This is a variation you might call “pay to skip the grind.” For example, a game might require you to buy a particular weapon with actual real-world money in order to unlock the max character level.Īnother definition of a “pay to win” game is one in which you have a choice of either spending countless hours grinding for a necessary item, or paying money to skip the grind and get the item now.

A “pay to win” game is one in which you have to pay actual money in order to advance to the endgame. What Is “Pay to Win”?įirst, let’s talk about definitions. First and foremost, as a free-to-play GW2 player, ArenaNet hopes that you will be motivated to buy an expansion pack to unlock more content, gliding, mounts, new maps, new meta events, and more. This causes many people to wonder, is Guild Wars 2 pay-to-win (p2w)?Īre there ways you can give Guild Wars 2 money? Absolutely. Some of that may be addressed in the FAQ linked by 71Ranchero, but I don't have time to review it right now.Guild Wars 2 has a free-to-play (f2p) option. I'm not sure how the expansion is going to fit in with the F2P version or the existing paid version of the game, so that is another thing to consider and research before dropping any cash on this. Keep in mind there is also a separate paid expansion that is due to come out in October-ish as well.

The price varies between $19 and $22 depending on what month it is, for some reason. We both got digital codes for GW2 on Amazon for $20, so if the free version appeals to you and you want to buy into the full game, it's not that much of an investment. Also, I believe in part thanks to the cooperative focus of GW2, it has a very friendly community and there always seem to be people around to help you when you're new. I've played several different classes which I normally don't do in MMOs (I'm more of a one-class dude), and all the ones I have put any length of time into were all fun and felt distinctly different from one another. Some of my favorite aspects of the game are how it encourages exploration of maps, how quests and progression are handled, and how the game makes it easy to group up with your friends even when there is a huge level disparity between you. I think it is absolutely worth checking out, it has a lot of fun and interesting ideas that are quite different from other MMOs, but it's all pretty easy to pick up. My girlfriend and I have played quite a lot of Guild Wars 2, but thanks to no monthly fee we tend to take long breaks and come back to it periodically. Great idea, I'm sure it will get some new players interested in the game.

Guild wars 2 free to play vs pay