Guild Wars has long since been a staple in the MMORPG genre ever since its first iteration became a smashing commercial success. Guild Wars 2, likewise, became one of the most successful MMORPGs to date, impressive considering the game lacked a subscription fee that was still common at the time but managed to still reward players with a vast world teeming with life. Since then, Guild Wars 2 continues to be one of the finest online games available, due in part to its constantly updated story and awesome real-time combat that helped make the thrilling player versus player component what it is. With a new expansion on the horizon, you might find yourself experiencing the pain of wanderlust, or maybe Guild Wars 2's grip is slowly relaxing and you're eager to try new games. Whatever your reason may be, here are some of our top choices for games like Guild Wars 2.
The Elder Scrolls Online
In many ways, The Elder Scrolls Online parallels so much of what made Guild Wars 2 such an engaging game to play. Now that the online cousin of Skyrim and Oblivion has dropped its subscription fee entirely, the two are more similar than ever.
The good news is that The Elder Scrolls Online emphasizes many of the same great aspects of Guild Wars 2, and does so just as adeptly. For starters, both games feature pretty stellar player versus player combat. If Guild Wars' massive open world PVP was a selling point, you absolutely owe it to yourself to give The Elder Scrolls Online a peek.
Like Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online features a massive continent to conquer in a mode that pits the three player alliances against one another in a hybrid of capture the flag and king of hill. By taking over enemy fortresses and pushing into their territory, you can eventually make a grab at one of their two elder scrolls, which will grant your alliance bonuses in combat. This large continent also doubles as a quest zone where you can explore, run dungeons, and look for rare crafting materials when you aren't laying siege to enemy forts.
Another big reason The Elder Scrolls is worth checking out is due to both games emphasizing a voice-acted story that guides you through your quest to the maximum level. The Elder Scrolls Online has three different stories you can experience depending on which faction you decide to go with, each one with its own unique themes and flavor.
Lastly, The Elder Scrolls Online is also a great place to explore and get lost in. Like Guild Wars 2, zones are typically quite large with all manner of hidden locations to be found.
Both games also feature various implementations of more active combat that makes excellent use of dodging and remaining mobile while chipping away at your foes.
Of course, The Elder Scrolls Online isn't perfect. Once you reach maximum level, you begin a pretty numbing slog through the end game which focuses on either completing the quests for the other alliances or grinding dungeons and veteran zones, but compared to Guild Wars 2, which is almost lacking an endgame entirely at time of writing, you might just be grateful to actually have something to do.
Wildstar
Wildstar unashamedly borrows from World of Warcraft in plenty of ways while at the same time fleshing out those ideas to become one of the most unique MMORPGs in recent memory. Of course, getting to where it is now has been one of the most rocky experiences we've seen in quite some time. Like Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar launched as a subscription based MMORPG before promptly falling face first and squirming around uncomfortably for almost a whole year.
The good news is that Carbine, the developers, have been hard at work getting the MMORPG back on its feet and have at last converted Wildstar into a free to play game. Though you should be a little skeptical, the initial buzz surrounding the re-launch is extremely positive and Wildstar's future is looking brighter than ever, which is a good thing because Wildstar rocks.
Though it rides along comfortably in the path forged by World of Warcraft, Wildstar offers more than a few features which might be appealing to a Guild Wars 2 fan looking to cross over. The first of which is undoubtedly the combat. Like Guild Wars 2, Wildstar features action-heavy combat that requires a ton of movement and active participation. Turn back ye who enjoy slower paced fights.
With only a handful of abilities that you can use at once, Wildstar forces you to really build your character from a massive subset of abilities and further augmentations. It's an engaging system that really adds a sense of distinction to your character.
Combat can get pretty hectic in PvP, which may or may not grab you depending on whether you're a fan of Guild Wars 2's arena fights rather than their open world PVP. But, even so, the real draw of Wildstar has always been the incredible raiding content. Unlike Guild Wars 2, where dungeons aren't especially notable, Wildstar really packs a punch in each of its diverse and supremely challenging dungeons. If you're looking for the ultimate group-based challenge, Wildstar is absolutely worth a look.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Like Wildstar, Star Wars: The Old Republic draws tons of inspiration from World of Warcraft. While that makes the game fairly dissimilar to Guild Wars 2 in plenty of ways, I still want to recommend it based on the story content alone. Simply put, The Old Republic has one of the most unique stories available. If you enjoyed Guild Wars 2 because of its story, The Old Republic will likely be a match made in heaven.
Unlike Guild Wars 2 which is thoroughly linear, The Old Republic's story draws from the singleplayer Knights of the Old Republic RPGs to allow you almost unrivalled control over your character's tale. Each of the main quests is full of amazing characters and quality voice acting, but it's the ability to decide their fates that really sets The Old Republic apart. Where most quests in MMORPGs have devolved into boring lists of boxes to check, The Old Republic breathes life into its world and then lets you decide how you want it to play out.
Even if you stop playing once you reach the maximum level, the quests that get you there are absolutely worth experiencing on their own.
That said, the biggest caveat for Star Wars is that, unlike the others on this list, you will absolutely want to cough up the money for a subscription fee. It isn't as dire as it sounds because even two months of subscribing will be enough to eat your heart out on The Old Republic's stellar story quests, which adds up to roughly the same price any of these games cost. But the Star Wars' free to play model is nothing if not cruel and aggressive, severely limiting access to so many features it practically strong arms you into coughing up your credit card information.
Tera
Tera gets a half-hearted recommendation based on the superiority of its combat, but it does come with some caveats you'll want to consider. The good news is, like some of the others on this list, Tera is free to play. The only thing you risk losing by trying it out is your time (and bandwidth).
Like Guild Wars 2, Tera features some pretty stellar combat that insists on paying attention to your surroundings and being extremely mobile. It puts this combat to excellent use while fighting the super tough BAMs (Bad-Ass Monsters) and working your way through its plethora of dungeons. If you love Guild Wars 2 combat but want a game that puts its own spin on it, Tera is worth considering.
That said, Tera also has some issues regarding its community and progression. For starters, if you're not a fan of Asian MMORPGs and their tendencies to portray women in scandalous clothing, Tera might not be for you. To be fair, character creation is rather diverse and you have some great options for customizing, but you'll find a common theme among many of the female characters you encounter in the world.
Furthermore, while Tera absolutely has some strong moments, much of its progression is wrapped up in tedious questing that will likely melt your brain if you're bored to tears of the standard MMORPG formula. You'll live for the dungeons and BAMs, and everything else is just filler.
It's not perfect, but Tera is also very popular and if none of these options above check the right boxes, it's worth a shot. If you're okay with the ho-hum formula that has become so standard in many MMORPGs, there is a lot of unique elements to enjoy in Tera. The combat really is superb, and each class brings their own flavor to it in ways that is very reminiscent of Guild Wars 2.
Guild Wars 2 is successful because of the niche it so perfectly occupies, which makes suggesting an alternative no easy feat. That said, if you're in the market for something akin to ArenaNet's seminal MMORPG, the options above will hopefully steer you in the right direction. Do you have some suggestions of your own for MMORPGs that would fill the void left by Guild Wars 2? Did you absolutely hate my ideas? Let us know in the comments!
