A few weeks ago, I had the
time and opportunity to participate in the last beta weekend of Guild
Wars 2 and I had a great time playing it. So I'll be doing a review
based on my first hand experience in Guild Wars 2, a highly
anticipated MMORPG being in development for years. And what a better
time to review it since it launches in less than 24 hours to those
who had pre-purchased it. Being an avid MMORPG fan since I first saw
Everquest many years ago, I've been on a constant lookout for an
MMORPG which will give me a sense of belonging. And so far I've tried
many MMORPG's including World of Warcraft and they've all failed to
give me that feeling. Will Guild Wars 2 be what I am looking for?
That, I do not know yet. But here are some of my thoughts on Guild Wars 2.
The first thing to be
aware of is that the questing system is different from most other
games. While there are tasks for players to do most of the questing
comes from dynamic events that will change and evolve depending on
how the players deal with it. While this system is not entirely new,
since it has been done in Warhammer Online, this is the first time
where most of the questing comes from it. The world is filled with
these dynamic events and you walk around the world not expecting when
these events will happen and completing them will lead to more and
more events to the point that you don't even know if more events are
going to chain from the current event that you have done or if it is
finally over. Then there is the personal story quests, where it plays
out similar to a normal RPG, with you progressing your character's
story, entering instanced areas with scripted events.
One other thing that I'd
like to point out about the game is the scale of the world. The first
time I logged in and looked at the map I went “Wow the map is
huge”. The world is one huge chuck of land just waiting to be
explored. The areas of the game is huge, there is a lot of places to
explore around the map. Even the city is huge, it took me hours to
explore every corner of the city. And for the first time in an
MMORPG, exploring the map actually feels rewarding, thanks to the
Vista's which will trigger a short scene of the surrounding area,
similar to that of Assassin's Creed. There is also areas around the
map where we can get additional skill points, however to reach there
we have to go through certain jumping puzzles. This adds a nice touch
to those that like to explore maps like I do.
Like most modern MMORPG's,
there is a whole bunch of gathering and crafting professions. In
Guild Wars 2 you can equip 3 of the gathering tools which will allow
you to collect certain materials. Best thing is the nodes for the
material can be shared between players so there is no rushing or
camping for a node to respawn or things like that. As for
professions, it is quite easy to level up without really craft
grinding. There are recipes that can be discovered, and they are
quite easily discovered once you know how it goes. Each new discovery
of a recipe gives a huge bonus to your crafting level and there is a
lot of recipes to be discovered so crafting is not really a pain in
the ass to level up like most other games. Materials for crafting can
be bought in the auction house or can be found quite easily from
salvageable loot dropped by enemies. Like in the first Guild Wars,
these salvageable items can be salvaged by using a salvage kit
turning them into useful crafting materials.
Combat in Guild Wars 2 has
a very different feel from most other MMORPG's. In most MMORPG's a
solo player can usually handle one or two enemies at the same time
without being overwhelmed. While that is almost the same in Guild
Wars 2 it certainly does not feel that way as you can dodge attacks
and cast spells while moving, allowing you to take down multiple
targets with ease if done properly. But still, if you are outnumbered
you'll get taken out in no time. When you first lose all your HP you
go into a downed state where you can still damage enemies and call
for help. If you managed to kill an enemy while in a downed state you
are immediately brought back up with some HP. The beauty of the
combat in Guild Wars 2 is that combat is meant to be fought with
multiple enemies and players from all directions, making the
battlefield chaotic. There will be players helping out one another
since there is no such thing as kill stealing. One thing about the
dodge is that you can dodge incoming heavy damage enemy attacks, but
with so many things happening in the battlefield, you are bound to
take damage from other sources as well. There is no way of coming out
of a battle untouched.
Although I did not manage
to do any PvP, from what I heard from my friends, the World vs World
vs World(WvWvW) is one heck of a fun and messy fight with hundreds of
players fighting it out in a few instanced maps. Although I did not
manage to experience the dungeons but from videos I've seen, it's
definitely something that I am looking forward to enjoying with my
friends, especially since there is no holy trinity(Tank,DPS and
Heal). Leveling up on the other hand, doesn't take long and the
amount of experience required to level up doesn't increase too much
per level. Higher level characters are scaled down to appropriate
levels according to areas, so your character isn't overpowered at
areas and you can still enjoy the game with lower level friends. One
of my only complain so far in the game is that the menu for inventory
and character spread could be less cluttered around the screen as it
takes up too much space if I were to open those two tabs at once.
Guild Wars 2 is definitely
something to be experienced. Of course many of its ideas may not be
original, but it is a game that has done the most changes to the
standard MMORPG gameplay, while many others are still sticking to the
World of Warcraft system, taking very little risks and changing one
or two gameplay mechanics at a time. If you are a MMORPG fan, Guild
Wars 2 is definitely something that you do not want to miss out on.
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