Guild Wars 2

I am looking at designs, graphics, maps, meshes…it’s all done in great quality. If we look how much detail is put into it, and how high fantasy it all is…it’s really an outstanding work! I am not sure I could even dream some of those environments!

That being said, I still can’t feel environment of the game! And I am not really sure what is the reason, but there are number of factors that do take away immersion and the stronger attachment to the environment.

How and which colors are used. Lightnings. Sound effects. Particle effects. Music/soundtracks. Voice overs. Player camera itself.

It seems there is just too much going on the screen, taking away from looking at/seeing the environment. Music is for the most part peaceful, doesn’t really pump up your adrenaline, so you play very calm and chill (it’s not bad itself, but I don’t ever feel the danger in the game).
Particle effects, armor coloring, armor and weapon particles…it’s maybe a bit too much shiny?

I can’t but feel numb towards environment, and I don’t think I should feel like that. As the UE4 user I know how hard is it to create some of game’s environments, how much talent you need to have for it! Level designs are on such great scale in this game, just look at all the details! Do you ever look at sky? Or down when you are at cliff?

But I still can’t feel the environment, it’s like I am just running, doing my own business, and not noticing anything at all. Unless I really just stop and walk slow (using command for my character to walk).

Does anyone else have this problem? I mean, more people there are near me, less I notice and care about environment, and I don’t think it should be that way

EDIT: Edited topic name to better describe it

Opposite “problem” here. I’ve been playing GW2 since 2012 and I can’t get into OTHER MMOs anymore. And I used to be an MMO hopper before GW2!

The combat music generally doesn’t kick in until you have been fighting for a bit of time except for certain world bosses. Having that kind of music on all the time wouldn’t make any sense.

Mea.5491:

Opposite “problem” here. I’ve been playing GW2 since 2012 and I can’t get into OTHER MMOs anymore. And I used to be an MMO hopper before GW2!

I actually like this game and I do agree with you. It’s more about the environment I can’t really get into, if you can understand me!

Mikali.9651:

I actually like this game and I do agree with you. It’s more about the environment I can’t really get into, if you can understand me!

Weird. I really enjoy the environment. But then again, I might be biased. XD

Khisanth.2948:

The combat music generally doesn’t kick in until you have been fighting for a bit of time except for certain world bosses. Having that kind of music on all the time wouldn’t make any sense.

It doesn’t even have to be combat music! Just some darker, more mystic music

Mea.5491:

Mikali.9651:

I actually like this game and I do agree with you. It’s more about the environment I can’t really get into, if you can understand me!

Weird. I really enjoy the environment. But then again, I might be biased. XD

yeah, environment is amazing, it’s outstanding work! But I don’t really notice it or appreciate it, and I am trying to find the reasons for it. It could really be that there is too much things on the screen, how fast we travel and the way camera works. I am just trying to find if I am the only one feeling like this so it’s just my personal issue, or there is something more to it

Mikali.9651:

Khisanth.2948:

The combat music generally doesn’t kick in until you have been fighting for a bit of time except for certain world bosses. Having that kind of music on all the time wouldn’t make any sense.

It doesn’t even have to be combat music! Just some darker, more mystic music

You can set up your own playlist if you don’t like the ingame music.

I would like the game more if the action camera worked better with ground targeting. There are far too many ground targeted abilities to use awkwardly, either looking at the sky to get to 1200 meters, bouncing back and forth between action and normal camera, or snapping ground targets to the targeted enemy, just to miss half of the time, or more. Tera has the best basic action combat, Imo. Advanced action combat would be more like BDO.

Regarding enviroment i think you are just standing in a zone with lesser enviroment “effects”

Zones such as gandaran fields, queensdale, kessex hills, they are large flat plains with nothing to add except the sun,moon, maybe a few water splash if youre near a lake /river.

Try playing in caledon forest, maguuma jungle, inside the mt maelstrom volcano, the snowy shiverpeaks , even some more foresty areas in ascalon and youll soon realize how rich the enviroment is. With small details such as footstep sounds, birds, “enviromental” critters and neutral mobs.

A pet peeve of mine is the lighting.

Sometimes, I can’t tell if it’s night or day unless I point the camera toward the sky. The lighting in the environment is a bit too bright at nightfall. Night needs to be pitch black. I shouldn’t be able to see so much light in the sky and terrain. However, ANet addressed this a bit in Bitterfrost Frontier. During the storm by Jormag, you can really feel the cold and darkness.

Excelsior.

I had a similar problem after moving from Final Fantasy 14. The problem is that FF14 is game that made me feel cosy. Everything and everyone is a perfectly photoshopped cardboard cutout, everybody looks like a Saint and pseudo-perfect.

When I left that boring nonsense and blindly (!) dived into GW2 by ordering HoT instead of Heavensward, it took me quite some time; I think 3 weeks.

Maybe it’s because it’s kitten game. Japanese games are ridiculously styled and choreographed in every aspect, just like a tour in North Korea: You just see what you are supposed to see. Here we have actual action. The topic is way darker (hostages, refugees and diseases), there are elderly people and children, there are dead NPCs lying around and the character chatter/SFX are comparably intense (especially when crippled and you still move), there are screams of pain, panic and distress at low HP – just as if our characters are fighting for their dear life. Compared to FF14 for example, where your character does say “Ugh” or “Ah.” once every hour, but permanently make annoying noises when firing arrows, this game gives way more in the sound department.

Everything is darker without being actually grimmer than other games.

I turn off the music in every game since DooM II (I love FM sound) and like the little details, such as the bullet casings have different sounds depending on the surface you stand on and the drones (deep bass) in the caves and the owls in the woods.

The various environments are arguably the best feature of the game. No, I have no trouble getting immersed in the environments, though I do have several issues that hinder my enjoyment of the stuff that occurs within those environments.

Personal perspective here:

Beyond the particle and armor affecting view of the world/environment design, I feel there is a lack of scale. Playing various MMOs, one thing that can start to take my breath away and draw my attention away from pretty flashy weapons and gaudy armor is the raw scale that exists. To make my character feel insignificantly small and emphasize the size of the things around me is what makes me stop and just look.

I talk so much about the dead MMO CoH, but its graphics were dated and engine obsolete but it had a great sense of scale. It could show a city in ruins, buildings toppled and crumbling and your character stood next to it, you could imagine what effort and force it would take to accomplish such a feat. A battle scarred environment spread before you and you’d wonder just how fierce the struggle was.

There are places in GW2 where the scale does impress me, but I’m constantly struggling with the oddities like “short mountains” and structures not seemingly scaled properly to convey just how large an area you’re in. Arah was pretty nice in that regard, the huge dilapidated structures and openess of it all. Perhaps raids are different though, I haven’t set foot in any of them.

PS: CoH is just a basic example of scale. Games like FFXIV has a pretty nice scale in regards to the size of the zones and the overall structures although it feels very confined due to your character being limited in their ability to move (CoH, you could fly, jump, teleport all over the place!). Tera is pretty expansive and the structures are extremely interesting to just examine and the overall scale is so extremely skewed to make you feel small, but again, your ability to explore it is limited. Blade and Soul has decent environmental scale and explorability and the vibe you get from the environments is very unique of any MMO I’ve played but it’s plauged by invisible walls…

I find most of the environments highly atmospheric and engulfing.

I think the real problems are:

- The music. Some maps have gotten music that fits the environment (the creepy Orr theme, for instance, or the beautiful peaceful Ascalon theme etc.), but many don’t. And forget about the useless “dynamic” combat music: it either kicks in too late or it continues playing long after the fight is over. It’s really quite unfitting, so I keep it deactivated.

- The environment is too promising! You enter some of the the maps and are in awe, excited at what you are going to encounter and see and do here… only to be highly disappointed in the end that their content turns out to be rather boring. At least, that’s how it felt to me for most part during the original campaign. However, I have seen improvement since then.

Ashantara.8731:

The music. Some maps have gotten music that fits the environment (the creepy Orr theme, for instance, or the beautiful peaceful Ascalon theme etc.), but many don’t. And forget about the useless “dynamic” combat music: it either kicks in too late or it continues playing long after the fight is over. It’s really quite unfitting, so I keep it deactivated.

It only kicks in when fighting groups of enemies, so accodemtally hitting a mosquito doesn’t play a whole track. HoT has its own unique music, so keep it on.

YES!

I bought the game in Dec 2012, not log after release. Time and again I said to myself, “Man this is a beautiful game, but I just can’t seem to get into it!”. I barely played it until 2015 because of that.

The number one reason I discovered for this problem: Voice overs for your character!

I was playing a male Sylvari Guardian and I am sorry, but I truly hate his breathy voice. It’s just to utterly NOT what I want to listen to all the time, but more importantly, it’s totally not what I envisioned for MY character! The male Norn and male Asurans are the same and I hate the Char altogether.

No joke, it took me years to find a character I could connect with simply due to the voice acting. I like the female Sylvari and I can live with the female Human and female Asuran. The rest? Nope, no thank you, pass!

However, now that I have some characters that I like, it’s a lot easier to log in and play the game. So I highly recommend making one of every race/gender and playing around with them for a while. It may make a big difference for you as well.

Ps. In older MMOs this wasn’t such an issue; I had lots of alien race characters in Star Wars Galaxies, which didn’t have any voice overs. That realization was really what made me think to try difference race/gender combos in GW2.

Pps. I also felt (and still feel) that A LOT of the gear in this game is, well, snobbish looking. Same goes for the character face options. When I first started playing, I really wanted to make a Galdalf looking character, but the age, build, and clothing to achieve that just don’t exist. Even still, it’s a real challenge to put together a character that looks and feels like how you envision your character to be, despite the dye and wardrobe systems being very good. I just find there’s too much in the wardrobe that is off the wall crazy and not enough that is … nice looking, I suppose.

It’s so great how we people are different, and look at the same thing with different eyes! I do have 100% map completion so I’ve been everywhere, and I still stand at game having great environment design.

One user mentioned scaling in the game, and that could be totally true! Even tho some places look big, they still feel small. Orr seems like the best designed map regarding scaling, I do not really have issue there.

Even tho some maps feel large, some meshes, or building, are just too small, or better, out of the scale, now I know that’s the real reason I can’t feel the environment! Thanks Leo G. !
Yeah, music doesn’t always fit the game, I even dare to say that soundtracks from GW1 (even tho they are awesome and work greatly for it, and nostalgia hits me over) doesn’t really fit the design of GW2. But as few of you said, you can always listen to other music.
I would say lightning still needs better work, to better feel it, shadows, light and dark places, reflections! I hope second expansion will do a bit better work (even tho one has to be careful with it, game optimization is still priority).

Yep, armors aren’t really such great design. I must say I am very impressed by the Bless Online’s armor design, it feels so good! I wish more armor designs are made that way, but we all know how much problems Anet has with creating armors, so I will hold my breathe in that department…

Yep, I think I now understand the problem I have with not feeling the environment, it’s mostly the scaling of meshes and landscape (with lightning), it’s out of proportion and not really fit!

I still enjoy playing this game, I have lots of things to do, and now that I know what is the problem for me, I can better control my feelings towards it

Don’t have the time at the moment to read all the coments and sorry if it has been mention above, but I also have this problem (from time to time) and i think PART of it is because of the way we travel arround… too many waypoints to make everything convenient, using movement speed increases and staring at the CD of the skill… do you remember catching the flying mount “taxi” thing in a certain vanilla game in 2004… how were u just relaxing, watching the scenery and seeing things from a different perspective, looking forward to visit them up close. I know its a different game and I enjoy it as it is… would be fun if we had some other way to see the world from a larger perspective than vistas. (Excuse my english)

Yes. It’s hard to say why but I think it’s because of the depth of field (of objects far away), the fog and the “miniature-ish” style some maps seem to have. There is just something off on that. This is also on almost every map and makes them all feel more the same.

I’d say it’s the change in design aesthetic from Core Tyria to Heart of Thorns content.

The former made use of open space and sight lines to create sweeping vistas and the sense of vast space in what was arguably rather limited area. The latter exploits the Z-axis heavily and instead uses clutter and corridors to provide a sense of lots of content in what is ultimately a dungeon crawl environment.

A great example between the two design aesthetics and principles is to compare Rata Sum to Tarir.

In terms of ambient design, however, it seems the team has forgotten that saturation is a bad decision. Just look at Bloodstone Fen, Ember Bay, and the contrast-hell that is Bitterfrost. Red, orange, and off-white describe these areas perfectly, in order. Worse yet, there’s so much visual noise and clutter and effects going on all around you that it can be difficult to distinguish what’s a prop, what’s part of the environment, and what it is you’re actually looking for.

I’ve been playing with all nameplates disabled since probably a week or two after launch when I first found the option. I find I tend to have CTRL or ALT depressed half the time I’m walking around HoT content so I can tell what’s what anymore. No such problem in the rest of central Tyria, though!

The world in GW2 always felt more like a studio set for a sitcom than an actual world to me.

-Boxed maps that are like individual rooms separated from each other.
-Lighting that looks like spotlights and reflectors.
-Static sky for each boxes that look low and feel more like a ceiling than infinite.
-Wild life that seems to be placed like they’re cardboard props that only moves if you walk too close.
-Static weather unless in very specific time and places.
-Night that look like they only put a filter over the main spotlight.
-Sounds that are over processed and feel fabricated rather than natural
-NPC with megaphone during certain events.

Adding to this their new trend of making maps that work on timer it makes the feeling even stronger.

Haishao.6851:

The world in GW2 always felt more like a studio set for a sitcom than an actual world to me.

-Boxed maps that are like individual rooms separated from each other.
-Lighting that looks like spotlights and reflectors.
-Static sky for each boxes that look low and feel more like a ceiling than infinite.
-Wild life that seems to be placed like they’re cardboard props that only moves if you walk too close.
-Static weather unless in very specific time and places.
-Night that look like they only put a filter over the main spotlight.
-Sounds that are over processed and feel fabricated rather than natural
-NPC with megaphone during certain events.

Adding to this their new trend of making maps that work on timer or VB with its nights that don’t match the world and it makes the feeling even stronger.

In what way does VB night not match the rest of the world?

Mikali.9651:

Even tho some maps feel large, some meshes, or building, are just too small, or better, out of the scale, now I know that’s the real reason I can’t feel the environment! Thanks Leo G. !

Putting more consideration into the prospect of scale, this might be why I enjoy playing smaller races in general (my main is an Asura ele) because the scale might feel a bit better….but then I like to see the armor/weapons/animations better so I scale said small races to the max.

Still, I do enjoy GW2’s races more than any other game and most other MMOs I just can’t push myself to ever play more than 1 or 2 characters compared to GW2 12.

I would say from my personal experience that such experiences diminish the longer you play. When I first played the game many years ago, I was captivated by the world and especially helping Krytans fight off the centaurs. I helped out citizens, did the events, wondered around towns and cities just to enjoy the scenery. I was really into it, and just loved the war against the undead. The scenery, the characters, everything was just amazing. However, once you complete the story and start venturing into farming and repeating content, I started to lose sight of what was once beautiful. Zones were nothing more than endpoints to get something.

Beyond that, there have been moments where the environment was truly captivating. The Battle for LA was ANet’s finest hour in gaming. IMO it was the single best thing they produced for GW2 and I enjoyed it a lot. A truly living world once-in-a-lifetime experience and the environment setting was perfect. Citizens relocated to the Vigil keep, red skies, burning houses, people dying, screaming, needing rescue, fighting off assault knights. It was a great experience and one that I took the time to snapshot and catalog the event. I haven’t really done that before in a game.

Following that, LS2, LS3, and LS4 have been a lot more mellow and less interesting. Zones like Dry Top and Silverwastes were more functional rather than aesthetic. Desert scenery was interesting, but not pushed enough to give me a feeling of vastness and dryness. I enjoyed Verdant Brink as I thought the level design was unique and a good introduction to the multi-layered map system. Combined with a good progression system of helping the order build up defenses and fight back Mordremoth helped keep the immersion. Auric Basin tamed that immersion, but was still beautifully designed. However, Tangled Depths and Dragon’s Stand are significantly less interesting to me. Again, more functional maps.

Since then, the only other zone I find interesting is Ember Bay. I love the mood of the sunlight, the sounds of lava and dry wind. It’s rather relaxing and I’ve spent much time just finding a quite place to sit down and take in the view.

I actually enjoy the new maps over the launch ones simply because gameplay is better integrated into the environment.

I love the environment. There are times ( rare) that I just walk around and enjoy it. I also find it hard to play other games since the feeling here is just absorbing.

Skittish.4539:

Haishao.6851:

The world in GW2 always felt more like a studio set for a sitcom than an actual world to me.

-Boxed maps that are like individual rooms separated from each other.
-Lighting that looks like spotlights and reflectors.
-Static sky for each boxes that look low and feel more like a ceiling than infinite.
-Wild life that seems to be placed like they’re cardboard props that only moves if you walk too close.
-Static weather unless in very specific time and places.
-Night that look like they only put a filter over the main spotlight.
-Sounds that are over processed and feel fabricated rather than natural
-NPC with megaphone during certain events.

Adding to this their new trend of making maps that work on timer or VB with its nights that don’t match the world and it makes the feeling even stronger.

In what way does VB night not match the rest of the world?

It didn’t seem to be the first time I saw it. But then again, night is so hard to tell in this game I probably just got into a map that looked like day. I checked tonight and they are synchronized. I edited my post.

@ OP

Holy moly! I feel the same way and can’t pin-point why either. Felt this way since release day-1 and have been trying to figure out why since then.

Looks great, but the immersion level just isn’t there.

A few things I’ve come up with are:

1. Combat is stale after a certain point. Hits don’t feel impactful and things like going out into the world and fighting foes (via solo) is just boring and not engaging.
2. Everything feels frivolous and thrown in the air. Nothing feels rooted or grounded in a reality. From elder dragon attacks to quaggan backpacks – so random and out of place.
3. The ‘Pixarification’ is another point to consider: https://youtu.be/rz6W0h3r30k