Does anyone else feel extremely disappointed with GW2?

no, because I didn't expect it to be GW1 2.0. then again, I started a couple years after release so I already knew it wasn't GW1 2.0. as for how hard/easy it is to get into, I honestly found GW1 a lot harder to get back into than GW2. There are a lot of things you have to worry/think about vs just grabbing a build from metabattle/snowcrows/etc.

You make a char, hop into the world, and go from there. Anyone can do it. I'd honestly say the same about GW2. the biggest gripe I have with it over the 10k+ hours I've played is that the devs don't actually play their game, especially competitive game modes like WvW, PvP, and PvTP

I was on the hype for GW2 and I actually like the game, but I am not be most socially skilled person and more of an introvert. That doesn't cause much of a problem with GW1, but with GW2 there is a point where its just too difficult to move forward alone. They basically force you to join a guild and regularly play with them or you are just going to be stuck.

Aside from that, GW1 was already really big and they just kept adding more stuff. They thought at some point that they can't just keep building onto the GW1 foundation. Maybe they feared it would just be too much of a mess, but there was also the interesting idea of GW2 taking place much farther into the future. I remember the idea being tossed around that your character in GW2 would be a direct descendant of your character in GW1. I think they even tried to make this work somewhat, but it seems to not matter at all within the game's story. I lost interest with the story as well. Trying to get the combat mechanics down was so weird coming from GW1. Ultimately, I just messed around where I was stuck until I grew bored of it all together.

Some years later in an entirely different game a friend wanted me to reinstall it so we could play together. In retrospect I probably should have, but I just didn't have it in me.

Another member here said it well when they said "I like how GW2 forgets where they came from" because that is precisely the way I see it too. It may have been fun and all the ideas they had initially were good, but somehow they just forgot where they came from.

Yes, I think Extremely disappointed is the correct feeling.

I adored and still adore Guild Wars 1. I started at Beta and bought everything as it came out. When I heard GW2 was coming I bough the PC Gamer magazine about it, I was really hyped, in my mind it was going to be Guild Wars 1, but even better.
It was a no brainer to me, I pre-ordered, did all the hall of monument stuff.
Then I started playing Guild Wars 2 and something was wrong,...

After 6 months of playing GW2 I stopped and just admitted to myself, it's a huge let down and just not the same.

To me the game was inferior. (in retro-spec, it's just different)

And it was clear, I played guild wars one for about 6 years and #2 for 6 months. It was clear I didn't enjoy it as much.

Since I first played GW I've always returned to guild wars 1 at random interval, but not for GW2.

It's simply a very different game.

As for missing the past I think it's normal. I too have a huge friends list, and everytime I look at it there's no one on. My guild shows the last login for my friends and it's soon to be a decade. But you cannot live in the past. If you want to enjoy Guild Wars 1, best to make new friends and new experiences in it, and understand that time changes, people too and it'll never be the same, because everything you lived in it was a unique moment.

Enjoy what you have when you have it, nothing last forever and everything changes.

I've returned to Guild Wars 1 more seriously these days, and GW2 just to play with my kids, it's easier and more casual, but I accept it for what it is.

And like most GW1 players say; be happy you can still play the first one.

GW 1 grabbed me from the second I wandered out of Ascalon City in Pre Searing. At the time the graphics were fairly cutting edge and the genre was unique compared to other games. The story line was riveting without having to much stuff going on in the peripheral. Character creation was simple, at least compared to GW2 ( not that 2 was all that involved). I played GW1 religiously from Dec05 to GW2 launch, by that time i was ready for something new.

GW2 was nice, it didnt grab me by the balls, however there was enough to get me into the game. I liked the differing story arcs based on your choices. The armor and weapon crafting was a pleasant change. Not having secondary professions was an odd change. I think the skills and attributes arc can be a bit much, GW1 is much simpler and better imho. What eventually turned me back to GW1 was the constant grinding for "new currencies" based upon the new areas and expacs released.

One of the aspects I really enjoyed is/was WvW and the PvP aspect on GW2. I never really enjoyed that in GW1. I left about a year or so before Jade Wind expac came out saying i would return when it was released, I still havent bought it. I keep finding one more thing i have to finish before going back to GW2.

Most of the people in my guild have long since vanished from GW1 and there are only a few of us in our GW2 guild that migrated over. GW1 changed with the addition of heroes. It's to easy to play the game by yourself with 7 heroes and eschew playing with others to progress through the campaigns. I think in the 18 months Ive been back Ive played in Vizh mission with one person one time and it was much more enjoyable than going alone.

Ive always been more of a button masher than a heady player, I rarely farm solo unless its Nick items with Rits, so the simplicity of GW1 appeals to me. I wouldnt say Im disappointed with 2 when it came out, it was just different, I became disappointed when it felt like all I was doing was grinding areas to acquire the new currencies for whatever I need it for. I'm just grateful that GW1 is still trudging along.

My disappointment with GW2 began long before the release. I was initially hyped for the game when first announced, but the more Anet talked, the more I started to lose faith that it would be anything I would find enjoyable compared to GW1. It started when the HoM went from being a way for us to transfer our stuff and accomplishments to the new game to something that was pretty much a grind fest for a limited number of things that could be completed within 2 months by a noob. And the stuff we were getting in GW2 was completely unrelated to the stuff we were putting into the HoM.

Then they came out with the Manifesto. And proceeded to fail at pretty much everything they were claiming the Manifesto would bring. And there was Colin claiming that everything we loved about GW1 was being brought over to GW2 - except: instanced zones, certain professions, henchmen and heroes, a deep and varied skill system, dual professions, etc. And finally for me, was the Engineer. The "anti-magic" class whose weaponary miraculously imitated magic weapons in function in every way. I still remember the day they released the video for Glue Shot I believe it was called. I called it the Snot Gun from that day forward in the classic forums and on that day, I checked out of GW2 permanently.

Yes. Yes. and BIG Yes.

I bought 2 Collectors Editions of GW2 when it first came out. I played about a month or two, then put it down. A year later I tried another month or so. The final nail in the coffin was when it took me 20 minutes to find a xunlai chest in an outpost.

After 500 hours of GW2, getting to plat in ranked multiple seasons and doing t4 fractals daily/maining mes/nec/ele (Weaver) and doing well in all areas of the game, overall I would say it's a complete nightmare/mess.

It has too much complexity for no reason and a ton of broken passive interactions that produce absurd differences in damage output/tanking/healing. GW1 is a more simplistic game with team building and solid tactics, while GW2 is a spam fest. Spam dodge, conditions for burst, spam skills for burst crit etc. Spam heal/cleanse/application of things and removal of things. Gameplay feels wonky and not balanced even when I understand how to be effective. I had the DPS meter overlay so I was consistently 1st or 2nd place for damage in fractals and for PVP I tended to carry up until a point.

It is nothing like GW1, the new Cantha addon just had me wanting to play Factions again.

Quote from maskedvale

It is nothing like GW1, the new Cantha addon just had me wanting to play Factions again

i havent even bought that yet, is it worth it?

Quote from Forty Second Rogue

i havent even bought that yet, is it worth it?

I haven't played the new addon but I've seen a lot of footage of the areas. Basically Cantha is revolutionized with cool new jade technology(why). It just didn't appeal to me and IMO Cantha and GW2 has lost its soul with all the steam punk/technology. Very similar to Avatar the Last Airbender vs Legend of Korra. Last Airbender had great characters on a spiritual journey, while the sequel was largely soulless full of steampunk technology set in the 20s for some reason.

I played GW2 from the open beta thingy up to just after HoT release for a total of about 1500 hours before I stopped denying the truth. GW2 is just a different game. I got to the point where I was just grinding the Silverwastes map meta and the chest runs afterward and I logged in one day and just stared at the screen. I never went back.

Guild Wars 1 has a very unique enchanting vibe that's really difficult to put into words. It just works. For the most part the skill and attribute system and combat skill set are pretty flawless and smooth but the learning curve is endless. I love the build crafting in this game. It literally never ends. The storylines are engaging and unpredictable for new players. Each tiny bit of forward progress leaves you thirsting for more.

Guild Wars 2 was fun at the beginning because it was shiny and new, although I noticed there were a lot of distractions and it just didn't feel intuitive at all. The storylines felt forced. I think Anet made a mistake trying to fit the story to their preconceived notions of the future Tyrian universe. It just doesn't work very well. My pet peeve with the skill and combat system is the way over the top skill animations and the resulting clusterfuch when many players are involved. it's just totally too much.

I came back to GW1 and I'm very content with what it has to offer, despite it's age. I just wish Anet would budget some love for it.

GW2 definition of harder encounters is bigger health bars to beat on and immunity to CC. They balance pvp with the same mindset.

Hm, I love GW2, but it took me very long. I started playing GW2 in the beta weekends and created my char in the PreRelease headstart weekend but

only a few weeks after the game's official release I more of less got disappointed by the new weapon-based skill system and could not find a build that suited a convenient playing style for me. This ultimately resulted in me going back to GW1 until around GW2's Season 1 finale. (I missed all of Season 1 because of this)

I wanted to play Elementalist with a simple game play: Click target and spam spells. But GW2 did not give me this option. Skills are tied to weapons and almost every weapon gave me ground target skills or -even worse- skills that move your character around. But after some time ArenaNet made an option to lock ground targeting to the selected enemy and I found a nice scepter/dagger build that did not move my char around so I finally got into GW2.

Nowadays GW2 is my main game, but I still play GW1 and I cherish my past journey with this game. This franchise really meant a lot to me the past 16 years.