I play an MMORPG for the first time and finally understand why so many people do it

Currently, MeinMMO is running the theme month “Find Your Next Game“. In this context, our editor Noah Struthoff has ventured into a new genre: He has played an MMORPG for the first time.

Here’s what it’s about: Throughout June, we at MeinMMO and our colleagues from GameStar and GamePro have discussed new games or titles we can recommend to you.

Therefore, I thought it would be appropriate if I also ventured into a completely new area and not just write about it.

I have never played an MMORPG in my life and often wondered why anyone could be so fascinated by this genre. I just wanted to give it a try and I can already reveal this much: It was a chaos, but a surprisingly positive chaos.

This is what I usually play: My great gaming love is Pokémon GO. Before and after its release in 2016, no game has ever captivated me so much. Here, you also deal with monsters, but the game mechanics are entirely different.

Otherwise, before my trainer career, I played some shooters and collected many hours in Battlefield and Call of Duty.

WoW, so many character traits

Which game did I even try? We also discussed this in the editorial office. In the end, we chose Guild Wars 2. A free MMORPG that has been successful for years. Plus, it has nice graphics. Also, my loyal companion in the first hours, MeinMMO colleague and MMORPG expert Alexander Leitsch, is a veteran in Guild Wars 2.

This is how my character selection went: Initially, I was on my own, so I had to choose the server and my character without any advice.

I was quite amazed when I saw how much you can configure your character.

First, I had to choose one of the 5 playable races. I opted for the Norn. They were presented to me as impulsive and cheerful – something that definitely applies to me.

Then it was time for optimization. Naturally, I made my character as broad and muscular as possible. Also added some nasty scars on the face and a cool beard – something that definitely applies to me (at least in my dreams).

I didn’t pay attention to this: The game repeatedly explained to me that my choices during character selection would also affect my gameplay. That was something I almost completely ignored. I just thought to myself, “To take down some monsters, I’ll just pick the most muscular character – it should work out.” Probably a decision that wasn’t thought through very well.

When even the controls become a problem

These were my first minutes in the game: The start in Guild Wars 2 went as I imagined, but still chaotic. I entered a game world and first had to see what was happening here and where I was supposed to go.

The first major problem was the controls. I work on a PC every day, but I’ve never really gamed here before. Pokémon GO is played on a smartphone, and all my shooter experiences were on the PlayStation. Therefore, the classic WASD controls were really difficult for me. How do I hold my fingers and how can I reach other keys that suddenly also became important?

So I wandered a bit through the game world. Here and there I could interact with NPCs, but I wasn’t making much progress. After I had beaten the first monsters with my sword, I saw that I also had to complete tasks and followed these so-called “quests”.

My colleague Alexander was following me and gave me tips here and there that advanced me, but I still didn’t perform very successfully or professionally.

A point that I remember was Alex’s attempt to explain the Tab key to me. With it, I could target enemies directly and attack better. That sounds nice in theory, but where the hell do I find the Tab key? After much back and forth, I understood that it was the key I usually used to make a line break. I had never named that key before and it is probably one of the keys I hardly ever use in everyday life.

In general, at the beginning there was a lot of information for me that I could hardly comprehend. Therefore, I ran around wildly and often fought against the air while the drooling monster just stood behind me. When I read new quests, I then stopped and had to concentrate very carefully on the text, and even then I sometimes didn’t quite understand what they actually wanted from me.

An MMORPG can indeed be fun

After the first hour, many explanations, and even more embarrassing moments, I slowly began to enjoy the game and also understood the purpose behind it.

A quest was completed and I directly proceeded to the next. Even though I didn’t always fight perfectly, I completed the quests. A good feeling and I noticed that I was making progress.

Over time, I also no longer had to look at my keyboard at every movement, but could also admire the impressive graphics of Guild Wars 2. Furthermore, I noticed how vast the MMORPG’s map actually is. While I walked to a quest for several minutes, the movements on the map were relatively tiny. So, there is still a lot to discover in Guild Wars 2.

With the routine came the fun in the game. Although I still fought like a drunk tourist in Mallorca, I was slowly making progress.

My colleague Alexander then also showed me the incredible variety in the game. He proudly presented all his mounts to me, and we even had to protect food from hungry rabbits. In the end, there was a massive snowball fight with kids.

I quickly realized that you can still have a lot of fun here and that the game is virtually endless.

I will be back, no question!

While I started Guild Wars 2 rather skeptically and was sure that after my little exploration I would probably never return to the game, I now see it quite differently.

Guild Wars 2 is really fun and I am especially impressed by the numerous side quests that can be completed. The attention to detail is great and while I have previously steered clear of such games, I will now definitely keep an eye on MMORPGs.

To conclude my first glimpse into an MMORPG, I can only quote the Pink Panther: Today is not every day, I will be back, no question!