Are you tired of always chasing the best gear that was introduced in the new patch?
Are you tired of playing in the basic Trifecta of the MMOs (Tank, Healer, DPS)?
Are you tired of basic mounts that just get you from place A to place B with no change among them other than cosmetics?
Are you tired of paying a monthly subscription to even be able to play the game you purchased?
Are you tired of trying to even be able to complete a quest because of "mob tagging"?
Are you tired of seemingly alive worlds where nothing ever happens?
Are you tired of playing a character, whose only interaction with the world is silent nodding and smiling?

If you have answered to any of the statements above with "Yes", then Guild Wars 2 might just be a game for you.
If this hasn't convinced you and want to see my passionate rumblings about the game, continue reading.

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The leveling system in Guild Wars 2 works slightly different from other games in the MMO genre. When you create a character, you still level as you would in WoW, with the max level of 80. After hitting that, however, you are introduced to a different system than levels - the so called Mastery Points .
These Masteries are allowing your character to use new stuff, be it in the environment (like jumping mushrooms, new vendors), or more character-driven (Like being able to use a certain type of weapon).
These Masteries, once unlocked, apply to all characters on the account, so don't worry, this game is extremely Alt-friendly (Maybe even alt-encouraging!)
Another system the game provides is a "Hero Point" System. With these Hero Points you progress/unlock some kind of a talent tree as well as Elite Specializations for the class you play, which change the way you play your character.
Other than these, the game has an Achievement system as well, which can be great for tracking long-time goals or setting goals for yourself in general.

The progression in Guild Wars 2 isn't about chasing the biggest item levels. (As you would in WoW) As already said in the Leveling System section, the progression, instead of being Character-based, is more account-based with Masteries. Of course you can still find different qualities of gear (as listed below), but there is no permanent "going for a better gear treadmill". The Legendary items provide the same stats as the Ascended ones, but offer QoL improvement in the form of being able to change the stats the gear is providing you.
Thanks to this, you can take a break from the game whenever for however long you want and your gear will not lose any power nor value... and the same thing applies to the whole content of the game, be it maps or enemies.

Junk (Gray) - Common (White) - Fine (Blue color) - Masterwork (Green) - Rare (Yellow) - Exotic (Orange) - Ascended (Pink) - Legendary (Purple)

The Story of Guild Wars 2 will follow your progression no matter where you go, with the base story of the Core Tyria (the core game) being divided into parts as you level your Character, reaching its finale at level 80.
In these stories, your character interacts with others, most if not all of the dialogues are fully voice-acted in the story lines. Since the game's introduction, the amount of stories have only piled on as time went. I still haven't gone through the entirety of the game's story, and I played the game way before it was brought to Steam. That may be cause I'm a completionist but that's a slight detail.

The Game has dynamic events that happen once in a while which can also continue into other events, making a long event story-line. (Depends on the specific event)
Some events, especially those introducing a zone Boss, are tied to a time schedule, so there is always something somewhere in the world happening.

The Core Game is Free to Play, but has microtransactions in the form of In-game Shop for Cosmetics and QoL inprovements, but there is nothing you would need to purchase to enjoy the game and it is not pay to win.
Accompanying the microtransactions, the game has paid DLCs, which give you access to Elite Specialisations, New Masteries, New Maps and New Stories. Other than the DLCs, the game also has the so called Living World Seasons , which are containing content released in between DLCs, with the 1. Living World Season being free. (But the content of these Living World Seasons are basically like mini DLCs - They lack Masteries and Elite Specializations, with the exception of Living World Season 4, also called The Icebrood Saga )

Each Character you play as has 5 skills exclusive to the weapons they use + 5 skills tied to their Class/Elite Specialization. Other than those 10 "base buttons", you also get another buttons (I think up to 4?) once again tied to Class/Elite Specialization that change your base buttons.
The 5 skills tied to Class/Elite Specialization has always some offensive ones, some utility ones and some directly healing ones, so everyone fills their own role of a DPS/Tank/Healer.
Instead of the typical Trifecta of MMOs, Guild Wars has a different system.

Some Classes can also equip two sets of weapons at once and change them in battle every few seconds.
The game also provides a dodge button, which renders your character invulnerable for the duration of the animation.

There is nothing like Enemy tagging, all loots are shared, including gatherables (each character has their own gatherable).

The Mount System of Guild Wars 2, first introduced in the DLC called Path of Fire has a total of 9 different mount types, each having their own niche and their own identity.
Path of Fire includes the mounts:
1. Raptor, the on-ground all-rounder, easy to pilot, relatively fast, jumps far.
2. Springer, the on-ground vertical jumping mount, used to conquer steep hills.
3. Skimmer, the on-water mount, allowing you to traverse water areas without swimming.
4. Jackal, the on-ground blinking mount, used to dodge attacks and travel through portals.
5. Griffon, the gliding/flying mount, used to conquer long distances in a short amount of time if you are on an elevated spot. Acts pretty much as an airplane.
Living World Season 4 adds to the already existing list of mounts:
6. Roller Beetle, the on-ground sprinter, hard to pilot, great for conquering long distances if the road is clear of any obstacles.
7. Skyscale, the flying mount, a very versatile mount. Acts pretty much as a helicopter.
The End of Dragons DLC adds another mount:
8. Siege Turtle, a slow on-ground mount, allowing you to carry another player and also attack from it.
And that leaves us with the last mount
9. Warclaw, the only PvP usable mount, which behaves differently in PvP and PvE, and also has different ways of acquirement (Janthir Wilds DLC or PvP).

1. The loot bag bloating of the inventory is awful, the game has a ton of different loot bags, each having different drops, which further make a mess in your inventory.
2. The Core game locations feel dated, they are still playable, but sometimes you come across invisible walls.
3. The game gets laggy for me during more popular zone bosses and other location-wide activities and my PC isn't exactly low-end. (RTX 3060 with AMD Ryzen 5 5600X)
4. The game has bad marketing to new players (if any)

The game isn't perfect, yet I can't recommend this game enough as it ticks each and every checkbox of things I would want and appreciate in an MMO. There are still a lot of things I haven't written about in this review, but those are things that you should experience yourselves.
See you in Tyria, Commanders!