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

[Valeron]

Well to each their own. Personally I find wow's art style as if someone puked a bucket of colors, I can't stand the look. But as people point out, it's subjective.

[BlairPhoenix]

Hmm, surely the only quality in graphics that matters is whether it looks "better", which is subjective. I honestly can't think of an objective measuring stick that one would use, other than whether a piece of graphic is doing its job functionally (a matter for the UI designer) and artistically from a beauty point-of-view (the art director's call). And that's having been technical director on several AAA PC games...

There is a lot of marketing bumpf that goes on around graphics - feature checklists, who does the most sophisticated shadows, texel density on the terrain, all that jazz. And when you're comparing two very similar games, say Call of Duty and Medal of Honour, these things matter. But really for many game comparisons it's smoke and mirrors, what really matters is the user experience, how the graphics affect you and whether they give you that 'awesome!' feeling. How you get there as a dev team is the tricky part

Graphics = Polygon count. Higher polygon count = Better graphics. Better looking? That is what is subjective. And I'd agree that graphics don't really mean jack shit when it comes to game comparisons. Still going to correct someone when they try to say that GW2 doesn't have better graphics than WoW. Does GW2 look better than WoW? Yeah, that is all subjective.

[draykorinee]

You can say you prefer the style of wows graphics more than GW2 but to say wow has better graphics than GW2 is absurd. I also prefer Wows graphical style to GW2 but on any technical level they are prehistoric compared to GW2.

Didnt say it had better graphics, and tbh comparing Mists to GW2 is not even close to prehistoric.

Graphics = Polygon count. Higher polygon count = Better graphics. Better looking? That is what is subjective. And I'd agree that graphics don't really mean jack shit when it comes to game comparisons. Still going to correct someone when they try to say that GW2 doesn't have better graphics than WoW. Does GW2 look better than WoW? Yeah, that is all subjective.

Agreed on that, I personally wouldnt ever say wows graphics are better, just had to object to people using old character models to highlight graphical inequality, I just prefer wow's graphical style, maybe saying graphics is subjective is wrong, i guess I meant style as opposed to graphics themselves.

[Deleted]

Gameplay > graphics all the way baby.

[Lazuli]

I think the main problem with GW characters is:

1. The green outline around anyone near you. It completely takes them out of the world and 2ds them. Awful awful choice.

2. The way they move on the ground. It's not done well and I know it was a huge complaint from beta/launch. It looks like they are running across a 2d screen instead of in the beautiful world they created.

Pandaria and Pandas are gorgeous, but it's still the same engine from 8 years ago with only so much it can do. GW2 is on a newer engine and due to artistic choice didn't really use it to max efficiency. Graphically GW2 is obviously better because it's not on an ancient engine. Whether artistically you think it looks better, that's all up to opinion and also not really comparable. WoW = Cartoon. GW = Realistic.

I think GWs foliage is divine and artistic choices for areas are pretty. I think their buildings look awful(WoW actually probably has higher poly buildings in MoP...) and as soon as you put people there it looks worse. WoW pandaland looks great and so do pandas. Old models in the world take away from it and you have to like the cartoony look to appreciate it.

I never had a problem with immersion in GW nor the way characters ran but I think I know what you mean, kinda like they had a stick up their ass? I got used to it.

GW2 engine is a modified version of GW1 engine

[Karizee]

Gameplay > graphics all the way baby.

And this is why GW2 is such a homerun, it has both

[BlairPhoenix]

Agreed on that, I personally wouldnt ever say wows graphics are better, just had to object to people using old character models to highlight graphical inequality, I just prefer wow's graphical style, maybe saying graphics is subjective is wrong, i guess I meant style as opposed to graphics themselves.

Don't blame you at all. In the end, the style is what makes a game look good to a person, not the graphics, and which style a person prefers, THAT is completely subjective.

[Deleted]

Would you recommend this game to someone who quit WoW because it was too time consuming, but still misses the fun that I had playing it?

Absolutely yes.

I like having the noob feel u get when u first started Wow. That feeling u have alot of stuff to explore, to learn, to try out.

There are so many features which are better than Wow. And one very important thing which is miles ahead of Wow... the community is much friendlier.

[Kanadei]

Absolutely yes.

I like having the noob feel u get when u first started Wow. That feeling u have alot of stuff to explore, to learn, to try out.

There are so many features which are better than Wow. And one very important thing which is miles ahead of Wow... the community is much friendlier.

I can see that by how they jump all over players who imply guild wars does anything less than perfect... or that WoW is a comparable game choice and not "omfg you play wow?! but every quest plays the same and it looks like someone 'puked colours all over the screen'".

[BlairPhoenix]

I can see that by how they jump all over players who imply guild wars does anything less than perfect... or that WoW is a comparable game choice and not "omfg you play wow?! but every quest plays the same and it looks like someone 'puked colours all over the screen'".

Yes because one should base all their opinions of MMO communities based on what the people on MMO-Champion are like. Really? How are you doing much better with that kind of skewed logic than the GW2 fanatics here?

[draykorinee]

I can see that by how they jump all over players who imply guild wars does anything less than perfect... or that WoW is a comparable game choice and not "omfg you play wow?! but every quest plays the same and it looks like someone 'puked colours all over the screen'".

Agreed the community is not really any different, the only positive thing was that there was no real fighting over stuff. The odd quest would have you fighting for pick ups but it was rare. The downside is they created a questing experience that at times requires people to be around to succeed which is particularly frustrating and a questing system that at times makes partying almost irrelevant and the people you play with just a bunch of figures running around. Its hard for me to say what I prefer, I dont like kill stealing mob tagging but I really disliked the anonymity that came with the questing zerg I experienced in GW2, things probably have progressed since those days but from my experience I thought the community to be just as obnoxious or friendly or arrogant or helpful as any mmo's. (also loads of wow obsession still) but I liked the notion that people wokred together, even if you never worked with people in reality, you just ran alongside them hoping not to die and hoping to get ressed if you did, but it had a good feel for a while.

[BlairPhoenix]

Agreed the community is not really any different, the only positive thing was that there was no real fighting over stuff. The odd quest would have you fighting for pick ups but it was rare. The downside is they created a questing experience that at times requires people to be around to succeed which is particularly frustrating and a questing system that at times makes partying almost irrelevant and the people you play with just a bunch of figures running around. Its hard for me to say what I prefer, I dont like kill stealing mob tagging but I really disliked the anonymity that came with the questing zerg I experienced in GW2, things probably have progressed since those days but from my experience I thought the community to be just as obnoxious or friendly or arrogant or helpful as any mmo's. (also loads of wow obsession still)

Personalized nodes are nice, and people are far more likely to rez you in GW2 vs someone in WoW if you're lying dead somewhere. Dunno what your experiences in WoW were like, but the questing system wasn't really any better, group quests now are pretty much extinct, and generally speaking, it's almost always better to be doing a quest by yourself in WoW rather than be doing it with other people. The only time I can recall partying to be relevant was when it came to 'x mobs quests' or 'named mob quest' and half the time, those random people wouldn't even accept your invite :/.

[Valeron]

Yeah, in most every other mmo I've played trying to group up for anything in the leveling areas was a futile exercise (except for when the game/expansion first releases).

[Deleted]

Do those raid quests in Plaguelands still exist? I'm guessing not, but vanilla wow used to have some very cool raid quest lines leading up to the level cap, things like Razelikh the Defiler or Araj the Summoner, or the Battle for Darrowdale. Great storytelling leading up to the end, really motivating you to find the one weekend raid doing those end events. That is something I miss, the personal storylines leading up to big set-piece confrontations.

In GW2 you feel like you're in a war. Take things like the Hinterlands events leading up to Captain Edwards and fighting Ulgoth. Rather than it being a story-led quest it's a series of dynamic events which you can join if you like, but you get the impression that these things just happen in the world.

[Valeron]

They totally revamped all of that in WoW the last expansion, Kerome. None of those are in now. But to be fair they did a decent job at revamping everything considering it's all just a leveling process now.

[Zilong]

I can see that by how they jump all over players who imply guild wars does anything less than perfect... or that WoW is a comparable game choice and not "omfg you play wow?! but every quest plays the same and it looks like someone 'puked colours all over the screen'".

I'm having a hard time understanding what you just posted really. You are saying that Gw players will jump down anyone's throat that implied the game is anything less than perfect. Which I can relate-ish, since it happens all around MMO's, but understand that here there is alot of people complaining about the game without actually understanding it's core foundations. As a community in a forum where alot of people come to complain like that it's only logical that the actual players that are here discussing general related threads would "defend" their game. Of course there are some...who overdo it defending, and there are the ones who are right on their personal feelings towards the game (Not that there are "wrong" ways, but really if you don't like it you don't like it, and that's it, regardless of how).

But I think Endemonadia does have a point. The community is friendlier. Probably because of the "casualty" of the game. And Blair has a even better point of Luciferiuz "judgement". It's not like going on WoW is a warzone and going on Gw2 is a Zen Place, you find all kinds inside both. Said that, just go online in both and you can probably tell the difference (maybe not in friendly but certainly maturity). I play both and the community in Gw2 is by all means much more pleasant than WoW. Just yesterday I got a hunter on my random dungeon that seemed like he had tourettes. But it might be one of those things that alot of people would say they prefer but no one could actually prove it.

I don't actually know what he meant about quest playing the same and it looks like someone puked colours all over the screen. o.0 Anyone care to explain.

They totally revamped all of that in WoW the last expansion, Kerome. None of those are in now. But to be fair they did a decent job at revamping everything considering it's all just a leveling process now.

Ill give them that for sure, and I'm actually a WoW-lore lover, but I never really leave capitals anymore even for leveling (And I leveled alooot of chars haha). It's something that regardless of how people talk about quests being "same" in both games, I don't think I ever heard of anyone actually doing lower quests (of pretty much any kind) except for a tittle or maybe rep for a specific gear/title. Which isn't true for Gw2, so I guess something seems different.

[Valeron]

Well one thing that traditional quests, such as in WoW, does well is provide context to the quests and area. In GW2 you have to search for that a bit and that might put off people a bit. If you are an explorer than this type of system is perfect, if you aren't then the traditional quest system is better for you. So there is definitely a difference.

[Lofats]

Definately, I would recommend GW2 to previous WoW players. There are enough differences to make it worth while, and enough similarities for them to jump right in.

[draykorinee]

Just yesterday I got a hunter on my random dungeon that seemed like he had tourettes. But it might be one of those things that alot of people would say they prefer but no one could actually prove it.

I had some random person on map chat calling people all sorts of colourful names because no one would resurrect him during a world boss fight, anecdotes are great for demonising communities :S

I don't actually know what he meant about quest playing the same and it looks like someone puked colours all over the screen. o.0 Anyone care to explain.

In relation to previous discussions on wow, think it was dooze mentioned the puking earlier

Ill give them that for sure, and I'm actually a WoW-lore lover, but I never really leave capitals anymore even for leveling (And I leveled alooot of chars haha). It's something that regardless of how people talk about quests being "same" in both games, I don't think I ever heard of anyone actually doing lower quests (of pretty much any kind) except for a tittle or maybe rep for a specific gear/title. Which isn't true for Gw2, so I guess something seems different.

Not sure if serious, but I think most people in my guild have worked on or are working on loremaster achievment, I had it on my previous 2 accounts, lower level zones in GW2 are no different to WoW, you overpower everything and the rewards are not comparable to higher level zones so once you have 100% map completion who really goes back to lower level zones? I would suggest not many. The idea of downscaling is good, the execution is poor, leaving arah farming the only 'viable' option once you hit 100%. Unless thing shave changed in the last 2 months I quit :S

[Deleted]

Well, I played wow for years while it had great community at first nowadays its a pile of crap. Till now gw2 has MUCH better community unless of course you try to start some bitter flame war saying that game x is better than game y, dnt expect a good debate or anything, hell just take a look at these forums. People in gw2 are much mor social and helpful, I met tons of great people in gw2 especially in dungeons, one of the best experiences in a MMO in the recent years.