Guild Wars 2

Hi guys welcome to my sad little story of a GW1 fan boy who bought GW2 expecting it to be a major influence in his life only to have it be a huge point of disappointment and regret. Welcome to today’s round of. . .

WHY – SHOULD – I – COME – BACK – TO – GUILD – WARS – 2! ( studio audience cheers & applauds)

Ok so light hearted joking aside I am quite serious about this, I am an avid fan of the guild wars 1 series and I really enjoyed guild wars 2 when it came out, I even pre-ordered it and playing on the beta weekends. It was the time of my life while it lasted- I had so much fun. So in the beginning everything was great, the game was fresh and I got a lot of friends to play with me, we started a guild and would play together all the time. They, like me, bought into all the pre-release hype and in the beginning everything was computer screen sunshine and rainbows. Then eventually after 2 months or so most of my friends simply lost interest, they didn’t find the game fun, they found the story to be boring and uninteresting, the combat to be dull and super repetitive and the dungeons to be one hit wonders if a hit at all. I tried to convince them otherwise but in the end I think I was trying to convince myself… The ones who toughed it out to magic numeral of 80 had similar thoughts but gave the game a chance, they did all the story stuff, the dungeons, PvP, WvW, even “dynamic” zone quests from start to finish and we had a bit of fun, but in the end they left too. same reasons, and I just couldn’t find any justification to make them stay. I am the only one who keeps giving Guild wars 2 chances. I managed to get them back for a little while with the Super Adventure Box but since it was so short lived in the end result was the same, we had a little fun then they moved on again. So my current plight is this, I don’t mind playing by myself, I have a maxed out guild that will always let me rejoin if the have a free slot, but I cant seem to get myself playing for more than a month. I play for maybe two weeks- and month max get fully updated on the current game then I just simply stop playing unconsciously. I simply don’t realize I stopped playing until later. and the later is months… this has happened to me repeatedly ever since I first stopped playing.

[->] So lets change up the pace and talk about why I like Guild Wars 2:

I definitely enjoyed the fact they tried to make a different type of MMO, they promised some things and they technically delivered (see *1) combat is very fluid and active so its very interesting compared to other MMOs. On top of being free to play I find that there is a lot of content for a one time buy.

People are generally friendly and helpful, I find GW2 has a great community and you can always feel free to ask if you don’t know something.

The design is amazing! everything is so nicely crafted I just love really looking closely at so much in the game, there is a lot of little details that people can miss, whether its funny dialog while passing npcs to beautiful vistas ( and I generally mean the non obligatory ones) GW2 is beautiful!

[*1](I speak of the no- grinding- the “living environments” with the dynamic quests and so on) but really all these can be disproved by a quick analysis – Players are required to get exp to level, there’s no buts about that, but everything you do late game is a grind, and not even a fun one at that! just find the fastest way to complete something and turn on spin cycle ladies and gentlemen! For the most part things are well balanced, if you are good at exploiting the combat system and meta you are rewarded and that is completely fair, its what the people like! but the problem with this is that there is little to no breathing room, there are only a few valid choices for builds, other than that you are stuck with being completely outclassed and playing competitive stuff for the fun of it or sinking into the lowest chasm of self pitting and bowing to a build which disgusts you but lets you make people cry. FYI I put this in the like section because I like the combat, I simply dislike the complete lack of freedom to make interesting builds like in GW1. Whatever this is my topic I don’t have to justify meself to ye! ye just be internet shrubbery!

[->] Why I dislike Guild Wars 2:

The personal story has no depth, It was meant to add to your character and give your a fun an interesting backstory but in all honesty they all lack punch on top of the fact that some of them are so dumb I restarted the character because it ruined the experience. Not to mention that it has no impact whatsoever on anything, the choices you make simply choose which arc you get- and don’t even get me started on the personality system- what a huge pile of kittens that was left to waste.

The main story is quite boring as well, and this is in due part from the uninteresting cinematic system and out appalling design of some of the main story quests which STILL have bugs and broken parts!

Elite skills are a complete waste and barely have any impact, except for the one really obvious choice that you should pretty much always take, every class has one and if you take another elite skill people yell at you and rightly so.

In essence the only new content has been 2 new zones, which are made to be grinded more than a cannibals cleaver, some system changes, 1 new trait for each spec tree, fractals and LOTS OF SKINS AND GEM STUFF. The only significant content is coming out with the new expansion and I so – SO hesitant to buy it- it is why I am making this giant monstrosity of sadness and jokes – my heart has a scar and jokes are the only band-aid I have.

Another big weakness I find is that there is no outright need to use most of your racial abilities, besides the fact that they are mostly limited to PvE where they barely make a difference and WvW where the only thing that matters is what Kerrigan tells us (the Zerg) to do. And this ties into the fact that they could of easily doubled or tripled the amount of racial skills and easily fitted in a talent tree. One of the things that combat and more specifically PvP is missing is a choice of builds and options- Racial skills and talents could have been the wild card to make it more interesting and fun.

Now what I have said so far aside this does not mean I am unaware of the changes Guild Wars 2 has had , there have been many additions in a multitude of places and the game has improved, but in three years for such little improvement and content – why shouldn’t I just play something else, my dilemma is that I just end up doing so!

In the end I simply always have to push myself to play, why should I play a game which forces me to go through mental gymnastics to keep giving it more chances? I hope you guys can help me – this is a sincere plea to ask If I got it all wrong, did I miss something? am I playing wrong? should I just amputate the leg and move on? please notice me sempai’s this might be my last leg!

FYI for the ladies out there I am single- wink wink.

and FYI – FYI if you read the whole post you are a blessed and caring person and I hope you have great day.

Thanks for reading and hopefully posting,

Falcedge

I can agree to many of the things you’ve said, and disagree with some etc.

On the whole I think the thing you miss, is that ANet specifically has aimed this game at being a game that people play "occasionally", and not all the time. And in this it seems you’re doing it right! But questioning it.

Most of the same things happened to me the first year I played. Most of my friends quit the game and moved on etc, it wasn’t what they where looking for, some has returned only to disappear again etc. And I kept jumping in and out every now and then, as you have.

For me the solution was WvW, and finding an active guild I enjoy hanging out with. I entered WvW first time trying to do map completion, since it was the only maps I hadn’t explored. And met a bunch of guys that loved roaming together and get fights, joined their guild and haven’t looked back since.

Find something you like in this game, and find a guild with people that likes the same. Personally I find that only the PvP aspect (either PvP or WvW) really has long time appeal, but each to their own.

Edit: but man I’d love a hard mode of the open world PVE, or those Charr Warbands from GW1, I almost got goosebumps when trying to attack them.

Yeah what kept me coming back was the big events, the WvW tournament, PvP, etc. When I do come back I play obsessively and it was because there was new things like borderlands , dry top, silver wastes and borderlands kept me going, but eventually it just becomes so repetitive I lose interest.
I don’t find there to be enough challenging content to keep me occupied for long.

Thanks for the advice, I’m glad its not just me out here.

Yeah, PvE in this game is dull, boring and dry. PvP (SPvP !) is the ONLY thing i’ve played after leveling and completing the dungeons from release. To this day, I simply cannot play the PvE at all, its so easy!?!

Early lvling is so dry and boring i actually lost contact with some friends i tried to bring to GW2, they made fun of me for playing such a stupid game that was so dull and dry. But, whatever… I play games ranging from league of legends > wow > path of exile, so i dont need to play 1 game all the time.

But that is exactly Anets problem with Guildwars2, they either don’t want people to play everyday for 3 years or they just dont care what you’re doing as long as you’ve bought into their game.

Anet hasn’t grasped the concept of happy players = happy game, Players are asking for more pvp induced game patches, harder PvE / world content / dungeons. I for one hate the fact that Anet takes 3 months to release a single balance patch for PvP!

Coming from games like LoL / WoW, they release balance patches every 2 weeks and hotfix anything inbetween! So if that makes me inpatient then its my fault, but I can’t sit around a year while so many things remain stupidly broken in PvP.

Best of luck to you, I have faith in HoT and you should to.

WuGzaGenius.5684:

Yeah, PvE in this game is dull, boring and dry. PvP (SPvP !) is the ONLY thing i’ve played after leveling and completing the dungeons from release. To this day, I simply cannot play the PvE at all, its so easy!?!

Early lvling is so dry and boring i actually lost contact with some friends i tried to bring to GW2, they made fun of me for playing such a stupid game that was so dull and dry. But, whatever… I play games ranging from league of legends > wow > path of exile, so i dont need to play 1 game all the time.

But that is exactly Anets problem with Guildwars2, they either don’t want people to play everyday for 3 years or they just dont care what you’re doing as long as you’ve bought into their game.

Anet hasn’t grasped the concept of happy players = happy game, Players are asking for more pvp induced game patches, harder PvE / world content / dungeons. I for one hate the fact that Anet takes 3 months to release a single balance patch for PvP!

Coming from games like LoL / WoW, they release balance patches every 2 weeks and hotfix anything inbetween! So if that makes me inpatient then its my fault, but I can’t sit around a year while so many things remain stupidly broken in PvP.

Best of luck to you, I have faith in HoT and you should to.

“The Only Real Mistake Is The One From Which We Learn Nothing "

Guild Wars 2 recently celebrated 3 Years, what has Arena net learned?

“All characters are on even footing in both kinds of competitive play. Players use their regular characters, but everyone is adjusted to the maximum so that all characters are roughly equal in power”.

“Competitive play in Guild Wars 2 is easy to learn, but offers challenges for new players and hardcore PvPers alike. In Player vs. Player matches, small teams of players battle over maps packed with objectives, while in World vs. World, armies of hundreds of players from competing servers wage war across four sprawling maps”.

" but everyone is adjusted to the maximum so that all characters are roughly equal in power " ?
" All characters are on even footing in both kinds of competitive play "?
" but offers challenges for new players and hardcore PvPers alike "?
" small teams of players battle over maps "?
" while in World vs. World, armies of hundreds of players from competing servers "?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/competitive-play/

" Combat in Guild Wars 2 is flexible, fast-paced, and dynamic. You’ll achieve victory through timing, dodging, and quick thinking, not immobile number-crunching".

" With such a vast kitten nal of skills at your command, you can adapt your tactics as needed".

" Every profession in Guild Wars 2 excels at combat, without exception. Because each profession is so versatile and has such a wide range of skills and powers, it doesn’t matter what mix of professions are on the battlefield" .

" We’re putting the fun back in fantasy combat—join us on the battlefield!"

" You’ll achieve victory through timing, dodging, and quick thinking, not immobile number-crunching "?

" With such a vast kitten nal of skills at your command "?

" Every profession in Guild Wars 2 excels at combat, without exception. Because each profession is so versatile and has such a wide range of skills and powers, it doesn’t matter what mix of professions are on the battlefield "?

" We’re putting the fun back in fantasy combat "?

" You’ll achieve victory through timing, dodging, and quick thinking, not immobile number-crunching "?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/

Faith?

" Too Many High Hopes, Too Many Disappointments "

Players are already reporting that Hot is a ‘Paid Living Story’

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Teeny-Tiny-Expansion

Last, " I have to learn to trust actions because every word I hear is a false hope "

To OP,

" Sometimes Your Heart Needs More Time Accept What Your Mind Already Knows "

that is all.

Mursaat are coming back.

Honestly, I don;t think GW2 is the game for you. I’m not saying this to troll or anoy you, simply going by your arguments and anoyances with the game, I think you’d be much happier with a more traditional MMO.
May I suggest Final Fantasy XIV or even WoW. Both of those games have more traditional endgame content and you might enjoy those more.

falcedge.1847:

In essence the only new content has been 2 new zones, which are made to be grinded more than a cannibals cleaver, some system changes, 1 new trait for each spec tree, fractals and LOTS OF SKINS AND GEM STUFF. The only significant content is coming out with the new expansion and I so – SO hesitant to buy it- it is why I am making this giant monstrosity of sadness and jokes – my heart has a scar and jokes are the only band-aid I have.

You missed to mention:
- complete skill and trait revamp
- Living Story 2
- recurring Events (SAB, Wintersday, Halloween, etc.)
- all of Living Story 1 (granted, if you missed this it’s not available atm to you)
- new Edge of the Mists WvW area
- many quality of life improvements to WvW (WvW map revamp) and sPvP (major PvP system revamp as far as rewards and tracks go)

Most of those are no cookie cutter “do this because it’s endgame” things but more of “dp this if you enjoy it, and you’ll get rewards”. A system the game uses in most ofit’s approach and which will likely not change after HoT once you’ve completed the story there.

I generally do believe that Guild Wars 2 is not a good MMORPG.
PvE sucks. It’s the outright worst PvE in any MMORPG I have EVER played.
World vs. World would be fun if it scaled up your gear as well and if becoming stronger wasn’t tied to putting up with the kittenty PvE.
Structured PvP is actually genuinely fun and interesting…
If it wasn’t for the bad class-balance.

Honestly if you want an MMORPG with a similarly ‘live’ and fluid combat system, check out Tera or Skyforge. Both games aren’t good, but at least they offer more worthwhile stuff pve-wise than Guild Wars 2 does… Which is a shame because as I payed money for the game I would love to tell you that it’s actually good but… It’s not.

I love how people bring up LS2 as one of the most powerful “no content” argument stompers when the first part of it is sucking up to the worst aspect of LS1—Scarlet. Putting that aside though, it’s still far back enough to warrant a call of comparative content drought.

As for that trait rework system, that hurt build diversity. No more screwy builds with only two points in one line. Did they always work? Maybe, maybe not, but players had more options.

I agree with the OP. Each return on my cycle is shorter, and I have zero interest in HoT.

falcedge.1847:

In the end I simply always have to push myself to play, why should I play a game which forces me to go through mental gymnastics to keep giving it more chances? I hope you guys can help me – this is a sincere plea to ask If I got it all wrong, did I miss something? am I playing wrong? should I just amputate the leg and move on? please notice me sempai’s this might be my last leg!

I think you are missing something – the build system in GW1 was just as cookie-cutter in the end. Despite all the diversity that was possible, there were a handful of builds that were head and shoulders above the pack… and an inexhaustible number that were useless.
And the end-game content, like GW2, consisted of repeating old content for loot or achievements. Outside of PvP, what you could do in GW1 was pretty much the same thing. The difference is in the enjoyment.

So I’d suggest you look at it from a different angle: What did you do in GW1? What made it enjoyable? And where does GW2 fall short in making it enjoyable?

Theege.9783:

I love how people bring up LS2 as one of the most powerful “no content” argument stompers when the first part of it is sucking up to the worst aspect of LS1—Scarlet. Putting that aside though, it’s still far back enough to warrant a call of comparative content drought.

As for that trait rework system, that hurt build diversity. No more screwy builds with only two points in one line. Did they always work? Maybe, maybe not, but players had more options.

How does your subjective feeling about the story or its characters work to omit an objective game addition in form of new content? Fact is, Living Story Season 2 is new content that can be tackled. You not liking it does not refute this.

The trait revamp, no matter if you liked it or not, took a lot of developer time. Simply brushing it off as “well I didn’t like it, so it doesn’t count” is neither doing it justice nor is it objective.

The Era it was made and the style of GW1 (imo) made it a much easier game to develop huge zones for (i believe nightfall still holds the record for largest playable, custom tailored game area). That, coupled with the fact that that game has had three full expansions and more than triple the lifetime of GW2, gives the illusion that the game had more content than its technical-if-not-spiritual successor.

Bearing in mind we’re nearing the end of this game’s longest content drought in several years, if not since its release, noone would fault you for stepping away to play something else and checking back in once HoT has been released, to see if players think the new content is worth the price tag.

tl;dr

GW1 and GW2 are 2 complete different types of MMO’s.

I for myself played and loved GW1 too and felt trolled when I saw and play GW2 but after a lot of playing you can get into it. (At least it was so for me)

But if you want a new GW then GW2 is the wrong game for you.
The only thing GW1&2 share is their name nothing more nothing less.

Cyninja.2954:

How does your subjective feeling about the story or its characters work to omit an objective game addition in form of new content? Fact is, Living Story Season 2 is new content that can be tackled. You not liking it does not refute this.

The trait revamp, no matter if you liked it or not, took a lot of developer time. Simply brushing it off as “well I didn’t like it, so it doesn’t count” is neither doing it justice nor is it objective.

True, there is some subjectivity in my post, but there’s also the whole content drought post LS2 you’ve ignored. The fact that Scarlet was the worst written character in GW1 and 2’s history and the fact that a decent bit of S2 is sucking her stamen is the part you should have called out as “didn’t like it so it doesn’t count,” not the trait rework. Also, it doesn’t matter how long the devs put in to said trait rework, it was detrimental to the game. That’s not subjective, that’s objective—there’s even less build variety in the game now.

Cyninja.2954:

Honestly, I don;t think GW2 is the game for you. I’m not saying this to troll or anoy you, simply going by your arguments and anoyances with the game, I think you’d be much happier with a more traditional MMO.
May I suggest Final Fantasy XIV or even WoW. Both of those games have more traditional endgame content and you might enjoy those more.

You missed to mention:
- complete skill and trait revamp
- Living Story 2
- recurring Events (SAB, Wintersday, Halloween, etc.)
- all of Living Story 1 (granted, if you missed this it’s not available atm to you)
- new Edge of the Mists WvW area
- many quality of life improvements to WvW (WvW map revamp) and sPvP (major PvP system revamp as far as rewards and tracks go)

Most of those are no cookie cutter “do this because it’s endgame” things but more of “dp this if you enjoy it, and you’ll get rewards”. A system the game uses in most ofit’s approach and which will likely not change after HoT once you’ve completed the story there.

Cyninja, for the most part your right, and if I gave an example of an MMO which annually gives new content I would give the example of FF14 ARR. On the flip side while the content is good the combat is so formulaic and repetitive that its pretty boring to play until to get to level 50. Eh no game is perfect!

You gotta admit that half of what you mentioned is revamps, while which is nice in the place of new content leaves one wanting. The other things you mentioned like edge of the mists and the living stories, it pretty much follows the same chain of reasoning as what I mentioned in the great northern wall which is to say that it doesn’t feel like much and gets old. What your saying is valid though, I just don’t feel like its enough to keep me engaged on something which can potentially take up a lot of my time.

Thanks, I appreciate the honesty

Is there anything anyone could possibly say that would make your tastes and preferences change so that you want to play the game? No.

So you’re going to have to really explain to me what intent this thread has other than wanting others to seek you out.

Ben K.6238:

I think you are missing something – the build system in GW1 was just as cookie-cutter in the end. Despite all the diversity that was possible, there were a handful of builds that were head and shoulders above the pack… and an inexhaustible number that were useless.
And the end-game content, like GW2, consisted of repeating old content for loot or achievements. Outside of PvP, what you could do in GW1 was pretty much the same thing. The difference is in the enjoyment.

So I’d suggest you look at it from a different angle: What did you do in GW1? What made it enjoyable? And where does GW2 fall short in making it enjoyable?

Ben K, while your point is valid about the Meta of GW1, what I and I hope others found enjoyable about GW1 was the sheer potential of what your character was capable of doing.

The best example would be if your took three warriors from Guild Wars 1 and three from Guild Wars 2 and all of them where using swords for example. Chances are the Warriors from GW1 are using 1 or two of the same skills, but the rest would be up to their inclination, they could be rolling adrenaline junkie or they could be focusing more on energy abilities or even the common mix, not to mention the second class which allowed for more possibilities. Now if you go to the sword warriors of GW2, they essentially have to run condition damage or else they would do no damage. They might have different utility skills and have different specializations, but essentially they have to do a specific build. FYI this excludes elite skills, if you wanted to in GW1 you could base your whole build around 1 elite ability, the “game changing” choice of elite skills is limited to 1.

As for the end game content of GW1 you are right that it was grind-able but the skill cap was higher, regardless of whether you were a hard core gamer or not. The difference is it that didn’t make the bold claim of having no grinding in an MMO, which is more else less impossible unless you don’t mind people not playing constantly. Ironically GW2 has both.

On a side not all you need to do is watch the GW2 manifesto video and see if anything they say applies, around 1:30 Colin Johanson talks about " having really fun tasks ocasionally and the rest of the game is a boring grind to get to the late game… I swung a sword, I swung a sword again yay!" and yet this is literally warrior combat if you leave your 1st ability on auto attack. Hell right after there is Ree Soesbee talking about the player not feeling like a hero because a zerg is fighting a boss that re spawns 10 times – tell me this isn’t what happens with the event timers.
So to answer your question what GW2 lack from GW1 is the lack of possibility and forcing people to adopt play styles or to make them stay away. What I am surprised that Anet has not done yet is to come out with alternate weapon abilities, for example if you used a sword you can either use skills set 1 or two for example, allowing for more builds and more fun. I realize I may be overtly critical in this particular response and I apologize if it seems rude.

Thanks for the reply and thanks for the chance to elaborate!

tl;dr: Come back if you want to. Don’t force it.
A lot of GW2 is about setting your own goals and being able to actually put the game down until something interesting happens again.

CandyHearts.6025:

Is there anything anyone could possibly say that would make your tastes and preferences change so that you want to play the game? No.

So you’re going to have to really explain to me what intent this thread has other than wanting others to seek you out.

Well to start a dialog and see if anything I mention applies to anyone else, possibly rekindle my love of GW2 but that is a long shot, At most I might play it again if the expansion is good but that’s just me being cynical.

My feedback in relation to the expansion is: Don’t put it the whiz-bang “Hey ExpansioN!” at the end of the LS2.

I just finished LS2 last night, I know I know it took a while to get to, but it felt a little like I’d gone to the hairdressers and got 3/4 of a cut. The they twirl me in the chair, say “hey presto!”. I look in the mirror and ask “but you missed 1/2 of it”. They just smile and hold out their hand…

Expansion should really be it’s own story. I can’t finish the story I bought unless I pay for it. My story ends with someone telling me to buy an expansion to finish it. Literally, up pops HoT “to continue your adventure, play HoT!”

Put that somewhere else. Give me closure on the story I paid for.

It sounds to me like GW2 is not the game for you… I read your whole post and it sounds like you want a game that consumes your life. Cringe-worthiness aside GW2 is not that game. We talk a lot of crap about World of Warcraft but WoW technically isn’t a bad game and it has what you want (aside from build freedom). GW1 wasn’t that game either and I still have no idea why anyone played that game longer then it took to complete the main campaigns on one or two characters.

Theege.9783:

Cyninja.2954:

How does your subjective feeling about the story or its characters work to omit an objective game addition in form of new content? Fact is, Living Story Season 2 is new content that can be tackled. You not liking it does not refute this.

The trait revamp, no matter if you liked it or not, took a lot of developer time. Simply brushing it off as “well I didn’t like it, so it doesn’t count” is neither doing it justice nor is it objective.

True, there is some subjectivity in my post, but there’s also the whole content drought post LS2 you’ve ignored. The fact that Scarlet was the worst written character in GW1 and 2’s history and the fact that a decent bit of S2 is sucking her stamen is the part you should have called out as “didn’t like it so it doesn’t count,” not the trait rework. Also, it doesn’t matter how long the devs put in to said trait rework, it was detrimental to the game. That’s not subjective, that’s objective—there’s even less build variety in the game now.

And this content drought is what almost every MMO I’ve ever played goes through before they release an expansion.

Not to mention durign that time we haven’t been without updates…just not content updates. We’ve had updates to the cameras, of course LA was rebuild and we have a new JP and the karka hunt, we had the specialization update and balance patch.

But you know…no content. Like most MMOs just before an expansion hits.

Well I think I gained a bit of perspective and I want to thank everyone for replying to this thread. I suppose I came of rather ranty, but I tried to be objective and pose my dilemma in an semi un-whiny way which is hard when you feel strongly about perceived grievances.

In the end I hope this game continues to improve and who knows, I might come back when the time is right.

This game seems to have a lot of content aimed at the leveling up process. Tons of stuff to do and you level super fast. This is great, however a key component seems to be totally missing.

Some unique and exciting game mode for when you hit level cap.

Right now ive taken one character to 80, very casually. I poked around a bit with him after 80, cleared a few maps, did SW, hated drt top but poked around that, haven’t done dungeons yet. Tons of spvp, a bit of wvw.

problem is, I can do just about all of that at any level. There no new exciting thing for a max level player to dig their heels into.

I’m still very new, but two months from now what will I be doing different from what I’m currently doing? I’m sure ill have a few more lv80, maybe even start to get some exotic or whatever gear for some. Maybe ill start doing fractals, with HOT theres that, raids which I’m only semi interested in…new content seems ok.

The game really needs something guild based, pvp and pve. Ive suggested some sort of competitive, pve/pvp guild based dungeon. Raid the other guilds dungeon, try to interfere with people raiding yours.

In most games the big driving force to stay on your max level character is that he might be max level, but isn’t nearly strong as he could be. Progression in this sense stops immediately at max level, for a few gold you can sort of be as good as anyone else, especially in modes where such a thing matters like pvp (lv1=lv80 in spvp)

So they need to create something, to involve meta gaming aspects (real meta not what people here call meta i.e. popular builds everyone uses) something involving politics, competition. Something that can be done only at max level, that includes vitally important components to the game mode for both pve and pvp.

Maybe its just me but I certainly remember playing another game during the GW2 hype launch. I remember just about every friend I had going there. I remember talks of never returning from Gw2. I remember them trickling back about a month later (one reason I never touched the game for three years)

What this game is missing is a vital aspect of any long term game. Something addicting, competitive, and exclusive for endgame.

I’m excited for HOT but it just seems more of the same only now heart quests are repeatable and with a leaderboard. Raids are just extensions of current game modes. I think HOT is missing a huge opportunity to add a vital aspect of the game currently missing from the equation.

I really hope Anet starts work on something to fill this void immediately after HOT.