Guild Wars 1

[Stefen_Maxwell]

I recently decided to log in to my decade old account in GW1. Wow, is it a nostalgia trip. I haven't finished 2 of games so that is my goal now. Has anyone else played GW1 in the past?

[Linkard]

I haven't played GW1, but I've played A LOT of GW2 for a couple of months in late 2023/early 2024. I've watched some videos on GW1. Does it still have an active player base? @Stefen_Maxwell

[seasnails]

I remember playing GW1 with some buddies. For whatever reason I could never get really into it. Something about the lore and the story just didn't click particularly well for me, just wasn't my gig.

It was still fun playing it with the group when everyone wanted to play together though. I loved playing a Mesmer because of all the interrupts and punishing debuffs you could throw out to really mess with the enemy's flow of combat. It was a really cool alternate means of participating in combat instead of just doing a ton of direct damage or healing or whatever. It's probably my favorite MMO class I've ever played.

I was pretty bummed about the incarnation of Mesmers in GW2, since they were a lot different. Interrupts and hexes that altered the flow of combat weren't much of a thing. Instead Mesmers seemed to be more about summoning illusions and teleporting around and stuff. Which was neat, but didn't feel anything like they did in GW1. Despite that, I played way more GW2 than I ever did with GW1, I just switched to a Charr Thief instead and had fun with that.

Getting back to GW1, I remember my group and I having characters dedicated to staying in the Pre-Searing area, and trying to get them to level 20 somehow despite that being the beginner/tutorial section of the game essentially. I never made it, but I think one of my friends did, eventually. I also remember constantly finding excuses to mention the location named "Grooble's Gulch" just because it was so fun to say, and I still occasionally try to work it into conversations with some of that group.

Man, there was so much more to setting up your mission skill loadout in GW1. So many skills to choose from, and once you left an outpost you were stuck with them. Part of the fun was trying to find the right tools for the job. I remember having one build built entirely around signets, and it was so different from the norm that I loved that I got it to actually work well (thanks to some of the Mesmer-specific skills that empowered signets somehow, I think is how it worked).

Yeah, it was a pretty fun game. I just wish the aesthetic and the lore resonated more with me, I just never could muster an interest in the actual world and its story. The only NPCs I can even remember are Prince Rurik and Ogden Stonehealer (because he was a great henchman to bring with you due to all his heals). Then again ... the only NPCs I can remember from GW2 are uh ... the man plant guy NPC from the first campaign that a lot of the playerbase couldn't stand, and my contact with the Priory (I think?) faction who was the only NPC I recall actually getting invested into. I think I played GW2 so much more mostly because of the exploration aspect, which I found a lot of fun. I still didn't get into the actual world lore or its story, unfortunately. Something about dragons being bad, and the plant-man being the Chosen One.

[Stefen_Maxwell]

I haven't played GW1, but I've played A LOT of GW2 for a couple of months in late 2023/early 2024. I've watched some videos on GW1. Does it still have an active player base? @Stefen_Maxwell

It seems to have a player base. How active is it, I do not know. I have only been playing in one area so far. The game doesn't need an active base to enjoy it, luckily.