back from GW2

I want to play the game normally without having it playing for itself. Quite different to "I want to challenge myself so I have more control over the outcome of the battle". I'm not asking for a big challenge. I'm asking for interactivity without crippling myself. And flagging heroes and spamming overpowered spells is not exactly something that makes GW1's pve combat "deep", "complex" and interactive in a fun way. GW2's pve combat completely trumps it all over, IMO, even when taking into account that GW2's AI is at a crude state at the moment compared to GW1's, which simplies the pve combat too much.

Also, powercreep skills like Panic are something that haven't existed in pve for years until they starting getting crazy with their balance updates.

I also think the sequel's combat is faster and more intense, with the exception of the foes with exaggerated HP at the dungeons. I've played GW1 for years and with half the professions it has to offer, and nothing has ever given me the level of intensity of, say, a dual-dagger elementalist in the sequel. GW1's skill building allows more customisation than GW2's, but in turn, it degenerates into community-made overpowered builds that are all about mindless spamming 1234 or hero's auto-mode. GW2's skillsets have more depth mid-combat exactly because they were designed to be fun and have hidden depth by profissional game designers, instead of being designed by a community for the sole purpose of being as effective as possible, regardless (and sometimes at the cost of) fun.

The higher recharges make sense because you have twice or more skills to use. 10 from weapons alone, 3-5 of them with small recharges, which is about as much as a typical GW1's bar. Mostly only the strongest weapon skills and the utilities/ elites have high recharges, but those are extra tools that you'll want to use when needed. In the end, it's like GW1 here, but with more slots for high-recharging skills. I also think the skillset-swapping from weapons gives an extra layer to GW2's combat, while keeping the keyboard skill keys simple.

I don't mind complex skill building, but there's a limit, and GW1 surpassed that limit after 3 expansions worth of new skills. There's a difference between making intelligent choices, which surely exist in GW1's building, and reading and experimenting through lots and lots of useless skills, until you get to know them enough to ignore 90% of them, and focus only on the 10% that are any good. Yeah, for a veteran that has been playing for years, it won't be too hard, because when they started playing, the game was simpler back then. But for a new player? It's not (only) complex. It's a mess.

When the devs themselves admit the game became impossible/ crazy to balance, then surely something went wrong. That being said, I'm hoping GW2 will get more skills in the future. With them being more categorized in the sequel, it should be easier to balance them out. And more weapon choices, for sure.

lets keep this on the subject of being BACK from gw2 and not why we love gw2/whats good about gw2 etc...this is a gw1 site and this thread is about those who have returned from gw2 and are playing gw1 again...

(we have a whole sister site for gw2 love).

Mh I don't agree with that at all. I never used pvx or anything like that, I just progressed slowly at first, learning skils as I went on (proph ftw in this). Ideally you can just check all trainers etc as you go through campaigns, take the skills you find interesting, try out all kind of builds...hell, that's the fun of this game! Experimenting and learning things on your skin, since you have total freedom for that.

My main reason for playing and still playing gw1 is that when I log on I was going to relax and have Fun and still do.

I have so many alts people would say you have no life but,to me and my playstyle I could create a new toon and that he/she would play the game making his own cash so to speak.

So it boils down to can you pick up another game (personal opinion here) and hand on heart say I am on for the fun of the game and enjoy the hours play till you log on again.
I have tried many games but still could not find a game that gave me pleasure in playing as gw1 has, So by the looks of it I think many are in the same boat as myself.

Just yesterday a guy was asking re the ZB I asked him to come along if he could not get a party .he did join later and have to say he enjoyed himself doing the Mission as did I. it seems that when you do a mission ect you yourself feel good and enjoy the immersion a lot more compared to other games.

The skills are over powered I would say not and you need your hero or hench in GW.It would sound to me that you don't like GW compared to GW2 bratchild.It is not faster as it takes 24 hrs to get to 20 ascended.

GW is much harder and requires more skill to play it.I would say if you don't like don't play it.The only thing that makes GW2 is the music other than that it just different game that is for carebearers.

I miss the Monk in GW2 anyway back to topic.

It is GW not GW1 as this is The GWGuru not The GWGuru1.

I've personally met some fairly smart people that seemed overwhelmed by all the options that were present in GW. But, once they got the hang of things, they had no problem learning and applying new strategies. I think there's simply a point in the learning curve where it gets much more gentle but players need to have the patience (and not be discouraged by failure) in order to get there.

Yeah, sorry about that. I was just trying to emphasize that I was talking about the first game and having a "1" beside it makes this easier. I should probably stop using "GW 1" because that's technically incorrect.

yeah I see your point..but if you say guildwars people will not know which one you speak of so using the 1 is just a way to reinforce the original instead of gw2.

as for the learning curve in gw I found that it was fun to learn all the skill and try combos out--some not so successful----this was completely removed from gw2...gee we dont like memsers using bows therefor your class just wont be able to...and gee, we dont think people can think, so we will just force you to use these few skills for that weapon.---just not my ideas. I like to be able to pick up any weapon on any class and use it (my mesmer and monk enjoy using bows, not to mention my monk likes having a pet along which also isnt allowed for anyone NOT a ranger in gw2).
Just more options in the original that were totally wiped out in gw2

Sad but true. I always just talk about "playing guild wars" because really the 1 has no point in being put, and I always get answered "oooh you play gw2???"...sigh.

I'm playing both GW and GW2, so not exactly "back" in the sense that I've given up on the latter, but I am still playing this game. The main reasons I'm still playing the original:

1. It is installed on my laptop, and GW2 isn't (my laptop only has an integrated graphics chip, so GW2 won't run on it). I'm not home very often, and even when I am I don't always have access to the desktop, so I often just play the original instead.
2. Elona and Cantha. I can't overemphasize how much I ache to see these two in GW2, and until then I intend to enjoy them any way I can get them. Elona, especially, is very different from the average game's setting, and it has a very special place in my heart.
3. The dervish, my main, and also very close to my heart.
4. Story, especially for Nightfall and EOTN. They've done a passable job with the overarching story in GW2, but the original series did it better. Not sure if want to trade my ability to make choices in the story for a more cohesive story, but I honestly feel I shouldn't have to pick between those options.
5. I feel more epic in instances than I do in the open world of GW2, as my character feels more like the "main" character when there are no other player characters. Coordinating with others can be fun in GW2, but I've always preferred to solo things.
6. There's still things I haven't done, mostly PVE endgame. Urgoz's Warren, The Underworld, The Fissure of Woe (tried a few times pre-GW2, came close to completion once), the Domain of Anguish (tried a handful of times pre-GW2, never completed one full area).
7. I need to "finish" my characters, primarily aesthetically, still many armor sets and weapons to collect.
8. Achievements like survivor through regular play, halfway there!

Other things I miss from the original are unique boss weapons (I know there are uniques in GW2, but there's not as many I feel as there were in GW1, and many of them from the forge rather than attainable through normal play), heroes (not for regular PVE play but partying for dungeons - I haven't had trouble so far, but I've only done AC storymode and I wonder how many people are still doing storymode at all by now), and some of the really great weapon and armor skins.

On the other hand, I'm also finding it difficult to actually play this game now, since the controls are so different. I miss dodge and jump and GW2's dynamism when I get here, and since my newest character in GW is a ranger, the differences in pet control are huge (must say I prefer GW2 here). Combat is one thing I really enjoy more in the sequel than the original. Exploring also feels great in GW2, but the ability to keep monsters vanquished in the original is something I miss.

I haven't existentially given up on GW2 because I'll log in once in a while to see what's what, and I'm following updates and developments closely.

I'm pretty much the only one of my guild back for the majority of playtime in GW. But many of them said they'd be interested in joining up for some old school Urgoz, Deep, UW, FoW, DoA, Tombs. If you don't already have a group or guild you're planning on going with, I can pm you here because there's sure to be room with us.