Just showing some love

[Rivlet.9174]

Good evening folks,

 

I am pretty sure that 99% of the people who will read this might not give a damn about it, but I would like to share it with you nonetheless.

 

The thing is that I happened to be interested in coming back to the GW franchise in what is probably the worst timing possible. It all came in quick and anecdotal succession: there I was, going for a walk this morning when I began thinking that my time with videogames was over as I am less and less able to find a videogame (SP or MP) that hypes and entertains me the way some of them did a few years ago.

 

During that inner thinking session, I began to analyse what had gone wrong with what used to be my passion. Refusing to let it die, I tried to informally analyse what made a game feel great for me. To avoid boring you more than necessary, I will skip to the part in which I thought **"what about Guild Wars?"**:

 

**Me:** Is it because I've been playing a lot of different, quite unsubstantial MP games and I am a "SP+rich storytelling" kind of guy?

**Also me**: Nah. You had a blast playing things like Ragnarok Online, Lineage 2 or Guild Wars.

**Also me, but not the previous me**: Well, I spent a lot of hours in RO or L2 bored as hell, just because I was able to interact with a lot of really nice people.

**"B" me**: Except for Guild Wars (1). That game was awesome. The perfect balance between a lot of rich/interesting main and side stories and a wonderful social experience sponsored by a cool community.

**"A" me**: True. GW's community is among the best communities I've been part of. If not THE best. Wait... Why don't you.... Why don't you give GW2 a go again?

**"B" me**: I don't know... It's nothing like GW1. In fact, that is why I ran away from it after buying it. And I tried to go back a couple of years ago and I didn't manage to stay... I had some fun though. More than the first time.

**"A" me**: Just check it out. It's fast paced, somewhat simple for an MMO, it suits your time constraints and, for all you know, it still has that super awesome community.

 

Yes. No. No, I'm not crazy. Thanks for asking.

 

So... I decided to listen to my "A" part and check GW2 as an option... only to find out that it's enduring its... "darkest"? times, with people being laid off and all. I even started watching a YT video from an apparently very nice person who claimed that he'd worked for 15 years on the franchise and just got laid off. I didn't know him. Today was the first time I saw his face. And yet, I felt the connection. That guy was partially responsible for all the hours of good fun, wonder and friendship that GW1 brought me.

 

Anyway... **TL; DR**: I want to show appreciation for all the work and love that current and former devs have put on this franchise throughout the years. Guys like this "Josh Foreman" who have made someone else enjoy life a little bit more by creating amazing art (i.e. videogames). And the best way in which I can show such appreciation (especially considering the tough context) is by giving GW2 another go and seeing where I get this time. Who knows? I might end up purchasing HoT and PoF or dropping videogames forever. Exciting, huh? That's life. Ups and downs. Worth the ride.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Welcome return, and best of luck!

[Rivlet.9174]

Thank you.

 

So... you're within that 1%.

 

See you around. :+1:

[Skotlex.7580]

Everything happens for a reason. Even if it doesn't, thinking it does gives sense to life, which to many would be a preferable illusion to just believing our existence is pure chaos. :D

 

These are interesting times for ANet's future, but whatever happens, I reckon GW2 will at least last a few more years before it closes shop, even if everything goes downhill from now on.

 

It's unlikely NCsoft will want to close up its third most profitable game, so that's why, on the very least, the game will continue running with regular gemshop upgrades for the foreseeable future.

 

And if you are a returning player, there's tons of catching up content you can enjoy.

[Rivlet.9174]

Yeah. Taking into account all that I've read, I don't see this universe shutting down all of a sudden.

 

Personally, knowing how fast-paced the gaming industry has become (and our daily life, for that matter) —particularly in the case of multiplayer games—, I'd rather have a stable, powerful and high quality title going on for years than a hundred different $hort-term project$. Look at EVE Online or WoW. If they can last that long, I don't see why the GW franchise couldn't do the same.

 

Especially considering that, although GW2 lacks some of the aspects that made GW great —again: in my humble opinion—, this game has a huge potential. Mainly for people like me. People who, as you said, have a lot of content lying ahead of them.

 

Speaking of which, if I'm not mistaken, I'm able to play any content released thus far as long as I'm willing to pay for it (of course) with the exception of LS 1. Am I correct?

[Trise.2865]

> @"Dreyfus.8730" said:

> Speaking of which, if I'm not mistaken, I'm able to play any content released thus far as long as I'm willing to pay for it (of course) with the exception of LS 1. Am I correct?

 

Correct. Except for the Expansion content and Living World chapters (which are also technically Expansion content), the game's content is fully open to you, start-to-finish. Fortunately for the frugal gamer, the Living World chapters and bundles are cheap enough that in-game gold farming is sufficient to "unlock" them in a reasonable (your mileage may vary) amount of time. Furthermore, the Expansions and Expansion bundles are frequently discounted from legitimate sellers (such as right now, at time of writing, as part of the March Sale), so the out-of-pocket cost isn't as high as first glance.

 

The exception to this is "structured" [PvP](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Structured_PvP "PvP"), where all character abilities are made available to you, regardless of expansion, so you can participate on an even playing field, or experiment with builds. However, you will not be able to collect Expansion-specific rewards, such as rare armor skins, without the related Expansion pack.

 

Welcome back, and see you in game!

[Rivlet.9174]

Cool. Thanks for the information, Trise.

 

I've already had my "returning session". We'll see how it goes!