Guild Wars 2 is one of the few MMO's that people don't ask for a vanilla server.

[Lotus Victoria]

Greetings, champions. Good to see you all, as always. Long time no see!

Okay, so, from my experience, I've never seen ANYBODY asking for a vanilla server of Guild Wars 2. I'll be the first to say that GW2's launch/pre-HoT wasn't as good as it is nowadays (Okay, it was mostly boring ), but this proves that GW2 is getting better with age and that players are mostly satisfied with the changes to the game.

Just pointing this out. Maybe you folks have different opinions. Hopefully so.

[barackopala]

id say the main reason for there not being a movement is that the game isnt about making old content irrelevant in terms of gear acquisition (dungeons tho, they did fell into irrelevancy)

[Deleted]

First off, GW2 is currently in the middle of its second expansion, so it would be just too early for that.

Second, GW2 is, in its core, a very casual (that does not mean not fun) experience, it started that way and it continues to be. This is not the case with the most MMO's including WoW, which have evolved along with its market.

Lastly - With how the game is set up - single level cap, no item levels and zone/level scaling across the board from day one, - the content is always relevant and up to date, no matter when it was added. You can get your gear from the newest raid instance or a dungeon added to the game at launch, the choice is yours. Guild Wars 2 chooses to build upon what is already there with minimal changes and adjustments to the core experience, aiming for more variety instead of constantly introducing new challenges (and neccesary in such case "resets" in form of higher level caps or item tiers) for its playerbase.

[Dilbon]

Isn't playing for free without buying expansions basically a vanilla server?

[Deleted]

Isn't playing for free without buying expansions basically a vanilla server?

Pretty much, yes.
Outside of some tweaks to numbers, Lion's Arch and acquisition of skills nothing has really changed in the "old world".

[Aqua]

Well because the changes to it since launch haven't been THAT drastic. Also it's not been that long, 5 years or so? 2012...okay so 5 1/2 ish.

Nostalgia takes at least a decade. WoW's had that long.

[Exedore]

Okay, so, from my experience, I've never seen ANYBODY asking for a vanilla server of Guild Wars 2. I'll be the first to say that GW2's launch/pre-HoT wasn't as good as it is nowadays (Okay, it was mostly boring ), but this proves that GW2 is getting better with age and that players are mostly satisfied with the changes to the game.

Just pointing this out. Maybe you folks have different opinions. Hopefully so.

You must not have left PvE then. Both WvW and PvP crowds would love to a see a rollback to before HoT or at least a core-only option. Elite specs from both HoT and PoF introduced a ton of power creep (and core has been in a power creep arms race since). But not just power creep - power creep that reduces decision making, i.e. skill, when playing. Things like automatic stun breaks, strong abilities which don't require setup or aren't realistically avoidable, and multi-faceted abilities where you aren't punished for spamming them.

[potis]

Thats because GW2 is a different genre MMO, kinda in its own world.

If i would call it anything, it would be a game for achievement hunters.

There is barely any progression, apart from collecting stuff.

WoW, Rift, SWTOR and most Western made games are all of the "Gear chase" genre, where the character gets stronger every new raid tier or expansion, and to keep it interesting the game playstyle changes a bit , adding a few new abilities etc.

GW2 is not like that, sure they added Ascended gear after exotic after awhile but even so you can gear cap quite easily after some farming and then what? There is no progress apart from achievements.

Its a platform MMORPG really.

There cant be a vanilla server cause there hasnt been any progress for the gear.

Its a very slow patched single player game basically, at least they added a few raids to make it more interesting and yay for them, but as long as there is no gear chase, there is no progress.

Sure, gliding, mounts, and different stuff for the world are character progression, but thats the same as any single player game, adding "Elite" specs is good, but it makes no difference when its just another name for "Slash with sword but its an axe and it leaves a bleeding dot also".

That is the main difference, GW2 hasnt changed at all over the last 5 years at its core.

[Blamblam41]

There's pretty much no game I know of other than WoW where the community foolishly wants to go to a previous version of the game. That goes especially double for games like FFXIV where their 'vanilla' nearly killed the entire project and forced it into shutting down and being re-released.

Vanilla Rift was bad, vanilla GW2 was bad, vanilla SW:ToR was bad. Honestly anyone who looks at a highly improved version of a game and automatically wants a 'unmodified clean slate pure' version needs to learn what the definition of a game is.

- - - Updated - - -

Thats because GW2 is a different genre MMO, kinda in its own world.

If i would call it anything, it would be a game for achievement hunters.

There is barely any progression, apart from collecting stuff.

WoW, Rift, SWTOR and most Western made games are all of the "Gear chase" genre, where the character gets stronger every new raid tier or expansion, and to keep it interesting the game playstyle changes a bit , adding a few new abilities etc.

GW2 is not like that, sure they added Ascended gear after exotic after awhile but even so you can gear cap quite easily after some farming and then what? There is no progress apart from achievements.

Its a platform MMORPG really.

There cant be a vanilla server cause there hasnt been any progress for the gear.

Its a very slow patched single player game basically, at least they added a few raids to make it more interesting and yay for them, but as long as there is no gear chase, there is no progress.

Sure, gliding, mounts, and different stuff for the world are character progression, but thats the same as any single player game, adding "Elite" specs is good, but it makes no difference when its just another name for "Slash with sword but its an axe and it leaves a bleeding dot also".

That is the main difference, GW2 hasnt changed at all over the last 5 years at its core.

Yeah, going to stop you right there. GW2 without a dungeon finder or fractals is pretty much half a game. And you can most definitely have a Vanilla GW2. There's so much content they have added in the last 5 years and so many tweaks and changes they have made.

Just because they aren't like Blizzard and feel the need to remake the wheel every time the release a new expansion, that doesn't exclude their game from having a 'base unmodified version. Infact, if it wasn't for Blizzard needing to remake the wheel every time they release a new expansion, we wouldn't have these fundamental problems. You know, because then they would be consistent and not be remaking every spec over again just for the fuck of it (looking at you, arms fury ret marks bm arcane fire frost and pretty much every other spec coming into Legion.)

Also GW2 without raids, just rofl-lmao. And the story in Vanilla GW2, just lol. Got so much better in PoF.

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You must not have left PvE then. Both WvW and PvP crowds would love to a see a rollback to before HoT or at least a core-only option. Elite specs from both HoT and PoF introduced a ton of power creep (and core has been in a power creep arms race since). But not just power creep - power creep that reduces decision making, i.e. skill, when playing. Things like automatic stun breaks, strong abilities which don't require setup or aren't realistically avoidable, and multi-faceted abilities where you aren't punished for spamming them.

So it went from being 'balanced' and unfun to being an unbalanced fuck fest but atleast you can have fun on some classes?

Reminds me of this other game I play that fucks up PvP balance constantly. League of World of Overwatch or something like that?

And I say 'balanced', because Vanilla GW2 PvP was a far cry from esports material. Those aquatic maps to this day make me fucking cringe.

[potis]

Yeah, going to stop you right there. GW2 without a dungeon finder or fractals is pretty much half a game. And you can most definitely have a Vanilla GW2. There's so much content they have added in the last 5 years and so many tweaks and changes they have made.

Just because they aren't like Blizzard and feel the need to remake the wheel every time the release a new expansion, they wouldn't have people crying about how much better X or Y version of a class would play. You know, because then they would be consistent and not remaking a spec over again just for the fuck of it (looking at you, arms fury ret marks bm arcane fire frost and pretty much every other spec coming into Legion.)

No, not really, there is nothing to do in GW2 unless you are an achievement hunter.

The game hasnt changed at all compared to what it was, what changed was the balance of things and some broken ass abilities got changed into more balance versions, and Ascended+ extra stats gear which is relatively easy to obtain.

Bought both expansions after not having touched GW2 since October 2012, consumed both campaigns/stories in around 2 week with my Mesmer, boosted a Ranger, read the Dot build, fixed the character with basic Viper/Rampager gear, did some raid bosses with some random guild that a friend asked me to help fill their 10th slot for their week, totally have forgotten you can be part of many guilds ;p

Thats all there is for the game, after that its achievement hunting, at least you can log on once in forever to progress the story.

[Schattenlied]

Keeps getting better, but is unfortunately still really not that great, as much as I wish it were otherwise.

[PACOX]

People saying that GW2 couldn't have a vanilla server forget that the one of the fundamental aspects of games combat system, the specialization system, was drastically change. The change caused a very noticeable power creep problem until there was enough post patch content to sort of balance it out a little. Old content is steam rolled because encounters were designed with a different system in mind.

Core spec trees where only allowed 2 specs to be maxed out at a time. No hotswapping specs in the middle of the field. Condis did a lot less damage, boons were stronger. CC working completly different. Whirl attacks were different (remember stacking firey greatswords in a corner?) Transmuting and changing stats before the skin system and ascended gear. Fractals that were random (well you can do it now but theres no point). Base stat combinations.

I couldn't imagine running a vanilla themed raid using only exotics, core specs, core stat combinations, core runes, 2 maxed specs only. Is it even possible (raids are designed with exotic gear in mind) without losing patience?

[Tekkommo]

Because it's available? For free...