Some genre fans are currently looking at the new information about Guild Wars 3 and are questioning it. MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz addresses the criticism and explains why ArenaNet must take this step.
The dam has burst: Since yesterday afternoon, we (and everyone else) are finally allowed to talk about what the ArenaNet representatives have shown and revealed to us about Guild Wars 3 at gamescom.
And we liked what we saw so much that we not only published a big text preview, but also a sharp video on our MeinMMO channel on YouTube. We were also with the fantastic colleagues at GameStar on Twitch to talk extensively about our findings.
Not everyone is thrilled: While many others who were able to see the first real gameplay from Guild Wars 3 at gamescom are very enthusiastic, a part of the MMO community reacts skeptically to the reports. Particularly the MMO-lite approach and the direction of the game are criticized.
- Caliino writes to us on MeinMMO about: “The more I hear about GW3, the less my hype becomes… And what bothers me the most is this absolutely ridiculous time argument: If you only have a few hours a week, then just play for those few hours.”
- Anne-Jane or AJ does not like the action approach at all: “I love my beautiful tab-target system. I keep my target in focus, not like in these action-target systems.”
- Aomori criticizes: “You can handle everything alone, which for me is the opposite of MMORPG revolution. I don’t need that. And a raid boss, that’s not going to be enough.”
Also outside of MeinMMO, these points are being hotly debated. In this Reddit discussion, for example, there is a strong focus on the limitation of 20 players in battles. In short: Many genre fans are completely unwilling to see Guild Wars 3 follow the MMO-lite trend and focus on even more action-packed battles.
Destiny from 2014 is one of the forefathers of “MMO lite” with its shared-world concept. Later, alongside Destiny 2, games like The Division (2016) and Anthem (2019) followed. In recent years, there have been further manifestations in the survival or cozy building genre, such as Palia or Dune: Awakening.
Games from Asia like Where Winds Meet and Honor of Kings: World are currently further fueling this trend and providing their own interpretations of MMO lite.
What these MMO lites often have in common: Players meet in hub areas and in small numbers in the world. It never really gets “massively.” The instanced content like dungeons, raids, and PvP are usually comparatively small and focused. Features like guilds, chats, and trading form the social glue that should keep players returning to the world.
What makes Guild Wars 3 an MMO lite? Let’s first establish: One could already define the first Guild Wars as an MMO lite. Guild Wars 3 offers more MMO feeling in comparison, but not the “massively” of part 2.
It positions itself between the chairs and offers an open world where you can encounter other players, but in limited numbers (up to about 20 in combat, and significantly more in peaceful cities). A flexible sharding system ensures that the community distributes itself accordingly, without being disturbed by loading screens or an instanced experience. The focus of the content supports this and is primarily aimed at solo players and groups of up to 20 players.
A Guild Wars 3 can only exist like this or not at all
I can understand your criticism. I myself am not a fan of the current trend towards MMO lite. I already argued this back in April, when it came to my experiences with Where Winds Meet and Honor of Kings: World.
To me, MMORPGs primarily distinguish themselves through the potential “massively” experience from other online genres, meaning that you can encounter dozens or even hundreds of players anywhere in the world, and that there are contents designed specifically for large groups of players. And when it comes to battles, I still believe that a tab-target system best supports coordinated group play.
I think MMO lites can complement my favorite genre here and there, but please don’t completely replace the much more fascinating, real MMORPGs!
Unfortunately, I am also sure that a Guild Wars 3 can only succeed in this MMO-lite variant. There are several reasons for this; here are the most important from my perspective:
Reason 1: The current market situation and ArenaNet
I certainly don’t need to tell you how expensive and risky it is to develop an MMO nowadays. Many experienced, renowned, and large studios fail at this. Even a genre veteran like Jack Emmert cannot find funders for the remaining development with the strong Warhammer IP and a half-finished game.
ArenaNet is experienced, yes, and also has a popular IP at its disposal. However, the American studio is not among the very few big players in the world who can casually pull off such an MMO development.
On the contrary: With the development of Guild Wars 3, they are taking a huge risk and getting into debt to NCSoft. And that, even though they are only following the MMO-lite path. A new theme park MMORPG with the “massively” focus of Guild Wars 2 would increase the risk and development time significantly again. A beta as early as 2027? Unimaginable with such a game!
Reason 2: Guild Wars 2
ArenaNet has emphasized from the very beginning how important it is for the developers that the still popular Guild Wars 2 can coexist alongside the new Guild Wars 3. This was already the case with Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 but was significantly easier to implement. After all, the first Guild Wars is a standalone product, with a base game and various expansions.
However, Guild Wars 2 has an ongoing service that is to be replenished with fresh updates and expansions after the release of Guild Wars 3. This plan can only succeed if two factors align:
- Guild Wars 2 and Guild Wars 3 must differ significantly enough from each other that they can be sufficiently successful side by side.
- It must be feasible for the relatively small ArenaNet team to supply both games simultaneously with always new content. Just how time-consuming it is to ensure regular content supply for a large MMORPG, several MMO veterans confirmed to us in the last grind fest.
The MMO-lite approach presented for Guild Wars 3 supports both of these points. The new focus on action-packed battles, which can be undertaken alone or in fairly small groups, differs significantly from the “massively” player experience of Guild Wars 2, and it should also be somewhat easier to provide long-term updates for such a Guild Wars.
Or to put it another way: A Guild Wars 3 as a “massively” theme park would be the sure end of Guild Wars 2 (or of ArenaNet if the attempt fails, see reason 1). Or they would have had to switch to a “massively” sandbox focus, where players would essentially have to create their own stories and goals – but would that be better?
Reason 3: It fits into ArenaNet’s existing strategy
Last but not least, I believe that the direction of Guild Wars 3 aligns well with what the studio has been doing since its founding 26 years ago, namely questioning what frustrates players about the MMO genre.
- Before Guild Wars, that was the widespread monthly fees and the high grind factor.
- Before Guild Wars 2, the developers identified vertical character progression as a major frustration point, but also static quests and often toxic group behavior driven by competition for resources and quest objectives.
- Now, it’s the fact that more and more distractions (like social media, Netflix, YouTube, Twitch) are competing for players’ rare free time, that the MMO experience has become too impersonal in many current representatives, and that the combat system in the genre has stagnated for years (and has even regressed in some cases).
I am sure that in Guild Wars 3 we will find all of this (along with the goals for both predecessors). And it is clear: back then as now, this does not reflect the desires of the entire MMO community. That’s just not possible. We are too different for that.
Some players may love WoW’s tab-target system (I do too). Others enjoy competing with other players in the open world for quest objectives and resources. And surely there are still today genre enthusiasts who are eager to dive 24/7 into a new MMORPG because it justifies and requires that time.
However, I think that the new objectives fit well together, fit well into today’s time, and fit well with ArenaNet. From my perspective, they can indeed handle this, and it can, for what it aims to be, turn out really well – and in the end be so successful that we will continue to benefit from ArenaNet and Guild Wars for a long time.
What do you think? Can you follow my argumentation or do you have a completely different opinion? Feel free to share it in the comments! Those eager for a new “massively” theme park should give Aion 2 a chance in October! Or let’s hope for the best for the LoL MMORPG. Because Riot Games is indeed one of the few big players that could still implement this kind of online role-playing game today. Unfortunately, we currently know almost nothing about it: Everything we know about the new MMORPG related to LoL in 2026
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