Finally Guild Wars 2 hits release after years of build-up,
prophesising the second coming of MMOs. And it’s the first MMO that has hit the
ground running. Usually there would be servers going up and down like yo-yos,
but GW2 has had a very smooth launch. However the auction house servers are
still having trouble, to the annoyance of budding entrepreneurs.
ArenaNet unveiled GW2 with many ambitious promises and a
clear goal of setting a new standard for MMOs. So how have they done with
revamping the levelling experience? The formula so far has presented players
with a very linear experience, following a bread-crumb trail of quest givers.
Collecting bear flanks from every one in ten bears that was lucky enough to be
born with buttocks.
In GW2 quests are swapped for events that cover the map. You
can usually stroll out of one event straight into another. It’s fair to say
that the standard events haven’t made any great improvement on traditional
quests. Most involve killing the hostile NPCs plaguing the area and recovering
objects to hand in. Thankfully they have entirely removed any randomness. Doing
any action listed for the event increases your contribution, and each event
provides a couple of ways to progress.
Dynamic events are the real spice in the questing
experience. Randomly appearing around the map, you are alerted to any that are nearby.
They are often escort missions or large scale fights against a mini-boss, but
they always inject action into the area. In Queensdale, the human starting
area, a group of bandits rallied to raid a local farm. But as the battle got
into full swing, a cave troll burst onto the scene. Chaos erupted as a three
way battle broke out. Players had to utilise all their skills, helping fallen
comrades and watching their step, or else they would fall into the clutches of
bandit reinforcements.
A third part to questing is your character’s personal story.
During character creation you are presented with a series of backstory choices.
These vary between your chosen race and profession, but together build into an
interesting profile. Quests for you story are dotted throughout your levelling
experience. You always have the next part highlighted on your map, and the
journal details your past chapters. All stories do the classic trick of pretending
you are the chosen one, whilst you’re surrounded by thousands of other ‘chosen’
players. But it’s a sensible choice as it introduces you to the main characters
of the GW2 lore, and what is happening within the world of Kryta.
I’ve found the early story to be standard fair for a fantasy
game, however that all changed around level thirty. I was introduced to new
factions in the story and presented with real choices to make. At this point
the writing definitely improved. I started going on missions with a Charr named
Tybalt who is a genuinely funny character. One part of my story involved him
being disguised as the daughter of a powerful politician. Ridiculousness ensued
as he adjusted to his new form, and did his best to disguise his deep growly voice
as pirate captains tried their best pick-up lines. The writing still doesn’t
match that of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it’s ahead of the rest of the
field.
These aren’t the only options for gaining experience. PvP is
available right from the start in both balanced arenas and the open World vs
World. The WvW content does have the problem of being unbalanced for new
characters. Your base stats are boosted to max level, but you will be lacking
the gear required to take part. I found myself struggling with wildlife as a
level ten Elementalist, however when I merged into a large group, I was able to
support my teammates and actually take part.
Exploration of the world has been expanded on since the
beta. Dotted around the vistas of each zone are viewpoints. These provide the
challenge of scaling tricky scenery and finding hidden paths. When you reach
them, you are rewarded with a good chunk of experience points and a quick
cinematic camera pan that shows off the scenery in the area. Experience is also handed out for reaching
waypoints and points of interest, further encouraging players to explore every
inch of the landscape.
Crafting also gives experience bonuses every time you reach
a new rank. This is easily the most difficult way to level up due to the rarity
of materials. However this didn’t stop a determined group of players using it
to claim the title for the first max level character.
It would be fair to say that GW2 hasn’t massively improved
the levelling experience. Instead it has iterated on previous ideas and done an
excellent job of bringing them all together. The variety available has kept me
interested in what I’m doing, avoiding the feeling of grinding for levels. But
as the majority of players are still on the levelling curve, it remains to be
seen if the endgame content will match up to it’s peers.
