Dynamic events

Guild Wars 2 is scheduled for release on August 28 (if you pre-ordered it on their website you get a 3 day head start). I probably didn't have to tell you this because this might be the most hyped game of the year. The question is, is it overhyped? I'll let you know my opinion.

I'm a former World of Warcraft player and familiar with MMO's. I haven't touched any other MMO's which released, however I will get my hands on Guild Wars 2. Why?

Dynamic event system: Not your usual wall of text which sents you to kill X amount of monsters or collect X amount of iron, not to mention no one used to read the text. Guild Wars 2 implemented a system which will automatically give you quests as you come to an area. For example: If you are near a farm, and the farm gets attacked by enemies, a quest phrase will pop up and tell you to defend the farm. How more players are at the farm, how more enemies will spawn. All this makes the leveling experience a blast.

Note: Everyone receives his own loot, so no fighting over loot will take place. Also note your XP amount is set on how much damage you do to the specific enemy/enemies.

The world changes: If you have your own stuff to do at that moment, and couldn't care less about the farm, you may bypass it. But, the consequences to this may be bad for you in the end. If you come back to the farm it may be burnt down and the enemies are now advancing further into the land, making your time harder to travel, or killing certain NPC's. Always consider helping people in events that pop up by thinking of the possible consequences.

P(layer) V(ersus) E(nvironment): So called PvE which is present in all MMO's is also present in Guild Wars 2. However, this type of PvE is different from what we have seen before. The scale of the maps are huge, and so are the enemies. This may vary from enormous dragons to other creatures, or you might be attacked by a mass of skeletons. PvE is quite tough, but very rewarding. Bosses may be taken on with an amount of ~150 players, the more players present the harder the boss will be, the boss scales with the amount of players. There are a lot of tools at your possession to take enemie's down, but defend these valuable weapons because enemies may destroy them. Once again everyone receives his own loot, and the XP scales to your damage done and role.

P(layer) V(ersus) P(layer): So called PvP is what made the first Guild Wars famous. It was so balanced and dynamic. Now ~10 years later, Guild Wars 2 has improved it an enormous amount. It's fast paced, dynamic, balanced and fun. The maps you fight in (lets call them battlegrounds) are dynamic as well. There are tools you can use to destroy a wall from your enemy for example, to gain easier access. Also, arena-net is known for organising tournaments with amazing prizes (including a lot of money). ArenaNet supports their PvP player-base and keeps is active. They have proven this with their previous game. And if this all wasn't enough: Next to there 12v12 there is a World versus World versus World feature. Each world is a server, and they will fight it out with each other. Once again a major amount of tools are there for you to be used, but things such as siege weapons require wood, you have to work with your team together to get the wood to the battlefield to complete your balista (or one of many other siege weapons). The winning world (server) will get some bonuses. There might be added a 3v3 mode once the game launches or is launched. If world PvP is present is hard to say at this moment.

To wrap it up: PvP gets alot of attention, is competitive and has alot to offer.

Playerbase: The only game that ever formed a threat for World of Warcraft was Guild Wars 1. Back in the days you were either a Guild Wars player or a World of Warcraft player, and it was split up quite evenly. Guild Wars 2 has the playerbase which is what a MMO really needs to succeed and improve. The hype only stimulates this, the bigger the playerbase the more funds and feedback to improve the game more on. Blizzard (makers of World of Warcraft) is already feared of the game, hence why they released their expansion "Mists of Pandaria" as close as possible to the release of Guild Wars 2.

Graphics: The game has the advantage of being brand new, and thus having gorgeous graphics. Everything looks really amazing, from physics to environment. There will be no flying mounts, which might seem like a bad thing, but this means you will explore the world fully. The world will look a lot bigger and more overwhelming without flying mounts, which really adds to this amazing looking game.

Balance: The game is really balanced. Why? There are no gear stats. With no gear stats there will be no overpowered items, and the game is easier to balance without having to update and consider the item stats. Don't freak out, there is still reason to PvP and PvE. Item rewards will have different looks and effects. Trust me, they are worth getting as some look really amazing.

Subscription fee: NONE! This game doesn't ask you to pay monthly to play, what not to like?

Furthermore, this game has 8 different classes, with all their own spells and effects. They also have 5 different races with their own story. Any race can be any class, and there will be no racials to keep it balanced. Different races may have different physics though, such as walking just to make them more different from each other.

I probably missed some more aspects, but this will wrap up the preview for Guild Wars 2. How it will all end up will be seen in the review!

Are you getting Guild Wars 2, and why?

Enormous PvE