We’re just a few days into the launch of Guild Wars 2’s End of Dragons, one of the highlights of the year and sandwiched between expansions and updates from several other top five and top ten MMORPGs. I want to spend this week’s Massively Overthinking checking in with our writers on the release of the expansion. Are you playing it? Did it bring you back after time away? What are you doing first? If not, what is keeping you on the sidelines? How do you think the expansion fits into the GW2 meta and the MMO meta, and what do you think it portends for the future of the game and genre? What are your initial thoughts on End of Dragons?
​Andy McAdams: I am super excited to play! Everything I’ve seen has been super positive, I love the support-based thief idea, and the esper… I mean, the Virtuoso also looks super fun. However, I just managed to lure some friends from WoW in FFXIV after WoW’s meh 9.2 release, so I’m not jumping right on the GW2 expansion bus yet. I am also the only one of my gaming friends who enjoys GW2, so it’s often me playing alone. So I’ll get there and I can’t wait to play, but it’ll probably be a minute.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog):Â I’m still a little in awe of the fact that begging for Cantha used to be a running joke, and now we’re literally running around in it once again. I preordered on day one and you bet I’m playing. But I’m also trying to not overdo it; I’m trying to juggle a couple of games while centering this one, and I’m hoping to avoid rushing ahead and instead just playing slowly with my duo partner when the kids are asleep. We’ll see how long we can keep it up.
So far, I’ve been incredibly impressed at the environments and zone building first – it’s stunning, and I shouldn’t be so blown away because Path of Fire was also amazing, but I still am. I keep finding myself staring into random corners of Shing Jea and marveling at the detail work. I’ve done it, so I know how much care goes into populating even seemingly insignificant locations to make them feel like real places instead of like sets.
This is also a rare instance when I have cared about a dev-led story in an MMORPG, including in Guild Wars 2. I didn’t even bother playing Icebrood past the start, but I’m super invested in the characters still standing at the start of EOD, as well as several of the new characters (Detective Rama – just put him in every scene, please). At least early on in play, the game honestly feels way more like an interactive movie than an MMO, even moreso than in past GW2 content where the story feels like bookends to gameplay, and for once, I don’t mind it.
I’m just so… relieved that they nailed it. It’s worth the wait (and every penny).
Also, I can’t stop riding the raptor taxis. I’m in love with riding around watching the world go by.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): I admit that the general buzz of the expansion has me curious, but I also have to admit to myself that every attempt I’ve made to make GW2 “stick” has always ended in failure, either because I just had other games capture my interest more readily or the slog of doing things like mapping or getting hero points enough to get to interesting elite specs ended up being too much cold water on my hype. That’s a shame because some of EOD’s specs look super interesting, and I would love to see the inside of fractals or raids myself sometime.
Be that as it may, not every game needs to be made for me or cater to my interests, so I genuinely hope that this expansion lands and gives regular players all the things they could hope for.
Colin Henry (@ChaosConstant): Of course I’m playing! I got to play all of the story early for review purposes, but of course my wife, who is also an avid GW2 player, wasn’t allowed in, so I’m going through the story with her. It’s hard keeping spoilers to myself!
I’m hoping to get some time to jump into the new strike missions with my guild some time this week, as they’re looking like some of the best strikes to date. I’m really liking my condi/support Harbinger Necro. I’ve also been toying with the Revenant’s Vindicator spec, but the jury’s still out on whether or not that will actually be viable for me for PvE. I’ll probably go back to the safety of Renegade before long.
Overall, I think this is easily the best expansion GW2 has ever put out. It kind of makes me sad because I know several people who never came back after bouncing off of the Heart of Thorns era content, and I wish that they could experience the game as it is now. It feels like, after years of flailing, the game has finally hit its stride.
Despite the fact that this expansion has “end” right there in the title, I think there’s a lot they could still do with the game, and here’s hoping ArenaNet gets back on track with making expansions a more regular occurrence!
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): It may just be the result of a packed month or my current low interest in Guild Wars 2, but Cantha isn’t pulling me back — at least, right now — even with the new expansion hype. I think once you’ve fallen behind the curve on an MMO, you don’t feel as pressured to get in on Day One to consume the new content; you kind of think, hey, it’ll be there when I’m ready for it. That said, I’m happy for people who are having a great time and I do hope that it’s a meaty and fulfilling expansion.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I’m kind of shocking myself to say it out loud but I haven’t actually begun the expansion yet. It’s a terrible crime. The main reason is that I typically play the game as a duo, and when our schedules aren’t lining up really well, then we don’t play. It’s been less than a week, so it isn’t as if we’ve been putting it off, but it’s just one of those things.
Another reason is that I never completed the Icebrood Saga. While I don’t think it’s strictly necessary to complete it to jump into EOD, there’s just no way I skip any story content. So while I am extremely excited to get it started, I really have to get over that inertia first.
I am extremely looking forward to playing some of the new elite specs too. My first impressions of them were pretty miserable. However, the second beta showed that ArenaNet really was listening and a lot of my concerns were corrected. So I can’t wait to see if they improved even more since the last beta.
Tyler Edwards (blog): I only got back into GW2 recently after quitting shortly after launch, and I mostly just play with a friend once a week. That is to say, it will probably be a long time before I get to Cantha, and as a result I’m trying to fight the FOMO and hold out for a sale before picking up End of Dragons. I’m pretty hyped about some of the new elite specs after trying them in beta, though. Last night I rolled my first ever Guardian in anticipation of making her a Willbender someday.
It’s also heartening to see that the expansion seems well-received by the fans so far. A rising tide lifts all boats and all that.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
