Guild Wars 2

[Hightower]

I've been playing GW2 off and on since their first expansion back in 2015. Anyone else here play it?

It's a bit of an odd animal. I don't think I'd recommend it to people who enjoy MMOs like WoW or FFXIV but then I thought: This is GS! This game is full of weirdos like me who find something they like even in games that nobody could honestly recommend anyone else play!

Anyway, I record video of some of the things I like to do, so here's a sample of what GW2 game play looks like:


This one is a moderately difficult open world boss. It hits really hard, but it's also large and slow, with obvious telegraphs to its attacks. With proper positioning and timing, you can avoid most of the damage and win! The ability to dodge and potentially avoid 100% of the damage from an attack (if you time it right!) is one of my favorite features of GW2 combat and you can see I am using the heck out of it in this video!



~Taverkin

[Taernath]

There's another GW thread buried here somewhere, I played on and off for a while, but off since the last xpac released.

[Seizer]

I've been playing GW2 off and on since their first expansion back in 2015. Anyone else here play it?
~Taverkin

I used to play it a lot when Heart of Thorns first dropped. Did a lot of raiding up to Matthais Gabrel tier. Took a break then kind of started on the next tier, but lost interest. I got so tired of always trying to keep up with current meta for classes I played, or they'd fall out of favor during a tier/fight. I loved playing necromancer, it rocked had tons of utility and nice condi damage, then they nerfed minions. I always did enjoy Fractals of the Mist so, yeah if you like dungeon hopping or Fractals it'd be fun to hang out with a GS player. I actually dragged one of my raid friends from GW2 to GS, an she loves GS quite a bit. She capped in less than a year, where as my lazy ass..... not capped. Sent you a PM.

[Hightower]

I used to play it a lot when Heart of Thorns first dropped. Did a lot of raiding up to Matthais Gabrel tier. Took a break then kind of started on the next tier, but lost interest. I got so tired of always trying to keep up with current meta for classes I played, or they'd fall out of favor during a tier/fight. I loved playing necromancer, it rocked had tons of utility and nice condi damage, then they nerfed minions. I always did enjoy Fractals of the Mist so, yeah if you like dungeon hopping or Fractals it'd be fun to hang out with a GS player. I actually dragged one of my raid friends from GW2 to GS, an she loves GS quite a bit. She capped in less than a year, where as my lazy ass..... not capped. Sent you a PM.

Yeah, I can't get too heavy into the raids in GW2. It's the non-trinity design. It feels like they removed tanking and healing roles and replaced them with nothing. As these were my preferred roles in WoW, I really feel the lack of that group dynamic.

Fractals are a bit better, but they just aren't very difficult. The encounters can be fun, but it's so easy for organized meta comps to trivialize mechanics. The whole thing is just running through, stacking in a pile, with bosses going down in seconds.

The PvP is about as poorly balanced as you'd expect from an MMO and has only one game mode (5v5 with 3 capture points). It has a low population, too, which makes for terrible matchmaking.

Then you have WvW (large scale siege combat), which is a really cool concept that actually makes a PvP game mode appealing to PvE players! But they barely support it, the lag is pretty bad in the BIG battles, the maps look dated af, and don't even get me started about the stupid servers!

So, basically a lot about this game kinda sucks! Why play it? First and foremost, the combat system. It's simply excellent, in my opinion. Fast, fluid, with heavy reliance on actively avoiding damage. I could spend hours dueling other players just for fun in this game! Some of the class designs are pretty wild, too. I've really never seen anything like that Weaver I'm playing in the video. It would take too long to explain how it works, but it's pure insanity.

They do other things really well, too. Their mount system is pure awesome. They call the system it's a part of the "Mastery" system, and it has a lot of other skills. Some are useless filler/contrived time-gating nonsense, but others are really cool (like gliding!). The maps can also be as insane as the classes (this mostly applies to the Heart of Thorns expansion). The map called Tangled Depths is evil genius level (seriously!). You just aren't going to find stuff like this anywhere else, as far as I've seen.

That's just how GW2 is. An odd mix of brilliance and...what the actual fuck were they thinking!?

~Taverkin

[Tgo01]

I got into WoW again a few days after Battle for Azeroth dropped and I played it for several months, then one day just got bored of it.

Then about a month ago I got into it again and was all excited for the expansion pack coming out this year, but I've already grown bored with it again so not sure.

Never played GW or GW2 though. I don't know, just doesn't look like my type of game.

[Seizer]

I got into WoW again a few days after Battle for Azeroth dropped and I played it for several months, then one day just got bored of it.

Then about a month ago I got into it again and was all excited for the expansion pack coming out this year, but I've already grown bored with it again so not sure.

Never played GW or GW2 though. I don't know, just doesn't look like my type of game.

Don’t be a baby and just play FF14. Oh wait this is guild wars 2 thread my mistake!

[Tgo01]

Don’t be a baby and just play FF14. Oh wait this is guild wars 2 thread my mistake!

I loved FF parts 1-10 but I never got into any of the ones past 10. I don't even know which ones are the online ones, aren't there like 2 of hem now? FF12 and 14?

[Seizer]

I loved FF parts 1-10 but I never got into any of the ones past 10. I don't even know which ones are the online ones, aren't there like 2 of hem now? FF12 and 14?

12 is dead. 14 they are still releasing content. Newish raid tier came out few months ago along with more story.

[Hightower]

Don’t be a baby and just play FF14. Oh wait this is guild wars 2 thread my mistake!

That's alright! Always glad to hear perspectives on other MMOs. I tried FFXIV briefly, but that monster 2.5s GCD and the industry's most generic intro scared me away. I hear the later game is better. But that's also true of GW2, where the core game is pretty bland and faceroll, but gets better in the expansions.

[Seizer]

That's alright! Always glad to hear perspectives on other MMOs. I tried FFXIV briefly, but that monster 2.5s GCD and the industry's most generic intro scared me away. I hear the later game is better. But that's also true of GW2, where the core game is pretty bland and faceroll, but gets better in the expansions.

Man you’re tough to please Hightower. 2.5 isn’t that bad and you can always meld more skill speed to reduce GCD. Since my internet connection tends not to be the best I’ve had to use off builds with 2.55 GCD so rotation lines up for buffs and such.

Once you get to Heavensward the game turns way more fun. ARR content meh yeah it’s boring and annoying. You can always cheat and buy a level boost that will let you skip all that content. I think you can even skip Heavensward now and go straight into Stormblood which is tons of fun.