Guild Wars 2

i cant find anything lately without youtube in new areas and i dont think it a good thing , i wanna play the game not search for the exact paths of story npcs and vistas.
the good thing is that its beneficial to the community that does guides, but as a player i find it a bit tedious.

i hope new expansion has simple maps and directs the challenge somewhere else like more difficult mobs or something.

the less dulfy i will watch to find stuff the better

I’ve only really used YouTube for a few of the jumping puzzles really.

I’ve never had to use Youtube to get around the map. The only time i’ve needed guides is for some of the collect-a-thons and more complex JPs.

jihm.2315:

does anyone play without youtube?

The people who find the way and then upload it to youtube maybe ^^

I think when the Jumping Puzzle where you have to collect 12 light sources/keys was a daily, the channels that gave walkthrough got a spike in viewer numbers. Or not, because there were still people who asked in the chat what they have to do.

There are a lot of people who enjoy exploring. People were mountain goating Arah and other zones just for the fun of it before they added these collection quests in the newer zones. Those are the people I think the collections are aimed at, the explorers.

But, people still want to get things done and get their rewards even if it’s not content aimed at their preferences. So they do things that feel tedious to them just to get it done. That is where youtube comes in, as you can either spend hours exploring yourself or spend an hour following a guide and hitting all the spots to finish up. This goes for combat content as well. Why learn mechanics on your own when you can watch a youtube video that shows you how to do things?

So I don’t think the game’s done anything wrong, I think it’s more that people take the easier route and look up the cheat sheet instead of doing it themselves. That may be good or bad depending on your view, but it’s certainly not the game’s fault.

Jumping puzzles, achievements, mastery points, hero points… yeah, having to do research for a game feel likes a chore.

I find I only need to use YouTube when I’m grinding achievements/MPs/JPs, particularly in maps like Tangled Depths. I’ve never found the need to use it for playing the story/normal game (occasionally for map completion, I may need to confirm something – but usually I just bumble around and enjoy the journey).

Disclaimer: I’ve not started Draconis Mons just yet, but I’ve done all previous maps.

cyn.2157:

I find I only need to use YouTube when I’m grinding achievements/MPs/JPs, particularly in maps like Tangled Depths. I’ve never found the need to use it for playing the story/normal game (occasionally for map completion, I may need to confirm something – but usually I just bumble around and enjoy the journey).

Disclaimer: I’ve not started Draconis Mons just yet, but I’ve done all previous maps.

draconis is very confusing im actually watching youtube videos at the moment cause i find exploring stuff a lot time boring

related comment, but not directly about youtube, i’ve mentioned how i always felt like the current events created content for the ‘in crowd’.

as in, if you didn’t know to read patch notes or dulfy or a youtuber, you’d totally miss out on the filler content. i can’t remember if they’ve improved it by sending in game mail to clue players that some new current event content has dropped, but for a big chunk of it, the only hint that something was happening was a one liner at the end of patch notes “bandit activity has increased in kyrta”.

There’s no evidence that the use of video or written guides is greater now than it was at the game’s launch or for any other game. And how is that any different from the people who ask for help in /map to find routes for map completion or scavenger hunt?

The fact is that some people will always do this on their own, some will explore in a group, and some will make use of any & all online help they can find.

More importantly: why does it matter? I know what I’ve done on my own; I’m not affected by how quickly or slowly someone else manages to complete the same content.

Jerus.4350:

Why learn mechanics on your own when you can watch a youtube video that shows you how to do things?

But watching a walkthrough is learning as well. For me, joining a pick up group for a fractal without having bothered to look up the mechanics is a sign of ignorance and carelessness towards the other members of the group. There is no reason to do that, unless everybody is new to the content and it has been decided to explore the mechanics. This is how people do it when new content is added to the game, and that’s fine, and it’s fun when you have guild mates and figure out how something works. The problem comes when others already know how it works and you don’t.

Also, some content is really less of a challenge than simple luck. How would you even know about legendaries spawning in the Silverwastes unless someone told you, you looked up the info or you spent days and weeks there, looking around in case something new happens.

It was fun fighting that thing in the new map for the first time, learning the hard way that you shouldn’t step into the ponds, because everybody else learned it at the same time. Even a full wipe can be laughed off. If you step into the water in that fight in 6 months and people have to resurrect you, it’s less fun.

I haven’t felt the need to watch a youtube video except for a few collections and really difficult JQ (chalice of tears)

The latest map is of an exquisite design. I would never use a youtube video (or a guide) to spoil it for me. I think the only youtube vid I recall using in S3 was the Ember Bay JP.

Others might, each to their own, but the new map never felt complicated enough to me to warrant a guide. Certainly nowhere near as complex as Tangled Depths was.

Excelsior.

I never read any guides* or watch Youtube videos. But then, I am from the MasterSystem and MegaDrive era of players that took a game serios, wrapped up in a blanket, warm chocolate and, well, overall enjoying the game. Fondly remembering “LANDSTALKER” for the MegaDrive. Wow, Nigel and Friday..

Now, 25 years later, I still do not watch TV while I play GW2 unlike others “Netflixing” while playing video games (!!?). Yesterday I found a few skillpoints by gliding a bit off the regular ways and it was great fun.

*I have read a few but immediately stopped upon reading about “I must use X and Z else….”. Had a few forum mail conversations that helped a bit, but those were more hints in the right directions

I try to avoid youtube as much as possible, I get too much fun facing the unknown and discover new stuff by myself or with guildies.
I do use it to familiarize myself with raid mechanics, or to complete a daily JP that I haven’t done in years :P

Meh … if you don’t want to look up youtube videos then don’t.

On the other hand Draconis Mons is the only map I can think of where the devs messed up. The maps itself has more than 3 layers but the in game map only shows 3. There are also a couple of misleading roads on the southeast. There are like 3 paths stacked on top of each other combined with a map that is incapable of dealing with the layering.

I hardly ever use youtube.

I do occasionally. Most recently when the game disconnected just as the cut scene was starting before the final step of the new story. When I logged back in it told me it had completed so that was the only way I could actually see it.

And sometimes if I’m stuck on an achievement or a puzzle and I feel like I’ve exhausted all the options I’ll look up just that bit to see if I’m on the right track and how they do it – they I shut it down and carry on myself.

But for the story and especially exploring maps I like to do it all myself. One thing I think helps is that I’m never in a hurry – I like to take my time. When the new episode came out and on the first night people in my guild were “complaining”/bragging that they’d finished it already I was still on the lowest level of the new map going in what I knew was the wrong direction to see what was there.

I estimate it took me about 8 hours to do the new story, but I also got map completion shortly after. I spent a lot of time simply roaming around the map, not worrying about getting to the next marker as fast as possible and I think that helped me learn my way around. I can’t tell my right from my left (I can just about manage up and down) and I always have trouble matching the world map up to what’s actually in-game so I didn’t worry about that – but I learned the landmarks by going back and forth across the map and that made it much easier to navigate.

only ever as a last resort, but I always spend a good few days working for it myself.

Very, very rarely do I use YouTube to find my way. Now, I may use the Wiki to help out, sometimes, when I’ve felt I’ve exhausted my own trial-and-error limits.

Since you state you find exploring boring, I would guess having YouTube video (and other guides) very helpful to you.

Good luck.

well i use it a lot when the location of the objective seems near but i cant find it i have to use youtube cause other wise it takes a lot of time

Nope…I think I would go mental without guides. I just don’t have a detective kind of brain y’know? Not wired for figuring out puzzles or complicated POI.

I need Youtube. I’m clumsy and impatient. I do try to find things myself but if I get lost for more than a couple of minutes, I just open Youtube. I don’t want to waste my free time on running around like a poisoned rat.

rarely i use youtube for exporation related stuff

jihm.2315:

i cant find anything lately without youtube in new areas and i dont think it a good thing , i wanna play the game not search for the exact paths of story npcs and vistas.
the good thing is that its beneficial to the community that does guides, but as a player i find it a bit tedious.

i hope new expansion has simple maps and directs the challenge somewhere else like more difficult mobs or something.

the less dulfy i will watch to find stuff the better

I haven’t played a game in 10 years that doesn’t use youtube or the internet somehow to provide information to the players. It’s just the way of the future I guess. It’s simply easier to do … and free.

Exploring, for me, is about learning my way around a map. Finding a particular point of interest for the first time isn’t my goal. The accomplishment is in mastering a challenging map like Tangled Depths. Video guides don’t spoil that for me. It takes more than watching a video and finding a point of interest one time to master these complex, layered maps.

The only way everyone is going to complete the game 100% without youtube is by removing all textures and obsticles (but the floor) and adding nav point lights saying, “achievement here!”

Nobody wants that.

I think we need to leave the slow burn achievements alone – some people actually like finding this stuff themselves, while everyone else currently has the option to look offsite. After all, should we stop having nice things for the sakes of momentary convenience?

Sometimes I use a video or read a guide. Other times, I don’t. I ended up with some conflicting inner monologue when it comes to that stuff. Cause I was really impressionable in the early days of my playing games and some people I played with were “figure it out on your own, you’re a failure if you need a guide” purists and others were “who cares, it’s a game, I’m going to go read a 500 page manuscript guide now.”

So I have this push-pull thing going on where I kinda see both sides of the argument and want the satisfaction of figuring out something on my own, but also want it now and just get impatient sometimes.

I play without youtube, until I get what I can, then, maybe I go to finish it off. like I got 32 of the Mursaat Tokens in Ember Bay on my own and only recently went and looked where the last 8 were.

Most comments here sound really idealistic. Have you tried to find all karka bugs in Lion’s Arch on your own? If so, congratulations. With the karkas, I even get the “I try alone until I can’t find any more and then look it up”, but I don’t even remember which heroe points I communed at in Tangled Depths. If they require heroe points for something in the future, I will have to check all locations anyway to get more.

Fortunately, the achievement tab lists the numbers for things like the Dive Master achievement. When I decided to finish it, I only had to look up those I haven’t done already by simply playing the game.

Another thing is that some of these collections are tied to something you need. I only finished the Dive Master achievement because I wanted the Mastery Point, same with the Skritt labyrinth and the karka hunt. I don’t find it fun to do these things and would rather spend my time in the game doing something else. So I’m glad that there are people who enjoy that content and share their experience on youtube.

There is an underlying tone here in some posts that express superiority if you “find things out on your own, don’t take the easy road, be patient.” For me, trial and error is not the best way to find things out. If I have information available, I use it. The designers already take into account that there is a wiki and youtube videos when designing new content. It should be challenging even if you already have the information. Knowing where the goggles are in the Not so Secret JP doesn’t really make it less harder to get the achievement. Knowing the mechanics of an encounter is often necessary to succeed.

I have no patience with people who don’t look up how to best fight Golem Mark II and ignore what people tell them in chat, staying dead on the ground for minutes, whine because nobody resurrects them, making the fight harder for everybody else (because they are part of the scaling without contributing). I wished nobody would resurrect them after the fight so they have to do the 20 seconds run from the waypoint anyway. Even knowing the mechanics, it takes some practice to learn where to stand and when to dodge. I look up fractals before I join a group, and are still surprised how it really works when you are actually playing them. My challenge is not to build new roads that lead to Rome, but to make them better and more efficient. That’s not less valuable than creating roads, just different.

Vayne.8563:

I play without youtube, until I get what I can, then, maybe I go to finish it off. like I got 32 of the Mursaat Tokens in Ember Bay on my own and only recently went and looked where the last 8 were.

Vayne: you are your own YouTube for your guildies. I lost track of how many times people have taken you up on your offer to be shown around, for puzzles or scavenging, or various instanced content.

And I’d argue that getting help from someone in the game (such as Vayne) isn’t meaningfully different from getting that help from Dulfy or the wiki or QTfy indirectly.

I’m impressed with folks who can manage it on their own without a guide. And some stuff I’ll do on my own. But sometimes ANet’s idea is that if finding 10 rocks is fun than finding 60 is six times as fun… and for me, it’s not at all; it’s less fun.

I don’t like to watch videos so I don’t use youtube, but I do read dulfy’s guides and pictures for things like tricky achievements and scavenging hunt collections.

Faaris.8013:

Most comments here sound really idealistic. Have you tried to find all karka bugs in Lion’s Arch on your own? If so, congratulations. With the karkas, I even get the “I try alone until I can’t find any more and then look it up”, but I don’t even remember which heroe points I communed at in Tangled Depths. If they require heroe points for something in the future, I will have to check all locations anyway to get more.

Fortunately, the achievement tab lists the numbers for things like the Dive Master achievement. When I decided to finish it, I only had to look up those I haven’t done already by simply playing the game.

Another thing is that some of these collections are tied to something you need. I only finished the Dive Master achievement because I wanted the Mastery Point, same with the Skritt labyrinth and the karka hunt. I don’t find it fun to do these things and would rather spend my time in the game doing something else. So I’m glad that there are people who enjoy that content and share their experience on youtube.

There is an underlying tone here in some posts that express superiority if you “find things out on your own, don’t take the easy road, be patient.” For me, trial and error is not the best way to find things out. If I have information available, I use it. The designers already take into account that there is a wiki and youtube videos when designing new content. It should be challenging even if you already have the information. Knowing where the goggles are in the Not so Secret JP doesn’t really make it less harder to get the achievement. Knowing the mechanics of an encounter is often necessary to succeed.

I have no patience with people who don’t look up how to best fight Golem Mark II and ignore what people tell them in chat, staying dead on the ground for minutes, whine because nobody resurrects them, making the fight harder for everybody else (because they are part of the scaling without contributing). I wished nobody would resurrect them after the fight so they have to do the 20 seconds run from the waypoint anyway. Even knowing the mechanics, it takes some practice to learn where to stand and when to dodge. I look up fractals before I join a group, and are still surprised how it really works when you are actually playing them. My challenge is not to build new roads that lead to Rome, but to make them better and more efficient. That’s not less valuable than creating roads, just different.

The karka had a sound affect that increased in volume as you got closer. I got all of them without resorting to looking them up. I did it with my wife and between us we figured them all out by following the clues in combination with the audo queues.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Vayne.8563:

I play without youtube, until I get what I can, then, maybe I go to finish it off. like I got 32 of the Mursaat Tokens in Ember Bay on my own and only recently went and looked where the last 8 were.

Vayne: you are your own YouTube for your guildies. I lost track of how many times people have taken you up on your offer to be shown around, for puzzles or scavenging, or various instanced content.

And I’d argue that getting help from someone in the game (such as Vayne) isn’t meaningfully different from getting that help from Dulfy or the wiki or QTfy indirectly.

I’m impressed with folks who can manage it on their own without a guide. And some stuff I’ll do on my own. But sometimes ANet’s idea is that if finding 10 rocks is fun than finding 60 is six times as fun… and for me, it’s not at all; it’s less fun.

The funny bit is, I get a lot of credit, but most of what I learn comes from playing with my wife who just loves to explore (as you well know). She’s the real hero in all this.

I just get the accolades. lol

i mean exploring is cool for those who like it but for me personally i have no mood to spend 3 hours to find a vista or a mastery, game is forcing me to go to youtube.
also those who say that all mmos have youtube guides yes they have guides for gold farming , boss encounters and crafting mostly.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Vayne.8563:

I play without youtube, until I get what I can, then, maybe I go to finish it off. like I got 32 of the Mursaat Tokens in Ember Bay on my own and only recently went and looked where the last 8 were.

Vayne: you are your own YouTube for your guildies. I lost track of how many times people have taken you up on your offer to be shown around, for puzzles or scavenging, or various instanced content.

And I’d argue that getting help from someone in the game (such as Vayne) isn’t meaningfully different from getting that help from Dulfy or the wiki or QTfy indirectly.

I’m impressed with folks who can manage it on their own without a guide. And some stuff I’ll do on my own. But sometimes ANet’s idea is that if finding 10 rocks is fun than finding 60 is six times as fun… and for me, it’s not at all; it’s less fun.

I beg to differ (to a small extent) when you ask a person rather than looking for a video.
Of course, in techncial terms, it will amount to the same thing, but when escorted by a player there’s a sense of immersive rightfulness. As if you didn’t cheat. Just like in the real world you would ask a person for advice and they’d show you. I mean, from an immersive point of view, looking up a guide or getting help ingame by someone else feels truly different to me..
I hope you understand what I mean

Amaimon.7823:

I beg to differ (to a small extent) when you ask a person rather than looking for a video.
Of course, in techncial terms, it will amount to the same thing, but when escorted by a player there’s a sense of immersive rightfulness. As if you didn’t cheat. Just like in the real world you would ask a person for advice and they’d show you. I mean, from an immersive point of view, looking up a guide or getting help ingame by someone else feels truly different to me..
I hope you understand what I mean

There indeed is a difference, and for me it’s the opposite. I much prefer reading guides instead of bothering someone and making them to waste their time to help me with something I could find out easily on my own from a guide. Same in real, I never ask help from anyone if I can find something out myself.

So guess it’s a good thing that both ways work.

Ameepa.6793:

Amaimon.7823:

I beg to differ (to a small extent) when you ask a person rather than looking for a video.
Of course, in techncial terms, it will amount to the same thing, but when escorted by a player there’s a sense of immersive rightfulness. As if you didn’t cheat. Just like in the real world you would ask a person for advice and they’d show you. I mean, from an immersive point of view, looking up a guide or getting help ingame by someone else feels truly different to me..
I hope you understand what I mean

There indeed is a difference, and for me it’s the opposite. I much prefer reading guides instead of bothering someone and making them to waste their time to help me with something I could find out easily on my own from a guide. Same in real, I never ask help from anyone if I can find something out myself.

So guess it’s a good thing that both ways work.

Of course, I agree with you. But when you ask, it’s a request, not a demand. And yes, you should always to solve a problem yourself, first. But there is never shame in asking for help, and it’s depending on the other person’s generosity whether or not they help you. And if you feel bothered by getting by help, you can always reward them for their time. I tend to mail people some gold if they helped me with something I was stuck on.

I hate multilevel mazes like HoT maps especially this new LS map, it’s horrible! I hope they change this in next xpac.

I never explored HoT on my chars, leveled them all in wvw. Thats how I enjoy those maps.

There is no way I would want to waste my time running around the map for hours on end looking for some things for an achievement. Videos for this help me so much and really help me enjoy the new zones. After all, the only reason I do the scavenger hunts is for the AP because I would not enjoy looking for that last item for hours when I could be doing something else. The scavenger hunt achievements really help me find new areas in maps that I would not normally go to which is the good part of having achievements like this but the actual searching for the items I do not like.

Because of this, I think these achievements should stay exactly how hard they are right now or maybe even harder. People who like doing these hard achievements should be able to do so and have their enjoyment. People like me who do not care for that stuff can just follow a guide. Exactly how it should be in my opinion.

Zedek.8932:

Excelsior.

Fondly remembering “LANDSTALKER” for the MegaDrive. Wow, Nigel and Friday..

I remember being stuck trying to find a path in Greenmaze for days! Love that game though!

As for the actual topic, I personally don’t get the not being able to find things without YouTube problem. At no stage in the game, core, HoT or LS maps have I needed any help / guide / youtube video to show me how to get POIs, Vistas, MPs etc. Paths are pretty clear on the map, and in the case of a few maps it’s just a case of checking what level they are on. MPs & Vistas again I just go near them, look up and try to logically backtrace the route, which is pretty easy to do.

Also gliding makes things a lot easier to get to, I got most of the map completion done quite quickly that way, had it all done before I’d even unlocked Oakhearts Reach.

I will admit the first few days in the new map I did see people post in map chat how to get to x place, so sure there are some out there who can’t find things. But to be honest I also wonder how many of those are asking out of laziness, as most of the time the places asked for are stupidly easy ones, as in if they’d walked just in the direction of it then they’d have gotten it.

Amaimon.7823:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Vayne.8563:

I play without youtube, until I get what I can, then, maybe I go to finish it off. like I got 32 of the Mursaat Tokens in Ember Bay on my own and only recently went and looked where the last 8 were.

Vayne: you are your own YouTube for your guildies. I lost track of how many times people have taken you up on your offer to be shown around, for puzzles or scavenging, or various instanced content.

And I’d argue that getting help from someone in the game (such as Vayne) isn’t meaningfully different from getting that help from Dulfy or the wiki or QTfy indirectly.

I’m impressed with folks who can manage it on their own without a guide. And some stuff I’ll do on my own. But sometimes ANet’s idea is that if finding 10 rocks is fun than finding 60 is six times as fun… and for me, it’s not at all; it’s less fun.

I beg to differ (to a small extent) when you ask a person rather than looking for a video.
Of course, in techncial terms, it will amount to the same thing, but when escorted by a player there’s a sense of immersive rightfulness. As if you didn’t cheat. Just like in the real world you would ask a person for advice and they’d show you. I mean, from an immersive point of view, looking up a guide or getting help ingame by someone else feels truly different to me..
I hope you understand what I mean

I understand what you mean, I just can’t agree it’s important to me how you play or vice versa. To me, asking Vayne for help isn’t any different than asking Dulfy — I’m still relying on someone else. (If I RP’d, I still wouldn’t see any difference — there’s no reason why my character couldn’t be a loner who was good at researching solutions at the Vigil Library.)

By the way, the use of the term “cheating” in this context is weird. It’s not like there are any official or unofficial “Generally Established Rules” covering how to play MMOs. Some people do it all on their own, some only ask for help when they get stuck, some just blindly follow a guide — in the end, they all get the same AP and they all know how they went about doing it. Would Steph Curry or Neymar be superior ballplayers if they weren’t coached or didn’t receive training? Does it really matter how much is due to their innate abilities, how much to do with their ability to learn, or who they learned from?

Ragnarox.9601:

I hate multilevel mazes like HoT maps especially this new LS map, it’s horrible! I hope they change this in next xpac.

I never explored HoT on my chars, leveled them all in wvw. Thats how I enjoy those maps.

didnt explore them either only the first two zones
theres so many other things to do that i cant dedicate time on hot maps

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Amaimon.7823:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Vayne.8563:

I play without youtube, until I get what I can, then, maybe I go to finish it off. like I got 32 of the Mursaat Tokens in Ember Bay on my own and only recently went and looked where the last 8 were.

Vayne: you are your own YouTube for your guildies. I lost track of how many times people have taken you up on your offer to be shown around, for puzzles or scavenging, or various instanced content.

And I’d argue that getting help from someone in the game (such as Vayne) isn’t meaningfully different from getting that help from Dulfy or the wiki or QTfy indirectly.

I’m impressed with folks who can manage it on their own without a guide. And some stuff I’ll do on my own. But sometimes ANet’s idea is that if finding 10 rocks is fun than finding 60 is six times as fun… and for me, it’s not at all; it’s less fun.

I beg to differ (to a small extent) when you ask a person rather than looking for a video.
Of course, in techncial terms, it will amount to the same thing, but when escorted by a player there’s a sense of immersive rightfulness. As if you didn’t cheat. Just like in the real world you would ask a person for advice and they’d show you. I mean, from an immersive point of view, looking up a guide or getting help ingame by someone else feels truly different to me..
I hope you understand what I mean

I understand what you mean, I just can’t agree it’s important to me how you play or vice versa. To me, asking Vayne for help isn’t any different than asking Dulfy — I’m still relying on someone else. (If I RP’d, I still wouldn’t see any difference — there’s no reason why my character couldn’t be a loner who was good at researching solutions at the Vigil Library.)

By the way, the use of the term “cheating” in this context is weird. It’s not like there are any official or unofficial “Generally Established Rules” covering how to play MMOs. Some people do it all on their own, some only ask for help when they get stuck, some just blindly follow a guide — in the end, they all get the same AP and they all know how they went about doing it. Would Steph Curry or Neymar be superior ballplayers if they weren’t coached or didn’t receive training? Does it really matter how much is due to their innate abilities, how much to do with their ability to learn, or who they learned from?

nah, I didn’t mean it that harsh, like cheating, I’m not a roleplayer, but I love good immersion, and using internet to get answers kinda breaks immersion for me, but that’s a personal experience. What I meant to say was “use the resources within the world”, so a coach is fine, since that’s a valid resource

I use it when doing what I am doing stops being fun and become frustrating.

Gonna chime in on this one….

I don’t use YouTube for much. I will use it to find the entrance of a JP (if I can’t find a location on the wiki), and recently find the rout for the newer JPs, as they do not have any logical pathing (which is something I don’t really like). I really like the Jumping Puzzles that I can see where I have to go, and figure out how to get there. Kind of like the one in the Fractal Hub, even the Aetherblade one. But EB and now DM have some very ambiguous path which is not as much of a jumping puzzle as it is a “where do I go” puzzle.

Amaimon.7823:

What I meant to say was “use the resources within the world”, so a coach is fine, since that’s a valid resource

So if we had an ingame youtube, like a theater, where you could watch a tutorial on how to level up crafting from 425 on, that would be fine? I think ArenaNet purposely left these things to external sources. You can even open a wiki page from the ingame chat window. They are basically outsourcing information provision for their content. The API is another thing that shows how they view it. They wanted pages like gw2efficiency, but didn’t want to start them themselves. So I believe sources outside the game are as valid as ingame resources. At the end of the day, it’s up to the individual player to find the most enjoyable way to play the game. I just think that people who don’t use external sources are not superior. In my “world”, permanently asking for information that is readily available is not a positive trait. I do ask for stuff that I could figure out myself sometimes, I just make sure to not bother people and look lazy.

jihm.2315:

i mean exploring is cool for those who like it but for me personally i have no mood to spend 3 hours to find a vista or a mastery, game is forcing me to go to youtube.
also those who say that all mmos have youtube guides yes they have guides for gold farming , boss encounters and crafting mostly.

Let me get this straight: the game is “forcing” you to go to youtube because you insist to quickly master content meant for people who enjoy different things than you?

If you want to play the story then do so, but exploring the right paths is part of the story, and if you don’t enjoy that part then maybe the story isn’t the right fit for your gaming time?

Personally I love exploration. I’m very much a “learning by doing” person in games. Looking up paths or mechanics on youtube doesn’t help me one bit, but experiencing stuff, whether it’s a map to explore or a raid fight to win, is the way I learn things.

The new map has given me an experience that reminds me of the old rpgs I loved to play back in the 80s and 90s (yes, I’m that old ), before in-game maps and automapping were a thing, and I had a blast figuiring out how to get to places.

Personally I would love a lot more maps of this kind, but I can accept that a lot of people don’t enjoy this kind of thing as much as I do, so I can live with the fact that true exploration maps are few and far between. But don’t touch my exploration maps because you don’t like to explore and don’t like to youtube your way around either!

I used youtube for few JPs maybe…. not sure why would you need it for vistas etc. – they are pretty obvious for most part.

Options > Content guide > Disable Personal Story and Events. That way it only shows map objectives. You’re welcome

Uuuuh. I just walk around and explore? Why would I be in any hurry to find things?