Guild Wars 2

Whenever I come to the forums, mainly the general forums, I always see hate, negativity and downright anger from a lot of people who are playing GW2. It always confused me. If you dislike a game so much that you say things like “This game is horrible for so-so reason” or “This game isn’t good anymore, nothing is fun”, why do you continue to waste your time here? Unlike some other MMO’s, Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have a subscription fee, letting you go away for a while, to let you blow off some steam and wait for things to hopefully improve. Yet most people just stick it out, staying in the same game they just called horrible or not fun.

So please, tell me why you still play this game? What keeps bringing you back to the world of Tyria?

Note: This entire post is genuine and contains no sarcasm to mock forum users, no matter how silly I may think some of them can be.

Do my daily, do some world bosses, afk for a bit, flip on the TP, stare at my gold, afk some more and log off

Im done criticizing the game because I dont care as much anymore. I cant tell if thats good or bad, but im kinda liking how extremely casual its been.

I think you answered your own question really. Those that complain a lot continue to play because it is free. They come back and complain here because they think they are justified (in some cases they are) and hope to change things.

Also despite all their complaints most of them probably still think it’s a good game. I complain now and then myself lol but for the most part the game is more good than bad experiences imo and only (knock on wood) has room to get better.

I play because I have fun playing.
I love my characters, I get a kick out of running around doing events, helping people, goofing off.

I enjoy my time in game because I spend it the way I want.

If I’m feeling serious I can head to Orr and fight the good fight, or go kill some krait
if I feel social I go hit up a meta event and have a costume brawl,
if I’m feeling melancholy I head to a place like Timberline falls and just wander until I feel like seeing people again.
Feeling adventurous- go spelunking in Dregdehaunt cliffs.

Yesterday I flew my kite in DR and spent the rest of the evening running around Ascalon and getting immersed in the incredible beauty and sadness of that area

Fuunn.
Specifically i like fantasy settings ande i dont get them in real life lol.
Also i like to beat bosses and people in pvp, and the story, and jumping, and the minigames, etc lol.

Morrigan.2809:

I play because I have fun playing.
I love my characters, I get a kick out of running around doing events, helping people, goofing off.

I enjoy my time in game because I spend it the way I want.

If I’m feeling serious I can head to Orr and fight the good fight, or go kill some krait
if I feel social I go hit up a meta event and have a costume brawl,
if I’m feeling melancholy I head to a place like Timberline falls and just wander until I feel like seeing people again.
Feeling adventurous- go spelunking in Dregdehaunt cliffs.

Yesterday I flew my kite in DR and spent the rest of the evening running around Ascalon and getting immersed in the incredible beauty and sadness of that area

I liked your response the best. You are a person I would play with randomly and not feel like I’m playing with someone who is slowly eating their shirt in anger about something. Also, props to you for going spelunking in Dregdehaunt Cliffs. I won’t go back after I completed it. I hate that area so much for personal reasons that aren’t exactly bad. Heheh.

I got into the game because a friend showed me his Charr warrior. and I was like “Okay. buying brb.”

I play because it’s ridiculous how much fun I have in this game.

I love just being able to spend my time doing anything I want – heck, I’ll even spend hours in character creation just building characters only to delete them straight after because I just wanted to see what I could build. How many games are fun before you even start playing?!

It’s just insane the amount of money I shovel into this game, and I don’t regret it, even knowing I don’t need to pay money towards it. There is no other game I have ever paid more than I absolutely have to towards.

Paulytnz.7619:

I think you answered your own question really. Those that complain a lot continue to play because it is free. They come back and complain here because they think they are justified (in some cases they are) and hope to change things.

Also despite all their complaints most of them probably still think it’s a good game. I complain now and then myself lol but for the most part the game is more good than bad experiences imo and only (knock on wood) has room to get better.

I guess, but that isn’t exactly what I meant. I meant what do they like about the game, what is the thing that draws them? They must like something, I mean they keep doing it right? So many people focus on negatives in a game (which isnt always bad. pointing out flaws can help fix bad issues) but never say “Oh I really liked this, I just thought it was awesome.” Because people take the good things for granted usually. I just wanna see what people like in Tyria. My favorite thing has always been the stuff with the Order of Whispers.

Trx.5298:

Morrigan.2809:

I play because I have fun playing.
I love my characters, I get a kick out of running around doing events, helping people, goofing off.

I enjoy my time in game because I spend it the way I want.

If I’m feeling serious I can head to Orr and fight the good fight, or go kill some krait
if I feel social I go hit up a meta event and have a costume brawl,
if I’m feeling melancholy I head to a place like Timberline falls and just wander until I feel like seeing people again.
Feeling adventurous- go spelunking in Dregdehaunt cliffs.

Yesterday I flew my kite in DR and spent the rest of the evening running around Ascalon and getting immersed in the incredible beauty and sadness of that area

I liked your response the best. You are a person I would play with randomly and not feel like I’m playing with someone who is slowly eating their shirt in anger about something. Also, props to you for going spelunking in Dregdehaunt Cliffs. I won’t go back after I completed it. I hate that area so much for personal reasons that aren’t exactly bad. Heheh.

the only time I have felt like eating my shirt is at Jumping Puzzles because I suck- so for my sanity I don’t do them all that often!

I play to satisify my need for adventure and exploration. Sometimes I just run around and look for anything interesting. I want to lead my character through a beautiful world, and Tyria is truly beautiful designed, tho the Story of Ascalon and Orr is the only one that really thrills me.

But I also play this game to… well play a game. I’m farming through orr, do my daylies, do the daylie Meta Events, get my kitten whooped in PvP and WvW, do dungeons and fractals and get some money. I’m having a lot of fun doing all of this, because nearly everything combines my need for adventure and exploration with actuall progression. That’s why I play, that’s why I will keep playing and giving Anet my Money.

Because this is the only game I play besides Call of Duty. I don’t like any other game (besides GW1 which I retired) in the MMO genre besides the GW series. Even though I’m not happy with the way have some things have been going, I still enjoy wvw. I will play until the new Ghosts COD comes out, then I will be inactive for awhile. Prob come back in a few months after that.

I only play from time to time, like right now, when I get bored with other games for a bit and just want something to do.

I don’t create complaint threads but I like to get into the discussions more than expecting it to change anything. Forum PvP is still the best part of this game

For the power, the money, the fame and most of all – for the women. That’s why I play.

It all kind of depends on a lot of external factors: If my friends wanna hang out in real life, I won’t be logging at all. However, when I’m home alone with no plans whatsoever, I tend to play quite some hours.

A normal GW2 rotation for me looks like:
- Complete daily PvE (for the AP, thanks ANet)
- Complete daily PvP (for the AP, thanks again)
- Some living story content (guess for what)
- Work on some lesser achieves (slayer, …), oh yeah, also to get some AP
- WvW/PvP (I switch from time to time, when the first gets boring and vice versa) – because I like to do so..

And before those kitties come here and mention why I even do all those AP stuff: Because WvW yields little to none, and I don’t wanna get stuck at 2000AP or so (and those reward chests do look nice – account wide bonuses are my fave)..

I agree with OP, where me and my buddies stopped playing since Feb, until July 23 update, i have a peek to see whats going on in GW2. Then i found there are quite a lot balancing stuffs have done. I am not excited at first glaze but i decided to try the updated traits out.

End up me and 2 of my buddies made our return. We love the updates, thanks Anet!

To us, this is a game, and it is for fun, if it is not fun anymore, just walk away. And if one day we find it fun again, just step back in.

On the whole, I’m still having fun. Some parts seem more like hard work than fun though, especially where trash mobs have been given godlike crowd control skills.

I’m still having trouble with the Mire Sea vista. Just can’t get up that tower, not because it’s difficult to get up there due to the tower layout but because of the ridiculous krait knockback spam and the fact that you usually die if knocked off the tower.

CrossedHorse.4261:

I play because it’s ridiculous how much fun I have in this game.

Agree! Completely over the top ridiculous how much fun I have in this game

Antara.3189:

Because this is the only game I play besides Call of Duty. I don’t like any other game (besides GW1 which I retired) in the MMO genre besides the GW series. Even though I’m not happy with the way have some things have been going, I still enjoy wvw. I will play until the new Ghosts COD comes out, then I will be inactive for awhile. Prob come back in a few months after that.

Casual detected.

Walrus.6390:

Antara.3189:

Because this is the only game I play besides Call of Duty. I don’t like any other game (besides GW1 which I retired) in the MMO genre besides the GW series. Even though I’m not happy with the way have some things have been going, I still enjoy wvw. I will play until the new Ghosts COD comes out, then I will be inactive for awhile. Prob come back in a few months after that.

Casual detected.

This game is perfect for casuals. Besides Guild wars 2 I play PlanetSide 2, Starcraft 2, Civ 5 and Dota 2 Actively and I get no problems, and that’s what I love about this game.

Because I have fun doing it.

Most of what I do is open-world PvE and Living Story, with the odd dungeon thrown in. I love the artworks and exploring the world. I’m the type that will often stop to take screen shots of a cool area, or even just to look at it.

I have a lot of games and there’s about 5 I play currently (excluding Gameboy/DS games because I play those on the train so they’re not competing with GW) but when I get home and think about what I feel like playing GW2 is almost always my first choice.

That said I’m not really your target audience for this question. I like the majority of this game and I’m fairly vocal about that. When I do criticize something I always try to keep the criticism focused on that feature and avoid hyperbole. “This mini game is boring because you’re really only doing one thing over and over for 10 minutes” vs. “This game sucks, the living story is kitten I nearly fell alseep trying to play this stupid mini game!”

Trx.5298:

Paulytnz.7619:

I think you answered your own question really. Those that complain a lot continue to play because it is free. They come back and complain here because they think they are justified (in some cases they are) and hope to change things.

Also despite all their complaints most of them probably still think it’s a good game. I complain now and then myself lol but for the most part the game is more good than bad experiences imo and only (knock on wood) has room to get better.

I guess, but that isn’t exactly what I meant. I meant what do they like about the game, what is the thing that draws them? They must like something, I mean they keep doing it right? So many people focus on negatives in a game (which isnt always bad. pointing out flaws can help fix bad issues) but never say “Oh I really liked this, I just thought it was awesome.” Because people take the good things for granted usually. I just wanna see what people like in Tyria. My favorite thing has always been the stuff with the Order of Whispers.

Well in that case for me personally I like to explore things while having an epic adventure. I also love building up from scratch and getting more powerful/rich as I progress in these kinds of games too.

So for my exploring of course it’s the world, all the classes, all the different enemy types, and all aspects of the game such as WvW, dungeons, pretty much everything lol.

I have 8 characters so far which of course covers all the classes and races because you know I want to explore them all and see all the strengths and weaknesses. Of course when they do add more races and classes I will have to buy even more char slots to explore all of them too. :P

So far 6 chars with world complete and number 7 not far off, some 7500+ achievement points and I still have a ton left to explore and I play a ton. So anytime I see people saying things like “there’s nothing to do” I just think well yeah if you stick to one char and limit what you do in the game that will be the case but if you try looking at the game from a different point there’s actually tons to do!

beacuse i have fun in:

S/Tpvp
WvWvW
PvE (fractals mainly and helping people out)
the world…

just find the game fun so i do as much as i can i do not try to complete dailies or run specific dungeons i just do what i fancy, works a charm.

They don’t play. They are spending their time complaining on the forums instead of playing.

I play because i enjoy it. After 1,2k hours i still have fun

Roleplay! There’s something fun here when roleplaying in GW2.

You pretty much said it in your post. I am here because this is a buy to play mmo that is very solo friendly with amazing graphics and high quality gameplay.

There is no other mmo that can match GW2 at the moment in my opinion.

I play because I like the game. It’s mostly pretty good. Sometimes I run out of things to do, or realize that I don’t want to do any of them and I log off. Usually there’s about an hour or so of stuff I enjoy.

I complain either because
1) A change has been announced that I dislike (more ascended gear)
2) I feel like ANet has made changes that seem unfair. (favoring people with 1 toon over alts, when people with lots of alts most likely account for a larger percentage of ANet’s revenue)
3) It appears that ANet has forgotten that the game is suppose to be fun.
4) I feel like discuss things on the forums, sometimes I take a contrary position just for the heck of it.

I find it fun, enjoyable.

I am still exploring.

I am still building characters.

I still have racial stories to view.

I have new tidbits every couple of weeks to do.

I’m making new friends….sort of. Being social tends to get me burned, but we’ll see how it works out…

I’m finally working on the mile long list of goals I set.

However, what it all really boils down to is ‘because I want to.’

I play for the fun of it. The game is not perfect actually nowhere near BUT when you compare the content you get for what you paid for it really is second to none. Every time I think that I should change to a different game I think to myself “60 bucks for 8 to 10 hours worth the content” then stop myself right there.

My personal wish is that they would focus on more endgame content rather than biweekly events. Not much to do once you have finished your story, 100% world completion, ran over 500 fractals, and have dungeon master.

Fractals and occasionally leveling my necro/thief/war with their personal stories. Nothing else really entertains me atm, occasionally I play the TP but its not like I need anything. Thrilled about a new fractal though.

I enjoy playing because I like my guild, it’s pretty casual, not much activity during the day but we try to do a dungeon or two every night. I enjoy getting armor/weapon skins I want for my characters, doing word bosses occassionally for money. I like getting most of the achievements in the Living Story events and I’m looking forward to many good updates that are down the road

I play for a few reasons…1. it’s a ton of fun, 2. there is a ton to do, 3. my new found love of WvW, 4. I set a goal for myself to make a legendary, 5. there are no other games out right now that i’m interested in, and 5. the living story new content keeps things freshy fresh.

Theres alot of negativity on the forums cause most of the people who enjoy the game are playing it instead. I love GW2, but I also love arguing to be honest.

My main draw to GW2 is its a full MMO without the sub fee. I can come and go as I please.

I also dont have to focus much on stuff. I can do personal story, dungeons, WvW, map completion, or just hang out. Other games I am playing are done when you beat them, or I have to do this or that. Good when Im into it, but sometimes I just like messing around.

I heard something about housing and decided to stick it out for a little longer, in the hopes I can spend my endless karma on it, that and in the hopes that the game might improve. Other then that it’s just do daily tasks and log off.

I play because I enjoy gaming. I loved GW1 and bought GW2 because of it. I’m currently “taking a break” because after some soul searching, I lost the fun. Because the game has no subscription fee, I can come back if and when I want to. But I still follow the forum because I’m interesting in what is going on. I voice my opinion on what could change because I would like the game to live up to its potential.

I play in spurts. But lately Ive been having a casual mindset with it, and its more enjoyable.

I play to check off boxes, and that is a good and bad thing, get my characters gearset exactly how I want it(done), try new classes and builds, some WvW, some living story…however fluffy I think it is. And when Im bored again, Ill stop logging in and log into another game or go outside.

I like and hate that this game doesnt keep the typical player interested every day for months or years on end like a sub game will. Whether the sub game actually keeps you hooked or if you play out of obligation of your subscription, who knows. But I know that I logged into WoW every day for 6 years and had a blast running the same old dungeons and raiding. I just cant get to that level of committment here, or in any other game and I dont know why.

cesmode.4257:

I play in spurts. But lately Ive been having a casual mindset with it, and its more enjoyable.

I play to check off boxes, and that is a good and bad thing, get my characters gearset exactly how I want it(done), try new classes and builds, some WvW, some living story…however fluffy I think it is. And when Im bored again, Ill stop logging in and log into another game or go outside.

I like and hate that this game doesnt keep the typical player interested every day for months or years on end like a sub game will. Whether the sub game actually keeps you hooked or if you play out of obligation of your subscription, who knows. But I know that I logged into WoW every day for 6 years and had a blast running the same old dungeons and raiding. I just cant get to that level of committment here, or in any other game and I dont know why.

It’s hard to switch from WoW. As much as people hate to admit it, it’s the most successful MMO and is probably the most fun. Sure it has it’s flaws, but it also has years of fun that people remember. I’m hoping in the end, GW2 continues to grow and get better over the years and give us some really memorable moments.

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

You pretty much said it in your post. I am here because this is a buy to play mmo that is very solo friendly with amazing graphics and high quality gameplay.

There is no other mmo that can match GW2 at the moment in my opinion.

I’m pretty much in the same boat. I’m looking forward to GTA next month. I still remember playing the first one. Over in the Iona C@p site along with playing other great games like Carmageddon and getting free stuff off of mIRC pirate channels. Good times.

Then there is ESO which I’m hoping is everything it seems. If so, it’ll easily keep me going until CCP comes out with WoDO.

I play to explore the game and look for actual clues on the old guild wars 1 in game. I know that the devs have hidden artifacts, maps, and creations by other races (Seers, Mursaats) through out the game. I read this from an interview. I play for the lore really.

I play for aesthetics of my character.
I play to see other people’s hard work pay off through their gear.
I play hoping that one day an update about the actual lore of guild wars comes.

I play because its a great time waster. Sometimes thats all something has to be.

Trx.5298:

cesmode.4257:

I play in spurts. But lately Ive been having a casual mindset with it, and its more enjoyable.

I play to check off boxes, and that is a good and bad thing, get my characters gearset exactly how I want it(done), try new classes and builds, some WvW, some living story…however fluffy I think it is. And when Im bored again, Ill stop logging in and log into another game or go outside.

I like and hate that this game doesnt keep the typical player interested every day for months or years on end like a sub game will. Whether the sub game actually keeps you hooked or if you play out of obligation of your subscription, who knows. But I know that I logged into WoW every day for 6 years and had a blast running the same old dungeons and raiding. I just cant get to that level of committment here, or in any other game and I dont know why.

It’s hard to switch from WoW. As much as people hate to admit it, it’s the most successful MMO and is probably the most fun. Sure it has it’s flaws, but it also has years of fun that people remember. I’m hoping in the end, GW2 continues to grow and get better over the years and give us some really memorable moments.

I agree that it is the most successful, but disagree that it is the most fun..however that is up to debate whomever you ask.

I do not think stand still tab targeting combat, working around buffs debuffs and procs, is exciting, engaging or thought provoking. Not at all.

I do think their raids and boss mechanics are well though out, difficult enough, and unique. Not just one-shot mechanics, or 100 adds or tons of bad floor.. There are unique mechanics that a group must strategize to work through. This is wher eI think Gw2 falters and needs to focus on.

Regarding nostalgic: Ive always said that I think many people play WoW out of some misguided sense of nostalgia. My nostalgia ended during WOTLK. Cata was eh… and I only played for a month in MoP.

My nostalgia for GW2 is already forming… I remember launch day, running around the world as a noob and not caring about gear, progression, speed of leveling, rewards, or dalies. I didnt care about ANYTHING. I played for fun, for exploration, to meet people, to randomly come to gether in a zone with dozens of ppl to down an event, and then go on our seperate ways. Now, the scales have tipped more toward character progression, gear, reward, reward, reward, reward, reward… I still have fun, and I still sometimes experience what I nostalgiically think about…the ‘goood ole days’ of gw2…I still come across those momens. But few and far between and then saturated with a reward.

Because I’m too old to still play with GI Joe action figures …
Well, at least OPENLY, anyway …

On a serious note, though, I echo many of the others’ sentiments — I play because it’s fun, it’s something I enjoy, and it’s a helluva way to unwind at the end of the day. I don’t feel obligated to do anything in particular — just pick a char and begin wandering to see what I can get into, just like Kane from Kungkitten Sometimes it’s DEs, sometimes it’s crafting, sometimes it’s world boss events, sometimes it’s trying to convince the skritt i’m a long-lost cousin … doesn’t matter .. i’m not the type of person to spend an hour or two doing something i DON’T enjoy, unless I’m being paid for it.

You know why I like this game? Because it’s an MMO that doesn’t feel like an MMO. I’m never forced into a group to do any content, I never feel obligated to grind for gear, and I never have to bow to a guild leader who demands that I play the game in a particular way.

I play solo for the most part, and almost 100% of my time has been spent in open world PvE, doing the occasional dungeon here or there. I treat this game like an Elder Scrolls game, in that I just want to explore and see what’s over that next hill. I often run around and take screenshots of areas that I find aesthetically pleasing (so far my favorite zone is Timberline Falls) or interesting or fun things that I haven’t seen before. I also enjoy the dynamic and active feel of combat, as opposed to something like WoW where it’s a lot of standing in one place and watching animations play out. I don’t even care about the endgame; my only goal right now is to get a character to 80 (highest is 67 at the moment), and THEN I’ll worry about what I feel like doing.

As you may have guessed I’m an uber-casual at this game, and overall I love that Anet has created an MMO that’s accessible enough for me to play the game the way I do.

Trx.5298:

Whenever I come to the forums, mainly the general forums, I always see hate, negativity and downright anger from a lot of people who are playing GW2. It always confused me. If you dislike a game so much that you say things like “This game is horrible for so-so reason” or “This game isn’t good anymore, nothing is fun”, why do you continue to waste your time here? Unlike some other MMO’s, Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have a subscription fee, letting you go away for a while, to let you blow off some steam and wait for things to hopefully improve. Yet most people just stick it out, staying in the same game they just called horrible or not fun.

So please, tell me why you still play this game? What keeps bringing you back to the world of Tyria?

Note: This entire post is genuine and contains no sarcasm to mock forum users, no matter how silly I may think some of them can be.

When people express negativity they are seeking to enact change but don’t necessarily know how do it, or they don’t have a clear idea of how their issue could be solved so they throw it out to the masses. There is hope that someone else may feel that way and empathize and have a suggestion that might be a real solution to their problem. An even slimmer hope that someone might pass it on to the design team and then an even slimmer hope that it may actually be changed in the game.

Sometimes I am sure it is just people venting their frustration; and being someone who works for a company that puts customer service as priority 1 – we look at it as someone expressing unmet needs. It may come across as looking whiny, or rude or as anger but in the end it is the same thing. Someone is unsatisfied with us or our service on some level and it bears looking into. Not everything is going to be a valid complaint, but to the person making the complaint it is very valid.

Sometimes people just need to hear someone acknowledging their distress even though they may not be willing to actually make the changes they want. Just knowing they have been heard can be a big thing.

It might not hurt if we had CM’s that would do that here, but that’s just my opinion.

As to why I play; I play because it’s free. I feel no commitment. I can stop playing for three months while I play other games and come back when I feel like it.

really I just stick around cause of the friends I’ve made over the years of playing gw and gw2… I get on, kitten around and do my daily achieves, maybe work on a little living story stuff and just shoot the kitten with my friends, its nice and relaxing after a long day of work to just get away from real life stuff for a little bit but still have some ties to the real world.

All of the negativity comes from the vocal minority (if that makes sense). All of the negative posters make up a small number of the gaming community but since they are the most active on the forums, it makes it look like there is plenty of general negativity.

To answer the question, I play this because it is the only mmo I like. I feel a great sense of freedom in this game. I can play how I want and I love the combat and simple UI in this game. I can never play an mmo where you stand in one spot and attack x.x

GW2 is the best MMO on the market, especially for someone like me that isn’t interested in throwing hours on end to grind out gear/content that’s obsolete a month or two later.

Most forum complaints involving rage are fueled by unfulfilled expectations. The more specific one’s expectations, the more likely they are to not be fulfilled — particularly if one has a lot of them. That’s why we see so many posts about specific game features being present or absent and relatively few unfocused complaints.

I found that if I kept my expectations general, I enjoyed the game more. If my expectations were general (e.g., “fun,” or “play with friends”), they were easy to fulfill through a variety of game play. I’m currently struggling with a more specific expectation that the game originally fulfilled, but no longer does. It has made the game a lot less fun for me.