Guild Wars 2: Base Game

 

Guild Wars 2 is an MMO, the sequel to Guild Wars (2005), launched in 2012.  Since it's launch, it's had 3 expansions.  There are 5 playable races, 9 classes, base game is free, and there is no monthly subscription.  Hubby and I chose to buy the expansion bundle after a few days of play.

The game is turning 11 years old this year, and it's age actually makes it very good.  It was designed before the whole Gatcha Hero system became popular, and it has a lot of familiarity to a World of Warcraft, which I really enjoy.  There is a cash shop for quality of life and cosmetic items, but none of it is game breaking or cheating.  

I fell in love right away with the plant people, called the Sylvari.  So much so, that I got my husband to roll one too, so we could do the starting zone together.  The Sylvari are colorful and inspired looking plant people, with treelike skin and leaves or sticks for hair.  Also, they glow in the dark.  VERY COOL!  I made a head to toe purple Sylvari Ranger.  The Ranger class is like hunter in WoW, you fight with an animal companion.  And you can tame more.   And name them.  Paired with a bow and arrows, it was the obvious choice for me.

I made my Ranger, hubby made his Warrior, and off we went, exploring the world of Tyria.  It's very colorful, which I love.  You can dye your armor for free, which I love.  Quests and teleport spots are littered across the landscape.  All you have to do is get in range and the quest begins or the teleport spot unlocks.  Gathering nodes are sprinkled around too.  It's a great game for wanderers like me.

Most leveling is just wandering around the map, doing things and fighting baddies, but every 10 levels, there's a story for you to complete.  This can be done solo, or with a friend!  I was ecstatic I could do the stories with my husband, and wasn't forced to be alone.  That was my biggest beef with FFXIV, the mandatory solo story content.  It always stressed me out.  And these stories weren't one large overarching saga, they were short stories.  They helped build the world, but still had a set beginning and end, which is very satisfying.  Even the patch content before the first expansion is a set of small stories, each about 5 quests long, that helps explain the lore and set the stage, but has a satisfying ending to the immediate story.

Getting to max level was not a big grind either, we hit the level cap in 2 weeks of casual play.  We completed the main stories for the base game in 3 weeks.  The first episode of patch content took a weekend, and we have 4 more to go.  But there's still plenty more to do!  We can go back to any map we haven't finished, and there are many, and still get full XP towards our masteries.  There's loads of achievements to work on too, with good rewards.  And, of course, there is raiding...  I'll pass on raiding.  But there's plenty other things to do before even touching the three whole expansions I'm looking forward to.