Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone,

I am brand new to the Guild Wars scene and am trying to understand how GW2 is intended to develop. I come from WoW and so have a certain perspective/expectation of what an MMO looks like from level 1 through end-game. I have played for 11 or 12 hours so far, reached level 15 and am thoroughly enjoying GW2 thus far but I’m curious what I have to look forward to.

It is clear to me that GW2 is intended to be different, but I would like to hear from those who are still enjoying GW2 after reaching level 80. What maintains your interest, what motivates you to keep playing?

What, if anyone knows, is Anet’s intention with this game? Having a game free to play, in my opinion, really limits the developers’ ability to regularly produce new and exciting material so I wonder how far the game can really go.

tl; dr

You enjoyed the sub-stories and character plots up to level 80, what keeps you / will keep you playing and why?

~Spitwyld

If you really enjoy WvWvW than you’ll enjoy level 80

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

From what you wrote, you are enjoying the game, noticing the small details, and having fun. That is the main point of a game, right?

The PVP, WvWvW and sPVP, along with “dungeons” are what is considered to be the end game currently, as well as working toward legendary gear and crafting.

To know what we have to look forward to, you will have to check in with the developers when they make their blog and press release about what the future content releases will contain and the direction of the game. That should happen within the next few weeks to a month.

Lol yes. What he said, this game tailors to me SO well coz I love crawling around different zones, exploring and taking my time. Instead of punishing u for that this game rewards you for it, I have never understood those who rush to max lvl it is lunacy to me, I guess all they care about is the best gear and being better than most ppl and that kind of player, Id rather not play with.

The biggest problem AND commendation at the same time is how hard it is to settle for a class… lol that alone will keep me entertained for months, maybe years O_O

I can understand why WoW players would find GW2 unappealing without giving it a fair chance but I am doing my best to let go of what I’m accustomed to. I also remember how messy WoW was when it was first released, certainly nowhere near as polished as it looks now. GW2 offers a new perspective, one that I’d like to stick with to see how it plays out. Just curious how others are seeing this game, particularly those who have put a few hundred hours into it already.

Don’t rush to 80. Take your time, and enjoy leveling (yes, you can actually do that in this game!).

Start gathering all materials (mining, logging, foraging) if you haven’t already.

I personally found the dungeons to be too challenging at the suggested levels. I am having plenty of fun going back and doing them now though, and I find them to still be plenty challenging. The dungeons offer a Story Mode that relates to the story as it suggests. The dungeons need to be “farmed” for tokens that you can use to exchange for lvl 80 armor, though I use the term “farm” lightly because Guild Wars2 thought of ways to keep this part of the game fresh too. You can return to dungeons to do Explorable Mode that offers several different pathways/side-stories you can go down. So while you need to keep doing the dungeon for these tokens, you can choose to do different paths/objectives which keeps it exciting and new.

The higher level areas are ONLY dynamic events. This may look good on paper, but it hasn’t really been working out too well, but I have faith that A-Net will come up with a solution. If you want me to get into it, basically these Dynamic Events are chain-events, meaning they start at point A, if you succeed, the event pushes on to point B, if you succeed again, it progresses to point C and stays there until you lose and then restarts to point A. The problem currently, is these Dynamic Events never return to point A because the battles aren’t challenging enough for the number of people there that it is literally impossible to lose. So these events just sit forever at the end of the chain, and it is sad because new players coming into the area never get to see the full progression of the event. There are some other problems too with this system, but A-Net seems to be aware that the end-game areas need to be tweaked a little.

From there you can continue doing things you have already been doing throughout the game: PvP (farming up your rank so you can unlock better appearances for your PvP gear), WvWvW (join a guild and take over a keep and claim it as your own), jumping puzzles, crafting exotic gear, ect.

The wonderful thing about this game is that it will only continue to expand and offer all sorts of new features and content as it grows. We might see more mini-games (Moa racing, mini-pet battles), guilds will probably gain a lot more features, there will probably be more PvP modes (maybe even GvG), and just plain old expansions like any other MMO releases. This is all speculation, but its really exciting to think of areas that the game will expand into.

I still haven’t done CoE storymode (Tried 3 manning it naked since nobody wanted to PuG it and only got maybe 1/2 the dungeon), or Arah storymode. After that I need exotic set or at least yellows. Then run some explorable maybe.

Prolly some WvW in there too.

I bought three games when I bought guild wars 2.

First one is PvE which I play like “Skyrim Online”.I see things on the horizon and I want to go explore.Cool things happen on the way and sometimes I deviate from my path and discover even more cool things.

Second one is spvp.I play it like Team Fortress 2.Go in,pick a class,think of an interesting concept for the class,set traits and the go PEWPEWPEW for about a week forgetting that pve even exists.

Lastly there’s WvW which is my very own mini game I like to call "Shake the hornet’s nest then GTFO.I play a thief loaded with dodge skills.Acrobatics,roll for initiative,shadowstep,and caltrops.I shadowstep inside a huge zerg,drop caltrops,/dance,then use every evasive move I’ve got,just as everyone uses every cooldown they have on me.Good times.

failing on pve front…fun wvw

@Spitwyld
“I can understand why WoW players would find GW2 unappealing without giving it a fair chance but I am doing my best to let go of what I’m accustomed to. I also remember how messy WoW was when it was first released, certainly nowhere near as polished as it looks now. GW2 offers a new perspective, one that I’d like to stick with to see how it plays out. Just curious how others are seeing this game, particularly those who have put a few hundred hours into it already.”

I think you are the most intelligent WoW player to come to these forums. Yes, most of them rushed to lvl 80 and are now finding the game wanting. GW2 is about the ride and a hell of a ride it is, most beautiful game ever made.

Don’t worry about the f2p model and the developers ability to create new content. You said it yourself, you’re new to the GW scene but let me tell you that GW1 followed the same game model and they came out with regular content updates and 2 standalone games(These were Factions and Nightfall btw), that added a totally new continent for each game, plus 2 more classes a whole new story and setting. And last but not least, Eye of the North, which is considered GWs actual “expansion”. Add to that weekly tweaks and events.

ANet knows what they’re doing, regardless of what people say in this forum, they’ll get the game in the right direction.

Spitwyld.1963:

It is clear to me that GW2 is intended to be different, but I would like to hear from those who are still enjoying GW2 after reaching level 80. What maintains your interest, what motivates you to keep playing?

What, if anyone knows, is Anet’s intention with this game? Having a game free to play, in my opinion, really limits the developers’ ability to regularly produce new and exciting material so I wonder how far the game can really go.

For the first point: Gameplay itself motivates me. I inch closer to that 100% map completion while tagging along for dynamic events, running with guildies through dungeons, and playing the market in crafting. When a game’s fun, you don’t need motivators like progression gearing to keep you going; if that were the case, most games wouldn’t exist at all.

For the second point: ArenaNet, and I’m quoting their lead gameplay designer Colin Johanson here, want “to make it so you get more from Gw2 for free than you get from a game you pay a subscription for.”

The reason they can do this is -and brace yourself, because this will be a shock- a sub fee is not necessary in the least to keep an MMO running and develop content for it. World of Warcraft, the MMO giant that pretty much MMO afterward tried to copy, cost $200 million to maintain from 2004 to 2008. This included server upkeep and maintenance, all payroll forall employees working on the game, all development costs for new content, basically everything that went into the game. Seems like a big price tag for Blizzard, until you consider that they made over $440 million from box sales alone during that same period. This means that the $15 a month went to literally nothing but a fat check for shareholders. It was millions in free revenue for Blizzard to add on to their existing 50+% profit from box sales.

So considering all that, it’s all a matter of holding ArenaNet to their word. And I think they’ll deliver; after all, they broke 2 million. They sold so many more units than they thought they would that they had to halt first-party sales – the very sales that are most profitable for them – just to keep the servers stable. So they have more than enough cash in the coffers now to give us lots of great stuff down the line. And considering the game itself launched with hundreds of hours of content, I think everyone with a life outside the game that doesn’t have some masochist desire for a gear treadmill is going to be set for a while.

Map completion, getting better gear, getting a variety of gear skins, finishing my personal story, leveling crafting, working on crafting a legendary, achievements, exploring the environments and finding out lore. And PvP. And then Alts.

What keeps me playing:

-The promise of expansions/content updates (some free, some not)

-Guildies/friends.

-Roleplaying

-Fun and innovative combat

-And finally, to top it all off; No subscription fee. How does one quit a game that he/she owns forever?

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

Pretty much this. People burn themselves out rushing to 80 and than complain because they feel like there is nothing to do. This is an entirely different game than WoW, there is no monthly fee or carrot on a stick approach. There is no “grind for these points to get this gear so I can do this raid and get better gear so I can do harder raids and get even better gear”

Its all about the gameplay at 80, and whether that’s you deciding to go for 100% world completion or jumping into dungeons or WvWvW or doing it all that is up to you. You basically get 100% of the game at the start rather than at the end.

DirtyHoudini.2917:

If you really enjoy WvWvW than you’ll enjoy level 80

That is true if you can actually get in WvWvW without waiting 3+ hours like i do

If you dont rush, and fully play a zone and by fully play a zone I dont mean get 100% map complition but find hidden places, play most of the Dynamic Event (as a chain not running around playing Events at random), talk to all the NPC, learn as much as you can about the lore etc.. It will take ages of game play. I am currently level 80, played 135 hours but am still in my 55 – 65 level zone (nearly done now). So all things being equal it will take me over 550 hours to complete all the zones. Then I can start working on getting legendaries. Storylines also intertwine so I have to do many alts trying to experiance as much as possible and see as many sides of the story as possible. And this is not taking into consideration that new content will be coming out in the mean time. There is a ton to do on the PvE side.

sPvP and WvW will also provide good distractions now and then as well!

Spitwyld.1963:

Having a game free to play, in my opinion, really limits the developers’ ability to regularly produce new and exciting material

Indeed.
Having a monthly fee might be incentive to create time sinks in game (a bad thing) , but having no monthly fee provides little incentive to keep customers’ attention – after all, they already got our money.

A suggestion to get the best of both:
a very low (ie $1) weekly fee to be payed only for weeks that the customer has actually played the game. That should give the devs both the resources and the incentive to improve and expand on the game content.

You enjoyed the sub-stories and character plots up to level 80, what keeps you / will keep you playing and why?

Story and plots not so much, it’s the DEs that kept me playing, and it would keep me playing at lvl80 if there’d be more lvl80 PvE areas. Oh, and they should fix the numerous bugged events in Cursed Shore.

Wasselin.1235:

Map completion, getting better gear, getting a variety of gear skins, finishing my personal story, leveling crafting, working on crafting a legendary, achievements, exploring the environments and finding out lore. And PvP. And then Alts.

At any rate, not PvE/DE’s – much unlike what the game is like at lvl 1 to 79.

Spitwyld.1963:

It is clear to me that GW2 is intended to be different, but I would like to hear from those who are still enjoying GW2 after reaching level 80. What maintains your interest, what motivates you to keep playing?

The moment I hit 80 I feel relieved. For me it meant that I no longer have to care about my level, I’m at the top, from now on I can go anywhere I want without constraints. I like to explore, I like to talk to NPCs, learning about their stories, finding those little gems that the game has to offer.

Spitwyld.1963:

What, if anyone knows, is Anet’s intention with this game? Having a game free to play, in my opinion, really limits the developers’ ability to regularly produce new and exciting material so I wonder how far the game can really go.

They pulled it off once with Guild Wars. I see no reason why Guild Wars 2 would fail to keep the same one time purchase model. This would most likely mean that in about 1 year a major expansion will come out, that you have to buy in order to access it’s content.

Guild wars 1 was a completely different game and business model. It’s not comparable to GW2 which was advertised as a full featured MMO.

Renegadeimp.8439:

Guild wars 1 was a completely different game and business model. It’s not comparable to GW2 which was advertised as a full featured MMO.

Please enlighten me!

Why does the two business model differ?

GW1 – buy one, play unlimited, in game store, expansions, tournaments
GW2 – buy one, play unlimited, in game store, possible future expansions, possible tournaments

Where is it headed? South… literally. I foresee them adding the continents of Elona and Cantha back in at some point (both of which are south of Kryta).

In the mean time, enjoy your leveling, explore everything, and participate in everything you can! I am up to level 67 and still having an amazing time! WvW is also so much fun, though admittedly I am too caught up in the personal story right now to spend much time in it.

I played WoW for years (from TBC to just before Firelands hit), mostly just for raiding. In WotLK I was doing heroic modes 6 nights a week on multiple characters.

Based on the contents of the forum apparently that should mean I’ll hate GW2, but I’ve been 80 for a while and I’m still enjoying it.

So far I’m going back to complete remaining maps (slightly disappointed at how easily mobs die when you’re down-levelled in exotics, but oh well), finishing jumping puzzles, doing WvW, doing events in Orr and I intend to get a full set of legendaries and all dungeon armour skins. I’m really enjoying doing guild runs of the explorable modes. I love how they give different bosses instead of the usual heroic mode = normal mode + more damage and maybe a new mechanic if you’re lucky.

I’m still exploring and appreciating details while I complete low level maps by the way, that doesn’t need to stop just because you hit 80.

I also need to finish my story because I was doing those with someone else and we had to abandon the stories temporarily because of the overflow bugs. Those seem to be sorted now though, which I’m glad to see.

Overall I’m finding it refreshing, maybe I just played WoW to death. Sort of tempted by MoP, but meh. I don’t think WoW suits me that much any more, looking at things like those new talent trees. At least on GW2 you can tweak your builds and change skills for each encounter. Co-ordinating our party builds optimally is fun too.

On WoW if I wasn’t raiding I was either grinding the same kitten dailies I’ve already done a thousand times, flying in circles for hours farming mats for flasks or sitting on a roof in Orgrimmar talking in guild chat.

I find map completion, jumping puzzles, random events (you have the whole world to choose from!) and dancing on the fountain in Lion’s Arch while talking in guild chat a lot more fun.

Also WvW reminds me a bit of Alterac Valley in the times when people still summoned Lokholar – except WvW is even bigger and better.

As others have said, Anet have confirmed a lot of content patches. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Im in the same boat as the guy above at the moment except for the level 80 part, however i am concerned about the longetivity as i can see myself getting to a point and thinking ;

‘’right i love how i look i have the pvp gear i also have dungeon gear and 100% map completion along with max crafting and some awesome stuff from that…a few puzzles left but ultimatley played WvW to death…now what?’’

what kept me playing alot of tittles, WoW/SC1+2/LoL to name a few was the competition in pvp now while there is no clear cut competition in pvp (no official ranking system) how can i motivate myself to put in hours and hours of pvp like i did in previous tittles?

when the patches come and the first expansion hits at some point ill obviously have a TON more to do.

now i love this game to bits every single part of it but i do feel there’s something ’’missing’’ however Anet did say they can siwtch on/off some DE’s to keep the game fresh so who knows maybe theres a completley new Orr out there, ay? or Queensdale (yeh i know low lvl but w/e!) etc…im very intreaged to see where this goes.

as for my WoW days me and a freind bought GW2 and are currently umming and arring over MoP i know for a fact all i wil do is rush to 90 for the pvp season then play the hell out of that (i would continue GW2, cant see myself ’’quitting’’….ever really, conidering tha pace im going at the momento) one things for certain i dont feel like WoW is for me anymore and GW2 is currently…well amazing.

The problem of spvp is I don’t feel like I’m playing with my character. I hate I can be lvl 80 and have everything right from the start. I don’t even dare to try out a class in the myst, before deciding if I like it, because just having everything unlocked at the start, takes away the fun of leveling and unlocking new skills for me.
It would be so nice to be able to play spvp maps with your wvw char

having Spvp and WvW/PvE separete is personally something i really enjoy however your right it does not feel like my character.

i beleive the ’’skin’’ your wearing in PvE should be carried over i dont see why the looks of things have to change and you can ofcourse ignore the PvE side still as the stats would change to those in sPvP to keep it all on level ground.

Its pvp, you roll an alt, or you go back to WoW, take your pick.

Arson.4189:

failing on pve front…fun wvw

Your opinion.

Which is always negative in here.

Lonewolf.5869:

Dont listen to fan boys.

there is nothing to do at 80 simple as that. no tank healer kills the hell out of PVE.
PvP you can join as level 1 with full gear
WvW is a huge mess beyond repair. too much PVE in the zone, match system dont work, majorty of WvW are owned by a single server and rest just walk around.

am one of the first to reach 80 (4 days after) and have done everything you can possibly do at 80, 2 weeks on i dont even log in no more.

only hope (since no monthley fee) is to wait for more content to be released, hopefully they fix this healer/tank issue, i spoke with developers in BW2 and they did say they need at least a tank as its a huge mess now (their own words) so if they fix this then finger cross would be worth coming back otherwise… waste

I love the internet.

Shootsfoot.9276:

Lonewolf.5869:

Dont listen to fan boys.

there is nothing to do at 80 simple as that. no tank healer kills the hell out of PVE.
PvP you can join as level 1 with full gear
WvW is a huge mess beyond repair. too much PVE in the zone, match system dont work, majorty of WvW are owned by a single server and rest just walk around.

am one of the first to reach 80 (4 days after) and have done everything you can possibly do at 80, 2 weeks on i dont even log in no more.

only hope (since no monthley fee) is to wait for more content to be released, hopefully they fix this healer/tank issue, i spoke with developers in BW2 and they did say they need at least a tank as its a huge mess now (their own words) so if they fix this then finger cross would be worth coming back otherwise… waste

I love the internet.

I could do with forcing a basic IQ test before giving someone a connection….

Spitwyld.1963
What, if anyone knows, is Anet’s intention with this game? Having a game free to play, in my opinion, really limits the developers’ ability to regularly produce new and exciting material so I wonder how far the game can really go.

Impossible to know how limited they are, or are not, without knowing what kind of money is being poured into the cash shop. Some people are putting vast sums in, others nothing. It would be an interesting poll for this forum, actually. And since the cash shop will be the driving focus of revenue once box sales hit the saturation point, you can almost be certain all manner of items will begin to appear.

In any case … while rushing to 80, particularly those who did in days, is as a legitimate way to play as any, it certainly isn’t representative. It speaks to a certain game style and insatiability that the game wasn’t designed to cater to.

So … whatever lies in the future for GW2, I just hope that the designers are not chided into hammering old tired pieces of MMOs onto this one until it essentially becomes just another tired old MMO.

I’m having fun from shooting people and mobs.

Really good feedback, thank you everyone. Keep it coming!

It seems the players who don’t like GW2 are the ones who raced to level 80 and were shocked to find no specific end-game content. Most people do forget what WoW was like when it was released. All the classes were majorly flawed and each one had to follow one designated role or be told to gtfo.

Lynce.1705:

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

Pretty much this. People burn themselves out rushing to 80 and than complain because they feel like there is nothing to do.

So you’re saying that you should level as slow as possible because there is nothing to do at level 80 because it’s not designed for it. Well, that’s encouraging.

Deith.7596:

Lynce.1705:

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

Pretty much this. People burn themselves out rushing to 80 and than complain because they feel like there is nothing to do.

So you’re saying that you should level as slow as possible because there is nothing to do at level 80 because it’s not designed for it. Well, that’s encouraging.

I think the point is that the game is still brand new. As such, it’s unrealistic to expect tons of end-game content when the majority of the game’s population is still progressing at their own pace. The business plan caters to the masses, imo, not the minority who beast through 1-80 with the aim of being #1.

I’m an ex-UO and ex-AC1 player. GW2 is the first game to recapture, at least partially, what those two games offered. GW2 is like the modern AC1.
It’s maybe because I’ve played many MMORPG which didn’t involve the EQ/WoW clone model “gear carrot” that I’m able to appreciate GW2 that much, even after hitting 80.

Deith.7596:

Lynce.1705:

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

Pretty much this. People burn themselves out rushing to 80 and than complain because they feel like there is nothing to do.

So you’re saying that you should level as slow as possible because there is nothing to do at level 80 because it’s not designed for it. Well, that’s encouraging.

No, the point is that a game can only be designed for the bulk of the game population, not the outliers. All that’s required is that by the time the bulk of the population reaches 80 there’s something for them to do. There’s no need for that amount of content to be in the game now, at release, just to please a minority of people.

WvWvW(if you like chaos/what the **** moments/killing the odds/zerging)
Spvp(if you want fair pvp)

World exloration in this game is more like a single player than MMO, which is amazing, the beautifull places to see never end, and the game actually rewards you for it!

Better looking gear

Dungeons that are actually hard to beat!

And the little things like dyes, and materials to gather in order to discuover some new recipy I have no idea how to be bored in this game, its impossible :S

the dungeon is where it is heading

I’m 80 and I’m exhausted.

Personal story bugs and the fact that it just keeps going and going and going has got me down on it a little, but I’ll be done with it soon and it’ll be behind me.

And I would agree with everyone here who says don’t rush to level. It happens so quickly just by exploring the world that it really surprised me sometimes.

I’d log in and just go dink around for a few hours and a friend would log in and say, “Hey congratulations on lvl X”, which was like 4 or 5 more than what I expected to have. It really does go quickly, especially from 50 to 80.

As for where it’s headed… good question. Graphically this may be the most beautiful game world ever created and it is VAST so… it’s headed out there, thataway, yonder.

I’m not even at 50% map completion yet and like I said, I’m exhausted from running all over the place.

I would like to see mob spawns and aggro ranges in the higher level zones adjusted so I could go do some more exploring but for me, that’s about it. Go see what’s over there. Ooooh neat. What’s over there? Ooooh neat.

etc.

gurugeorge.9857:

Deith.7596:

Lynce.1705:

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

Pretty much this. People burn themselves out rushing to 80 and than complain because they feel like there is nothing to do.

So you’re saying that you should level as slow as possible because there is nothing to do at level 80 because it’s not designed for it. Well, that’s encouraging.

No, the point is that a game can only be designed for the bulk of the game population, not the outliers. All that’s required is that by the time the bulk of the population reaches 80 there’s something for them to do. There’s no need for that amount of content to be in the game now, at release, just to please a minority of people.

I’m not saying that the game is bad, I love this game, the design is just stunning, the level of art in every zone, the details is amazing and I love it and I know it’s just the beginning of the journey, but some may not feel this way. I know there is GvG coming which is what I’m looking forward to most because I got my small guild and we want to shine. Problem is, not everyone is a guild player or a zerg (WvW) player, they like pve and they should be able to find their place in the game as well, but now – it’s hard to tell what they should look forward to because it’s all blurry.

gurugeorge.9857:

Deith.7596:

Lynce.1705:

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

A lot of the people who have rushed to level 80 are WoW players, and are uncomfortable with the mechanics in GW2.

Pretty much this. People burn themselves out rushing to 80 and than complain because they feel like there is nothing to do.

So you’re saying that you should level as slow as possible because there is nothing to do at level 80 because it’s not designed for it. Well, that’s encouraging.

No, the point is that a game can only be designed for the bulk of the game population, not the outliers. All that’s required is that by the time the bulk of the population reaches 80 there’s something for them to do. There’s no need for that amount of content to be in the game now, at release, just to please a minority of people.

… and they will be able look over the tons of data they’re collecting on player habits, and determine how to best create content moving forward for this majority, while (hopefully) staying true to the vision that makes this game what it is.

There’s a certain group out there who want nothing more (and I’ve seen it elsewhere) than to play the same game they’ve been playing for years, but just with a newer engine and better graphics. And they try their best to – through complaints – turn every game into just that.

Not every game is for everyone, nor should it be. This game has a singular, unique, vision that is largely living up to, yet has more potential even to reach, its massive potential. But that vision will make it a different kind of game.

WoW has ruined lots of people’s MMO expectations.

WoW has been designed to make people want to race to the end to begin farming Raids for gear.

Guild Wars 2 was designed to make leveling from 1 to 80 a scenic, epic, story-telling masterpiece. You’re not supposed to rush to 80 before you start feeling satisfied with GW2 – it was designed to start blasting you with eye-candy and epic encounters the moment you create your character.

This is the first MMO I’ve played where I feel like I’m ALREADY IN the end-game. I’m not even half-way to level 80 yet, and I feel no less powerful than anyone else in the game.

In fact, I could just run around Tyria uncovering hidden content all day long.

It’s very rewarding to reveal map sections and check out all the cool sights and events.

And the super-huge World vs. World PvP is just freaking amazing.

If you’re looking for Raiding and Valor Point Grinding, look elsewhere. This game is more about rewarding you aesthetically.

The really big tl;dr with these arguments is that GW2 wants to be more a game and less an MMO, hardcore WoW players who are playing GW2 wanting an MMO and aren’t getting one, hardcore WoW players get really loud on the forums and we have 8,000 topics about the same thing that have a really, really simple answer.

GW2’s guns from the start have been to do something different with the MMO industry and they have stuck to them the entire way through its heavily advertised development.

I really wish moderators would consolidate these topics because it’s kind of annoying having them pop up all over the place.

To be fair, Lethlora, I didn’t make any comments about GW2 being a bad game and/or WoW being superior. I come from a different type of game so am trying to understand the intentions behind this one and how people are viewing their experience.

If you actually took the time to read the first few posts, you’d see that we established within this thread that GW2 is a different type of game. The answers I seek is what makes it fun to you all.

I wish we saw more posts like the OP’s on this forum.

What keeps me playing so far… I want to:

• explore all the areas – I’m curious to see what that 40-50% of the map I haven’t been to yet is like
• finish the personal story for both my main characters
• get my crafting to 400 on my two main characters
• finish getting exotic gear for my two main characters
• try out some more alts to get a flavour of some of the other classes
• keeping playing WvW a couple of times a week for fun
• keep playing sPvP a couple of times a week, practice my PvP skills and unlock pretty armour rewards
• see what happens with the dynamic events – will the story evolve?

I don’t really know where the game is going to go in the future. There are three main things I am hoping for:

• That there will be fierce competition in WvW, with organised guilds co-ordinating and focusing their efforts so that we get epic group territorial fights
• That Anet will keep developing and evolving the dynamic PvE events so that they gradually unfold as a campaign against the elder dragons. It would be great if different trends unfold across different servers depending on player actions, but I’m probably being a bit too optimistic about this.
• That the game world will expand with new areas in future (e.g. rest of Tyria, Elona, Cantha)

I don’t know where GW2 is headed, but I know it’s headed in the right direction based on what I’ve seen so far as having been level 80 for about 2 weeks.

ArenaNet is very secretative and they don’t talk about the future much, but the game isn’t even a month old so maybe they’re still waiting to unveil news.

WvW is fun as hell and addicting, that I’m certain. I play it just about every night.

-exploration 100% map
-mastering combat (it is very difficult to be good, and nail all those cooldowns, being able to react to real time action), to go in pvp and wvw.
i try to try different configuration and weapons, see how they play out.
-coop dungeon.

seriously.. i have at least 300-400h hours before starting to lose interest, and by then, anet will have added stuff…

seriously.. i have at least 300-400h hours before starting to lose interest, and by then, anet will have added stuff…“where the game is headed”?
hmm id like the game to offer titles and or something to godly players, so that they get “reknowned” within their server. this way you know who the server greates heroes are. some kind of fame.
and, id like to see duels being possible in pve. to cooldown the testosterone AND incite social interaction
talking about that, would need to find a mechanic to help social interaction too..
maybe after killing a boss, time stop for some players within a radius, for 1-2min and they can say stuff.
dunno..

Actually nothing. You can play WvWvW and follow a group of zerg and waste your time just spamming skills at random ppl or get oneshotted because the fights are 50v50. Or you can play sPVP in which there is only one game mode and 4 maps. I honestly start regretting for paying for this game.

Keep in my this game has a major built in advantage: scaling. New content can be built covering levels 2 on up which players even with maxed out characters can explore and enjoy. That’s no small innovation there, even if it is not “end game” as defined by other games.

Further: I’ve gotten three games worth of enjoyment for the 60 or 70 dollars I’ve paid. That’s fantastic. I don’t need to justify a monthly subscription fee which doesn’t even exist. For me … I put in a certain amount of money, got more than that money’s worth back. Simple consumer math, the rest is white noise.