Guild Wars 2

For some background, I pre-ordered Guild Wars 2 back in the day and participated in the betas. I was coming off of World of Warcraft after they changed the Paladin mechanics, and I remember being quite happy with the Greatsword Guardian as it played similarly to my Retribution Paladin before they implemented Holy Power. I did take some breaks from Guild Wars 2 every now and then, but I did manage to experience the whole Flame and Frost arc and some of the events before I stopped playing after the Tower of Nightmares in November of 2013. At this point, I had invested about $120 into Guild Wars 2, counting the retail box, but felt like I had made a bad investment. (Being an altoholic sucks when the default character slots are not enough to cover each class.)

My main was a Human Guardian, got to Level 80, and loved playing my alts. However, my enjoyment turned into frustration as the issues I had with Guild Wars 2 grew, eventually making me quitting the game.

The main issue that I was having was that playing Guild Wars 2 felt like work. I am somewhat of a completionist, wanting to get all the achievements, play all the races, enjoy each class, and experience each story branch. However, almost at every opportunity, the game would “assign me tasks” that I had to do. Do your daily quests, accomplish your monthly tasks, but the worst of all, work on the Living World content.

The Living World delivery may have sounded good on paper, but since it only showed up for about a month before disappearing forever, it applied great pressure to accomplish everything possible and get the achievements before they expire. Needless to say, this was the main factor that led me into quitting Guild Wars 2.

However, there were other issues. Most of it is likely a cause of being victim to the hype, but there were so many things that were just never implemented. I wanted Bar Brawl, Target Practice, all of these little mini-games they were talking about before release. The Personal Story was to be this magnificent tale that focused on the player character. Alas, these elements were lacking. Most of the mini-games were not implemented, and the Personal Story mostly ended up being a trainwreck besides a few gems in the rough. (Tybalt Leftpaw and Human Streetrat storyline come to mind)

For the most part, the personal story could be summed as a fragmented mess that threw the player character into a different story arc every 10 levels with perhaps just a sentence or two connecting them together. Sure, you could see old faces down the road and maybe make some choices (What is the purpose of Brutality, Charm, and Dignity anyway?), but it really didn’t have an major impact. The thing is, I saw the potential what the Personal Story could have been. The Human Street Rat storyline is perhaps the most polished out of all the Personal Story arcs, even having voiced mail! However, overall the Personal Story isn’t really that memorable.

While some of the minor issues I had were eventually resolved (such as having account-wide dyes and WvW exp), all of the negativity left its scars on me. The Living World was perhaps the greatest element that made me to leave.

Essentially, to a player that once enjoyed a little bit of WvW and PvP, but mainly was focused on PvE solo content, is it worth coming back to Guild Wars 2? I want to experience a good storyline and have fun while playing, instead of being “assigned tasks” by the game to do. I want to relax and have fun, not do my “gaming chores”.

I’m also having problems with the E-Mail system, but this is mainly due to the inability to deny any requests to my account. (I am still able to play GW2 in relative safety)

I do receive the e-mail, then when I head to deny access to that location the site errors out. Pictures are included as an attachment.

I remember activities such as Bar Brawl or Target Shootout being planned for Guild Wars 2. I know that Keg Brawl may already be public (It has achievements implemented in-game), but what happened to the rest of them?

One of the things I remember hearing is how much of an impact the Personal Story will have on the home instance. As of the present timeframe, I’m not really noticing much of this “impact”.

For reference, I am a Human Guardian with a Commoner and Unknown Parents background, and I eventually join the Vigil during the Order introduction. I have not gone past this point.

For the Commoner Arc, I was given the chance to either save the Hospital or the Orphanage. I opted to save the Hospital and was expecting the Orphanage to remain burned down and witness other consequences of my actions. However, upon revisiting my instance during other story missions or just plain visiting, the Orphanage was back to the way it was, standing tall and proud as a safe haven. It was like nothing ever happened.

In addition, I completed the Unknown Parents arc and noticed two generic Shining Blade members standing outside the tavern, remarkable similar to the two that helped the player during that story arc. However, save for the cameo, there were no other interactions with them. What about that drink my character promised, or is there any more information discovered about his parents? Small details like these can go a long way to improving a player’s enjoyment of Guild Wars 2. At least Andrew and Petra have generic dialogue, but it would also be nice to have them up to date as my character progresses in his story.

However, an example that had excellent impact and emphasizing that choices matter is when I was playing my Human Engineer (Street Rat) back in Beta and opted to save the townsfolk instead of Quinn. I remember walking back into that instance and hearing the fate of my character’s dear friend, furthering a desire for revenge. Even though this example is just a one time deal, it would be nice to see more of these – both as permanent changes or just one time actions of awesome. (I have a feeling if I saved Quinn he’ll probably just be a cameo or be generic like Andrew or Petra.)

I understand that there are elements of Guild Wars 2 that are not yet put into place, and satisfying everyone is an impossible task. I’m just wondering if there wasn’t enough time to fulfill all these small possibilities or if it was just “left behind”.