Guild Wars 2

So I typed /age for the first time last night and it says I’ve played for 67 hours over the last 25 days. 67/25 = 2.68 hours per day. I’m level 53

I’d probably have a little more than that but I went on vacation for several days. Still that’s nearly 3 hours a day. If you sleep for 8 hours a night and you take another 2 hours for meals in the day you have 24 – 8 – 2 = 14 hours in day. 2.68/14 = 19% of your day.

I’m committing nearly 1/5 of my day to a video game. I’m actually very good at video games. Not the best but I def prefer hard over easy and want the majority of the game to be challenging.

I know many of you are level 80 and in full on complaint mode so how much time do you actually have in and what do you consider yourself? I consider myself more hardcore than casual and I’m not even 80 yet. I already feel I got more than my money’s worth.

Anyway I know hardcore and casual are relative terms but where is your breakpoint? What percentage of a day committed to video games is the break point and where do you fall?

im 40 and 20 on three other toons. I’ve played around 100 hours :P I consider myself a casual that used to be hardcore. Im enjoying the game at my own pace. No hurry.

I’m at like 160 hours I think. 1 80, 1 40, 6 10’s. I’m pretty sure I’ve played every day since the game came out. That’d probably put me at hardcore, I suppose.

I say im in between.

188 hours.

Come at me.

Around 320 hours.

Yeah….

Around 200hrs so far and not even 80 yet and only 50% of the map opened. So far loved every min of it,fantastic game.

188 hrs, 36min / 24 days, level 70. (Average 7.83 hrs/day)
204hrs, 3 min / 25 days all characters. (Average 8.16 hrs/day)

Near 350 hours, Yes I have issues.

gosh… more than 5 hours a day 7/7?

please help yourself and explore real life

45h lvl33 20days played.

Avatar.1923:

gosh… more than 5 hours a day 7/7?

am. shocked.

please help yourself and explore real life

No thanks. I hate ppl irl.

254 hours. I consider myself midrange between casual and hardcore. I’ve been more towards hardcore in other games (Raiding 6 nights a week at one point in my gaming life), but i’m far more towards casual in GW2 since i’m enjoying taking my time and not rushing through anything right now.

Shaileya 254 hours is definitely hardcore. Now you may consider it more casual than in the past but it’s hardcore by nearly anyones standards in terms of time invested.

One of the reasons I was curious about this is because there seems to be an insatiable hunger from the gaming community for content and things to do. Some of you have over 300 hours in the game that’s 12 hours a day since release. Even those of us with less are still putting in a lot of our time. I’m just not sure how you can keep players like that happy without an item grind and round the clock content development or possibly program a randomized world that’s always recreating itself similar to how Diablo levels are randomized.

If this game really is made for casuals and by casuals I mean people who play for a few hours a week then it’s already perfect. My suspicion is that the majority of players are not truly casual and put in several hours a day and 4+ hours a day in the extremes. If the games philosophy continues as a “do it because it’s fun” instead of having rewards and goals a substantial portion of the player base will move on soon or as soon as something else comes along.

anything over 30h a week is definitely hardcore.
and 40h+ is a full time job

I’m at about 45 hours played. I’ve got level 15, 10, 8, 6, and 5 toons, but have been spending more than half my time in sPvP, where I’m just about to roll over to Rank 11.

Having a ton of fun. I see myself playing just as casually for the foreseeable future. An hour here, 3 hours there. Not necessarily every day.

I think it’s funny to see these people who have over 200 hours, or over 300 hours played. Seems insane to me, but I’m not a kid anymore with that kind of time. I like when they say something along the lines of “I’ve got 350 hours played so far and this game is such a grind.” Hmm, yeah… you do anything 12 hours a day 7 days a week and it’s going to feel like a grind, no matter how much fun it could have been if you’d played it with any semblance of moderation.

Avatar.1923:

anything over 30h a week is definitely hardcore.
and 40h+ is a full time job

I think that largely depends on what you’re doing while playing. If you’re just running around, looking at the scenery, finding jumping puzzles or caves to explore…is that hardcore?

The first weekend, I absolutely played hardcore. Nonstop leveling via hearts, DEs, etc. My second character I’ve spent just as many HOURS on as my first, but I’m not grinding out the levels in the same way, and as such I’m only level 38 despite playing nearly the same time it took to hit 80 on my main.

Time does not determine casual or hardcore, imo. It can be a good indicator, but it certainly isn’t the only criteria.

Around 400 hours.

Still <3 the game.

350 hours and 3 level 80s.

2 hours per day is very casual in my opinion.

Uhhh…2 hours per day, 350 hours? That would take 175 days. We’re not even 30 days in, are we?

zydal.2790:

Uhhh…2 hours per day, 350 hours? That would take 175 days. We’re not even 30 days in, are we?

I see someone read the original post.

People can’t seem to grasp the concept that some people play more on weekends and using an average is kind of meaningless. I think I spent 40% of my time just on two different weekends when I had 3 day weekends.

263 hours on one character, level 80 for a while, not bored yet!

Malas.9425:

Near 350 hours, Yes I have issues.

Seriously?!? That’s literally 13.5 hours PER DAY since 3-day headstart launch (8/25).

How, or more importantly, WHY would you do that to yourself? This game is great, I admit, but doing ANYTHING for almost 14 hours per day (yes, even kittening) would get old…

Shaileya.7063:

254 hours. I consider myself midrange between casual and hardcore.

No, that’s hard-the-kitten-core, no matter how you slice it. Putting in 10 hours per day is by no means “casual.”

133 hrs 31 mins over 21 days. Sooooo…. 6.35 hrs a day o.o; I mean I don’t play EVERY day, but when I do play I do a lot of stuff! I finish all the vista points and pois and that takes a while! ~embarrassed~

I’m at 92 hours I’ve had the game since pre-release. I pretty much try to play as much as I can when I’m not working.

Im at 190 hours in 17 days. So a bit too much tbh

138 total, 98 on my main 80.

It’s a lot for me, because I had a week off in the first week after release, so was able to play a lot. But generally I play 2-3 hours a day, so am casual, but the number is high due to that week and the weekends, when I play more.

For most people the threshold is this: those who play more than me are hardcore, and those who play less than me are casual. It’s like driving: those who drive faster than me are maniacs, and those who drive slower than me are idiots. It’s very human — we’re all very, very, very self-focused at the end of the day in terms of all standards we apply to anything, unless we make a deliberately studied effort to avoid that (and mostly that still fails due to various biases, confirmation and otherwise).

After reading a lot of your post I’m starting to see some distinctions that weren’t very clear to me before. Most of you have put in a significant amount of time in the game and many of you also don’t consider yourselves hardcore. That’s very interesting.

You can be hard core in terms of the time you have invested but not necessarily in your approach to the game it would seem. For instance someone may have 150+ hours invested in the game which I consider a huge amount of time but could play the game very casually not concerned about min/maxing, efficiency, being the best, being serious, etc

On the other hand you could have someone who only has maybe 50 hours in the game which is pretty casual but their approach to the game is hardcore. They want max efficiency and to be the most powerful and as efficient as possible. Probably a lot more serious when they do play putting a higher priority on the end goals, and challenges rather than the journey and social aspects of the game.

Proeliator.8740:

One of the reasons I was curious about this is because there seems to be an insatiable hunger from the gaming community for content and things to do. Some of you have over 300 hours in the game that’s 12 hours a day since release. Even those of us with less are still putting in a lot of our time. I’m just not sure how you can keep players like that happy without an item grind and round the clock content development or possibly program a randomized world that’s always recreating itself similar to how Diablo levels are randomized.

If this game really is made for casuals and by casuals I mean people who play for a few hours a week then it’s already perfect. My suspicion is that the majority of players are not truly casual and put in several hours a day and 4+ hours a day in the extremes. If the games philosophy continues as a “do it because it’s fun” instead of having rewards and goals a substantial portion of the player base will move on soon or as soon as something else comes along.

I second that

Anyone else like me?

I used to be hardcore in college. Now i have a kid and a family to support and a full time job in my career with high possibility of career grow.

I still need my gaming fix and so i play like 4 hours maybe less on a week day “if im lucky” and i play mostly on the weekends. Like 8 or 9 hours on a week day and i feel exhausted by the end.. as in i dont want to play the game anymore.

I like this game i dont feel like i need to play 24×7.. Sure, some folks are lvl 80 with kitten armors!! but im sure one day ill be lvl 80 with kitten armor too. And by the looks of it there is not enough endgame content yet so whats the rush. I’m enjoying the slow pace. Getting my moneys worth baby!

Progression has a wall. Maybe their virtual pockets get bigger but still.. I’m sure once i hit lvl 80 and take it easy more content will be released.

Anyone else on my situation!? Give me a woot woot

knightblaster.8027:

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For most people the threshold is this: those who play more than me are hardcore, and those who play less than me are casual. It’s like driving: those who drive faster than me are maniacs, and those who drive slower than me are idiots. It’s very human — we’re all very, very, very self-focused at the end of the day in terms of all standards we apply to anything, unless we make a deliberately studied effort to avoid that (and mostly that still fails due to various biases, confirmation and otherwise).

This is absolutely true but I think societies standard is what is probably a more accurate reflection of what is or isn’t hardcore. Most people probably only have a few hours of free time after work, sleep, school, chores, errands, responsibilities etc. lets say 4-5 hours maybe more depending on what stage of life you’re in. I think most people would consider 2-3 hours a day playing a video game to be pretty hard core. Hell many of us will sit and play a game for 5-8 hours in a sitting if its a day off or something. That’s not casual I don’t think. It’s pretty hard for people really into video games to define what is hardcore because most of our base line is hardcore.

We can apply this to nearly any other hobby/activity. If I told you I put in 2-3 hours a day in any of the following activities would you consider that hardcore?

Boxing
The gym
Reading
fishing
drinking at bars

ozzybananas.6178:

Anyone else like me?

I used to be hardcore in college. Now i have a kid and a family to support and a full time job in my career with high possibility of career grow.

I still need my gaming fix and so i play like 4 hours maybe less on a week day “if im lucky” and i play mostly on the weekends. Like 8 or 9 hours on a week day and i feel exhausted by the end.. as in i dont want to play the game anymore.

I like this game i dont feel like i need to play 24×7.. Sure, some folks are lvl 80 with kitten armors!! but im sure one day ill be lvl 80 with kitten armor too. And by the looks of it there is not enough endgame content yet so whats the rush. I’m enjoying the slow pace. Getting my moneys worth baby!

Progression has a wall. Maybe their virtual pockets get bigger but still.. I’m sure once i hit lvl 80 and take it easy more content will be released.

Anyone else on my situation!? Give me a woot woot

I have a similar situation but instead of a family I have an active social life and I also commit about an hour a day to the gym. I’ll get a call to go out or do something a few nights of the week and every weekened. Combine that with a full time job and a few hours every day is pretty intense in terms of a time commitment goes. Don’t get me wrong I have my days where I’ll sit and play vids for like 5-6 hours but to average that is getting close to a full time job which is pretty hardcore by anyones standards.

i consider myself a casual player due to other engagements but i have 171 hours over the past month. idk. my situation isn’t the most ideal and if i was living closer to my boyfriend and not an hour away i’d likely be spending less time on here. i’m also not employed at the immediate moment so that contributes

i definitely know i don’t get as many chances to play as i would like to though!!

Proeliator.8740:

knightblaster.8027:

.

For most people the threshold is this: those who play more than me are hardcore, and those who play less than me are casual. It’s like driving: those who drive faster than me are maniacs, and those who drive slower than me are idiots. It’s very human — we’re all very, very, very self-focused at the end of the day in terms of all standards we apply to anything, unless we make a deliberately studied effort to avoid that (and mostly that still fails due to various biases, confirmation and otherwise).

This is absolutely true but I think societies standard is what is probably a more accurate reflection of what is or isn’t hardcore. Most people probably only have a few hours of free time after work, sleep, school, chores, errands, responsibilities etc. lets say 4-5 hours maybe more depending on what stage of life you’re in. I think most people would consider 2-3 hours a day playing a video game to be pretty hard core. Hell many of us will sit and play a game for 5-8 hours in a sitting if its a day off or something. That’s not casual I don’t think. It’s pretty hard for people really into video games to define what is hardcore because most of our base line is hardcore.

We can apply this to nearly any other hobby/activity. If I told you I put in 2-3 hours a day in any of the following activities would you consider that hardcore?

Boxing
The gym
Reading
fishing
drinking at bars

I don’t know about those activities — it would vary. Many would say 2-3 hours a day at the gym is hardcore, but fitness rats wouldn’t agree. I don’t think anyone fishes as a hobby 2-3 hours a day. Drinking is more about the number of drinks — you can spend 2-3 hours and drink 2-3 beers, or drink 6-8 beers — it’s different. Reading — I don’t think anyone would say if you read for 2-3 hours at a stretch you are a “hardcore reader”. There are different standards for different activities.

In video games, mostly the average person in society thinks that anyone who spends any time playing a video game is problematic. More tolerant people will overlook 30 minutes here and there. If you are sitting and playing a game for 60 minutes or more, most of the average public thinks you are an addict.

NOt as much as I’ve wanted due to RL but as of right now casual

knightblaster.8027:

I don’t know about those activities — it would vary. Many would say 2-3 hours a day at the gym is hardcore, but fitness rats wouldn’t agree. I don’t think anyone fishes as a hobby 2-3 hours a day. Drinking is more about the number of drinks — you can spend 2-3 hours and drink 2-3 beers, or drink 6-8 beers — it’s different. Reading — I don’t think anyone would say if you read for 2-3 hours at a stretch you are a “hardcore reader”. There are different standards for different activities.

In video games, mostly the average person in society thinks that anyone who spends any time playing a video game is problematic. More tolerant people will overlook 30 minutes here and there. If you are sitting and playing a game for 60 minutes or more, most of the average public thinks you are an addict.

Again you’re correct about society thinking an hr or more a day playing vids is an addict but there is probably middle ground. Most people would think nearly any of those activities done for that long is a serious hobby or even obsession. Read books for 2-3 hours a day you’re a book worm. Work out for 2-3 hours a day you’re a gym rat. Hang out in bars 2-3 hours a night even if you aren’t drinking you’re a bar fly.

That’s how people view just a few hours a day in something now lets take that up to the extremes that we’re seeing just in this thread alone where people are putting in 4-5 hours or even 10+ hours on average a day that’s pretty freakin hard core for any activity especially something that’s supposed to be entertainment with no other real tangible benefits.

I agree that anything above an hour or two on a daily basis is hardcore.

A scant over 144 hours in 25 days. Not sure what that makes me. Enthusiastic about the game, likely. Looking over the thread, not as enthusiastic as some I see.

Well over 200 hours since head start. Even so I consider myself a casual. Let me give you my definition of Hardcore and Casual. A hardcore player, to me, is someone who constantly runs dungeons (or raids) to get the best available gear in the game and maxes out his character using that min/max mumbo jumbo spreadsheet calculation stuff that I just don’t get. A casual is a person who, regardless of the amount of time spent in the game, plays it just for fun. I might run through a dungeon, or I might work on my crafting, or I might explore. But I’m not trying to be the best of the best of the best in the game.

154 hours to level 80, 157 hours played total. Id say im a half hardcore player who occasionally has a gaming binge

Proeliator.8740:

Shaileya 254 hours is definitely hardcore. Now you may consider it more casual than in the past but it’s hardcore by nearly anyones standards in terms of time invested.

Ah, perhaps I wasn’t clear in my meaning. I meant casual in that I am not hitting up the dungeons, farming my sets and stalking Arah events and whatnot. I spend a lot of time on my alts, exploring and zone completing instead as I don’t feel a need to rush to end game.

In my former MMO I was an active raider. When the last xpack came out, I felt I HAD to rush through the new content asap to keep up with progression. I re-hit max level in 2 days, on minimal sleep, so that I could be the first healer in our guild to be max level again. So I could then run considerablly more dungeons than was actually fun at all so that my guildies could work on their gear. Doing things like that over time got really old, and the game did get boring to me.

In this game, I don’t rush things. I may spend a lot of time on it, but I stop to take in the scenery, and I have not even been in most of the dungeons yet as I prefer to wait for my simularlly minded guildies who are leveling a bit slower than I am.

I’ve racked up some hardcore hours playing this game since release, probably more than a full time job a week, and I’ve yet to even explore half the game or more. It kind of puzzles me how fast people rushed and are out of content. I’m not hardcore in the sense of rushing, but exploring every zone, doing puzzles, achievements, pvp (and I’ve hardly scratched the surface of world pvp yet, mainly due to absurd queues), working on crafting as I level (I have all 8 professions/classes) and just socializing and helping the guild; and settling down on my main class.

I think this is the first mmo in a long while where I’ve been so sucked into doing everything possible and feel no need to rush to max level to enjoy anything. I usually could care less about exploring or pve so much and looking at every nook and cranny, but this game makes it worthwhile to me for some reason when I usually find that area lacking. Hell, my guild leader even teases me about doing pve for once.

Overall, I’m quite enjoying myself and never feel like I have enough time to play, despite my absurd amount of hours. I think it’s safe to say I’ve been hooked and I find the amount of stuff to do/explore in this game for just being released quite amazing. I’m not even saying this as a fanboy or with bias, but my experiences with other mmos.

I’ve played about 150 hours worth over the past 2 and 1/2 weeks. Sad part is I’m not even level 55 yet. I’ve been taking my time, LOTS of sPvP, crafting, 100%‘ing all cities, 100%’ing at least two zones for each level range.

“You have played this character for 81 hours 35 minutes over the past 8 days. Across all characters, you have played for 91 hours 18 minutes over the past 8 days.”

Got a lvl 64 human Guardian, a lvl 13 elementalist and lvl 5 thief.

Very casual player.

Rpgtabbycat.5869:

Well over 200 hours since head start. Even so I consider myself a casual. Let me give you my definition of Hardcore and Casual. A hardcore player, to me, is someone who constantly runs dungeons (or raids) to get the best available gear in the game and maxes out his character using that min/max mumbo jumbo spreadsheet calculation stuff that I just don’t get. A casual is a person who, regardless of the amount of time spent in the game, plays it just for fun. I might run through a dungeon, or I might work on my crafting, or I might explore. But I’m not trying to be the best of the best of the best in the game.

By this definition of casual, I’m casual. After 147 hours now, highest character is halfway between 31 and 32. I’m taking my time and seeing the sights.

235 hours :P

No 80s.

8 characters.

252 Hours over the past 26 days…

1 level 80 ranger
1 level 40 necromancer
Couple of alts

I’m now getting to the point where my necromancer is so bugged, I’m going to stop playing until its fixed the minions AI is possibly one of the worst I’ve ever came across.