Guild Wars 2

For some background, I pre-ordered Guild Wars 2 back in the day and participated in the betas. I was coming off of World of Warcraft after they changed the Paladin mechanics, and I remember being quite happy with the Greatsword Guardian as it played similarly to my Retribution Paladin before they implemented Holy Power. I did take some breaks from Guild Wars 2 every now and then, but I did manage to experience the whole Flame and Frost arc and some of the events before I stopped playing after the Tower of Nightmares in November of 2013. At this point, I had invested about $120 into Guild Wars 2, counting the retail box, but felt like I had made a bad investment. (Being an altoholic sucks when the default character slots are not enough to cover each class.)

My main was a Human Guardian, got to Level 80, and loved playing my alts. However, my enjoyment turned into frustration as the issues I had with Guild Wars 2 grew, eventually making me quitting the game.

The main issue that I was having was that playing Guild Wars 2 felt like work. I am somewhat of a completionist, wanting to get all the achievements, play all the races, enjoy each class, and experience each story branch. However, almost at every opportunity, the game would “assign me tasks” that I had to do. Do your daily quests, accomplish your monthly tasks, but the worst of all, work on the Living World content.

The Living World delivery may have sounded good on paper, but since it only showed up for about a month before disappearing forever, it applied great pressure to accomplish everything possible and get the achievements before they expire. Needless to say, this was the main factor that led me into quitting Guild Wars 2.

However, there were other issues. Most of it is likely a cause of being victim to the hype, but there were so many things that were just never implemented. I wanted Bar Brawl, Target Practice, all of these little mini-games they were talking about before release. The Personal Story was to be this magnificent tale that focused on the player character. Alas, these elements were lacking. Most of the mini-games were not implemented, and the Personal Story mostly ended up being a trainwreck besides a few gems in the rough. (Tybalt Leftpaw and Human Streetrat storyline come to mind)

For the most part, the personal story could be summed as a fragmented mess that threw the player character into a different story arc every 10 levels with perhaps just a sentence or two connecting them together. Sure, you could see old faces down the road and maybe make some choices (What is the purpose of Brutality, Charm, and Dignity anyway?), but it really didn’t have an major impact. The thing is, I saw the potential what the Personal Story could have been. The Human Street Rat storyline is perhaps the most polished out of all the Personal Story arcs, even having voiced mail! However, overall the Personal Story isn’t really that memorable.

While some of the minor issues I had were eventually resolved (such as having account-wide dyes and WvW exp), all of the negativity left its scars on me. The Living World was perhaps the greatest element that made me to leave.

Essentially, to a player that once enjoyed a little bit of WvW and PvP, but mainly was focused on PvE solo content, is it worth coming back to Guild Wars 2? I want to experience a good storyline and have fun while playing, instead of being “assigned tasks” by the game to do. I want to relax and have fun, not do my “gaming chores”.

Hello!

I agree with what you say about the Living World. Back in the Tower of Nightmares, it was easy for me to keep up with all the “requirements”, but later on, it became increasingly difficult – not skill-wise, but because I was getting bored of the treadmill.

I’m sure you’re keeping track of the “recent” changes, but let me tell you – they have made changes to the way the Living World works. It is no longer comprised of one-off events, like it was back in Season 1. Season 2 has its Stories organized like the Personal Story chapters. Needless to say, the quality is astronomical, compared to the PS. You have the opportunity to unlock each chapter as it is released (by playing it). If you’re late, you can unlock each for ~200 gems, I may be wrong.
All of the LW achievements unlock upon playthrough and they tie in nicely in the greater scheme of things, which is why I have been saving them for now. There’s value in replay.

To answer your question, it is worth coming back to Guild Wars 2. Here’s why.

• The LW is much more relaxed now, compared to Season 1.
• You will experience no “old content player withdrawal”; i.e. maps and events will always be populated, due to the Megaserver system.
• PvE, WvW, and PvP have only been getting better since you left.

It’s allowed to slack Also depends on the people you surround yourself with. Give me a poke in-game if you want to hang out!

There isn’t any time limit on the living story achievements anymore but there are still the seasonal stuff like Wintersday and Halloween. Monthlies are also gone. Dailies are still around but they are just for the 10 AP and some extra stuff, they are no longer required for laurels.

The Personal Story hasn’t gotten any better and it might have gotten a bit worse although that is supposed to be getting fixed at some point. On the other hand the fix is just putting it back to how it was before.

If you want to play for story … go with a single player game instead.