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Thinking of buying GW2..
Jenkz
Member UncommonPosts: 94
in Guild Wars 2
Hey guys, i have been wanting to buy GW2 because of the crazy reviews it's getting! I have never played GW1 so i wouldn't know what to expect, i just have a few questions i would like to ask before i go ahead and purchase the game.
1) How is the grouping system?
2) Is it more solo based or grouping from level 1 to max?
3) How is the population like in game?
4) Any hackers / gold farmers?
5) How is the raiding like?
6) Is this by any chance similar to WoW? =/
7) Are the servers reliable, any drop outs server wide or even crashes due to high volume of players (if there is that many people playing) ?
Thank You.
Comments
1. There isn't much of a grouping system at all, 90% of the time. You just kill stuff and everyone gets credit, if they helped.
2. It's very much a solo game 1-max, although you are usually around other people. It's just that formal groups are not needed for stuff.
3. Population seems pretty high, although not as much as a month ago. You won't have trouble finding people, but it's unlikely you'll really need them around. Events and stuff seem to scale depending on how many people are there, so if you're the only one around, you'll still be ok.
4. Yes and Yes. Tons of them, actually.
5. I don't think there are any raids, as end game is more about PvP, but someone else might come in and correct me.
6. Yes and no. At it's most basic, you get quests and complete them, killing lots of monsters along the way. With WoW, you talk to someone who gives you the quest, then (usually) return to them to finish it. With GW2, you just show up to an area, and are given various tasks to do in order to make the locals "happy". For example, you might be notified that farmer bill needs worms killed, kids played with, and goats fed. You can then proceed to do any and all of them over and over again until he's happy. You get extra Xp for making people happy, and a type of currency that can be used to purchase upgrades from various people.
7. Servers are pretty stable now, and I haven't had any issues for a month or so.
You make me like charity
Hey guys, i have been wanting to buy GW2 because of the crazy reviews it's getting! I have never played GW1 so i wouldn't know what to expect, i just have a few questions i would like to ask before i go ahead and purchase the game.
1) How is the grouping system?
The grouping system while leveling is through dynamic events. These occur with a big orange cirle on your map, you go there and there is an objective. You aren't placed in a group but as you contribute it goes towards the event experience etcc.
There are dungeons spread out as you level as well. typically just like any other mmo. One thing though, is there really is no holy trinity. THere is no stand there and tank. The fights in dungeons require a bit of reaction time, moving etc. The dungeon grouping system for pugging is not all that good compared to a gamel ike wow in terms of organization structure and finding one.
2) Is it more solo based or grouping from level 1 to max?
Yes, the game is almost completely solo based leveling and even max level most of the time. The events do not require you to socialize. With the comments up top about dungeon running, most groups don't communicate much other than to just run through it as fast as possible. WoW has a very same lack of communication in pugs as well but in wow finding and running dungeons is much easier.
The leveling is much more fluid than most mmo's. There are a lot of differnt paths. You actually level (i mean level sufficiently) from non combat activities. Crafting, gathering, pvp all give significant amounts of experience.
3) How is the population like in game?
The population is very strong. The world itself is very lively so you dont get that "alone" feeling like you would in swtor. The big cities are always heavily crowded.
4) Any hackers / gold farmers?
There have been a few pvp exploits. Gold farmers are there albeit not as many as you'll read about. There are some servers and instances where i have seen an abundance but not ultimately game breaking like lineage 2 was.
5) How is the raiding like?
There are no "raids". There are some very big to beat world bosses taht require a ton of people but i havent raided or done much "end" game content.
6) Is this by any chance similar to WoW? =/
Not really. The combat is much more fluid than wow. It lacks in character progression though. I mean your first 5 abilities are based off your weapon. So it gets kinda unsuprising to see that you dont learn that many active combat skills. The second half of skills you learn from skill points. You will either like or not like it.
THe world is very large, it is more mmo feeling that guild wars 1 , but not totally open like wow, ie there are zones to go through such as entering a major city.
No mounts, no flight paths, you have teleports that cost money but teleport you instantly and there are thousands of them. Wish swtor would have done something like that.
Crafting is much better than wow, probably the best crafting i've seen in a themepark mmo. It's very involved and the recipes are useful.
When youare level 80 and go to a level 10 zone, your level adjusts, same with dungeons. So you can't necessarily farm lower levels that easily. Once you get good gear though even with the level adjustment the stats on teh gear give you an incredibly large advantage, allowin gyou to help friends if need be.
Holy trinity, doesnt necessarily exist here. YOu have guardians (similar to paladins) that can go the healing or damage absorbtion route, same as warriors. Though , it isn't needed to say "lf tank then g2g".
7) Are the servers reliable, any drop outs server wide or even crashes due to high volume of players (if there is that many people playing) ?
I have never had connection problems in my realm. Now world vs world, is a another story. The game runs very good but when you got the mass pvp, it's like someone stuck a stick in my bike spokes in terms of how bad the performance drop is.
Thank You.
you are welcome. Also keep in mind there is no subscription model but there is an item shope. It's not needed whatsoever to enjoy the game though.
The game is very casual oriented. It is definately worth the money in my opinion to buy it you will at least get a month of entertainment out of it.
that said, it's a great game for the casual player and for some. I thoroughly enjoyed it for the past month or so, but have not played recently. I personally find the end game to leave me left "wanting". I do go back from time to time to mess around on alts, pvp, craft. The game is good at what it does.
It is probably the most polished release of an mmo in the past several years and a step in the right direction for games. Despite not playing it much any more , i am not a hater of this title, it's a great game and worth the purchase even if only shortly.
Thanks for the replies.
I have seen some video clips of the game and some reviews, think ill go ahead an purchase the game. Thanks.
p.s are their any Oceanic servers? im based in Australian so looking for a player base from here.
1. Grouping is "automatic", and only necessary in Dungeons, or if you just want to group up with some friends, but other than that, it's not required at all.
2. Mostly Solo, but you'll need more people to do certain events. Just call out in /map chat for more people, and usually they will respond to the area and help out.
3. There is always people everywhere, even in the starting zones, despite what people say on the forums.
4. There is so many hackers and botter, and gold spammers, but that's how it is with every new released MMO.
5. There is no traiditional raiding, only open-world raiding for events.
6. No. There are many aspects different to WoW.
7. No, I don't even remember when i experienced disconnects due to server issues, unless they restarted servers for new patch builds.
There are unofficial Oceanic servers. You should probably look for an Oceanic guild and join whatever server they're on. Server transfers are free atm, but we don't know how long that'll last.
almost everyone says it is worth the money
even if you blast through the content and play it without exploring and just trying to get to end game you will have fun
or if you treat it like a single player game its still worth it
but if ur like me im currently on 459 hours and still going my highest character is 64 i think but ive a few in the 50's and all others in the 20's (i have every character class)
i love to explore and i just keep finding things to do
it is good value for money
One thing though, from the "Similar to WoW" question...
If you await another level to max and then grind dungeons over and over again for the next tier of shiny purple gear, GW2 is the wrong game to play.
But if you await something totally different, where getting well equiped at max level and being competitive isn't an endless grind, and where you play for FUN and only grind for more badass looking gear with similar stats if you want to, then GW2 is for you.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
I agree as it is as well, and I play it pretty much as a single player RPG.
well its sad to see that ppl who have no idea talk about game
1. Like in any other game you can play solo or in groups ( groups have thier pluses, better loot, more loot, more xp and ofc more interaction with others :P)
2. Depends of what kind of player you are
3. Very High
4. Didnt saw many hackers maybe 3 or 4 in about 500 hours, gold farmers yea there are bots like in any other MMO
5. Not much Raiding, there are these 3 big dragons that you kill and get BIG CHEST, plus other bosses, like every zone have it boss
6. NO
7. no issues
2 the further you get in the game, the more group required content, but its not having to firm a party and stuff you just need other players running the sake events
3 high
4 yeah its bad for bots, wow bad.
5 no wow style raids and never will be. Some of the dynamic events could be thought of as daoc style raids though.
6 its not like wow, closest games comparison wise would be daoc and city of heroes
7 very reliable, great crowd performance
Most of the comments here are spot on, but I wanted to add a couple things:
4) I don't know about hackers, but bots are more prevelant than many have observed. Generally, they are very good about picking spots that are "out of the way", like a cave with no events or an area in Orr (a lvl 80 zone) where few people venture. Lately, some have become more brazen, botting in the open. The most noticeable bot in groups, and I usually see at least one of these groups per day. Given Anet's stance, I don't see this being a game-breaking issue long-term, though it can have an immersion-breaking effect.
7) I have had a few dropouts, but that is likely my connection, not their servers. However, sometimes new builds go live while you're in the game. It's nice that the game has such regular updates and fixes, but sometimes the client will restart at...inopportune moments. This has happened to me twice, while in a key moment in a long-ish DE and while in the heat of battle in W3.
1. Lousy. For most of the content, when you play with others to tackle hard content, you are not grouped. Looking for group for the dungeons ain't hard but it tends to the WoW style of ever more arcane lfg messages.
2. Your choice really but you can "solo" it except for the harder Dynamic Events and dungeons. But this is a soloers dream. Mind you, that isn't necesarrely a good thing.
3. Silent and the words "barren chat" keep popping into my mind when trying to describe it. Well, a silent barren chat if that makes any sense.
4. Oh boy. Google teleporting/bot and guild wars 2 or look on yourtube.
5. Raiding? What raiding?
6. Yes.
7. Very reliable but a lot of game bugs affecting content but nothing overly serious, other then the exploits.
How you find the game depends a LOT on the class you pick and your style of play. One of the few tricks this game has to hurt you is poison, some areas have a lot of mobs with it. Now, you can't get rid of it directly with potions as in every other WoW clone but need to rely on boon removals your class may not have, or have very unreliable and then to heal up, your class may not have anything to do it. Mesmer is far harder going solo then say warrior or guardian.
There is also no agro system to speak off, so even when grouping, you might find yourself underattack with a class that isn't designed for it, trying to deal with debuffs and lack of heals.
Is this game WoW? Yeah it is. Well, a WoW build by koreans on a shoe string budget and a WoW as WoW was in early alpha not the refined game it is now.
It ain't bad... it is just... empty.
SWTOR was hyped and then died. GW2 was hyped and the tone of messages changed in the first week.
It ain't bad, it just ain't the second coming.
Wow has more in common with gw1. In that once you hit endgame its a glorified lobby game where you sit in cities waiting to go to instances of either pve or pvp.
Gw2 is more of an open world themepark. Most people at endgame are in WvW or high level pve areas not in instanced content.
Wow endgame is also all about the tiered gear progression.
Gw2 is much less gear orientated and will no doubt expand horizontally.
Unlike swtor, rift, lotro, Aoc etc.. that heavily borrow ideas from wow, gw2 takes much of its influence from older themepark games, particularly daoc - WvW, "raids", the gear curve, the usefulness of crafting and coh - the ease of grouping, the gear curve again, the state based combat, down leveling
1. You don't have to group since there is an auto-grouping feature, but you can group with friends if you want to and play together.
2. You can solo all the ay to level 80 if you want to, skiping the dungeons altogther. They're not mandatory, do them if you like doing them.
3. Population seems very healthy from where I'm standing.
4. Hackers are a problem, hence the recommendation of using a strong really UNIQUE password for your GW2 gaming account. Don't use an E-mail/password combination you've used anywhere else. Tons of sites have been hacked and the hackers will try all known combinations + plus small variations. Your account is only as safe as you let it be.
There are gold farmers, but ArenaNet is coming down on them pretty hard. It's been a while since I've received E-mails from the gold sellers. It's also been a while since I've seen trains of naked Rangers botting away.
5. Raiding? Hmmm. There are large world events, but they're the casual friendly form of easy raids. The gear grind based, carrot-on-a-stick, raids just aren't there.
6. It's a themepark in a Fantasy setting, so it's somewhat similar to WoW, but it's pretty different.
7. Servers have been very reliable past the first couple of days.
1.) There is none. Groups in this game don't really exist to much unless you know someone or you might be doing a dungeon. You 'work' together but your not really 'playing' together. Its really an odd experience but you will quickly see what I mean once your playing the game.
2.) ^ Basically your solo all the time, and other players just 'happen' to be there.
3.) You won't talk much. Without a guild don't expect much communication. Its builty basically to support people just being there with each other.
4.) ... Yeah... a lot...
5.) None period. Zone/world Events don't count despite what people said, its like number 1 mentions while doing it and its not really a raid experience.
6.) Eh... if you mean similiar to EQ1 which wow copied off of, then yes and no. You will be pretty amazed by the whole concept of leveling in it compared to other similiar games but you will quickly realized its just a wolf in sheeps clothing and it will probably become old quick. Exploration is emphasized a bit more on here. Over-all, its a fantasy setting so take from that what you will.
7.) No, though WVW have queues sometimes.
If your thinking of buying it, I'd say go ahead. I actually ordered this game for release and I was amazed they gave me a full refund for it (Yeah, I didn't like it) so you shouldn't have a problem getting your money back if you want to try it out and find out you might not like it (like I did). Not trying to say its a terrible game, its got some good elements, just for me I couldn't find interest in it. Combat system didn't do it for me (No, its not hard as much as people like to claim. Think dumbed down 'WoW' combat with lots of dodge spamming and a bit clunky controls) and their 'changes' quickly become stale to the point I started to miss quest hubs which felt far more like I was accomplishing things rather then hearts. Mini 'dynamic' (more like static) events were much more enjoyable though in the end not sustainable for me.
This game is meant more for PvP. While I do feel that end is lacking severely for their 'focus' on it, in the end if you enjoy a PvE experience your not going to be very satisfied with the game, at least for to long.
1/ grouplngs pretty good . its useful to be in a guild though like most mmos
2/you can solo to max easily but there are dungeons along the way you can do in groups .
3/heaving with people . you also see them out in the game world itself unlike WoW and many other mmos .
4/seen some suspected gold farmers
5/if you mean doing 5 man dungeons . its challenging to say the least . no cake walk here .
6/ its a game that has virtually no similarities to WoW . the basic combat mechanics and UI are totally different .
7/ not had any drop out at all in the month i ve been playing ever .
Care to oxplain just how its similar to WoW because its nothing like WoW apart from it being a fantasy setting ?
Uhh... what?
I have to confirm here - saying that GW2 is like WoW is a bit like saying two totally different cars are the same because they both have wheels. It's nonsense, it's misinformation, it's just wrong.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Should you buy it? (YES! What do you have to lose? $60... but that is all you must pay. Then, you have an option to shop your hearts out in their in-game Gem store if you so desired). See you in the game!
I agree. Its similiar to wow, yes, but then again you can claim that about every fantasy game. You can make claims that it ahs elements that are the same but your just relaying basically every mmo out there that did take a lot ultimately from EQ1 for how 3D MMos tend to take some shape. Heck, can even claim its taken a lot from UO with the UI elements and all.
As far as the description of the end game being pvp or hunting areas? Well, i will say the endgame starts when you get all the usefull skills. Around level 30. Then it turns into a gear grind, as there is nothing else to work toward.
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Best post ever there Kor! Absolutely.
I love it when they post some nonsense like "the skill system is unimaginative" uhm, just because you can't seem to understand how the skill system works in harmony doesn't make it bad. smh Then we see them post they are going back to WoW after making a comment like that..smh.