I knew it would. I wrote about the shortcomings of GW2 for a while now, but I still managed to find a reason to log in. I find an excuse to play GW2, never actually feeling the appeal I felt with WoW. But I kept going, until yesterday.
I wanted to play TA exp for that chest piece I’m missing. I started with a group, everything went smooth, as always. No wipes, no downs, awesome. Or is it? I felt the need to get out of there. I just couldn’t force myself play anymore. It’s bloody boring, I asked myself WHY am I doing this? So I apologized to the rest of the party and left.
What shall I do now, obviously I’m bored with the dungeons? Oh yeah, queue for some WvWvW. Anonymous zerg after zerg, no-real-point fighting… Right, let’s try some tPvP…
It took me just minutes to realize I’d best log out because NOTHING really manages to pull me into the game and keep me there. GW2 is just… Vague, bland. Not charismatic. Not managing to immerse me into the game play. I thought how weird that was.
Even now, the morning after, when I think about GW2 I feel no need at all to play the game. So what’s the missing piece? Actually there are several of missing pieces as far as I’m concerned. I’ll point them out one by one:
1) True open world PvP. I really am missing this. That constant feeling of competition, danger lurking out in the virtual world. It’s just awesome even though I can’t exactly put my finger on it, express it in words so that a person who doesn’t like that actually understands. It’s like the biggest thing for me, and WvWvW doesn’t even come close to it. MAYBE if ANet made their whole GW2 world one HUGE WvWvW, and kill the separate WvWvW instance. You know, you quest there, you gather materials there, you have huge fortresses you can cap and opposed factions, either by races or servers. But I do hate separate gear for WvWvW, for tPvP and PvE and separate instances. I wish it was all mixed up in one instance – one game. Lack of true open world PvP is the BIGGEST issue I’m having with GW2;
2) DEs. They are boring. Plain and simple. The lack of any complex, challenging mechanics in GW2 is killing the PvE content.
3) Dungeons. Poor design. Again lack of any deep, complex mechanics. Add the lack of rare drops from mobs/bosses and over-predictable token rewards and… YAWN
4) Shared nodes for everyone. Seriously? Care-bearing the game even further? I can understand what ANet initially wanted to achieve but… Really guys, it’s not working out. Yes, I prefer someone to STEAL my node that for it to be eternally waiting for me to mine it/chop it/harvest it. I want to steal someone’s node and feel “good” about it because hey, nodes are hard to find. Well, not in GW2. Everything is rainbows, hearts and unicorns. I miss the feeling of a “cruel”, unforgiving virtual world I have to SURVIVE in.
5) Community. Someone else said this already, and I agree completely. GW2 feels like a single player, co-op game and I’ve never felt more alone while playing it. Seriously. I don’t know why that is, exactly. No need for grouping? Zergs? Ability to be a member of multiple guilds simultaneously? There just isn’t that bond I found with other players like in WoW. Everything feels not-that-important and relative.
6) Crafting. Don’t get me started. Just boring and pointless.
7) tPvP. Lacks ladders and rankings. Ok I know that’s coming. I miss the DM arenas from WoW, I miss the CTF mode.
8) Skills. Ok having FIVE “main” skills per weapon, with weapon switching is NOT enough. It’s boring, really. I prefer having a plethora of abilities which I’ll be able to combine. If GW1 had only a handful of viable builds, it’s 2012. now! Make GW2 BETTER, make MORE viable builds with a lot of different skills! I don’t care, this really is boring like hell.