Guild Wars 2

I may be missing something, but right now the entirety of GW2 play for me seems to be rushing breathlessly around maps finding all the points to unlock, completing the requisite tasks to get each heart, and then moving on to the next area. This is by far the best XP (killing mobs not linked to other tasks is tedious in comparison). Is this by design? It seems very un-fun and tedious after a short time.

For all the talk of new systems and new types of gameplay, GW2 has settled into the same sort of MMO tasklists, only it’s reduced the game world to exploration tick boxes and jump puzzles. What happens once you get to 80 and there is no longer even the motivation to do that?

If you REALLY like exploring, don’t make it a checklist. Turn off your map markers, as I often do, and try to complete a zone BY exploring. It takes a lot longer, but it’s far more fun for me. Far more like old RPGs.

When when exploring I run into events and hearts and stuff, and do them as I go.

tolkien.6317:

I may be missing something, but right now the entirety of GW2 play for me seems to be rushing breathlessly around maps finding all the points to unlock, completing the requisite tasks to get each heart, and then moving on to the next area. This is by far the best XP (killing mobs not linked to other tasks is tedious in comparison). Is this by design? It seems very un-fun and tedious after a short time.

For all the talk of new systems and new types of gameplay, GW2 has settled into the same sort of MMO tasklists, only it’s reduced the game world to exploration tick boxes and jump puzzles. What happens once you get to 80 and there is no longer even the motivation to do that?

did u run into any Events or [GROUP EVENTS ] while doing so?

orange text that appears on the top right corner of the screen.

Step back, take a breath, and chose not to do those things. There is no race to max level here, because at the end of it, there’s still just what you see in front of you. Take a break from thinking about hitting end game, and just game.

My 9 year old step daughter logs in and runs around and jumps off bridges and says “Weeeeeeeeeeeee” as she does it, then she dyes her armor. Once this is done she logs out and writes a story about all her gw2 characters then she reads it to me. You could try this ? She seems to have a lot of fun doing this.

The hearts, Poi etc on a map are just there to keep you in the area of DE’s.
Sure you can complete them get the zone reward and move on to the next zone but the DE’s are where it is at.

Stop rushing trough a checklist, it is not fun at all.
As Vayne said- if exploring is your thing forget about the map and go explore, it is fun even when you are 80 and you always get to see new things.

Take it easy man! There is no reason to rush to lvl80.
The only reason to even level u kitten o you can continue to explore deeper at higher level areas for more adventures to come.

If you don’t enjoy the current content then you wont enjoy the game at all.
Like others suggested, turn off your check list, enjoy the game and just explore and do things as they come. Have fun and do what you feel like doing.

Recently I have started to explore Tyria once again. Like yesterday I went to Durman Priorys library and read some books. Also I re-visited Killuas grave and other neat stuff. They are there if you just bother looking for them.

The thing is, the systems don’t reward much else. Mob tethering means I can run with impunity through areas pretty much (a few you can’t for long as they are tight and mobs are densely packed, but not many). The insane respawn rate coupled with the very low XP reward from killing mobs and pretty ordinary drops outside of quest rewards means there’s little impetus to fight my way anywhere I don’t have to.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a visually beautiful game for the most part, but all the systems direct you toward moving through areas ASAP, and so the impact of the visuals is minimized and undermined because the “life” of the areas is trivialized. It’s all very well to say “you don’t have to do that”, but if that’s the path of greatest reward it’s the way the gameplay leans. Leveling and increasing in power and gaining access to better items is a core part of the gameplay. The systems around that are fighting against it, from what I can see…

have you considered role playing as you go along? Resing downed npcs can be more then just hitting F and getting exp you can be saving a fair maiden or perhaps even your future bride?

tolkien.6317:

The thing is, the systems don’t reward much else. Mob tethering means I can run with impunity through areas pretty much (a few you can’t for long as they are tight and mobs are densely packed, but not many). The insane respawn rate coupled with the very low XP reward from killing mobs and pretty ordinary drops outside of quest rewards means there’s little impetus to fight my way anywhere I don’t have to.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a visually beautiful game for the most part, but all the systems direct you toward moving through areas ASAP, and so the impact of the visuals is minimized and undermined because the “life” of the areas is trivialized. It’s all very well to say “you don’t have to do that”, but if that’s the path of greatest reward it’s the way the gameplay leans. Leveling and increasing in power and gaining access to better items is a core part of the gameplay. The systems around that are fighting against it, from what I can see…

You may want to rethink GW2 then, because I can see a future post in about a month that goes along the lines of “There is no end game, bored, etc etc.”

killcannon.2576:

You may want to rethink GW2 then, because I can see a future post in about a month that goes along the lines of “There is no end game, bored, etc etc.”

That’s kind of the point of this post. What is the end game? PvP (which is a pretty reasonable endgame)? Does it hold up? Does it make sense of the journey there?

If you are talking structured pvp…like arenas from wow or pseudo battle grounds, there is no journey, it’s a totally different game. You just play with a pre leveled 80 and use whatever gear you want. If you are talking about WVW, then……yeah the journey is worth it, but you can level much more quickly within WvW itself, and just buy your gear. WvW still has a long way to go imo though because the game breaks down to mostly just zerging from one point to the next, and small team tactics are over shadowed by the mess that happens when you have a couple hundred people going head to head. Can still be fun though, especially if you are in a good guild and on the right server, but that’s a lot of ifs.

If you are talking pve end game such as is found in other mmos, there is no raiding, or large content waiting at the end. No big open world bosses in the end zones, besides the Temples, which are ok, but less than epic in scope. This isn’t a game to invest hours upon hours into everyday, but rather a relaxing evening. If WoW is Chocolate cake with sprinkles, then this is like warm home made cookies with a tall glass of milk. Both are good, but different experiences.

This game is not about the end of the road though at all. The philosophy here is the game IS the journey itself. Exploring, doing jump puzzles, revisiting old areas, discovering NPC interaction. There is a huge vibrant world here that you can really only see if you slow down and stop thinking of leveling. Let the levels come by themselves, and just do what you would want to do if you were actually stuck in a fantasy world. Well unless you want to take over and become an Evil Overlord that is.

Yeah that would work if the systems leaned that way. That’s the bemusing thing right now. There is no impetus (beyond one I bring myself in contrast to the game) to do much else BUT run around as fast as I can and unlock all the points. The personal story is pretty much the only thing driving me forward, and it’s level limited so I have to level if I want to continue it. The fastest way to do that is explore due to the way XP rewards work. Everything feels just a little… disjointed, awkward, and disharmonious system-wise. It’s all a bit at cross-purposes.

It’s obvious that a lot of effort has gone into all of the areas, and some of the scripted events and gameplay moments are really cool, but the game is pushing you to move through them as fast as possible. The crazily high respawn rate reinforces this. It’s bizarre. It’s kind of like a world on one hand, and something else on the other. It’s half-way between an MMO and an ARPG, and yet neither. It feels caught between the two to me.

They had to do a bit of instituting the familiar with their own ideas I guess. When I came here from WoW, it took me awhile to get into the GW2 mindset. The Hearts, and pois, and DE’s are all really meant to be done naturally, instead of the more common road map that previous mmos have done. In WoW, for example, it behooves you to make yourself a little mental road map of a zone, think of the best way to hit all the most rewarding quests, and then move on to the next zone and let the place die in the dust behind you. It took quite a bit of effort to “unlearn” the habits I had ingrained in myself from those types of games. What I found that helped me was to make one toon for power leveling, and make another one for relaxing. Try it, it may help.

The respawn rates, I think, are meant to be a tutorial of sorts for hyper awareness of your surroundings. Once you start doing Dungeons you will see how having an increased spatial awareness pays off. I remember telling some friends that it was an “always on” kind of game, referring to the constant combat.

P.S. No doubt part of this is due to the fact that lower level areas are pretty empty. There’s not ever a lot going on, so I’m left to my own devices for the most part. I can see how things would get more interesting if there were Events being fired off and people coming from all over to join in etc. There’s not much point in running over to a “nearby event” when it’s all AI and the named mob is unkillable solo at similar level, particularly when the mobs you kill in order to get to it all respawn within seconds of you getting there. Best to just run on through and get onto the next area ASAP.

You know, if the respawn rate scaled dynamically in relation to how many people were in the area, it would possibly make things a bit more interesting.

Not sure which starting areas you went through, generally the Human areas have a higher pop. And some DE’s will need some interaction or waiting on your part once your in the area where they happen.

tolkien.6317:

The thing is, the systems don’t reward much else. Mob tethering means I can run with impunity through areas pretty much (a few you can’t for long as they are tight and mobs are densely packed, but not many). The insane respawn rate coupled with the very low XP reward from killing mobs and pretty ordinary drops outside of quest rewards means there’s little impetus to fight my way anywhere I don’t have to.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a visually beautiful game for the most part, but all the systems direct you toward moving through areas ASAP, and so the impact of the visuals is minimized and undermined because the “life” of the areas is trivialized. It’s all very well to say “you don’t have to do that”, but if that’s the path of greatest reward it’s the way the gameplay leans. Leveling and increasing in power and gaining access to better items is a core part of the gameplay. The systems around that are fighting against it, from what I can see…

If you think rewards from killing monsters are worse than quest rewards I have some bad news for you. After about the level 10 quest the quest rewards become VERY poor. There are only a few here and there that are any good. Believe me at level 80 (well 5 chars now at level 80 as well as 100% world complete on all of them) just going back to the areas to have “fun” and “re-explore” them again can be very rewarding, so much more so than the quests. Unless you are meaning the heart quests then that is a different story….

But I agree, killing mobs on the way to your goals I have found in most cases just not worth it. They are just roadblocks Anet has put in your way to delay you getting there. Perhaps to make things seem to take longer to do I don’t know. Personally however if I find fun in killing mobs I would rather just go out and do that and not have to do it on my way to here or there.

I played another game “Runescape” for 11 years on and off and their system for this was VERY good. People actualy went to what they call “train” their characters to increase in power and didn’t have to be “forced” to do so on the way here or there. It was very fun too oddly in some way even when the combat system (back in the day) was very boring/basic compared to the GW2 system and could get very tedious. I dunno maybe the reward system helped some ways there….