GW2 - worth buying as a "single player RPG"?

[Mamut]

So I was checking GW2 at beta, liked craft, liked messing around but overall was not impressed enough to buy the game.

Now Im little bored and I wonder now, is GW2 worth buying for story only? Is the RPG accent good? Im not interested with PvP but Im thinking about trying GW2 as a "single player RPG" with alot of messing like in Skyrim but Im not sure if its worth trying this way.

Any suggestions?

[barackopala]

If you want a single player RPG play a single player RPG... idk why would you want to deal with an mmo in that case, there are a lot of "good" single player rpg's like Kingdoms of amalur (not as good as skyrim, it's decent) - Fable 1 (PLEASE DONT BUY ANY OTHER THAN THE FIRST ONE PLEASE DONT) - Fallout franchise

[kinetiks]

The story is good but it's not great, and it gets sort of stale closer to the end, but the content is very fun. I have 3 level 80s because I actually enjoyed the leveling process more then the "end game". There is no subscription fee, new content will be coming out November, and it will keep you busy for a couple hundred hours at the very least. If any game is worth buying, its GW2.

[Fire Wolf]

It's not worth it if you're going to play the game as a single player.

[Baloneyz]

All i can say that the feeling is different then what i felt in BETA, i thought not to buy it 'cause i was not impressed ( it was a good game, just im short on the money ) But when it went live i got a job and bought it, I'm VERY MUCH enjoying it and the feeling is more then good ( Maybe the problem is that the beginning lvls are like a tutorial, so you might get bored, everything else is good and there were a lot of fixes that fixed everything and the game is running perfectly ( except the Halloween world event, it's a little buggy but nothing major. )

Try only not to get overwhelmed with feelings and stuff that you can do, focus you attention on 1 or 2 things in the game but try everything. You'll enjoy it alright.

And 1 more thing. If you want GW2 as a singleplayer game its good, but it's an MMO so have that in mind.

[Kimbald]

I'll give you a very good reason why you shouldn't:

when you hear people talk about the fun of leveling in GW2, with the events everybody is doing together, and how loot is shared, and mobs are shared by all who attack them... they are moslty talking about the first weeks.

I started playing GW2 when it was little over a month old.
Once I passed the first leveling zone, i found myself more alone than with others.

If i saw a challenge mob i wanted to tackle ( veteran or what not) I had to kill several normal mobs just to get to him. While fighting the special mob, those normal mobs spawn right in my back.
Respawn rates alone make it very hard to solo when really alone.

Events can't be done alone, but many people aren't even bothering anymore. The thrill is gone for some, and the loot is awfull from them anyway.

GW2 has a system of 'downscaling' meaning that every max level scales down to the level he is in. This should allow max levels to have fun in the lower zones.
one small problem: there is little incentive for them to do so. In fact: travel costs alone make it not worth it for many.
So while i was hoping to see many max levels everywhere, I just see them in the highest level area Orr, nowhere else (except major city and pvp zone).

GW2 is a wonderfull game to wander about alone in... IF there are other people around.

Should you decide to go for it, than keep swapping servers till you find one that has people in he zone you're in (server swapping is free for now, and has a 24h cooldown).


Officially the servers are very full and crowded, but in reality I find them to be empty an awfull lot of times. Or better: the mid level area's are.

Many say it isn't true that a lot of players simply left. I can't tell for sure. All i know is that if they are still playing, they're not in the lower zones.

[grandpab]

I'd say this game has the best leveling experience I've had in a long time. I've already got 3 lvl 80s and I'm still not bored with the leveling yet. Usually I just play a few classes til I find one I really like and then stick to that 1 character for a long time, or after I level 1 character to max level I have a hard time leveling another character.

The story you might not care about the 2nd time through or so since a lot of the stuff can end up overlapping, mostly in the later levels, but I leveled a sylvari first and picked the order of whispers and I really liked the story. I can't say the same for the other story lines though.

[Zeek Daniels]

I'll give you a very good reason why you shouldn't:

when you hear people talk about the fun of leveling in GW2, with the events everybody is doing together, and how loot is shared, and mobs are shared by all who attack them... they are moslty talking about the first weeks.

I started playing GW2 when it was little over a month old.
Once I passed the first leveling zone, i found myself more alone than with others.

If i saw a challenge mob i wanted to tackle ( veteran or what not) I had to kill several normal mobs just to get to him. While fighting the special mob, those normal mobs spawn right in my back.
Respawn rates alone make it very hard to solo when really alone.

Events can't be done alone, but many people aren't even bothering anymore. The thrill is gone for some, and the loot is awfull from them anyway.

GW2 is a wonderfull game to wander about alone in... IF there are other people around.

Should you decide to go for it, than keep swapping servers till you find one that has people in he zone you're in (server swapping is free for now, and has a 24h cooldown).


Officially the servers are very full and crowded, but in reality I find them to be empty an awfull lot of times. Or better: the mid level area's are.

you should play with friends more.

[Kimbald]

you should play with friends more.

the OP asked if he could play it as a solo game, you might try reading more.

I'm not explaining if it's good for me or not, i'm mentioning my experience as a relatively new leveler, just for the OP.

All my friends are in WoW and say i'm crazy even trying GW2 seeing the comments about.
I'm stupid enough to give it a go by myself yes. Not all that impressed.
Anything else?

[Deleted]

I think it can be a great single player MMO if you're not going into it looking for the social interaction anyway - the levelling experience is really quite solo-friendly... but as a "single player RPG" in comparison to something like Skyrim? Not really... it's not that story driven, the personal stories I've experienced (only different versions of the human ones), have not been comparable to a good RPG and nor would I really expect them to be. The lore and cutscenes in the dungeons are nice (I found them a lot better after I'd actually read the books though) but again, not really that heavy on the RPG. I wouldn't say you really immerse yourself into the storyline like you would in a single player RPG but it's still very solo friendly and I think you'll get pretty good entertainment value out of it.

You don't have to be interested in PvP though, the game has plenty to offer in my opinion for those who like casual PvE and it shouldn't be that hard to find a guild.. you really don't have to know anyone going into the game to find a few people to have fun with in-game.

[Fernling306]

I don't think it is worth buying for that. The story kind of sucks and the personal story is pretty corny/underwhelming. I would buy the game if the mmorpg elements interest you though.

[Eremiel]

So I was checking GW2 at beta, liked craft, liked messing around but overall was not impressed enough to buy the game.

Now Im little bored and I wonder now, is GW2 worth buying for story only? Is the RPG accent good? Im not interested with PvP but Im thinking about trying GW2 as a "single player RPG" with alot of messing like in Skyrim but Im not sure if its worth trying this way.

Any suggestions?

The story is decent, but you'll need to be aware that it is not in any way about your character. You're at best a faceless minion while one single NPC does fuckall in the quests, yet steals all the glory.

When you start the game, the voiceover tells you "THIS is my story!". It is not. It is the story of Trahearne, plant Gary Stu.

[nightshark]

I'll give you a very good reason why you shouldn't:

when you hear people talk about the fun of leveling in GW2, with the events everybody is doing together, and how loot is shared, and mobs are shared by all who attack them... they are moslty talking about the first weeks.

I started playing GW2 when it was little over a month old.
Once I passed the first leveling zone, i found myself more alone than with others.

If i saw a challenge mob i wanted to tackle ( veteran or what not) I had to kill several normal mobs just to get to him. While fighting the special mob, those normal mobs spawn right in my back.
Respawn rates alone make it very hard to solo when really alone.

Events can't be done alone, but many people aren't even bothering anymore. The thrill is gone for some, and the loot is awfull from them anyway.

Sounds like a L2P issue. I've done 75% completion on my Warrior so far entirely solo. I asked for help with 1 vista because there were lots of mobs and turrets and someone was kind enough to help me just a few moments after I requested help. Most of what's left are cities and WvW to complete. There are few events that cant be completed solo and they are always labelled GROUP EVENT so you don't just head in and get your face smashed in. They are not necessary for completion and can easily be ignored (or just link the WP in map chat if you want to complete it and ask for help).

GW2 has a system of 'downscaling' meaning that every max level scales down to the level he is in. This should allow max levels to have fun in the lower zones.
one small problem: there is little incentive for them to do so. In fact: travel costs alone make it not worth it for many.
So while i was hoping to see many max levels everywhere, I just see them in the highest level area Orr, nowhere else (except major city and pvp zone).

GW2 is a wonderfull game to wander about alone in... IF there are other people around.

Should you decide to go for it, than keep swapping servers till you find one that has people in he zone you're in (server swapping is free for now, and has a 24h cooldown).


Officially the servers are very full and crowded, but in reality I find them to be empty an awfull lot of times. Or better: the mid level area's are.

Many say it isn't true that a lot of players simply left. I can't tell for sure. All i know is that if they are still playing, they're not in the lower zones.

Mid level areas can seem quite empty at times, I won't disagree with that. But the zones themselves are quite big and if you have a problem with them being empty, just ask someone to group up. The OP is asking if it's fine as a single player game, not asking if he will be able to find people to complete group quests with.

Regarding going back to 1-15 zones, yes, there is very little incentive (you pretty much break even or make a few silver by going to those areas). But I think that's the point - the only reason you really go back there is if it's the closest WP for crafting/TP or you are there to help out a friend.

[Fencers]

Now Im little bored and I wonder now, is GW2 worth buying for story only?

No. Its one of the poorest presented stories in current gen MMOs. Quality of writing is pretty broad too. But I leave that aspect up to your personal taste.

The way the "personal story" works is not a continuous thing either. All stories merge at a certain point. There are also long stretches where you can't move the story along till grinding out X levels. Internal fiction for Guild Wars is excellent though not presented in-game by any overly direct means. Read the wikis.

The Secret World and Star Wars: The Old Republic are terrific in both writing quality, plotting, consistency and contiguous play. One is sub based, the other soon to be f2p.

In terms of story, TSW/TOR are about as well as it's ever been done in the genre.

Im thinking about trying GW2 as a "single player RPG" with alot of messing like in Skyrim but Im not sure if its worth trying this way.

IF you play GW2 with this POV [Skyrim/sandbox/playground] then it's a terrific value for money. And not too shabby in providing fun, casual content.

Any suggestions?

Want a strong story? Secret World or The Old Republic.

Want a fun playground to poke around and goof in? Guild Wars 2.

[melodramocracy]

No, it isn't.

I don't really think that PvE is all that enticing long-term in this game, from a story or replay value aspect (ie, I don't really get enjoyment out of visiting a zone again after I've completed most of it, nor does leveling alts appeal to me). PvP is where this game shines despite all the rough edges, and I'd guess that will hold true for the future as well.

[VibrantViolet]

If you want a single player RPG play a single player RPG... idk why would you want to deal with an mmo in that case, there are a lot of "good" single player rpg's like Kingdoms of amalur (not as good as skyrim, it's decent) - Fable 1 (PLEASE DONT BUY ANY OTHER THAN THE FIRST ONE PLEASE DONT) - Fallout franchise

Fable 2 was good. The ending was "meh", but the game itself was good. Let's not talk about Fable 3...

[Hockeyhacker]

If you want a single player RPG play a single player RPG... idk why would you want to deal with an mmo in that case, there are a lot of "good" single player rpg's like Kingdoms of amalur (not as good as skyrim, it's decent) - Fable 1 (PLEASE DONT BUY ANY OTHER THAN THE FIRST ONE PLEASE DONT) - Fallout franchise

Fable II wasn't horrible, yes 1 was better but 2 was at least still a Fable game, but definitely never buy 3 at that point in the franchise it was not only no longer a Fable game but it had so much stripped out of it such as well even being able to view your inventory that it could barely even be called a RPG let alone Fable. But the best of the lot to buy would have to be Fable Lost Chapters which was the extended cut of Fable 1, with no price difference there is zero reason to buy Fable 1 over Fable the lost chapters which included all of Fable 1 with extended story both at the end and a bit in the middle as well.

Anyways back to the question at hand of "is it worth $60 to play as a single player RPG", hours of fun to cost value yes its a good buy compared to most games in general but definitely not the best buy either. As far as RPG story to cost value its not even worth looking at, the story elements are well MMO quality at best (which is not to say they are bad but more to say that they are by nature weak compared to single player games because you just can not tell as good of a story in a MMO environment where x% of people are doing the exact same thing so you can never be the main focus of the story but merely someone who helps the main character (NPC) complete their goals.

If your looking for a good RPG story experience you won't find it here compared to many single player games, but obviously "good stories" are highly subjective as well so that's just my opinion on how it feels. But if your looking for a game with decent story and good hours of fun to price ratio you won't go wrong with the title between the shear amount of time you can spend exploring everything and doing what you want to on top of the fact of free updates to add more content over time wither it be a bit of free new content to tide people over until an expansion or wither it be limited time holiday events its still pretty good value. And I must say that if the rest of the holiday events compare to the halloween one I will be very pleased, very rarely do I ever even bother doing holiday events because for the most part in many MMOs they are meh at best, but I have honestly enjoyed GW2s Halloween event more then any other MMOs holiday events at any time.

[Yoshimiko]

If you liked Skyrim, you'll probably like that.

I honestly felt both were 'meh' experiences overall. I did drop over 100 hours though, so it did keep me hooked for a bit.

The overall story was pretty meh, but the individual sagas were all very interesting. The story is really short - able to be knocked out in an afternoon if you're already cap level. Even in the height of my play in GW2, I thought the story was one of the weaker aspects - but I have a funny taste in story, so take this with a grain of salt.

If you enjoy the gameplay, I say go for it. If not, there's a billion other games that'd satiate your single player RPG tastes.

[-aiko-]

Want a strong story? Secret World or The Old Republic.

Want a fun playground to poke around and goof in? Guild Wars 2.

I'm going to have to second this. If you are planning on playing an MMO as a single player experience you will need an entertaining, entrancing story. GW2, in my opinion, does not have this. The story and writing is just not up to the standards SWTOR (and later TSW) set. If you just want to log on once a week, mess around, and enjoy yourself you may find something in GW2. There is quite a bit to do and you are rewarded with experience and money for most of it. Just be prepared to have not much else to do at max level but PvP. ....Unless you want to explore more and more I guess.

[barackopala]

Fable 2 was good. The ending was "meh", but the game itself was good. Let's not talk about Fable 3...

For me fable 1 was definately the best and almost a must buy, idk about fable 2, left me kind of...meh.