When the original Guild Wars arrived in 2005, journalists like ourselves swooned at its new take on the MMORPG. Shirking aside the traditional approach of massive worlds populated with players, and replacing them with instanced areas only linked via public hubs gave the game an undeniably intimate feel, as if you and your team of other players really were a rare breed of heroes seeking to win back Tyria from the evil and the corrupt. It seems like another life since we left Prince Rurik to his demise in Prophecies, as even though Guild Wars 2 shares the same label as its predecessor, in terms of structure and storytelling it couldn't be more different. Guild Wars 2 also went free to play on August 29, 2015, making the game much more accessible to everyone.
For the sequel, ArenaNet has abandoned that intimacy and reliance on grouping. Aside from story quests and dungeons, the instancing of old is a distant memory as now the game relies heavily on a public questing system similar to RIFT Now all of the over-world is interlinked, and rather than having an army of NPCs to collect your XP earning duties from by clicking on their exclamation-mark laden heads, activities simply arrive on your HUD with the required completion criteria, as if quest givers have been given a megaphone to advertise their problems.
Guild Wars 2 Gameplay 2015
At first this takes a lot of getting used to, as we really used to enjoy the fun little quests and their associated dialogue produced in the first game, and here the Heart structure seems to encourage that tick-box completionist mentality of ‘do the job, kill the bad guy, earn the XP and move on’. Admittedly we’re being a little unfair as these sorts of quests usually have a multitude of different ways to be completed, and some are actually quite puzzle-like. For instance, catching insects to feed cows, only for certain bovine to prefer specific creepy crawlies, or answering riddles to win favor with a particular warrior.
Every area in Tyria has lots of these Heart quests to accomplish, as well as skill point tests, Vista Points to discover high above certain landmarks and other nice little touches to encourage exploration. This part of the game we absolutely love, as from an explorer’s point of view, Tyria 2.0 is a much more interesting place to visit than its previous incarnation – simply because there’s so much to see and do in the gameworld. The care and attention paid to each area is clear to see, whether you’re talking about the ice cold wastes of the Snowdon Drifts to the harsh landscapes of the Charr.
A lot of gamers talk about the believability of Guild War 2's environment design, but honestly we don't buy that. NPCs mostly stay in the same spot and aside from cycled public events, the landscape doesn't really change much. No, what ArenaNet has really got right is the richness of the world. Every area feels as though it has its own sense of character and atmosphere, as well as an urgency of a story to tell via interactive objects like statues, signs and buildings to portray the events which have led to this area being the way that it is. The questing areas are the perfect embodiment of this, with different gradients and architecture which make the landscape seem as far away from sparse as you can possibly imagine. In MMOland that’s a massive achievement and a huge step up from the first game. Hell, it’s a huge step up from the majority of other online-only games out there.
Each of the race’s capital cities on the other hand, are much more confusing to get around, especially humanity’s bloated new home Divinity’s Reach, which is bordering on sadism in terms of approachability, but even that area gives a sense of its history. The giant metropolis is an idealized version of Victorian London overburdened with people, yet when you forget about its scope its a wonderland land filled with fantastic sights, people and a particularly awesome fairground orchestra.
EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY
If you buy into the idea of MMO exploration, where the journey is just as fun as the destination, then Guild Wars 2 is an experience you must invest in. We haven’t enjoyed exploring a world this much for years, and wisely ArenaNet actively encourages this kind of wistless wandering with lower-levelled areas restricting your character’s level if you’re in an area far beyond your expertise. This allows your character to still earn a hefty amount of XP from public quests and combat while still keeping that element of challenge. Understandably this technique only works downwards and not upwards, so you can’t immediately walk into end-game areas, but this feature means that even if you start as a Charr and find yourself far below the level range for the next big story mission, you can hop to Lions Arch via an Asura Gate, head to another race’s starter area and keep questing. In other MMORPG’s this kind of world savoring is impossible, but in Guild Wars 2 it’s encouraged and leads to a world where everyone is almost equal.
In principle that sounds like a bad thing, but it actually makes the world feel more cohesive, and as world events naturally attract dozens of players into one place, you don’t feel as though you’re Tyria’s only hero. Joined by thousands of others, you feel as though you’re part of a unified good-natured effort. Players revive, heal and help each other, purely because it’s in their best interest.
During the preview stage ArenaNet and NCsoft made a lot of the world-ending storyline, with the Elder Dragons tearing humanity and other races a superfluous behind, but really that over-arching storyline doesn't really kick in until the later 30 on-wards. Instead Guild Wars 2 follows a much more personal approach with players choosing their character’s lineage, key personality traits and faction affiliations during the character creation stage to determine quest paths. This system works brilliantly and results in little-to-no story crossover between the game’s five different races – the tiny tech-loving Asura, the battle-hardened Charr, the leafy Slyvari, Human and stern yet spiritual Norn. Each have different personality traits, beliefs and political hierarchies which result in the early storylines at least all feeling relatively unique.
Crossover only really occurs when you choose the same race, but say for the Charr if you align yourself with a different legion, you’ll get an almost entirely different early story to your previous character. It’s an incredibly clever system which at first at least leads you to feel heavily invested in the story. This feeling lessens somewhat as missions soon out-level your own progression, with sequential story missions sometimes separate with a couple of hours or more of public questing but the Hero menu is kitted out with helpful plot synopsis to ensure you don’t forget what previously happened.
There are some problems with dialogue and two-dimensional character design with racial archetypes sometimes falling other themselves to be validated, like the Asura being overly snarky or Norn being brave to the point of stupidity, but each story-arc, regardless of player choice, usually has at least a good couple of characters you’ll grow an affinity for.
These story issues may be associated with the kind of quest design ArenaNet has gone for with Guild Wars 2, as really this is an inherently social experience. Not the kind where you’ll be teaming up with players every five minutes, or spamming chat with ‘LFG’ to get a story quest done – no, it’s more of an experience where players just naturally clump together due to public questing. As a result it’s hard to pay attention to dialogue after you've gone through the excitement of taking down a 10-story high pile of ooze with 20 other players all spamming attacks into one colorful, albeit slightly confusing, point.
FIGHTING FORM
Simply put, combat in Guild Wars 2 just feels right. Each of the eight classes has their own unique abilities, even though really you’d think there would be a crossover with the Guardian and the Warrior. The Healer class of old is gone with each class now possessing its own HP replenishing skill to keep itself safe on the battlefield. The Necromancer, Mesmer, Elementalist, Warrior, and Ranger options return from the first game, now joined by Thief and Engineer. We tried two different classes, a Ranger and an Engineer, both ranged specialists with the option for close combat, and the combative potential for each career path was far more than we expected. Rather than unlocking skills by visiting a vendor, in Guild Wars 2 you only gain skills in weapon sets you actually use. The Ranger for instance has scope to use the Longbow and Short bow as before, but those options are joined by Axe, Dagger, Great Sword and Warhorn specialities – all of which boast their own skills which unlock as you use said weapon more and more in combat. This system is easy to understand flexible and again offers more options than you’d find traditionally in standard class-based MMORPGs.
The only problem is that after you've unlocked every skill with every weapon, usually around five each, the progression curve feels a bit stunted as the attribute point allocation system returns from the original game. Sure it’s called a different name here, Traits, but you’re still guiding your character down a specific path one point at a time with little guidance on whether you’re actually following a decent path or not. You only unlock modifiers in this menu, rather than skills, and that initial moment where you go from all you can eat buffet to more regimented options can be a bit daunting.
To compliment the skill modifying Traits and Weapon Skills, there’s also Class Skills which for the Ranger were more along the lines of traps, health recouping spirits and other options you’d find in the first game and you unlock these via skill points received either via specific challenges on the map or whenever you gain a level. It isn't surprising that ArenaNet hasn’t changed the high level combat structure too much, after all the first game garnished such a hardcore PvP following, but a little extra help when making those Trait decisions would definitely be welcome. The new classes, even the more exotic rifle-touting, turret-spawning Engineer, slot into the class roster very nicely though, and surprisingly each character option has enough flair skills to ensure that they stand out on the battlefield. It’s a shame the elite skills don’t unlock until level 30, but with an increased cap of eight, you can understand why ArenaNet want to keep the good stuff just out of arm’s reach initially.
Overall, it’s hard to see Guild Wars 2 as anything other than an extraordinarily complete and polished MMORPG. Straight out of the gate, there’s PvP, the new World vs World functionality and a working auction house via the in-game store for players to sink their teeth into.
Obviously the sequel has been in development some time, but for any online game to be this feature-complete at launch will make other developers turn green with envy. NCsoft deserve credit for allowing their Seattle studio to take their time and honestly the spoils are here for us all to enjoy. That isn't to say that there aren't several areas that need to be improved though, combat can get a little bit too hectic visually with visual effects that occasionally take up the entire screen, the crafting system needs to be explained with a bit more vigor than it is currently, and the lack of a first-person perspective is a mad omission. However that doesn't detract from what is a brilliant experience.
And that isn't factoring in the ‘Pay Once, Play Forever’ revenue model which is only slightly tempered by the gem store. Paying for an extra bag in your inventory slot and keys to unlock random dropping chests is close to coming off as unscrupulous, but in the grand scheme of things, really isn't anything to kick your PC over.
Guild Wars 2 is the finest MMORPG to be released this year and with the barrier to entry only the price of a regular offline game, frankly you’d be a fool to overlook it.