(This is not a rant)
I have friends who used to play GW2 and quit a while ago, and they didn’t show the same level of interest when we played other games (MMOs, our last one was WoW before GW2), and although I still keep playing occasionally, they don’t even log in anymore.
I think this is an issue and I’d like to start this thread and maybe give the developers some ideas on how to reach the same level of enjoyment I/we had from other games.
I don’t know how “healthy” the game is so I’m not saying the game is dying, and since I like the game I’d also like my friends (and myself) to have a higher interest when playing it. When I asked all of them, they all said something along the lines of “I dunno, the game is missing something” but they couldn’t said exactly what. I’m going to post some ideas on what it could be.
So let me start saying that the game is really good in some aspects, like the awesome graphics and the great combat mechanics, but it falls short in some others, mostly content/design.
Story
Take this as a constructive criticism, but the story sucks. Not the world, not the setting, but the personal story and how it is told. It feels uninspiring, boring and simply cheap at times.
Also having it spaced between levels meaning you’re supposed to complete do a story mission, then complete a map, then story, then map, is kinda annoying because of the running back and forth and because sometimes you don’t want to do something else.
This is something a friend of mine complained “I want to finish my story but I can’t because now it’s 4 levels above me”.
Having a better personal story and allowing players to play it on their current level would please these players who aren’t interested in running around the world but want to learn about the world/their history. (The friend I mentioned cares more about history, and he’s new to GW so he was probably looking only for the story to see if it interests him as much as the WoW Lore he loves talking so much)
Lasting Content
The world of WoW is always growing. I also don’t really like Raids because of the idea of keeping farming it over and over again (and I was a hardcore raider during WoW BC/WotLK) and how they “reseted” items each patch/expansion.
But still, each new patch had new stuff to do, so there were always something new to experience, and even if you’re not a hardcore raider or you’re just playing casually, you could always do the older (and easier) raids to enjoy the content.
GW2 has the Living Story, which I found a pain to keep tracking, and mostly annoying because I missed a chapter here and there and then became totally uninterested in continuing it.
When I called my friends to participate in these events, they were too bothered with their map completion or personal story to start a new story on something else completely unrelated to what they know. And when they’re not, when they finally reach their 80, the content is already gone.
More lasting content would probably be better for the world and the players. If it’s fun, even new players can enjoy it at some point.
Character Uniqueness and Fun Items
When playing a character the player (most imo) grows attached to it. They want their character to feel unique and only, special to them. They’re investing hours on creating and playing that character, so that’s natural.
In WoW you have specific Talent Trees that you name your character class: “I’m a Destruction Warlock” or “I’m an Affliction Warlock”.
GW2 have Traits and Skills, but these don’t even compare in making an character unique. Weapons is what does the most difference, but with only 5 skills it’s really limited (not a bad thing, Monster Hunter is the same and is great as well).
I don’t walk around thinking “Oh I’m an awesome Fire Elementalist”, although that might be the point of the professions (not having a specialization that defines your whole character).
Something else that I think that falls into this is the items and unique stuff. Most of my friends complained about not having mounts, and they say how “unique” they are with their rare mounts in WoW. Or their rare gear, visually distinguished. You can have your character in a stunning gear, but no one knows how hard it is to get (you can’t see the stats, but you can know where the skin comes from at least).
Having an Inspect and showing off is probably what players want when they want to feel “good” with their character and showing all their accomplishments with it.
(edited by Danicco.3568)