Guild Wars 2

So I am curious what type of MMO player makes up majority of the Guild Wars 2 Playerbase. I know the game is designed to cater to many types and everyone is going to play how they want, this isn’t that type of discussion. My question is just to Poll the community and see who IS playing this game.

So I tried to take a selection of the type of MMO Player you are (based on games past and present) which do you most identify with? I know many of you will be a mix and this is not meant if you are one you are not the other – just what floats your boat the most?

A. You seek out the Best Gear / Stat Combination (Min-Max) get to max level as quick as possible and try to get optimal setup until you reach the gear limit. You always are looking for something stronger to make your time in the game most efficient.

B. You seek out Achievements and 100% Exploration (Completionist) you take your time exploring every area doing all you can possibly accomplish until you reach the limit of content created. You thrive on new content until looking for adventure no matter the time cost.

C. You seek out the Unique Items/Cosmetic Look and LARP (Social-Cosmetic) you play with groups of fellow minded people in a more social environment and tailor your character on cosmetic achievement over other methods. Being more in tune with Lore and being a part of the game rather than seeking profit or efficiency.

D. Pure PvP Competitive – Leaderboard driven and almost exclusively play PvP modes and base success on scores and levels within that context. Dominance above all else based upon player skill and positioning as well as skill based builds.

E. (Your own custom type) Please be descriptive on what you look for to make you fulfilled as you play GW2.

E. A and C combined.

I forgot to add my own… I am A + B with the exclusion I do not rush/skip through content, I try to play the entire game. But if I had to choose what I think I most go for, it is B – I want to try to experience all the game can offer. May not always be the best or fastest, but I want to try to accomplish it.

B, C and E.

For the E category, I like to spend time in the various starting zones and often join up with new players that are just getting started in the game. I will always try and answer questions and give hints that, hopefully, will help new players enjoy the game. I have two additional character slots I purchased so I can quickly roll up a new character to go run around with a new player. I have quite a few people in my friends list that I met this way. It is all about human interaction.

B.

Kind of.

I just like to explore and do events/missions/quest. I end up doing other things as I go but finding new things is what I love the most. To a lesser extent I will farm and do raids in other games. Not so much here but if/when raids and GvG is available I’ll definitely be doing those with my guild.

Almost forgot. I LOVE non combat things. Crafting, mini games, fishing, etc. All that kind of stuff is really cool imo.

I’m the resentful type, who hasn’t spent a dime in the gemstore for almost a year now, and never will again, but refuses to quit the game and would rather consume bandwidth out of spite.

I don’t think I fall into any of those catagories. So I am going to go with E.

I play because I find it fun. I enjoy exploring a bit, but not the the point where I feel compelled to have 100% map completion on all my characters. (only have it on one, for the gift of exploration). I enjoy dungeon runs from time to time, as well as PvP. But I’m not driven by scores, levels, etc. I don’t seek out cosmetics or unique items. But I do have a group of friends I play with, whether dungeons, world bosses, WvW, or PvP. I find this is a great casual game where I can log iin and fart around for a couple of hours and have fun doing what ever. As far as fulfillment, I don’t find fulfillment in this game as far as rewards, feeling of acomplishments, etc. What I do find satisfying though, is killing some mobs/players in a really fun environment and relaxing. Not having to think to much, and just unwind and have fun.

E. I guess part of B. Love exploration and quests…couldn’t care less about Achievements. Don’t really care about gear aesthetics…I care about stats.

C (some of it) and E

I tend to spend money on cosmetics all the time because its just what I like to do. Other than that, I just mess around with my guild, doing whatever sounds fun at the time, from dancing to creating a band and playing to our fans in rata sum.

E. I like to look good, but to me, not after the most expensive but what I feel looks the best. But don’t understand roleplay at all. I like to min/max but I don’t get overly serious about it anymore, just fun to maximize my efforts. Completionist I am not but if there’s something useful even if just one small situation I’ll try and get it, but I won’t do it for a pat on the back (back in EQ I had items that were useful in 1 encounter in the entire 15 years worth of content, but I had to get it just for that ). Usually a big PVP guy, but I am not interested in leaderboards, I just enjoy the mental game of PVP and trying to get in the other guys head to predict his actions, and of course somehow GW2 made a PVP system I hate.

E I guess.
Too cheap and poor to min-max
Too pragmatic to seek unique skins
Too lazy to be a completionist
Too scared to do spvp

I only get to play sporadically between classes on campus. I’m too lazy to farm and don’t have the time.
I prefer to do something challenging but quick (no min-maxing though) but well too casual to do serious speed runs (also in a casual guild so just finding people to do fractals is hard).
I like LS though.

I keep taking long breaks from gw2 coming back to play and accomplish a lot and then suddenly leaving again. I guess a better guild would serve be better but I’m too polite to just leave my current guild (they mostly seem to play at night and there aren’t very many of them).
I guess i could grow to like pvp but I’m currently still bad at it and not sure if i want to commit.

<— Lore Diver and Explorer, but Mostly competitive

B and C.

As well as a bitter A – only in regards to achieving the max gear tier, and never really enjoying the process or the concept of having gear tiers at all.

C (some of it) and E

Explorer, WvWler, Roamer, GW2-Musician, RPer, Off-Map-Seeker, Living-story- / P.-story-lover (& lore), gear-collector, screenshot-/fanart-freak

B and C, with a bit of A. A bit of, because I’m not interested in real min-maxing (finding the best builds, etc), but on the other hand i just don’t feel content doing B and C before i have acquired the BiS gear and can put that part of the game safely behind me.

If you’re unsure where you fall, you can always take the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology.

E. Social Gamer.

While I play the game actively and do what I can to advance my characters, I mainly play games for their communities and the social aspect, but I have no interest in roleplay or anything like that

Definitely B. /15 chars.

I would say B and D.

When I don’t go for majority of achievements, I have to have every “hardcore” and demanding title able to get through in-game challanges (no farms).

B,C
E, Competitive gamer: I consider the whole game a giant competition with the other players. I then attempt to get the rarest and most prestigious items in the game as the way of beating them. Not in an “in your face” manner just to have. The ideal goal being to reduce the number of players able to obtain every item you have down to 1.

E:

I like my outfits and strive to make sure each and every one of my characters look amazing. I also make it my mission to give them the best bear for the build I’m giving them (for instance, for my main berserker staff elementalist, she has almost all ascended zerker gear – I’m working on the shoulders eventually but it’s not really a priority being as the stats are only a puny bit greater compared to the exotic shoulders).

I’m also an EOTM freak (Rank 2093 at the moment), and basically EOTM and the Living Story is all I do in GW2. I like exploring places, but refuse to do world completion ever again – that too me long enough on just 1 character!

ACD and E

PVP WVW

i am not much of a dungeon person or living story.
if i am killing a computer it is not for me

dungeons are fun on the first few runs and thats about it

the only thing that would get me back in to the pve world is if there was open world pvp/wvw.

i prefer the GW2 combat system compared to other games i just wish they would do more with the classes and add new classes

it feels like they are denying a good combat system of more advance pvp/wvw in favor of more pve content :S

B and C could describe me.

Hmm…best description would be ‘None of the above’, I guess.

I just like to play the game. I don’t have any super goals, other than doing whatever parts of new (or returning) content I like, and/or obtaining any rewards that I feel up to, well, obtaining.

Just a long, long-time gamer.

A, D and E for me but its hard to be put in a box really as none really describe me as a player…

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Hmm…best description would be ‘None of the above’, I guess.

I just like to play the game. I don’t have any super goals, other than doing whatever parts of new (or returning) content I like, and/or obtaining any rewards that I feel up to, well, obtaining.

Just a long, long-time gamer.

Basically this but also some PvP.

A as first priority.
D when A is achieved.
And little bit of B by the end of the day.

First priority, B. I obsess over every LS/festival release.
Second priority, A. I don’t min-max to the detriment of having fun (I near-always run celestial gear with mercy runes), but I do enjoy trying to tailor a build to a situation.
Third priority, C. I like dem skins.
Not even a priority, D. I like PvP, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never felt a need to “beat another player” in any area of the game. I like doing my best, and so be it if that’s either better or worse than others.

B and C and a bit of something else.

I’m a person who is a completionist but I’m very patient about completing stuff. So I wander wherever I want, doing whatever I want, knowing eventually I’ll complete it.

I’ll complete a zone but seldom all in once sitting. I might enter a zone 8 times before I decide I’m close to completing it so I might as well. I’m still missing 3 achievements from TA Aetherblade path and a couple from Triple Threat. I’ll get them though…in my own good time.

Actually, I’m a very social player and tend to do what other people are doing because I enjoy hanging out with my guild.

I just like unique experiences. I will rarely repeat something even if I really enjoyed it. Once I’ve done it, its on to the next new thing.

Suffice to say, I take A LOT of breaks from GW2.

C: I need my character to look good in my eyes, huge part of my pleasure since I’ll be looking at it for hours.

E: I enjoy mostly three things : noticing how my personal skills at the game are progressing, seeing a group work well together (especially if I built that group myself like with GW1 heroes) and seeing someone progress after you’ve just taught him/her how to do.

Lore eater + dungeons

I think B+C for the most part. Played GW1, all expansions, and now this. Had 100% Exploration on Tyria, Cantha, and Elona, and would have on my characters in GW2, apart from Vistas, cause I suck at jumping

A + C combined + socializing alot

E & B/C

Role play! I play living the game as if I was my Asura. I travel by walking when I was not hurrying. I take my time to explore, and I’m hooked. The farm does not interest me. No more than PvP.

I empty the card more than once, quietly, without hurrying. Now I expect that the game offers new horizons for me. I play a bartender human in the Whisper Maiden in frensh community.

B & E

Being a little OCD and very much an I in Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, I primarily a soloist. Meaning I party formally rarely. I’m a roamer in WvW although I’ll zerg with the best of them. I do events and group events because those are flash mobs with swords and magic.

Im a pvp player. but my skill just average. I enjoy playing fun pve quest once in a while (not the boring one)

what i mean by fun is, like fighting hard monster (not zerging 1 monster spamming 1). PVE quest that required to beat hard monster (like cheiftain in spvp)

PVE quest that has fun story on it, like rescue princess, rescue team, help the village from centaur attack, helping war. anything that involving good combat fight

I hate quest that transform into animal, ressing people, doing stupid F key action (like collecting crabs)

E = MC²

sorry, couldn’t resist … but I choose E, for escapism … although I’ve found another game to escape in, I still read the forums here.

Cool thread idea.

I’d say I’m a bit of A but mostly E (used to be D but PvP gets boring pretty quick), due mostly to GW1. I like to get to max lvl and stats, GW1 style not the Ascended/Legendary Grind Wars 2, quickly and then actually start playing the game. I enjoy the ride to max lvl and gear but pretty much breeze through and don’t pay too much attention to the world or story until I feel like a powerful character. Then I start to RP aka GW1.

I hate grinding for gear. Legendaries don’t interest me at all outside aesthetical relevance to my characters theme ( I hope to get one eventually by playing the TP but won’t ever waste time to farm one) and as such it’s saddens me GW is now such a grind based and gear focused game in many respects.

I have a lot going on in my life other than gaming. Outside interests, work, etc, etc. What that dictates is that my gaming time is a precious luxury and usually based on short binges of play. I’m able to play a lot for a few weeks, then life usually dictates otherwise and I’m gone for the same amount of time (thankful I have a cool guild that gets that). I really enjoy games that are able to embrace a player like me, for lack of a better term “casual”, while also having something for the 8 hours a day, 7 days a week player that also manages to keep us on the same power tier without creating a hierarchical structure based purely on timesink.

That was the joy of GW1 for me. GW2 has slowly gone another way in terms of segregation but c’est la vie.

To conclude what floats my boat more than anything else is a a game that allows players to freely RP in conjunction with easy, open, and most importantly varied expression of individuality though aesthetic differentiation while also catering to both the casual and hardcore players in a format and dogma that doesn’t revolve around grind and time spent in game to remain relevant in the current meta.

having fun and social life (yeah it’s sad), also low priority of A, B, and C. I’m the type that content with everything (that is not an abuse a.k.a masochism) thrown at me.

I would say I am mostly B because I am an achievement hunter but also C because I enjoy making expensive skins including legendaries to stand out from the crowd for cosmetic purposes. Maybe a small amount of D because I PvP quite often and have 6 champ titles and dragon rank but I did those for AP/titles.

Every second player has a Legendary glow stick. I’d say they are more generic than most of the basic skins, especially the greatswords, which totally negates any motivation for me to get one.

I have yet to see a player rocking The Moot though. That would be cool. Disco fever.

no wonder anet is not worried about fixing up pvp and wvw …. every one is a achievement hunter :P

think i need to move on to a new game

Thank you all for your input, this has been quite an interesting read. I really think this type of polling can be helpful because it is no secret ANet has to appeal to a large variance of playerbase, and obviously there is a business side of that. But seeing what “matters” to people on a majority level and is it possible for the game to achieve what we want. Please try to keep this discussion alive in hopes to get a more complete representation of people who can answer and give their 2 copper.

A, B, C

I’m going to have to go with “E” because I’m all those things every now and again.

I like having BiS gear. I don’t need it to play (and I know I don’t cause I kicked tail all the way through on my ele in nothing better than rares), but it gives me something to work towards as a goal if I feel like it. Although, sometimes I’m gung ho on it when I’m leveling, and will make sure I gear up every 5 levels just to make sure I’ve got the best I can get. Honestly though, I really miss the simplicity that was GW1 gear.

I thoroughly enjoy exploring, and the achievement panel is basically a built in goal-fest for me. I was 100 point away from the 10k mark this past week, and set out to actually earn them this weekend (and I did). Exploration is a part of the leveling “plan” for pretty much all of my characters, since doing any one thing gets super boring for me. On the flip side though, there are days that I absolutely want nothing to do with mapping, and achievements are the furthest thing from my mind.

Cosmetic items you ask? Oh yes, I’m an armor kitten. I didn’t used to be prior to GW1 HoM, but running around getting all the pretty armors in GW1 sort of turned me into one. Admittedly I did spend significant time in GW1 trying to find each character her “own” look, and that has definitely carried over to GW2. I’ll spend hours at the bank (previously the pvp lockers) flitting through all my options to determine what is ‘right’ for the character. I also have no issue whipping out the transmogs to change that look on the fly either (good thing I do a lot of mapping huh?)

And then there are times where I just feel like doing Wvw, or going in and annoying SoloQ. These tend to be less often than other activities just because I don’t generally enjoy the “typical” pvp bullkitten, but I have my competitive moments. I’m no good at it, but that sure as heck don’t stop me.

So I guess in the end it simply boils down to what character I’m on, what mood I’m in, and who else is online. Jack of all trades, that’s me.

I am both a B and a C. B in that I find exploring to be my favorite thing to do in open-world games and C because I seek meaning behind my exploration because I like to role-play as an adventurer or at least someone who travels as part of his profession.

C, D. Kick kitten and look stylish doing it.

Azure The Heartless.3261:

C, D. Kick kitten and look stylish doing it.

+1

Don’t always agree with you Azure but dang I like your style! LOL.

I’m C with a little bit of B. I only seek out the things I want to complete, if I don’t find it interesting I don’t try to complete it. I also need to work on being more social lol.