Guild Wars 2

by NCsoft

• Guild Wars 2 provides a massive, online persistent world.
• Free online play. No monthly fee.
• Players have the freedom to play together even if their friends are at a much higher (or lower) level.
• Players will be able to engage in organized, balanced PvP (similar to GvG in the original Guild Wars) without needing to first level up characters, find equipment, or unlock skills.
• You will be able to advance your character to the maximum level without ever joining a group if you so desire.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001TOQ8X4
• Item Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: August 22, 2012
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (690 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #29 in Video Games > PC Games > Games > Role-Playing
  • #39 in Video Games > PC Games > Games > Adventure

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard Edition

Amazon.com

Guild Wars 2 is a subscription free,* Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG) exclusively for the PC gaming platform. A sequel to the original Guild Wars game released in 2005, the game is set in a persistent gameworld and features a choice based storyline focused around the continued struggles of the peoples of the land of Tyria. Now hundreds of years past the events of the original game, the almost forgotten threat of the Elder Dragons has risen, but so has 'Destiny's Edge,' a guild pledged to combat them. Game features include: a dynamic event/questing system, small and large-scale combat, player vs. player arenas, multiple playable races and professions, and expansive and rewarding dungeon crawls.

Return to Tyria hundreds of years into the Guild Wars timeline to play as a new race, in a new MMORPG adventure.
View larger

Assume one of a variety of professions in a choice based storyline.
View larger

In the Shadow of Dragons Legends Become Real

For generations, strife and chaos raged across Tyria as the great races competed and warred against each other. Then the dragons awoke. The all-powerful Elder Dragons rose from beneath earth and sea, wreaking havoc on a global scale. Great cities crumbled before their might. Coastlines flooded. Lush forests burned. Tyria was forever altered. Now, the undead legions of the deathless dragon Zhaitan surge across the land, hungry for the destruction of the free races of Tyria: the Charr, a ferocious race of feline warriors; the Asura, magical inventors of small size and great intellect; the Norn, towering shapeshifters from the frigid north; the Sylvari, a mysterious race of mystical plant folk; and the Humans, an embattled but resilient people. The time has come for the free races to stand together against the rising tide of evil. Magic, cold steel, and the deeds of heroes will determine the fate of Tyria.

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3 OR AMD Athlon 64 X2, or better
• RAM: 2 GB
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI X1800, Intel HD 3000, or better (256 MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)
• HDD space: 25 GB available
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Input: Keyboard and mouse

Key Game Features

• Dynamic, Interactive Gaming Experience - Your choices and actions have a real effect on the world around you. Will the besieged villagers fight off the rampaging centaur horde or succumb to the attack? You decide.
• Personalized Storylines - Guild Wars 2 is your story. Follow your own customized quest storyline as it evolves from choices you made at the beginning of the game.
• New Depths of Character Customization - You choose from eight powerful professions and from five races - the defiant Humans, the feline Charr, the unearthly Sylvari, the mighty Norn, or the ingenious Asura.
• An Innovative Combat System - Featuring amazing skills, combos, improvisational tactics, and environmental weapons, the Guild Wars 2 combat system puts the fun back in MMO battles.
• Intense Player vs. Player Action - Take up arms in epic world vs. world warfare or test your skills against other players in PvP arenas.
• A Rich, Fully Realized Fantasy World - Developed over the past five years, the vast and incredibly detailed world of Tyria has been brought to life by an award-winning art and development team.

Additional Screenshots

Small scale combat. View larger

And large scale combat. View larger

Player vs. player arenas. View larger

A rich fantasy world. View larger

* You just buy the game and play it online.

Product Description

A full 250 years after the original Guild Wars, massive upheavals, cataclysms, and globe-spanning events have changed the world of Tyria. Human civilization is in decline. Other races are rising up, taking control over large portions of the world; the balance of power has shifted. The dragons have awoken.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

327 of 368 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Price of Admission, but not for everyone August 28, 2012

By C. Counts

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard Edition

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

My MMO history: WoW for 5 years, SWTOR for about 9-10 months, GW2 for 3 days.
I started playing GW2 Saturday night during pre-release. At this time I have only played one race and one profession: Sylvari Elementalist. I have her up to level 22.

I expect this MMO to do well for several reasons: 1) GW1 has been online for a while now, which makes me feel more confident in the ongoing care the developers will give GW2. 2) It's not a "grinder." 3) No monthly subscription fee.

I have not played arena PVP yet. I have played WvWvW once. It's a great idea, but I didn't have fun in it, despite everyone else's glowing reviews. Reasons being: 1) huge maps = lots of running around to find a fight, 2) my PC had performance issues when more than 25 people were on screen, effectively ruining the gameplay for me. I love PVP, so I will definitely be giving W3 several more chances.

My Likes:
- This is not a WoW clone like SWTOR was. Mind you I LOVE WoW and enjoyed SWTOR, but when I buy a new game, I don't expect nor want it to be a clone of the last game I played. I am looking for a new experience, which GW2 has in spades.
- The achievement system offers XP in a way that equates it with daily quests in WoW. This is awesome because almost everything you do gives you XP or counts towards an achievement. The result is a sense that whatever you choose to do in your playtime truly will advance your character. In my opinion, this is extremely refreshing after doing repetitive dailies in WoW for so long.
- The Dynamic Events and Area Quests lend to a feeling of openness of world and promote exploration. I haven't had a feeling like that since my first days of vanilla WoW.
- I've heard mixed reviews on the use of Waypoints instead of mounts/flight paths. I actually love the Waypoints. Does teleporting around ruin some of the immersion? Yes. You what else ruins immersion for me? Taking a 4 minute+ flight path. The Waypoints are many and often and have no cooldown. Personally, the use of Waypoints gives me more inclination to keep exploring, since I don't have to worry about how long it might take me to get back to my main quest.
- No load times. No travel times (flight paths). In WoW, I would browse the internet during flight paths. In SWTOR, I would browse during FP's and the frequent loading screens. So far in GW2, I haven't had one boring moment which inspired me to browse the internet.
- Simplified spell bar. At first I was stunned and upset that there are only 10 hot-keyed spells, but the more I play around, the more I realize that choosing your weapons, active spells, and (in the case of an Elementalist) stance gives you a lot of personalized control over your play style.
- No mana/rage/energy management. No holy trinity. This is just so different that I find it intriguing. I can't say more until I get higher level.
- No ninja's. If you help with the kill, you get XP and loot rights. Gathering resources are available for all, so you're not constantly feeling the need to rush to resources when spotted. Having many other players in your questing area is always a good thing and never upsets your personal experience.
- No opposing factions on server. I can talk to anyone I want and don't need to worry that my friends or family chose Allies over Horde, Imperial over Republic, etc.
- No monthly fee and no endgame raiding gives me an incentive to play at my own pace. It's nice to be reminded that MMO's should be fun, and not just a rush to endgame so you can be the first on server to down a boss or clear a dungeon. I've been through all that. It was fun for a time, but it was also WORK and very time consuming.
- You can dye your gear at any time, for no charge.

My Dislikes:
- You cannot have characters on multiple servers.
o I don't expect this to be changed/fixed.
- The movement could be smoother. I can't put my finger on it, but the movement seems less accurate in this game than in WOW or SWTOR. I find myself headed the wrong direction more often than I ever did in other games. Already I am getting accustomed to the movement and don't find it such a hindrance anymore, but still, it could use improvement.
o I don't expect this to be changed/fixed.
- Grouping with friends isn't a fun experience. My husband and I attempted to play this game in a group, but gave up after about 10 levels. Because of the overflow instancing that is being used right now, we were often in different instances and therefore could not quest together. Also, there is no auto-follow and the dot that represents your party members on the mini-map and map are hard to see. Not being able to effectively group didn't ruin our gaming experience, but did squash our idea of calling our playtime "quality time together" LOL. Now, if we weren't in the same room playing, but instead across the state or across the country from each other, this would have been a much bigger gripe for me.
o I do expect this to be changed/fixed.
- Only 5 default character slots, but 8 total professions!
o I understand that at some point I will be able to purchase additional slots, either through real money or in-game currency.

It's almost like the devs for this game really considered the most common BIG gripes in MMO's and took measures to correct those situations. GW2 fixed the below issues:
1. It takes too long to grind gear. If I don't have 10+ hours a week to play, I will never be on par with the more hardcore gamers and their gear.
a. All players are equalized in PVP so it is more skill based than gear based.
2. Other players ruin my experience by tagging all the mobs, stealing loot, or ganking me when I am questing.
a. No opposing factions. Equalized levels depending on the questing area. Shared kill credit and loot availability.
3. I'm tired of always dragging a tank or healer for my group.
a. GW2 removes the holy trinity (tank, heal, dps) and replaces it with professions that all have their own ability to do some tanking, healing, or dps.
4. I don't like paying a monthly fee.
a. No problem - FREE TO PLAY!
5. I want to play with my friend, regardless of level, story/quest progression, or faction.
a. Can do! Players are automatically leveled down to the appropriate level for the area they are in. Quests are dynamic events so you can almost always bet you will be on the same step of the quest. There are no warring factions on server.
6. There is no incentive to visit or revisit low level quest areas, effectively quarantining endgame to max level areas.
a. Because of the leveling down I explained above, one could quest in low level areas and still get rewards and a challenging experience. In fact, you will need to do this in order to reach appropriate levels to complete your class quests.

**UPDATE**
The "join" group feature is now working as expected and we have been able to successfully group as needed!

199 of 249 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Labor Of Love, And It Shows August 25, 2012

By Allison

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard Edition

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

It seems like the past few years have been dreary for the MMO market. Even games that I was excited about due to the premise and my history with the series (SWTOR, I'm looking at you) have failed to deliver a fun, polished, innovative experience. I have seen truly interesting games pushed out far before they were ready, I've seen almost direct ripoffs of Warcraft, and I've also seen a lot of games that simply have no heart. Because of this, and perhaps because I was only a mild fan of the original Guild Wars, I followed the Guild Wars 2 hype with a fair amount of skepticism. The energy and the passion of the developers began to intrigue me, though, so I pre-purchased the game in order to have access to the beta weekends -- and there was no turning back. The most important thing I should say is that you should throw out any pre-conceptions you have about the game based on the original Guild Wars. While there are certainly some familiar aspects this is a complete redesign of the Guild Wars experience.

The first thing that struck me about the game was the sheer size, level of detail, and outright beauty of the world. This is the first game where I have walked into a main city and could actually imagine thousands of people living there. It is a great deal of fun to explore, and this becomes a key part of the game. Rather than simply being pointed to a town where you talk to a handful of NPCs, pick up a handful of quests, trot off twenty feet to handle the quests, return, rinse and repeat, this game encourages you to get out and take a look around. When you need direction you can look at your map and there will be hearts indicating someone in need of help -- but the true purpose of these hearts is to get out you into that area to be exposed to the events that happen there. These events can be as small as bandits raiding a farmer's field, or a massive Shadow Behemoth on the scale of a raid boss, but there is almost always something to be seen. Forget the blinders that most MMOs have you put on while you quest: Guild Wars 2 wants you to rip them off, pay attention, and wander off whenever something strikes your fancy.

The Guild Wars team has put a lot of thought into some of the social dynamics of MMOs, and I have to sheepishly agree that I was much like everyone else. I glared virtual daggers at any player that would show up and start killing 'my' boars, mining 'my' material nodes, and otherwise doing what any normal player should be doing. Prior MMOs fed this anti-social, territorial urge by limiting the ways you could cooperate and share resources. I had to group up with that total stranger in order to share kill credit, and I had to dash around madly to collect crafting resources because if the other player got there first it was gone. Though the purpose of an MMO was to play with others, it was often less beneficial to do so and enforced an every man for himself mentality. Guild Wars does away with all this nonsense and makes it exciting to see other players again. Anyone who participates gets credit, a player mining a resource node doesn't make it disappear for you, and some of the events are difficult enough that it is a relief when a large pack of players shows up to assist. As an interesting touch, the final area of player conflict (PvP/WvW) even opts to show you a generic name for the opposing team's members instead of giving you a player name so no grudge can be carried over from the match.

I could talk endlessly about the combat system and the crafting system, but these are certainly a matter of taste and best experienced on your own. Suffice to say, combat is smooth and the animations satisfying, and the crafting system is simple yet elegant. There is a level of polish here that has been sorely lacking in other games of late, and though I've only made it to level 20 so far it is obvious that there is enough to keep me occupied for months on end. Each class is distinct and rewarding in its own right, and if you find you don't care for the play style be sure to swap your weapons and try the other skill mixes before giving up on the class completely. Warrior felt distinctly 'meh' to me with the first set of weapons I started with, and then suddenly became ripping fun when I was able to switch to something with skills more fast-pasted. Even classes I didn't much care for in the original game, such as the Necromancer, shine in their new incarnation. Your character feels solidly connected to the world, without the sense of floating or gliding that ruins the immersion. This has been a huge pet peeve for me, and it's nice to finally see another game get this right. And to those who think ten skills is too little, I will pose this question: How many of those fifty+ buttons did you use in your rotation in World of Warcraft? In most cases, only a small handful that varied depending on your build, and then a few utility skills. This is no different, except for the lack of UI clutter and the fact that 'switching spec' is simply switching your weapon.

This is a gorgeous, fun, and well thought-out game. If you are on the fence I encourage you to go to their web site and read the developer blogs and other material, watch some videos, and if your curiosity is piqued dive in. Without a monthly fee you have ample time to explore every avenue the game has, and even if you find it is not to your taste I suspect you would find you've spent much more time with the game than many FPS titles of the same price. This is well worth the cost, if only to experience what I feel is a solid step forward in the gaming world, and that is encouraging people to play *together* instead of against each other.

189 of 243 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really for me... September 24, 2012

By Joe

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard Edition

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I played during closed beta and all of the open beta weekends. As the beta progressed, I began to realize that this was not an MMORPG for me. I really really wanted to like this game, so I decided to purchase it as well. Unfortunately, not much has changed gameplay-wise since closed beta.

I have played MMORPGs since 1998, and I primarily get my enjoyment out of them through acquiring new armor/weapons. I enjoy progressing my character seeing my character look more badass as he levels up, and it has always been my motivation for leveling up. However, GW2 does not cater to this type of player. This may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your opinion. Stats on loot are relatively negligible and most armor is essentially cosmetic (this is a slight simplification of the system, but holds true compared to other MMORPGs). This is not really a surprise, since GW1 ran under a similar model. I guess I was hoping things would be different. I don't want to give the impression I'm a hardcore gamer. I've never really raided much or anything like that, but I guess I felt like there was no motivation to level up. You can compete PvP and WvWvW from level 1, you unlock the majority of your skills in the first 10 levels, your armor is largely cosmetic, and your character is scaled to the local content (so if you're level 50, but want to level in the level 1 - 15 zones, you can still get your ass handed to you). The end result, for me at least, was little motivation to play.

With that being said, if you enjoy MMORPGs, I would definitely still recommend buying it, as it is a well polished game. Also, since it doesn't have a monthly fee, you can easily get your money's worth even if you only play a couple months. However, if your primary drive for playing MMORPGs is leveling and character development, this game may leave more to be desired. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

Edit (12/10/12): It looks like, from reading other reviews, that this game has changed quite a bit since I wrote the review. It sounds now like they have added a gear grind to the game. I can't really comment because I don't play anymore, but my review is now slightly out of date.