GW2: Jaritan Kailtash 45

DETAILS

SWAMPLOST HAVEN: At 45, my thief's taken a steam punk route for his appearance. I thought I'd go looking for a piece of the Shadow Behemoth while I was in the area.

2013 PERSONAL GAME REVIEW: "GUILD WARS 2"

Play Time: 6 months

I have to say that I'm impressed with the quality of Guild Wars 2.  Beautiful design in all areas (just like the first Guild Wars) and fresh new ways to play an mmorpg.  I mean look at this screen cap.  THAT is how the game looks on my PC!

Things I like about GW2 are:

The game's graphics are superb and its artistic inkwash style is creative and refreshing.  And they even put a lot of thought into the little things:  The world has times of night and day; The weather changes in certain areas; When you pass some NPC's you can eavesdrop on their random conversations; Beasts sometimes stalk and hunt each other randomly out in the wild adding to a feel of immersion.

Everything is streamlined and organized.

It has well composed music. 

The game is Free-to-Play (F2P), meaning you don't need to pay monthly subscription fees after a certain time passes in order to continue working on your character/s.  THIS ALONE—for the game content and quality you get—proves to me that this game is a labor of love rather than greed.

You have the ability to attack at close or long range and heal yourself to a certain degree no matter what profession you choose.  BRILLIANT. With this element, players can focus more on teamwork and strategy rather than being picky and not getting things rolling because their party can't find "the ranger" or some "healers" (for example) to join them at the start of their mission.

You can go underwater and without worrying about running out of breath and drowning.  BRILLIANT.  Characters come equipped with special underwater breathing masks to eliminate the distraction of having to come up for air and allow more focus on their quests, strategy, and teamwork. 

In other mmorpg's, you DON'T gain experience for killing enemies that are several levels or more beneath you because it's too easy and it wouldn't be fair for players who are just getting started and trying to get strong. 
In GW2 you gain experience for every kill INCLUDING enemies who are levels weaker than you are.  In order to make it fair, when you are in an area where enemies are weaker than you, the game scales down your powers significantly to make fighting these weak enemies just as challenging for you as it is for a weaker player.  So if I'm Lv45 and want to help my Lv10 friends fight Lv10 enemies, we now can fight together AND I will still get experience for my time. The typical divide between strong and new players out in the field in other games doesn't exist in GW2 and thus encourages teamwork with those you know or don't know when it comes to battles.  BRILLIANT.

Major battles can occur spontaneously to create a social event.  I remember the first time I encountered this element in-game...  I was running across a field on my way to sell junk I've collected to a nearby town merchant.  Then an orange notice pops up on the corner of my screen saying a giant is rampaging in a town.  Totally random and had nothing to do with my quests.  I look at my minimap and I see this orange skull icon to the east of my location.  I stop in my tracks because I see 6 players (some in guilds, some not) run past me just then.  I noticed they're heading in the direction of the skull on my map and I follow because now I want to know what's up.  When the seven of us finally arrive, there's a good 20 OTHER PLAYERS who got there earlier fighting a giant effing cyclops trashing the place!  There were dying players and npc's everywhere.  The stomp of the cyclops not only did huge damage but let out a shockwave that blew back anyone nearby not crushed by its foot.  Its roar sent players running if they failed to resist its fear-effect.  It had absolutely nothing to do with my character's missions BUT it brought me and a chunk of the community together to be a part of something large scale and fun; adding flavor to the day's gaming experience.  BRILLIANT.

All classes have the ability to revive fallen players and npc's.  Every time they do, they receive experience.  BRILLIANT.  You are rewarded for taking the time to help a fellow player or get a feeling of immersion in the game by showing compassion to a fallen villager, a patrolling guard, or scholar who had an unfortunate run in.

When your life run's out, you don't die immediately.  This applies to PvE and PvP. Your character falls to the ground and slowly bleeds to death.  You gain a new skill bar that allows him/her to attempt to bandage their wounds, call for help, or fight to help allies before the bitter end arrives.  And when you die, for the few seconds it takes for you to respawn, you will show up on nearby players' maps as being dead.  This increases the likelihood someone  nearby might be able come to your aid before you respawn some distance away.  BRILLIANT.

Guild Wars 2 introduced to me a new kind of PvP I've never known before called World vs World (WvW).  There's a giant map where players from three different servers (worlds) battle it out in large-to-huge scale pvp/seige battles.  Up to 1,000+ PLAYERS can be involved!  There are fortress bases, ruins, and villages, that can be capped, reinforced, and defended by its holders.  Battering rams, trebuchets, boiling oil and more can be built from plans and utilized.  The more territory a server has conquered, the more benefits players from that server get in PvE (crafting bonuses, health increases, experience per kill, and more).  WvW players who do good can level up unique PvP skills and more.  So get this:  Players who trade their wares in the market affect the economy of the world, but WvW players (who fight for controlling villages, controlling trade routes, controlling bases) actually affect the greater part of the world itself.  Whether you're a PvP or PvE player, everyone wins when their server is doing great in WvW.  Players can gain a sense of pride and community for the server they are a part of AND can jump in and help whenever they feel up to it.  BRILLIANT.

For the PvP matches, players are automatically equalized to Level 80.  You don't have to wait long to go toe-to-toe with other players for team play and/or bragging rights.


PERSONAL RATING:  

10/10

EXCELLENT. 

Guild Wars 2 is innovative, well thought out, well tested, and continues to offer serious amounts of new content without charging you ridiculous prices like the trend seems to be going on lately in the game industry.