Guild Wars 2

Hello all.

I am really struggling to get into the game at all. I am a previous player of GW1 and, despite the very “bitty” set up of GW1 and GW2, did manage to enjoy parts of it (I am used to a world without load times and portals etc. thanks to WoW)

I have a number of issues, not least of which is the appallingly clunky and sluggish control system, made worse by the fact that the game seems to rely on moving around quickly to avoid attacks etc. WoW is slick as you like, just like a FPS game. Is there ANY way around these horrible controls?

Another issue is frankly having no idea where to go or what to do in the game – I am currently level 8, almost entirely by doing those “heart” quests, much like a “kill xx of that” quest in WoW and just as dull. Is this really how you level? I did the green story quest, but soon got to the point where 3 level 10s were hitting me and killing me. 2-3 level 8 mobs in the quest areas will kill me too and, while I can take a few deaths, I am just dying all the time, barring killing level 3 heart mobs.

There must be more to the game than this, surely? I tried entering WvW but have absolutely no idea what the heck it is all about after running around and, again, dying a lot.

Would love some constructive feedback so I can at least try to get back into things, but frankly I dropped back to WoW and breathed a sigh of relief. It is such a fluid, beautiful (well some parts!) and responsive game. GW2 feels like a fun school project built on a very dated engine.

There isn’t much you can do about the controls in GW2, but you can slightly modify some things in the options menu under game controls or something like that.

For leveling up, there is a number of ways you level and not just by doing the heart quests, although those are part of zone completion and you get a good chunk of experience for completing a zone. and the rewards get better when you complete higher level areas.

Start off by completing all the lower level zones and then do the Personal Story missions when you’re a high enough level. You’ll start acquiring better gear once u get to like lvl 10 and then leveling becomes a little easier.

Ignore the hostile response above. Very disgusting and immature.

I have a number of issues, not least of which is the appallingly clunky and sluggish control system

The problem isn’t the control system. The problem is the default keybinds. The default keybinds are terrible. You absolutely have to change your keybinds if you want to experience GW2 even more fully.

I suggest watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ANX_fIj9PY

Another issue is frankly having no idea where to go or what to do in the game. I am currently level 8, almost entirely by doing those “heart” quests, much like a “kill xx of that” quest in WoW and just as dull. Is this really how you level?

Hearts are a way to level up, but it is not the only nor that is its primary purpose. Hearts a guide to tell you what level each area is. This way, you don’t accidentally engage a level 30 mob when you are level 10.

The way to level up in Guild wars 2 is to do everything. Gather skillpoints, Gather materials, complete hearts, do dynamic events, complete dailies, explore the unknown.

The beauty of Guild Wars 2 is that there is no carrot on a stick. No one is telling you where you must go. No one decides the direction but you. If you still want something to tell you a direction, press the auto-run key and watch it take you to a whole new place.

Yeah, if the thing you like about WoW is linearly progressing through one quest line after the next, then you’ve got some, maybe uncomfortable, experiences ahead – in a good way. The two main things to know in PvE is:

1. Fight at your level – there is nothing keeping you from jumping into higher level zones and getting pasted. Also, there are tougher level areas in the same zone so if you start fighting multiple mobs at your level or higher, you might have strayed too far away from the entry area.

2. Figure out what works the best for your class and play style. You might want to start with a Ranger or Guardian at first – the Ranger’s pet is good at keeping aggro away from you and the Guardian is a tanky class.

Honorable Mention: look to your loot to upgrade your gear. I usually use my loot gear in between the 10, 20, 30 level increments – for those I go to the trading post and get a full set of blue or green gear. Weapons too – upgrade as you can. Guides and wikis help.

Oh, there’s a carrot on a stick for sure! Those dang wiggly boxes that pop up on my screen!

First of all, please excuse Dalanor for such a harsh comment, as our community generally don’t really like World of Warcraft players because in general they want to find ‘another WoW’ to play in-between, but rather leave disappointed ranting about how this game is a ‘huge fail’.

Well, I can’t help you with controls, because to me everything felt just right since the beginning.

If you want to enjoy playing Guild Wars 2, you have to get rid of WoW mentality. It’s just a game, a very fun game which parts you can enjoy with your newfound guildmates or your own friends. I would like to ask you: have you been researching on what this game may offer to you? Because you might get disappointed if major points of this game is not for you. I, for instance, don’t like simulators that much, thus I just don’t play them.
I mentioned getting rid of current ‘WoW mentality’. It means: 1)do NOT ever rush to level 80, because level is pretty irrelevant; 2)we don’t have tiers of gear to chase each major patch (there are no raids btw); 3)it’s a GAME, not some kind of use-common-MMO-things MMORPG, but simply a game – it shouldn’t keep you occupied in it for eternity. It’s more like: play a few hours, have some random fun, maybe do some organised things, then logout and you may play other games or do your IRL things… Keep in mind, you’re not paying a subscription.

Exploration in this game is very rewarding. To level up, DO NOT go from heart to heart, from story mission to story mission. Instead, you may even turn off those things from a map and just go explore randomly! You’ll find random people with whom you can role-play, do events, explore things (Tyria is filled with tons of small details and you must decide whether you want to find them or not).

Edit: as runeblade said, there’s not some kind of carrot-on-a-stick for you to play as devs intended. Make your own goals. In WoW, most optimal way to experience the game is: gain level 15 -> go to one place and spam automatic Dungeon Finder -> grind some quest till level cap -> get X tier of gear -> go raid/PvP -> get Y tier of gear -> go raid/PvP -> get Z tier of gear -> go raid/PvP -> buy expansion -> grind to next level cap -> get N tier of gear -> go raid/PvP -> …
Here, if you want to do 100% world exploration – no problem. Finish personal story? Okay. Get tons of gold? Sure. Farm for gold or flip on the trading post? If you prefer. Go to PvP from level 1 ’cause you like PvPing? Why not.
Make your own goals and it will be one of your most fun and best experiences.

It sounds to me he clearly doesn’t even want to enjoy the game, so please stop reporting me. =]

As for leveling. Complete maps, do hearts, do personal story, gather everything.
Whatever you do this game yields XP, so it shouldnt be an issue.
As for controls, this is the smoothest game i’ve ever had. WoW compared to this is really sluggish.
If i were you, i would avoid WvW until i get more game experience to see how things works, but seriously you won’t miss to much if you wait with that till lvl80.

Dalanor.5387:

It sounds to me he clearly doesn’t even want to enjoy the game, so please stop reporting me. =]

As for leveling. Complete maps, do hearts, do personal story, gather everything.
Whatever you do this game yields XP, so it shouldnt be an issue.
As for controls, this is the smoothest game i’ve ever had. WoW compared to this is really sluggish.
If i were you, i would avoid WvW until i get more game experience to see how things works, but seriously you won’t miss to much if you wait with that till lvl80.

Don’t worry, I understand you

Also, some pieces of advice to Icykold:
you don’t have to follow a certain pattern of leveling in zones. Stay in one zone as much as you like. Experience gain is still the same. And I suggest venturing between major regions: from Queensdale to Wayfarer Foothills, to Caledon Forest, to Metrica Province, to Plains of Ashford. Explore, make your own adventure. Don’t follow a path.

Yes, the game is not linear. It doesn’t take lead you like walking through Ikea. It’s sandbox like in that regard. No giant arrows showing you who to talk to next and no outleveling an area to “encourage” you to move on. You can level to 80 in the starter map if you want. You can level to 80 just by crafting in a city, if you have the gold.

Every activity it seems gives XP, from gathering (everyone gets their own copy) to rezzing downed players and NPCs (everyone can) to exposing the map and finding waypoints/POI/vistas. Crafting gives XP. Sure Heart quests are a source (not all are kill xx) and personal story another but so are events you stumble upon in the world as well as simple map clearing. Actually you get a nice XP bonus removing critters that have been unmolested for an hour so wander off the path and into the woods.

If you need to be guided talk to scouts on the map (telescope icons) and they will tell you about heart quests in the area. Look for event alerts on the right side of your screen when you get in range of one.

You are a brave adventurer who haven’t wandered the world yet. Go out and find all you can find, go everywhere and explore, help players without the guilt of “stealing” from them (no kill stealing, no XP splitting, no ninja loot rolls). The game is extremely coop.

This: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/manual/

or this: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

might prove helpful. There are also some Stickies (some out-dated) that you may find interesting in the Players Helping Players sub-forum.

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck!

Just do whatever u want Explore do events find new stuff craft and much more this game offers alot so i suggest u jump Right in and do what u wanna do and enjoy the game

Icykold.6405:

I have a number of issues, not least of which is the appallingly clunky and sluggish control system, made worse by the fact that the game seems to rely on moving around quickly to avoid attacks etc. WoW is slick as you like, just like a FPS game. Is there ANY way around these horrible controls?

Would love some constructive feedback so I can at least try to get back into things, but frankly I dropped back to WoW and breathed a sigh of relief. It is such a fluid, beautiful (well some parts!) and responsive game. GW2 feels like a fun school project built on a very dated engine.

I know the feels. Everyone, except a few people like you and I, are oblivious to the crappy controls and response time of skills and such. I also came from WoW, and I realized that Guild Wars 2 was not a game that I would enjoy after hitting level 80. If you truly enjoy playing WoW, I would tell you to stick with it, because Guild Wars 2 just doesn’t have the same feeling that WoW gives you. Heck, I really don’t even consider GW2 as an MMORPG, let alone an RPG. It has an entirely different atmosphere than WoW.

I tought WoW use the same crappy controls as WASD and mouse.

Dalanor.5387:

I tought WoW use the same crappy controls as WASD and mouse.

He’s talking about mechanics. Those same mechanics which are pretty much non existent in this game.

Because perma CC is better, riiiiiiight.

He will get used to it when he will understands how the game works and why.

Dalanor.5387:

Because perma CC is better, riiiiiiight.

He will get used to it when he will understands how the game works and why.

As opposed to spamming 1 and double tapping a movement key every so often for most encounters, right?

No, I don’t think so.

Skan.5301:

Dalanor.5387:

Because perma CC is better, riiiiiiight.

He will get used to it when he will understands how the game works and why.

As opposed to spamming 1 and double tapping a movement key every so often for most encounters, right?

No, I don’t think so.

I didn’t talk about WvW.
And double tap for dodge hurts more than it should, i suggest you to disable it in the options menu.

edit:

Your sour vision of the game won’t help to the OP as i’ve seen in your previous posts in the past 3 months, so lets stop this here, ’kay? =] You can play another game too, but as an overly negative player you still play here, why?

WoW does have very, very snappy responsiveness in its controls and animations … but … it also has tab targeting, auto-facing and the like. So the tightness in WoW’s controls/animations is really a bit fluffy — in the game itself, it’s not that important due to the way that combat actually works. It just “feels tight”. In GW2, the controls feel a bit looser, because the targeting system is based on facing the target, and there is some looseness in there as a result of needing to have some flow with how that works. You can adjust rotation speed in the settings, which goes a long way to making it seem less sluggish in comparison to the snappiness of WoW, but in general, the idea here is to keep moving and face the target, actively dodge things and so on. It’s very responsive in terms of what the actual combat mechanic of this game is.

In terms of what to do, no it isn’t like WoW where you are led around with feeder quests from hub to hub. Hearts are there as an anchor to let you know what the general level is in that particular part of the map. Generally to level in the game, you do everything — hearts, events (the orange things that pop up), storyline, map exploration (POIs, waypoints, vistas), skillpoints, gathering, crafting, etc. Do it all, it all earns you XP. It isn’t like WoW where you just grind a linear series of quests and/or grind LFD while sitting in Orgrimmar or Stormwind. The game here is about exploring the maps, doing everything you can do, and playing all aspects of the game.

Importantly, it isn’t about endgame. There is an endgame, but it isn’t about progression raids. It isn’t a core focus of the game. So, the idea is to actually play through the content of the game, all of it, at your own pace, and then dedicate yourself to whatever “endgame” you want, whether it is completing the maps, or WvWvW or getting better looking gear or what have you. It’s fundamentally a different design from WoW.

Finally, yes WoW has that open world with few load screens. But that comes at a significant cost in terms of graphics. GW2 has mostly an open world with large zones, but does have portals between them and the cities and so on. It’s a compromise, but given the much higher graphical and artistic quality in GW2 as compared with WoW, it seems like a more than acceptable one.

Dalanor.5387:

Skan.5301:

Dalanor.5387:

Because perma CC is better, riiiiiiight.

He will get used to it when he will understands how the game works and why.

As opposed to spamming 1 and double tapping a movement key every so often for most encounters, right?

No, I don’t think so.

I didn’t talk about WvW.
And double tap for dodge hurts more than it should, i suggest you to disable it in the options menu.

edit:

Your sour vision of the game won’t help to the OP as i’ve seen in your previous posts in the past 3 months, so lets stop this here, ’kay? =] You can play another game too, but as an overly negative player you still play here, why?

It’s not just WvW I’m talking about, but nice try.

I’m here because I believe if the Devs changed their “Mostly ignore player feedback and capitalize on monetary gains while doing as klittle as we can while still keeping the guise that we’re doing something revolutionary.” stance, the game will be a great MMO. I’ve been a Guild Wars player since Beta, and I still log in to it almost everyday. I hold on to that very small and rapidly fading sliver of hope that the game will stop being about the cash shop and more about quality gameplay.

Tell me. Does your shield arm get tired very often? Because what you said to the OP about going back to WoW won’t help either. A devout GW2 fan, like you seem to be, would post paragraphs helping the OP, but instead you took the fact that he said WoW and changed faces. Well done, sir. Well done indeed.

On topic:

OP: Hearts are basically quest renamed. You still do the same things as for traditional quest for them, only now you have a bar instead of a number attached so it seems different. You can level by doing those and also get Karma, a currency used to buy certain things, like armoire, crafting reagents, ect. Exploring the map full, as mentioned, also gives quite a good bit of EXP, and you can go to starter zones from any of the home cities to gain a few levels.

The start of any MMO is different, as you have to get used to the controls and mechanics, but in the end, by around leave 15 or 20, you will be able to realize if the game is for you or not. It appeals to different people, as we as humans have different taste. Just play it for a bit and you’ll know soon enough how you feel about it and you can make a solid decision.

@OP
Others said that GW2 won’t hold your hand and help you out where to go. Well, that’t not true entirely. If you follow your personal story (green star thingy) it will lead you troughout zones and basically gives you a pattern where to go if you really really stuck with leveling.
Since downscaling is in the game, i suggest you to go on lower level zones too or discover main citiez. While the hearts, events and mobs are lower level than you there, it still gives a decent amount of XP and help you level up.
Crafting is an option that will become handy more with your alts, as with your first character i wouldn’t advise you to blow all your gold on it, but i admit this is the fastest leveling option beside leveling scrolls (kinda rear reward in sPvP to help out pvp players).

And don’t rush. If you just run trough the levels mindlessly, you will hit lvl80 and stand there “now what?”. Don’t ruin the experience for yourself. Take it slowly and the game will grow on you.

@Skan:
He could mention any other game, he just don’t like it thats all.
I still jump in WoW for a few random instance, it has it’s ups and downs, but GW2 and WoW is 2 whole different worlds and while ofc GW2 still has issues here and there, it made some unusual changes that made it even better in quality than WoW imo. A lot of mechanics are more player friendly, like shared veins and, no hostile faction, tiny little details like deposit option is amazing and so on.

Also make sure to talk to these guys.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Scout

They can tell you which area is what level.

Galtrix.7369:

Everyone, except a few people like you and I, are oblivious to the crappy controls and response time of skills and such.

The few things people need today to feel like belonging to some self-imagined elite…

The most important thing I can tell you OP is DO NOT RUSH THE GAME. You will hate it if you rush through levels just to ’’enjoy’’ whats at 80. There is literally no end game in this game and you are pretty much just competing in a fashion show after hitting 80 and exploring the world map. Dungeons are cool and stuff but don’t go crazy on them because they don’t change(of all the dungeons only fractals/aether path/and some small dungeon modifications have been done since release).

If you rush the game you will hate your self because there isnt a whole lot of content since everything that comes out is gone within a month. Temporary content is not the right path but they don’t listen.

Speaking from experience I have nothing left to keep my mind busy with this game. I just get on and afk because there is nothing to do at the moment. I played and rushed through the game and don’t have an incentive to play till something worthwhile is introduced.

So enjoy your time and play at your pace don’t hurry for anything.

Lots of really good advice, it has opened my eyes, I was expecting something roughly along the lines of existing MMORPGs but this game clearly is more about exploration (wasn’t that a thing in the original Guild Wars? I seem to remember “scraping” maps to eventually earn some world explorer achievement or similar!)

I will check out the recommended links and try other starter areas too (I was worried about low or no XP but again this appears to be different to other MMOs).

My only concern is, as a huge altoholic on WoW, I will likely only want to level 1 character since once the starter areas have been exhausted, will I want to come back again and again? However, since the game is a one-time payment it is hardly fair to begrudge this.

Thanks again, I will try to dive in again soon and see where I end up.

Don’t be fooled all dungeons are level 80