I played the original GW1 back in high school, I still have my 2 install discs in that CD binder every 30-something has, sitting next two my 2 Lord of the Rings Online discs from around the same time.
And like 7 discs for Neverwinter Nights 2.
And one for FFXIV: A Realm Reborn. Although fun story there. By 2013, it was pretty easy to just download games, but they closed off new sales of the game for the ffxiv arr launch due to unexpected high demand. So I ended up driving like ~20 miles to the nearest Best Buy that had a physical copy to play the game. Although my character Zk Hr created on August 30, 2013 a few day after launch isn't my main anymore. I switched to Zakhar Iceteno when I started playing again in 2019.
But yeah, I remember the original guild wars was a lot of fun when it came to trying out weird and interesting builds all in the name of getting as many globs of ectoplasm as you possibly could. So monks with hardly any hp, rangers that queue up a bunch of traps to go off all at once, etc.
After playing the GW2 betas before launch, I'd made a plan to build a bunch of the 20-item storage chests to sell to other players that just wanted more storage and make lots of gold/gems early on. But that didn't go to plan, since the market for selling stuff was broken at launch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Coming back to GW2 after a many year hiatus, I really appreciate how the game supports that MMO vibe where you can just hang out and do stuff. I'll go to an area planning get some resources for crafting, end up trying to complete some hearts, find myself doing some big global boss with a bunch of players that showed up, and then realize I can finish up some achievement I'd been working towards.
But that does mean that I'm terrible at sticking to the main quest. I finally finished my story, picking up after a decade right after somebody died whose memory we would never forget... and I had no idea who they were. Also finished living world season 1, but I'm still in the middle of season 2. Haven't even made it to Heart of Thorns yet.
After playing GW2 for a little bit in May, I decided to support the devs on May 28th and pick up the collection with the first few expansions. So of course, GW3 is announced a few days later on June 5th and everything goes on sale... you're welcome everyone!
I'm definitely hyped to try out the public betas next year and excited to see what comes next.