Guild Wars 2 Heroic Edition - $25

Bought it. Well worth the 25 bucks IMO even though I haven't gotten very far yet. Even if I only get a month of play time out of it before I get bored thats not a bad deal at all.

Yeah, it's worth $25 if you're not already sick of MMOs.
 
LOL...

I remember the 100% completion for that... something or other Pass. It started with an L (Lornar I think), and it was a gigantic area with a lot of stuff to do. Yeah the reward make me permanently give up on bothering with exploring areas (well, along with how utterly empty everything was).

I guess you got a bad chest. I got a lockbox key in mine.
 
I don't remember what I got. Even if it was one of those keys, what I got out of the end result was crap...

And let's face it in the time I'm taking to explore one area, I could do a million rotations of Queensdale (WHILE doing world events). Not to mention traveling around these huge maps while completing the hearts is a huge investment in itself (teleportation costs, hello; I REALLY hope they've toned those down), that you weren't very likely to get back while at the end rewards.

I really don't know if they fixed this... but it's just that before I left I remember a lot of stuff that I didn't like about the game. And that's before talking about the community. Apparently complaining about aspects of the game that sucks to your guild members, one of which is a captain and thinks the game is sugar and rainbows while you don't... is going to get you kicked because he disagrees with you. Well that's another topic for another time.
 
Best way to level and progress in this game is naturally.

Rule of thumb: Follow your personal story. It takes you through increasingly harder areas as it progresses. If you do all of the hearts, skill points, explore waypoints/points of interest, and farm all ore/wood/harvest nodes along the way, you will easily get to level 80 in no time. Also take the crafting materials you harvest and re-invest them into crafting which will give you XP and increase your levels. Completing your daily events will also grant XP. Take a trip into WvW and run with a good commander, this will earn you some levels as well. The people who mindlessly grind Champions in Queensdale are lemmings, even though it might be the fastest, it isn't the most efficient way to play the game. Your personal story will ultimately lead you to Cursed Shore which is where a lot of the PvE end game content is, including the level 80 dungeon (which you have to do the story mode of as part of the personal story).

Money shouldn't be a problem in this game, although I do agree the waypoint costs are too high. If you power level in Queensdale, then try to do your personal story, then yes it will be expensive to warp around all over the place. If you do it the way the game was designed, which is linear progression, then it won't seem as bad. A lot of the lower level blues and greens are worth a whole lot more on the trading post than they are to the vendor. Level 68-80 blue/green items are the ones that are being overly farmed and are mostly worth the merchant "sell" value. If you take the time to sell all blue/green items (to the Trading Post NOT THE MERCHANT) you do not want to use as you are leveling up, you will make a ton of money. What I do is sell them at the highest "sell" price minus one copper (so you are listing it at the lowest price, but not instantly selling the item to the highest bidder which is the "buy" price). If you make a few gold you can also invest in TP flipping, which is basically buy low/sell high mentatlity. You can make a fortune doing this in GW2.

The WvW and sPvP is where this game really shines, IMHO. I was done with PvE after about 4-6 months.

I hope this helps. This game is fantastic.
 
I have only played a few hours of this game so far, but I have to say it's pretty fun. I found myself doing a quest and randomly ran into a side mission where i had to climb to the very top of this platform jump obstacle course thing. I completely got lost mid quest because i was determined to climb the top of this thing. I see that there are tons of these side mission quests/objectives on the map as well. So far it's fun and I don't see myself getting burnt out for quite awhile.

EDIT - Oh, and the events that randomly occur are a nice addition. I ran into several just running around doing quests. It sort of reminds of me Rift where the random Rifts would open up on the map. I don't want to say this game does it better, but I think it might based on the few I ran into. Time will tell. It really does add some variety to the game that I personally am enjoying.

This game just feels a lot different than your typical MMO (get quest, run and get object, run back for reward, move onto next area, rinse and repeat). I'm hoping it lasts and it's not just the starting zone that makes me feel this way.
 
I don't remember what I got. Even if it was one of those keys, what I got out of the end result was crap...

And let's face it in the time I'm taking to explore one area, I could do a million rotations of Queensdale (WHILE doing world events). Not to mention traveling around these huge maps while completing the hearts is a huge investment in itself (teleportation costs, hello; I REALLY hope they've toned those down), that you weren't very likely to get back while at the end rewards.

Why would I grind one area over and over when i can continuously explore new areas and get rewarded for it?
 
Why would I grind one area over and over when i can continuously explore new areas and get rewarded for it?

That's like asking why people who power grind... "why do you power grind?"

Here, I'll just go into full on rant mode with what I didn't really care for in this game when I was getting my warrior to 80:

I'm all for exploration, but it has to be interesting and rewarding. Most of the time the hearts were "Do random crap that maybe kind of makes sense (somewhat... maybe), and falls into one of these categories, some of which are a PITA and some of which are not. Time for Russian Roulette (that resets itself after each shot)." And then there were those "let me find a needle in a haystack" points of interest that were sometimes extremely well hidden. I remember how long it took me to complete Lornar's Pass. Considering the reward I got out of it, it wasn't pretty how disappointed I was when I got done. Not to mention it just wasn't terribly interesting. This game's graphics engine isn't good enough to make me care about the sights, nor is there much lore to read that was associated with these places (that I can remember). Each area just has sprawling hearts and points of interest, with nothing gluing them into a coherent mess that I actually care about.

And then let's go into the dynamic events in these areas that I'm exploring. Lol. Doing new things in areas with people can be fun, but what if you didn't come into this game with anyone? Is that a champion mob? "Welp I'm alone" *leaves it there* (unless there's a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence of someone else being there, and you actually complement each other well enough). Repeat X10. Or some of them that are swarms of mobs that are naturally difficult to complete unless you're a class with nothing but AOE (like my warrior was, hence I got to 80 on it easily). I mean these dynamic events seem nice and refreshing at first, too, but then you realize that there are just meta types that they follow, and you generally only see a few certain types (with a few exceptions). At that point I ask myself why I'm bothering doing these (alone!) in a new area with some mistaken pretense of "having fun" exploring while doing them and earning less exp anyway because they take longer because I'm the only one there.

Personally I didn't come into that game in order to play it alone. If I wanted to play a single player exploration experience, there are a HELL OF A LOT of games that do it better than this one. At the end of the day I found myself having more fun and getting rewarded more just by sticking around in Queensdale or the Norn area (sometimes interchanging between both) doing event rotations with tons of people there, while also mixing in dynamic events in when the timers went off. I gained way more exp over time (and it's VERY consistent), I wasted less money traveling here or there looking for X or Y point of interest.... and I'm still killing crap, which in the end of the day let's face it, that's all PvE was ever really about, because the storyline in these usually sucks and isn't very compelling. However the secondary issue with this is that once I realized this is what I was doing, I asked myself why I was playing this over any other MMORPG... which naturally led me to follow up question of why I was playing it at all. The reasons escaped me. Before I finished the only classes I really bothered with were my warrior (80) and ranger (40-50, forgot). I tried leveling my mage in WVWVW, but even following the mob around the exp gain was honestly so crappy that even though it was a new experience I just couldn't stomach it. It's interesting to mention I was horribly bored of PVE by that point, too.

I far prefer the PvE of the current Final Fantasy MMORPG, which puts you into dungeons with people very early on, doing some fun small scale dungeon experiences. It also has all of the dynamic events, too... and it isn't F2P, which means you get rid of a lot of the trash of the community (more adult population usually) and at the same time get rid of the cash shop. The quests also tend to be a little more fun than random sprawling hearts... aside from the usual "HEY YOU'RE SPECIAL AS HECK, ALONG WITH THESE 500 OTHER PEOPLE STANDING BESIDE YOU!".
 
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I have one word of advice. Don't start as an Elementalist. The character type really appealed to me, despite general advice that it was too hard to play for your first run through. I didn't find it too hard to play, just too boring to play (PvE). Meaning, I could do everything I needed to do, it just took a long time b/c I was constantly kiting, running away, etc. The abilities are cool, but that coolness wears off after awhile. As as result, GW2 was the first game I ever stopped playing before finishing. I'm super anal about finishing games I don't like, but I just couldn't bring myself to do this one. It gets great reviews from lots of people, so I'm guessing it's a good game, and I chose the wrong starting character.
 
After eading all of StoleMyOwnCar's comments, I'm at a loss. I've played GW2 since beta. I have over 2,000 hrs playtime, about 10k achievement points, and max level 80 characters of every class. I completely disagree with nearly all of his criticisms. $25 is an absolute steal for the game.
 
That's like asking why people who power grind... "why do you power grind?"

Here, I'll just go into full on rant mode with what I didn't really care for in this game when I was getting my warrior to 80:

I'm all for exploration, but it has to be interesting and rewarding. Most of the time the hearts were "Do random crap that maybe kind of makes sense (somewhat... maybe), and falls into one of these categories, some of which are a PITA and some of which are not. Time for Russian Roulette (that resets itself after each shot)." And then there were those "let me find a needle in a haystack" points of interest that were sometimes extremely well hidden. I remember how long it took me to complete Lornar's Pass. Considering the reward I got out of it, it wasn't pretty how disappointed I was when I got done. Not to mention it just wasn't terribly interesting. This game's graphics engine isn't good enough to make me care about the sights, nor is there much lore to read that was associated with these places (that I can remember). Each area just has sprawling hearts and points of interest, with nothing gluing them into a coherent mess that I actually care about.

And then let's go into the dynamic events in these areas that I'm exploring. Lol. Doing new things in areas with people can be fun, but what if you didn't come into this game with anyone? Is that a champion mob? "Welp I'm alone" *leaves it there* (unless there's a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence of someone else being there, and you actually complement each other well enough). Repeat X10. Or some of them that are swarms of mobs that are naturally difficult to complete unless you're a class with nothing but AOE (like my warrior was, hence I got to 80 on it easily). I mean these dynamic events seem nice and refreshing at first, too, but then you realize that there are just meta types that they follow, and you generally only see a few certain types (with a few exceptions). At that point I ask myself why I'm bothering doing these (alone!) in a new area with some mistaken pretense of "having fun" exploring while doing them and earning less exp anyway because they take longer because I'm the only one there.

Personally I didn't come into that game in order to play it alone. If I wanted to play a single player exploration experience, there are a HELL OF A LOT of games that do it better than this one. At the end of the day I found myself having more fun and getting rewarded more just by sticking around in Queensdale or the Norn area (sometimes interchanging between both) doing event rotations with tons of people there, while also mixing in dynamic events in when the timers went off. I gained way more exp over time (and it's VERY consistent), I wasted less money traveling here or there looking for X or Y point of interest.... and I'm still killing crap, which in the end of the day let's face it, that's all PvE was ever really about, because the storyline in these usually sucks and isn't very compelling. However the secondary issue with this is that once I realized this is what I was doing, I asked myself why I was playing this over any other MMORPG... which naturally led me to follow up question of why I was playing it at all. The reasons escaped me. Before I finished the only classes I really bothered with were my warrior (80) and ranger (40-50, forgot). I tried leveling my mage in WVWVW, but even following the mob around the exp gain was honestly so crappy that even though it was a new experience I just couldn't stomach it. It's interesting to mention I was horribly bored of PVE by that point, too.

I far prefer the PvE of the current Final Fantasy MMORPG, which puts you into dungeons with people very early on, doing some fun small scale dungeon experiences. It also has all of the dynamic events, too... and it isn't F2P, which means you get rid of a lot of the trash of the community (more adult population usually) and at the same time get rid of the cash shop. The quests also tend to be a little more fun than random sprawling hearts... aside from the usual "HEY YOU'RE SPECIAL AS HECK, ALONG WITH THESE 500 OTHER PEOPLE STANDING BESIDE YOU!".

I am someone who played gw1 in huge amounts and while I haven't been the biggest fan of gw2 as I preferred the original. I will break this into a few points.

1. Warrior and Ranger are the easiest of the classes in the game for PvE. You literally picked the smash button 1 classes.

2. You refer to experience gained was low, this game isn't about grinding zones unless you're a bot. It is about Dungeon runs, WvW, and SPVP. Leveling is also extremely easy which differs from most mmorpg archtypes.

3.The patch on April 15th adds the mega server feature meaning all the zones won't be empty. It will be shared zones so low population zones are populated as much as possible. A issue that plagues all mmorpgs as the rewards fall behind other venues.

4. I can take from what you are looking for is a grinding PvE game. You aren't going to find the standard grind here so by all means it seems you have moved on to a more standard abeit crappy game imo but to each their own.

5. Cash Shop I was initially annoyed by this having played the first game but they really haven't ever added a pay2win item as the current standing of the game.

6.Feeling special and an mmorpg is kind of an oxymoron. It doesn't really matter the game its all repeated content.

7. It is too late to get in on everything as with every mmorpg starting late but for 25 bucks it is a solid game especially if you like the WvW or SPVP concepts. PvE can be quite a blast as well with dungeon groups which even has a match making feature.
 
I am someone who played gw1 in huge amounts and while I haven't been the biggest fan of gw2 as I preferred the original. I will break this into a few points.

1. Warrior and Ranger are the easiest of the classes in the game for PvE. You literally picked the smash button 1 classes.

2. You refer to experience gained was low, this game isn't about grinding zones unless you're a bot. It is about Dungeon runs, WvW, and SPVP. Leveling is also extremely easy which differs from most mmorpg archtypes.

3.The patch on April 15th adds the mega server feature meaning all the zones won't be empty. It will be shared zones so low population zones are populated as much as possible. A issue that plagues all mmorpgs as the rewards fall behind other venues.

4. I can take from what you are looking for is a grinding PvE game. You aren't going to find the standard grind here so by all means it seems you have moved on to a more standard abeit crappy game imo but to each their own.

5. Cash Shop I was initially annoyed by this having played the first game but they really haven't ever added a pay2win item as the current standing of the game.

6.Feeling special and an mmorpg is kind of an oxymoron. It doesn't really matter the game its all repeated content.

7. It is too late to get in on everything as with every mmorpg starting late but for 25 bucks it is a solid game especially if you like the WvW or SPVP concepts. PvE can be quite a blast as well with dungeon groups which even has a match making feature.

These kind of sound like just your side comments... but whatever:

1. Actually that's pretty false. If you mash just one button on ranger or warrior, you're not going to do that well. Though, yes, they are easier in PVE... which is maybe why I liked them? I don't really like fighting for my life against essentially unimportant trash mobs. Also, Guardian is quite easy.

2. Did you actually read my post? I'm just curious. Looking at this note it seems like you just skimmed it. In particular the first paragraph addresses most of this. Personally I know how it's about dungeon runs as most people in my guild and such suggested not doing them until 80 (regardless of the dungeon level).

3. I don't buy it. It wouldn't be that hard to give users more incentive to use the zones rather than some roundabout "fix" like this. Just looking at it from a programmer's standpoint, I also can't imagine a system like this going off without any hitches. But I digress.

4. I don't know where the hell you got that from my post.

6. And that's your opinion. It's an MMORPG. I want them to be a bit more realistic about my role and stop this BS. I'm not the chosen one, I'm just on my way to becoming a veteran soldier (an apparently immortal one). Companies are quite afraid to change the formula significantly (GW2 doesn't do this either; it's really quite similar...). And for good reason. It's a time-tested cash cow.

7. I'm saying that in terms of dungeons and such I think FF14 is the better game all around. It has events, it has quests, and it has better story telling. Oh, and I loved fishing in it. So nice and peaceful. The one thing I didn't mind grinding after a day at work.


After eading all of StoleMyOwnCar's comments, I'm at a loss. I've played GW2 since beta. I have over 2,000 hrs playtime, about 10k achievement points, and max level 80 characters of every class. I completely disagree with nearly all of his criticisms. $25 is an absolute steal for the game.

Oh, is that so? There's a difference of perspective, here. Yours is one that many MMORPG players share. I constantly stop and ask myself if what I'm doing is in some way fulfilling. It doesn't take much to satisfy that requirement, and I can often stand grinding quite well (Disgaea). Most of these MMORPGs end up feeling hollow and unfulfilling to me in the long run. When I ask myself what I'm really doing in them, I find that it's really quite a meaningless case of "beating the Joneses". Most of these feel like they're essentially emulating a more addictive version of jobs in the virtual world. It's fine for maybe a week or two, or sometimes even a month. But eventually I ask myself why I'm deluding myself with thinking this formulaic nonsense is actually worthwhile.

But that's getting into a tangent on the world of MMORPGs in general, isn't it? I don't know how many times I put this up somewhere.
 
Newbie Guild wars 2 since last week. Game is fun.. and for 25$ its a goddamn steal.

im glad i bought it
 
.... I constantly stop and ask myself if what I'm doing is in some way fulfilling. .... Most of these MMORPGs end up feeling hollow and unfulfilling to me in the long run. When I ask myself what I'm really doing in them, I find that it's really quite a meaningless case of "beating the Joneses". Most of these feel like they're essentially emulating a more addictive version of jobs in the virtual world. ...
But that's getting into a tangent on the world of MMORPGs in general, isn't it? I don't know how many times I put this up somewhere.

Doesn't sound to me like your problem is with GW2 at all.
 
Doesn't sound to me like your problem is with GW2 at all.

That's what I was thinking, as well.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm pretty sure every gamer goes through some type of burnout, especially with MMO's.
 
That's obvious. The point was that GW2 is no different from all of those other ones in that way. It's still just a fairly standard MMORPG experience. Also, I had criticism on top of that, that was specific to GW2; that still stands. The other implied point was that you don't stop to think about what you're doing in this game and what is bad about it; you just keep playing it anyway.

This is just a hot deals topic though. >_>
 
Was thinking about picking this up but the price just went back to normal. Maybe next time.
 
Even at the normal price, I think the game has a lot of value. You don't necessarily need to play it 24/7, the game is good for jumping in a couple hours every month, checking out the changes, doing some events, and then not playing again for a while.

Also I don't think its like a "Standard MMO" at all. It doesn't have the same leveling or zone mechanics, it doesn't have gear progression through raids, abilities are all weapon based, it lets everyone access almost all the content (even lowbies)... Heck even the "Kill 10 rats" stuff happens naturally in a way unlike any other MMO.
 
Point is, for $25 and no monthly sub? It's a no brainer.

That's for other people to decide, but I don't see how it's a "no brainer" at all. Diablo 3 was 20$ earlier. Was that a no brainer, too (granted I bought it)? I don't see how this being an F2P (not really F2P, just the price to play approaches 0 as t approaches infinity) MMORPG at a relatively discounted initial price makes it a no brainer. Following that logic, any game's decrease in price of about 40% or so is a no brainer.

This initial price is simply an investment that you hope will pay off in time spent. In the end whether it was 25 or 40$ (or whatever the going price is atm) is somewhat insignificant.
 
That's for other people to decide, but I don't see how it's a "no brainer" at all. Diablo 3 was 20$ earlier. Was that a no brainer, too (granted I bought it)? I don't see how this being an F2P (not really F2P, just the price to play approaches 0 as t approaches infinity) MMORPG at a relatively discounted initial price makes it a no brainer. Following that logic, any game's decrease in price of about 40% or so is a no brainer.

This initial price is simply an investment that you hope will pay off in time spent. In the end whether it was 25 or 40$ (or whatever the going price is atm) is somewhat insignificant.

geez man, you're just thread crapping at this point. I guess you're just trying to get your post count up?
 
In GW2, you are basically encouraged to just walk around. You will find something to complete. If it is a heart, upon completion the heart NPC will be come a merchant. Points give you xp and sometimes mini-events or dungeons/jumping puzzles. Vistas make you stop and take a second to admire the environment and figure out how to make it to the top (or bottom) of an area. When you 100% a zone, you get a chest and when you 100% the world you get access to the unique crafting mats that let you make legendary weapons. There are both short and long term rewards for your effort, and it is a great design which is something we don't see very often in the genre.

Is this the fastest way to gain experience? The best way to get loot? Probably not. Then again, it isn't a race and I am upgrading my gear all the time anyway. If ever I decide I need to grind for gear or something else, I will do it after I have reached the cap and exhausted the things to do in the game. It honestly just sounds like you don't like MMOs, but then you like FFXIV.
 
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geez man, you're just thread crapping at this point. I guess you're just trying to get your post count up?



I thought discussion of the product being discounted was a fairly regular occurrence in a hot deals thread? I mean if you think any 40% discount on anything is a no brainer and you should disregard negative comments as thread crapping, then by all means. I'll see your bank account down the drain, with you drowning in all kinds of crap that you end up not caring for.

As a general note, all of your comments' content has been fairly low in this thread. Who's trying to get their post count up, here?
 
Played since beta. If there is anything I regret, it's rushing my first/main character through all the PvE content and leveling as quickly as I could. Only after I "got everything" did I realize how much I had wasted my "new game" experience, and have been taking my time exploring/wandering and getting into the lore ever since.

Whether or not this game will keep your attention is a very subjective matter, but for me I've almost entirely stopped playing everything else. Borderlands 2 was probably the last game I played through and still play on occasion, while Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite have basically been shelved indefinitely (with each at less than 50% completion).

For further reference, one of my cousins who's really into WoW, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 (at least after the RoS expansion), and LoL played GW2 for a couple of weeks and stopped after rushing a Guardian to level 80, while I couldn't for the life of me get into WoW (one particular grind quest was the last straw), remain interested in SC2 or D3 for long, or get myself interested enough in LoL after watching it played to want to play it.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
 
I grabbed it. I've been wanting to try GW2. Anyone play on Isle of Janthir?
 
so much game, and entertainment for $25 without the grind.

this is a must buy for anyone who has ever liked an mmo.


its not really designed to be grind and play for hours, it just designed to be enjoyable while you are playing.
 
so much game, and entertainment for $25 without the grind.

this is a must buy for anyone who has ever liked an mmo.


its not really designed to be grind and play for hours, it just designed to be enjoyable while you are playing.

It really is well worth the $25, especially with no sub. This really should have been the way Elder Scrolls handled things
 
I know there are end-game ish dungeons and stuff, but without dedicated healing and tanking roles it felt like everyone's basically a one man unit trying to take down a boss. If I wanted to experience that, it seems like Vindictus is the superior game to do that in.

This is why I quit once I hit the max level, I understand they tried to get away from the cookie cutter group model. It just made everything harder to do in my opinion, and harder to carry bad players.
 
There is plenty of group synergy and skill meta in this game. If you haven't played sPvP or WvW in an organized fashion, you really have no room to judge this game based on limited experience getting to level 80 in PvE.

The game starts at level 80 btw.
 
I bit after much thought and I'm glad I did. The game is beautiful and tons of fun!
 
There is plenty of group synergy and skill meta in this game. If you haven't played sPvP or WvW in an organized fashion, you really have no room to judge this game based on limited experience getting to level 80 in PvE.

The game starts at level 80 btw.

I'm a big fan of the game, bought it on release.

That said, the biggest issue with it are its group mechanics. They're really not fluid and I definitely disagree with the game starting at level 80. The endgame is its weakest point by far.
 
I'm a big fan of the game, bought it on release.

That said, the biggest issue with it are its group mechanics. They're really not fluid and I definitely disagree with the game starting at level 80. The endgame is its weakest point by far.

I agree. The journey to end game is great. PvP is pretty meh. Love all the stuff to do in the game but once you hit 80 it kinda stalls.
 
ALL IN.

This game is fantastic. I've been playing WoW for what feels like a decade (bought it at launch but didn't actually register / start playing until end pre-TBC) and it's comfortable and homezy, but it's also stale and a bit meh.

The little niggles I had w/ GW1 w/ the forced UI feeling is all gone w/ GW2. If your WoW moments are burned in muscle memory, all you need to do is swap QE w/ AD (LR/strRstrL), 2/3 max out the mouse looking movement slider and check the 'free move' camera box. Boom, instant use of WoW muscle memory.

Home world Magumma. /slap if you see a grizzled gangly warrior named Vork Holden.
 
Would you say this is the sort of game that you could pick up every couple days for 30 minutes of play and find it enjoyable? A lot of good feedback on this game, but I just don't have the time any more to dedicate to a traditional MMO.

I used to play AoC and WoW for hours on end, but that life paradigm just doesn't exist any more... Is GW2 something I could jump in and jump out and not feel like I had to grind on?
 
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