I’ve been thinking recently. One of the main reasons why I got into MMOs all those years ago was because of the subscription-free model of GW1. With other games at the time, you had to pay somewhere around $15 per month in order to have access to a game. This was on top of the box price of games. Now as a Casual gamer, it made no sense to pay money each month, regardless if you played or not. It was almost like I would be forced to play, because if I didn’t, the subscription I paid would be a waste.
GW2 followed this model. You pay once for the game, and you can play as much as you want, whenever you want. If you want to take a break, you can, and the account goes nowhere. Casual gamers aren’t hit with reoccurring creditcard charges, and still have access to 100% of the game content from day one. What could be better? How about free content updates every 2 weeks? SCORE! It’s like buying one game, and getting another game for free twice a month.
But wait, GW2 gets even better! There are games where players can pay real money to be more powerful in-game than non-paying players. These games are call Pay 2 Win. GW2 isn’t one of these games, so Casuals will never have to worry about feeling like second class citizens. No wonder GW2 was voted the best MMO in 2013!
I agree with all of the above. It’s a big part of why I got into GW1 and continued with GW2, I always liked the idea of MMOs but I hated the idea of paying a subscription and then feeling like I had to make sure I played enough that month to get my money’s worth.
My life is not, and probably never will be, organised enough that I can say a month in advance how much time I’m going to be able to spend on one game, and even if it balanced out over all I know it’d bother me if one month I paid and then couldn’t play as much as normal. I also wouldn’t want to miss an entire month just because I was going to be away for 2 weeks, but with a subscription that’s what happens – if you don’t pay you’re locked out of the game completely until you do.
I do sometimes buy gems with real money to get stuff from the gem store, and I know some people say that comes to the same thing but the important difference to me is that I don’t have to buy gems every month, if I can’t afford it or don’t want anything I don’t buy any and I can still play the entire game any time I want.
There’s lots of other things that make the game casual friendly too, but that’s the one which originally drew me in. Pretty much as soon as my brother told me he was playing an MMO with no subscription I was looking for a copy.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
There are games where players can pay real money to be more powerful in-game than non-paying players. These games are call Pay 2 Win.
And then there are F2P MMOs that only have vanity stuff in their cash show just like GW2.
With the current in game economy and the grindy tier of ascended gear I don’t thin kthat the game can be called casual players dream. However it’s still not so vertical that a newbie could never catch up. Really can the game hold its casualness depends on its further developments. If it gets no new tiers, then fair enough, however the further up we would go, the harder it would be to catch up, making the game very much not casual.
The game does have updates every few months (it is going to be considerably slower now, with the next one on the 21st of January) and those said updates are mostly small story/ some activities kind of updates, where if you miss it you don’t really miss anything. While in one way it’s good, I would prefer the game to start releasing new zones and continue its dragon storyline, because to be honest, after 2 years I did exhaust all of the content, however if you’re only starting up, these kind of updates are perfect. It is a one time pay only, which is once again good.
GW2 will not have been out for 2 years until September 2014…
Do you time travel?
I’m rounding it up was playing since August, when the pre-order people were let in.
Really what I was trying to say is that right now for a casual player this game is 50/50. The content (as in, don’t sweat it if you miss it) is quite casual, the new gear type is not.
I think that the game would benefit from a 180 – casual approach to gear types (no tier after ascended, easy last tier acquisition, etc) and more important content (new dungeons, continuation of the main story, etc), that way there would be more to do, however less to fall behind on.
Of course you’ll exhaust the content, they can’t possibly bring out new content faster than you can play it.
Actually they are bringing new content pretty fast (Living Story) it just seems to be focused oddly at the moment.
We have 4 more living story updates left with Scarlet. A generic, annoying villain. There were at least 2 new maps added, one of which was removed.
Now what if instead of Scarlet we had a dragon? We would have been at least half way there into a new epic storyline, instead of messing with Scarlet’s thugs. What if instead of some celebrations we had 2-3 maps into Cantha and Ellona opened? What if instead of a new ascended tier we had two new permanent dungeons?
I don’t get the reasoning over subs. I pay for internet and cable subs and they are both significantly more than a measly $15 a month. Yet, I don’t feel compelled to use both of them 24/7 in order to get my money’s worth or else risk feeling like I’m “missing out”.
You pay for access and quality service. Maybe if everyone here in GW2 paid $5 or $10 a month, we’d get something better than Scarlet and temporary content.
I don’t get the reasoning over subs. I pay for internet and cable subs and they are both significantly more than a measly $15 a month. Yet, I don’t feel compelled to use both of them 24/7 in order to get my money’s worth or else risk feeling like I’m “missing out”.
You pay for access and quality service. Maybe if everyone here in GW2 paid $5 or $10 a month, we’d get something better than Scarlet and temporary content.
I suppose it depends on how you think about it and how you manage your budget.
I went without a TV for 4 years because in the UK you have to pay a fee for even basic TV (which is really, really minimal, it works out as something like £2 a week) and I didn’t watch it enough to feel like it was worth the money.
Likewise some people talk as if everyone regularly buys over-priced coffee shop coffee without thinking twice about it (usually when someone is complaining that they can’t afford a gem store item) but I never do that either. If I’m going to buy something like that I always think of it in terms of how long I have to work to earn that much money and ask myself if that much time at my job is worth it.
This was really effective for cutting out impulse purchases when I worked a minimum wage job I hated, a lot of purchases that seem like nothing become a lot more expensive when you pay for it with 1/2 an hour of entitled strangers ranting about what you have to do to make them happy. It’s less effective now I work a better paid job that I really like, but it still helps.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
You pay for access and quality service. Maybe if everyone here in GW2 paid $5 or $10 a month, we’d get something better than Scarlet and temporary content.
chuckle
WoW players pay a sub and they got Pandaria…. you saw how well that ‘quality’ content went over. Like a lead brick… I don’t think I’ve heard anything good about that expansion.
Don’t look at me like that. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s probably not true.
You pay for access and quality service. Maybe if everyone here in GW2 paid $5 or $10 a month, we’d get something better than Scarlet and temporary content.
chuckle
WoW players pay a sub and they got Pandaria…. you saw how well that ‘quality’ content went over. Like a lead brick… I don’t think I’ve heard anything good about that expansion.
As someone who just recently went back to WoW for the Siege of Orgrimmar release, I can confirm that MoP was terrible. I was done with the entire expansion and all of the new raids in 1.5 months, and it left a bad taste in my mouth the whole time.
Subs a good game does not make.
Don’t get me wrong, there is still a place for sub based MMOs, you just better have a lot better product than the competition, which currently is not the case for any sub based game.
EDIT: Also, yes GW2 has a pretty steep gear grind. I was able to gear myself out much faster in WoW than I am in GW2. But GW2 doesn’t pressure me nearly as much as WoW did to get the gear. Yea, it would be nice and really helpful to have full ascended, but at the end of the day, the game leaves it up to you, and doesn’t restrict you from anything but Fractals. GW2 is more casual friendly than almost any game out there, sans the ascended gear tier.
Anarai Aeonblade [GASM] – Guardian – DB
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
Also, yes GW2 has a pretty steep gear grind. I was able to gear myself out much faster in WoW than I am in GW2. But GW2 doesn’t pressure me nearly as much as WoW did to get the gear. Yea, it would be nice and really helpful to have full ascended, but at the end of the day, the game leaves it up to you, and doesn’t restrict you from anything but Fractals. GW2 is more casual friendly than almost any game out there, sans the ascended gear tier.
See, I had the exact opposite experience when it came to being geared in WoW. Additionally, there really weren’t as many options available for looks, at least to me. Several that I ended up interested in for transmuting purposes where no longer available or people did not bother doing that content. Complete and utter nightmare. I did definitely feel the gear pressure, which ruined my play. Always working for something that negates all the time I put in previously…because I couldn’t play the game otherwise… yeah, no thanks.
While GW2 does have the ascended bullkitten, I feel no pressure to obtain it. Oh, I;m sure I will eventually, but it’s not like I locked out of anything even if I never do. This I like immensely. Hopefully, they will take the suggestions and opinions in the CDI to heart and give us additional means of acquisition (outside of crafting, like via karma or dungeons), which will make a lot of people happy.
Don’t look at me like that. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s probably not true.
Also, yes GW2 has a pretty steep gear grind. I was able to gear myself out much faster in WoW than I am in GW2. But GW2 doesn’t pressure me nearly as much as WoW did to get the gear. Yea, it would be nice and really helpful to have full ascended, but at the end of the day, the game leaves it up to you, and doesn’t restrict you from anything but Fractals. GW2 is more casual friendly than almost any game out there, sans the ascended gear tier.
See, I had the exact opposite experience when it came to being geared in WoW. Additionally, there really weren’t as many options available for looks, at least to me. Several that I ended up interested in for transmuting purposes where no longer available or people did not bother doing that content. Complete and utter nightmare. I did definitely feel the gear pressure, which ruined my play. Always working for something that negates all the time I put in previously…because I couldn’t play the game otherwise… yeah, no thanks.
While GW2 does have the ascended bullkitten, I feel no pressure to obtain it. Oh, I;m sure I will eventually, but it’s not like I locked out of anything even if I never do. This I like immensely. Hopefully, they will take the suggestions and opinions in the CDI to heart and give us additional means of acquisition (outside of crafting, like via karma or dungeons), which will make a lot of people happy.
In all honesty, the only real reason it takes so little time to gear up in WoW now is because of the Looking for Raid feature. Works just like a dungeon queue, and get free epics. But the pressure to move beyond LFR into Heroic mode and get better loot got old fast. I think most people are tired of the treadmills. If it had been the WoW of Cata, sure it would have taken a lot longer.
Anarai Aeonblade [GASM] – Guardian – DB
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
Also, yes GW2 has a pretty steep gear grind. I was able to gear myself out much faster in WoW than I am in GW2. But GW2 doesn’t pressure me nearly as much as WoW did to get the gear. Yea, it would be nice and really helpful to have full ascended, but at the end of the day, the game leaves it up to you, and doesn’t restrict you from anything but Fractals. GW2 is more casual friendly than almost any game out there, sans the ascended gear tier.
See, I had the exact opposite experience when it came to being geared in WoW. Additionally, there really weren’t as many options available for looks, at least to me. Several that I ended up interested in for transmuting purposes where no longer available or people did not bother doing that content. Complete and utter nightmare. I did definitely feel the gear pressure, which ruined my play. Always working for something that negates all the time I put in previously…because I couldn’t play the game otherwise… yeah, no thanks.
While GW2 does have the ascended bullkitten, I feel no pressure to obtain it. Oh, I;m sure I will eventually, but it’s not like I locked out of anything even if I never do. This I like immensely. Hopefully, they will take the suggestions and opinions in the CDI to heart and give us additional means of acquisition (outside of crafting, like via karma or dungeons), which will make a lot of people happy.
In all honesty, the only real reason it takes so little time to gear up in WoW now is because of the Looking for Raid feature. Works just like a dungeon queue, and get free epics. But the pressure to move beyond LFR into Heroic mode and get better loot got old fast. I think most people are tired of the treadmills. If it had been the WoW of Cata, sure it would have taken a lot longer.
Yeah, I didn’t make it past Cata… I made to Cata and threw in the towel.
Don’t look at me like that. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s probably not true.
Also, yes GW2 has a pretty steep gear grind. I was able to gear myself out much faster in WoW than I am in GW2. But GW2 doesn’t pressure me nearly as much as WoW did to get the gear. Yea, it would be nice and really helpful to have full ascended, but at the end of the day, the game leaves it up to you, and doesn’t restrict you from anything but Fractals. GW2 is more casual friendly than almost any game out there, sans the ascended gear tier.
See, I had the exact opposite experience when it came to being geared in WoW. Additionally, there really weren’t as many options available for looks, at least to me. Several that I ended up interested in for transmuting purposes where no longer available or people did not bother doing that content. Complete and utter nightmare. I did definitely feel the gear pressure, which ruined my play. Always working for something that negates all the time I put in previously…because I couldn’t play the game otherwise… yeah, no thanks.
While GW2 does have the ascended bullkitten, I feel no pressure to obtain it. Oh, I;m sure I will eventually, but it’s not like I locked out of anything even if I never do. This I like immensely. Hopefully, they will take the suggestions and opinions in the CDI to heart and give us additional means of acquisition (outside of crafting, like via karma or dungeons), which will make a lot of people happy.
In all honesty, the only real reason it takes so little time to gear up in WoW now is because of the Looking for Raid feature. Works just like a dungeon queue, and get free epics. But the pressure to move beyond LFR into Heroic mode and get better loot got old fast. I think most people are tired of the treadmills. If it had been the WoW of Cata, sure it would have taken a lot longer.
Heh, what pressure? I decided to take a more relaxed approach with this expansion and just stuck with lfr and whatever else I found fun. Haven’t felt pressured otherwise. I do feel pressure in this game though, mainly feeling forced to log in and rush through temporary content in order to experience it all and collect my AP.
Heh, what pressure? I decided to take a more relaxed approach with this expansion and just stuck with lfr and whatever else I found fun. Haven’t felt pressured otherwise. I do feel pressure in this game though, mainly feeling forced to log in and rush through temporary content in order to experience it all and collect my AP.
I wanted to be able to play with my guild mates, so I had to ‘catch up.’ There was no way around playing that catch up, and they didn’t enjoy ‘coming down’ to my level because they’d already done it. It offered no challenge.
GW2 doesn’t create the same feeling for me. I don’t have to ‘catch up’ (in gear) to access content. Hell, if I want to run my sorry lvl 20 toon to Orr, I can…although it might result in some expensive repairs. If I want to take that lvl 20 through CM with a guild group, I can. Nothing is barred to me because my gear rating wasn’t ‘xyz’, like it was in WoW.
Additionally, going back to lower level areas can still be enjoyable, since we’re not one shoting everything. Admitted, downscaling does still need some work, more so now with the addition of ascended gear.
Don’t look at me like that. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s probably not true.
Heh, what pressure? I decided to take a more relaxed approach with this expansion and just stuck with lfr and whatever else I found fun. Haven’t felt pressured otherwise. I do feel pressure in this game though, mainly feeling forced to log in and rush through temporary content in order to experience it all and collect my AP.
I wanted to be able to play with my guild mates, so I had to ‘catch up.’ There was no way around playing that catch up, and they didn’t enjoy ‘coming down’ to my level because they’d already done it. It offered no challenge.
GW2 doesn’t create the same feeling for me. I don’t have to ‘catch up’ (in gear) to access content. Hell, if I want to run my sorry lvl 20 toon to Orr, I can…although it might result in some expensive repairs. If I want to take that lvl 20 through CM with a guild group, I can. Nothing is barred to me because my gear rating wasn’t ‘xyz’, like it was in WoW.
Additionally, going back to lower level areas can still be enjoyable, since we’re not one shoting everything. Admitted, downscaling does still need some work, more so now with the addition of ascended gear.
Flex raids through Open Raid. Problem solved.
No content is barred to you as you get to see all of it if you use their catch up mechanic. I was ready in a day or two.
Heh, what pressure? I decided to take a more relaxed approach with this expansion and just stuck with lfr and whatever else I found fun. Haven’t felt pressured otherwise. I do feel pressure in this game though, mainly feeling forced to log in and rush through temporary content in order to experience it all and collect my AP.
I wanted to be able to play with my guild mates, so I had to ‘catch up.’ There was no way around playing that catch up, and they didn’t enjoy ‘coming down’ to my level because they’d already done it. It offered no challenge.
GW2 doesn’t create the same feeling for me. I don’t have to ‘catch up’ (in gear) to access content. Hell, if I want to run my sorry lvl 20 toon to Orr, I can…although it might result in some expensive repairs. If I want to take that lvl 20 through CM with a guild group, I can. Nothing is barred to me because my gear rating wasn’t ‘xyz’, like it was in WoW.
Additionally, going back to lower level areas can still be enjoyable, since we’re not one shoting everything. Admitted, downscaling does still need some work, more so now with the addition of ascended gear.
Flex raids through Open Raid. Problem solved.
Flex raids and oQueue (which is an illegal mod btw, but that’s another issue entirely.) Solved 0 problems for my playstyle. All it was for me was a LFR with a longer queue and a bunch of elitists telling me my ilevel isn’t high enough.
Seriously, it’s just a bunch of dudes that think if you aren’t heroic geared already, you are a burden. Flex raids drove me away from raiding almost as much as the gear treadmill itself.
Anarai Aeonblade [GASM] – Guardian – DB
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
Really? I never had a problem and found the community way more tolerable than the GW2 dungeoning community. Open Raid is not illegal btw and it lets you list requirements. Don’t like them? Then don’t join.
Also if they are heroic geared there is no reason for them to be in Flex unless they are helping a friend out.
Really? I never had a problem and found the community way more tolerable than the GW2 dungeoning community. Open Raid is not illegal btw and it lets you list requirements. Don’t like them? Then don’t join.
Also if they are heroic geared there is no reason for them to be in Flex unless they are helping a friend out.
Guess it differs cluster to cluster, but my experience with Flex raiding was one that accelerated me leaving the game and coming back here more often. LFR was maybe a 15 minute queue time, or I could sit there and get turned down again and again because 523 ilevel is far too low to do flex SoO for most of the groups I encountered, even though the game said I was ready to move up.
Anarai Aeonblade [GASM] – Guardian – DB
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
was playing since August, when the pre-order people were let in.