Guild Wars 2

Oxidia.8103:

Good luck and a soft wood log? Maybe an unsatisfied ex……

LOOL
xD

Good luck and soft wood log? Maybe unsatisfied ex……

Tuomir.1830:

I once got 69 creamed bananas through mail. Not from a stranger, though.

That….. almost sounds naughty. O.o

But no, OP. I think it’s just you getting these items.

I once got 69 creamed bananas through mail. Not from a stranger, though.

I’d be fine with transmutation working the same as the way dyes do.

Being able to customize your appearance is, in my opinion, the best part about Guild Wars 2! The bummer, of course, is that it’s not really feasible to transmute the appearance of low-level items when you’re just starting a new character, and that makes me a bit sad.

Obvously, transmutation charges are a money maker, but I wonder if others, like myself, would be more likely to spend a bit more money in order to alleviate concerns whatsoever? I’m not even going to pretend like I know what a “fair price” for something like that would be, merely that I’m more likely to purchase something like that, whereas now, I’ve actually never purchased a transmutation stone.

Just sayin’!

But….But…That would make it pay to win!! Because this game is all about skins and appearances!!

Seriously now, I think that would be awesome! I change my looks on my toons often enough, but always worry about having extra charges to do it, especially for low level characters. I don’t like waiting until lvl 80 to be able to play with my looks. I would be all for something like this.

I just want some skimpy armor options for male avatars. I can’t even find one that bares my arms. Especially something like a more cutaway version of masquerade armor, sophisticated/skimpy.

Equal representation and more options/customization the ftw!

Hello.
Every other possible skin that was in living story is avaiable by either buying it on Trading Post or by buying it from Laurel merchant. Except for these wings that (unluckily) I didn’t manage to get in time.
As the game is, there is no way that there is going to be another Boss Week, and even less chances that it will be Tequatl again. That’s why I’d like you make it possible to get it in some way.
That would be all.

Vayne.8563:

Well you can make another Orr, a different Orr for people who did finish it right? It’s a tremendous amount of work, and then what happens.

Everyone goes to the new zones and the people who haven’t finished have no one to play with and can’t get around because Orr is harder than the rest of the game till that point.

Not a problem — thanks to NPE! Player retention out the proverbial wazoo, new players everywhere! And since all (PVE) roads lead to Orr, there will never be a scarcity of new (and aging) players there.

Plus there’s nothing to prevent old players from tagging along with their new player friends! Just like when one of my characters (who has already clobbered Big Z) goes (back in time) to Claw Island to help a friend try to convince Watch Commander Talon that an invasion is on the way. Talon will still be in just as much denial as he was when my character tried to warn him way back when.

MMO time (and space!) is extra wibbley wobbley like that.

NewTrain.7549:

No, I read it. It is fairly juvenile.

Lionguard Quatta: Your first patrol. Think you’re ready?
Lionguard Brenn Hillow: The armor, it’s so heavy. I don’t… I don’t remember my route. I don’t… I can’t…

It reeks of artificiality and forced exposition.

Lionguard Quatta: Ferkinna! How’s my favourite keg thrower?
Ferkinna: Quatta, you gill-sauced squeaker. Didn’t see you there. Who is this runt? Looks like he stumbled out of the crib.

“Gill-sauced squeaker”? Sounds a lot like a star-bellied sneetch. Seussical.

If this example was your evidence of good writing, you’re going to have to try a lot harder.

I think you’re not taking into consideration the medium here. This isnt a novel, its a game. More specifically this isnt narration but rather character dialog. Writing here needs to convey character more then anything else. If Queen Jennah used gill-sauced squeaker then yeah you’d have a good point. But soldiers in a city founded by pirates, sailors and merchants no less? It fits the character.

As for Lionguard Brenn Hillow, this is a new recruit in an organization that has recently lost huge numbers. Such an organization is desperate to re-arm itself in order to still be able to defend the city should the need arises. As such it no longer has the luxury of properly training good recruits. Dialog there is intended is trying to tell us a number of things. Its telling us this is a new recruit. Its telling us he had 0 training… Lionguard Brenn Hillow never wore an armor before now, he isnt used to it one bit, it feels heavy, suffocating. They’re nervous. In part because they’re new, in part because of the trauma everyone suffered in the attack I suppose. Whatever the case that nervousness is expressed both through the hesitation in speaking and also by the character being forgetful.

This is definitely exposition no doubt about that, but its good exposition in my opinion. I’d be more let down if instead of having the dialog tell the story, they’d have the character tell the story.

Imagine if instead of this:
Lionguard Quatta: Your first patrol. Think you’re ready?
Lionguard Brenn Hillow: The armor, it’s so heavy. I don’t… I don’t remember my route. I don’t… I can’t…

we got this:
Lionguard Quatta: Your first patrol. Think you’re ready?
Lionguard Brenn Hillow: Yeah, I think so. Its just, I am so nervous. I havent even recovered from the trauma of the past days. It would have helped if I had a little training before being sent on patrol too.

Much worst. The original dialog gives me the same background as my bad dialog does but does it way more organically. Dont think its forced, on the contrary I think it blends really well.

NewTrain.7549:

Vayne.8563:

NewTrain.7549:

Zaklex.6308:

Thanatos.2691:

NewTrain.7549:

The writing is just plain bad. It can involve me as much as I want, but if it’s written like a young adult novel, I’m still not going to be interested.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing feels more like fan-fiction than legitimate GW2 lore. I completely hate it.

I disagree, none of what is happening now is new, it’s actually GW history repeating itself. I can see you going ‘huh?’ right about now…well, it’s simple, this isn’t the first time the Elder Dragons have risen now, is it? Therefore what we’re experiencing is past events in a current world context. The concept is hard to understand, I know…

That response has nothing to do with the problem we’re discussing. You’re talking plot line, we’re talking writing. There’s a difference.

The writing is uneven in both games. There are some pretty good and pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 2. There are also some pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 1.

But most of us were much younger and less discerning when we played Guild Wars 1 for the first time.

I never mentioned Guild Wars 1. I was only talking about Guild Wars 2, in which the writing is overwhelmingly shallow and juvenile. I’m not sure what you bringing GW1 into the equation has to do with my post, unless you’re trying to put words into other people’s mouths yet again.

Shallow and Juvenile? Most characters where forged in fire. Marjory is what she is today cause she has indirectly contributed to killing a kid to a hide some ministers secret. Kasmeer from a life of nobility ended marginalized and loosing her father because of her brothers mistakes. Taimi has a debilitating decease.

Gw2 has touched on subjects like Same Sex Relationships, People displaced due to war but not just, they were taken advantage of because of their predicament, Death, loss of Loved ones, Torture, self sacrifice to ensure a future for your children etc…

Gw2 employees humor a lot sure but that doesnt mean its juvenile. As MMOs go they got some of the darker streaks actually. There are not many MMos who’s writing can make you feel sorry for the NPCs involved.

Gilosean.3805:

Vayne.8563:

OP, how are you not changing the lore? I’m not sure I understand.

Last I heard: Living and Personal story SPOILERS AHEAD:

I killed Zhaitan and I helped rescue people from Lion’s Arch after it was invaded and destroyed. Then I fought to take back Lion’s Arch, which is still in the process of being rebuilt.

I definitely 100% feel like a part of the story.

I mean I killed Scarlet and was there to watch her drill finish waking up a new Elder Dragon.

How am I not part of the lore?

Because no one else ever mentions it. There’s no impact on world lore from player actions, at least none that players see.

For example, the LS instances don’t recognize players who have completed the PS. That’s a big oversight in terms of lore continuity and player experience. If the PC is a big cheese kittencued Tyria from Zhaitan, that should be noticed and commented on. But no where in the game do players see the impact of their actions.

Check out the Living World forum for more questions about PC impact on lore.

Actually there is a problem there but its not the one you mention. NPCs in the Living story most definitely recognize that you were instrumental in the personal story line. They do this in more ways then one. The problem there is they assume you took part in the personal story line even if you didnt. Not sure if this may be an account wide flag or something but some alts I have that never engaged in their personal story still get recognized like they did.

I think people overlook this as cinematics tend to marginalize player characters due to what Anet explained is a voice over canandrum (including PC in cinematics would cost (not just monitory but also resource wise) as much as 10 npcs due to races and genders) but if you engage NPCs in conversation thats a different story. Its where most recognition occurs. Same is true for the open world. If you never talk to an NPC you’d think no one noticed a single deed you did but if you talk to NPCs they’ll ocationally point out you were the one to save the village etc.. and thank you for it.

NewTrain.7549:

Vayne.8563:

NewTrain.7549:

Vayne.8563:

NewTrain.7549:

Zaklex.6308:

Thanatos.2691:

NewTrain.7549:

The writing is just plain bad. It can involve me as much as I want, but if it’s written like a young adult novel, I’m still not going to be interested.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing feels more like fan-fiction than legitimate GW2 lore. I completely hate it.

I disagree, none of what is happening now is new, it’s actually GW history repeating itself. I can see you going ‘huh?’ right about now…well, it’s simple, this isn’t the first time the Elder Dragons have risen now, is it? Therefore what we’re experiencing is past events in a current world context. The concept is hard to understand, I know…

That response has nothing to do with the problem we’re discussing. You’re talking plot line, we’re talking writing. There’s a difference.

The writing is uneven in both games. There are some pretty good and pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 2. There are also some pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 1.

But most of us were much younger and less discerning when we played Guild Wars 1 for the first time.

I never mentioned Guild Wars 1. I was only talking about Guild Wars 2, in which the writing is overwhelmingly shallow and juvenile. I’m not sure what you bringing GW1 into the equation has to do with my post, unless you’re trying to put words into other people’s mouths yet again.

I never said you mentioned Guild Wars 1, but enough people have. In reality, this is how Anet writes. This how they wrote 10 years ago.

It’s not Shakespeare. It was never going to be Shakespeare.

It’s not all or even mostly juvenile, those it is aimed at a certain audience. Clearly you’re not that audience.

It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare. I doubt anyone is asking for Shakespeare. It does however need to be a little bit more mature than Dr. Seuss for players to feel any sense of gravitas and this is something the GW2 story repeatedly fails to achieve. You claim the writing is aimed at a certain audience. What audience is that? People who like the Twilight novels?

So how is this Dr. Seuss?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lionguard_Brenn_Hillow

Yes I posted this link higher, but apparently you ignored it. It’s definitely not Shakespeare, but it’s certainly not Dr. Seuss either.

As I’ve said in a previous post I stopped doing the personal story until the character hits close to 80 unless I need a boost in XP, I’ve played through the entire personal story just once however and I’ve got about 5 or 6 level 80’s now, — now I’ll get to the point — I prefer this method after trying different ways to play, every time I do I find something new in the world that I had not known was even there.

I do think the citizenry should if not must add some acknowledgment of the things you do for them, example; I saved a bunch of kids, not one of those ungrateful parents (maybe they wanted them dead) has ever sort me out and said thank you.

Do we get cut prices for all our heroics ? no, we have to pay … now tell me why I should pay to save Tyria considering I am its last hope before being swallowed dragons, NPCs should be falling over themselves to make every effort to equip me the best way they can.

Those little boxes of rewards while you level it would be nicer if an NPC ran up to you to give it too you, rather interesting problem if you happen to be at the top of a vista but then the NPC wouldn’t find you until you entered an outpost or city.

Vayne.8563:

And yet there are two lion guards walking around Lion’s Arch that tell a whole story in their rounds that I followed because I was fascinated by what they had to say. Seven scenes in all that talk about how the aftermath of the Lion’s Arch battles left in its wake corruption and prejudice.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lionguard_Brenn_Hillow

That’s why I say the writing is uneven.

Even better, how about the cub escort in the Plains of Ashford where you keep ghosts off them? Or the Sharkmaw jumping puzzle? Sure, they’re not drama, but come on.

If you want to talk about drama writing, how about the one event chain in the Blazeridge Steppes where Ebon Vanguard and Legionnaires get to work together taking out ogres because they are a threat?

If you just want to talk about good, period, how about the sequence of events in Lornar’s Pass starting with fishing Dwarven Artifacts out of False Lake and ending with the one battle with the Fire Imp from a cursed Summoning Stone? They crammed a lot into that sequence of events.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Vayne.8563:

And yet there are two lion guards walking around Lion’s Arch that tell a whole story in their rounds that I followed because I was fascinated by what they had to say. Seven scenes in all that talk about how the aftermath of the Lion’s Arch battles left in its wake corruption and prejudice.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lionguard_Brenn_Hillow

That’s why I say the writing is uneven.

Even better, how about the cub escort in the Plains of Ashford where you keep ghosts off them? Or the Sharkmaw jumping puzzle? Sure, they’re not drama, but come on.

If you want to talk about drama writing, how about the one event chain in the Blazeridge Steppes where Ebon Vanguard and Legionnaires get to work together taking out ogres because they are a threat?

If you just want to talk about good, period, how about the sequence of events in Lornar’s Pass starting with fishing Dwarven Artifacts out of False Lake and ending with the one battle with the Fire Imp from a cursed Summoning Stone? They crammed a lot into that sequence of events.

I think Guild Wars 2’s ambient and event dialogue, on the whole, tends to be better than story dialogue at least the stuff the game launched with.

It’s probably easier for people to ignore stuff like ambient dialogue, because you don’t need to listen to it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not in game.

Lunar Sunset.8742:

NewTrain.7549:

Vayne.8563:

NewTrain.7549:

Zaklex.6308:

Thanatos.2691:

NewTrain.7549:

The writing is just plain bad. It can involve me as much as I want, but if it’s written like a young adult novel, I’m still not going to be interested.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing feels more like fan-fiction than legitimate GW2 lore. I completely hate it.

I disagree, none of what is happening now is new, it’s actually GW history repeating itself. I can see you going ‘huh?’ right about now…well, it’s simple, this isn’t the first time the Elder Dragons have risen now, is it? Therefore what we’re experiencing is past events in a current world context. The concept is hard to understand, I know…

That response has nothing to do with the problem we’re discussing. You’re talking plot line, we’re talking writing. There’s a difference.

The writing is uneven in both games. There are some pretty good and pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 2. There are also some pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 1.

But most of us were much younger and less discerning when we played Guild Wars 1 for the first time.

I never mentioned Guild Wars 1. I was only talking about Guild Wars 2, in which the writing is overwhelmingly shallow and juvenile. I’m not sure what you bringing GW1 into the equation has to do with my post, unless you’re trying to put words into other people’s mouths yet again.

I agree with what you’re saying about the writing in GW2, I find it overwhelmingly cheesy where I actually see the dialogue and say “Oh come on…” For example boss fractal with the molten firestrom/bruiser and the exchange goes:
Molten Firestorm: Squeeee! We’ve got company! Hey, bruiser. You see what I see?
Molten Berserker: (ROAR)
Molten Firestorm: I’ll take that as a yippee. Let’s see how colorful a smear we can make.

Or the Mai Trin boss fractal:

Mai Trin: This has all gone to crud. Scarlet’s gonna have my noggin for screwing up.
Champion First Mate Horrik: What now, Captain? It’ll take cannonballs to get out of here alive.

Who wrote this stuff, I read both of the books and they were never this cheesy. In fact, compared to this cheese I dare say the books were actually GOOD writing.

And yet there are two lion guards walking around Lion’s Arch that tell a whole story in their rounds that I followed because I was fascinated by what they had to say. Seven scenes in all that talk about how the aftermath of the Lion’s Arch battles left in its wake corruption and prejudice.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lionguard_Brenn_Hillow

That’s why I say the writing is uneven.

VodCom.6924:

My personnal view there : some zones have a very good story tied to them.

Blazeridge, fireheart and kessex hills are very well done in this regard. However there are other horrible exambles like timberline falls where there is so much happening and I don’t know what the end goal is.

As for the personal story :
The story is all compassing, really inclusive and well designed in theory. In practice, all the subtilities and details of the fight against zaithan are poorly delivered.

[SPOILER WARNING BELOW]
Answer this question : how did anyone figured out how to build magic canons that can harm zaithan ? (I know the answer, however I think that it is poorly explained and many people miss this sort of capital plot points).

All in all, the stories are here but the delivery method is uneven.

It is something they have started to fix in LW season 2. You jump from taimi to rox in a bizarre fashion however you do not miss important details and it fits the timeline.

Spoilers:

It was explained in the Asuran story line at least to my satisfaction. It’s no worse than being able to make a teleport.

Professor Gor experimented with dragon magic. He designed a weapon to be used against dragon minions that stole their magic from them and used it again them. It absorbed their magic as the way dragons absorb magic, then redirected it back at them. I played that story so I knew how that went.

The problem is from a story telling view, there are many pieces and you don’t get to see them all.

NewTrain.7549:

Vayne.8563:

NewTrain.7549:

Zaklex.6308:

Thanatos.2691:

NewTrain.7549:

The writing is just plain bad. It can involve me as much as I want, but if it’s written like a young adult novel, I’m still not going to be interested.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing feels more like fan-fiction than legitimate GW2 lore. I completely hate it.

I disagree, none of what is happening now is new, it’s actually GW history repeating itself. I can see you going ‘huh?’ right about now…well, it’s simple, this isn’t the first time the Elder Dragons have risen now, is it? Therefore what we’re experiencing is past events in a current world context. The concept is hard to understand, I know…

That response has nothing to do with the problem we’re discussing. You’re talking plot line, we’re talking writing. There’s a difference.

The writing is uneven in both games. There are some pretty good and pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 2. There are also some pretty bad examples of writing in Guild Wars 1.

But most of us were much younger and less discerning when we played Guild Wars 1 for the first time.

I never mentioned Guild Wars 1. I was only talking about Guild Wars 2, in which the writing is overwhelmingly shallow and juvenile. I’m not sure what you bringing GW1 into the equation has to do with my post, unless you’re trying to put words into other people’s mouths yet again.

I never said you mentioned Guild Wars 1, but enough people have. In reality, this is how Anet writes. This how they wrote 10 years ago.

It’s not Shakespeare. It was never going to be Shakespeare.

It’s not all or even mostly juvenile, those it is aimed at a certain audience. Clearly you’re not that audience.

NewTrain.7549:

Zaklex.6308:

Thanatos.2691:

NewTrain.7549:

The writing is just plain bad. It can involve me as much as I want, but if it’s written like a young adult novel, I’m still not going to be interested.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing feels more like fan-fiction than legitimate GW2 lore. I completely hate it.

I disagree, none of what is happening now is new, it’s actually GW history repeating itself. I can see you going ‘huh?’ right about now…well, it’s simple, this isn’t the first time the Elder Dragons have risen now, is it? Therefore what we’re experiencing is past events in a current world context. The concept is hard to understand, I know…

That response has nothing to do with the problem we’re discussing. You’re talking plot line, we’re talking writing. There’s a difference.

Yes, I’m talking plot line, and without a plot line you have a jumbled story, which the OP says doesn’t exist or exists in only existential form, if at all, when what is really there is a broad brush stroked ‘story’ guided by the plot line. Many little details have been left out or left to the PC(players) imagination, which is extremely hard to do if you aren’t familiar with the lore/history. Always my opinion…I think a litmus test would be to take each zone and dissect it, does the zone have it’s own ‘plot line’, is that ‘plot line’ conveyed/helped along by the ‘story’ aka Hearts/DE’s and NPC’s conversations or lack there of. If after that analysis the ’story’d isn’t cohesive or meaty enough, then I can see the OP’s point, but just off the top of my head and from memory…I don’t see that problem.

Thanatos.2691:

NewTrain.7549:

The writing is just plain bad. It can involve me as much as I want, but if it’s written like a young adult novel, I’m still not going to be interested.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing feels more like fan-fiction than legitimate GW2 lore. I completely hate it.

I disagree, none of what is happening now is new, it’s actually GW history repeating itself. I can see you going ‘huh?’ right about now…well, it’s simple, this isn’t the first time the Elder Dragons have risen now, is it? Therefore what we’re experiencing is past events in a current world context. The concept is hard to understand, I know…as for the OP, the world is living…I have absolutely no problem going around and doing the Hearts and DE’s, I also have to problem seeing how they relate to the area around them and also the region they’re in, it’s not that difficult to see the relationships. As for a GW2 being a grind, I have news for him, a grind is when you have to repeat the exact same ‘quest’ and/or ‘event over and over ad infinitum to gain levels, at least that’s grind in it’s basic form…something that GW2 doesn’t come close to…unless you chose to play it that way. (IMO)

Gilosean.3805:

Vayne.8563:

OP, how are you not changing the lore? I’m not sure I understand.

Last I heard: Living and Personal story SPOILERS AHEAD:

I killed Zhaitan and I helped rescue people from Lion’s Arch after it was invaded and destroyed. Then I fought to take back Lion’s Arch, which is still in the process of being rebuilt.

I definitely 100% feel like a part of the story.

I mean I killed Scarlet and was there to watch her drill finish waking up a new Elder Dragon.

How am I not part of the lore?

Because no one else ever mentions it. There’s no impact on world lore from player actions, at least none that players see.

For example, the LS instances don’t recognize players who have completed the PS. That’s a big oversight in terms of lore continuity and player experience. If the PC is a big cheese kittencued Tyria from Zhaitan, that should be noticed and commented on. But no where in the game do players see the impact of their actions.

Check out the Living World forum for more questions about PC impact on lore.

There are definitely things mentioned in the LS that refer to the PS. I can’t recall them offhand but they’re there. You obviously have a history for example, with Trahearne when you meet him and that history is obvious in the exchange. He’s not a stranger.

But in the open world there’s never really going to be references to PS or LS. That’s the weakness of having a persistent world.

Take Orr. In Orr it has to be left pretty much as is, because some players haven’t faced Zhaitan yet, or finished their PS.

Well you can make another Orr, a different Orr for people who did finish it right? It’s a tremendous amount of work, and then what happens.

Everyone goes to the new zones and the people who haven’t finished have no one to play with and can’t get around because Orr is harder than the rest of the game till that point.

MMOs aren’t story driven, generally for reason. SWToR and TSW are both story driven MMOs to some degree but the open world generally remains unchanged. That’s the nature of the beast.

I keep seeing small little details – the sewer in Divinty’s Reach that you can inspect, but do nothing about (that I am aware of anyways). Snippets of conversations that pique my interest, but I quickly realize lead nowhere. What I would like is an almost Oblivion level of detail to NPC’s lives. They go home, you can follow them. See into their lives. Most would be boring…but maybe there’s a guy who sleeps around on his wife, or some other sordid tale. Maybe you couldn’t interact with them in any meaningful way, but it would make for interesting diversions. Instead, the “living” world of GW2 is on an endless, fairly static loop.

I don’t even bother with the personal story until I’ve reached 70~80, I might try a new character and completely ignore even the level 10 one, because the world is a story unto its own.

In my opinion, everything is a story in this game. Even many events chain off each other if you follow the NPCs where they go and listen to their dialogue.

There is HOURS of story in dungeons if you take the time to read the dialogues or listen to the cut scenes.

There is TONS of NPC conversations all around the world as you wander about .. if you’re not running to your next destination.

Personal Story and Living Story are only two parts of many arcs of individualized snipits of lively story in this game.

Where is this grind fest you are talking about? I think you are misusing that word. At least not in the same context.

Definition of Grinding in a Video Game: Grinding is a term used in video gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive tasks during video games. – Taken from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinding_

OP, how are you not changing the lore? I’m not sure I understand.

Last I heard: Living and Personal story SPOILERS AHEAD:

I killed Zhaitan and I helped rescue people from Lion’s Arch after it was invaded and destroyed. Then I fought to take back Lion’s Arch, which is still in the process of being rebuilt.

I definitely 100% feel like a part of the story.

I mean I killed Scarlet and was there to watch her drill finish waking up a new Elder Dragon.

How am I not part of the lore?

Drake Phoenix.6158:

Maybe some of you are perfectly OK with that. I’m not. I’ve never liked grind games. I will never like grind games. And breaking up the grind from time to time with crafting, or fishing, or exploring, or looking for lore, or whatever is available in any given game, doesn’t remove the grind. It doesn’t make it less of an issue. Instead, the game needs to feel like it flows, and is always fun no matter what I’m doing.

Sounds like you come from single player RPGs and not from any MMORPG I’ve ever heard of, because no game out right now or in the past has what it seems you are looking for.

Sounds to me, OP, like you’re describing a single player RPG. Story is central to every aspect of the game, you get the best rewards available, the story always waits for you to show up, and if you want to skip the side quests, the story content adjusts to your level.

Unfortunately, this is an MMO, not a SPRPG. Events happen when they happen because someone else got there before you did. Many MMO players value progression over time, so the possibility of perceived grind is going to exist. Rewards are tied to systems designed to keep players playing because the company requires an active player base to get paid (no sub, but inactive players probably don’t buy gems).

Unfortunately, you aren’t the only one playing GW2.

Guild Wars 1 was linear. That was a great strength and a great weakness.

Guild Wars 2 is less linear. I prefer less linear.