Guild Wars 2

I only have one 80 character with “Been there done that”. So last night I started working on taking my 80 Necro, who’s been enjoying HOT content, back into Tyria to get all the waypoints. This will help me on guild missions, or doing dungeons eventually ,etc.

Wow, I had just forgotten how amazing these zones are. I know a lot of us here focus on our builds and min/maxing and “nerfs” and such. I just feel sometimes I “miss the forest because of all the trees”. Going back into these Tyria zones for the first time in over a year, just for the purposes of exploring and finding new things, is just AWESOME. I even found some things my 100% character never saw! The underwater stuff, the “hidden” caves and caverns, the high points that I can now glide off of (better with infinite gliding), the new jump pads, it is just so cool to go back there after being away. It feels like I’m seeing them for the first time. And to think that any player with a decent PC can now see/explore all of this FOR FREE now is even more amazing.

Some observations. 1) I have mixed feelings now about how fast someone can get to 80, especially if they take the easy path that I did by staying in the low level zones. There really are some amazing things to see in these higher zones. Then again I have the same mixed feelings about “forcing” anyone to go into these areas, as the freedom of progression is my favorite thing in this game. So this is more or less just a regret. 2) I was saddened by how few players seemed to be in these core Tyria zones. I’m hoping Halloween might be part of the reason, but I suppose most of us just stay in HOT once we hit 80 (as I did too). I just hate to see such beautiful places go unexplored, and the big events and champions just “sit there” because most of us can’t solo them (or at least I can’t).

Anyway, I just wanted to thank A-Net again for this amazing game! I still have 5 whole zones to explore, likely tonight. I so look forward to seeing these sights for the second time. And guys, tell all your friends about this FREE game. I think they will be amazed.

Thanks for letting me “gush” for a bit.

I’m an altaholic and am compulsive about map completion on all of them. Still, to this day, I am in awe of Tyria. I’m probably one of those rare players that actually watches all of the cut scenes at the vistas. Yup…good stuff.

+1 All of that

Agreed with all of this.

Except even with 4 level 80’s (I boosted, 3 levelled naturally) I still spend a lot of time in the lower level zones simply because I love playing them.

I’m actually playing a level 31 alt right now and just finished the Triskell Quay story instance and decided to stick around and do the heart too since I’m here and it feels incomplete to save the town from risen only to leave them infested with krait.

I think I actually enjoy the game most when I slow down, stop thinking of it as a game with goals and objectives and simply take my time to explore and do things as I come across them, whether that’s in a low level map or the Maguuma Jungle or whatever. I think I’m lucky that it’s actually very easy for me to do that, if anything I have a hard time focusing on a goal and not getting distracted with taking screenshots, talking to NPCs, following event chains or whatever else.

they nerf most places. i remember i used to farm bosses hopping from map to map, doing dungeons, events and so on but anet has a thing for nerfing all kinds of content.

I too spend a lot of time in the Tyrian maps. It’s good to take a break from the “goals” and just clear a zone. I always have an alt to work on, even if they now begin at level 40. So always something productive to do in even the beginner zones.

I’ve recently purchased a new “high end” laptop and I can finally play with max settings (shaders, shadows, reflections, etc) and I’m really rediscovering GW2. I had no idea some parts of the game were so beautiful. Special mention to Queensdale’s Swamp, the Chak underground lake in Tangled Depths, and Mordremoth in DS (who looks silly with low settings and gorgeous with all effects on).

Really, that’s a whole new experience for me, and I run low level worldbosses just for the sake of seeing how they look with a good GPU.

GW2 is definitely gorgeous. The shiverpeaks and orr really stand out to me.

While I loathe map completing Lorner’s Pass (whose idea was it to put 43 PoI there???), I find it’s a gorgeous map. I love how it gently transitions from the Shiverpeaks snowing into bring green grass and suddenly a lake filled with pirates.

I really was hoping that we can again get a new map that isn’t filled with ruins and full of enemy mobs but trees and mountains and stuff. I bet most people’s favourite map is queensdale. No underwater gimmicks,barren wastelands and caverns everywhere. Just green fields.

zoomborg.9462:

I really was hoping that we can again get a new map that isn’t filled with ruins and full of enemy mobs but trees and mountains and stuff. I bet most people’s favourite map is queensdale. No underwater gimmicks,barren wastelands and caverns everywhere. Just green fields.

I always found Queensdale kind of dull. At least the northern part. It’s cool for the nostalgia factor because a lot of locations are recognisable from GW1 but one of my favourite things to do in RPGs is simply to explore the maps and Queensdale feels a bit too safe and familiar for that. It’s like exploring my local park or the heath instead of going further afield out into the mountains or something.

My favourite maps are the ones that feel like you’re right out in the wilderness, like Timberline Falls or Tangled Depths.

“Exploring my local park”. That’s my thinking exactly as i kinda liked exploring my local park. I guess it’s just nostalgia of my starting days when i was surprised by every single thing.