Guild Wars 2

Hello all I am just a lowly level 37, but I’d like to give some input.

I purchased your game shortly after release, rolled an Asura thief and after ~8 hours of gameplay I decided GW2 wasn’t for me; so I went back to WoW. A bit later I poked my head back in, but the game didn’t click; so I went back to WoW. I will admit, I had no faith in GW2.

Soooo on my SDD where space is at a premium, GW2 sat for months, ignored. Just this past Wednesday I went to delete the game, but decided I would give it another go… now I am hooked.

The Guardian is AMAZING (so is the Necro, imo) and crafting is FUN. I absolutely love level scaling, and I enjoy the TP. My server, the Tarnished Coast, is incredible. I love RP and RP servers, and this one is a full of so many good people. This community as a whole is just so refreshing after 7 years of vitriol in WoW. You can actually ask a noob question, and not walk away wanting to cut yourself questioning whether you should reproduce. Trolls exist, but they are not around every corner. I mean, I was amazed by the fact that I spent over an hour in battlegrounds and did not see any flaming whatsoever, and much to my astonishment opposing sides can communicate!

I only play female toons (a discussion for another thread), and the artistic design of my character is very, very good (massive clipping annoys me though). I mention the sex of my toon, because a lot of MMO makers seem keen to do silly things to female characters like give hot air balloons for boobs, or make them airheads, but you guys did it right. Jeez I’m weird, but w/e….

I love way points, vistas and points of interest. I like how I have a level of freedom with respect to building my toon; after ~7 years of WoW (I started just after BC hit), I have become almost institutionalized in that there is so much freedom in this game that I almost don’t like it – I don’t know what to do with it!

PvP is an absolute blast: I mean I rolled a toon, hit up Mists, spent a few minutes setting it up, practiced in the sparring area (which is an awesome idea, btw), and did some PvP. I call your PvP “no bulls—t PvP, btw.” I actually went and beat people, not because of gear but because of skill, and I lost to people because of lack of skill. Of course gear and profession matter to a degree, I reckon, but it’s not scripture – I like that.

Now, I wish could do more to my interface other than adjust its size. Like my “dodge energy bar” thingy, I wish that could be moved to the center of the screen, for example. I also wish abilities could be moved around on my action bar.

Now that all speaks to addons, and that is one thing I wish we could have ONLY IF THEY WERE COSMETIC. No, I don’t want recount, DBM, and things like that, but just cosmetic stuff would be nice – call ‘em benign addons, I guess. Even if we didn’t get actual addons, but made aesthetic customization options far more robust I would be a happy camper. However, in the end, I will trade class and leveling freedom for a static and boring interface any day of the week.

Oh one “lol” thing that really annoys me with this game is the water droplets on my screen when I exit a body of water. Which one of you did that, grrrrr? Oh speaking of water, exploring underwater, and underwater combat is fun as hell. From Mario to WoW I almost always hate being underwater in games, but you guys nailed it. I mean my computer is rather modest (I have an Asus G75 w 16gb of RAM), but these underwater areas still manage to be absolutely mind-blowing. Not only that, I love the speed at which my toon moves while underwater, as well as her swim animations. The mask that allows me to breathe underwater is good for nixing that “lemme watch my breath” mechanic and instead lets me focus on exploring while at the same time maintaining a level of realism, whatever the measure of that may be in an MMO.

I hate getting all “real life” on forums, but I live a very, very hard life, and I have for a while. All I have is games and my son to keep me stable. I am glad that I gave your game another chance! Excellent work, keep it up and you have in my one happy customer. You have helped me more than you know, both Anet and the Tarnished Coast community.

In closing: If you happen across this post and are thinking about getting Guild Wars 2, I say pick it up. You don’t even have to level to PvP (how cool is that?). Even if you don’t invest years, I can almost guarantee you’ll get $60 of enjoyment.

please forgive any WoW nomenclature I used here

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

Off topic

A lot of men play female toons cause they simply like looking at them better then men!

Back on topic
I would love to be able to move stuff on my screen too, GW1 has those options but with GW2 the options are less

I play male and female toons, and I play them differently. Then again, I have a background in writing and I can write from either point of view too.

About female toons:

These characters are nothing more than works of art. Some say “oh they are just pixels” as if that should diminish an appreciation for femininity. For example, John William Waterhouse’s “The Lady of Shalott” is nothing but oil on canvas, but she’s pretty. It’s not about LUST (as I’m not a lustful person), but about nothing more than having a deep appreciation for the feminine form/figure and enjoy representing that beauty in a hobby that I thoroughly enjoy. I mean if WWII bombers can paint nice looking women on their b-17 bombers, I can roll a hottie in an MMO. Why wasn’t Memphis Belle, Memphis Bob? Would some of you be the one dude on the airfeild painting a homoerotic stud on the nose of that bomber? That’s just a funny thought that came to me in the moment and I’m just messin’, but yeah. XD

In these games I never see myself as my character, I never hit up the character selection screen and be like “this is me.” Even if I did, so what. Look, consider my character a digital mukudj mask – because that’s essentially what it is. Sorry guys, I am kinda on a different wavelength with respect to how I view women, sexuality and the nature of “machoism” than most of the West and I’ll leave it at that. Thanx

Vayne.8563:

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

Nearly anyone who expects WoW with better graphics will be disappointed in GW2. It’s when you allow it to be itself and appreciate the things that are NOT copied from WoW that the game shines.

Of course, for every person who feels the need to tell everyone how much the game sucks, there are a thousand people enjoying the game who don’t feel the need to come to the forums and talk about it.

Very interesting post OP.
I hope you have you have many many fun hours playing

Vayne.8563:

I play male and female toons, and I play them differently. Then again, I have a background in writing and I can write from either point of view too.

Coming from someone who not only plays but RPs female toons, I gotta give you this, just for the lulz:

hahaha I never saw that. Thanks. lmao

Morrigan.2809:

Very interesting post OP.
I hope you have you have many many fun hours playing

Me too. I have had a few people tell me it can get boring at 80, but I actually don’t want to grind gear and friggin’ faction rep.

I am really excited about level 80.

I’m a female and play only female toons.

If it sounded like I meant lust, sorry. I just meant to some they just look better like you say too.
I guess that would make me the “Would some of you be the one dude on the airfeild painting a homoerotic stud on the nose of that bomber?” Only female cause I’d fly a bomber with a nice looking woman on it!

SandraSolace.7682:

I’m a female and play only female toons.

If it sounded like I meant lust, sorry. I just meant to some they just look better like you say too.
I guess that would make me the “Would some of you be the one dude on the airfeild painting a homoerotic stud on the nose of that bomber?” Only female cause I’d fly a bomber with a nice looking woman on it!

No, I don’t think you were referring to lust. I was just throwing that out there.

SandraSolace.7682:

Off topic

A lot of men play female toons cause they simply like looking at them better then men!

Back on topic
I would love to be able to move stuff on my screen too, GW1 has those options but with GW2 the options are less

Re: Off Topic:

Yeah, that’s what more than a couple friends said as well. “Look, I gotta stare at the character for hours, it’s going to be blonde and pretty. Yes, I know it’s just pixels, but really…”

Re: On Topic:

I think they did their best in GW2 to unclutter the UI to the edges. I’d like to be able to move things too, but I’m somewhat enjoying the current arrangement. I wonder if it could be possible to move the elements . . . someone from ANet want to ask that question and see if you can get two guys who want overtime to push it out?

Refreshing post, OP. Don’t get too excited for level 80 though, as the game doesn’t change too much. Being lv 80 just opens up all the content the game has to offer, but there’s no traditional “endgame” per se.

Men rolling Female character always say ‘’The animations are better’’ and yada yada.

That’s all a lie. Men just want to be pretty too, that’s just how it is.

Wolfheart.1938:

Refreshing post, OP. Don’t get too excited for level 80 though, as the game doesn’t change too much. Being lv 80 just opens up all the content the game has to offer, but there’s no traditional “endgame” per se.

…and that’s what I find appealing. Getting to 80 is just a perk, so to speak. Thanks for your reply!

Farzo.8410:

Men rolling Female character always say ‘’The animations are better’’ and yada yada.

That’s all a lie. Men just want to be pretty too, that’s just how it is.

It’s not a lie — perhaps they both are true.

Gotta agree with the OP worth every penny for the amount of hours enjoyment (and frustration).
BUT we will see how your posts look like in 8 months time

I’ve been playing since BWE2 and I still enjoy it.
:)

Posts like these make me very happy to see, if only because it proves that not everyone is so closed-minded as to dismiss a MMO that isn’t a WoW clone. I’m glad you’re enjoying the game, and I can relate with you on a lot of the parts that you enjoy.

What made you quit in the first place, though? Or do you have no idea at all? Either response is fine, but you and quite a few other people I got to try this game quit rather quickly upon being handed the game, for reasons that may or may not have made any sense.

Side note: I realize you already have it bought and installed but for future reference you don’t need 16GB of ram, even for hardcore gaming. 4-6GB is more than sufficient to run GW2 and background apps with plenty of room to spare.

Nuage.5230:

Wolfheart.1938:

Refreshing post, OP. Don’t get too excited for level 80 though, as the game doesn’t change too much. Being lv 80 just opens up all the content the game has to offer, but there’s no traditional “endgame” per se.

…and that’s what I find appealing. Getting to 80 is just a perk, so to speak. Thanks for your reply!

Same here. I raided for years in another game – completely bored to tears with it now and love the open-ended, non-linear, play-how-you-want-to-play world of GW2.

OP……Welcome Home

but seriously everything you stated is the exact same reason i love this game and want to see it grow.

p.s. dont play TERA

Benji.9203:

OP……Welcome Home

but seriously everything you stated is the exact same reason i love this game and want to see it grow.

p.s. dont play TERA

Yes, indeed. One thing I worry about with Guild Wars 2 is its staying power. I hope it flourishes, but MMOs are dangerous investments. I pray I don’t invest hundreds or thousands of hours then the game founders. I worried about that way back when I tried it the first and second time, but it still seems to be pretty strong.

This could be a good thing or a bad thing, but I would like to see Anet do some advertising or better market this game. It really is a good title, imo. But like someone said lemme get to 80 play around for a bit and see the big picture.

As it stands, though, I am actually enjoying the leveling experience. Me enjoy leveling?!?! Yup….

welcome back

Vayne.8563:

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

It’s actually the reverse for me, Vayne.

Coming into GW2 from WoW and a bajillion other WoW clones can make you appreciate GW2 more. You have a basis for comparison, although that in itself is a two-edged sword. There is a lot of stuff in GW2 that when you compare it to the other games you have played will make you appreciate GW2 more.

And the other good thing is that the devs are learning from past experience and improving this game more.

People are just too impatient to wait.

welcome back

Baeyne.9584:

Vayne.8563:

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

It’s actually the reverse for me, Vayne.

Coming into GW2 from WoW and a bajillion other WoW clones can make you appreciate GW2 more. You have a basis for comparison, although that in itself is a two-edged sword. There is a lot of stuff in GW2 that when you compare it to the other games you have played will make you appreciate GW2 more.

And the other good thing is that the devs are learning from past experience and improving this game more.

People are just too impatient to wait.

Well, yeah, people are impatient. I mean, WoW has bugs and imbalance issues that went on for years too. But no one remembers those. lol

See guys, I just went to LA to chill and do a bit of RP and a “GM” a Dev, or some kind of Anet employee was there in game playing around and RP’ing with us. It’s cool to see stuff like that; for Anet to mingle with the community and whatnot.

Keep it up guys. I hope this game lasts for years and years, sees many expansions and a high population increase. Make some commercials, and grow the community even more, I say. More people means more “bad” people, so take a zero tolerance stance to blatant insulting, bullying, sexism, racism, etc..

I also love the challenge in this game. I might actually die out in the world! I don’t need to dedicate my life to a raiding guild (and submit to its leadership) to get a challenge….

Nuage.5230:

See guys, I just went to LA to chill and do a bit of RP and a “GM” a Dev, or some kind of Anet employee was there in game playing around and RP’ing with us. It’s cool to see stuff like that; for Anet to mingle with the community and whatnot.

Keep it up guys. I hope this game lasts for years and years, sees many expansions and a high population increase. Make some commercials, and grow the community even more, I say. More people means more “bad” people, so take a zero tolerance stance to blatant insulting, bullying, sexism, racism, etc..

I also love the challenge in this game. I might actually die out in the world! I don’t need to dedicate my life to a raiding guild (and submit to its leadership) to get a challenge….
kitten good game. Even if the newness wears off and in a month I get bored and uninstall this for good (which I highly doubt), I still say kitten good game.

That is awesome- I would love to see a dev hanging but on a Eu server that is not very likely. I love the fact that they play their own game

Nuage.5230:

Hello all I am just a lowly level 37, but I’d like to give some input.

I purchased your game shortly after release, rolled an Asura thief and after ~8 hours of gameplay I decided GW2 wasn’t for me; so I went back to WoW. A bit later I poked my head back in, but the game didn’t click; so I went back to WoW. I will admit, I had no faith in GW2.

Soooo on my SDD where space is at a premium, GW2 sat for months, ignored. Just this past Wednesday I went to delete the game, but decided I would give it another go… now I am hooked.

-SNIP-

So it took you three trys to finally get hook on gw2, why is that? What did you do on the third try that you did not do on the last two try ?
Was it because all those time you were trying to play gw2 like how you would play wow ?

As a player who has been playing non stop since BW1 i appreciate people who sees the game as it is and not in an “mmo’s have to be like x, x and x and have x, x and x type of content”. Sure the games not perfect and could use some things added here and there to boost its longevity but as a game for $60? you wont find a game with a better bang for your buck out there

Dikeido.8436:

So it took you three trys to finally get hook on gw2, why is that? What did you do on the third try that you did not do on the last two try ?
Was it because all those time you were trying to play gw2 like how you would play wow ?

I’m betting it was a wrong class choice for the first start. I know I cannot play a thief and even though I like the idea of the elementalist I can’t get into playing one. If I picked those as my first class I’d probably have started with lukewarm reception too. No, instead I started with a ranger.

. . . make your own jokes here . . .

But seriously, I enjoy playing the rangers in GW1 and GW2 far more than the other classes.

I think there is something Anet could learn from this. Getting players like this into the game is profit. Alot of gaming companies out there do promotional things to get their players active. An example of this is League of Legends, which runs a double experience weekend and emails players that its coming up. But I don’t really see this level of engagement with these “on the fence”players (for lack of a better definition) from Anet that I do see with other gaming companies.

Dikeido.8436:

Nuage.5230:

Hello all I am just a lowly level 37, but I’d like to give some input.

I purchased your game shortly after release, rolled an Asura thief and after ~8 hours of gameplay I decided GW2 wasn’t for me; so I went back to WoW. A bit later I poked my head back in, but the game didn’t click; so I went back to WoW. I will admit, I had no faith in GW2.

Soooo on my SDD where space is at a premium, GW2 sat for months, ignored. Just this past Wednesday I went to delete the game, but decided I would give it another go… now I am hooked.

-SNIP-

So it took you three trys to finally get hook on gw2, why is that? What did you do on the third try that you did not do on the last two try ?
Was it because all those time you were trying to play gw2 like how you would play wow ?

Good question. I knew GW2 was GW2 and WoW was WoW, and that the former wasn’t a clone. I never expected a WoW experience out of GW2.

Firstly, I made a mistake, a stupid one: I rolled an Asura thief trying to be all different and whatnot, and after the Thief profession and Asura story didn’t impress me I was like, “meh, I’ll try it later” except I procrastinated for months. The third time I rolled a Guardian and I clicked with that profession. I love it.

Secondly, I have seen MMOs takeoff then come crashing down like the Hindenburg. I got burned with Warhammer and ToR, and I looked at GW2 and I was like “It’ll probably die after I invest a ton of time,” so my fear of the game failing drove me back to tried and true WoW.

Third, just after I came back the third time I got into GW lore and fell in love with that, so I quickly developed a much deeper appreciation of the game, and Asura lol. The lore surrounding this game is mind-blowing. I have spent more time on the wiki than I have playing my char. A guildmate told me about the /wiki and I just go around doing that and soaking up this lore like a sponge.

Lastly, I have really grown tired of WoW. Look, a lot of people treat their MMO of choice like a religion, so I don’t wanna kick a hornet’s nest here, but I have grown extremely disillusioned with WoW. There is a lot of good with WoW, and much Anet can borrow without becoming a clone, and I would discuss that if compelled to do so, but for my purposes here I say this: The community is terrible, LFR is an absolute joke, the gear grind is getting old, and the lore is just a snooze-fest. I have just probably played it too long and it’s time to move to, what I believe to be, a higher quality MMO. The people here are nicer, the lore is better, I have more freedom with respect to my class build, no snotty tanks or healers (I was a career healer in WoW, btw), no mob tapping, better guild setup, world events – etc etc… It’s a better quality game, and most of where GW2 falls short of WoW, I feel, is due to its young age. If Anet can hold on, keep people happy, and push out content I have faith that this game will remain a player on the MMO stage. In conclusion, this game represents an evolution in MMO design, and I did not appreciate that until recently, another mistake of mine.

Those are the reasons. Thanks.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Dikeido.8436:

So it took you three trys to finally get hook on gw2, why is that? What did you do on the third try that you did not do on the last two try ?
Was it because all those time you were trying to play gw2 like how you would play wow ?

I’m betting it was a wrong class choice for the first start. I know I cannot play a thief and even though I like the idea of the elementalist I can’t get into playing one. If I picked those as my first class I’d probably have started with lukewarm reception too. No, instead I started with a ranger.

. . . make your own jokes here . . .

But seriously, I enjoy playing the rangers in GW1 and GW2 far more than the other classes.

Indeed, you’re right.

Something I learned the third time was just rolling a level 1 and taking it for a test drive in the Mists sparring area.

I have tried every profession for at least an hour and based on that I like:

Guardians (of course)
Ranger
Necro
Engineer

I do not like:

Thief
Mesmer
Elementalist
Warrior

50/50 split. XD

I am glad you have posted. It was well written. I myself have played since the beta weekends. I enjoy the game still. I never played a hunter/ranger before this and really enjoy it, can’t really figure out the hate but then I don’t run pvp or dungeons. Pve is just a breeze with hunter though. I tried mesmer in beta and just was not interested, tried a guard and thought I would play through with that first. After a while I did not enjoy the guard (still took it to 80) and did not start another mesmer until I unlocked an extra slot. Now I love my mesmer, so it is possible for tastes to change.

Vayne.8563:

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

people were saying that at launch almost a year ago.

It’s not a matter of what you played before either it’s a matter of whether they are actually listening to their more sensible playerbase on things like testing and the economy and balance, and whether they are ignoring them entirely to continue down a path of self destruction thru arrogance and a lack of memory when it comes to mmo development history. the latter is happening it’s only a matter of time.

tigirius.9014:

Vayne.8563:

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

people were saying that at launch almost a year ago.

It’s not a matter of what you played before either it’s a matter of whether they are actually listening to their more sensible playerbase on things like testing and the economy and balance, and whether they are ignoring them entirely to continue down a path of self destruction thru arrogance and a lack of memory when it comes to mmo development history. the latter is happening it’s only a matter of time.

Humbly:

If anyone doesn’t want this game to fail, I’d imagine it would be its creators and maintainers. I believe balancing an MMO that features both PvP and PvE challenges the brightest minds in the industry. I would wager they are indeed looking at history. Looking at history reveals mistakes – the challenge is figuring out the cause of those mistakes so you don’t repeat them. A study of history, be it of nations, empires, individuals, or games should not have as its end result a basket full of raw facts (google can give us that); rather such a study should aim to ultimately provide a synthesis of the information gleaned from those facts. So, then, perhaps the people behind this title are being a bit more methodical instead of trying to Rambo it and come out with guns blazing.

The danger, though, is your ship sinking while you are figuring out how to plug the holes – so what you say is, imo, valid and a very real concern.

tigirius.9014:

Vayne.8563:

This is a great post. I think a lot more people would enjoy Guild Wars 2 if they hadn’t played games like WoW and the gazillion WoW clones that have popped up over the years. It’s a very different mindset.

As for cosmetic options, more will come in time, just like they do in every MMO. It’s just a matter of patience.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, welcome to the dark side. lol

people were saying that at launch almost a year ago.

It’s not a matter of what you played before either it’s a matter of whether they are actually listening to their more sensible playerbase on things like testing and the economy and balance, and whether they are ignoring them entirely to continue down a path of self destruction thru arrogance and a lack of memory when it comes to mmo development history. the latter is happening it’s only a matter of time.

I like that. The more sensible playerbase. Who gets to decide who those people are? I’ll wager most people feel they’re the more sensible player base, even though they are diametrically opposed to people who feel precisely the same way.

You’re making something sound very easy that’s actually quite hard.

sensible people don’t dismiss problems because they don’t think they are there. They are like scientists, they go thru and test the differences between similar types of things (adventurer traits) and similar types of setups (burst damage zerker builds) and come to conclusions based on observation, math, and counting. That’s all I’m saying that should be used.

It’s well documented that this class does not in any way shape or form resemble an adventurer class, not in condition damage, and certainly not in burst dps in pve. The solutions? Either adjust the traits so all is equal, change the designation back to a soldier type class, or redo the entire thing to correct months of nerfs caused by pve and pvp not being separate since launch because too much is damaged for it to work properly. And since they do not use standard tested methods of changes (like 90% reduction to AOE damage on pets for example) simply because it was used and well known in the elephant in the room (WoW) and other such methods one can only conclude that there’s a pride element there.

People who claim that there’s nothing wrong with the pve side of this class are either using a soon to be nerfed setup (because like they said some are over the top) which further supports the claims of them destroying builds not adding to the versatility thus nerfing shouldn’t be THE solution to the problem, or they are willfully ignorant which means they know there is a problem but because they can’t deal with it they would rather live in a fog of ignorance and deny all reality of the problems that are evident to the rest of us.

That is being sensible, acknowledging the problem, and giving solutions, not presenting more denial of the problem muddying the arguments on the forums about the issues or attacking people who say there’s a problem by trying to muddy their credibility by claiming just because there’s a couple of well used pvp builds that everything is perfectly fine across the entire space of gameplay for everyone.

Now that’s not to say that there wasn’t enjoyment pre-end game because there is. I had the most fun with poi and finding chests and secret places, I had fun with their quest structure (they just stopped adding to that somehow along the way because of their FotM and ascended focus) but once you reach end-game that’s when everything changes and becomes very apparent that something is wrong (as an engineer, ranger, necromancer).

I don’t know, this post sounds like desperation. Maybe you got really mad at WoW, rage quit and now you want it to die a horrible death. The answer you found was GW2, and now you want it to succeed by pumping positive energy into it so it will crush WoW, because WoW was family that somehow betrayed you, that 7 year friend.

Or maybe you really are enthralled and some how mesmerized by GW2… I only play it because there’s no sub, that’s it.

Even coming from WoW myself, I can see the flaws in GW2- granted it’s a young game. I know you have seen flaws like that as well and I’m sure you’ve compared GW2 to other mmos and have even thought of things that could have been added, shocking things which almost blow your mind because they didn’t think of it, or haven’t added it yet. That’s fine, because this isn’t WoW after all, it can lack where others gain and mend where it pains.

To me, I just see no way anyone could like way points, vistas or points of interest. Do you really need to be baited to look over a certain spot of terrain? Fast travel without effort and getting to point B for instant substance? There should be no limitations in exploration, self-guided discovery is way more enjoyable – take vanilla wow for example, remember all those unfinished and graphically jaggy areas you could jump your way into? Now that was fun and true exploration

The mention of the female fetish characters you have is pretty common and coming from a guy – I often play femtoons like you. Not that I care what they look like, sometimes you really want something different. Yet, you say you like the females because they move a certain way or are works of art. I think it’s like having power over the way you would like a female to look based on media influences of how women should look, baiting males to give you things or perhaps curious flirtation of something that’s missing in ones real life… It works in advertising, the attention one gains being a female is almost lacking whereas one plays a male – the sexuality simply doesn’t sell as well. In any case – beauty is all in the eyes of the frost beholder.

On a side note: I’m kinda sick of MMOs portraying magazine fashion with sexual innuendos and overtones, especially the Asian ones who know Americans will buy it. MMOs are lacking real fantasy elements and have instead incorporated modern day influences of marketing into their content. (with exception to a few mmos)

Can’t say that I’m liking GW2, but hey – it’s free and at least you’re having fun and living your fantasy.

Deinxceriis.6754:

CLIPPED

No, I didn’t “rage quit” WoW, not at all. And why would I want WoW to fail? I’m not a spiteful person. Just after 7 years I got tired, but hell a game that kept my attention for 7 years deserves some level of respect. The community over there is far worse, the lore is boring, and the community was further hurt by LF-this and that… but that doesn’t make me bitter towards WoW. Come to think of it, even if WoW had awesome lore, the community was amazing and there was still a sense of server community – I would still have left, most likely. In truth, as I stated, I could go on about the good things about WoW, for instance combat there feels more, ummmm, snappy. There is a lot GW2 can learn from WoW – and with a game that successful these devs would be stupid not to draw from that game. The game didn’t betray me – how could a game betray me? Also, I would not want GW2 to “crush” WoW, because I feel competition is good as it drives developers to produce better content instead of making them prone to rest on their laurels because they are the only big kid on the block, something I feel Blizzard has been guilty of at times.

GW2 not having a sub is a perk, but I’d pay $15/month to play this. Hell, within a week I already spent twice that on the market. It’s not about money.

You see no way someone could like way points, vistas or points of interest? Well I see no way someone could like rep grinds, hearthstones, or polka music – actually I do – see… opinions work that way. I like the fast travel without effort. What would I do in WoW? Go to a flightpath, hop on a bird, tab out and read the news until it lands – oh so immersive. Vistas and points of interest give you something to complete, whereas in WoW all you did was just clear the fog off the entire map… you do the same here except you have something to do along the way. In other words, you have just as much freedom of exploration in GW2 as you do in WoW, except here you get recognition for it (you do in WoW now with achievements) — it’s rather benign the vistas and PoI’s, but fun nonetheless. Still, like WoW, you still have a bunch of areas you can hop to, just ignore the vistas then — vistas existing does not take away from what you call “true exploration,” they just give you something to gain along the way. Does one see the vistas and think, “that’s the only place I can explore because that’s what the map tells me. Dang, how can I truly explore with those vistas and PoI’s telling me what to do?”

You’re wrong about the entire media influences on how women should look thing. See, I’ll be blunt: I happen to like what by the measure of this society can be termed fat girls — shame I can’t make one in this game (I did give mine the biggest body type though). Know what else? I prefer dark skinned women. So no, the media’s idea of how a woman should look does not appeal to me. Meh, call me an archaic Roman patrician, and skinny girls can be pretty too, but I would rather see a nice plump belly and a round face than a woman’s spine, sternum and clavicle (something the media likes to portray in “ideal” women). Look, go youtube a song titled “Natural Beauty” by the artist Immortal Technique, either that or look up the lyrics. That’s pretty much in tune to what I am saying here.

Lastly, with respect to the above, please, for the good of yourself and others, refrain from assuming you know someone enough to make such bold claims. You may think you have evidence, and maybe you do – but your work with it was sloppy and hasty. Therefore, it’s rude, presumptuous and is really a waste of time since your output is probably gonna be wrong. As you learn a bit more about the world, you’ll see trigger happy analyzation (over a forum, no less) only works for a select few who have a very special gift. No offense, but you don’t have that gift.

Also, bait people to give me things? No. Besides most people are aware pretty much every one of these female toons are guys anyway. That may have worked in 2005, but not now. Even if it did, I am not that low to essentially scam or take advantage of peoples’ emotions by fooling them into believing I am woman and it’s rather insulting and immature to levy such a charge. Plus I am not a woman nor do I want to be one for trickery or any other reason – many people [not saying you in particular] cannot seem to grasp the concept because of the barrier that has been placed between man and women and maintained in most cultures since time immemorial.

Thank You for the good discussion.

I’ve played plenty of MMO’s, and Guildwars 2 isn’t one of the better ones, in my opinion. It’s very limited, right from the character customization (of course all the female characters have to be showing massive amounts of skin and have pop-culture perfect features, except for 1 “ugly” face -) to “things you can really do” in this game.

Exploration really IS hindered by tons of invisible walls and instancing. Fast travel becomes a must because every zone is instanced. There’s no feeling of a journey at all.

No housing, crafting isn’t any more in depth than half of the other MMOs on the market (and a lot more shallow than some), very little fluff content beyond POI’s and Vistas – there were so many things they COULD have done with the engine and game mechanics but just didn’t do. Despite the game’s claim to get rid of grinding… that’s all the game is : a grind, and not even a very amusing one. The Lore in this game is bland and though I have RP’ed in many games, I can’t seem to get interested at all in the setting of this game to even bother. It feels very slapped together and the personal story is just boring.

I’m glad some people enjoy the game – but as a PP said: I’m playing it because I bought it and it’s B2P without a sub. To me, this game would NOT be worth 15 bucks a month. It’s filler as I wait for some word on FFXIV 2.0 or EQNext. I’d almost go back to EQ2 but the friends I had in that game moved on and without a solid guild it’s just not much fun – despite the fact it’s got waaaay more to do and see. Plus the graphics are definitely showing their age. Cataclysm ruined WoW for me, LOTRO never grabbed me despite really liking the Lore, FFXI got too dumbed down and the population has tanked over the past 10 years, SWTOR is just a money grab (though making fun of Darth Baras was sort of great), AOC, TSW, Star Trek Online, etc etc are pretty much garbage that I’ve no interest in. So here I am. Waiting, and forcing myself to play because I bought the stupid game.

Yes, yes, YMMV, but for every person that’s just utterly in love with GW2 and sings praises, there’s a person out there who is eye-rolling every time they log in and are only here because there’s a definite stalemate in the MMO genre atm.

SijjvraVisz.7159:

I’ve played plenty of MMO’s, and Guildwars 2 isn’t one of the better ones, in my opinion. It’s very limited, right from the character customization (of course all the female characters have to be showing massive amounts of skin and have pop-culture perfect features, except for 1 “ugly” face -) to “things you can really do” in this game.

So just out of curiosity, I went looking at the armor galleries on the wiki. Heavy armor doesn’t seem to show a lot of skin often, medium armor seems about more often to be covering with a long coat than not, and light armor is likewise about split in the middle.

Great post. I love how once you gave it a chance and got used to the mechanics you got hooked…like me. I played WoW clones and WoW itself before gw2, differnce was I was bored kittenless of MMOs with the same stuff over and over. So when I was introduced to gw2 I was addicted like a kitten to crack…

SijjvraVisz.7159:

I’ve played plenty of MMO’s, and Guildwars 2 isn’t one of the better ones, in my opinion. It’s very limited, right from the character customization (of course all the female characters have to be showing massive amounts of skin and have pop-culture perfect features, except for 1 “ugly” face -) to “things you can really do” in this game.

Well, go look at the faces for the human males – I don’t see any Steve Buscemi or Chris Farley faces in there. Like the females, the male faces portray these “pop-culture perfect features.” They all look like Michelangelo’s “David” better even! Same for the male bodies too – all of ’em except one (the skinny kid) look like they belong on the front of a pack of boxers.

On a level I see where you’re coming from, but why call ’em out only with respect to the females instead of addressing that issue with regard to both sexes?

Also, in this culture at least, women are apt to show more skin than men, a walk through a busy mall during the summer months will make this clear, as you know. If you study the history of fashion, women, quite often, tended to show more skin than their male counterparts. For example, in the 14th century wealthy(ish) women would wear garments exposing their upper chest, cleavage, and shoulders, while the upper chest and shoulders would be covered on a male. Of course in this game it’s a bit more stylized, but this game (and others) just a reflection of that past and present reality.

Oh, but wait – you can make a female (or male) ugly in this game. The character creation ain’t that bad! Sijjvra, I present to you Velma — she really likes you and wants you to come to the Tarnished Coast:

^……You sir have made my day.

Benji.9203:

^……You sir have made my day.

Haha… yeah she’s pretty funny lookin’. One can use a lot of imagination at the character selection screen. A toon in GW2 need not look like this “ideal beauty.” The idea that all [GW2] characters conform to this idea of universal beauty by an effort of the devs is unfounded. Just roll a toon you consider ugly. Good work Anet….

I said CHARACTER CREATION which meant males as well as females. There are some MMO’s that do character creation much, much better… GW2 is pretty lame in that aspect. Yeah, the male faces are pretty awful too and smack of bishy anime 12 year old pretty boys. Boring.

But seriously… WHY would any viking-esque woman wear a ton of makeup? Do you -really- think warrior women in history decked their faces out and slapped on some high-heel thigh high boots to go fight in? That’s all pop culture. And depending on the time period and culture, women may or MAY NOT have been showing skin. Victorian era, for example -you showed your ankles and that was risuqe’. Instead of doing anything remotely interesting with cultures or remotely taken from history save for the boring stereo types of the Nord (obviously viking influenced), we get pop-culture influenced underwear armor that would look more natural in a Victoria’s Secret magazine. Sorry, I find it stupid, uninspired, and utterly lacking in creativity. GW2 took the easy way out with character creation and armor design, and I don’t like it at all. Hard to be attached to my character when I can’t stand how any of the options for the races look. You may have a differing opinion and that’s fine – but I’m old school and I prefer armor to look like armor and warrior women not to look like little fashion models on a catwalk.