GW2 vs ESO. (My month experience of GW2)

MagicalLija

Starting off. This is 100% constructive and not hate towards ESO in anyway shape or form. If I didn't like ESO I wouldn't have spent 3000 hours playing the game. It's just stuff I saw in Gw2 which I would love to see in ESO.

Basically Skip to the bottom if you want to see what I would like to see added to ESO.


I'm just going to divide this into sections randomly as they come to me.

DISCLAIMER: I WILL PROBABLY MISS OUT ON A LOT OF STUFF.

Starting off: API management for third party software.

In GW2 there is a system where you are able to generate an API key of the main website to use. These API keys can be used on Mobile apps to track progress, inventories, world bosses, dungeon completions, currencies, characters, playtimes and so on. I would love for ESO to have this where they can show collection items for thirdparty tracker software like this where they could show Skyshards, Lorebooks, Skills, Achievements, Collections, Motifs and so on. This would be able to greatly help people manage their inventories and so on and also just be able to be more involved with the game in our day to day lives.

The mount systems.

In ESO you have to wait 180 days to fully max out a mount, making the mount just be able to go fast and give you more carry weight.

In GW2 the mount system is extremely versatile and I'll explain below:

• Raptors - Raptors have a leaping ability making them very agile for traversing areas
• Springer - A rabbit mount which has the ability to jump very high up
• Jackals - A sand elementalist puppy which can teleport a short distance 3 times in a row before it goes on cooldown.
• Griffon - A high speed flying mount which is extremely skill-expressive in the way you pilot it.
• Roller Beetle - Pretty much a racecar, reaching high speeds while being able to drift to turn sharp corners.
• Skyscale - A cool dragon which can also fly but is much more slower then the griffon, but is able to traverse easily between longitude and latitude.
  
  These all involved a story to complete behind them, and especially the Griffon, Roller Beetle and Skyscale had a lot of collection achievements behind them, the Skyscale being the hardest of them all to get but it was definitely the most fun to complete.

Map Completion

Map completion was added pretty much a year back into ESO, but the issue is, it provides nothing as a reward. No exp, no gold, nothing. Making the only value of it a counter or something to track completion achievements.

In GW2 Map completion can either provide a Transmutation Charge (Something you use to change armour styles) or a Black Lion Chest Key (Basically crown crates, but VERY easy to get in game compared to crown crates), A butt-ton of EXP and Coins, as well as some gear levelled for that area. This makes Map completion in GW2 an extremely easy way to progress and level up in the game while being able to do interactive questing and exploration.

The story (Main and DLC)

Personally I think that Greymoor's main questline was weak. At least compared to the three previous chapters. The story was predictable, and frankly boring in some places. GW2 has had 2 Large expansions (Path of Fire and Heart of Thorns) and I had an absolute blast playing through the main quest line of both stories. Amazing cutscenes, characters which I cared about as well as a satisfying ending. The stories lasted a good dozen hours for me, and I genuinely enjoyed it each step of the way.

Customisation

First I want to say:
Total Appearance changes and HAIR STYLE CHANGES are extremely easy to acquire in game compared to ESO (For free) with extra premium hairstyles which you just get by using one of these which you get by the black lion statuettes (Similar to crown gems). You can also dye your hair every colour in the rainbow making it extremely fun to just sit and customise your character.

Achievements

Every 500 achievement points in GW2 grants you a reward chest which can have Utility Black Lion items (Crown Store items) And then every few 500 points you can choose a Zenith weapon skin, and then some other armour skins too. However, there are also Account bonuses (Gold find, Karma find[Karma is a type of currency used throughout gw2], XP gain and Magic find [Magic find affects the rarity of items you find]) every few stages, and it really stacks up.

Oh yeah, Achievements are also shared between all your characters, meaning if you get a title on one character you can use it on another.

Animation, Soundtracks and Atmospheres

First off, the atmosphere in both games is amazing. Both have extremely beautiful areas, but ESO for me still has the better and more filled soundtrack which perfectly fits every zone it's in. Not to say that Gw2's soundtrack isn't great, it just doesn't feel as memorable compared to ESO's. Btw Jeremy Soule still composed the base game soundtracks for GW2, and still does and amazing job, but I don't think anything could beat Summersets beautiful soundtrack.

Both games make you feel part of the world which is amazing.

However, and something I will bring up later. Some of the animations in ESO are great, it's a shame that we're all too busy animation cancelling to properly appreciate them. Its also a shame that in an MMO that players are limited by mechanical skill/hardware (Animation Cancelling) to deal good dps.
Performance/ Latency

Oh boy here we go...WE all know ESO's mess of performance across all platforms. Bugs in major zones or trials which go unnoticed for months *Cough cough* looking at you screaming dragons in Sunspire. I've seen quite a few bugs with GW2 as well however, mainly with the class I'm playing called Soulbeast, where I am able to merge with my pet (Yes there's an entire pet system for rangers where you can get so many animals with unique abilities and "classes" which give you bonuses when you're merged with them) sometimes my pet just disappears and I need to reequip it in the menus. Same with back pack skins simply disappearing until you also unequip and reequip the item in certain areas. However I haven't found any floor bugs like what we had in the Markarth DLC for a while where players couldn't progress due to falling through the floor in the main story.

Latency in ESO still remains a major issue though, having constant 200 ping is fairly annoying, I average around 40 in Gw2 so I don't ever feel any delay.

Combat / Classes
Both games have pretty well developed classes in my opinion. However, I think both companies have kind of an issue with ignoring many class problems, especially ZoS. As a warden main, I've felt that my bear has been a buggy mess since launch, attacking random mobs, missing its ult, animations getting stuck and so on.

My biggest pet peeve from GW2 compared to ESO is the fact that without animation cancelling you can't deal anything about 50k dps in ESO, which makes it extremely annoying when compared to GW2 I can have a fun time playing combat, without feeling as if my fingers are about to break off my hands.


What do I think ZoS should do?

• Provide a LARGE exp bonus on completion of maps, Like I'm talking at least half a level. Maybe even full levels under level 10. With added rewards, maybe 10% chance for a new type of crate which would just basically be like a twitch prime crate where we get a few gems which we can save up.
• Flying mounts...jk....kind of.... Griffons and Skyscales are super fun in GW2, and having mounts which are basically just cash grab for skins in ESO makes me kinda upset. Mounts in ESO are just get from point A to B faster, while in Gw2 mounts are honestly just fun to use, especially the griffon, being able to soar the sky, then dive bomb enemies is an amazing feeling.
• A revamp of the achievement system. Achievement points mean nothing to be honest just a status symbol. Add new titles, outfit styles and other rewards through this system.
• FOR THE LOVE OF THE DIVINES, PLEASE STOP RESELLING THE SAME ANIMALS OVER AND OVER WITH DIFFERENT SKINS IM LITERALLY BEGGING AS SOMEONE WHO LOVES NATURE AND ANIMALS AND STUFF. When I found out I could get an Owl pet both as a non-combat AND combat pet in Gw2 I was immediately won over. They literally have pets of every animal in that game, and then I look at ESO, and it always follows the same animals over and over. (Bear Cub, Senche Cub, Wolf Cub, etc etc) Give us some Owls, Ravens, Grown Wolves (White, Black wolves and stuff) Larger lizards, and so on. Yeah they released some new animals, e.g, Lunar Moths, Baby Deer, Bats until they eventually became another cashgrab with ZoS releasing the same model with different skins in every single crown crate. Don't even get me on the 20 indriks we have.
• Let us buy hairstyle colour changes for gold. Decrease the appearance change tokens down from the price of a DLC to something more reasonable please.

I'm literally reinstalling ESO as I write this, and I'm looking forward to juggling the games.

Wolfpaw

Good review, if I could add.

• Tech to update game w/o taking offline (same as GW1).
• A single trade system with built-in Crown exchange.
• A LFG system that gives the player control of group make-up.
• Arena pvp players have access to all the same gear.
• WvWvW commander tags
• Finishers

One huge mistake Anet made, they never followed through bringing to console unfortunately.

Console port was a huge success, & has carried ESO through the years.

vestahls

No honourable mention of the underwater combat system?

Araneae6537

Good review, some of which I agree with — I’m going to respond with a few posts with some additional thoughts, having played GW2 off and on for about two years before switching to ESO in July 2019.

Re: Mounts I totally agree about the mounts in GW2 — totally love them and main thing I miss switching to ESO. Of course those mounts wouldn’t all be fitting in ESO and in GW2 itself you can see how the base game maps are made relatively trivial by them.

While it would have been cool for mounts in ESO to have deferences based on type, that really could not be introduced at this point. What I would like to see in ESO regarding mounts:

1) Basic mounts you see NPCs in a region use be available from the local stablemaster for gold, such as guar from Vvardenfell — you can see them right there at the stables so why are only the same three horses for sale?!

2) Ability to use our dyes at least on tack! I feel that we should have some ability to customize our mounts, at least being able to dye the tack. GW2 provides a good example of how skins give unique appearance options (some of then radically so) and give the player minor (in the case of base game mounts) or more dramatic customization options with dyes.

3) A mount ability bar should totally be a thing and include what abilities we can do while mounted, such as Rapids.

tsaescishoeshiner

Map Completion is GW2 is satisfying, but it's also an enormous, repetitive grind that people optimize using addons that literally show a path on the ground for where to go next. ESO's zones are based on stories, and more full of life—grinding them would not be desirable imo and would just be fast-clicking through dialogue and sprinting to objective points. One current example in ESO: Completing Cadwell's Silver is the only way to get the Soul Shriven motif, other than buying it. Would you really want to grind that quest over and over, making and deleting new characters, just to sell the motif?

I agree zone achievements could be made much cooler. I like the dyes you get as-is, and they could definitely add more.

There are 39 Raptor skins, and 9 Indrik skins. So I don't understand the complaint about reskins—ESO has more base mount models than GW2 does, and GW2 has far more reskins. The two systems are not very comparable because mounts in GW2 have more features and animations (for those who don't know, each kind of mount has its own skill line and ability bar). GW2's high-
particle-effect animation style lets them make a greater variety of skins at the expense of the down-to-earth, lore-based design that most ESO mounts adhere to (ESO's flashiest mounts are very tame compared to GW2's). I like Indriks, and think we got too many reskins of them during events over the past 2 years, but I don't think ESO is lacking for mount models or that reskins are a problem. Each new zone comes with new models or animation sets

Behind the affordability of GW2's gem store is many long & repetitive grinds. I spent hours on hours on hours grinding a pretty boring farm long enough to afford a single cheap outfit. In ESO, you can make gold doing normal fun things without grinding—dungeons or PvP, for example. In GW2 you kinda only make money from farming, which is IMO a very different experience

There are a lot of ways to compare the two games that I won't rant about lol—I like both games. I honestly just couldn't handle GW2's grind or that so many people's characters in GW2 were particle effect bikini angels—the costume design is pretty sexist

Wolfpaw

One thing I wish Anet continued into GW2, & ESO would pick-up is the process of banning players...the god of death would show up in-game & permanently kill a player's toon!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9B6bZSpQHxU

Araneae6537

Re: Customization of Character Appearance
Both games have their good points but for me, ESO comes out ahead for several reasons, most important being no options either forced on you or denied you based on your character’s gender. In GW2, that made me sooo angry whenever I looked into making a human female character! Nearly all the faces look cutesy and make-up is non-optional. Body styles are, let’s just say limited (no sliders for individual aspects like in ESO) and outfits, armor, everything looked totally different on men and women. It’s not that I have any objection whatsoever to players having such options, but when nearly every outfit for females features miniskirts, cleavage and bizarre cutouts, I am really put off. Well, thankfully, GW2 has Sylvari (sentient plant but generally human-shaped beings) that I really liked the aesthetic of or I might not have played at all.

THANK YOU ESO for giving us really options for body type and armor and having make-up, sexy styles, etc. as options for characters regardless of gender!

Re: Hair While GW2 does offer hairstyle tokens at a cheaper price than total appearance, again I prefer how in ESO I can buy these packages once and now change my characters’ hairstyles at will and at no additional cost. ESO could improve by adding hair dye packs and additional hair style options.

Re: Armor / Outfits I like ESO’s system of making that separate from the actual armor your character is using. In GW2, you are stuck with light/medium/heavy styles as restricted by your class and I like that ESO lets you mix and match. Also in ESO, I can create my character’s ideal outfit right after creation if I so desire and then they can wear that as I level and upgrade their armor and later as I try out different builds. In GW2 you transmute the appearance of the armor itself and this have to recreate your look any time you change your armor.

Re: Weapon Appearance — surprisingly I lean toward GW2. Now weapons in GW2 can’t be dyed, which means I end up dying my character’s outfit to match their weapons (but at least this is free and unlimited in GW2 once you have the dyes unlocked). In ESO you can dye most weapons, which would be a definite plus, except that I find the appearance is usually obscured by an unattractive overlay from the enchantment, like it’s covered in some orange miasma or something. I think the elemental glyphs may be the only ones that actually look good, IMHO. In GW2, there is a variety of weapon styles, some with particle effects and other animations, some of which I feel are too much even in GW2 and certainly would be in ESO (looks at apex mounts and glowy pets — or not...). TL;DR while I do like many of the style options for for both armor and weapons in ESO, effects from armor sets, enchantments, etc. need to be toggleable!

Araneae6537

Re: Story and Character Interaction

There were definitely some stories that I enjoyed in GW2, particularly Heart of Thorns as someone who plays Sylvari characters, the conflict thus felt personal to me and that’s always a great thing. Where things did not work as well for me was often in the Living World episodes because the first season was no longer part of the game and there are all these characters that I have no idea who they are, yet my character is addressing them like best friends and listening to their personal dramas — hey, I love to have the option to do that, but only if it’s an option and my character can adopt a different attitude toward them if I choose. I’ve read that many had similar issues with Trahearne in the main story, but playing as a Sylvari, the interactions felt fitting to me and I really loved his character. Path of Fire was much less interesting to me and a lot of stuff felt random and often the parts that felt out of nowhere I found were GW1 fan service.

In ESO similarly there are characters that I like and others I find more annoying, but the good thing is that my responses are usually generic and not voiced, so nothing clashes with my own view of my character’s attitude in my head. Overall, I think that ESO is better in the story department, even if the overarching stories (in most every game) is preventing a world-ending cataclysm. It’s the smaller, local, character driven stories that I enjoy most.

While on the subject, what I REALLY love is when there are multiple options to how you interact with characters and it shapes their future relationship and interactions with you, as in Dragon Age and SWTOR. I really loved the opportunity to play against type and play a noble Sith, to make my agent diplomatic or cutthroat, the single player aspects of SWTOR were the best parts of the game IMHO. But now I’ve strayed off topic somewhat...

Araneae6537

Re: Combat and Classes

I do like how ESO has class abilities and weapon abilities separate, with additional skills from guilds, etc., letting you choose the mix that appeal to you. Consequently, if I find for instance that I don’t like the look of most necro abilities, I can choose those few that I feel do fit my character and do well with non-class abilities. My necro healer is probably not BiS, but they are very effective and most importantly, I enjoy playing them.

Now in GW2, ALL abilities are determined by class, including not only which weapons you can use but how they work. It also determines your base stat pools and what armor you can use, although functionally there really doesn’t seem to be much difference between light, medium and heavy and it’s all stat based. This makes a steeper learning curve for playing another class as it may work quite differently, which can be either a good or bad thing. Importantly though, if you don’t like fundamental changes they make to your class, well, SOL. There were a series of changes to several classes which I strongly disagreed with, including druid, which had long been my main for group content. I had lots of alts (a forest of them, lol) but druid still has things which a group needed, more than necro which so many already played so...

Long story short, I decided to take a break at the least and now I’m here. TL;DR, if class is going to define all abilities and playstyle as it does in GW2, don’t f with it. I haven’t liked all of the changes ESO makes either, but for the most part, I feel I have more ability to adapt and work around what I do and don’t like.

Araneae6537

vestahls wrote: »

No honourable mention of the underwater combat system?

I did much enjoy exploring underwater in GW2, but having completely different skills made it somewhat of a challenge and for some builds (support in particular) there would often not be good equivalent. And then the underwater fractal where you get transformed into a helpless dolphin is probably universally hated with good reason. But aside from the gimmicks, the additional exploration it allowed and access to sunken ruins and caves not otherwise apparent was really fun! If the system and servers could handle it, I would enjoy such an addition to ESO, along with some non-combat utility magic like being able to breathe underwater

Aptonoth

ESO would be completely ruined by flying mounts. The zones aren't big enough and if you make them bigger it will hit performance harder. I have a very powerful PC but if you think ESO is having issues now flying mounts are not the way to go. Don't get me wrong I wish ESO was a pc exclusive mmo as its very clear the crappy consoles are always holding us back.

Base game GW2 story is more generic than Greymore by a mile. I haven't played the expansions but if they are the same writing quality then they are VASTLY VASTLY overrated like the final fantasy 14 ones. There are only 3 good story MMO's in existence 1. Secret World 2. The Old Republic and 3. ESO every other mmo is completely generic and boring grind fest with predictable plots boring characters and generic world design.

I should mention I hate the mmo genre but made an exception for ESO I play it entirely solo.

MagicalLija

Aptonoth wrote: »

ESO would be completely ruined by flying mounts.

Fair point with the performance issues, the least they could do is when we get 1 characters mounts up to max, the riding lessons go from 1 a day to 10 a day or at least like 5 a day. It's so painful to have to log in every day for half a year to just max out zoomies.

Vevvev

Great review of the two games, but what keeps me coming back to ESO over GW2 (Despite GW2 having a linear storyline that progresses the ingame year and makes more sense than ESO's sequence of events.) is the combat system. GW2 has what I wish ESO had when it comes to mounts being special and underwater combat, but the combat of GW2 is ruined by Tab Targetting. Sure I can play GW2 with the ESO look to target system, but I'm tying my hands behind my back in comparison to someone who doesn't do any of that. Add in the fact the effects of GW2 leave me blinded in a sense I have no idea what in Oblivion is going on and you can see why I don't play that game very often.

rumple9

Main benefit of gw2 is that switching characters takes 5 seconds

ccfeeling

GW2 provide a pvp lobby which provide all game free sets, rune, jewelry for players.

Lol, I spent most of my GW2 time there.

AvalonRanger

I checked GuildWar2 in youtube movie. I don't have any playing experience of this game.
But, mount creature is far better than ESO. Because it has plenty of versatile rather than ESO.
Even you can fly !!

danno8

I'll add a bit of my own opnion. I actually agree with most of what you say:

Mounts:

GW2 mounts are fun to use due to their different strengths and weaknesses, ESO mounts are flat out dull by comparison.

Map Completion:

ESO is boring and failry pointless for map completion. GW2 gives decent rewards, and also a precursor for a legendary weapon. It is also a bit boring, but after getting a good mount it becomes tolerable, and even fun once you have the Skyscale.

The story:

Both terrible, ordinary, end of the world (again!) stories. You know what's happening with End of Dragons DLC? I can guarantee you it will be the end of the world if you don't succeed. Guess what Gates of Oblivion plot will revolve around! End of the world!

Customisation:

I think ESO wins this one, since you can dress up in whatever type of armor you want. There is just more variety.

Animation, Soundtracks and Atmospheres:

I prefer the world of ESO. More gritty and real. I think GW2 has much nicer animations though. And you are correct that the gameplay over there allows you to actually see the animations.

Performance:

GW2 by a country mile wins this one. Both in game, the amazing patching system, the super fast loading times.

I just measured:

ESO time to character select screen - 55 seconds, in game - 2:05, switching characters - 1:36
GW2 time to character select screen - 6 seconds, in game - 16 seconds, switching characters - 8 seconds

ESO is straight up broken in this respect. GW2 isn't perfect, but this isn't even a competition.

PS I almost forgot, new content in GW2 actually is threatening. Like I can actually dieif I bite off more than I can chew. This started with Heart of Thorns and has continued on to present making new content actually fun to play. ESO new content (overland) is as difficult as spreading cream cheese.

jonzhao68

I've actually been jumping back and forth between the two games myself, not being able to decide which one I want to commit more time to. So I just want to address some of the topics you brought up, and then kinda add some of my own thoughts on the games as well.

MagicAndrej wrote: »

The mount systems.

In ESO you have to wait 180 days to fully max out a mount, making the mount just be able to go fast and give you more carry weight.

In GW2 the mount system is extremely versatile and I'll explain below:

• Raptors - Raptors have a leaping ability making them very agile for traversing areas
• Springer - A rabbit mount which has the ability to jump very high up
• Jackals - A sand elementalist puppy which can teleport a short distance 3 times in a row before it goes on cooldown.
• Griffon - A high speed flying mount which is extremely skill-expressive in the way you pilot it.
• Roller Beetle - Pretty much a racecar, reaching high speeds while being able to drift to turn sharp corners.
• Skyscale - A cool dragon which can also fly but is much more slower then the griffon, but is able to traverse easily between longitude and latitude.
  
  These all involved a story to complete behind them, and especially the Griffon, Roller Beetle and Skyscale had a lot of collection achievements behind them, the Skyscale being the hardest of them all to get but it was definitely the most fun to complete.

Honestly you can't really compare mounts in any other game to GW2 mounts, because they have the best mount system of any mmo ever. When they first announced mounts for the Path of Fire expansion, I thought it was going to be pretty lame, but it turned out to be just incredible.

MagicAndrej wrote: »

The story (Main and DLC)

Personally I think that Greymoor's main questline was weak. At least compared to the three previous chapters. The story was predictable, and frankly boring in some places. GW2 has had 2 Large expansions (Path of Fire and Heart of Thorns) and I had an absolute blast playing through the main quest line of both stories. Amazing cutscenes, characters which I cared about as well as a satisfying ending. The stories lasted a good dozen hours for me, and I genuinely enjoyed it each step of the way.

The story is actually one of GW2's weakest aspects. It really isn't that great as it is, and you have to realize that all that story you played through in just a month is all we have had for the past 8.5 years. Despite the lack of cinematic story telling in ESO, it does have better and more frequent story content than GW2.

MagicAndrej wrote: »

Customisation

First I want to say:
Total Appearance changes and HAIR STYLE CHANGES are extremely easy to acquire in game compared to ESO (For free) with extra premium hairstyles which you just get by using one of these which you get by the black lion statuettes (Similar to crown gems). You can also dye your hair every colour in the rainbow making it extremely fun to just sit and customise your character.

This one I feel is ESO's weakest aspect. In my opinion, ESO has the worst style options of any mmo I have played thus far. Everything just feels so bland. I get that they probably want to keep things more realistic and stay away from gear with any sort of particle effects, but it goes beyond that. Every skin in this game feels like a slight variation of the same model. What I mean is, there are no coats in this game, no tattered robes, no capes or back items. Every piece of gear has to fit this sort of strict premade model. Like for light armor my options are either pants or a slim fitting robe. That's it, and nothing is allowed to exist outside of those restraints. Just stuff like that. What I'm trying to say is, you don't have to have crazy particle effects to have cool and unique armor. GW2 does go a bit over the top with it, but ESO goes to the other extreme of just being super bland and dull. If you want to see what I mean, compare ESO Fashion to gw2style.

MagicAndrej wrote: »

Oh boy here we go...WE all know ESO's mess of performance across all platforms. Bugs in major zones or trials which go unnoticed for months *Cough cough* looking at you screaming dragons in Sunspire. I've seen quite a few bugs with GW2 as well however, mainly with the class I'm playing called Soulbeast, where I am able to merge with my pet (Yes there's an entire pet system for rangers where you can get so many animals with unique abilities and "classes" which give you bonuses when you're merged with them) sometimes my pet just disappears and I need to reequip it in the menus. Same with back pack skins simply disappearing until you also unequip and reequip the item in certain areas. However I haven't found any floor bugs like what we had in the Markarth DLC for a while where players couldn't progress due to falling through the floor in the main story.

Both games are actually pretty bad about letting game breaking bugs just sit around forever.

MagicAndrej wrote: »

Combat / Classes
Both games have pretty well developed classes in my opinion. However, I think both companies have kind of an issue with ignoring many class problems, especially ZoS. As a warden main, I've felt that my bear has been a buggy mess since launch, attacking random mobs, missing its ult, animations getting stuck and so on.

I'm not as familiar with class issues in ESO, but I will say GW2 has had major issues attempting to balance classes in GW2. Often they will completely overlook the actual cause of the issue and instead put out some balance patch that just completely destroys a class or aspect of the class and just leaves it completely useless. I feel like GW2 has the better concept with its class system. I enjoy the fact that using a greatsword on my Necro doesn't feel the same as using one on a Warrior. I also love that we get more skills to juggle around and that each class has different class mechanics. Really, I feel like GW2 has a far better combat system in general, mainly due to the look and feel. The combat in ESO is really brought down by how the characters move in this game. Characters in ESO feel so stiff and awkward.

ESO is also very lacking in the weapon department. I mean, if you want to deal damage as a magicka character, you are using either a flame staff or a lightning staff. That is literally it. Wanna heal, then you get a resto staff. It is super annoying trying to make a healer that uses dark magic when the only healing weapon available (and some of the best support skills available) is all centered around this holy light magic crap. Then with stamina builds, most of the best stamina skills are from the weapons, which makes every stamina class feel like a slight variation from each other. Then there is the issue that the class skills that we do have in ESO are the only class skills we will ever have. Sure you can always add in new skills from some new skill line, but those skills will never be new Necromancer skills for instance. One thing I love about GW2 is the Elite Specializations. These Elite Specs give you a whole new way to play the character you already enjoy playing and keep things fresh.

Honestly, I there is much more that I can't really go in depth on here. I think I just need to sit down and organize my pros and cons of each game and the post them to each forum and see if I can't gain some insight from other players to help with my decision.

kargen27

I tried Guild Wars 2 for quite a while. To me it seemed that I was a rat in a maze promised cheese and when I got to the end they said wait we put the cheese back at the start of the maze.

My friends liked the game and I wanted to like it but... that didn't happen.

Agalloch

GW2 has meta events that I'd like to see in ESO .

Invasions, meta events , random events can keep the world alive in all the areas.

GW2 has a real guild system with tiers/levels, quests, upgrades, missions.

Not every DLC/expansion has the same concept in GW2 . Everyone is different .and huge .

I like all the Chapters in ESO but besides the lore and environment their structure is almost the same as concept : 6 delves , 2 public dungeons, some dolmen reskins , 6 world bosses) Would be really nice every chapter to be unique in concept.

ESO is my main game (playing it since beta), I'm a a fan of it and of all ES ...but there are so much things that look reskinned...and nothing new. I hope Gates of Oblivion will bring something refreshing.

Regarding fashion in GW2 ..u can preview every style/skin of armor/weapon before you buy it from the shop/AH.

Would be wonderful to see the same thing on the ESO's guild stores ( preview the look of things before you buy)

Regarding dungeons ESO wins . There is a lot of them..and they are fun. GW2 almost abandoned them but there are Fractals instead of classic dungeons.

In GW2 dint't play raids yet... so I can't make a comparison with ESO's trials...maybe someone could make a comparison?

WvW of GW2 vs Cirodyiil ESO

WvW 's GW2 is almost perfect with almost no performance issues . Also the system is almost the same like ESO 's was before Zenimax cut the groups in half and killed Aliance play ( you know what I mean : group size, healing, support etc) Of course , there are differences in concept ( in GW2 a squad could have 50 people and also you can make subsquads)...in ESO WAS 24 and now 12 ? Where is the "massive" now ? ESO was advertised and started as a massive PVP AvA game..now is not the same anymore...
The recent changes made me when I want to pvp to chose GW2 ( I preffer WvW form GW2 than Cyrodiil in ESO) I hope ZOS will revert the changes so I can return to Cyrodiil.





English is not my native language.

SammyKhajit

Like the mounts change suggestions and the hair colouring.

GW2 female outfits... some of the options look a cake shop, a lace shop and a *** shop exploded together. NOT a good look.

WiseSky

MagicAndrej wrote: »

I'm literally reinstalling ESO as I write this, and I'm looking forward to juggling the games.

I said I will try GW2 When I finish ESO

I just need to get GodSlayer and Emperor, Grand OverLord and Master Fisher

Find all SkyShards, Lorebooks and Treasure Maps with no Addons

Hopefully GW2 is still around till then

preevious

Well, since I play both, I can add a bit.

Gw2 is nice, true, but it has an enormous downside compared to ESO.

The gem store. It's atrocious, and borderline shameless. Good luck finding outfits in game. You either have to fork over 700 gems for one, or buy them for an unholy amount of gold in the auction house (and those are very limited).
Also, someone mentionned the black lion chests . Yes, nice, loot the chests, and come buy the keys in the gem store, because over the course of the game, you gain VERY little keys.
Not free styles to obtain through gaming dedication.
Also, the currencies and items obtention are mind bogglingly complicated.

This is somewhat mitigated by the fact you can buy gems with in game gold (if you farm a few years)


But that aside, yes, it's a nice game. There's stuff to explore, the world events keep the world moving, and the craft system, while being incredibely inferior to eso's, is still one of the best out there. It's getting old, though. On older system, it might be worth it, but on a decent computer, eso looks so much better.


In my opinion, ESO is vastly superior gameplay-wise and graphically, but I play GW2 sometimes, with great pleasure as well.

worrallj

Eso beats the hell out of every other mmo I've ever played hands down, including gw2. I find the idea about mounts intriguing, but honestly the other systems cited seem pretty inconsequential and I don't think adopting them would add much, but interesting thoughts.

Jeremy

I tried Guild Wars 2 and hated it. The combat system is extremely shallow and dull.

VampireLordLover99

MagicAndrej wrote: »

Combat / Classes
Both games have pretty well developed classes in my opinion. However, I think both companies have kind of an issue with ignoring many class problems, especially ZoS. As a warden main, I've felt that my bear has been a buggy mess since launch, attacking random mobs, missing its ult, animations getting stuck and so on.

My biggest pet peeve from GW2 compared to ESO is the fact that without animation cancelling you can't deal anything about 50k dps in ESO, which makes it extremely annoying when compared to GW2 I can have a fun time playing combat, without feeling as if my fingers are about to break off my hands.

GW2's class design is superior in everyway to ESO's.

I'm very surprised this wasn't more glaring to you as it was to me.

In GW2 the classes feel truly, utterly unique despite all being able to heal, dps, and tank. Each have unique mechanics that no other class can do. And that's awesome. Thieves can steal abilities, guardians can use shouts and call upon defensive power no other class can, mesmers are literally an absolutely unique illusionist class.

Take Necromancer in ESO for instance. What can it do that no other class can do, exactly? Aside from transforming, which is now moot with the vampire rework? Summon temporary summons that act like nothing more than dots?

Now compare ESO's necromancer to GW2's necromancer. You can be a disease/curse/darkness/lifedrain based necromancer or a pet/debuffer/summoner/literal lich necromancer. Unlike anything else in the game. Where as necromancers in ESO are still using fire/lightning/ice damage like every other thing.

Don't even get me started on the fact that subclasses (elite specs) in GW2 completely change how you play your class and add so much more variation. Suddenly I'm a death knight esque character with abilties that are unlike anything any other class has. Next I'm a literal sand-wraith shade summoner who summons sand spirits to do my bidding and teleport around.

Also worth noting that in ESO, I'm more often than not wanting to play as NPCs over my player character because even the basic necromancers have cooler skills than I do as a player. Same with vampires and even sorcerers. Yet in GW2, I don't want to be an NPC because player classes are so cool and fit in line with the npc classes. Thus providing immersion and a satisfying feeling where as ESO does not.

Seriously would like for you to look deeper into this and re-consider the class section, @MagicAndrej

rrimöykk

I'd love if classes in ESO felt more unique. Now we (dds) wear the same few sets, same few monster sets and same few skills over and over. Only the passives matter and make one "class" stand out.

I really do hate it.

GW has much more unique classes, WoW too. Well, almost any mmo has more unique classes. It's such a shame.

VampireLordLover99

rrimöykk wrote: »

I'd love if classes in ESO felt more unique. Now we (dds) wear the same few sets, same few monster sets and same few skills over and over. Only the passives matter and make one "class" stand out.

I really do hate it.

GW has much more unique classes, WoW too. Well, almost any mmo has more unique classes. It's such a shame.

Yup. Class design in the other top MMOs WoW, FFXIV, and GW2 are waaaaay miles ahead of ESO's class design unfortunately. The devs at ESO have fallen into a rut where they do not know how to make the classes different, yet at the same time they ignore what the NPCs do that are unique. Instead of tying what classes can do in with what the NPCs can do.

Not to mention the world's most popular MMO WoW, followed by FFXIV both have a class swapping system in two different ways. One is a job-skill line list that can swapped to when you want. The other is a simple pay for class change.

ESO will never ever be able to step on FFXIV's doorstep of number 2 mmo in the world if it doesn't start embracing these quality of life changes that make games stand out. Also if they don't start taking notes on how to design classes to be unique.....As much as ES isn't a class based universe, they need to accept that they've got classes in this game and they need to take a serious look at how they play.

in FFXIV a dark knight plays 100% differently than a beserker. In WoW, a Void Priest plays literally opposite to Holy Priest yet they are both a part of the SAME CLASS.

Paladin's have a holy subclass that also work completely different than priest's holy subclass despite both being healers and buffers.

It's insane how class design has gone down this far in ESO.

VampireLordLover99

It seems like such a big oversight to say that classes/combat are equal to ESO when in GW2 even weapons are DIFFERENT in how they operate for every class on top of everything I've previously stated.

Clearly, if you think that ESO's mundane class system is on that level then I'd highly advise one take a closer look at how deep class design and weapon choice get in gw2 comparatively to ESO.

magnusthorek

Indeed, ESO can learn a thing or two with GW2 but it must be really, really careful with what to learn because A LOT of things in GW2 is broken.

But I strongly disagree with an in-game Gold:Crown trade system because this will give the control over ratios to ZOS instead of players. In GW2 this made trades super expensive because whenever profits go down the value goes up to balance and a "super incredible" promotion goes live. In the end, the ratios take a good while to get down and even so it doesn't do much good (last time I saw ratio there was something around 2 G to 1, translating here to 2000:1 which is absurd here O_O

I'm also against a central trade system. GW2's Trading Post is one big public market based on Auctions and Buy-off that's controlled by bots and AFK farmers. Not to mention the Sellers' Snipers that offer the very same item slightly cheaper (thus selling first) pushing one's offer down below. Our system is complicated for Guilds to manage but it's MUCh superior.

About map completion... I think it's one of the annoying things GW2 has because of the reward such mechanic provides. In GW2 completing a map - meaning getting all HPs (Skyshards), Champions (WBs), Points of Interest and Vistas (panoramic cinematics around certain areas) - reward you will tokens to create Legendary weapons (named weapons with cold different effects with additional perks over the Ascended - our Legendary - ones). Problem is that Map Completion takes A LOT of time. People REALLY engaged in the so-called Legendary Weapons Market can complete a map in ONE WEEK with several hours of gameplay. For the "common rabble", it may take a month or more. It's super exhaustive!

Ah! You forgot to mention the Skimmers! Manta ray mounts that float over water and allows micro-flying as long as your mount has stamina (I used to do this trick before getting flying mounts XD)

Zukasha

preevious wrote: »

Well, since I play both, I can add a bit.

The gem store. It's atrocious, and borderline shameless. Good luck finding outfits in game. You either have to fork over 700 gems for one, or buy them for an unholy amount of gold in the auction house (and those are very limited).
Also, someone mentionned the black lion chests . Yes, nice, loot the chests, and come buy the keys in the gem store, because over the course of the game, you gain VERY little keys.
Not free styles to obtain through gaming dedication.
Also, the currencies and items obtention are mind bogglingly complicated.

What?

The vast majority of armor and weapon skins can be earned ingame (as well as the required transmutation charges). Either from drops, achievements, crafting or by buying from the tp (prices vary greatly, some are pretty expensive but there are also a lot of cheap ones). If you are talking specifically about outfits - yes those are are for the most part gem store exclusive - but only make up a very small portion of the styling options in GW2 (similar applies to costumes in ESO btw).

Also unlike ESO, GW2 does not have "hidden" P2W items (no "bis" sets locked behind dlc), and while buying cash shop items with ingame gold is quite expensive in both games, in GW2 it is at least safe to do so.

magnusthorek wrote: »

But I strongly disagree with an in-game Gold:Crown trade system because this will give the control over ratios to ZOS instead of players. In GW2 this made trades super expensive because whenever profits go down the value goes up to balance and a "super incredible" promotion goes live. In the end, the ratios take a good while to get down and even so it doesn't do much good (last time I saw ratio there was something around 2 G to 1, translating here to 2000:1 which is absurd here O_O

Exchange ratio is 33-35 gold to buy 100 gems currently. If you equate 1 gold in GW2 with 1k gold in ESO, that's 330-350 gold per crown in ESO which is pretty close to the actual exchange rate (on the lower end actually). But this doesn't take into consideration that 1 gem is worth more than 1 crown. Now 1 = 1k gold might not be super accurate either (pretty hard to compare value of ingame money), still, buying cash shop items is certainly not that much more expensive in GW2. But a lot more convenient and safe (no risk of getting scammed by other players).


@those criticising the slow release rate/lack of new content in GW2:
While it is indeed lacking, especially recently, keep in mind that the vast majority of GW2's new content is free for active players (base game is free as well) and the expansions (the only thing that needs to be bought with real money) are imo much better than ESO's chapters in both quantitiy and quality - for a lower price. How much free content do you actually get in ESO?
It is also pretty irrelevant for new players because the game already offeres a lot of content.