GUILD WARS 2 is My Favorite MMORPG for Casual Players
Over the years, I have played a lot of Massive Muliplayer Online RPGs (MMORPG) and most of them have been free. I’ve played a little bit of World of Warcraft, quite a bit of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, and several others that I honestly can’t even remember the names of. However, there is one MMORPG that I always go back to and that is Guild Wars 2.
Now before I dive into why I love Guild Wars 2, I think it’s very important to understand that I’m a casual gamer. When I have some time I like to game, but life gets crazy and so I don’t always get to play games. Sometimes I have to go months without more than 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there. This makes it hard to find time sometimes for an MMORPG, but when I get into those times where I have more time, it’s a lot of fun to get back into things.
OK, so why do I love Guild Wars 2? There are a lot of reasons. First, it doesn’t require a very powerful computer. If you’ve bought a computer in the last 10 years, you should be able to run the base game and you have a decent shot at being able to run the latest expansion Path of Fire. In addition, when the game was being created, ArenaNet made the decision that they wanted the game to look good on low-end machines. My wife runs the game on her laptop on low settings and the game looks fine. It’s not as pretty as a high-end machine, but it also doesn’t take too much to get to high settings (my 6-year-old mid-range PC ran it on High and Ultra).
My second reason is the pricing model. You can purchase the latest expansion for a one-time cost and have all the content. However, the base game is absolutely free. There are some limitations as to what free players can do, but it’s never a limit on character creation or the story outside of some level requirements. So, you can play the game for a good while and then spend $30 to get all the content if you like it.
Third, the world feels more alive. There are quests and objectives all over the world, very much like other MMORPGs, however, there are also dynamic events. Most MMORPGs I have experienced do quests with stationary NPCs and goals, etc. In Guild Wars 2, there are events that will just pop up where you are and allow you to engage more with the world. When I play SWTOR there’s not much to do between quest points or while I’m just exploring other than kill random enemies. In contrast, ArenaNet created a world that feels more alive with dynamic events that include defending an area or escorting an NPC that you just passed. Another thing that makes the world feel alive is the Living World story chapters (like the current Icebrood Saga event). The Living World expands the story and leaves a mark on the world. I remember after the first one, there were physical signs of destruction by the story’s antagonist Scarlet Briar. Lions Arch (one of the key cities) had rubble and destroyed structures all over the place. The world evolved.
Fourth, the price. As I mentioned above, the game is now free-to-play for the base content. Then, you can spend $30 total for the two expansions and have everything. There’s no subscription fee needed, there’s no subscription option that gives you bonuses, it’s just a one-time purchase and it’s a pretty low cost of entry at that. You never have to spend real-world money on equipment or anything like that and you can complete the game no problem. You may want to spend some money to get more Character Slots, but you don’t have to.
The final point I want to touch on is the simplicity to return. As I mentioned previously, I sometimes have to go long stretches without playing MMORPGs because life gets too busy. Guild Wars 2 is the simplest game I have found for people who take extended breaks. You have a max of 10 skills that you have to relearn on your quickbar. I really struggle returning to other MMORPGs because I get on and I have multiple quickbars full of skills that I don’t remember what they do and so I’m spending a good long while reminding myself what is available to me. I don’t have that kind of paralysis when there are only 10 quickbar slots. If I have more time I can go through and double-check that there aren’t any other skills or weapons (those affect half your available skills) that I want to equip instead. You can dive deeper with Guild Wars 2 if you have time, but it’s easy for me to just say, “I have a bow and these 10 skills already equipped, let me spend 2 minutes re-reading their descriptions and we’re off.”
There are more things I like about Guild Wars 2 like the story, general art, and distinct races, but these five points are the biggest things that I always go back to when asked why I like it. If you haven’t tried the game, I highly recommend it (remember, it’s free for the base content). What are some of your favorite MMORPGs?