Guild Wars 2

So one thing on my Guild Wars 2 bucket list is to do a world-wide trek starting from one end of the map and walking to the other. Among my favorite aspects of the game is the huge, varied world and all the different landscapes and places to explore but I find that, because of the need to jump from WP to WP for convience purposes and the filtering of players into dungeons and certain zones for the PS, I don’t really get to appreciate the world as much. As well, I feel that making the journey on foot would make the zones – and the world – fell more interconnected. Transitioning from jungle to forest to snow-capped mountains to wartorn plains to waterlogged Orr would make the world feel more “whole.”

So I’m just curious about what other players think about this. Would you ever like to do something similar to this? Have you ever done it? Feel free to discuss other apsects as well about the topic.

I have done similar things from time to time, just for kicks. I haven’ t done whole world from one end to the other but I have done Sparkfly to Arah, Grove to DR, Black Citadel to Fireheart Rise and the like. What I often do on my characters is pick a zone like say Ascalon or Shiverpeaks and complete it from one end to the other. I just did Kryta on one character and Maguma on another. It is great fun for me and since I spend most of my time playing out in the world, it feels like each of my characters has her own territory that she is invested in.

No. Because the loading screens between zones kills it. May was well just TP.

I actually love doing that sort of thing. I’ve done the Black Citadel to Divinity’s Reach, The Grove to Hoelbrak, Divinity’s Reach to Fort Trinity, Deep and Troubled Waters to the Gates of Arah.

There have been others, but usually shorter trips – like just wandering through Ascalon or northern Kryta.

I’ve bound a toggle-walk key and I like to actually the use the roads where possible, walking along, taking in the sights (often enough in town clothes) and helping along any events or players I come across while underway.

Sometimes you can kind of get that sense in just 1 map. I feel some of the maps are just too cluttered tho to really notice it. They tried to put too much in and it’s evident with all the mobs that will always attack you on sight in all of the maps. You can’t usually walk 10 seconds without being in danger of a fight. This helps in taking out “admiring the view” a bit.

Even tho we have 25 maps (not counting cities) I don’t know but the world just feels so small to me because all of the maps are pretty cluttered and some seem hectic.

I think I would have liked it more if a lot of these enemies were out of reach and you had to travel to them to kill them and the scenery in between that travelling should have been done to make the world feel big with many different backdrops along the way and stretches of just open areas with no enemies (barring insert random event here of course). But I guess that would detract the game/Tyria from really being in a serious situation and in need of heroes, sigh….

Anywho goodl luck with your trek!

to be honest, I very rarely waypoint. if its for a dungeon I do because I don’t like to keep others waiting, but any other time I travel from place to place on foot. the world is a great place to walk through and I still manage to find places I’ve never seen (caves, ways up waterfalls, etc).

nottsgman.8206:

to be honest, I very rarely waypoint. if its for a dungeon I do because I don’t like to keep others waiting, but any other time I travel from place to place on foot. the world is a great place to walk through and I still manage to find places I’ve never seen (caves, ways up waterfalls, etc).

I have world complete with 7 chars so far now and there’s still places I havn’t seen I’m sure and I have done 100% of JP’s too.

I had to even make a list of all the maps and assign myself to “totally explore” each map and check off each one when I do just to make sure I have totally explored them lol. By exploring I mean look in EVERY nook and cranny and spending a good few hours in said map.

It can be fun!

On Tarnished Coast, the Chains of Duty Role Play Guild [RPcd] does their weekly pilgrimage to the gates of Arah every Wednesday at noon, server time. They take any level character around with them too.
It’s not really a leisurely stroll, since they hit up nearly every Dynamic Event along the way, but it is an RP event (though, they don’t mind if you don’t RP and just tag along. Just don’t be disruptive…)
If you ever do it though and want to do the entire thing, set aside the whole day… Their pilgrimages have taken as long as 14 hours. x.x

This is how I’ve spent most of my time in-game since launch. 10 characters (that have survived), 2,417 hours over the past 432 days and there are still entire zones I’ve not even set foot in yet. I want to experience the world and take in all the areas have to offer before feeling the need to move into a new one, not just race through it from one prize/champ to another. 85% of waypoints should not even exist as they only encourage whipping around the world as fast as possible instead of passing through it from one destination to another and actually experiencing the world they spent so many years creating for us.

I do something like that every now and then. There are days where I’ll just pick a spot and start walking. Last time I did that, I started from Morgan’s Spiral, did the two jumping puzzles, and then just walked through Caledon, Brisban, Kessex, and Gendarran back to LA, doing DEs as I came across them.

I do it from time to time, esp on a new toon where I swear not to over use waypoints (I succumb eventually because I’m weak!!). Although I tend to fall into the easy trap of ap farming, the trek mentality is far more fun and rewarding

Me and a few of my guildies once walked from Ratasum to Ebonhawke while talking in TS

I know a guilds who have this things called guild missions last years, probably in the first 2 months of the game: Guild leader made a new character lvl 2 and they all escorted him to Orr. That is the closest thing I know ppl of doing resemblance the trek

I’m planning to do it at some point but I wanted to finish exploring the maps first. I’m thinking Rata Sum to at least the Black Citadel, maybe the far side of Ascalon somewhere and then Holebrak to Fort Trinity just because the Shiverpeaks are some of my favourite zones.

I did it in GW1 – the Wilds mission outpost to the Serenity Temple, avoiding towns and outposts as much as possible, and it was really fun.

My main walked from Divinity Reach, through Kessex to Lion’s Arch and then onwards via Snowden to Hoelbrak and then onwards to the Black Citadel by way of Diessa. Not in one day, naturally, but she hadn’t used any way points until she reached the Black Citadel (unless she had no other choice due to attrition…)

I still prefer to walk to areas instead of using the waypoints.

I’ve recently gotten more serious about harvesting. I almost never use waypoints now unless I’m in a hurry. I just head where I’m going and harvest everything along the way. I have found it is a great way to see places in the map I have never seen before. Before I would just waypoint all over to get to the places I need for map completion. Dedicating part of my time to harvesting has shown me all sorts of places and is a good way for some extra coin as well.

I am a WP user. I am usually late for someone’s event, a guild thing, or dungeon run, so WP is the mose expedient way.

Having said that, my main mode of leveling new characters is walking. It seems I don’t WP until I am at least level 30. I have seen some absolutely gorgeous areas, and I have done events that I am pretty sure that I am the only one who has done them in a long time. Walking is definitely the way to go to level.

Cheers!

I think i have like 62% of the map explored, no Tyrian trecks done but i tried end always on altf f4.

StinVec.3621:

This is how I’ve spent most of my time in-game since launch. 10 characters (that have survived), 2,417 hours over the past 432 days and there are still entire zones I’ve not even set foot in yet. I want to experience the world and take in all the areas have to offer before feeling the need to move into a new one, not just race through it from one prize/champ to another. 85% of waypoints should not even exist as they only encourage whipping around the world as fast as possible instead of passing through it from one destination to another and actually experiencing the world they spent so many years creating for us.

The plethora of waypoints is definitely a farcry from the first game where none of the zones had WP’s and you had to actually walk from one end of the zone to the other if you needed to for what ever reason. I mean, yes, there were outposts which you could zone to but some zones weren’t connected to any. The excess use of WP’s does kind of make take away a lot of the need to travel on foot (for better or for worse).

“No. Because the loading screens between zones kills it. May was well just TP.”

This is one of the reasons why I dislike the loading screens between zones as it makes each zone feel disconnected from the rest of the world. It’d be neat if you could view parts of Kryta (for example) from a high peak in the Shiverpeaks.

I used to do something very similar to this, in my FFXI and City of Heroes days. I haven’t really tried the same in GW2, but it sounds like it would be fun. Whatever other complaints I have about this game, the art team knocked it out of the park. It’s a gorgeous world, and well worth taking the time to enjoy in detail.

Justin.7163:

StinVec.3621:

This is how I’ve spent most of my time in-game since launch. 10 characters (that have survived), 2,417 hours over the past 432 days and there are still entire zones I’ve not even set foot in yet. I want to experience the world and take in all the areas have to offer before feeling the need to move into a new one, not just race through it from one prize/champ to another. 85% of waypoints should not even exist as they only encourage whipping around the world as fast as possible instead of passing through it from one destination to another and actually experiencing the world they spent so many years creating for us.

The plethora of waypoints is definitely a farcry from the first game where none of the zones had WP’s and you had to actually walk from one end of the zone to the other if you needed to for what ever reason. I mean, yes, there were outposts which you could zone to but some zones weren’t connected to any. The excess use of WP’s does kind of make take away a lot of the need to travel on foot (for better or for worse).

“No. Because the loading screens between zones kills it. May was well just TP.”

This is one of the reasons why I dislike the loading screens between zones as it makes each zone feel disconnected from the rest of the world. It’d be neat if you could view parts of Kryta (for example) from a high peak in the Shiverpeaks.

I don’t understand ArenaNet’s implementation of forced zone transition loading screens as the game does not require them to travel to new areas. Transitioning into new zones should be loaded on-the-fly. I imagine that forcing these transition loading screens was either a temporary quick-fix due to the on-the-fly zone transition loading not being ready by launch time, or it was intentionally selected as the method for zone transitioning due to lack of game vision or coder ability and not because of time constraints.

The only purpose these forced loading screens serve is to further compartmentalize the areas of the world off from one another and to destroy any immersion potential traveling the world would offer. Rift does very well with this on-the-fly area transition loading and their areas are often wide open zone transitions and not the clearly defined boxes with very narrow access points poked into the perimeter of GW2. ArenaNet could easily implement this on-the-fly loading as the next zone is already blocked from view by the landscape.

They should model these transition areas to an S-shape/double-dogleg and the on-the-fly loading could easily take place while the player travels through this blind so the next zone is ready by the time it comes into view at the exit of this transition. If the engine cannot load the next zone as quickly as is needed, then they can extend the length of this transition area, thereby also extending the length of time it takes to traverse it. They can even add enemies or NPC roadblocks/gates to delay the player while the next zone is being loaded into memory. An even better option would be to place merchants or access to the trading post to further encourage a delay of the player going to the next zone; this would also offer the perfect opportunity for the player to load up on supplies and to sell off inventory items accumulated during travel.

edit
They can even have the game detect how quickly the next zone is loading. If the next zone is not loading quickly enough so it is ready by the time the player reaches the exit of the transition area, then the game can trigger a small event to hinder the player’s rate of transition. A dynamic event would be great for this purpose. It can trigger a fight between NPCs that the player must then put an end to in order to move on. Another idea, that I like even more, is to place a food cart in with the merchants in this area. When the slow-load is detected, then the merchant is triggered to offer a free sample of a pastry that would give the player a 5 or 10 minute bonus XP (or karma, etc) buff after interacting with the merchant. This would encourage the player to hang back for a few seconds to grab the free buff and will serve as a kind of “thanks for waiting for the next zone to finish loading”.

StinVec.3621:

Justin.7163:

StinVec.3621:

This is how I’ve spent most of my time in-game since launch. 10 characters (that have survived), 2,417 hours over the past 432 days and there are still entire zones I’ve not even set foot in yet. I want to experience the world and take in all the areas have to offer before feeling the need to move into a new one, not just race through it from one prize/champ to another. 85% of waypoints should not even exist as they only encourage whipping around the world as fast as possible instead of passing through it from one destination to another and actually experiencing the world they spent so many years creating for us.

The plethora of waypoints is definitely a farcry from the first game where none of the zones had WP’s and you had to actually walk from one end of the zone to the other if you needed to for what ever reason. I mean, yes, there were outposts which you could zone to but some zones weren’t connected to any. The excess use of WP’s does kind of make take away a lot of the need to travel on foot (for better or for worse).

“No. Because the loading screens between zones kills it. May was well just TP.”

This is one of the reasons why I dislike the loading screens between zones as it makes each zone feel disconnected from the rest of the world. It’d be neat if you could view parts of Kryta (for example) from a high peak in the Shiverpeaks.

I don’t understand ArenaNet’s implementation of forced zone transition loading screens as the game does not require them to travel to new areas. Transitioning into new zones should be loaded on-the-fly. I imagine that forcing these transition loading screens was either a temporary quick-fix due to the on-the-fly zone transition loading not being ready by launch time, or it was intentionally selected as the method for zone transitioning due to lack of game vision or coder ability and not because of time constraints.

The only purpose these forced loading screens serve is to further compartmentalize the areas of the world off from one another and to destroy any immersion potential traveling the world would offer. Rift does very well with this on-the-fly area transition loading and their areas are often wide open zone transitions and not the clearly defined boxes with very narrow access points poked into the perimeter of GW2. ArenaNet could easily implement this on-the-fly loading as the next zone is already blocked from view by the landscape.

They should model these transition areas to an S-shape/double-dogleg and the on-the-fly loading could easily take place while the player travels through this blind so the next zone is ready by the time it comes into view at the exit of this transition. If the engine cannot load the next zone as quickly as is needed, then they can extend the length of this transition area, thereby also extending the length of time it takes to traverse it. They can even add enemies or NPC roadblocks/gates to delay the player while the next zone is being loaded into memory. An even better option would be to place merchants or access to the trading post to further encourage a delay of the player going to the next zone; this would also offer the perfect opportunity for the player to load up on supplies and to sell off inventory items accumulated during travel.

Actually I think it’s a technical server thing…..

Each time you go to a new map Anet’s end has to check that “area” to see if it’s full already with people on your server, if so you are then sent to overflow. It’s not as simple as just going to that area.

GW1 worked differently because people only massed at outposts and those areas (maps if you will) were very tiny so I’m sure they allowed for a lot more people to gather there per world (which again we had more choice over picking and swapping to at anytime), possibly even up to thousands at a time. I am sure any map in GW2 at any given time can not hold thousands of people due to the share size of the maps and different various content running in them all at the same time. Look at WvW for example, I’m not sure what the limit is but there is one, thus the queues.

Paulytnz.7619:

Actually I think it’s a technical server thing…..

Each time you go to a new map Anet’s end has to check that “area” to see if it’s full already with people on your server, if so you are then sent to overflow. It’s not as simple as just going to that area.

GW1 worked differently because people only massed at outposts and those areas (maps if you will) were very tiny so I’m sure they allowed for a lot more people to gather there per world (which again we had more choice over picking and swapping to at anytime), possibly even up to thousands at a time. I am sure any map in GW2 at any given time can not hold thousands of people due to the share size of the maps and different various content running in them all at the same time. Look at WvW for example, I’m not sure what the limit is but there is one, thus the queues.

I added an edit to my post while you were responding to it. In my edit I mention the game detecting the rate of speed at which the next zone is being loaded, and if it is not loading quickly enough then it will trigger a local dynamic event or other way to delay the player from getting to the next zone before it is loaded. Following with this idea, if the next zone is detected as being full, then the game can activate a short event that would require a cutscene which will be shown while the player is loaded into the overflow version of the next zone. A blank loading screen is pretty immersion breaking and there is no need for this loading screen to be blank and not a short cutscene. Perhaps the food buff from an NPC I mentioned in my edit would be a good way to have a taste-test cutscene that would take the place of the loading screen to an overflow. The buff could then be an overflow buff as a kind of “sorry, the zone was full, have this buff as a thanks for waiting for the overflow to load”. There are ways around these loading screen transitions, they just need to start thinking outside ‘the box’ (pun intended).

StinVec.3621:

Paulytnz.7619:

Actually I think it’s a technical server thing…..

Each time you go to a new map Anet’s end has to check that “area” to see if it’s full already with people on your server, if so you are then sent to overflow. It’s not as simple as just going to that area.

GW1 worked differently because people only massed at outposts and those areas (maps if you will) were very tiny so I’m sure they allowed for a lot more people to gather there per world (which again we had more choice over picking and swapping to at anytime), possibly even up to thousands at a time. I am sure any map in GW2 at any given time can not hold thousands of people due to the share size of the maps and different various content running in them all at the same time. Look at WvW for example, I’m not sure what the limit is but there is one, thus the queues.

I added an edit to my post while you were responding to it. In my edit I mention the game detecting the rate of speed at which the next zone is being loaded, and if it is not loading quickly enough then it will trigger a local dynamic event or other way to delay the player from getting to the next zone before it is loaded. Following with this idea, if the next zone is detected as being full, then the game can activate a short event that would require a cutscene which will be shown while the player is loaded into the overflow version of the next zone. A blank loading screen is pretty immersion breaking and there is no need for this loading screen to be blank and not a short cutscene. Perhaps the food buff from an NPC I mentioned in my edit would be a good way to have a taste-test cutscene that would take the place of the loading screen to an overflow. The buff could then be an overflow buff as a kind of “sorry, the zone was full, have this buff as a thanks for waiting for the overflow to load”. There are ways around these loading screen transitions, they just need to start thinking outside ‘the box’ (pun intended).

Sounds like a solid interesting idea. But do people really get loading screens that are terribly long or total blank screens? I know I do get some pretty long loading screens even just going into Divinty Reach these days but I don’t think I have ever had a blank screen.

Going south from the Shiverpeaks has probably the best map transitions in the game I remember the 1st time I reached Timberline Falls, the place where snow starts to fade, it was so beautiful, after going all the way through snowy maps (1st toon was norn) I remember feeling really surprised and glad to see that, like I was really “IN” the game myself

Paulytnz.7619:

Sounds like a solid interesting idea. But do people really get loading screens that are terribly long or total blank screens? I know I do get some pretty long loading screens even just going into Divinty Reach these days but I don’t think I have ever had a blank screen.

Sorry, I used the word “blank”, but I should have said “static”; as in no animation, ambient sounds or music other than the rotating ‘Lord of the Rings’ ring of power in the corner. I can only speak for myself, but I commonly experience some loading screens to take 30-45 seconds to load into the next area. From my experiments with the GW2 process and how memory is used, I suspect much of the time spent at loading screens is actually from purging old data from memory and not from loading new data in. I’m sure this can be much more optimized to allow for quicker transitions.

StinVec.3621:

Paulytnz.7619:

Actually I think it’s a technical server thing…..

Each time you go to a new map Anet’s end has to check that “area” to see if it’s full already with people on your server, if so you are then sent to overflow. It’s not as simple as just going to that area.

GW1 worked differently because people only massed at outposts and those areas (maps if you will) were very tiny so I’m sure they allowed for a lot more people to gather there per world (which again we had more choice over picking and swapping to at anytime), possibly even up to thousands at a time. I am sure any map in GW2 at any given time can not hold thousands of people due to the share size of the maps and different various content running in them all at the same time. Look at WvW for example, I’m not sure what the limit is but there is one, thus the queues.

I added an edit to my post while you were responding to it. In my edit I mention the game detecting the rate of speed at which the next zone is being loaded, and if it is not loading quickly enough then it will trigger a local dynamic event or other way to delay the player from getting to the next zone before it is loaded. Following with this idea, if the next zone is detected as being full, then the game can activate a short event that would require a cutscene which will be shown while the player is loaded into the overflow version of the next zone. A blank loading screen is pretty immersion breaking and there is no need for this loading screen to be blank and not a short cutscene. Perhaps the food buff from an NPC I mentioned in my edit would be a good way to have a taste-test cutscene that would take the place of the loading screen to an overflow. The buff could then be an overflow buff as a kind of “sorry, the zone was full, have this buff as a thanks for waiting for the overflow to load”. There are ways around these loading screen transitions, they just need to start thinking outside ‘the box’ (pun intended).

And if my friend who’s walking by my side is loading the next zone substantially faster or slower than me, due to computer or network issues? What happens then? Does only one of us see this dynamic event in the transition area? Do we all get blocked there? Can players with crappy connections effectively camp zone transitions and block access?

This isn’t a very simple solution at all.

Talking about WP’s… This incident should show how I think about them:

I took my Charr ranger to Southsun for the first time, a few weeks ago. I was with two guildies. I first did the JP just outside the portal, we then moved to the stepping stones JP and finally to Owain’s Island. Halfway there, we say the broodmother event and decided to do that too (it’s right underneath the island where you enter Southsun for the first time). We wiped (it happens…) and we wanted to JP. I didn’t. My closest unlocked WP was at the stepping stones JP…

I managed to get out of that gate, do the JP and NOT unlock the WP just outside the gate…

ITT people criticize loading screens while understanding nothing about GW2’s engine or networking system.

Melchior.2135:

And if my friend who’s walking by my side is loading the next zone substantially faster or slower than me, due to computer or network issues? What happens then? Does only one of us see this dynamic event in the transition area? Do we all get blocked there? Can players with crappy connections effectively camp zone transitions and block access?

This isn’t a very simple solution at all.

Actually, it’s quite easy to cover the issues you raised. I never stated that this was a completely thought-out idea and I’ve obviously not covered ever single possible issue or potential situation in just a few posts in a thread. Don’t be so quick to mark it off as not being simple. 2 minutes of thinking about the potential situations you described have produced several logical solutions. Thanks for offering those potential situations for consideration. If it’s worth doing then it’s worth actually putting thought into it to make sure it is done right and not saying it’s too hard or can’t be done and giving up.

If the ‘friend’ is in a party with you, and only one of you can load into the next zone which makes it full while the other would then be put into an overflow, this would be detected and would trigger this NPC event/cutscene for those in the party that are in the immediate vicinity/transition zone. Both you and your friend would be placed into the same overflow due to being in a party together and both would have the overflow buff.

If your ‘friend’ is not in a party with you then they are handled as if they are a stranger. If they go to an overflow and you don’t, and you were together, perhaps they should have been in your party. If they are not in your party then they are subject to their own loading scenario. If they are loading slowly but you are loading quickly, then yes, the local event would be able to be participated in by both of you, and anyone else in the transition area.

Also, other than stating “It can trigger a fight between NPCs that the player must then put an end to in order to move on”, I never said anything about blocking access to the next zone in this transition area for anyone other than the slow-loading player. Even still, my statement of ‘in order to move on’ does not mean blocking off the entire area, but more of a localized rooting of the slow-loading player. Maybe an NPC throws a bottle at the slow-loading player and puts them in combat (thus move more slowly) or dazes them. Or maybe an NPC runs up to them and roots them and opens a dialogue box that begs for them to stop the other NPC’s fighting. Just needs to delay the player for 5-15 seconds while the remaining parts of the next area get loaded up, not block them from moving on completely.

I would have much preferred a request to expand on the idea instead of jumping to extreme conclusions involving griefing and total dismissal of the entire idea. It was primarily just a way to delay the slow-loading player from speeding through the transition area, not a way of completely blocking them from progressing.