Guild Wars 2

The reason why I liked this game so much back when I was leveling from 1-80 was the sense of progression and being a casual player I didn’t have time to always find a party just to do something in the game to have fun. Dynamic events were pretty rewarding since I was always the same level as the zone.

Those of you who hit lv 80 have you ever gone back to say lvl 40 zone just to walk around and do some events for fun? I know haven’t and will never do so…why? Because its not worth the effort and time. This game is horrible when it comes to rewards outside of dungeons except maybe a very large group event like killing a dragon or farming orr which is way to boring imo.

A very sad example. I went into 60ish zone the other day for my map completion and this npc went up to me and asked me to kill this spider boss. I was like yo man I got your back and we went to kill this spider boss. After15min of me soloing this group event boss I got 2 mithrill ore and 300 karma.

I know group event bosses can be killed in like 2min with an actual group but wouldn’t it be nice if the game recognized you did most of the event yourself and rewarded you more?

Just saying little changes like these could make players come back into the actual world instead of farming the same dungeons over and over and over….and OVER.

TLDR: Rewards in the regular world just don’t scale up properly with the effort given and thus push the playerbase towards dungeons and what not. I feel the persistent world of tyria feels pretty empty compared to what it was on the first months of release because simply a lot more players are lvl 80 and have no reason to go back to the persistent world because the rewards are just not good.

See, the problem is that too much of the reward lies in mobs and not enough in de rewards – that and loot doesn’t scale up completely like it really, really should.

Problem is rewards like the guy above stated.

When you hit 80 you’re focused on end game gear and content. And with most players you would like to make a legendary. There is nothing for you to gain in low level zones.

It does suck because some low level content is fun. But if you want to be rewarded for the time spent playing, its not the place for you.

Duke Blackrose.4981:

See, the problem is that too much of the reward lies in mobs and not enough in de rewards – that and loot doesn’t scale up completely like it really, really should.

Yep, there are many many dynamic events out in gw2 and I know people just haven’t done them because the rewards are simply not good enough to waste your effort.

This is why I sometimes wish the old text based mmorpg quests could be introduced into gw2. At least quests like those your guaranteed to get rewards and maybe even a story.

Vinny.6924:

Problem is rewards like the guy above stated.

When you hit 80 you’re focused on end game gear and content. And with most players you would like to make a legendary. There is nothing for you to gain in low level zones.

It does suck because some low level content is fun. But if you want to be rewarded for the time spent playing, its not the place for you.

That is why most of my time i spent doing cof and other dungeons. The rewards they give are good especially when trying to achieve a legendary.

See me I already have the look I want and I think many can agree with my all armor skins in this game is pretty easy in most cases to obtain except your cultural 3 and wvw skins am I right? Only thing thats left is my legendary but farming these dungeons for gold and karma is getting very repetitive and boring.

I go back to lower lvl zones and I DO make cash there. I made 4 gold from Queensdale yesterday so I don’t know how you say you can’t make cash there. How you can make cash from lower lvl zones:

Sell dyes
Sell loot bags
Get rares from drops/chests – I must have got some 6-8 rares yesterday
make weapons/armours from the mats you get and sell for a profit. I made 6 gold the other day from making tier 1 “mighty” armours, do your research from the TP to see what’s selling for the highest per fine mat item and then make it!

The thing about the lower lvl zones is you kill things a lot faster thus you have MORE chances at getting things to sell/salvage. The only down side is getting the lower lvl “junk” items but in my experiance it all works out. Also the events are faster to rip through in the lower lvl zones because they seem easier and theres usually more people there to help speed them up. Events = cash too.

Agree with all this.

I love going back in the lower zones on my 80’s because I hate the cursed shore and today I got a rare on my Mesmer in one.

In other games max level characters would occasionally flood lower zones to PvP, and maybe there would also be some sort of reward that made them want to fight there.

GW2 doesn’t have this, so we’re honestly pretty kittened. Without some huge repeatable scavenger hunt thing (I can already hear the whines, “ANET WHY you make me run all over the world for what I want?! I should get it by sitting in LA and waypoints should be FREE! These zones suck and have no lewts” etc) the lower zones are never really going to have appeal.

You can’t just increase rewards. People are always going to flood to the few zones with the most rewards and everything will be exactly the same except now open world zerg grinding will be where its at to get your money, not dungeons.

I’d rather be farming the regular world where the dynamic events are more enjoyable to do then farming the same dungeon over and over.

I can say I spend more time outside Orr and frostgorge than in it on my level 80 chars…
Went back to queensdale today to do some events, sometimes go to plains of ashford and such area’s. I just enjoy those environments and the events there. Sure, the loot from mobs isn’t all that good. Level 14 gear is quite useless. Then again lower level mats also drop sell pretty good atm.

I have 2 level 80 characters and go back to low level areas to farm crafting material and it helps doing the dailies. Sad to say but, the level 80 areas are so boring and don’t care much of the click fest that make up WvW & PvP. I would like to see new events added to level 70-80 areas to help keep them fresh.

Anet has said they are going to change low level areas to be more of a challenge, one would hope this will include better rewards.

BlackhawkSOM.6401:

Because its not worth the effort and time. This game is horrible when it comes to rewards outside of dungeons. . .

There’s your problem. Like many others around, you’re stuck in this mindset of “rewards rewards, gimme rewards”.

That’s your fault.

I still enjoy the aspect of the game that is created by the open world and dynamic events. I enjoy the sudden merging of players and the spontaneous cooperation. I also enjoy exploring the world of Tyria. ANet has created one of my favorite worlds in any game.

Rewards outside of Orr do not seem to be as good though. If I want rewards that will actually matter then I need to Orr zerg. The rewards I get from Champions, Vets and Chests around the 1-70 zones are still worth some copper or 1 silver only. They are all uninteresting rewards as well. I don’t get anything for my alts other than crafting materials to help level them. Mot of the reward I get is just from the joy of discovery of a new nuance, mini-dungeon or hidden away area of the world.

The rewards (or lack thereof) do put a damper on doing things at lower levels. I still do them, if only to help out the lowerbies (e.g. reviving the ones that get downed since my bunkerish build can take getting stepped on by whatever it was that downed them), but for a champion kill to result in blues, whites, and/or bones… kind of sucks. I mean, I’m glad I got to “serve the community” and all, but… man.

It’s actually kind of funny how engrained this lack of reward mentality has gotten with me. I was playing Borderlands 2 recently, and when I got good loot I was all surprised. When I repeatedly got good loot, I was actually going, “Is… is this supposed to happen? What… how…?” :P

I think what they tried to do with the persistent world was use the karma vendors as incentive and karma as the main incentive. I think at this point, many realize that Karma Vendors offer absolutely nothing but generic rewards mixed in with some unique, area specific skins.

I think it’s really a case of bad design. They have to look at where they want the player concentrations to be. Do they want them to concentrate in a certain place for inherent encounter, event, or activity enjoyment factor or simply because of reward size? I honestly think that each Karma vendor should have unique weapon or armor skins all their own, which is what i think they originally set out to do, but it just didn’t work out like that. There are a lot of things to consider when tackling this problem, especially how they want player concentrations to look.

In my opinion, i think many people play this game, as it stands, more for the effective skinner box reward techniques rather than the actual enjoyment, depth, or companionship ( let’s face it, the game is pretty shallow in this regard) even if they believe otherwise. So with that being the case, equaling out the reward structures will just homogenize and trivialize a lot of the content. People like doing epic things and the most epic things are those that give the best loot and gain usually. People that say this whole game is endgame are fooling themselves. This game has clear endgame.

Even though the content structure, combat mechanics, and inherent gameplay modes are incredibly flawed as it stands, they have a few options.

1. Significantly buff Karma rewards while playing in areas under lv 80 (at 80) and so on, so forth scaled depending on your level and the level of the zone. Also, introduce more uses for Karma as the game goes on. More skins, more armors, more weapons, more stuff people actually want. Spread out the cool gear like arrow quivers and don’t just gate the non-ascended gearheads out of it. Make karma a very integral currency!

2. Homogenize and equalize rewards everywhere…which is the easy and shallow way out. I’m glad ArenaNet seems to be opposed to this. Re-designing encounters and such is a very good plan. The game is not where it needs to be yet. I don’t feel like the content is inherently rewarding and fun with such limited skill / build variety and such limitations on developers designing content without true class structure found in the trinity roles. Homogenizing the rewards in all areas of the game is not the right answer, it will only make the flaws of the boring , shallow content shine that much brighter.

I actualy don’t go back to low-level maps, but instead I go back 250 years in time, back to GW1

achensherd.2735:

The rewards (or lack thereof) do put a damper on doing things at lower levels. I still do them, if only to help out the lowerbies (e.g. reviving the ones that get downed since my bunkerish build can take getting stepped on by whatever it was that downed them), but for a champion kill to result in blues, whites, and/or bones… kind of sucks. I mean, I’m glad I got to “serve the community” and all, but… man.

It’s actually kind of funny how engrained this lack of reward mentality has gotten with me. I was playing Borderlands 2 recently, and when I got good loot I was all surprised. When I repeatedly got good loot, I was actually going, “Is… is this supposed to happen? What… how…?” :P

Lol I know what you mean,

And to the guy 2 posts above I do like rewards and I think most people that play video games do it for the accomplishments they can receive. Of course I play the game for fun as well (I am rank 36 in spvp BTW) but more rewards can make a world of difference imo.

I think I am in a worse place than alot of the posters in this thread so far. The thing for me is, I have done 8 80 characters and kitted them up with the best stat weapons/armor/gear and transmuted bits of it to get a look I like. I don’t really care that much about rewards now. So it seems like a waste of time doing any of the “PvE content”. The only thing keeping me in this game right now is WvW. Its not about rewards for me, there is a massive lack in content. Ive never played an MMO before this one and I thought MMOs were supposed to have content that would keep all gamers going and progressing

I still have fun playing with my level 80 and going back into the lower leveled zones. Why?

1. I just feel like a kitten doing so (May sound weird but it is one of the reasons why I always go back to old zones
2. The zones are beautiful to look at, which is why I want to go back to them (Gives a nostalgic feeling)
3. Randomness in everything. Something could happen in specific areas, so I always go check the old areas out.

I love being able to go anywhere and still have fun Also sooooo many events I never saw the first time around, like hidden dungeons.

I’ve still never found (another – i deleted it not knowing that it did T_T) crystal in metrica yet for that hidden event.

Sostronk, you have EIGHT fully geared 80s, come on – you can’t expect devs to be able to keep up with someone that plays so much in themepark games like this. Maybe you should try sandboxes. The only way to have content keep up with hardcore players is to let players make the content.

Zero incentive to do anything in this game is the reason I’ve quit playing for the time being.

Obviously it’s hard to make that argument without sounding like an entitled prick but I think everyone agrees that rares and exotics don’t drop on a consistent enough basis across the player base to even give people HOPE.

So I’ve quit.

If Arenanet wants an example of how bad it is, i’ve gone back to playing WoW. That’s something I said I’d never do after playing the beta for this game.

But you know what?

Despite repetitive gameplay, at least WoW has an endgame of some sort.
At least WoW rewards me with items relative to my toon when i don’t get the thing I want.
At least in WoW when I set a goal for myself I can see about getting it in a reasonable amount of time (reasonable being before I lose interest).

I’m waiting until GW2 finally figures out what kind of game it wants to be because right now it, I’m not even sure the devs know what kind of direction they’re taking it.

Oreoz.2573:

Zero incentive to do anything in this game is the reason I’ve quit playing for the time being.

Obviously it’s hard to make that argument without sounding like an entitled prick but I think everyone agrees that rares and exotics don’t drop on a consistent enough basis across the player base to even give people HOPE.

So I’ve quit.

If Arenanet wants an example of how bad it is, i’ve gone back to playing WoW. That’s something I said I’d never do after playing the beta for this game.

But you know what?

Despite repetitive gameplay, at least WoW has an endgame of some sort.
At least WoW rewards me with items relative to my toon when i don’t get the thing I want.
At least in WoW when I set a goal for myself I can see about getting it in a reasonable amount of time (reasonable being before I lose interest).

I’m waiting until GW2 finally figures out what kind of game it wants to be because right now it, I’m not even sure the devs know what kind of direction they’re taking it.

Not sure when you played last or if I’m just getting lucky recently but I’ve been getting atleast 3+ rares a day in the starter zones from both drops and the meta event boss chests.

I think if you people are ONLY focusing on the REWARD REWARD too much and not just playing having fun you will probably have the view that you do.

With that said I hope you are having fun with whatever you are doing.

PS – I use NO magic find at all.

One of the only lvl 80 exotic drops (an armour piece) I have ever gotten was in the human starter zone. It was not a piece I could use but the 3 gold came in handy (no MF since I usually get the same drops with and without).

Doesn’t anyone do anything for fun anymore? Why is it always about rewards? I do some things for rewards, and I do some things for fun. Everything doesn’t have to have a monetary or power reward.

In real life, I can talk a walk on a nice day. I enjoy walking, but there’s no real reward for it, unless you count it as exercise. It’s just…well…nice to do.

I go back to older zones for some of the same reasons. I find them fun, or beautiful. And sometimes I get level appropriate drops. But I also get karma and gold and farm some lower level mats. Sure I don’t make as much.

I just don’t care.

I guess you guys don’t play games like Skyrim or Dragon Age. Because it doesn’t always have to be about progression.

Vinny.6924:

Problem is rewards like the guy above stated.

When you hit 80 you’re focused on end game gear and content. And with most players you would like to make a legendary. There is nothing for you to gain in low level zones.

It does suck because some low level content is fun. But if you want to be rewarded for the time spent playing, its not the place for you.

You summed up what we are all thinking quite nicely.

I love going back to all zones- I hardly play in 80 zones anymore even though I love the temple events.

People saying it is not rewarding to play in low level zones?
I really don’t know why you say that- apart form it being fun it is rewarding since your drops often scale to you even salvage items so yes you can get gossamer in Queensdale :P

Yesterday I was running around Sparkfly Fen and ran into an 80 with world exploration and we just sort of did the rounds together- it was great fun and I dropped an exotic.

Actually I run into 80’s wherever I go- there is really no reason at all to get stuck in Orr or Frostgorge.

If they make dynamic events scale 1:1 with level, then I think we’d have more players in lower level areas. If T6 crafting materials dropped in lower level zones (eg. scaled to level), that would also make it better.

I absolutely go back to low lv areas – from 1 to 80 – to do the daily events and clear up hearts for karma, not because I think the loot is rewarding, but because the game is rewarding to play to me. Which isn’t to say that loot tables shouldn’t be continuously looked at be ANet, as they are, and I hope the coming fix is going to help.

Blackmoon.6837:

There’s your problem. Like many others around, you’re stuck in this mindset of “rewards rewards, gimme rewards”.

That’s your fault.

I blame the developers; they’re the ones who put us on a clock before they release an expansion which wipes out everything we had worked for til then.

Based on what I had heard about GW, I thought GW2 might be different from the rest of the genre, but Lost Shores demonstrated that its exactly the same (worse, actually; I would rather have the whole tier sitting in front of me to work on instead of being fed it piecemeal and through calendar gating).

As for returning to lower level zones, I generally make an effort to clear a zone while leveling as thoroughly as is reasonable. One game I can think of in which I did go back to lower level zones to farm was TOR, but the down-scaling in GW2 undermines what was worthwhile about that (easily clearing dozens of lower level elite mobs, with great drop rates, every few minutes).

BlackhawkSOM.6401:

Those of you who hit lv 80 have you ever gone back to say lvl 40 zone just to walk around and do some events for fun?

Just to answer this question: Yes, I did. In fact I play more in lower level zones than in Orr or any higher zones and I enjoy it quite alot.

I read all of your posts, I ask what direction should I go then? I am a casual player that plays on 1 lvl 80 account going for a legendary and finnaly got map completion. Really what is the incentive for me to go to a lower zone? Like most people gonig for legendary we NEED karma and lower lvls give you around half of what you can receive from Orr.

On top of that are you really going to argue lower events have better drops then mobs and events in orr…are you kidding? First off mobs in orr themselves drop higher tier materials which is a must for anyone going for a legendary or for people who choose to sell for some profit.

It really really sucks tho because lower level events are funner because I never get to do them and Orr as a place is so friken ugly I’d like to go back to caledon forest or something if I was really rewarded for such.

Down-scaling exists so the developers can make use of old zones. New content be made for lower level zones.

Why should old zones become obsolete?

Onshidesigns.1069:

Down-scaling exists so the developers can make use of old zones. New content be made for lower level zones.

Why should old zones become obsolete?

Wasn’t saying old zones are obsolete and should be forgotten about. Just saying with increased rewards and a goal I would love to go back to older zones.

I like the persistent world, but I hate the fact that it’s so empty. I always feel like I’m the only player running around. I don’t think greater rewards are going to change anything. The drive should come from having fun playing the game, but it’s kinda lost when there’s hardly anyone in the persistent world you can play with.

Yeah I love it. So many player playing that it’s great to go to different zones and find huge groups everywhere. Great community in this game. Much better than GW1 single player game with “hubs”.

Vayne.8563:

I guess you guys don’t play games like Skyrim or Dragon Age.

I have. Have you? Because I’ll tell ya, in my experience, Skyrim’s dungeons have always felt more rewarding than GW2’s. I would regularly find items that I could actually use in my adventures, an experience that I’ve never felt in GW2’s dungeon.

In fact, the only GW2 dungeon to date that has given me loot that justified the time I spent in it was Fractals, where I see the color yellow and even the color gold with some degree of frequency. Yet to date, I have never got a yellow or gold item from other dungeons. Never.

critickitten.1498:

Vayne.8563:

I guess you guys don’t play games like Skyrim or Dragon Age.

I have. Have you? Because I’ll tell ya, in my experience, Skyrim’s dungeons have always felt more rewarding than GW2’s. I would regularly find items that I could actually use in my adventures, an experience that I’ve never felt in GW2’s dungeon.

In fact, the only GW2 dungeon to date that has given me loot that justified the time I spent in it was Fractals, where I see the color yellow and even the color gold with some degree of frequency. Yet to date, I have never got a yellow or gold item from other dungeons. Never.

You can’t really compare loot from Skyim to GW2. Why do I say this? GW2 has a trading system where you can SELL what you get and don’t want to other players and use the money to BUY what you want/need. That just does not happen in skyrim from memory, oh wait you could sell junk items to vendors which I would get a lot of which btw you can also do in GW2. :p

Besides that you also get the dungeon tokens from doing dungeons which is meant to be the true rewards (to get the skins).

I don’t experience ANY of the persistent world on my level 80. There is simply, as many have stated, no rewards for doing so.

While leveling my alt, yes.. I do roam and have fun doing DE’s and hearts around the map. It’s pretty enjoyable. But then again, my alt levels up, gains trait and skill points, and reaps gear rewards by doing so.

But yeah, on a level 80, the “persistent world” is pretty much kaput.

I play mostly on alts and none of them above level 62. so I would like the option to play in level 80 zones as a low level. that would be fun if we could do it. Orr has nothing but events non stop. I dont do hearts anymore, and tired of waiting for events to start.

Paulytnz.7619:

You can’t really compare loot from Skyim to GW2. Why do I say this? GW2 has a trading system where you can SELL what you get and don’t want to other players and use the money to BUY what you want/need. That just does not happen in skyrim from memory, oh wait you could sell junk items to vendors which I would get a lot of which btw you can also do in GW2. :p

We’re not comparing the sale value of loot.

We’re talking purely about the subjective sense of feeling “rewarded” for your play. And I’m saying that Skyrim did it better, at least for me, than GW2 has ever done. If GW2 was doing half as good of a job, I think most of my complaints about the game would have been answered by now.

Besides that you also get the dungeon tokens from doing dungeons which is meant to be the true rewards (to get the skins).

Which takes a little over 23 runs of the dungeon to obtain. That’s about a week if you’re grinding every path daily. Just thought I should add that note that you clearly forgot to add.

Funny thing? In Skyrim, I never had to grind a dungeon 23 times to be adequately rewarded for my hard work. I ran it once.

Yes, again, “you can’t really compare the loot from Skyrim and GW2”, but if we’re talking subjectively from the point of view of “do I feel truly rewarded for my time investment”, the answer is obviously no, not if I’m comparing it to Skyrim’s dungeons anyways.

You’re doing it all wrong. GW2 made it so easy to gear up that once you’ve got that decently done you can go do events in any zone for……wait for it…. FUN! What do I need gold for? I spent a while trying to make a bunch of gold then realized there was nothing I have to spend it on.

I get on, play alts, play my main, do events all over, hit dragons when they are up. Sometimes I’ll start in a starter zone and just run through it and through next zone to the next zone killing things, gathering, hitting any DE I come across, helping people with Skill Point challenges etc.

Everyone is still looking for the carrot, the end all be all gear and to be the best. I get that to a point, but then I remember that this isn’t what GW2 is about and I just have fun. Plain old fun.