Guild Wars 2

I've enjoyed wandering around without much of a plan for 1000 hours. I will continue.

If your like I was a month ago, and you are thinking to yourself "I wish I had a good MMO to play now that most of the ones I played when younger are slowly being turned into trash". Well then you kinda found a good game to bide your time. I've never had the pleasure of playing a game that values your time as much as Guild Wars 2. Everything is very achievable, just given time.

Your not going to get the classic MMO experience with this game. Yes the combat is very similar, except for the dodge ability, but the base mechanics are very wild. For starters, you don't have a GCD. Each ability has a specific Cool Down. This means that you can now Queue ability uses (To a max of 2 abilities at any given point in time) so that instead of thinking "What's the next ability in line" it's "What's the ability after next". This allows you to focus more on mechanics.

The Traditional MMO "Trinity" of Tank, Healer, DPS is a bit skewed in this game as well. Tanking is a specific role that is usually covered by a healer, since they can stand in one place and do their job, and they have gear that gives them the highest toughness. There is no taunts, if an enemy needs to be tanked, it's either "The first person to hit the enemy" or "The person with the highest Toughness Stat". There are other "Sub-Roles" in each raid and strike, but the main must haves is Alacrity generators, and Quickness Generators. There are both Heal and DPS version of each generator, called a Boon DPS. They are always required, where as other jobs, such as Pusher, Kiter, or Tank, are a "per-Fight" basis.

Finally, Gearing. Gearing is a bit funky. Once you hit max level, you'll most likely have a wonky full set of Exotic gear. However, the stats arn't going to be exactly perfect. So your first goal is a full set of Exotic gear that melds with your abilities. You can use a build, or theory craft something yourself, but there is no "You must use meta builds" rule in this game. As long as you can do mechanics and apply a minor to moderate amount of damage to a boss, you'll get along fine.

After Exotic gear, you get Ascended gear. This gear is Bind on Account so you can transfer it between multiple characters. This is also the highest your recieved stats will get. Full Ascended gear is "Gearing Complete". However, there is one more option, and this is where the game get's most of it's play loop.

You can craft Legendary Gear. Currently, you can get a legendary for every single slot in the game, and every armor type in the game, including "relics" which are trinkets that give you a bonus ability such as "When you dodge roll, you do increased damage".

This legendary gear has the same stats as Ascended gear, but with a few caveats.

First, you can change the stats on the gear to ANY you desire on the fly, no need to do fancy craftin recipes or mystic forge nonsense, just plug and play.

And finally, and this is the biggest thing: IT DOES NOT TAKE UP AN INVENTORY SLOT. It has a "Legendary Armory" that you can equip it from anywhere, any time, on any toon, save the armor, which is class specific (Heavy, medium, and light armor respectively)

This is called Horizontal Progression. Your not getting bigger and better, your getting convenience, your unlocking achievements, doing weird challenges for legendary materials. There is no "New expansion? Everything else is irrelevant except the new stuff" it's just 'Some of the new stuff is pretty cool and slightly better on some classes, but you can still use any of the other expansions stuff just as effectively."

i highly recommend this game if you have a hole in your heart for the grind, but want the game to value your time rather than making you suffer the entire way through it.

Do you like MMOs but hate the monthly payment subscription?
Play Guild Wars 2, pay once, and enjoy the game for the rest of your life.
Do you like WoW but hate that your character is useless after each new expansion, you need constantly grind gear and the game simply doesn't respect your time?
Play Guild Wars 2, after you max your character, it leans entirely on quality content, horizontal progression, and new mechanics.
Do you like ESO, but hate the clunky combat system?
Play Guild Wars 2, it has one of the best and the most fluid combat systems among MMOs.
Do you like SWToR, but hate the lack of character build customization?
Play Guild Wars 2, each character can be customized for several roles, which can be additionally enhanced with 3 elite specializations for each profession.
Do you already like Guild Wars 2, but you are worried that the game has 10 years and is too old?
Try New World, after that, it won't be a problem for you.
And you don't risk anything, the base game is available for free :)

It's a fun game, and if you want to use your ArenaNet account, just add "-provider Portal" to the launch options. I've played this game on and off for years now, and I just now realized that I can use my original ArenaNet account, so I don't have to start over.

Guild Wars 2 is one of the best MMORPGs I’ve ever played. From the start, you’re immersed in a beautifully crafted world full of history, diverse cultures, and fascinating stories. The combat system is fluid, allowing you to mix and match skills for dynamic, action-packed fights.
The unique dynamic event system is a standout feature, as it means that you never know what might happen next—no two playthroughs feel the same. The game also doesn’t require a subscription, which is a massive bonus for anyone hesitant about ongoing costs. The variety of classes, races, and expansion packs gives players a nearly infinite amount of content to explore. Whether you’re focused on PvE, PvP, or world-versus-world combat, Guild Wars 2 delivers a rewarding experience. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a rich, immersive MMORPG!

Great game. But to log in under existing account you right click the game in your library, properties, the paste "-provider Portal" minus the " into it then launch options line, you can log in using your old account.

Guild Wars 2 is *probably* the most Free-to-play and casual friendly MMO currently available on the market and is by far the easiest MMO to get into and play.
By far the easiest way to explain why GW2 is so much better(in my opinion) than other MMO's is to just compare them and see what GW2 does differently and better.
*The entire base game of GW2 is entirely Free-to-play, outside of a few QOL features like being able to mail money, there is no base game restrictions for New/F2P players. You have access to the entire OG story, you can get to max level, you have access to the ENTIRE base game map, etc.
*There is no class role restrictions or really any dedicated class role, there is no such thing as a Dedicated Tank, Healer, or DPS in GW2. Every class can do everything and while some classes are better at those things, you don't NEED to play say, a Heavy Armor class to tank; infact one of the beefiest classes is the Necromancer, a LIGHT armor class.
*GW2 has a Horizontal Progression compared to Vertical Progression other MMO's employ, what this basically means is that NO OLD CONTENT/GEAR/EQUIPMENT/ABILITIES BECOMES OBSOLETE. There is no such thing as a "Gear Treadmill" in Guild Wars 2, you can get to level 80(max level) buy an exotic armor set(the 3rd highest level armor) off the in-game market and that gear is and will ALWAYS be valid FOREVER. While there is armor levels above exotic(Ascended and Legendary), they are in NO-WAY required to do 95% of the games late game content, including expansion content. Ascended armors only purpose is 1 type of content and Legendary armors only purpose is Drip and a QoL improvement since you can alter the armors stat line whenever you want. Also armor stats stop improving at Ascended, Legendary is the same exact armor in terms of stats as Ascended and the difference between Exotic and Ascended armor is minimal, around a 12.5% stat increase.
(TLDR: There is no reason to grind armor/weapons once you have level 80 Exotic armor outside of a small numbers boost, ability to do a single late game activity, and drip; and that Exotic armor will ALWAYS be usable for new content.)
*Guild Wars 2 is DIRT CHEAP compared to other MMO's(that I will not name directly), outside of the entire base game being free, all of Guild Wars 2 expansions(as of the time of this review) only cost $100. While $100 may seem like a big number, if you compare this price to the average yearly subscription of other MMO's + new expansions it is, like I said, dirt cheap; which leads into the next reasoning.
*GUILD WARS 2 HAS NO SUBSCRIPTION OR SUBSCRIPTION REQUIREMENT. There is no monthly or yearly subscription in order to play Guild Wars 2, you play the base game for 100% free, and the expansions are a 1 time purchase for ALL CONTENT THEY CONTAIN. Which is the primary reason why GW2 is so cheap and new player friendly, there is no $12 or $15 monthly payment you have to cough up in order to just ACCESS the full game. At $12.99(the average for most year long subscriptions) a month it adds up to $155 a year, this is NOT including the purchase of new expansions which average around $40. There is no potential worry about not getting your monthly moneys worth out of GW2, if you decide you're bored and leave for a few months you can just come back and pick it up whenever you want with no worries you're burning cash or having to cancel a subscription.
All of these reasons is still only scratching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to GW2 compared to other MMO's, these are only the the big reasons I can remember off the top of my head.
If an MMO with a entirely F2P base game with no level locking, no subscription requirement, no "Gear Treadmill", and all new content only requiring a single one time purchase of $30 to access the ENTIRE expansion doesn't sound like an enticing MMO, then frankly nothing will.