The size of Tyria...

[Choptimus]

You don't have to use your testicles as a shield to defend GW2.

I don't like the idea of each zone being a seperate server that I have to zone in to either, I like the real open world feel that WoW gives us. I don't like the idea of another corridor world. I was super hyped about GW2 during the early days, but recently it just looks more and more shitty.

[Delias]

corridor world.

Whatever you say, boss.
A half second loading screen every couple hours of walking =/= corridor world, unless our definitions of corridor are majorly different.

[Deleted]

You don't have to use your testicles as a shield to defend GW2.

I don't like the idea of each zone being a seperate server that I have to zone in to either, I like the real open world feel that WoW gives us. I don't like the idea of another corridor world. I was super hyped about GW2 during the early days, but recently it just looks more and more shitty.

"WoW is great, GW2 will be shit for unexplained reasons". Nice.

So you know how WoW has a loading screen between each continent, going into every instance, dungeon and raid, and even between some zones (such as Plaguelands -> Ghostlands)? Yeah seamless.

The number of loading screens is not going to be very different between the two, and in fact given that after a period of time people just teleport everywhere in WoW anyway (getting a load screen every time you do), the fast travel system in GW2 means there will be near enough no difference at all, since that will likely load after teleport too.

Also, as for the size of the world, how can people compare a game that has been out for 7 or 8 years and is about to receive its FOURTH expansion, to a game that's not even released yet...
OF COURSE current WoW is going to have more surface area. If you want to compare, please use beta / release WoW, or wait 7 years and use that version of Guild Wars 2.

[Deleted]

A few loading screens more or less aren't what makes or breaks an open world feeling for me.

Being able to go in every direction I like, exploring hidden stuff, non-linear content, other players to meet, NPCs that are doing somthing and not just standing around waiting to get killed, etc. that all creates an open world feeling for me.

Plus walking makes the world feel bigger, compared to flying or riding very fast. In this respect the waypoint system may be superior to flaying paths as you never get to see the world from above, making it feel smaller or revealing the borders (like water, mountains, deep canyons etc.)

[Malthurius]

Not once did I say they were small, I just don't like seeing places that I'm not able to go to. This is the impression I'm getting when GW2 has loading screens between every zone.

I can't find a source, it might have been Total Biscuit or Yogscast, but they said at one point that they never felt that any part of the world was just scenery and that everything they saw they could go to, despite clear borders between zones.

[AdrianCC100]

GW2 is much larger then WoW

[Deleted]

I can't find a source, it might have been Total Biscuit or Yogscast, but they said at one point that they never felt that any part of the world was just scenery and that everything they saw they could go to, despite clear borders between zones.

That was the Yogscast.

From what I've seen the borders between zones are extremely thin (Like thin as the mountains in WoW) so you'll be able to explore the vast majority of the game world without feeling like there's empty space in the map.

But this is entirely speculation; what isn't speculation is that each zone is bloody huge.

[Throrion]

GW2 will be a good game. That doesn't mean that each zone being seperated instead of having a seemless experience is a good thing, and I'll certainly miss the option of exploring the world from above with a flying mount like in WoW. Christ people, you don't have to defend everything about it. Don't get your panties in a twist.

[Malthurius]

GW2 will be a good game. That doesn't mean that each zone being seperated instead of having a seemless experience is a good thing, and I'll certainly miss the option of exploring the world from above with a flying mount like in WoW. Christ people, you don't have to defend everything about it. Don't get your panties in a twist.

A seemless world would be better, I agree.

However, I do NOT want flying mounts to ruin the sense of scale and the loading screen borders aren't as bad a annoyance as people make it out to be.

[Midnight Man]

...I do NOT want flying mounts to ruin the sense of scale...

^^ This, 100 times over.

One of the three factors that (just in my personal opinion) changed WoW for the worse was flying mounts. The reason is simple - suddenly, there was no reason to be on the surface, meeting other players, teaming up with them and working together on objectives. Suddenly it became fly here, grab this, fly there, grab that - no one bumped into other players any more - and suddenly you were playing a solo MMO (think about the last two words a moment, and what a contradiction in terms they represent).

[Faithbreaker]

Won't each zone being on a different server make the large scale dynamic events more stable? I'll take a loading screen here and there so that me and 99 of my friends can fight the dragons in a stable environment.

Also on the size of the zones just look at the WvWvW map. It is HUGE.

[Quanille]

The size of WoW is irelevant at this point imo, yes it's massive, but all players are based around Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Ironforge. So the vast scale of the explorable world is impressive yes, but it's all like traveling into a ghost world.

Say if you go to Silithus, Feralas or Desolace and do a wee /who 1-85 even at peak playing times chances are that you'll find ZERO players

Well point is that the size of WoW becomes a disadvantage not just because it dilutes the players, but mostly because there is absolutely no reason what so ever for a lvl 85 player to ever bother crossing the barrens to get into stonetalon etc.

Once you've leveled up, /wave at the world.... of warcraft and turn you back to it cuz chances are you'll hardly leave your capital again since you can instantly get teleported to dungeons / battlegrounds / raids via queueing systems

Not even guilds have to meet up prior to a raid no more, just takes one unlucky guy / gal to get demoted to raid summoner so that the rest can idle in a capital for another 5 mins before raiding.

I even know of guilds who have a dedicated summoning toon outside each raid so they can just log it, summon everyone, and then log the char they raid with again.

Basicly bar leveling the world in world of warcraft is obsolete.

Note: This is looking at the games state to date, this becomes less of an issue the further back into the history of the game you look

[Deleted]

I would bet that it is bigger by quite a margin. Not that it matters, for example Silithus is quite a big zone but it contains pretty much no content. Content > Size.

[Thunderlight]

To compare the size of the worlds, you must be at the same speed. That means no flying mounts in WoW. Think about the time it would take to run from Stranglethorn to Silvermoon...

[Hockeyhacker]

To compare the size of the worlds, you must be at the same speed. That means no flying mounts in WoW. Think about the time it would take to run from Stranglethorn to Silvermoon...

Which is why many have said that the addition of flying mounts in WoW "reduced" the size of the world despite adding more dead zone to be able to walk on... But to say "to compare size don't use the tools you are given" would be similar to comparing say hunter dps to warrior dps if you where to give the hunter a staff and the warrior any melee weapons, of course a hunter would lose it is not a melee oriented class, you have to compare with what you are given not with whats "fair".

But as I have said before as well you can have a land that running from the very north to very south takes 17 hours compare it to a land that same run takes 45 minutes, but if the one that takes 17 hours only has 2 minutes of something fun and useful every 5 hours of running it is going to be a lot "smaller" then the zone that has 4 minutes of fun stuff every 5 minutes of distance, since the 17 hour zone would only have 6 minutes of playable area while the 45 minute one would have 36 minutes of playable area... A large area with nothing in it does not make it a large zone, it merely makes it a small zone with a lot of time killer space.

And to top it all off to point out what Quanille said, how much of WoWs land is relevant at any given point of the game? 2. maybe 3 zones which are on different continents which means load screens anyways? And then how much of GW2 zones will be relevant at any point? 20%, 50%, 60%? At this point no one really knows if there is going to be one really fun zone that all the 80s hang out at or not so it is still highly possible that it has the same issue of WoW of having most the zones barren during leveling, but it has the possibility of not being as bad since the scaling makes it so things are not just one shot-able if they are more then 5 levels below you like other games.

By no means am I saying one is better then the other, I honestly do not like comparing games since each game should be treated like its own medium, but sometimes to make points you have to make comparisons. Is there a chance that within 3 months GW2 feels as samey as WoW did after playing the same game for 6 years? Of course. But does it have potential to fix a few of the major issues that come along with WoWs leveling model? yes, potential not guarantee.

Don't think that because I am defending points on GW2 that I am saying you should believe it will be great, on the contrary I believe that expecting the worst and hoping for the best is what people should do since then if it is a good game you see it for what it is without the tainted view of "but its not as god like as the hype promised therefore the good game is bad"... which is why I used the word potential a lot since its something you should hope works out but not expect to work out.

[Deleted]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=8JCeTG7zWqs

As you can see, there are hidden spots all over the place

They really want you to discover the world in gw2

[PonyCannon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=8JCeTG7zWqs

As you can see, there are hidden spots all over the place

They really want you to discover the world in gw2

I've seen that video before and I wonder... Did a dev tip the players off to that place? Seems like it would of pretty tough to just discover in a weekend.

[Delias]

I've seen that video before and I wonder... Did a dev tip the players off to that place? Seems like it would of pretty tough to just discover in a weekend.

Wouldn't be surprised.
They probably wanted the press to find some of the secrets, as they wanted to show off the secrets but (since they're SECRETS xD) there was a chance that the press would completely miss them.

[Nimalla]

Let me get a video that shows the size of just the Human starting zone. One sec.....

Thanks for the video. I have been wondering this myself. Although as we commonly know, it is not the size that matters, but what is done with it ;-) In SWTOR you have a great variety of planets to visit, but they become repetitively disappointing to the point where you do not look forward to having to level through Nar Shadda again. I can't wait to see what this game has in store.

[Tithonus]

I've seen that video before and I wonder... Did a dev tip the players off to that place? Seems like it would of pretty tough to just discover in a weekend.

Near the end of the video around 5:54 he says a dev showed him where a few hidden places could be found.