Guild Wars 2

Awesome! I’ll add you as well

Thanks, Sylv! I totally overlooked your first post for which I apologize. It was a really good one. I’m going to visit the site immediately. Do you think that would be a better place for me to post my backstory, rather than here on the community forum? Or is it not a good idea to post them at all and just keep it to myself?

Wow! When I created this thread I had no idea I would get such a menagerie of awesome responses!

I now understand the fundamental misunderstanding that was keeping me from jumping in to an RP playstyle: I was looking at it like a raid in WoW.

In my mind the gchat in an RP guild would be almost exclusively OOC and that RPs were more like scheduled raids, as in the guild leader or RP leader would set up a time block for RP similar to how a raid leader would schedule a time block for their raid.

Now I understand that it isn’t just another extrinsic, planned and scheduled series of events; rather it’s a persistent playstyle. When I log into the game I am Lord Bidwell. Couple this newfound understanding with the knowledge that I can actually incororate my child-like sense of humor and alcohol abuse into my character’s personality makes me all atwitter with excitement! As soon as I get the chance I’m going to build a brief backstory and post it here to see if people think it’s solid.

Fungalstorm.8593:
This one is brief: is swearing in Gchat allowed typically? I know it’s uncivilized but my sense of humor is firmly lodged in the toilet and the gutter. I’m 22 years old and I laugh out loud every time I cut a fart, even when I’m alone (Don’t judge me).

I think I love you.

D’awww. Ya dun made me blush

http://www.examiner.com/article/roleplaying-advice-creating-a-character-background
Check out that link. It may help you get started.

Thank you! This looks quite promising

Now I’m off to bed but please, continue responding. You are all being exceedingly helpful.

I’ll be checking this thread out first thing in the morning!

I know you’re all probably collapsing under the sheer mass of my incessant questions and newb-like wide-eyes curiosity, but to be quite frank I have no idea how to flesh out my character into a realistic person within Tyria. Currently he is little more than a sprite running around killing bandits for the heart juice and salvagable crap that they drop.

Is there a website or piece of software I could download which could help me properly increase the legitimacy of my character; or do I just have to try and flesh him out organically? Either way is fine but I’m definitely not opposed to expediting the process using third-party means.

I’m no Tolkien but I’m sure I could hash out a personality/backstory.

Thanks for the brisk replies. As I mentioned in my OP, I do have a biased knowledge of how RP goes based on roughly 6 years of playing on a pvp server in wow; wherein saying you RP was met with unanimous cruelty and rudeness.

From these replies so far, I’v gathered that RPing is more of a persistent state of play rather than a scheduled or spontaneous event; i.e. my character Lord Bidwell is a certain way always and thus I personally respond to all situations as if I were him. That sounds fairly fun and immersive, however I must admit that constantly being in character sounds like a pretty daunting challenge. For example, if I accidentally say something out of character at the wrong time I could end up spoiling other peoples’ fun which is obviously the exact opposite of what I’m going for here.

Edit: This is an issue because I love to be part of gchat discussions, often regardless of topic.

Edit 2: Is it permissible to be member of multiple guilds at once and still be illegible for RP events? I just think that given my weakness for juvenile humor and pop-culture jokes it might be best for me to have a secondary place where that behavior is less damaging.

Fair warning, these next quandaries may seem rather selfish and stupid

• Is it permissible to be… effected in some way by a foreign agent, (Perhaps, say, a potion that has a rather well-known series of side-effects ranging from euphoria and frequent relief of the bladder to jumping off of rooftops with cardboard “wings” sloppily attached to your arms with a mixture of gorilla glue and duct tape); while RPing/participating in events? (Feeble attempts at humor aside, is it alright If I drink while I RP? I handle my liquor well and drinking while gaming is kind of my forte)

• This one is brief: is swearing in Gchat allowed typically? I know it’s uncivilized but my sense of humor is firmly lodged in the toilet and the gutter. I’m 22 years old and I laugh out loud every time I cut a fart, even when I’m alone (Don’t judge me).

In summation, I’m hoping many people will respond to this post so that I can kind of get an idea of what to expect on average. I know that many of my question are subjective and based on stereotypes (for which I truly apologize). I am also aware that many of these particular issues vary guild to guild which is why all inout is appreciated but will also be taken with a grain of salt.

Additional notes about myself, just in case any readers want to talk to me about joining their particular guild in the future (or right away): I like to play my way, as this is my free time. I don’t want to get involved in a guild where strictly enforced events are forced upon me. This post may be about RPing, but I absolutely love all aspects of this game. I am always down to run a dungeon, jump into WvWvW or participate in that Mist thingy which I haven’t tried yet, so don’t think of me as someone who wants to devote 100% of my in game time to RP. I also much prefer large guilds as I am a natural social butterfly and logging on to see dead guild chat makes me feel like a puppy in a pet store who has just watched his last brother get sold off and now has to grapple with the reality that not only is he alone, but he was the least likable one of the entire litter.

On that note, I look forward to reading your comments, suggestion and answers! You may contact me ingame on either Lord Bidwell (Human), Thud Rocklobber (Norn), Instructor Jaax (Asura), Hexus Aetherblade (Charr), or Taxus Annan (Sylvari). Additionally, you can add me to friends via my tag which is Fungalstorm.8593.

TL;DR: I googled “how to RP in GW2” and the answers I got were embarrassingly sub-satisfactory so I have turned to the community of the game in question for answers. While flamers may well find my post a veritable treasure trove of nerd-infused kindling, I will remain staunch in my pursuit of honest and polite answers.

Firstly, let me introduce myself. I’m currently a player on Tarnished Coast and I’m maining a human warrior name Lord Bidwell.

Here’s my problem: when I selected Tarnished Coast I didn’t know that it had been designated as the unofficial RP server. I quickly noticed that every major city was filled with small huddles of characters in random locales speaking in plain “say” chat, a phenomenon I had not experienced much before coming from a WoW PvP server. What was more, they all seemed to be speaking with near perfect grammar and about issues relevant to the game, rather than about who’s mother was more promiscuous.

At first I thought to myself: “Oh, wow, how nerdy can you get” as that had been the general stigma associated with RPers during my time in WoW, and had thus been absorbed into my own views.

Over time, however, I realized that I was becoming genuinely intrigued, and even a bit jealous. of these people; for a number of reasons, several of which I will illustrate below:

• They find uses for parts of the game world that a traditional “race to the end” gamer would simply sprint through and never see again. And mind you I find the GW2 world to be astounding down to the last detail. I can imagine joining a group of guild mates beneath a cascading waterfall in Timberline Falls or beneath an enchanted canopy in some lesser-trodden glade in Caledon Forest.

• They form tight-knit social groups that facilitate cooperation and fun rather than competition and kitten wagging. They work together and, from what I understand, often form friendships that transcend a single game and spread to all forms of social media; meaning a friend I make in GW2 might be a friend I choose to play with when the next big title releases. As a person who still keeps in touch with several WoW friends who I met over four years ago, making lasting connections with MMO’ers is something that appeals to me greatly.

• They get to use creativity. For many people a game is simply a theme park. You pay a fee and spend a small burst of euphoric time riding each predefined “ride” but then burn out quickly once each manufactured challenge has been completed;. at which point you begin to crave a newer, more visceral experience. The modern gamer can devour content at a rate that no game company, no matter how dedicated or how large their budget is can compete with. RPers play the game as if it were a sandbox, constantly creating new scenarios and adventures in which they can be a noble hero or a rampaging villain, regardless of what the in-game story tries to pigeonhole you into. These scenarios can arise even in the most mundane of locales with no quantifiable form of actual ingame reward (to my knowledge), ehich means these interactions are PURELY FOR FUN.

Now here’s the debacle; the catch if you will. I have absolutely no idea, notion or even anything resembling a basic concept of how a person goes about RPing; even in the most base sense of the term. My primary concerns are as follows:

• How does one find other RPers? Are their guild that allow a person to RP but strictly on a voluntary basis (part of the reason I abandoned WoW was because it had become very heavily scheduled and felt more like an occupation than a pastime haha)? Must one commit exclusively to their RP guild and leave all others? I’m currently in a very casual guild with many people I very much like and would prefer to maintain contact with.

• Are RPers as heavily stigmatized in GW2 as they were in WoW? I remember a guild my friend was in at one point where they regularly scheduled “RP crashes” which were essentially just bouts of juvenile frivolity at the expense of people minding their own business trying to RP. Call me a coward if you must but I would prefer my in-game experience not be consistently kittenupon by immature idiots.

• I would love to learn how to RP, but how often would y’all estimate I would have to be “in character”. I mean sometimes I just like to cut loose on vent/mumble/skype and just shoot the shaith with my guildies and buddies. There are persistent rumors that RPers tend to be very authoritative about things like this and that kind of leadership style is an instant turnoff for me.

• How do RP story lines come into existence? Are they invented on the spot? Does each person’s character have a different personality and are their unique interactions the catalyst for a new story? Are stories prewritten or do they unfold organically in a more improvisational style? Is the dialogue scripted or does each play get to provide their own unique additions to the story?

• How much control do you have over your character’s actions and what limitations are in place to keep people from simply “Roleplaying God”? Are their rules that must be adhered to in order to be reinvited to subsequent events?

Unaffected by this personally, but giving customers vertigo can not be good for ANet’s bottom line and by extension the population of the game. Support bump.

Looks like the original poster…
puts on sunglasses
Just got water-logged
YEAAAAAAAHHHH

Good answers. I considered the idea that maybe there weren’t enough players, but I discarded them when I noticed that there were plenty in the zone but, surprise surprise, they were all clumped around the waypoints that were not contested :P

I think you’re right in that ANet is still feeling it out in terms of world balance vs. how many players are present, but I think, even considering this, contested waypoints are a self-defeating feature that only exacerbates existing population problems.

I apologize if this has been discussed/posted before. I searched for “contested waypoints” but didn’t find this exact question.

What is the philosophy behind contested waypoints and what measures can be taken by players to reliably reclaim them? The reason I ask is because from my point of view, the only purpose they really serve is to severely limit player mobility in high level zones.

In Orr, specifically, nearly every waypoint outside the first 2-3 is contested all the time. This essentially means these waypoints don’t exist. Not only does this mean players can’t quickly get to a group event or meet up with their friends and guildies, but it also means if you die, you have to start the zone over again.

In a game so critically dependent on a player’s ability to get in on the action of a world effort, contested waypoints seem like a complete 180 from the rest of the game’s core philosophy. Couple that with the fact that the entire pace of the game is balanced around nearly indiscriminate use of waypoints to get around (there are no mounts, no hearthstone, etc.) contested waypoints just seem clunky and lame.

TL;DR: Why do contested waypoints exist, and in such great quantities?

Yeah, I’m actually hoping some of these are placeholders. The effort required to get them means Arenanet could have really gone all out on their skins, but at some point it just seems like they started throwing crap together. It’s bizarre considering how much effort seems to have gone into the aesthetic appeal of the game overall.

The fact is that the twilight greatsword is THE BEST looking legendary by a HUGE margin, and that’s just a bummer

Ironically I think the level of the player is a red herring in this case. That is to say that some mobs are simply overtuned and the level 80 players are noticing it more because they are steamrolling most everything and then suddenly they are surprised to find that some mobs still really hurt.

The fire grubs are a perfect example. These things will smoke you if you stand in their fire breath, yet as an 80 every other mob in the zone has been easily killable, even if you just run up to their face and auto attack.

As an appropriately-levelled character in the area, you’re already expecting to play carefully because you know that a level 40 mob can easily beat a poorly-played level 38 character, so without thinking you avoid the fire breath and so the mob goes down no problem.

As a ranger I’m at least partially immune to this (thank you pets for being so willing to sacrifice your lives so I can run past to a POI), however there have been several occasions, particularly in Orr, where clearing isn’t even an option because the combination of patrols and respawns makes it so pulling one mob all but guarantees 3-4 more will join, and by the time those are dead you’re fighting the first one you killed again.

Yes! The artwork in this game is top notch and the developers really took a lot of care in bringing it to life.

Since WoW in 2005, this is the first game that has prompted me to take screenshots documenting my adventures.

Corian.4068:

Fungalstorm.8593:

MMORPG’s are mushrooms.

This in conjunction with your name made me giggle like a small child.

I tend to err on the side of fungus in all matters.

MMORPG’s are mushrooms. You level your way up the linear stock, developing the ability to be an efficient solo player, and then you reach max level and are expected to perform a 180 degree turn and drop solo play in favor of group play, which requires a much different, much deeper understanding of the game. This paradigm shift creates a vacuum in which veterans are able to easily adapt to the endgame while it takes new players years to develop the skills to not be considered “bad”.

The concept of needing to level to reach the end is the intrinsically obvious but incorrect assumption (likely a carry over from early games which were 100% offline) that will need to be broken in order for a new epoch of MMO gaming to dawn. Think about it this way: there is no law stating that all MMO’s must have a max level, or even “levels” as we know them. This is a manufactured phenomenon. In fact, many pen and paper RPGs (arguably the basis for all MMOs, at least in spirit) have already done away with traditional levelling, in favor of a more dynamic approach.

Endgame is simply the conceptual inevitability of a game which begins as a solo linear experience before transitioning into a multiplayer MMO. While GW2 has taken steps to dilute this phenomenon, it is still following the same basic principles.

GW2 allows me to have all of the fun multiplayer action of a traditional AAA MMORPG without the seemingly ubiquitous subscription fee.

For me, the ability to play however I like and whenever I like while still making meaningful progression on my character places GW2 above other MMOs.

The same casual qualities that make GW2 appealing to me, however, may be off-putting for people who want to invest more time or play with more regularity. This is perfectly fine! There are a plethora of options out there to suit everyone’s distinct taste, GW2 simply exploits the niche that I find most appealing.

Honestly you’re probably best off using bears until 70+. They’ll hold aggro and never die. If you’re confident in your ability to micromanage your pet then the Lynx is amazing for pure DPS. If you can’t or don’t want to micro then the lynx is simply too squishy.

Past 70ish mobs tend to prefer you over your pet, so tanky pets lose a lot of value and DPS pets like the lynx become much more valuable.

If none of those pets do it for you Devourers are pretty strong and they attack from range which is cool. Wolves have good CC but require a good amount of micro to keep alive. Drakes are alright and look awesome but honestly I find them underwhelming.

As far as aquatic is concerned, jellies and armor fish make awesome tanks and sharks do pretty sweet DPS.

My Raven “That’s So Raven” get’s a few compliments here and there despite how stupid and unoriginal it is.

I lol’d a few nights ago at a Jellyfish named Kay Why

Thud Rocklobber coming in hot

Edit: Oct. 5, 2012 – Level 80 in Cursed Shore