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8 Months in, how does vanilla GW2 fare compared to vanilla WoW?
Homitu
Member UncommonPosts: 2,030
in Guild Wars 2
Yeah, I went there. The question so many people hate but love to answer.
In my response to this thread, I outlined what my play time consisted of in the first 8 months of WoW versus what it consists of in the first 8 months of GW2. Since I obviously couldn't remember exactly when every bit of content was released in WoW, I had to reference the patch note archives. This lead me to compare the amount of content released within the first 8 months of WoW to that of GW2. The quick breakdown is as follows:
WoW Added:
- Feast of Great-Winter (1.5 months)
- Mauradon dungeon (1.5 months)
- Gurubashi Arena Event (1.5 months)
- Dire Maul (4 months)
- 2 world bosses: Azuregos and Doom Lord Kazzak (4 months)
- The first 2 battlegrounds: Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch (7 months)
- Blackwing Lair (8 months)
GW2 Added:
- Halloween Event (2 month)
- Lost Shores Karka event (3 months)
- Temple of the Silent Storm pvp map (3 months)
- Fractals of the Mists (3 months)
- Wintersday (4 months)
- Flame and Frost Living Story (5-8 months)
- Spirit Watch pvp map (6 months)
- Guild Missions (6 months)
- Super Adventure Box (7 months)
- Numerous new events, jumping puzzles, and mini dungeons that are either not mentioned in patch notes or barely hinted at in passing in patch notes, such as the Forsaken Fortune mini dungeon.
Note, these are just the *content* updates issued post-release. Within this thread, feel free to discuss the differences in content between the two games at release. Feel free to discuss the merits of temporary evolving content versus permanent content. Feel free to discuss any other intangibles you think may have contributed to WoW's growth during it's inception, how you feel GW2 is doing in comparison, and why.
As for me personally, I think it's always easy to clamor for more and more. As a gamer, I know I've certainly evolved over the years. I've grown tired of certain content that once may have had me hooked for months and months. Vanilla WoW certainly had me hooked all those years ago. However, I dare say that vanilla WoW wouldn't fare so well with my present self. Looking back on what there was available to do, I can't be sure it would have held my attention for more than a few months.
My personal analysis is that in a direct comparison, I think GW2 fares very well in terms of content when compared to WoW, both in content available at release and content issued post release; I do think WoW's content was better at *hooking* players then than GW2's is now, however. I also think GW2 fares extremely favorably in a time relative comparison. That is, to someone who has played MMOs for over a decade now and has grown tired of the "WoW model," GW2 gives me significantly more to do than vanilla WoW would have.
Comments
Yeah like a troll would waste his time doing a lenghty and well written post...
To me it looks like WoW added more content compared to GW2 in the first 8 months. If you got to BWL, I think you've missed quite a bit of content in your list.
WoW vanilla was much more addicting and entertaining compared to GW2. I have spent 180 hours in total playing GW2. This is not even close to the number of hours I played WoW in the first 8 months.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Don't they?
Anything that is design to spark a conflict between 2 group is a troll post. There is no reason to compared guild wars 2 now to vanilla WoW because vanilla existence shouldn't affect or matter to guild wars 2, unless you are one of the people that like to count scores.
after hooked by vanilla wow is gw2 the game that hooked you once again? no comment here
I would be more inclined to put the title of troll onto your post. The OP discusses the content of both and determines that they've both done quite well. You're post is the one that implies conflict.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Actually, it looks to me that Guild wars 2 added more content. I don't know WoW, but Arenanet added a new map and many more, objectively. Now however, if none of those thigns interest you then it added less or none. BTW 6 year is a long time. You cannot objectively compared what you did in vanilla WoW today for multiple reasons. 1. the most important being that they were less games to fighting for your attention, so you take games for granted. I remember being able to enjoy games 6 years ago when I barely had any, now I have so many I never finish them, even though they are good.
Which goes back to my original point that this topic is a troll bait (not intentional on the OP part imo).
@EYE
Sometimes to point out a troll, you might have to be a troll? But my point still stands, this topic doesn't serve any real purpose. It doesn't need to be created. But I suppose that forums exist for pointless crap like this to exist. But I suppose you are right and I am gonna back off and leave the thread. Ultimately my point it, does it matter whether Gw2 added as much content as a game released 7 years ago. Anyways, i m gonna bowed, out it seems I am spaming the thread.
heh I included every single content addition that was mentioned in every section of the patch note archives I listed. That was literally all that was there. I even included the Winter Feast, which wasn't much at all during it's initial incarnation, certainly nothing compared to GW2's holiday events. Everything else is the standard bug fixes and class balances.
There's no conflict, although you certainly seem to be trying your hardest to start one. The number 1 most fundamental reason people post on forums such as these is simply because it's material they enjoy talking about. No other reason. It's entertaining and fun for them. That's it. There's no deep existential purpose behind it. I invite them to talk away.
WoW was rough around the edges in those early days. People often attribute much of it's success to it's polish and consistency, but if it were released today in the same state it was released then, I think that the whining and moaning about it being a beta/unfinished/buggy game would be deafening.
Expectations and competition were a lot different back then. People expect more from a game on day 1/month 1/year 1 than they did in 2004. GW2, one of the most polished and content heavy experiences I've ever had in a new MMORPG, has come out in an age when the expectations seem to be nearing perfection.
Your list is interesting to me for another reason. You had to pay $15/month to play WoW. I still do. GW2 has come out with as much or more content than WoW did by this point and has not required me to pay a cent since it came out.
I'm not sure I understand your question completely, but I'll try to answer. I was absolutely more *hooked* to vanilla WoW through BC and large parts of WotlK than I've ever been to any other MMO, including GW2. WoW was my 2nd MMO and it grabbed me much more completely than my first (FFXI).
When I refer to being "hooked," I refer mostly to the addictive components of the game. Certainly the whole package must be present to truly be and stay hooked, but being absorbed by the game not an end-all evaluation of the game for me. Pretty bad games can manage to hook me for a little while. WoW was by no means a bad game. The gameplay felt great. I was deeply immersed in the world and quest system. The cooperation required for dungeon runs and eventual raids felt fresh and immensely interactive. AND the progression had me hooked.
GW2 is the first MMO since WoW to hold my attention for any considerable length of time. The world is the single most immersive world I've ever played in. Lots of different gameplay modes feel infinitely better than WoW to me, including jumping puzzles, solo combat, the fluidity of open world events, and some of the more interesting mini dungeons. The world draws me in, but I don't feel particular addicted by any of the progression systems. WoW definitely had a stronger *hold* on me then than GW2 has on me now.
I treasure both MMO experiences though.
"As you read these words, a release is seven days or less away or has just happened within the last seven days those are now the only two states youll find the world of Tyria."...Guild Wars 2
It's fair to look at content added but you also have to take into consideration that it took a heck of a lot longer to reach level cap in vanilla WoW compared to GW2.
I would say that GW2's aggressive content delivery was brought about out of necessity since most players were hitting cap within the first month.
Blizzard shipped WoW with way more content than most players were able to experience in the first year or two which really says a lot about how aggresively they still pushed significant updates out.
Both games are good but this contest goes to Blizz hands down.
Endless repeating of same content =/= lot of content.
Endless repeating of same content = crappy abbysmal grind experience (reference: WoW vanilla endgame, EQ, Lineage 2...)
Contest goes to ANet without even thinking about it.
There is a difference between trolling and discussion.
Well, people always use reference points to evaluate products. Back when WoW was released it was an incredibly polished game compared to other MMOs on the market. What was even more impressive is that WOW actually had enough content (maybe even more content?) to rival games which have been out for 4-5 years. Back then expectations were low in terms of polish because no MMO was polished in any way. WoW changed that. It was super polished and had tons of content at release. Also WoW did quite a few things differently compared to other MMOs. It pretty much made the majority of tedious MMO features fun.
Of course, today because people expect polish (because WoW introduced this trend), people are not impressed by a polished product. It's all about differentiation. WoW had the advantage of being the first to pull off these things and that's why they are reaping the benefits of this.
Is it fair? I think so because what WoW did, no other game could.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
And why is hitting the cap a problem?
One of the reasons I went with the first GW1 over WoW when I got tired of WC3 and DOTA was because I wouldn't have to play a single character as my main game time investment.
i think people just forgot that the reason they had to focus on a single character is due to the grinding nature of the MMORPGs in the past rather than it being the natural order of things.
Additionally the GW2 monetization model also doesn't really require for players to play every single month.
I doubt most people starting to play WoW today will play play WoW for a similar amount of time the one that started playing years ago have.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
For me, Vanilla WoW had more base leveling content than any game to date. It took me 4 characters, 2 alliance 2 horde, just to see all of the leveling content and quests and zones. That alone took me about a year. By that time the game had added battlegrounds, dungeons, raids and so on and I was all set to delve into the endgame play.
Compare this to GW2 where I did everything on 1 character in 2 weeks. Literally everything, map, story, crafting, gear dungeons ran at least once, pvp all in 2 weeks. All of the content added since launch in GW2 has had me come back for a total of 2 days. And that's being generous. For me the issue is GW2 not having a carrot on the stick to chase and no it doesn't have to be just gear. I just feel no sense of progression and playing alts is boring as hell.
That being said, I like the game I just want it to be deeper, bigger and have more progression systems that are rewarding and not just for the "fun" of doing them as I don't find that fun in a game like GW2.
I think you can do map completion in two weeks but that's some rigorouse rush tactics though.
This is not a game.
Apples and oranges...
It took longer to level in vanilla WoW than it does in GW2, so by that factor alone, you WOULD have spent more time in vanilla WoW. Consider also that in order to even get into some of the dungeons in vanilla WoW, you had to be attuned first... that, for some people, took some time as well.
And your life 8 years ago was very different than it is now. Do you readily play 48 hours non-stop in game now? Back in vanilla, I played 24 hours straight on a number of occasions... I don't do that with any game now, mostly because I have commitments now that I didn't back then.
Can't really compare GW2 to vanilla WoW... unless you literally compare it to a private server running it at the moment. To do that, you need to log into one and play it again and tell us how it compares to GW2. It's a silly comparison because we're talking 8 year old technology versus todays. You will undoubtedly be unimpressed by vanilla WoW today.
OP, your point being GW2 added more content in 8 months than WoW? Is that what you are implying?
Quantity does not equal quality and GW2 wouldn't know quality if it came up and slapped them in the face.
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Philosophy of MMO Game Design
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