Guild Wars 2

The threads like this one, specifically the OP…not the people refuting the OP…and there are several threads complaining(sigh)…just show me how much the people who are complaining DON’T know about this game.

eye floater.7140:

So now a new player can join the game, use this boost and get instantly to level 80.
On top of that, it also gives you a complete set of soldiers armor, weapons, trinkets, food items, utility items, and unlocks certain waypoints in every level 80 map?
This is just… what?!
Don’t get me wrong, I like the new shared slot, but what’s the point of even playing the game if you’re instantly given everything you need? Doesn’t that just inherently defeat the purpose of playing the maps and lower-level content?

Is Anet that desperate for new players? Please help me understand, because I’m so lost on this one.

Uh well they explained it pretty kitten clearly. It is not for “new players”. It is for “HOT purchasers”, and they explained the reason was so that those who purchased HOT could experience HOT without having to go through all of vanilla first.

I’m learning to just roll with the stuff that’s being offered to new players. The one thing I can’t understand, though, is how people are agonizing over the “grind” from level 1 to 80. Every character I make, I fly through the levels just through uncovering maps, doing some hearts, personal story, harvesting, crafting, and all the food/nourishment boosts you can add on that give at least 10% bonus experience…EVERYTHING gives you exp in this game! IDK, maybe it’s just that I’m used to LOTRO grinding, which takes days for just one level and makes you want to jump off a cliff once you finally get that next level, but GW2 leveling seems like, just so easy by comparison.

Ryou.2398:

And yet you think its ok to tell people to grow up and be rude about it? Its just his opinion you can enlighten him without being toxic, and by the way you arent helping new players come in by acting that way.

My sincere apologies for possibly offending the delicate emotions that might exist on this forum.

Overall character progress in GW2 is not really about levels. Rather it is mostly about mapping (WPTs, POIs, Skill Challenges, etc), achievements (PS, LS, WvW, PvP, General, etc), and obtaining skins.

This new insta-80 boost just further reinforces that levels are an outdated artifact left over from table top RPGs. One of the main reasons levels existed in table top games was to simplify book-keeping for the players and game referee (DM, GM, etc). However, that’s not an issue for a piece of software running on a computer.

Unfortunately, once levels get baked into a game, it’s hard to undo them. So game designers faced with having to get starting players into new areas intended for experienced characters end up needing work-arounds to quickly or even instantly bypass levels entirely. Factoring in the automatic downscaling that already occurs on various maps in this game, the main thing that levels do in GW2 is to gate some higher level content. However, it’s so easy to rapidly reach level 80 that this gating has been barely been an issue, and with this insta-80 boost, it’s even less of one. It’s a wonder why ANet didn’t come to the realization while designing the game that they could have just removed levels entirely to achieve the same overall effect, with an advantage of also simplifying portions of the code at the same time. It’s too late now, but maybe when they start developing GW3, the remove-levels-entirely-light-bulb might go off.

I realize it may be somewhat hard to convince some players, especially those trained by prior games to eagerly expect level-up dings (much like Pavlov’s dog), that levels are unnecessary, but that’s a different aspect of this issue. Once players try a well-designed game without levels, they’ll probably wonder why all those other games bothered to use them in the first place.

Esquilax.3491:

Eternalight.4708:

It’s a one time luxury item. Enjoy it. We’re lucky to get it.

You are so naive to believe that.

Say what you want. Fact remains. Enjoy.

To be quite honest, the only point in levels in this game was to slow down your ability to get through areas and to satisfy the power mongers that are easily tricked by the idea of increasing static numbers when the only thing that actually matters in effective TTK is percentages regardless of static number output, you scale down when you go back to previous areas in an attempt to control your power level to begin with in contrast to other MMOs.

If they took levels out completely in GW2 the difference would be negligible.

eye floater.7140:

So now a new player can join the game, use this boost and get instantly to level 80.
On top of that, it also gives you a complete set of soldiers armor, weapons, trinkets, food items, utility items, and unlocks certain waypoints in every level 80 map?
This is just… what?!
Don’t get me wrong, I like the new shared slot, but what’s the point of even playing the game if you’re instantly given everything you need? Doesn’t that just inherently defeat the purpose of playing the maps and lower-level content?

Is Anet that desperate for new players? Please help me understand, because I’m so lost on this one.

You need to buy the expansion to get the boost. The expansion is all level 80 content. So they give you a single boost. Other MMOs have done similar things, and GW2 has been giving out XP scrolls as birthday presents since day 1(well day 365 technically).

And world completing is necessary for crafting legendarys(gifts of exploration, and lots of collection items), and still the best way to get Black Lion Keys and Transmutation Charges.

As someone who has already played a Warrior through to end-game I was super excited when I saw this because I’ve always wanted to try a Ranger.

It’s not inherently a bad thing, there are people who get use from this who aren’t just taking an easy way out. I want to experience HoT with a new class and I’ve already put in hard work on other characters, I look at this as just a little present from Arena Net to keep players interested

Cerby.1069:

….or exotic gear…..

They already have been, for ages, via login rewards. Both in the form of a monthly chest, and from the laurel fendor

It punishes the players that want to go through the gw2 experience….for sure. Especially since they know they could just click a button and activate god mode and just run through everything faster and more efficiently with 0 effort.

No it doesn’t. It’s a single level 80 character. You can choose to do that on any subsequent character. You can choose not to use the item in the first place. You can choose to create a character solely for the purpose of deleting after using the item.

Nobody is forcing you to use it.

I’m stoked about this, because I have 7 level 80 toons and now my late-comer friends don’t have to worry about catching up to me. It’s fantastic.

And let’s be real here. It been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time since being level capped has been a sign of prestige… in ANY MMO.

Cerby.1069:

Honestly I think the game is only hurting itself by continuing to add ways to auto level 80. Why? It just makes a HUGE part of the game irrelevant straight off the bat. Any gear not exotic or higher and not lvl 80 is now irrelevant for the purposes of equipping/using. Doing the story or knowing what it is at all is largely irrelevant. Knowing anything about Gw2 is largely irrelevant. Knowing the zones or anything outside of key areas is irrelevant. Exploring the maps…has been irrelevant for a while with the handholding “go this way and explore here next”

Cerby that is why if you are new and reading this, the standard game is still great and you are better off doing all that and learning your character along the way. Now the free 80 and the leveling Tomes, great for Alts!

I think it’s great, new players get to play HoT right away and old players can level up an alt without any hassle.

eye floater.7140:

So now a new player can join the game, use this boost and get instantly to level 80.
On top of that, it also gives you a complete set of soldiers armor, weapons, trinkets, food items, utility items, and unlocks certain waypoints in every level 80 map?
This is just… what?!
Don’t get me wrong, I like the new shared slot, but what’s the point of even playing the game if you’re instantly given everything you need? Doesn’t that just inherently defeat the purpose of playing the maps and lower-level content?

Is Anet that desperate for new players? Please help me understand, because I’m so lost on this one.

Why would you be against people getting a chance to try out a new profession or get into the ‘good stuff’ that people have been playing for years? ANet isn’t offering instant-80 and gear for the account, it’s just for one character.

I do worry that some new players will use the item and go to L80 and miss out on all the exploration (of places, mechanics, builds, etc) that is part of the fun for me when I start a new game. You only get one “first look” after all.

I think it’s a great idea and dovetails with ANet offering the core game for free.

Because the leveling up is the fun part of the game, exploring the world getting map completions etc..

End game is the end.. move on try a new game, i don’t enjoy PvP, WvW, Raids, Dungeons or fractals, the whole aim of the game is leveling up…

eye floater.7140:

So now a new player can join the game, use this boost and get instantly to level 80.
On top of that, it also gives you a complete set of soldiers armor, weapons, trinkets, food items, utility items, and unlocks certain waypoints in every level 80 map?
This is just… what?!
Don’t get me wrong, I like the new shared slot, but what’s the point of even playing the game if you’re instantly given everything you need? Doesn’t that just inherently defeat the purpose of playing the maps and lower-level content?

Is Anet that desperate for new players? Please help me understand, because I’m so lost on this one.

You didnt bother reading about it did you? You probably just saw what it was called and decided to come kitten on the forums.

Now, since I’ve already used mine, lets see if I can remember the different things about it:

• It requires HoT to obtain.
• No length of time was given for obtaining the item (meaning it can be a limited availability item)
• It gives ONE SW waypoint, and 3 waypoints in regions of Orr, one in each map
• what does it matter what kind of gear it gives? downscaling’s going to render it a moot point

As for the rest, I’m going to chalk your points to “I dont understand why anet made this item” and recommend you realize that there ARE veteran/advanced players (which the item is directly targeted towards) who simply use ToKs to skip leveling in the first place to get a character to 80 and usable (for them).

Dante.1508:

Because the leveling up is the fun part of the game, exploring the world getting map completions etc..

End game is the end.. move on try a new game, i don’t enjoy PvP, WvW, Raids, Dungeons or fractals, the whole aim of the game is leveling up…

In that case there are 2 ways you could use this item:

1) Use it on a character who is already level 80/a new character who gets deleted immediately afterwards and treat it as a pack of free items. Then continue playing as normal on your others.

2) Use it on a new or low level character and then continue to explore the world on them, but with the added freedom that you can do any map at any time because you don’t need to worry about being the right level for it. Thanks to down-scaling you can still play in lower level maps, and do everything you could have done if you were at the appropriate level.

I’m taking option 2, I leveled my warrior to 80 using the boost and now he’s exploring Caledon Forest and doing his personal story. But in between I randomly went to Fireheart Rise because I haven’t been there for ages.

Dante.1508:

Because the leveling up is the fun part of the game, exploring the world getting map completions etc..

End game is the end.. move on try a new game, i don’t enjoy PvP, WvW, Raids, Dungeons or fractals, the whole aim of the game is leveling up…

So don’t buy HoT.

Problem solved.

Dante.1508:

Because the leveling up is the fun part of the game, exploring the world getting map completions etc..

Is it actually fun to see a number get incremented? A level is just an abstract concept, and it’s value is supposed to represent some sort of progression for a character. However, it’s outdated and unnecessary. All of the things currently tied to levels can be handled in other ways, without levels (or experience for that matter, since exp is just a sub-unit for levels.)

Meanwhile, map exploration is a separate concept form leveling up. GW2 provides exp for for uncovering map locations, but it wouldn’t need to. If levels were removed entirely, exploration would no longer award exp, and instead mapping locations could earn different forms of rewards (gold, items, mats, skins, ap, effects, etc) for players who completed them.

I don’t see the issue here. The only difference between using this item and the 250+ tomes from my bank is the amount of clicks. Do you not realize that the difference is nothing more than a minor convenience?

Kalendraf.9521:

Dante.1508:

Because the leveling up is the fun part of the game, exploring the world getting map completions etc..

Is it actually fun to see a number get incremented? A level is just an abstract concept, and it’s value is supposed to represent some sort of progression for a character. However, it’s outdated and unnecessary. All of the things currently tied to levels can be handled in other ways, without levels (or experience for that matter, since exp is just a sub-unit for levels.)

Meanwhile, map exploration is a separate concept form leveling up. GW2 provides exp for for uncovering map locations, but it wouldn’t need to. If levels were removed entirely, exploration would no longer award exp, and instead mapping locations could earn different forms of rewards (gold, items, mats, skins, ap, effects, etc) for players who completed them.

For some of us yes it is, and isn’t outdated.

Is it really fun to play the same Fractals everyday?

new player start game boost lvl 80 and go in wvw of pvp. have no idea how to play this game. and he newer go in 1-50 location for questing and looting so we have no materials in traiding post and we have no players who can help us in this game!!! you kill this game with boosters!!!!!!!!!! people dont need it!!!!! old players live game!

Dunno why a new player would immediately buy HoT? and even if they did the vast majority would want to play around a bit before boosting. It also means more people doing metas in the HoT maps which is a good thing.

The 80 boost was clearly designed for the people who where complaining they did not feel buying HoT was value for money. So along with all the other stuff that comes with HoT you can now also boost and character to 80 and get some nice dyes etc. Besides most people i know already have hundreds to tomes stacked up so its not like its a new thing.

And if for some reason there where less materials on the TP that would just mean people would farm them to make the most of the high demand and low supply eventually it would settle down to true value of the item. The boost will have zero effect on the economy .

Isn’t the free 80 “trial” kind of pointless unless you can test out the elite specialization, let alone have ALL weapons available by that class to test?

It just makes no sense to me.

I wanted to test out my Necromancer. I want to test him with a greatsword. I can’t. I want to test him with an axe, my favorite Necro weapon. I can’t (unless I buy one)

So my Thief, I wanted to try Daredevil, I can’t. Fine. Hey lets see what dual pistols damage looks like at 80. I can’t (unless I buy them).

What happened here? Whats the thought process behind this?

I imagine the reasoning behind not giving the elite spec is that it’d be jarring if they gave it to you for the free trial, then took it away from you and made you earn it back again after you finalized the level 80 boost. And since earning your elite spec is a big part of the HoT zones, they certainly aren’t just going to give it to you for free period.

The trial is meant to sell new players on the game. It isn’t meant to give a fully accurate depiction of everything a class can do.

Sell new players? I am sorry but if they are doing the trial that means they BOUGHT THE GAME. Whats to sell??? lol

Fine its jarring for Elite specs. So lets talk about why not all weapons are available then. That I really dont get.

That’s the point. “Buy our game, get free max level character”. It’s meant to sell.

It’s a HoT thing. Buy HoT, get an instant equipped lvl 80 Revenant so you can play the new class on the new maps right away.

The reason is clearly posted on the notes given to us by Mike O’Brien.

“With the Guild Wars franchise, we’ve always tried to get players to the fun quickly. And not just to the fun, but quickly to the new content too, so you can play with your friends. Yet the max-level content in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns and the Living World releases is gated behind all of the base game’s leveling and equipment acquisition. That base game leveling experience is still a lot of fun, but sometimes as a player, you want to see the new stuff now while still playing through the older stuff at your own pace. With this quarterly update, we’re giving all existing and new Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns purchasers a max-level character boost, so you can immediately get one of your characters to the new jungle and Living World content.

This new max-level boost item will be delivered to you in a new, free shared inventory slot, which is yours to keep even after you use the character boost. Another thing I love about this boost item is that you can test it on as many different characters as you want before consuming it. So, if you haven’t already done so, now you can check out how every profession in the game plays at max level!"