Guild Wars 2

The 1 single thing I would have changed, and I think its too late for them to do anything about.

And I’m really trying hard to word this accurately, but it feels like progression is walled….

its like walking into this beautiful new area, so much to do and explore! so much awesome places to go…then a brick wall slams down in front of you, and have to work hard to break through it, soon as you do, another brick wall slams down in front of you.

I can’t really describe how disappointed I was when I started the new story, and got smacked in the face with a brick wall.

“ok guys we are in grave danger! if we dont get that dragon and save the pact we are all goners! Lets get too it!!…..soon as our commander learns how to glide, updraft, lean, eat shrooms, and not die from poison. …dont worry commander….we’ll wait…sarcasm”

Me: “OHKAY GUIZ! I”R BE BAK IN 259 HOURS! gunna farm me some events for a couple weaks! Soz I no hao to eat shroomz! lolz!!!1"

The only ray of sunshine in all this, is i only have to do it once. Soon as this grind is over I can play the game =D

Seriously though! Great job on the expansion, no serious person here expected it to be perfect, but just can’t shake the feeling of intentional cheaply done forced slowed progression, and a side of money grabbing.

/wave see you in game.

The grind doesn’t take that long to access the new areas and content. My understanding is that lot of the later tiers of masteries aren’t needed to complete the story.

Gated content allows character progression which is a staple to any MMO and expansion.

You are wrong Lome.8239, gated content does not “allow” progression, it “limits” it.

The idea of time gating is to stop people rushing and then QQing about how they have nothing to do. What should happen in a top level MMO is the content is relesed in stages, some people rush (and QQ but you give them other things to get on with like ultra hard mode raids that take months) while other people finish in a few weeks (rather than hours/days) and get on with things like fractles/dungeons/crafting etc…

I find the personaly story to be rather dull, like it should be over already and is just being drawn out because someone high up in Anet likes it rather than because its actualy a good idea.

Lome.8239:

Gated content allows character progression which is a staple to any MMO and expansion.

What? I must have missed that chapter in the homework.

Gated content is a cheap way to force players to slow down, giving a false sense of longevity to an expansion, and the game designers time to set up for the next dose of the game.

as for the last part of your statement, only staple when you are catering to the “gimmy now!” 12 year old spoiled gamer mentality, with 18 hours a day to play a game.

Guild Wars 2 is not about that kind of game play, or gamer.

if this has changed, then we have the biggest case of “bait and switch” in the history of gaming! Its is (was) a well established fact that Anet and guild wars 2 was created withOUT the “grinding” eternal progression via bigger better gear, mentality that plagues MMOs.

The grind is real.

Yes, the main point of gated content is to slow people down.

But it allows character progression in the fact that you feel accomplished when you do the work, get rewarded and step into new content.

Stop being dramatic. lol

Lome.8239:

Yes, the main point of gated content is to slow people down.

But it allows character progression in the fact that you feel accomplished when you do the work, get rewarded and step into new content.

Stop being dramatic. lol

No, I feel crippled because the game constantly tells me what I CANNOT do, instead of what I CAN do.

Lumea.6845:

Lome.8239:

Yes, the main point of gated content is to slow people down.

But it allows character progression in the fact that you feel accomplished when you do the work, get rewarded and step into new content.

Stop being dramatic. lol

No, I feel crippled because the game constantly tells me what I CANNOT do, instead of what I CAN do.

^ This. Very much this!

/topictoshorttosavemessageisstupid

About the gating, I am pretty surprised that people feel that being able to trade with Itzel is limiting their experience. I mean, what is really important : 1st tier in every mastery, save for gliding where you need two.
With this you can do the all story and go almost everywhere (not hidden places). It is like 5 hours of gameplay to get those requirements. The rest is almost convenient options which improve QOL when you unlock it.
Did people feel like leveling to 80 was gated content? Because it was in a way : you couldn’t go to the last maps in the game and do the events by being level 2. More than that, by not having a full set of traits and tri stats gear you actually had a harder time doing Story mission than doing them at level 80.
If people didn’t grind to level 80 I don’t see why they are unable to level their mastery. Why being in such a hurry? I you don’t have time to play, then don’t play. Would you start a Monopoly game knowing you can only play for 10 minutes before leaving? Even here the comparison doesn’t hold ’cause if you play GW2 10 minutes and log out, the next time you log in you will find your character at the exact same position.

Ranael.6423:

About the gating, I am pretty surprised that people feel that being able to trade with Itzel is limiting their experience. I mean, what is really important : 1st tier in every mastery, save for gliding where you need two.
With this you can do the all story and go almost everywhere (not hidden places). It is like 5 hours of gameplay to get those requirements. The rest is almost convenient options which improve QOL when you unlock it.
Did people feel like leveling to 80 was gated content? Because it was in a way : you couldn’t go to the last maps in the game and do the events by being level 2. More than that, by not having a full set of traits and tri stats gear you actually had a harder time doing Story mission than doing them at level 80.
If people didn’t grind to level 80 I don’t see why they are unable to level their mastery. Why being in such a hurry? I you don’t have time to play, then don’t play. Would you start a Monopoly game knowing you can only play for 10 minutes before leaving? Even here the comparison doesn’t hold ’cause if you play GW2 10 minutes and log out, the next time you log in you will find your character at the exact same position.

1. Youre missing the whole point. Nobody expected to log in and have everythign.
2. Youre missing the point by a long shot! you didn’t read what I posted.
3. 5 hours? no, its more like 15-20. DOING THE SAME kitten OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
4. Leveling gave you access to dozens of zones, quests, Pois, vista’s etc. with each level giving you MORE places to go. Besides that at level 1 you had INSTANT access to the entire game. There was NO WHERE you couldn’t go, although you might die every 10 feet of exploring, you could still get there!
5. An equal comparison would be to log into the game for the first time, and THE FIRST QUEST YOU CAN DO requires you to master crafting, and reach level 25 killing boars. AND if you want to leave the newby area you are insta-killed by poison that requires MORE grinding to avoid/survive, and 50% of all vistas, POIs, skill shrines, etc are well out of reach regardless of your skill, level, gear, until you aquire a full set of legendary/asc items

Methal.9045:

1. Youre missing the whole point. Nobody expected to log in and have everythign.
2. Youre missing the point by a long shot! you didn’t read what I posted.
3. 5 hours? no, its more like 15-20. DOING THE SAME kitten OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
4. Leveling gave you access to dozens of zones, quests, Pois, vista’s etc. with each level giving you MORE places to go. Besides that at level 1 you had INSTANT access to the entire game. There was NO WHERE you couldn’t go, although you might die every 10 feet of exploring, you could still get there!
5. An equal comparison would be to log into the game for the first time, and THE FIRST QUEST YOU CAN DO requires you to master crafting, and reach level 25 killing boars. AND if you want to leave the newby area you are insta-killed by poison that requires MORE grinding to avoid/survive, and 50% of all vistas, POIs, skill shrines, etc are well out of reach regardless of your skill, level, gear, until you aquire a full set of legendary/asc items

1. No sorry, people want to glide, jump on mushrooms, read exalted marks, don’t fell the itzel poison and play their totally unlocked Espec as soon as they enter the jungle.

2. Because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I can’t read

3. In 20 hours I’m level 2 in every mastery line save the Exalted. One third of the total exp went to level1, so around 6 hours. If you needed that more then you didn’t figure out the right way to play the maps.

4. Getting in the jungle grants you access to 4 maps, full of hero challenge, vistas, mastery points. Sure you can’t get them all directly but you can come back later (=replay value). It is a matter of power wall Vs mastery wall.

5.Totally fair comparison, not a single trace of exaggeration (/irony)

Lome.8239:

Yes, the main point of gated content is to slow people down.

But it allows character progression in the fact that you feel accomplished when you do the work, get rewarded and step into new content.

Stop being dramatic. lol

its called a “false sense of accomplishment” and means nothing.

you grinded out 50 levels, at 12 hours a day for 5 months killing nothing but large rats to get a rusty dagger? grats youre a moron.

Doesn’t make that rusty dagger anything other than a rusty dagger, and certainly does not increase its value.

Effort to acquire, and rarity does NOT increase an items/achievements worth.

The reward’s value is not increased by rarity, or difficulty. In fact often times it is cheapened by it.
“I put all that effort into this crap?!?”

Same feeling if you were to work for several days and be rewarded with a french fry.
or working hard all year around and get for a Christmas bonus a pumpkin pie.

Same emotions, and principals apply in gaming. Something a lot of designers (including Anet) do NOT understand.

Sure they have a full time economist, big wup when they can’t figure out the simplest concepts of “Risk vrs Reward.”

It is intrinsic to, and an unavoidable part of human nature to question the value of a reward, when faced with an obstacle to over come.

The best way I can sum up the expansion is this: Having been invited to a feast, arriving and seeing a spread of the most delicious looking food only to be told you can eat portions of it depending on how many push ups you can do without stopping.
50 earns you a bite of turkey,
100 earns you some drink to wash it down.
200 earns you desert.
etc.

at some point you decide that the reward is not worth the effort, and move on to other things.

Same holds true with Guild Wars. Eventually these forced slows, and walled progression will turn people away.
we already know that the reward is going to be a box tied to an RNG with no increase in character strength, but only a sense of accomplishment that is easily disregarded by the effort its going to take to get there.

This thread has turned into the OP arguing with any rational response.

Lome.8239:

This thread has turned into the OP arguing with any rational response.

You have yet to offer any rational response.