Hello,
So two days ago I agreed with my boyfriend that we would try this patch out in full. The only class I do not have to 80 is a Necromancer. I’ve never really given a thought to having one before. However, the mass exodus of friends from the game since patch (and having no pre-80 characters of my own) I was honestly having trouble empathizing with some of what my friends were complaining about. I decided to level a necromancer and find out. These are my thoughts of the experience.
I began by making a Sylvari. I tried to make a character I would enjoy. Unfortunately all of the female hair options, besides the pony-tail are too thinned out, so it appears as though I’m balding. As all of my other Sylvari have a ponytail this is depressing. So samey. Next came hair color. Well, I have black hair in real life. In this, my options are green and some other shades like green. Something like red is available…sorta. No black. In order to get black I must go to the gem store. If anything feels like robbery from the start it is being covertly directed to the gem store before I even begin playing.
Eventually I would go on to dye my armor… or lack there of… apparently I am supposed to be a stripper. That’s what the ‘armor’ looks like. This same armor model has remained my armor model from character-creation to level 75. Along the way this new reward system would offer me a skirt, eventually, but with condition damage when all players demand berserker. So while I do eventually acquire a skirt by level 75 it is not really useful to me in any way. This is true of all of the cultural sets as well, which only offer condition damage gear.
It should be noted that the armor given to you from level-ups (a new addition to the leveling experience post-patch) is not able to be Salvaged. I frequently found myself simply throwing it out of my bags and pressing ‘yes’ to destroy.
Gold gain is essentially-nonexistent. In fact I ended up spending money I had already acquired before creating this character in order to have any adequate gear at all. This, by the way, only while buying the cheapest possible gear.
My experiences with the early levels were brief. I 100%’d Caledon, Metrica, and Brisban (as well as capital cities) by level 23. While only having 3 skills is boring to the point of pain, it is at least brief.
I did not benefit from these 100%ing accomplishments save in transmute stones. However, as my monetary gains were not sufficient to purchase any rare (yellow) items my transmute options remained disinteresting save when I became frustrated with my stripper’s attire.
It is import that I mention that upon reaching a certain level of frustration with my appearance I finally equipped an outfit. I have been wearing it ever since. Outfits come from the gem store. Transmute stones come from the gem store. Actual colors I would want for my hair and even the hair styles I would enjoy come from the gem store. See where this is going?
I conclude, therefore, that the current experience of Guild Wars 2 is not to produce a game of any kind. Rather, the entire experience is aimed merely to send you on a quest for gold which will inevitably lead you to the gem store.
— This concludes my impressions of what a new person would understand this game is about.
Why do I conclude this? Well, from level 1 to 75 I have been pressing just three abilites (once I could have three abilities):
Button 1 dagger/dagger, Well of Corruption, and Well of Suffering. From time to time, when the monotony became overwhelming I would press F1 which gives me a second health pool which I would wait in while pressing 5 and 4 (once) while waiting for the formerly mentioned abilities to recharge. At level 40 I was given a mirror image of the F1 ability, Plague, which turns me into a ball of darkness that does persistent (tiny) damage to everything around me and reduces health to me. I use this as another wait option for my useful skills to recharge. In short, the experience from level 1 to 75 has been cycling the above abilities five abilites while primarily using just 3. Pressing button 1 is sufficient to level from most of 1 to 75 unless 3 or more creatures appear.
I suspect I will be deleting this character and starting no others. I do not see how this new patch does anything to benefit new or old players. The formerly available open world auction houses have been removed in starting zones. I am unawares as to whether or not it is true if new players cannot use the Trade Post until some later period of time, but whether not they are able to does not justify the removal of the trade posts from open world (where it is less laggy) to dense (laggy) major capitals. I will not mention where a few trade posts remain outside of capital cities in hopes that Anet will continue to overlook their removal.