Guild Wars 2

It really does. I am not trying to cause a flame war here or bash the game. The intent here is to reflect briefly some feedback I have seen from others and also myself.

The game seems to require you to heavily explore and participate in each and every zone just to level. Without doing any dungeons, pvp, or your personal story you are often times left redoing the same content or going to a new zone. That isn’t fun honestly, but rather it promotes a heavy grind.

Some have said perhaps the Karma objectives do not give enough experience. Another mention is that they are sometimes left having done most karma objectives but have to run around just to find some DE to do in order to gain more experience. Simply killing mobs alone is definitely no way to level in this game due to to the low experience they often give (unless they are well above your level).

I am not sure if it was intended that you would also be exploring with crafting and doing your personal story-line in addition to this. I do get that you can get experience from a wide variety of things, but is the zone content just filler that isn’t intended to be a main source of experience? As it stands right now though I feel forced to literally do a full zone completion just to feel close to the level I am supposed to be at. I frankly have to do other things just to level and cannot only do a single pass in that zone at my level and ding ready for the next zone.

This to me is a big issue.

This game is very non linear. Your approaching it from a linear typical MMO standpoint. I think they did intend players to do a wide variety of things because of the whole non linear nature of the game. I feel like I am leveling faster than the content so I am on the other side of the coin but I have been doing a little bit of everything (crafting, dungeons, WvW, pve, exploring).

I find that GW2 is most fun when you go do whatever you want to do.
If you try to level as fast as possible and make a huge checklist you’ll burn yourself out and get bored.

There are always events going on somewhere and if the current zone bores you you can go check out an another race’s zone, craft some items or play some WvW.

Over time the old zones will get new events through patches, but they have quite a few already if you explore.

I don’t really understand your point because my experience has been very different and I see the opportunities elsewhere.

Lets start with, what do you like to do?

Level/progress without exploring, pvp, and story?

Ok you have two great options. Progress through multiple 1-15, 15-25, etc. areas without completing all of it. Do some crafting for useful items, to sell, alts, etc. These two alone are not a chore at all, very easy to do and figure out and will out level the areas you are in quickly.

Beyond this I am not sure what your point is for playing the game. Exploring, story, and pvp are a HUGE part of this game and give you tons of content and variety (which seems to be what you want, variety). If it is a chore to you to play, I think you are approaching this wrong to be honest. If I had a complaint it would be the game is to easy to level (or out level the areas I am in) by doing a wide variety of fun things.

I have never had an issue with my level as compared to either my story quest or zone progression.

I have been able to smoothly move thru each of the Norn zones usually starting them at least 3 levels above the intended start level. I did this also without doing the bulk of my personal story, or any crafting save 12 levels of Armorsmith.

It may be luck, but I always find DE’s and I don’t mind doing most multiple times as I have yet to find one I don’t like. I also gather every node that pops onto my map and even try to do the Daily Achievement within my 1st hour of nightly play, along with exploring every nook and cranny.

But as Arisal said I originally approached this as a none linear game, and didn’t even really follow my own story quest until around level 15 or so.

I mostly PvP, but on the times I’ve tried to level I find it to be very annoying. It seems the main source of PvP is storyline quest or looking around for events. I don’t like having to walk around looking for events and hoping they’re at a stage I can join and still get decent exp. I want to just kill crap on my own or something.

PQ’s didn’t go over well in Warhammer, I don’t really care for them much here either. Thankfully PvP is seperate heh.

gamingglory.2097:

The game seems to require you to heavily explore and participate in each and every zone just to level. Without doing any dungeons, pvp, or your personal story you are often times left redoing the same content or going to a new zone. That isn’t fun honestly, but rather it promotes a heavy grind.

snip

I am not sure if it was intended that you would also be exploring with crafting and doing your personal story-line in addition to this. I do get that you can get experience from a wide variety of things, but is the zone content just filler that isn’t intended to be a main source of experience? As it stands right now though I feel forced to literally do a full zone completion just to feel close to the level I am supposed to be at. I frankly have to do other things just to level and cannot only do a single pass in that zone at my level and ding ready for the next zone.

This to me is a big issue.

I haven’t had any issues leveling; if anything, I sometimes feel as though the levels are coming too quickly and my gear can’t keep up. I’m completing each area, gathering, crafting, participating in as many DEs I come across as I can, and doing my personal story. I have not been doing much pvp or many dungeons. Personally, I’m not consciously trying to level as I’m doing these things, I’m simply out exploring because I enjoy exploring, and I’m doing my personal story because I like it so far.

I hear what you’re saying, though. If your play style doesn’t include things like completing maps and your personal story, what sort of things have you been doing to level up? It seems to me that map completion, personal story, and participating in lots of DE are some of the primary ways in which Arenanet had planned for people to gain XP.

I haven’t had any problems with leveling either. There’s been many times when I’ve thought to myself “I’ve gained another level, when did that happen?” It seems like it goes so fast. But I do enjoy the adventure and exploration. So maybe that’s where we are different. I think this is mainly and exploration game, and if you don’t like to explore… well I guess you could try crafting.

I’m completely the other way, I love exploring and I’m kind of confused by the number of people who seem to want to play this game without…well, playing it.

I’ve never really understood this attitude some people have that the point of video games is to finish them as quickly and efficently as possible. It alway reminds me of that scene in Jarhead where the guys talking about Metroid and how all that happens at the end is you get sent right back to the begining. That’s not really true, but in a way it’s not far off. Once you’ve finished a game, any game, you don’t really gain anything other than maybe bragging rights if you happen to know someone who considers this impressive. If anything you lose something because then you don’t have that game to enjoy anymore.

This is one reason I like big RPGs, especially open world ones (which GW2 is to some extent, in spite of being divided by level). Because even once you’ve finished the main storyline theres usually still tons of stuff to do, and in recent years alternate endings and branching or alternate storylines to try out as well.

So yes you are supposed to explore and participate in each and every zone. You are supposed to do some crafting and some WvW and some dynamic events and some heart quests and your personal story. Because that’s what playing the game is.

If that feels like a chore then I’d say you’ve either missed the point of playing a game, or you’ve picked the wrong one.

I am also in the same boat of feeling that I level faster than the zone I am in — which I’m fine with due to the level scaling.

You get experience for doing just about anything. Resurrecting other players & NPCs, gathering, crafting, vistas, finding POIs, dynamic events, renown hearts, skill challenges… hell, just wandering the various maps and starter zones looking for pets to charm for my ranger got me a couple of levels and skill points. I find myself leveling without really trying to.

GW2 isn’t for everyone and that’s okay. If it feels like a chore to you, don’t play it or walk away from it for a while. A game should be fun. If you’re not having fun it’s not worth your time.

I find I am constantly underlevelled for the area I am trying to do. Doing every renown heart, finding most vistas and POIs, resurrecting players & NPCs, keeping my personal story up to date, gathering everything I see and crafting (when I have enough mats) leaves me about 2-3 levels down.

The other options are WvW or hopping to a different area. However, I don’t want to burn myself out on WvW by doing it too much, and I want to leave some areas undiscovered for when I play my alts.

The best solution I’ve found is actually running back through the area you’ve just done and joining in as many dynamic events as you can find. Ones with incoming waves of enemy NPCs are best.

gamingglory.2097:

I feel forced to literally do a full zone completion just to feel close to the level I am supposed to be at. I frankly have to do other things just to level and cannot only do a single pass in that zone at my level and ding ready for the next zone.

I get where you’re coming from.

The leveling grind can definitely feel daunting, somewhat tedious and long. I’m not convinced that is necessarily a bad thing, as the game promotes experiencing different facets of the content, but I can see where feelings of exasperation can enter the picture.

At least the landscape and the music are beautiful.