The Best Alternative MMO for Guild Wars 2 players

[Flushing]

I'm an active Guild Wars 2 player. Not only is Guild Wars 2 one of the best MMOs of all time, but it is in the running for the best current MMO available.

As a PC-Gamer, I play multiple games at the same time and am always looking for other experiences. I had avoided Destiny 2 because it's an FPS style MMO, but I have to say clearly and unequivocally, that Destiny 2 is excellent, PARTICULARLY because I am a Guild Wars 2 Fan .

In explanation, Destiny 2 is a casual horizontal progression MMO. There is no hamster wheel grind. NONE. Combat is entirely skill based.

The PvE content is insanely good. It's very easy to find quests and objectives. Everything is noted on a global map and you can instantly travel to questlines without any travel time gates.

PVP, is exceptional. For those that don't gravitate to a pure team deathmatch style of PvP, there are modes that are predominantly PvE with a PvP flare (Gambit).

Mostly importantly, it doesn't feel like an FPS because you use melee weapons in a 3rd person view and you have many skills/spells that give the game a hybrid feel. For me, it feels closer to an Action RPG like Elden Ring or the Witcher 3, if the games were done in First Person.

Last, the free to play content is exceptional. I played it for about 2 months and purchased the last expansion. And, I only purchased the last expansion because I wanted to do campaigns with other players that I met. I felt zero limitations or artificial barriers in the free to play content, I only purchased more content because I fell in love with the game .

[Ashrala]

I cannot say that can be an alternative in some aspects. While some of the features are very similar to GW2, people are picky creatures.

For example, Density 2 is/has------
-not a fantasy genre, is it sci-fi
-no multiple magic elements (electricity shielding doesn't count)
-no "cute" skins, instead it has "cool" skins
-3 base classes (with subclasses)
-guns as your arsenal with some bows/staves/shields (correct me if I'm missing something)
-a very different art style

I would say its more of you would call a change of pace or you want a different background setting to play in, but not an alternative as far as the gameplay, style, and certain elements that some players like in a game. Personally, I've played Density 2 for a bit and it's not bad, but I had to stop due to motion sickness issues with the camera.

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

D2 is decent, certainly better than I was told it would be coming from being a longtime Warframe player. It's also one of the only "MMO-like" games that I've actually done raids in (this is one of those things where having friends to play with, and voice comms to talk to them with, comes in very handy). In spite of playing GW2 on-and-off for over 5 years, I've never touched raids here; in fact, I've actively avoided them just based off of reputation. I'm sure one day I'll take the leap, once I've found a decent guild; for now though, I'll stick to fractals, which are doable reasonably well with a group of randoms.

[Nibbie]

No hamster wheel grind in Destiny? What? The max level increases a bit every single season and you are put at level 1 every new expansion, your artifact power resets every single season, all your reputation levels with each vendor and your season pass reset each season so you can grind out new sets of rewards, which you had better do before the season ends or too bad, they're gone, possibly forever.

Old weapons were sunset so old players had to get all new weapons, and even after they stopped sunsetting a while ago they recently added origin perks which made old weapons strictly inferior to new ones, even if they were otherwise identical.

The F2P experience is ok, but really not that great. You get the open worlds, the ritual activities, a dungeon, and two returning raids. You have no campaigns, very little story, limited ways to gain power to do challenging content, and little variety to activities. Compare to GW2 or FF14, where you get the entire base game and more for free.

For monetization, there is no subscription, but you do have to buy the season passes. Basically they are like the Living World episode purchases, but not given away for free to current players and they rotate out at the end of each year.

It's great you're enjoying it, but some of these statements don't make much sense.

[Flushing]

Originally posted by Ashrala:

I cannot say that can be an alternative in some aspects. While some of the features are very similar to GW2, people are picky creatures.

For example, Density 2 is/has------
-not a fantasy genre, is it sci-fi
-no multiple magic elements (electricity shielding doesn't count)
-no "cute" skins, instead it has "cool" skins
-3 base classes (with subclasses)
-guns as your arsenal with some bows/staves/shields (correct me if I'm missing something)
-a very different art style

I would say its more of you would call a change of pace or you want a different background setting to play in, but not an alternative as far as the gameplay, style, and certain elements that some players like in a game. Personally, I've played Density 2 for a bit and it's not bad, but I had to stop due to motion sickness issues with the camera.

Have you played the game? Your characterizations indicate that you haven't because some of what your saying is just flat out wrong.

Destiny 2 is fantasy sci-fi. That allows for high fantasy archetypes, like Tanks, Wizards and Thieves. Dungeon crawls, etc.

There are multiple magic elements. Frost (stasis), Arc (lightning), Fire, Void (a Darkness/Cosmic/Shadow type magic all in one). That's 4, for class based damage, then everyone has access to kinetic damage.

Plus all classes mix and match damage types.

While there are three core classes, each has 4 sub-classes that are extraordinarily different. There is actually no reason to have additional core classes (doesn't make sense for Destiny 2); however, they could develop as many additional sub-classes as possible.

Cute vs Cool skins is highly subjective. I don't know what qualifies as cute, but there are seasonal skins for Holloween and Christmas. The cool skins have particle effects and glowing colors, and transitioning color gradients. I will concede nothing tops Guild Wars 2 level of skin particle effects.

There is significant weapon variety. It isn't simply a Gun arsenal. The differences between a hand cannon, sub-machine gun, and sniper rifle go further than how you deal dmg. There are weapon mods, special abilities, traits and combos that you link to weapons.

Also, there is significant and strong melee from Glaives and Power Swords. My current build revolves around a glaive that combos off of traits on my armor (a legendary set of gloves) to allow me to heal everytime I kill an enemy in melee combat. So I wade into mobs killing them in melee while healing myself.

That said, the Play for Free is worthwhile. I encourage you to try it before writing about it.

[Flushing]

Originally posted by Nibbie:

No hamster wheel grind in Destiny? What? The max level increases a bit every single season and you are put at level 1 every new expansion, your artifact power resets every single season, all your reputation levels with each vendor and your season pass reset each season so you can grind out new sets of rewards, which you had better do before the season ends or too bad, they're gone, possibly forever.

Old weapons were sunset so old players had to get all new weapons, and even after they stopped sunsetting a while ago they recently added origin perks which made old weapons strictly inferior to new ones, even if they were otherwise identical.

The F2P experience is ok, but really not that great. You get the open worlds, the ritual activities, a dungeon, and two returning raids. You have no campaigns, very little story, limited ways to gain power to do challenging content, and little variety to activities. Compare to GW2 or FF14, where you get the entire base game and more for free.

For monetization, there is no subscription, but you do have to buy the season passes. Basically they are like the Living World episode purchases, but not given away for free to current players and they rotate out at the end of each year.

It's great you're enjoying it, but some of these statements don't make much sense.

Sounds like you've never played, or don't know about the current state of the game. This definitely comes from reading but no player experience.

There are no character levels in Destiny 2. Your power level comes from weapons and armor. If you find an exotic or legendary weapon with a low power level that you want to keep, you just boost it's power level by dismantling regular common gear that you find while breathing that has a higher power level.

So, if I got an great exotic weapon with a power level of 1350, and I get a regular weapon with a power level of 1550, just from normal mobs, as I am literally just walking through content. I can convert my 1350 exotic weapon to the same exotic weapon but with a 1550 power level.

Sorry, that's not a grind. Noone has to go out of their way to raise their power level. It's easier than farting after you drink a liter of diet coke.

Stop the Cap. I'm not asking for your endorsement here. You are just straight up lying.

I am just looping those Guild Wars 2 players in, who may want to try a newer MMO for a change of pace. Don't comment just because you feel some need to be heard and want to derail my thread. You don't know what your talking about.

I wrote an honest assessment. That's it.

[Flushing]

Originally posted by Totally Innocent Chatbot:

D2 is decent, certainly better than I was told it would be coming from being a longtime Warframe player. It's also one of the only "MMO-like" games that I've actually done raids in (this is one of those things where having friends to play with, and voice comms to talk to them with, comes in very handy). In spite of playing GW2 on-and-off for over 5 years, I've never touched raids here; in fact, I've actively avoided them just based off of reputation. I'm sure one day I'll take the leap, once I've found a decent guild; for now though, I'll stick to fractals, which are doable reasonably well with a group of randoms.

Thank you for your honesty. There's really no need to do raids in GW2 unless you really really want to. The world bosses, fractals, WvW, PvP, Achievements and Living World have always been enough for me.

[Flushing]

I'm not looking for any opinions here. I wrote what I wrote to provide information for board Guild Wars 2 players who haven't tried Destiny 2 and are fans of the MMO space.

It's casual horizontal progression and no hamster wheel grinding.

It's free to Play version is a high value triple A cross-platform game from Bungie. It's well worth the cost.

That's it. No need for comments of any kind. Try it our don't.

[AwakenOne2010]

What about Neverwinter MMO? That is free to play. Doesn't cost too much to buy a few more character slots. Not sure if that could be an alternative. Maybe worth an investigation into? I have play Neverwinter MMO before and I remember it were pretty fun with demand on your combat skill in evading and good skill timing.

There is a lot of gambling in a lot of things i.e. chance based in obtaining what you want. Is this considered grinding?

[Ashrala]

Originally posted by Flushing:

Have you played the game? Your characterizations indicate that you haven't because some of what your saying is just flat out wrong.

Destiny 2 is fantasy sci-fi. That allows for high fantasy archetypes, like Tanks, Wizards and Thieves. Dungeon crawls, etc.

There are multiple magic elements. Frost (stasis), Arc (lightning), Fire, Void (a Darkness/Cosmic/Shadow type magic all in one). That's 4, for class based damage, then everyone has access to kinetic damage.

Plus all classes mix and match damage types.

While there are three core classes, each has 4 sub-classes that are extraordinarily different. There is actually no reason to have additional core classes (doesn't make sense for Destiny 2); however, they could develop as many additional sub-classes as possible.

Cute vs Cool skins is highly subjective. I don't know what qualifies as cute, but there are seasonal skins for Holloween and Christmas. The cool skins have particle effects and glowing colors, and transitioning color gradients. I will concede nothing tops Guild Wars 2 level of skin particle effects.

There is significant weapon variety. It isn't simply a Gun arsenal. The differences between a hand cannon, sub-machine gun, and sniper rifle go further than how you deal dmg. There are weapon mods, special abilities, traits and combos that you link to weapons.

Also, there is significant and strong melee from Glaives and Power Swords. My current build revolves around a glaive that combos off of traits on my armor (a legendary set of gloves) to allow me to heal everytime I kill an enemy in melee combat. So I wade into mobs killing them in melee while healing myself.

That said, the Play for Free is worthwhile. I encourage you to try it before writing about it.

It has been years since I played. If it seems like I have gotten some things wrong then that is probably would be why. Like I said, I had to stop because it was effecting my visual health. I still believe the game is a different feel altogether and not a fantasy alternative and that is my own honest opinion.

[Mr.Person]

I prefer Warframe for my casual sci Fi gun oriented game.

Not a true mmo but its in the same vein as GW2 as being very casual pick up and play whenever you want kinda vibe