I started playing Guild Wars 2 for a few reasons. First, it’s now free-to-play and has very few F2P restrictions. Second, ArenaNet announced that raids will be coming after the Heart of Thorns expansion and because SWTOR won’t be adding any new raids until next year, I’ll need something to play during the downtime. Third, I have an increasingly difficult time justifying multiple MMO subscriptions and if I purchase Guild Wars 2, it’s a one-time fee instead of a recurring one.
Originally, I’d planned to play solo but by about level 20, it got a little tedious. The strength of the leveling experience seems to be through exploration and dynamic events, not the story (which doesn’t even really start until level 10). While the dynamic events theoretically keep things “fresh,” I don’t see the difference between them and the standard quest chain. It’s the difference between a set course menu, where you know what you’re going to get and the order in which you’ll get it, and a buffet menu – the buffet will have more items but no matter how many trips you make, they’re still the same items.
Luckily, one of my real-life friends had bought the game earlier this year and wanted to level with someone, so we created Charr characters (he made a warrior, I made a thief) with the focus on exploring the map and getting as many Points of Interest, Scenic Views, and Hero Points as possible. Neither one of us are terribly invested in the story nor finding a guild, but there’s something relaxing about exploring and doing silly things, like hitting things with large slabs of meat. Plus, the Charr are pretty cute (for essentially being fluffy Klingons).
Will I purchase Guild Wars 2? It’s hard to say right now. While the leveling is entertaining enough to make the gradual push to 80, there are a few things that are major detractions. First, I’m unable to join the Jade Quarry server. I know this seems like a tiny point of contention because you can always guest on another server, but this doesn’t work for World vs. World, or large-scale open-world PVP. I’m also not confident that I’d be able to transfer there if I purchased the game because the server is never open! Second, there are no mounts. I know some say that mounts will encourage people to speed to the end but there’s plenty in the game to encourage people to slow down. (Furthermore, it just doesn’t make sense for the Charr – they can build massive rolling tanks, for crying out loud, but not individual motorcycles?) Finally, because of the game’s leveling style and lack of trinity, I don’t see myself creating more than one character. If I can DPS, tank, and heal from one character, why bother making another character (except to DPS from a different perspective)?
Overall, Guild Wars 2 is definitely a nice “vacation” game so far. Some of the Points of Interest are very well hidden and some of the Scenic Views take a lot of jumping to get to. I initially thought that lack of moves would be a deterrent but the constant weapon switching and dodge mechanic are keep combat exciting. The community has been fairly nice as well, with many long-time players welcoming new players and making themselves available for Q&A and help. There is the standard griping about the base game becoming F2P though, some of which is pretty eye-rolling.
