In fact, from the character creation phase, Guild Wars 2 is already showing originality. The universe spares us the eternal elves, orcs and dwarves and instead offers us to embody a ferocious and bestial Charr, a Norn giant Norn, a small Asura with big ears, or even a noble and vegetal Sylvari. Without forgetting the classic but essential human ones, of course. Regarding the classes, you have to choose from the following eight proposals: Elementalist, Warrior, Guardian, Engineer, Ranger, Necromancer, Thief and Mesmer. These archetypes are varied enough for everyone to find their account, especially since these roles remain quite flexible. A warrior will be able to fight perfectly with a bow while the ranger may have to go into contact, sword in hand. In fact, the skill system encourages us to try different approaches, since one keystroke allows you to instantly switch between weapon sets, which has the effect of changing five of the ten combat skills that can be used. equip each character. In addition, the underwater gameplay has its own skills, which further enriches the situations. To top it off, the course of the fights is more dynamic and mobile than usual (with the exception of TERA) since you can dodge and activate most weapon skills while moving. That's already something to be happy about! But let's go back for a moment to our character creation phase, which naturally allows us to redo the portrait of our hero, thanks to numerous visual parameters. It ends with a few background choices, which will reveal their importance a little later in the game, whether in terms of gameplay or scenario development. If we put aside the absence of a beautiful introductory cinematic scene in computer generated images, as some competing studios know so well how to do, the first steps in the game already bode well. Right, since we will see that the quest system in Guild Wars 2 is as surprising as it is exciting.
Bye-bye quests, hello events!
Above all, don't look for NPCs with an exclamation point on their heads, there aren't any! If it is still possible to go and talk to the characters who need help to learn more about their requests and their motivations, this step actually becomes optional. Scouts regularly scattered on the map may well indicate their location as well as the nature of the various tasks to be accomplished, it is enough in fact to walk around the scenery for a message to inform us immediately and automatically of what is there. to do in the area. Even better, the game introduces the concept of world events. The local qualifier would suit them better since they concern specific areas and bring all the players in the area to share a common goal. Escorting someone, protecting a sacred place, destroying installations, fighting a large monster or massacring dozens of small ones, all of this is then done by several people, without it being necessary to create groups or to consult each other on a any way. Everyone cooperates most naturally in the world in these true-false groups, temporary and virtual, to fulfill the objectives of these events, the number and frequency of which force admiration. So to speak, not five minutes go by without us finding ourselves voluntarily embarked on one of these quests of a new kind. And the quality is there too! Far from being simple postman quests, the events are often cleverly scripted and sometimes offer a few twists. Did you just ransack a camp and take possession of it? A few minutes later, it will have to be defended against its former owners. Are you being asked to protect a gate under construction? If, for lack of sufficient numbers on site or sufficiently gifted, you are unable to accomplish this task, the event then shifts to another axis and you will have to go in search of an artifact to restart the construction. A monster too big for you is chasing you? With a little luck, you will come across other players during your escape who have been informed by the game that there is action in the area. Conversely, it will often happen to you to take an event along the way by falling on it by chance. In short, the world does not revolve around your little person, it seems really alive and dynamic.
On all points Guild Wars 2 therefore strikes very hard. So much so that it's hard to find any real flaws in it."
But let the egocentric be reassured, the game also offers an Ariadne's thread that highlights the character that we play. This personal story regularly asks us to take part in very specific missions, which take place in instances. This makes it possible to offer the player dialogue sequences and a staging closer to what is expected of a classic role-playing game. For example, there will be difficult choices to be made. When an orphanage and a hospital are simultaneously attacked, which one will you defend? When one of your friends is kidnapped, will you free the prisoner first or will you go and correct his captor? Without achieving the butterfly effect that the best single-player RPGs provide, you'll occasionally have to deal with the consequences of those choices. But let's not forget that we are in an MMORPG. Several dungeons await groups, in the classic sense this time, and also offer their share of twists, frenetic action and memorable bosses. Open world obliges, Guild Wars 2 also gives pride of place to exploration. Already motivated by the prospect of falling on the famous events, walks are encouraged in various ways. The location of many "remarkable sites" are for example indicated on the map and there are even panoramas to unlock. These are points located high up, which trigger the display of a short tracking shot on the surrounding scenery. But the way to access it is often well hidden! Achievement collectors will be happy to access as many of these hard-to-reach places as possible. There are even "jumping puzzles" which give the adventure a platform game feel. Treasure chests are hidden in these mini open-air dungeons, and are only accessible after having made many millimeter jumps. A sort of snub to all those who rightly criticized the first Guild Wars for the lack of any jump function.
War of the Worlds
And then, ask the most bellicose, what becomes of the confrontations players against players in all this? Well, they naturally answer the call my good sir. In the form of battlefields in particular, where two teams compete with each other with the capture of zones, resuscitation of allies and completion of enemies. This so-called structured PvP can be played as a hobbyist, or in a more serious way by registering for tournaments. In any case, it's played with a character automatically boosted to level 80. All of this works perfectly well and isn't lacking in efficiency, but it's still the other way of doing PvP that excites us the most. . The "World against World" mode brings together several hundred players divided into three worlds. The clashes take place on a map divided into four zones: an area belonging to each of the worlds plus a neutral zone. The terrain is full of mercenary camps, fortresses, castles, siege weapons, resource points that must of course be captured and defended as much as possible, if possible by making strategic advances. Large groups and guilds, small coteries and solitary players, this system allows everyone to participate in the collective effort. On all points Guild Wars 2 therefore strikes very hard. So much so that it's hard to find any real flaws in it. We can always nitpick about the imperfection of the French localization (which is ultimately not a big deal in an online game), complain about the visual aspect of the sometimes confusing fights (but how could it be otherwise when do we bring together so many players on the same event?), rail against the absence of mounts (compensated by many teleportation points) or even regret that the world is not 100% open. By dint of instances (personal stories, dungeons, PvP, World against World...) and automatic movements to overflow servers (which still has the merit of avoiding queues) we can sometimes perceive the adventure as somewhat disjointed. But if this is the price to pay to be entitled to such a complete MMORPG, no problem! And since we're talking about prices, let's remind the stunned that the economic model of Guild Wars 2 requires absolutely no monthly subscription. Just buy the box to fully enjoy the adventure. As icing on the cake, we could hardly do better.
