Guild Wars 2

I bought this game almost a month back now and I’ve barely played it. Couple hours spent on it, thats all. I was looking for an MMORPG because I’ve enjoyed them in the past. Played Runescape for years. Played SWTOR for a month and only stopped because I didn’t have much time on my hands. I enjoyed Runescape a LONG time ago, and SWTOR recently.

Did some research on MMOs, found this, saw great reviews, how its the MMO that breaks the norm of grinding, saw an awesome review by Angry Joe. In particular, he mentioned he couldn’t get into SWTOR despite the awesome concept because of the lack of interesting game play. He struck me as someone who was looking for an MMO experience that actually had a soul to it.

So I spend 35$ on this, start playing, and what do I get? Maybe a few minutes of interesting story and then hours of follow the arrow, kill stuff for WAY longer than should be necessary, level up, move on. Seriously? This is exactly what I was told this game DOESN’T have. Why do I have to spend 15 minutes dancing for cows and killing worms by spamming a key to fill up a bar?

Honestly this is the reason I hate spending money on games these days.

The only reason I’m still trying is because I feel guilty for spending money on this.

So please help me find ways to make this experience more “fun”, since the game refuses to do that for me. I discovered the random events already. Besides that so far I’m just following arrows and doing side quests that involve killing 20 of something. Does this end? When does this end? Is there any other alternative to progressing in the game and hopefully getting somewhere better? What else can I do except be the NPC’s kitten?

HONESTLY despite being a WoW clone I found SWTOR a lot more fun.

Dyonisian.8610:

I bought this game almost a month back now and I’ve barely played it. Couple hours spent on it, thats all. I was looking for an MMORPG because I’ve enjoyed them in the past. Played Runescape for years. Played SWTOR for a month and only stopped because I didn’t have much time on my hands. I enjoyed Runescape a LONG time ago, and SWTOR recently.

Did some research on MMOs, found this, saw great reviews, how its the MMO that breaks the norm of grinding, saw an awesome review by Angry Joe. In particular, he mentioned he couldn’t get into SWTOR despite the awesome concept because of the lack of interesting game play. He struck me as someone who was looking for an MMO experience that actually had a soul to it.

So I spend 35$ on this, start playing, and what do I get? Maybe a few minutes of interesting story and then hours of follow the arrow, kill stuff for WAY longer than should be necessary, level up, move on. Seriously? This is exactly what I was told this game DOESN’T have. Why do I have to spend 15 minutes dancing for cows and killing worms by spamming a key to fill up a bar?

Honestly this is the reason I hate spending money on games these days.

The only reason I’m still trying is because I feel guilty for spending money on this.

So please help me find ways to make this experience more “fun”, since the game refuses to do that for me. I discovered the random events already. Besides that so far I’m just following arrows and doing side quests that involve killing 20 of something. Does this end? When does this end? Is there any other alternative to progressing in the game and hopefully getting somewhere better? What else can I do except be the NPC’s kitten?

HONESTLY despite being a WoW clone I found SWTOR a lot more fun.

Sorry to tell you this, but you fell for the hype.

next time learn from this mistake.

Of course I did, how am I supposed to know what product to spend money on if I can’t even trust reviews?

The low level game was dumbed down a lot in recent patches, so as an MMO veteran that’s what you’re experiencing. You probably don’t need the extra hand-holding because you know what you’re doing.

Stick through it, if you can, and try to get to level 15 or 20. That’ll get you out of the newbie zones where you have to actually try in order to die. You’ll wind up fighting tougher foes, and having more skills at your disposal to deal with them. As well, you’ll open up various other options that they chose to hide for low level players, like skill challenges and vistas, which will give you XP and other bonuses for exploring and finding them.

So persevere a little bit. It gets better.

First, don’t follow the arrow. The arrow is for players who want to be led. For others, simply go and explore. Check the local critters to see if they are level appropriate but wander, kill things, talk to scouts, clear out a revealed area on your map and then wander into a blurred area and repeat. There’s a pretty big world out there for you to explore. Sure some areas are tough.

Do hearts, don’t do hearts. Come across an event, do it or not, your choice. See that flag on top of that cliff or damage old wall, try to figure out how to get to it. There are “quest givers” (hearts) but you don’t need them. Of course finishing them turns them into an NPC vendor who will buy your junk and might have something unique to buy, level appropriate to that area of the map. And unless you are slumming, it may even be useful.

It’s not a sandbox but it isn’t on rails either. The arrow was added for those who want guidance or if you are trying to find everything on the map. It’s a suggestion, not a requirement. Heck you can choose to never leave the starting map and level right up to 80. But that’s like visiting a major city and never traveling more than a block from your hotel.

Dyonisian.8610:

Maybe a few minutes of interesting story and then hours of follow the arrow, kill stuff for WAY longer than should be necessary, level up, move on. Seriously?

The arrow that shows you nearby points of interests, vistas, events, the personal story, etc? That was recently added because people couldn’t figure out how to play the game, which is based on self exploration. You don’t have to follow anything, you can basically do whatever you want, which is where most people fail – with no direction, there’s nothing to do.

As for killing taking long, that’s entirely dependent on how you play. Go full offense, play more skillfully and you should have should kill stuff quickly. Or, play full defense, stand and tank everything and kill stuff slowly.

You basically want to treat the game like a little living world. The point is not to just rush to the end but to enjoy the journey. Listen to your surroundings, there’s a lot of little details everywhere. Don’t just run away from a completed event for example, the NPCs will usually do stuff afterwards, tell a little story, etc.

The game is what it is.

ANet changed some early gameplay because of METRIX™, but over all the game won’t change.
Sorry. If you don’t like it now, there is very little chance, that you will ever like it.

I would recommend checking out video reviews and ones specifically tailored to leveling content, etc. Text reviews don’t usually do video games full justice.

Dyonisian.8610:

I bought this game almost a month back now and I’ve barely played it. Couple hours spent on it, thats all. I was looking for an MMORPG because I’ve enjoyed them in the past. Played Runescape for years. Played SWTOR for a month and only stopped because I didn’t have much time on my hands. I enjoyed Runescape a LONG time ago, and SWTOR recently.

Did some research on MMOs, found this, saw great reviews, how its the MMO that breaks the norm of grinding, saw an awesome review by Angry Joe. In particular, he mentioned he couldn’t get into SWTOR despite the awesome concept because of the lack of interesting game play. He struck me as someone who was looking for an MMO experience that actually had a soul to it.

So I spend 35$ on this, start playing, and what do I get? Maybe a few minutes of interesting story and then hours of follow the arrow, kill stuff for WAY longer than should be necessary, level up, move on. Seriously? This is exactly what I was told this game DOESN’T have. Why do I have to spend 15 minutes dancing for cows and killing worms by spamming a key to fill up a bar?

Honestly this is the reason I hate spending money on games these days.

The only reason I’m still trying is because I feel guilty for spending money on this.

So please help me find ways to make this experience more “fun”, since the game refuses to do that for me. I discovered the random events already. Besides that so far I’m just following arrows and doing side quests that involve killing 20 of something. Does this end? When does this end? Is there any other alternative to progressing in the game and hopefully getting somewhere better? What else can I do except be the NPC’s kitten?

HONESTLY despite being a WoW clone I found SWTOR a lot more fun.

Anet GUTTED the leveling experience horrendously. It may be better for the type of people who would rather think of the game as an interactive movie, but not for the more veteran style folk. Quite frankly I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone who’s looking for the open world content and leveling experience anymore, strictly for the reason that you’re denied your full toolset for 100% of the leveling. It’s sad to say that you don’t really even get build diversity until you’re halfway to 80, and even then you’re barely dipping your feet into traits.

If you want a PvP system with good combat mechanics, keep at it. If you want a theme park style ride with an actual story, you are DEFINITELY in the wrong place. If you fit into the niche of “enjoying the view while wandering aimlessly” you can find enjoyment here. This game can cater to you if you’re looking for a good time with a guild or a couple friends, but for the solo story experience it seems like you’re looking for, you’d best move on now.

Unfortunately, a recent update by ArenaNet removed a huge amount of the really fun and cool things there are to do on the lower level maps.

My advice is find a guild, relax and just do what you feel like. GW2 isn’t a grind heavy game and it’s definitely not a “hardcore” game. GW2 is definitely a casual experience.

Don’t make the mistake of rushing through the content, play the story, do reknown hearts, listen and observe what’s going on. Every single reknown heart has it’s own thing going on, and each map has it’s own little mini story you can uncover by completing the hearts, I really enjoy that, but then storyline is part of what makes GW2 awesome for me

Turn off the arrow. It’s in options. Also don’t try to level by grinding. Find events and do events, because ultimately that’s what this game is about.

Events in lower level zones are simpler and don’t chain as much, because everyone has to learn the game at some point.

But if you’re looking for the same experience you’d get in SWToR you’d not find that here. That’s because the game wasn’t supposed to be that way. No trinity, so no spamming looking for healer. No standard end game. No gear progression to speak of (even though some people speak of it).

But you have to approach the game with a different mindset or you’re going to dislike it.

The arrow is a new addition, turn it off and explore. The game is at its best when you’re just wandering around and joining in what you see going on.

The game is about completion, gathering and cosmetics, not leveling. People that are new to GW2 and are not coming from GW1 are still confused about that. The OP is obviously frustrated and concerned about his leveling mechanic. Which really isn’t the point of the game…

Point of the game is in the journey you take, and the things you have completed. It’s all nicely marked and logged for you. And you are rewarded for everything. It’s about collecting stuff, unlocking stuff, making your character look pretty and the way you want him to, achieving completion and progressing not in levels and power but with what your character has achieved. There’s also game mechanics you will need to explore, learn and master, to become good at any form of PvX content, which all of it, is pretty enjoyable to say the least.

Just get past that starting point, and look it at a broader scale. The world is yours to do what you want to do, achieve what you want to achieve, and become what you want to become. Don’t follow the arrow.

If you need help, further tips and inspiration for what to do in the game feel welcome to add me as friend and contact me in game (I play in EU timezone).

I’ve personally never seen it, but I’m fairly certain that Angry Joe’s review was made before the so called ‘New Player Experience’ update.
Which did exactly the opposite as what it was supposed to do; make it a more fun experience for new players.

However, the more you level up the more features will unlock so I’d say just give it another chance and stick with it for a while. There really are quite a lot of fun things to do for new players, honestly. It just looks like there isn’t during the lower levels.

Also, finding a fun, casual guild will definitely help making your experience more fun.

You can approach the NSDAP’s ideas with a different mindset and find them agreeable. Just kidding, don’t, the game is lacking basic features that almost every MMO has, Anet calls this “innovation”.

I used to scorn people that said “Don’t like it, don’t play it” but now I actually agree with them, don’t support a game that you dislike. If you have to waddle trough 3-4 hours of boring content before you get to the “good stuff” (spoilers, more boring content) then it’s not worth trying.
IF and IF you do get hooked, then prepare for a big disappointment, once you finish the content the game has you’ll be stuck with one of the silliest business models ever conceived. Basically you’ll be receiving some bi-weekly grind (if Anet feels like it) , rehashed seasonal events and lots of gem store exclusive content/items.

I only did the story on one char, and do not want to do it on any other. I love exploring and stuff with my other chars so I do not feel that I am lead.

I had quite a long post typed out, and decided that it’s too negative. So I’m going to tell you what ANet and the white knights tell me to say to you.

This game’s great! 10/10! The sooner you start telling yourself that, the easier your life will be here, and in game.

First: A-Net has simplified things too far….

WvW can be interesting because you play players. so can pvp, but I’m a pvE and wvw player so I do not have a well rounded opinion on pvp yet.

I can safely say if you like it you can find things to do so you keep liking it for a while, and if you do not I’d buy something else after levelling the first character to 80 and you did dungeond/fractals/wvw/pvp a few times. Or you can skip it and leave it.

It’s a (very) easy MMO. and they do not have a real grind. they do have the idea collecting a couple thousand badges is a great thing to do…. and it’s boring, even though the mechanics to do so are well thought out it’s lame as KiTtEn to make people do the same content over and over( it is not yet a horrible grind, just a grind… , this also tends to go for the holiday events, wintersday being the same stuff as the previous years, like halloween and so on.)

I got 14 lvl80’s again (just deleted 2, and relevelled 1) and I’ve seen most of this game now. It can be slow sometimes, but it’s not meant to be hard. It’s meant to be fun…. it’s a game.

But I love GW2 . And I will be playing it for a while to come. And all of the above mean I can jump in when I want can do it with newbs and vets alike. Vets to do it fast and efficient or newbs to have a challenge.

Spend 5500 hours since pre-start, have 16 slots, 15 charactes 14 lvl 80’s, 2 legendaries. been guild leader, officer and dungeon speed clear player. wvw player….

But if you want to try it you should go for it cokmpletely and not be bothered by the levelling for the first time, it’s a bore. The game starts when in lvl 80 exotics, even if there is no classic “endgame”.

Angry Joe’s review is 2 years old. Enough said.

To the OP: Sadly, many of the great things Angry Joe raved about are now out of reach for new players. Anet apparently decided that people were overwhelmed by so much things to do and locked a lot of the content behind a grinding machine.

Right now, the game is not worth your time. Shed your guilt and play something that’s actually meant to be fun until this game gets fixed.

I also bought the game because of Angry Joe’s review. If it wasn’t for that, I would probably never hear of Guild Wars 2.
You have to understand, that back then this game had much different things to offer and it moved in a different direction.
What you’re looking for probably unlocks at level 80. Until then try to find the joy in crafting, personal story, jumping puzzles and other things in the game.
I know how you feel, but it saddens me that even new players feel this way about the game.

Also do not follow that arrow. You should discover things by yourself, that makes this game way more enjoyable. What is killing it, is that the majority of the game is incredibly easy. I think a good step for you would be finding a guild. Someone to talk to and do stuff with.

You can always message me in the game if you need help.

You have to be Chinese. The new player experience is for them now.

Apparently Anet’s ‘metrics’ say that you like this kind of thing.

GuzziHero.5104:

You have to be Chinese. The new player experience is for them now.

Apparently Anet’s ‘metrics’ say that you like this kind of thing.

The Chinese don’t like it either from what I’ve read and heard.

Yep, the game changed a lot in low level. Not at the core, but how to unlock your character and the evil arrow.

I was fortunate enough to have most of my character to level 80 when they added that, the game is still as awesome as before once you reach level 80.

Don’t follow the arrow, you can do whatever you want to level up. There is over 300 hearts in the world so of course some of them will be really bad. But don’t worry, they are like 1% of the game. If I didn’t need map completion (aka doing all the heart) for my legendaries, it would not have touch 1 single hearts in the last 18 months. Hearts are really just an easy way to do content for new player that are used to do quest in other MMO. You could only do the first heart on your character and then never do one single heart again if you want.

Dyonisian.8610:

Of course I did, how am I supposed to know what product to spend money on if I can’t even trust reviews?

I find a game’s official forums to be quite relevant and uncannily accurate when it comes to determining what sort of game is actually lurking behind the hype. It helps, of course, if you can search those forums for specific concerns which may concern you.

Generally speaking, however, where there’s smoke, and a lot of it, there’s fire.

I really want to toss Knighthonor to the mordrem right now. This player may have quit the game for good because when he asked what he was not getting, he got that comment…

I really hope you did come back to read this thread afterwards, Dyonisian. Guild Wars 2 takes after the first game where the enjoyment of the game increases exponentially as you level. As I was stated the start of the game (very heavy 1-15 but still present16-30) is pretty much one big hand holding tutorial. If you do get past the starter stuff the game does really does open up.

As you level you’ll unlock new things in the game world.
Such things as;

• Jump Puzzles: From easy to kittenes in nearly every map(brisban wildlands is the only map that doesn’t as far as I can remember), to pvp jump puzzles in wvw. There’s also two insane holiday ones for Halloween and wintersday)
• Dungeons: 8 traditional ones with a story path and 3-4 additional paths after you complete the first. There’s also a special 9th one, Fractals of the mists(more below).
• World v World: 3 way sever combat over 4 maps. Players build siege and attack fortified objectives against other players.
• Structured Player vs Player: 5vs5 pvp that revolves around capturing objectives and holding them, playing pvp rewards you with items and gold you can use anywhere in game.
• Any many other smaller things.

You can see what you get for each level on the wiki(LINK) You should also be aware the main story continues every 10 levels so that bit of story does continue

As you reach level 80(max level) the game explodes open with new content released post launch.
Such places like:

• Southsun cove: A beautiful beach. . . . . .with giant destructive crabs overrunning the island.
• Living Story chapters: Old Chapters cost gems(200 gems each), new chapters are free as long as you get them during the release time. Each chapter contains story, a few missions and unique items. There’s also achievements that reward you with items, and an ascended(top tier for stats)item if you complete them all.
• Drytop: A desert map where you use crystals to jump and hop around a hazardous terrain map.
• Fractals of the Mists dungeon: A randomized dungeon that drops you into spots in history, every level you complete increases the rewards, and danger of the dungeon.
  *Silverwastes: A map wide PvE battle where you hold objectives against waves of attacking enemies.

Guild wars 2 is a fantastically fun game, but it is a game that is vastly different from traditional mmo’s, many mmo players I’ve spoken with have a time adjusting with it but every one of them that stuck with it, enjoyed it in the end.

Here’s hoping your haven’t ran off from this world just yet.

The game is better at level 80.. but only for about 1 month. Then you’ll have grinded through all the level 80 content for hours and hours. There is almost no gear progression at the end game. It truly is a game based on cosmetics. Who cares? Nobody wants to buy a car that has an awesome paint job, but it’s a 3-wheeled car and the engine runs on 3/4 cylinders.

Sanghed.2318:

The game is better at level 80.. but only for about 1 month. Then you’ll have grinded through all the level 80 content for hours and hours. There is almost no gear progression at the end game. It truly is a game based on cosmetics. Who cares?

GW1 was about cosmetics, and yet so much fun to do.

I never played the cosmetics game in GW1. It wasn’t even necessary. You could have the gear you need for your build and not worry one bit about its cosmetics. What mattered in that game was your build and skills. Try telling the players who did Heroes Ascent only that GW1 was a cosmetic grind… they’d laugh you out of the room.

To answer your question: You dont have fun, you spend RL money on useless things.

Sanghed.2318:

I never played the cosmetics game in GW1. It wasn’t even necessary. You could have the gear you need for your build and not worry one bit about its cosmetics. What mattered in that game was your build and skills. Try telling the players who did Heroes Ascent only that GW1 was a cosmetic grind… they’d laugh you out of the room.

Heroes ascent was one of the most pathetic parts of gw1 :/
Yet everyone there wanted their VS, obby and such.

Op, If you really feel this way then you may be better off cutting your losses on the $35. It’s with great displeasure say that. However, you will be doing a lot of the stuff you described if you say. This is especially true if you leveling toons.

I am truly sorry to say that. I wish I had a better answer for you. I just finished getting 5 new toons to 80 (since around halloween.) Let’s just say it was unpleasant and repetative.

Dyonisian.8610:

I bought this game almost a month back now and I’ve barely played it. Couple hours spent on it, thats all. I was looking for an MMORPG because I’ve enjoyed them in the past. Played Runescape for years. Played SWTOR for a month and only stopped because I didn’t have much time on my hands. I enjoyed Runescape a LONG time ago, and SWTOR recently.

Did some research on MMOs, found this, saw great reviews, how its the MMO that breaks the norm of grinding, saw an awesome review by Angry Joe. In particular, he mentioned he couldn’t get into SWTOR despite the awesome concept because of the lack of interesting game play. He struck me as someone who was looking for an MMO experience that actually had a soul to it.

So I spend 35$ on this, start playing, and what do I get? Maybe a few minutes of interesting story and then hours of follow the arrow, kill stuff for WAY longer than should be necessary, level up, move on. Seriously? This is exactly what I was told this game DOESN’T have. Why do I have to spend 15 minutes dancing for cows and killing worms by spamming a key to fill up a bar?

Honestly this is the reason I hate spending money on games these days.

The only reason I’m still trying is because I feel guilty for spending money on this.

So please help me find ways to make this experience more “fun”, since the game refuses to do that for me. I discovered the random events already. Besides that so far I’m just following arrows and doing side quests that involve killing 20 of something. Does this end? When does this end? Is there any other alternative to progressing in the game and hopefully getting somewhere better? What else can I do except be the NPC’s kitten?

HONESTLY despite being a WoW clone I found SWTOR a lot more fun.

You really shouldn’t be spending that long getting to 80. It’s doable in around 20 hours depending on how you level. The fastest way generally seems to be a mix of maxing low-level crafting (which gives mad exp) and grinding on Edge of the Mists. Another alternative is experiencing sPvP then using the level tomes you get from the reward track — albeit, much slower progression, but has the potential to be significantly more interesting than grinding heart quests.

Also, you can get an insane amount of exp from just exploration. Just leave the hearts for later when you feel like grinding out a quest or two and spend some time doing the way points, vistas and skill points, uncovering new areas, and hitting up a jumping puzzle or two. Don’t shy away from doing the dynamic events as they come across your path, they can also be quite rewarding, and often overlap with nearby heart quests (especially for kill quests) so they will literally give you two times the exp for the same (or less) amount of work.

tl;dr: You’re doing it wrong. Do some research and try doing something you don’t completely hate to get through the grind to 80.

Dyonisian.8610:

Did some research on MMOs, found this, saw great reviews, how its the MMO that breaks the norm of grinding, saw an awesome review by Angry Joe. In particular, he mentioned he couldn’t get into SWTOR despite the awesome concept because of the lack of interesting game play. He struck me as someone who was looking for an MMO experience that actually had a soul to it.

That review is a bit outdated. I suggest that you supplement it with this video that discusses the recent changes made to the game:

Why I Love the September Feature Pack

Sanghed.2318:

I never played the cosmetics game in GW1. It wasn’t even necessary. You could have the gear you need for your build and not worry one bit about its cosmetics. What mattered in that game was your build and skills. Try telling the players who did Heroes Ascent only that GW1 was a cosmetic grind… they’d laugh you out of the room.

I never played it either, but precisely because it was a cosmetic grind and I was never rich in that game. “Rare” skins are there for those who want them-not necessarily at all to enjoy the game (true in both GW1 and GW2.)

Similarly, you could get most if not all gear you “need” by level 80 with very little time investment vs a plethora of games out there. Exotics is all you need, and they are not that hard to come by. So to this day, “your build and skills” still apply to this game as well, regardless the many other differences.

I got busy with life and played some single player games.

Lots of replies. I appreciate that, honestly. On any other forum this thread would’ve died after two replies. Maybe because its an issue everyone’s frustrated with.

A little too much information to stuff into my head at once. Two immediate questions –
1) How does this get any better after either 15/20 or 80? Everyone defending the game says so, but no one mentions how.

2) Although I haven’t played this game since I started this thread, I still don’t see how I’m supposed to progress or get anywhere if I ignore the hearts and arrow and just explore. The events I’ve seen so far didn’t really happen that often, I’ve seen one maybe every 5 minutes? Do I just stand around waiting for the next one? I don’t remember seeing any sources of exp besides the hearts and the events.

And although I’ve found nothing enjoyable about the NPE so far, but I do have to agree some hand holding was required. Because without coming on the internet I wouldn’t have figured out there was a crafting system at all. I’ve seen no sign of it in game. I somehow died and ended up near some normal merchants otherwise I was only seeing the heart ones. I can’t figure out how to progress without the hearts either. Though the NPE doesn’t do that at all.

I still have to say, despite the people defending the game that it felt pretty soulless and crappy design. I’ve played some pretty bad and repetitive RPGs and MMOs, but because they were godkitten RPGs they still managed to get and keep me hooked. I can’t put my finger on whats so bad about this one that it can’t even manage that. Maybe its just how BLATANTLY grindy the hearts are.

If there is more to the game than the hearts, I’ll give it another go. But so far that’s all I see!
I agree with people that a game should be about exploration, but my method or idea of exploration in an RPG is that you discover a new area, talk to NPCs, either fix their lives or screw them even more and move on. I like the feeling of leaving a huge mark on ever area I pass through. And for that those areas need to have a soul to make me interested in them. I liked the fix it or screw it mechanic of KOTOR 1/2 and TOR. Leaving a mark. And in Skyrim I enjoyed going on long walks and finding interesting quests and NPCs.
I guess that’s what I was expecting. The game world feels bland.

There’s a lot more to the game than hearts OP. Starting at level 10 your personal story starts. That comes about once every ten levels, when you get a number of instances to do that tell the story of your character.

And everything gives you XP. Locating waypoints, locating new areas, gathering, killing things, it’s hard to find anything in this game that doesn’t give you XP.

Also doing stuff alone is far worse than doing it with people. Plenty of lower level people leveling through the game that you should be able to group with people from time to time.

Move on to another game, this is clearly not for you. All you do is kitten and moan and you are not enjoying yourself. Go to skyrim(talk about empty world rofl) or try the mmo that was made for people who enjoyed skyrim.

Vayne.8563:

There’s a lot more to the game than hearts OP. Starting at level 10 your personal story starts. That comes about once every ten levels, when you get a number of instances to do that tell the story of your character.

I used to like doing personal story instances, back when I could go through the lot of them at my own pace. Now that I can’t do them at a good number of levels below the level they were labelled at and having a modicum of challenge along the way, it’s become boring as hell. I used to enjoy the apprehension of having to face the instance ‘boss’ after already having to be very careful while dealing with the cannon-fodder. Gone, and replaced with going-through-the-motions auto-attacking boredom. Chunks of enjoyable gameplay have been disappearing with every major update for the bigger part of a year now, never to be enjoyed by new players. I shudder to think what they might come up with next.

Need an example? here’s one:

And it only began with a boring Heart NPC

Dude there’s a lot of things like this, just…find them

EDIT: get your servers TS on WvW, hear commander talking in real time.
Join community organized Triple Wurm, also best on ts.
You’ll see where’s all the fun

First step to make gw2 fun is to stay off the forums, between the White Knights and Zealots you won’t get any decent ideas on having more fun (they’ll just keep saying you’re doing fun wrong).

Personally I keep playing out of spite. Every hour spent using up Anet bandwidth without giving them anymore money gives you a warm happy feeling inside.

The hearts are just an introduction to mechanics and sometimes lore (like a lot of other content, being dungeons, skillpoints (at least sometimes).

The grave of Gwen is such a thing. sometimes it is really worth finding the reasons why the grave of Gwen is important for gw2, or The Temple of Ages… just to give 2 minor examples…

Just for the record (doubt many will know) but Prof Yakkington and nicholas Sandford are burried quite close to Gwen & Logan ….

The content is also there to keep you bound at areas for a few minutes giving a bigger chance to notice parts of the living world… If you ignore both then nothing wil happen ingame… mostly because you do not get to see anything… I still find new missions and things in the LS… (5500 hours, 14 lvl 80s, 8 times map completion.)

And some people just do not like MMO’s and RPG’s It isn’t that rare, I hate FPS-es, luckily we are all unique…

Dante.3780:

Need an example? here’s one:

Another boring Heart NPC......?

hide spoiler

In lvl 15-25 charr area you may find a lumbering camp with a Heart NPC – nothing interesting at 1st glance. There’s a fair chance that when you are completing heart 5 events will pop up; warband is organizing itself to assault flame legion base NE from that position. If you are succesful you can notice a portal from that base to….Flame Legion Tombs where you have to solve some puzzles (put statue’s head into canoon to shoot attic to crush thick ice underneath and such). At the end of your way you will find grand chest with possibbly great rewards.

And it only began with a boring Heart NPC

Dude there’s a lot of things like this, just…find them

EDIT: get your servers TS on WvW, hear commander talking in real time.
Join community organized Triple Wurm, also best on ts.
You’ll see where’s all the fun

And I’m just the opposite. I didn’t like the way the personal stories used to be, where I’d do one and it would tell me to do something else and I wasn’t high enough level to get there. There was nothing more annoying that having to stop in the middle of a story arc in order to get a couple of levels.

Which means that the flow of the stories was off. The story was created in arcs and now you play those arcs in one sitting basically.

So whether it’s better or not is a matter of opinion. To me, this is much better. And it’s how I played them anyway, but I’d have to suffer through even crappier rewards if I waited until I was high enough level to do the entire arc.

In addition to improving the pacing for me, they improved the rewards as well.

Im sorry but Vayne idk why your even posting here this seems like a troll post to me. Don’t like hearts or arrows that point to spots and kill bug X many times but you like KOTOR and Skyrim? GW2 leveling is the fasted from any other MMORPG that I’ve played so idk what OP is talking about. GW2 is one of a few MMORPG that I know that actually emphasize living world with NPC having for most part audio dialogue and random wolves attacking deer etc. OP you want to find “fun” then look for it…… And plz don’t turn of NPE arrow etc because I think you’ll really benefit from that guidance.

Zoso.8279:

Im sorry but Vayne idk why your even posting here this seems like a troll post to me. Don’t like hearts or arrows that point to spots and kill bug X many times but you like KOTOR and Skyrim? GW2 leveling is the fasted from any other MMORPG that I’ve played so idk what OP is talking about. GW2 is one of a few MMORPG that I know that actually emphasize living world with NPC having for most part audio dialogue and random wolves attacking deer etc. OP you want to find “fun” then look for it…… And plz don’t turn of NPE arrow etc because I think you’ll really benefit from that guidance.

Because I tend to take things at face value and I try to help. A better reason than that I don’t need.

Vayne.8563:

Zoso.8279:

Im sorry but Vayne idk why your even posting here this seems like a troll post to me. Don’t like hearts or arrows that point to spots and kill bug X many times but you like KOTOR and Skyrim? GW2 leveling is the fasted from any other MMORPG that I’ve played so idk what OP is talking about. GW2 is one of a few MMORPG that I know that actually emphasize living world with NPC having for most part audio dialogue and random wolves attacking deer etc. OP you want to find “fun” then look for it…… And plz don’t turn of NPE arrow etc because I think you’ll really benefit from that guidance.

Because I tend to take things at face value and I try to help. A better reason than that I don’t need.

More power to you bro. I guess you have more patience then me. Fight the good fight but for me this post shows why everyone that was Q.Q about the NPE were wrong.

1. I don’t know why people say there is any gemstore-locked content. The living story episodes you missed is the only think I can think of, and since gems can be purchased with gold you don’t even need to spend real money.
2. I don’t see how you could have missed the crafting system since one of the first items you would loot would be a crafting material that basically screams “crafting”. There’s also this “Hero” window with a tab called “Crafting”, but I guess you don’t really like to explore what’s given to you without a prompt, which leads us to point 3.
3. Judging from your general attitude, this doesn’t seem like the game you would enjoy, especially in the current state of the NPE. Still, if you’re willing to plow through your first 20-30 levels, you get dungeons, which are arguably more interesting than overworld PvE.

Leveling and character progression used to be the greatest part of the GW2 experience for me. That was changed with the Trait and NPE “feature packs”.

I still play the game for HOURS each day. Why, you may ask?

Because I still have fun but I had to make some adjustments to how I play my characters.

Where before, when I could ramble about as I leveled and gained traits, I now have adjusted my play style as follows:

• Accelerated leveling in order to lessen the duration of time spent with a dearth of Traits, Skills or access to other game elements.

I accomplish this by running EotM trains on the character or Unranked PvP in HotM for Level-up Tomes and Skill Point Scrolls. I also do a bit of low level map completion and the dailies that pop up every now and again.

• I am more focused on accumulating gold via the gathering crafting materials and selling them on the Trading Post.

I do this so I can afford to purchase “must have” Traits from the Retrainer Merchant. It helps to have a higher level character to do the work of farming, but gold is relatively easy to come by via the TP.

Traits can be unlocked via in-game tasks, but many are woefully out of sync with a character’s level and map exploration.This makes for a disjointed play experience if you attempt to venture forth and unlock specific Traits.

Some Trait Unlocks are sporadically discovered during game-play but aren’t immediately useful or desired.

• I do PVP a lot more now.

PvP is very rewarding. The reward tracks and Tome and Skill Point scrolls as well as loot container rewards make it a good way to advance and fund your new characters.

• I WvW a lot less. (EotM doesn’t count as open WvW for this bullet point)

Open world versus world PvP is just not worth the time. It’s slow, plodding and unrewarding if you compare time spent with reward gains. (EotM is comparatively faster paced and vastly more rewarding.)

Closing thoughts:

I still enjoy the game, but the enjoyment is post-80 with all my core traits and a solid build for my characters.

The NPE skill locking killed some of the early fun because it limits your choices for weapons and “play style” at the onset of the game. This usually means I just resort to two-handed weapons for the first few levels, etc.

The “dumbing down” of difficulty has hurt the game as well because it makes the early maps into a rather boring experience due to things like:

• Mob difficulty/abilities nerfing

• Watering down Heart/Event challenges

• Game Element level locking: Skill Point Challenges/Vistas/Underwater/Resource Gathering, etc.

• Lack of “excitingly dangerous” content (RIP Champion Troll)

Ascimator.6735:

1. I don’t know why people say there is any gemstore-locked content. The living story episodes you missed is the only think I can think of, and since gems can be purchased with gold you don’t even need to spend real money.

I cringe everytime I see someone mentioning this. “Gems can just be purchased with gold.” Yeah, getting 200 gems cost around 30 gold, that’s a lot, and average player runs around with 100 gold max.

You can’t get kitten from the store with your gold, it just costs far too much. That being said, you don’t need to spend real cash, but the option almost forces you to take that option before the other.

Tachenon.5270:

I find a game’s official forums to be quite relevant and uncannily accurate when it comes to determining what sort of game is actually lurking behind the hype.

It used to be that way for me, but I’ve found the complete opposite to be true the last few years, particularly in the disproportionately negative (in both amount and vitriol) posts and threads. And not just with this game, but just about every game’s forums.