Guild Wars 2: Opening Impressions

Guild Wars 2: Opening Impressions

Guild Wars 2
PC
MMO-RPG

It’s not that often that I dive into an MMO, though recently I had the chance to go through some of The Secret World and now I have the opportunity to play Guild Wars 2. Once you get past the decision making of what type of character you want to be and then selecting from the different features available, like size, facial features, and color of outfit – just to name a few of the typical rundown of options – You’ll be thrown into a world that is incredibly massive in size and beautiful in design.

In my opening hours of playing through the game, nothing in particular stood out to make this game more interesting than the next, but I haven’t lost my interest yet. It could be the fact that there is almost always some kind of activity happening in each area that you can involve yourself with to earn experience points. It could also be that it’s just designed well enough that the basic tasks of getting something done doesn’t seem that tedious because of that lovely design. The game does look beautiful, the gameplay is wonderful, you have a number of different attacking options right from the beginning depending on your character set. I felt like rocking out the magic this time around as I chose to be an elementalist, so I could cast fire attacks, lightning attacks and more. The game does enough to keep you engaged and enjoying your time. My only complaint thus far would be the camera which bothered me ever so slightly once in a while.

Combat in Guild Wars 2

I think you will learn rather quickly just how deep this game is, but what else would you have expected from an MMO? For some reason this game still caught me off guard. Maybe it’s because I could see all of the options right from the beginning, observe the expansive map and discover how long it takes me to level up just a little bit so I can unlock a new attack option. It could be that I’m a little more impatient this time around and I am looking forward to upgrading my character skills a lot faster. The thing is, this game gives you that feeling of wanting to complete these random quests and that is the most important feature of any MMO – to make you want to play the game and continue doing so.

The amount of enemies and tasks are vast right from the beginning with many enemy types and a great deal of different tasks to not only find, but literally stumble upon. Many times in my exploration I would simply come across yet another task that was currently in the process of happening, providing me with the opportunity to join in and help out. There is always something going on somewhere and it’s quite fun, especially when there is a group of people around. By the way, it almost always feels like a packed house in the game. One of my favorite experiences thus far was joining a large group of people in a raid of an enemy camp, in which I took out hundreds of their kind followed by a “champion” that took thousands of strikes from many of us, to finally put down. Great battle – great fun!

Dynamic Events in Guild Wars 2

So far I have really struggled with the higher ranked enemies. They were easy to handle at the lower levels, but now that the enemy levels have gotten higher along with my own level, it seems I end up dying a lot more. The game is certainly difficulty, especially as you continue on the storyline tasks; you’ll run into a lot of tough battles that help make this game that much more entertaining. This also means that you will have to spend a lot of time fighting in random battle after random battle and doing whatever you can to level up your character. Don’t skip out on anything during your journey, you’ll eventually get too far and not be at a level high enough to continue on in the main story. It’s important to gain all the experience that each area has to offer as you play through. Otherwise, you are going to hope that there are others around to revive you. There are also daily challenges for you to complete that will help gain experience to level you up.

The setting of the game is something to behold by anyone with a love for a fantasy world setting. It’s got the right type of characters, the surrounding lands which provides a great visual appeal and a decent storyline that follows. Currently I am attempting to stop a leader of a certain group of people from not following an ice dragon, which is a powerful being that has killed many. Not to give too much away, but it does have an interesting enough back story to cause you to want to push forward with the current story. The game however, will only allow you to go so far without having to partake in other random quests. You can’t choose the pace in this game, you’ll have to explore a lot and stay alive while finding random side quests to partake in so that you can level up – then you may continue onward.

Personal Story in Guild Wars 2

So far I am really enjoying the set-up of the game. There is a lot to do, a lot to learn and a lot to collect and upgrade for your character. I’ve only gotten about 8 hours into the game, but it feels like it has been more than that. It’s been very user friendly when it comes to learning the ropes of the game, so anyone should be able to jump in and have a good time right from the beginning. If you get knocked down by an enemy, you don’t die right away. There is a short period of time that you can still kill the enemy, which basically revives yourself, or if you are with a group or near a group of people, you can pretty much count on them to heal you. It’s also interesting to note that I’ve played that many hours yet have only covered 4% of the map – massive definitely describes this game.

It’s not often that I can play alongside random people and still enjoy their company while not even directly playing with them. You are never alone even if you are playing by yourself. It’s always easy to join in on these special events that pop up randomly around the world and as you participate in the event it will draw in others as well. So, during those times where the bigger battles take place, you will never be along. There will always be a random person by your side.

I’m really enjoying my time with Guild Wars 2 thus far!

Responses

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  1. My first impression – after downloading a very slow patch (2 gigs took 2 hours man – that’s so 2007) is that – 4 hours on I still can’t log on. Checked with devs (who have taken the forums down – good choice – otherwise they would be flooded with people who can’t get in the game) is staring at the Guild Wars 2 log in screen for hours “The game client is unable…….”

  2. I haven’t gotten a chance to try Guild Wars 2 out yet but if it’s anything like the first it’s going to be an instant classic!!