Dungeons, Renown Hearts, and Dynamic Events aren’t the only content that’s available in a given zone. Points of interests, Vistas, and Skill Challenges are all sites of attraction and by visiting any of these locations you will receive experience. Points of interest are just locations that are of importance such as a town or a waterfall. They’re fairly easy to reach. On the other hand Vistas require you to climb high to reach a location giving you a magnificent view. Finding your way to reach a Vista make take a bit of effort but the spectacular view is worth it - as well as the hefty sum of experience of reaching it.
Lastly, Skill Challenges are areas where you can acquire skill points after completing a certain objective. All of these distractions make up a zone and if you end up unlocking everything you will receive items, money, and guild wars 2 gold. Essentially, checking out everything will reward you greatly.
Traveling will yield great rewards and leave you satisfied with the game but combat is where the heart of the action lies. Long gone are the days where you stand still and whacking each other in boring, monotonous combat systems. There are a total of eight different classes to choose from and all of them use an intuitive skill system. Rather than having dozens at your disposal, the game locks you in with 10 skills, each with their own use. The first five skills are designated by the weapon you’re holding and will act as your primary damaging skills. However, the twist is that you have the option to hold two sets of weapons and can switch them out in combat at will. Rather than having five weapon skills, you in reality have a total of 10, making your arsenal that much stronger and versatile.
In addition to your primary weapons skills, the remaining five act as your healing, utility, and elite skills which are unlocked over time. These skills have longer cooldowns than your weapon skills but adds the “oomph” to your class giving it a distinct feel. They also act as your lifeline in ways that you would never imagine. Skills are the heart of the combat system and because of its relatively quick cooldowns and the emphasis on which weapons and utility skills to bring, builds are a huge focus in the game.
Marvel at gorgeous views such as this. If you are ever in combat run out of health, your character goes into a downed state. In this mode, your character can’t move or escape but you have four skills specific to the downed state that you can use to fight back in a last ditch effort. If you manage to kill an enemy you’ll rally back up with a bit of your maximum health.
