Hey everybody,
this one’s about my personal experience with a new way to play Guild Wars 2. Just like lots of you guys, I’m playing this game since release. I have three Level 80 characters and played lots of, lots of hours – although I’m far from hardcore. Nowadays my playtime is more like 4-5 hours a week, which is all I get beside my family.
Now, while within these almost 5 years of Guild Wars 2, I never managed to build up a connection to the game world. For me, there barely was an immersion. Much unlike the good old World of Warcraft, where I can still remember running around Mulgore Fields during sunset.
I thought about this and came to the conclusion that this is not the fault of the world itself. The maps are beautiful crafted, the sound (music & enviroment) is phenomenal. I think, it way my playstyle that was ruining the experience for me. When there was something to do (e.g. killing a world boss), I jumped to a waypoint, waited 5 minutes, did what I had to do and jumped to the next event. I barely took notice of this great game world, because I didn’t take my time to do so. I don’t know, how many hours I spent running around crossroads or mulgore in World of Warcraft, but I’m absolutely sure, that it was way more than in any other GW2-Map. I knew every rock within those maps.
This all changed with the Lake Doric-Map, which had only very few waypoints. One day, I decided to skip even these waypoints. I simply walked (or flew) my way across the map and took all those events I quests, I stumbled upon. I only used waypoints to resurrect. By taking much more time traversing the map, I realized, that I managed to get a feeling for the world again. For the eerie atmosphere of the melandru-shrine, the beauty of the peach tree and the creepiness of the lost woods. I loved, how the soundscape and the general mood changed, when I came to a new location. It was a blast.
Now, with the new Caladbold-Quest, I decided to visit the places and search for the shards without using ANY waypoints. Only asuran portals were allowed. I asked myself, if that experience could be repeated on any other map. And to my joy, that was the case.
By traversing the world of Tyria, I came across events, players and places, I’d never seen before. I revisited old maps and did some old events, found lots of new events and just had a blast of a time. Again, I way able to get a hang for those maps, just like in those glory days with World of Warcraft. And, by the way, traveling from Lions Arch to the hearts of maguuma really feels like reaching the end of the world. Suddenly you can relate to a Soldier, who asks you, If you’d found a way out the jungle. You are trapped within this deadly, tangled jungle and really have to watch your step. Even though traveling across the jungle was oftentimes frustrating, it really felt like an accomplishment, finding the shard within the tangled depth.
So, I think, I will never go back to using waypoints. The world is too vivid, too beautiful to skip everything with a click on a waypoint.
So, unless you have the “Been there, done that”-Achievement, I recommend, trying out this way experience Guild Wars 2. Even for those, who won’t have much time for the game. The content will wait for you. Chances are high, that you will simply have more fun. And that’s what games are about!
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tl;dr:
Found out, that skipping waypoints and running across the world is much more enjoyable for me. Try it out!
