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Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:29 pm
by elgaucho
Player Tags:
Mantis Scourge.4567
El Gaucho El Gaucho.5278
Snowy Snowy.9316
Sly Boots Sly Boots.3845



Soooooo.... I've been very quiet with regards to Guild Wars 2 on this forum, and PW before it, for quiiiiite a long time.

When TGA started, i thought about doing a big post on its current status and how i think it's doing after six.... yes SIX and a half years, nearly.

I started writing my thoughts, but I basically felt it would turn into a looong essay, and not something fun to read. (Also, life has been pretty busy these last few months...)

I can only say, simply, that GW2 is and remains one of my favourite casual gaming experiences of all time. I can only really describe it as having a a certain purity of gaming to it... it doesn't focus on grind or effort or setting lots of barriers to progression you have to mundanely work through day after day.

At it's core, it's a game about exploration. It's about relaxing, making friends, setting little goals, or just casually winding an evening down without too much stress.

It's not for everyone... or maybe better put would be to say that it's not for everyone all the time. The game is a dabbler's paradise. Come back when you feel the itch, dip in, and then call a time out if you so feel like it. Your progress is still valid, and you can make a little progress each time you come back. In truth, it's one of the best value games of all time, and one of the most accessible, at any time!

I still find moments when I'm in awe at what they really achieved here.

I could try and tell you about how the game has developed in Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire... i could tell you about the living story chapters and the fantastic narratives being created in the game...i could tell you about PVP and WvW... I could tell you about the mount system and how they transform traversing through Tyria... i could tell you about build diversity and the range of opportunity that specialisations enable... and so much more. It's all fantastic, really, and caters to a large variety of players who might be looking for an itch to scratch.

In short - i still love the game, and i'm always really happy to talk or help anyone through on it, should they have an interest, or be looking for specific types of content. So if you are interested, let me know! ;)


All the above said... this week has been a bit of a sad moment for the game.

The studio has let go of 143 of it's circa 400 employees. This is an NCSoft led cull, largely attributable to an "unsustainable" model. ANet had a bunch of secret squirrel side projects on the go, of which most of the departed head count was working on. Apparently these projects were too ambitious, took too long to market, or were not sufficiently well managed. So the axe came down.

Many names very familiar to the community are leaving Anet... and it's honestly a massive shame to see that happen. I think one of the saving graces of this event, it would appear, is that many departures are voluntary. We're talking 15 year veterans putting their name forward, not even so much because they wanted to, but to allow others with less experience to have the opportunity to stay. I can't say that this has been the case for all of the impacted (I doubt it), but I think it says something about the place that there is even selflessness in being let go.

Naturally, this is causing some level of consternation in the community, with the doom and gloomers shouting about the end of days and the foreshadowing of a city of heroes type shutdown. It's also led to a flurry of community support for the team (which will inevitably be short lived), and more discussions about the future of the game.

In truth... i think for a game as poorly marketed as it is, that it's in an incredibly healthy place. Community mood on the whole has remained positive over the years. People like the content, although as with any game, there's always the "more more more" crowd. And yes, you can look and say "i want more big ticket content", but actually, i think the volume of people who've really played the content and worked through many achievements is probably pretty small. You could argue this is grindy content. (Sometimes it is), but on the whole achievements lead you to stories, and playing through stories gets you the content, and sometimes some nice rewards or titles. It's really quite clever, if you're patient enough to play the story, not the achievement! :D

Furthermore, it's rare to see any real time go by between new player posts - the game has healthy growth from people burned from MMO launch busts (Bless), WoW saturated veterans, or people just looking for something a little different. In short, i think we still have a good long stint ahead of us, if people don't freak out.

I had hoped the next expansion would hit later this year, but alas, that is not to be. We're nearly wrapped up with Season 4 of Living Story, and moving straight into Season 5, THEN an expansion. My gut tells me it will come with a biiig rework of underwater content as the new range of masteries. There's little hints that this may be the case in some of the balancing in recent months, and the introduction of underwater swimming speed infusions. Either way, that's some way away.

I'd like to think the remainers will be refocused and more aggressive than ever to make an impact after this reshuffle, assuming the community allows them to adjust, and I'm hopeful for the future, despite this sad moment. I know a number of you have tried and quit on the game a few times. But if, for any reason, you're looking for an itch to scratch, and can't settle on what, maybe give this another look! And remember - the base game is even free! :D

/end dump of text and thoughts. kudos if you made it this far! :lol:

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:05 pm
by Mantis
I read about the lay offs the other day and felt a bit sad about it too. Whilst GW2 never hooked me in the same way, I put more than 1,500 hours into the first game for a good few years. Pity that none of their other projects came to fruition as there are clearly some talented developers who work there.

Funnily enough I picked up Heart of Thorns a couple of months ago and tried to get back into GW2 but I ended up not even getting to the new content that I'd paid for. Still stuck with my dull level 60something Guardian who hasn't beat the main story. :lol:

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:09 pm
by Sly Boots
Guardians are a pretty dull class honestly, could be worth just rolling another like a necro (my personal fave) or thief to take into the daredevil elite class (which is a lot of fun to play, thief less so unfortunately) and see if you find it more interesting to play as.

Your main probably also has a birthday pack that should contain a booster to allow a new character to skip straight to level 30 or 40 as well to speed up progression.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:15 pm
by Rusty
And I'm giving away a free heart of thorns DLC to go with it so no excuse not to pick this up.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:27 pm
by Mantis
I'm going to give it a go again at some point when I get a chance I think, even if it's just to see the expansion content that I paid for.

If anyone fancies rolling with me at some point my ingame ID is Scourge.4567

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:44 pm
by Sly Boots
Mantis wrote:
Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:27 pm
I'm going to give it a go again at some point when I get a chance I think, even if it's just to see the expansion content that I paid for.

If anyone fancies rolling with me at some point my ingame ID is Scourge.4567
Cool, I know Snowy is just starting out with the HoT content and I teamed up with him briefly the other night. Happy to get something organised if we can.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:29 pm
by Mantis
I know you need to be level 80 for it, but do you also need to have completed the personal story to access it?

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 7:18 am
by Sly Boots
Mantis wrote:
Thu Feb 28, 2019 11:29 pm
I know you need to be level 80 for it, but do you also need to have completed the personal story to access it?
No, not at all. In fact if we were to team up and you have a 'teleport to friend' token I can bring you into the new maps without you having to do the little HoT story introduction either.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:22 pm
by Snowy
Hold on though Sly - you really need to do the story to get access to your Glider skills, otherwise a lot of the maps are pretty much impassable.

That said you still don't need to finish the personal story quests, just go into your character screen and select the HoT story and away you go.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:28 pm
by Mantis
I'll just use my Guardian for now and try to power through the basic campaign when I get some free time so that I can join you chaps in the future. I'm currently only level 59.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:35 pm
by Sly Boots
Snowy wrote:
Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:22 pm
Hold on though Sly - you really need to do the story to get access to your Glider skills, otherwise a lot of the maps are pretty much impassable.

That said you still don't need to finish the personal story quests, just go into your character screen and select the HoT story and away you go.
Ah, ok, it's been a while since I did HoT.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:38 pm
by Sly Boots
Mantis wrote:
Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:28 pm
I'll just use my Guardian for now and try to power through the basic campaign when I get some free time so that I can join you chaps in the future. I'm currently only level 59.
Crafting can also level you really quickly, might be worth checking out a guide. You can probably gain 10 levels just buying some cheap materials and processing them at a workbench.

As I said, though, depending on when you created your main character you'll have a birthday pack in your mail inbox, which will contain a token to insta-level a new alt. The token will be for 10 levels for every year since your main was created (ie if it's four years old, the token will be to take a new character straight to level 40 etc). Can be a quick way to get a class more interesting to play up to speed asap.

The main story is probably one of the slowest ways to level tbh.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:49 pm
by Mantis
Well I do have a few other characters all at level 40 that I used birthday tokens on when I logged back in for the first time in a couple of years last November when I picked up Heart of Thorns, none of them have finished their starting areas exploration-wise though. Buying the expansion gave me a free level 80 boost token too which I haven't used yet because I wasn't sure which class to activate it on.

To be honest, they've redesigned the traits and specialisation system about three times since this game launched, so I'm just going to take a bit of time figuring out how it all works again. I made a Necromancer in November and got him to level 6 just relearning the ropes. The problem I've had picking a main to replace my Guardian is that none of the classes really jump out at me as being all that unique compared with the first game.

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:54 pm
by Sly Boots
Personally think Reaper... the elite spec for Necro... is the best class in the game. Packs a punch, is near-unkillable and is also quite simple to play, not relying on skill combos or deft fingers to make the most of, so putting another shout out for that. :)

I do think either way the elite classes are the way to go, may be worth reading around a little bit to see which one of those you like the sound of most before committing the level 80 boost (reaper ;) ).

Re: Guild Wars 2

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:21 pm
by Snowy
I am playing a Reaper spec Necro purely by chance, tried and enjoyed the base class and ended up zipping to 80 on it in no time.

Added you on friends Mantis so will keep an eye out for you. The fact that anyone in any zone scales to the level of the zone (plus all rewards and XP then match your ACTUAL level) is pure genius. For levelling I just bounced around as the mood took me, following events as they happened in zones and often clearing Heart objectives in doing so, grabbing resource nodes, vistas and viewpoints as I went along.

Gear-wise you can pick up a full epic set of gear for your spec for pennies in the AH, and then add to it as you go on past 80.

Great little game, I am loving it. Not being railroaded into PvP or Raids like I was in WoW is such a breath of fresh air, finally an MMO that just lets me get on with whatever I feel like doing.