Guild Wars 2

I played for 2 months. I’m an avid MMO player (not just wow). Leveled 2 tools to 80. I enjoyed some things about gw2:

- Exploration
- The mixture of traditional quests and dynamic events in the old world. Always something to do at my own pace.
- Gear grind (I appreciate that in a game). Finally got to the point of crafting ascended gear, and I like the work involved.
- Fractals. Dungeons look like they could be fun, but it seems that no one does them.

But I couldn’t get past the following:

- Exclusive focus on dynamic events in newer content. Whenever I go into a newer zone (SW or HoT) I get a serious case of “wtf is going on?” Disconcerting, and less than fun. I guess I could try to figure them out, but there’s nothing about it that makes me want to put that work in. The zones leave me feeling alienated and confused. Not much motivation to play in them.

- Ridiculously difficult open world PvE in HoT. I enjoy difficult content. But I’m used to it being instanced content. Fractals are fun and challenging. I hear the raid is hard as balls, which it should be. But when I die over and over doing the basic expansion content in VB, it’s not so fun anymore. And on top of it they make most of the way points contested so you have to run across the entire map to get back to what you were doing. Yes, I should be better, but I usually expect open world stuff to be more relaxing as opposed to instanced content. Not fun.

- Masteries. I like the concept. But I’m new so I don’t have many achiements. The options for Central Tyra mastery points are all gated behind achieves- and ones that generally require grind. OK, that’s fine. Something to work towards. Problem is my XP bar for masteries is now stuck. That is incredibly unmotivating. Poor design, or a middle finger to new players. Either way, poor. This honestly is my biggest gripe with the game.

- Low rewards for time spent. Fractals drop a bag full of crap. Map completion gives one mastery point. World bosses drop another bag full of crap. Etc…

So I found myself logging in and not caring about doing anything.

So I’m not logging in anymore. Shame they got my money upfront, because I’m a disappointed customer.

Thanks for the info everyone. Appreciated.

I’m new to the game and new to fractals. Every build I read about for fractals/raids (dulfy/Metabattle/these forums) usually mentions going berserker (I currently play ele and chrono). The rationale is usually “survival should be based on skill, not stats.” But my fellow guildees who run fractals are telling me zerker builds are out in HoT, and if you run higher tier fractals you will be kicked if you are in berserker gear. This is based on survivability and the crit-to-boon mechanics in 41+. They are also telling me that condi is better than crit in general.

So what’s the story? Are zerker builds still the way to go. Or did HoT change things dramatically, and the theory-crafters haven’t edited their guides yet?

And please refrain from “play what you want to play” responses. I’m trying to learn mechanics, stats, and strats. Thanks.