Decent challenging dungeons?

[Runo.3780]

Hello, I'm thinking about buying the game so please tell me - for the new person are there many good pve content? Like in wildstar or in final fantasy xiv?

 

[JDub.1530]

There is lots of good PvE content, but since your subject specifically mentions dungeons: ANet has pretty much abandoned their "classic" dungeons, which each include a story mode and a multi path "explorable" mode meant to be more difficult.

 

However GW2 does have Fractals, which also serve as dungeon content and can be scaled up to ramp up the difficulty level and adding new mechanics like agony and mistlock instabilities.

 

There are also currently 5 raid wings for 10-man parties, which is the top challenging PvE content.

[Runo.3780]

If you would compare it to the wildstar or final fantasy xiv - is it same quality/lower?

[JDub.1530]

I would if I had played either, but I have no experience with those games. Sorry.

[Runo.3780]

Okay thanks... I have one more question - I was playing Guild Wars long ago and I really loved the continent of Guild Wars: Factions (Cantha), is this area in guild wars 2? Or they decided it's bad and we don't need it? I really would love to come back to this area with much betetr graphic :D.

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

> @"Runo.3780" said:

> If you would compare it to the wildstar or final fantasy xiv - is it same quality/lower?

 

My WildStar experience is limited, but what I played was very, very similar to WoW, a game that I do know better. I found that GW2 writing was better, the hearts added when people demanded quest hubs ala WoW were on par, and the dynamic events and world bosses vastly superior. Combat is more dynamic and actually requires more player skill responding to the dynamics of combat, rather than rarely moving out of the fire will pressing buttons in a strict rotation.

 

My FFXIV experience is also quite limited, but I find GW2 combat vastly faster paced, and wildly more dynamic. The story that I encountered in FFXIV was on the same level as GW2 in terms of writing, but the dynamic events in the world were much more limited.

 

I may not be giving those games a fair shake, though, so don't take this as written in stone. I'd certainly say that GW2 is "in the same class" as those other AAA MMOs.

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

> @"Runo.3780" said:

> Okay thanks... I have one more question - I was playing Guild Wars long ago and I really loved the continent of Guild Wars: Factions (Cantha), is this area in guild wars 2? Or they decided it's bad and we don't need it? I really would love to come back to this area with much betetr graphic :D.

 

Cantha is not, currently, in GW2. With the Path of Fire we have recently gone back to Elona, though, so Cantha may (or may not) show up at some point in the future. You are definitely not alone in loving the region, and plenty of people on the forums are asking to revisit it.

 

You can use http://gw2timer.com/ to explore the map to get an overview of what regions are present in the game.

[DeanBB.4268]

@OP, since you're on the forum, you obviously still own the game, so download it (if needed) and just give it a try.

[Runo.3780]

I own only the basic copy, I have no access to anything beyond that.

[DeanBB.4268]

That still gives you full access to Core Tyria, the (old & abandoned) dungeons, and the Fractals.

[Runo.3780]

So nothing changed (considering dungeons) between basic content and expansion content :O?

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

> @"Runo.3780" said:

> So nothing changed (considering dungeons) between basic content and expansion content :O?

 

Dungeons were renamed "fractals", and have seen substantial development. The 8 existing "dungeons" retain their name, and their content, but are never going to change.

[GrubySzymek.1362]

> @"SlippyCheeze.5483" said:

> > @"Runo.3780" said:

> > So nothing changed (considering dungeons) between basic content and expansion content :O?

>

> Dungeons were renamed "fractals", and have seen substantial development. The 8 existing "dungeons" retain their name, and their content, but are never going to change.

 

No, they weren't "renamed", they always existed next to each other. Normal dungeons are mostly leveling content, fractals are endgame dungeons.

[starlinvf.1358]

> @"Runo.3780" said:

> If you would compare it to the wildstar or final fantasy xiv - is it same quality/lower?

 

Its difficult to make a comparison, because the games operates on different principles in both combat and reward systems. The whole game was founded on subverting typical MMO gameplay (IE: Not WoW), and still stands as one of the more uniquely well design games for being both highly approachable to new players, and not being completely insulting to veteran players with its end game content. But to accomplish this, it purposely misuses the type of Skinner box methods Common among online games, and builds a reward structure that seems counter intuitive to people who are used to the standard Grind formats of Korean/WoW type progression systems.

 

If you're purely rewards driven, you'll probably get 50% the way through core content before quitting. If you like buildcraft (which is one of the game's notable strengths), the game won't get fun until after the first half of Core content. If you like map exploration, this game is one of better non-single player titles to do this, with lots of hidden gems, jumping puzzles, and extremely high levels of environmental story telling. If you're driven by story..... its a mixed bag. If you're a role player.... it depends on what type of RPer you are. RP-lite will probably love this game; but heavy RPers don't adapt well to the game's sense of uniformity in several areas.

 

That said..... WildStar and FF14 are trash tier for criminally underutilizing the potential for a Raid format..... a side effect of the classic design formula its based on. I only Elevate GW2 raids on the notion of the combat system being capable of lot more diverse encounter types, and the soft trinity allowing more build strategy for team compositions. But I also criticize this game's raids for not full capitalizing the game's strongest aspects, as they've been trying to play it safe, and yet were poorly introduced to frantically get some kind of new End-game content out the door with the expansion. Theres a long behind Dungeons, Fractals and Raids, and how Anet's decision process works.... more then is worth explaining unless you're already planning to dive into it.

 

 

As for content; you have to realize there is a big division between Open World, Raids, PvP, and World Vs World, as each are basically entirely different games with only the skill system being the common thread. They are not natural evolution of each other, because the game is primarily designed as World Vs World as intended end-game, but was later shifted to PvE type content due to how unexpectedly (and overwhelming) popularity of the more casual friendly Overworld.

 

Personally I find Guildwar's 2 (despite the differences from Guildwars 1), to be a game with a huge amount of natural potential for design growth....... but am also endlessly frustrated by the finer points of the game not being fully capitalized on, due to Anet's long standing issues with internal Dev management and overall direction. And its been really hard to express correctly, because Anet's situation shouldn't be what it is......