Guild Wars 2

Xae Isareth.1364:

The problem is that a casual MMO just doesn’t really happen. Loot is a huge factor in MMOs no matter what form it comes in, and people want loot fast.

There’s only 24 hours in a day and people want the most out of it. As exciting as any content gets, it gets repetitive after a while and after that point, people just want to run it as fast as they can and grab the loot. No, its not really fun, but MMOs have never been purely about fun in the first place.

For me casual is more of a stylistic choice in how I approach the game. I actually spend a lot of time gaming, due to medical problems that keep me at home all day. What I lament is the shift from a community that shared my approach to one that drives for loot. At release, there was a definate split, with the casuals banding together and constantly reminding the others that this was OUR game. Anet had said so. Go read the manifesto, or the ‘whole game is endgame’ dev blog. The conversations in LA frequently featured masses of us casuals defending the game against people who complained about there being no progression.

That ended in a single patch about two months after release, and the balance shifted decisively to the other side. I haven’t been able to find a community in this game that I ‘mesh’ with since. As a result, I kind of poke around, level alts, explore zones from time to time. After an hour or so I go back to EVE, or Fallout, or Skyrim, or Borderlands, or even Bastion and FTL. Without the social aspect, GW2 isn’t deep enough to be more then an occasional distraction.

^ the problem really is how the mass market thinks. MMO has long become much more of a game, unto the verge of being a second life for a lot of people. And because of that, people consider the efficiencies of this and that and want to progress. Thus you got the attitude we got now.

Anet tried to make this casual game about doing whatever you want but frankly, the mass market didn’t like it. With a dev team of that size and probably pressure from NCSoft, they can’t just settle for a niche MMO appealing to a small market.

At the same time, they experimented with a lot of new concepts which were never tried before. Unsurprisingly, they screwed a lot of stuff up and a lot of things just didn’t work as they wanted them to. E.g normal MMO can work of the decade of the trinity concept which has be tried, tested, and developed, but GW2 had to start from square 1.

So basically they ended up with a game which is very enjoyable and refreshing, with a whole load of flaws but also amazing potential they have to try and build from.

But as for the kind of MMO you want to see, it’s just not going to happen on a large scale because the market doesn’t want it after being conditioned by a decade of the otherwise.

strifer.7986:

Gizmo.9178:

Rhyse.8179:

I miss having faith in the developer.

not much else to say.

+1

but wait we " on forum" are the minimal part…

Guild Wars 2 Oath compilation
http://youtu.be/v6sInYBCDjA

At 0:42 in that video:

“And I turn my back forever on grinding, which is artificially lengthening gameplay…”

Well that guy had best keep on turning, because that’s all this game has become…

I remember watching the pre-release commentaries and being so hyped for this game….Sigh.

wafflepacman.9817:

strifer.7986:

Gizmo.9178:

Rhyse.8179:

I miss having faith in the developer.

not much else to say.

+1

but wait we " on forum" are the minimal part…

Guild Wars 2 Oath compilation
http://youtu.be/v6sInYBCDjA

At 0:42 in that video:

“And I turn my back forever on grinding, which is artificially lengthening gameplay…”

Well that guy had best keep on turning, because that’s all this game has become…

I remember watching the pre-release commentaries and being so hyped for this game….Sigh.

I think GW2 was doing well for a while, but then Living World kicked in, fixing old stuff was out of the door, they had to make new cool stuff (hardcore players didn’t care about = less people recommending the game). Fixing dungeons out the door, has to relate to story somehow. Balancing PvE out the door, has to relate to PvP and WvW. Then it became impossible to fix.. We just get some casual PvE content to do every 2 weeks or a new cool event that’s too hard to organize if you don’t have enough people in your guild/friends list. There is no middle ground anymore.

It’s either casual, or can’t organize with a guild (open world with overflows). We said that, but the team that made it moved on to the next patch. Feedback does nothing, they need to fix this huge error in their company structure or this game will die off.

My characters’ running animation.

I miss the hunger royale and corruption event from the beta weekends.
And also seeing people in the world other than farming the same champs over and over in Queensdale.

What I miss in the game isn’t anything really specific, beyond the feel of the game when it was first released. There was this buzz among the players and everyone was out and about doing what they needed to do to progress further, random pugs just helping each other out, etc.

This is what this game has been missing as more characters get to 80 and the game fractures even more. There’s less excitement, less buzz about the game or a particular facet of it. Personally it’s just something I miss.

I miss the experience I had in the last couple of hours of the first Beta Weekend Event. people were clustering in Wayfarer Foothills for the end-of-weekend event, and chat was absolutely full of players talking about what a great game GW2 was, how thankful they were to ANet for making it, and how they couldn’t wait for BWE2. I hadn’t experienced a gaming community with so much positivity before, and haven’t since.

I do miss seeing people running around in every maps, but aside from this, I don’t think the game changed that much. About grind, only 2 kinds of items require grind, Legendary which are only convenience item (absolutely no vertical progression) and ascended are almost useless, it’s only for those people who need something to do ( a carrot on a stick ) without feeling like the grind they are going to put is useless. Same goes for the +stats +5 AR infusion it won’t give the person advantages.

However, the living story is getting bad… I really hope they are preparing an expansion because if this is ALL Anet has to offer for content there’s something wrong. We barely get new skins, class balance are made by people who probably never played gw2, content is not only temporary but also short, most people finish the meta in 2 hours.

Also I’m glad they are trying to make GW2 PvP become a eSport ( I think it’s got nice potential ) but Dungeons are ignored by Anet, they don’t fix what’s needed to be fixed and fix things that shouldn’t. Look at the Dredge fractal, instead of reducing the spawn or trying to make the first part work, they made it so that people can’t die on button anymore. If people were dying on button it wasn’t because they were lazy, it’s because it’s a pain to do otherwise.

I miss feeling the adventure, the expansive world, the joy of exploring the expansive world, the joy of the adventure o.O

Now it’s just go to WvW, do a couple dungeons, finish daily and log out.

D/D ele

/15chars

freedom…

Morrigan.2809:

freedom…

Can’t really blame a game for real life choices now can you.

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

freedom…

Can’t really blame a game for real life choices now can you.

not sure how you got from here to there so let me elaborate a bit.

When the game launched there was a lot more freedom of play than there is now- you could run around and just be silly, you could wear whatever gear you wished and no one told you class xyz are useless because they are not warriors.

We did not have check lists and achievement grind- max stat gear was easy to get and then you could concentrate on having fun or running around naked in circles if that was what you wanted.

In dungeons everyone watched the cut scenes and speed runs didn’t exist yet.
Also people thought you had to be level 30-35 to do a dungeon not level 80
We had dance parties in La before patch went live because we were so excited.

now you can very well say that you can still have all that- and you can and I do.
the thing is that was the norm back then and now I have to ignore large parts of the game and the community to have the same.

So yes, I miss freedom and it has nothing to do with real life.

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

freedom…

Can’t really blame a game for real life choices now can you.

not sure how you got from here to there so let me elaborate a bit.

When the game launched there was a lot more freedom of play than there is now- you could run around and just be silly, you could wear whatever gear you wished and no one told you class xyz are useless because they are not warriors.

We did not have check lists and achievement grind- max stat gear was easy to get and then you could concentrate on having fun or running around naked in circles if that was what you wanted.

In dungeons everyone watched the cut scenes and speed runs didn’t exist yet.
Also people thought you had to be level 30-35 to do a dungeon not level 80
We had dance parties in La before patch went live because we were so excited.

now you can very well say that you can still have all that- and you can and I do.
the thing is that was the norm back then and now I have to ignore large parts of the game and the community to have the same.

So yes, I miss freedom and it has nothing to do with real life.

Ah, sounded like you had wound up in jail. Thanks for the clarification.

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

freedom…

Can’t really blame a game for real life choices now can you.

not sure how you got from here to there so let me elaborate a bit.

When the game launched there was a lot more freedom of play than there is now- you could run around and just be silly, you could wear whatever gear you wished and no one told you class xyz are useless because they are not warriors.

We did not have check lists and achievement grind- max stat gear was easy to get and then you could concentrate on having fun or running around naked in circles if that was what you wanted.

In dungeons everyone watched the cut scenes and speed runs didn’t exist yet.
Also people thought you had to be level 30-35 to do a dungeon not level 80
We had dance parties in La before patch went live because we were so excited.

now you can very well say that you can still have all that- and you can and I do.
the thing is that was the norm back then and now I have to ignore large parts of the game and the community to have the same.

So yes, I miss freedom and it has nothing to do with real life.

Ah, sounded like you had wound up in jail. Thanks for the clarification.

mwhahahaa ;D that made my day!

I miss Cantha….

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

freedom…

Can’t really blame a game for real life choices now can you.

not sure how you got from here to there so let me elaborate a bit.

When the game launched there was a lot more freedom of play than there is now- you could run around and just be silly, you could wear whatever gear you wished and no one told you class xyz are useless because they are not warriors.

We did not have check lists and achievement grind- max stat gear was easy to get and then you could concentrate on having fun or running around naked in circles if that was what you wanted.

In dungeons everyone watched the cut scenes and speed runs didn’t exist yet.
Also people thought you had to be level 30-35 to do a dungeon not level 80
We had dance parties in La before patch went live because we were so excited.

now you can very well say that you can still have all that- and you can and I do.
the thing is that was the norm back then and now I have to ignore large parts of the game and the community to have the same.

So yes, I miss freedom and it has nothing to do with real life.

Ah, sounded like you had wound up in jail. Thanks for the clarification.

mwhahahaa ;D that made my day!

Merry Christmas

Ranger pets that remember their names! Great disapointment from release… Minor detail but so annoying!

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

freedom…

Can’t really blame a game for real life choices now can you.

not sure how you got from here to there so let me elaborate a bit.

When the game launched there was a lot more freedom of play than there is now- you could run around and just be silly, you could wear whatever gear you wished and no one told you class xyz are useless because they are not warriors.

We did not have check lists and achievement grind- max stat gear was easy to get and then you could concentrate on having fun or running around naked in circles if that was what you wanted.

In dungeons everyone watched the cut scenes and speed runs didn’t exist yet.
Also people thought you had to be level 30-35 to do a dungeon not level 80
We had dance parties in La before patch went live because we were so excited.

now you can very well say that you can still have all that- and you can and I do.
the thing is that was the norm back then and now I have to ignore large parts of the game and the community to have the same.

So yes, I miss freedom and it has nothing to do with real life.

Yeah, I miss being able to watch the cutscenes without getting kicked. I still have a quite a few dungeons to which I have never seen any cutscenes for.

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Walking into a zone I don’t know yet, exploring new territory…

A consequence of playing a game too long is having completed all content. Join the club.

Adrenaline.2854:

I miss feeling the adventure, the expansive world, the joy of exploring the expansive world, the joy of the adventure o.O

Now it’s just go to WvW, do a couple dungeons, finish daily and log out.

Yep. Sums at all up. Most zones feel dead now. The world feels like filler content. Only thing I still do is WvW and SPvP and talking with my guild… that’s it.

All is vain.

i miss a game without stupid boring story temporary disposable content.
i miss a game with challenging dungeons and fun bosses.
i miss a game where i can get a legendary or ascended gear for doing something legendary like lupi solo instead of doing afk 1111111111111111111 temple events:

“What World boss you guys always try to farm?”

“Isaiah: Mark Golem – I can do it while I do auction house. I find a spot where I can get a little hits and do auctions at the same time”
http://dulfy.net/2013/12/17/gw2-developer-livestream-notes2013-retrospective-part-two/

i miss devs who fix bugs in their game like lupi skip exploits and killing bosses from under water.
i miss devs who listen to the community.

p.s.: and i miss a support that doesnt answer “post this information on forums so devs will see it” when i added 90 screenshots of arah exploits to the support ticket.

Julie Yann.5379:

I miss easy to obtain, non time gated, BIS gear.

This. I honestly think they could have stopped with ascended weapons. It is enough.

If the reason behind ascended gear is to bridge the time gap between ascended and legendary(and this assumes that everyone is going after a legendary which isnt true), and the only legendary slot is weapons…then adding ascended armor does not fit this logic at all.

I think ascended weapons is more than enough of a gold sink, time sink, etc.
Ascended armor is just a VP ploy to get people to continue reaching for something, rather than playing a VIDEO GAME for enjoyment.

If you cannot keep people playing your video game for enjoyment without adding a carrot on a stick, however small of a carrot, then thats a fault with development. That your game simply is not fun. Adding stat increases to that fact won’t fix it. Make the game fun.

I personally enjoy the game, and did not need any stat increase.

Rhyse.8179:

I miss having faith in the developer.

I just want to mention that, after the thread existing for 2 days, this is my all time highest rated post. Been posting since release.

I’m sure that means something or other. Maybe.

DirectX 11 and better multi threading.
Guild Halls(Housing)

Rhyse.8179:

daimasei.4091:

Yikes! You just described me and my feelings perfectly (except I bought my computer in April prior GW2 release).

I’m certainly not an exception. I’ve been playing single-player games more then ever (Fallout:NV and it’s major mod communities have been getting quite a workout from me lately). I still play EVE, although a bit half-heartedly. Seeing developers constantly turn away from themselves (and, in turn, the comunities they’ve gathered based on that identity) has taken away my ability to feel invested in anything online.

Make no mistake, this loss of faith is about communities and not players. Back at release, I almost immediately found a guild that suited my playstyle perfectly- casual people that like to expore, hang out and do random things for no particular reason (party at the LA fountain!), and just go out and have fun with the game. So what if it takes 2 hours to run AC path 2? We had a good time doing it. GW2 was designed for people like us, and we knew it. Then Ascended gear happened, and everyone knew that Anet had given in after only 3 months. My guild became a ghost town over the course of a single weekend. Now, I can’t find a guild I like at all- either they are highly focused on only one specific gameplay aspect, or just don’t do anything with each other. The ‘come hang out and have fun’ attitude is gone. The shape of the entire GW2 community was forever changed. Without that kind of stability, no online game feels like something I’m willing to sink time and money into anymore.

What server are you on? My guild still does all those casual things you described. I can send you an invite, if you happen to be on Dragonbrand.

The feeling that the game may get better with time.