Posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 at 6:00 AM by Guest
Guild Wars II.
This was my first foray into the world of MMO. All right, so that’s a lie, at my friend Beth’s insistence I did use up a week of a free month trial of World of Warcraft once upon a time. On the surface, I have to admit that I don’t much find the idea of a multiplayer game with people I don’t know all that appealing. I have a hard enough time dealing with the public in my day job without wanting to come home and play video games with people I don’t know. I use games as a method of escape, not as a way to expose myself to more people.
My other problem with MMOs is that I have never owned a computer powerful enough to run them, and my X-Box is so old it doesn’t have a wireless router built into it, so even if I had wanted to play in the sandbox of online gaming there was no way for me to do it.
Well, now I have a new HP and a friend bought me Guild Wars 2 and I’ve taken my first steps into this new world. I haven’t played the first game, but I’ve not yet found that to be a hindrance. Most of the game is fairly comprehensive. Attacking is easy, movement is easy, the leveling up process could be more streamlined than it is, but I can appreciate the variety of it. I don’t like having to choose between vitality, power or precision for weapon boosts. Even as a warrior class I find the decision more difficult than it probably should be.
I enjoy how the males and females are treated no differently, and though I’ve run into a bit of sexism in the game, it’s nothing that’s ruined my experience or made me feel unwelcome within the fictional world. I love being able to watch the cut scenes and see my Norn warrior treated like a bad ass warrior.
Crafting is confusing, and there is no tutorial. Nor is there an explanation as to what you should keep or what you can sell. To veterans of MMOs I do imagine this system is probably fairly simple, but I have no idea how it all works, though I know how vital crafting can be in games and I will be looking up videos on my own to figure it out.
I also don’t enjoy how long it takes to leave an area, though I also know the pacing of the game has to be different for this kind of long-haul gaming. I found myself around level 12 antsy to move on to something new. Overall, though, I’m finding the experience a mostly positive one and I’m looking forward to providing more updates the more I play.
I am hoping to learn more about MMO's. I'm quite looking forward to my foray into Guild Wars. I DO have an interest in the genre or I wouldn't have purchased a brand new computer so I could play it. The purpose of the review is to perhaps show a different perspective on this genre and give my own personal experience, being new to the genre as I am. Remember, you were a newb once too. :)
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