Guild Wars 2

I got busy with life and played some single player games.

Lots of replies. I appreciate that, honestly. On any other forum this thread would’ve died after two replies. Maybe because its an issue everyone’s frustrated with.

A little too much information to stuff into my head at once. Two immediate questions –
1) How does this get any better after either 15/20 or 80? Everyone defending the game says so, but no one mentions how.

2) Although I haven’t played this game since I started this thread, I still don’t see how I’m supposed to progress or get anywhere if I ignore the hearts and arrow and just explore. The events I’ve seen so far didn’t really happen that often, I’ve seen one maybe every 5 minutes? Do I just stand around waiting for the next one? I don’t remember seeing any sources of exp besides the hearts and the events.

And although I’ve found nothing enjoyable about the NPE so far, but I do have to agree some hand holding was required. Because without coming on the internet I wouldn’t have figured out there was a crafting system at all. I’ve seen no sign of it in game. I somehow died and ended up near some normal merchants otherwise I was only seeing the heart ones. I can’t figure out how to progress without the hearts either. Though the NPE doesn’t do that at all.

I still have to say, despite the people defending the game that it felt pretty soulless and crappy design. I’ve played some pretty bad and repetitive RPGs and MMOs, but because they were godkitten RPGs they still managed to get and keep me hooked. I can’t put my finger on whats so bad about this one that it can’t even manage that. Maybe its just how BLATANTLY grindy the hearts are.

If there is more to the game than the hearts, I’ll give it another go. But so far that’s all I see!
I agree with people that a game should be about exploration, but my method or idea of exploration in an RPG is that you discover a new area, talk to NPCs, either fix their lives or screw them even more and move on. I like the feeling of leaving a huge mark on ever area I pass through. And for that those areas need to have a soul to make me interested in them. I liked the fix it or screw it mechanic of KOTOR 1/2 and TOR. Leaving a mark. And in Skyrim I enjoyed going on long walks and finding interesting quests and NPCs.
I guess that’s what I was expecting. The game world feels bland.

Of course I did, how am I supposed to know what product to spend money on if I can’t even trust reviews?

I bought this game almost a month back now and I’ve barely played it. Couple hours spent on it, thats all. I was looking for an MMORPG because I’ve enjoyed them in the past. Played Runescape for years. Played SWTOR for a month and only stopped because I didn’t have much time on my hands. I enjoyed Runescape a LONG time ago, and SWTOR recently.

Did some research on MMOs, found this, saw great reviews, how its the MMO that breaks the norm of grinding, saw an awesome review by Angry Joe. In particular, he mentioned he couldn’t get into SWTOR despite the awesome concept because of the lack of interesting game play. He struck me as someone who was looking for an MMO experience that actually had a soul to it.

So I spend 35$ on this, start playing, and what do I get? Maybe a few minutes of interesting story and then hours of follow the arrow, kill stuff for WAY longer than should be necessary, level up, move on. Seriously? This is exactly what I was told this game DOESN’T have. Why do I have to spend 15 minutes dancing for cows and killing worms by spamming a key to fill up a bar?

Honestly this is the reason I hate spending money on games these days.

The only reason I’m still trying is because I feel guilty for spending money on this.

So please help me find ways to make this experience more “fun”, since the game refuses to do that for me. I discovered the random events already. Besides that so far I’m just following arrows and doing side quests that involve killing 20 of something. Does this end? When does this end? Is there any other alternative to progressing in the game and hopefully getting somewhere better? What else can I do except be the NPC’s kitten?

HONESTLY despite being a WoW clone I found SWTOR a lot more fun.