Guild Wars 2 in 2023 : The Best Value MMORPG ?

I've been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2 lately, and despite today's Hero Point Scroll situation, I still think this is one of the best value MMORPGs in the market right now, and also extremely fun, highly recommend.
More Rurikhan:
Main Channel: / rurikhan
Twitch: / rurikhan
Twitter: / rurikhan
Discord: / discord
#guildwars2 #rurikhan

[@OldManInternet]

I used to play GW2 years ago, and a friend of mine convinced me to redownload it and give it another shot. Looking forward to it filling the gap until Dragon's Dogma 2 and Dawntrail. The timing of Rurikhan's return is serendipitous

[@matsug5704]

Welcome back to Tyria!! theres 3 dlcs now, new weapons for all the clases and right now we are beta testing even more new weapons that will come soon for each class!

[@june_o9]

Core story for me was meeh. But once you get to HoT and it's Living world stories and further to PoF where you will unlock more mounts - that's where you will start to have more fun. IMO the best tip I can give you for the best experience is not to rush anything. What I did back in the past was exploring core map first. Had a blast with that. Then of course went with the story and some alt characters. After almost 5 years I'm still playing this game and there's still some stuff to do :) Recently jumped into WvW content and I'm mad I haven't done that earlier xP Hope to see more of your videos about your experience in Gw2 😏

[@cjb110]

Zojia and Felica Day are back in the latest expansion Secrets of the Obscura. Regarding the hero point respec, there was significant gap between HoT, PoF and EoD, so people just gained enough for all 3 elite specs and then can change freely, so this is a newer new player issue. But you right, it would be nice for new players to able to try an elite spec more freely earlier.

[@wiziek]

Yea but Zojia wasn't in game for a long time, well Ruri will see transition from base game and HoT to new crew with living story.

[@MrAddummm]

I've always followed your MH content, glad to see you playing another game i love! I'm in about the same boat as you with this. I picked it up a couple months ago and am just starting the living world seasons also and loving it. i pretty much agree with everything you said. i feel this game is more like a giant playground and you can kind of go and do what you want. i love all the variety and different ways to play this game. open world metas, jumping puzzles, instanced content, seasonal events. i also love all the little skits that happen all the time, and story (it really does get better). and the combat really is sooo satisfying. hoping you make more gw2 vids!

[@VampysWorld]

Hey there, thank u for playing Guild Wars 2! I'm playing and loving it since pre-release (25.08.2012) only with less breaks because of education, job or illness. At the moment of typing this comment, I'm at 12,026 hours of playtime. So I slided in your comments to clear out some things additional to your video. At first in general this game ist the great in respecting ur time. It depents how your own playstyle is. Do u have fun only with crafting or beating the tradingpost-game? Go for it, ur the boss^^ As example, there isnt a vertical equipment grind, like in other games. The highest rank is legendary and once u reached a legendary greatsword for example, u will never need a new one. Legendary stuff are more qol stuff, then a matter of damage, because the next lesser rank ascended has the same damage numbers. I for myself have a daily list of meta-events and other to-dos. But other ppl have a other style to play. In RL i need my to-do lists, too. So the game respects it and is giving it to me. This freedom is the point most of the ppl really love. 19:30 - GW2 had its time of drama, but since ArenaNet didnt skilled in PR, so only the playerbase years ago had heared about it. And to be honest, in my eyes I'm glad about the rising population because of the drama in wow, bless and so on. WoW refugees are always welcome :D -> There we are at another point why to play the game: The friendly and helpful community. When ur playing on normal daytime u will always find ppl who wants to help beginners espacially at the starter zones of the races. 21:15 - There were a time u were able to respec at "Trainer"-NPCs, but this expansive times are long long ago. Now u will have more heropoints as u will need, when u explore the content enough. If u really wanna cancel your way as holosmith to become a mechanist, just ask in mapchat, if a mesmer is that friendly to port u to the points. Maybe ur unlucky and he will ask for gold, but the most of "porters" dont wanna be payed. 23:45 - Thats right and was some of the selling points for me at the beta of GW2. With the latest announcements, also a warrior can be a supoortive, kinda healing class. Ever played a suppport warrior? No, give us a chance^^ -> My main class is the revenant and i really like to play the herald spec, because of its variety of playstyles. Heralds are able to play dps, boon dps, healer, tanky, offtank with heal, offtank without heal and so on. Build yourself (with every class) like it enjoys u the most! 25:00 - The system of boosting ur frech character with heropoints isnt really new. But in the past it was only for experienced players who played a bit of wvw (the mass pvp). |_> wvw works that at max 3 servers, depending on their population in wvw, get grouped in one colour and get matched against two other colours so u have big fights. In my case its 2v2v2 servers atm. I DONT RECOMMAND to buy any boosters, if u havent played a single character until the cap (which is lvl 80). The time between lvl 1 and 80 is the inofficial tutorial to get known to ur class. Pls do urself a favour and dont skip it. The real game starts with lvl 80 and if u are unsure about ur class, talk to experienced players. GW2 in general hasn't really a problem with pay to win. Only when your playstyle includes the so called "fashion wars" hehe :D But as i said, the endlevel is just the beginning of the game. Dont worry about the cash boosted ppl, u will certainly have a lot more fun and lesser struggle once u reached the endgame^^ When there are any other questions, or u need someone who can port u, don't hesitate and ask me anytime here or ingame. The name is Ladykira.8651 PS: Sorry for my english, it's not my mother tongue :)

[@crossingcommune123]

Happy to see you playing my favorite MMO! I've followed you for your other content for a long time and I didn't even realize you were playing this, I'll def check out any GW2 content you make!

[@DasTarnschnitzel]

Really Enjoing your Streams. Gw2 still has so much to offer you can look forward to

[@StoicPJ]

Glad you are working your way thru the story organically, the story and world will make much more sense and the story really gets better.

[@rawrshark9840]

Good to see you like gw2. I followed you originally because of your MH content. I played gw2 when it launched on steam and I fell in love with it. Whenever I get bored of MH, this is the game I play and now I'm less than 5 hours away from 2k hours of playtime. This is the best mmo for me, hope you have more good time playing the game.

[@SilentTERU]

I played only the free version, and was amazing, i loved the voice of my character and the story, and loved the community, really friendly. Even had so much fun with pvp.

[@KrisoVT]

You getting to experience an elite specialization is part of the expansion. So in a sense you using holosmith is similar to using skyscale or a PoF specific mount. If you want to get through the game in order, you sort of have to be stuck with only base specializations until you get into HoT

[@wiziek]

Yea, you can unlock any spec as you have bought expac, hero points are universal, story is at least blocked before starting it but with spec there are always more points, like if you'd done all HOT/PoF story points you can unlock one spec and have spare for next.

[@Gred0]

Yea I actually write the same comment. Technically he should just use base engi, and then scrapper and so on, the game will be a bit more difficult that way

[@leosanchez3081]

In the free game, there is spécialisation after lvl 80 or i must buy the first extension to have the spécialisations ?

[@Orakio]

@@leosanchez3081specializations require the expansions

[@KrisoVT]

@@leosanchez3081 each specialization requires one of the expansions, where soto has no elite specialization. So a free account can accumulate hero points, but cannot unlock any elite specialization.

[@DigitsRPG]

You can try any build in the PVP area they give you all the fully capped specializations. From Level 2.

[@bmarbler]

i like in gw2 that monsters can occupie small citys if you ignore them. the events are so cool made... and the world bosses. i also got lost in a pirate cave in the mountains with a huge labyrinth. was so awesome :D

[@wiziek]

About hero points you can get them WvW and in each expac there is always more hero points then you needed for its elite spec. Game could limit you to like making you unlock them in order of release but you are using holosmith which was second elite spec, not first or you could start with third if you have nd of dragons.

[@summerlover9299]

Great to see you playing GW2. I followed you while I was playing MH3, but between all the games I played GW2 is the one I always return. I loved your comment at the end about having too much fun playing the game xD, that is what all games should be about!

[@96Caleb96]

Been playing for about 6 months, absolutely loving it, SoTo was subpar but the features it unlocks are awesome, EoD is amazing so far!

[@MusPuiDiTe]

Can't wait to have an updated opinion on storytelling, since it evolved quite a few times during Living World Seasons and Expansions! Maybe a comparison with core/previous story? Re-assessment of the positioning besides competitor MMOs? I guess we'll see 😊

[@Sir_Scuttles]

Glad you're enjoying the game, it's definitely one of the mmos where it gets better the farther you get in. Season 1 is got some really cool stuff in it!

[@trick8925]

Welcome to Tyria!!! hope more gw2 video from youuu

[@TheLaur200]

If you think the fight at the end of the main story, you'd looooove the map metas in HoT for example, as well as some of the LWS3-4 and icebrood Saga ones, and especially EoD! The Dragon's End meta is one of the best events and just downright epic,emotional and tragic events in the game, with an epic OST and epic bossfight to cap it off! Not to mention many of these metas are quite profitable so there's good incentive to do them often.

[@enkeny]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I don't know what do you mean responsive combat? I used to play WoW but it was so long that it is not significant now. I lack the definition. By the way, do you know there is am action camera mode? Removing the tap target part. (I'm not a fan of it so I don't use it, but it is nice to know it has.) Resetting your hero points is interesting, but I think, if you want to go with the story, than you can do it as the players when it came out. When hearth of thorns came out, you do it without elite specialization, then after some hero point you had your elite spec halfway in the story. But when Path of fire came, we started with unlock the new specialization with the extra points from HoT (and from the core game). There are hero point farms, as you mentioned, where 20-50 people go around maps to do all the hero points in expansion maps (where you got 10 points / hero challenge) Also there is WvW version for hero points. but it is competitive game play. You need 25 hero challenge / elite specialization. Hot has 40. Also you can have a trial in the PvP lobby. you don't have to play pvp, just go in the lobby, making builds, testing in target golems. Problem is: it is the pvp versions of some skills. The "holy trinity" in guildwars2 exists, but not as a build, as a role. But if it is a role, than there are 4 not 3. We have 3 builds category for trinity. so the roles: heal, tank, dps, support (buffer). (originally it should be control, support and dealer, but only the support phrase survived.) and the builds: heal support, dps support, dps. Why is that? Well there is no actual hate control. At least usually. So everyone stands behind a terrain piece, and when the boss come in line of sight, it is in melee range. That was the "Tanking". And what is dps-support? well in the high end content, the party need some boons (buffs). it can be covered by 2 people. Then you need a healer and damage. So you have 5 people, 1 will heal and provide most of the boons. Another one will provide the remaining boons, but after it is covered, they will try to max their damage output. And you have 3 slot for dps players. Everyone has healing skill, dodge, so they can have some damage time to time. That is also a part why we don't need a tank. In raids there is a tank. For each boss, there is a tanking strategy. Mostly it is stat base. but there are some, where it is proximity, random, fixed by picking up something or the boss moves in a pattern. We have taunt by the way. But it is a control condition, similar to fear, immobilize. That means it not works on bosses. It only do break bar damage.

[@embreis2257]

15:17 you're in luck: Felicia Day is back to voicing Zojja with the latest expansion _Secrets of the Obscure_

[@diode_wow]

I downloaded the base game for free on steam to check it out after your video with Accolon. Can't wait to dive in and if it wins me over, I'll buy the whole thing.

[@freakygoblin3068]

Couple of points. Everything in the "shop" such as bag slot expansions, extra chars, skins etc can be brought as you can exchange in-game gold for gems, the currency of the store. The other thing and the reason I love GW2 is that solo play is perfectly feasible. No getting to level 16-20 and being forced to group up. There is content which requires groups but they are optional. Calling it respec is confusing. The order you unlock cannot be changed. Once you've unlocked things, you can respec to your hearts content. One trick is to play in PvP where you can try builds and elite specialisations without unlocking them. Find out what you like so you know the order to unlock for you. WvW already had the capability to unlock hero points as far as I am aware so putting in the gem store isn't really a big deal for me. A final point you never mentioned was the horizontal progression. High level items don't become redundant after a while. This is great as with no subscription you can leave the game for a couple of months and come back and you are just as powerful as before.

[@wrath_of_ronin1095]

I'm in a similar position with trying to unlock my first elite specialization while being in living world season one storywise. You can actually get hero points through WvW by using the currency you gain at one of the vendors. This should save you from any story hopping. I will say tho that you If you went to the first PoF quest to get the raptor mount you can pretty much explore some of the PoF maps without any story missions and get the hero points on the map like you would organically.

[@RurikhanUnleashed]

I didn’t go there with this character

[@wiziek]

@@RurikhanUnleashed Raports where changed, now even base game/trial characters get them to ease with leveling in base game so before you enter any expac.

[@ckwi2245]

Some notes on your comparisons of the Big 4 MMOs, but I'll just exclude ESO since I really haven't played enough to have a solid opinion. Netcode: WoW >>>> GW2 >> FFXIV -This is where a lot of the combat feel comes from, WoW's netcode is just so damned good. Story: FFXIV > GW2 >>>>> WoW -If you go as a whole (within the game) FFXIV has the best, if you go any given chunk GW2 gives a much better showing especially on non MSQ content, and in Base Game both are weak, but for different reasons. FFXIV it's slow and mostly world building and doesn't actually feel bad until you are pretty much done with base HW, GW2 retroactively messed theirs up to make it easier to get past for new comers... WoW, did you buy the books? Study the wiki? Do the Bellular Story video playlist? If not then you probably missed all the good parts. WoW's story telling in game would be in a fight for dead last if Korean MMOs would actually hire competent translation teams. Open World: GW2 >> FFXIV >>>>> WoW -I think the only thing you got off here was the statement about GW2 and Quests, they are there and the are just as monotonous, just structured differently. I think FFXIV picked up Fates from GW2, but GW2 has the more occasional events (almost exactly like FFXIV Fates) and their more known quests are similar to One & Done fates (the hearts on the map). It also has a decent amount of chain quests in zones, some of the Hearts have an unlock order, and there are still a few more traditional quests. It probably gets better hidden by the progress path being more linear than looping, where you get to the end of the road clearing traps and the quest giver for part 2 is at the bridge in front of you rather than back at the last fort you picked it up at, which is what is the "norm" for MMO questing. Will agree this natural "explore the zone" quest progression "tour guide" definitely feels better as a player than the "get all the !s in the fort" then clean and return. Consistency: FFXIV >>> WoW >>>>>> GW2 -The one you missed and a lot of people comparing the MMOs together really don't mention. FFXIV has such a reliable update cadence that is really hard to brush off. WoW is reasonably consistent on expansions, but patches are a bit random, who knows how many, how much content, how long until the next etc. GW2 is getting better on this point, if you took it's entire lifetime to date, my rating is pretty accurate, if you just go from End of Dragons Launch to current, it's basically on par with WoW for frequency, but a little behind in content contained in a patch. If they keep it up for a few more years they can actually be a contender here. Value/$$: GW2 >>>> FFXIV >> WoW -Anyone who disagrees here just doesn't like the games. You can get GW2 and the first 3 expansions on sale for super cheap pretty often, I think on Black Friday weekend you could basically get the first 3 expansions for like $30. Even at full price Expansion 1-3, Living World 2-5 is only a one time $100. Only thing saving FFXIVs value over WoW is update consistency, and that a large amount of the cash shop is old seasonal event items. GW2s cash shop is a good chunk more aggressive than FFXIV/WoW, but alas there is $15/mo you aren't spending on it to consider, but you are more likely to need to interact with it than FFXIV or WoW, especially to produce enough character slots to just play all the classes. GW2 is pretty safely the Best 2nd MMO for any MMO gamer. Graphics: Style: WoW > GW 2 > FFXIV - Raw Resolution: FFXIV > WoW > GW2 -Style wise, GW2 is just fine compared to the other big MMOs, but out of the Big 4, it needs a massive texture/rendering/lighting/effects overhaul the most. WOW has done that big time 2 or 3 times now and a lot of piecemeal updates since pretty much Cataclysm, FFXIV is starting a big one in Dawntrail. We will see how well WoW's style holds up over the World Soul Saga with Samwise retiring. Controller Support: Yeah... -No arguments. More games need to take advantage of FFXIV's control scheme deliberately not being patented. GW2 does such a great job condensing a class down to limited CHOSEN buttons, that if they adopted FFXIVs controls up to just LT & RT modifiers it'd run beautifully. I think the big part of Guild Wars 2 that more MMOs really need to look at for inspiration though is the Class Building from the Player Perspective. GW Balance is getting better, but discarding that glaring issue for now. GW2 gives you the most control over what your class plays like, and the most freedom with a tiered thematic system. I also very much like how your weapon is an actual choice in your character build, it's not a cosmetic/stat balance change like most games, and each class has a unique set of skills for any given weapon. It also backs up why I want more games to have "Rotating Combo Buttons" because it gives each button so much more identity than using 3-6 buttons for what is effectively an auto attack animation chain. Once the game's balance gets closer to level GW2 will basically have no competition on Personalized Class Fantasy in the MMO space, it is literally held back by too many options being objectively bad. Still Good Work, Nice Video, Hard to Really Disagree with Takes!

[@dmoney_pimpslap]

WoW's netcode is trash. There's a reason you get rubber-banding and teleporting whenever you get 20 WoW characters on screen at the same time. In contrast, WvW can support 200 people on screen and you seldom see any of that (except the occasional warclaw jumping high into the air). But, even with WoW's netcode being trash, it's better than the mess that is FFXIV. Netcode: GW2 >>> WoW >>> FFXIV

[@ckwi2245]

@@dmoney_pimpslap I think part of your observation has more to do with GW2 Minimum/Recommended Specs being lower than WoWs thus giving better performance at outwardly worse circumstances. And I've definitely seen people teleporting and rubber banding during Meta Events for GW2 as well. Probably a solid argument for the difference between WoW and GW2s Netcode being more of a competition than I rated them as, but from press button feel action portion of the netcode WoW runs really smoothly. Can probably argue how well the netcode connects you and other players, which in FFXIV still the worst of the group, but on just [You > Server > You] and ignoring [Other Player > Server > You] which has way more factors than just the Netcode alone, WoW still in a high class of responsiveness (which also makes you wonder why Diablo IV has had so many issues at that level). Also depends on how the Client Side vs. Server Side Authoritative the code is. I know FFXIV is heavily weighted to Server Side Authoritative, and has been gradually getting more Client Side Authoritative in combat over the years. Can confess I'm not as familiar with this portion of WoW and GW2, just ran on a "Button Press Does Stuff" responsiveness feel for that rating.

[@varuna918]

There is no respec because unlocking a specialization is part of the experience of an expansion (it's supposed to be a reward for exploring the world). You're supposed to go to the expansion maps and do the hero challenges to unlock your spec. Respeccing kind of defeats the purpose of doing the challenges. Which, especially in Heart of Thorns are really hard (thye are pretty much either world bosses, or require masteries and doing puzzles to get there).

[@greggeiger7532]

I just made it to level 30 and it’s starting to open up. Did the first dungeon it was fun. I love gear though and I hope the gear stays interesting because I’ve heard it’s different from games like WOW.

[@Gred0]

About Respecing, techincally the elite specs you've been using are from the other expansions. So how it should work is going from expansion to expansion you get more point to level up what you have. Once you've got them all, or two, you can always switch between them at any time. Also if you want someone to do some dungeons with and you're on europeon server, I'd join you.

[@jgkitarel]

Interestingly, that bit with Zojja actually fits for an Asura character. They tend to be this overly academic bunch, so the dev team working in scheduling conflicts and making Zojja's more impersonal style as a mentor does work well, given how the Asura generally are portrayed as sanctimonious egotists who feel like they are better than everyone else and could be doing something more important. You get a race of scientists, even if they tend to be somewhat mad scientist in many ways (a lot of the humor with them is watching how their experiments fail, often spectacularly) but they have at least some ethics, and then you take it away with the Inquest. As for the personal story, it was a bit more in depth at the start, but the progress in it was slower and prone to the quest sometimes being tuned higher than the level it said it was for could easily handle. The version of it that became a thing since shortly before Heart of Thorns is more streamlined and also friendlier to new players. Both have their good parts and their bad parts. It is also not helped by the fact that some story points in the main story are tied to the side story points of the Story Mode of the Dungeons, with the final story quest taking place in a dungeon. Aside from the last one, the others I don't have a lot of knowledge of, sadly.

[@Sevard85]

Hero points aren't really an issue if you do things organically. You will get more than enough points to master specializations when you get there. And you can check how those elite specializations look like in PvP lobby. In PvP character automatically gets lvl 80 and all skills are unlocked.

[@Backinmywhey]

Its funny how im downloading it right now and just opened youtube to see this. Great timing.

[@Gawdrek]

I got into GW2 over Christmas break and it's pretty sweet.

[@adamironbender5120]

I found you during your MHW content... you fell off my radar when I discovered GW2. Welcome to the cool kids table my friend. GW2 is just amazing. I would strongly recommend you trying Bladesworn. It somewhat hits that Gunlance playstyle.

[@Skyztamer]

GW2 has been my favorite game in between the major patches of FFXIV. My account is technically six years old, but the game didn't hook me at the time, then I came back after beating FFXIV's 6.0 MSQ just because I wanted to try more games on my new PC. GW2 is also amazing in the fact that it not having a gear treadmill allows me to take long breaks away from the game and not feel any pressure to keep playing. My gear will be just as relevant in x many years to catch up to the newest content. FFXIV has a good bandaid solution by making the final tier of gear easy to acquire with an old currency at the start of the next expansion; but I still find it annoying having to do this for every job I play every 10 levels.

[@ogrimbothesour2976]

Can confirm, gw2 scratches every itch that xiv doesnt , and visa versa tbh. they compliment each other perfectly.

[@catasuetolire1424]

In my personal opinion, the reason gw2 isn't popular is that it doesn't hold any visible spectacular feature that would bait people into playing it, as the game focus on making the experience of playing it the best quality Its hard to explain how fun it feels to play gw2, without just playing it

[@dahobdahob]

You can have a ton of fun with this game for no money at all. But here is a realistic expectation for someone who has no GW2 and wants to play long term: for around $100 you can play the whole game for as long as you want. That price includes buying an all-inclusive version of the latest expansion on sale (which typically happens pretty often), a set of eternal gathering supplies, an eternal salvage kit, all the living world content and some combination of bank/bag/character slots. If you really play the game, you will want all those thing. You can tack on any cosmetics you have to have, but that's on you :) So there you go. Around $100, maybe $150 and you can easily log a couple thousand hours comfortably and have a great time.

[@venny1689]

Bear in mind that the elite specialization system was introduced in the first expansion. The fact that you are playing as a holosmith in the core game and the 2 seasons prior to HoT is already kind of out of the ordinary way. There's not really a re-spec system because the elite specs came out with only one option available originally. Then it took them about 5 years to get to a point where they had a reasonable amount of choice that would warrant such a system, and that was kinda recently.

[@kirvu9677]

Been playing Guild Wars 2 for 11 years now and I can't recommend it enough. Funnily enough regarding the dungeon aspect.. Mythic plus was actually taken directly from Guild Wars 2's Fractal system.

[@frostdracohardstyle]

Respec isnt a feature because the expansions are separate. It would be a ncie quality of life, but if you only own one xpac, you only have access to those heropoints and you will always have more than you need. There are about 488 surplus hero points in the game.

[@Bes7iA]

here's the thing, by being a holosmith you are already using a feature from an expansion, specializations weren't a thing on the base game, each expansion adds one to your class, now that you bought the expansions you have access to them, but you weren't mean to, that's why a "re-spec" isn't a thing, but you still can get them without go to the expansions, go into wvw and gain currencyu there, then you can go to a vendor there and buy extra hero points

[@EnriqueBobadillaL]

The hero points is only an issue with your first character or even your first 2 or 3 characters depending on how well you pick up on the leveling process, after that, you just create a character and rush into the expansion or WvW to max the hero points, its even part of the grinding/fun of creating new characters. Part of the drama is that those first to 3 characters are like a "rite of passage". Now that being said, that item is just a noob trap that it may ruin the experience for new players, same with lvl 80 boost this one is only worth if you know what you are doing, Also for the way that stats works on GW2 is hard to sell items that are consider pay 2 win.

[@2Btoobee]

tbh its the people who like to rush things that have problems with that. I played free for one year, never had a problem w/ getting hero points, i got tons when i got addicted to wvw, then a friend bought be the expansions as a gift then i have so much of the AP even after maxing out all the new specs. there's also those who complain about transmog, which you can also get ALOT in wvw, people who don't wanna make effort just kept on complaining wanting to get them for free

[@valbrend9819]

Base game story was honestly ok but not great but honestly the heart of thorns,they did made an improvement but Path of fire for me is where it’s shine

[@MrZarran]

ruri, if you want to play with zioja ( I think I got the name right), as you level up you recieved mails about exploring different dungeons, you should check it out because the dungeons are continuing stories ( story mode available) of your character's stories, same as the living world stories. you should also check pvp and wvw, it's not perfect but as mmorpg are concern, I think it's the best. peace, have fun.

[@ckwi2245]

Also the MSQ Dungeons being removed from the MSQ, but still holding their story significance causes a lot of problems with a new players connection to the story. I hit that issue hard when I finally played thru the base game last year. Might also contribute to the "Hi, oh you died, why do I care?" moments, since when they did the big base game story revamp, it was very much a "rush job" of pushing inconveniences into optional content, but not reworking the content so the story stays contiguous.

[@wiziek]

@@ckwi2245 Yea, you had e-mails about them at each lvl, not sure if you had to do personal story too but it was always optional at least unlock/mechanics wise if you didn't want to bother with dungeon and other player can always open.

[@ckwi2245]

@@wiziekthe mail about the dungeons happened yep. But way back when, the Dungeons were a required part of the personal story progression. That requirement was removed with the "New Player Experience" patch back in like 2014. Combine that with dungeons being dead content that can be quite challenging for the average new player to get a group together for, and very little actual group play being part of the "tutorial" experience so most people will just miss them as a matter of practicality. Also the mailed notice does very little to emphasize the urgency and/or importance of the dungeons to the story.

[@MusPuiDiTe]

I think the hero point are locked to what you spend 'em on just because the Elite Specs are lore tied to the expansions: if I remember correctly at the very start of the game you could do that, I suppose there some reasons behind that, other the lore ones

[@michaeldmckenzie]

Yeah, I wish re-spec was a thing. Good content, subbed.

[@ethe0m]

I'm glad to see GW2 getting some love. I'd like to offer some clarity on ESO. It does require the subscription from time to time. You can very easily sub for 1 month and unlock every skill line in the game and once your sub expires, you keep all that character progress forever. I've unlocked all content and never bought any DLC.

[@fezzzost950]

I played gw2 for a bit solid game i enjoyed leveling and the world event are supper cool and pvp was fun.

[@ironnoodle7992]

Great Video. Just want to clarify for new or potential players. You don't "get" mounts. This makes it appear that their is an NPC standing around giving out mounts. You "earn" mounts. While some are easily acquired with a simple quest, the "top" mounts require lots of work, time and gold to the point that many players do not have all the mounts.

[@DigitsRPG]

Hey, Ruri. I'm also playing GW2 at the moment (taking a break on FFXIV) and I'm basically doing what you are doing and following the story as it came out. Problem is I'm enjoying World V World too much. Anywho enjoy, Maybe ask Gaijin too?

[@Normal-Person]

Been playing on and off since 2012 and have an 11 year-old character. I play this game alongside FFXIV and boy do them compliment each other very well.

[@lordarcanix]

I understand the frustration with hero points, having gone through the same thing when I played through GW2 last year. But here are my thought as to why respec is not needed. As you said, this is only a problem for people who want to experience the game in chronological order, and in that sense you're already "cheating" by having an elite spec at all. All that content is tuned for base classes, and even then it's been power crept by how the core specs have been buffed over the years. Then there's the problem that if you could just reassign your points, there would be no use in getting any more once your first hero spec is complete. Even then, as others have pointed out, you can unlock every hero point in the game through WvW, which is base game content. It's also only an issue once, after you've gone through the story on one character, any alts you make will be getting everything done in an afternoon or two. Unless things changed in the last year, dungeons are actually really easy to get into. The lfg is always empty because the groups fill up near instantly. Just list yourself and people will join, especially if you indicate you're new.

[@Forgotten_Moon]

Greetings, not sure if you are aware of the recent beta testing ;D you will have 3 extra character slot from now on and can try all the lvl 80 classes as well as specializations during these days(it ends on 12/3) without spoilar lol If you are interested, don't forget to log in and take a look^^ 20:44 WvW is interesting, it feels like a gameplay between PvE and PvP lol If you have a zerg to follow it feels like PvE, if you love roaming with a small group of ppl, then it is a PvP with more freedom like old WoW open world PvP I would say. There is also GvG, two big group of players crash together to see who can survive till the end xD 22:19 hmm, there is a way for you to test all the specializations before you spend your actual HP. You can enter the PVP lobby and all your specs can be tested in that area as long as you have the expansions. But yeah, I also think withraw HP should be a thing lol 25:00 yeah -btw, they are selling it in gem store now, which is a hot topic within the community as well ;3- Ps. WvW is not particularly special among Korean MMOs but it is unique in western gaming community. It is probably originated from Lineage, another game you can think about that has a similar massive battle with sieges is BDO and the upcoming Thrones and Liberty. I think ESO also has a similar gameplay, but many ppl tell me that the server can't hold it very well :"( THANK YOU for the vid

[@Orakio]

There’s going to be a dungeon rush some time in December so you’ll be much more likely to find people during that time.

[@Arclor]

4.5k hours total in GW2, played from 2014 to 2020. Wonderful game, huge value, I always recommend it to others. I ended up quitting because the devs increasingly focused on story content and made no improvements or additions to the combat system. As someone who primarily enjoyed pvp and wvw game modes, that meant no new content for years.

[@jvdach4652]

GW2 has the possibility to be played on controller if you use Steam(even if you use the original gw2 launcher)

[@jimmykorona5205]

As someone that still has his GW2 game DVD/CD Rom game discs , would my Game Key still be viable ?

[@wiziek]

Should be but you only get some restrictions lifted, base game is free with some trial restrictions.

[@s0ulb0und]

About Zojja....SoTo will answer all your questions about her ;]

[@christopherbradford1890]

I used to play GW2. I still do. I used to, too!

[@midnitdragoon]

Guess I'll give gw2 another try. I will make a new hunter or whatever they called. Also has a black bird that follows it around. Real cool

[@Liisjak]

You can jump into the pvp lobby and test every elite spec on the testing bots there.

[@asfsdfh]

i love the way you presented guild wars 2, but the fact you didnt want to skip on expansion content while simultaneously wanting to play mechanist immediately (an end of dragons elite spec, thats unlocked by getting the 3rd expansion) is funny. xD the games fault for giving out excess hero points imo, but still funny.

[@KenditTV]

GW2 is the only MMO for me that even if you take ur time, you will see progress

[@quickpawmaud]

I just started with GW2 yesterday after getting to max in WoW Season of Discovery (pretty new to WoW as well). I also have played a lot of ESO and FF14. Biggest issue I have with the game is it is the easiest out of all 4 in the leveling at least. Just spam auto attack and you win. So boring why are MMOs designed for the lowest common denominator to beat them. Have a story mode toggle or something for those people and let me have at least some semblance of challenge! WoW SoD was a way more engaging experience in that regard only. Literally everything else about GW2 so far blows all three of those other games out of the water. This game is what I desperately wish ESO was. The my story stuff is amazing all the little flavor rp choices at character creation I love it! So many cool things about the game. The UI and UX stuff is the best in the genre IMO. They have done an amazing job with the game. Except for the character customization that is terrible. Why do I have to choose between thickness or booba? I want both! Also need way more hairstyles especially shorter ones since I hate clipping and long hair clips so much in these types of games. Also the transmog stuff is ridiculously hard to get. No excuse for that shit. All three of the others are better in this regard (except WoW Classic but retail is better for customization than GW2).

[@azure98]

What I really liked about Guild Wars 2 between PvE, PvP, and WvW is they arent entirely separate content islands like in most games. You can start a new character from Lv1 and FULLY level and gear that character entirely within PvP. Say you have the goal of crafting something and you have to do a ton of material or gold farming but you are getting tired of PvE maps, you can just jump into PvP or WvW and set your reward track to the items you need and continue to make progress on your goal in a different mode. Every piece of content in Guild Wars 2 gives you tangible progress towards your goals regardless of the type of player you are. Sure there are some pursuits and stuff that are exclusive to one part or another but your time isnt wasted in any piece of content in GW2 and its all about picking what you are having fun with at the moment. The whole Hero Point purchase thing is scummy for me mostly because its taking advantage of people who dont know better. Hero Points are really easy to get in PvE and you can get Hero Point Auto Completion items for FREE by playing WvW.

[@KamiKaZeJeremy]

WvW is my main game mode just love it and also i like PvP this is an excellent game we love it 😁

[@congolim]

I guest you didn’t play “the order of whispers” story line. You will have different point of view about the emotional scene. As that is the best story line.

[@KamiKaZeJeremy]

About Respect, you don't need to respect because eventually you will unlock all classes and their respective specializations just keep playing, the way we did it years ago and still the same not very hard to do it just keep playing

[@angrypancake4358]

The last boss was supposed to have another ground fight phase, but it was scrapped, because they ran out of time. Thats why the last boss fight kinda sucks.

[@Rastamike808]

Hey ruri what about Black Desert Online?

[@wafflingmean4477]

Honestly as a long time player selling hero points on the store is something I just don't really care about. It doesn't make the game pay to win. The classes and specialisations are capped in the amount of hero points they can use, so if you already have enough, buying more won't power you up further. Two players fighting each other in PvP will genuinely have a 0% difference in power level if one of them bought a bunch of hero points. Buying hero points is just a way to unlock some parts of your class and elite specs a little faster. But the fact is, they're not hard to get by just playing. At all. Exploring maps to completion has dozens of huge benefits to the player and hero points is just one of them. So even if you don't want to spend the time getting hero points, if you like the game and play the game, you're going to get a huge amount of hero points without really trying. The only place where they CAN be hard to get is the Heart of Thorns expansion, because most of the hero points are nearly impossible for the average player to solo. You need a big group. And even then if you just open up Heart of Thorns in LFG every hour or so while you're doing something else in game, soon enough you'll see a group that's doing all the Heart of Thorns hero points. The key to Guild Wars 2 is to multitask. If you hyper focus on one aspect of the game you'll find it's difficult because so many different areas of the game interact with one another. Do a few things at a time and things will be a lot easier and faster. Also any time you're confused, go to the wiki. It's insanely helpful.

[@michaellehner3339]

On ESO selling questlines, sorry, that is wrong. Of course they do sell a lot of DLCs, which is new zones and dungeons, and of course there are new quests in there. But this is true for any other MMO out there, too. Where i think you got the idea from is, that during seasonal events there are new quests. And as casual players don't regularily walk past all the different places in the rather huge open world and thus would easily miss these seasonal quests, the quest starters then also are for free in the item shop. So yes, you can pick those missions up there, but the cost is zero. Not so much selling but providing easy access. (I don't deny that this also is a move to make you open the item shop, though. And there unfortunately also is a pile of stuff in there, which are not worth buying. Including gambling crates. But neither of those is an issue only ESO has, the same thing is true for many other MMOs out there, GW2 included. )

[@egoboost13]

There's no need for a respec and it's not something that will ever happen...you can go do the hero points and it won't affect your story progression at all. So you can be stubborn and decide you're going to do it your way but that's not how it works, end of story. Go do a hero point train, get everything unlocked and then you can play the story how you like. They didn't really have the trinity on release...in the last couple years that has changed quite a bit. So there was a shift in philosophy. Not every class can be a healer, though....the nice thing is that game modes like WvW really is where you can shine as a support player, though, as your throughput for healing is insane....on top of that, it's really funny for those of us that play WvW all the time that they're selling "hero points" as you can literally buy all of that stuff from currency that you get just from playing WvW without even trying, so that could be another solution for you...just by going in and doing an hour of WvW you will get currency to be able to unlock all the hero points you like without even going there.

[@user-du2os9lb2o]

ZOJJA and Felicia day has returned for latest expansion Secrets of the obscure

[@kardez89]

you have no need for respecc you can get all speccs later. for all specc you need 250 hero points but the new maps like heart of thornes, path of fire gives 10 point for each point on the map but all the point for the core gw maps gives 1 hero point Btw welcome to guild wars 2 enjoy your stay

[@wiziek]

Yea but Ruri mean like swaping right now.

[@herzallerliebst]

ESOs overworld content plays like a themepark with lots of collectibles on easy mode. It has horizontal endgame progression, so it is accessible. And playing the economy game, collecting plans for housing or style was satisfying for me to. I am a sceptic of the harder group content, but I only took a glimpse. I don't like ff xiv mikromanagement not to stay in stupid either, but in ESO group content feels somewhat off putting to me. Maybe because the classes are les differentiated.

[@mikeg5039]

Been a gw2 main since its launch. Ive played wow and ff14 to max level. Gw2 is the best mmo and its FREE! You can pay for speedier progression in crafting armor and weapon sets but thats really it, the rest is your own hard work and build setup.

[@Puppetmaster2005]

As an old player of GW2 who has quit after Path of Fire, i have to strongly agree that GW2 is the most value for money mmo out there. What I loved most about GW2 is the fact that my gear NEVER expires throughout the lifespan of the game. This may be a con to some, but for a full-time working adult, i cant constantly play games every day. GW2 also offers so many different methods of gear acquisition and game modes that it gives so much freedom to me as a player. I LOVE it. My ONLY gripe with the game, is actually the living world system. The episodes were offered up free IF you logged in to receive it, and as someone who has been away for more than 2 years, trying to justify spending cash to unlock all those episodes is not easy. If you're a new player and are trying to get into GW2, this would be my greatest question to you: Would you be willing to spend money to unlock all those smaller "filler" episodes in between the main expansion storylines? FYI, those "filler" episodes contain ADDITIONAL ZONES, LOTS OF ADDITIONAL COSMETICS, NEW GEAR SETS (with different stat distributions), NEW MOUNTS etc. If you are, then good for you. Because it's worth it. But for me.... it's a hefty cost. I live in Malaysia, and my currency is not as strong as the US dollar. 1 USD is almost equivalent to 5 ringgit now... and yes, if you take into account our country's average salary, that amount is close to a 1 to 1 comparison. Imagine getting 2k USD a month for salary, and your games cost 200USD. That's what we face over here hahah.

[@oldnoobgamer90]

I bought all my Living World seasons using gold I farmed in game. I too live in Malaysia. So there is a way to get all the items in gem store without having to pay for it. I do support the developers via the expansions.

[@Puppetmaster2005]

@@oldnoobgamer90Yeap, but that would indeed require a time commitment that, unfortunately, as a casual player, I cannot afford anymore. I can do my dailies in an hour and that's about it. I COULD catch up on weekends, but........... yea... it is way more efficient to pay. Don't get me wrong though... I still loved my time with GW2 and if my life gets smoother in the future, I might have time to get back into it. My favorite MMO i've ever played.

[@MacFernor]

This might be the most grounded and realistic comparison between the big MMOs that I've seen so far. With WoW having the most responsive combat, FF14 having the best story, and GW2 being by FAR the best MMO player experience out there. The scale, the combat system, the sheer amount of people you meet randomly at events, it's amazing .Can't wait for you to get to HoT and PoF to experience what GW2 is really all about. Cause the base game...as much fun as it is, is nothing compared to what's coming for you. ;) One thing though...don't be too discouraged by LW Season 2, it can be bit rough for some players to get through.

[@gusblacksmith9]

Now all we need is to get Gaijin Hunter addicted to GW2... one can only hope.

[@Orakio]

The reason why you don’t hear much about GW2 might also be because of its smaller player base that is predominantly casual so are less likely to be on forums or online making a ruckus about a recent patch update.

[@FictionPC]

No sea servers sadly, so ill stick to ff14 til a new mmo comes out with a sea server. Its hard to dodge things, I have to determine the mechanics and dodge in advance.

[@australienski6687]

I love this game but my biggest problem with it is, it's marketed as being a casual friendly MMO, but it's not really. Mounts have become a necessity, specifically flying mounts and they are a massive grind to unlock. Without flying mounts you are at such a disadvantage and it can be a major turn off to new players.

[@rensakikatsu9028]

I feel like Guild wars 2 is held back cause its not on console as well. This is imo that sets ff14 apart as you can play it on consoles so more support and larger fanbase

[@nufvcosta]

Any time spent on either spvp or wvw'll translate into a decent ammount of free hero points attained through currency (you use spvp/wvw tokens to "unlock" the hero points). The store option's completely unnecessary unless you're a whale that literally just started playing the game. Is it scummy and a step in the greedy direction? Yes, but in a world with things like wow tokens....

[@draconic367]

You need hero points and want to avoid spoilers? Wvw gives you a currency you can use to unlock the hp's without going there and spoiling the content. It doesn't allow you to "respec" because its actually quite easy to unlock everything.

[@Ym-oi2we]

GW2 is by far the best mmo in my opinion. Btw, you have so much content to dd

[@tydeb1780]

It would be the best but it lacks servers for us Aussies also has pretty predatory mtx and very little care for players sorry but it's got a lot to fix and change to be the best it is slot of fun tho minus the mind numbing grinds also isn't old-school Runescape one of the biggest mmos

[@HerrFinsternis]

This game is still alive? Never played this un but I loved the original.

[@RhubarbRehab]

Should I start playing this? I’ve been meaning to for like 2 years

[@wiziek]

Well base game have infinite and pretty big trial (it is all content before expac with some account restrictions) and thrre is big sale going on.

[@Hagosha]

The ironic part of you going to Path of Fire to get the raptor is that you actually just get it account-wide once a character hits lvl 10 now. It was changed a little while back. Also, I find GW2 hard to recommend because people like Asmongold have completely dismissed it, saying "it looked like a bad game so I didn't bother". I know that seem silly, but folks like him really do shape perceptions bigtime for a number of MMO players who would probably REALLY enjoy it.

[@RurikhanUnleashed]

When I went to path of fire you didn’t get the raptor at lvl 10.

[@Hagosha]

@@RurikhanUnleashed ah, i must've misunderstood the timing then. haha, my bad.

[@hermannschaefer4777]

WvW keeps me playing for 10 years.. ^^

[@matsug5704]

Welcome to Tyria!! Gw2 best mmo :3

[@TaqSoto]

Id love to play Guild Wars 2 if only it had controller support. I cant play with a keyboard and mouse.

[@dmoney_pimpslap]

Millions of players use keyboard and mouse. You should try it. Or, get a Steam Deck and play it on that.

[@TaqSoto]

@davidh3310 I have tried keyboard and mouse. It's just not for me. I've been gaming with a controller my entire life lol. I do have a steam deck, but it's not steam deck verified so I figure it wouldn't work.

[@myselfme767]

I absolutely dislike the story in GW2. It almost made me quit the game a couple of times :D But you have to do it only once and I've heard some people say you don't have to do it at all, but I know you need to finish some chapters for different masteries, so I guess you have to go through some of it. Anyway I'm playing everyday and I've done only some parts of the story :) I find the open world more fun. I think the dragon you're talking about it Aurene and she's on your side.

[@dragoonism]

Gw2 for life!!!!!

[@Wenedi]

If GW2 updated it's combat feel and ability VFX I'd play it over any other game. Currently most of the abilities feel very lackluster and paperweight. Lack of any cool looking ultimate skills (when compared to modern mmo's) or abilities really hurts the overall game experience.

[@wiziek]

Uhm how are you supposed to update feel? Which mmo have ultimate skills, WoW with cooldowns?

[@Wenedi]

​@@wiziek Black desert, Lost ark, ESO, FFXIV limit breaks, even Aion to some extent and aion came out 3 years before GW2... Meanwhile ultimates in gw2: a normal looking ability with a longer cooldown 💀 Quality of ability vfx in gw2 is appaling and you will not find any popular mmo with worse vfx currently

[@dmoney_pimpslap]

@@Wenedi I don't think Ultimates are meant to be massive, over-powered attacks. If the name is confusing to you, just call it a special utility skill because that's what they are.

[@Wenedi]

@@dmoney_pimpslap It would not hurt much if there was an overpowered skill with a long cast time and a massive cooldown added though. It would objectively make the combat cooler

[@hungryb4dinner]

Recommend the Hero Point Trains older players run. Definitely don't buy the pack.

[@alternis1029]

If you play some WvW you could buy these Hero Points.

[@natsuhotaru12]

I think one reason gw2 is not more well known is because arenanet their marketing is pretty lackluster 😂