Guest Reviewer- Daniel Culligan

Guild Wars 2 Review: Part 1

By: Dan Culligan

                If you are any type of PC gamer, chances are you’ve heard of Guild Wars 2. It’s a game that has been pegged with tons of hype from media and gamers alike, and it was to the point that a lot of people were worried it wouldn’t be able to live up to its foretold grandeur. I was one of those people who thought it could only disappoint with all the excitement about it, but it not only lives up to the hype, it exceeds what I thought it could be.

                When you first start up the game you are asked to choose between 5 different races: the Sylvari (Plant people born from a tree), Charr (Cat people-esque creatures), Asura (Think dobby from Harry Potter), Norn (Nordic people), and of course your average human. Each race has certain racial abilities but they are not designed to give any certain race a distinct advantage over the other. These abilities can range from being condition removals all the way up to letting you summon creatures to help you in the heat of battle. The powers are nice but they truly give no one race an advantage over the other, and this is a good thing as other MMOs have had many people upset with balance issues in the past. 

After choosing your race you are asked to choose from one of eight different professions: Warrior, Guardian, Elementalist, Engineer, Ranger, Necromancer, Theif, and Mesmer. Warrior being your average choose a weapon and hit people with it, Guardians are kind of like warriors with magic, Elementalist uses the elements to win fights (as per the name), Engineer uses turrets, traps, and bombs to take on their enemies, Ranger gets a pet companion and is mostly a projectile profession, Necromancer can summon creatures and place curses, Thief is a more sneaky, stabby type of profession, and Mesmer can project images of themselves to distract enemies and players alike. Now, people will be tempted to tag a specific role to each of these professions, but a big point of this game is that there are no defined roles to a profession. This means that there is no tank, healer, or DPS specific profession. In fact, the game has done away with these roles completely and the abilities you use will be based on the weapon you are carrying. For instance, a warrior carrying a mace and a shield will have more defensive abilities built around preventing incoming damage and keeping himself alive, while a warrior carrying a great sword is purely offense and is concentrated on pumping out damage.

This weapon system is something that is brand new to MMOs and it seems to be working out quite well. As you use a weapon you will start out with only an auto attack, but the more you use it, the more skills you unlock. The way the abilities are set up in the interface are the first three corresponding to your main hand and the last two corresponding to your off hand, unless you are using a two handed weapon, which will take up all five weapon skills. Now this system is great if you have a class that can use a lot of weapons, but if you are a class more limited to what weapons you can use, it can seem like you don’t have much to look forward to once you have unlocked all the abilities for the weapons you are using. With all the other stuff to do in the game, though, you won’t have to worry much about being entertained by your weapon.

This brings me to my next point. This game is loaded with content. I can’t speak for the end game but I’ve never had so much to do while I’ve been leveling. Between the vistas (viewpoints that you have to find a way to climb up to), the dynamic events and renown hearts you will never be bored while playing this game. Oh and by the way, you get experience for everything you do in this game, even for just gathering stuff that you need for crafting. This helps the game never feel like a grind, which is a big deal when it comes to MMOs. Most games try to hide grind but don’t really accomplish it, but this game really succeeds in doing so with the way the questing system is set up. It removes quest givers and instead gives you empty golden hearts on your map that when you enter the area around them it gives you a list of things you can do and gives you a bar that fills up as you do them. Not knowing that you have to collect a certain amount of a things keeps it from feeling like you are doing the same thing over and over.

The last thing I want to cover in part 1 of this review is how beautiful this game is. It is the best looking MMO I have ever played. I have gotten entertainment from just walking around and looking at the scenery that the game presents to you. The vistas really help show this off and they also allow you to get a little experience on the side as a little extra incentive. I’ve never seen this much attention to the environment in an MMO in my long time playing them and it is a very refreshing thing to have in a game.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ve still got a lot to get through in this game so I can give you guys my final grade on it. So far, it’s pretty incredible and I expect it to stay that way. In my next part I will go in depth with the dynamic events as well as give you my impressions on the zones that I have been working through on my Norn Warrior and even get into a little on the PvP side of things. Keep checking back for more.

This article was written by Daniel Culligan, a good friend of mine and man who has played many different games. Personally, I've seen him play the likes of Batman: Arkham City, Resident Evil 4, NCAA Football 12, the Mass Effect series, the Uncharted series and Battlefield 3 just to name a few. He is from Louisville, Kentucky and is currently a junior studying creative writing. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at aflynn@dailyegyptian.com and I will send the message to Dan. Hope you enjoyed the article and keep your eyes out for the second Guild Wars 2 review by Dan coming soon.