Guild Wars 2

Greetings,

I’ve stopped playing Guild Wars for quite some time now and I was wondering if it’s worth coming back. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the game itself. Hence the reason I’m asking the question. But the reason I quit was due to the horrendous experiences I’ve had with the in-game community. Stuff like getting kicked out of a level 35 dungeon repeatedly for being… OMG! level 40! And that while they never even stated they were looking for max lvl players only. I think I’ve managed to get into one party for a dungeon during my entire /played time (before max lvl). That party was full of ‘lowbies’, and we still kicked kitten and completed the dungeon smoothly.

Or getting harrassed in PvE when playing solo for the sole reason of playing a class someone happens to ‘hate’ like a Thief. It didn’t happen often, but still…

In the end, I found myself soloing the bog-standard PvE content to max lvl, because I had too many unpleasant to downright horrible experiences with groups in the game. And to be perfectly honest, I tend to quickly lose interest in an MMO when I start playing it like a glorified single player RPG.

And I know, finding a guild would be a good thing. But I play the game very casually due to pretty harsh time-constraints and I hate being dead weight in a guild by playing only a few times each week. And besides that, I’ve yet to find a good guild that accepts such very casual players like me and not be virtually empty every time I log on because everyone in the guild plays as sparsely as I do. :P

Back to my original question; Is it worth getting back into the game and starting over? Or has the ‘elistist’ attitude persisted or even grown (not talking about PvP, because I have long since accepted that this side of any MMO usually devolves into peen-measuring constests anyway)?

Thank you in advance for any input you guys can give me!

I don’t think anyone but you can answer that question.

But why not give it a go and find out? There’s no subscription so at worst you’ll lose a little bit of time, but at least you’ll know for sure instead of trying to decide which random strangers opinions to believe.

Someone ‘hates’ a thief? …maybe they got owned too many times in wvw by me? hehe… er or by thieves. But as far as for AC, if you die a lot, yeah you could get kicked. If you are holding the group back by mid way, it’s sometimes best for a player to go home and rethink their lives /waves hand* hehe. Though I’m usually opposed to kicking a player at the end, even if they are a [hated] ranger. But in a full 80 group with one lowbie? shouldn’t be any problem in AC. Actually most pugs (pick up groups) are often times 2-80’s and the rest ranging 40-70, that’s just AC. But now most that run only 80 groups have guilds, friends lists and/or the lfg website. Maybe try the gw2lfg site for a group if all else fails, should find all types of groups there.

I can’t help you with the mmo vs. rpg thing. I like both, but primarily sandbox. GW2 is a switch for me, but not a stretch, as it behaves as a sandbox in some respects. I play mmo’s more though, for the past 15 yrs being my fav genre. In comparison, to at least what is available currently, I think gw2 is playable among the mmo’s …to the loss of some really great ones that died or changed into some ugly dreaded monsters (e.g. swg pre-nge, uo, eq1 etc). If gw2 doesn’t turn into kitten fresh play, it’ll stick around for a while.

I would suggest that you start over if you can bear to but that you find a good server with a nice, helpful, busy PvE community- this changes things considerably.
As far as I know you can transfer for free if you delete all your characters.

Edit I have never come across any of the things you mention, I have been playing on Gunnar’s Hold since betas: I have a lvl 80 Mesmer, Engineer.
I am currently leveling a Ranger- I have never seen profession hatred at all.

Also guesting is free- you can guest to 2 servers a day so you can check out which one is best for you. If you don’t want to delete your character you can earn gold to convert to gems for a paid transfer while you are deciding where you want to go.

Morrigan.2809:

I am currently leveling a Ranger- I have never seen profession hatred at all.

hah! uh-huh..
But really, I deleted my ranger mid-way through. A lot of people really don’t like it, broken pet and all. Ranger is often my preferred class in many mmo’s, but far from it here Not just the aggro monster pet, but like when I am on my warrior at a meta, I dread when a ranger shows up. Some of them use that big knock back bow skill like a grief. But don’t get me started… hah

Thief can be hated for those that run glass cannon builds and die all the time in non-glass cannon groups. I always make it a point to relieve everyone with the mention that I’m not running a glass build, it goes a long way lol. imo glass cannon thief build is mostly only useful in speed running cof1 with glass cannon warriors, which I don’t do.

In wvw thief can be hated for stealth, but in most cases I think it’s just about not understanding ones opponent. Like, in a lot of cases the lesser dps weapons are going to do better against thieves, yet most want to only carry the high dps weapons only which the thief can easily avoid. But they have been working out balancing, and maybe a bit too much kittening. After all, the more different the classes are, the more interesting things can be, especially if it forces you to adapt to a particular situation rather than the one size fits all mentality (i.e. dumbing down).

I wouldn’t worry about being “dead weight” in a guild… Many good guilds have the max 500 members, with anywhere from 50-100 members typically online at any time. I have not helped my guild much in terms of WvW, since I prefer PvE and working on numerous individual goals and achievements. But I don’t consider myself dead weight at all. I have contributed a bunch of influence points to the guild. I have joined guildmates in dungeons. I have joined guildmates in farming runs. I have helped (and been helped by) guildmates in earning difficult skill points or group events. I have joined guild bounty missions. And I reply to guild chat questions whenever I know the answer. These are really the only types of things you need to do to be considered a good guildie.

I think you answered your own question about the PUGs… join a guild where you’re more likely to get friendly groups.

That said, I have not experienced the bad things you mention with PUGs, and I have played almost 900 hours now. I did have one negative experience in a dungeon PUG with a player who was a complete arrogant jerk. I was the target of his ire, and after a few minutes of his crap I volunteered to be kicked from the group. To my surprise, the party kicked him instead, and helped me through that dungeon! Just two nights ago, a random player offered a party invite when we were both doing the same jumping puzzle, trying to get the monthly achievement. We ended up doing two more puzzles, one of which I would not have been able to do without his help, and had a great time. I’m still thinking about it, and how nice he was.

Like the real world, there are a lot of bad apples, but the good outnumber the bad in GW2, if you ask me.

Kobal.5234:

And I know, finding a guild would be a good thing. But I play the game very casually due to pretty harsh time-constraints and I hate being dead weight in a guild by playing only a few times each week. And besides that, I’ve yet to find a good guild that accepts such very casual players like me and not be virtually empty every time I log on because everyone in the guild plays as sparsely as I do. :P

You’re painting yourself into a corner. Pugging is always a risk in any game. Any population as large as GW2’s is going to contain a cross-section of humanity, and we are not all nice folks. Post in the Guild sub-forum about your play style, that you’re thinking of coming back, and about when and for how long you’d play. You might end up having to switch servers or at least guest to the guilds for open world activities, but you might strike gold. Your chances of finding an acceptable and accepting guild will be much better if you at least try.

I have only read the OP so I don’t know what has all been said, but immediately, I thought I NEED to refer you to the guild I’m a member of, Legion of Honour. Check out our thread here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OPERATION-UNION-Bringing-Players-Together/first

We are VERY casual, laid back guild. Sometimes people don’t log in for days, weeks, months; there is no repping requirements. But there are enough of us regulars that there is usually always someone to run something with. Very friendly people and atmosphere. It is my opinion that you should be able to find what you are looking for.

EDIT: Okay, so now I’ve gone back and read through it all thoroughly. Of course, I imagine there are several guilds that are friendly and not the way that you describe. Of course there are leets, there are always going to be leets, but that doesn’t mean they are ALL leets. I think the atmosphere overall is very friendly. I have ran PUG groups, both good and bad, and I think the bad just tend to stand out more b/c we remember them.

I probably would not want to run with a level 40 in AC if I as looking for a speed run, tbh. Though, I wouldn’t ever kick them out. I suppose it just depends on what the PUG groups you ran with were looking for, and it seems that many of them are speed runs. And can be very leet. As someone above said, you can go to gw2lfg.com and find groups there. Maybe in your situation the best thing would be for you to create the lfg, and specify your level and that you are not interested in a speed run or whatever. That way the people who join YOU will know up front what to expect.

@Danikat, you said it well. And you, too yellow stang.

Basically, no one can tell you what to do, but you really aren’t going to know unless you log back in. I think that overall, the community in GW2 is very friendly and helpful and I just ignore the leetists. Good luck!!

Aluna Darklady.3165:

I have only read the OP so I don’t know what has all been said, but immediately, I thought I NEED to refer you to the guild I’m a member of, Legion of Honour. Check out our thread here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OPERATION-UNION-Bringing-Players-Together/first

We are VERY casual, laid back guild. Sometimes people don’t log in for days, weeks, months; there is no repping requirements. But there are enough of us regulars that there is usually always someone to run something with. Very friendly people and atmosphere. It is my opinion that you should be able to find what you are looking for.

Will definately be taking a look

I probably would not want to run with a level 40 in AC if I as looking for a speed run, tbh.

I completely understand this. But back when I played, I was routinely kicked right after joining for being low level without so much as a word. And they did not advertise their run as being a speed run or max level only. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have tried to join the run to begin with.

Basically, no one can tell you what to do, but you really aren’t going to know unless you log back in. I think that overall, the community in GW2 is very friendly and helpful and I just ignore the leetists. Good luck!!

Well, this thread did help me decide to give it another whirl.

Glad to hear it!! I personally get much enjoyment from this game, and a good portion of that is due to the people I have met.

You’re right, of course, if it wasn’t advertised as such, you have no way of knowing.