Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons (2022)

I've played a lot of Guild Wars 2 over the years. I haven't really been a consistent player since launch but have revisited it in phases, I suppose at least for some time with each expansion, now that I think about it. When this one was coming out, it did look super cool, returning to the iconic Cantha setting of Guild Wars 1's first expansion, Factions, with all the hype that comes from seeing the scenery of that region in the touched up graphics and exploring more of the long-running storyline. But once it actually released, I was pretty busy with other things (and games) so I only recently got around to it. I had high hopes going in and while I wasn't entirely disappointed, End of Dragons didn't quite live up to my expectations.

As with every expansion, there are some new features added to the game with End of Dragons. I wondered a lot how they could continue to expand the tools for interacting with the world after Path of Fire added several mounts that blow previous map traveling options out of the water and the Living Story has continued to add little tricks here and there. The additions aren't bad, but do prove my concerns to be well-founded as there's unsurprisingly nothing here quite so revolutionary as the mounts provided. We have fishing now, because of course. You can also deploy a skiff which you and your friends can ride on, which is rather unnecessary from an exploration standpoint, but is kind of cute and fun to emote while cruising around. There's also a new tank-like assault turtle mount which I don't have yet but at least looks cool. And of course, there's a slew of new class professions (a sort of prestige class). As I roll with elementalist primarily, I played around with the new Catalyst profession, wielding a hammer. While it was a neat variation on the ele, I think I still prefer Weaver. I didn't notice a meta added for each of the new maps, but the Dragon's End meta is a really cool set piece on par with the final campaign mission, even if the mechanics and timing seem a little strict, especially considering how many people don't seem to know what they're doing. As with all metas, things tend to get so chaotic in the swarm of people, it's kind of hard to tell what's going on, but getting lost in the zerg is part of the fun too.

My biggest issue is that it just feels like Guild Wars 2 is, as is inevitable, becoming dated. The graphics, which were quite good for an MMO of its time, are now pretty shoddy looking, most evident in very flat textures that are eyesores when viewed up close. While I play plenty of older games with far worse graphics, there's just a mental block I get with playing an expansion that just came out and seeing 2012 graphics that aren't intentional to achieve a stylized aesthetic. This is further a problem considering one of the main appeals of the game for me is exploration and seeing new places and people, which would land better if things were better looking. Regardless, the expansion does have some cool-looking locations, especially the Shing Jea Islands. While I can complain about textures, the team definitely still pulled off some really pretty scenery with the tools they had that is a joy to explore, despite an over-insistence on some frustrating verticality at times.

But the gameplay—while I still enjoy it—also feels a bit dated. I've always appreciated Guild Wars 2's more action-focused and responsive gameplay. It's one reason I've stuck with it over any other MMO, most of which I've dropped due to feeling bored by slow combat. You're still cycling through cooldowns like most such games, but the attacks are snappy and feel even less like a turn-based system. There's also a great degree of skill in how you cycle and combine moves rather than just copying X perfect build and using every skill when it's off cooldown. I also play elementalist and love the fact different elements give me a massive selection of attacks for each weapon combo. But other things about the gameplay just feel like they really need fixing. Using mission-specific items and abilities always feels a bit janky. Ie in the first mission of this expansion outside of Tyria, you get a long jump ability that awkwardly propels you quickly up before launching you forward, meaning that even though you target the spot you want to land on, in that mission in which you're leaping across airships, you often jump straight up, bump into the beams on the ship, and get your trajectory screwed up so you plummet off the ship. The game even kind of taunts you over this janky ability by awarding an achievement if you don't have to overuse the ability, which mostly means you got in a good spot so you wouldn't collide with annoying obstacles. It also just feels like combat could be a bit smoother. Again, this is simply due to the paradox of playing new content in a now-eleven year old game. It was pretty smooth for its time, but controls in games in general have just gotten so much smoother over time that now it at times just feels a little less responsive than it should.

The story of this expansion was alright. It often felt like it lacked stakes for more of its length than I would've liked. This is partially just a problem with the game's ever-expanding narrative and how hard it is to sell world-shattering events over and over in perpetual escalation without losing sight of the personal struggles of the characters. Another problem is that my expectations were really high because of how much I loved Path of Fire, which is probably my favorite MMO content I've ever played. For a lot of this one, I felt like I was kind of just waiting for the campaign to pick up as it felt a lot more laid back than Path of Fire, focusing on your character's troubled alliances with local authorities and factions. A lot of this touches on overarching themes common in Guild Wars 2 of uneasy alliances for a common cause, but a lot of it felt far more granular of a focus than I'd expect for the escalating momentum of the overarching narrative. Still, I was not totally down on it, there are definitely some fantastic moments. Both the Dragon's End meta and the final mission are rather climactic and satisfying, even if the build-up is slow. As well, while the game doesn't feel like most of it is as epic as it should be, that is in part because the story is sure to remain focused on its cast of characters and exploring their roles in the story, more than merely some bombastic plot. While I may not have appreciated the plot we get much overall, that's a good goal to have and I would've found the converse much more disappointing. I will add that the epilogue sequence was also rather cute, if long overdue.

All in all, I did like End of Dragons and it was fun to play with friends and explore the environments, but I was certainly hoping for more. Most of my positivity comes from the fact that it's more content for a game I already enjoy and am invested in, even if I find those factors starting to wane. The new mechanics and locations were nice, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down on the whole, likely due to the high bar set by the previous expansion. However, I write this review after really only focusing on the campaign and the map exploration necessary for that. There's still a lot to do in End of Dragons that perhaps may get it closer to the previous expansion in my eyes (for instance, I kind of hated Heart of Thorns until I got really into it and realized there's some pretty nifty and unique content in there). Regardless, even though another expansion is already due out a few weeks from the time of this writing, I have to wonder at what point the time is come for them to just start a Guild Wars 3 with further touched-up visuals and smoother gameplay, rather than trying to continue upward on outdated tech.