Guild Wars 2

So here I am, playing Guild Wars 2, and WoW in tandem. I play a little of one, a little of the other, and recently played SWTOR and Aion and TERA too.

You know one thing these games all have in common?

The forums.

The games are in actual fact all good games, mostly great infact, but they all share common similarities in their forum posts.

“THERE IS NO ENDGAME”
“GAME IS DEAD I QUIT”
“OMG THIS IS WORST GAME EVER”
“HAH IM GOING TO <insert one of the above titles here> INSTEAD”

Now I am no Freud, nor do I claim to be the smartest jewel in the crown, but im clever, and I have at least common sense enough to see where alot of these games problems lie, and it is with the mentality of the players themselves.

Remember i’m generalizing here, but wanting to make a point that in each forum, the same threads pop up claiming the grass is much greener on the other side, the game sucks and the whole world is collapsing with the sky falling down. The games all survive, even if they change sub models or lose players, they still trudge on, in spite of these noisy little foghorns.

To me, I see the issue in that these people have raised their own expectations falsely so high, that their vision of whatever it is they are playing is so skewed, it will never be good enough for them, as they are convinced there are other games that far outshine the one they are currently focused on complaining about.

“No endgame” in the first few weeks following release day
Why would there be with no one sitting at endgame other than day 1 rushers and impatient people that aren’t worth pleasing in any case.

“This game sucks im quit for XXXX game”
Good, leave, you aren’t going to be noticed. Your feedback is useless as all you have done is rant about something, you have provided nothing constructive and you are just here to sit in the spotlight.

There are so many topics that are shared across all these forums, and yet the games still continue on, but as these players rant and rant and rant, others start to get persuaded to believe the same, and the game suffers, before it has even had a chance to begin. People who are genuinely enjoying themselves are saturated by these muppets, to a point where they have no choice but to begin thinking like them, as they are so loud and so vocal about it, it’s all you ever read.

My point is that the MMo community has a very small vocal bad element, that seems less intent on seeing things get great, and more intent on casting a dark shadow wherever they go, like locusts, diving in, destroying, and moving on to the next unsuspecting victim, and it really has to stop, as it’s completely destroying whats left of what used to be an epic genre.

I love this game alot, and not as a fanboy, but as someone who has come in with no expectations, and has been impressed massively by everything they have seen. The game is well paced, beautiful and intelligently designed, and stands out enough to keep my attention away from WoW, but I see it happening already, that the game is being worn by the silly muppets on these forums who make it their duty to bash it into destruction.

I don’t know about WoW but when Rift launched there was no “there is no endgame” threads. And the only threads there leaving were for GW2.

Write.3192:

I don’t know about WoW but when Rift launched there was no “there is no endgame” threads. And the only threads there leaving were for GW2.

Oh there most definately were, I remember reading a few of them as I played RiFT for a while too.

But if thats what you got from the original post, then the point has been completely missed.

People are just pathetic, they level up to 80 in a week and then whine on what to do next? Seriously? Maybe you could get a job or go to school so you wont level up so quickly.

Im lvl 45 after a month of play, Clocked in around 150 hours and only been on 5-6 maps/areas in the game. I play to enjoy myself, not to get to the endgame.

I think you are being a bit abrasive, OP. Don’t stoop to the level of others.

What I think ANet will have a challenge doing in the future is keeping in line with their current philosophy AND giving an olive branch to players from other games and genres.

Different personalities make the world go round. There is room for compromise with more traditional players without alienation of those who like the game in its current form. GW2 has an excellent foundation…we’ll see if ANet can build bridges in the coming months or if they will build content suited only for their core fans.

I love to read game forums almost as much as I like to play games, and you’re right. EVERY forum, w/o exception is full of complaints and disgruntled players.

I’m not saying that every game is perfect, because, obviously they are not. But, most of them are fun in their own way.

I rank GW2 as my 3rd favorite mmo behind SWG and EQ1. I have some minor issues, but nothing game breaking. Certainly nothing to throw a hissy fit at.

People need to keep things in perspective. The world is dying due to global warming, and people are up in arms that GW2’s end game isn’t totally fleshed out.

ErkiB.8375:

People are just pathetic, they level up to 80 in a week and then whine on what to do next? Seriously? Maybe you could get a job or go to school so you wont level up so quickly.

Im lvl 45 after a month of play, Clocked in around 150 hours and only been on 5-6 maps/areas in the game. I play to enjoy myself, not to get to the endgame.

I can’t wait for these folks to leave! They will move on to the next MMO rinse and repeat the same scenario!

This will leave many of us to finally enjoy the game for what it’s worth to us.

Many people on on the forums (for gw2 or other) are just drama queens. I mean they literally just do it for the drama.

Who in their right minds would make an “I quit” post otherwise? You don’t decide to quit a game unless you’re no longer invested in it and if you’re no longer invested that means you don’t care about their official forums.

Rhanoa.3960:

ErkiB.8375:

People are just pathetic, they level up to 80 in a week and then whine on what to do next? Seriously? Maybe you could get a job or go to school so you wont level up so quickly.

Im lvl 45 after a month of play, Clocked in around 150 hours and only been on 5-6 maps/areas in the game. I play to enjoy myself, not to get to the endgame.

I can’t wait for these folks to leave! They will move on to the next MMO rinse and repeat the same scenario!

This will leave many of us to finally enjoy the game for what it’s worth to us.

Completely agree,the only slight worry is because this game has no sub these complainers may hang around a little longer than they normally would with the usual sub based mmo.

Archer.6485:

Many people on on the forums (for gw2 or other) are just drama queens. I mean they literally just do it for the drama.

Who in their right minds would make an “I quit” post otherwise? You don’t decide to quit a game unless you’re no longer invested in it and if you’re no longer invested that means you don’t care about their official forums.

Cowards behind Monitors!

Keyboard Commandos!

This is basically everywhere.

Uneducated, impolite and rash people seem to materialise out of thin air everywhere on the internet. Perhaps some years from now, we shall have a great compendium: ‘21st Century Internet Human: An analysis on their behaviour’ written by some sort of 21st century Jung.

I’ve been on the MMO scene since 1997, but have been a bit out of touch since I quit WoW after being burnt out on Burning Crusade. I was anticipating Darkfall, but it fell quite flat of my expectations.

Anyway, where I’m going with this is this: It’s funny that after all these years, it wasn’t Guild Wars 2 that I’ve seen players in droves countering complaints with “These are the same complaints I’ve seen in every MMO I’ve played.”

It really gives me hope for this community once the majority of the whiner’s leave for “greener pastures” as they always do.

Maybe this has been a trend that started before GW2, but I wasn’t really around to see it.

Bastion.2457:

Write.3192:

I don’t know about WoW but when Rift launched there was no “there is no endgame” threads. And the only threads there leaving were for GW2.

Oh there most definately were, I remember reading a few of them as I played RiFT for a while too.

But if thats what you got from the original post, then the point has been completely missed.

No, not really because a month after launched they added a world event and then a month after that they added a new 20-man raid. Endgame content, content in general, has never been Rift’s weak point.

And a thread on the forums about all the other threads on the forums you don’t like. Figured it out pretty quickly. Also, when you tell people who complain to just leave you’re basically saying they’re right about whatever it is they’re complaining about. There’s plenty of nonsensical and unnecessarily negative posts going on here but there are also plenty of legitimate issues. If you’re only rebuttal is to tell them to leave than that shows you have no reason to tell them to stay or that they are wrong.

Write.3192:

Bastion.2457:

Write.3192:

I don’t know about WoW but when Rift launched there was no “there is no endgame” threads. And the only threads there leaving were for GW2.

Oh there most definately were, I remember reading a few of them as I played RiFT for a while too.

But if thats what you got from the original post, then the point has been completely missed.

No, not really because a month after launched they added a world event and then a month after that they added a new 20-man raid. Endgame content, content in general, has never been Rift’s weak point.

And a thread on the forums about all the other threads on the forums you don’t like. Figured it out pretty quickly. Also, when you tell people who complain to just leave you’re basically saying they’re right about whatever it is they’re complaining about. There’s plenty of nonsensical and unnecessarily negative posts going on here but there are also plenty of legitimate issues. If you’re only rebuttal is to tell them to leave than that shows you have no reason to tell them to stay or that they are wrong.

If someone says they’re not having fun, no rebuttal is going to change that opinion.

The whole point of playing a game is to have fun. If you’re not having fun, then you’re just wasting your time. Telling them to quit, or take a break until more content is launched is a perfectly valid suggestion.

yeah the mmo player mentality is what made them leave games with no lategame, and its what made these mmorpgs with no lategame fail and go f2p after some months, how did u notice that?

I think part of the problem is that most mmo’s, that I’ve played anyway, are just glorified rps. Theme park games.

They are not living worlds that can sustain life.

SWG was a living world, one could ‘exist’ there, not just play a game there….

Duveth.5742:

yeah the mmo player mentality is what made them leave games with no lategame, and its what made these mmorpgs with no lategame fail and go f2p after some months, how did u notice that?

Exhibit A.

Bastion.2457:

Duveth.5742:

yeah the mmo player mentality is what made them leave games with no lategame, and its what made these mmorpgs with no lategame fail and go f2p after some months, how did u notice that?

Exhibit A.

That guy is just a negative nancy. In every post he makes its nothing but negativity.

Scourge.4317:

Bastion.2457:

Duveth.5742:

yeah the mmo player mentality is what made them leave games with no lategame, and its what made these mmorpgs with no lategame fail and go f2p after some months, how did u notice that?

Exhibit A.

That guy is just a negative nancy. In every post he makes its nothing but negativity.

Exactly

I see this on every single game forum now. Doesn’t matter if it’s an MMO, FPS, Platformer or driving game. The problem is it keeps all the legitimate posts off the first page and they end up being shoveled into the nether regions of the board. One of the worse ones I’ve seen in over 10 years of gaming was on the Battlefield 3 board when they released their “Premium” content. Some of the posts were anti-semetic, racist and the odd one threatening physical violence against other members.

Was talking to somebody in my guild the other night and they came on here for the first time and couldn’t believe the amount of whining posts about this game.

I did read a post on here a few days ago, somebody had played a necro and got to quite a high level then came on here. He said it nearly put him off playing the necro again because he started believing most of the posts.

This is one reason why I hardly come onto forums like this nowadays. If people have issues with the game then post up something in the suggestions forum then move on, instead of repeating the same old rubbish over and over.

“Continuing on” and “getting great” are different things, my friend. Your post could’ve been summed up in two clauses: “GAMES GET GREAT, PLAYERS GET MENIAL” because that’s about as factual as you’ve been. On a side note, I believe the capitals represent your wordiness, so you can trademark that one.

MMORPGs are in the gutter at the moment. Financially, they are at peaking – commendations to Blizzard for popularizing the scene and tending to the casual gamer as a means of monetary prosperity. Blizzard may also be credited with the downfall of the gaming community. The people that Bastion is referring to are the ones that thrive on the anonymity of web communities – or as we all know them, trolls. They are the majority, so essentially these players define the MMORPG. Think of it as marketing, because without funding there would be no game to begin with. Though necessary for any long-term success, these people do not respect the communal aspect of MMORPGs and that is wherein the problem lies.

The casual gamer is shallow and looks at an MMO as time spent, while the hardcore gamer views it as time invested. Consider the interactive aspects just as much as the playable content and you appeal to both crowds.

You can sugar-coat playability all you like with MASS_SCALE_PVP_ZERG_01 and DYNAMIC ZERG EVENT_87, but in actuality, it’s an empty amusement park. Once experienced, the sensations of adventure and discovery are gone. What is left besides moving onto another playground?

In GW2 and MMOs of today, the playable content is there: exploration, leveling, encounters, character development, tradeskills, etc. – and yet, none of it is geared towards player interaction. This is why one game has people condemning and praising the same subject. As running around the playground by yourself gets boring quickly, so does the MMORPG lacking in social interplay.

The solution is to incorporate just as much player interactive content as there is playable content, then both parties will be satisfied. How you would go about doing that is beyond my scope as I’m not a game developer, but the problem is certainly there.

@Letch

I’ve been saying something very similar for years. The next evolution of MMORPG’s will be the one that revolutionizes player generated content.

Much of what makes an MMORPG great is roleplaying and the events that roleplayers host. When I describe some of the events and situations I experienced in Ultima Online from 1997-2001 many people don’t even believe I am talking about a video game.

Unfortuantely, due to MMO’s going mainstream and streamlining content, roleplayers have been stigmatized and developers have denied us of the tools we need to properly create our own content.

It’s a real shame that the genre we fostered from infancy has grown so far away from it’s roleplaying roots it’s hard to even call them roleplaying games anymore.

i agree, OP. most of the threads on these forums are just hilarious. it’s like people want to spend 2 weeks grinding their brains out, speed running dungeons to get “dat gear”. they do this in literally every game, and wonder why they never have fun, ever.

as i said it is hilarious, but it also just pathetic.

Write.3192:

Bastion.2457:

Write.3192:

I don’t know about WoW but when Rift launched there was no “there is no endgame” threads. And the only threads there leaving were for GW2.

Oh there most definately were, I remember reading a few of them as I played RiFT for a while too.

But if thats what you got from the original post, then the point has been completely missed.

No, not really because a month after launched they added a world event and then a month after that they added a new 20-man raid. Endgame content, content in general, has never been Rift’s weak point.

And a thread on the forums about all the other threads on the forums you don’t like. Figured it out pretty quickly. Also, when you tell people who complain to just leave you’re basically saying they’re right about whatever it is they’re complaining about. There’s plenty of nonsensical and unnecessarily negative posts going on here but there are also plenty of legitimate issues. If you’re only rebuttal is to tell them to leave than that shows you have no reason to tell them to stay or that they are wrong.

Trion really impressed me with rift, I wasn’t big on raiding but the sheer amount of content they put out was amazing. I heard they ran into some trouble with buggy raids in later content patches but it was really impressive how much they put out for ‘free’. I stopped playing because of the balance [pyros/champs were rampant and sabs had been nerfed] and I wasn’t a fan of the PvP gear grind, since it tended to make strong classes even strong and weak classes even weaker. I still admired Trion a lot for at least trying to give people their money’s worth, unlike other MMOs which just take your $15 and give you a maintenance day in return.

When I compare GW2 to Rift my main disappointment is how long it’s taking Anet to take a look at class balance or at least let people know what’s the plan for the future. Right now some people aren’t happy with their classes for different reasons; warriors don’t like being forced into shouts/banners for dungeons, eles don’t like being kittened, necros don’t like being buggy, etc.

I think arenanet will have a hard time getting people to stick around if they aren’t happy with their classes.

We’ll always have whiners and I think, they will start whining louder, harder. New generation is impatient, they want things to happen in a week. However, even if they get things done in a week, they start complaining about there being not enough endgame content.

Some of them buy gears, items and other stuff with real money and then like to talk about how the game already is dead, there being no real endgame and such. Funny that they talk about those while they already ‘bought’ the endgame.