Experience for a GW2 first-timer:
Picked thief. Honestly, while there seems to be a lot of content, the low-level PvE seems very standard MMO fare (kill this, fetch that, feed the cows). I understand going through this to 'learn the game' for beginning, but I won't enjoy this type of gameplay when making a new character and going through it again (even if in a different starting area, I'm guess the types of quests and experiences will be similar). Events are nice enough, though. I initiated one after talking to some soldiers, and we moved out to clear out some centaurs. Before I knew, there were 15-20 other players tagging along, killing centaurs left and right. There seemed to be a good number of these events.
Like: weapon skills unlock very quickly.
Dislike: unlocking additional utility skill slots seems to take a lot of time. Lvl 7 for 1 slot, 10 for 2, 20 for 3, 30 for the elite? That seems excessive.
I jumped into a bit of WvWvW. That was lots of fun! I like that they level you to 80, it would have been nice to get some other benefits to leveling up, like allowing weapon-swaps, and unlocking the utility skillslots (I had bought a few of them, but could only bring in one before of my real level). Started off having to fend off a massive offensive near our main gate. With reinforcements, we managed to push them back. As the battle converged at a bridge, some of us flanked at the side and cut off their escape route, managing a few kills. The survivors retreated behind their own gate, and we had to bash it down. I saw one of ours building some sort of ballista kit. Meanwhile, the defenders had archers and spellcasters lobbing stuff down on us from their walls, while some of their bolder melee chars jumped down the walls to assault us. Very hectic battle. And then the stress test ended
Basic combat mechanics are very nice. I think they've got the action elements of it down pat. Dodging is nicely implemented. Works well, but you don't get enough endurance to spam it.
Thief is pretty fun. Initiative means I have to choose what skills I want to use when, rather than relying on which ones are recharging. The various weapon combinations were nice. Sword allowing me to shadowstep into melee range (and shadowstep back to my initial location optionally), and dagger/pistol allowing me to shadowstep btw melee and pistol range, thrown dagger crippling, shortbow leapback + cripple, shadowstep arrow. Adding some shadowstep utility skills, and a stealth heal, and that's some nice options in battle.
Overall, nice game. Nice combat mechanics. Some very cool experiences. But skeptical about the low-level PvE experience and about grinding (which I immensively dislike and have a lot tolerance for).
At most, $200.
