I never actually played the first Guild Wars. Actually, as I type this, I’m intermittently alt-tabbing into the game client and playing the free trial of it.

But I absolutely loved World of Warcraft back in the day. I say “back in the day,” referring mostly to Vanilla WoW; not that I disliked all the expansions, just that for me, WoW was at its peak a number of years ago when I first started playing.

I believe it was December 2006, and my high school boyfriend had convinced me (through nothing more than gentle persuasion) to begin playing. Once I did, I was hooked. Not in an “ignoring school, friends, and personal hygiene to level grind and get the latest gear” sort of way. More of a “staying up til 2 AM eating Doritos and questing with my friends until going to sleep at a semi-reasonable hour” addiction.

Anyway, I still don’t know what it was about WoW that had me so instantly mesmerized. Maybe it was the (at the time) gorgeous graphics, the fact that it was my first MMO, the  lush fantasy worlds, the character customization, the fact that I could quest with my friends, or, most likely, all of the above. But for some reason, no other MMO has had the same draw for me – most notably, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

I played SWTOR for about a month, itching for that same WoW experience – but I was disappointed. Not that it wasn’t a good game – I think a number of other factors were at play. First, I’m really only a casual fan of the Star Wars franchise. Not that I don’t enjoy the movies (meaning, of course, Episodes IV through VI). And I do love the occasional Kessel Run debate. But I hesitate to call myself a “Star Wars fan” simply because I feel that branding myself as such would be an overstatement.

Additionally, I think I’m simply more of a fantasy, swords-n-shields type of nerd. Not that one has to choose between fantasy and sci-fi and ardently defend his or her camp; just that some are some like medieval/fantasy subject matter better, others like sci-fi/space/robots, and some like both equally. It’s why I never got into the Mass Effect series and why I became addicted to The Elder Scrolls and Neverwinter Nights.

Anyway. WoW has unfortunately long since lost its allure. Sure, I stilled played it off and on until early 2011 (taking months-long breaks), but toward the end it just wasn’t as much fun. I loved the adventuring and question, and honestly liked leveling up. Raiding and PvP were fun as well, but weren’t the focus of the game for me – so when that’s what the game became all about for everyone else, I realized I was just about done with it. I was a self-proclaimed casual player, and everyone else got a little too serious for me.

So, while I know that Guild Wars is entirely different than WoW for lots of reasons, I’m really loving what I see of the trial so far. First, the lack of monthly fee means I can much more easily take a break from the game and pick it back up again, without feeling like I’ve gotta finish out the month or I’ll be wasting money; it’s much more suited for casual players.

Also, the screenshots and art I’ve seen from GW2 look absolutely amazing. The lush fantasy worlds are exactly what I loved about WoW at first. And while the first game’s graphics are (understandably) nothing to write home about anymore, the hour or so I’ve played of it so far has already hooked me.

In the end, I guess the best way to describe what I’m feeling about Guild Wars 2 is that I see it sort of as the Second Coming of WoW – a fun fantasy game that’s only as competitive as you want it to be.