The So Called “Endgame”
PvE (Player versus Environment)
One of the biggest issues of new MMOs is endgame content. There often is nothing to keep the players hooked after they reach the maximum level. There is no traditional endgame content in GW2. There is no more level 80 content than there is for any other level, so what to do after you hit the maximum level? Cue some more innovation from the Arenanet team! There is no such thing as being overleveled in this game. Remember those big boss battles in each zone? If the zone is a 15-25 zone, the boss will be around lvl 25. Should be no challenge for a lvl 80 right? Wrong! When you enter a lower level zone you get downleveled to an appropriate level for that zone. Your character still plays exactly the same as before, but your health and damage is scaled to provide a challenging experience, all the time. This means that when you hit level 80, every single zone provides a fun and challenging experience, instead of just the handful of zones specifically designed for max level players.
The real endgame PvE progression has moved to the Mystic Forge. It can be used to craft extremely valuable items. This removes the concept of content progression while keeping gear progression.
PvP (Player versus Player)
Endgame content is more than just killing big bosses and completing zones. Mankind wants to compete by nature so Arenanet provides. In classic MMOs, there are two or more different factions. You pick one of the factions when creating your character and after that, the other faction is your sworn enemy, forever. This is not the case in Guild Wars 2. All 5 races are technically allies and while there are some disagreements between those, there is no place for outright war between the races. Time to innovate some more! World versus World solves that problem. It puts the players of 3 different servers against each other in a never-ending battle for dominance. Depending on how good a server is doing, every player on that server will receive bonuses. World versus World battles are huge. Hundreds of players fighting over control points gives you a perspective of scale you rarely see in games. To make things fair, everyone gets overleveled to lvl80 when they join WvW. Max level characters obviously still are stronger than overleveled ones, but at least lower level characters can still put up a fight.
If massive, large-scale action is not something for you, there is also structured PvP. This works like it does in a lot of FPS games. There are servers which are running different maps and gamemodes. Right now, only Conquest is available, which basically works the same it does in Battlefield 3: Capturing points and killing players gives your team points, the first team to reach 500 wins. More gamemodes should become available in the future. If you still want a more tightly controlled environment for a very high level of competitive play, there are also tournaments. Tournaments put 8 teams of 5 players against each other, the winner advances to the next round. After 3 rounds, the winning team gets rewarded with loot and qualifier points. With these point, teams can register for monthly and yearly tournaments. There is also an option for custom tournaments, obviously with esports in mind. Just like in WvW, everyone is lvl80 in structured PvP, but unlike any other form of level adjustment, you don’t carry over your gear or skills. Everyone starts out on equal footing and your structured PvP character can best be seen as completely independent.
The Professions & Combat
There are 8 professions in Guild Wars 2: Elementalist, Warrior, Guardian, Engineer, Ranger, Necromancer, Thief and Mesmer. There are no restrictions between professions and races so all 5 races (Charr, Human, Norn, Asura and Sylvari) can pick all 8 professions. The typical Tank-Healer-DPS concept is gone. All professions can deal a lot of damage, have support abilities and can tank or absorb damage. They each still play in their own way, but removing the strict roles allow all professions to be viable alone and in group, no matter how you build your character. Another new thing is the concept of fighting with a weapon. The skills on your actionbar are tied to the weapon you are holding. A bow will have different skills attached to it than a sword or a pistol and one-handed weapons will have different skills depending on what other weapon types you combine them with. This makes changing your play style as easy as changing your weapon. To encourage swapping weapons, depending on the situation, they even provide additional loadout slots so you can hotswap while in combat. Underwater combat also becomes interesting with the addition of tridents, spears and harpoon guns. Playing underwater is obviously completely different and although having to control your position in three dimensions can be a bit harder, playing underwater is actually enjoyable!
The combat itself takes a little bit of getting used to if you’re switching over from another MMO. Casting while on the move and the ability to physically dodge attacks by moving out of the way makes everything feel more fluent but also a bit delayed. The limited amount of skills available at any one time can make it feel like it is overly simplified. Once you get used to all these changes, it will become clear that while it is simplified, actual skill and reaction time become more important. The deciding factor in combat will often be how many attacks you can dodge or otherwise evade using skills.
The Economy
The economy in Guild Wars 2 is a bit more complicated than most people are used to. There are the usual copper, silver and gold coins found in many other games, but on top of that, there also is Karma, Glory and Influence. Explaining how all these work, what you can buy with it and where you can get them would lead us a bit too far. The game does a good job explaining everything you need to know. There is one other form of currency: Gems. Gems can be used to purchase cosmetic changes, services, boosters and many more character or account related changes. Gems are special because they can be bought with real money, but they can also be obtained with coins. How many coins a gem is worth depends on the ever fluctuating exchange rate. This means that things like server transfers or even upgrading your game to the limited edition can be done without spending any real money. It also means that you can speed up your leveling progress by spending a little bit of real money. Many may frown upon this, but remember that this is the replacement for subscription fees, so keep that in mind.
Conclusion
Reviewing an MMO at launch is hard. Launch issues, rapid updates and a lack of time to explore everything complicate writing an objective review. Much of what will make or break this game has yet to come. Will there be enough content updates to keep PvE fans busy? Will World versus World stay interesting for longer periods of time? Will the competitive scene build up with tournaments or will that feature be pushed to the background? These are the important questions. Guild Wars 2 launched with a fantastic base to continue building upon. Arenanet has to keep working to make sure players keep playing. If you’ve never played an MMO before and you want to give it a shot, this is a nobrainer: Get it! If you already are invested in another MMO, on the other hand, it might not be worth the trouble to switch over. Most of the innovations are aimed at making the game more enjoyable if you are not the max level, but once you actually get past the levelling phase, Guild Wars 2 does not offer enough reasons to make the switch just yet. Guild Wars 2 definitely is a good competitor, but will it really rise up and start the next era for MMOs? Only time will tell!
What’s your experience with Guild Wars 2 so far? Have any of your own thoughts you’d like to share? Leave them in the comments below!