Guild Wars 2... again.

Just over a year after the game's release I am ready to go back and give it another shot.  Hopefully this won't be another awful letdown.

I got GW2 the day it came out.  I went and picked it up in the BOXED version from GameStop at midnight.  I was kind of excited.  I looked forward to it.  I brought it home, went through the steps and installed everything and fought with my account.  God forbid an account you've used for half a decade and the previous game actually work with this one, that'd be too fucking easy... right?  Once I got online it was everything I had hoped for... only slower.

I played during the beta weekends and just played enough on a couple of classes to get the basics.  I stomped around in a couple of "zones" and enjoyed the look and feel of the game.  I took in the differences between it and the original game and then the things it had in common with other games that have been successful since then.  The original game was fantastic, but was easily overshadowed by the huge behemoth of a mega-hit that is WoW.  I took in the world and was pleased.  I didn't get all crazy and put in a ton of hours, I wanted some mystery and majesty left when the game release.  And then.... the game released.


I don't know that I've been more disappointed in a game in a very long time.  I loved the idea of dynamic questing.  It was great in Warhammer and it really helped to break up the boring quests.  The quests, however, were important in progression.  Not only in terms of experience, but also in gearing.  The quest system has been used and done will for nearly a decade now, we don't need to break away from that system and hope that this new dynamic system works.  Mostly, because it doesn't.  I found myself quickly bored of the game.  By the tender age of level 15 I had maxed all of my weapon skills on my Assassin/Thief/Rogue/generic agility or dexterity based class.  The only thing I can hope to do from NOW UNTIL LEVEL CAP is to make abilities more powerful.  How lame is that?  I don't get new abilities.  I have them all.  I can do all the sweet moves, I'm just gonna add some flavor to the mix.  OH BOY!

I gave a couple other classes a shot, but quickly got bored.  The lack of actual direction in the world and the fact that on my original character I had to go to another continent to try and find quests to do because I had outleveled where I was and was too low to move forward.  It was boring and brutal.  SUUUUUUURE, I got to explore the world, but at what cost?  I was now sick of the game and quickly losing interest in everything it had to offer.  Trading gems for gold or gold for gems made me even angrier.  Watching people very literally pay to get some of the better gear or make a mockery of the trading channels in the game with real life money.  Ugh.

My brother has expressed interest in playing on the weekend nights when he stays up a little later.  I am going to give it a shot.  I really hope the experience is more magical this time around.  If not, it's not a big deal.  It isn't like I've never spent 60 dollars for a game that ended up being a huge disappointment.  I'm looking at you Battlefield 3.