MMO'ing in the Massively Modern Otherverse

I have been MMO'ing for a while now. My first real MMO was WoW and it was just before the Lich-king landed.  I soon found myself with a continuous subscription, playing actively for many years, a level 85 gnome warlock was my main. After a some time-off spent reducing the number of games in my pile-of-shame, i returned to the MMO scene when Bioware launched local servers for SWTOR. Despite a recent move to the freemium/subscription model, i still have an active sub and a forty-ish Jedi Consular Shadow with a Lvl 50 Jedi Knight that i still enjoy, although freemium may soon turn out to be a better option for me now.

When Funcom released The Secret World, I thought its new gameplay aproaches and a modern-day setting might interest me. Unfortutenately for TSW, i will be un-subbing this month unless my desire to play in the "end of the world" setting returns to me anytime soon. Whilst TSW does alot of things right, allowing you to radically alter your build/weapon/skill of choice at any point (by simply learning another proficiency), is set in a modern world (leading to its superior graphical quality) and has some nice mechanics, running around in the "zombie apocolypse" is something that starts to wear on you after a while.

Then came Guild Wars 2.  After Installing the retail discs and patching the old build, i was dissapointed that the server i wanted to play on, sea of sorrows (the unofficial aussie sever), was full. Because GW2 wants you to select one and *only* one server (and pay for any changes), i had to wait until a less populated time because i wanted a specific server. While i understand that some of the limitations are for stability issues and i respect that ArenaNet has the majority of players best interests in mind (briefly closing retail sales until server deployment could cope with the overwhelming demand), this game is simply *brilliant*. After logging in, I then set about creating my first character, a process which in itself holds has a hight level of customisation. After a couple of hours, it still took me a while to realise just how good this game really is. Whilst its MMO pedigree is aparent, its not trying to be WoW, nor is it opressively complicated, however the traditional weapon of choice and build options are still present.

odd abe - necromancer (rockin his town clothes :P)

Its been a long time since i have felt true excitement in this genre. Dont get me wrong, I will still be playing SWTOR and perhaps after my experiences with GW2, i will be giving TSW another shot. Its just this game feels dynamic in every sense of the word. While i think it could benifit from some clear direction for learning combat early on in the game - i got the hang of it eventually after dropping all my preconceived notions on what it meant to play traditional MMO avatar. once i had done this, i simply fell in love with the game.

In a traditional MMO like WoW or SWTOR - revisiting a lower level area or group event meant that you stroll casually into middle of the conflict and simply one-shot anything in the area without even blinking. In GW2, your level is scaled to the event or area - which meant that a level four area handicapped my stats to match the area (downscaling them to a level 5) and with a nearby group event in progress  - this allowed me to join in and gain xp and loot while still retaining a sense of enjoyment. What also impressed me with this game is the combat that this game really does shine. double tapping direction keys allow you to dodge attacks, in-combat switching of weapons grants access to some powerfull combinations and the whole scale-down thing applies to any area of the map which means you are far more likely to encounter others willing to join in. Oh, and there is no defined healer class, meaning that anyone can revive others - even while the combat is still raging around them.

The biggest adjustment i had to make with this game came from my own established habbits. As most of my mains in previous MMO's have been caster based or ranged classes, this resulted in the vast majority of my time in combat was from fixed/ranged positions. Sure, you keep mobile to avoid AoE, but most of the heavy damage abilities outside of DoT's and burst damage required you to stand still. It took me a while to realise my full potential in GW2 - i was able to cast, then run around dodging attacks while damage was being dealt. I was able to DoT a boss, run around while i kited and syphoned health, then switch to a melee ability/weapon and finish it off with close quaters combat. While there restrictions on the type of gear you can equip, its marvelous experimenting with the different combinations and abilities. (dual weilding starts at level 7)

Before this turns into a love letter to GW2 i will finish by saying that it takes alot for me to be impressed with a game. i could go on and on about all the cool stuff it lets you do or the inovative way in which it does it (WvWvW anyone?), instead i will urge you to make the purchase if only because the game is worth it as a stand alone RPG in an MMO environment. Whilst there are some negatives with this game, i feel confident that the freemium model will work here - even if its not free-to-play because of the $60 DLC cost. I will also mention that the game really isnt designed with an "end game" in mind, with that out of the way the grind is left to goldfarmers and the game returns to what is really important about in all MMO's... the gameplay and a good time :)