When those responsible at NCSoft announced at the investor conference in March that they would be working on Guild Wars 3, the wife of MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz danced in circles for joy. The MMORPG series from Arenanet has some strengths that are not found in any other online role-playing game.
First of all: My wife Susanne wasn’t the only one who was happy about the announcement of Guild Wars 3. One of me would also love to create a modern version of Tyria. However, she is the much more passionate fan of the entire series, while I “only” have a decent amount of playing time in Guild Wars 2.
For both of us, we appreciate Arenanet’s MMORPG because of its strengths that are found nowhere else. At the same time, the current part of the series shows its age and the comparatively low budget of previous years. But first things first.
Oh, beautiful Tyria
I still remember how Guild Wars 2 blew me away with its audiovisual excellence during its pre-launch in August 2012. The fantasy world of Tyria, which was previously unknown to me, seemed as if it had come straight out of a painting. The entire interface, the continuously zoomable map and all effects fit seamlessly into this unique style.
Add to that the beautiful reflections in the water, the detailed models and the impressive panoramas – I felt right at home in God’s Reach and all the other places in Tyria. So much so that in the first few years I really felt wanderlust when I didn’t have time for Guild Wars 2 for weeks or even months.
Mounts like the Skyscale are among the highlights of Guild Wars 2:
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure – The New Skyscale
More videos
Autoplay
Guild war and best mounts in the genre
If you ask my wife about her best Guild Wars memory, she will rave about the eponymous Guild Wars of the first part. About the cohesion of the community, the exciting PvP battles, the hard-fought successes on the guild world rankings and the shared moments in the guild hall.
We’re both big fans of the fantastic mounts that have been introduced to Guild Wars 2 over the past few years. The current nine mounts differ significantly from each other, noticeably improve the gaming experience and feel wonderfully “real”. For us, GW2 clearly offers the best mount system of all MMORPGs to date.
The curse of lack of success
The bottom line for us is that Guild Wars 2 is still a solid representative of the genre, which, thanks to the horizontal progression, can be enjoyed wonderfully as a second MMORPG or as a casual player with little time. The wonderful mounts are the cherry on the cake.
However, despite the artistic style, the visuals of Tyria have gathered dust. Unlike Blizzard with WoW, for example, Arenanet didn’t have the money to continually modernize the engine or release extensive expansions every two years.
On the contrary, major content updates that affect (almost) all areas of the game have been in short supply for years. There were almost five years between Path of Fire and End of Dragons. The latest expansion, Secrets of the Obscure, only offers a fraction of what Heart of Thorns had in its luggage. All fans of PvP and raids in particular had to fight through tough periods of drought.
Potential for part 3
The reboot with a third part could address exactly these signs of aging and at the same time address some of the other problems with Guild Wars 2. For example, my wife still doesn’t understand to this day why the eponymous guild wars and associated features were deleted for the sequel. At the same time, the WvWvW replacement never really impressed us.
It would also be great if the designers made the dungeon content more accessible and less toxic. The trailer dungeons from WoW and the “side by side” system from Final Fantasy XIV show how this can work: with instances that you can optionally fight with a squad of AI fighters.
Long story short: We would love to see a Guild Wars 3 that builds on the strengths of the first two parts, eliminates the weaknesses of GW2 and throws us into a modernized Tyria full of new content. how do you see it?
If you want to give it a try and try out Guild Wars 2 in 2024, you will find tons of guides, tips and help to get you started in the following article:
Guild Wars 2: All guides, beginner tips and builds at a glance