Guild Wars 2

I started playing around 2018, and one of my favourite things about it is that I can take long breaks without falling behind. I have accumulated 3.2k hours on the standalone launcher at the time of writing this review. I've bought every DLC because I want to support the game that has been with me for 8 years and counting. Classes have the flexibility to take on different roles, and the story moves at a comfortable pace. You can also ignore parts of the game, whether it's exploration or story content, and come back to them whenever you feel like it. If you want a chill MMO with no pressure or expectations, I highly recommend giving this game a shot. I've grown deeply attached to it over the years and met some amazing people along the way. This game is my first love, and it'll remain one of my obsessions for years to come. I'd yap more but that would require a whole novel.

just a beautiful world. I'm disabled and don't really understand "endgame" stuff or how to gear up, but that doesn't matter. the game is fun and the world is awesome to play in.

Played the entire free version to completion before touching a single expansion: level 80, full Personal Story, zero mounts, zero elite specs. This is not a demo. It's a genuinely complete game. The free tier gets you all 9 professions, max level, the full story, PvP, dungeons, fractals, and hundreds of zones. In 48 hours I finished the story and still had only touched about half the map: 123/303 tasks, 218/486 waypoints, 72/226 vistas. There's an absurd amount to do before you'd ever need to pay. What works: Combat feels fluid and current for a 2012 game, with 10 skills, weapon swapping, dodging, and no forced rotation Dynamic events make the world feel alive instead of quest-marker soup XP for exploring, not just killing; climbing to a vista actually matters Horizontal progression means your gear stays relevant, so you're not chasing a treadmill Community is unusually helpful, cooperative by design rather than competitive Personal Story is fully voiced with real cinematic weight What's rough (in the free version): Only 2 character slots Tight bag space and trading post restrictions Core classes feel "fine"; elite specs (paywalled) are where the real class identity lives Story ends on a clear "now go buy the expansions" note None of that feels like manipulation though, it feels like an honest first chapter. The expansions go on sale constantly, so if you wait, catching up is cheap. Bottom line: Play the free version first. All the way through. Then decide. You'll already know the answer.