Guild Wars 2

I have noticed lately that we very often are suggested to change instances due to lack of players. Here are some of my thoughts on today’s GW2 game experience.

I have played GW2 since beta, together with my husband. We have several 80 level characters each, we play PVE and we both love this game. We spend a lot of time in the game. And Dulfy is almost a family member.

In real life, we are old, retired folks, not hardcore, not even good players. We are not skilled to do dungeons, PvP, WvW and not good enough to join a group/guild to do them either, usually ’cause the pace is too fast for us.

Looking back from beta days until today, I feel the game has become overloaded with difficult mobs, impossible quests/missions, and events, not to mention bugs and glitches here and there.

Areas we find to be overloaded with mobs, difficulties, and hard to play are:

Personal Story – final bosses – sometimes with bugs and glitches.
(Atm some of our chars are not able to finish their Personal Story).
HOT
Hard to explore and learn the way around HOT when constantly attacked by too many hordes of mobs. (We do follow groups doing some events in HOT). But solo or just 2 ppl -impossible at times. Not Fun!

I do realize that hardcore players have no problems with this, but what is the reason for the lack of players in instances and even in the dailies nowadays?
Could it be that other casual players have a similar experience – it is way too much of everything?

My suggestions to the Devs:
Instead of nerfing chars, effects and the like, Please make instances or choices of levels of difficulties for PVE = Normal – Hard – or something similar.
That would make the game available and interesting to all levels of game skills.
Thank You.

Khandro.8439:

My suggestions to the Devs:
Instead of nerfing chars, effects and the like, Please make instances or choices of levels of difficulties for PVE = Normal – Hard – or something similar.
That would make the game available and interesting to all levels of game skills.
Thank You.

doesnt work as highlighted in this blog. If you use the same ai for easy and hard mode, both sides will be angry. Easy mode players hated the tactics used in hard mode. Hard mode players hated the fact that the overall ai in easy tactics is stupid.

These days the only way to accommodate easy mode players is to make ai intelligently stupid. I heard that Uncharted only lets one person shoot the player at a time.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132339/intelligent_mistakes_how_to_.php?print=1

The only thing I hate is the fact I have to get a group for the personal story in Orr. Since I can not and do not wish to play with total strangers (extremely bad experiences that really ruined my faith in gamers) I have no idea what happened except for some bits and conclusions I can make out when starting HoT. Suddenly, there are new characters, suddenly a fleet has crashed etc..

Do not come up with “This is an MMORPG”, yes, but in the end I have yet to find bearable people that are more than the typical “lolwtfroflcopters” folks that go rage mode when you want to talk a bit ’bout politics or economy. So far, I will never know what is going on in those missions. I am in this state since 1.5 years. . .

Excelsior.

I have come to the (sad) conclusion that Hot and new story is not aimed at the casual player. I started playing about a yr after release, and absolutely loved the game! Got hoT and didnt care for it at first, but played thru and learned to like it somewhat. enough at least to make Chuka and Champawat. but with the new story releases play less and less. went to the new maps a couple times, have not and will not go to Bitterfrost. it is not intended for the casual player. I work 10hr days, last thing i want to do is log in and get stressed out. I realize its supposed to be “end game” material, but it’s leaving the casual player in the dust. and the way they are designed, as each new map/story comes out, the older maps are seriously less populated. do they realize that as time goes by, new players to the game wont have much chance of getting the cheevs on these maps because noone will be there doing the content?

Zedek.8932:

The only thing I hate is the fact I have to get a group for the personal story in Orr. Since I can not and do not wish to play with total strangers (extremely bad experiences that really ruined my faith in gamers) I have no idea what happened except for some bits and conclusions I can make out when starting HoT. Suddenly, there are new characters, suddenly a fleet has crashed etc..

Do not come up with “This is an MMORPG”, yes, but in the end I have yet to find bearable people that are more than the typical “lolwtfroflcopters” folks that go rage mode when you want to talk a bit ’bout politics or economy. So far, I will never know what is going on in those missions. I am in this state since 1.5 years. . .

Excelsior.

You don’t need a group for the story in Orr. They changed it about a year ago to be a solo instance like all the others.

Ask for help in LFG. State out that you want a relax run, not to be stressed. Most negative experience in PU comes from people that rush without saying a world, in my experience, but if you find people that actually talk and that play at your rythm, it’ll have a much much higher chance to be a good time.

Also, search a casual familial guild, with the same objectives than you, like casual open world PVE. In my experience, most HoT content is easier with two people and much easier with 3-4. I don’t know if we’ll have the same playing time slots, but add me if you want a companion to finish those personal story instances. =)

Danikat.8537:

Zedek.8932:

The only thing I hate is the fact I have to get a group for the personal story in Orr. Since I can not and do not wish to play with total strangers (extremely bad experiences that really ruined my faith in gamers) I have no idea what happened except for some bits and conclusions I can make out when starting HoT. Suddenly, there are new characters, suddenly a fleet has crashed etc..

Do not come up with “This is an MMORPG”, yes, but in the end I have yet to find bearable people that are more than the typical “lolwtfroflcopters” folks that go rage mode when you want to talk a bit ’bout politics or economy. So far, I will never know what is going on in those missions. I am in this state since 1.5 years. . .

Excelsior.

You don’t need a group for the story in Orr. They changed it about a year ago to be a solo instance like all the others.

Just highlighting this, since it appears many still are unaware of the change from those I have spoken to.
Orr Story Dungeon is now a solo instance or a 5-man dungeon depending on what you select.

As for what the OP is saying, I imagine it is a very difficult balance and I don’t think splitting things into easy/hard mode is necs the right answer – it’s just potentially double the work for each story release.

The devs will have better metrics about who is playing the content Vs the target audience of 4 years ago, but I do wonder how many of the casual playerbase the game was very much aimed at, has been lost with the advent of improved difficulty in Open World. I prefer the harder mobs and think it validates the game’s progression more, but I can sympathise with those increasingly turning away because of it.

Khandro.8439:

I do realize that hardcore players have no problems with this, but what is the reason for the lack of players in instances and even in the dailies nowadays?

Here’s what’s happening, at least in zones where large (meta) events take place. Megaserver tehc is designed to bring people together into populated maps. However, it creates new map copies before the “first” map is full. In order to “stack the deck” and get “enough” players to win the meta event, players use the LFG tool to find a map that is doing the meta in that zone, join that group/squad and then use the “Join In” feature (right click on the party/squad people and look for that wording) to enter the map where more players are.

There are two side effects to this behavior.

1. Other map copies lose players, which can start the “Map is closing” feature you speak of.
2. The popular map gets full, and spamming Join In only to be told over and over that the map is full can be frustrating.

However, if you can Join In, at least you’ll find more players.

An easy/normal mode would be easy to implement. It could be as simple as offering permanent protection. It wouldn’t be a good idea to split open world maps however, but they could easily do it for the story. Since they let groups trivialize it anyways, which is probably ArenaNet’s intended version of an easy mode, they wouldn’t even need to disable the achievements or reduce the rewards.

GW2 was always meant to be challenging however. The game was heavily nerfed during beta because of the standstill MMO crowd, where even a level 2 Moa in Queensdale would kill you within a single channeled peck. Their intention was to ease-in the difficulty, increasing it over time to improve those players. They have gone back and nerfed old content however, like the Silverwastes, so maybe they’ll blanket nerf HoT with the next expansion.

Randulf.7614:

The devs will have better metrics about who is playing the content Vs the target audience of 4 years ago, but I do wonder how many of the casual playerbase the game was very much aimed at, has been lost with the advent of improved difficulty in Open World. I prefer the harder mobs and think it validates the game’s progression more, but I can sympathise with those increasingly turning away because of it.

Part of the problem with questions like this is that first you need to define ‘casual players’.

In many ways I could be considered a casual player. I’m only online evenings and weekends (and not every evening, certainly not every weekend). I genuinely have no idea about the meta-game other than being aware it exists and I have always mained a ranger in rabid (now rabid/sinister) gear, regardless of what I’m told I “should” be playing. One of my main priorities is cosmetics, mini-pets in particular but I’m very slow to get them (or anything else) because I rarely farm for anything and have never done anything like AB multi-loot. I haven’t even done all of the dungeon paths yet and haven’t ever entered a raid except to take screenshots to prove it’s possible to enter the instance solo.

But on the other hand I’ve not had a problem completing HoT content. I think partially because of the aforementioned ranger in rabid gear (pocket raptors take 2 skills – spike trap with a bonfire on top. Maybe some sword auto-attacks to finish them off) and partially because dying doesn’t bother me that much. I wasn’t going to complete things efficiently anyway, probably wasn’t going to complete it that night because I tend to get distracted, so having to start over doesn’t bother me much. But then I do tend to play other RPGs on at least normal difficulty, sometimes harder.

I agree that the game is aimed at a more casual audience than most MMOs, but I always thought of that as having less to do with the difficulty and more to do with other aspects of the design. Most content can be completed solo, with anyone who happens to be around or with a group formed on the spur of the moment so you don’t have to commit to playing at a fixed time with a regular group of people. There’s no gear grind so if you take a break or simply can’t play a lot you won’t fall behind. It’s relatively easy to get to the maximum level and to get good quality equipment when you do. And the game is fairly open-ended so you don’t have to do things you don’t want to do. You can skip dungeons or WvW or PvP or raids or jumping puzzles or most other content types (even open-world PvE to some extent) without it affecting the content you do want to do.

And now with the option of playing for free and then just buying HoT to unlock everything (except Living Story seasons) it also suits people who are wary of tying themselves to a game with a large, early financial commitment.

But to my mind none of that says it can’t get harder as you progress through it.

The utterly forgiving nature of open-world core Tyria content, I think, has attracted/kept a new level of “casual” compared to most gaming environments. Which is a good thing! I think that mindset has led to the creation of one of the most unique game worlds I’ve ever seen, and I’d be sad to see it change.

That being said, I always wonder if OP and other casual players have offered serious thought to whether or not they would even enjoy being in an environment like the HoT maps. They certainly don’t have the expansive feeling of most core Tyria maps, and they are meant to be extremely hazardous war zones that have decimated the Pact. HoT maps very much belong to the jungle, not to the silly Tyrians who decided to set foot in it to challenge the natives.

As for the parts of the personal story and HoT story set in challenging environments, I really have little to say other than I’d be happy to run content with you if we’re ever on at the same time.

To the OP……I feel your pain.

I’m very much like you. I’m older than most and consider myself a casual player. By that I mean, I do not enjoy or am capable of pushing all the right buttons at just the right time.

Now I’m not saying I just auto attack with the number one skill, but how timely I use the other skills may be questionable.

I don’t even use my keyboard or some fancy mouse. I just use a regular mouse for almost everything. So that tells you just how casual or inept I am….lol

Having said all that, I do seem to have a little more success at some of the things you were describing.

I’m wondering what profession you are playing and ( not so much build ) but how well they are equipt.

As far as profession, if you are not a good button masher, ranger is by far the best. If you go with ranger, choose a melee pet such as a feline or drake. They will not only do damage, but soak up a lot of damage that would otherwise go to you.

Also, with a pet and you’re in one of the HoT maps, just run by the mobs. The pet will attract much of the mobs attacks letting you to just run by them. Very handy to get around.

Back to the equipment. Having the best equipment is almost as, if not more important than the build in general.

If you are capable of crafting ascended equipment then do so. However, exotic is good enough….hell…. even rare can do.

When it comes to armor, make sure that the runes you use are all the same on all five pieces to get the full benefit. Its surprising how many people don’t realize that.

For weapons, make sure you use the sigils slot. Preferable, superior ones. Sigil of fire or air are good ones. There are others that are good as well, just make sure you are using them.

Also, use the best trinkets you can buy, make or get in a lucky drop.

Again, its surprising how many people don’t think to max their armor by using runes, sigils and trinkets.

Now I apologize if you are already well aware of these tips. I certainly don’t mean to talk down to you. But as said, I have run into people that didn’t realise the importance of some of this.

As far as the new areas and especialy, the personal story, I get why you and even me has difficulties. For me, its not the mobs, its that at times you need to do something completely different to complete a given chapter.

Too often you have to do X Y or Z before you can even damage your foe. That can be interesting, but extremely frustrating if you don’t figure it out.

To be honest, I don’t see them making an easy mode. After all, with GW1, they made a hard mode without making normal easier. For me at least, I find general PVE just about right with exception of some of the personal stories.

Ok this was a longer post than I expected. I wish you and your husband well. If you ever see “Born to be Wild” ( me ) in the open world, give me a shout.

HoT is quite a step up from the core game in terms of awareness needed of each mob and surroundings.

But remember, it’s quite literally, a jungle in there so think of it as an adventure, focus on one mob type and learn it’s weaknesses; become familiar with the jungle and develop safe paths through it.

It’s a challenge, try to break it down into chunks that help you deal with it rather than being overwhelmed by it all. With practice it can become easier.

I too hope for a more ‘casual’ expansion in the future, one that’s easier to travel across. Perhaps the Crystal Desert will offer just that – we can hope . . . It would be nice to see more co-op type objectices in MMORPGS.

Thanks for your replies and offers to accompany us in times of need!
I will look for you next time I’m in the game…. !
We are on the Aurora Glade server and we live in Sweden GMT +1 h.

Thanks for the extremely valuable tips about the ranger (my main is a mesmer – Kailash – (exalted berserker gear and weapons, sigils, runes, trinkets etc.)

I do have an 80 lvl ranger in my closet … time to let her out. lol

I do see all your points when it comes to a choice in difficult mode. I too like the challenge and that hardship is progressive in the game.
What I meant with overload is that at times it is just too many mobs, bosses, and AoEs to handle solo-2ppl. Thanks for offering assistance!

I sincerely hope that this game never becomes like WOW, as it turned out after the 5th extension, I think this is when the first crew of Devs left since artistic freedom was restrained and some Devs started Arena and GW2, (as far as I know). We played WOW for approx. 5 years, but got wary of changes in ppl’s attitudes, overall rudeness, and all the bells and whistles together with the heavy influence of freemasonry signs everywhere.

Also, my definition of us as casual players are more about our game skills just like Tom described it rather than time spent in the game.

Your replies inspired me to start working on my ranger. Thanks!

Khandro.8439:

Thanks for your replies and offers to accompany us in times of need!
I will look for you next time I’m in the game…. !
We are on the Aurora Glade server and we live in Sweden GMT +1 h.

Thanks for the extremely valuable tips about the ranger (my main is a mesmer – Kailash – (exalted berserker gear and weapons, sigils, runes, trinkets etc.)

I do have an 80 lvl ranger in my closet … time to let her out. lol

I do see all your points when it comes to a choice in difficult mode. I too like the challenge and that hardship is progressive in the game.
What I meant with overload is that at times it is just too many mobs, bosses, and AoEs to handle solo-2ppl. Thanks for offering assistance!

I sincerely hope that this game never becomes like WOW, as it turned out after the 5th extension, I think this is when the first crew of Devs left since artistic freedom was restrained and some Devs started Arena and GW2, (as far as I know). We played WOW for approx. 5 years, but got wary of changes in ppl’s attitudes, overall rudeness, and all the bells and whistles together with the heavy influence of freemasonry signs everywhere.

Also, my definition of us as casual players are more about our game skills just like Tom described it rather than time spent in the game.

Your replies inspired me to start working on my ranger. Thanks!

I just want to say to try to get ascended trinkets and weapons. It should add like an extra 12.5% increase in dmg. Tom is right; Anet have rebalance the game around the upper builds in this game. Unfortunately, Anet have disparity between people who play often and people who do not.

Hi Khandro,

Imo, the mesmer requires a higher level of attention and faster reaction time to play effectively. If you’re main problem is with enemy density, I recommend a necro with a minion master build.

Since you have a go to partner, I would also recommend learning each other’s classes and developing tactics that take advantage of combo fields and shared buffs. The ranger or ranged attacks may not be the best option if your husband is a melee class, since you will be too far apart to buff each other.

Another old, casual, but not quite retired person here.
Never stepped into a GW2 raid, and do not ever intend to.
I like to believe that most “casuals”, enjoy the game as much
(or more) than any “elite” player. But have more out of game
focus.

So mesmer for newer game areas… Look up meta battle for your
class, glance through PVE oriented builds, use that as a starting
point. Change it up for more fun. Use the group tool to “join”
with groups that help you achieve whatever your personal
goal is. Some of this is on a time sequence, so you may also
need to try and “join” at an appropriate time (there are tools
online to help with that).

It is worth getting the chronomancer unlocked. Very nice for
informal grouping (e.g., just wandering around new areas and
helping people out at random).

Unlocking an elite will take some time, look at acquiring the
easier to unlock ascended items, and perhaps weapons.

The chronomancer shield is great! Look up a guide (dulfy),
and gradually work towards unlocking it.

Zedek.8932:

The only thing I hate is the fact I have to get a group for the personal story in Orr. Since I can not and do not wish to play with total strangers (extremely bad experiences that really ruined my faith in gamers) I have no idea what happened except for some bits and conclusions I can make out when starting HoT. Suddenly, there are new characters, suddenly a fleet has crashed etc.

Yeah, for the most part they thankfully learned their lesson after Orr. There aren’t many points along the story path that require more than yourself after that. And the dungeons I recall in the Living Story (like from Flame & Frost) weren’t very long. (And, frankly, didn’t contribute all that much to the story in any event – just the climactic fight scene.)

To Khandro -

My partner and I share your gaming preferences. I had to recruit various RP friends to help her and I through each step of the HoT storylines. Even as a team (Ranger and Elementalist), we couldn’t do it alone. The Maguuma Jungle creatures have too many two-shot kill attacks, not to mention the various instant-death attacks (most associated with knock-downs followed by attacks while you’re down).

Without friends and powerful weaponry (to which your wearables contribute more than the weapon itself), the only way is to adopt the console-gaming attitude of “die a hundred times to learn the trick of defeat this enemy.”

I consider the whole game design philosophy of “a hundred deaths” to be silly, lazy game design. Subteens and teens enjoy it, because their fragile egos need the pleasure of insider-knowledge, and that need sustains them through the hundred deaths. Adults have less patience for such foolishness.

I would offer more help, since we greatly enjoy gaming at a less frantic pace than most GW2ers. Unfortunately, we are in US Mountain Time zone (UTC-7), exactly 1/3rd of the world away. The chances of teaming up regularly for a foursome seems hopeless.

Personally i am fed up with the absolute ridiculous amount of CC that is happening in the new map. You can’t do a step without getting frozen, stuck, slowed down, knocked down or knocked back with a range of over 10 million at the very least. The mobs in that new map hit you with ice even if u are in LA…LITERALLY.

I honestly don’t know what sane person who pretends to be gamer and works as a developer/project manager, actually thinks “omg this is so fun they will thank us so much for this, let’s just TRIPLE IT!”..you have to be a masochist to think that.

Rebound.3409:

Personally i am fed up with the absolute ridiculous amount of CC that is happening in the new map. You can’t do a step without getting frozen, stuck, slowed down, knocked down or knocked back with a range of over 10 million at the very least. The mobs in that new map hit you with ice even if u are in LA…LITERALLY.

I honestly don’t know what sane person who pretends to be gamer and works as a developer/project manager, actually thinks “omg this is so fun they will thank us so much for this, let’s just TRIPLE IT!”..you have to be a masochist to think that.

which class do you play?

I played mesmer, ele, and guard. The only one I have issue with is my ele.

Hello,i am casual as well,i used to play GW2 a lot but now i have a job and it’s not that i don’t have time to play it,but my mind is filled with real life stuff,worries and other things and i am not in the mood to play . When HoT was released i used to die so much but you know what,i love it,i love to have a challenge to be able to overcome obstacles.Almost every stuff in Core game is too easy…even group content.
I am a casual but i wish they would make the game harder not easier.

Zedek.8932:

Do not come up with “This is an MMORPG”, yes, but in the end I have yet to find bearable people that are more than the typical “lolwtfroflcopters” folks that go rage mode when you want to talk a bit ’bout politics or economy.

Well there is your problem. “Never discuss politics or religion in polite company.”

If you started talking politics in my group, I’d probably just turn off the chat.

As a casual player myself I can totally sympathize. The monsters in the new zones are too hard to avoid and deal too much damage for casual players/explorers to deal with, IMO.

But what is interesting is that my Warrior, Necro and Ranger can survive these areas just fine (meaning explore without dying), with zerker gear, while my Thief, Guardian and Elementalist, if similarly geared, will struggle – apparently because of their low health pool. What I’m saying is that I don’t feel lower health professions should feel that they need to change their stats (adding more toughness and vitality), when the other classes don’t have to. And Yes, know you don’t HAVE to change your stats, and many of you good players can solo most of this stuff with any profession in any gear. But us casual players can’t. It shouldn’t be that you miss one dodge and you die, IMHO.

But I also know this is the constant struggle of any MMO. Straddling that line between those veteran players who want a good challenge (which they find fun), and those casual players who just want to explore, admire the scenery, and have a good time.

Do not mean to be mean. ;-)

But by reading your topic – several characters, character like family member. You are not casual, you are just not a skilled player. Not the same.

I´m not the most skilled player either (although with my game time spent in the game and having just one character I really play with I´m actually a casual), albeit I can do the basic PvE (story, world maps, did some dungeons in past) and sometimes somehow I even defeat someone in PvP.

Difficulty modes… I have mixed feelings about this. Maybe for a personal story…

BTW I say no to any global change to open zone difficulty (world zones), for the sake of everything in this cosmos and beyond, not another easy zone smash through boring dumb game like WoW… I left if for a reason.

Balanced player here (dont like the word casual, its too generic).
The compromize is the content must be Balanced in difficulty, and have a base of solo/little group content. Hot was (and is) too much big timed events that lock of entire areas. Hot maps are too big, with the same population cap as vanilla maps, so many events are not done all the time. It felt forced running in circles for me, more stressful, no relaxing exploration/adventure. Ls 3 on the other hand (certainly the second map, ember bay) returns more to the event map structure of the vanilla maps, with enhanced parts which make use of the new possibilities (masteries). The difficulty is more balanced, there is solo/little group content again and the maps have more freedom. This is my opinion and experience at least. I like them much more then the Hot maps. 40 year old btw, so somewhat older player :-)

I am a casual player and, though I dont care for the HOT maps, it isnt because of mob design or density. Those are fine in my opinion. I prefer the new Bitterfrost map, but would have liked to see the mobs be more in line with what we saw in HOT.

Thank you for all replies and comments!
We have relocated irl and I have not been able to monitor this thread until now.

comments: Well, ‘casual’ might be a somewhat wrong word. ‘Not a skilled player’ is more accurate and that’s the problem. I’m working on it, lol.

We usually try to team our chars to complement each others strategies.
I had an old sleepy necro and a 50 lvl ranger in my army, so I am working on them atm.
Practice makes perfect…

We have just now joined a very nice guild with members around same age and pace. Unfortunately, it turns out most members live in Australia.
We are in Sweden, on Aurora Glade Server, so the timing is a bit difficult.

I love this game and want to get better at it, I’ll take all of your suggestions to heart. Hopefully, we can find a ‘senior-oriented’ guild in our ‘hood’.

Happy New Gaming Year!

Thanks again for taking the time to read and answer.

Khandro.8439:

Thank you for all replies and comments!
We have relocated irl and I have not been able to monitor this thread until now.

comments: Well, ‘casual’ might be a somewhat wrong word. ‘Not a skilled player’ is more accurate and that’s the problem. I’m working on it, lol.

We usually try to team our chars to complement each others strategies.
I had an old sleepy necro and a 50 lvl ranger in my army, so I am working on them atm.
Practice makes perfect…

We have just now joined a very nice guild with members around same age and pace. Unfortunately, it turns out most members live in Australia.
We are in Sweden, on Aurora Glade Server, so the timing is a bit difficult.

I love this game and want to get better at it, I’ll take all of your suggestions to heart. Hopefully, we can find a ‘senior-oriented’ guild in our ‘hood’.

Happy New Gaming Year!

Thanks again for taking the time to read and answer.

Actually most guild members are in the US I’m pretty sure. You just talk to the Aussies more. lol

The thing about Servers and Guilds are, everything is merged. In my guild, we are all over the world. Granted, we are a small family style guild, and play together when we overlap time. It can be hard to find a bunch of people that play in your time frame, unless you play the same times every day.

The best advice anyone can give would be to join people that you enjoy having around and by your side while you explore Tyria. This alone will change your gaming experience.

I think that what you are talking about is not so much about hardcore vs casual. When it’s about HoT is more about solo (or 2) vs group play. HoT is all build upon content that you are supposed to do with a lot of people. Massive events. For people who play an MMO solo (or with 2 people) that is not optimal.

We only did get one new dungeon since release that is indeed a harder one, but also a really good one. The dungeons before where just a little too easy. There should be a good mix. Raids are the only real new content for hardcore players. But it is good to have content like that as well. Fractals is probably more about numbers (gear-grind) then difficulty.

voltaicbore.8012:

That being said, I always wonder if OP and other casual players have offered serious thought to whether or not they would even enjoy being in an environment like the HoT maps.

Ah, but that’s the point – apparently lot of players don’t enjoy it. And since those maps are 100% of the HoT open world content, that’s a big problem. If there were 2 “HoT-like” and 3-4 “core-like” maps in the expansion, we’d be having a different conversation now.

I’m pretty sure that is exactly why Anet is so slow at killing multiloot (even when they were really fast nerfing all previous farmfests of similar quality). Wihout it their precious “metrics” for HoT would likely go way down.

if you ever need help or some traveling companions, let me know. both me and many in my guild are casuals and like to take it slow. feel free to hit me up in game any time.

voltaicbore.8012:

The utterly forgiving nature of open-world core Tyria content, I think, has attracted/kept a new level of “casual” compared to most gaming environments. Which is a good thing! I think that mindset has led to the creation of one of the most unique game worlds I’ve ever seen, and I’d be sad to see it change.

That being said, I always wonder if OP and other casual players have offered serious thought to whether or not they would even enjoy being in an environment like the HoT maps. They certainly don’t have the expansive feeling of most core Tyria maps, and they are meant to be extremely hazardous war zones that have decimated the Pact. HoT maps very much belong to the jungle, not to the silly Tyrians who decided to set foot in it to challenge the natives.

As for the parts of the personal story and HoT story set in challenging environments, I really have little to say other than I’d be happy to run content with you if we’re ever on at the same time.

I think the OP and their husband’s issues are similar to my own: we’re here for the story and exploration, with gameplay being secondary.

When it’s too much of a pain to keep slogging through the undergrowth just to get to the next bit of dialog and uncover a bit more of what has been going on (especially after missing out on lots of LS1), it becomes harder and harder to simply care to play.

Grinding out Verdant Brink so I could complete at least a single map was an utter chore that required following groups around just to complete the Hero Challenges, and at times entire areas were rendered inaccessible because I had the poor luck of jumping into a map during the majority of the combat.

For someone who spent hundreds of hours playing a single character with the desire of seeing every bit of what happened to Tyria since Prophecies and learning the story it’s kind of a huge slap in the face when the developers quietly say “git gud or go home.”

If I wanted that kind of gameplay, I’d go back to the Souls series.