Guild Wars 2

The main reason why I am posting is for catharsis and to get this off my chest. Most of what I am posting has probably been written on the forums already so don’t feel like you must read this as it could get long.

First off, I am not upset per se at the all the grinds that HoT has introduced. I’m not saying I like it but I’m not mad. Some players like all the new content that HoT has introduced and I think that is great for them. Also, I hold no grudge against the direction that Anet has decided to take some of this new content as it is their prerogative. And feel free to say great we don’t want players like you here anyway…it’s fine. This isn’t a vote with your pocketbook rant. People should by all means play the new content and pay for it if they like it. It’s just not for me.

My main issue for pursuing a refund stems from the gating of Elite Specs behind Hero Points. I basically have one of every class and it is almost impossible for me at this point to unlock all of the elite specs for them all due to various reasons I will get into. I feel especially bad for those altaholics out there who have upwards of 20 characters. I was looking forward to playing all of the elite specs for the most part but the grind involved for this is a killer. And no, 250 points doesn’t make me any less excited about the prospect…might as well raised it to 1000 it would have been the same for me. It’s too much for me.

Before I get too far into it here is why I got into GW2 in the first place. I was tired of the grind of years of playing themepark mmos mainly WOW and SWTOR. In these games as many of you know everything is based on the power of your character and the gear they wear and the grind is very real especially from expansion to expansion. GW2 was a breath of fresh air when I first heard of some of the mechanics they would have, the main one being no lvl cap increase. When I hit lvl 80 on my first toon I bought all my gear straight away and from that point on I could go experience any of the content in the entire game. I took 6 months off somewhere over the past 3 years but I came back and guess what…my guy was still in the best gear and just as powerful as ever. The other part of the equation is I have 2 children under the age of 4 so my gaming time isn’t what it used to be. Binge playing for hours was possible years ago so the grind for the next gear set wasn’t as big of a deal. Now it is. Unlocking all HP points necessary for all my toons is quite an undertaking time wise.

As I mentioned I took a little break from the game as it got a little stale but then Anet made a push to make everything account bound suddenly I was interested in the game again. The prospect of playing alts seemed much more appealing to me if almost everything was sharable. I am not one for repeating content but the idea of experiencing everything through the new lens of a new playstyle was great. This was my horizontal progression before there was horizontal progression and it was a huge step forward for the game in my opinion. But going back to the HP system for unlocking elite specs. I feel like this is two steps backwards in regards to playing alts. This feels like the level cap has just been raised to 90 and I have to grind all my characters an extra ten levels to get my new powers. If I wanted to do this I would have stayed with WOW or SWTOR but I didn’t want that and that’s why I left. The character has always been sacred ground of no grind in GW2. Like I said before when I hit 80 I know I can get all of my gear and have all traits available to me forever and HoT has screwed with this.

To be clear I think that the Mastery system grind is great and grinding for cosmetics and legendaries is awesome. Every game should have things to strive for and grind for but character abilities and traits should not be one of them in GW2 IMO. So like I said before I am not mad at Anet or other players who like the content…play how you want to play. GW2 was the anti-mmo mmo and thats why I gravitated towards it. Now with this HP gating of elite specs it is starting to feel like all the rest.

Flame away.

I’m sorry you feel that way. I hope you come back

With the change to the megaserver, the reduced cost of elite specs, and the fact masteries are account bound you can probably grind out the spec on an alt in a few hours. If you can’t spare a few hours to play an alt, why even have an alt?

Most game’s expansions are going to require you to level up all your alts and many then require a gear grind for each alt. I’m not sure what game you’re going to find that doesn’t. But, good luck finding that game and have fun playing it.

I sort of agree, I too get frustrated when I feel that rewards are coming too slowly and I am having to repeat content over and over to obtain them.

But imagine if you could unlock everything in 2 hours. WOuld you keep playing? I know I wouldn’t.

I think the mastery levelling is a little slow for my tastes… but its acceptable.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Most game’s expansions are going to require you to level up all your alts and many then require a gear grind for each alt. I’m not sure what game you’re going to find that doesn’t. But, good luck finding that game and have fun playing it.

I was enjoying that game and that game was GW2. Like I said I’m not mad about it just disappointed.

GuzziHero.2467:

I sort of agree, I too get frustrated when I feel that rewards are coming too slowly and I am having to repeat content over and over to obtain them.

But imagine if you could unlock everything in 2 hours. WOuld you keep playing? I know I wouldn’t.

I think the mastery levelling is a little slow for my tastes… but its acceptable.

I have played GW2 since launch so I have enjoyed the game and specifically when everything was made account wide and having alts was much easier. I never said I wanted to unlock everything in 2 hours only that I don’t like the HP gating. I like the mastery system and in fact I have 2 legendaries so I don’t mind the grind for cosmetics and such just not a grind for the ability to play my character at full capability.

That’s a very calmly written catharsis. It could easily have descended to rant but you held it together. Bravo. I get where you’re coming from. Can I suggest – unless the refund is critical to your finances, and if it’s not too late, perhaps hold off on it for now? There’s no subscription so if you feel like coming back in 6 months or a year, you’ll still have that option. Things will undoubtably look different, for the game and/or yourself, by then. In any case, good luck in whatever path you take.

tlf.9518:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Most game’s expansions are going to require you to level up all your alts and many then require a gear grind for each alt. I’m not sure what game you’re going to find that doesn’t. But, good luck finding that game and have fun playing it.

I was enjoying that game and that game was GW2. Like I said I’m not mad about it just disappointed.

Like I said, good luck in finding the MMO you’ll enjoy where that game’s expansion doesn’t require you to level and gear up each alt individuality. I’m sure they’re out there though I couldn’t give you any names. All the MMOs I know of offhand have a level increase and regear with each expansion.

250 is actually fair. 400 was way too many.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

That’s a very calmly written catharsis. It could easily have descended to rant but you held it together. Bravo. I get where you’re coming from. Can I suggest – unless the refund is critical to your finances, and if it’s not too late, perhaps hold off on it for now? There’s no subscription so if you feel like coming back in 6 months or a year, you’ll still have that option. Things will undoubtably look different, for the game and/or yourself, by then. In any case, good luck in whatever path you take.

Some wise advice for sure. The refund is under submission so we will see. However, if they make some changes in the future I will definitely come back. I like supporting any game that I enjoy and have fun with so I really hope one day I have a reason to return.

I call BS on the parenting bit, it’s all about time management…how you manage your time, working, eating, sleeping and playing, both for yourself and family…and making sure the you yourself are happy is going to make your family happier…that’s a proven psychological fact. As for obtaining a refund, I see no valid reason for A.net/NCSoft to give you one…also, you, along with many others obviously didn’t understand that it was going to take a lot of HP to unlock the Elite Spec, I knew long before hand that the ~200 HP pts I had on most of my characters wasn’t going to be sufficient to unlock the entire Elite Spec. Nor did I expect to use the Elite Spec on the first play through of HoT, I presumed it was known that it was more for a second/subsequent play through. Of course I realize that most people need more than 6 hours of sleep each night, even though it has now been proven that we need less sleep as we get older, and that the 8 hour standard is not the ideal. Anyways, good luck, and if you manage to get that refund, more power to you.

It’s 250 points, if you leveled your character not though tomes you only need to do FIVE to TEN hero challanges. And that is too much? It literally takes less than an hour now, really?

Two thoughts, OP.

1. Do as Zoltar suggested. Play when you want to and for as little as you want to, and adjust your expectations so that you don’t have to have completion at any specific time. After all, needing to rush to get everything is part of the game style you left behind.
2. If you do go through with the refund and leave GW2, you might consider single player games. These games have much less of a time commitment, and you can drag them out as long as you like. Sometimes, the stories are better, also.