Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2
90
Metacritic
88
Steam
91.731
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
free
Release date
23 August 2022
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
88 (14 797 votes)
Recent
87 (448 votes)

Guild Wars 2 is an online role-playing game with fast-paced action combat, a rich and detailed universe of stories, awe-inspiring landscapes to explore, two challenging player vs. player modes—and no subscription fees!

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Guild Wars 2 system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7 (64-bit)
  • Processor: Intel i3 2.8 GHz / AMD Phenom II x4 2.8 GHz
  • Memory: 6 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 / AMD Radeon HD 5770 / Intel Iris 600 series
  • DirectX: Version 9.0
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 55 GB available space
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Mayrinn
Mayrinn

For me this is like the all you can eat buffet of MMOs. You have to pay to get in but once you're in you have infinite access to the part of the buffet you paid to have access to. And the level syncing system in the game makes it so any and all of the games content is worth doing to some degree no matter what your character level.
I'd describe this as an MMO i play because it's free to keep playing the content I've paid for. Giving me something to do between tasks and feel like i'm doing "something".
I feel quality wise it's better then the F2Ps tend to be, but imo a bit worse then the ones that require subscriptions. I play this because many of those subscription MMOs aren't worth it to me.

Airbrushed Van
Airbrushed Van

Game does not respect your time at all. Straight out locks class specializations and transmogrification and mounts with traversal functions that are required behind grind walls

mastery system is an absolute timesink

pay 30$ for gathering equipment that doesn't run out

ANet is a joke

vossjose
vossjose

A hack and slash type that I normally do not take to. Friends play and wanted to work me into their party. Overall a pleasant enough experience. Lacking a lot of experience in the class of games I cannot give a valid comparison. Coming from the grand strategy realm however I have been enjoying the play.

TaliliaPlays
TaliliaPlays

As a long-time MMO player, Guild Wars 2 honestly brings a fresh take on how they should be played. Rather than feeling a rush to the end-game because that's "the real game," you can actually take your time to explore and the community has been more than welcoming in my experience. GW2 has, of course, been around for a while so a 'fresh' take may not be the best expression, but it is new to me. If you have tried other MMOs like WoW, FF14, Runescape, BDO, or ESO, I think you'll find that GW2 has some of the best features of others while giving you plenty of room to make it your own game and journey. The beauty (including the ENORMOUS amount of outfit options) and animations remind me of FF14, though they are not as animated. The freedom to explore and check out your area reminds me of BDO and the Fractals/Raids kind of remind of M+ and Raid Wings in WoW. Definitely recommend giving it a try.

Gettatrix
Gettatrix

amazing game, really enjoy grinding this game, so much to do and a lot to learn so, going to take my time learning this game, i stream on my off days on this game, my name on Dlive is gettatrix. hopefully i get my sky scale mount soon, some people thinks this game is boring but they really no nothing about this game then and what this game has to offer in the long run.

Ishtar84
Ishtar84

Played WOW since the game came out. But now that I am older I don't have time to keep up with the gear and leveling grind. Also, the monthly fee for wow is just way too much for me. This game is a lot like wow but better in a lot of ways. I am really happy I found it .

bask
bask

sorry to say, i just played this game for 34 hrs, i recently bough DLC, but now i can't login to my acc, it's said that my acc is being blocked, i already sent email to arena support, and their answer is :
'We have reviewed this account and found it participating in, or directly associated to, high risk or malicious behaviour. In an effort to maintain a safe and fun environment for all of our players, this account has been closed and is ineligible to be reopened for any reason, under any circumstance.'

whattt ? really ? im newbie here ? LOL

Mudkiz
Mudkiz

If you like mmos but don't like how you have to keep grinding to keep up with your friends this is the perfect game for that. All the progression past ascended gear is convenience and the exotic gear you get from the level 80 boost is acceptable for most content in the game so you don't even need to work towards that if you don't want to. Keep in mind that since all of the stuff past that ascended level are not really upgrades though you have to create your own goals in the game that you want to achieve though so if you're not the type of person that makes their own entertainment in a game then you might not like it as much because you could lack direction.

prikkaster
prikkaster

Guild Wars 2 is a MMORPG that truly takes the input of its player base into consideration! Just about everything that caused me to stop playing WoW, ArenaNet did right. Sure, there are issues here and there, but Guild Wars 2 is, overall, fantastic!

This game has something for everyone, no matter how casual or hardcore the player. You can simply log in every day for daily login rewards and do nothing else, and still be gaining something on your account. If you care to do more, you can, but it's not required. Even those who only have 30 minutes to play on workdays will find something worthwhile to do!

For those with more play time, there are a plethora of achievement collections and activities to be done in PvE, WvW, and PvP. If you only prefer one of those play modes, you can get almost everything you need to gain serious quality of life upgrades. You can take as much time as you want to work on collections for things like mounts, or legendary items. There aren't enough hours in the day to complete every single iota of the game!

GalaxyBrain
GalaxyBrain

My account has been suspended for no reason, at least any reason that I know of as tell won't tell me. I literally only done solo content just enjoying the game and then logged in one day saying my steam account has been suspended for security reason and customer support won't answer.

padawan6
padawan6

I can't think of a better MMORPG than Guild Wars 2. As an aspiring indie game developer I often think about games and their design and when I think about this game it seems to do pretty much everything right. Leveling up feels very good: there was never a moment while leveling my character to 80 that I felt bored or unsure of what to do or what the perks of my next level would be. The game made sure I knew what I could look forward to a few levels from now up to ten levels from now.

There's no concept of a "fetch quest" in the sense that you repetitively fetch items and mindlessly bring them to NPCs. There are collection achievements in the pursuit of which you will collect many items but there's typically some lore flavor text or otherwise story motivated reason to fetch the things and bring the things to the person who asked it of you.

There are 9 unique classes (called a profession in the game's parlance) each with 3 distinct sub-professions that truly redefine the playstyle of the core class. I expected the Guardian to play like a paladin but I was surprised to learn that the Dragonhunter has ranged capabilities, the Firebrand is focused on decimating enemies with flames and the Willbender has the ability to dual wield swords and decimate enemies with flames rendered by the sheer force of their will. The other professions have similar interesting, game play defining subclasses at their disposal.

The final point I will make, but far from the least, is that I truly feel like the game respects my time. It doesn't beg me for a subscription. The "battle pass" (the Wizard's Vault) is free. It merely presents me with the choice to purchase the expansions and I'm free to enjoy the game as I choose. If I grind out the gear I will always be as powerful as I was when I logged out last (balance patches aside). Nothing in the expansions outmodes something I have and only provides a new way to experience the game.

I have played the game for almost 400 hours at the time of this review and I plan to play this game for the foreseeable future.

Guild Wars 2 is the MMORPG I needed and that I didn't know I wanted. But, now I have it and all is okay, now. :)

gobio
gobio

First of all I actually like this game, good combat, good progression system.

The negative review exists because I really don't want to buy it on steam, and I already have a f2p areanet account with 2 level 80 farming for 2 weeks. But areanet's payment system for UK debit cards is pure trash. So I have to buy the expansion here and start over...

Skylord
Skylord

Played this back in 2012 when it first came out. I've recently returned to it (2023) and I must say that it has aged quite well. While the graphics start to show the age somewhat, the gameplay is still good, and I believe some modern MMORPG's can learn a lot from GW2.

I personally love exploring, finding secrets and solving the jumping puzzles. Still, there is something for every kind of MMORPG player here. The main story is quite good and has decent versatility depending on your race and character origin choice. If you are more PvP oriented, you can skip all that and jump straight to max lvl and duke it out in various arenas, or take part in World vs. World for greater scale PvP battles.

GW2 has some unique races and fun classes to play and experiment with.

I highly recommend trying it out if you are looking for a nice, stable and not too "grindy" MMORPG.
Have fun playing! :P

Ryujin790
Ryujin790

The best MMO I played in a long time!
Just started about week ago, and loved it so much I casually leveled to 80 over my vacation week and bought all the DLC!

Granted, I wish I held off a bit longer to save $50.00 due to the mega-sale as of the time of this review, but I don't mind too much. Still enjoying my journey!

nightzephyr2
nightzephyr2

It's a good game with a lot of content and also it's an MMO without a subscription fee, definitely worth the money especially if you buy it while discounted.

What I really like is that there is no gear treadmill and the in game economy is quite stable so you aren't punished if you take a long break.

Revenant
Revenant

Save up for the complete edition, or get it on sale. Not only does it give you all expansions up to end of dragons, but also all living world seasons to date. Although, you can't use your existing account, I never got that far to begin with on my old account. Ce la vie. The complete edition is 100 bones, but I say it's totally worth it. Gives you a lot more access while staying a free player.

skoomy
skoomy

Great mmo. Still haven't gotten to "end game", but I've really enjoyed the story. Combat and movement are smooth and easy to get the hang of. Community seems nice. Just a solid game. Wish I had more time to sink into it.

RUNEZ
RUNEZ

First and foremost as I personally age I have less and less time for MMORPGs even one as casual focused as Guild Wars 2. With that being said I enjoyed Guild Wars 2 so much I bought the complete edition simply to support the Developers even though I knew I would quit because I simply do not have time.

Here are some of my PROs and CONs:

PROS:

+ Great story & Well Crafted World

+ By far the friendliest MMORPG community I've ever experienced.

+ Unique Build and Combat system

+ Fun group and Open World content

+ Very casual MMO (You could stop playing for a long time and still not feel "behind")

+ Beautiful Customization, mounts & style options

+ Great Buy to Play model (worth every penny)

(I could list more but you don't have time for my ramblings.)

CONS:

- Anet's support is very lacking. Not bad but slow with some things.

- The grind to unlock some things is repetitive and annoying.

- PvP is bad (WvW is ok though)

Overall I highly recommend this game. It's a fun and casual twist on MMORPGs and definitely was way ahead of it's time. Great experience. Great community.

Dreamer5.0
Dreamer5.0

GW2 is the NEXT level of MMORPG! The traditional ways of playing an MMORPG has changed! :) The servers are heavily populated! This is sooo far from being just another dead MMORPG. The time and detailing the devs have put into designing this and the wardrobe designs are so stunning and beautiful. This is not a game for people who are looking to hit level 80 in 3 days. This is a game for the true of heart MMORPG players! The old school ways of putting time and effort into your Champions! I highly recommend this game to players who want to be immersed in a world where your choices in the game matter!

jakeplays455
jakeplays455

THIS GAME IS AMAZING! Honestly thought it wouldn't be too good because of it age but this game aged like a mighty fine wine, the story, the leveling, and the abundance of quests its just perfect and honestly I'd recommend this to anyone!

anBroc
anBroc

Trying out how playable the game is to end of season 1 as full free-to-play, without buying unlocks like expansions, etc. Fun so far and little I can't do, but I can really feel the edges of FTP.

I would recommend that anyone who still enjoys playing after their "free" mount trial expires buy at least the HoT/PoF expansions, if they can. While there are ways to stretch the mount trial out, when you don't have it you notice the absence. The mail attachment and auction house restrictions also bite pretty hard, especially if you like to be a team player and share things.

Full disclosure - played on another "unlocked" client since launch. While I don't like the FTP restrictions I understand the rationale for them, and think they reduce the danger of free accounts becoming gold seller hell.

NicenJehr
NicenJehr

fun game that respects the player's time. i experienced a handful of frustrating crashes during the "personal story" quests but have otherwise had a smooth experience.

i bought living world and expansions. If you are on a budget I don't recommend this. I think all you miss out on without living world is storyline, a couple instances, a couple achievements and items.

i am unwilling to spend additional real money in gem store. i wish i had bought expansions only and spent the living world cost on the gem store, for quality of life gem items like account-wide inventory slots and character slots.

dbd_mack
dbd_mack

Bought the bundle package. 24 minutes of playtime which was 20 minutes of character set up. I didn't get a great feel for the flow of the game and had GW original flashbacks. I knew it was not the game for me. I now cannot get a refund of the bundle because there is a "consumable" in my bundle, whatver that means. Probably my last purchase ever on steam.

Booyahjoe
Booyahjoe

Feels like a true old school mmorpg and not a treadmill. I thought the graphics were gonna be immersion breaking but I set it to max and the art style sustained my immersion easily. Even has grass physics. Now that I have a right controller config set up I plan to put in many hours.

Ghost
Ghost

This MMO scales horizontally not vertically so there is very little "downside" to playing the content you want or obtaining things in the order you want. The characters have a ton of shareable skins, items, benefits - and the cash shop is really not intrusive at all. Sure, there are QoL items and some of them absolutely should be easier to obtain -- but they are not progression halting/fun stopping/game ending. At least for me.

AdamP
AdamP

GW2 is easily on of the best value for money games you could ever purchase, the story is fantastic, the shear amount of content available in both the base game, plus all of its expansion/living world content (which is a continuation of the story inbetween expansions) is phenomenal.
Truly, i cannot express the enjoyment i get from playing this game every single session, i always feel accomplished or have been rewarded for my time played.

Forgotten Sigils1
Forgotten Sigils1

GW2 is a great game. It's got something for everyone. Like personal story quests that take you across several continents? Check. Like the idea of massive World vs. World vs. World pvp seige battles? Check. Like instant, accessible pvp with different modes and play styles? Check. Like building networks and socializing with access to up to five different guilds? Check. Like action platforming and puzzle solving? Check. Like special events with unique content and rewards? Check. Like exploring and games that promote exploration? Check. Like being able to personalize your look with a deep transmog system and massive dye selection? Check. Like account wide progression with no penalties for playing alts? Check. Like Dungeons? Check. Like progressing through increasing difficulty with increasing rewards through an independent dungeon system called Fractals? Check. Like Raids with immersive stories and amazing challenges? Check. Like in-depth crafting systems with real benefits? Check. Like massive in game markets with the potential to make actual profits? Check. Like the idea of a hybrid system with the structure of tab targeting and the fluidity of action combat? Check. Like massive world events and accessible dynamic boss fights? Check. Like mini "raids" for quick rewards and challenge modes? Check. Like an exhaustive achievement panel that provides new and exciting ways to interact with your environment and progression? Check. Like Minis? Like playing music? Like fishing? Like having access to the best mount system and mount skins in any MMO? Check.

Like an MMO that actually respects your time and likes you back? Check.

Basically, this is only a few of the things GW2 does well. I have another account with roughly 4.5k hours. Pretty sure thats a lot of ROI on fun vs. money spent. The art is amazing, even 10 years on. Tyria is worth a visit.

Sprinkles
Sprinkles

The game has change so much since it's release in 2012. I originally bought it on release-day, but lost my account in the intervening years. I re bought it in 2022, over 100 hours later and I've not yet chewed my way through all the content that's been released since it came out.

If you're a solo player, you can get through most of the content without others if you want. You'll absolutely see other players as you're on a shared map. But for the most part going through the story can be done solo. What you will need others for are dungeons. They aren't required for the story, but help immensely in world-building and immersion.

The base game is free, and I highly recommend anyone with enough free time pick it up!

Native
Native

Haven't played as much as other people but this MMORPG is great overall. The most exciting part currently is that there is so much to do. Definitely recommend if you're trying to make this 'your' MMORPG or just game in general.

QueenUranus
QueenUranus

This game is good. It's been a good way to satiate my mmo addiction without having to pay a monthly sub. There are other great mmos out there but you can buy this game and you own it forever. Why would you buy a game, then buy its expansions, and then pay $15 a month just to continue playing the game that you already own? GW2 has an in-game cash shop but it's totally optional, so the game isn't pay to win. The micro-transactions aren't forced down your throat like they are in other so-called "free to play" games. I haven't played much PVP but from what I've seen it's pretty well balanced. Also, the combat system is really fun. GW2 encourages exploration and player cooperation. You can play the entire base game for free. Just try it.

KenoZuki The Grey Soldier
KenoZuki The G…

One of the best MMOs out there, with the friendliest players out there. The game is one of the grindiest ones in existence, however, most of the things are account bound, meaning that if you spend a month, or a year trying to earn something. You will have it on any character. Making it all the more rewarding to grind your ass off.

My biggest highlight of the game, is that I decided to build my own guild in it, and it was surprisingly easy. Since the game allows players to join upwards of 5 guilds, its easy to get people to try mine, because they will just slot it over one of their inactive guilds, and realize that we are really cool people.

I have over 200 hours in guild wars 2 as of this review, and I am pretty sure I will be well over 1k hours, before I will need a break from it. But, even after the break, I will definitely be a returning player periodically. Thanks Guild Wars!!

Croupz
Croupz

it's good when you play this game, cook's assistant was harder than osrs though, I did rage quit but after I got passed that skill gap, I was onto all the good stuff, obtained roo and skimmy in record time, onwards and upwards can only give this game props, better than the world of warcraft but osrs the still the best anime thank you very much

Pickles
Pickles

good all around game. good company to deal with fair and helpful. I have played before with 1,000 hrs on
another location thru the company direct, under a different char name. The animals are major get them all.
I paid for mine because I support Steam when I can.

Gildar Bearskin
Gildar Bearskin

Very difficult game to figure out... must be 200 forms of currency throughout the game, 99% of them I haven't figured out how to acquire after 200 hours of game play. I thought ESO was difficult but it's a walk int he park compared to this game. GW2 also requires significant $$$$ to get anything decent (QoL upgrades), unless you want to spend 1000 hours grinding at a snails pace. I have over 6000 hours into ESO but I'm about to quit GW2 after 200 hours due to the inability to advance and further, find a guild that will help and the highly acclaimed Wiki is complete garbage. Tells you to do things, get things, go places but never says how to do it, where to start, how to get there. The Wiki isn't any better than reading tool tips on screen. I'd say that if I spent 6000 hours playing GW2, I'd be about 1/3 as far as I got into ESO in the same amount of time.

THIS GAME IS A COMPLETE MONEY GRAB - PAY TO PLAY AND PAY TO WIN. THE WORST ASPECTS OF EVERY GAME ALL TIED INTO ONE!

Saepio
Saepio

If you want to sink some hours into an MMO that has an awesome story, is just as welcoming to players that like to group or roam solo, with at times a bewildering level of complexity, but at the same time is easy to get into at the basic level of going out into the world and questing, then this is it. At end game you have:

PvP (small scale) and WvW (large scale) for those that like to clash head on with other players.
Fractals, Strikes and Raids for those that like to group up and take on the developers best instanced content.

Plus so much more, a mature game with still great visuals and many, many (I really do mean a lot) hours of content in just the story line alone, go forth Commander and lead your friends to victory!

Only complaint is that you don't get the chance to take out Braham, ungrateful pita that he is!

Special mention to the best selection of mounts in any MMO I have played (and that is a far few starting way back in 2004).

BlueRoo
BlueRoo

I normally only review games on Steam that I actually play. Unfortunately I haven't yet played this game on Steam - because I have already racked up 6500+ hours on my main account through the official Gw2 launcher.

Gw2 is the greatest MMO in terms of respecting your time. The gear treadmill from other MMO's may appeal to some, but for me, I like the fact that I can jump in and out of Gw2 every few months, and be no less powerful than when I left off. As mentioned, I have a LOT of hours in this game - you'd think I'd be out of things to do, right? Nope.

If you're an avid achievement hunter, you'll be playing this game until you die.

If you're a casual/social player, you'll find lots of wonderful people who enjoy the exact same sort of game-play.

If you're a fan of MMO end games (or just more difficult content like me), Gw2 is a little on the sparce side of content drops. But what it does offer right now will still give you quite a few hundreds of hours of enjoyment. The game has raids, non-traditional dungeons called Fractals, scaling up to 100 (think mythic+), Strikes (basically smaller, self contained raid instances) and more.

If you're a fan of massive open world PvP zergs, we've got that too!

The game is free to play with some decent restrictions, but the expansions are buy once own forever. Dip your toes in to see if the gameplay looks cool enough to invest in (it is), and then prepare to dive head first, into the world of Tyria! I'll see you there.

Ragnori
Ragnori

Incredible MMORPG in which you feel INCLUDED in activities, having fun with others from the very beginning. This is what MMORPGs are about.

Fair warning - think whether having to play skillfully instead of stomping people with farmed gear, is your cup of tea. GW2 requires you to gain knowledge and work on your gaming skills, you can't just equip +100 smasher of n00bs and run around one-shotting everyone and everything. You have to actually learn the game.

On top of that - vast and lively world, great storytelling, AMAZING voice acting I never saw in any other MMO. Lot's of events, activities, PvE wise, PvP wise, minigames, jumping puzzles, absolute ton of collectibles... It's just a gigantic box of fun :)

The "killer feature" - GW2 progression is mostly horizontal. It's not about grinding months to be relevant in multiplayer activities. It's about finishing the tutorial (getting lvl 80 :D), buying some gear, and then being relevant in various activities you can join. This is the polar opposite of games like Black Desert Online (for example), where you progress mostly vertically and it can take months to be able to participate on even ground. I personally find that very much to my liking and I feel like we have been taught by the gaming industry it's all about vertical progression and gear grinding and nothing else make sense. Well, vertical progression is not going to give you much fulfillment over time, because when the numbers become big, you lose sense of improvement as you can no longer distinguish when your damage becomes even higher :). The second biggest downside of that approach is the ever growing and shaking balance between skills and classes. Of course it's not perfect if you stop increasing max level cap and gear rarity, but it's much better. All in all, I think this is what makes GW2 unique and lovely.

jackal82
jackal82

I've played this series of games since they came out way back when, and with the first one being amazing and not needing any monthly fee. It has put 3 different expansions and they are beautiful, each gives a new feel. Being that the base game is free you can always test it out and buy any expansion you may want to play individually. At least that way you know what you're buying and if it's a fit you have a pile of more quests and areas to unlock.
This game has some wicked content to try out. Highly recommend it to test out and see if you want to bump it up a notch on the game content; currently the store has some great deals on the add-ons right now.

Braneman
Braneman

I've never found a game that makes me regret spending money on it more than guild wars 2. I like the game, I like how the classes play, I'm running around 100%'ing the starting areas because I'm having a lot of fun.
Then I spend some money to buy the "legendary edition" I'm 40 levels in and I think to myself "hey, if I use this level 80 boost I can play around with all my abilities on this class!" And then, every single time I gain experience the game shows a popup that I need to stop whatever I'm doing and go do this one specific storyline quest to unlock masteries or something, that I don't care about and will never care about. Basically I got burned out of 40 levels on a character by buying a level boost.

So I quit the game for a couple years and come back with a new account on steam. I buy some gems because I want to get some of this new stuff! Hey that armor set looks cool! The armor set is a ONE TIME USE that unlocks for my wardrobe which requires paid, real money, transmutation charges for each piece of clothing that I want to change, even for ones that I spent real money on(yes I know about outfits, those are inflexible). Then I find out that my account has been flagged because I spent money on the game and for the last couple days my "purchase has been in review" which means that I can't use anything on the auction house and say... buy a larger than 4 slot bag.

This is a fun game, I'm having fun playing it, but every time I have ever spent money on it the game slaps me in the face and calls me an idiot. Here you spent money on the game, have a popup that shows up EVERY TIME YOU GAIN EXPERIENCE, ENJOY. Here you spent money to buy gems? Well we're going to lock you off from the auction house for over 3 days sucker. It really makes me pine for the simplicity of World of Warcraft where if I spend goddamn money they don't start slapping me with pseudo adware and gotchas.

TailedStories
TailedStories

I love it. Mechanics of a fight is fun; while not having button bloat, side quests are just popping on a screen instead of going back and forth. Lots of things are improvements on MMOs that I tried before, plus the story has some choices and voice acting. Nice

Gaevonn
Gaevonn

Guild Wars 2 is very entertaining and allows for exploration with a tie in to a story line. I love the Characters and ability to try different storylines.

SweetBanana
SweetBanana

warning : if u fully free to play u maybe not like this
bcz u need to pay some storys to unlock maps and mounts.

but am in love with this game bcz

its better than any other mmorpg i play
amazing story and characters
in story u never feel alone
best mount system so smooth
1 class = 3 proffisons = so many deffrint way to play
most friendly community in this game
so easy to get group for bosses and events always everyone welcome
and so much more
1000/10 best mmorpg i got into

Jaakobah
Jaakobah

I've played the game a couple of hours now and yes, totally recommend this for new players, old MMORPG gamers, casual and not-casual gamers that are into the role. Story is interesting, sometimes might get predictable however, the fact it is voice acted is amazing.

Additionally, the community is insanely helpful and friendly at least on my experience so far, no toxic people and maybe one or two salty guys in PvP but not even disrespectful.

There is a lot to learn and several currencies among other things so once you understand the basics, you will follow up at your own pace and every time you log in, you can achieve something.

Totally recommend this game, I quit WoW a couple of years ago and promised myself to never play another MMORPG buuuuut, this one made me fail on my task but no regrets haha!

Hayhaka
Hayhaka

This was my favorite MMO as soon as it came out. I played GW1 and GW2 from their beginnings. Eventually, my computer died and disks died. So, I didn't play for years. Then it came to Steam. So, I bought it all over again and love it still. WoW has always been boring compared to this (at least a decade ago it was okay until hit max level and then there really was nothing to do except same dungeons day after day so crowds gather to hang out in front of the bank and auction house because they are bored). Perfect World was better than WoW (doesn't look so great today). ESO was good until it went F2P. At their best none of those ever came close to GW2. GW2 quickly became what others wanted to be and even WoW has borrowed from it where it can. The only other MMO I really love is in development right now where I have been testing a long time.

It's less grindy than others. It keep s things interesting with level scaling so you don't get totally bored when you have to go in a lower level or go to help a friend or guild mate. It's constantly expanding over time. It's always had some great developers. You can play every day or take weeks, months, or years off and come back and continue on without a problem. Play when you want and go work, on vacation, to school, or to other games and it will still be the great world you love when you come back waiting for you to continue your journey. Enjoy!

Anonymous
Anonymous

Been playing a long time, so I know there's a lot to do and might feel overwhelming to some. Just enjoy the game and do things you want and try not to force things or you will get a burnout. Join a guild for guild bonuses. Some guild don't require you to be active, but they can help.

fredgdperry
fredgdperry

This game plays horribly on steam deck. Mind you, I'm only talking about the controls. The current schemes make this an atrocious experience. wait until the official tested control schemes come out before you buy if you are purchading 4 steam deck gaming

Viola
Viola

Around the 60 hour mark, first impressions: LVL 55 Elementalist. With a little colour and picture tweaking in GForce Experience game filter this game is like playing a portrait or wonderfully illustrated novel. I was a little offput by how sparce the open world felt after playing New World but I've come around a little. The game seems beautifully animated, particularly the mounts, which are amazing. Community seems nice and the NCSoft pay to win stuff (like buying gold) is tastefully buried compared to a lot of games these days lol. It feels functionally about the same as PLEX in EVE ONLINE tbh, which I'll have to be careful of because I whaled out on EVE because of the existance of PLEX which of course was intentional lol. At any rate, I am loving this game, it is amazing. Beautiful, fun, great sounds and music, great graphical aesthetic. Hopefully th end game isn't trash lol.

StarStuff
StarStuff

One of my top two MMOs. Horizontal progression. Fun with fashion. Interesting encounter mechanics. Love the versatility in classes. No holy trinity. Mounts are varied and amazing and MATTER. And they manage to have an engaging story. No sub, just fun that you can enjoy and feel safe to take a break from and come back to when you want. This game respects my time and doesn't make me feel gross to give them my money.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Always something going on. Community less obsessed with end game raiding than others I could mention. The different personal stories are varied according to race and choices and although it will win no prizes for graphics there doesnt seem to be the lag that you get in LOTRO

Thempel
Thempel

An MMO that respect your time!!!
I've played this game for 10 years on and off and it doesn't matter if I have some stressfull months where I can't or don't want to play. You don't loose any progress and the gear stays relevant. Also nice story and good music and you can easily play the game for 2000 hours and not run out of things to do.

Of course this game isn't perfect (nothing is). There are still some problems with balancing (last updates were good though), and the game is not the most complicated, which some people might want.

All in all I would recommend to try the game for free and then see if you want to buy the expansions.

MaGiikLeAvEs
MaGiikLeAvEs

Been waiting for this for awhile... enjoying it so far.

ShatteredLight
ShatteredLight

One of the best MMOs on the market

Astral Teacup
Astral Teacup

I loaded up the game as a human, joined into the starting area to a mess of flying mounts and disco themed characters I guess? I tried leaving the area as there was an event on the bridge ahead, by the time I managed to reach it, it was completed. No big deal I though I must have just been late.

I went on to other parts of the map and started helping a trader get along their route with the bull, within seconds multiple all max level accounts started killing anything around without a chance to even get close, I wish I could say this was the last time it happened but everywhere I went I felt mobbed by people trying to either be helpful or trying to kill things before I got there on purpose. I like the look of the game but if this is how things are I'm very upset with my first few hours, I really would like to just be left alone or at least have a chance playing with people at my level.

ScuZZ
ScuZZ

Really cool people. Great graphics. All around fun.

lumberfoot
lumberfoot

I stopped playing this game like 5 years ago... Fast forward 5 years later, and this game is still as amazing as I remember it to be! Three full expansions have been added, we now have mounts, finally getting the long awaited directx11 graphics update, and it's finally available to everyone on Steam! GW2 may not be the best game ever... but there's just something special about it that no other MMO has been able to replicate in the 5 years I've been away. I have high hopes that ArenaNet can one day gives us GW3 and breathe life into a slowly aging world, but until then GW2 has definitely won my heart over once more!

xandermaal
xandermaal

Been playing off and on for a decade now. I love that I can jump back into this game every few months and my max level characters and their gear are still relevant and able to participate in all content. I'm a huge fan of the horizontal progression philosophy, where I can just pick something to go after (mounts, equipment, mastery points, zone completion, etc.) and focus on achieving it for a few hours or days without a much in the way of prerequisites or any ilvl requirements. The non-traditional approach to questing is great, as you can just organically explore zones and participate in world events as they pop up as opposed to filling a quest log, finishing quests, then having to run them back to a quest giver.

OSKIRRII
OSKIRRII

It's like a DnD meets a better version of WoW from the multiverse where Blizzard didn't merge with Activision and used our subs to improve the actual core mechanics of the game and World.

Kircala
Kircala

I've been playing this game since 2018 and been playing just about every day. The best part is, when I decide to take a week off or a month off or a day off, I'm not suddenly behind when I decide to hop back in. Worst case scenario, I missed out on some great sale or a new cool skin they put in. I love how casual the game is, I love that it doesn't hold your hand and tell you what you have to do, it just suggests you do things.

I've read wiki pages for so many things I probably have a pve content mini-encyclopedia in my head but at least there's an in-game command to /wiki whatever thing you're trying to figure out. (Example: /wiki Not So Secret) It just opens your browser to the wiki page searching the thing you entered.

Oh and I will say, as I came to it off Blade and Soul, I very highly recommend the "Toggle Action Camera" setting in the Control Options tab of the options menu. Just set a keybind for it and turn it on and try it out. You can always click the keybind again to turn it off. It makes your mouse your camera without any click drag and your Left Mouse Button (LMB) function as your 1 skill button. Note: please go through all your settings or watch a youtube video about gw2 settings, you can customize the game to be played in whatever way is most comfortable for you so just take the time to do that immediately.

I set up my steam account as a secondary account and plan to build it up over time and maybe support my main account with money and materials I guess. I know plenty of other players do that but this is my first time trying it out.

Game on folks and give this one a shot, it's got content for all sorts of play-styles and no pressure to do any particular game-mode. I know folks that only play world-vs-world or only player-vs-player because that's what they love. Most importantly, the core start of the game is free so all you lose is some time if you try it out and don't like it.

archeravatar
archeravatar

Love the movement in this game - both normal and with mounts. The combat is fluid and intuitive. The Graphics and maps are incredible looking. This is a seasoned game that has smoothed the rough edges and now gives a comfortable, intuitive gameplay.
The comprehensive collection bundle was totally worth it imo. I have no doubt that I will be spending a ridiculous number of hours enjoying this game.

namtaru
namtaru

great Free to play MMO and if you choose to pay for the expansions the game becomes even better. The community is fantastic and helpful, do yourself a favor if you like MMOs and give it a try.

amnus.hyperion
amnus.hyperion

There is no other massively multiplayer online game as good and re-playable as this, Period!

ElBraveBoy
ElBraveBoy

The game is simple but the complexity is up to you. This game has already been out for a decade has many guides written on how to play, but most of those guides may not suit your starting mechanical level. Try everything, there really is no wrong answer until you start playing end game stuff. End game stuff has a community that wants some coordination or a lot of coordination that may turn you away, but as you keep at it you can learn the magic to it or even break through to being better than those yelping at newbies.

Bunkabito
Bunkabito

The best MMORPG I've played so far. Previously played in the in-house launcher, now also on Steam. The game is pleasantly playable with decent FPS. The controls are intuitive and the game is properly programmed, so custom mouse and keyboard layouts are supported.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Loving this game. I got the "comprehensive collection" (all expansions and living stories) and I can tell I'm going to be enjoying it for many, many gaming hours. Totally worth it for me!

Kurbad Mareson
Kurbad Mareson

If you have 3 jobs, 10 kids (and a decent amount of partners..) and no time to play MMO's, this one is for You.
The best massive soloplayer online RPG out there. Can be an MMO too, if you want to.

"Your Soul Is Mine!" 11/10

save
save

Didn't need to reach endgame to have fun.

Trumpette
Trumpette

One of the better F2P (B2P if you get the expansions) that I have seen on Steam. I played it briefly a couple years ago off steam, but didn't stick to it because of other time commitments. The main reason I like it is that the shop is not in my face. I can easily ignore it. Unlike a lot of other F2P MMOs I don't feel gimped in the inventory department by ignoring the cash shop. I had plenty of bags just dropping out in the world.

Things I like

1. Combat is easy to pick up and intuitive. Being in water, you get a different set of attacks based on aquatic weapons.

2, Your attacks change based on the weapons you have equipped which makes for a variety of game play and similar to Elder Scrolls Online you can swap 2 weapon sets. I play warriors so wont speak about casters. I did Necromancer when I played the first time but I barely remember it.

3. Horizontal progression rather than the usual boring vertical where you keep growing in power. Once you cap, the gear you have is the gear you have and rather than being like WoW where you are constantly chasing gear you work on completionism (playing the game rather than redundant game play loop of chasing gear through the same set of dungeons only to have said gear get obsolete next patch/expansion)

4, Character creator is decent, the races are interesting enough except for one but more on that later.

5. Everything you do gives XP and exploration is rewarded.

6. You have a personal storyline per starter zone/race and I enjoy it a lot more than FF14 because in GW2 they respect my time rather than force me to sit through long cut scenes for a story I do not really give a crap about. The GW2 personal storyline is entertaining and gives you something to do rather than the FF14 style that basically treats you like a movie audience.

7. Free form enough where if you just want to go around murder hoboing you can. The "quests" are really just suggestions and the main story quest can be done at your pace. Unlike FF14 that forces you to progress in it to get to the content you actually want to play.

8. Cash shop is easy to ignore and never in your face the way Elderscrolls online is. It's there for those who want to do that sort of thing, but for those of us not into such things it is as if it does not exist.

Cons.

1, Race choice is limited. There are two human races, regular humans and Norns who are basically giant nordic types. Giant is meant literally. A human female standing next to a Norn female she is like more than half my height. I play human, my first time playing I played Nord and Sylvari. Sylvari are like "elves" more on them later. There is also Charr, they are sort of like if you mixed a minotaur with a tiger. Then there are the Asura. Basically huge eared WoW gnomes. So 5 races, 2 of which are really the same thing (humans and Norns).

2. Sylvari are cabbage people. They are basically the "elves" but they are so heavily plant based in looks that to me they are visually unappealing. My take on it is if you are going to put in an Elf race, do it right. Just take the page from Tolkien and do them right. I like Elves, I want to play an elf, not a cabbage person with elf like qualities. Even the name, Sylvari is elven. I hate when game designers try to be fresh and original by ruining elves. They are perfect as they are depicted in traditional fantasy media -- they are elves after all. If you want to play an Elf and you like Elf stuff, this game wont deliver. They should have just called the race something planty like Greenfolk or Leafae (get it leaf fae) and I would not have this petty complaint.

3. Dwarves are mentioned but there are no playable dwarves.

4. When there are few players in your area the game spams you to let you know so you can move to a more crowded mapset. Most mobs, and ALL trash mobs are easily soloable so having more players in your area while leveling just slows you down. Let those of us who actually enjoy playing with few other players around enjoy the experience. After all, Sigurd didn't have any friends killing Fafnir. Yeah, yeah, I get that MMOs are Multiplayer. But most people like to solo play them anyways. Oh, and when they spam the message about few players, they give you an hour to accept moving to another world server instance with a buff. If you decline it, they move you anyways after that hour. Because waiting around for respawns is so fun, NOT.

On/Kowie
On/Kowie

Still looks great even in 2022, my only complaint is there are no local servers for your region so if you live in say nz/aus etc be prepared for dealing with 280ms pings.

Andrew Bourdos
Andrew Bourdos

From someone who has tried many MMOs from Elder scrolls online to Black desert online, I am finally happy to say i have found an MMO that i can confidently say is the one for me. Truly a unique game that is something totally new and refreshing within the MMO genre. I highly recommend this game to anyone, give it a try and you will not be disappointed. See you in game!

levi
levi

I played GW2 when it first came out. I didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to recover my account, so I bought it through Steam and started out new. It's still a great game.

graybeauregard
graybeauregard

love the game, great community, so many things to do