Foreword My post was too long so I broke it up into multiple posts. Part 1:
This is a controversial topic for a lot of reasons. Some people hate to see a good thing spoiled by the abuse of a few. Some feel passionately that finding the most efficient path to reach their goals is the definition of abuse. Some feel that ArenaNet has created a game that does not require grinding (or their definition of it), and therefore those players should simply find another game. There’s a lot of heated gray area that can be attributed to semantics and lack of clear definition from ArenaNet.
Here’s a personal example:
I seek the Legendary Staff, the Bifrost. I realized this was an absolutely tremendous undertaking, and the most daunting aspect would likely be the karma cost (but it might end up being the gold cost).
Something I want to be clear on: I’ve never been a grinder. One of the things that drew me into Guild Wars 2 was their mission of providing enough diverse and exciting content that still rewards the player so they may meet their goals without grinding. Love it. I’ve played nearly 2 dozen MMOs since The Realm Online and this is the most exciting thing I’ve seen in the industry since 1998.
On the whole, Guild Wars 2 has delivered. I’ve done the WvW, I’ve done many of the dungeons, I’ve played the discovery in crafting as I leveled 3 professions to 400, I’ve explored and found relatively secret achievements, and I’m sitting at 70% map completion (I really don’t care for the snowy zones too much, so taking a break). It’s been a blast. The best part is that the combat is actually fun and engaging, something I’ve been personally yearning for for years.
Now enter the Bifrost. I knew I wanted this thing, badly… but I’m not a grinder. But that’s okay, right? Because Guild Wars 2 has enough content to let me run around and have fun and do all sorts of exciting things and still earn it without repeating the same content over and over, right?
Unfortunately, not. I examined every aspect of the game and there is simply no way to achieve these items without intense repetition of content. That can be PvP, that can be lower level zone Dynamic Events, that can be world bosses, but not matter how you cut it you WILL be repeating a lot of content. I was kind of upset. I didn’t want to grind but I wanted this stuff. Age old dilemma I guess, how much is that carrot worth it to you? I decided to give it a shot and head to Cursed Shore to see how bad it really was before making my decision. That’s the place with the best karma and the most players my level so it’s likely the best place to go.
Turns out it’s awesome. I mean, I’m making friends, I’m mastering the events, I’m getting the best loot I’ve ever gotten, I’m getting exponentially better at my class, learning where and why to relocate my traits, and most importantly I’m getting tons of karma. Guild Wars 2 really did deliver, they designed a fun way for me to meet the loftiest of goals. I was in love.
So now you may understand why I was heartbroken when this ripped away from me without explanation. I wasn’t abusing the system. I mean, wouldn’t always complete the events – but why should I? The game showed me that a minimum contribution of damage and/or time was sufficient to earn a gold contribution, not staying until completion. That was never a requirement in any of the hundreds and hundreds of events I’d done.
