New player coming from WoW, what should I expect?

[Madruck]

First off, I just want to say hello and that I'm glad to be here and that I'm a completely new GW2 player (got the game today and haven't installed it yet) and I've been a WoW player for almost 5 years. I'm still keeping my WoW account open for the time being because I do really enjoy raiding (especially classic content) and I do enjoy doing dungeons but little things about WoW have really gotten to me over the past year or so. Things such as elitists, dungeons deserters, rep grinding, complainers, and the fact that it's been kind of the same ol' same ol' for quite a while, I love WoW but I think it's time to try something new and exciting.

I've watched videos of GW2 like crazy over the past couple of weeks and I've really kind of fallen in love with the idea of massive world bosses who spawn that require groups of players to down, I'm also really excited about exploring a new world and being a part of something since basically the beginning. It seems like GW2 is going to cement itself as THE #1 MMO alternative to WoW and I think it's great that already it has 2 million+ players, but I have a question or two about GW2....

What should I expect? When I ask this I want to know what will be different about this game over WoW when I hit the level cap and since no raids or heroics are available at the cap I'm scared that I may become bored with it and I don't want that to happen. Can someone give me some insight as to what I should expect when I nail the cap? Also, I'm NOT a PVP guy, I've never liked it and I prefer PVE with big boss encounters, so PVPing at the cap just simple isn't going to happen for me. I like to explore, farm gold, down big monsters, work on getting gear, and doing stuff such as that and I'm hoping there is opportunity to do all of this once the cap is met.

Also, which server should I choose to play on (United States, east coast)? I would like a very populated server with tons of players so I can find some good people to connect with and down bosses with.

Thanks everyone, hope to see you out there!

[mayito7777]

You will become bored when you get to level 80, there is nothing to do at 80 that you cannot do before that level.

[Nismu]

So there isn't need to hurry to 80. Take you time, explore the areas,craft what ever you prefer. let the interest guide you instead of the map and remember talk to named npcs at least they often start up dynamic events.

I don't see why people take it as bad thing that you can play full game before the cap. Though there is huge benefit being really level 80 with good gear in www, even low level can contribute lot. So no point hesitate going there even you aren't in cap.

[Madruck]

I like the fact that raiding isn't a big deal in this game and that they did away with it, but I just hope that there is a good deal of meta-bosses to fight at max level and that there won't just be me in a zone when it comes time to fight them. I like community and I like grouping up to down big bosses, so hopefully someone can let me know what server in the East Coast is highly populated to do so.

Also, how many characters (alts) can I have?

[fireflyry]

Read forums.

They are the best source of player based information and opinion you can find, especially if your coming from WoW.I have maybe 5 weeks experience in that game TOTAL but I've seen thread after thread here and in other forums from WoW based players both praising and condemning the game for whatever reasons but most are at the least insightful.

As such your off to a good start....and yeah....don't power level to 80.That's not what the game is about.

gl and hf.

[Centaur]

Mayito definitely has a point... if you go into this game with a WoW mindset, then you will probably get bored once you reach the level cap, as the things you can do at level 80 are basically the things you can do while leveling up... with the addition of a couple of level 80 dungeons.

If you have an explorer mindset, however, then you will find lots of things to do on your way to level 80. I've been playing this game since the headstart, and I still haven't reached the level 80 zones, simply because I want to experience all the little stories that are woven throughout the world. Most of the dynamic events you encounter in this game aren't just stand-alone events (escort this guy, protect that village, etc), but are part of little stories. Listen to the npc's that you meet, talk to them (even the ones that are not marked with a heart or circle over their head), and stick around after a dynamic event ends (and if you see any pc's talking to each other and wandering off... it may pay off to follow them, as they could lead you to the next step of a dynamic event chain). Then sometimes you will become part of those little stories, which will greatly increase your enjoyment of dynamic events. There are many of these 'hidden' stories throughout the world.
Also, with regard to dynamic events... keep in mind that, while some of them are triggered by time, others are actually player triggered... you may start an event by talking to an npc, or by interacting with an object in the world. And some of these event chains will end in a big boss fight.

So in short: don't rush it. In this game there is absolutely no reason why you would want to rush to level 80. Take your time, explore every zone (there may be different events going on at different times), and don't ever hesitate to go back to lower level zones if there is something interesting there. ArenaNet will continue to add new events and mini-dungeons throughout the game (this halloween's update is the first big content update for this), so it could very much be worthwhile to return to lower level zones. Because of GW2's sidekicking system, lower level content can still remain challenging even when you are level 80 (if you go to a lower level zone, the game will automatically downlevel you to the max level for that zone).

Also, when you get started, take your time to experiment with the different professions and each profession's different weapon sets. The dynamic combat in this game is quite different from WoW, and it takes time to really master that. And for each profession, every weapon set has a different role and a different feel, so if you don't like the weapon set you start with, just try something else.

With regard to gear... there are many ways to obtain gear in this game (crafting, merchants, tradingpost, monster drops, dungeon rewards, etc), so it should never be a big issue to keep your gear updated to your level, but at max level the main reason to continue working for gear is because of the skins (looks). There is no continuous gear grind for better stats once you're max level.

As for PvP... I'm a PvE-man myself, too, but even if you don't like PvP, I definitely recommend that you give World vs World pvp a try... it incorporates several PvE elements into a big battlezone where 3 servers fight against each other.

And finally... choosing your server... it doesn't really matter all that much. You can pick any US world/server you want - when you first log in you will be presented with a list that tells you which ones are full/high/low populated. Just pick one that appeals to you. At this time you are still able to do a free server transfer once per 24 hours, so should you (for example) find a great guild that you'd like to play with and that is located on another world, then you can simply switch to that world (everything on your account will then be moved to that world).

PS: and you start off with 5 character slots, but you can buy more if you want...

[Oenanthe]

As an also WOW player, there are a few things that need to be mentioned.

As some others have pointed out, don't rush to level 80. In WOW everything now seems to be aimed at being level cap, in GW2 the journey to level 80 is where the fun happens, at least for me, and if you look at other threads one of the big complaints is the lack of level 80 specific content.

Another thing, unlike WOW, everyones wins. If you help someone kill a mob, you both get XP, there is no kill stealing, if someone is mining a node or felling a tree, you can as well, there is no claim jumping. And in my mind one of the best things, you get XP for rezzing people, you see someone in the downed condition or dead, even a guard, rez them, they will thank you for it.

Partying is rare, but working together is common. As you don't need to be in a party to share the XP from a kill, people don't tend to party up unless its for dungeons. If you see a dynamic event, help out, a group of people run past you, follow see where they are going and join in. Don't expect to spend all your time in a city looking for a group to do an event, go out there and see what is happening, if you see the start of an event and there doesn't seem to be many people around, link the nearest waypoint or point of interest or such in chat with the coment of 'Event here' more will soon turn up.

Most importantly, DON'T STAND STILL. This is a combat system where you can move and cast spells, you can dodge major attacks, (it still gives me a thrill to see the 'evaded' coment come up when I manage to time my back flip right). You need to learn to make use of these tactics to really do well in combat, having been back on WOW after playing GW2 for a few weeks it was a nightmare, I kept trying to dodge, or move half way through as spell, only the hunters disengage comes close to GW2 combat.

Lastly, you start with 5 character slots, all your characters will be on the same realm, and share the same bank. Extra character slots, bank slots etc. can be bought with gems. The gems can be bought with real currency, (I am assuming for you USD, I'm in the Uk so its Pounds,) or with in game gold but the price of gems for gold seems to be rocketing so I would advise getting some as soon as you can afford it if you want the upgrades and don't want to spend real money on them. Oh and gold is far rarer than in WOW, a couple of gold and you are rich, I normally do my trading in siver and copper at the moment.

Hope that helps, trying to compare WOW and GW2 is rather like comparing chalk and cheese, they are 2 very different games. Have fun finding out.

[JKRaven]

What they said, don't rush it. Personally I wish it took longer to get to 80 but even so, when I use to play WoW I would try and complete every zone while leveling. The problem was they made leveling so fast that it just got way to easy. At least in GW2 your level scales down and it makes completing all the zone more interesting.

[Anacrusis]

I believe there are different zones for each race up to level 55 as well. I leveled my thief to 80 in human only 1-55 zones. I will now be starting my alt in the Norn zones so it will be a different experience which is nice.

There is a slight gear grind at level 80 to get exotics (best stats) but it's not bad at all, and you can buy it all with gold, craft, or run dungeons. Save all your gathering mats and sell them if you dont craft. I highly recommend you try WvW even if you don't normally pvp. There are massive battles on huge maps, keep sieges, supply camps, catapults, balistas, battering rams, arrow carts, burning oil. Fun stuff. Also, yiu don't even see your enemies nameS it just says defender or invader and shows their guild tag.

[Littlefeather]

I tried WoW and other MMO's for a while now, but I didnt like what I seen in them. My biggest complaints were:

Every one of that class was going for the same exact gear set

No Character customization (same skins/builds)

Tank n Spank things get old after a while (been MT in multiple MMO's for over 10 years now)

OP v UP (P2P v F2P)

In GW2, there is no such thing as OP/UP, F2P/P2P. Your success depends on your skill.

In GW2, there so so many builds to use for your class, for whatever kind of role you want to use.

In GW2, some things are "Tank N Spank" sometimes, but even then, you still must dodge/mitigate/burst, etc.