GWEN is not linear in that you can truly go about anywhere you want without messing too much with a story. I like that. You don't even have to do the story if you don't want. With boxing, dueling, and polymock you never even have to leave Gunar's Hold if you don't want.
GWEN puts the online gaming experience completely in your hands, not the writers of the "story." I ran eight characters through Nightfall, and honestly, by the end of it, I was ready to jump off a bridge. It was completely linear and hard to find new eye candy without doing a dozen hour long-missions.
GWEN says if you want to farm, take the respective blessing and farm. If you want grind titles, then here you go. If you want to treasure hunt, then get a skill and go.
GWEN gives you the opportunity to grab some skills the supplement your profession choice, such as knockdowns, conditions, wards, summoning and more. So if you love your ranger and never usually get a chance to try tanking, then get the Ursal elite. If you never get the chance to throw a spirit or a ward, grab some Vanguard skills. If you've never had a knockdown in your arsenal, then take a quest and grab a new skill. That kind of mix and match, once again puts the game in your hands.
Did you beat the game? Great... go farm some destroyer cores and get yourself a cool set of gauntlets. Done all 18 dungeons, grind a title or start another one of your toons. Still bored? Collect all the polymok pieces.
I like the way this expansion was set up. People have complained about every title within a few days of release. In short, we're always going to find something to complain about and Anet is never going to make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time.
But our guild is eating GWEN up. We love it.
