So now that you've had time to gather your thoughts...

[Lane]

I've done the starting zones I don't know how many times now and I still come across events I've never seen.

As far as "PvE" is concerned, I don't consider running the same half dozen dungeons and/or 1-2 raids to be superior to 'questing' or exploration. I never have understood people who skip 90% of a game's content just to run the last 10% ad nauseum and then claim anything prior to max level isn't content.

The only "daily" I know of in GW2 can be completed in less than half an hour, anywhere in the world you like, and it's not even really necessary unless you want the extra karma.

[Fencers]

Questing content in theme park MMOs only function is to propel players to that 10% of content. So to speak.

It is a mistake on the player's part of such games to assume the length of questing content is the main function of the PVE experience.

Theme park MMOs are simply not designed with the intention that you are having a ball hanging out in the level 20-25 zone. That's all you, and irrespective of design.

[aikoyamamato]

I played Queensdale I think 3 or 4 times. Had quite different experiences most of the time. So no, they are not just quests in my opinion.

You fought x, you gathered x. They were quests.

Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing...questing is the staple of pretty much every MMO. It just is not different enough of an experience to be labelled as something extraordinary or revolutionary (not that anyone here has literally said so) and I would not sell anyone on playing GW2 for the DEs. I admittedly got caught up in the hype. I thought they would be totally random experiences, similar to say randomly generated dungeons, that would interact with the world permanently. I recall as well "permanent changes to the world" being one of the things being promoted by ANet (I could be very wrong, like I said I bought into the hype generated by the community). It just isn't the case.

Like I said in a post above, I would sell GW2 on exploration and leveling variety. If you wanted to you could never do a single DE and eventually hit level cap just by exploring, crafting, PvP (I think?) amongst other things. If that is the kind of PvE content you like, sure. But that is casual PvE and does not offer up any kind of a challenge. Which is why I would not recommend GW2 to someone who wants serious, challenging PvE.

[Ytlayol]

I would recommend GW2 and the FPS MMO that just came out. My friends are more interested in action games with realistic graphics.

[Terahertz]

I love GW2 because of easy access to the game. I don't play GW2 mainly becuase I'm more busy with WoW. But whenever I feel like it, I go and play GW2 simply because I can. I'm still extremely low lvl, but I'll get to lvl 80 someday. I also mainly enjoy doing Jump Puzzles and a small bit of WvWvW. But generally I try to lvl/sPvP. I really recommend GW2 to anybody who enjoys the feeling of accomplishment because many things you achieve in GW2, feel great IMO.

[Crimsonfiend76]

all im hoping for is something similar to the enjoyable leveling experience ive had in swtor. i was considering picking it up and wished for some kind of demo, but word of mouth will have to do. full disclosure, ive played wow pretty hardcore since mid-bc (eventually sold my ps3 & 360-boy do i regret that), ive played other mmo's like AoC, Rift, Swtor, and while considering cancelling my swtor sub, rediscovered i still enjoyed playing it.

maybe its just the coincidence of this holiday season, but with most of my wow guildies being MIA for raids, and dailies burnout, im reconsidering going on another long 6+ month hiatus from wow and looking for a replacement.

[Maarius]

I recall as well "permanent changes to the world" being one of the things being promoted by ANet (I could be very wrong, like I said I bought into the hype generated by the community). It just isn't the case.

yeah they never said this. They talked about persistent changes - means something changes until someone comes around (enemy, player) and changes it forward/back. It's cyclical in nature.

Will dynamic events reset? For example, if an NPC dies in a dynamic event, will that NPC die forever for everyone in the world, or will she eventually respawn? What if players kill a boss in a dynamic event, and I logged off for the day and missed it? Are dynamic events really just one-shot, large-scale quests?

Colin: Dynamic event chains can reset. As chains, they move along paths based on player participation and event outcome. If an NPC dies in a dynamic event, their corpse might sit there waiting for players to come resurrect it and kick-start the event chain again, or it may re-spawn some time later.
“…every time you explore the world there is always something new and different around every corner for you to discover.”
Our event chains will never be lost to everyone in the world forever, they’ll simply cycle back into different states based on their outcomes, or they might not be actively running based on the current state of the event chain. If you and other players push an assault on the centaur base event chain to the point where you kill their commander, eventually the centaurs will choose a new commander and the event chain can begin again.

Changes from events will not be permanent and last forever, but they will change the world directly and last for a period of time long enough that it feels like what you did matters and has an impact. If we wanted every event we designed to run only once, we’d need to hire approximately 100,000 people to make enough events to fill GW2. Since our budget isn’t quite that big, we’re going for the next best thing and creating awesome cycling event chains that allow you to experience a wide variety of ever-changing content, but allow us to use event chains more than once.

With our dynamic event system, you’re never really missing the fun stuff, just experiencing different fun content than someone else at a specific time. It gives the world a feeling like there is always something exciting and fun going on out there that you may have never seen before. You don’t feel let down because you missed an event; instead, you’re excited to discover the next event!

http://www.arena.net/blog/colin-joha...vent-questions

[Purple]

So far the people I see dislike this game the most are the ones approaching it like WoW, and WoW-like, MMOs. If you're really in it for jump in, and out, gameplay, at your leisure, then I think you'll get plenty out of it. It's low risk. It's not very expensive. Pop in. Pop out. Play a bit here. Play a bit there.

I've not played the game for a while now, but doesn't GW2 have more of a grind than WoW?

You're joking.

[Hanyuu]

I am pretty new to guild wars even as a franchise. My friends all picked up around Christmas. The selling points for us were how the fractal system (like mentoring in EQ2) and no monthly fee. Two of our number tend to fall behind in levels and then we have to go through the mess of leveling alts to play with them. And there's one guy that's a fence sitter when it comes to mmos because he hates paying months fees. So everyone wins. We can play our mains as much as we want and even the guys logging in once a month pretty can feel okay about not having a sub.

I have to admit, I thought the game might be too simple with only 10 buttons, but I've enjoyed the ability to switch weapons (or forms for elementalists) and the complexity of the talent systems. The personal stories really make it like a solo rpg in a way and I loved having to make meaningful choices. The dynamic events remind me of public quests in Warhammer, but they seem to be better since they are random. There's a sense of urgency, hey there's an event, I better go do that. The heart style quests are the least interesting, but I like how there's a variety of things you can do to complete each one. I have to admit, i find myself going wow this game looks good. Maybe it is because I've been playing mmos that don't have the normal graphic package of a modern game, but I find myself just gawking more than anything else.

I am only level 17 so far, so take my opinion at a grain of salt, but I already don't regret buying it. It was a great Christmas present to myself. I really don't care about the supposedly lack of endgame as much as I do just running dungeons with my friends. This game seems to deliver all that without a monthly fee and without trying to keep alts up...that's a huge draw for me.

At the end of the day, you pay for it once and then if you enjoy it great. Heck with most sub mmos, even if you don't pay much up front, it will take you at least a month or two worth of sub fees. I really like the fact you can spend in game money to get gems...so even the flashly store items are available to anyone who puts their time in.

[dokilar]

i recommend anyone to play it. like fencers said, its really a low risk purchase. its a good mmo that doesnt require any monthly fee so you can play it as casually as you desire. the gear treadmill is not really as severe as it is in other mmos so even if you take a break for a few weeks or even a month you dont fall behind on your gear progression nearly as bad. at least thats my opinion.

the game is visually stunning and the story is quite engaging.

[Diocassius]

all im hoping for is something similar to the enjoyable leveling experience ive had in swtor. i was considering picking it up and wished for some kind of demo, but word of mouth will have to do. full disclosure, ive played wow pretty hardcore since mid-bc (eventually sold my ps3 & 360-boy do i regret that), ive played other mmo's like AoC, Rift, Swtor, and while considering cancelling my swtor sub, rediscovered i still enjoyed playing it.

maybe its just the coincidence of this holiday season, but with most of my wow guildies being MIA for raids, and dailies burnout, im reconsidering going on another long 6+ month hiatus from wow and looking for a replacement.

Leveling experience is almost on par with SWTOR. If if it's burnout that's making you quit wow gw2 should be the best replacement, no point in jumping ship to swtor/rift where you do the same thing all over again.

[budong]

Buy it, play it, love it.

[Highangel]

I played a bit at launch but quit because of server lag, queues and minor issues, i don't think i really gave a try... my old PC weren't quite up to the task either.

I recently started again and right now i'm rather enjoying it. It takes a while to get used to the weapon system i think, also it might seem simple at first but there are a lot of options on how to play your profession. There's plenty of content to keep you entertained for a long time... i don't really care about "endgame" so i'm not worrying about it, i like to explore and have fun out in the world.

I think the games scenery looks great most places, although i'm not a fan of human/norn characters. Animations are a bit weird, i just can't put my finger on it.. so i just picked another race (lovin the Asura). Also what's up with human female faces, i think they all have the same basic look. :s

At the moment i just try do to all heart quests, and follow whatever events i stumble upon that looks interesting... i gather all materials i can, do the main quest line when i feel like it. I don't try to hard to get everything done in a map, but will maybe return later and do the missing stuff. So far there have been not trouble leveling up, currently lvl 30 and haven't done any crafting or pvp.

I think it's worth the price, and you can always just put it down when you get tired of it and come back later.

[Flalia4]

Personally I think this game got old real fast like. If you don't like doing LITERALLY the.same.thing.for.ever. then this game isn't for you.

[Highangel]

Personally I think this game got old real fast like. If you don't like doing LITERALLY the.same.thing.for.ever. then this game isn't for you.

I don't know many games that does not repeat themselves.
It's like saying you should not play Battlefield if you don't like doing the same stuff forever.

[Flalia4]

I don't know many games that does not repeat themselves.
It's like saying you should not play Battlefield if you don't like doing the same stuff forever.

Atleast with shooters theres different players of different skills that can change each time you play. Guild wars 2 just feels repetitive same thing different look each time. I know that can be said about any online game but for me it really shows its repetitiveness. and to the op leveling a new character may be tougher now as in my experience a LOT of the lower level areas are just empty.

[xizzu]

Atleast with shooters theres different players of different skills that can change each time you play. Guild wars 2 just feels repetitive same thing different look each time. I know that can be said about any online game but for me it really shows its repetitiveness. and to the op leveling a new character may be tougher now as in my experience a LOT of the lower level areas are just empty.

HMMM?? why dnt you play gw2 pvp than? There are many players with different skills in pvp, and yes all online games are repetitive. That said I understand that it sux to play in dead areas, which sadly some low level zones lack people now in gw2.

[Hanyuu]

HMMM?? why dnt you play gw2 pvp than? There are many players with different skills in pvp, and yes all online games are repetitive. That said I understand that it sux to play in dead areas, which sadly some low level zones lack people now in gw2.

I can only speak for my server, but the two starting human zones have been brimming with people. I was really surprised to see so many especially with only 5 character slots on an account. It didn't feel dead at all, though alot of my time has been around Christmas to New Years, so your mileage may vary.

[Karizee]

I can only speak for my server, but the two starting human zones have been brimming with people. I was really surprised to see so many especially with only 5 character slots on an account. It didn't feel dead at all, though alot of my time has been around Christmas to New Years, so your mileage may vary.

The starting zones got a bit quiet on servers that were locked to FULL for months, but everytime they lift the server caps there is tons of activity again.

[Maarius]

here a livestream, which may help on deciding if it's for you

http://massively.joystiq.com/livestream

it's up now