Guild Wars 2: Collector's Edition

I've played many MMO's in my time, and have more than my share of collectors editions on my shelves, so I will be judging this one against the others that I have.First, we have the huge (and I mean huge) statue of Rytlock Brimstone, Blood Legion Legionarre of the Charr species. I must say; the craftsmanship is excellent. The armor he wears is the Tier 3 cultural available to Charr that can wear heavy armor in the actual game, and its captured in painstaking detail. As with most Charr armor, its got many sharp and protruding edges, meant to block blows and snag enemy weapons, and the statue includes these (very sharp) points. They aren't just plastic either, they're sharp and do not bend, so be very careful around small children with this bust! Sohothin, the legendary sword of Prince Rurik of Ascalon is also stunningly captured, and is itself as tall as another figure I have from SWTOR's collectors edition! All of this comes together into a very, very impressive statue that's as intimidating as Rytlok himself, who is captured in the midst of charging into battle, Sohothin raised for combat.Next, we have the tin that the other goodies come in, which is a sleek all black affair with a stainless steel map of Tyria on the front. The map is raised, and has a nice solid texture to it as well. Perfect for holding the many books and art that comes within.The art mentioned above is about 5 pieces of high quality art from the game. I wont spoil them, but they are ALL beautiful, and showcase the fantastic art team that breathed life into the world of Tyria for the game. Included with these is a pure white picture frame complete with a collapsible stand, that comes with a painting of the Durmand Priory (though this can be removed and filled with any of the other images.)The making of book is a very nice collectible indeed, and is signed by (what I assume) is the entire team working on the game. There are so many signatures that it required a two page spread to house them all! From the lore of the races, to how the Engineer class got its tool belt, its full of nice little insights into the lofty goals and humble beginnings of the team, and the project that was Guild Wars 2. The entire thing seems written to be read while you're waiting for the game to install, as its humorously self aware that you are most likely itching to jump in as you skim the pages.Lastly we have the soundtrack, which I am listening to as I type this even now. I must say, this is by far the most disappointing part of the entire package. Not for lack of quality, as Jeremy Soule's score is phenomenal, and it would have been worth it just for the fully voiced version of "Fear not the night" which is hauntingly beautiful all on its own. No, the dissapointment stems from the small handful of songs present on the disc. Instead of the entire, or even half of the games total score, it comes with but four or so songs! These include "Fear not this night" and the racial themes as well, but again...there could have been a lot more here, and its a shame that so few of the great songs in the game are included here.Overall, this collectors edition is worth it for the statue of Brimstone alone, as it truly is a stunning capture of his ferocity, but to also receive a making of book, the awesome art, and a nice sleek tin to house it all in is a welcome plus. Add to those a bevy of in game goodies and the (lacking, but still phenomenal) soundtrack, and you have a very worthy piece of MMO history. Guild Wars 2 is a critical and fan success, and will be remembered as the first game to come along in years and truly shake up what many considered to be a stagnant genre. If you like MMO's, or you hate them, if you love huge, well realized fantasy worlds, or hate the staticness of a bunch of quest givers hanging about with exclamation points above their heads, you owe it to yourself to buy GW2; play it, and own it for life. No subscription means you play at your pace, and that you can come back any time. Its an amazing game, and this collectors edition, while not required to enjoy it, certainly will make the collector in you very, very happy.

When I first started playing this game, I thought maybe they figured it out.... how to make a MMORPG that's good and NOT WoW. While the game did not follow WoW....it was pretty bad, some time after lvl 20, I started realizing this is extremely repetitive. I did give it the benefit of the doubt and managed to get to level 80, at that point I couldn't wait to quit. I've also tried just about every class in the game, their skills are not unique at all, and the way you set your hotkeys is pointless too, you look at it and think there's some kind of strategy to build a certain way for different situations.... not really. The way players scale to every map was dumb as well, I'd be level 80 expecting to 1 shot level 10 mobs..... not going to happen. Anyway, I probably have more, but since it's been a while since I last played, I'll just leave it at that. Can't believe I wasted money on the Collector's Edition.

Guild Wars 2 starts out great. According to its pre-release 'manifesto,' it promises to be a 'different kind of MMO,' appealing to people who have hated the MMO genre in the past. That was my stand point - I never wanted to try another again. Their 'a new kind of mmo!' lured me in. And at first, it seemed like a genuine promise.GW2 is different in a few key ways - loot sharing, gathering node sharing. The much vaunted quest system is just smoke & mirrors - it's the same format as every other mmo, except you don't *have* to actually turn in the quest. (unless you want things like recipes & crafting items, which you can ONLY get from various quest npcs - and prepare to google to remember where those were.) Their 'dynamic events' are ridiculously non-dynamic. Centaurs control a spot on the map, then they don't. Nothing actually changes. Games like LOTRO & WOW have more alteration in maps with phasing than GW2 does anywhere. Events are just repeatable quests - and many of those require a group, and tend to appear in barren areas, such as underwater. I was on a large server - there are events I'm sure were never done once, because of their location & group size requirement.The story is ok. The first part, involving races & orders is very good. But the latter half is nigh onto terrible. I leveled several characters to max (this is made easy by their crafting system) - I only cared to finish the story on one. GW2 boasts more choice than actually exists. Basically, you choose one of 2 paths each time - you pick your quest. This is a tiny step up from other mmos, but it does not evolve or develop your character at all. You have a developing personality (diplomatic, noble, ferocious - that kind of thing) but it really doesn't show up at all. Gods alignment, animal totems, etc, are the same - they're there, but they don't actually show up in the game or your character.GW2 promises to be a 'skill-based' game. It isn't. It's a zerg game - meaning, it's all about the numbers. They've removed the so called 'holy trinity' of tank/healer/dps, & left it with dps-only. This means speed runs through instances, (and before I finally quit, that was ONE path in ONE instance, that everyone deemed easiest) This is not a skill based system. One of my children even played it with a console controller - it's that easy. (by 'skill,' they seem to mean, 'DODGE!' and once you've mastered that, that's really all you have to do.) Professions/classes are not complicated - they're too simple, & a few are simply not worth trying since the game itself favors high burst damage classes. (warrior/ thief in pvp)The PVP system is absolutely horrible. It almost couldn't be worse. Their world vs world sounds great - except players can easily transfer to the 'winning world,' at the drop of a hat, which obviously throws off any sense of server community & balance. The entire playstyle is 'zerg.' That's it. Be in a big group. For their spvp, it's just 'king of the hill,' again - numbers. Again, you need to play the 'right class,' because despite the 'play the way you want to' promise, there are very limited classes that can do well. It's not just 'cookie cutter builds,' it's 'play one of these 2 classes.' That's a terrible reality for any mmo. All classes should be viable - but this isn't true in GW2, not in PVE or PVP. (except WvW, which is, basically just 'who cares, transfer to the winning server & run around in the biggest group.')They claim this game isn't 'gear based.' It absolutely is dependent on gear. I'm not sure why people believe otherwise, with so much evidence to the contrary. Get the best gear - the game is easy. (too easy, some might say) In that way, it's almost sub-par compared to other MMOS.' Worse, by the time I quit, gear was almost all the same stats - all dps, all the time. No defensive capabilities needed. (You do get some of these, such as minor crowd control & healing, but they're never, ever useful. Ever. Anyone trying to do something other than 'all berserker gear, all the time' will be ridiculed. It's so bad that you actually needed only 2 classes to complete their hard mode instances - warriors & 1 mesmer (for the utilties) That's a bad system.At first, the community was better than most - a huge relief. But ArenaNet has busily upped the ante for griefing & player nastiness by inserting 'Guild Missions.' These are stunningly dull, & seem designed to allow griefing (and of course, the highest gear, which they originally claimed didn't exist in this 'special mmo.') I was left wondering if the sociopathic players needed a bone tossed their way - no kill stealing, no node stealing, so hey! Let's give them this!Another plus that wasn't - group size. It started out with instances for 5 people. That was great. One of the things I hated about other mmos was the focus on raids & large guilds. I don't play mmos to meet people - I play with a group of friends & family, & from what I hear, that's pretty common. I do not wish to be pushed into a large guild situation again. GW2, following GW1, promised you could play 'your way,' with no need to group with a bunch of strangers in whom you have absolutely no interest. As an apparent long-term design, that changed. (and that's when I finally quit) Now there is more pressure to be in a large guild than in raid-based MMOs, & that's totally unacceptable. Worse, once you've finished the game's story (which by the ending, is extremely sub-par), you are left with such thrilling activities as 'open the world map.' This means questing in each & every area, on a single character, & by that point, you realize how much hype led you to think this quest system is any better or different from the MMOs you left in the past.I started the game with the belief it was truly a breakthrough in MMOs. I left resenting an apparently deliberate deceit, and with a renewed intention to view such 'new kind of mmo!' claims with far deeper suspicion. I don't think I've ever seen a game that was this over-rated & over-hyped, & that when examined in retrospect, was such a huge letdown. It's a pretty game, graphically, though after a few times through, I began to feel there's nothing terribly special - and too many purple hues, even for me. The races are generally attractive. The Asura are particularly entertaining. Looking back, I can see playing through once, but after that, you're just back in a typical MMO, with all the negatives included. (unless you really care about uncontested nodes) The only real innovation is shared kills & nodes (and other games should look into that) - the rest is just pure hype & gloss.

Its not bad, but still to similar to most every other MMO. Still waiting for the next big advent in MMO's

After waiting so long finally seeing this beautiful game rendered is amazing. Only reason I didn't give it a 4 stars is because although it does well at being different from other MMOs out there, it as a sequel to GW1 should have some of the basic character functions as the first. We can buy new pets but we can't spend money to buy our skills back (traits is covered but not skills). Also pay to rename or redo character appearance, you know the basics. I suppose it's just a pet peeve that I renamed my first character by starting over (also allowing me to pick skills better suited to me) only to lose my Rytlock and if character customization within game without having to start over were done I wouldn't have to go through the trouble.End rantanyway the game is amazing and addicting. I love it!

Perfect!