Wanna try out new MMO - is Guild Wars 2 a good one?

[Sonny Fontaine]

I've only played Lineage 2 ages ago, but it was way too grindy. If you didn't donated it would take tens of hours just to grind for one damn best grade item.
How about the grind in Guild Wars 2?

Also, when it's gonna be releasing on steam? Also I know there's at least few editions of this game, which one would u recommend to buy for a newcomer?

[PgN]

GW2 isn't grindy at all unless you're interested in acquiring rare aesthetic gear. I recommend playing the game as a f2p. The game itself is entirely free so you wont have to spend anything unless you want skins and dlc access.

[Angoril]

If you're looking for a MMO with lots of instanced group content and constant gear upgrades, stay away from GW2. Instanced group content is not something they bother with almost at all and gear, if you exclude changing your build entirely, you won't be changing it almost at all.

GW2 is the very definition of a casual MMO. Easy to get into, easy to play, not anything really challenging about it but at the same time it doesn't dangle a carrot in front of your face all the time so you're free to do whatever you want without ever worrying about being left behind.

Nobody knows when it's gonna release on Steam as ArenaNet is horrible at communicating with the community outside of releasing patch notes and PR speech when they are about to f something up or have already done so. For the editions, the basic one is fine. The others only have cosmetics and discounted gems. Keep in mind that Living World episodes [wiki.guildwars2.com] are not a part of what you pay but they are extra.

[Mysteron 108]

One of the best imo. Tons of content, no sub, no p2w, cash shop has reasonable prices, lots of people still play it.

[steelwork]

it is if you are new to gw2.

[davidleetcu]

It's very friendly to casuals. It's worth trying the base game for free first. Nicest community, I've never had any drama.

The character classes all feel different and have unique mechanics so if you find one that you really enjoy it's great.

Basically you can try it for free so you won't lose anything but a bit of time.

[LeftPaw]

Don't get me wrong, there are some bad things, really bad.
Boss fights are horrendous. I have never enjoyed a boss fight in GW2 in all the years I've played. All bosses have a 'I WIN' button.
The graphical effects are crazy over the top bad. A lot of the time you can't look at your screen from the blinding lights.
Open world loot is s***. You can quest for a hour and get this lovely looking fancy chest drop only to find it's full of trophy junk worth 10 copper.

[Deathpunkin]

I played Guildwars 2 from launch, left the game shortly after HoT(finished it's story) haven't been back.
I played daily.
I bought the Special Edition Heart of Thorns Expansion(at a price of Core Game +)
Turned out to be 4 maps, 1 new "class" for each...class, and gliders... and a forkton more grind*
*- They're design Manifesto released back in 2010 states
"It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun;"
Yet, the stat jumps in the gear between Exotic -> Legendary -> Ascended is enough to make a difference.
Legendary & Ascended crafting is an absolutely stupid grind, made worse by a timegate for crafting Ascended materials..
The achievements include, acquiring all the Legendary->Ascended gear.
All the "Black Lion Box" gear(which requires mtx keys to open), or an extremely stupid low drop rate... 3 years of playing, I've only had 2 drop.

After charging us Vet players out the ass for the expansion, they made Core game F2P...
And compensated us with a $10 mtx, in the form of a SINGLE character slot.

THEN they made the Expansion Free, along side the next Expac release, with NO compensation for the people who already own it...

I could go on...
But, my point is...
They don't care about the playerbase, they just want our money.

[Han Alister]

They just want money for making boring game.

[Alchemist]

Originally posted by (FLUF)Deathpunkin:

I played Guildwars 2 from launch, left the game shortly after HoT(finished it's story) haven't been back.
I played daily.
I bought the Special Edition Heart of Thorns Expansion(at a price of Core Game +)
Turned out to be 4 maps, 1 new "class" for each...class, and gliders... and a forkton more grind*
*- They're design Manifesto released back in 2010 states
"It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun;"
Yet, the stat jumps in the gear between Exotic -> Legendary -> Ascended is enough to make a difference.
Legendary & Ascended crafting is an absolutely stupid grind, made worse by a timegate for crafting Ascended materials..
The achievements include, acquiring all the Legendary->Ascended gear.
All the "Black Lion Box" gear(which requires mtx keys to open), or an extremely stupid low drop rate... 3 years of playing, I've only had 2 drop.

After charging us Vet players out the ass for the expansion, they made Core game F2P...
And compensated us with a $10 mtx, in the form of a SINGLE character slot.

THEN they made the Expansion Free, along side the next Expac release, with NO compensation for the people who already own it...

I could go on...
But, my point is...
They don't care about the playerbase, they just want our money.

For what it is worth don't listen to people who think they are entitled to a compensation if a game makes the PREVIOUS expansions that have been out FOR YEARS free to new players to bring in more people. -_-

[Deathpunkin]

Originally posted by Alchemist:

For what it is worth don't listen to people who think they are entitled to a compensation if a game makes the PREVIOUS expansions that have been out FOR YEARS free to new players to bring in more people. -_-

More ticked at the fact that they charged CORE game price, for such little content...
Then made the F2P move, with pitiful compensation to the vets
AND
that they were beyond 100% dishonest with their promise to the playerbase of "This won't be a grind game"

[Maerlyn]

I've played on and off since release; it's one of the best MMOs out there. In contrast to many of the complaints above about them making more and more of the game free to new players, I call that smart. It's a typical business move to help keep an aging game relevant. Think of it this way: if a AAA game in 2012 cost $59.99 and you went to buy it today, would you really expect it to still be $59.99? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Is that an insult to the people who bought it at that price earlier? No - it was newer then, and they opted to buy it rather than wait. Same thing here; the moaning about it is just silly.

Beyond that - the game has a lot to offer over other "top" MMOs these days:
- Flexible builds with meaningful build choices
- Fully voiced MSQ and side quests
- Best mounts/mount system in any MMO
- Questing/leveling is so much different from most MMOs - I've never seen an MMO tie together exploration, questing, and playing with others in such a smooth way

It's not perfect, of course. For example, they've basically let dungeons rot and nobody plays them, which is unfortunate. I mean, you don't *need* to play them, so that's fine I guess, but I wish they'd just make them solo-able (or provide AI companions like they do on some quests) so people could still do them if they wanted to.

[Deathpunkin]

Originally posted by Maerlyn:

Think of it this way: if a AAA game in 2012 cost $59.99 and you went to buy it today, would you really expect it to still be $59.99? Of course not, that would be ridiculous..

...Lookin at you Call of Duty Franchise.

[Maerlyn]

Originally posted by (FLUF)Deathpunkin:

Originally posted by Maerlyn:

Think of it this way: if a AAA game in 2012 cost $59.99 and you went to buy it today, would you really expect it to still be $59.99? Of course not, that would be ridiculous..

...Lookin at you Call of Duty Franchise.

Spot on. Totally ridiculous, and one of the (many) reasons I generally don't play CoD games anymore.

[Maerlyn]

Originally posted by Replicant:

As one of the many players that invested in to this game back when it first launched. This is absolutely true. Guild Wars 2 is a casual mmo where you pretty much spam 1 button to win. I have recently returned after hearing about DX11 finally being added, plus I need a break from Final Fantasy XIV until Endwalker releases.

Two things:
1 - "DX11 finally being added" - not true, it wasn't added yet. There's an opt-in beta coming later this year.
2 - "Spam 1 button to win" - In core Tyria, perhaps; the journey to 80 in the core game is meant to be relatively straightforward (although calling it spam a button to win there is still pretty hyberpolic). It's definitely not true as you move into the bulk of the actual content people stay for.

[steelwork]

Originally posted by Maerlyn:

Originally posted by Replicant:

As one of the many players that invested in to this game back when it first launched. This is absolutely true. Guild Wars 2 is a casual mmo where you pretty much spam 1 button to win. I have recently returned after hearing about DX11 finally being added, plus I need a break from Final Fantasy XIV until Endwalker releases.

Two things:
1 - "DX11 finally being added" - not true, it wasn't added yet. There's an opt-in beta coming later this year.
2 - "Spam 1 button to win" - In core Tyria, perhaps; the journey to 80 in the core game is meant to be relatively straightforward (although calling it spam a button to win there is still pretty hyberpolic). It's definitely not true as you move into the bulk of the actual content people stay for.

farming content on a mpais often 50+ ppl running around doing the events while spamming 1. we are even told to spam 1 to make sure everyoen gets to hit the mobs and loot.
but sometimes you have special events with a boss. there you just unleach your core skill rotation to do damage over and over again roughly where everyone is going.
its pretty brainless.