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58 people found this review helpful
2
3
2
Recommended
18.6 hrs last two weeks / 482.9 hrs on record (48.8 hrs at review time)
Posted: 7 Feb @ 6:48am
Updated: 7 Feb @ 7:41am

(I've played it for about a year in non-Steam installation)

As one of the few long-standing MMORPG projects, it deserves a detailed review.
Cons:
  1. Grindish nature. It's an MMORPG, thus less a game and more a collection of repetitive digital chores providing a false sense of achievement. Here, it's two-fold, somewhat worse as game clearly targets more casual audience, thus engaging (and challenging) gameplay is less common here, and routine chore-like "gameplay" is much more common. Better because they managed to avoid power creep and gear treadmill almost entirely, so you don't really need to grind after you've maxed your character(s) (what takes up to 6 months each).

  2. Cooperation isn't endorsed enough. Being a casual-friendly, overly-convenient game with self-sustainable classes it makes it too easy to play itself solo without speaking to anybody for days. There is no problem finding some party of random players for a Dungeon or Fractals run via LFG, and OW meta events are often bustling with people. But, barring PvP and difficult endgame content like Raids, there is little reason in building long-lasting relationships. Except for banters in capitals' chats, maps' chats stay silent most of the time, and game's world may often feel empty regardless.

  3. Dated visuals. Huge part of game's visuals.. didn't age that well. The general art design (artworks, overall scenery when observed from a distance etc) is top notch. But things that are right in front of you may break this illusion easily. Character animations are pretty remarkable though.

  4. Monetization. No subscription means they still need to earn money somehow. So they'll sell you UI enhancements (extra inventory bags slots, storage space in the item bank etc), but also QoL things like revival potions and better harvesting tools, and premium flashy skins in the ingame shop - as well as extra story chapters. On the brighter side, game offers official way to exchange regular currency for premium and vice versa

  5. Story. Subjective, but I found it rather simplistic, incoherent, with half of the characters not worse remembering, having too much of tropes and events that feel pretty forced with no attempt to explain it more creatively. Its gameplay felt rather repetitive and overly-extended, as if they tried to achieve a certain "story-hours" goal with little regard for quality, by padding it with filler generic fights. It's optional, but still helps you a lot on the first playthrough, providing all the gear you need for free. It still has its charm and may be worth completing, you can even do this in online coop mode.
Pros:
  1. No pressure to play. No subscription means you never feel obligated to spend at least that much hours playing it. No gear treadmill means you can literally drop from it for two years, then log in, pick up your old fully geared-up character - and immediately start playing it, neck-and-neck with those who's kept playing it while you were absent. After you've got a fully-maxed character, it will only be different from those playing for 10 years in its looks, they won't get any mechanical edge over you, except for them having more experience and skill. Thus it offers a weird blend of MMORPG and session MMO experiences, not requiring that much dedication.

  2. Ease of leveling. A controversial topic, as it may feel like it devalues what you do ingame. Past the first playthrough, you'll find out that you actually don't need to level up your characters through grind in GW2 that much. The game showers you with "get N levels" items, beside those it showers you with XP at every step - so leveling is a breeze. You can even level cap without leaving low-level maps - with just 5$ extra being enough to dress up multiple characters in Exotic tier (the 2nd best) at the trading post right away with no grind attached. So in fact you only really need to grind your profession's elite specs and certain utility masteries (like mounts). You'll need to grind more if you want full set of Ascended (top) gear (only really needed for Fractals or Raids).

  3. Combat system and the general flow of the game.
    • Combat is one of the best things in the game. It's fluent, dynamic, very diverse - and can be rather challenging (in a good way). With 27 various class/elite spec combos it's easy to find something matching your kink. You can fully re-spec your character at any moment for free, with any class basically able to assume almost any standard role in a typical party, with a proper build and gear. So a berserker specced into a pretty effective healer isn't an oddity at all. Thus your choice of class is mostly dictated by aesthetics and how much you like its combat style. Except for PvP and most demanding PvE content, it won't matter if what you play for fun isn't the most optimal build, especially if you'll learn how to properly handle it.

    • Running around bashing things is simply fun, enough to "forget" about leveling shortcuts and succumb to this experience. Each race has its own starting region with a charm of its own and its capital (looking amazing due to sheer amount of details and soul invested into them), worth exploring. The exploration experience is top notch, with many maps having secret locations added for ambience or lore reasons, and "jumping puzzles" (platformer mini-games). All maps have their own "thing" going on, called "metas" - dynamic repeating quest-like events open for any player to jump into them as they go, which upon completion often trigger new events that continue the story, until it culminates into some big final fight. So you can easily lose sense of time while roaming the game's world, getting into random fights along the way. The artwork and vibes of many locations is enough to succumb to illusion of a living world even despite the dated visuals. The level scaling system makes even the low level maps a viable attraction for developed characters.

    • Mounts' mechanics is one of the strongest features of the game, to a point riding them can be considered a game mode on itself and a craft. With developed masteries and some practice you can achieve state of fluent transition between them, and can really enjoy the process of traversing complex landscapes.

  4. Character customization. Toolset game offers for that is extensive enough to be called a separate mini-game. It's clear it was designed to be one of its selling points. It may lead to a jaw-dropping experience when meeting people who really invested into building an original look for their characters (what requires time, money and dedication). And you'll never be forced to wear ugly armors for its stats in this game, period! :)

  5. Approach to PvP. New characters can transfer to PvP "realm" right after being created with a press of a button granted a maxed out character with access to all its profession's elite specs (assuming you've bought all DLCs) upon getting there - what helps a lot if you want to understand how do they feel without investing more time into it. Everybody also gets standardized "PvP gear" and access to all possible upgrades to it, ensuring the easiest and fairest approach to PvP you can get in such games. While PvP-ing, you earn its special currency which can buy you items advancing your "PvE levels" and top tier PvE gear - without playing PvE mode at all. The PvP lobby is in fact a well designed map, with a lot of open training grounds where you can test your builds against stationary targets and (pretty tough) NPCs - as well as against other players in an improvised arena. I've spent dozens of hours on that map, despite having no interest in PvP, so it tells

  6. It's very alive. Despite being out there for a while, the game still sees regular releases of content expansion packs and balance patches.
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1 Comments
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dunnothisguy 22 Feb @ 2:25am 
A few things I think I should have mentioned:
1. There is Wizard Vault which HUGELY simplifies your life nowdays. It's a separate shop where you buy items (including gold and items from the premium shop, but top tier armors and weapons as well) with "currency" you can earn by doing dailies/weeklies and such
2. There is also WvW, a mass-PvP mode, where you still need to gear up to compete (no standard gear there, unlike other PvP modes)