Should I Play Guild Wars 2?

Logan Thackeray running through Divinity's Reach

Short answer: YES!

Long answer: YEEEEEES!

It’s no secret that we are big fans of Guild Wars 2. But there are good reasons why: GW2 is an amazing MMO with a ton of content, an attentive and thoughtful publisher, and one of the best player communities around.

It’s Not “Pay to Win”

One of the biggest questions prospective players have about the game is, “Is Guild Wars 2 pay to win?” Nope!

Guild Wars 2 does feature a Gem Store, where you can use real-world money to buy gems. However, the Gem Store only sells cosmetic and convenience items.

The skins and permanent harvesting tools are nice, but they don’t affect your actual gameplay. You can easily spend years playing Guild Wars 2 without ever spending a dime, and it will never hurt your playthrough.

NOTE: This doesn’t apply to Fashion Wars, which many half-jokingly argue is the true Guild Wars 2 endgame. Fashion Wars is very much a pay-to-win situation!

If you want to buy something in the Gem Store but you don’t want to spend cash, you’re in luck. ArenaNet has an in-game gold-to-gems converter which lets you earn gold playing the game, then convert it into gems you can use in the Gem Store. You can also go the other way: use cash to buy gems, then convert those into gold you can use in the game.

Fantastic Player Community

We created this website so that new players wouldn’t have to ask questions in map chat. But you can if you want to, because existing players LOVE to help. In other games, “newbs” asking questions in a public chat channel would be ridiculed mercilessly. In Guild Wars 2, they receive helpful and well-thought-out answers and offers of assistance.

Guild Wars 2 players love to help other players. And ArenaNet designed the game with collaborative gameplay in mind. A few small examples:

  • Loot is “instanced,” which means that someone else can’t take your loot before you have a chance to pick it up.
  • There’s no such thing as “kill-stealing.” Everyone who participates in a kill gets a reward. If you and a high-level player both attack the same creature, you will both get equal XP and loot.
  • All maps are scaled zones. This means that if a level 80 character enters a level 5 starter zone, their character and weapons will be scaled down to level 5.

Amazing Content

No need to worry about a “content drought” after you hit the level cap. Guild Wars 2 has three play modes:

  • PVE: The “regular” game. This includes dungeons, raids, map-wide meta events, and the ongoing Living World story.
  • PVP: Compete against other players in several different modes of structured PVP.
  • WVW: A large-scale open-world variation on PVP. Players are assigned to one of 25 servers, each week servers are matched up in a three-way fight across five different maps.

The standard “core Tyria” maps are about the same size as the WOW map but considerably more dense with events and content. And unlike WOW, all Guild Wars 2 zones are open to all characters.

The Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire expansion packs each introduced a huge chunk of new zones, above and beyond the “core Tyria” base game maps. There’s a lot to do – and a lot of places to explore.

Outstanding Graphics

Guild Wars 2 is a beautiful game. But if your computer struggles with modern PC games, don’t worry – there is a whole slew of graphics settings you can fiddle with. And if you don’t like fiddling with graphics settings, the “autodetect” setting works very well.

The Free-to-Play Version is Great!

Still not convinced? The base game is free to play. Give it a try and see for yourself!

Free accounts do have some limitations which are mainly designed to prevent abuse by bots and gold farmers. However, the free accounts are full-featured, and you will have access to all of the core Tyria maps and adventures.

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