Originally Posted by
rhandric
It's an open, persistent world like WoW/LotRO/Rift/etc, but is not seamless. In fact, WoW isn't as seamless as it seems at first glance, but they hide the server handoffs in a way that most users don't notice most of the time. If you've ever noticed a lag spike or characters/creatures shifting or sticking slightly as you cross zones, that's the hand-off between servers you're noticing. WoW just obfuscates the procedure, while GW2 will make it obvious (which will likely enable them to do something similar to what they did in GW1 where appropriate updates could be passed off on loading screens rather than being needed before logging into the game world and having to restart to get them).