Guild Wars 2

I think this is one of the biggest challenges I have found with this game. I’ve spent a lot of time running around aimless/clueless. I think if there was a proper training for new players it would have been a better experience. This doesn’t include reading online ‘wikis’, but real in-game content for players to go through, or sign-posts to help you along the way and guide you.

This includes things like armour/weapon upgrades, runes, accessories and so on. Everything’s a abit up in the air and you just have to play around and quiz yourself to get answers. It also took me a while to work out the layout of the Guild window, which confused me much in the beginning. I reckon a lot of this comes down to it being such a huge game.

Please also include some kind of training/guidance for players entering Fractals levels for the first time. The basic story that you follow is so vague and offers no clue about what you physically are required to do as a team.

I’m not psychic, and not everyone who plays Guild Wars 2 is a ‘pro’. Some of us noobs need a bit more user-friendly experience.

:)

What are you having issues with? In most cases the thing you’re required to do for an event, part of a fractal, etc. with an event in the upper-right corner of your screen.

The NPCs in the lobby will explain things to you, but I don’t know, for new players, is there a help popup that explains daily achievements to you? I seem to recall, after hoT, the game somehow guiding me to the NPC that explains agony, but I agree that the process for acquiring/upgrading rings and backpacks is extremely convoluted and not well explained by the game, and you need those agony slots to meaningfully progress through fractal levels.

Also, does the game not point you to your hero panel, where you can mouse over the various stats to see what they do? If it doesn’t it should. That panel tells you the basics of what you need to know about stats, at least enough to make an informed decision on what gear to pick as you level up.

I’m wondering though, are you a new player using the L80 boost? You may have unwittingly skipped a pretty crucial learning experience by leveling (and all of the little help tips that pop up as you do so now) if you are.

PopeUrban.2578:

What are you having issues with? In most cases the thing you’re required to do for an event, part of a fractal, etc. with an event in the upper-right corner of your screen.

The NPCs in the lobby will explain things to you, but I don’t know, for new players, is there a help popup that explains daily achievements to you? I seem to recall, after hoT, the game somehow guiding me to the NPC that explains agony, but I agree that the process for acquiring/upgrading rings and backpacks is extremely convoluted and not well explained by the game, and you need those agony slots to meaningfully progress through fractal levels.

Also, does the game not point you to your hero panel, where you can mouse over the various stats to see what they do? If it doesn’t it should. That panel tells you the basics of what you need to know about stats, at least enough to make an informed decision on what gear to pick as you level up.

I’m wondering though, are you a new player using the L80 boost? You may have unwittingly skipped a pretty crucial learning experience by leveling (and all of the little help tips that pop up as you do so now) if you are.

Nope, I didn’t boost.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

I think this is one of the biggest challenges I have found with this game. I’ve spent a lot of time running around aimless/clueless. I think if there was a proper training for new players it would have been a better experience. This doesn’t include reading online ‘wikis’, but real in-game content for players to go through, or sign-posts to help you along the way and guide you.

This includes things like armour/weapon upgrades, runes, accessories and so on. Everything’s a abit up in the air and you just have to play around and quiz yourself to get answers. It also took me a while to work out the layout of the Guild window, which confused me much in the beginning. I reckon a lot of this comes down to it being such a huge game.

Please also include some kind of training/guidance for players entering Fractals levels for the first time. The basic story that you follow is so vague and offers no clue about what you physically are required to do as a team.

I’m not psychic, and not everyone who plays Guild Wars 2 is a ‘pro’. Some of us noobs need a bit more user-friendly experience.

:)

First of all, welcome to Guild Wars 2. Hope you spend far too many hours enjoying the game!

Secondly, do you know and have turned on the content guide in options? It acts like a directional compass taking you to various things within PvE, such as getting Renowned Hearts done, or taking you to dynamic events. You can turn it on in options, just underneath the toggle for In-Game Clock.

Also – there are no noobs in Guild Wars 2! Newbies maybe, but never noobs! I’m sure you’ll do great!

I think a lot of us use the /wiki command in game to get quick accurate game info if we aren’t in a guild/group/online chat or have a way to ask. Welcome and have fun!

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

I think this is one of the biggest challenges I have found with this game. I’ve spent a lot of time running around aimless/clueless. I think if there was a proper training for new players it would have been a better experience. This doesn’t include reading online ‘wikis’, but real in-game content for players to go through, or sign-posts to help you along the way and guide you.

This includes things like armour/weapon upgrades, runes, accessories and so on. Everything’s a abit up in the air and you just have to play around and quiz yourself to get answers. It also took me a while to work out the layout of the Guild window, which confused me much in the beginning. I reckon a lot of this comes down to it being such a huge game.

Please also include some kind of training/guidance for players entering Fractals levels for the first time. The basic story that you follow is so vague and offers no clue about what you physically are required to do as a team.

I’m not psychic, and not everyone who plays Guild Wars 2 is a ‘pro’. Some of us noobs need a bit more user-friendly experience.

:)

When GW2 launched it had very few guidances and players worked out things for themselves. Or at least so we all thought – there were no indications players were struggling to understand anything. However, Anet had metrics and evidence to the contrary and their research showed the whole "new player experience " was inadequate for attracting and retaining a large sub-section of players.

What happened over a year (I think) down the line was a full re-vamp of the NPE and further changes to the trait system (which were reversed due to chaos). What you are playing now is a slightly tweaked version of that NPE, with the training and guidance systems that are in place, that weren’t at launch. The NPE was not well received in places for various reasons (it wasn’t actually that bad, but you wouldn’t have believed that from the bellowing that went on)

I’m not saying they shouldn’t re-vamp the NPE at some point, but the last one is still fresh in many a mind and I think the resulting chaos will discourage Anet until they feel the time to address it come back round and that is unlikely until we are 1-2 more expacs in and they want to streamline players through their content better.

Right now, the absolute top priority is content though. We’ve had a feature and systems heavy expac followed up by 2 quarters of more features and systems. Now all their resources need to be on the content and WvW.

We play in very much in a generation of gaming where outside resources like Wiki and Dulfy are considered as much a part of the game as the game itself, so I think using them for now is a good way of helping players without devs expending precious resources. Not to mention utilising Guilds for help and advice.

Either the Wiki or Dulfy.net should have most answers for you

Surely, you have picked up some pointers in the 4 months you’ve been playing. You have maxed out gear and are L80, according to one of your other threads on this page.

Maybe, you might consider leveling another character and studying the level-up information provided, once again.

Good luck.

since you exit the tutorial you are being hit with signs all over the place. There are tooltips that pop up regarding some parts of your specializations/trailines and skill points and hero challenges. You are also standing next to a scout npc that opens your map, and draws circles to nearby renown hearts that are close to your level…

How much handholding do you want?

As for runes/sigils/jewels i do believe they all have “armor upgrade, weapon upgrade” ect on them no?

Randulf.7614:

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

I think this is one of the biggest challenges I have found with this game. I’ve spent a lot of time running around aimless/clueless. I think if there was a proper training for new players it would have been a better experience. This doesn’t include reading online ‘wikis’, but real in-game content for players to go through, or sign-posts to help you along the way and guide you.

This includes things like armour/weapon upgrades, runes, accessories and so on. Everything’s a abit up in the air and you just have to play around and quiz yourself to get answers. It also took me a while to work out the layout of the Guild window, which confused me much in the beginning. I reckon a lot of this comes down to it being such a huge game.

Please also include some kind of training/guidance for players entering Fractals levels for the first time. The basic story that you follow is so vague and offers no clue about what you physically are required to do as a team.

I’m not psychic, and not everyone who plays Guild Wars 2 is a ‘pro’. Some of us noobs need a bit more user-friendly experience.

:)

When GW2 launched it had very few guidances and players worked out things for themselves. Or at least so we all thought – there were no indications players were struggling to understand anything. However, Anet had metrics and evidence to the contrary and their research showed the whole "new player experience " was inadequate for attracting and retaining a large sub-section of players.

What happened over a year (I think) down the line was a full re-vamp of the NPE and further changes to the trait system (which were reversed due to chaos). What you are playing now is a slightly tweaked version of that NPE, with the training and guidance systems that are in place, that weren’t at launch. The NPE was not well received in places for various reasons (it wasn’t actually that bad, but you wouldn’t have believed that from the bellowing that went on)

I’m not saying they shouldn’t re-vamp the NPE at some point, but the last one is still fresh in many a mind and I think the resulting chaos will discourage Anet until they feel the time to address it come back round and that is unlikely until we are 1-2 more expacs in and they want to streamline players through their content better.

Right now, the absolute top priority is content though. We’ve had a feature and systems heavy expac followed up by 2 quarters of more features and systems. Now all their resources need to be on the content and WvW.

We play in very much in a generation of gaming where outside resources like Wiki and Dulfy are considered as much a part of the game as the game itself, so I think using them for now is a good way of helping players without devs expending precious resources. Not to mention utilising Guilds for help and advice.

Hi, I like your post. Thanks for the background info.

I came on this game just some weeks before the HoT release and I find this game pretty noob-friendly. With just one exception, like the OP said : fractals are a mess for the noobs, I didnt understand for a long time what they are and how they work, and the wiki wasnt very explicit. And I am the kind of noob that understand pretty quickly …
The rest of the game mechanics however were easy to learn I find. What is important is that you wholy understand the game when you tilt 80, its not a problem that you dont understand sigil system or whatever when you are still lvl 40. The leveling is here to have the time to learn.

I agree that the game can be very confusing when you first start. I’d played GW1 and numerous single-player RPGs (as well as various other genres) but when I first got into the game I didn’t know how to move my character. I was used to using click to move in RPGs so when that didn’t work it threw me a bit, and using WASD took some getting used to.

(I was also in a bit of a panic because everything I’d read about the game emphasised the dynamic events and how they will not wait for you to be ready and will fail if you don’t participate, then I get into the game and some guy is yelling at me that centaurs are attacking and I need to rescue the villages now so I thought I’d better do that and figure out controls later.)

Fortunately I soon realised that actually it’s not the end of the world if a dynamic event fails, that the introduction (which I refuse to call a tutorial) doesn’t work that way anyway and that the options menu lists all the controls (and allows you to change them). It got much easier from there.

I feel like the game has gotten a lot better since then (that was the first public beta). There’s now a pop-up when you first start (possibly only on your first character?) to tell you how to move and things like the content guide to point you to things to do and the level up notifications to explain new systems. But since I wasn’t new when those were introduced it’s hard for me to judge how informative they actually are.

But I think any RPG is going to struggle to explain absolutely everything within the game itself because they tend to be very complicated and have lots of different systems.

Fortunately one advantage MMOs have is there’s all these other people around who can help. This game also has the advantage that the wiki is excellent. Almost all games have wikis these days, but the quality varies hugely and I genuinely thing the GW2 wiki is one of the best I’ve used, especially for mechanics. When I got to level 80 and realised I still didn’t really understand my stats I went there to learn what they actually do and came away wanting to completely change my build.

So in summary: I agree that the game is confusing, but I think this is part and parcel of RPGs (remember they’re all building on DnD, a game with 3 large rule books to cover the basics) and it’s extremely difficult to cover everything in the game, it would require multiple long descriptions which are probably actually better suited to a wiki format. But there’s also other people around who you can and should ask for help if you need it.

Have you tried going to a heavily populated area, like a city or a starter area World Boss, and asking your questions in map chat? I wouldn’t do this at higher level World Bosses, because there is a level of organization required, which means a lot of map chat chatter. And the people most likely to answer your questions are probably busy. So I would ask in a city or at a starter area World Boss. (A few minutes before the event starts.)

I would definitely ask your questions in map chat. There may be other people who have the same questions, but are nervous about asking them in chat. Or you might get more than one answer, and one of those might be a better answer than the others.

You will at some times get unhelpful or insulting answers. From people who think they’re funny, and people who expect you to magically know stuff that they (forgot) they had to learn the hard way. Ignore them. And if they’re particularly offensive, right-click on their name and block them.

Keep an eye on map chat at all times. And if you see someone who seems knowledgeable and willing to answer questions, then ask your questions.(Once again in map chat – that way the answers may benefit other people as well. Plus you may get answers from more than one person.)

And please don’t be apprehensive about asking questions, or getting unhelpful or insulting answers. The internet brings out the worst in some people. But you don’t know them and they don’t know you, so how can what they say even mean anything? If they’re particularly offensive block them and forget about it.

Please always be polite and considerate when asking your questions. If you are annoyed or angry about something that you’re having trouble with, please step away from it for a minute and give yourself a chance to calm down before asking your question. You don’t want to seem angry or unreasonable when asking for help.

I’d be happy to help you out as much as I can in-game. Feel free to send me a whisper .

Elden Arnaas.4870:

Have you tried going to a heavily populated area, like a city or a starter area World Boss, and asking your questions in map chat? I wouldn’t do this at higher level World Bosses, because there is a level of organization required, which means a lot of map chat chatter. And the people most likely to answer your questions are probably busy. So I would ask in a city or at a starter area World Boss. (A few minutes before the event starts.)

I would definitely ask your questions in map chat. There may be other people who have the same questions, but are nervous about asking them in chat. Or you might get more than one answer, and one of those might be a better answer than the others.

You will at some times get unhelpful or insulting answers. From people who think they’re funny, and people who expect you to magically know stuff that they (forgot) they had to learn the hard way. Ignore them. And if they’re particularly offensive, right-click on their name and block them.

Keep an eye on map chat at all times. And if you see someone who seems knowledgeable and willing to answer questions, then ask your questions.(Once again in map chat – that way the answers may benefit other people as well. Plus you may get answers from more than one person.)

And please don’t be apprehensive about asking questions, or getting unhelpful or insulting answers. The internet brings out the worst in some people. But you don’t know them and they don’t know you, so how can what they say even mean anything? If they’re particularly offensive block them and forget about it.

Please always be polite and considerate when asking your questions. If you are annoyed or angry about something that you’re having trouble with, please step away from it for a minute and give yourself a chance to calm down before asking your question. You don’t want to seem angry or unreasonable when asking for help.

Thanks for your response. Yes, I usually enquire in map chat if I have an issue or am confused about something. Players are very helpful.

Palimow.6342:

I’d be happy to help you out as much as I can in-game. Feel free to send me a whisper .

Thanks.

OP you have an 80 in full ascended? Right?

I have been playing for 6 months and there is a large learning curve to this game. Personally though, the thing that sold me on this game was exploration. I was glad there weren’t informational tutorials every few feet. It wasn’t that hard to figure out as I went along, (even thought there is a lot to learn), and youtube is a great resource if you don’t like to read. People have made videos about how to do just about everything in this game. I don’t ask things in map chat as a rule. There is always some fool that likes to use your question as an excuse to feel superior. Best bet is to find a guild that mentors new players, there are quite a few around.

Andraus.3874:

OP you have an 80 in full ascended? Right?

No.

I think the biggest issue with this game, is that there is SOO much to do, and you’re basically bomb proof at the start. I mean, go run around in the start area, till you are 20, 40, 60, it does not matter, still in green at 75, who cares. It’s such a fun easy game to just get in and play, that it really does not need much in the way of tutorials. You don’t need to upgrade to yellow, at 65, you can, if you want to, or you can stay in that mix matched set you get to start out with.

I have only been playing a little over a year now, and I remember my first character, the leveling up, the always looking at the TP, to see what I needed to stay optimal, and all that. My Second character, I just leveled to 80 with a “Meh, whatever” attitude, and, the game was still fully enjoyable both ways.

But it’s that, So much you can do, that makes it so hard to make a Walk though. Do you want to level? Yes! How do you want to level? Kill Stuff? Map? Events? Crafting? PvP? you have all kinds of choices, and no real, negative to the direction you take.

Want to wander maps? Go ahead, get exp for everything you do. It’s like so.. No stress in this game, that, you don’t need much hand holding to get through it, I think the biggest thing I had to deal with, was, what I wanted to do, there was so much, I had no idea where to begin.

STIHL.2489:

I think the biggest issue with this game, is that there is SOO much to do, and you’re basically bomb proof at the start. I mean, go run around in the start area, till you are 20, 40, 60, it does not matter, still in green at 75, who cares. It’s such a fun easy game to just get in and play, that it really does not need much in the way of tutorials. You don’t need to upgrade to yellow, at 65, you can, if you want to, or you can stay in that mix matched set you get to start out with.

I have only been playing a little over a year now, and I remember my first character, the leveling up, the always looking at the TP, to see what I needed to stay optimal, and all that. My Second character, I just leveled to 80 with a “Meh, whatever” attitude, and, the game was still fully enjoyable both ways.

But it’s that, So much you can do, that makes it so hard to make a Walk though. Do you want to level? Yes! How do you want to level? Kill Stuff? Map? Events? Crafting? PvP? you have all kinds of choices, and no real, negative to the direction you take.

Want to wander maps? Go ahead, get exp for everything you do. It’s like so.. No stress in this game, that, you don’t need much hand holding to get through it, I think the biggest thing I had to deal with, was, what I wanted to do, there was so much, I had no idea where to begin.

If I had read about all these features pre-launch I probably would have re-considered. A game becomes less of a game when it incorporates too many features.

GW2 tries too hard to please all players’ needs, at once, while fluffing the true MMO mechanism.

Cedric Ambidexter.9174:

GW2 tries too hard to please all players’ needs, at once, while fluffing the true MMO mechanism.

I’m curious about what you mean by “true MMO mechanism”.
Judging by your other posts, you don’t seem to know what you’re talking about and, you’re approaching the game with the wrong attitude.

While GW2 is possibly the easiest game to pick-up i’ve played in years, i understand it may not be the case for everyone, although all it takes is the ability to read and follow the always present map indicator.
The player is literaly handheld from the beginning throughout the leveling process, except of course one is required to at least try to understand how character attributes and gear work, and figure out how to optimize the profession/build.
Like in any other RPG ever created.

I’m honestly confused as to how you’d think it could be made any easier: by cutting the learning process as a whole? What’s the point of playing a game in the first place then?

I’m also curious about what you mean by ‘true MMO mechanism’.

My first MMO was Ultima Online, which was almost closer to Minecraft (this was back in the last 90’s, I don’t know what it’s like now). You have a character with a whole range of skills, everything from Necromancy to Animal Taming to Fishing and a whole world to play in and…off you go, get on with it. What you do once you’ve chosen your initial skills and been dropped into that world is entirely up to you and the game isn’t going to tell you what to do. I didn’t play them but from what I heard about other early MMOs like Everquest and Runescape they were similar.

Compared to that GW2 (and most modern MMOs) give you a huge amount of guidance, and in some ways are relatively restrictive.

But it’s a hard balance to get right and I don’t think there’s one right way for everyone. As I said I found the controls in GW2 very confusing at first and would have benefitted from more instruction and a slower-paced start, but I really like that the game gives you a huge range of options for what you actually do and you don’t have to do any of them or follow a fixed order.

Other people I know consider the controls to be the obvious default for any RPG and would probably feel the game was insulting their intelligence if they were shown how to walk, how to attack, how to move the camera etc. but then get very uncertain and confused when they’re faced with a range of options for how to proceed and no indication of which one is “right”. I remember hearing about one person who logged in every day, did the dailies and any events that showed up on screen and then logged out – because as far as she was concerned that’s what the game told her to do (in terms of text that came up on screen) so that was all there was to do.