*dlc not covered in this review
This will be one of the hardest reviews I've ever written, not because my thoughts are hard to come to terms with, but because they are hard to articulate.
Guild Wars 2 can be defined as "the casual's mmo" and I mean that in the sense that, in comparison to games like FFXIV, WoW, etc; Guild works best in it's ability to not overwhelm the player. The game works on a "heart" system (area quests) over a typical quest log, which lets you do whatever quest you want at your own pace; the combat and gameplay consists of 10 core abilities and 9 primary classes, which is far less than other titles; abilities are skilltree and equipment-based and more versatile-feeling than other MMOs; and the list goes on and on. In this sense, Guild is undoubtedly one of the easiest MMOs for non-MMO players or for those who don't particularly enjoy MMOs (like myself) and the gameplay is made to simplify the process that most MMOs don't explain well. However this is just a general overview of the game in factual sense, whether you prefer these mechanics and aspects themselves will determine if you like this game. If other MMOs are a set story-line or quest-based, Guild is more of a "choose your own adventure" approach to MMOs, where you can choose where you want to explore at your own rate. All of this that I mention is also completely free with their 1-80 trial.
When it comes to my opinions on the game, I think the gameplay is the best an MMO can be. It strikes the perfect mix of being visually interesting, but not overwhelmingly complex. It has a lot of versatility and uses it well, but it also doesn't get incredibly deep, which is a preference thing purely. I get some people enjoy games where they will infinitely scale, but Guild uses a horizontal progression system. Once you hit 80, you've peaked in terms of equipment (ignoring things like raids that is), and you are free to never worry about it again. There are still ways to get better gear, through crafting and achievement hunting, but much of that gear is only required for the raiding that is post-80 and not required for open-world guild nor PvP for that matter (although it helps). Guild combat is also my favorite in any MMO as it tries to experiment a lot. I'm playing through FFXIV as I write this, and like other MMOs, it really comes down to optimized button presses that have flashbang animations, but don't feel very good or look super nice to me. Guild feels more like an Action game in some aspects in this way, the visuality of it is the main draw, and the combat is quite clunky. Although I personally enjoy the clunk, but it can definitely turn away some people. I guess where I'm going in this sense is that, in comparison to most MMOs, which feel like button-optimization simulators, Guild feels a lot more loose and fast with it's rules, while there is optimized button orders for builds, the versatility of the combos and the builds themselves feel a lot more forgiving, which does make the game feel a lot more light on it's feet. However, this does make most of the main game feel underwhelming in difficulty and more of a spam-fest over strategic tactics, places like Dungeons and Raids being the primary exceptions.
When it comes to the game visually, I think, still, it's the best looking MMO in the sense that is clearly has it's own unique artstyle that really works for it. While FFXIV definitely wins on the fidelity, the characters feel less stiff and more emotive in Guild, less like they are robotic charicatures and more characters in a story. The armor choices, weapons, events, world bosses, all of it is undeniably pretty on the highest settings and the game's visual modding community is not completely suppressed in the way I find other MMO communities, in the sense that you can always slap on an ENB and make the game look even better. I think I do have a slight bias here as the watercolour style the game takes on does specifically hit my taste buds in a nice way, and it's purely subjective whether you'll like it. However, no other MMO has really been able to capture the scale of Guild's encounters, bosses feel like these massive hulking behemoths whether other games make bosses feel a lot more wimpy than I think they want to (I think of the Primals in FFXIV, or the dungeon bosses in WoW). In this sense I think guild is in it's best, there is very little I can critique about the visual aspects and how well Arenanet leans into it.
Lastly, the main point of the score I listed above, is the story of 1-80 Guild (spoiler-free). Every 10 levels (approximately) in Guild, you are given a Story-Quest, these story quests are half predecided and half character-chosen. When you make a character in Guild, your race will give you unique questions to answer, how you answer these questions will give you unique story quests based on your answers. A non-specific example would be in the Sylvari quest you can pick a "dream image", a Green Knight, A White Stag, or a Shield of the Moon. Simply put, your quests between 10-40 will have to do with whatever of those you picked. This gives a lot of freedom to the player to pick their story, but it also limits the depth of those stories as the main game of Guild never goes too deep in on its storytelling in this way. Beyond 40 is where the game gives you a pre-declared story about a Dragon (oooo spoooky). In this section the player still does get choices (always pick the Order of Whispers) and you still get the ability to switch up your approach with really only the 60-80 quests locking you into decisions and moments more rigidly. This makes the main story quite replayable as each race has a total of 5-6 different ways they can play 10-40 and all races get 2-3 interesting twists for 40-60, which makes the story quite fun to redo. When it comes to how well the story is told, it's quite okay. It's no where near the best of the writing in Guild, but it does okay for what it is and holds itself well.
The reason I'm putting this game at a 3.5 with my review (despite a lot of my obvious praise for the game) is because I think base game Guild is the worst part of Guild as a whole. While it may be quick, fun, and rich, it has a lot of issues with pacing and exploration (especially for new players) that make traveling a chore from time to time. Those who are going completion will also feel quite bogged in that way as well. I think it works well, and if you can live with the flaws of the Main Story, you'll only see better from that point on.
TLDR: It's a game I really enjoy, I think it's charming, visually fun, and rich in it's story, but he 1-80 levels of the game is by far the weakest aspect and works more like a "wall" for most players to get through. Guild focuses on accessibility first and gameplay second, which can really rub people the wrong way. I love the game, but this is probably the highest score I can fairly give the base "Free-to-play" part.
This will be one of the hardest reviews I've ever written, not because my thoughts are hard to come to terms with, but because they are hard to articulate.
Guild Wars 2 can be defined as "the casual's mmo" and I mean that in the sense that, in comparison to games like FFXIV, WoW, etc; Guild works best in it's ability to not overwhelm the player. The game works on a "heart" system (area quests) over a typical quest log, which lets you do whatever quest you want at your own pace; the combat and gameplay consists of 10 core abilities and 9 primary classes, which is far less than other titles; abilities are skilltree and equipment-based and more versatile-feeling than other MMOs; and the list goes on and on. In this sense, Guild is undoubtedly one of the easiest MMOs for non-MMO players or for those who don't particularly enjoy MMOs (like myself) and the gameplay is made to simplify the process that most MMOs don't explain well. However this is just a general overview of the game in factual sense, whether you prefer these mechanics and aspects themselves will determine if you like this game. If other MMOs are a set story-line or quest-based, Guild is more of a "choose your own adventure" approach to MMOs, where you can choose where you want to explore at your own rate. All of this that I mention is also completely free with their 1-80 trial.
When it comes to my opinions on the game, I think the gameplay is the best an MMO can be. It strikes the perfect mix of being visually interesting, but not overwhelmingly complex. It has a lot of versatility and uses it well, but it also doesn't get incredibly deep, which is a preference thing purely. I get some people enjoy games where they will infinitely scale, but Guild uses a horizontal progression system. Once you hit 80, you've peaked in terms of equipment (ignoring things like raids that is), and you are free to never worry about it again. There are still ways to get better gear, through crafting and achievement hunting, but much of that gear is only required for the raiding that is post-80 and not required for open-world guild nor PvP for that matter (although it helps). Guild combat is also my favorite in any MMO as it tries to experiment a lot. I'm playing through FFXIV as I write this, and like other MMOs, it really comes down to optimized button presses that have flashbang animations, but don't feel very good or look super nice to me. Guild feels more like an Action game in some aspects in this way, the visuality of it is the main draw, and the combat is quite clunky. Although I personally enjoy the clunk, but it can definitely turn away some people. I guess where I'm going in this sense is that, in comparison to most MMOs, which feel like button-optimization simulators, Guild feels a lot more loose and fast with it's rules, while there is optimized button orders for builds, the versatility of the combos and the builds themselves feel a lot more forgiving, which does make the game feel a lot more light on it's feet. However, this does make most of the main game feel underwhelming in difficulty and more of a spam-fest over strategic tactics, places like Dungeons and Raids being the primary exceptions.
When it comes to the game visually, I think, still, it's the best looking MMO in the sense that is clearly has it's own unique artstyle that really works for it. While FFXIV definitely wins on the fidelity, the characters feel less stiff and more emotive in Guild, less like they are robotic charicatures and more characters in a story. The armor choices, weapons, events, world bosses, all of it is undeniably pretty on the highest settings and the game's visual modding community is not completely suppressed in the way I find other MMO communities, in the sense that you can always slap on an ENB and make the game look even better. I think I do have a slight bias here as the watercolour style the game takes on does specifically hit my taste buds in a nice way, and it's purely subjective whether you'll like it. However, no other MMO has really been able to capture the scale of Guild's encounters, bosses feel like these massive hulking behemoths whether other games make bosses feel a lot more wimpy than I think they want to (I think of the Primals in FFXIV, or the dungeon bosses in WoW). In this sense I think guild is in it's best, there is very little I can critique about the visual aspects and how well Arenanet leans into it.
Lastly, the main point of the score I listed above, is the story of 1-80 Guild (spoiler-free). Every 10 levels (approximately) in Guild, you are given a Story-Quest, these story quests are half predecided and half character-chosen. When you make a character in Guild, your race will give you unique questions to answer, how you answer these questions will give you unique story quests based on your answers. A non-specific example would be in the Sylvari quest you can pick a "dream image", a Green Knight, A White Stag, or a Shield of the Moon. Simply put, your quests between 10-40 will have to do with whatever of those you picked. This gives a lot of freedom to the player to pick their story, but it also limits the depth of those stories as the main game of Guild never goes too deep in on its storytelling in this way. Beyond 40 is where the game gives you a pre-declared story about a Dragon (oooo spoooky). In this section the player still does get choices (always pick the Order of Whispers) and you still get the ability to switch up your approach with really only the 60-80 quests locking you into decisions and moments more rigidly. This makes the main story quite replayable as each race has a total of 5-6 different ways they can play 10-40 and all races get 2-3 interesting twists for 40-60, which makes the story quite fun to redo. When it comes to how well the story is told, it's quite okay. It's no where near the best of the writing in Guild, but it does okay for what it is and holds itself well.
The reason I'm putting this game at a 3.5 with my review (despite a lot of my obvious praise for the game) is because I think base game Guild is the worst part of Guild as a whole. While it may be quick, fun, and rich, it has a lot of issues with pacing and exploration (especially for new players) that make traveling a chore from time to time. Those who are going completion will also feel quite bogged in that way as well. I think it works well, and if you can live with the flaws of the Main Story, you'll only see better from that point on.
TLDR: It's a game I really enjoy, I think it's charming, visually fun, and rich in it's story, but he 1-80 levels of the game is by far the weakest aspect and works more like a "wall" for most players to get through. Guild focuses on accessibility first and gameplay second, which can really rub people the wrong way. I love the game, but this is probably the highest score I can fairly give the base "Free-to-play" part.