Guild Wars 2: 3 reasons you might not like the game

Will old school gamers take to Guild Wars 2?

Guild Wars 2 is arguably the most innovative MMO in years. While games like Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World were innovative, they weren’t so innovative that you felt like a NASCAR redneck at a performance of Madam Butterfly. There were a few new things to learn in each of those games, but most of your former MMO experience helped you get comfortable fast enough. Within a couple of days you were cruising around like a seasoned pro, weren’t you?

Well, it’s not probably not going to happen in GW2.  All those MMO skills you’ve been developing for years… Eh, they’ll help some, but a lot of them are not going to translate to GW2. Sorry. There’s going to be a learning curve.

There are enough departures from the classic MMO formula to make more than a few gaming graybeards uncomfortable. Even if you’re not part of the old guard, it will probably take you longer to get used to GW2.

Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Dynamic events feel messy, at first.

Dynamic events put an end to the traditional questing model. Yes, there are traditional in-world quests to do, but the bulk of your experience is going to come from participating in dynamic events.

Dynamic events feel very messy, at first. They pop up seemly everywhere and everyone gets involved. They’re not like traditional questing, where a lot of people might be in one area focused on doing their own individual quests; you’re all there, but you’re not really together or even focused on a common task. With a dynamic event, hordes of people are all engaged in finishing a single event.

More than a few people who are used to old school MMO questing are going to find it a little hard to adapt to this. Many of them will probably find it chaotic and distasteful. They’re not going to like this aspect of the game, at least initially. After a while, most gamers will adapt and, frankly, it will probably ruin traditional MMOs for them. Those that don’t adapt or just prefer the old school questing? Sadly, they probably won’t like GW2.

2. It’s not easy to power level

Some like to say, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Some say, screw that, let’s get to the endgame.

A lot of people just want to get to the endgame as fast as possible. They go out and gather up all the quests they can in an area and just grind them out. When they’re done, they cash them in for a ton of XP. GW2’s dynamic events don’t lend themselves too well to this. There’s just no mechanism for gathering up quests and grinding them out. You’re going to have to do the dynamic events and that probably means you’re not going to be able to level much faster than someone who’s enjoying the journey.

If you’re not a smell-the-roses, enjoy-the-journey kinda gamer, you probably won’t like this.

3. There’s no gear grind

Admit it. One of the reasons you like to power level is so you can get to the endgame and get all the sweet loot, right? You like to be one of first ones in endgame gear with all its uber stats. Oh, and if you’re a PvPer… Oh, it’s so sweet – you get to stomp everyone who comes up behind you. As long as you keep grinding they’ll never catch you and you’ll keep stomping them. So sweet.

Yeah, but GW2 doesn’t have a gear grind. Sorta sucks for you, doesn’t it? No gear grind means you’ll have to learn to use your skills.

If you like gear grinds – and more than a few peeps do – you are probably going to hate GW2.

Basically, if you love the traditional gaming model and you don’t like change, you’re probably not going to like Guild Wars 2.

(You might also like: 5 reasons you’ll love Guild Wars 2.)