Guild Wars 2

Simple question.

I haven’t played through HoT yet, so I am not in a position to judge. I’ve seen the countless posts on reddit and here about the grind, grind, grind, and more grind. So I’m not trying to ask is what Anet done in HoT truly grind or is it player drama and over-reaction, but why would they put so much of this perceived “grind” into their first x-pac.

If the content like masteries, scavenger hunts, crafting, etc… truly increased grind then I would guess that Anet put that in there to appease to our requests for end-game content and hold us over until the next new content. If so, maybe they’ve misinterpret what we want and put this “grind” in because they think we’ll enjoy it and spend hours of our lives basking in it. If the devs realize that we the players find this level of grind unenjoyable, then perhaps, they put this “grind” in because it’s the best they can do and lack the imagination & talent for something else that’s both satisfying and not “grind” Personally, I doubt that because they do have amazing talent, so maybe then this was done because they thought the player base would find it fantastic?

I guess you need to define grind. I see it as having to kill 1,000 rats to earn pelts, where here, the goals are set out. Exploring the map, helping the people, doing the story, we earn exp, our characters grow stronger, learning new skills and allow us to explore deeper into this harsh jungle.

True, and that’s what I’ve thought. Like I said I haven’t played it yet so I’m not judging. I kinda figured this was what to expect so I’m surprised by the reaction so far. Maybe a better question is HoT really that grindy? What in it makes grindy and does it take or add to the fun?

It hard to say, more or less, not everyone going to be pleased, but some people seem to take the anger more then other too.

I actually enjoy grindy content, and I feel like the grinding in HoT is very fun. I know I might be in the minority in that regard, but because of that I think that the expansion is very fun, and some of the best content the game has to offer to date.

Grindy games are fun when epic loot is involved something HoT doesn’t actually have in it. You can grind a mastery and kill all sorts of mobs and the only thing you’ll get is maybe a reclaimed weapon or two. Everything else is old content loot and half the time the mobs drop nothing at all. The Halloween event has loot as many people farm the labrynth for new skins and bags. That grind is enjoyable unlike HoT mastery grinding.

I can only speak for myself, but as a ‘regular’ on the forums, I’ve not spent much time here since release, because I’d rather be in-game enjoying all the new content. I think it’s great.

Maybe…maybe…the ratio of satisfied to non-satisfied is a bit off-kilter on the forums, recently. /shrug

Kythan Myr.4719:

but why would they put so much of this perceived “grind” into their first x-pac

It’s kinda obvious.

HoT has very little content. ArenaNet couldn’t make more than just four maps, even after working on the expansion for more than one year and completely halting content release for the core game in the mean time.

Players would be done with HoT in a couple hours, and then there would be a massive outcry about how the $50,00 “expansion” feels more like a $10,00 DLC.

What was ArenaNet’s solution? Grind. Artificially inflating the longevity of the game by gating features people want.

People want to play using the specializations, after 3 years of stale skills? So let’s make the players grind while preparing to have fun, so they will continue to play longer.

(Despite how, once upon a time, ArenaNet said that “Our games aren’t about preparing to have fun, or about grinding for a future fun reward”.)

Players want to see what happens in the storyline? So let’s gate it behind mastery grind, making players play longer and preventing them from realizing the storyline is so short it could be finished in half a day.

(ArenaNet had also said that “We just don’t want players to grind in Guild Wars 2. No one enjoys that. No one finds it fun”.)

Players are willing to grind for aesthetics? Too bad, we will only add two new armor sets and five weapon sets to the expansion. This means that grind for aesthetics is not enough to keep players around – there aren’t enough new skins to grind for.

(Meanwhile, look, more new outfits and full weapon sets for the Gem Store! Don’t you want to pay 2000 gems to look good?)

There is still very little end game content. There is still very little content at all. It’s a matter of how many players ArenaNet can fool into believing that grind is actually content, when it’s just a smoke screen.

Grind is, by definition, the antithesis of fun.

I define grind as spending hours upon hours doing the same thing over and over, for very little reward.

The QQ squad on these boards defines grind as actually having to play the game to unlock something, thus deeming it unacceptable.

Guild Wars has always been grindy. Whether you were playing GW1 and grinding out achievements or playing GW2 and grinding for materials and loot (diminishing returns!) or grinding out these experience points to progress.

People are just upset cause they thought they could buy the expansion and have instant access to the new stuff and now they find they have to work for it.

Instead of levels, you now have experience points or Hero points, or whatever they are calling it.

Personally, I would’ve preferred levels.