Guild Wars 2

What you’re going to read will be nothing short of a major essay. I can’t make a tl;dr version, otherwise the detail of this thread will be left out. every detail I include (even my gaming history) is extremely important to validate my statements.

I have played more MMORPGs than I can count. I’ve played LOTR online, I’ve played Requiem, I’ve played Aion, Rift, Exsteel, World of Warcraft, and many many more. 24 years of gaming with 14 years in MMORPGs. I am not claiming to be the foremost authority of MMORPGs, but I would like what I say to be taken into consideration, because I’ve seen games rise and fall, and this game, Guild Wars 2, can evolve into something more amazing than it already is, something that could even rival (If not outright destroy) world of warcraft.

I will address these issues as best as I can, and I will explain my reasoning behind them. I will also include polls to see what the community thinks.
1.
Roleplaying: We’re starting off with the one that most of you would probably guess for me to bring up. It’s roleplaying. I have reason to believe that if roleplaying was encouraged and some tedious mechanics be taken care of (Range of talking and emotes), to say that it could open a whole new universe of possibilities would be an understatement. Now, if for some reason you don’t believe me, I’ll bring up the pie charts of two of WoW’s most popular roleplaying servers.
https://realmpop.com/us-moon-guard.html
Moonguard is somewhat of the “bad example” of roleplaying due to its… questionable content, but the numbers are there. As I look at this pie chart, there is 600,000 characters. Now, i’m not sure if “Characters” is referring to the multiple characters on the realm or not, but we will say that it does. Each player on WoW has 10 character slots. We’ll assume that each account has all of the character slots taken up. Divide 600k by 10, and you got 60,000. That’s 60,000 players that have chosen to play on a potentially lewd roleplaying realm over normal realms.
Now, let’s venture into their more common roleplaying realm of Wyrmrest Accord.
https://realmpop.com/us-wyrmrest-accord.html
A little over 500,000 players seeking to roleplay. Now we take that and divide by 10, we got 50,000 players seeking to engage in a roleplaying realm over normal realms.
I want the following things to be kept in mind as I refer to this:
1a. It’s approximately 2:00AM as I am writing this, so there’s a potential of active/inactive users.
2a. I am ASSUMING that all their character slots are full.
3a. I am doing generous rounding to the lowest hundred thousand to be fair.
4a. Most importantly, this is only one game.
Roleplaying, no matter how you swing it, attracts players. The reason being is that this game indeed offers a lot, but at the end of the day, the grinding gets repetitive, and players hardly interact with one another outside of taking down powerful monsters together. Roleplaying opens possibilities of being able to connect with other players, their character, and create your own scenarios.

Poll one: http://www.strawpoll.me/13175314/r
Poll two: (pending)

2.
Encourage players to create artwork of the game.

In addition to exploring the creativity of our fellow players, artwork in all its shape and glory is essentially free advertisements without them actually being advertisements.
Who here has seen a video on youtube by the channel WatchMojo? All of you have, even if you don’t know it. The reason being is that they upload so many videos on a daily basis that through sheer statistics, you’ll eventually find one of their videos.
The same thing goes with popular games like League of legends, Overwatch (as much as I hate OW), and of course WoW. The amount of player-made artwork, videos, etc, will get someones attention through sheer statistics.
Now, I’m not saying the player base needs to become third-party advertisers, but it is an inadvertant upside. Another upside is that it may actually bring people to the website, the forums, and cause people to take a gander at the rest of the work that the artist in question has made!
My suggestion is to host monthly competitions for GW2 related artwork, short stories, screenshots of the scenery, or even machinima videos!

Poll 1: http://www.strawpoll.me/13439379
Poll2: (Pending)

Now, these are just ideas that I’ve culminated, but I’d like for it to be kept in mind that I’ve been playing videogames for an extremely long time. I understand that changes cost money, so it’s not expected to be done over night, or even at all.
I just want to see this game become more than it already is, and from my observation, it absolutely can if certain things are introduced and inspired. Most importantly, these would also double as an excellent business strategy.

Flitters.4095:

Eir.. I actually teared up when she died.. Same with Tybalt. On all my characters those two hit me the hardest of any of the NPC’s I’ve encountered.

Please don’t tell my Tybalt dies!

Tybil Leftpaw by far. I’m not fond of the charr due to their strict militaristic upbringing and smug behavior to other races, but Tybil has a place in my circle of bros,

Profeus.9034:

Dear,

I do not believe that the staff will lose this type of farm, easily configurable not only in third party programs, but like even in a mouse like Naga Razer.

I expect some solution so this farm type will not happen any more.

Cya…

Profeus

I wonder how long a bloodstone crazed beast would last in all of that.

Donari.5237:

I know little of how Steam works, but every time someone posts a request on this forum to have GW2 available on Steam, the common response from those who do know is that Steam takes a sizable hunk of the income for the games it runs. So apparently it’s great for small games that otherwise would have trouble marketing and distributing at all, but terrible for larger companies that are well-known, established, and have easy direct purchase options in place.

ah, that makes sense!

I have this game added on Steam as a “non steam game,” but noticed that the first guild wars (as well as its expansions) are on Steam. Is there a possibility of this game being added to Steam in the future, or is that a no-go?

I mean, I can play it without Steam, but I am wondering if it would increase an already large player base.

Khailyn.6248:

A side note, arenanet really does need to give this game more advertising both online and television. I can only imagine how many gamers might not even know what its about or that it still exists.

I’d pressure them into advertising on popular youtube channels since a good amount of people use youtube. Television is an iffy topic of advertising simply due to the cost of each commercial aired and how many people watch it these days. Joe Rogan, I believe it was, said that “The internet will kill television” and it seems about right. That’s the case for news channels anyway, which definitely shows in their content. Regardless, I’m spreading it by word of mouth.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

1. Roleplaying is encouraged through community efforts rather than the developers attempting to hint or encourage RP through certain realm labels. Encouraging roleplaying would open more playstyles, immersion, and also give people a chance to develop their character.

Role play has never been truly encouraged or supported by this game. They did it no favors when they megaservered not only the PvE maps but also the cities. It took years for them to add a few new emotes. Requests to add a role play chat or to decrease the reach of /say chat have gone unanswered as have requests for such things as a chair to sit on or a mug to drink from (items that could be sold in the gemstore to help recoup the cost of designing them). Their attitude towards role play can be described as benevolent indifference, where they neither actively support nor go out of their way to hinder. I don’t see them changing this as it seems they do not find role play to be of value. I think they are short sighted in this attitude as role play gives people something to do and a reason to log on for long periods of time.

The possibilities of Immersion, character development, and most importantly, social interaction would be endless with more catering to Roleplaying! Of course, I’m not implying ERP like I use to see on WoW’s Moonguard server. I discovered fetishes that I didn’t even know exist.

drunkenpilot.9837:

Welcome to Guild Wars 2! I envy you, in a way. I remember how blown away I was when I first started playing, and it’s only gotten so much better since release.

I agree that more advertisement would be a good thing, and I suspect you’ll see just that in the near future. It’s pretty likely that a second expansion is coming “soonish,” and once they announce it I’m certain there will be an ad campaign to go along with the big reveal. I’m guessing we’ll see the next expac before the end of the year, but that’s pure speculation on my part.

I don’t know much about model viewers or how any of that works, but I think it’d be really interesting to see what talented animators might be able to do if they were given such tools. I’ve seen some truly amazing Battlefield and TF2 machinima videos and it’d be cooler than cool to see Guild Wars 2 get the same treatment.

That said, there are already some really impressive GW2 videos made by players and fans that you might be interested in. Some have taken in-game cutscenes and spliced them together in interesting ways, like music videos for example. A forum regular here also made a feature length film detailing all of the events that took place during the first Living World season, events which are no longer available. There are some really talented folks out there—imagine what could be done with direct access to character models!

Relevant links:
Scarlet Briar: “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHsliMTzhg

Guild Wars 2 – The Complete Season 1 Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joLmVI5URak

I can’t watch the S1 movie, but the first video was great! THAT would make for an excellent game trailer!

Sartharina.3542:

I wish this game had a model viewer/machinima tools. I’d love to try making a story about a faction of Charr that can’t be done in-game.

Exactly! Model viewers would open a realm of possibilities. However, it’d take a dedicated GW2 player with a knowledge of scripting to do it.

I’ve been here for maybe two months at the most. I have to say that I’m extremely impressed by the amount of detail put into this game.

This game (Marketed as partially free to play), excels at the generosity of playable content that other free to play games don’t. In addition to that, the variety of skills through usable weapons is actually quite astonishing, the fact that each race/player has a plot to go with their character, and this is one of the few games where I actually enjoy the grind of leveling.

The SAB event absolutely blew me away. I had never seen an event, in any other MMO, that takes you to an entirely different game. To me, that is brilliant.

However, there’s a few issues about the game that could be resolved easily. This game, being free to play (I consider it free-to-play simply due to the fact that the majority of the world and content can be explored without the need for payment), has the potential of expanding into something much more simply through word of mouth and active players.

1. Roleplaying is encouraged through community efforts rather than the developers attempting to hint or encourage RP through certain realm labels. Encouraging roleplaying would open more playstyles, immersion, and also give people a chance to develop their character.

2. I am not kissing the ring of the developers when I comment them on how incredible this game is compared to many I have played before. I want to see this game become much more than it already is, but I am spreading the awareness of this game by word of mouth. I’d like to see this game hyped up, but the trailers don’t do it justice, and advertising (From what I’ve come to see) is all but non-existent. Somehow, this game needs to be hyped and advertised.

3. I use to make WoW videos once apon a time. They weren’t good, but they weren’t bad either. Making game videos is like working with a whole new medium, and the videos I made were more along the lines of using Green Screens and something called a “Model Viewer.” With fixed camera angles, lack of animations, etc, it’s difficult to even attempt to improvise creating a movie. This is understandable though, as animations, camera angles, etc, cost money to adjust and produce. The Model Viewer was an independent project as well. I want it to be added, however, that one of the things that got WoW its popularity was the amount of fan-made videos that people were exposed to.

From 21 years of gaming, I can’t stress this enough to the developers, that this game is amazing by my standards. It’s still in its infancy, and is seeking to mature, but if it goes neglected, it’ll get moody. Give this game attention, advertise, build up the player base, and it will evolve into a great thing!

If I become rich and famous one day, I’ll be sure to contribute to the cause!

Also personally I’d advocate avoiding both amnesia and ‘orphan adopted by another culture’ as backstories unless you’re really attached to the idea (and ideally can put your own twist on it). Tyria is a pretty cosmopolitan place, especially with all the asura gates. It’s not unusual to find members of other races in the cities and even our in smaller settlements, so there are lots of ways your character could have come into contact with other cultures and adopted their habits or modified their own, even if they themselves haven’t travelled much.

I think this can be done, but there has to be a very heavy elaboration in the backstory. That along with the forced story lines, it seems a tad bit difficult to get immersed outside of the racial customs, traditions, and spirituality.

DietPepsi.4371:

You mean the preview window? So you can view armour or weapons in detail I presume.
Right click on an armour piece or weapon you want to view and select preview.

The Model Viewer is basically a program that depicts models with the ability to animate them VIA their emotes and place armors of all sorts on them while changing the background to a solid color/pattern (Excellent with green screen!).

I’ve stated before that I migrated to GW2 from WoW. In WoW, I made some videos with the help of many things, one being a model viewer.

I wanted to know if there’s a “Model Viewer” for GW2. I am eager to make videos, but with certain camera restrictions, it’d be difficult to make them.

+1 and free bump!

Kite.2510:

“The team that controls Stonemist may now send invaders into other worlds’ dungeons and raid instances. Invaders will be represented by a red glow.”
Sending red Phantom invaders to Fractals would be fantastic… and by giving an excuse to stay near and defend a WvW base for once no less! The odds will always be stacked against the invader as he’ll have to deal with 5 players, and the system could prioritize sending him to instances where the players clearly have the uper hand and are finishing it with little effort. A seasoned pvper will always find ways to make the most against the unprepared.

A Dark Spirit has invaded!

- Centaurs are actually the product of intimate relationships between humans and horses
- Charr are actually several Asura in a giant zip-up furry costume
- The Sylvari are actually humans that were administered drugs, coated in apoxy, and rolled down a grass hill.
- Harpies are just trying to mate with us, but don’t know how, and come off as hostile for their attempts.
- SAB is the real game, and we’re slowly unlocking the way into the “Real World.”

I have to say that GW2 has proven, to me, to be unique in its gameplay, it’s extremely detailed, and worth every penny of the expansion pack. Hell, even the free-to-play content is generous and enjoyable!

The player base is solid, but I can’t help but shake the feeling that this game, after having so much put into it, deserves a higher player base.

Are there any plans for advertising in the future?

Lightning Specter.9568:

@Stand The Wall – sounds interesting, got any sources of that?(no hate) just want to read out of curiosity

@Lahemic – ikr, imo if more people knew about the mlg themed parodies then itll become 20% more awesome

Don’t worry, i’ll introduce them to one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ExuxDEXWgQ

-:WARNING:-
Link may possibly contain
-Foul language
-Dank memes
-Various 360 noscopes
-Screaming children
-Mountain Dew
-Doritos
-Illuminati
-Anonymous

It’s easy to lose track of these things in the fray of… Whatever it may be.

Looks like most of the people responding aren’t quite familiar with the MLG-themed parodies.

I’m glad it’s only a select few of us. Makes me feel a little more special :’)

ShinjoNaomi.1896:

This is pretty good! Definite +1 from me.

One thing that might be good to add though…
Never, ever, ever while you are role playing should you feel unnecessarily compelled or forced into something you are not comfortable with.
This might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people… especially those that are just starting to try and roleplay… feel like they are obligated to go along with things, even if they don’t feel comfortable with it.

As a random example, lets say someone emoted that they suddenly grab you and drag you into a nearby alleyway…
You are under no obligation to follow through with that unless you want to. Nobody is allowed to do anything to your character unless you allow them to.

Which leads to another very important part of roleplaying… attempting to do something, rather then just doing it.
What this means is, simply put, you can attempt to try and do things to another player, but that doesn’t mean it will succeed…
Lets use the above example in two different emitted posts…

Player 1 reaches out and grabs Player 2, instantly wrapping his hands around their neck and covering there mouth before dragging them into the shadows of the nearby alleyway.

Player 1 quietly slips out of the shadows, attempting to get behind Player 2 and reaching to try and slip an arm around their neck and cover their mouth! If successful, he then tries to pull them back into the shadows of the alleyway before anyone else notices…

Notice the difference?
In the first one, Player 1 doesn’t give Player 2 any chance to react, and acts like his actions are just going to automatically succeed.
And that’s really not good roleplaying and in truth, not a lot of people enjoy having someone else try and take control of their character taken away from them.
The second pose was better, showing Player 1 /attempting/ to try and grab Player 2, and not just assuming they are going to succeed. This gives Player 2 a chance to react or go along with it as they want.

In short, be courteous and respectful to your fellow RPers out there.

I’ll definately include that! I’ve seen some people in previous games get forced into situations that they felt… obligated to partake in. I’ll add it to the list later on. I currently only have enough time to leave a response and run off! O_O

Thank you for the +, I did the same for you since you caught something I missed (a very important part too)!

X-files theme playing
Air Horn blaring

Communicating during RP events can get complicated sometimes without indicators of OOC talking (Out of character) and IC talking (In Character). To indicate this, most people use brackets to speak Out of Character.

Me: I killed that basilisk along with two others. They put up a pretty heavy fight, but I came through!
You: They can definitely come out of nowhere, I’ve seen it happen before!
Me: ((BRB, phone’s ringing))
You: ((Alright))

Another way of communication and expression is through the Custom Emote function, which consists of /me, /emote, /em, or /e followed by the text you wish to enter of what you’re doing, however, it’s extremely important that it be noted that the range of emotes extend a MASSIVE distance as well as chatting. This is something that needs to be kept in mind if you’re in cities or instanced locations, because sometimes it can be frustrating to other players. I’m not saying don’t emote or chat, but be very mindful of your location.

If you plan on making a character with a hostile personality, it’s important to keep in mind that other players can’t tell if you’re in character or out of character, so before you walk up to a Human Engineer and make various insults about his mother, it’s best to alert them that you’re in character. I’ve seen rumors spread like weeds in games because people didn’t think to alert the person in question to their characters behavior, but keep in mind, it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card to act like a jerk!

To make your character canonical to the Guild Wars 2 universe, there’s plenty of work-arounds and loopholes that can be used. One example is the “Amnesia Approach.” The Charr that I made an example of earlier, Balfol, could wake up with Amnesia, and depending on the severity of the amnesia, could negate social and cultural guidelines from the Charr. It’s encouraged to find an alternative due to the fact that the Amnesia Approach is used quite often. Alternatively, if you don’t mind a good read and learning about the lore, history, and culture of your characters race, you can refer to the official guild wars race page for the basics, or look at external sources for more in depth explanations.

Asura:
Official – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/races/asura/
External – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Asura

Sylvari:
Official – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/races/sylvari/
External – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sylvari

Charr:
Official – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/races/charr/
External – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Charr

Human:
Official – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/races/human/
External – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Human

Norn:
Official – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/races/norn/
External – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Norn

Another golden rule about Roleplaying, and this is an important one that ShinjoNaomi brought up.

This is pretty good! Definite +1 from me.

One thing that might be good to add though…
Never, ever, ever while you are role playing should you feel unnecessarily compelled or forced into something you are not comfortable with.
This might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people… especially those that are just starting to try and roleplay… feel like they are obligated to go along with things, even if they don’t feel comfortable with it.

This is something very important to remember and it’s good that they mentioned it. You are not, by any means, obligated to partake in Roleplaying if you don’t want to. Sometimes people try to pressure others into ERP (A topic that I refuse to go into).

Your character isn’t just another number or head among a crowd, it’s your vessel! Your conduit to the world which they reside, the world which they fight in, defend, make friends, make enemies. Experiment, and imagine your character being in a book. What life will you give them? What’s the next chapter? Give it a try, share your thoughts, and you’ll find yourself immersed in the world of Tyria!

The potential of Roleplaying in this game is seemingly boundless compared to other games that I’ve played. Plenty of possibilities, plenty of social hubs, and most importantly, the environment to endowing your character with a unique personality.

First, I’ll start off with some questions that are usually asked!

Q: What does it mean to “Roleplay?”
A: “Roleplaying” is where you essentially get into character, and act out your character. Everything from their dialect to their behavior, but there are do’s and dont’s in Roleplaying

Q: What are the benifits to Roleplaying?
A: Roleplaying is a great way to ensure that any game you play is more than grinding, questing, etc. Roleplaying is a great way to make friends and/or rivals, inspiration for artwork and stories, and most importantly, Immersion!

Now the big question is “Where do I begin” right?

You begin the instant you create your character! From their appearance, their size, their origins, to the very little details such as facial features, you’ve already taken the first step into roleplaying! Even if one makes dramatic features on their character for the purpose of looking goofy, you’ve half-intentionally created a character that would fall into a Comic Relief category. However, before you start going off imitating Jar Jar Binks, it’s important that we cover the Do’s and Don’ts.

Developing your character is important, but keep in mind that it’s a multiplayer game. Other people will be interacting with you, and if the characters name, backstory, or canonical presence doesn’t make sense, it will not only confuse those that you interact with, but also offset any roleplaying potential that could have been had.

http://pasteboard.co/5bMU953Nx.png

This is a quickly-thrown together example of a Charr Elementalist. He has a backstory that validates his chosen profession, he sticks to the tradition of charr being a military culture, and his traits are realistic.

http://pasteboard.co/PTUqsUhTK.png

This is a quickly-thrown together example of a poor RP character. Notice the name. The name is the first thing people see when they interact with you. The character’s age is unrealistic, the bio isn’t kept in the Guild Wars 2 universe, the charr worships a god irrelevant to the GW2 universe, ridiculous size and description, and most importantly, is “Immortal.” These are examples of Lore Breaking.

Lore Breaking is essentially disregarding the boundaries, lore, culture, and base of which your character passively inherits. For example, it’s possible for a charr to worship a god, but they would likely show as a sign of weakness within the charr culture and result in them either becoming a Gladium or being stricken from Charr history. No player, by any means, no matter how much you respawn, can be considered “Immortal.” It’s also lore breaking (Or more appropriately referred to as Fail RP in this case) to enter a room and attempt to “Dominate the minds” of other players.

It’s also important to remember that you cannot kill/permakill/permainjure another player in RP.

Behellagh.1468:

Hi there. If you have questions, the Player Helping Player section would be better.

Basically everything you’re accustom to in WoW or other fantasy MMOs is likely different here. First, no RP or PvP only servers. PvP is a game mode and RP is “around”.

Mostly the standard MMO Trinity of Tank/DPS/Healer is de-emphasized. Some professions are better at one than other but not to the extreme you see in other MMOs (other than the Ranger elite). And tanking is a bit different here, it’s not being a hit point sponge but more about leading a target around.

You don’t split a drop or XP, each involved gets the full reward. Everyone gets a copy of a material node to harvest. The base design philosophy from ArenaNet was a player in PvE should never be worried about seeing another player. Everyone can rez a fallen player or NPC. Most healing is done by yourself on yourself.

Few skills root, combat system is about movement and attacking. Facetanking is difficult as armor doesn’t mitigate damage enough, self-healing isn’t enough and HP is low enough relative to damage being done. Surviving is about NOT being hit, not withstanding it.

Have fun.

I enjoy it thus far for sure! I was actually quite amazed at the detail and combat systems for a F2P game! To me, it’s quite generous of them.

I haven’t tried the PVP yet, but am very eager to give it a go.

As for the RP, I’m sure that I’ll find people to act out a story with!

Thank you for the welcome too! I am eager to continue playing!

I wanted to welcome myself to the community! I quit MMORPGs about a year and a half ago, and started getting MMO withdrawl a short while ago. I caved in and decided to give GW2 a try.

No regrets!

I was always nervous about investing time into a F2P MMORPG. The last one I tried was “Requiem,” which was a good idea but… poorly executed. I’m glad I decided to give it a try!

The only thing I’ve seen thus far that kinda disappoints me is the lack of RP that I’ve seen thus far, which I intend on remedying soon!

Hope to meet people along the way! In the meantime, keep on killin’ and keep on fightin’!