Guild Wars 2

I will preface this by saying GW2 is a great game. If I were to write a professional review of it, I could not give it below an 8 because it is definitely top quality. From a technical standpoint, it passes with flying colors. That being said, I do notice one effect it has on me (personally) as a player: I just don’t feel the need to play it. Ever.

GW2 is the kind of game you can jump into and out of quite easily. There are loads of options for everyone (minus raids i guess), and it does not require you to sit on your butt for hours on end just to “keep up” with whats going on. As a result, I find that GW2 lacks a real “hook”. What do I mean by hook? Psychologically one could call it an addictive quality. Practically speaking, its any aspect of the game that “demands” your time and attention. In other words, its the nicotine of the mmorpg world.

Many aspects of a game can function as a hook. Some games rely a lot on community to hook its players, although this is more of an old school thing. Other games focused a lot on storyline, hooking players through immersion into another universe. Recently, we have games like WoW using tiered gear/raid progression while exploiting the universe of a well-known franchise. That leaves us with GW2. I would argue that it really doesn’t have a hook, nor tries to make one. In fact, I’d say it goes out of its way to ensure it is rather time-friendly. There’s nothing wrong with this, just an observation.

One of the things I like most about GW2 is that its very easy to just pick up and play without committing hours of your life. What I don’t like about GW2 is that I never feel like I need to play, because essentially I can always play later. Whether I do it now, or 6 months later, what have I missed really? Nothing. Whether I play it for an hour, or several, its all the same at the end of the day. You don’t really “get” anywhere..you just have fun, in a mindless sort of way.

I haven’t logged on in ages. I imagine I’m sure i’ll log on in the near future. I’ll play for a while, then won’t play for a while, and it won’t really make any difference. You have access to all your skills from jump street (pretty much), gear does not differ much at all, and if pvp is your thing you certainly dont need to grind to do it. I have no viewpoint of whether this is good, bad, successful, or destined to fail. It really is just an observation, one I found pretty interesting.

You dont really quit a game like this for good, you just stop logging in for a while. Its like any console game you have sitting around. In reality, GW2 feels just like a console game in a lot of ways. Its a weird flavor for an MMO to have, and time will tell if it becomes the new status quo.

Have you ever wondered why, especially in other MMO’s, you hear players talking about entitlement and that eventually things will become too easy? GW2 is the result of taking that entitlement to the extreme resulting in a technically competent but dull game experience.

I was so excited about GW2 that I booked time off work so I could have a 5 day weekend and hark back to some classic Everquest/WoW early MMO marathons I did years ago. Within about three hours I was bored and logged off to do something else.

the problem is so many people play MMOs with OCD like behavior, almost drug addict like behavior trying to get that first high again, trying to be the first person to do something. But this game isnt really designed around the carrot model.

for me the solution when playing this game is to not play long marathon sessions like I did in many previous MMOs. I play an hour a two a day and take my time. I’ve actually enjoyed the actual lore of the game and read all the quests for once.

I do think the way crafting and the Trading Post are designed is kind of a bad design which does hinder the playability of the game.

@oflow I. Agree 100 percent.

While that’s maybe true oflow, it doesn’t change the fact that GW2 has the depth of a puddle. It is very much designed for beginners, kind of a 180 when compared to GW1.

I really don’t understand how some people enjoy mindlessly zerging events that are nearly impossible to lose with preset characters. This is a rather dull theme park game imo.

OP, what you are descibing is a ‘skinner box’ game. There’s already a bunch of those available. I’m glad GW2 isn’t one. GW2 may not grab you and that’s ok. Nothing is for everyone.

Can’t quote..so annoying.

@oflow: A game doesn’t have to have a “carrot model” per se, but it should make you want to play more than is probably good for you. I fondly remember playing games I absolutely did not want to stop playing. I had to be disciplined, but imo thats what it should feel like. GW2 doesn’t really try to keep you in the game for any length of time. I find that interesting, and a tad weird for an MMO lol.

@Gohlar: And that is an excellent tangent, it really has no depth at all. One hand this makes it highly accessible, as in you never have to worry about getting rusty, or forgetting important details. At the same time, it becomes quite dull quite fast. Dull is probably the perfect word. Within 2 hours your skillbar is virtually complete. Sure you dont have all your utility skills, but offensively you are finished. I find that crazy. It seems like such a gross step backwards. Your average f2p clone has more to offer in terms of combat than GW2 right now…which is ridiculous.