Guild Wars 2

More specifically, the reason I would no longer play is because one of my main in game activities is collecting weapons. If I suddenly obtained it all, I wound no longer play because I would have everything.

My account name actually comes from my passion of weapons with particle effects in daoc.

Gw2 has created an environment where I can freely come on and play, and pretty much jump in anything while still working toward my goals, without have to go on 6-8 hour long raids where a weapon I’m looking for might not drop at all, and if it does, I’d have to out roll 70+ other people to get it.

Just recently I have obtained all the materials(well, mb I need a little more ori) needed to make a Vision of the Mist, and I did that my simply going to world events with guaranteed chest, and by consistently venturing through Orr looking for ori nodes.

That’s why I play GW2, and not those other mmo’s.

You should rename this thread “How much of a Skritt are YOU?”.

Myself, I’d probably play the same way I play now. I may even end up playing more dungeons, as I’m sure there would be more people interested in clearing them rather than just finding the quickest route through.

I’d definitely start complaining more about the lack of variety in PvP as it would become more appealing to me.

Archon.6481:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Sorry, but regardless of whether you play mmorpg or any other video game, there is always a goal to reach … or there is no fun or sense of accomplishment. My hubby loves his xbox. He plays all the games he likes to unlock ACHIEVEMENTS. You might play a game for a few hours without some type of reward, but i dont’t think you would play for 500 hours. I love GW2, but part of what i like is having the chance for loot and achievements.

Have you happen to have played any FPS’s before by any chance? I do believe those games have nothing to strive for. I have thousands of hours into TF2 and got nothing for it.

Not sure what FPS you are playing, but if anything shooters have been moving more towards mmorpg’s (Firefall, Destiny). The last 3 or so CoD and BF had plenty of things to unlock, level up, and strive for all the way from accessories for guns to weapon skins. Unlocking an ACOG scope, to me, is comparable to earning loot in an mmorpg.

And that’s a bad thing for some of us old schoolers dcypher.
I preferred knowing that if I got beaten by someone, it was because they were a better player than me, not because they had access to tools that I didn’t.

Then again, I can’t stand the industry’s obsession with contemporary military FPS games.
Give me something with crazy speed and even crazier physics and I’m happy.

It’s been over 13 years and still nothing’s topped Quake 3 for Deathmatch or 1v1 as far as I’m concerned.

I’d probably do much the same as I do now. Map completion, trying out all the different personal story options, Living Story content…

I’d probably have taken time as soon as I got to level 80 (if not before) to get all the skins I’m hoping to have one day. And I wouldn’t do the dungeons as much (because I wouldn’t need the tokens).

But generally, as I’ve said before, I approach this game a lot like a single player RPG – new gear is either something interesting to look at or a tool to help me complete content slightly more easily (or both), it’s never a goal in it’s own right. The goal is to actually play through all the content in the game.

Stone.6751:

This is just hypothetically speaking, so please don’t think I’m trying to advocate for there to be no loot.

What if there was no loot? If you had access to every item available in the game what would you spend your time doing? What content would you choose to do if you weren’t concerned about rewards? How would this change your play style?

I would then know that the end of the world is near,
and I would stop gaming and start going to church.
It’s never too late to be sorry.

Stone.6751:

What if there was no loot? If you had access to every item available in the game what would you spend your time doing? What content would you choose to do if you weren’t concerned about rewards? How would this change your play style?

- Would you play a slot machine if there was no money involved?

Answer: No, you would not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFu5O-oPmU

Take out loot from events and just give a chest after the event is done, bam. No more zerg farming and people have to simply just do dE or quit.

In a way, there is no loot right now. Once you get all exotic armor and weapons, everything else is just cosmetic. We’re all guilty of grinding gold/mats for that next piece of pretty gear with no stat increases.

But yeah, to answer the original question, I’d likely not change my playstyle much. I pretty much just solely run dungeons/fractals right now anyways. I might also start PVPing more.

Wouldn’t play, because everyone will be running around in T3 armor with a Legendary.

I honestly wouldn’t see a major difference I don’t go out of my way for loot that much, What i do spend most of my time doing is just running around doing random stuff be it hearts, helping guildies, puzzles, mini dungeons, WvW, or wherever i might end up. Most days i just run off in a direction doing w/e enjoying my time and only ever stopping if a guildy or someone asks for help. Loot going away would probably kill the game tons of people but to me not so much as i play the game for the experience the world gives me.

Gauntlet was a great example i do that because it’s fun and kept doing it because of that. Liara was actually the first thing in gw2 that i did over and over because i found it to be challenging although I would stop every once in a while as things got annoying. I don’t even collect minis so that mini I got is in my bank and when i do have a mini it comes out to be a cool little guy to travel with.

The balloon and the torch are the only thing in a while i went out of my way to get loot wise. It’s fun exploring the world with a red balloon at your side and caves with a torch well do i need to explain.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Sorry, but regardless of whether you play mmorpg or any other video game, there is always a goal to reach … or there is no fun or sense of accomplishment. My hubby loves his xbox. He plays all the games he likes to unlock ACHIEVEMENTS. You might play a game for a few hours without some type of reward, but i dont’t think you would play for 500 hours. I love GW2, but part of what i like is having the chance for loot and achievements.

What? you or anyone you know has never played a game purely because they just want to have some fun? I have over 1000s hours in demon souls because i like that game and when i go to play it i do it because it’s fun i don’t even really think about it i just play the game(i don’t have even know how many trophies i have for it). Same goes for dark souls, guild wars 2, and many other games out there. I play them because of the enjoyment i receive i don’t go in there looking for a specific task to do because i know i will enjoy my time regardless. I guess fun is my goal but i never really have it in mind and it’s not like without achieves(which i don’t even go for) and loot the game would be boring as those aren’t in my head anyways they are just benefits to the tasks I am already going about completing. In fact if armor/weapons were just available to me and allowed me to select the outfit i most enjoyed i think i would enjoy the game more as i wouldn’t have to jump threw hoops to get the look i enjoy(i really like Arah cloth set have since launch but i don’t enjoy running Arah so i only have 120ish tokens). O well different folks different strokes.

I will always wonder what GW2 would have been like had the developers not compromised on the stupid RNG loot system that has plagued every MMO ever. They successfully broke so many other thoughtless MMO traditions, and the game is better off for it, why did they just leave this one as is?

silvermember.8941:

Take out loot from events and just give a chest after the event is done, bam. No more zerg farming and people have to simply just do dE or quit.

That sounds great on paper but real life so many would quit, servers would end and game would die.

Dante.1508:

That sounds great on paper but real life so many would quit, servers would end and game would die.

- Am I the only one who is deeply worried that ‘getting loot’ is the major reason, or only reason players continue to log in day after day? What happens when you finally get the loot you’re after? Equip the shiny, turn up the graphics and take screenshots. A nice piece of equipment. Two minutes later you get over the amazement and look around for company. The only players left are the farmers. Some log in to do their dailies. Some are grinding living story achievements. Some are going for the latest champ farm. Some are farming WXP by running in trains from tower to tower. The enemies aren’t resisting – they’re playing the same game! You can’t show off your loot in PvP either.

If you’re farming ‘for’ something what is the goal you’re seeing?

This guy is really spot on and it applies to Guild Wars 2 too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0kup_anLeU#t=16m20s

Zenith.6403:

Dante.1508:

That sounds great on paper but real life so many would quit, servers would end and game would die.

- Am I the only one who is deeply worried that ‘getting loot’ is the major reason, or only reason players continue to log in day after day? What happens when you finally get the loot you’re after? Equip the shiny, turn up the graphics and take screenshots. A nice piece of equipment. Two minutes later you get over the amazement and look around for company. The only players left are the farmers. Some log in to do their dailies. Some are grinding living story achievements. Some are going for the latest champ farm. Some are farming WXP by running in trains from tower to tower. The enemies aren’t resisting – they’re playing the same game! You can’t show off your loot in PvP either.

If you’re farming ‘for’ something what is the goal you’re seeing?

I recently obtained my Flameseeker legendary shield and the game has lost a lot of its appeal.

However I log in every day to see all the dirty envious pleebs that dont have my awesome legendary!

If I get bored of sitting in the mystic forge display case naked with my legendary on while the common throngs gawk at me and flush their toilets, I go farm the champs in queensdale and get whispers from the queensdale noobs about how my gear is “kewlbeans”, and presumably how I am also cool by association.

Im getting some good replay value out of this. Legendary is like New Game+

I need my shinies. Basically unless I have a carrot dangled in front of me as an incentive to do something I won’t move my butt.

No loot? Without loot there will be no game I guess.

It’s not like gear is particularly hard to get a hold of (other than legendaries).

I would still have played through for the story (and be disappointed by it) do map completion/JPs/etc, customize my chars appearance, and then WVW further.

Grinding for loot was one of the activities I spent the least time on

bhagwad.4281:

I need my shinies. Basically unless I have a carrot dangled in front of me as an incentive to do something I won’t move my butt.

yep this right here.. and all of my guildies know especially, that if there isn’t something nice dangling from the end of that pole I’m not going to chase it and I’m just going to sit by the bank all day and shoot the kitten… like since they introduced genesis I think I’ve farmed more since that patch than I did the entire other 10 months I’ve played put together (Too lazy to farm for small amounts of gold to go buy things, I like to farm items themselves which they haven’t given us much opportunity for til now)… shiny things that aren’t instantly attainable is what makes me come back… that and my guildies.

i would think about making money for WP

Without loot it would not be an MMO. I found out years ago that the MMO, for me, is the central genre around which I dabble in other gaming genre. I wouldn’t want to lose my center but would be interested in other games that asked the question what if there was no loot.

I’d still play as I am now.

Loot, for me, isn’t a goal.

No difference. I play to mess around, i don’t play for little shiny pixels nor do i play for a sense of achievement, i get that from my union and being an active member of my community.

I do find it interesting that loot is seen as a fundamental aspect of MMOs… It’s not, the fundamental aspect is it being online and involving tons of other players.

I gave up playing for rewards back in the day when games took forever just gain one level. Sure rewards are nice, but I don’t need em. They are just pixels. My reward is making characters and heading out on a journey with them.

That’s the same reason I can play single player rpgs over and over again. It’s all about the journey and a tiny bit of escapism in my mind.

What would I do in GW2 if GW2 had no rewards? Probably the same thing I do now. Not much would change except my time in spvp and wvw. I would probably spend less time in pve which would free up time to experience pve in other MMO’s. Just to see new worlds and stories.

I would be fine with if loot was taken to a certain point – I don’t need a rat I just killed dropping a 7 foot greatsword, for example. The benefits to that would be that the world would feel a bit more “real”, however it would be precarious as something akin to Monster Hunter would need to be implements, where anything a creature does drop is used to create gear – even if it was just aesthetically. This would in turn make a lot of Crafting people happy, as their passion would become a profitable job, to the extent that people would probably supply them with supplies and money to make things. In my mind, it’d be a bit of a win-win.

However, I fully understand some people really love loot – it’s why games like Diablo and Borderlands even exist, and that would ruin the experience for them.

Generally, if I play a game it’s for any number of reasons (story, fast paced action, tactical thinking, social interactions, good music, looks pretty), and removing one thing like loot wouldn’t stop me from playing. I’d be more upset over customization of characters being taken out of a game then I would a loot system to be honest. That being said, I feel it’s poor form for ANY game to suddenly up and change completely, as it upsets the balance of what it is to other games – which is to say that suddenly the game as it’s accustomed to (for good or bad) is suddenly not that game.

sinzer.4018:

No difference. I play to mess around, i don’t play for little shiny pixels nor do i play for a sense of achievement, i get that from my union and being an active member of my community.

I do find it interesting that loot is seen as a fundamental aspect of MMOs… It’s not, the fundamental aspect is it being online and involving tons of other players.

Loot is fundamental for lots of players. Like me. No shiny, no play.

If I had every item in the game, or the ability to get any items I wanted, yes, some of the joy would be taken away from the game for me. Part of what makes games fun is the idea of progression, the idea of slowly working your way towards a material goal. However, I wouldn’t lose all interest in the game.

For me, I bought this game for the combat and for the PvP. Thus, most of my time in the game is spent in sPvP. However, when I do go to PvE, it’s usually to level up my alts, gear them out, and do dungeons with them for fun. I actually really hate farming and having to wait to gear up my characters. And, if the living story is done correctly, I’ll have a lot of content to look forward to every 2 weeks for PvE.

To be honest, I hate ascended gear. I hate it because it takes so long to acquire. I don’t feel accomplished when I spend a month grinding dailies to get enough laurels to buy a single accessory, I feel like I wasted my time. Having the ability to get those items in a single day would make me feel much better. The idea of gearing out 8 alts with full ascended items seems impossible for me right now anyways.

Back on topic, I suppose I’d do what I normally do now: PvP, WvWvW, and do living story updates in PvE when it comes out. The only thing that would change is the tedious grinding for cosmetics, which I would gladly trade for doing things I actually enjoy doing. I play this game for fun, not because I like to be rewarded. People who only play games for the rewards I find a little pathetic, to be honest. If you don’t enjoy playing the game for the gameplay, then why are you even playing at all?