Guild Wars 2

I’ve actually seen a lot of this. Several of my friends/guildmates got on, played a few days/weeks, and then just didn’t want to play anymore. Some of them reached a decent level, some didn’t get very far, but they all reached the same conclusion. They were bored, and for some reason just didn’t want to play.

I personally don’t have this problem. I did at one point. I even took a couple weeks off. I figured out part of the problem pretty early on, thanks to one of my friends. She would get on during the betas, and we would play, but she always told me:

“This is a game I will play for a few hours here and there, but I can’t really get into it.”

This seems to be about how everyone sums it up that is having a problem. This is the same problem I was having.

During BWE’s I got bored. So I set out to try EVERY character in existence. It was my 3rd or 4th character, a light went off. DING! This is what I want to play. It was actually one of the classes I told myself wasn’t worth trying, because it wasn’t my playstyle. However persistant as always I tried the rest before BWE’s were over.

My friend tried 3 or 4 different classes in BWE’s too. She never had a ding moment, but her last character, she said, “I like this one, this is the one I’ll play.”

When the game launched, she recreated that character, and a few days in, she made a mesmer. (A different one she hadn’t tried) she played it for a bit, then went back to the original character. That’s when she had her DING moment.

Most people come into the game with an idea of what they want to play. They go out, create the character and plow into the game. This is a large game with a lot to learn when you jump in, then tidbits to learn after you’ve been playing a while.

During the time that a person would normally be “connecting” with their character, they are being bombarded with new information, and that connection gets lost.

Without that connection, there is no sense of progression, there is no sense of getting better. There is only a sense of I’ve been here, I’ve done that.

What I’ve suggested to all my friends, is to try at least 3-4 classes, particularly ones they DON’T think they will like, because those seem to be the ones that really surprise them. But don’t do this until you’ve learned most of how the game works. Even if you go back and make your 4th character the first class you played, when you play, you will have a completely different sense of your character.

A large part of GW2 is not only knowing your ownn character, but knowing how it fits into the world, and in with other players. The best way to get a sense of that, is to play the other characters. That’s where you learn the nuances, the things that will really grip you. Now that you’ve played a necro you know that if you leap through that circle on the ground, you get a boon. It adds a depth to your character that wasn’t there before.

It sounds incredibly stupid of me to say, “Hey, try some other classes, then remake what you decide you want to play.” It sounds like it would have absolutely nothing to do with whether the content is boring, but surprisingly, it seems to work.

Hope this helps anyone that is having issues. Sorry it’s so long!!!

Shockwave.1230:

If I could get cool skins, max rewards, and experience a challenge from playing for 2-3 hours during the week and 4 hours on a weekend, I’d actually play.

If you could get max rewards, etc. from playing 7 hours a week then that would be a terrible game. Don’t get me wrong, I play hardly at all myself (aesthetic progression is not for me), but to ask for everything in an hour a day… that game would have no substance at all.

I don’t log in anymore either. I don’t see any point to this game. It was fun until I realized there really isn’t any reason to play somehow.
I can’t put my finger on it, the game is great and all, just totally bland and uninteresting to me.
It’s a fine MMO, but it lacks any kind of “hook” for me. Whenever i think about p[laying, I’ve changed my mind before the character select, “meh, why bother”.

Personally I hope they put more effort into WvW.

I’m tired of these bandaid fixes (removing orbs, free transfers, etc) that bring their own set of issues.

They really need to add more WvW content/features as it’s starting to get a bit dull doing the same thing over n over when I log in.

Newsin.1945:

Mario.6309:

Fernling.1729:

I am seriously lost and hoping someone might be able to help. This isn’t a hate thread, so please don’t make it as such.
I just can’t get myself to log in anymore. I am still around in hopes that something happens and I can start enjoying the game. I haven’t had this kind of issue with even some of the previous “fail” mmos. I can still to this day casually log into Eve, WoW, DCUO, Runescape, Rift, GW1 and even play through the Mass Effect series again, which I have beaten about 10 times now. For some reason I just can’t get myself to log into GW2. It feels like I such a chore to do anything in the game. I guess I don’t know what’s going on with it, but maybe the game is not for me?

Crafting—Was never a fan, so no surprise here.

Story(lore)—Not a fan at all. Not a roleplayer or anything, a bit too corny for me.

Jumping Puzzles—This to me is a complete joke in terms of “content”, like not even fun at all after the very first one I completed.

Dynamic Events—My biggest disappointment lies here. I would rather have every dynamic event replaced with heart quests, seriously. They take literally zero skill, so easy they can be auto-attacked through without ever dying. Very boring and repetitive imo/

Hearts—I actually like these, easily my favorite content in the game.

Dungeons—Biggest mess ever. There isn’t any strategy involved. Just feels like a big spam fest. I can’t get myself to do another one of these. I have completed just about every explorer mode dungeon without any issues.

Exploring—Nope, not for me. I never understood this.

Just throwing out my opinion on some of the things that the game offers in hopes that someone might have some ideas for me.

Like I said, I really want to like the game. I loved GW1 and just expected much more from the team at Arenanet. Is it even the same team?

I’ve come to something of a similar conclusion.

Fact is, GW2 feels like a huge, grind-y, sandbox-y mess. Most of the content, dungeons especially, feel very shallow and unchallenging for an organized group. WvWvW is supposed to be other “endgame” aside from explorables, but that also feels shallow and got old quickly(plus all the rendering issues). sPvP, same deal.

I’ve come to believe that since the game is supposed to be played for “fun” and be “accessible,” it’s more catered for casual play and messing around. It feels like a sandbox game. Kill this if you want to. Go explore that if you want to. Chase those “achievements” that are nothing but a grind. Grind for that one skin you really want. But there’s rarely an actual feeling of being challenged or making progression. As a result, maybe this game isn’t for people like you and me. But at least I can return to it every once in awhile since there’s no sub fee.

lol, there is nothing sandbox about this game…. at all.

My thoughts exactly. There’s really nothing sandbox about this game. Clearly themepark all the way so boredom after hitting 80 should be expected.

DieScream.6972:

I don’t log in anymore either. I don’t see any point to this game. It was fun until I realized there really isn’t any reason to play somehow.
I can’t put my finger on it, the game is great and all, just totally bland and uninteresting to me.
It’s a fine MMO, but it lacks any kind of “hook” for me. Whenever i think about p[laying, I’ve changed my mind before the character select, “meh, why bother”.

Same here, tried wvwvw but the wait time is crazy , spvp is loaded with thiefs just like any other mmo with a thief class. The storyline is just horrible and everything else nice to get is an epic grind for someone who plays other games or doesn’t have alot of time to play.

Pyska.1457:

Same here, tried wvwvw but the wait time is crazy

Why don’t you transfer to a less populated server?

Your welcome.

My problem with the game is that in many aspects it is varying from being unrewarding to be outright frustrating. Everything i do in the game seems to be just for fluff or doesn’t seem to properly work in a bigger context.
Loot consist of crap allover the place. There seems to be a few types of mob-specific items such as meat or claws, but besides that all mobs seem to share the very same loot table. Everywhere drops the same. That plus you can’t even go and farm said crap thanks to DR and a flawed economy (=most stuff 1 copper above vendor price) making the effort worthless.

-Everything in the game is combat. If i’m not in an outpost selling stuff, my entire gameplay seems to be fighting only. Thanks to an obscene mob density i’m also constantly fighting when i just roam around. Combat being the very same from lvl 10 to 80 doesn’t help either. One trait every 5 level is just not enough progress to keep me interested in my class or to look forward to while leveling.

-Loading screens galore, esp. when you follow your story! Every little back and forth to storyline locations, 1min of voiceovers, 10m of walking into a house, load back into your capital city, pick your reward, load back out again, load to the Asura portal, load to Lion’s Arch, walk 10 meters, load through another Asuar portal, load again to another location onwards with your story… loading screens them haunt me! This game has already taken away years of the life of my harddrive.

-Respawn times are way over the top. I like to approach things in a more tactical way, i.e. clearing a cage by pullings mobs from certain positions etc. as everything respawns right into my back after seconds. Just this evening i made my way into a cave when every 10 meters behind me the mobs respawned before i could even loot the ones recently killed. Once i cleared the cave to make room for a veteran fight, 20seconds after i pulled the veteran everything respawned back right into my face. Frustration to no ends, i logged out.
PS. As a mesmer i barely ever die or get touched by mobs, but my gear is constantly broken.

TLDR:
Currently there seems to be not a single system/mechanic in the game that is somehow balanced. Classes, loot, combat, professions, economy, traits, PvP, PvE..everything is just allover the place.

I am just gonna toss this in since I think more than one voice should be heard, and the OPs voice doesn’t speak for everyone.

Aspects of the game and what I like to play/enjoy will differ from other people, just as the OPs does. I know many players who like to do dungeons, who like to do completions, who like to explore, who enjoy the Personal Story, who like to Craft, who like to Gather materials. I don’t enjoy any of this, but that doesn’t make me say this game has issues keeping me entertained, or a lot of the game doesn’t peak my interest.

What I do like:

I like to level characters, learn the skills and traits for a profession, try out various builds, some copied some my own. I don’t mind doing hearts and dynamic events but they aren’t overwhelmingly exciting to me. Eventually I like getting my characters to max level, gearing them out, transmuting armor bits I like on my characters, pvping. My end game is PvP, but I have done almost nothing with it so far.

I think this game is very good overall. I think a lot of touch ups, bug fixes and balancing can take it forward.

Not every game is for every one. If you do not like enough about a game to want to play it, instead of forcing yourself or in some cases continuously posting negative posts because YOU aren’t happy, find another game. We don’t all like Monopoly, I know I don’t. Do I play Monopoly? Nope.

chuckandme.8753:

.
Combat being the very same from lvl 10 to 80 doesn’t help either. One trait every 5 level is just not enough progress to keep me interested in my class or to look forward to while leveling..

^This for me as well..

DieScream.6972:

I don’t log in anymore either. I don’t see any point to this game. It was fun until I realized there really isn’t any reason to play somehow.
I can’t put my finger on it, the game is great and all, just totally bland and uninteresting to me.
It’s a fine MMO, but it lacks any kind of “hook” for me. Whenever i think about p[laying, I’ve changed my mind before the character select, “meh, why bother”.

Thing is… the gameplay/story aspect of almost all MMOs is bland and uninteresting (IMO). They just dont have the same level of intensity a single player game has. In exchange they offer continuous character and content progression, social interraction and the ‘omg! we did it!’ moments in challenging group pve content. Those things give you long term goals, a bond with your character and your guild. GW2 decided to move away from all that.

Deistik.7802:

Shockwave.1230:

If I could get cool skins, max rewards, and experience a challenge from playing for 2-3 hours during the week and 4 hours on a weekend, I’d actually play.

If you could get max rewards, etc. from playing 7 hours a week then that would be a terrible game. Don’t get me wrong, I play hardly at all myself (aesthetic progression is not for me), but to ask for everything in an hour a day… that game would have no substance at all.

It has no substance because you don’t have faith in the game.

If I can get a piece of dungeon armor in 2 or 3 hours, then I would play also. The person you quoted is not alone.

The problem is, the game is way too grindy for aesthetic progression.
They’re all just skins. They shouldn’t require you to grind 40 hours for. The effort completely outweigh the reward.

This is the biggest issue that Anet needs to address – the game is simply not rewarding enough.

You get a full set of exotic gear. Great. You should be wanting to get another. But you don’t. Because they’re all just skins, and getting one simply takes way to long.

You should be wanting to get legendaries. But you really dont. Because the requirement is way too hardcore and risky there’s no guarantee you’ll get it even if you work hard. (magic clover and the precursor anyone?)

The game’s packed with contents, but none of them had satisfactory rewards.
Wvw doesn’t give you any rewards besides badge and once again they’re all just skins.
If loot bags drop runes according to your level regularly, or if pvp actually gives you runes that can used in wvw, then people will have more things to do.

Not to mention the declining economy.

Having a server wide trading post actually destroys the economy because farming mats on higher population server is easier (due to the faster respawn rate and wvw bonus) and people transfer to high pop server like flocks because its free. Price drop like crazy and on lower pop server you only get chimp changes from going out of your way to farm. So you stop. And just spam events and buy the mats.

But then eventually you realize you can hardly do any events because there are no people to do it with because…well you’re on a lower pop server. Then you think to yourself ‘well pike this I’m doing spvp". You go to the mist and realize everyone is rolling thieve mesmer and warrior. Turn to wvw, only to find your server has no zerg and you get punished for even trying because your gear breaks. Try to change to a higher pop server but they’re all ‘full". So eventually you think to yourself, "Pike this again, I’m quitting" . After you quit, other people quit with you because there are even few players to play with.

This has happened to Henge of Denravi. It will happen to many other server if nothing is done.

showatt.9413:

This is the biggest issue that Anet needs to address – the game is simply not rewarding enough.

You get a full set of exotic gear. Great. You should be wanting to get another. But you don’t. Because they’re all just skins, and getting one simply takes way to long.

You should be wanting to get legendaries. But you really dont. Because the requirement is way too hardcore and risky there’s no guarantee you’ll get it even if you work hard. (magic clover and the precursor anyone?)

The game’s packed with contents, but none of them had satisfactory rewards.
Wvw doesn’t give you any rewards besides badge and once again they’re all just skins.
If loot bags drop runes according to your level regularly, or if pvp actually gives you runes that can used in wvw, then people will have more things to do.

Not to mention the declining economy.

Having a server wide trading post actually destroys the economy because farming mats on higher population server is easier (due to the faster respawn rate and wvw bonus) and people transfer to high pop server like flocks because its free. Price drop like crazy and on lower pop server you only get chimp changes from going out of your way to farm. So you stop. And just spam events and buy the mats.

But then eventually you realize you can hardly do any events because there are no people to do it with because…well you’re on a lower pop server. Then you think to yourself ‘well pike this I’m doing spvp". You go to the mist and realize everyone is rolling thieve mesmer and warrior. Turn to wvw, only to find your server has no zerg and you get punished for even trying because your gear breaks. Try to change to a higher pop server but they’re all ‘full". So eventually you think to yourself, "Pike this again, I’m quitting" . After you quit, other people quit with you because there are even few players to play with.

This has happened to Henge of Denravi. It will happen to many other server if nothing is done.

YES WHAT HE SAID ^^^^^^^^^^^^ this game is just not rewarding there is no uniqueness everything is so easy to get that nothing is special. There is no challenge to work for. (legendaries being a huge grindfest and a joke)

GOSU.9574:

I am just gonna toss this in since I think more than one voice should be heard, and the OPs voice doesn’t speak for everyone.

Aspects of the game and what I like to play/enjoy will differ from other people, just as the OPs does. I know many players who like to do dungeons, who like to do completions, who like to explore, who enjoy the Personal Story, who like to Craft, who like to Gather materials. I don’t enjoy any of this, but that doesn’t make me say this game has issues keeping me entertained, or a lot of the game doesn’t peak my interest.

What I do like:

I like to level characters, learn the skills and traits for a profession, try out various builds, some copied some my own. I don’t mind doing hearts and dynamic events but they aren’t overwhelmingly exciting to me. Eventually I like getting my characters to max level, gearing them out, transmuting armor bits I like on my characters, pvping. My end game is PvP, but I have done almost nothing with it so far.

I think this game is very good overall. I think a lot of touch ups, bug fixes and balancing can take it forward.

Not every game is for every one. If you do not like enough about a game to want to play it, instead of forcing yourself or in some cases continuously posting negative posts because YOU aren’t happy, find another game. We don’t all like Monopoly, I know I don’t. Do I play Monopoly? Nope.

This not every game is for everyone idea is true, but doesnt really apply to a game that needs members to keep going. It needs to have everyone like it when a lot of people are going “games getting pretty meh” an MMO had problems

wookie slayer.4259:

GOSU.9574:

I am just gonna toss this in since I think more than one voice should be heard, and the OPs voice doesn’t speak for everyone.

Aspects of the game and what I like to play/enjoy will differ from other people, just as the OPs does. I know many players who like to do dungeons, who like to do completions, who like to explore, who enjoy the Personal Story, who like to Craft, who like to Gather materials. I don’t enjoy any of this, but that doesn’t make me say this game has issues keeping me entertained, or a lot of the game doesn’t peak my interest.

What I do like:

I like to level characters, learn the skills and traits for a profession, try out various builds, some copied some my own. I don’t mind doing hearts and dynamic events but they aren’t overwhelmingly exciting to me. Eventually I like getting my characters to max level, gearing them out, transmuting armor bits I like on my characters, pvping. My end game is PvP, but I have done almost nothing with it so far.

I think this game is very good overall. I think a lot of touch ups, bug fixes and balancing can take it forward.

Not every game is for every one. If you do not like enough about a game to want to play it, instead of forcing yourself or in some cases continuously posting negative posts because YOU aren’t happy, find another game. We don’t all like Monopoly, I know I don’t. Do I play Monopoly? Nope.

This not every game is for everyone idea is true, but doesnt really apply to a game that needs members to keep going. It needs to have everyone like it when a lot of people are going “games getting pretty meh” an MMO had problems

Exactly. And it is mindbuggling whenever I hear something like "If you don’t like it go play something else. "

Games are not for everyone? Tell me something new.

Thank god not everyone takes that literally because if we have to go play something else when we find a little flaw and want it changed, the game would’ve been dead a long time ago.

For as much as this game has to offer, it definitely missed in several ways. This game lacks in creating emotional situations. No world PvP means no sense of danger, fear. Sure there’s WvW but that just feels like a great big SPvP match.. it doesn’t have much meaning. I remember getting ganked in STV back in WoW and seeing that the guy who killed me then yelled something in a different language.. how cool was that. I’m left dead and then wondering what this guy said.. getting more and more angry and vengeful because I’m sure he’s not just killing me, but also talking crap!

For me, the game is way too instanced. Here you have these big beautiful cities (without any real reason to visit them) but I can’t just walk into them.. I have to watch a loading screen. It’s very immersion breaking. Why would I need an Asura gate to get from Queensdale to Divinity’s reach?? That doesn’t even make since.

There are cool legendary weapons to be had, but even if you do have the patience and wallet to acquire one it’s not enough. Why aren’t we (at this stage in MMO history) building homes in the persistent (if you can call it that) part of the world and no mounts.. really? That’s just lazy! What am I working toward? I’m glad there is no endless gear grind, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need anything to chase. Why can’t my guild build a giant guild hall/castle that we can show off to the world?

Crafting in gw2 had some neat changes with the discovery system. But ultimately, has the same flaws as previous games. The stuff I make is still less worth then the materials needed to make it. I maxed all the professions and have nothing really to show for it.

There’s a lot of things I love about gw2, and for now I’m hopeful for the future. I’m going to give it some time. The Halloween event was epic. I just feel GW2 could be so much more.

I’ve found a transparent issue that I don’t hear alot of people talk about because well, it appears to be good, when in reality it is not. That would be the matter of skill sets.

The reality is you have 3 skills you can actually choose, now I know your saying “wait I have 10” but no, you get to choose 3. Here is why: You do not get to choose your first 5, those are and have been pre-selected for you already, what you choose is the weapon. Number 6 is a heal, regardless of which one, it’s still always going to be a heal. 7,8,9 you can choose, but your choices are somewhat limited. Depending on your trait build, you must choose certain ones to work with that, not much of a choice there, but still a choice since your not actually forced to do so. Skill 10 is elite, there’s nothing elite about 99% of these skills, they are not overpowered, and for the most part, they all last as long as every boon in the game actually should last, but doesn’t. Anyway, if your lucky, and I havent played every class yet but if your lucky you will have more than 1 choice of an elite skill worth even putting in your bar. That is not a choice to me, 4 minute cooldowns are not skills, they’re punishments, worthless endeavors.

In keeping with the topic, I feel your problem is a choice, or lack there-of. It appears we have many choices on the surface, but if you stare at the problem, the reality is you have very little.

Here is what I think they should do about skill-sets: First, boon durations need to be severely increased. 1 1/3 second boons? Why did you bother showing up for work to program that? Boons are not much fun if they don’t help you, so giving us a boon for 3 seconds and making wait for 26 sec for a cooldown is really a waste of time.

Second: Customizeable weapon skill sets. I’m sure I’m not the only one that is sick of having at least 1 if not 2 and sometimes 3 worthless skills in our weapon sets. We need more options. For instance: The skills for a shield with the guardian are extremely stupid. While many of us would like the added defense, the long cooldowns make those defensive skills utterly worthless and not even fun to have around.

Third, At least a few customizeable utility slots for food items, etc. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve done that Mad King dungeon like 40 times and not once did I remember to use an XP or magic find buff.

This is just a start, but I really feel I’d enjoy the game alot more myself with some much needed choices. At least in GW1 chasing your elite skills and having full customization over your skill set was available. I actually prefer that.

What I really would like to see is something difficult, like in order to achieve different shield skills, or lower cooldowns, or something you have to find some trainer in a dungeon with some sort of event attached aside from the dungeon itself, a mini dungeon perhaps would be cool, idk, just some ideas….