Guild Wars 2

I don’t know if everyone feels the same way I do about gw2 right now. For me, gw2 has become a ball of mess to the point that its become a little ridiculous:

EASY ways to make money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeAaYz8gM

EASY dungeons: dungeons generally have become heavy zerkers only environment where everyones using the stacking “exploits”.

EASY pvp: AI minion builds (spirit ranger, minion mancer, pu mesmer) have become the new meta and the arenas littered with AI builds. There are also a few other OP builds that doesnt require AIs…

EASY wvw: Doesn’t matter how good your server is, more players + more coverage = win. Also, bring heavies only.

As for the open world pve, I get the idea of end-game ascended gear forcing players to go back to lower level zones for dragonite ores, but its turned into a waiting game: checking http://us.gw2stuff.com/ for world boss timers. The process of getting end-game gear is no longer fun, its become a time-gated waiting game; waiting for daily laurels, waiting for daily mats.

I understand that the devs are trying to fix some of these things right now (such as bringing down the zerker meta https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/PvE-Revising-the-DPS-Meta), but there have been some bad ideas that somehow managed to make its way into the game. Though, the game is still young and theres still time to fix a lot of loopholes and balance issues.

HOWEVER, if I could describe this game with one word at the moment, it would be frustrating.

I think the forums have gotten them self into a situation where they can be called out for asking for something and then getting it and then complain about the very thing they asked for.

I feel like GW2 is a fine game that eats up what little free time I have.
I like the PvE, I would like for them to finish up Scarlet so we could have another chapter, and I am currently finishing up hearts on my alts.

I enjoy it very much. It’s taken a while to grow on me but it’s my main game (MMO) at this point.

1 Word. Disappointed.

I have anticipation for the next update, as I have enjoyed them. I took a couple of week break from the game and it refreshed my interest again, and now I look for other ways to play it other than to “farm”.

Overall, the game has given me my money’s worth (and I do spend 10-30$ a month on gems) in entertainment and I look forward to more.

I’m actually glad the game’s not “hardcore” since I’ve been playing MMO’s since Ultima Online came out. After playing that many years, I look forward to the social aspect, not the forced grouping, raiding, and gear progression that other MMO’s force a player into with little choices. This is why I’m a roleplayer first, because I enjoy the social aspect of collaborative storytelling and seeing the storylines progress in GW2.

grindy. and too similar to other mmos.

The only thing I’d change about the game would be the LS and being able to do it at my own pace. I would also like to see more PS. I’ve never liked temporary content in a game ever. Just feels like the debs are wasting there time making it.

you mean builds farm 2?
everything this game was supposed to be, it isn’t
you can tell there are people at arenanet implementing things to fix the problems we’re all noticing, but it’s always a back seat to pacifying the cash-crop crowd of customers..

the best example i can think of is gw2 as an end of the line railway boomtown, it may seem quick and prosperous, but if the game continues to lack depth, the more dignified players are just going to move on

how do i feel about gw2 right now?   fingers crossed

Jski.6180:

I think the forums have gotten them self into a situation where they can be called out for asking for something and then getting it and then complain about the very thing they asked for.

It’s cause the majority of players are content and doesn’t visit the forums until something upsets them. Even in discussions that are heated only a small minority group takes part in it. Once the people who complained and got their way, a way that upsets another group of people then they leave the forums and let the new group of people come here to complain. Thats why after each patch you see new threads pop up and 90% of the posters act like the issue has never been talked in the past with comments like “Why would you change this? no one asked for it”.

As for the current state of the game being a grindfest, if that’s what you think then I doubt you ever played another MMO in your life. As long as there is competition there will always be a grind, because there are always people willing to put in the extra time to get ahead. If the game just gives you stuff for logging in and there is no possibilty of having gain anything after that then you won’t see anymore grinding.

Great game. Mediocre MMO.

Best MMO I’ve ever played. Massive improvements since launch, looking forward to more.

Its like a comfortable and favourite t-shirt, with a slight worry about what’s going to happen to it when there are one too many holes.

good general ideas destroyed by zero forethought and the worst execution imaginable. poor communication (the quality, not necessarily the quantity). a whole lot of bark, very little bite. what was an extremely promising game at launch has devolved into just the typical bland MMO experience. grind grind farm grind. if you like MMO, there’s a chance you’ll like gw2. if you hate MMOs, avoid gw2 like it’s the plague. neglect of the stable playerbases in favor of throwing all resources at glorified tourism, while having no problem flat out insulting and alienating their most loyal players. a giant list of major bugs and exploits that have been around since the betas. hacks and other forms of cheating going completely unchecked, unless it means a dime less profit for them. it could have been the wave of the future, but if i was on the development team i would be humiliated by the entire past year.

amazingly good art and graphics though.

killcannon.2576:

Great game. Mediocre MMO.

Funny I’d have reversed that.

Mediocre game, great MMO for me.

I’ve played games I like better, but no MMO has come close. lol Actually pretty good, rather than mediocre.

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Great game. Mediocre MMO.

Funny I’d have reversed that.

Mediocre game, great MMO for me.

I’ve played games I like better, but no MMO has come close. lol Actually pretty good, rather than mediocre.

I just don’t see a lot of long term progression mechanics to keep players in game.

The LS for me has always been a stop gap measure till they had those mechanics in place. During the year that the LS has been active, I just haven’t seen the progression mechanics being implemented besides the achieve point awards.

For me, it’s a better game than an MMO simply because I really enjoyed the core game and exploring every zone and I had a lot of fun doing it. Now that I have done those things I just don’t have as much reason to play.

I don’t need ascended, WvW to me is just a huge mess of zergs, spvp isn’t fun due to a lack of game modes, the Legendary process relies more on rng than anything that I actually have some kind of involvement in, there is no reason for me to craft except to gear myself, the LS lacks meaningful story, gameplay or lore for me. I look at the game and see no progression, either horizontal or vertical. Even the guild missions don’t have progression… you don’t work your way up to a mega encounter with a great boss, you just pull some names out of a hat and go kill stuff or run around.

To me, that’s what an MMO needs. A way to set myself apart from anyone else. I don’t see another challenge to set myself against and overcome. Just log in, join a zerg train and grab some mats. That doesn’t make me feel accomplished, it’s just busy work like farming for mats in any other game…but for absolutely no reason.

The only reason I still play isn’t because of the game, it’s because of the people I’ve met. And I’ve quit games for less. It has a lot of potential, but for now, that’s all it is.

Potential.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Great game. Mediocre MMO.

Funny I’d have reversed that.

Mediocre game, great MMO for me.

I’ve played games I like better, but no MMO has come close. lol Actually pretty good, rather than mediocre.

I just don’t see a lot of long term progression mechanics to keep players in game.

The LS for me has always been a stop gap measure till they had those mechanics in place. During the year that the LS has been active, I just haven’t seen the progression mechanics being implemented besides the achieve point awards.

For me, it’s a better game than an MMO simply because I really enjoyed the core game and exploring every zone and I had a lot of fun doing it. Now that I have done those things I just don’t have as much reason to play.

I don’t need ascended, WvW to me is just a huge mess of zergs, spvp isn’t fun due to a lack of game modes, the Legendary process relies more on rng than anything that I actually have some kind of involvement in, there is no reason for me to craft except to gear myself, the LS lacks meaningful story, gameplay or lore for me. I look at the game and see no progression, either horizontal or vertical. Even the guild missions don’t have progression… you don’t work your way up to a mega encounter with a great boss, you just pull some names out of a hat and go kill stuff or run around.

To me, that’s what an MMO needs. A way to set myself apart from anyone else. I don’t see another challenge to set myself against and overcome. Just log in, join a zerg train and grab some mats. That doesn’t make me feel accomplished, it’s just busy work like farming for mats in any other game…but for absolutely no reason.

The only reason I still play isn’t because of the game, it’s because of the people I’ve met. And I’ve quit games for less. It has a lot of potential, but for now, that’s all it is.

Potential.

See I’m the opposite. I’m perfectly content watching the LS unfold slowly. The progression (unquote) from most MMOs doesn’t feel like progression to me at all. Getting better stats through gear has NEVER entertained me and never will. The quest for gear, raiding or running dungeons is not why I play RPGs.

So no other MMO has held my interest for any length of time.

Achievement points on the other hand, that’s okay for me. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

At the moment I’m a little frustrated as well, Ascended crafting is wearing me down (I’ve got about 2/3 of what I need for my first suit of armor for my main character) and still no proper options (i.e. a wardrobe) to try different gear and/or builds on my alts.

Overall though, its still a pretty good game to me. I still enjoy dungeon runs and the nightly temple zergs for dragonite, but I really hope the next update offers something to distract me from the Ascended grind. I’ve done (and still do) every bit of permanent content that appeals to me… now it’s time for something new.

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Great game. Mediocre MMO.

Funny I’d have reversed that.

Mediocre game, great MMO for me.

I’ve played games I like better, but no MMO has come close. lol Actually pretty good, rather than mediocre.

I just don’t see a lot of long term progression mechanics to keep players in game.

The LS for me has always been a stop gap measure till they had those mechanics in place. During the year that the LS has been active, I just haven’t seen the progression mechanics being implemented besides the achieve point awards.

For me, it’s a better game than an MMO simply because I really enjoyed the core game and exploring every zone and I had a lot of fun doing it. Now that I have done those things I just don’t have as much reason to play.

I don’t need ascended, WvW to me is just a huge mess of zergs, spvp isn’t fun due to a lack of game modes, the Legendary process relies more on rng than anything that I actually have some kind of involvement in, there is no reason for me to craft except to gear myself, the LS lacks meaningful story, gameplay or lore for me. I look at the game and see no progression, either horizontal or vertical. Even the guild missions don’t have progression… you don’t work your way up to a mega encounter with a great boss, you just pull some names out of a hat and go kill stuff or run around.

To me, that’s what an MMO needs. A way to set myself apart from anyone else. I don’t see another challenge to set myself against and overcome. Just log in, join a zerg train and grab some mats. That doesn’t make me feel accomplished, it’s just busy work like farming for mats in any other game…but for absolutely no reason.

The only reason I still play isn’t because of the game, it’s because of the people I’ve met. And I’ve quit games for less. It has a lot of potential, but for now, that’s all it is.

Potential.

See I’m the opposite. I’m perfectly content watching the LS unfold slowly. The progression (unquote) from most MMOs doesn’t feel like progression to me at all. Getting better stats through gear has NEVER entertained me and never will. The quest for gear, raiding or running dungeons is not why I play RPGs.

So no other MMO has held my interest for any length of time.

Achievement points on the other hand, that’s okay for me. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

I think Guild Wars 2 was the game i could play for years yet now i fear if it will survive March. They haven’t released any new permanent content thanks to the living story. There’s no new maps besides Southsun and no new worlds. They still havent made PvP more interesting and WvW has gone stale. The problem that is plaguing this game is its lack of content and the speed at which new content is delivered. To quote killcannon the only reason i still play gw2 is its potential.
Thats what GW2 is a potential game.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

killcannon.2576:

Great game. Mediocre MMO.

Funny I’d have reversed that.

Mediocre game, great MMO for me.

I’ve played games I like better, but no MMO has come close. lol Actually pretty good, rather than mediocre.

I just don’t see a lot of long term progression mechanics to keep players in game.

The LS for me has always been a stop gap measure till they had those mechanics in place. During the year that the LS has been active, I just haven’t seen the progression mechanics being implemented besides the achieve point awards.

For me, it’s a better game than an MMO simply because I really enjoyed the core game and exploring every zone and I had a lot of fun doing it. Now that I have done those things I just don’t have as much reason to play.

I don’t need ascended, WvW to me is just a huge mess of zergs, spvp isn’t fun due to a lack of game modes, the Legendary process relies more on rng than anything that I actually have some kind of involvement in, there is no reason for me to craft except to gear myself, the LS lacks meaningful story, gameplay or lore for me. I look at the game and see no progression, either horizontal or vertical. Even the guild missions don’t have progression… you don’t work your way up to a mega encounter with a great boss, you just pull some names out of a hat and go kill stuff or run around.

To me, that’s what an MMO needs. A way to set myself apart from anyone else. I don’t see another challenge to set myself against and overcome. Just log in, join a zerg train and grab some mats. That doesn’t make me feel accomplished, it’s just busy work like farming for mats in any other game…but for absolutely no reason.

The only reason I still play isn’t because of the game, it’s because of the people I’ve met. And I’ve quit games for less. It has a lot of potential, but for now, that’s all it is.

Potential.

See I’m the opposite. I’m perfectly content watching the LS unfold slowly. The progression (unquote) from most MMOs doesn’t feel like progression to me at all. Getting better stats through gear has NEVER entertained me and never will. The quest for gear, raiding or running dungeons is not why I play RPGs.

So no other MMO has held my interest for any length of time.

Achievement points on the other hand, that’s okay for me. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

See I’m the opposite. I see progression as the story progression. I’m seeing the LS progress and that’s fine for me. It’s enough.

What you’re talking about is caring about what other people are doing. I don’t care what other people are doing. They could miss or not miss…but the story is advancing and I’m happy to wait to see what happens.

I don’t need to be forced to play constantly to see progression….but I wouldn’t want to miss the story as it unfolds. I guess, again, we’re wired differently.

It’s not looking good.

The living story gets me out of WvW for a bit, but then it’s back to WvW for me.
And we know how that’s like, same old problems still there.

And for those waiting for the big feature update they think is one the 21st, read the blog entry again, this so called “feature only” update will not be released until Season 1 of the living story has ended.
And seeing as there are 4 more part to it, dont expect the feature update until end of March at the earliest!

It’s more fun than Starbound, not as engrossing as Minecraft (“Wait, is the sun coming up?!”), but holding my attention better than Christmas purchases.

Also cheaper than “cardboard crack”, that is Magic The Gathering, where I wind up planning every Friday for the usual sad end.

killcannon.2576:

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

i understand what you’re saying entirely. if make a new character and get him to level 80, and decide that i’d like to run arah, all i would have to do is just go to arah. the same with everything else. i don’t even have to acknowledge the existence of the lower level dungeon leading up it. progression would be starting with only AC available, and having to complete it to unlock CM, and so on up the list until i’ve done them all and am able to do arah. the same with everything else you’ve mentioned. it has nothing to do with gear whatsoever, but about actions. needing to complete easy tasks before being able to graduate up to doing harder and harder ones. starting off at the bottom and working your way up through the ranks. that sense of accomplishment is pretty much nonexistent in gw2. to use an analogy, it’s the difference between starting off in the mailroom and working to be promoted higher and higher up the corporate ladder, and being able to just start off as the CEO right off the bat. when you look back, and see all that you had to accomplish to get where you are, it means a hell of a lot more to you than if it was just hand delivered to you from the get-go. it also gives you goals to strive for. if you start off at the top, there’s nothing left for you to shoot for. if you start off at the bottom and need to earn your way up, each step becomes a goal in itself. gear is so often viewed as progression simply because acquiring each tier is a ladder of goals in itself. once you get the top tier of gear, there’s no new goals, so most MMOs spew out another few tiers of gear every now because it’s absurdly simple to do from a developer standpoint. it’s also extremely lazy and unimaginative, but it’s been done by so many companies for so long that it’s just become the accepted practice as well as the accepted definition of the word progression. it doesn’t reflect well on MMOs as a whole, when you think about it.

Phantom.8130:

killcannon.2576:

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

i understand what you’re saying entirely. if make a new character and get him to level 80, and decide that i’d like to run arah, all i would have to do is just go to arah. the same with everything else. i don’t even have to acknowledge the existence of the lower level dungeon leading up it. progression would be starting with only AC available, and having to complete it to unlock CM, and so on up the list until i’ve done them all and am able to do arah. the same with everything else you’ve mentioned. it has nothing to do with gear whatsoever, but about actions. needing to complete easy tasks before being able to graduate up to doing harder and harder ones. starting off at the bottom and working your way up through the ranks. that sense of accomplishment is pretty much nonexistent in gw2. to use an analogy, it’s the difference between starting off in the mailroom and working to be promoted higher and higher up the corporate ladder, and being able to just start off as the CEO right off the bat. when you look back, and see all that you had to accomplish to get where you are, it means a hell of a lot more to you than if it was just hand delivered to you from the get-go. it also gives you goals to strive for. if you start off at the top, there’s nothing left for you to shoot for. if you start off at the bottom and need to earn your way up, each step becomes a goal in itself. gear is so often viewed as progression simply because acquiring each tier is a ladder of goals in itself. once you get the top tier of gear, there’s no new goals, so most MMOs spew out another few tiers of gear every now because it’s absurdly simple to do from a developer standpoint. it’s also extremely lazy and unimaginative, but it’s been done by so many companies for so long that it’s just become the accepted practice as well as the accepted definition of the word progression. it doesn’t reflect well on MMOs as a whole, when you think about it.

So you want linear progression. If that works for you, that’s great.

I don’t particularly want linear progression. If I’m good enough to do a higher level dungeon without doing a lower level one, I should be able to.

Good game overall, great combat.

Bug/exploit fixing needs to be a far higher priority.

Balance could use some work in all areas though (PvE/sPvP/WvW).

All new content being temporary is fine for a player like me that plays often, but bad for those who leave and return and want to experience it.

Vayne.8563:

Phantom.8130:

killcannon.2576:

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

i understand what you’re saying entirely. if make a new character and get him to level 80, and decide that i’d like to run arah, all i would have to do is just go to arah. the same with everything else. i don’t even have to acknowledge the existence of the lower level dungeon leading up it. progression would be starting with only AC available, and having to complete it to unlock CM, and so on up the list until i’ve done them all and am able to do arah. the same with everything else you’ve mentioned. it has nothing to do with gear whatsoever, but about actions. needing to complete easy tasks before being able to graduate up to doing harder and harder ones. starting off at the bottom and working your way up through the ranks. that sense of accomplishment is pretty much nonexistent in gw2. to use an analogy, it’s the difference between starting off in the mailroom and working to be promoted higher and higher up the corporate ladder, and being able to just start off as the CEO right off the bat. when you look back, and see all that you had to accomplish to get where you are, it means a hell of a lot more to you than if it was just hand delivered to you from the get-go. it also gives you goals to strive for. if you start off at the top, there’s nothing left for you to shoot for. if you start off at the bottom and need to earn your way up, each step becomes a goal in itself. gear is so often viewed as progression simply because acquiring each tier is a ladder of goals in itself. once you get the top tier of gear, there’s no new goals, so most MMOs spew out another few tiers of gear every now because it’s absurdly simple to do from a developer standpoint. it’s also extremely lazy and unimaginative, but it’s been done by so many companies for so long that it’s just become the accepted practice as well as the accepted definition of the word progression. it doesn’t reflect well on MMOs as a whole, when you think about it.

So you want linear progression. If that works for you, that’s great.

I don’t particularly want linear progression. If I’m good enough to do a higher level dungeon without doing a lower level one, I should be able to.

Well, luckily for you, that’s the game we currently have in GW2. And I’m glad there is a game for the players who don’t like progression out there.

I feel like it’s an ok game, but an unfortunate sequel to a much better game.

Sad because so far its been 16 months and…

No instanced raids
Hollow (skin)progression
Story content that adds nothing meaningful.
Dull PvP
Zergfest WvW(now with boring grind!)
Same bugs/exploits since day one
Same bad mob AI(mossman can still be exploited)
Lack of defined roles for classes(and diversity)
Constant imbalance
Anet cares only about PvP(hence imbalanced pve)
They went from an amazing 2012 Halloween to a forgettable 2013 one
They didn’t bring back the skins from 2012 Halloween(1800g ghastly grinning shield? wtf)

My word is, boring. There has been very little permanent content that has been added since launch and Anet refuses to address the issue of the lack of difficult content.

Every LS update is just a Zerg fest for ap hunters and ways for them to add more crap to the gem store.

And dont even get me started about the storyline/lore of the LS. Does anet think 5 year olds play the game? I mean comon! Half of me wants them to build off lore from gw1 but the other half of me doesnt want them to touch it and ruin it. Its why i voted for the Thaumanova Reactor and not Abaddon Fractal.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

Phantom.8130:

killcannon.2576:

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

i understand what you’re saying entirely. if make a new character and get him to level 80, and decide that i’d like to run arah, all i would have to do is just go to arah. the same with everything else. i don’t even have to acknowledge the existence of the lower level dungeon leading up it. progression would be starting with only AC available, and having to complete it to unlock CM, and so on up the list until i’ve done them all and am able to do arah. the same with everything else you’ve mentioned. it has nothing to do with gear whatsoever, but about actions. needing to complete easy tasks before being able to graduate up to doing harder and harder ones. starting off at the bottom and working your way up through the ranks. that sense of accomplishment is pretty much nonexistent in gw2. to use an analogy, it’s the difference between starting off in the mailroom and working to be promoted higher and higher up the corporate ladder, and being able to just start off as the CEO right off the bat. when you look back, and see all that you had to accomplish to get where you are, it means a hell of a lot more to you than if it was just hand delivered to you from the get-go. it also gives you goals to strive for. if you start off at the top, there’s nothing left for you to shoot for. if you start off at the bottom and need to earn your way up, each step becomes a goal in itself. gear is so often viewed as progression simply because acquiring each tier is a ladder of goals in itself. once you get the top tier of gear, there’s no new goals, so most MMOs spew out another few tiers of gear every now because it’s absurdly simple to do from a developer standpoint. it’s also extremely lazy and unimaginative, but it’s been done by so many companies for so long that it’s just become the accepted practice as well as the accepted definition of the word progression. it doesn’t reflect well on MMOs as a whole, when you think about it.

So you want linear progression. If that works for you, that’s great.

I don’t particularly want linear progression. If I’m good enough to do a higher level dungeon without doing a lower level one, I should be able to.

Well, luckily for you, that’s the game we currently have in GW2. And I’m glad there is a game for the players who don’t like progression out there.

‘For players who don’t like linear progression*, which is still not entirely accurate because, correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t that the whole reason Fractals even exist?

Lots promised before and after release; very little delivered. Lots of interesting ideas (e.g., Living Story); terrible implementation. Also, extremely grindy.

Serelisk.6573:

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

Phantom.8130:

killcannon.2576:

Progression doesn’t have to be about stats. And for me it isn’t about stats, it’s about reason.

Sweeping Generalizations

The game lacks progression because the idea behind it is very inclusive instead of exclusive. There is no reason to log in because you never fall behind (one reason they introduced LS was to give the illusion of falling behind). No one stands out, everyone is equal, everyone is the same. No one gets shut out of any content ever. You don’t have to do AC to experience Arah. You don’t have to do your personal story to get to Cursed Shore. You never have to craft. You never have to leave the starting zone, you can rescue bunnies till you fall over dead. You don’t have to do anything.

It’s the epitome of the casual MMO, and that’s a good thing for many players and I’m glad they made a game for that crowd. But progression minded players (horizontal or vertical) don’t have much to shoot for. It’s the Minecraft of MMO’s.

i understand what you’re saying entirely. if make a new character and get him to level 80, and decide that i’d like to run arah, all i would have to do is just go to arah. the same with everything else. i don’t even have to acknowledge the existence of the lower level dungeon leading up it. progression would be starting with only AC available, and having to complete it to unlock CM, and so on up the list until i’ve done them all and am able to do arah. the same with everything else you’ve mentioned. it has nothing to do with gear whatsoever, but about actions. needing to complete easy tasks before being able to graduate up to doing harder and harder ones. starting off at the bottom and working your way up through the ranks. that sense of accomplishment is pretty much nonexistent in gw2. to use an analogy, it’s the difference between starting off in the mailroom and working to be promoted higher and higher up the corporate ladder, and being able to just start off as the CEO right off the bat. when you look back, and see all that you had to accomplish to get where you are, it means a hell of a lot more to you than if it was just hand delivered to you from the get-go. it also gives you goals to strive for. if you start off at the top, there’s nothing left for you to shoot for. if you start off at the bottom and need to earn your way up, each step becomes a goal in itself. gear is so often viewed as progression simply because acquiring each tier is a ladder of goals in itself. once you get the top tier of gear, there’s no new goals, so most MMOs spew out another few tiers of gear every now because it’s absurdly simple to do from a developer standpoint. it’s also extremely lazy and unimaginative, but it’s been done by so many companies for so long that it’s just become the accepted practice as well as the accepted definition of the word progression. it doesn’t reflect well on MMOs as a whole, when you think about it.

So you want linear progression. If that works for you, that’s great.

I don’t particularly want linear progression. If I’m good enough to do a higher level dungeon without doing a lower level one, I should be able to.

Well, luckily for you, that’s the game we currently have in GW2. And I’m glad there is a game for the players who don’t like progression out there.

‘For players who don’t like linear progression*, which is still not entirely accurate because, correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t that the whole reason Fractals even exist?

You don’t progress anywhere in Fractals except upward in difficulty and reward. Nothing new opens, you don’t really experience anything different, you don’t open more fractals to do.

The people at the bottom of the ladder are doing the exact same thing as those at the top. It’s some kind of skewed hybrid horizontal vertical mess.

Diagonal progression?

PvE content is a bit too bland at times. I think the most important thing is that (new) content should make you feel something like:

“Wow this creature is really epic”
“This part of the story is really sad”
“This area has a really creepy atmosphere”
“wow this is an unexpected plottwist”

etc.

Most of the times i dont have a really distinct feeling when experiencing new content in GW2 (scarlet is a prime example of that) I want to feel some kind of emotion when seeing something for the first time.

So id really like to see them to push the boundries of our emotions.

Great game with some annoying design mistakes (yes, ascended gear, I am looking at you). And while I am able to live without the holy trinity I sometimes trap myself thinking about it nostalgicly.

But such a great world. And you can jump and dodge and cast while you move. Always while trying out another game I think “wow what a clumsy combat”.

And while I am not into pvp I have great fun in wvw and hope they improve this part of the game even more.

+1 kuru and claudius
won’t repeat anything already said in other threads, but a grindy game quite different than expected.

+1 locuz too.
the story is a bit too “simple”.

kiwituatara.6053:

EASY ways to make money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeAaYz8gM

Have you even watched that video ? And would you buy yourself 8 accounts just to make “easy” money ?

Think this also sums things up as well.

I love this game and generally feel quite happy about it at this moment in time. I do wish you didn’t have to level to 80 – I get bored around level 35 until level 70 or so, and I find most of the Living Story a bit lacklustre. However, since the majority of my entertainment comes from simply exploring the world, these are relatively minor issues. If I keep levelling alts, I don’t really need to think about whether or not I can afford/craft/need Ascended gear, though I would eventually like some.

kiwituatara.6053:

I don’t know if everyone feels the same way I do about gw2 right now. For me, gw2 has become a ball of mess to the point that its become a little ridiculous:

EASY ways to make money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdeAaYz8gM

EASY dungeons: dungeons generally have become heavy zerkers only environment where everyones using the stacking “exploits”.

EASY pvp: AI minion builds (spirit ranger, minion mancer, pu mesmer) have become the new meta and the arenas littered with AI builds. There are also a few other OP builds that doesnt require AIs…

EASY wvw: Doesn’t matter how good your server is, more players + more coverage = win. Also, bring heavies only.

As for the open world pve, I get the idea of end-game ascended gear forcing players to go back to lower level zones for dragonite ores, but its turned into a waiting game: checking http://us.gw2stuff.com/ for world boss timers. The process of getting end-game gear is no longer fun, its become a time-gated waiting game; waiting for daily laurels, waiting for daily mats.

I understand that the devs are trying to fix some of these things right now (such as bringing down the zerker meta https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/PvE-Revising-the-DPS-Meta), but there have been some bad ideas that somehow managed to make its way into the game. Though, the game is still young and theres still time to fix a lot of loopholes and balance issues.

HOWEVER, if I could describe this game with one word at the moment, it would be frustrating.

This is how horizontal progression driven and content lock free game works… It’s just a big gold farm.

Good game. Ascended crafting is little bit pain and game would be even more fun if i would l2p.

Vayne.8563:

So you want linear progression. If that works for you, that’s great.

I don’t particularly want linear progression. If I’m good enough to do a higher level dungeon without doing a lower level one, I should be able to.

linear has nothing to do with it. please don’t put words into my mouth, then argue against those. it doesn’t need to be a line. it can be more like a tree with branches, and that would actually be preferred. just some form of tangible progression that has nothing to do with grinding out new gear. i want goals and activities, not new shinies.

there’s nothing like that in the game currently. fractals don’t count because they’re the same thing over and over and over and over. the horizontal/vertical gear grind doesn’t count, because those are just carrots on sticks. they’re not content, and they didn’t even get horizontal gear progression right. horizontal progression is about adding ability variety, not aesthetics. but they crippled their ability to do a proper horizontal progression by making every stat and piece of gear solely about combat. combat should be just one category of many, with subdivisions underneath of it that correlate to the general build concepts.

so, there’s no activity progression (no, the LS isn’t activity progression. it’s story progression, which is usually just watching a movie in tiny chunks) gear progression is a mess. there’s no goals aside from “grind for higher pointless numbers”. whether those numbers are unccessary stat boosts from gear, the “achievement” points that are just a measure of how much someone’s grinded, some form of currency, most of which are useless (anyone remember the last time they needed karma?), or you can hop into WvW and grind out WXP because power creep it always a great addition to a PvP based game (sarcasm), or hop into sPvP to grind out glory that they’re apparently getting rid of. i don’t enjoy grindy games.

I still enjoy the game, and play most days. It would be nice to discover new lands, but I think those are coming, with time. I am looking forward to the big wrap-up of Living Story Season 1, and curious what the next arc will be. I don’t have a problem with Ascended gear, because I am not that interested in ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. If, and when, it happens, it happens. I think the game has potential (to keep my interest)…I would hope any MMORPG that I was interested in playing did.

When the question is asked, “How do you feel about Gw2 right now?”, it’s necessary to add the corollary of, “compared to what?”. For my part, when trying to rate the game as it exists right now, and not as it existed in marketing or when originally launched, I don’t compare it to games in general, but only to a very specific genre of games: traditional vertical-progression MMORPG currently on the market with large populations and consistent updating. Within this group of games (games like WoW, Lotro ect…), I would rate Gw2 very highly.

1. The game has stunning visuals and artwork which very few triple-A mmos can match. And this alone is a gigantic plus in a person being able to immerse themselves into that world; most especially for people past their teenage/college student age who no longer can stomach overly cartoonish depictions of their characters and the world in general.

2. No hard trinity (must have classes). While this is an open point of contention among many who hold that it hurts game play, for quite a few people (myself included), it’s a breath of fresh air from the, “4 of 5, need healer” experience in other games. What’s more, for good and ill, it’s one of the unique elements to this game that was promised during development, and that has been kept.

3. The little things: from the DEs, to not having to compete for nodes, to a quest heart-system that cuts down on tedious back and forth time waste – the game has some really nice QoL aspects that make game play more enjoyable.

4. The combat system. You can stomp your feet all you want about the Gw2 combat system and weapon skills system (and there are some very legitimate complaints), but after experiencing this system, I for my part could never go back to the far more static and non-dynamic combat systems of games like WoW or Lotro.

5. And lastly, another plus is that the vertical progression in Gw2 is still in its infancy. While we never really got the marketed Gw2 of, “easily obtainable BiS gear”, where, "Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. Because we want everyone on an equal power base.” — once you get past that disappointment and accept Gw2 for what it now is, ie, another traditional vertical progression game (albeit, with some cool innovations and better graphics), it’s actually pretty good. And because the VP is new, it’s still on a low power curve, so the long-term detrimental effects are still a ways off. Sure, eventually a game company will create, and stand by, a 100% horizontal progression game that also has modern graphics and solid game play – and when they do, I’m all in, but that moment, is not now.

Criticisms to each point:
1. Great graphics, true, but the particle effect over-load is tiresome.
2. No hard trinity, true, but the class balance issues somewhat sabotage this ideal.
3. Lots of little QoL thing done right, true, but there are some basic QoL elements still missing (in-game voice, armor-type categories for browsing the Tp, ect).
4. A dynamic, movement based combat system, true, but sometime the game goes a bit overboard in this respect (dodge ftw lol).
5. A lower power-curve VP system, true, but what direction this will take in the future is a huge unknown. Is it a low-power curve only because it’s step one and in its infancy, or is it merely the tip of a VP iceberg?

All that said, " How do I feel about Gw2 right now": my answer would be, that within the context of its current competitors, I feel pretty kitten good about it.

Keiel.7489:

Jski.6180:

I think the forums have gotten them self into a situation where they can be called out for asking for something and then getting it and then complain about the very thing they asked for.

It’s cause the majority of players are content and doesn’t visit the forums until something upsets them.

That’s what I’ve observed. People complain they don’t like this or that so it gets changed then people complain it was made worse.

The more balanced people feel that GW2 is in a good position especially compared to other MMO’s, those people have perspective.

The biggest complainers seem to be those that have no perspective or those that come to the forums in rage mode for whatever reason and complain ie. it’s bad game design.

I feel great about GW2 right now. There are things I wish were different at times, but I don’t know of any game where that would not be true.

Weighing everything, I think it is pretty darn awesome!

Apparently I’m not allowed to say that I find the game boring right now, even in topics that are asking for the communities feelings and opinions on the game lol. Like, I can’t put it any “nicer” then that. I feel like it’s really gotten boring so I’m just going to say it again. As much as I hate to say it at this point I’m not really enjoying these “lite” updates we’re getting as they don’t really ever seem to add anything substantial to the game that entertains me for more than a day at most which is also quite frustrating.

I’m content. I do wish there was a bit more to get excited about. But I do think ANet is slowly improving the game, starting to get the living story a bit better, slowing plugging some holes here and there and really trying to make the game better. So I’ve got hope for the future and after my long trek through the MMO landscape before GW2 came out I can say GW2 is one of the better MMOs out there (atleast in my opinion).
So it could be better, but it could also be much much worse. So yeah content.

So you want linear progression. If that works for you, that’s great.

I don’t particularly want linear progression. If I’m good enough to do a higher level dungeon without doing a lower level one, I should be able to.

[/quote]

Which leads to the problem of having lvl 80 players that have no clue what they are doing in harder dungeons. I’ve seen lvl 80 players who didn’t have a clue what they doing in AC b4 it was patched smh. At least being lvl 80 should mean that you have a certain lvl of expertise; not that you just ran through game cause its causal friendly and show no true skills that you have progressively developed as a player.

For me, I feel GW is at the cusp of greatness or failure. Depending on how the LS ends. Yes, to me it is that dramatic. IF, the LS falls flat and the changes that come out in the next 2 months are poor, I will probably move on.

1. While I haven’t been playing since launch, I have received my first bday present (which I can’t use unless I buy more characters slots). I haven’t seen a new permanent map (Southsun was completed). The world map is huge and we explore less than half of it.
2. The game has become more and more grindy. I don’t want items falling from the sky, but I do enjoy killing things for my materials, not rush dungeons and buy what I want.
3. WvW Season 1 was a flop. It did its job and got people into WvW, but overall it turned into zergfests and the rewards were appauling.
4. No skin locker. If they were to move all the meta reward skins to a locker similar to the achievement zenith skins that would be a great step. I don’t need all of my skins to be in a locker, but the ones I’ve obtained through LS, I would love to use more than once. Heck, they gave us a light/medium/heavy dragon helm skin, not just 1.
5. PVE is too easy
6. The Fractured patch fiasco.

TLDR: If the LS is a success, then I will stay. If not, I will liquidate my inventory and log out.