The first Guild Wars was a very good game. Magnificent competitive PVP, luxurious story campaign, a bunch of charming finds like a column of spells in the spirit of Magic: The Gathering, lack of grind, after all. And the game did not require a monthly fee-today, in the era of dominance Free-to-Play, you will not be surprised by this, but seven years ago the approach was extremely unusual.
It seemed that he was the sacramental, predicted by the hundreds of the “killer of World of Warcraft”. One trouble: the first GW was not mmorpg. Multiplayer and Online were in place, but Massively – no. All the action unfolded in personal instans, usually accommodating up to five people, which was more like a cooperative of some Diablo.
However, the game found its audience. Roleviks were happy to delve into the ups and downs of the plot: the developers gradually rolled out three huge addons and a number of smaller additions, so the content was enough. In addition, Arenanet made a special bet on PVP – it was possible immediately, bypassing the campaign, to create a sweded hero for fighting.
And everything was fine, and everything was wonderful. It was until Arenanet was shown to the world Guild Wars 2. Exemplary sequel and one of the best Mmorpg of our days.
The illusion of life
Guild Wars 2 starts 250 years after the end of the last addon to the first part – Eye of the North. Since then, a simple (in appearance) fantasy Tyria has advanced greatly in scientific terms: literally at every step there are now all sorts of steam and magteach units, the townspeople hold a mushroom-meshket behind the bosom. The old wars have died, all Tirian peoples live plus or minus in the world. And if not for the ancient evil, which, as usual, lurks somewhere in the shade, everything would be very fine.
New Tiria is not at all like an old. In the first part, the world was set in motion by the phasing of locations. Say, if by the plot you reached the fall of Askalon (one of the capitals of people), then in your personal instance there will be a destroyed city in its place, and for those who have not yet reached this moment, Askalon will be safe and preservation.
In GW2, the instances faded into the background – the lost "m" from the genre abbreviation returned. That is Massively. Now players walk and fight together, in the same large zones. Here, too, it was possible to implement the phasing, but an example Wow: Cataclysm clearly demonstrated the shortcomings of this approach. So you and your comrade agreed to meet under a hunched oak in Lok Modan, but it doesn’t work out – you are in different phases. In GW2, everything is different.
The choice of weapons determines the hero skills in battle. In the hands of a warrior, a two -handed sword becomes an awesome tiller, and the same illusionist uses it in the manner of a magic wand.
For example, in the starting location of Charrov (horned cattle cats, earlier-our enemies, and now a playable race) there is an arms warehouse. Players are stingy around, do not touch anyone, when suddenly a raid of “evil” Charrs with a clear intention of robbing and killing a raid on their heads. First of all, of course, to rob: valuable weapons are stored in the warehouse. The players are faced with the task of rallying and recapturing the raid, making sure that not a single gun (we now, recall, fantasy with steampunk trends) did not mumble). Fighted out? Fine. Get experience, currency and diverge.
So in general form, dynamic events work. The idea itself is one -one fault from Rift : Something happens on the map, and the players are dealing with a friendly gourmet. Only the same faults and invasions GW2 contrasts several dozen different events for each location. Here the merchant decided to take a walk from point A to point B – it is necessary to conduct. Here a giant lizard crawled out of the waste ditch – it is necessary to shine. Here separatists besiege a peaceful village – you need to protect; If you do not intervene, then the aggressors will firmly settle in the village until we pure it back. Of course, soon the settlement will be captured again, repel it again, then they will capture again – and so countless times. But the main thing is that such events successfully cope with their task: they make the world alive.
Hands off! This is my story!
The counterweight for looping events are plot missions. In GW2, history is much more personal in nature than in the first part. The authors even call it personal: it will be performed, as before, inside the instances, but is designed for only one hero (however, you can bring with you to the plot tasks of friends – the enemies will intensify).
[Bullet]] Like the first part, GW2 compensates for the absence of a subscription by a virtual store and, periodically, with paid addons. There is nothing terrible in the store – decor and consumables. If desired, everything can be bought for game gold.
For every ten levels, on average, five plot missions account. The dosage is perhaps perfect – and it does not have time to get bored, and the intrigue is preserved. Trouble alone: sharp leaps in complexity. Some episodes of personal history are completely trifling, while the rest are mildly difficult. Or rather inconvenient for specific classes. Say, elementalists who decided to comply with the role and join the magical priority of Durmande, after a slight start will literally spread everything to the meat, is not lazy.
The most important innovation in the plot part is a choice on Guild Wars. It is not necessary to make decisions as often as in Star Wars: The Old Republic , But in the case. Directly at the start, we choose perks that determine the background of the character. Your hero dreamed of performing in the circus all his life? The opportunity will certainly turn up. Assura with an outrage IQ devoted life to the study of statics? The beginning of the game will spin around the brilliant invention of his team.
[[Bullet]] You can return to the already studied locations with the help of such beacons. For a small money you will teleport to an arbitrarily remote point in the world.
At the thirtieth level, everyone, without exception, choose between one of the three organizations: caretakers (warriors), the priority of old Durmand (sages, historians and researchers) and the Order of Sheptunov (cunning and secretive). On the forty, you need to decide on what secret task we will be sent and so on. This and one fork within each act, all non -linearity is exhausted. But even this is enough for everyone to get a unique storyline, unlike the story of a neighbor.
Gry-Ubei-Brothers
They removed the load of responsibility for the plot from the usual quests, but they themselves did not disappear – they simply transformed into something else. In online roofs, we usually fall into a certain settlement and rake a whole bag of tasks, so that they are a bag and pass. Convenient, but boring; Soon this process of staging-giving becomes purely mechanical. In GW2, everything is wrong. We travel around the world in search of single quests. We find, help and stomp further. We never linger in one place for a long time – there are no quest “centers” around which it would have to be spinning.
[[Bullet]] tests are scattered on the map, for which the passage of skills are awarded. Different auxiliary skills are acquired https://sister-site.org/richyfox-casino/ on them: turrets from a mechanic, poisons at the thief and so on.
There are fewer tasks, but they always have an alternative. For example, everything in the same warehouse Charrov does not have enough workers. We are offered three things at once: to deal with the extermination of the surrounding looters, to collect scrap lying here and there, to get rid of the non -working mines, who are in the district of the pond pond. Between these points, it is necessary to set not “and”, but “or”. We can complete the quest by tearing a couple of mines, taking the heels of iron and hitting the marazon's head in the trash, that is, to do just a little bit. For all this is one scale of progress. Pacifists can generally abandon the beating and by cleaning: if you don’t want to do something, there is always a workaround.
This, in truth, is a brilliant find. No more identical tasks in the spirit of "kill ten monsters". GW2 does without accurate numbers: I have gained enough – well done, hand over the watch, substitute your pocket.
[[Bullet]] essence WVWVW with one screenshot.
Another curious detail is striking in the eye: there is no competition in the local PVE. At all. GW2 fully encourages cooperation, because there is not only easier to fight with ten times, but also more fun. Anyone who beat the monster on the head will take the murder and give out a personal set of trophies according to merits. And this means that no more “out of the meadow, here I swing!". Everything is in common, everyone is enough for everything. Oddly enough, almost nobody still allowed himself this. What interfered? And the devil knows him.
Lying – raise
From those who saw the game out of the edge of the eye, there are complaints in the spirit of “no tactics” and “the GOG decides” (the Zerg is to crush in number). Is it true? Yes, perhaps. But only when crowds that capable of this grave roam the locations. In the starting zones, as elsewhere, events adapt to the number of participants, but there even the thick of the bosses has nothing to contrast for the pressure of newcomers. But then it becomes more interesting.
From the thirtieth level, dungeons appear in the game, which will not work out with all the desire – only five are allowed to let in. Barely operating heroes are confused by eyelashes. A novice warrior takes the initiative in his hands: “So, I played in wow, I know how to. We need a tank, a heler and three traffic police (a class oriented to attack and damage). I have a shield, so I'm tanning. Forward!"
[Bullet]] The game has underwater locations. The gameplay there is completely different: they give out new sets of skills, a respiratory mask and add another dimension for maneuvers.
Typically, such parties are taken out of the dungeon forward. The scheme that did not change from the first edition of the D&D was unexpectedly written off in the scrap. Classes in GW2 are completely different, and at the same time, everyone can play any role. Say, at the disposal of the mechanic, a huge arsenal of destructive gadgets – flamethrower, grenades, mines, turrets of all varieties – but at the same time he dragged a bunch of all sorts of healing apprentices. Necromancer (here, it would seem, evil from evil!) cynically sucks health from enemies – in order to convey it to friends! The thief arises in one place, hits a powerful combo, disappears and instantly finds out out of reach, but if he still manages to get damage, he heals himself.
A heavily armored hero, trying to portray a familiar tank, as in other MMOG, will not last in battle for a long time. In GW2 they solve maneuvers. If you competently move, roll and hide behind shelters, you can fill up even the enemy, several levels older.
[[Bullet]] So areas in populated locations: violently, noisy and with a hail of special effects.
And if it does not work, you will be dropped on the floor. Will not be killed, namely. If the hero does not finish, in a lying position he can even fight back. In tense battles, the rise of the fallen is a priority task. Thieves and illusionists (Mesmers) succeed in this, with their mobility, you can quickly get to the bedside. Who would have thought that one day a thief would replace the role -playing team of the cleric.
Another point in teamwork is a combination of skills. We conjure the wall of fire, let the arrow through it and, do it, please-fire arrow. Such tricks easily raise the damage of the team one and a half times.
"Endheim" minus "end"
Arenanet profess an extremely correct philosophy: there should not be a mechanic in the game, which would have to get to too long. There is nothing in Endheim that could not be seen, say, the level of the thirtieth. Everything just becomes much more and more epic.
[Bullet]] Important plot dialogs are arranged in the form of such Spartan scenes that the artists' skill saves.
PVP is available from the very beginning and, as before, is made in complete separation from the PVE. You are free to go to session arenas for small teams: your character will raise the level of up to the eighties and give out a set of top equipment so that everyone is in equal terms. In the second mode – World vs. World vs. World – slightly others rules. There are four huge cards, three opposing servers and five hundred players from each side. War goes around the clock in manner Planetside. Many completely spit on PVE and settle in WVWVW – there is fun, noisy and there is always something to do. And the pumping goes. There would still be no queues for input.
In general, it is not necessary to purposefully swing in GW2. Sooner or later the coveted eighties will come. Experience is dripping for everything – for PVP, for the study of the world, for crafts and even for the rise of the fallen. The first player who reached the top bar was filled with the last thirty levels only with a craft.
At the same time, it is possible to develop any content purely technically. It is worth falling into a low -level location, as your level is twisted to the relevant in this particular location. Therefore, veterans can easily fight with newcomers shoulder, and developers can safely update the initial zones, not fearing that experienced players will have to start a second character for the sake of new products.
[Bullet]] Instead of using ready -made recipes, we produce details and then combine them in search of the treasured clothes. It's a pity, nothing but equipment and consumables can be made.
Arenanet removed End from Endheim. We are used to the fact that the “real” game begins upon reaching the maximum level, but the Guild Wars 2 is real from beginning to end. At high levels there is no need to grind the dungeons for the sake of fashionable equipment – this can be done, but no one forces. In fact, the dungeons usually go not for clothes, but simply because it is interesting there. This game is not at all about the grind of anything. She's about adventure. About real adventure, not about knocking out a helmet plus a hundred to endurance. And that is why it is worth playing in GW2, even if you avoid online RPG online.
What to do if the plot is mastered, the Tyria map was studied by one hundred percent, the dungeons have been passed in all modes, the legendary weapons were forged, and PVP was tired of the impossibility? Well, first, congratulations. You went through the game. We hope you had fun these two hundred hours. Now rest. Take a walk. Play something else. And then come back – there will be no problems with this, because there is no subscription fee. If everything goes according to plan, soon new adventures will appear in Tyria.
Reigracy:
Cool plot:
Originality:
Easy to master:
Gameplay:
9
Graphics:
9
Sound and music:
8
Interface and management:
9
Waited?
Dozens, or even hundreds of elegant non -standard solutions make Guild Wars 2 the strongest online role -playing game of the last five years. Or even ten.
Mania rating: 9.0
"Fabulous"