One thing you missed on monetization: you can convert regular ingame gold into gems for the premium shop. The only thing you actually need real money for is the expansions.
Ah yes, true!! That’s massively important! Sorry for that miss - yet another reason why GW2 is absolutely insane with how good their monetization practices are!
Except unless you grind fractals and other materials constantly every day and make bank on the auction house, this is pretty much irrelevant. But nice to have the option at least
@@OathOblivio That's not true.... xD On my alt I do just very few things daily and the gold still keeps piling up. Maybe not as quick as if I would grind the extremely profitable stuff but it's still much for the amount of time I put in. Also remember most of your gold is your materials. ;)
And not just this. The gold-gems economy keeps the game healthy too since all the gems which you can buy for gold were bought by other players with real money. So even if you buy gems with ingame gold you basically still support the game itself.
I understand the criticism of the number of currencies but I also understand their importance. Since most of the currencies are earned in different areas and are used for different purposes, I think they do help in evening out the player population accross all maps of the game. I was glad to hear you emphasizing the importance of not having to pay a subscription fee. I've been playing since launch, I have several accounts and I racked up more than 8000 ingame hours. All that cost me around £350. Tied into this is the monetization: I never bought any cash shop item with real money, only with converted ingame gold. And I bought a lot of stuff over the years. The horizontal progression, while it is similar to ESO's Champion points in that it's progression beyond max character level, GW2 Masteries are actually horizontal and (apart from one instance that was added in End of Dragons) do not provide advantage in the form of stat boosts, which is a vital component of the Champion system. So much so that endgame builds in ESO are optimized with rank in mind. In GW2, once you hit level 80, Mastery Level doesn't matter in terms of character attributes. Also, great video.
Definitely bro great points!!! I really love the mastery system… in fact I like it better than ESO’s champion points at this moment ❤️ thanks for the love man!!
What i love about this game is that you have to actually progress with your account... And not with each and every character. And after unlocking any mount (the bunny for example), that exact same mount is there for all characters of that account.
My oldest friend has played since GW1, I truly never gave it a try in all the years I've played other games with him, which is close to 15k hours, lol. I think '23 is the year I finally give it an honest try. This was a very good assessment, and thank you for diving into the NCSoft conundrum!
Great vid! I used to play a ton of GW2 with my wife and then we went and made that terrible decision to have kids! And they just got in the way of all the gaming. But now, all these many years later, this video brought back all those great memories. And with the kids mostly being able to feed themselves now.. (and game by themselves, which is clearly far more important anyway). I'm going to download this again and check it out for myself! Thanks President Brightlife! Great work as always. Keep fighting the crime (of people not playing great MMOs) that is so rampant on our streets!
Great thing that wasn't covered in this video but suits your case: Taking a break isn't (much) punished and your characters and gear will be about as valid as they were years ago, due to the horizontal progression. (Which is why the game is great for people that don't have much time or can't play regularly.) The only thing you probably have missed out is the living world story, which you have to purchase with gems if you didn't get it for free when it was release. Anyway: Welcome back and enjoy the game and Tyria. You might have some great story and experience to catch up to.
I started with the steam release in August The game is an absolute must play if you like MMO games There's a steep learning curve- but the game respects your time. You can step away however long you want or need and come back to no difficult spikes ect
I dabbled in GW1 and GW2, your assessment is spot on. It is a great casual MMO. One thing I really love is how each class is so different, and using different weapons within that class changes the attacks and graphics of it.
Guild Wars 2's combat system is one of the best, imo. Hybrid action/tab target brings the best of both worlds and it's so cool and unique that your skills and abilities change with each different weapon instead of just being a stat stick (who hasn't ever wondered what it would be like wielding a great sword with a mage?).
My biggest complaint so far is that the renown hearts sometimes don't make much sense for the area they are in... Like it'll say "kill centaur raiders" and you will explore the entire range of that heart and there are just no centaurs inside the bounds... Really slows down the hearts sometimes
It can be hard to find what they are referring to sometimes but I assure you if it says its on there, then the enemies are there, just might be hiding somewhere.
Would have liked you to touch on all the expansions to show new players what they could look forward too after lvl 80...the new maps are amazing in all the expansions...cheers, thanks for the video.
Didn't hear it mentioned so I'll put it here. For anyone worried about the future of gw2 or what's next, Arenanet has already confirmed that a 4th expansion is currently in the works
The Best MMO. I've played so many MMOs, there's nothing that compares to how this game respects your time. The community, and the way that the game encourages everyone to help each other makes it so welcoming and fun. And the meta events, which are only touched on slightly in this video, are my absolute favorite. 50-100 of my new best friends having to work together to fight a massive boss? sign me the hell up.
Your comment on the music just reminded me of how much I love the composer. Loved his work in Neverwinter Nights as well. The music was actually the first thing I noticed about the game. How it gave me the same feelings at the right times as Neverwinter Nights. I made my account not to long after discovering it was Jeremy Soule that composed for Guild Wars 2 as well.
Dude I was blown away. To be honest, I’ve played for so long but haven’t paid too much attention to the music. But when going through the full immersion first impressions I was blown away! Consider me a Jeremy Soule fan!
8:30 - The different currencies for each map forces you to play that map for whatever achievement you are going for. That's how they keep zones relevant and full of people. It's a great design but people fail to see the purpose. I like playing the game because of the combat so why not go to previous zones and continue slaying? I don't play for rewards. The gameplay and journey is the reward because the game is beautiful...
GW2 has been a worth it to play game every year it has been out. Honestly, its the best MMO rn in history, noted not the most popular since its a original IP and not a established IP like WoW, FF14 or Swtor for example. But yeah GW1 also had the pay and play model which is why I made the GW1 jump from complete free MMO back in the day and Anet hasnt disappointed me yet.
I think the reason why there's no randomized group finder is that GW2 has no classic "holy trinity" system. Each class can fill each role (for the most part) with an according build but what I found is that there's always those one or two builds for a class that are "meta" and people tend to not take you with them if you're playing off meta. The community is nice and positive enough so that you will find a group, that's not the issue, however, it would be nice - as you said - to have a button that matches you with a group, no questions asked, instead of having to sweet talk your way into one.
@@jordirapper when you choose your world you lock in the region as well. There are eu worlds that play together and the same for NA. The Mail and trading post systems are shared.
NCSoft is actually the good guy for once in the Arenanet layoffs. Arenanet had only a small fraction of it's devs working on GW2 at all at a time where content production was poor (not doing an expansion in favor of Icebrood Saga). NCSoft told them to cut staff and direct more manpower to GW2. So GW2 won out on this one for the better.
the only issue is that the end of the icebrood saga was way underdeveloped and the drm are'nt all that great. I wish they had given the team two more episodes to build up to the epic finale instead of essentially dumping the player into the fight.
@@spinnenente That was entirely on Anet. The only reason we got EoD when we did was because of NCSoft giving them a swift kick. IBS' second half suffered for sure and will take LW1's place as the worst content of the game.
@@BrightlifeMMOs i just picked up a prs s2 satin 22 in charcoal black last night. Last week I got my fender american vintage 2 1961 strat in Fiesta red, tomorrow I am getting my schecter custom shop nick johnston strat. I decided to splurge this year.
One thing I really like is that the PvP is pretty easy to get into. Most games expect you to grind end game items to even be competitive, but for at least 1 of the modes (it might be all of them) everyone is put on an even playing field, meaning you can jump into PvP as soon as it's available. So, no grinding content you have no interest in just to do PvP Some people will complain that it can be unfair by matching you with better players some times, but honestly that will happen in most PvP games anyway. It has the easiest entry for PvP in an MMO I've personally played and it's really fun
Can I ask u, The blade next to the lightsaber on the wall, is it bent out of shape ? (which sword is that also) . It triggers me that it's not symmetrical xD
Nice video review, glad you're enjoying GW2 so much. I've been playing it for over 10 years now without a break of more than a week at any time, and still love playing this game. You've earned a new sub with this video and I look forward to more GW2 content in the future. Now that you know how easy it is to have alt characters in GW2, you'll want to buy more character slots, so you can experience all of the different professions, variations in back stories for each racial type, and each different main story branch choice (almost forgot each faction choice, Order of Whispers, Durmond Priory, or Vigil). So many choices that make replaying the game new and fun. And the story gets better with each expansion, as well as the format of how the story is told, which has been greatly improved upon over the years. I will admit that GW2 is not for everyone, and that it is very different than most other MMORPG's, but I think it has features that will appeal to a very wide variety of players, and as you said, you can level up in any way you choose, so play the way you want to and enjoy GW2 today. It is free to download and try out, so you have nothing to lose but a little bit of your time. I would estimate that there is easily a few hundred hours of game play that you can experience for free, before you even have to think about purchasing any of the expansions, and I believe that most players will love GW2 enough to make up their mind about buying it, before they reach level 80 on their very first character.
Few things I want to address about expansions that you didn't make really clear 1. While there isn't a lot of GEAR power progression, expansions have something called elite specializations which change your class mechanics by A LOT, theres new combos, new abilities and some even let you use new weapons that you couldn't use before(Mesmer Mirage lets you use an axe as a main weapon for example), your core game mesmer is never going to have as much damage as a virtuoso(the elite spec you get for mesmer from the End of Dragons expansion) 2. Mounts are really important, I think you get the trial raptor in the core game now but I'm not sure. If you don't have mounts, especially flying mounts, you're gonna be behind everyone in some map events and potentionally lose loot and experience. I remember doing a full pre-meta event in the Heart of Thorns expansion, which when it came out only gave you a glider, there were no mounts back then, and I was in a pre-meta event with only my legs and a glider and everyone was flying around the map and going 10 times faster than me because they had mounts and it was demotivating. Which is why I recommend everyone starting out that likes being efficient to play the third expansion Path of Fire before the second expansion. 3. I mentioned meta events, the best money making meta events are locked behind expansions and some of them have super low chances of dropping infusions that are worth over 9000 gold, also the Verdant Brink meta event is one of the fastest, if not THE fastest way to get your self a full set of stat selectable exotic gear, which you're going to want the moment you hit level 80 to start doing end game content 4. Raids which are top tier PvE content are locked behind HoT and PoF expansions, and apparently they are going to be adding EoD raids, too 5. Expansion main story quests have achievements that are gonna be one of the easiest ways to get ascended trinkets that are gonna boost your stats, otherwise when you start out you're gonna need laurels for trinkets, and you get around 30 per month if you login every single day, and each ascended trinket costs around 30 laurels, thats a whole month of logins, and if you're into fractals you're gonna want the ascended trinkets because they let you put infused agony resistance into them that you need for high tier fractals. If you are on the free trial and really enjoy the game and think you're gonna spend a lot of time on it, wait for a sale and get the pack with all 3 expansions in it, if you don't have the expansions you're just not gonna get the best experience you can have in my opinion at least
My problem is that i pre ordered the game back in 2011 or 2012, paid a lot of money and now i can't even play the game because they want me to spend 60€ more on the expansions to have mounts and playable content. Bullshit game. Can't even buy on steam, only in the official store which is WAY more expensive. Too old of a game to be worth 100€+.
It actually is an amazing game. Especially when you run with Reshade to sharpen and brighten. I've been going through a bit of a disengaged MMO mode at the moment but still have elements of the gamestyle that I miss, namely large group events, and without fail knowing what events I want, or their various pop times throughout the day it is comforting to be achieving and collectively experiencing some really fun group content besides others in a hassle free way. That, and my Mesmer's Shiny.
There is a big reason why they cannot introduced a randomised group finder - combat is very complex, which is definitely not understood by majority of players. You have both supports and dps having access to specific buffs that are mandatory for group content, and if you're searching for two alactrity providers, two healers and two quickness providers for a raid/strike, you might end up with 6/10 healers. Randomised group finder would have to be extremely precise and specific, but it would not work the same way, as people could still queue in as a support for short queues, but in the instance change to dps.
All you need is the ability to differentiate what each person is playing or willing to play. And at the moment those categories are (heal, alac, quick, pdps, cdps) this would work for a rudimentary matchmaker. Once a healer is found the matchmaker just has to fill the remaining roles. The main thing this doesn't help with is when content requires more specific setups (cdps on 100cm). And for more specialized runs like cm you really don't need a matchmaker. I think compared to skill based matchmaking this should be relatively easy to implement.
The currencies have gotten cut back, but they're there for a reason. If there's 20 ways of getting one currency, certain game modes will be ignored. They did make all of the dungeon currency into one, which is great. But you're not chasing all of the currencies either.. you pick and choose what you're working on. Still a great game.
Just got a steam deck and can finally play my games bc I haven't had a PC for years . Picked this up bc it's free and can't believe I'm playing such a fire mmo reminds me of wow and on a handheld 2023 is blowing my mind 😂
I've beem enjoying GW2 casually so far. At first I was put off by the way the game would throw events and side quests at me and, to be honest, I'd still prefer to talk to an NPC to accept quests instead of just having one pop up. But I've adapted. My favorite part of the game is just exploring each part of the map and my goal is to 100% the exploration on my Sylvari. I'll probably continue playing it for a while, I mean I did buy expansion packs for it (on sale, of course!). :D And still, LOTRO is my #1. :D Great video, as always! Can't wait to see what you look at next.
props to you for restraining from using the galaxy bunny mount during your 2023 first impressions🌌🐰🌌 awesome video! hope to see you in the world of Tyria👋
DL'ed a couple days ago,haven't had a chance to get into it yet but will be soon. The only thing I don't like is the jumping puzzles, I'm not very good at those.
most aren't that hard or obnoxious, and wherever there are harder jumping puzzles required for something (legendaries for example) you can always turn to the community to cheese you through them (mesmer portals). There is a notorious JP in season 3 of the Living World called Chalice of Tears (go figure), and you will often find people doing portal runs to get people through it.
Yup as aereton said, if you're stuck then just ask in mapchat. More often than not there will be a friendly mesmer (or a thief with shadow portal) in the map who will swing by and port you to the top :D
You should not download GW2 - you should have already downloaded it. :) 10:00 - The achievements and collections basically serve as another pillar of the questing system. It is a bit different from your usual achievements in MMOs, as there is a lot of the things you will unlock through this system - including mounts (warclaw, griffon, rollerbeetle, skyscale and siege turtle) and additional movement mechanics for them (using the skimmer under water), gear and skins and gems for the gemstore (every 5k achievement points). The usual "daily quests" of other MMOs are also daily achievements. You may not be an achievement hunter usually, but it is defientelly worth looking into in this game. But yes, the UI - in fact not only there - would benefit from some improvements. Even though there are a lot of neat little features many people miss. 20:00 - The most likely performance issues you may run into is when there are many players around. There are settings available to deal with that, but it is still not optimal. The engine upgrade from dx9 to dx 11 already improved the performance significantly and will also allow to improve the graphics in the future. I know many people disagree, but I like the old school group finder, as it allows you to specify what kind of group you are looking for instead of randomly throwing people together who have a very different playstyle. As someone who likes to explore even instanced areas instead of speed running through them I am usually not compatible with the groups in these randomized group finders of other MMOs, but here I am actually able to find like-minded people or just go with beginners who don't rush either. + you can set up groups for different stuff as well.
Friends and I are looking for a new mmo to tackle together and came across this in Steam and had to do a little research. Google sent me after a quick search and after your take; I can say that I am excited to give it a shot!
I just started pplaying this with friends. I have bought the game back when it was orignal out on Disc. They have only started playing now when the game is FTP however we have come across an issue that they can't sent mail with attachments unless they spend the money to UPGRADE to one of the expansions....Not major but slightly annoying considering there is no trade feature so the only way to share and trade items is using the mailing system.
Yes, anyone that has not, should try GW2, it's still one of the best MMO's on the market. It's a very active MMO, unique mounts, each with their own capabilities, combat is phenomenal, graphics still hold up, horizontal progression, taking breaks from this game doesn't hurt you. My only real knock on the game are the dated cutscenes when going through your storyline, but it's not terrible by any stretch. For anyone new to the game, check out Heroic Flamingo here on YT, his leveling guides are two years old, but still relevant. At end game, check out Snowcrows and Metabattle for min/maxing and rotations. This is a pretty good breakdown of the game overall.
GW2 does do certain things better than other MMOs, such as mounts, combat, map design, and horizontal progression, but has a lot of problems too such as piss poor design in dungeons, fractals, raids, etc. It's a mixed bag really.
I've also noticed that for every item in the gem store there is some kind of worthy alternative in the actual game. It will be much harder to get and the texture quality might not be as polished but there is NO reason to spend real money on anything except expansion content. Even the super awesome convenience items in the gem store tend to be cheap enough to use in game gold to gem conversion to get.
Though I never feel bad about spending money in the gem store because they're not forcing me to, or even asking. They're just giving me a way to get cool in game cosmetic or convenient items while supporting the developers of a great game. Plus my favorite part is I can't feel guilty about taking a break from the game because I'm not missing anything or paying for it regardless of use. I often take breaks to focus on other things and I can hop back in right where I left off.
Problem is that the game does not have endagme for some players.. once you reach level 80, your only goals are fashion wars as gear is pretty easy to get and achievments.
I think this is ok. Let the people chase the dragon of everlasting gear grind. The horizontal progression of gw2 is what makes it stand out and continue to stay relevant even for players that take longer breaks like me. Though i would disagree that all achievements are easy. (diving goggles on top of the eatherblade jp for example)
I came here for the review and I just want to say: I was gonna leave you with a like and move on. I can clearly see the care and effort you put into this, but there were times I thought your personality just didn't quite fit mine so I'd rather not subscribe. But 24:30 changed my mind. It showed me your high energy comes with a genuine care for kindness which I truly believe we need more of in our world. Thanks for that, and here comes my sub!
I will still say that while the game is free I think the GW2 monetization is about the same as ESOs. Mostly pay for convenience and cosmetic purchases but for some people its still a problem. It is good that you can make money to trade for in-game shop purchased though.
I have tried to get into GW2 a handful of times and just have not been able to get into it... I keep thinking if i give it 1 more go it will click! but so far no :( maybe next try it will... :)
It really requires a different mindset to get into. It's not the sort of MMO where you want to be blasting through the content to get to dungeons/raids, it's more the sort where you want to take your time and enjoy the journey while letting yourself be pulled off the path that you laid out for yourself at the start of your gameplay session. Think Skyrim or The Witcher, not World of Warcraft.
Thanks for this video! New to MMOs and was looking for good ones. This one seems to be fairly suited to me who doesn't have a lot of time to grind all the time.
I kinda disagree on expansions not bringing power. They give bonuses, they have the mounts and most importantly, they give you specializations which are stronger than any build you can make. Now granted, if you buy the latest expansion, you get all 3 and it is worth it IMO. Still power though.
@@BrightlifeMMOs It kinda seems I am one now and hopefully can help the community with updates of it as much as I can! You hit 4k subs too!! Pumped for you and where you're channel goes as well I love the content and the new The State of the MMO!!
I don't mind them locking aesthetic stuff behind a price tag.... It's the best monetization besides an upfront one time purchase in my opinion and they gotta make money somehow
a join dungeon or fractal raid so on button wouldnt work well in gw2 because of how classes work people are looking for different things when setting up
@@BrightlifeMMOs Oh sorry one more thing. So, do both me and my friend need to get the same expansion or can we get two different ones? Are the experiences still shareable? Thanks :3
the too msny currency is def valid! but thankfully its got a pretty great wallet system so i honestly never had to think too hard about it XD edit: OMG THE YO MAMA JOKE AT 9:55 WTF HAHAHAHAHA i got back to the game recently and realy properly paid attention to npc chatter and the story this time AND IT IS SO GOOD. i laughed so much at various times (im looking at u lord faran) and being able to take my time with it (instead of being rushed cuz i wanted to hurry up n play with friends) really goes a long way
Yes you should. My tip: Focus your leveling build around Power which is Strike dmg as it usually yields the fastest kills and best experience. Ramble: Power > Precision > Ferocity should be your main stat in that order. Power weapons usually are weapons that only deal raw dmg. No conditions and No healing. Utilities are similar story as well Traits ^^ You can look up leveling guides from meta battle for more info. Many people ignore this trip and I have had several friends who quit because "the game feels slow and sluggish" and it was 100% their own fault for playing a bad build. No, it is not a miragle fix but time to kill can be more than 20second or less than 5 second depending how you build your character 😁 biggest problem are Alacrity and Quicknes boons which are rare when leveling nad make the gameplay more fluent.
Actually, people always praise music in GW2 if they play with sound on. The biggest beef is was it better back when Jeremy Soule was main composer, or are the newer (actually, from after release addons) OSTs by Maclaine Diemer, Lena Chapelle and others are better. I am actually loving all of the osts throughout the years.
this game got me into mmorpg type of games i played gw2 since it came out nonstop its a great game so much to do but i got burn out on it cuz for 11 years its all i played i never played anything else or took a brake so it sucks to say i got burn out i didn't know it was a real thing. when anyone ask me about it i tell them give it a try its a great mmorpg even if you never once play an mmorpg or never got into it you will like GW2
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Samjini panu xamkini
Please, PLEASE, fix your Gandalf the White staff, like this is hard to watch. Make the staff great again!
One thing you missed on monetization: you can convert regular ingame gold into gems for the premium shop. The only thing you actually need real money for is the expansions.
Ah yes, true!! That’s massively important! Sorry for that miss - yet another reason why GW2 is absolutely insane with how good their monetization practices are!
Except unless you grind fractals and other materials constantly every day and make bank on the auction house, this is pretty much irrelevant. But nice to have the option at least
@@OathOblivio That's not true.... xD On my alt I do just very few things daily and the gold still keeps piling up. Maybe not as quick as if I would grind the extremely profitable stuff but it's still much for the amount of time I put in. Also remember most of your gold is your materials. ;)
And not just this. The gold-gems economy keeps the game healthy too since all the gems which you can buy for gold were bought by other players with real money. So even if you buy gems with ingame gold you basically still support the game itself.
@@OathOblivio I play hour a day and make 60 g a day, just gotta know where to go xd
I understand the criticism of the number of currencies but I also understand their importance. Since most of the currencies are earned in different areas and are used for different purposes, I think they do help in evening out the player population accross all maps of the game.
I was glad to hear you emphasizing the importance of not having to pay a subscription fee. I've been playing since launch, I have several accounts and I racked up more than 8000 ingame hours. All that cost me around £350. Tied into this is the monetization: I never bought any cash shop item with real money, only with converted ingame gold. And I bought a lot of stuff over the years.
The horizontal progression, while it is similar to ESO's Champion points in that it's progression beyond max character level, GW2 Masteries are actually horizontal and (apart from one instance that was added in End of Dragons) do not provide advantage in the form of stat boosts, which is a vital component of the Champion system. So much so that endgame builds in ESO are optimized with rank in mind. In GW2, once you hit level 80, Mastery Level doesn't matter in terms of character attributes.
Also, great video.
Definitely bro great points!!! I really love the mastery system… in fact I like it better than ESO’s champion points at this moment ❤️ thanks for the love man!!
I was playing WoW dragonflight than got bored than played GW2. It way more engaging and fun
Same honestly! WoW is a great game in a lot of ways but GW2 is definitely speaking to me in this season ❤️
What i love about this game is that you have to actually progress with your account... And not with each and every character.
And after unlocking any mount (the bunny for example), that exact same mount is there for all characters of that account.
That also makes clearing maps with other characters SO much less tedious.
World of Warcraft mounts are also account bound
My oldest friend has played since GW1, I truly never gave it a try in all the years I've played other games with him, which is close to 15k hours, lol.
I think '23 is the year I finally give it an honest try.
This was a very good assessment, and thank you for diving into the NCSoft conundrum!
Great vid! I used to play a ton of GW2 with my wife and then we went and made that terrible decision to have kids! And they just got in the way of all the gaming. But now, all these many years later, this video brought back all those great memories. And with the kids mostly being able to feed themselves now.. (and game by themselves, which is clearly far more important anyway). I'm going to download this again and check it out for myself!
Thanks President Brightlife! Great work as always. Keep fighting the crime (of people not playing great MMOs) that is so rampant on our streets!
Now you can take your wife and your kids and create your family guild ;)
Yessss dude! We gotta get the dad guild going - I’m right there with you man 😂
See u in Tyria friend
Great thing that wasn't covered in this video but suits your case: Taking a break isn't (much) punished and your characters and gear will be about as valid as they were years ago, due to the horizontal progression. (Which is why the game is great for people that don't have much time or can't play regularly.) The only thing you probably have missed out is the living world story, which you have to purchase with gems if you didn't get it for free when it was release.
Anyway: Welcome back and enjoy the game and Tyria. You might have some great story and experience to catch up to.
@@BrightlifeMMOs I've always thought a guild called "Daddy Daycare" would be great!
I started with the steam release in August
The game is an absolute must play if you like MMO games
There's a steep learning curve- but the game respects your time. You can step away however long you want or need and come back to no difficult spikes ect
That’s awesome man! Out of curiosity, why’d you wait for steam? Just the security and ease?
This game caught my eye when it was on sale in steam. Absolutely loved it, a hidden gem.
It is SO fun!! So glad that you got to jump in to enjoy it!
I dabbled in GW1 and GW2, your assessment is spot on. It is a great casual MMO. One thing I really love is how each class is so different, and using different weapons within that class changes the attacks and graphics of it.
Guild Wars 2's combat system is one of the best, imo. Hybrid action/tab target brings the best of both worlds and it's so cool and unique that your skills and abilities change with each different weapon instead of just being a stat stick (who hasn't ever wondered what it would be like wielding a great sword with a mage?).
similar like wow?
My biggest complaint so far is that the renown hearts sometimes don't make much sense for the area they are in... Like it'll say "kill centaur raiders" and you will explore the entire range of that heart and there are just no centaurs inside the bounds... Really slows down the hearts sometimes
It can be hard to find what they are referring to sometimes but I assure you if it says its on there, then the enemies are there, just might be hiding somewhere.
Sometimes hearts reference events that occur in their areas. I like that events usual progress their local hearts.
2:25 "I think the Asuras are freaking great"
*Firm handshake* 🤝
Would have liked you to touch on all the expansions to show new players what they could look forward too after lvl 80...the new maps are amazing in all the expansions...cheers, thanks for the video.
Didn't hear it mentioned so I'll put it here.
For anyone worried about the future of gw2 or what's next, Arenanet has already confirmed that a 4th expansion is currently in the works
Let’s gooooo!!
The Best MMO.
I've played so many MMOs, there's nothing that compares to how this game respects your time. The community, and the way that the game encourages everyone to help each other makes it so welcoming and fun. And the meta events, which are only touched on slightly in this video, are my absolute favorite. 50-100 of my new best friends having to work together to fight a massive boss? sign me the hell up.
Love this comment
Jeremy Soule wrote music for base game... that TES guy... you know?
Your comment on the music just reminded me of how much I love the composer. Loved his work in Neverwinter Nights as well. The music was actually the first thing I noticed about the game. How it gave me the same feelings at the right times as Neverwinter Nights. I made my account not to long after discovering it was Jeremy Soule that composed for Guild Wars 2 as well.
Dude I was blown away. To be honest, I’ve played for so long but haven’t paid too much attention to the music. But when going through the full immersion first impressions I was blown away! Consider me a Jeremy Soule fan!
As a new MMO player, it was guild wars 2 that first grabbed me just a few months ago
Yes! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! I know I’ll be playing long after this review, ha!
I got burnt out from gw2 because I was just grinding for Eternity, but after watching this video I’m actually redownloading after a 3 year break
8:30 - The different currencies for each map forces you to play that map for whatever achievement you are going for. That's how they keep zones relevant and full of people. It's a great design but people fail to see the purpose. I like playing the game because of the combat so why not go to previous zones and continue slaying? I don't play for rewards. The gameplay and journey is the reward because the game is beautiful...
GW2 has been a worth it to play game every year it has been out. Honestly, its the best MMO rn in history, noted not the most popular since its a original IP and not a established IP like WoW, FF14 or Swtor for example. But yeah GW1 also had the pay and play model which is why I made the GW1 jump from complete free MMO back in the day and Anet hasnt disappointed me yet.
I think the reason why there's no randomized group finder is that GW2 has no classic "holy trinity" system. Each class can fill each role (for the most part) with an according build but what I found is that there's always those one or two builds for a class that are "meta" and people tend to not take you with them if you're playing off meta.
The community is nice and positive enough so that you will find a group, that's not the issue, however, it would be nice - as you said - to have a button that matches you with a group, no questions asked, instead of having to sweet talk your way into one.
For the LFG it's a big difference if you are playing on NA or EU. EU has a way more active lfg, while NA has more static groups that form over guilds.
You sure? Because I am downloading the game right now and ONLY had the NA & EU launcher, as in 1 launcher for NA and EU.
@@jordirapper when you choose your world you lock in the region as well.
There are eu worlds that play together and the same for NA.
The Mail and trading post systems are shared.
Arena net not asking me to spend money.... made me spend money on it.... do not asketh and thou shall receive.
You earned a sub with your intro, that clip to 'merica was hilarious and totally unexpected. Gj dude
MERICA!! Thanks my man!
Side comment here: The quick 'blinking' transition at the beginning there might need a photosensitivity warning. 👀
Oooo dude true! Thank you so much I’ll make sure I put that in next time!
NCSoft is actually the good guy for once in the Arenanet layoffs. Arenanet had only a small fraction of it's devs working on GW2 at all at a time where content production was poor (not doing an expansion in favor of Icebrood Saga). NCSoft told them to cut staff and direct more manpower to GW2. So GW2 won out on this one for the better.
Let's gooooo! Glad to see it!
the only issue is that the end of the icebrood saga was way underdeveloped and the drm are'nt all that great. I wish they had given the team two more episodes to build up to the epic finale instead of essentially dumping the player into the fight.
@@spinnenente That was entirely on Anet. The only reason we got EoD when we did was because of NCSoft giving them a swift kick. IBS' second half suffered for sure and will take LW1's place as the worst content of the game.
Is that a prs in the background? If you love guitar like I do then you earned my sub.
You know it man! Custom 22 - it’s my dream axe! What do you have?
@@BrightlifeMMOs i just picked up a prs s2 satin 22 in charcoal black last night. Last week I got my fender american vintage 2 1961 strat in Fiesta red, tomorrow I am getting my schecter custom shop nick johnston strat. I decided to splurge this year.
One thing I really like is that the PvP is pretty easy to get into. Most games expect you to grind end game items to even be competitive, but for at least 1 of the modes (it might be all of them) everyone is put on an even playing field, meaning you can jump into PvP as soon as it's available. So, no grinding content you have no interest in just to do PvP
Some people will complain that it can be unfair by matching you with better players some times, but honestly that will happen in most PvP games anyway. It has the easiest entry for PvP in an MMO I've personally played and it's really fun
thank with the video, Am a guild wars 2 vet and learned MMO with GW2
Hey man, I really dig the content. Good quality for such a small channel. Take a look at Throne and Liberty, it seems to be NCsoft's Lineage successor
Dude yes! It’s one of my most anticipated games of the year for sure! Do we have a beta release date yet? Can’t wait!
Can I ask u, The blade next to the lightsaber on the wall, is it bent out of shape ? (which sword is that also) . It triggers me that it's not symmetrical xD
Only have time for one casual mmo. Which is better gw2 or ESO?
Love your presentation. You keep the motions high.
Welcome to Guild Wars 2 Community!!
You were really helpful for me deciding on to try the game out, thank you nice guy
Dude yes! Enjoy Tyria my man!!
Gotta love the Osrs beginning opening
Nice video review, glad you're enjoying GW2 so much. I've been playing it for over 10 years now without a break of more than a week at any time, and still love playing this game. You've earned a new sub with this video and I look forward to more GW2 content in the future. Now that you know how easy it is to have alt characters in GW2, you'll want to buy more character slots, so you can experience all of the different professions, variations in back stories for each racial type, and each different main story branch choice (almost forgot each faction choice, Order of Whispers, Durmond Priory, or Vigil). So many choices that make replaying the game new and fun. And the story gets better with each expansion, as well as the format of how the story is told, which has been greatly improved upon over the years. I will admit that GW2 is not for everyone, and that it is very different than most other MMORPG's, but I think it has features that will appeal to a very wide variety of players, and as you said, you can level up in any way you choose, so play the way you want to and enjoy GW2 today. It is free to download and try out, so you have nothing to lose but a little bit of your time. I would estimate that there is easily a few hundred hours of game play that you can experience for free, before you even have to think about purchasing any of the expansions, and I believe that most players will love GW2 enough to make up their mind about buying it, before they reach level 80 on their very first character.
I feel like you forgot to mention that you can get the living world seasons for free if you grind for the gold just that it is expensive
How do you only have 5.8k subs? your deserve more.
Few things I want to address about expansions that you didn't make really clear
1. While there isn't a lot of GEAR power progression, expansions have something called elite specializations which change your class mechanics by A LOT, theres new combos, new abilities and some even let you use new weapons that you couldn't use before(Mesmer Mirage lets you use an axe as a main weapon for example), your core game mesmer is never going to have as much damage as a virtuoso(the elite spec you get for mesmer from the End of Dragons expansion)
2. Mounts are really important, I think you get the trial raptor in the core game now but I'm not sure. If you don't have mounts, especially flying mounts, you're gonna be behind everyone in some map events and potentionally lose loot and experience. I remember doing a full pre-meta event in the Heart of Thorns expansion, which when it came out only gave you a glider, there were no mounts back then, and I was in a pre-meta event with only my legs and a glider and everyone was flying around the map and going 10 times faster than me because they had mounts and it was demotivating. Which is why I recommend everyone starting out that likes being efficient to play the third expansion Path of Fire before the second expansion.
3. I mentioned meta events, the best money making meta events are locked behind expansions and some of them have super low chances of dropping infusions that are worth over 9000 gold, also the Verdant Brink meta event is one of the fastest, if not THE fastest way to get your self a full set of stat selectable exotic gear, which you're going to want the moment you hit level 80 to start doing end game content
4. Raids which are top tier PvE content are locked behind HoT and PoF expansions, and apparently they are going to be adding EoD raids, too
5. Expansion main story quests have achievements that are gonna be one of the easiest ways to get ascended trinkets that are gonna boost your stats, otherwise when you start out you're gonna need laurels for trinkets, and you get around 30 per month if you login every single day, and each ascended trinket costs around 30 laurels, thats a whole month of logins, and if you're into fractals you're gonna want the ascended trinkets because they let you put infused agony resistance into them that you need for high tier fractals.
If you are on the free trial and really enjoy the game and think you're gonna spend a lot of time on it, wait for a sale and get the pack with all 3 expansions in it, if you don't have the expansions you're just not gonna get the best experience you can have in my opinion at least
My problem is that i pre ordered the game back in 2011 or 2012, paid a lot of money and now i can't even play the game because they want me to spend 60€ more on the expansions to have mounts and playable content. Bullshit game. Can't even buy on steam, only in the official store which is WAY more expensive. Too old of a game to be worth 100€+.
It actually is an amazing game. Especially when you run with Reshade to sharpen and brighten.
I've been going through a bit of a disengaged MMO mode at the moment but still have elements of the gamestyle that I miss, namely large group events, and without fail knowing what events I want, or their various pop times throughout the day it is comforting to be achieving and collectively experiencing some really fun group content besides others in a hassle free way.
That, and my Mesmer's Shiny.
SHINY MESMER! Haha love it man, really appreciate your thoughts!
Surprisingly, the currencies really did not bother nor overwhelmed me at all!
Guys any comparison to black desert? I know each MMO is different but i just want to know your opinion, thanks!
well played sir...well played...
your edits and comedic vibe are, shockingly, NOT ANNOYING. ez sub
There is a big reason why they cannot introduced a randomised group finder - combat is very complex, which is definitely not understood by majority of players. You have both supports and dps having access to specific buffs that are mandatory for group content, and if you're searching for two alactrity providers, two healers and two quickness providers for a raid/strike, you might end up with 6/10 healers. Randomised group finder would have to be extremely precise and specific, but it would not work the same way, as people could still queue in as a support for short queues, but in the instance change to dps.
All you need is the ability to differentiate what each person is playing or willing to play. And at the moment those categories are (heal, alac, quick, pdps, cdps) this would work for a rudimentary matchmaker. Once a healer is found the matchmaker just has to fill the remaining roles. The main thing this doesn't help with is when content requires more specific setups (cdps on 100cm). And for more specialized runs like cm you really don't need a matchmaker.
I think compared to skill based matchmaking this should be relatively easy to implement.
I played this at release but every time I try to come back I'm just overwhelmed and have no idea what to do so I just put it back down.
The currencies have gotten cut back, but they're there for a reason. If there's 20 ways of getting one currency, certain game modes will be ignored. They did make all of the dungeon currency into one, which is great. But you're not chasing all of the currencies either.. you pick and choose what you're working on. Still a great game.
Just got a steam deck and can finally play my games bc I haven't had a PC for years . Picked this up bc it's free and can't believe I'm playing such a fire mmo reminds me of wow and on a handheld 2023 is blowing my mind 😂
Yes!!!
I pretty much only play pvp in gw2 and the game is worth it just for that. They need to add more maps but 2v2s are unmatched
One of my favorite UA-camrs since discovering this account. You deserve way more subscribers!
Dude! Your comment made my day. Thanks for the encouragement man ❤️
I've beem enjoying GW2 casually so far. At first I was put off by the way the game would throw events and side quests at me and, to be honest, I'd still prefer to talk to an NPC to accept quests instead of just having one pop up. But I've adapted. My favorite part of the game is just exploring each part of the map and my goal is to 100% the exploration on my Sylvari. I'll probably continue playing it for a while, I mean I did buy expansion packs for it (on sale, of course!). :D
And still, LOTRO is my #1. :D
Great video, as always! Can't wait to see what you look at next.
Yesss! Thank you for the thoughts Bella you rock!!
props to you for restraining from using the galaxy bunny mount during your 2023 first impressions🌌🐰🌌
awesome video! hope to see you in the world of Tyria👋
The GOAT HIMSELF! Dude it was hard - that bunny is awesome. Bro we gotta play together sometime - costream??
My f2p exp as Asura Engineer and Sylvari Mesmer was amazing. Best races stories and classes to me.
DL'ed a couple days ago,haven't had a chance to get into it yet but will be soon. The only thing I don't like is the jumping puzzles, I'm not very good at those.
I'm not really good at the jumping puzzles either but I've found that most of the ones I've tackled so far are doable once I figured them out.
I still have yet to do chalice of tears - one day I will cry along with you on the jumping puzzles 😂
most aren't that hard or obnoxious, and wherever there are harder jumping puzzles required for something (legendaries for example) you can always turn to the community to cheese you through them (mesmer portals). There is a notorious JP in season 3 of the Living World called Chalice of Tears (go figure), and you will often find people doing portal runs to get people through it.
Yup as aereton said, if you're stuck then just ask in mapchat. More often than not there will be a friendly mesmer (or a thief with shadow portal) in the map who will swing by and port you to the top :D
@@AlaiaSkyhawk It's sad that thief portal can only port 5 persons though. Maybe it refills faster? I have a thief not a mesmer.
one of the best games ever :)
Yes! I love it!!
Wait they give you the raptor nowadays?
I was thinking about going back to GW2 but i have first 2 DLC and they released new one, its still enough these 2 DLC or i really need to buy new DLC?
You should not download GW2 - you should have already downloaded it. :)
10:00 - The achievements and collections basically serve as another pillar of the questing system. It is a bit different from your usual achievements in MMOs, as there is a lot of the things you will unlock through this system - including mounts (warclaw, griffon, rollerbeetle, skyscale and siege turtle) and additional movement mechanics for them (using the skimmer under water), gear and skins and gems for the gemstore (every 5k achievement points). The usual "daily quests" of other MMOs are also daily achievements. You may not be an achievement hunter usually, but it is defientelly worth looking into in this game. But yes, the UI - in fact not only there - would benefit from some improvements. Even though there are a lot of neat little features many people miss.
20:00 - The most likely performance issues you may run into is when there are many players around. There are settings available to deal with that, but it is still not optimal. The engine upgrade from dx9 to dx 11 already improved the performance significantly and will also allow to improve the graphics in the future.
I know many people disagree, but I like the old school group finder, as it allows you to specify what kind of group you are looking for instead of randomly throwing people together who have a very different playstyle. As someone who likes to explore even instanced areas instead of speed running through them I am usually not compatible with the groups in these randomized group finders of other MMOs, but here I am actually able to find like-minded people or just go with beginners who don't rush either. + you can set up groups for different stuff as well.
Dude GREAT thoughts!! Thanks so much for sharing Arrow this is awesome!
Friends and I are looking for a new mmo to tackle together and came across this in Steam and had to do a little research. Google sent me after a quick search and after your take; I can say that I am excited to give it a shot!
YES! Come hang in or Discord if you want to man we’d love to welcome you in to our growing GW2 community!!
I just started pplaying this with friends. I have bought the game back when it was orignal out on Disc. They have only started playing now when the game is FTP however we have come across an issue that they can't sent mail with attachments unless they spend the money to UPGRADE to one of the expansions....Not major but slightly annoying considering there is no trade feature so the only way to share and trade items is using the mailing system.
can u meet people in game to play alone side with ?
Its mmo, so you will meet people often.
Yes, anyone that has not, should try GW2, it's still one of the best MMO's on the market. It's a very active MMO, unique mounts, each with their own capabilities, combat is phenomenal, graphics still hold up, horizontal progression, taking breaks from this game doesn't hurt you. My only real knock on the game are the dated cutscenes when going through your storyline, but it's not terrible by any stretch.
For anyone new to the game, check out Heroic Flamingo here on YT, his leveling guides are two years old, but still relevant. At end game, check out Snowcrows and Metabattle for min/maxing and rotations.
This is a pretty good breakdown of the game overall.
GW2 does do certain things better than other MMOs, such as mounts, combat, map design, and horizontal progression, but has a lot of problems too such as piss poor design in dungeons, fractals, raids, etc. It's a mixed bag really.
@@dangerousdays2052 Pretty much. There is no perfect MMO on the market, all have issues of some kind.
I want to start playing gw2, should i buy PoF first or EoD, the other will be bought soon its just a matter of what to buy first, thanks
Hey man - I’d do Path of Fire first for the continuation of the main story and then for the mounts :)
I've also noticed that for every item in the gem store there is some kind of worthy alternative in the actual game. It will be much harder to get and the texture quality might not be as polished but there is NO reason to spend real money on anything except expansion content. Even the super awesome convenience items in the gem store tend to be cheap enough to use in game gold to gem conversion to get.
Though I never feel bad about spending money in the gem store because they're not forcing me to, or even asking. They're just giving me a way to get cool in game cosmetic or convenient items while supporting the developers of a great game. Plus my favorite part is I can't feel guilty about taking a break from the game because I'm not missing anything or paying for it regardless of use. I often take breaks to focus on other things and I can hop back in right where I left off.
Problem is that the game does not have endagme for some players.. once you reach level 80, your only goals are fashion wars as gear is pretty easy to get and achievments.
I think this is ok. Let the people chase the dragon of everlasting gear grind. The horizontal progression of gw2 is what makes it stand out and continue to stay relevant even for players that take longer breaks like me.
Though i would disagree that all achievements are easy. (diving goggles on top of the eatherblade jp for example)
I am DEFINITELY recreating my D&D character in this
I came here for the review and I just want to say:
I was gonna leave you with a like and move on. I can clearly see the care and effort you put into this, but there were times I thought your personality just didn't quite fit mine so I'd rather not subscribe.
But 24:30 changed my mind. It showed me your high energy comes with a genuine care for kindness which I truly believe we need more of in our world.
Thanks for that, and here comes my sub!
I love the game, I i just hope in the future they stay away from FOMO like '' battle pass" type structure.
Great video, really enjoyed it thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I will still say that while the game is free I think the GW2 monetization is about the same as ESOs. Mostly pay for convenience and cosmetic purchases but for some people its still a problem. It is good that you can make money to trade for in-game shop purchased though.
I have tried to get into GW2 a handful of times and just have not been able to get into it... I keep thinking if i give it 1 more go it will click! but so far no :( maybe next try it will... :)
It’s definitely not for everyone! The horizontal progression can be a bit strange for traditional players for sure!
It really requires a different mindset to get into. It's not the sort of MMO where you want to be blasting through the content to get to dungeons/raids, it's more the sort where you want to take your time and enjoy the journey while letting yourself be pulled off the path that you laid out for yourself at the start of your gameplay session. Think Skyrim or The Witcher, not World of Warcraft.
Thanks for this video! New to MMOs and was looking for good ones. This one seems to be fairly suited to me who doesn't have a lot of time to grind all the time.
I kinda disagree on expansions not bringing power.
They give bonuses, they have the mounts and most importantly, they give you specializations which are stronger than any build you can make.
Now granted, if you buy the latest expansion, you get all 3 and it is worth it IMO. Still power though.
played when this game first game came out tried to play it again and couldnt get back into it
Squirrel? lol love the video and definitely have thoughts of trying it out. Just so many games to play its so hard!!!!
True bro! So many to play - you’re that EoA ambassador my guy! Proud of your success in that space man!
@@BrightlifeMMOs It kinda seems I am one now and hopefully can help the community with updates of it as much as I can! You hit 4k subs too!! Pumped for you and where you're channel goes as well I love the content and the new The State of the MMO!!
I don't mind them locking aesthetic stuff behind a price tag.... It's the best monetization besides an upfront one time purchase in my opinion and they gotta make money somehow
important to note, you can get the premium currency without using irl money.
Good game and nice video, but to correct a point: You do not get 5 character slots as a free player, only 2.
Jeremy Soule composed most of the music for Guild Wars 2. You may have heard his work in Skyrim if you don’t recognize his name 😁
yeah nobody likes that guy any more and his music is trash
the complex and very detailled answer is of course: YES!
Subbed. Well done.
Thanks for the sub! ❤️
a join dungeon or fractal raid so on button wouldnt work well in gw2 because of how classes work people are looking for different things when setting up
this game is underrated
Agreed!!
They need a random group finder for dungeons and fractals.
How can i play for free until 80 wihout mounts tho...
The OG game (that’s free) didn’t have mounts in it, so you get all of that without mounts no worries ❤️
@@BrightlifeMMOs I see. Well I'm planning on buying the two expacs with a friend anyway. We were just trying to figure out when. thank you!
@@BrightlifeMMOs Oh sorry one more thing. So, do both me and my friend need to get the same expansion or can we get two different ones? Are the experiences still shareable? Thanks :3
the too msny currency is def valid! but thankfully its got a pretty great wallet system so i honestly never had to think too hard about it XD
edit: OMG THE YO MAMA JOKE AT 9:55 WTF HAHAHAHAHA i got back to the game recently and realy properly paid attention to npc chatter and the story this time AND IT IS SO GOOD. i laughed so much at various times (im looking at u lord faran) and being able to take my time with it (instead of being rushed cuz i wanted to hurry up n play with friends) really goes a long way
“5 character slots is a good amount of characters slots!”
Me with my 37 character slots: 👀
Yes you should.
My tip: Focus your leveling build around Power which is Strike dmg as it usually yields the fastest kills and best experience.
Ramble:
Power > Precision > Ferocity should be your main stat in that order.
Power weapons usually are weapons that only deal raw dmg. No conditions and No healing. Utilities are similar story as well Traits ^^ You can look up leveling guides from meta battle for more info.
Many people ignore this trip and I have had several friends who quit because "the game feels slow and sluggish" and it was 100% their own fault for playing a bad build. No, it is not a miragle fix but time to kill can be more than 20second or less than 5 second depending how you build your character 😁 biggest problem are Alacrity and Quicknes boons which are rare when leveling nad make the gameplay more fluent.
Loved this game!
Haven't played in 7-10 years when Guild was doing WvWvW.
But man we had the best of times!!
12+ hours Guild grinds amazing times
"look at how many people are running around" - and there were 2 people running around.
This is a nice review! Wish I had more time to play.
I am one of the GoW og... this convinced me to jump back in
Actually, people always praise music in GW2 if they play with sound on. The biggest beef is was it better back when Jeremy Soule was main composer, or are the newer (actually, from after release addons) OSTs by Maclaine Diemer, Lena Chapelle and others are better. I am actually loving all of the osts throughout the years.
how to play 2023 edition?
this game got me into mmorpg type of games i played gw2 since it came out nonstop its a great game so much to do but i got burn out on it cuz for 11 years its all i played i never played anything else or took a brake so it sucks to say i got burn out i didn't know it was a real thing. when anyone ask me about it i tell them give it a try its a great mmorpg even if you never once play an mmorpg or never got into it you will like GW2
Restarted GW2 after 9 years 3 weeks ago!
How’s it been for you man??
Thank you for your nice positives vibes
*glares at you in LaLa *
#lalamasterrace
You knew it was coming 😂
Great video though!
😁