Guild Wars 2

When ArenaNet launched GuildWars2, the highlights of the game was in the major differences in features compared to most MMOs.

A big change that had been stressed was that GuildWars2 would not have the “Grind” that majority of MMOs had. This was the one statement that may have gotten our attention the most.

But, it seems, that from a lot of what I see in forums and on youtube is that it is in essence still much a Grind. Perhaps ANet could clarify that it is an MMO that differs from others because the Grind only affects players with specific goals like acquiring Legendary Weapons.

I should note that perhaps this was not the case when GW2 first came out, and everything just seemed to be easier to obtain. Precursor item costs were in the 2 digit gold range and perhaps in the early stages of launch precursors were not as difficult to obtain in drop/mystic forge or whatever is claimed to have the means of acquiring it.

It may be stated that ANet has taken steps to preventing the Grind by establishing a diminishing return on much of the rewards when achieving an event or dungeon. With much content available it is possible that there is so much of other things to do, that there really is no need to Grind. Please note that as far as I’ve observed, to obtain certain items, it is necessary to repeatedly go through a specific area and repeatedly kill things in that area over an impressive amount of time. This, in my opinion, looks like a Grind to me.

I would like to know, if there would be steps taken, to fix this. So far, the fixes still seem to encourage the Grind.

Any suggestions?

I agree. Some fixes could be more ways to obtain the armor. For example

- Dungeon armor is only obtained by running the same dungeon over and over… and over again(Grind). This is boring. Why not let those tokens drop from mobs/ or events around the zone to( at a rate that would be close to the dungeon run)

- Make the Dungeon currencies and other things collected in different ways.

-After you finish a heart you should be able to re do it for more tokens towards dungeon armor. Take out grind. Just spread the ways to recieve certain items accross a variety of areas/and events and this will take the grind away.

the difference is you are grinding for skins and trivial things that have no actual impact on gameplay. There is a lot less grind for the gear you need in this game then most others.

Ok first off Arena Net never lied to you, Guild Wars 2 has a grind although no necessary grind in it.

You listed

• dungeon gear
• Legendary
  OK lets go back and look at the other MMO’s that have been on the market. They all had a grind that was necessary to progress in the game. We will look at WoW for an example
  what to do in wow and how you level
• Questing from 1 – 90
• Dungeon running 15 – 90
  – which requires you to grind for better gear to do the next level higher
• PvP 10 – 90
  – also requires you to grind for better gear to go anywhere
  Once you are level 90
• Grind for gear for raiding
• Grind for gear for PvP
• Grind for professions
• Grind for AH trade market junkies.
• Sit in town and do nothing or level another toon

How do you level in GW2

• WvWvW
• Exploration
• Questing ( hearts )
• Events/ Dynamic Events
• Crafting
• Dungeons 30 – 80
• Do pvp

what do you do once you hit 80

• Events ( there is no grind there )
• Gather and sale TP ( a little bit of a grind )
• WvWvW ( no grind there )
• PvP ( No grind there )
• legendary ( no grind if your a CC jockey, other wise a grind )
• get dungeon gear ( grind for tokens )
• PvP ( no grind )
• fractals ( no grind till level 15 Fractals where you need Agony resist )
• Exploration
• Jumping Puzzles

There are many options on how to play the game, and there are many options which do require you to grind, but there are many that do not require a grind what so ever. Even in WvWvW a warrior in all Arah gear and Twilight faced off against my warrior in 70 – 78 yellows with all MF on it ( she was my farm toon, I was getting World completion on ) Now because of other MMOs people feel this need to think that Gear = skill, but in the case of this fight my warrior won the fight not once but 6 different times. Was it because of the gear? NO it was because I had more skill. IS this a clear indicator of 100% of the fights in WvWvW? NO the point is you don’t need the best of the best gear ergo wvw is not a grind.

There will always be certain aspects of anything you do that is a grind and Arena Net can not remove it, it is silly to think they can. Every day you wake up you do a daily grind, you don’t have too you choose to. The same in GW2 if you want to do high level fractals then guess what your going to have to grind a lil, if you want that dungeon gear your going to have to grind a lil, if you want that legendary your still going to have to grind for that Credit Card, or the mats. But there are plenty of things you can do in the game that require no grind what so ever.

My 2 cents

davep.2867:

I agree. Some fixes could be more ways to obtain the armor. For example

- Dungeon armor is only obtained by running the same dungeon over and over… and over again(Grind). This is boring. Why not let those tokens drop from mobs/ or events around the zone to( at a rate that would be close to the dungeon run)

- Make the Dungeon currencies and other things collected in different ways.

-After you finish a heart you should be able to re do it for more tokens towards dungeon armor. Take out grind. Just spread the ways to recieve certain items accross a variety of areas/and events and this will take the grind away.

it is dungeon armor it should only come from a dungeon. The difference again is dungeon armor in this game is not the best and only way to get top level gear. The grind is for the unique skin. If you want the same stats with less grind go get karma armour, invaders armor, crafted armor or visit the TP for world drop armor.
If you want a unique skin, you have to grind, end of story, but grinding is not required as it is in other games to have the top level of gear.

some weird ‘grind for skin’ argument that is.. it’s like saying, i want six pack, but i don’t wanna workout and carefully pick what i eat.

In response to Kaimick,
I apologize if there was anything implying that ANet lied to me..I am not sure if I really stated that. I’m pretty sure I indicated that the Grind was specific to players who had specific goals..such as Legendary gear.

I am certain my statement was not saying anything about attaining gear that gives an advantage to those who obtain it through the Grind.

LaoShin.2986:

But, it seems, that from a lot of what I see in forums and on youtube is that it is in essence still much a Grind. Perhaps ANet could clarify that it is an MMO that differs from others because the Grind only affects players with specific goals like acquiring Legendary Weapons.

This statement does not directly say, " Hey Arena Net you lied" But it does imply it to a degree. Arena Net never said that specific goals were not going to be a “Grind” they just implied that the basic part of the game will not be a grind, leveling wont be a grind as per my previous examples. I am not really mad at your statements so please don’t think I am, I just wanted to clarify that what I saw.

Also realize that 95% of the time when someone makes a thread like this here or any where else that it is calling Arena Net a liar. So my apologies for assuming or reading to much into it.

The game is a grind because of the max level. Basically you do the same mechanic – hearts, vistas, PoI – in every zone. There is no variation at all. Basically you are repeating the same things but only the environment is changed.