Guild Wars 2: First Look

Guild Wars 2 (shortened GW2) is an Free To Play (F2P) MMORPG released in 2012 by ArenaNet and published by NCsoft. For a game of its age it is visually pleasing and the loading screen artwork is amazing. I have currently spent about 3 days playing this game and still going full force in the grind to reach the max level which is set at level 80 and will not be increased according to the developers. The game used to be a paid game before switching to the F2P model thus it still has some Pay to win (P2W) aspects but doesn't take away from the gameplay. To fully experience the game you have to buy the Heart Of Thorns expansion which will set you back $49.99 but gives you access to everything including a free max level boost for one of your characters and five extra character slots. If you decide to stay with the F2P you get two character slots which you can use. The game has its grinding aspects which range from gathering resources for crafting to farming experience to rank up and gold coins for buying all your exploring goodies.

There are Five playable races in GW2 and each race has no gender block meaning you can play as a man or a woman which ever tickles your fancy.The races range form the Asura: These alchemagical inventors may be short in stature, but they're  intellectual giants. Among the asura, it's not the strong who survive,  but the clever. Other races believe they should rule by virtue of their  power and strength, but they're deluding themselves. In due time, all  will serve the asura, the Charr:  The charr race was forged in the merciless crucible of war. It is all  they know. War defines them, and their quest for dominion drives them  ever onward. The weak and the foolish have no place among the charr.  Victory is all that matters, and it must be achieved by any means and at  any cost, the Humans:  Humans have lost their homeland, their security, and their former  glory. Even their gods have withdrawn. And yet, the human spirit remains  unshaken. These brave defenders of Kryta continue to fight with every ounce of their strength, the Norn:  The race of towering hunters experienced a great defeat when the Ice Dragon drove them from their glacial homeland. Nevertheless, they won't let  one lost battle - however punishing - dampen their enthusiasm for life  and the hunt. They know that only the ultimate victor achieves legendary  rewards and last but not least the Sylvari:  Sylvari are not born. They awaken beneath the Pale Tree with knowledge gleaned in their pre-life Dream. These noble beings  travel, seeking adventure and pursuing quests. They struggle to balance  curiosity with duty, eagerness with chivalry, and warfare with honor.  Magic and mystery entwine to shape the future of this race that has so  recently appeared. There is currently Nine Classes split into 3 groups.

• Soldiers (This profession wears heavy armor)

-Guardian (Guardians specialize in protective and defensive magic. A deep sense  of loyalty to their allies fuels their passion and power. They're also  skilled with a variety of weapons which they put to use against their  enemies)

-Revenant  (Revenants manipulate energy from the Mists to invoke the power of  legends from the past, unleashing immense attacks that dominate foes and  unleash chaos on the battlefield.)

-Warrior (Warriors are masters of martial skills. They rely on speed, strength,  toughness and heavy armor to survive. They're versatile in combat and  benefit from offensive and defensive abilities. Warriors inspire allies  and demoralize enemies.

• Adventurers (This profession wears medium armor)

-Engineer (Engineers are technical and alchemical masterminds.  They employ turrets, grenades, elixirs, and a variety of other impressive devices and concoctions to overcome their enemies.)

-Ranger (Rangers are proficient with the bow. They rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature to slay their targets. Their loyal pets, which rangers tame and train, distract enemies while the rangers strike safely from a distance.)

-Thief (Thieves are adept at the art of stealth. They utilize surprise and shadow to get close to their enemies, and  they're deadly in one-on-one combat. They have an affinity for setting traps and going where they were never meant to go.)

• Scholars (This profession wears light armor)

-Elementalist (Elementalists have harnessed Tyria's natural forces. Their powers of destruction are drawn from an affinity  with the four elements that make up the world. They conjure air, fire,  earth, or water to assault their enemies.)

-Mesmer (Mesmers are maestros of mirage. They wield mental magic that  confounds, controls, or evokes emotion in their enemies. With a wave of  the hand, they can shatter their own illusions to produce even greater special effects.)

-Necromancer (Necromancers are masters of the dark arts. They summon the dead to  fight for them, channel blood energy, and rend the souls of their  enemies. Necromancers draw on life force and use it to strengthen or  heal themselves and others.)

I personally chose the Engineer as I love the thought of technical in a magical world and the turrets are very useful for running away from enemies. The classes a fairly balanced and each class has its weaknesses and strengths.

Most of the loot in-game has its own unique textures and there is quite a few items to collect as there is an achievement for collecting them all.  The map of the game is huge but is not open world as in you have to go through a protal to reach a different continent of the map and each race starts in a different area. 

•  System requirements: 

- Operating System: Windows® XP Service Pack 3 or newer versions of windows

-Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon™ 64 X2    

-Memory: 2 GB RAM    

-Hard drive: 35 GB available HDD space (actual install approx 27 GB)    

-Graphics card: NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800, ATI Radeon™ X1800, Intel HD 3000
(256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0)    

-Internet connection: Broadband Internet Connection    

-Input: Keyboard and mouse  

• Conclusion 

I'm not going to tell you anymore about the game as its an amazing game that's for free and has a load of content that I haven't even discovered so why not go download the game and try it out. It might be a game you like and waste your time on it like I did and will still be doing in the future (If they don't suddenly shut down their servers for what ever reason but I don't think that will happen as Guild wars 1 servers are still running). The only negatives that I found in the game is that you have to pay for the expansion to experience everything but not that I'm complaining about having to pay.

-Go play the game already :D