Dear Creators of Guild Wars 2,
I am among that rare and often doubted breed of gamers known as “casual.”
I am exclusive to MORPGS. My first was Meridian 59, I have also played Ultima Online, Lineage II, Everquest, Everquest 2, City of Villains, Champions, Diablo, Diablo II, Guild Wars, and World of Warcraft up to Cataclysm.
In my 16 years of gaming, I have learned the following about myself:
- I prefer medieval-themed fantasy RPGs
- I love questing
- I love exploration
- I like to help others
- I love achievements
- I love loots!
Here is what I don’t love about MMORPGS:
- Drama
- Folks who know way too much about a game so they
- -> give me all the details of an instance before going in so that there are no surprises
- -> berate me for not having the uberest of specifications, gear, techniques, etc. as specified by elitestjerks.com or some other site that I refuse to browse
- Endgame content that requires massive raiding parties
I am 41, female, a teacher (15 years at it), a homeowner. I have small livestock to care for; a husband who is not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination, and social (church, non-profit, hobby) organizations to which I volunteer my time.
I don’t have time to do extensive research on something I do for fun and to relax. I don’t generally like to group with other folks, because I don’t want to have to abandon them suddenly when my husband (my priority) comes home, or if I need to check on the animals.
If I do group with others, it is a very small group of real life friends with whom I have traveled from game to game. The problem there is that though the group is small, the variety of game dedication is great. Some may have low level characters. Some may have maxed characters. So grouping together with our main characters becomes unlikely.
Ultimately, I have left every MORPG I have ever played because there was eventually nothing for me to do that didn’t make my brow furrow.
GW2 has been so much fun for me. I have been able to level a character fairly quickly in my free moments between chores and dinner time. It contains all my favorite elements:
- Gathering (that does not require building skill level to gather high or low items)
- Crafting (though I’m not doing much of that yet)
- Questing
- Exploring
- Loots! (I don’t know why, but I LOVE finding unidentified dyes)
- I can help people even if I’m not grouped with them, without worry of being called a looter or a kill-thief.
- People can and do often help me when I get myself in trouble (which is often)
- When I group with my real life friends, the levels scale so there is at least some challenge for all of us
- As a ranger (I always play some sort of scout character) I don’t have mana (I don’t know if power is an issue for other classes).
- I love that I can tame a variety of pets.
I also love the Order of Whispers story line, thus far. It cracks me up!
I could go on and on but I have a dentist appointment to get to.
I just want to thank you for creating the game that I have been waiting for. It has been so much fun for me without making me feel that I have to live the game or leave the game.
Much love,
Jenna Roberts
aka “Laughter Lightheart”
(edited by discipula.9584)