What a game! My first reaction to seeing the game was that I had to have it. Even if that meant selling my soul. I ended up not having to make any deals for my soul and after the Install finished I was on my way to explore Tyria. Everything in the game that I’ve experienced so far (all 27 levels of it!) has been a fantastic experience.

The Character creation is in depth to the point where you create a background for your character which affects your characters personal story quest line throughout the game. During the creation process you choose everything from facial features, hair color, height, build, and the color of your armor. Depending on the profession that you choose for your character, you even get the option to decide which pet you want to start with or which mask or helmet or other piece of equipment that you may or may not start with.

After you create your avatar and sign the letter at the end with your chosen name here begins your adventure.

The way that Guild Wars 2 tackles combat is fantastic. Not only can most of your skills and abilities be used on the move but you can dodge incoming attacks by running around and using the new double-tap dodge system. This brings a whole new aspect to MMO combat, it not only allows you to dodge out of the way of boss and creature abilities (as well as players) but it also allows you to be hit less by normal “auto-attacks”. This is a huge change in PvP and PvE and it’s an exciting change without doubt!

Dodging isn’t the only change to combat that comes with GW2, you no longer are limited to specific skills for each class. The versatility remains the same, however it requires more technique and skill because now you have to use different weapons during combat. With each weapon comes a specific set of abilities that is different for each class. And each weapon has different purposes–some may have a more support geared skillset, while othersmay have more directly damaging abilities which can also vary in style.

Each class has it’s own individual twist that it puts on combat and skills and traits. There are five different trait lines per class, each offering different specialization to the class and this brings an even wider variance of class options to the players. You may be a Ranger that specializes in pets and healing or maybe a Ranger that specializes in swords and condition damage. Each class has a diverse group of options and this allows for every player to choose their own style without being hindered by the popular vote–however that will always come into play.

Guild Wars 2 has introduced this new dynamic level system where you can go into lower level zones and still participate in events and area quests without just plowing through the zone like a god among men. While your effective level is lowered to match the specific zone you’re in, your actual level never changes. Having a lower effective level just means that your stats and damage is reduced to be more equal to that of a specific level. Guild Wars introduces this game changer to other aspects of Tyria as well; when you enter an instance to participate in a dungeon with other players, it brings everyone’s effective levels down to the dungeon level. This keeps the dungeon interesting and challenging while not making it ridiculous, and it also helps keep people from farming instances because they’re 30 levels higher and can walk over the mobs.

With a level cap of 80 and a massive world to explore this game doesn’t lack interest generation. At level 77 my account currently has 30% map completion–granted that’s without trying to search hard to find things.  However, unlike other games, Guild Wars 2 offers rewards for the explorer. Not only do you receive rewards for finding new Points of Interests, Vistas, and other places–but you also are rewarded for completing the entire map. This gives those players that enjoy the exploring aspect of games a reason to do what they enjoy, and it gives the achievement hunters something to do in addition to the achievements that the game has to offer.

When you make a guild in GW2, you obviously must choose a name but you also have to choose an abbreviation for your guild and a crest. Your guild name will not show up next to your character name, but your abbreviation will. As guild members join, you can choose to rep your guild while you’re leveling or pvp’ing or whatever you happen to be doing at the time and this helps your guild gain influence. Influence is used to purchase upgrades for your guild such as guild storage, storage increase, weapon and armor that shows your guild crest and so much more! This helps the members feel more attached to their guild, giving the players a way to really show their dedication to a guild helps them feel at home and feel like it really is their guild and not just something that they chose to go along with. For example: Fist Bumps For Free [Fist]

The amount of leveling zones that are spread across Tyria makes the “grind” of leveling easy, and enjoyable. The options available for scenery and different story styles from zone to zone helps to keep things interesting. A lot of games have an issue keeping the leveling part of the game interesting, Guild Wars 2 has taken this problem away and made it fun. All in all, the game has been very well made and the amount of effort put into it was well worth the end product. If there’s a question of whether or not to purchase GW2 or not, I say go for it! Even if it’s not as fun as you had hoped, you’ll find that it’s enjoyable to at least fill the worth of the initial $60. There’s no monthly fee, and that’s a huge bonus to purchasing the game.

Pro’s:  No monthly fee’s, Fun to play, Engaging combat, In-depth character creation, Great Graphics.

Con’s: 5 Character slots, One home Server, Huge cities.

If you have any questions feel free to comment away or if you ever have questions while you’re in game feel free to add me! Phaten.6457