Guild Wars 2: 10 Reasons to Be Excited

10. You Can Bring a Buddy! Often one of the most frustrating aspects of multiplayer games is the uneven power-level of the people who play together. If you try playing a game like Borderlands with a friend who is ten levels higher or lower than you are, your experience will suffer...big time! This problem is epidemic in MMORPGs as well. If you've been playing for a while and you finally convince one of your friends to play with you, you'll spend a lot of time in the starter areas walking around like a god among mere mortals, slaying everything in sight and getting no experience for it. Guild Wars 2 completely removes this problem in the best possible way. In fact, many players will never notice the underlying "sidekick" system that evens the playing field when characters of differing levels are playing together, and that's what's so great about it! In the PvE ('player-versus-environment' or 'adventurous') areas of the game, the system works by bringing higher-level characters DOWN to a level where the action and combat can still be fun for them. It doesn't remove any of their gear or their skills; it just lowers the overall damage output and total health of high-level characters. This way, the game still feels challenging for the more experienced players, and it doesn't allow them to just waltz up and lay waste to every enemy in the lower-level zones single-handedly, which would potentially spoil the fun of newer players. In the PvP ('player-versus-player' or 'competitive') areas of the game, however, the system works the other way around. In this case, all players are leveled UP to the maximum level (80) so that no one has an unfair advantage over any of the others. So no matter which way you like to game, you'll be able to game with your friends right from the start, and everyone will be able to have a good time!