GW2 or ESO?

[Thaedd]

After 1800 hours in eso, im looking at gw2, ive heard a lot of good things about it, i played it a little bit but i was a slave to eso so i didnt have the time.

I'm kinda bummed I seem to have missed the "golden years" of gw2 (according to this forum) just like I missed the best years of eso (2016 -ish). I'm a long-time mmo player and I can't stand the p2w and microtransactions, paywalls, lack of real open world danger, etc.

Waiting on Ashes of Creation to save us all!!!

But in the meantime...

Gw2 seems like it has a decent monetization system, and what little gameplay I've seen (mostly Preach) looks pretty good.

Is it worth buying the expensive bundle ($100) or just play free version? Do I lose anything by playing free version and only later buying living world stuff, etc?

[Joker]

You haven't missed the golden years of GW2.
It still is
You are kind of in a better position than veterans.
So much content available with out having to wait on new stuff.
All old content is relevant. So much to do.
Game is not dead despite what this forum might tell you.
There's a guy who keep bumping these threads and keeping them alive.
Look at the 88% positive reviews instead.

I'd say try out the f2p and see if you like it.

Hope you have fun

Edit: Also feel free to add me with questions. As long as it's not competitive related and buildcraft related. I'm a casual gamer, but I know the game kind of well besides that.

[⎝⧹๖ۣۜFleksus⧸⎠]

if you start a ten year old game you have to be prepared to have paywalls. but gw2 is f2p just give it a try

[MaGicBush]

Plenty of players running around all the time in any zone I visited while leveling a toon not long ago.

[Nico]

You won't lose much if you first play free2play before buying anything, besides some small daily reward. And the 100€ bundle is certainly worth it if you really like the game and decide to stick to it for a really long time. Though since the next expansion gets released soon you have to be aware of that you then also need to buy that 25€ expansion if you want to be able to play all content. But besides that it really gives you all available content and you won't have to pay any more to get access to any more content, besides if they might add another expansion somewhen in the future.

Does locking content behind expansions count as paywalling? I guess it should, right? So I guess there are paywalls. And microtransactions, aka cosmetics and QoL stuff. Though it's hard to argue that there is pay2win even though you can buy gems with money and convert them to the ingame currency, aka gold, since you can't really get much stronger by having more money, especially not in pvp. So I guess it doesn't exactly matter if a game has somethign or not but how it has it and if it abuses the features. (I already heard enough discussions about how a game already failed simply since it is free2play, no matter how exactly it is monetized, so I guess prejudices always exist) And regarding the danger of the open world I mostly heard negative stuff regarding the first expansions areas, aka HoT, since it's really dangerous compared to the vanila, aka free2play areas, but I guess you make it sound like that's exactly what you want?

Though I have absolutely no idea about the golden years part. The game to me feels like it always felt, regarding activity, and nowadays there certainly is a lot more different stuff to do than it used to be, so it gets repetitive much slower.

[likous]

Originally posted by Joker:

You haven't missed the golden years of GW2.
It still is
You are kind of in a better position than veterans.
So much content available with out having to wait on new stuff.
All old content is relevant. So much to do.
Game is not dead despite what this forum might tell you.
There's a guy who keep bumping these threads and keeping them alive.
Look at the 88% positive reviews instead.

I'd say try out the f2p and see if you like it.

Hope you have fun

Edit: Also feel free to add me with questions. As long as it's not competitive related and buildcraft related. I'm a casual gamer, but I know the game kind of well besides that.

This ^^

[tatiana]

I second everything Joker already said above,

Let's think of it as having 3 options, each with their advantages and drawbacks:

1. Playing for free.

- The chat, email and Trading Post restrictions are there to combat gold sellers. From what I've heard, F2P players can still buy and sell crafting materials.

- 2 character slots and 3 bag slots, instead of 5 and 5 respectively. No Revenant profession

- F2P players also don't get daily login rewards, but these are convenience items and laurels (currency you can redeem at laurel vendors in major cities). We have been promised a revamp/streamlining of login and achievement rewards once the next expansion comes out.

- There is level gating. You need to wait until level 10 (reachable in 60-90 minutes) before you can enter your racial capital, while the non-free players can go there at level 2 ( after finishing the starter quest, which takes 10 minutes max). Lion's Arch, the capital of Tyria, with portals to all the other capitals and the Mystic Forge for some high-level crafting, is available at level 35 for F2P players, and level 2 for everyone else. In other words, as a free player, you need to wait until your Personal story takes you there.

2. Buying the Heart of Thorns + Path of Fire bundle.

- Removes all F2P restrictions, although you may need to wait up to 4 days for the chat, email and Trading Post ones to be lifted.

- Unlocks Living World season 1 and the first 2 expansions. That's Half of all content ever released for the game!

- Also gives you a level 80 boost and a shared inventory slot (shared between all your characters). However, it is strongly recommended that you level at least 1 character "naturally" before using the boost, to learn the story.

3. Buying the Complete Collection. The same as option 2, plus:

- Access to All content ever released for the game (So far. Not counting the upcoming expansion obviously).

- if I'm not mistaken, 2 level 80 boosts and 2 shared inventory slots. What I said above still applies.

Living Story seasons can be bought separately in the gem store. As there isn't such a thing as a Living Story bundle, the Complete Collection might let you get them cheaper, but it all depends on whether you are willing to spend such a large sum all at once.

[Hefutoxin]

Originally posted by Thaedd:

lack of real open world danger

The F2P, 1-80, base game is about as difficult as ESO's open world.

Don't let that fool you into thinking the expansions are just as easy. Nothing in the base game prepares you for the expansions.

[Tuathaqin]

Originally posted by Hefutoxin:

Originally posted by Thaedd:

lack of real open world danger

The F2P, 1-80, base game is about as difficult as ESO's open world.

Don't let that fool you into thinking the expansions are just as easy. Nothing in the base game prepares you for the expansions.

Seasons 1 and 2 ramp up nicely in terms of putting you in the way of more and more powerful enemies. Some of the fights in Season 1, alone, will be much more challenging than anything in the core game. And that's part of the free section.

I think what most people were thrown by with HoT is the abundance of open world group events. Don't solo them, and you'll be fine.

[naapsuland]

GW2 is one of the best mmo, its that simple and its not dead

[Hefutoxin]

Originally posted by Tuathaqin:

Originally posted by Hefutoxin:

The F2P, 1-80, base game is about as difficult as ESO's open world.

Don't let that fool you into thinking the expansions are just as easy. Nothing in the base game prepares you for the expansions.

Seasons 1 and 2 ramp up nicely in terms of putting you in the way of more and more powerful enemies. Some of the fights in Season 1, alone, will be much more challenging than anything in the core game. And that's part of the free section.

I think what most people were thrown by with HoT is the abundance of open world group events. Don't solo them, and you'll be fine.

Speaking of the open world.

You can facetank the open world in Core. Not much incoming damage. Maybe some World Boss attacks, but that would be expected.

HoT has dodge-or-die in open world for many basic enemies. Pocket Raptors are the first open world enemy you find and nothing in open world core does that kind of spike damage. A veteran would know to AoE or dodge half a second after seeing one move, but a newbie is just going to see a couple small critters

[Tuathaqin]

Originally posted by Hefutoxin:

Originally posted by Tuathaqin:

Seasons 1 and 2 ramp up nicely in terms of putting you in the way of more and more powerful enemies. Some of the fights in Season 1, alone, will be much more challenging than anything in the core game. And that's part of the free section.

I think what most people were thrown by with HoT is the abundance of open world group events. Don't solo them, and you'll be fine.

Speaking of the open world.

You can facetank the open world in Core. Not much incoming damage. Maybe some World Boss attacks, but that would be expected.

HoT has dodge-or-die in open world for many basic enemies. Pocket Raptors are the first open world enemy you find and nothing in open world core does that kind of spike damage. A veteran would know to AoE or dodge half a second after seeing one move, but a newbie is just going to see a couple small critters

I can only offer personal experience, as I can't talk for anyone else. I went into HoT with my core staff elementalist. I finished the story and most of the achievements on that same character. Of course I died a number of times, but still, I had a blast. Before the nerfs to the zones, even.

[Joker]

Originally posted by Tuathaqin:

Originally posted by Hefutoxin:

Speaking of the open world.

You can facetank the open world in Core. Not much incoming damage. Maybe some World Boss attacks, but that would be expected.

HoT has dodge-or-die in open world for many basic enemies. Pocket Raptors are the first open world enemy you find and nothing in open world core does that kind of spike damage. A veteran would know to AoE or dodge half a second after seeing one move, but a newbie is just going to see a couple small critters

I can only offer personal experience, as I can't talk for anyone else. I went into HoT with my core staff elementalist. I finished the story and most of the achievements on that same character. Of course I died a number of times, but still, I had a blast. Before the nerfs to the zones, even.

Most fun, but tangled depths though ... That tangled depths though

[Tuathaqin]

Originally posted by Joker:

Most fun, but tangled depths though ... That tangled depths though :lunar2019crylaughingpig:

I'm not going to be popular: I love Tangled Depths. First time map completion was a... challenge, to say the least, but I will never not love that map.

To stay on topic a little bit: I'll take Tangled Depths over any map in ESO. After a 1000 hours in that game, I can't tell most of the zones apart. On the other hand, I score very high in GW2 geoguesser ( https://gw2-geoguesser.mael.tech/ )

[Joker]

Originally posted by Tuathaqin:

Originally posted by Joker:

Most fun, but tangled depths though ... That tangled depths though

I'm not going to be popular: I love Tangled Depths. First time map completion was a... challenge, to say the least, but I will never not love that map.

To stay on topic a little bit: I'll take Tangled Depths over any map in ESO. After a 1000 hours in that game, I can't tell most of the zones apart. On the other hand, I score very high in GW2 geoguesser ( https://gw2-geoguesser.mael.tech/ )

haha, that's fair
My favorite maps are the snowy ones
I like the stormy snowy ones the most.
Both the visual and the ambient SFX is so good
So chill and atmospheric

It's also the core region that has aged the best imo

[mysaga]

Originally posted by Tuathaqin:

Originally posted by Joker:

Most fun, but tangled depths though ... That tangled depths though :lunar2019crylaughingpig:

I'm not going to be popular: I love Tangled Depths. First time map completion was a... challenge, to say the least, but I will never not love that map.

To stay on topic a little bit: I'll take Tangled Depths over any map in ESO. After a 1000 hours in that game, I can't tell most of the zones apart. On the other hand, I score very high in GW2 geoguesser ( https://gw2-geoguesser.mael.tech/ )

Guys... I think we have found the map designer responsible for that going undercover...

Seriously, I like that map visually and I have kind of learned to avigate it. It is stil the most confusing one.

And I have to agree on the ESO maps. The game doesn't look bad, but there are few memorable places sadly. You notice the copied assets very strongly there.