Guild Wars 2

I got this game a few weeks ago after spending years on gw1 on and off.

Ok so I’m still learning new things about this game every day. Today I realized it has a gem system. WTF r they thinking???

The grind through the huuuuge map is bad enough, but to add gems??? What I loved about the old gw is that it didn’t involve any of that real currency crap, and everything was of the world.

Now it’s starting to feel like an iphone game.

My advice for next time:

-Take away mandatory mission grinding through map and replace it with story adventures that do not grant xp or level ups – there should be some other rewards, or maybe joint team adventures. Players should also be able to create their own missions or stories.

-PVP should be compulsory for skills training, and there should be 1 v 1 combat as freeplay in all parts of the map. Levelling up should be a part of pvp skills training, not story-missions.

-Take away the GEM system, it isn’t necessary. GW1 currency was fine. I can remember saving money for weeks and weeks to buy a guild hall, it felt so amazing, and it was. Now I can just buy it with my credit card??!!

Just my thoughts.

Guild Wars 1 had a ingame store where they sold access to skills and heroes to play with (mercenaries).

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

By the way, not everyone likes PvP. Many bought it solely for PvE.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

The grind through the huuuuge map is bad enough, but to add gems??? What I loved about the old gw is that it didn’t involve any of that real currency crap, and everything was of the world.

Quit this game right now. As in NOW. If you think the leveing process is a grind (which most people find to be the most enjoyable part of pve) you are not going to like endgame.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-Take away mandatory mission grinding through map and replace it with story adventures that do not grant xp or level ups – there should be some other rewards, or maybe joint team adventures. Players should also be able to create their own missions or stories.

No. You are asking for a way more open sandbox game than GW2 ever aimed to be. Question is, why should arenanet change the game now after 3 years when it has an established playerbase?

Also, none of the story mission are mandatory. You can get to every point of the map without playing the story.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-PVP should be compulsory for skills training, and there should be 1 v 1 combat as freeplay in all parts of the map. Levelling up should be a part of pvp skills training, not story-missions.

Leveling for pve characters via spvp is accomplished through the insane amount of Tomes of Knowledge pvp players get.

Open world pvp is done in the WvW areas of the game. Pve areas are for pve only. Again, you are looking for a sandbox pvp game, which GW2 is not.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-Take away the GEM system, it isn’t necessary. GW1 currency was fine. I can remember saving money for weeks and weeks to buy a guild hall, it felt so amazing, and it was. Now I can just buy it with my credit card??!!

The gem system and the way it’s been added is arenanets way of generating revenue and an intergral part of their business plan for GW2. It’s mostly cosmetic in nature so as to not make the game pay-to-win.

Unless you propose a better or alternative way of them monetzing GW2, it’s here to stay.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Guild Wars 1 had a ingame store where they sold access to skills and heroes to play with (mercenaries).

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

By the way, not everyone likes PvP. Many bought it solely for PvE.

this is so very true and not only that BUT many of us got HOOKED on the PvE

and can not get enough the sad part tho to gw2 is how they try to force push you

into doing PVP and all that. but when your hooked on the PVE end oh kittens how it

do not makes things easy for you sigh

Cyninja.2954:

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

The grind through the huuuuge map is bad enough, but to add gems??? What I loved about the old gw is that it didn’t involve any of that real currency crap, and everything was of the world.

Quit this game right now. As in NOW. If you think the leveing process is a grind (which most people find to be the most enjoyable part of pve) you are not going to like endgame.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-Take away mandatory mission grinding through map and replace it with story adventures that do not grant xp or level ups – there should be some other rewards, or maybe joint team adventures. Players should also be able to create their own missions or stories.

No. You are asking for a way more open sandbox game than GW2 ever aimed to be. Question is, why should arenanet change the game now after 3 years when it has an established playerbase?

Also, none of the story mission are mandatory. You can get to every point of the map without playing the story.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-PVP should be compulsory for skills training, and there should be 1 v 1 combat as freeplay in all parts of the map. Levelling up should be a part of pvp skills training, not story-missions.

Leveling for pve characters via spvp is accomplished through the insane amount of Tomes of Knowledge pvp players get.

Open world pvp is done in the WvW areas of the game. Pve areas are for pve only. Again, you are looking for a sandbox pvp game, which GW2 is not.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-Take away the GEM system, it isn’t necessary. GW1 currency was fine. I can remember saving money for weeks and weeks to buy a guild hall, it felt so amazing, and it was. Now I can just buy it with my credit card??!!

The gem system and the way it’s been added is arenanets way of generating revenue and an intergral part of their business plan for GW2. It’s mostly cosmetic in nature so as to not make the game pay-to-win.

Unless you propose a better or alternative way of them monetzing GW2, it’s here to stay.

An integral part of their business plan? Who told you this rubbish? Go and do your research.

It makes a once good game appear cheap and desperate.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Guild Wars 1 had a ingame store where they sold access to skills and heroes to play with (mercenaries).

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

By the way, not everyone likes PvP. Many bought it solely for PvE.

This has got nothing to do with buying heroes – clearly there are none in gw2.

My point is that gw2 could have been better and players could have been a lot happier if we weren’t forced to play through the story modes to progress and level up – and yes this is required, because you wouldn’t level up unless you did it. There’s nothing wrong with the story mode but it should have nothing to do with levelling up and gaining rewards. This should be done through a skills training system, which is completely separate from the story mode and is vital for playing any computer game. PvP can be an extention of the skills training system, just like PvE – you have to train your skills in order to play or do well in either. But you shouldn’t be ‘forced’ to play PvP or PvE in order to progress through the game.

but.. but.. I like the gemstore and the shinies it offers!!
Gimme Shinies (>*-*)>

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Guild Wars 1 had a ingame store where they sold access to skills and heroes to play with (mercenaries).

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

By the way, not everyone likes PvP. Many bought it solely for PvE.

This has got nothing to do with buying heroes – clearly there are none in gw2.

My point is that gw2 could have been better and players could have been a lot happier if we weren’t forced to play through the story modes to progress and level up – and yes this is required, because you wouldn’t level up unless you did it. There’s nothing wrong with the story mode but it should have nothing to do with levelling up and gaining rewards. This should be done through a skills training system, which is completely separate from the story mode and is vital for playing any computer game. PvP can be an extention of the skills training system, just like PvE – you have to train your skills in order to play or do well in either. But you shouldn’t be ‘forced’ to play PvP or PvE in order to progress through the game.

Story mode is “not” required. I have 21 level 80 toons 15 with map completion and I have only done story mode on one… You can level by doing PvE events and mapping, no story required….. Merry Christmas Cedric

How old are you OP?
I mean, it doesnt take a genius to understand that every kind of mmo has some sort of cashshop. And the gem store is mostly cosmetic items as many people already stated. You should try out blade and soul though. The linear grindy quests kill/pick stuff makes you unable to enjoy the great potential of graphics and enviroment it has and the pvp is also great, so that would be the best bet for ya

Ksardas.7381:

How old are you OP?
I mean, it doesnt take a genius to understand that every kind of mmo has some sort of cashshop. And the gem store is mostly cosmetic items as many people already stated. You should try out blade and soul though. The linear grindy quests kill/pick stuff makes you unable to enjoy the great potential of graphics and enviroment it has and the pvp is also great, so that would be the best bet for ya

I have no idea what you’re talking about but your comment is appreciated.

I don’t know where you got the idea that the story mode is even remotely required to level up, because it’s not. I haven’t finished any of the stories on any of my level 80s. I only recently got to level 40 after nearly 3 years of playing . When you make statements like that, it shows you don’t know much about this game.

OP I think you need to learn about the game before making suggestions on how to improve it.

One of the things I loved about GW1, and I know I’m in the minority on this, was unlocking skills in PvP and then getting to use tomes in PvE to learn any skill unlocked on your account.
So if in PvP I was playing an assassin and unlocking skills for him, but in PvE I was maining a mesmer and wanted an assassin secondary, I could use tomes to quickly learn assassin skills (even elites!). It was pretty cool.
I know this has nothing to do with GW2 as it’s a completely different system, but just wanted to share my nostalgia with another GW1 fan.

…You might want to go the the black lion windows tab 2… You will realize that anything you can buy with real money, you can buy with in game gold… That goes for cosmetics as well as character slots and bank tabs… would you really want to take away the extra character slots and bank tabs? Really?… And desperate? if they were desperate they wouldn’t make all that available for in game gold…

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

The Guild Wars 2 gem store is far from just a “cosmetic” selling store.

Bank tabs. Bag slots. Time saving items. Upgrades. Quests items. Extractors. Unique and valuable items hidden behind gambling mechanics.

Azure Prower.8701:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

The Guild Wars 2 gem store is far from just a “cosmetic” selling store.

Bank tabs. Bag slots. Time saving items. Upgrades. Quests items. Extractors. Unique and valuable items hidden behind gambling mechanics.

Mainly cosmetic… And you can get it all for free… So what’s the problem?

Azure Prower.8701:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

The Guild Wars 2 gem store is far from just a “cosmetic” selling store.

Bank tabs. Bag slots. Time saving items. Upgrades. Quests items. Extractors. Unique and valuable items hidden behind gambling mechanics.

Yeah, stuff like the repair canisters, revive orbs and teleport to friend items are pretty questionable things to sell in a cashshop if you don’t want the game to give the impression of being pay-to-win. Even though we can get those items from login rewards every week, it still iffy.

Redfeather.6401:

Azure Prower.8701:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

The Guild Wars 2 gem store is far from just a “cosmetic” selling store.

Bank tabs. Bag slots. Time saving items. Upgrades. Quests items. Extractors. Unique and valuable items hidden behind gambling mechanics.

Yeah, stuff like the repair canisters, revive orbs and teleport to friend items are pretty questionable things to sell in a cashshop if you don’t want the game to give the impression of being pay-to-win. Even though we can get those items from login rewards every week, it still iffy.

And we can get the gems for gold, so its not a cash shop…

There is nothing wrong with the gem store itself, it’s actually welcoming. But it is wrong that all cool stuff ends up in the gem store and that’s pretty much the only way to get those things. For example, expansion only brought us few new armor sets (two or three) and exactly 0 alternative glider skins to work for. If you want new skins, you better open your wallet and throw it into gem store. That’s why many people play gw2 like me (on and off)…
But since you’re new player you still have plenty of stuff to work towards if you like.
Also, what you’re saying about story is not true, like others said already. I have never finished personal story myself and I have 6 lvl 80 characters. Maybe you’re getting confused, because you need to be certain level in order to continue story.

I agree with you that leveling is not that much fun, but that’s of course personal opinion and many will disagree and want to kill me now. It depends how much you like world, story and npcs. If you like those a lot you will have no problem exploring and doing story and events.
So I disagree with guy who said leveling is the most fun part and endgame is boring.
I can’t get myself to level characters , because it’s so painfully boring, I just want to get to 80. When you’re 80 you have all the tools available/skills/traits, you can try all the builds you want and learn all about your profession and how to master it. That’s fun. You won’t be doing that when you level up, because you won’t bother with builds, because it’s useless. You will be changing gear often and so it’s no reason to spend a lot of money to gear your character as best as possible. There is also no reason to bother with build if you don’t have all traits and skills available.

On a sidenote…
The argument that you’d have to open your wallet to buy Gem Store items and this being the only way to do it is invalid. One can do custom gold/gem exchanges.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I don’t know where you got the idea that the story mode is even remotely required to level up, because it’s not. I haven’t finished any of the stories on any of my level 80s. I only recently got to level 40 after nearly 3 years of playing . When you make statements like that, it shows you don’t know much about this game.

The fact that you’ve only just reached lv 40 after having played for fifteen years shows what a benefit it would be to your progress if you would just DO THE MISSIONS.

:)

CruSheR.3297:

but.. but.. I like the gemstore and the shinies it offers!!
Gimme Shinies (>-)>

^^

Have you ever played Fairy Farm?

Zelanard.5806:

…You might want to go the the black lion windows tab 2… You will realize that anything you can buy with real money, you can buy with in game gold… That goes for cosmetics as well as character slots and bank tabs… would you really want to take away the extra character slots and bank tabs? Really?… And desperate? if they were desperate they wouldn’t make all that available for in game gold…

It ISN’T available in GOLDDDD

It’s about as available as the in-game coins are in iphone games – and how long would that take to save up enough to buy your item? Eighteen months?

Gimme a break

Azure Prower.8701:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Maybe you should look at that before you say too much about the Guild Wars 2 cosmetic selling store.

The Guild Wars 2 gem store is far from just a “cosmetic” selling store.

Bank tabs. Bag slots. Time saving items. Upgrades. Quests items. Extractors. Unique and valuable items hidden behind gambling mechanics.

I’m not against in-game gambling mechanics, just not when they’re asking for real-world money to speedily purchase in game items so you have an advantage over other players. It’s cheap and unnecessary and why Star Trek Online failed.

OMG when I took a look at the currency conversion rate…please!

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

Zelanard.5806:

…You might want to go the the black lion windows tab 2… You will realize that anything you can buy with real money, you can buy with in game gold… That goes for cosmetics as well as character slots and bank tabs… would you really want to take away the extra character slots and bank tabs? Really?… And desperate? if they were desperate they wouldn’t make all that available for in game gold…

It ISN’T available in GOLDDDD

It’s about as available as the in-game coins are in iphone games – and how long would that take to save up enough to buy your item? Eighteen months?

Gimme a break

lol… 200 gems is about 40g last I checked… You can make 25 gold an hour just doing the wintersday jumping puzzle… outside that you can make 20g an hour running fractals… so yes, its is available in gold…
You are just not there yet because you are in the start of the game complaining about endgame things.

serialkicker.5274:

There is nothing wrong with the gem store itself, it’s actually welcoming. But it is wrong that all cool stuff ends up in the gem store and that’s pretty much the only way to get those things. For example, expansion only brought us few new armor sets (two or three) and exactly 0 alternative glider skins to work for. If you want new skins, you better open your wallet and throw it into gem store. That’s why many people play gw2 like me (on and off)…
But since you’re new player you still have plenty of stuff to work towards if you like.
Also, what you’re saying about story is not true, like others said already. I have never finished personal story myself and I have 6 lvl 80 characters. Maybe you’re getting confused, because you need to be certain level in order to continue story.

I agree with you that leveling is not that much fun, but that’s of course personal opinion and many will disagree and want to kill me now. It depends how much you like world, story and npcs. If you like those a lot you will have no problem exploring and doing story and events.
So I disagree with guy who said leveling is the most fun part and endgame is boring.
I can’t get myself to level characters , because it’s so painfully boring, I just want to get to 80. When you’re 80 you have all the tools available/skills/traits, you can try all the builds you want and learn all about your profession and how to master it. That’s fun. You won’t be doing that when you level up, because you won’t bother with builds, because it’s useless. You will be changing gear often and so it’s no reason to spend a lot of money to gear your character as best as possible. There is also no reason to bother with build if you don’t have all traits and skills available.

Hi,

U make a good post. Am I wrong in stating that you can’t level up quickly just by ‘killing things’ ?

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

CruSheR.3297:

but.. but.. I like the gemstore and the shinies it offers!!
Gimme Shinies (>-)>

^^

Have you ever played Fairy Farm?

Haha no I haven’t, but after googling it I see what you’re getting at xD

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

serialkicker.5274:

There is nothing wrong with the gem store itself, it’s actually welcoming. But it is wrong that all cool stuff ends up in the gem store and that’s pretty much the only way to get those things. For example, expansion only brought us few new armor sets (two or three) and exactly 0 alternative glider skins to work for. If you want new skins, you better open your wallet and throw it into gem store. That’s why many people play gw2 like me (on and off)…
But since you’re new player you still have plenty of stuff to work towards if you like.
Also, what you’re saying about story is not true, like others said already. I have never finished personal story myself and I have 6 lvl 80 characters. Maybe you’re getting confused, because you need to be certain level in order to continue story.

I agree with you that leveling is not that much fun, but that’s of course personal opinion and many will disagree and want to kill me now. It depends how much you like world, story and npcs. If you like those a lot you will have no problem exploring and doing story and events.
So I disagree with guy who said leveling is the most fun part and endgame is boring.
I can’t get myself to level characters , because it’s so painfully boring, I just want to get to 80. When you’re 80 you have all the tools available/skills/traits, you can try all the builds you want and learn all about your profession and how to master it. That’s fun. You won’t be doing that when you level up, because you won’t bother with builds, because it’s useless. You will be changing gear often and so it’s no reason to spend a lot of money to gear your character as best as possible. There is also no reason to bother with build if you don’t have all traits and skills available.

Hi,

U make a good post. Am I wrong in stating that you can’t level up quickly just by ‘killing things’ ?

Yes you can level by just killing environmental things and running around the map. I can go from level 1-80 in about a week and a half without using tomes or anything else, in fact my latest is a level 80 with only about 78% map completion and 0 time spent on personal story.

Just take your time and enjoy the ride. Don’t worry about getting from point a to point b or you will miss a beautiful journey.

Again good luck, have fun (remember it is a game) and Merry Christmas!!

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I don’t know where you got the idea that the story mode is even remotely required to level up, because it’s not. I haven’t finished any of the stories on any of my level 80s. I only recently got to level 40 after nearly 3 years of playing . When you make statements like that, it shows you don’t know much about this game.

The fact that you’ve only just reached lv 40 after having played for fifteen years shows what a benefit it would be to your progress if you would just DO THE MISSIONS.

:)

That’s level 40 storylines, on my 10 level 80s

CruSheR.3297:

On a sidenote…
The argument that you’d have to open your wallet to buy Gem Store items and this being the only way to do it is invalid. One can do custom gold/gem exchanges.

True, but I’m sure you can’t deny that the amount of cool cosmetic stuff we get in game is very lacking in comparison to what gem store gets.

CruSheR.3297:

On a sidenote…
The argument that you’d have to open your wallet to buy Gem Store items and this being the only way to do it is invalid. One can do custom gold/gem exchanges.

“Custom” yet the rates arent decided by Players.
I cant sell my gems for 50s or put up a buy offer of 5c.
Kinda annoys me.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

Cyninja.2954:

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

The grind through the huuuuge map is bad enough, but to add gems??? What I loved about the old gw is that it didn’t involve any of that real currency crap, and everything was of the world.

Quit this game right now. As in NOW. If you think the leveing process is a grind (which most people find to be the most enjoyable part of pve) you are not going to like endgame.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-Take away mandatory mission grinding through map and replace it with story adventures that do not grant xp or level ups – there should be some other rewards, or maybe joint team adventures. Players should also be able to create their own missions or stories.

No. You are asking for a way more open sandbox game than GW2 ever aimed to be. Question is, why should arenanet change the game now after 3 years when it has an established playerbase?

Also, none of the story mission are mandatory. You can get to every point of the map without playing the story.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-PVP should be compulsory for skills training, and there should be 1 v 1 combat as freeplay in all parts of the map. Levelling up should be a part of pvp skills training, not story-missions.

Leveling for pve characters via spvp is accomplished through the insane amount of Tomes of Knowledge pvp players get.

Open world pvp is done in the WvW areas of the game. Pve areas are for pve only. Again, you are looking for a sandbox pvp game, which GW2 is not.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

-Take away the GEM system, it isn’t necessary. GW1 currency was fine. I can remember saving money for weeks and weeks to buy a guild hall, it felt so amazing, and it was. Now I can just buy it with my credit card??!!

The gem system and the way it’s been added is arenanets way of generating revenue and an intergral part of their business plan for GW2. It’s mostly cosmetic in nature so as to not make the game pay-to-win.

Unless you propose a better or alternative way of them monetzing GW2, it’s here to stay.

An integral part of their business plan? Who told you this rubbish? Go and do your research.

It makes a once good game appear cheap and desperate.

Go through this thread again.

- Notice that you basically have 0 clue as to what kind of game GW2 is (judging by how supprised you are with some of the most basic stuff, you have 0 clue about major larts of the game)
- Notice that you have no idea of how arenanet is making it’s money in GW1 and GW2
- Notice what for changes have happened during the course of GW2 time on the market

and I’m the one who is supposed to do my research? Right.

Here is what is going to happen over the next few weeks:

- You are going to realise that GW2 is not the open sandbox pvp game you want
- You might make another thread about how you feel this is not right
- You will either adapt and play GW2 for what it is, or leave.

In none of those situations will I as a vetereran from beta prelaunch GW2 (and player of GW1) care for any of your mumbling because:

- I know what type of game GW2 was, is and might develope to
- I understand how arenanet is making their money (no, box sales will not cover 3 years of support and developement)
- I will focus on discussions that are actually beneficial and realistic to improving GW2

So you bave fun for the next few weeks until you leave for another game.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

serialkicker.5274:

There is nothing wrong with the gem store itself, it’s actually welcoming. But it is wrong that all cool stuff ends up in the gem store and that’s pretty much the only way to get those things. For example, expansion only brought us few new armor sets (two or three) and exactly 0 alternative glider skins to work for. If you want new skins, you better open your wallet and throw it into gem store. That’s why many people play gw2 like me (on and off)…
But since you’re new player you still have plenty of stuff to work towards if you like.
Also, what you’re saying about story is not true, like others said already. I have never finished personal story myself and I have 6 lvl 80 characters. Maybe you’re getting confused, because you need to be certain level in order to continue story.

I agree with you that leveling is not that much fun, but that’s of course personal opinion and many will disagree and want to kill me now. It depends how much you like world, story and npcs. If you like those a lot you will have no problem exploring and doing story and events.
So I disagree with guy who said leveling is the most fun part and endgame is boring.
I can’t get myself to level characters , because it’s so painfully boring, I just want to get to 80. When you’re 80 you have all the tools available/skills/traits, you can try all the builds you want and learn all about your profession and how to master it. That’s fun. You won’t be doing that when you level up, because you won’t bother with builds, because it’s useless. You will be changing gear often and so it’s no reason to spend a lot of money to gear your character as best as possible. There is also no reason to bother with build if you don’t have all traits and skills available.

Hi,

U make a good post. Am I wrong in stating that you can’t level up quickly just by ‘killing things’ ?

True, leveling by just killing things is slow, but so is leveling with story. I dont know exact number but you only get about 20-25 levels worth of XP if you do the whole story. And completing story takes a lot more time than some of the other methods for leveling.

True, leveling by just killing things is slow, leveling by killing things with all available boosters and killing the untouched mobs with bonus XP is quick. Theres a reason CoF p1 XP farm exists, not because its slow

luzt.7692:

True, leveling by just killing things is slow, leveling by killing things with all available boosters and killing the untouched mobs with bonus XP is quick. Theres a reason CoF p1 XP farm exists, not because its slow

That method will motivate your braincells to commit suicide though

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

serialkicker.5274:

There is nothing wrong with the gem store itself, it’s actually welcoming. But it is wrong that all cool stuff ends up in the gem store and that’s pretty much the only way to get those things. For example, expansion only brought us few new armor sets (two or three) and exactly 0 alternative glider skins to work for. If you want new skins, you better open your wallet and throw it into gem store. That’s why many people play gw2 like me (on and off)…
But since you’re new player you still have plenty of stuff to work towards if you like.
Also, what you’re saying about story is not true, like others said already. I have never finished personal story myself and I have 6 lvl 80 characters. Maybe you’re getting confused, because you need to be certain level in order to continue story.

I agree with you that leveling is not that much fun, but that’s of course personal opinion and many will disagree and want to kill me now. It depends how much you like world, story and npcs. If you like those a lot you will have no problem exploring and doing story and events.
So I disagree with guy who said leveling is the most fun part and endgame is boring.
I can’t get myself to level characters , because it’s so painfully boring, I just want to get to 80. When you’re 80 you have all the tools available/skills/traits, you can try all the builds you want and learn all about your profession and how to master it. That’s fun. You won’t be doing that when you level up, because you won’t bother with builds, because it’s useless. You will be changing gear often and so it’s no reason to spend a lot of money to gear your character as best as possible. There is also no reason to bother with build if you don’t have all traits and skills available.

Hi,

U make a good post. Am I wrong in stating that you can’t level up quickly just by ‘killing things’ ?

The best way to level up is to do events and explore. The story is something that’s optional if you like that sort of thing. It’s by no means required.

JUST killing things, without doing events though, is quite slow.

Also many events fill in hearts as you do it, so you don’t have to focus on hearts. I tend to run through hearts, do a couple of things in passing and finish them a bit as a time as I run back through them.

I really really don’t think you understand how to level in this game.

Just look for events. Orange circles on your big map. They’re like quests.

luzt.7692:

CruSheR.3297:

On a sidenote…
The argument that you’d have to open your wallet to buy Gem Store items and this being the only way to do it is invalid. One can do custom gold/gem exchanges.

“Custom” yet the rates arent decided by Players.
I cant sell my gems for 50s or put up a buy offer of 5c.
Kinda annoys me.

The day they allow the playerbase to control the price of buying/selling gems is the day i quit.

Compulsory PVP?

You can’t do that to people – many will just leave in dismay.

Gems are the way (beyond the initial purchase price) the game is funded.

How would they continue to fund the game without them (or something like them)?

The Gem Store is quite available to all players, with spending 0 real money. You sell materials, armor, weapons, and anything else you don’t need on the Trading Post, get gold for doing quests, and stuff like that. I’ve bought two outfits, mini’s, and makeover kits with gold to gems. It doesn’t take all that long to save up for it. That said, I did spend some of my christmas monies on the gem store, to help support ArenaNet to help keep the gold to gems thing going, because if no one bought gems, I’m sure that would go away fast.

I don’t do my story past level 30 until I hit level 80 because I want to see the story in one big chunk. That and most of the time I’m just using Tomes of Knowledge to level up and it goes pretty fast. I save those up from the log ins and get them from the little scrolls of experience (20 make one Tome, at the Mystic Forge Vendor) and its no problem. You don’t HAVE to do the story at all, you can turn it off and ignore it and never do it ever again if you want. I LOVE doing stories and I’m currently doing LS2 with my hubby

Leveling up is easiest if you try to go for map completion. Get every point of interest, waypoint, anything you can find. Do the events as they come up, usually you’ll get gold if you half-butt it anyway, and that will give you more experience. It doesn’t take all that long to get to level 80, I have two of them right now, getting ready to have a third one, and I have 8 charries.

I guess what I’m going to say here has already been covered, but I’ll comment anyway to show my support.

GW1 had a cash-shop too. In fact, it was even more exclusive than the gem-store because you could only by with real money. At least there is a gold to gem exchange, which is absolutely brilliant. I can’t think of any other game that does this to this extent.

It is not pay to win. The items you buy are convenience items or cosmetic items. People buy stuff because they like them, or to show their support.

It is an integral part to their business plan. It means they still get a healthy sum of money during the quiet periods between releases. I’m not an expert on the matter, but I assume that one of the reasons why we get more free content in GW2 (compared to GW1) is because how well the gem-store works.

It doesn’t hurt anybody. In fact, to some extent, it actually benefits players and accounts as fewer people will be using the illegal/dangerous gold selling sites and will use money to buy gems and convert to gold instead. Many RMT sites hack people’s accounts, steal their gold and sell what they get.

I think you should read up on the matter before jumping to conclusions or getting angry about it. If you’re still bothered by it.. well… ok then :P

If company makes money they are more willing to reinvest in the game.

I personally don’t know how much money Anet is reinvesting in the games. Only thing people know is Anet sales. You can have an overall idea on the NCSoft expense though.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

An integral part of their business plan? Who told you this rubbish? Go and do your research.

It makes a once good game appear cheap and desperate.

I’m not sure if GW2 can even survive without the cashshop.

But even if it can, the profit is so small, Anet will either have to cutdown employee or it is quite likely NCSoft will close Anet, or Anet will have to spam us with 20$ small size DLC.

laokoko.7403:

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

An integral part of their business plan? Who told you this rubbish? Go and do your research.

It makes a once good game appear cheap and desperate.

I’m not sure if GW2 can even survive without the cashshop.

But even if it can, the profit is so small, Anet will either have to cutdown employee or it is quite likely NCSoft will close Anet, or Anet will have to spam us with 20$ small size DLC.

If GW1 can survive so can GW2. They should just push up the price of the original one-time-purchase game.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

laokoko.7403:

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

An integral part of their business plan? Who told you this rubbish? Go and do your research.

It makes a once good game appear cheap and desperate.

I’m not sure if GW2 can even survive without the cashshop.

But even if it can, the profit is so small, Anet will either have to cutdown employee or it is quite likely NCSoft will close Anet, or Anet will have to spam us with 20$ small size DLC.

If GW1 can survive so can GW2. They should just push up the price of the original one-time-purchase game.

I don’t really understand your argument.

If it was better for the company profits, don’t you think the finance/economics team would have pushed for what you have suggested?

How is not having a cash-shop better, overall, apart from that it being there affects your sensibilites in some way? What are the real objective advantages of not having a cash-shop and the disadvantages of having one?

Why does it bother you so much? The items in there are cosmetic or convenience items (which don’t result in you being able to win the game). Similarly, being able to buy gold with RL money happens in any MMO, just the way that A-net does it means that it’s far more protected and safer/balanced for the entire game. Having more gold in-game is just like having more money in real life- it makes things a bit smoother, but it doesn’t necessarily make you a happier person.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

I got this game a few weeks ago after spending years on gw1 on and off.

Ok so I’m still learning new things about this game every day. Today I realized it has a gem system. WTF r they thinking???

The grind through the huuuuge map is bad enough, but to add gems??? What I loved about the old gw is that it didn’t involve any of that real currency crap, and everything was of the world.

Now it’s starting to feel like an iphone game.

My advice for next time:

-Take away mandatory mission grinding through map and replace it with story adventures that do not grant xp or level ups – there should be some other rewards, or maybe joint team adventures. Players should also be able to create their own missions or stories.

-PVP should be compulsory for skills training, and there should be 1 v 1 combat as freeplay in all parts of the map. Levelling up should be a part of pvp skills training, not story-missions.

-Take away the GEM system, it isn’t necessary. GW1 currency was fine. I can remember saving money for weeks and weeks to buy a guild hall, it felt so amazing, and it was. Now I can just buy it with my credit card??!!

Just my thoughts.

You lost me after i saw “got this game few weeks ago” What gives you for right,you newbie,to drop ideas about major changes in game?

As for “your thoughts” id suggest you one thing : Diary.Diary cares about random thoughts and you wont get disappointed.

^ Newer players are allowed to state an opinion, or their “first impressions”.

I don’t happen to agree with all of them, in this case, but that’s where discussion comes in.

Would love to see the people who are complaining play other F2P games like Dragon Nest or Maple Story. =) Now those are P2W games.

Each skill reset costs what? 10USD?
Each durational skin costs 10 USD for 90 days; or
Skin gives stats so to min-max you’ll need to buy skins anyway. (And because without skins you’ll be ugly in game, hence no-one will party you)

Pet system, which costs 10USD monthly to actually keep your pet alive, oh and extra costs for actual functionality of course.

Oh, and items which lets you ‘safely’ upgrade your weapons, because if not, It will break when you upgrade them. The costs scales with the number of upgrades you have on your weapon, obviously. Only 3$ per upgrade at +6 , and only 40$ per upgrade at +12!

Oh and of course, 10 USD to add upgrade slots to your weapons to let you spend more money on upgrade items.

But take note, after the 3rd highest level, even these item can’t help protect your weapon, so if you really do intend to min-max, you’ll have to gamble
Rest assured we’re here when you need to make your new weapon after you broke your +13 weapon.

You’ll need to spend 5USD to unlock the 10 Upgrade slots we have for your character as well, otherwise you are limited to 3 slots. =) You’ll need to renew this every month of course.

and of course the Gachapon/Altea Box (BL box equivalant) for Mounts and Wings!

Oh and that extra dungeon pass for you to do more dungeons per week? You totally need those as well! And more then 5 selling slot on the Trading post? If you subscribe, you will get unlimited slots! Only 9.99$ per month for the premium experience!

Oh and did I mention after we raise the level cap, all your gear will become obsolete, and you’ll need to spend the same amount of money you have spent on the previous level cap? It’s fine, we only raise the level cap every 6 months or so. =)

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

laokoko.7403:

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

An integral part of their business plan? Who told you this rubbish? Go and do your research.

It makes a once good game appear cheap and desperate.

I’m not sure if GW2 can even survive without the cashshop.

But even if it can, the profit is so small, Anet will either have to cutdown employee or it is quite likely NCSoft will close Anet, or Anet will have to spam us with 20$ small size DLC.

If GW1 can survive so can GW2. They should just push up the price of the original one-time-purchase game.

That is true. But GW2 won’t be a high budget game.

And GW2 won’t have “rumored 300 employee” without the cash shop.

Not saying you can’t make great mmorpg with low budget. GW1 obviously did it, and some of my favorite mmorpg are low budget niche game.

EazyPanda.6419:

Would love to see the people who are complaining play other F2P games like Dragon Nest or Maple Story. =) Now those are P2W games.

Each skill reset costs what? 10USD?
Each durational skin costs 10 USD for 90 days; or
Skin gives stats so to min-max you’ll need to buy skins anyway. (And because without skins you’ll be ugly in game, hence no-one will party you)

Pet system, which costs 10USD monthly to actually keep your pet alive, oh and extra costs for actual functionality of course.

Oh, and items which lets you ‘safely’ upgrade your weapons, because if not, It will break when you upgrade them. The costs scales with the number of upgrades you have on your weapon, obviously. Only 3$ per upgrade at +6 , and only 40$ per upgrade at +12!

Oh and of course, 10 USD to add upgrade slots to your weapons to let you spend more money on upgrade items.

But take note, after the 3rd highest level, even these item can’t help protect your weapon, so if you really do intend to min-max, you’ll have to gamble
Rest assured we’re here when you need to make your new weapon after you broke your +13 weapon.

You’ll need to spend 5USD to unlock the 10 Upgrade slots we have for your character as well, otherwise you are limited to 3 slots. =) You’ll need to renew this every month of course.

and of course the Gachapon/Altea Box (BL box equivalant) for Mounts and Wings!

Oh and that extra dungeon pass for you to do more dungeons per week? You totally need those as well! And more then 5 selling slot on the Trading post? If you subscribe, you will get unlimited slots! Only 9.99$ per month for the premium experience!

Oh and did I mention after we raise the level cap, all your gear will become obsolete, and you’ll need to spend the same amount of money you have spent on the previous level cap? It’s fine, we only raise the level cap every 6 months or so. =)

I, honestly, don’t know why anyone would even consider playing a game like that.

No game is worth over, about, $30 per month total, anyway.

Even that would have to be for a more-or-less perfect game.

…and if you have to pay for everything, so it just becomes a case of who paid the most wins, why even bother?

Just to prove you have more spare cash, or something?

Games like that don’t deserve anyone’s custom, at all.

You don’t have to do story missions to level up, you can level up by just map completing and doing WvW Edge of The Mist, or through tomes.

This game is not grindy at all, i say go back to gw1.