Guild Wars 2

Hi,

I’ve been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2 lately. For me that’s about 3 hours a night Friday to Sunday. I remember when I was playing more last summer I was pretty convinced this game has no End Game. It’s a frequent complaint to nearly every MMO that’s ever existed. If you’ve been playing MMOs for more than 10 years you know what I mean. If you haven’t this statement may pass you by without any connection.

I’ve often compared gaming to Scuba Diving. It’s like going into a game world is a kind of submersion. For a time it’s fascinating and the depth of it will always be enchanting. However, the immersion soon leads to a reminder to check your oxygen count. For some games this oxygen count is really just counting how many hours you can devote to it. Too little time to devote and life feels unsatisfying: the game a reminder of how much wage-slavery has stolen our lives. For other games it’s the game: there’s never enough time to get anywhere in it and the glass-ceiling of ever-better-armor-stats means you’re just never going to be able to get into the game.

Guild Wars 2 is not about the infinite armor grind. This alone is so radically different from every other MMO out right now that no thanks can be enough to Anet for not making gaming another kind of experience in slavery.

However, with the absence of this perpetual climb to nowhere that is the stat-ladder in other games a lot of players not familiar with this type of situation are left saying, “Where’s the end game?” Ironically, they get the proper answer: “Everything”. I paraphrase, of course. The End Game of Guild Wars 2 really neat because in this game the very best thing to do is get to level 80 so you aren’t trapped to a few maps you probably don’t like and want to leave; i.e. get to the point you can play how you want. Then, once free from the leveling system that makes all games horrible, you can 100% maps, do jumping puzzles, play mini games, explore dungeons, find armor you like, build legendaries, etc.

This game has the best end game because it’s where the game starts. Unlike most games where leveling is the game and then the end is a bait-and-switch from gaming to slavery to getting ever better armor to do exactly the same things you were already enjoying before the gaming company said you can’t play again until you get their next carrot on a stick.

You don’t even know what end game is.

This is my feeling personally as well. I understand the fun of raids, but I never understood why they were the end game. The point of raids was a lot of fun and to get great loot. It is repetitive, and a gear treadmill/grind.

When this game actually has a lot to do all over.

+1 OP

So many people migrate here from other MMO’s with preconceived exceptions of “end-game” content (which they cling to) that they just don’t understand what GW2 has attempted to provide for its community. Thanks for the post.

Shayne Hawke.9160:

I don’t even know what end game is.

Silvatar.5379:

+1 OP

So many people migrate here from other MMO’s with preconceived exceptions of “end-game” content (which they cling to) that they just don’t understand what GW2 has attempted to provide for its community. Thanks for the post.

You aren’t even playing endgame, you are just playing around.

Laggo.8973:

You aren’t even playing endgame, you are just playing around.

Perhaps you would care to enlighten the OP as well as the rest of us as to what you consider endgame is?