Looking for some information about Guild Wars 2.

[Nachtmahr]

Hello there!

So recently (Read: Earlier today) I was talked into trying out Guild Wars 2 now that the game has kind of gone free-to-play. My initial impression is that it definitely looks very pretty and feels very meaty, with a large amount of voice-acting and everything. Mind you, I've played WoW for over a decade and I have tried out several other MMO's, but ended up finding them all lacking.

Now, there are a few things I'd like to know about Guild Wars 2.

First of all - Is there a general chat, or some other easy way to get in touch with people within the game? I've been running up to people, asking for a second of their time, only to be ignored every time, and thus it seems that people within the game itself is not really a good source of information.

Secondly - Am I doing something wrong, or does the combat just have no depth to it all? Whether I play a Warrior or a Ranger the first impression when it comes to the combat is just the absolute worst I think I've had in not only an MMO, but possibly games in general. You find a target, you run up to it, you press 1 and they you just stand there and wait. It doesn't matter whether it's a boss/big mob or just a regular trash-mob running around on it's own, you just click it, press the button and wait for your character to finish doing his/her thing.

Is that it? I mean, it's the least compelling and least involving system I think I've ever experienced if that's the case. There's absolutely nothing to it. Surely there's got to be more to it than that, right? It's really quite jarring. I didn't really know what I was expecting when I first went into the game of course, but I definitely didn't expect it to play itself, only asking for me to occasionally move the character around to another event or quest-location. It just feels absolutely flat and bare bones.

Other than that I'd just love to hear some opinions in general - Is Guild Wars 2 as good as I've heard, or is it just a pretty face with no personality or charm to it beyond that?

[Cold Heritage]

1) There is a map channel for chat, but that channel is inaccessible to free to play users.

2) GW2's combat is more towards the casual end of the spectrum as far as MMOs go, and the Warrior in particular is the least complex class in the game as far as combat goes. I've never played the Ranger, but it also has a reputation as being a class lacking in complexity, reliant on pets taking aggro and the player spamming a single ability. The 'New Player Experience' changes put a lot of content behind a level gate. I remember gaining levels to be fairly swift to accomplish, but that was before the New Player Experience changes. The game lacks the classic MMO trinity and basically leaves everyone to be a DPS. There's limited scope for each class to offer support to others, but there isn't the sort of interplay that I'd imagine exists in WoW. Combat gains more depth than you are experiencing now, but I'm not certain it will gain the depth of WoW.

I enjoy Guild Wars 2 a great deal, but I'm not facing the same restrictions that a free to play user is and I came into before a lot of the gameplay changes were made that transformed the early game experience from what I went through into what it is now. I think there's a fair bit of charm and personality - I've even come to love one of the most reviled NPCs in the game.

[Nachtmahr]

Well, that sort of confirms what I feared I reckon - Nothing much is going to change I suppose. The fact that they would block you out of chat channel and everything.. While I can see it from the perspective of wanting to avoid spam or grief, then I just don't think they realize just how big a handicap it is. If you cut the multiplayer element out of an MMO you pretty much amputate the real drive behind why someone would want to go from a free to a paid membership. Right now I'm being given a glorified demo, yet they're advertising it as a taste of the full experience which clearly then isn't true.

Why they would apparently cut the combat to pieces to provide a "New Player Experience" or whatever is also a great mystery to me. While it may be appealing to a very casual market, anyone coming over from any other major MMO is going to be left bored out of their mind at the prospect of having nothing at all to do.

I hear so many good things about Guild Wars 2. Very disappointing to learn that there really isn't all that much to truth to any of what I heard in the end.

[Cold Heritage]

This chart may be helpful to you. I think it does a fair job of outlining restrictions to free accounts.

http://i.imgur.com/mhf5Vpz.jpg