How has the game fared? Players?

[alturic]

Hey guys, thinking about trying GW2 again, how's the population? Is it still a "call of duty" (instant gratification, log-in/log-out) type game?

Secondly, I heard there loosely brought tank/heal/dps roles into the game? If so, which class(es) would be the "tank"?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Hey guys, thinking about trying GW2 again, how's the population? Is it still a "call of duty" (instant gratification, log-in/log-out) type game?

Well, the daily adventures in the four new HoT zones offer rewards that (when vendored) are worth much more than the previous 2 gold a day from the daily achievements system. Only thing that has really changed in regards to daily play is the amount of money you get from dailies. Effectively it's the same game pretty much (log in, instant gratification, log out).

[Fencers]

Hey guys, thinking about trying GW2 again, how's the population? Is it still a "call of duty" (instant gratification, log-in/log-out) type game?

Yes. And it will always be so.

Secondly, I heard there loosely brought tank/heal/dps roles into the game? If so, which class(es) would be the "tank"?

Kinda. There is healing in the game that is more significant now. Go to the official wiki for detailed information on the classes.

[PenguinChan]

Yes. And it will always be so.

Not to sound rude to anyone but don't 99% of MMORPGs do this right now? You know, they have progression and shit outside of daily logins but... It's pretty normal to have instant gratification for logging in, by doing dailies for maybe 30 minutes.

[Fencers]

Not to sound rude to anyone but don't 99% of MMORPGs do this right now? You know, they have progression and shit outside of daily logins but... It's pretty normal to have instant gratification for logging in, by doing dailies for maybe 30 minutes.

I took his meaning to be "quick action orientated gameplay" rather than being concerned with progression tracts. It was under that assumption (or until otherwise corrected by the OP here) that I am replying.

Guild Wars 2 is designed to be a romp without a lot of compulsory systems. As far as I know, only a handful of MMORPGs are designed as such currently.

In fairness, I do not play FF14, WOW, Wildstar or ESO- which I have come to understand made a lot of changes in the last 2-3 years. Though I would not consider that 99% of the market.

[PenguinChan]

I took his meaning to be "quick action orientated gameplay" rather than being concerned with progression tracts. It was under that assumption (or until otherwise corrected by the OP here) that I am replying.

Guild Wars 2 is designed to be a romp without a lot of compulsory systems. As far as I know, only a handful of MMORPGs are designed as such currently.

In fairness, I do not play FF14, WOW, Wildstar or ESO- which I have come to understand made a lot of changes in the last 2-3 years. Though I would not consider that 99% of the market.

Well I was referring to how Guild Wars 2 does do that with their daily login things. I mean it does provide instant action the moment you log in, by just going to wherever you need or want to be. It's extremely slow depending on what you're grinding for and no amount of daily logins really speed that up (Ascended, Legendaries, alt builds). But I do agree it doesn't have as much of the system other MMORPGs do, namely (I assume) just because it refuses to add them.

Although I'd say the progression tracts in GW2 do have some amount of instant gratification, even with daily logins. Until of course you get to Ascended material farming and things like that. A lot of MMORPGS have made strides to try and remedy that instant 'fun' games like GW2 provide though. In all honesty most of the quick fun tends to be below max level, but notably tied to finder tools; maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're meaning by 'quick action gameplay'.

[alturic]

I took his meaning to be "quick action orientated gameplay" rather than being concerned with progression tracts. It was under that assumption (or until otherwise corrected by the OP here) that I am replying.

Guild Wars 2 is designed to be a romp without a lot of compulsory systems. As far as I know, only a handful of MMORPGs are designed as such currently.

In fairness, I do not play FF14, WOW, Wildstar or ESO- which I have come to understand made a lot of changes in the last 2-3 years. Though I would not consider that 99% of the market.

@PenguinChan as well, yea I mean I guess I see your point about most MMOs being like that anymore. It's hard to simply say "fine, is it like Call of Duty or WoW?" considering you could call each map/game in CoD as a dungeon/raid per se. Alright here it is, all I care about is max-level, raiding/dungeons. Sure crafting and/or whoring the AH to make money (which I don't think is needed as much as in other games?) is great too.

I'm so torn right now because I refuse to believe I've outgrown gaming (let's call it a psuedo mid-life crisis, LOL), and I'm looking for a game that can keep my attention like UO did for years upon years and how WoW did from beta to Dragon Soul. I know, I know "download them all and give them a shot". I personally thought Rift was the only game that ever came close to being able to ever keep my attention span for any length of time but that's where I stand. I've tried FF XIV so far and while the game seemed fairly decent, the combat was so god damn clunky I can't even be coerced into trying to get past level 20 and seeing if it becomes better. Perhaps at the end of the day, if GW2 does have a trinity-type combat system and has "raids" (using the word loosely) maybe I would find fun in the log-in, get rewarded for logging on for an hour, and log-off.

Edit: I also don't want to (and I know no-one can ever truly speak to this) try and devote any sort of time and money (subscription primarily) to any game that's on the verge of death.

[PenguinChan]

~ Snip ~

It's not that you have outgrown gaming, it's just that MMORPGs have changed. There are plenty out there which retain the older-school feeling of long term progression though. Even though GW2 is very much easy to grind some gold and get all exotics within one month (Or a lot less), it certainly takes quite awhile for ascended gear. But that's pretty much the only grind you're going to be looking forward to besides a legendary. There is tract progression and time consumption in that regard, but it's not exactly appealing.

From what I know, GW2 does have the semi-trifecta right now. It's not as solid nor as obvious as other MMORPGs, but it's there. I don't know if there is actual tank 'tanking' in the traditional sense, but instead support tanks where they help everyone out. Druids, which are probably what you're looking for if you want to support, are great at helping everyone out. Healing, buffs, and decent damage (Unless they changed recently).

But GW2 isn't very much clear cut on the DPS, Tank, and Healer aspects. Tanking I believe is mostly done in PVP, DPS is both, healing may be both but I know it's prominent in PVE, and it's really a support role than anything else. There are many DPS roles (not just spam buttons) that help others deal more damage, not just pure 1 spamming.

I'd suggest looking at it and trying it out again if you really want to, I mean it is free to play up to 80 on the base game. Otherwise you've played RIFT, probably played EQ2, EQ, SWTOR, WildStar, ESO, and such.