I have been following this thread (and its merged grand father & closed father) from the start. I passed one comment early on to express slight disappointment in being “forced” to play a certain way and not the way I like – which is at my own pace, solo, PvE, acceptable rewards vs effort.
Considering my style, I do not yet have a lvl80 toon, but 5 toons in the lvl60-70 range.
The bots are annoying, yes. However, not directly effecting me. Indirectly, yes, I understand that.
Prices in BL store are ridiculous. I do not buy anything there, although I had bought gems with real money to buy bank slots ONLY.
I use only stuff I pick up or craft, but since I’m not really into heavy crafting, my stuff is mostly dropped or passed on to family.
Also, since I’m not really a “hard-core” MMO’er, I’m sort of OK with the drops and progress.
People on these threads have posted very interesting details, which sort-of gave a glimpse of “life after lvl80”. Reasonably happy with the status quo, I follow the thread, but carry on playing.
However, the result of what these very dedicated-and-knowledgeable OPs are talking about in this thread, has now started to hit my very conservative and casual way of playing. And that is:- because of the feeling that rewards have largely disappeared, actual players are also disappearing!!
I am slogging through areas (map exploration) with huge numbers of contested waypoints, enemy-occupied no-go areas, literally 100s of mobs roving the countryside with NO other players in sight.
I am totally alone to do events, 10-against-1 mobs and ninja-ing around mat nodes, POIs and hearts.
My little spreadsheet to keep track of toons and what they had done, reflects vast numbers of “Skill point impossible to do alone” entries.
I fully understand that my playing style is not helping me to beat vets, champs and higher bosses without effort, BUT it gives doubt to the advertised scalability of the game and dynamic events.
The bottom line is, I am not really able to play the game the way I want to. In my 5 years in GW1, I could do this, because I had my henchmen and heroes. In the GW2 early, ‘rewarding" days, including beta weekends, lots of other players were there to level the playing field.
Now, because of what THIS thread is about, players seem to have become inwardly focussed (can’t blame them), leaving lowly (and new) players to fight their way through a very difficult, unrewarding world where the only way to advance, is to power level a toon and then live off dungeon-running to acquire whatever items they desire.
I am not saying that I want the game to be easy and playable without effort and drop gazillion of exotics (haven’t even seen one, don’t even know someone who knows someone who’s seen one). I came to GW2 because ANet promised a world where there would be challenges, activities and rewards for each and every playing style. To play MY OWN way and still feel excited, rewarded and dedicated is what appealed to me.
Perhaps my expectation management sucks, but I feel disappointed in how its going now.
