Well, There Goes My Interest in Guild Wars

I'd been hoping the rumors of the next expansion and GW2 would be proven incorrect. And, you know, it's early and things have a tendency to change when they're in development and all – the game I played during E34E was nothing like the one I alpha tested and neither were anything like the game on release which only bears a passing resemblance to the game I'm playing today – so maybe it'll turn out alright. However, I have to say if the bullet points from the PC Gamer are correct then you can count me out.

For one thing, I'm incredibly disappointed in the GW:EN expansion. Even the name is just...wrong. But beyond that, it's getting away from the idea of a stand-alone expansion that anyone can jump onto. It's just going to be a flat-out expansion. And a weak one at that. No new professions to play around with and of the 150 new skills, 50 of them are going to be PvE only (Leaving 100 skills to be divided amongst the ten professions. That's ten each. How much do you want to bet that they're going to be either trash or overpowered monstrosities?) . No doubt there are legitimate concerns about feature creep here and the increasing bloat of skills and professions must make balancing a nightmare but, well, that's why the developers are paid professionals. An increase in the number of PVE only skills is disheartening because it only serves to widen the gap between the PvE and PvP side of things. I know the playerbase divided itself into camps quite early but, to me, one of the most wonderful things about the game was how the rules were the same in every situation. There were no special exceptions or changes in the ways a skill would would work no matter where you were. Your skills worked the same as the monsters or your human opponents. You died you got DP. You killed something you could work it off. But with PvP areas where you there's no penalty for dying and PvE only skills like the Sunspear Rebirth Signet, that's been out the window for a while. And maybe it's just me but GW:EN feels like it's going to be all about the elder game content. Adding another area like Sorrows Furnace or the Domain of Anguish but, for me, the fun of a new chapter's always been starting up a new character and enjoying the early missions. The late game stuff is what I have to push myself to get through.

But that pales in comparison to the upcoming sequel. Which is going to just drive a huge wedge between the PvP and PvE facets of the game – UAX or PvP toons is nice but I've always thought people never understood that unlocking was a necessary evil if those two halves of the game were going to be unified parts of the same whole. Co-operative, zone wide quests (And given how hard it is just to get 8 people on the same page I'm sure those are going to be loads of fun, complex strategic affairs and not at all dumbed down zerg fests.). Servers, worlds, realm vs realm combat, races, it all sounds like a more traditional MMO and that's not at all what I'm interested in. I play other MMOs and go “I wish this were more like GW,” not the other way around. And since, apparently, it's not going to feature any monthly fees, I'm sure it's to be supported by some kind of microtransaction system. Those work fine in theory but in principle they seem to be all about bleeding money away from customers and to make them pay twice for necessary content.

Really, I'm sure that a lot of people are happy about this announcement but, for me, it kills my interest in continuing to play. In fact, if it wasn't for the tournament, I'd probably have uninstalled by now, rage in my heart. I'm committed for the next few weeks, anyway, and so I'm going to keep plugging away. But I think it's time to start looking for greener pastures – the game's abandoning the model that I liked in the first place, so why stick with it until the bitter end?