Guild Wars 2

So I am one of those players who likes to play alone, in addition to playing with friends. My problem is, once I start playing by myself, I get unhealthily annoyed when contacted by guildmates, to the point where I go Invisible and keep playing alone even when explicitly called on. It is a problem I have, so bear with me.
So yesterday I did the same with my best friend, hoping against hope that if he would ever find out the truth (which he’s been positively accusing me of since the inception of this bad habit of mine in GW1, where I also had to contend with the nasty feature of stating how much time had passed since the last time I logged in – ONE MINUTE AGO = HE’S ONLINE BUT HIDING), he wouldn’t be too angry at his curmudgeonly collaborative colleague. Imagine my embarassment when I received (while playing!) an in-game mail from him, stating that he couldn’t decide what was funnier, me simulating software crashes going Invisible, or the game actually keeping track of my achievements and LOCATION even when greyed out. (He’s the coolest guy in the world, by the way, and he suggested I tell him when I do not want to play together. Luv ya, bro.)
So.. here’s the question.
Was it all in the plans? Of hampering us Grumpies around the world who try not to put dents in our friendships by hiding? Of not allowing us to guiltily hide in the shadows, hoping not to meet our mates in Lion’s Arch’s craftman sector?
My friendship was tested, and emerged victorious.
But I still really would like the game not to keep track of achievements and locations until I am Online again.

I also like to play alone sometimes without getting bothered by people, and it’s annoying GW2 makes it pretty much impossible to do so.

Not only that, but the fact that even on a alt, you don’t have privacy, kinda bothers me.
You know, sometimes I just wanna do something different, like represent another guild or no guild at all and out of the blue you start getting hammered about why you are not representing the guild, that your main is, on your alt. It’s annoying, my alt shouldn’t be listed on a guild, unless I chose it to.

Thanks OP, enjoyed the tale of the grump who thought he was invisibly cloaked but wasn’t at all, highly amusing.

I’m with you Nerien – the first time that happened to me I kitten near dropped a hot cup of coffee in my lap – “oh so this is where you’ve been”, like I’d been caught getting it on with someone in the photocopy room.

Thing is, while I’m prone to going stealth in MMOs, I’ve also been on the receiving end of it too, and I’m not gonna lie, my delicate ego has taken a minor dent a few times….yeah I know, what a hypocrite!

and you call that a friendship? oO

I do. We’re brothers, more than friends.. and brothers have their quarrels, at times.

Anagna.8376:

If you hate people, why are you even in a guild?
“Massive Multiplayer Online” does not imply it is a single player experience. If social interaction isn’t your forte, play CoD or something.

Such childish replies like this are really not needed.

I am with the OP, there are the odd days where i like to play on my own, that does not mean i do not interact with anyone on my server if they ask me something etc, it just means i like to appear offline to friends have some music on and not have to talk or type to them for the duration of playing.

I do the same on other games such as Warband, every now and then i’ll appear offline to friends stick on some music and just enjoy the game by my self.

Anagna.8376:

If you hate people, why are you even in a guild?
“Massive Multiplayer Online” does not imply it is a single player experience. If social interaction isn’t your forte, play CoD or something.

I’m going to throw this out there – maybe he enjoys playing games with lots of people around him but doesn’t always want the added layer of social demand that tending valued friendships generally have a tendency to require? Hear that WHOOSH sound? That’s context, perspective, nuance and a few other concepts flying way, way over your head.

papryk.6273:

and you call that a friendship? oO

No, I call that ^ sanctimony.

Anagna.8376:

If you hate people, why are you even in a guild?
“Massive Multiplayer Online” does not imply it is a single player experience. If social interaction isn’t your forte, play CoD or something.

ArenaNet stated specifically in an interview a while back that they designed the game with players just like the OP in mind. They understood that some people prefer the freedom and peace that you can only find while playing solo, but those people also want to do that within the scope of a large and unpredictable environment that ONLY an MMO can provide.

To put it another way, YOU are the window dressing of my massively single player experience. YOU are the chaos factor that makes the game interesting. But just like I have no interest in striking up a conversation and becoming buddies with the nearest NPC, I likewise have no interest in doing the same with you. But YOU are still pivotal to making the game interesting for me. And when I say “you”, I’m simply referring to all the other players who aren’t ME.

Now thankfully, I’m not in the same boat as the OP. I have been in pretty much every other MMO I’ve played (City of Villains is the exception), but not in GW2. Here I actually enjoy the social experience and look forward to seeing other players in the world, not loathe the sight of them like I usually would. I also have a great guild of awesome folks who never feel the need to hammer me over the head with guild responsibilities and guilt trips if I’m not being a zealous enough a member.

The bottom line is that solo players have very good reasons to want to play in MMOs, and those reasons don’t necessarily entail socialization. Mostly, it’s because no single player game can bring a world to life the way an MMO can, due to it being filled with unpredictable, player-controlled NPCs. And even solo players appreciate the concept of a “living, breathing world”.

Understand completely! I too have some very good friends/guildies that I usually adore playing with… but there are some days when I’m not in the best of moods and really don’t feel like being social. And I’ve been the victim of the “why isn’t your alt representing?” PM too. :/

I’d prefer to play GW2, but due to how badly the game actually makes you “invisible” I probably won’t log in at all on the wonky days.

lagrangeify.5641:

I’m with you Nerien – the first time that happened to me I kitten near dropped a hot cup of coffee in my lap – “oh so this is where you’ve been”, like I’d been caught getting it on with someone in the photocopy room.

LoL! Such a funny analogy.

I too like to go invis, and was elated to see it included in the game. Sorry, but sometimes I do not want to be bothered or be social. Some of us need “alone time” to recharge. It is just how we are programmed. And depending on how my day went, I might have used up my juice or I might have a nearly full tank — it depends.

This seems like an oversight that will hopefully be corrected.

Even the most intimate of lovers and the best of friends need some time apart. It’s healthy for that to occur. So I too find it very frustrating that I cannot just log on and do my own thing when I’m not in the mood to be social or just feel like having a bit of time to myself away from the responsibilities of guilds.

the invis state is silly, sure, but telling the truth, about something so silly, is not silly. it’s just easier and might make ya feel better too, maybe save some embarrassment/tension. surely they will be updating the invisible state though, wouldn’t think it would be very hard.

Yup, you aren’t really invisible.. then there’s the fact that if you log into the launcher, you will show up as online in game in the area you last logged out, people can whisper you etc.. that too makes for some awesome confusion.

I think Blacklight.2871 has put the matter in the right perspective. And that’s why I don’t blame my best friend if he wants to play alone sometimes.
When I come back from work I often want to play “just 30 minutes” (that regularly becomes 180, but that’s another point) and I don’t want to chat or to have social activites.
If I really want some social activity the first pub is only 10 minutes by car and I know a lot of people that are ready to have a beer even now. Otherwise, if I want to stay home, there are the social networks.
But all this doesn’t mean that I don’t like to play with friends.
I know there are a lot of different kind of people, some guys have a lot of problems being alone, others are lone wolfs, but I think everyone, sometimes, wants to stay/play alone.
And if he’s your best friend (thus you know him and know his personality) why you should regret him something? You are his best friend in the real world, not in an MMO.

I laughed.
But I think there shouldnt be a way to go invisible. Its preceeded by the letters MMO, figure out what those mean, then come back.

Also, just tell people you want to play solo, if anyone gets mad, tell them you’ll play with em today for 5g or something thatll make it worth your while.

Corew.8932:

Yup, you aren’t really invisible.. then there’s the fact that if you log into the launcher, you will show up as online in game in the area you last logged out, people can whisper you etc.. that too makes for some awesome confusion.

That’s the real problem I think.

ArenaNet should try to provide a mode where you are legitimately invisible or change the name to something like ‘No contacting’ or something that at least makes people check into what they are really presenting when they log on.

It’s been explained very well elsewhere in the thread what motivates some of us to go into silent running mode. It’s not that good friends won’t understand, it’s that you just don’t want to go through the whole process of explaining yourself:

“look mate, I’m going to be on my alt, and actually would you mind awfully just not speaking to me for the next 4 hours while I go zerging with my new and blessedly silent friends who make no social demands of me? It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I can’t be bothered…”

Instead of invisible maybe it’s better if you set yourself to away.

People generally get the message (away = I don’t want to talk), but invisible for some reason has negative connotations, it makes some people feel hurt (I don’t get it, but whatever)

If you get messages when Away, ignore them. You don’t have to explain anything, Most people understand if you’re set to away when playing it means to leave you alone. And if they don’t know that, they’ll learn it soon enough.

So yeah, try setting yourself to Away instead, it removes that feeling that youu’re hidding “because you hate them”.

You can also have a “quiet” chat tab made for these ocassions, so that you only see NPC chat but no whispers or guild chat at all

That’s what I do when not feeling sociable, haven’t had any trouble.

Maybe Anet could add the ‘Do Not Disturb’ option we had in GW (afaik it’s not in GW2). I always assumed people using that were doing something hard like the Underworld naked etc.

The problem with “Do Not Disturb” is that some people will invariably assume that it’s not directed at them. It must be for someone else — someone less important. Someone who’s not an actual friend. Then you’re back to explaining yourself again and likely, soothing hurt feelings. Proper invisibility means no explanations and no one feeling slighted.

I can’t help but laugh sometimes when someone post “learn what MMO means.” NONE of the letters mean MANDATORY. If you want to solo or go “ghost” (as i use to call it) it’s your choice.

I like to do this also, but then my wife logs on and I can’t go invis from her…. She reaches over and smacks me

And that, my friends, is why you set yourself to “away” and simply don’t answer any tells if you want to be left alone. The invisible state right now is inconvenient and sometimes buggy(can’t verify this). By inconvenient I mean there is no way I know of to automatically login as invisible.