Lately I have been playing less and less of Gw2, which in a way can be a good thing as I am now rediscovering some good single player games I missed out on while time sinking into Gw2.
Let me start off by saying that “Progression” in Gw2 is very different from other games. By progression I mean having nice things, building towards something of value, collecting legendaries, and generally having nice things.
Ascended armor and Legendaries has soared up to astronomical value, with forging a set of light armor totaling over 1200-1500g in materials and/or months worth of time performing tedious grind tasks and mat collecting. Forging legendaries is even worse.
Inflation has caused all basic necessities for “Progression” to soar to levels way beyond the reach of anyone but a Black Lion tycoon.
The acquisition of any high end items is directly tied into crafting and the market, with minimal ways of obtaining them alternatively (considering the randomness of chests, and the even lower likelyhood of any reward being of a specific stat combination that is usable to you).
When “progressing” towards things such as Legendaries and Ascended Armor, players can work hard and seemingly get nowhere.
The game’s end progression has essentially turned into a giant wallstreet simulation that greatly rewards investors and marketers (especially ones with large amount of gold) vs. people who actually play the game for standard rewards.
Lackluster rewards and incentive has always been a problem in Gw2. I thought the addition of the collections was a good idea, but even the rewards from them are still pretty terrible.
Many people I know are just getting tired of logging in because there is nothing to do but grind for a goal that is further away then pluto, get fed up and buy gold to get what they want, or log in for a few minutes to stand in front of the black lion and play the market because its easier to advance via trading than playing the actual game.
This has lead to this sort of era of stagnation in Gw2, where people are just feeling like they are wasting time due to all the rewards being tied to the market and very little incentive or advancement beyond hoarding gold and manipulating trades.
The game has become a splitting image of the great American Depression, complete with the sad carnies begging for coins in the middle of lions arch.
While I see the need to keep gold valuable in order to support the game through the gemstore, I feel that the balance and the emphasis on wallstreet play in the game is too much. So much to the point where standard players who are doing basic reward play are scratching their heads wondering why they are wasting all their time and what this secret is in order to get into the mile high club (who are really just a collection of investors that gained all their wealth before the market inflated and everything valued up to a point to where its out of reach of normal players).
This kind of world is just not fun. I for one will be taking a break, with sparse logins to check the health of the game, unlock stories, and generally see what changes in the future.
(edited by lordhelmos.7623)
). I’ve made enough money from opening and selling from those bags to satisfy any reasonable person.
