CONTROVERSIAL OPINION: Guild Wars 2 is good RPG, but not a good MMO!

[Vasilevsy]

For 10 years now I have heard again and again how great game is Guild Wars 2, how it "respect" your time, it gives competative people good PvP and it gives peaceful people good PvE, GW2 has huge variety in activities - PvP, PvE, events, exploring, crafting, collecting (chievos, fashion, mounts, etc.)... In other words, GW2 is the best MMORPG on the market...

Well, no. As the title says, GW2 is great RPG, it has done so many things right in the field of role playing, but in the MMO part.... not really. Actually GW2 took everything bad from MMO genre and just throw it in the mix, hoping to lure more people that enjoy that genre. For me personally it just didn't work as it was planned to work as MMO.

First of all I will start with the tedious and repetative things you need to do to level/get items/get achievemnets (etc.) If you think that GW2 did something better than any other MMO in the market regarding this section, you are just delusional. Yeah, yeah descovering the world is great and stuff, but doing it like 20-30 times is not that much fun... You enter new, undescovered part of the map and you need to find and climb Visats, find Waypoints, find Points of interest, complete Hero points... you know the drill. Doing this on every map is not much fun as most GW2 fanbois present it. The Tasks (the hearts thing) is actually as generic as it can get and is no different than stupid quests in other MMOs.

Alot of people doesn't like the gear treadmill on other MMOs, in the same they are the first to farm gems/gold for cool skins... How is farming for fashion items different from farming for power items?

Combat better than most games... hell NO. Actually one of the worst combat systmes I've seen in MMOs. They mixed tab targeting with action and they got... boring, 2-3 buttons spam that is even more cringe in PvP.

Crafting is kinda OK, but because the game doesn't require from you a great deal of efffort for to get better gear, there is no incentive to hunt materials and play the market (except earning gold).

These are my hot takes after 100h of play time. I got lvl 80, I finished the main story, and yeah good RPG, but the MMO part sux at least for me.

I hate playing MMOs game solo and this game forced me to do just that.

[Requimatic]

I mean, there's groups for stuff going on constantly on my server (Darkhaven) and I've only been playing for a little over a week now?

HP trains, Meta trains, people grouping up for bounties/legendaries/world bosses, etc.

I assume the same thing goes on for Fractals, Raids, etc. as well. I haven't even actively looked for these things and I've joined in on a couple HP trains through HoT zones, Meta trains, and a few other things.

Have I played mostly solo, though? Yes, but it hasn't felt forced at all, nor do I mind playing solo since I'm not even in a guild.

[TheWarden]

Strange that you felt the game forced you to solo when you can quite literally group to do every single thing imaginable in this game.

[Satyr]

I only find this opinion odd because its way more accurate to say its the other way around. Its a great MMO with some of the best, and most well designed MMO content. Almost nothing has to be done solo, and its very easy to find people doing the open world content all over the map. What you are probably experiencing here is the lack of updated social features that make it easier for people to come together. You realize this once you get a commander tag and start organizing things yourself, how easy it actually is to get people. This is something they definitely need to fix.

On the other hand I think the game is a terrible RPG. Nothing I have ever done in this game has ever made me feel attached to my character or immersed in the world from my characters perspective. I just play the game cuz its fun. But thats subjective.

[Oddy]

Originally posted by Vasilevsy:

Well, no.

Which is an opinion, not a fact.

Originally posted by Vasilevsy:

For me personally

Attaboy.

Originally posted by Vasilevsy:

Alot of people doesn't like the gear treadmill on other MMOs, in the same they are the first to farm gems/gold for cool skins... How is farming for fashion items different from farming for power items?

1) You doesn't equal a lot of people. I am sure there's people who will agree with you but don't use the collective "We" to make a point. For all we know you're the only one who thinks this. I'm sure you make great points, couldn't be arsed to read so skimmed it but people these days try to make a point as if they spoke to the entire community and came to this conclussion. YOU don't like the gear treadmill. And that's okay.

2) Farming for power items is a requirement to keep updated on newly released content while farming for fashion is entirely optional and is a choice and/or side activity since you don't NEED fashionable items/mount skins to progress through the game.

Originally posted by Vasilevsy:

I hate playing MMOs game solo and this game forced me to do just that.

You seriously haven't said WHY you felt the need to play alone since there's a dozen of dungeons, fractals, raids, PvP, WvW, group events etc. You must've worked VERY hard to ignore all of these activities to have found zero people to do content with.

*Edit* Almost all of your points have NOTHING to do with it being an MMOrpg. MMO stands for Massive Multiplayer Online roleplaying game. These are your gripes with the mechanics of the game and have zero to do with interaction with other people. Just an fyi.

[Sychon]

So the game doesn't work for you. That's absolutely fine.
Why does that automatically mean that everyone else must have been lured into playing it, though? You are externalising your dissatisfaction by antagonising the game.

Also, the game does not force you to solo. What it doesn't do is quite the opposite: forcing you to group up for everything. The possibility is always there, though, the game simply hands you the opportunity to take initiative instead of doing it for you.

Another thing:

Originally posted by Vasilevsy:

How is farming for fashion items different from farming for power items?

This should be blatantly obvious but here you go: you have to do one to stay relevant in the game while the other is entirely optional based on your preference. Guess which is which.

[PacoXI]

I don't think you like MMOs.

[Saber]

Originally posted by Vasilevsy:

For 10 years now I have heard again and again how great game is Guild Wars 2, how it "respect" your time, it gives competative people good PvP and it gives peaceful people good PvE, GW2 has huge variety in activities - PvP, PvE, events, exploring, crafting, collecting (chievos, fashion, mounts, etc.)... In other words, GW2 is the best MMORPG on the market...

Well, no. As the title says, GW2 is great RPG, it has done so many things right in the field of role playing, but in the MMO part.... not really. Actually GW2 took everything bad from MMO genre and just throw it in the mix, hoping to lure more people that enjoy that genre. For me personally it just didn't work as it was planned to work as MMO.

First of all I will start with the tedious and repetative things you need to do to level/get items/get achievemnets (etc.) If you think that GW2 did something better than any other MMO in the market regarding this section, you are just delusional. Yeah, yeah descovering the world is great and stuff, but doing it like 20-30 times is not that much fun... You enter new, undescovered part of the map and you need to find and climb Visats, find Waypoints, find Points of interest, complete Hero points... you know the drill. Doing this on every map is not much fun as most GW2 fanbois present it. The Tasks (the hearts thing) is actually as generic as it can get and is no different than stupid quests in other MMOs.

Alot of people doesn't like the gear treadmill on other MMOs, in the same they are the first to farm gems/gold for cool skins... How is farming for fashion items different from farming for power items?

Combat better than most games... hell NO. Actually one of the worst combat systmes I've seen in MMOs. They mixed tab targeting with action and they got... boring, 2-3 buttons spam that is even more cringe in PvP.

Crafting is kinda OK, but because the game doesn't require from you a great deal of efffort for to get better gear, there is no incentive to hunt materials and play the market (except earning gold).

These are my hot takes after 100h of play time. I got lvl 80, I finished the main story, and yeah good RPG, but the MMO part sux at least for me.

I hate playing MMOs game solo and this game forced me to do just that.

You dont need to do map comp to lvl up . You can lvl up in pvp/wvw , from log in rewards , festivals ,or just doing events and story bits .
There was even at least 1 person who lvl up with just fishing .

https://youtu.be/We3YEBkByPc

So no you dont need to do hearts and vistas to lvl up .

As for farming for skins its up to you . A cool skin in red color wont make you faster this is not warhammer 40k .
Most of the content will give you some kind of skisn and you can use them to make something ok ish looking .

2-3 button spam is kind of a thing for bad or really lazy builds .
Lazy ones can be fine for people with limitations or people who want to be effective with low effort.

Some of the top dps builds operate with 13 steps (current top one) 33 ,23,17 ,29. are all on the current benchamark . Not sure how many steps you need to be happy with but theres definitly more then 2-3 skills people use .

You still do need materials for ascended crafting , legendries , guild hall upgrades , collections ...

As for the game forcing you to play solo . I am not sure you even discovered the group game modes .
Sure there are people who can solo some of the raid bosses but something tells me you did not do that after 100h in game . Same goes for Strikes ,Fractals maybe even dungeons.
And even if you are one of the top players in game I am yet to see one to solo a meta event. So you skipped that one also .

[Nico]

What? There are builds that only need 2-3 button mashes? Then why was I always stuck with those builds that asked me to use like ... 20 different skills constantly? Admittedly only like 15 buttons, since some skills are on the same buttons .... but still, some of these buttons aren't even skills.

If I would even attempt to just mash 2-3 buttons I would immediately get kicked out of every raid team ...

[Mizak]

Unfortunately, I will have to disagree (respectfully). GW2 is not for you and that's all good, but this is easily the most MMO game of all the MMO games. Have you done any map meta events? Have you not come over a rise in the landscape to see 75-100 people fighting a dragon that do not need to be in a group for?

Game forced you to play solo?

You can not go 1 minute without seeing another player regardless of zone, if one needs help all that needs done is ask in map chat and you will have other players by your side quickly. There is so much content in this game that cannot be done solo, it really is remarkable that you feel this is an RPG only with no MMO going on.

Combat is no good an boring? This is also as erroneous as your other comments. GW2's combat is superb. Same 2-3 buttons? Try an Elementalist...4 elements, 5 unique abilities for each plus utilities spells... My dagger/dagger Ele literally has 25 skills available to use at any given time and Ele's do not weapon swap. Other classes weapon swap, giving you access to 15 unique skills to use at any given time. Then my Ele has a healing spec I can swap to at any moment (along with a gear swap) as long as I am out of combat. I the span of 5 minutes I can use 60 different abilities between the two specs.

I know new things can be scary, but you really are off the mark with this one. I also am not saying any of this to be nasty, you simply do not understand the fundamentals of the game. I can assure you if you like MMO's and stick with it so that your eyes can be opened, there is thousands of hours available here, and countless interactions with other players to be had.

Good luck!

[ϟTrixo-Zawunϟ]

As other comments have already mentioned some points about how wrong you are, not going to do so as well; its good to have an opinion, maybe GW2 is just not for you, some ppl take a few tries or aren't experienced enough with the MMO genre to understand the appeal of the game when they try it. As Josh S.H. has said, the best MMOs are the ones that let you play as a solo player if you want to, and GW2 story and RPG elements you recognized are indeed really good to do it; you can enjoy the lore and story and never engage with other players if you dont want; same with other systems like map completion or PvP gamemodes. Cheers.

[Awakened Gamer]

Originally posted by Harrada (SatyricL):

I only find this opinion odd because its way more accurate to say its the other way around. Its a great MMO with some of the best, and most well designed MMO content. Almost nothing has to be done solo, and its very easy to find people doing the open world content all over the map. What you are probably experiencing here is the lack of updated social features that make it easier for people to come together. You realize this once you get a commander tag and start organizing things yourself, how easy it actually is to get people. This is something they definitely need to fix.

On the other hand I think the game is a terrible RPG. Nothing I have ever done in this game has ever made me feel attached to my character or immersed in the world from my characters perspective. I just play the game cuz its fun. But thats subjective.

Not to mention the lack of depth of skill trees or alternate advancement of your class, I guess elite specs are kind of like that but not really, masteries was unique though it just could have been so much better and more fun.

[Vasilevsy]

Originally posted by TheWarden:

Strange that you felt the game forced you to solo when you can quite literally group to do every single thing imaginable in this game.

I didn't say you can't group lol... Most group events are just lifeless... Random people showing up for let's say that spider boss, we kill it (relatively fast) and that's it... No need to speak to anyone, no need to make a strategy, the only meaningful interaction with other players is when you revive them or they revive you... Also most of the group events that pop-up on the map can be done solo. Same goes for dungeons... I made them 4-5 times. My first time was the worst experience. I had really long loading screen and when I finally had entered the dungeon, my party already was deep inside and I couldn't reach them. Some mobs ganged me, killed me and none came to revive me... And don't even try to sell me the world bosses. 100+ random people just spam skills till the monster die... Again no meaningful interactions, no need for strategy. No competition between different groups for the loot....Yeah, you can group for any content, but it is more like a co-op game than like other MMOs I have played.

[Foxes]

its a bad rpg, EXCELLENT MMO.

[DarkSlayer197]

Originally posted by Requimatic:

I mean, there's groups for stuff going on constantly on my server (Darkhaven) and I've only been playing for a little over a week now?

HP trains, Meta trains, people grouping up for bounties/legendaries/world bosses, etc.

I assume the same thing goes on for Fractals, Raids, etc. as well. I haven't even actively looked for these things and I've joined in on a couple HP trains through HoT zones, Meta trains, and a few other things.

Have I played mostly solo, though? Yes, but it hasn't felt forced at all, nor do I mind playing solo since I'm not even in a guild.

Servers (or worlds) only matter in WvW. In PvE, everyone is under the same MegaServer that is only separated by region (US or EU). The pop determined by active WvW players.

[SeaDog]

"it has done so many things right in the field of role playing" ... dude. You haven't even played the game. Go away now.