Thinking of buying GW2

[Tackhisis]

don't buy that shit, first and only game i regret i have bought in my whole life.

Exactly this.
What I have personally experienced with GW2:
- Technical support taking 2-4 days to update a ticket (over a trivial issue, they will give you recommendations out of some manual, having nothing in common with your problem).
- Dozens of different pretexts to deny you refund they are promising. If you have paid them $50, you have lost them forever.
- Forum moderators guarding the image of the said company.
- Various client bugs
- Toxic community: most have developed some kind of sectarian mentality and would develop the game or ArenaNet despite everything, getting aggressive in process.
- Grindy content: there are 3 tilesets, grasslands with centaurs, deserts with scorpions and snowlands with giant worms. All of them span each tier of zones.
The quests are also boring, consisting of repeating primitive tasks around each hub. No story available for those quests. All the events available in those zones are also kill/defend/collect type with no variability. There are theoretically larger events but they are never triggered due to the lack of players.
- The only PvE activity in game is 'training', i.e. killing respawning 'champion' mobs repeatedly in the same zone for hours. I'm not joking.
- Levelling speed is very slow if you do not pay real money to buy gold: it is 1 or 2 levels per day, so it takes more than 1 month to level a single character. There is +50% XP potion for you in the store, however.
- The lack of dungeons: you can not do dungeons for free until level 80, even level 30-40-50 dungeons are done by geared level 80 characters (delevelled to level 30 etc.). Upon level 80, people are selling dungeon runs.
- The lack of basic UI features, such as /who command, latency meter, UI mods, everything you can expect in a real MMO like WoW/RIFT/(and even) SWTOR.
- An array of marketing ploys making you into buying the game impressively:
* The world map displays empty spaces where no zones exist, making you think you can explore there.
* The particular trick is making the map to hide the zone names and levels until you discover a previous one. That allow them to hide that despite having 5 starting zones, there are just 3 second and third tier zones and 2 zones thereafter. You cannot see that on the map and naturally think that there are 5 zones for each level range.
* And much, much more.

[zed zebes]

About all of the above is untrue.

I restate what I said elsewhere: Companies are going to avoid using the MMO genre tag to avoid the toxic MMO community and the toxic MMO vibe.

[Fencers]

I am certain that the goal of World of Warcraft is the same as other bimodal MMOs that use an infinitely scaling progression system. Blizzard reveal its gameplay goals like in the first hour of WoW. It's quite efficient-- to the point few MMOs have strayed from their template of introduction for the genre.

That is not to say one form goal implementation is superior over another. Anything can fly in game design, it's just execution/non conflicting rules that matter.

GW2 has goals too, of course. They are just different from those of games like Everquest, World of Warcraft or EVE.

[Tackhisis]

About all of the above is untrue.

What exactly is untrue? Don't whiteknight that game.

[Deleted]

Bought the game when it was on sale on Black Friday. For me it's worth the price (especially if you get in while it's on sale), but as many people mentioned it really depends on what you want from the game.

If you have a more hardcore mentality and usually invest a lot of time and play mainly to challenge yourself against the hardest content available in your MMOs this probably isn't the game for you.

For someone like myself, who have between 0 and 3 hours of time to play daily and want to play other games too, a game like GW2 is great. I can always find something simple and fast, yet still fun to do in that limited time frame while having some long term goals which I can progress toward at my own pace. Mind you all the long term progression you will get is mostly cosmetic or gives you a rather symbolic power increase.

[zed zebes]

What exactly is untrue? Don't whiteknight that game.

I feel like I'm responding to too many manchildren or maybe there's just been more of them here lately.

-"there are 3 tilesets, grasslands with centaurs, deserts with scorpions and snowlands with giant worms. "
There's country side (which you call grasslands), there's snowy, there's Tahoe-esque Majestic Mountains(Timberline), Jungles, Asuran themed Sci-Fi, Firey areas, Ascalon (plains areas), Iron Marches (which is a mix of things, including a haunted forest area), Shatterer Lands, Orrian areas, Coastal areas, and an Island area. Within some of these zones, there are sub-areas like that mentioned of Iron Marches. Many of the snowy areas have subterranean Dredge lairs with their own distinct look. The plains and fields areas of Ascalon are filled with the Steam Punk influence of the Charr.

The one thing the game doesn't have is a desert area, which you somehow list as one of the only three types of areas the game has. This brings into question the validity of your claim of even playing the game.

-Grindy content: There's some grindy stuff in the game, but it's none of that which you list. Events have stories if you pay attention to them. They are not elaborate stories and are most often quite simple, but so are most quest stories in a game with a multitude of quest-like activities.

-"Only PVE activity is training". AKA ... champ zergs. There's a lot more to the game than Champ runs. It's just something that's popular for a few reasons.

-Leveling speed is slow: Leveling speed flattens out at about level 20 or 30 and never increases in time consumption. There's multiple ways to level. I leveled my Ele faster than any other character I've had. I accomplished this mostly through crafting, open world PVE, Story Missions up to level 20, and leveling books earned through WvWvW and sPVP. I leveled my Necro mostly through WvWvW, Mad King's Realm and the Queen's Pavillion. My Mesmer was leveled through all forms of PVE. My Guardian through Crafting and WvWvW with bits of PVE. About each alt I do levels faster than the last character.

-"You can not do dungeons for free until level 80." This is such a weird claim I don't know where to start. I've done dungeons from level 30 and on. They start at level 30. If you want to do a dungeon as a non-80 then ask your guild.

-Why would you think there are the same amount of zones for each level range? Naturally, you'd think like someone who has played a lot of MMOs and know that amount of zones per level range varies and tends to narrow down towards the end to gather people together. There are five starting zones, one for each race. After that, there's 3-4 zones for each level range. The map isn't trying to trick anyone. It's a huge map because they plan to fill out the world. Did it make you want to go find all those other areas? That's the intent. Much of the game is about exploration and discovery. That's not the game trying to trick you.

-"An array of marketing ploys making you into buying the game impressively:" What does this even mean? That they market their game in hopes that you buy it? No shit, Sherlock.

The rest is opinion, minus statements upon their customer service. I cannot make claims to their customer service, as I have little experience with it.

[Meledelion]

Minor correction, you can do any dungeon REGARDLESS of level. The 30 (or any other number) is just a warning to show what level of monsters you're going to encounter.

This is proven by the fact that many people like to swap to a low level alt at the end of the dungeon to make it get the experience boost for completing a dungeon.

[Tackhisis]

The one thing the game doesn't have is a desert area

Ashford, Diessa, Fields of Ruin, etc. Desert. With twin-tail scorpions.
Events have stories if you pay attention to them.
"Defend # waves of assailants", "Kill a big buddy with crossed swords icon", "Kill all to keep a circle blue", they convey no story at all.
There's a lot more to the game than Champ runs. and most of the time it doesn't happen.
I accomplished this mostly through crafting
Crafting need mats, mats cost gold, gems are sold for gold.
If you want to do a dungeon as a non-80 then ask your guild.
So you confirm you won't be taken by anyone until you are 50 levels higher than a dungeon level.
there's 3-4 zones for each level range.
Just plot the levels on a paper and see for yourself it is not so.
That they market their game in hopes that you buy it?
The only way to actually test the gameplay was a single event lasting 3 days. It is much shorter period that a cooldown period required for reasonable decision to buy the game. In a week or so they will see they bought a wrong thing, but cannot return it, because, in contrary to 'refund' they advertise, they can find a reason to outright deny it to you. In my case that was... my country.

So you are trying to misrepresent what is going on in the game, by downplaying it, and claiming that something rare happens all the time. You are whiteknighting.

P.S. Servers are the real weak point of the game. All the levelling zones have almost no people actually levelling, except aforementioned champ trains; so the most events cannot be triggered, and what do you have to do is to grind mobs. There is no cross-realm zones to make them feel live.

P.P.S. Be prepared that grinding is the main way to level up. Each heart gives 8% of XP, usually there is an associated event which gives another 7% [maximum contribution], the entire zone has about 40 discoverable objects, 1.5% each, 6% per level. There is 78% rest to level-up, so grinding turns in.

[zed zebes]

Those aren't deserts.

Those are the objectives not the story.

I have tons of mats from leveling multiple characters. Only Ascended crafting ran me dry. yes, you can buy more mats with gold. You can buy gems with gold. You can also get gold or mats in the game. I have never converted gems to gold.

I can only confirm that you need to be 80 to do a dungeon. I do not.

I already checked before making the statement. It's true. It's obviously designed to have 3-4 zones per level range.20s has 3 to 4 zones, 30s has 3-4 zones, 40s has 3-4 zones, 50s has 3-4 zones, etc.

Countries have different return law policies. Australia, for instance, is pretty damn lenient towards the consumer.I know someone who had the game for months and still got a refund due to his country's laws and his own whining. He felt he was owed money back on something he spent 300 hours playing. I thought he owed the atmosphere all the oxygen that he's been wasting throughout his life. Complaining that you decided you didn't like it after using it a week is sort of like trying to return a ham that's partially eaten. You will find its not so easy to return to every store or every country.

[Deleted]

P.P.S. Be prepared that grinding is the main way to level up. Each heart gives 8% of XP, usually there is an associated event which gives another 7% [maximum contribution], the entire zone has about 40 discoverable objects, 1.5% each, 6% per level. There is 78% rest to level-up, so grinding turns in.

I just recently finished leveling my 1st character and have a totally different opinion on this. Leveling was happening way to fast for me. I haven't set foot in half of the zones by the time I was max level (I did full completion of the Ascalon region, did part of the personal story, a few dungeon runs and leveled my professions a little bit with the materials I gathered while leveling). I was constantly getting scaled down as I was too high level for the zones I was in and I didn't even use any of the xp bonus consumables I got in achievement chests etc. as I was leveling too fast anyway.

[draykorinee]

I feel like I'm responding to too many manchildren or maybe there's just been more of them here lately.

You're giving Tachisis too much of your time, it really will never be worth it, he is someone who will hate on GW2 by passing subjective thoughts as fact or make false claims.

[Arlee]

I just recently finished leveling my 1st character and have a totally different opinion on this. Leveling was happening way to fast for me. I haven't set foot in half of the zones by the time I was max level (I did full completion of the Ascalon region, did part of the personal story, a few dungeon runs and leveled my professions a little bit with the materials I gathered while leveling). I was constantly getting scaled down as I was too high level for the zones I was in and I didn't even use any of the xp bonus consumables I got in achievement chests etc. as I was leveling too fast anyway.

Yea that's sort of the thing. There are a ton of options for leveling characters but I find talking to many people that they get stuck into the "I have to do quests in level appropriate zones in order to level" and only do that. Which often either ends with them feeling like they have nowhere to go to level, or getting bored with the same type of activities.

Above the thing about only being able to do dungeons at max level is bullox. Maybe some people have trouble finding a pug group that will do dungeons with someone not max level, but that is an issue with people playing not game design. There is no reason in the way the game is set-up that you can't do any dungeon before max level. The only requirement is if you want to start an explorable dungeon you need to finish the story version first. But even then if anyone in you group has done the story they can just start it and you can enter when the prompt pops-up. Hell I even recently took a lvl 2 friend to the fractals because he was new to the game and wanted to see what it was like. He only died twice too, but that was because we forgot to warn him about a couple of things.

[Fencers]

"I have to do quests in level appropriate zones in order to level"

This is so incorrect. The game isn't even designed that way and nothing in the gameplay suggests that it is designed in a strictly linear method. There are even tooltips informing players some things do not work in that fashion.

Like having this belief or notion makes one factually wrong.

It's really bizarre some players believe this of GW2 but we don't see claims made to the same degree in other MMOs which like GW2 are not strictly linear.

[Arlee]

Yea Fencers, I think it's just rooted on people having past experiences in games where leveling in level appropriate zones and doing quests was just how people played that many players don't even think of what other possibilities might exist. It's just a habitual thought process. Hell going into GW2 I thought it was going to be awful because not having the trinity "just couldn't possibly work". But at this point I actually enjoy that aspect and some of the increased options it allows. Also I now can hear Professor Trelawney in my mind saying "Broaden your minds"

[Karizee]

Yea Fencers, I think it's just rooted on people having past experiences in games where leveling in level appropriate zones and doing quests was just how people played that many players don't even think of what other possibilities might exist. It's just a habitual thought process. Hell going into GW2 I thought it was going to be awful because not having the trinity "just couldn't possibly work". But at this point I actually enjoy that aspect and some of the increased options it allows. Also I now can hear Professor Trelawney in my mind saying "Broaden your minds"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtz4Tzr9WJk

[Deleted]

Exactly this.
What I have personally experienced with GW2:
- Technical support taking 2-4 days to update a ticket (over a trivial issue, they will give you recommendations out of some manual, having nothing in common with your problem).
- Dozens of different pretexts to deny you refund they are promising. If you have paid them $50, you have lost them forever.
- Forum moderators guarding the image of the said company.
- Various client bugs
- Toxic community: most have developed some kind of sectarian mentality and would develop the game or ArenaNet despite everything, getting aggressive in process.
- Grindy content: there are 3 tilesets, grasslands with centaurs, deserts with scorpions and snowlands with giant worms. All of them span each tier of zones.
The quests are also boring, consisting of repeating primitive tasks around each hub. No story available for those quests. All the events available in those zones are also kill/defend/collect type with no variability. There are theoretically larger events but they are never triggered due to the lack of players.
- The only PvE activity in game is 'training', i.e. killing respawning 'champion' mobs repeatedly in the same zone for hours. I'm not joking.
- Levelling speed is very slow if you do not pay real money to buy gold: it is 1 or 2 levels per day, so it takes more than 1 month to level a single character. There is +50% XP potion for you in the store, however.
- The lack of dungeons: you can not do dungeons for free until level 80, even level 30-40-50 dungeons are done by geared level 80 characters (delevelled to level 30 etc.). Upon level 80, people are selling dungeon runs.
- The lack of basic UI features, such as /who command, latency meter, UI mods, everything you can expect in a real MMO like WoW/RIFT/(and even) SWTOR.
- An array of marketing ploys making you into buying the game impressively:
* The world map displays empty spaces where no zones exist, making you think you can explore there.
* The particular trick is making the map to hide the zone names and levels until you discover a previous one. That allow them to hide that despite having 5 starting zones, there are just 3 second and third tier zones and 2 zones thereafter. You cannot see that on the map and naturally think that there are 5 zones for each level range.
* And much, much more.

I tryied to stay away from this but I cant.

1) I've put 2 tickets in so far, both have been answered within 2 hours. Pretty decent support imo, obviously your milage may vary but considering other companies can take several days to answer a ticket, it's not a big deal.
2) Considering you even have a choice to refund the game should be a plus. Currently I only know Origin will offer you a refund on a game and even then, getting one is extremely tight.
3) No comment on this one, don't visit forums.
4) Bugs? There is no such thing as a bugless client, never has been, never will be, stating the game is not worth buying because of a few minor flaws is incredibly stupid. Over my few weeks of playing I only experienced 1 bug, I fell through the floor on a charge, It just killed me and gave me the option to waypoint, no big deal..
5) Apart from the elitest idiots in the LFG system asking for a set amount of achievement points to prove you've been playing for a while, everyone else is happy to help when you ask. I asked in frostgorge sound /m for train location, I always get several well spoken replies, and the guild i'm in was happy to show me the dungeons to I could get a head start on my exotic gear.
6) This one you can have, I leveled as a human warrior and it wasn't until late 50s I finally saw something that wasn't a grass land, I was hoping to see more of a charr flavoured land, sort of a steam-punk style zone but didn't get it.
7) Dungeons? Fractal scaling? WvWvW is still pve in some context? Jumping puzzles? Considering the only thing I do in WoW is raid, it's a lot considering I pay monthly for WoW..
8) 1-2 levels a day?? What were you doing? It's extremely easily to get upwards of 10 levels a day playing only a few hours. You don't need to level in zones appropriate to your level, you can go level in a starting zone at lvl 60, and still get the same exp from events as you would at lvl 60 zones. Maybe this spoils the game for a few people but if you are looking to level fast, it's an option.
9) Yeah people do sell dungeon runs, more specifically Arah runs in which it's currently bugged so 1 person can solo it, get boss to 1%, advertise the run, you pay to get in, second you enter, they kill the boss and you get tokens etc etc. it's a little cheap but if you found a half decent guild, someone would help you run dungeons.
10) While addons are nice, it's a pretty big risk in terms of killing a game. You allow addons, things like DPS meters will be made, and then not only will you require 5k achi points, but 10k dps, it's something i'm glad seen gone tbh. A ping meter wouldn't be so bad though..
11) This made no sense at all. You can clearly see on the map the name of the zone, and the level bracket which it's designed for. The only thing you can't see is things like waypoints, quests, Poi's, and vistas until you get close enough to unlock the land. This is pretty standard feature in most MMO's so putting it on your list just seems like a grab at attention.

[Tastyfish]

So I am starting to be bored by WoW and I am looking at other options available. I kind of like the idea of GW2 and I played during one beta weekend and liked it. However as I started to research it, I found a lot of negative opinions to this game. So is it worth the money or should I rather buy something else?

I Just got it recently.
If you don't like obvious repetitive things going from zone to zone might bore the fuck out of you. ( because you are really experiencing the same type of kill quest and events over and over.)
Guilds tend to be a bigger deal, because that is your social hub
several ease of life features end up being paid.
WVW is like.. well... Dotting is a major deal.

I don't mind the game at all. tho it seems the dung/LFG aspect is shitastic on my server.
The personal stories are amazing.
The voice acting is amazing. It's actually better then amazing. It's masterful. Really a credit to whoever made it such a big deal. (Play a char, listen to Steve Blum in your ear.)
The living world aspect is great. Things change, the game grows upon it self.
It looks REALLY good.
( I had to explain Zerg in a WvW the other day, because nobody seemed to know what it means, if that gives you any idea of my servers population)
There is an overall painterly quality to the game which really makes it aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes it can be overbearing, but you really are not beaten down with it. A little overdone, but not aggressive about it.

If you want "wow" without being in wow, go with Rift, which basically will give you the same experience more or less, with a more ambitious looking world.

[zed zebes]

what is dotting?

[Vulpei]

My problem with GW2 is that there seem to be alot of half thought out ideas in the game design. Like they were in the middle of brainstorming, looked at them time as said 'we'll go with this'. Things like weapon types not really syncing up (when it launched I was playing a mesmer and the traits I could take for a certain weapon combo, sword torch I think, didn't work with any other weapon, so the weapon switching nerfed me), removing the trinity but still having mobs that down you in one swing, meaning melee weapons get two dodges and then get to sit back while endurance recovers, weapons having 5 skills, 2 of which are usually extremely situational and one is auto attack so you get to press 2 buttons + utilities (which generally have a long cooldown).

The game is polished (aside from events sometimes breaking) but the underlying gameplay has some holes in it. That said, I enjoy the mindlessness that the PvE in the world has, and since there is no sub I log in occasionally and grind a few levels before I get bored with hitting the same 2 buttons over and over again.

[mistahwilshire]

what is dotting?

Casting damage over time (DoT) spells over a bunch of people/mobs/stuff.