Synopsis:

For generations, strife and chaos raged across Tyria as the great races competed and warred against each other. Then the dragons awoke. The all-powerful Elder Dragons rose from beneath earth and sea, wreaking havoc on a global scale. Great cities crumbled before their might. Coastlines flooded. Lush forests burned. Tyria was forever altered.

Now, the undead legions of the deathless dragon Zhaitan surge across the land, hungry for the destruction of the free races of Tyria: the Charr, a ferocious race of feline warriors; the Asura, magical inventors of small size and great intellect; the Norn, towering shapeshifters from the frigid north; the Sylvari, a mysterious race of mystical plant folk; and the Humans, an embattled but resilient people.

The time has come for the free races to stand together against the rising tide of evil. Magic, cold steel, and the deeds of heroes will determine the fate of Tyria.

Pros:

• Free to play
• 5 Race to start
• Dynamic Events
• Story
• Graphics / Soundtrack
• 8 Class
• 2 Type of PvP (pvp and wvw) + Mini Games

Cons:

• None import Guild Wars 1 Characters
• Very Repetitive

Scores:

• History - 7/10
• Music - 10/10
• Graphics - 9/10
• Contents - 10/10
• Gameplay - 8/10

Final Opinion:

To start this was my first game of this kind that I played. Before starting players should create a character, choosing one of the 5 available races and choosing one of 8 classes. You can customize the character to make it unique.

One of the things I found interesting during the creation of the character was to be able to choose the background story and the personality of each one, which will affect the way we talk to npc. Making the story of our character unique.

Gw2 is itself a vast world to explore depending of the chosen race. There are always things to do on each map, such as heart (tasks), visiting points of interest, climbing mountains to see a fantastic vista or challenge a npc to win a hero point (which serves to unlock skill and specializations), but not forgetting that can become a bit repetitive, for players who do not like to always do the same thing.

Almost certainly what is not overlooked are dynamic events, a system in my opinion more sophisticated than the traditional quests (personally never liked, after playing others of the same genre), may in some events be necessary other players to complete the event or be on time in the event to gain exp and loot.

But apart from that, with this system players have much more freedom of choice because they are not obliged to complete anything they did not want.

The experience gained is easy to achieve by simply completing the homes states of each race and a few maps up to level 15 or activating some bosts of exp there character. Because the minimum level to start the story of the character is level 10.

Every choice made throughout history will influence. Bearing in mind that the development of the story in the first 3 chapters will have to do with the background story of the character created. To which then the choice of the orders vigil, priory and shadow follows and finally the battle against a dragon. And I will not say more.

The soundtrack that accompanies each region is fantastic, each one has its list of songs and no doubt that after hearing this or that song the player already knows which region they belong to and causes them to dive deeper into the game.

The gameplay itself can be a bit frustrating, especially in combat there is no rotation with the mouse, you have to rotate the camera with a click “manually” (I liked the mouse rotation to be more like the Black desert). But apart from that the skill system is interesting as each class has its weapons and each one of them has their abilities depending on the class, adding also the specializations, plus the skill of the class itself and the race.

This gives the player the freedom to change their build whenever they want.

There are 2 modes in Gw2 that can go from hardcore to soft, for players who like something more serious Word vs World is undoubtedly the best option. It is possible to fight with thousands of players in the various separate worlds in this mode. But for those who like the classic Player vs Players could find 2 modes like Conquest or Team Death match. Not forgetting that in Player vs Environment it is possible to talk to certain npc to play mini games like Keg-brawl, basketball-like game involving kegs of ale and a lot of fighting, or Crab Toss, a free-for-all game where the player who can hold the longest while being attacked by other players wins the game. For those who do not like WvW or PvP.

And as in all games there are always stores with premium items that everyone wants like outfits, boost, character slot, etc. And no doubt that Gw2 has thought it through, it’s not like many other games of this genre that force players to spend real money to buy items. Here you only need to have gold to convert into gems (special currency for the store) and vice versa, for those who do not want to spend real money.

Gw2 has revolutionized the genre with dynamic events, which reduces the demand for groups of players by giving them more time to enjoy the game. But as all else has the other side of the coin may not be to the taste of everyone.

The game can be a bit grindy at times, but i recommended for those who did never played or for those who already know the genre.

So I do recommend it.

Note: 8/10

guild wars 2 was my 4th mmo, and probably the most fun i've had in one in terms of solo content. ultimately, though, as with all previous mmos i tried, the repetitiveness grew tiring and i ended up abandoning it after a while.

the good

• a single purchase unlocks both expansions and provides lifetime access — there is no subscription system
• graphics are nice enough to look at, especially considering the time of its release
• combat is fun and engaging, with dodge mechanics, weapon switching and even an entirely separate underwater system. it falls more in the lines of action combat, somewhere between black desert online and slower, more global cooldown-dominated mmos such as wow.
• overworld activities are plentiful, filled with active players, and provide useful rewards
• you have the ability to join multiple guilds at once
• pvp is fun and not ignored by devs as much as other mmos, enough that gw2 is actually widely known for its functional pvp mode

the complicated

• progression is horizontal; after reaching gear plateau, you're pretty much set for any potential future content. tbh i don't usually go enough into the minutiae of mmo mechanics in order to care much about this, but i recognize that there are disadvantages to this system as opposed to vertical progression (such as endangering the lifespan of interesting gameplay); however, there are also advantages (not having to go on an endless grind every time you return to the game). personally, i don't care either way, as i don't tend to stick with mmos long enough for these things to matter.
• lore and story were pretty average to me, but i never got into the expansions so i can't say whether i would've been more impressed with those
• unlike most other mmos, there is a conversion system in place for cash shop items. you can convert gold earned ingame into gems, which can then be used to purchase cash shop content. generally this is a positive thing, but i'm putting it in the complicated section because in my opinion the conversion rate is so ridiculous that it's inviable to purchase anything of substance unless you grind many, many hours — and for a game that is ideal for casual players, most won't ever acquire enough gold to make those purchases in the first place.
• repetitive content. this is pretty much just what mmos are like, so i can't rightly put it in the bad section, but it's still ultimately what drove me away from the game (and what drives me away from every mmo lol)

the bad

• even after purchasing the expansions, there is still story content to be unlocked, and guess how you do that... yep, more money. i see no reason for this to be the case other than being a blatant cash grab. this and the point below are the only two real negatives i see in this game.
• too many cash shop items. there's buyable items for every single purpose you can think of, including many that make the game experience a lot less repetitive and adds definitive quality of life to many areas of gameplay. this effectively offsets the benefits of f2p once you get further into the game and these items become more and more necessary to smooth out the annoying parts of the game. even when it comes to cosmetics, things can get pretty discouraging — most mount skins are cash shop only, for example.

i definitely recommend gw2 for casual players who want a fun solo experience. since progression is horizontal, you will always be able to come back to the game later on without the need for hours upon hours of grinding. and since there's so much overworld content to occupy your time, as long as you don't mind the repetitiveness, you'll definitely be entertained for a very long time.

GW2 is my first serious MMO. I've been playing it since launch.

I'm a VERY casual MMO player, which I think explains why this game is such a good fit. I will have moments when I play this game intensely, everyday for 3 weeks. And then I will go for months without touching it.

Guild Wars 2's PvE works mainly with Living Story : episodes of story-driven content. Once an episode is out, you have to log into the game to unlock it for your account. You can then decide to play it whenever you're ready. You have access to the core game (your character Personal Story and leveling up to 80) for free. There are some restrictions on free accounts (you can't trade items with other players, for example).

The expansions are buy-to-play, and then you're set for playing the content at your own pace. They often do sales where you can get an expansion for 15$.

Once you hit lvl 80, you access the Mastery System. Further levels are more like achievements you buy with a combination of experience points and mastery points. Mastery points are earned by doing harder tasks.

This Mastery System lets you unlock gameplay mechanics in the expansions, like gliding and mounts.

One thing I love about the game is that once you've unlocked something, it is usable by every character in your account.

There is also a very polished PvP aspect to the game, with matchs between teams of 5 players, and wars between servers that reset weekly. I don't participate in those so I can't give much details. But it exists.

I love the lore. The races are diversified, and the character customization system is good enough that you rarely meet a player that looks like you.

TL;DR : Great lore, free core game, fun gameplay and combat. Try it out :)

Pros

• Great lore and beautiful graphics
• No monthly fee
• Each piece of armor can be individually dyed and transmuted

Cons

• It's a MMO, so it's end-game is a little grindy
• Price for Gemstore items are ridiculous (15$ for a mount skin...outch)