Guild Wars 2

Gw2 game is supposed to be played with people. I mean, there are some interests in playing with other players. At least this was the impression that Anet gave to me when they talked about gw2 before the release, “cool to play with friends” etc etc. I know that we both share loot, exp, etc even if we’re not in party, which is something that I really enjoy.

Since the launch of this game, or as far as I can remember, I’ve always wondered why, if I’m in a party playing with a friend, can’t we both get renown hearts done at the same time?
What I mean is that sometimes I might be faster or slower than any other player doing these renown hearts. Either way I think that’s kinda boring when you have to wait for someone like that.
Instead if we both get the 5%, or whatever, for that renown heart if I kill a mob, it would be much “friendly” (maybe?).
I guess this was one of the big things that I kinda wanted in gw2 cause when playing traditional MMOs I really got bored when I had to wait for others, just because the drop rate of a quest item isn’t 100% ( for instance).

this might have been asked before, or not, I don’t know.

For most of the renown hearts, just tag team the necessary kills. You and your friend get the credit, and the creatures die with no threat. (Which is kinda boring.)

And if you chance on an event that happens with it, even better, since you get event credit and renown at the same time.

But that’s not my point, sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.

You’re basically saying that we should attack the same mob right?
What about items that you have to pick up, or cows to feed. For instance, if you have to feed 10 cows to renown, why can’t I feed 5 and my friend another 5?

Yeah, those suck, not gonna lie. :\

I’m experienced enough to know usually which tasks produce the best renown output, but it still leads to waiting. I usually just trot off and kill stuff while I wait. [/shrug]

Don’t see the OPs complaint as an issue (honestly, I have never had to wait for more than a few minutes for someone competent to “catch up” and complete a heart), but not being able to even see the requirements of a Heart after you have completed it does cause some issues when helping someone clear an area you have already done.

The hover over description on the map rarely gives you an idea of WHAT needs to be done for completion.

I don’t really see the issue either, and I was just doing this the other day.

I was with my husband, and 2 other guildies. All new chars, running around QD completing hearts, popping events. Was even recruiting as we went. We were just having fun, if it took someone one or 2 kills more to complete a heart, it wasn’t a big deal as we were enjoying just goofing off together. Its not like we were standing around doing nothing either. So I’m not sure how you’re having an issue OP.

Brother Grimm.5176:

but not being able to even see the requirements of a Heart after you have completed it does cause some issues when helping someone clear an area you have already done.

The hover over description on the map rarely gives you an idea of WHAT needs to be done for completion.

Repeatable hearts, would address that issue.

JohnnyBigodes.2718:

But that’s not my point, sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.

You’re basically saying that we should attack the same mob right?
What about items that you have to pick up, or cows to feed. For instance, if you have to feed 10 cows to renown, why can’t I feed 5 and my friend another 5?

It is lame to have to wait for a group member to finish their heart quest but making everyone do an equal part prevents the parts of speed leveling that goes against the slow and tedious MMORPG level grinding.

CureForLiving.5360:

Repeatable hearts, would address that issue.

Huh… Have to wonder if there’s an expansive idea in that. Repeatable hearts after 80.
Maybe not infinitely repeatable, but what if the vendors gave better rewards for finishing them a second time after hitting 80? Extra cash drops, new karma items, collectables, access to challenge bosses, etc.

Extra PvE padding, for sure, but if the rewards are interesting, that’d justify it.

My issue isn’t that OP, as some of you say. It’s a “minor” thing, something that I wouldn’t put in my priorities if I had to change the game. I simply have that thought when I play with other players. I always felt like having to wait instead of really exploring the world.
Just my feeling tho.

Rauderi.8706:

CureForLiving.5360:

Repeatable hearts, would address that issue.

Huh… Have to wonder if there’s an expansive idea in that. Repeatable hearts after 80.
Maybe not infinitely repeatable, but what if the vendors gave better rewards for finishing them a second time after hitting 80? Extra cash drops, new karma items, collectables, access to challenge bosses, etc.

Extra PvE padding, for sure, but if the rewards are interesting, that’d justify it.

I saw a couple of conversations around repeatable hearts and the various things that could be done with them. It seemed like ANet had other priorities.

Rauderi.8706:

Yeah, those suck, not gonna lie. :\

I’m experienced enough to know usually which tasks produce the best renown output, but it still leads to waiting. I usually just trot off and kill stuff while I wait. [/shrug]

I’m going to take it a step further. Renown Hearts suck.

Hearts were not originally intended for this game and it shows. (The back story: players were confused about where to go to find Dynamic Events. Hearts were added as a way to guide players to the right places and hopefully make them stick around long enough for an event to start.)

Sure, not all hearts suck. Some of them are pretty fun. But they all have the same problem: they are too much like quests.

GW2 was designed to throw away the old “kill ten rats” quest model, but hearts basically bring that gameplay back. Sure, you get a choice between kill ten rats or click on A, run to B, click on B… (Let’s be real: that’s 80% of the hearts.)

When I started, I was playing with 5 or 6 real-life friends. We were running around together. It was 1) run to heart 2) everybody completes the heart 3) repeat. It was BORING. SO BORING.

Eventually, I split off and tried something different. I pretended the hearts didn’t exist. I’d explore, unlock map and waypoints, get POIs and Vistas that didn’t seem like a pain, and do dynamic events. But no hearts. (Some would complete as I did DEs, that was fine.)

The game INSTANTLY became waaaaay more fun! It felt fresh and new and not at all grindy. I started paying less attention to the UI and more to the world. I started listening to NPCs and following them around to see what they did. (Which often meant DEs were popping.)

So OP, if hearts feel grindy or boring or whatever, stop doing them. I bet, like me, you’ll have a way better time.

MOST of the hearts multiple players can pick up the same item. So as long as you guys are doing it simultaneously there should be no waiting. Now of course there are some that don’t work like that, but in general the hearts take very little time, so really you just sound impatient if your complaint is that you have to wait for someone else to finish their heart.

You do still get experience killing things while waiting, so why not just stick in the area and kill things until your friend is done. As far as I remember there aren’t any hearts that take more than 10min, so we really are only talking about several minutes of waiting.

JohnnyBigodes.2718:

My issue isn’t that OP, as some of you say. It’s a “minor” thing, something that I wouldn’t put in my priorities if I had to change the game. I simply have that thought when I play with other players. I always felt like having to wait instead of really exploring the world.
Just my feeling tho.

Not sure, but OP as in Original Poster, not OverPowered. =)

haha I’m a bit lame when it comes to forums :P

As someone who just finished world completion for the first time last week, hearts should never have been put in any zone above maybe level 30. None.

In the beginning they serve their purpose just fine, get people moving around, etc, etc.

Beyond about Kessex Hills they’re, with a handful of exceptions, nothing but tedious.

To the point I far more enjoyed mapping Orr because it didn’t have hearts!
I’d prefer any new zones (with the exception of new start zones for new races [wink wink, nudge nudge]) to have zero hearts. Pretty please?
Or at the very least far fewer, just come up with a few interesting ones and skip the boring filler ones.

Given that Southsun had no hearts, I wouldn’t be surprised if they skip them in the new zones as well. But we’ll see!

I don’t see any major problem with this. As long as it only works while you’re both in range of the same heart it’s not too exploitable. Not that hearts are really all that important, nor difficult to complete.

I’d be ok with all new zones being heartless….

It’d be nifty if they were all lvl 80 as well….

However since China is going to be involved, I highly doubt that’s feasible. Sadness

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

However since China is going to be involved, I highly doubt that’s feasible. Sadness

Wouldn’t say China’s going to hold back level 80 zones. They’re probably already 80, anyway. =P

If we do see new zones, it might be 35ish through 80. I’d prefer to see more 80 content as well. Though, I think we’re all still waiting to see what’s behind those big walls around Dominion of Winds. If they add Tengu, we’ll likely see a full 1-80 spread (with hearts).

Wait, what? The hearts suck in this game? I beg to differ.

The questing system in this game is phenomenal. It actually feels like your exploring the world with hearts and DE’s combined rather than giant exclamation marks that point you in a linear path. Sure, if you just focus on hearts than it does feel rather linear, but that’s on the player not the game. Also, it’s impossible to make hearts not the “same” as quests because in every MMO a quest always has either: Kill, collect, deliver, defend, or escort. Try coming up with a quest that doesn’t have any one of these (I certainly can’t).

Also, hearts do serve a purpose. They serve as lore for specific parts of the area, exp and karma and money, and vendors to sell and buy equipment from (I mean really, if these guys didn’t exist we would never be able to gear up alts for free unless you went to the TP or got nice drops). As for the problem of waiting for others to catch up it isn’t even that long assuming you both are near the same time. Even if you complete it way before your party members, you can still help them you know. It’s not like you are suddenly barred from doing so.

Also, the reason why hearts are tied to characters and not shared (e.g. if someone in your party completes a heart everyone gets it) is probably because of power leveling. Someone could just grab a character, get most of the hearts to 90%, then have a friend join their party and power level them from completing hearts.

Rauderi.8706:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

However since China is going to be involved, I highly doubt that’s feasible. Sadness

Wouldn’t say China’s going to hold back level 80 zones. They’re probably already 80, anyway. =P

They might be, but I was trying really hard not to be stereotypical.

Zelkovan.2630:

Sure, if you just focus on hearts than it does feel rather linear, but that’s on the player not the game.

Sure, but that’s part of the problem. When you’re learning to play GW2, it’s very easy to say, “Oh, hearts are this game’s quests. I’ll just do all of those to level.”

And then the game feels linear and boring.

Yes, it’s on the player, but at the same time, the game doesn’t teach you a better way. Think about the first Personal Story mission: complete a heart. It’s not “complete a dynamic event chain.” Nothing in this game tells you to go look for DEs. In fact, hearts ALWAYS show on the map (assuming you’ve cleared it) but DEs only show if you’re nearby.

The core gameplay in open world PvE was supposed to be DEs, but I think most people try to make it hearts, and that’s a real step down. In my opinion.

timmyf.1490:

Zelkovan.2630:

Sure, if you just focus on hearts than it does feel rather linear, but that’s on the player not the game.

Sure, but that’s part of the problem. When you’re learning to play GW2, it’s very easy to say, “Oh, hearts are this game’s quests. I’ll just do all of those to level.”

And then the game feels linear and boring.

Yes, it’s on the player, but at the same time, the game doesn’t teach you a better way. Think about the first Personal Story mission: complete a heart. It’s not “complete a dynamic event chain.” Nothing in this game tells you to go look for DEs. In fact, hearts ALWAYS show on the map (assuming you’ve cleared it) but DEs only show if you’re nearby.

The core gameplay in open world PvE was supposed to be DEs, but I think most people try to make it hearts, and that’s a real step down. In my opinion.

Well then that is still an issue of the player, imo. A game shouldn’t have to hold your hand and say: “Well Johnny here is how you level…”. Certain things it should, yes, like talking about how to use traits effectively for different scenarios, but not leveling. It isn’t that hard to understand killing things levels you up. The game is pretty self-explanatory in how to level when either a) A giant orange text pops up saying new event! or b) A heart pops up on the side of your screen.