Guild Wars 2 - Game Review
Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG that continues where Guild Wars stops. Both have a nice "feature" which is no monthly fee, just a flat price.
I have very little experience with MMORPGs. I have played a few of the free ones - but only for half an hour each. Most MMORPGs feel incredibly boring to me. The basic style is annoying enough (I like FPS and RTS more), and the incredibly repetitive quests (kill N of these, find N of these, etc) are quite common.
What I have played was Tabula Rasa - really nice story, really boring quests, buggy and Guild Wars - got sidetracked after a little while - remember as pleasant.
Guild Wars 2 has a loader that downloads everything - about 20 GB. No complaints, though, as it was VERY fast and maxed out my 20MB/s connection.
Graphics are great for vistas. Actual people are great designs, from the faces, shapes to the clothes.
There isn't a basic tutorial - something I've come to expect in most games. It is probably a good idea to read their online manual for the very basics before starting.
In something like an hour of play, I managed to get snagged inside a bridge (after going to desktop and returning). Just teleported to a place nearby to resolve, though.
Gameplay so far is mostly boring. There was a major battle in the beginning, but it mostly consisted of a bunch of people quickly attacking the groups of enemies that kept spawning from a few different location. The quick part is because if you didn't aim and start attacking fast, they would be killed by someone else in seconds.
After that I took the quests that were suggested - mostly helping around. This consisted of killing random enemies that spawned out of nowhere (again, being quick about it), watering corn and feeding cows (I'm not making this up!), and invading a cave full of bandits to steal from them and kill them.
You might think the last one at least was exciting, but there is something about the way the game plays that just makes it feel like almost work. I remember doing almost exactly the same in Borderlands, and yet in there it was fun.
So, not a great start so far. I might keep at it a little longer, but I have the impression that this really doesn't work for me.
I'll update this if I play more.
Update: When you actually confirm your e-mail address (mine only worked in the 3rd time, first 3 failed), GW2 decides that it is the first time you logged in from an IP, thus you can only log in when you confirm via an e-mail link. WTF?
Are IPs for everyone supposed to be fixed now? If it asked every time you logged in a new computer (as Steam does) that would be fine, but every time my IP changes, the first login must wait like 10 minutes till I get their e-mail? Are MMO players so hardcore that every session of play must take hours so that several minutes waiting for the game to be available is OK?
I was going to play for half an hour, now I simply will have to play something else.
Really an amazingly bad idea.
Update 2: Even better, the e-mail arrived (15 minutes later) and when I try to allow it (in hopes that it will allow me to login next time, I just don't have the time to play GW2 today) I get - Failure An error occurred with your request. Just awesome.
Update 3: 3rd time did work, and for whatever reason the 2nd and 3rd e-mails took only a couple of minutes to arrive. Let's see if it just accepts my IP tomorrow or what.
Update 4 (12/Sep/2012): I just got the one authorization request so far. Apparently it says the game says it is because of a new IP, but actually uses a broader definition for the network. I reduce my complaints to only the poor wording of the initial warning.
Also, I have come to really like the game. Even crafting is fun. Also, please note that you can sell most stuff on Trading Posts (Except for junk) and get more credits than at regular sellers. In particular, the crafting supplies have great demand.
I have very little experience with MMORPGs. I have played a few of the free ones - but only for half an hour each. Most MMORPGs feel incredibly boring to me. The basic style is annoying enough (I like FPS and RTS more), and the incredibly repetitive quests (kill N of these, find N of these, etc) are quite common.
What I have played was Tabula Rasa - really nice story, really boring quests, buggy and Guild Wars - got sidetracked after a little while - remember as pleasant.
Guild Wars 2 has a loader that downloads everything - about 20 GB. No complaints, though, as it was VERY fast and maxed out my 20MB/s connection.
There isn't a basic tutorial - something I've come to expect in most games. It is probably a good idea to read their online manual for the very basics before starting.
In something like an hour of play, I managed to get snagged inside a bridge (after going to desktop and returning). Just teleported to a place nearby to resolve, though.
Gameplay so far is mostly boring. There was a major battle in the beginning, but it mostly consisted of a bunch of people quickly attacking the groups of enemies that kept spawning from a few different location. The quick part is because if you didn't aim and start attacking fast, they would be killed by someone else in seconds.
After that I took the quests that were suggested - mostly helping around. This consisted of killing random enemies that spawned out of nowhere (again, being quick about it), watering corn and feeding cows (I'm not making this up!), and invading a cave full of bandits to steal from them and kill them.
You might think the last one at least was exciting, but there is something about the way the game plays that just makes it feel like almost work. I remember doing almost exactly the same in Borderlands, and yet in there it was fun.
So, not a great start so far. I might keep at it a little longer, but I have the impression that this really doesn't work for me.
I'll update this if I play more.
Update: When you actually confirm your e-mail address (mine only worked in the 3rd time, first 3 failed), GW2 decides that it is the first time you logged in from an IP, thus you can only log in when you confirm via an e-mail link. WTF?
Are IPs for everyone supposed to be fixed now? If it asked every time you logged in a new computer (as Steam does) that would be fine, but every time my IP changes, the first login must wait like 10 minutes till I get their e-mail? Are MMO players so hardcore that every session of play must take hours so that several minutes waiting for the game to be available is OK?
I was going to play for half an hour, now I simply will have to play something else.
Really an amazingly bad idea.
Update 2: Even better, the e-mail arrived (15 minutes later) and when I try to allow it (in hopes that it will allow me to login next time, I just don't have the time to play GW2 today) I get - Failure An error occurred with your request. Just awesome.
Update 3: 3rd time did work, and for whatever reason the 2nd and 3rd e-mails took only a couple of minutes to arrive. Let's see if it just accepts my IP tomorrow or what.
Update 4 (12/Sep/2012): I just got the one authorization request so far. Apparently it says the game says it is because of a new IP, but actually uses a broader definition for the network. I reduce my complaints to only the poor wording of the initial warning.
Also, I have come to really like the game. Even crafting is fun. Also, please note that you can sell most stuff on Trading Posts (Except for junk) and get more credits than at regular sellers. In particular, the crafting supplies have great demand.
Comments