of gameplay though, I don't find it generic at all. Higher difficulty content (explorable mode) requires much different strategies than my friends and I were used to in something like WoW/TOR/etc.

they took the guild wars out of guild wars

more like guild snores am i right

Game seems great, too bad that I don't have a good enough PC to run it

Most overhyped game in the last 5 years?

What a ridiculous game. No pandas; no purchase.

The personal story stuff starts pretty slow unfortunately and takes a while to kick in, but it gets pretty cool once it does. Shame they didn't seem as pumped about it as a lot of other people, but then not everyone has to love every game.

This Quick Look pretty much drove me insane with how many times the words "I don't know" were uttered. RESEARCH!

Nonetheless, people should know that this game is worth every penny of your $60...and that Yak's Bend fucking WRECKS on some world vs. world!

Just hit 35 tonight. Got my Cultural T1 gear. I look like a muthafucker not to be messed with.

Also, to all the people screaming "PAY 2 WIN, NO THANKS", it's in no way a Pay 2 Win game. Do some research beyond watching this relatively bland Quick Look.

@mbr2 said:

Most overhyped game in the last 5 years?

If you're ignoring Blizzard games, SW:ToR, Activision Games, Bioware games, and all console games...sure.

Horrid quick look, little to no research done.

Does Jeff even enjoy playing video games anymore besides fighters?

@jakob187 said:

This Quick Look pretty much drove me insane with how many times the words "I don't know" were uttered. RESEARCH!

Nonetheless, people should know that this game is worth every penny of your $60...and that Yak's Bend fucking WRECKS on some world vs. world!

Just hit 35 tonight. Got my Cultural T1 gear. I look like a muthafucker not to be messed with.

Also, to all the people screaming "PAY 2 WIN, NO THANKS", it's in no way a Pay 2 Win game. Do some research beyond watching this relatively bland Quick Look.

sounds like butthurt fanboy......

@CaLe said:

@isnipeyoudie: Fair enough, but it's still a generic fantasy mmo.. No saving it from that.

Actually the setting is fairly unique is several ways. But if you're looking at it from the shallow perspective of, "it has different species in a medieval-esque world where dragons and swords exist", then yeah, any fantasy is going to seem generic and pointless.

You can dodge roll during combat...

There is a more formal PvP if you go into Hero Sheet (H) and click Go to Heart of the Mysts to do 5vs5 or 8vs8 point capture.

There isn't pay2win for items. Items are mostly cosmetic anyway since NPC have generic looking with perfect stats available for sale. If you want to stand out though you will need items that are rare. Also Gems can be purchased with in game currency based on player damand/supply.

The quicklook feels like you just want to get the game out of the way because its another MMO.

@mefipulate said:

they took the guild wars out of guild wars

more like guild snores am i right

The actual guild wars ended before the events of Guild Wars 1 so the name has always been kind of...weird.

They ask for different mmo mechanics but they never use them. They always revert back to fighting like its WoW and then complain that its too much like other MMOs. Use your dodge... 
Also auto loot.  
I think you should quicklook a game like this when you are at least lvl20 and grasped the basics. 
 
Mediocre quick look, everyone seems bored and for the wrong reasons.  
I don't like this trend of doing quicklooks without any research whatsoever, hearing more "I dont knows"; it reduces the value of a quicklook since all the answers can be googled within seconds. The only redeeming factor of a quicklook then is the hosts' personalities but they all sound bored and uninformed. Terrible trend.  
Might make me cancel my subscription if they keep up this way since I come to this site 90% for the QLs.  
 
They make fun in their bombcast of youtubers asking for people to subscribe to their channel, and yet some of those channels do a better job now at showcasing games with their "let's play".  
 
But hey unlike Snide, they don't seem to give a fuck about user feedback on their content so whatever. 

@CaLe said:

pay2advantage in generic fantasy mmo. no thanks.

What pay2advantage?