This game is no where near as good as the Original GW.

[Fluffball]

Stop using waypoints so much.

[satenia]

GW has changed a lot and I see no reason as to why GW2 won't experience similar change.

Change yes, but similar one? I'm not sure about that part.

GW1 moved a lot towards casual/solo friendly past EOTN, like reducing the PvE-only skill scaling, reducing title-grind in general, or adding 7 heroes, something they initially said will never happen. I think what we remember GW1 for is Anet's way of making it as easily available as possible, to attract old and new players in preparation for GW2.

GW2 is quite a different game with a different crowd. With the recent introduction of Ascended gear Anet has shown that they will keep adding additional character/gear progression to keep their MMO-oriented playerbase happy. I don't think we will see anything like GW1's way to solo/instances happen anytime soon. And when we will, it will likely mean that the game wasn't that successful

The OP should be more like "GW1 is nowhere near GW2"

[Tru Reptile]

Well, thank you for your well substantiated and eloquent post. I'll be sure to tell everyone I know that they can go back to gw1 now, with such a flourishing, thriving community playing it. Oh, I bet population has tripled since 2007! There must be 10 american districts of kamadan with all these gw2 quitters! How exciting!

All jokes aside, if GW1 still had a flourishing, thriving community, I probably would've gone back to it already. As much as I'm trying to enjoy GW2 there's quite a few design decisions that I despise the more I play. GW1 kept me entertained for 7 years, and so far, it doesn't seem like GW2 will keep me entertained for 7 months.

/shrugs

[Alaris]

GW1 moved a lot towards casual/solo friendly past EOTN, like reducing the PvE-only skill scaling, reducing title-grind in general, or adding 7 heroes, something they initially said will never happen.

That happens in every game that has updates over time. First you cater to your dedicated crowd, then you ease up things to get new players. Easier and faster levelling over time has been done for all MMORPGs I can think of.

GW1 kept me entertained for 7 years

GW1 kept me entertained I think for 4 years. I joined when NF was released, and stopped playing about a year before GW2 released. 1 game a year is a solid average. If GW2 manages that, I'll be happy... that means a large expansion each year.

[Lady Rhonwyn]

GW2 kept me entertained I think for 4 years. I joined when NF was released, and stopped playing about a year before GW2 released. 1 game a year is a solid average.

Hmm, we're still living in 2012 and not 2016! So, we'll get a NF update for GW2 as well? You shouldn't use that time machine that often, you'll get confused!

[Alaris]

Hahah well-spotted, Lady Rhonwyn,

To sum up, I think it's unfair to call one game better than the other when you're actually comparing very different products. Especially if you are ignoring anything good the new game offers. Here's a short list of differences between GW1 and GW2:

(1) four games vs one
(2) fixed team size vs variable team size
(3) instanced-only vs instanced + persistence
(4) pre-combat build flexibility vs in-combat build flexibility
(5) more attrition-based combat vs more positional-based combat (though both have a bit of both)
(6) missions that can be skipped sometimes, vs storyline that branches quite heavily
(7) quests vs hearts & dynamic events

This is just a reminder of many long discussions we've had in the past, that I don't think we need to repeat just for Age. He can go and get himself up-to-date if he cares, but given he didn't even post in one of the many GW2 complaint threads, it seems to me he does not care enough.

[Lady Rhonwyn]

(5) more attrition-based combat vs more positional-based combat (though both have a bit of both)

I must say, I am disappointed ANet didn't really make use of their "new" z-axis. Why have the ability to jump on a rock and attack from a height, when the foe will become invulnerable anyway? You can't really fight tactically as long as that is the case.

I see a huge group of people, and a big rock above them so they can't reach me (without ranged attacks), I will
a) jump in the middle of them with my bow and start shooting them
b) climb that rock and pepper them with arrows from above

The same with a warrior. Same situation. That warrior will
a) jump in the middle of them and start slashing with his sword
b) climb that rock and jump down on the group and then will start slashing with his sword

The second one is possible, but doesn't have a tactical advantage: your foe won't get damaged. And in case of the ranged attacks, even become invulnerable!

[shawn]

I must say, I am disappointed ANet didn't really make use of their "new" z-axis. Why have the ability to jump on a rock and attack from a height, when the foe will become invulnerable anyway?

This is to stop bots from standing on a rock where they're unable to be hit, farming without any danger of dying. Actually the same goes for humans, too.. In Warcraft the invulnerability seems to be over with a lot faster than gw2's though, and it does seem like mobs go invulnerable a lot easier than in WoW - especially underwater.


edit: somewhat unrelated, the new vertical kodan map is amazing..

[Alaris]

I am disappointed ANet didn't really make use of their "new" z-axis.

Agreed.

This has been discussed to long lengths elsewhere though, I don't want to encourage every new troll that pops up by rehashing threads they're too lazy to search for themselves.

I have to go try the Kodan map now.

[EnoughAlready]

I really don't understand the excuse of the corporate loyalists. That 'GW1 was 7 years old and wasn't as good at start either blah blah blah'.

What other industry is there where it's perfectly acceptable to NOT learn from experience?

Sorry to hear about so many car crashes, we knew X breaks worked after a bit of trial & error on the last model, but this isn't just a sequel it's a totally different model, so we didn't fit any breaks at all on this one.

I spend a fair bit of my work day (Civil+structural designer - renewable energy) in lessons learned meetings. What worked well, what could be improved, what to avoid in future. Even when adopting a radically new technology, you look to adapt what worked well.

There is NO excuse for GW2 to not have been as at launch as GW1 is now. NONE.