I will say first that I do really like GW2, and have no regrets about buying it.
That said, doowak, I will say that I kind of did the same thing. I played during the beta but until recently had not really started to enjoy myself. I think one of the reasons why I was struggling was because I am used to a much more “directed” style of play.
The MMO’s I’ve played in the past have always had a clear-cut “quest” approach where you are told “Go here, kill that, talk to the NPC for your reward, and repeat”. I’m not knocking this. I’m actually very comfortable with this style of play. It feels like an old, broken-in slipper. But GW2 is an entirely different animal. When I first started I felt kind of lost. It was a bit overwhelming. It felt like there was too much going on all at once, and I was sort of paralyzed into not knowing what to do first.
Recently I just decided to stop worrying about what I should be doing and just start exploring. I look at where I am on the map, and wherever I see the closest undiscovered waypoint, vista, point of interest, or heart is where I head. Along the way I encounter dynamic events and participate in those, too. And of course I hit every gathering node I can between me and my closest objective. I haven’t even bothered doing much of my personal story missions. I was frustrated by them earlier on, so I decided to leave them for now and come back to them later.
Obviously, this style of play isn’t going to be for everyone. But it is working for me. It helps me to filter out the “option overkill” that makes me feel frustrated.
Note that my issues are not criticisms of the game. There is nothing wrong with the way GW2 is set up. The things that frustrated me are just issues personal to ME, and not the fault of the game. I just had to find my own way to approach things that allowed me to work within the framework the designers had set down and still have fun in my own way.
Hopefully you’ll experiment and find what works for you. There’s a lot to like in GW2.
