What makes Guild wars 2 stand out compared to all the other mmos out there?

Other than the fact that its only a one off charge? game seems to be getting a lot of praise

Well many reasons but too lazy so here's why I suppose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0nCHPl_mEU

Most immersive 3D chat lobbies you've ever experienced.SKaREO

Wow you really do know nothing about GW2 at all...

Combat

Combat has a much higher focus on adaptability manual defense and less emphasis on rigidly structured roles. Some people say the trinityless system is detrimental to teamwork, others say that the lack of a trinity forces people to be more self sufficient and encourages ACTUAL teamwork. There is a downed system as well where fallen players fight to their last breath.

Personal opinion: The lack of trinity is great, I never really considered the holy trinity to encourage real teamwork. That said, I feel the combat is a step down from GW1 in many ways.

Environment

Dynamic events take the place of questing, while the typical old questing is still there, most have been replaced by events.That said, some people feel the new dynamic events repeat too often, get old fast and dont feel that different from the old questing system. The game also encourages you to explore with all sorts of hidden goodies.

Personal opinion: I feel the dynamic events bring more life to the world. And makes the travelling a lot less predictable. The rewards for exploration are great as welll. That said, I am a bit concerned about the world size. I am not entirely sure it is big enough to support the current level cap, it may feel very linear near the end with players only really having one path to level.

PvP

WvW is reminds me a bit of Dark Age of Camelot. SPvP is all skill (and good connection), 0 gear. In fact, Everyone's gear is of the same quality in SPvP unless players dont socket their items with sigils and runes for whatever reason. Some people are unhappy about hte lack of gear dephendancy though.

Personal Opinion:However, I am not one of those people.

Progression

Players are scaled down if they enter low level areas, and scaled up in PvP areas. At the level cap the gear will plateau fast, and as a result, gearing up gets more of a flavor thing for looks and more specialized stats. While this makes the game a lot less gear dephendant, easier to balance and makes it easier to group with friends, some people are gonna miss the typical treadmill the themeparks mmos usually have.

Personal opinion: Big plus here. But I have to say that a level cap of 80 just feels unnecessary and so does 20-30k hp at level cap.

A different take on theme-parks. Not vastly different, but different enough to not be a WoW clone.

A different take on theme-parks. Not vastly different, but different enough to not be a WoW clone.

QQabitmoar

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one.

Well many reasons but too lazy so here's why I suppose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0nCHPl_mEU

xWoW_Rougex

All I know is I have not had an MMO make me have that "can't wait to log back on" feeling in a long long time. GW2 does this for me.

There was a thread asking this a while back, someone made some very well laid out points which I'll try to find. EDIT: Found them:

Bold=Big reasons to set it apart from WoW.

Combat

1. Combat in GW2 does not adhere to the holy trinity
2. Combat in Guild Wars 2 is far more actiony than that in WoW, dodging is done manually.
3. 2 weapon set limit, most classes are expected to frequently change weapons in combat
4. Due to the lack of the holy trinity and dedicated healers, and proper defensive equipment, no one can stay under fire for too long. Players may only be able to take a few hits before going down
5. The downed state
6. Most likely a much stronger emphasis on synergy between players in combat as opposed to the I did the most dps
7. Underwater combat where both players and foes alike have different behaviour both on land and underwater.

Progression

1. Skills are obtained by spending skill points, not awarded after reaching a certain level and speaking to the trainer
2. Flat levelling curve
3. Unlike WoW, Guild Wars 2 does not only encourage exploration, but also properly reward it
4. No gear treadmill at level cap
5. Gear gives alternate bonuses, but not superior bonuses at level cap

Character Customization

1. Naturally, GW2's character creation is far superior to WoW's (which isnt saying a lot)
2. 10 Skill limit forcing players to make more choices when making their builds
3. Traits in GW2 are very different from Talents in WoW
4. In GW2 you have a lot more ways you can customize your appearance. Dyeing armor for instance, now there is nothing stopping me from making a male norn in pink platemail.

PvE

1. Dynamic Events as opposed to traditional quests
2. Personal Storyline
3. A system where seeing other players is actually welcome, as opposed to "get out of my farming place, noob"
4. Player Skill>Gear

PvP

1. Hot Joinable PvP
2. PvP with server browsers
3. 3 Way PvP that actually has a point (World PvP in WoW is absolutely pointless, and thanks to flying mounts, nonexistant)

Maroxad

Oh my, I feel flattered now :oops:

But I wanted to clarify on a few things that has been changed since I typed that.

1. While skills are still obtained through skill points, they are now unlocked through a tier system. Buy 5 skills in your current tier to access the next tier. This means that unlike BWE1 where I went for all the good skills immediately and never changed my build afterwards. I now have to experiment a bit with other skills first. A good change imo.
2. Players are more sturdy now than they were before. But they still cant take heat for too long.
3. Traits have been altered as well, in tiers as well. Tier 1 traits which can be used on slot 1, 2 and 3. Tier 2 which can be used on slot 2 and 3, and tier 3 which can be only be used on slot 3. This makes them somewhat more similar to the traits in WoW where you will have to invest heavily in a tree to get the best perks. That said, the GW2 traits still differ from WoW's talents quite a bit.

[QUOTE="QQabitmoar"]

A different take on theme-parks. Not vastly different, but different enough to not be a WoW clone.

Wasdie

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one.

Sandbox mmos, are making somewhat of a ressurgance though. There are quite a few promising sandbox mmos coming up... though we can't be certain of their quality or popularity quite yet. Personally, I can't wait for ArcheAge.

[QUOTE="QQabitmoar"]

A different take on theme-parks. Not vastly different, but different enough to not be a WoW clone.

Wasdie

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one.

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

[QUOTE="QQabitmoar"]

A different take on theme-parks. Not vastly different, but different enough to not be a WoW clone.

lawlessx

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one.

People said the same about Darkfall...

Sorry. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

[QUOTE="lawlessx"][QUOTE="Wasdie"]

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one.

Wasdie

People said the same about Darkfall...

Sorry. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

It does feel different than the rest of the MMOs out there but I'm still not 100% sold on it. Well I guess I am since I bought it.....

Most of what Im going to say..

Bought it, played a few weekends. Don't think it will revolutionize anything.nutcrackr

This was my experience too.

It's a solid MMO experience but it's still an MMO and doesn't really do to much to separate itself besides it's lack of sub fee and balanced PvP approach. I was looking for something different gameplay wise and GW2 wasn't it for me, I still think it will be one hell of a successful MMO though.

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one. Wasdie

I think that's a really ignorant statement.

The very fact that DayZ, a mod for ArmA 2 that turns the game into a full loot multiplayer zombie sandbox, has propelled ArmA 2: Combined Operations to the top of the steam best sellers for weeks and made headlines around the gaming community shows that gamers are interested in sandbox games and disproves your theory.

The problem is no well funded and professional company has attempted to make a decent sandbox MMO do to the fact that MMO's now cost so much money to make and sandbox MMO's are much more of an unproven investment. That's why all we've got over the past years are poorly managed and funded indie sandbox MMO's.

The very fact that DayZ, a mod for ArmA 2 that turns the game into a full loot multiplayer zombie sandbox, has propelled ArmA 2: Combined Operations to the top of the steam best sellers for weeks and made headlines around the gaming community shows that gamers are interested in sandbox games and disproves your theory.Croag821

[QUOTE="lawlessx"][QUOTE="Wasdie"]

Sandbox MMOs are more or less a dead genre. I don't expect any to really rise up and become popular ever again. EVE Online is the last big one.

Wasdie

People said the same about Darkfall...

Sorry. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Well, it is a good thing then, ArcheAge avoids many of the pitfalls in Darkfall.

Still has a few problems atm in its beta phase, namely, its optimization.

The game is great in that it continually encourages grouping and exploration. This is sweetened by the fact the game world looks and feels amazing. However, the combat is underwhelming (for me at least) and the grind is still very apparent which is probably an indication that my time with MMO's are close to over.

[QUOTE="Croag821"]The very fact that DayZ, a mod for ArmA 2 that turns the game into a full loot multiplayer zombie sandbox, has propelled ArmA 2: Combined Operations to the top of the steam best sellers for weeks and made headlines around the gaming community shows that gamers are interested in sandbox games and disproves your theory.Jebus213

ArmA 2 isn't an MMO...Jebus213

ArmA 2 isn't an MMO but the DayZ mod adds many MMO features. It has persistent characters, a huge world, 50+ player servers, free for all pvp, random loot spots, and more. While it isn't an official MMO I think it has much more of an MMO feel than many real MMO's.

And my point was that players are drawn towards the sandbox aspects of DayZ, so there's clearly a market for a sandbox MMO if it is done right.

[QUOTE="Jebus213"]ArmA 2 isn't an MMO...Croag821

ArmA 2 isn't an MMO but the DayZ mod adds many MMO features. It has persistent characters, a huge world, 50+ player servers, free for all pvp, random loot spots, and more. While it isn't an official MMO I think it has much more of an MMO feel than many real MMO's.

And my point was that players are drawn towards the sandbox aspects of DayZ, so there's clearly a market for a sandbox MMO if it is done right.

[QUOTE="Jebus213"][QUOTE="Croag821"]The very fact that DayZ, a mod for ArmA 2 that turns the game into a full loot multiplayer zombie sandbox, has propelled ArmA 2: Combined Operations to the top of the steam best sellers for weeks and made headlines around the gaming community shows that gamers are interested in sandbox games and disproves your theory.scotty992

hype.

Have played 4-5 hours of the beta at my mates place. It was not to bad, but I honestly don't understand all the hype.

I will end up getting it, but I think maybe I am just growing out of mmos.

Bought it, played a few weekends. Don't think it will revolutionize anything.nutcrackr

Other than the fact that its only a one off charge? game seems to be getting a lot of praise

scotty992

Nothing. What makes you think it stands out?