Typical WoW vs GW2 Questions

[benjaminandjen]

I unsubbed from WoW a few months ago. Played off and on for ten years or so. I basically hate WoW but I have so much history and rare mounts that it's hard to walk away.

First let me say I literally know nothing about GW2. So maybe I should list things I like and dislike about WoW and you guys can give me an idea if I'd like GW2.

Things I like about WoW: mounts, also mounts, transmog, story, character development, cinemas and scenarios. I like having one character and one race/class and just developing that character. I like solo play. I used to raid A LOT, but guilds are so toxic and break up constantly now.

Things I don't like about WoW: the devs change things constantly, there aren't enough mounts, the transmog system is limited, gear customization needs help, I avoid pvp almost entirely, people are evil in WoW - people will actually tell you to kill yourself if you ask a question, the graphics are ok but could be better.

I also want to know how long it would take to catch up with other GW players? Will it take years to get the best mounts and transmog, like WoW?

Anyway, just trying to get an idea if GW2 would offer a more gratifying experience than WoW. What was your experience like when you started playing GW2?

[Rogalicus]

First of all, GW2 mounts are not the same as WoW mounts, there are only five of them, but they all have unique skills and perks. So far all of the skins for them are from gem store, so mount collecting is reduced to gold collecting. Transmog acquisition has better variety of activities (dungeons, raids, crafting, collections, PvP, gem store outfits), but most of the skins are not that good. I'm also not sure about developing just one character, because GW2 has never increased level cap and there is no gear treadmill, so you can hit level 80, deck your character in full exotics and unlock both elite specializations in a couple of weeks and after that development is almost over until the third expansion (there is slightly better gear with about 5% stat difference, but it may take too long to acquire and after that you are completely done). It's all about player progression with class, GW2 has pretty rich character customization with 7 specializations, weapon combinations (every weapon has its' own set of skills), runes, sigils and five slot skills from a pretty big base.

On the bright side, people in GW2 are pretty nice and helpful, there is a coherent and pretty interesting story from level 1 to the end of second expansion in format of solo scenarios, outdoor content is far better than what WoW ever had in any incarnation of the game, so soloing is pretty interesting and you can also participate in epic meta events, which include full map of players working together without any need of grouping. You can also play basic game for free with relatively minor restrictions, so giving it a try won't hurt.

[BlairPhoenix]

I unsubbed from WoW a few months ago. Played off and on for ten years or so. I basically hate WoW but I have so much history and rare mounts that it's hard to walk away.

First let me say I literally know nothing about GW2. So maybe I should list things I like and dislike about WoW and you guys can give me an idea if I'd like GW2.

Things I like about WoW: mounts, also mounts, transmog, story, character development, cinemas and scenarios. I like having one character and one race/class and just developing that character. I like solo play. I used to raid A LOT, but guilds are so toxic and break up constantly now.

Things I don't like about WoW: the devs change things constantly, there aren't enough mounts, the transmog system is limited, gear customization needs help, I avoid pvp almost entirely, people are evil in WoW - people will actually tell you to kill yourself if you ask a question, the graphics are ok but could be better.

I also want to know how long it would take to catch up with other GW players? Will it take years to get the best mounts and transmog, like WoW?

Anyway, just trying to get an idea if GW2 would offer a more gratifying experience than WoW. What was your experience like when you started playing GW2?

Mounts: Your obsession with mounts tells me you might not like GW2. Not a lot of variety. Only 5 different kinds of mounts. Variety of skins available, but only for RL money(Or lots of gold if you convert gold to gems). GW2 does make up for its lack of variety by actually making the 5 different mounts actually play and move differently. They aren't just a visual speed buff, they have actual uses in the game. For example, Raptors can leap long distances, which help you get across large chasms, while Springers can jump high to reach high up cliffs.

Transmog: GW2's wardrobe system is pretty awesome. Throughout the game, when you get gear, you can unlock their skins, which is saved to your account, which you can then reskin on to your current gear. This does require a currency, of which you can either obtain via RL cash, or there are a few ways in game to earn them as well. All gear is also dyeable, you get dyes in game from doing story quests, drops, etc, which is saved to your account, and changing your armor/mount dyes is absolutely free. There are a LOT of dyes in the game.

Story: This is really subjective. I know some people like the story. I know some people absolutely hate it. I personally think it's kind of weak, lots of holes, and sometimes it really gets off track. It's serviceable, but not great overall imo.

Character development: If you're talking about customization, there are a lot of different builds you can play around with, especially you're just interested in soloing. Most anything is workable, and different builds give a decent amount of ways to customize how you play, along with the fact that half your skills are tied to the weapon you use, which allows you to play differently depending on your weapon choice. If you're looking to high end raid/PVP/Fractals(5 man group content) you will reach a point where if you aren't playing a specific class/build, you will be looked down upon/hassled/kicked. As the elitist mentality goes.

Cinemas: Not a lot in GW2. The ones that do exist, are more artsy, and less CGI. As for cinemas with in game graphics, not a whole lot either.

Having one character: I know lots of people say that GW2 is all about having craptons of alts, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to stick to one character and concentrate on that. Solo play is great in GW2 compared to WoW imo. A lot you can do, and unlike WoW, running into other people in the world doesn't become an unpleasant experience in the world, as the game mechanics for the most part don't punish you by being around other people. As for raids, They're a little less hardcore than WoW from what I know, but there is still a meta, and a lot of people absolutely abide by it.

Devs changing things: If anything, I know a lot of people want balance patches more often, as somethings stay broken for too long. On the flipside, when changes DO happen, it sometimes feels like you need to relearn EVERYTHING as the changes are sweeping.

PVP: I don't PVP so I can't help with this. I will say, PVP in GW2 is on an even playing field gear wise, as everyone is provided with the same level of gear, which makes skill/build/class/class comp very important in succeeding. There is ranked and unranked, of which ranked is obviously much more elitist. There is another form of PVP also called WVW, or World vs world, which currently pits 3 servers against each other on their own specific maps.

People in GW2: Many people will tell you that GW2 has one of the friendliest communities, and this is very true for the most part. If you have a question and ask in map chat, people will generally respond with helpful information. There is of course always the occasional bad egg, but generally speaking, people are pretty nice about helping people in the game. There is of course elitism at the upper tiers of game play(Raids, PVP, Tier 4 Fractals), but that's going to be true with anything.

Graphics: They're nice. Character graphics are subjective, I know some people hate the style GW2 has. Maps are gorgeous. You'll find people like posting there favorite scenery shots a lot from this game.

Catching up: There is no gear treadmill, you should be able to catch up just fine. Mounts are gotten by playing through the story(mostly). The wardrobe system is available to you right away.

Hope this was informational.

[Super Kami Dende]

GW2 is trash. It has no redeeming features over any other good MMO. Don't waste your money.

[BlairPhoenix]

GW2 is trash. It has no redeeming features over any other good MMO. Don't waste your money.

The entire base game is free to play and the in game store isn't pay to win. Point me to another casual MMO game where I only have to buy expansions, and don't need buy things from the in game store to be competitive. I'm not saying GW2 is the best MMO ever or any such garbage, but saying it has no redeeming features at all is being facetious. I would say it's one of the best casual MMOs on the market for its pay model and lack of gear grind. It makes it very easy to jump in and out of. If you can tell me another game that has all of these and is better than GW2, as you seem to be implying one exists, please do tell though. I would honestly like to know, and actually have options available to me.

[|Dexter|]

The story becomes a lot better in the newer zones but like the season 1 story events after the main game storyline were you beat the first elder dragon was remove of the game and replaced with a crappy story telling trailer you will always feel like you missing out a big part of it, even more so after you find out that the characters introduce during the season 1 story are a huge part of the xpacks that you have to buy both btw for the story and characters and amazing zones and next to that the 2 ingame season story packs!

But the worst part is the GW2 Cash shop is really bad, like there is no sub fee, you start off with tiny bags, you can buy bigger bags from the AH but this game is the worst when it comes to bag magement the complete system seems to be designed to push you to unlock more backslots (that are character base and not account base!! WTH) and more bank space... you will loot so many items that you have to click to open and sometimes inside are other items that need to be opened and they also got a ton of booster xp booster items (like even on max level you still need unlock all your masterys).

Also after unlocking the original 5 mounts (the bird one is a gliding mount not a flying mount and it will be HELL to unlock)...
THERE is NO WAY of earning any of the mount skins in-game unless you want farm gold for months, all the skins are in the cash shop most cost more than the cash shop mounts in WoW and even worst lots of the ones added are behind Mount Adoption Licenses that are complete random so if you want one Mount Skin you love it may take you many buys to get. And there is more they got LOOT Boxes that got the best skins and items but they do give you some loot boxes as rewards in the game.

But really this cash shop is bad and in your face at all times it's part of the AH interface.

I understand that ArenaNet trying to fund GW2 live development through non-pay-to-win microtransactions but there are way too much of it!

Honestly I played GW2 the quests are fun and ok the story is a mixed bag however and the combat system get boring really quickly, I don't know of you going to like or hate it but you will be treated like a cash cow like this is what ArenaNet seems to do best, all the game seems to be just a trap for microtransaction to really get any of the fun loot like the gear is not really all that important.

[benjaminandjen]

Some really thoughtful responses here. I really like that mounts and custom gear are both accessible pretty early. And I like the design language better than FFXIV. A lot to think about. Go back to WoW? Or finally break the cycle and give GW2 a shot??? I know it's free, and you can "try" it but I'll probably go all in or stay away completely. I'm pretty encouraged though

[PACOX]

Mounts in GW2 behave more akin to actually riding an animal and not just a speed boost. Each mount has its own movement style and function.

GW2 is called "Fashion Wars 2" for a reason. Skins are a lot more modular and come in a lot more variety than WoW. Changing skins is requires a transmutation charge in most cases, not hard to earn but it can be confusing to some because the charges can also be bought for real money making people falsely think you have to pay real money to change skins

Character development in GW2 is mastering your build and finding the right stats. Theres only 2 real equipment tiers at endgame, this will never change. The nuance comes from the dozens of stat combos and upgrades for the gear. You'll hear about berserker and viper being the most used pve stats but even those can be considered just the baseline combos as you can shoot for more specialized/min-maxed loadouts.

Combat - Combat is intuitive. Theres actually more abilities to use per any given build than WoW in most cases (average WoW build uses 4-6 buttons, some GW2 use up to 15-20). People confuse only being able to have 10 skills on your main bar at a time as "less skills". Also its easy to play shitty in GW2 and think youre being effective, much harder to actually to plau your class well. This shows in upper tier content such as T4 fractals, raids, and ranked pvp where bad habits will get you killed.

I find that guilds have a bigger meaning in GW2 than WoW. I never felt loyal to a WoW guild, even as raider, they just made it easier to group up with your raid team. GW2s system allows you to create niche communities. You can have a PVE guild, PVP guild, and a casual guild all at the same time and freely talk to those guilds...at the same time. GW2s community is known to be a lot more welcoming than WoWs (still have trolls, a lot of people troll for the irony though). One of the biggest things I notice in WoW vs GW2 is in GW2 is people do little shit like say "ty" after any run even though their message is erased as soon as they leave a group. The games definitely have different cultures.

Theres plenty of turn offs, espcially from people from WoW who arent exactly tired of WoW. One particular turn off is that GW2 offers you little direction. In WoW their is always the gear grind, this obviously doesnt exist in GW2. In GW2 youre free to carve out your own goals but there is so much shit to do in the game it can be unclear or overwhelming. I think the game has or is about to reach the point where theres more post launch maps than the game launched with...maps never really become obsolete in GW2 so its easy to get lost in it all.

Like people have said, the base game is free so theres no risk in trying it. The expansions are also currently on sale if you use those code liked in another thread, the discount only applies to the first expansion if you buy it with the second though. I think they are normally $60 together with the special edition upgrades.

[|Dexter|]

Some really thoughtful responses here. I really like that mounts and custom gear are both accessible pretty early. And I like the design language better than FFXIV. A lot to think about. Go back to WoW? Or finally break the cycle and give GW2 a shot??? I know it's free, and you can "try" it but I'll probably go all in or stay away completely. I'm pretty encouraged though

You can't get the mounts till max level (80) and you need the patch of fire xpack, they are not part of the free game and also mounts are not really what they are in WoW, they are not just fast travel, you can boost your character to 80 right away like the xpack comes with the boost no matter what version you buy. However as a new player you will miss out boosting and are better off starting from 1 to learn the basics. Really try to give it a try in the free core game first.

[Deleted]

mounts; there are mounts, but they are only obtainable after level 80 via progression trough the game story, with the "flying mount" being post-game and expensive to obtain;
every of the 5 mounts has a different advantage/disadvantage it comes with.
Mount customization: Dyable to a degree; outside of that skins can be bought for real money

transmog - unlocking works similarly to WoWs wardrobe.
Pros: Most items are dyeable. (albeit you need to purchase obtain the dye 1st)
Cons: every "transmog" of every item costs currency, which, should you do it a lot; will cost you real life money

story - pre-set story, with some choices in the free up to level 80 game;

character development - in the sense of writing hardly any; should you not have played previous story (S1 is not replayable; S2 and S3 you missed will cost you real money) you will feel kind of lost at the start of the expansion story. Some of them are rather annoying and i still don't know why i bother with them (story-wise)

cinemas - not a lot of cinematics ingame; most story gets explained like in asian RPGs ("Talking head" style from WoW, just accross the full screen)

scenarios - you will like this; most of the story is via solo-able scenarios albeit it can be challanging at parts

solo play - Most of the game is soloable, albeit i still wonder what people keep logging in for, as most of the end-game is basically a grind

Onto your questions:
I also want to know how long it would take to catch up with other GW players?
As gear quickly becomes a non-issue not long.

Will it take years to get the best mounts and transmog, like WoW?
Best mounts - well you will obtain most mounts via the story, but the "flying" (it's more gliding) one will cost you
Transmog - well this one is a bit awkward; most of the basic ones are obtainable quickly during leveling, but the fancy ones will require dungeoneering and other types of content
Overall i'd say if you think "it takes years to get transmog and mounts in WoW" then you will probably dislike GW2's take on it.

[gaymer77]

I unsubbed from WoW a few months ago. Played off and on for ten years or so. I basically hate WoW but I have so much history and rare mounts that it's hard to walk away.

/snip

Anyway, just trying to get an idea if GW2 would offer a more gratifying experience than WoW. What was your experience like when you started playing GW2?

I too am a long time player of WoW. I started in 2005 and have been playing since. I've taken some breaks from it for various reasons but for the most part I've played every expansion it offers. I started playing GW2 not that long ago myself although my account is over 1500 days old (previous trial account that was converted to a free account when they went F2P). I'll just go down the list as I see them from your post:

1. Mounts - If you are a mount collector you will be sadly disappointed in GW2. There are 5 different types of mounts with each one having at least 10 different skins (looks) to them. If you are curious, you can check out THIS SITE for the different mounts in the game. Mounts are different than other games and have actual uses while riding one including combat. I know you mentioned that one of your DISLIKES about WoW is there aren't enough mounts but I'm utterly confused by that statement. There are literally 663 mounts available in WoW. I know no other game that has anywhere near a fraction of that amount. So if that is your biggest deciding factor, you're not going to like any other game besides WoW.

2. Transmog - It is pretty decent in this game. Like most other games, you are limited to transmogging the same armor types with each other. The nice thing about this game is that it has what's called skins. Skins are simply the look of the weapon or armor but "learnable" by someone who didn't get it. That means that if Joe Schmoe runs a dungeon or raid and extracts the skin from something bound to him, he can trade it or even sell it on the trade broker for anyone to learn and use. Skins/appearance items are learned account wide too. And the cool thing about GW2 is that to learn something in your wardrobe you have to remove it from the game by other players. This can be done by equipping it, salvaging it (think disenchanting but instead of enchanting mats it gives you crafting mats and gems that were in the item), vendoring it, or destroying it. Skins can also be purchased on the trade broker as I stated or from their online gem store for real money. The only drawback to their transmog system is it involves charges which can be purchased with gems for real life money or you can convert gold into gems.

3. Story - The story of GW2 is a personal story that has some gating but it also has consequences like SWTOR does. Every 10 levels you get a new personal story that is directly related to your personal story creation. There's one at 10, 20, and 30 that are tied into your character creation questions you answer (you can look at the wiki to see what would happen if that sort of thing is interesting to you). At 40+ your personal story is tied into decisions you make during those first 3 quests. Each expansion has it's own set of stories for you to do as well. There's many many many open world quests (referred to as heart quests in GW2) that are spread across each zone you go to. These heart completions award a currency called karma. Karma & even gold are account wide so there's no having to mail yourself gold if you want an alt to buy something. Heart & karma vendors sell various items once you have completed the heart quest associated with them. These items are armor, weapons, and accessories but some times can include recipes, foods, and even crafting mats.

4. Character Development - If you have ever played ESO then you will be familiar with GW2 character development. GW2 uses hero points similar to how ESO uses skyshards as talent points to develop your character. They are spread across the world in various hero point challenges on your map (each zone has multiple points to earn) and awarded while you level up as well. There are a total of 1302 hero points in the world currently. With those points, you spend them on various talents for your character. I would strongly suggest reading reading SKILLS for the class (called professions in GW2) and then head over to the SPECIALIZATIONS page to see what you can specialize for each class. My recommendation is to put points into one of the initial skill sets until you can unlock specializations at 21 then start putting points in there. As others have pointed out, your spells are determined by the weapons you equip. Warriors are the most diverse profession when it comes to what they can equip. They can equip 21 of the possible 25 weapons in the game (daggers require lvl 80 and speccing into it). You are armor locked on what you can wear though. Unlike WoW where if you're a plate wearing class you can actually equip any armor type, GW2 restricts heavy armor users to only being able to use heavy armor. The unique thing about this game is what you can do with your character once you create it though! There is no restrictions on what profession can be what role in the game. If you want to make a healing warrior or a tanking elementalist or even a melee ranger you can! Its the stats on the gear that determine what you do & the weapons you equip determine where you are on the battlefield. Power is a stat that increases your direct damage done. Healing is what you want if you want to increase your healing done. Toughness says it increases your armor but what is not said is that it also increases your threat generation so if you're wanting to tank, this is your stat. I will let you in on the meaning of a few terms when it comes to stats. Boons are helpful buffs. Conditions are dots and debuffs. Ferocity is crit damage. Precision is chance to crit. Expertise is increased condition time. Concentration is increased boon time.

5. Crafting/Gathering - Everyone can gather in the game if you equip harvesting tools. The tools require a certain level to equip and only harvest items for that level range or lower (gem store ones can be equipped at lvl 1 and are good for ANY level of gathered good). The standard 2 crafting professions per character rule applies to the game although you can purchase additional crafting licensing from the gem store to make one character eventually know all the crafting professions in the game if you so want to. Interesting fact about GW2 is all of these learned recipes can be learned by ANYONE on your account and the rest of your characters will know it as well. Just because your mesmer is a tailor and cook doesn't mean she can't learn the recipe for an armorsmithing item you just picked up when your warrior is your armorsmith. The other interesting fact is most of the recipes teach multiple professions at once. Typically if it is usable by your tailor then it will also include something for your armorsmith and leatherworker too but that is not always the case. The multiple characters learning the recipe is always the case though. Crafting requires taking gathered goods and converting them into various parts that you would use in the crafting of goods (I think cooking is the only one that doesn't do that but don't quote me on that as I don't have a chef yet lol). Some times similar professions use the same crafted materials for each profession. An armorsmith uses cloth just like leatherworkers and tailors.

6. Cinematics & scenarios - This game is full of cinematics but not the CGI ones you might be accustomed to from WoW but more like the ones again from SWTOR. They are generally dialogue explaining the story as you progress in it. There are some areas of the game called vistas which are places that you go to earn experience and it awards you with a cutscene showing the landscape around you. Each zone has multiple scouts that show you where on the map the heart quests I described in the story section are. Each scout only unlocks certain heart quests and will do a mini-cutscene when you talk to them. The mini-cutscene is just him/her opening your map and marking the hearts on it while describing what is happening at each area. Scouts are NOT required to do the hearts though. All they do is mark them on your map so you can head that way while out exploring.

7. Races & classes - Every race can be any profession in the game. There are 5 different races out there. Humans, norn (think taller more beefy humans), asura (they're sorta a gnomish/long eared/rat looking race but much better than I described), sylvari (a plant people), and charr (they're described as being feline but they're honestly more just an animal type race). Each race has different personal stories, cultural armor (think heritage armor like the allied races get), and racial abilities. There is no gender locked races or professions in the game but the reverant profession is locked behind owning the Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire expansion. Unlike the other professions, reverants do not have access to racial skills. It was recommended to me NOT to make a reverant until you've played the game for a while and have a feel for the game play.

8. Solo play - Because this is an MMO and MMOs in nature encourage multiplayer interaction, some aspects of the game require grouping up but the bulk of the game does not. Hell you don't even have to group up with other people while doing outdoor world bosses and "group" quests/bosses. Dungeons, fractals (heroic dungeons), and raids obviously require grouping up. For the level 80 raids there is a LFG tool with a LFR setting but my understanding is nobody uses it. Guilds do run raids within their guilds though. Raiding in this game is 10 man. Your personal story (base questline specific to your character) has many scenarios that are soloable but if you're in a party that person (or persons) can help you but not progress in their own storyline if they too are on it. When you are out & about in the world and stumble across someone who is dead, res them. Every player can revive other players or NPCs including in combat. Death in GW2 is something that's really unique because you literally fight for your life when you get downed.

9. Guilds & players in general - As with any multiplayer online game your interaction depends on the player base. This community isn't as toxic as most other MMOs and definitely not as toxic as the WOW community is. Players and guilds in GW2 seem to be extremely friendly and helpful. Interesting fact is GW2 is similar to ESO again because you can be in up to 5 guilds at once.

10. Dev changes - Honestly I haven't heard anyone complain about imbalance or class changes in the game or that a certain class was drastically changed since the game was released. I may be wrong but I haven't heard anyone say this.

11. Graphics - The graphics in the game are pretty bad ass. They're better than WoW and the detail of your character & equipment is very good.

[TonyEx]

Hi. I'm only about a month ahead of you, so my impressions are very noob-ish. I bought the game about 5 years ago on the recommendation from a friend, but I couldn't get into it. Later I started WoW and did Heroic raiding up until very recently. Now, some friends have decided that GW2 is our next game, so I'm back.

I can't say whether you'll like it, but this has been my experience:

1. I really like the art design over WoW. WoW is a bit too cartoonish for my tastes, and this looks good. Haven't really touched the expansion content much yet, so I'm mostly looking at the base game. Good transmogs seem to require money, but the dye system can make your random gear look "decent". Not necessarily great, but decent. I've seen some really grant transmogs, both all-in-one sets and ones built from various pieces.

2. The combat is much more twitchy than WoW. This isn't a perfect analogy, but I'd say it's a Diablo-expanded style of combat. At first I thought that it might be too simplistic for me long-term, but doing weapon-swaps mid-rotation make it complex enough to be difficult and interesting.

3. This is a much more open-world style of game, where you often have to set your own agenda for the day. WoW is very methodical with it's "meet quest-giver, clear the area, move on to next quest-giver" style. What I didn't get 5 years ago is that sometimes you're going to spend your day exploring through POIs, vistas, and teaming up with people to kill Champions (orange-text guys). Story content is level blocked and if you move through the zones too fast you'll be overwhelmed with high-level bad guys.

4. The people are generally friendly, and most game mechanics don't reward negative behavior (i.e. camping gathering nodes). If someone sees you take a fall, you'll usually get a res from them.

5. Having done just a couple dungeons with an under-geared Mesmer, mechanics are very important. You really can't stand in fire. The normal dungeons are mid-level mythic difficulty. This contributes to the need to be twitchy.

6. Here's one thing that WoW does better: The characters & missions in GW2 seem have less emotional range than WoW. If you played through Legion, you may remember this one world quest where you had to chase squirrels and crack nuts. It was really stupid, but the idea of it made me laugh. The BfA teaser cinematic also showed a lot of emotions, esp. Anduin on the verge of tears when he raised the Alliance army. In vanilla GW2, characters don't have that.

[kail]

GW2 is trash. It has no redeeming features over any other good MMO. Don't waste your money.

Combat, animations, scaling, and transmog customizations are some very redeeming features. That's just off the top of my head.

[alexchaos]

GW2 base game is free, just try it out and if it's not for you then try something else. There is 0 commitment here other than time since no sub fees or retail fees.

In my opinion, GW2 is a really great game. There are easily hundreds of hours of gameplay just leveling up and exploring the whole world and doing the quests.

[gaymer77]

4. The people are generally friendly, and most game mechanics don't reward negative behavior (i.e. camping gathering nodes). If someone sees you take a fall, you'll usually get a res from them.

I just thought I'd comment on this portion too. In GW2 not only can anyone gather ANYTHING as long as you have the appropriate level gathering tools but there is no competition for gathering nodes. When I'm out & about with my boyfriend and see a node I tell him to come take a swing at it too. Not only can you harvest from the same node because it doesn't despawn in the world but you can literally gather at the same time as someone else doing so.

[Lightbull]

I'm not the most knowledgable on the subject, but my first experience with GW2 was horrible. I loved the levelling, but as soon as I got into PvP, I was met with elitism and unhelpful people. I also didn't find the PvP fun compared to WoW.

But that's my opinion. Yours may vary.

[Eleccybubb]

I'm not the most knowledgable on the subject, but my first experience with GW2 was horrible. I loved the levelling, but as soon as I got into PvP, I was met with elitism and unhelpful people. I also didn't find the PvP fun compared to WoW.

But that's my opinion. Yours may vary.

PvP is subjective in this game. I don't mind it personally. Except Stronghold which is garbage imo. All the other maps are good but thankfully you can remove it from the queue pool last I checked.

Both games are good and both games do something better and worse than each other. I'd say play both personally.

If I had to make a shortlist...

PvE. That goes to WoW imo. Simple formula that it works on. GW2 has decent zone events but in terms of challenging content all it really has are high end fractals and raids. Plus WoW actually works on their dungeons to keep people doing them. GW2 didn't really do much with dungeons other than 1 for story.

PvP. I'd say GW2. Just feels more balanced and fluid in some aspects imo. Only thing I dislike about PvP in GW2 is the Stronghold mode.

Graphics. I'd say it's a tie here since each game tries to do something different. Although if I had to say one it would be WoW. Artstyle is more charming and appeals to me more.

Music. I'd say WoW again. More variety. Although GW2 has some amazing pieces.

Classes. GW2 hands down. You can be a Melee Necromancer which is something I absolutely love. There are optimal ways to play classes of course in GW2 but the freedom is there to use a variety of weapons if you want.

[potis]

Some really thoughtful responses here. I really like that mounts and custom gear are both accessible pretty early. And I like the design language better than FFXIV. A lot to think about. Go back to WoW? Or finally break the cycle and give GW2 a shot??? I know it's free, and you can "try" it but I'll probably go all in or stay away completely. I'm pretty encouraged though

I didnt read their posts but this is GW2:

If you like games like Zelda (Platform RPGs basically) with achievement system/collectibles/pets/transmog and a medieval/magic storyline and general class/abilities thinking of similar RPGS (WoW/Rift) etc, thats GW2.

There are ton of things to do if you are a collector, otherwise it gets boring really fast since the gear caps rather quickly.

They added raiding despite saying they wouldnt at the start for that very reason, to have something to progress despite collecting achievements etc all the time.

Although i would recommend trying it if you wanna play something new.

The leveling storylines are decent, obviously by now they cost a bit but they are decently made and rather fun.

I bought both expansions after a 5 year gap, game hasnt changed much overall, its still a collectors game in the end, but the expansions gave me a good 2 weeks of storyline, and i was already max level with maxed gear before they introduced the +10% gear.

So for someone completely new, it can give you easy 2 months of content just for the story, not even counting the basic farming you have to do to raise masteries.

[Super Kami Dende]

Combat, animations, scaling, and transmog customizations are some very redeeming features. That's just off the top of my head.

As I said none "over any other good MMO". Nothing GW2 does is better than any other popular MMO. Especially Combat lmfao. GW2 has the worst Combat of like the top 10 current MMO's.

[Sorrior]

I unsubbed from WoW a few months ago. Played off and on for ten years or so. I basically hate WoW but I have so much history and rare mounts that it's hard to walk away.

First let me say I literally know nothing about GW2. So maybe I should list things I like and dislike about WoW and you guys can give me an idea if I'd like GW2.

Things I like about WoW: mounts, also mounts, transmog, story, character development, cinemas and scenarios. I like having one character and one race/class and just developing that character. I like solo play. I used to raid A LOT, but guilds are so toxic and break up constantly now.

Things I don't like about WoW: the devs change things constantly, there aren't enough mounts, the transmog system is limited, gear customization needs help, I avoid pvp almost entirely, people are evil in WoW - people will actually tell you to kill yourself if you ask a question, the graphics are ok but could be better.

I also want to know how long it would take to catch up with other GW players? Will it take years to get the best mounts and transmog, like WoW?

Anyway, just trying to get an idea if GW2 would offer a more gratifying experience than WoW. What was your experience like when you started playing GW2?

Ya know i think you may want to look into ffxiv. It has alot of mounts community is better tgen wows and fashion is so important they are constantly adding stuff just for it.

Pvp is also an afterthought and outside of say the recent skill trimming most everyrhibg is pretty stable(including patches also no year long waits)

Annd one character can be ALL classes so one is all you need(they also have a cheaper sub option for one character per realm/server up to 8)

And yes gear is dyable

Also they have a thing fir smaller servers that gets you 1 million gik upon hitting lv 30 and an xp bonus on new characters(amd free server transfers to smaller/new servers)

Oh everything is story gated sooo be ready for that. Can be a grind but just understand ffxiv is about the journey mire then wow(and only meed to do it once)

As for gearing once at cap maybe a few weeks tops to catchup.

Gw2 honestly it can be pretty pvp heavy and is definitely not as well suited to one character. Also ALOT of stuff is on the store really feeps like they are pushing it pretty hardcore(should ad ffxiv puts some stuff on the store most expensive are 30 dollar two person account bound mounts cheapest are accessories ir some emotes for 3 dollars and outfit with say hair is 15.. most of these WERE in game but were seasonal rewards which change every year)

If you want a very casual mmo however gw2 might be for you.

My advice try oyt both gw2 is f2p bar expansions and ffxiv has a free trial till lv 35(and you can get the base game fir 20 and stormblood the second expansion includes the first one so 60 for all..or just complete set for 60)