Guild Wars 2: The Good

As many of you probably know, I've spent quite a lot of time with Guild Wars 2. I've even said that it's probably the best game I've played in the last few years. I'm mostly done (as done as you can be with a free to play game, anyway) so I figured I'd put some words here. As is typical, this will be a rant in two or three pieces. Also as typical, these are my own opinions having played probably too much. YMMV.

Brilliant Environments

I knew I should have brought an umbrella...

All games released in the AAA space are required to have well built environments--it's what it means to be AAA after all. GW2 is no different in this aspect. At relatively high settings the game can be downright beautiful. To show off some of the more interesting spots, the game even adds vistas which award experience and a camera cut scene showing off the level designers' work.

The architecture is also very good, specifically the ruins. Each race has thier particular style from the Asura's knee high technical gizmos to the sweeping gothic architecture of Humans to the very industrial and steampunk-y Charr. Ruins are all over the place since that's typically where the best adventures are to be found. A lot of effort has been given to making everything interesting and believable with a consistent level of detail and polish. It makes even simple treks through an area a lot more interesting.

Beyond the more normal environments one might encounter (snow, desert, forests, etc.) there are also two destruction-oriented environments. The Brand is purple crystal themed where the resident dragon is corrupting the area. Then there's Orr which is underwater themed with barnicles and corals aboveground where the resident dragon is corrupting the area. There's also undead there. A LOT of undead.

Good Character Models

Bandit's got my back.

A lot of the character models are very good and not just the player models. Most of the game seems to be hand animated and the attention to detail shows. The game also uses IK an awful lot which usually gives very realistic poses, though not always. This means that motion and idles, the two things that are most likely to show flaws, are fluid and interesting and make the world feel more real.

Player faces in particular can be very good. I spent an inordinate amount of time (and money!) in the character creator. This is good since much like SW:TOR you see yourself a lot in the single player story mode.  While it isn't impossible to see your twin out in the world, it happens way less frequently than in, say, Rift.

There's also a huge variety of gear and everything can be re-skinned. Each race has their own fashion which I think is a nice touch. Some of it is attached to one time or seasonal events and available for a limited time only which helps break up the same-ness you tend to see in these sorts of games as time wears on. While not all the armor is believable, it isn't difficult to piece together armors that are and look nice.

Large Footprint

They couldn't stop the three of us.

There is quite a lot to do in the game. Each of the zones has a completion bonus and there's an additional
completeness reward for exploring the entire world. Crafting is formulaic but based on experimentation rather than grinding--a nice touch. There's a solo story which follows your character through various choices leading to a climactic ending. Soloing getting boring? There are public quests that spawn in the game world some of which are quite complex and properly difficult. There is even a team dedicated to building "Living World" updates which happen every few weeks so there's always something new.

PvP-wise we're not wanting either. Structured PvP is more like arenas and FPS maps with simple objectives. In structured, all players are level capped, all stats are standardized, and builds are completely separate. World vs. world is more like Realm vs. Realm in DAoC where your character keeps their PvE gear and build. Objectives in WvW range from solo-able to requiring a significant force to take. Large scale combat is frequent in WvW some for better and some for worse. SPOILER ALERT: I spent most of my time in WvW and I'll have a lot to say about it in future installments.

Action-y Combat
GW2 hugely limits the number of abilities that are available compared to most MMOs. The main skill bar has ten slots--five weapon skills, a heal skill, three utilities, and an elite skill. Weapon skills are determined by the main and offhand weapons and most professions have a swap of some sort, either to an additional set of weapons or to a different layout in some other way.

Most classes have either or both of gap closers and movement skills. This means that combat can be initiated very quickly since the typical long run up to stand in an opponent's face for melees is not usually required. On the flip side, long range nukers can often keep enemies at distance either using quick getaway skills (elementalist fire staff 4 shoots them backward leaving a trail of fire) or by knocking the opponent down or back (ranger longbow 4 knocks the target back a considerable distance).

The best part of GW2's action-y combat is active dodging.  With this one addition, everything about combat changes. Opponent burn their dodges too early? Wind up your big attack because they probably can't avoid it. Boss cranking out stupid damage? Save your dodges to negate the effect. It's difficult to put into words how much this one feature adds to the gameplay but for me it makes everything much more enjoyable. I felt a lot more in control of my characters and their (typically) dangerous situations than ever before. While games can probably be good without an active dodge mechanic, I don't know if they can ever be as good. GW2 has completely ruined my expectations here--any game that doesn't have an active dodge now feels dated.  This is not without its issues which we will discuss in a later installment.

Reasonable Complexity
Games these days tend to be fairly shallow, especially MMOs and those in the AAA space. This is because games have to be approachable and inoffensive like a cheap Scotch in order to sell the most copies. GW2 doesn't have a subscription model and not everyone buys stuff at their cash shop. So one would expect that the game would pander to the lowest common denominator--people who just can't handle not being handed a new shiny every time they fall over. While I think that GW2 could use more complexity, a topic which we will discuss in great detail later, I think it does pretty well despite itself.

Active dodges add complexity. You get the typical spec, armor, and weapon builds that we expect from this kind of game. There's also combos where one player puts down a field and another can execute a finisher in it for big effects like shooting fire bolts everywhere or doing an AoE heal. There are also a lot of short-duration group buffs which, if done correctly and at the right time can make bad situations manageable and heavily rewards experienced players--PvP especially.

But All Is Not Well
No game is perfect and GW2 is no exception. Next time we'll talk about the stuff that isn't so good.