So I know I kind of disappeared for a few days... and I know that it comes on the tail of disappearing for a few months. For that, I’m sorry! But. BUT. Big BUT! It’s because I was playing a game. Well, two games, but mostly one of them. The Elder Scrolls Online, and Guild Wars 2.

Want to take a guess at which one I played (and liked) more? Hint: I used a picture from the game to headline the article.

Now, I was introduced to both of these games by the fact that my friends on Steam and Discord have been playing them. The Elder Scrolls Online was pretty massively discounted during the recent Steam sale, and Guild Wars 2 is free to play - period.

I’m not really going to review either game, especially considering I’ve only had a handful of days to throw myself into them and they’re both MMOs, but I’ll try to explain what I liked, and didn’t like, about them.

First up: Guild Wars 2

I’ll be the first to admit that I started Guild Wars 2 not expecting to enjoy it, and I’ll also admit that it’s possible that this tainted my view of the game. I played the original Guild Wars MMO years ago and I really wasn’t a fan, which was disappointing because I had excitedly purchased the Collector’s Edition with headset and all that jazz. Well, one thing that I can say is that, as my friends explained before urging me to install it, Guild Wars 2 is NOTHING like the OG. However, even with that, I still wasn’t a huge fan.

GW2 felt like a rip-off of World of Warcraft to me. The first character that I created, a little Asura ranger that I happily named Sniia, annoyed me out of the gate. She and her people looked and felt like a combination of the Gnomes and Goblins from WoW, complete with over-techiness, over-ambition, over-confidence, and greed - and it didn’t end there. After I went on to replace her with a Sylvari ranger named Killlaelah, who I excitedly thought might be original because her design was basically that of a sentient tree, the game started talking about coming out of the dream and protecting those still in it before I even got out of the cutscenes. Sound familiar? It should. The Dream idea is also from WoW, and the Sylvari are essentially Night Elves. Specifically, in Druid tree-form! So my first impression, based on two completely different characters, wasn’t positive. While I did play WoW for over a decade and LOVE the game, I don’t want to play a rehash – even a free one. Perhaps especially a free one.  I was too bothered by the recreation of a game that still exists and which I love, to really let myself be pulled in. GW2 is basically profiting off of the popularity of WoW and, worse, they’re offering the game up “free,” which means they can’t even branch out far in the future to move into being something stunning and unique to their brand.

Let me be clear – Guild Wars 2 is not a BAD game. The character design is adorable, the game itself is bright and cartoony like WoW, and the leveling doesn’t necessarily make you want to tear your hair out. Honestly, it wasn’t even really a grind to level, and that aspect was pretty different from a lot of WoW. If you simply can’t afford to buy a game and want something to sink your teeth into - yes, it can be fun, and yes, you can do worse than to pay nothing and enjoy yourself. So really, rant off. Just try it. It’s free and you might like it – I know plenty of people who do.

You can find it here.

Next up: The Elder Scrolls Online

I picked this game up because the style of it (art and layout) reminded me of Dragon Age, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I did because I have fallen in love with everything about it. It is fun, and non-grindy (not a single fetch-quest to date!) , and just utterly and shockingly beautiful. It was pretty expensive, even on sale – at 50% off, it still cost me $41.99 CAD for the Collection (Tamriel Unlimited Gold Edition with Morrowind and Summerset) – but once you have the game, you don’t need to pay for anything else until the next expansion or DLC releases. Essentially, it operates like most non-MMO games these days. Alternatively, you can simply buy the base game and pay a subscription every month, which will give you access to the expansions and DLC as they release. The only caveat is that if you stop paying the subscription, you lose access to that content and are left with only the base game.

I kind of did things backwards and bought all the content to date… before deciding to pay for the subscription (ESO Plus) anyway. The subscription offers a few things beyond getting by without buying additional content – you also get access to bonus Crowns (a form of currency for the game) monthly, a 10% bonus to experience and gold gains, unlimited storage for crafting materials, double bank space, and other stuff. Personally, I found it worth it. I also like supporting the games I play, because paying for them means that the content creators have more leeway to get creative and to add more story and fun stuff. Sad but true – money talks.

I could spend more time explaining why the game is so beautiful and fun, but I'll just post screenshots instead. As you look at them, imagine exploring the places you're seeing and helping the people who live there. Really helping them. Not gathering scat, rounding up donkeys, and fetching 20 lettuce leaves. Because in the week I've owned this game, I've felt something new, something happy - something I haven't felt in a long time. I've felt my hope for online heroes be redeemed.

You can read more about ESO here.