Guild Wars is arguably one of the most impressive game ideas and first games from a new studio of the last decade. While other developers tried to compete directly with World of Warcraft and Blizzard, Arena.Net went a different direction creating a MMO built around small level caps, CCG design, small group focus and no monthly fees. With Guild Wars 2, the developers have gone with a bigger is better mantra and while there are a lot of impressive details here, some of the magic of the original has disappeared.
Large and Personal:
The story takes place 250 years in the future after the original Guild Wars. Dragons are causing trouble around the world of Tyria and the people must unite to save the land.
The first big change is a far more robust character creation system compared to the first game. You can pick your race from several which determines skills that you can unlock through play and your class from new and returning options. After aesthetic choices you will create a personality and back-story for your character based on choices unique to each race. This in turn will set up personal story quest chains that happen at every ten levels.
These quests take place in instance environments and you are given some freedom in how the story progresses along with deciding what quests to go after. The use of in game dialogue scenes gives it a more personal touch compared to other MMOs which focus on the “you are the chosen hero” trope.
Playing Guild Wars 2 is more streamlined compared to the first with the big change being no more CCG like system of choosing skills. Instead, your character’s utility is defined by what weapon you equip on them along with skills and traits.
Each class can use a few different weapons which will determine what attacks will be set to numbers 0-4 on the keyboard. Skills which are unlocked using skill points are assigned to 5-8 and you are limited because of that. Each race also gets several elite skills which only one can be assigned to 0. Lastly, the skills you have selected will give you “tool belt” options that are associated to F1 through F4.
The world of Guild Wars 2 is full of activities for solo and group play.
Traits are passive options that become available at level 31. Each class gets four trait trees broken down by class specialization.
Going up a tree will give you enhance stats, a special passive and you can equip one of multiple traits that are unlocked either through specific actions or at a special store to your character.
Besides that, you can also specialize in crafting which plays similar to other MMOs out there. As you go exploring you’ll see one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve seen in an MMO and how Arena.Net has gotten around the issue of running out of things to do.
Two Way Scaling:
One of the biggest problems with MMO design is that once the initial allure of the game is gone, it can be a pain in the ass to find something worthwhile to do. Either the content is above your level and it takes forever to complete quests or all that’s left is below your level and doesn’t count towards experience forcing you to grind on monsters until you unlock the next quest chain.
What Arena.Net did with Guild Wars 2 was implement a two way scaling system for all the content. Each area in the game has a level range to clue you in as to whether or not you should attempt it now or later. But whenever you enter an area that is lower than your current level, your character will scale down to that level. This means stat wise, you have the functionality of that level and all the enemies will fight you on even terms.
Leveling up always provides rewards and is easy to do thanks to the dual scaling system.
However all the rewards, item drops and experience that you get from fighting will scale up to your current level. So for example if I’m level 40 and I enter a level 15 zone, I will fight as a level 15 character but will receive level 40 equivalent rewards.
The beauty of this system is that it makes it so that everything that you do in the game will always provide progress and reasonably challenge you. There will never be a situation where the enemies are so below your level that you will just steamroll through them, but as a positive it means that there will always be something to do and go after.
The world design itself is also interesting as there is more to do than just grind encounters.
A Wide World:
Each area in Guild Wars 2 outside of cities has various activities for you to go after. There are waypoints that act as instant teleporters to get around, points of interests to be discovered, vistas that require you to do some platforming to reach, skill point challenges that reward you with additional skill points and of course quests.
The quests themselves are different from traditional MMOs in the fact that a quest isn’t about one task but letting you do multiple things within the area that fill your progress bar. One quest may give you the options of fighting enemies, picking crops or healing wounded NPCs with each act filling the quest bar to some extent. This design gets around the problem of having an area flooded with players who are spawn camping as there are always different ways to complete a quest.
And besides the two way scaling system to reward you for doing this content, you’ll also receive a special reward for doing everything in a zone with some of them being traits that you can equip for your character. Special events will also happen that will add bonus quests and even massive group events to each area with increased rewards for completing them. There is just so much to do in the game and having no monthly fees means that you’ll have plenty of time to see it all.
Speaking of monthly fees, Guild Wars 2 makes use of an in game store in order to make up for the lack of monthly charges. Gems which are the game’s premium currency can buy specific account upgrades, special items and new sets of quests and challenges for level 80 players. You can also use in game gold to buy gems and this allows free players to get some of the new content without having to spend additional money. Arena.Net just announced the first official expansion which will once again be a flat cost for new content without monthly fees.
Guild Wars 2’s trait system is the main and only form of progression and class tweaking through leveling up.
Having played a character all the way to level 80, Guild Wars 2 is the third MMO I’ve played that I managed to get that far with the other two being DC Universe Online and City of Heroes.
In many ways, Guild Wars 2 is the perfect MMO for non MMO players and that is as much a positive as it is a problem.
Looking for Content:
Despite a generous leveling curve and the ease of questing and exploration, there just really isn’t a lot in Guild Wars 2 for the expert MMO player. Class specialization begins and ends with traits and the system is introduced at level 30 with no further systems or means to affect your build. The developers could also do a better job explaining just what is the end game content, as I noticed a lot of different resources but no real explanation of what I should be doing now that I’m level 80.
Loot is incredibly basic and lacks the flavor and variety seen in World of Warcraft with the majority of my gear coming from the auction house and quest drops. Like other MMOs the crafting system is in place for creating high end gear but this isn’t content but a grind.
Speaking of content, there is a huge lack of things to do once you hit the end game and I couldn’t find any raids or expanded dungeons with exception to the ones unlocked through leveling. I just lost any real desire to keep playing and while each class is different, the thought of once again having to explore all the areas I did with someone else is not interesting.
There is what’s considered “season 2” available which lets you buy chains of quests for more content and achievements but again without meaningful loot and interesting progression, I don’t see the point in paying more money for it.
Dragon Slaying:
I can sum up my thoughts on Guild Wars 2 with one simple statement: Guild Wars 2 is an amazing game but a horrible MMO. What Arena.Net did to streamline the experience and progression model was outstanding but the game lacks the greater complexity, challenge and rewards that has made World of Warcraft popular for over 10 years.
It wouldn’t be a MMO without events that require a lot of players ganging up on one enemy.
And that’s just it, Arena.Net was not aiming to take on WoW with Guild Wars 2 and it definitely shows and that’s why this is the perfect MMO for someone who doesn’t get MMOs.
Guild Wars 2 is a game that you can log in once a day for an hour or so, make some progress and then get off and you won’t need to consult a build guide online or spend 4+ hours in a 25 man raid.
If you’re looking for a lighter affair after the enormity of games like WoW, Guild Wars 2 is a great treat but there just isn’t enough here for someone wanting to fully invest in it but maybe that will change after the expansion is released.
