Guild Wars 2

I’m finding that the game is not challenging enough to play and I’m getting bored because of it. I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out what I might be doing wrong or am I missing the challenging content. It appears that there are the following types of gameplay.

1) Main Game (Overworld) the various adventure zones.
2) My Story (Personal Quests)
3) Dungeons…I haven’t come across any dungeons as far as I know.
4) PvP or WvW…not sure if my character is ready for this yet.

Right now I’m level 45 Norse Guardian with a great sword. Nothing can kill him in the overworld zones even when fighting monsters that are 4 or 5 levels above him. My wife plays a level 44 Mesmer. We’re adventuring in the Blazeridge Steppes at the moment. The two of us are looking for something challenging to do but we don’t know where to go.

So my questions are …
Should we be skipping this area and moving forward to harder zones?
Or should we be doing My Story (Lvl 45) stuff as it seems to be more challenging?
Did we miss an awesomely tough dungeon along the way?
Are we ready for PvP, WvW?

I love the gameplay and the world and I want to play this game but I’m used to old school MMO’s and the challenge that they provide. Maybe I’m going about this game all wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Most open-world content is designed to be easy, especially since you’re playing a guardian, one of the easiest and most forgiving classes to level. Off the top of my head, this is where you can find some challenge:

1. Tequatl the Sunless- requires a highly coordinated group and a good eye/reflexes to dodge his shockwave, which onehits a lot of people.
2. Do events and champs in Orr with small groups or alone. Many Orrian champs have mechanics that punish sloppy play- for example, the champ that you must fight to defend the Temple of Dwayna gets more powerful every time it lands a hit on someone, but if you get too far from it, it will heal to full and run to the altar, failing the event. Thus, in order to defeat it, you must be very good at dodging and kiting within a small radius. (I once soloed it to 10% when two randoms ran in who would not dodge, and buffed it to the point it oneshot both of them and then did me in when I tried to rez them… and then, as a result, the event failed. But that’s beside the point…) There’s also a champion drake that loves to trample people and heals when it hits someone, and an abomination that works much like the Dwayna champ.
3. Solo other open-world champs. Suggestions for your level would be the ones in the Field of Ruins- the Champion Separatist Leaders in the treaty camp and Ebonhawke, the Champion Branded Griffin and Branded Devourer, and the two Champion Wasps in the Ebonhawke delegation camp (bonus points for taking both at the same time).

At your level, you won’t be able to do 1 or 2, but do try 3. If you are wearing defensive gear and tanking hits, you’re likely at the point that you can swap out for more offensive stats.

Outside of open-world, dungeons and WvW do offer challenge as well. At your level, if you WvW, you’re likely going to want to stick with groups, as you’re easy prey for roamers. Regarding dungeons, you can currently do AC Story Mode (a fairly easy dungeon), AC Explorable (significantly harder than AC Story, especially if you don’t cheese bosses via stacking and actually fight Kholer), and CM Story Mode (fairly annoying without a good dodging sense or anti-projectiles).

Take on some champions. I have downed champs with just one other person – although some will take more and some you might be able to solo. Since there are two of you, you could certainly give it a shot !

Try the dungeons you can do, too – you’ll likely need more than two people, though. Have you joined a guild ?

Open World content, Personal Story, and Story Mode Dungeons, and Living World content are meant to be casual and less challenging so the majority can complete them without much trouble.

Explorable Dungeons, World vs World (difficulty may vary), and Fractals of the Mists can be considered the more challenging “end-game” content.
It is recommended that you get high level and properly geared before starting these activities, although you can technically start WvW and FotM as soon as you create a character, and Explorables as soon as you complete the story component of the same dungeon.

like previous posters have suggested u can try soloing/duoing open-world champs. the higher lvl ones in Orr especially are the most challenging imo, though definitely doable. Once you hit lv80 u will unlock the highest lvl (Orr) areas, CS is probly the most unforgiving area in-game and where you’ll want to roam around. I have dealt with a few champs in this area and some of the tougher ones I’d rank in terms of difficulty are:
1. Risen Baron/Baroness
2. Risen Archmage
3. Risen Giant

You can see my Baron solo vid here to get an idea of what to expect. Though I do fail alot, for that reason u can probably do a better job as a guard. You will also, once you hit 80, be able to try dungeons/fractals for the first time (use the new LFG tool which is quite handy) and that if nothing else will solve the problem of lack of ‘challenging’ content.

At level 44+ the two of you should already have access to the Ascalon Dungeon, which requires a level 30 character for the story mode and then a level 35 character for the different explorable paths. Trust me, once in a dungeon the game will change for you.

If you are still stuck on content to do, why not whisper me in-game? I’ve got a very friendly guild and we all love doing various content in the game! From fractals (currently the most challenging content in my opinion) to dungeon runs, guild events etc.

WvW uses your character’s regular gear, so if you go there, you’ll be fighting players much more powerful (in terms of stats) than yourselves.

Structured PvP uses a tightly-controlled set of gear that is all free and top-level, so basically everyone is on a level playing field in terms of stats. In that sense, you’re “ready” for PvP, as long as you’re ready to adapt, try new builds, etc.