Run Away From Diablo 3,Go To Choose Guild War 2

On to the main event – that Blizzard are ‘admitting’ that Diablo 3′s endgame is lacking, and players are discussing GW2′s lack of a proper (or at least traditional… or maybe at least traditional if you’ve only played Everquest and WoW) endgame. Just as an aside, I personally am not all that fond of the term endgame and prefer to refer to what you do after levelling as the ‘elder game’. Endgame smacks of an objective, something desirable to be reached and which makes all of the stuff leading up to that point a chore to be gotten out of the way. Elder game seems a more neutral term for “well, I enjoyed the levelling but that’s the last ding, now what?” However, as almost everybody else talks about it as endgame, I guess I’d better use the term as well.

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As for Guild Wars 2 – well, it certainly doesn’t have a raiding endgame with gear progression like EQ, WoW or most of their progeny. However, my MMO background is from Dark Age of Camelot which didn’t really rely on that stuff either, so I’m a lot more relaxed about it. The key question is – what can I do once I’m finished with levelling and the personal story in GW2? Will there be enough to keep me occupied for a while instead of deciding that I’ve finished with the game? In my view, there are at least two positive answers to that question. The World Vs World content is the closest thing to DAoC’s frontiers at least since Warhammer Online, and as DAoC kept me entertained for several years I would say that WvW has at least a chance of also becoming a long-term form of entertainment. And the nature of the game’s dynamic events and level-scaling means that I could spend a long time wandering Tyria looking for PvE adventure and still keep encountering new stuff that’s a fair challenge, especially if ArenaNet keep their promise of having a live team that constantly mixes up the events so things don’t get set into a rut.

It’s weird though, and unfortunate, as Guild Wars 2 has absolutely nothing to be worried about in that department. Throw a rock anywhere in this world and – as well as probably aggroing some zombie who’ll try to eat your face – you’re going to hit something pretty. The Sylvari area is no exception, from a literally blooming lovely dreamworld opening to the lush terrain around their racial city, The Grove. It’s a place of huge fields, layers of fireflies, floating boulders flicking invisible V-signs at the laws of physics, lakes to cross on over-sized lily pads, giant plant bulbs carved into shops and lots more on the theme of ‘cool organic stuff’.

It’s also a surprisingly welcoming place. Where you’d expect the Sylvari to be elf types, complete with endless arrogance and racial superiority, in practice they’re a friendly bunch. Wandering around the Grove you’ll see them happily chatting with Charr and discussing their plans to go check out other civilisations. Their leader, The Pale Tree, gladly receives visitors. I didn’t even have to sit through a single lecture about the importance of nature, or any hippie crap. They may be jade, but they’re not jaded. Or even green with envy, from what I could tell.

PvE raids never offered much enjoyment for a Killer, and the way raids are organised now has little for either Socialisers (with ever-smaller raid sizes) or Explorers (who are told to go look the strategies up on YouTube rather than figure out their own). GW2 has more than enough to keep levelcapped Killers and Explorers happy, at least. If WoW can succeed by offering an endgame for one Bartle type, I’m pretty sure GW2 stands a fighting chance by trying to offer enough for two of them.

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