Guild Wars 2

Rigultru.3597:

theo.5214:

I’m pretty new to GW2 after playing WoW for years. Been playing for a couple of weeks now. And I have to ask if I’m doing something wrong in zones.

I am consistently lagging far behind in level by the time I 100% complete a zone. For instance, I just completed Dredgehaunt Cliffs last night, a 40-50 zone. I’ve done everything, gathering along the way and doing events, and I’m barely over 45 now. If there is a large level range in a zone, I often times run into areas of multiple enemies that are hard to get through becuase they outlevel me by a large margin. Got through some of it with a few friends, though.

So, if I’m on by myself, is the only solution to pack up and go to another zone to make up the difference rather than stay put and try to 100% complete in while I’m leveling? That kind of doesn’t make sense to me, but I don’t want to just sit around doing nothing but grinding mobs for levels either.

I honestly doubt you have experienced the zone to it’s fullest. You can easily walk into a new zone, and “complete” the map but be NO WHERE near actually completing the map. There are so many events and mini quests that occur that you may not even see at first glance.

Trust me, the idea of the game is to just let it flow. Try not to worry so much about completing hearts and all that jazz, the game really isn’t that linear.

Please stop thinking I’m just beelining to hearts and then shrugging my shoulders. I never said that.

I am exploring these maps. I’m doing every event I come across. I was just confused as to why, even after covering the whole map AND doing everything I’ve come across, I’m still lagging behind.

I now understand that these zones are NOT meant to get you through those levels. They just house events appropriate for those levels. That’s great. I just don’t like that structure, and I don’t like just running around until I stumble across something that’s happening.

Just difference in opinion at this point. Dynamic events are the way to go, along with zone jumping, I understand that now. Dynamic events would just feel more dynamic if they occurred on your way from Point A to Point B, with A and B having some kind of meaning. I guess I was a little disappointed in dynamic events being nothing but quests you had no control over and could easily miss.

I mean, how do I KNOW I have fully experienced a zone? By simply wandering around until I stop seeing events I haven’t already done at least once?

Karizee.8076:

The vast lore of this game spans many zones and includes a huge amount of stories. You can choose just to stay in the snowy areas if you like but the more zones you expose yourself to, the more you will see how it all ties together.

If there is vast lore, why do I still have no idea what is going on with this game over half way through my leveling experience and after completing a bunch of zones? That’s not to say it doesn’t exist (I’m sure I could read volumes of it online), but why haven’t I gotten any semblance of it in game so far?

What are the factions? Do I represent a faction? Are there factions? Is each race a faction? Is every player a lone adventurer? Who are the bad guys? Who are the good guys? Who am I fighting? WHY am I fighting? What is my goal? I could go on and on.

But that is a completely separate issue other than the in-zone content. I guess I bunny trailed a bit when I kind of figured out the lack of story cohesion was a large factor for me. I guess it’s kind of going in circles at this point if we venture into personal taste territory…

Lostyus.4250:

I actually prefer it instead of just traipsing from one fight to the next.

That pretty much sums up how GW2 has felt to me so far, so thank you for doing it much more succinctly than I did

GuzziHero.2467:

OP seems unhappy that the game doesn’t tell him EXACTLY what to do at every turn to get levelled. He seems to think it is the target that matters, and that there should be a finite path, and a pre-determined start, path and finish.

This game does not work like that. On my new account I just hit 55 and so far haven’t completed any other maps than Queensdale, Kessex, Gendarren, Fields of Ruin and Brisban, plus the cities. The content to level is there, in spades. You just have to have the patience to find and complete it.

I never implied that I wanted my hand held and I wanted to be told what to do. What I did say is that I enjoy leveling by progressing through a zone to the tune of a coherent story. Actually, “the target is all that matters” is the exact opposite of what I think. I quite enjoy the journey and immersion.

What I don’t particularly enjoy is having to jump all over the place to progress is all. And I have to learn to deal with that if I’m going to play this game.

From everything I have learned playing MMOs, there is quite the spectrum from hand holding on one end to aimless wandering on the other.

guardian.6489:

Alright you know what, I decided to look around dedgehaunt and see if there was an easy to miss meta that you should go back and do and I found it, it’s called “In Pursuit of knowledge”, it’s basically a war with the dredge. If you push it to it’s end point there’s a boss fight at the end.

If you need more info on it, here’s all the dynamic events connected with it:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/In_Pursuit_of_Knowledge

You just need to find one and you should be able to ride along until the event ends up with a boss fight.

The entire time I’ve been in the zone, it’s been on the phase “The dredge have been pushed back to Tribulation Rift.” I’ve done bits and pieces of the rest. I gathered blueprints. I’ve seen the Commissar die (just missed joining in, he went down fast), and I defended the granite citadel. I had zero idea any of those were connected or chained together, other than the overarching sense that the Dredge are a problem in the zone. And that the Dredge in Tribulation Rift are kind of hard to take down in groups when they are 5 levels above you

I guess I just really need to rewire my brain and drop everything to follow these events. Although I wonder if I do that if I will be able to keep up. If I got from 40-45 getting 100% map completion, I don’t know if I could follow that chain and cover the 4 or 5 level span the chain covers.

Well, I don’t “just do hearts.” I wouldn’t say they distract me as I don’t make it a point to just go heart to heart. You would think I’d come across enough events by searching for all of the vistas and POIs, but apparently you have to specifically set out to do events instead of them happening along the way?

And without knowing when they will happen, just wander aimlessly/talk to every NPkittenil one DOES happen? Or camp spots where they start?

EDIT: That’s funny. Putting NPC near the word until, even with a space between, sets the filters off.

timmyf.1490:

Out of curiosity, which zones have you been in? Caledon Forest has 3 jumping puzzles, for example. (Or is it 4?) Each has a chest reward and an achievement associated with it.

I’ve 100% map completed Wayfarer Foothills, Snowden Drifts, Diessa Plateau, Lornar’s Pass, and now Dredgehaunt Cliffs.

timmyf.1490:

Monkey, I think my problem with hearts comes from when I got the game. I am not a traditional MMO player but played with a lot of people who were. This is how they played the game.

1) Leave starter instance.
BEGIN LOOP
2a) Run to nearest incomplete heart.
2b) Complete heart.
END LOOP – REPEAT UNTIL COMPLETE
3) Complain there’s nothing to do and go back to Rift.

After they quit the game and I just ran around on my own on a second character, I started skipping hearts because I had done them before and didn’t care. Suddenly I realized that, not only was I having more fun, but I was leveling way faster as well.

Everything about the game improved when I basically began ignoring the existence of hearts on the map. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing them – in fact, I was still clearing them pretty regularly. I just wasn’t grinding them.

This is kind of what I’m getting at but not entirely. I don’t run it like that per se. I talk to the scouts, and I kind of take the quest heart as just the general “backbone” of the area the scouts point out. Figure that whole region has other stuff, but as you generally do other stuff you will eventually fill up that heart on your way around. I see it as a guidepost, like someone else said.

I guess the main core of my problem is that I’m used to zone-wide narrative. I’m used to zone questing as a story device and not just merely a way to get experience. In other words, my preferred method of leveling in a game like this is to experience the story. I don’t see any of that in GW2. In fact, I still don’t even know what my overall purpose in the game is or who the “villains” even are, and I’m over halfway through my initial leveling experience.

As an aside, are jumping puzzles always associated with a Vista or POI? Again, maybe I’m just…too efficient? I know you are saying there is a bunch of hidden stuff, but I wander every cave and tunnel I come across and I’m not finding this plethora of hidden stuff. Unless leveling by “hidden stuff” you mean just gaining levels by killing the mobs you come across as you wander a random cave that has no other purpose other than housing said mobs.

Stooperdale.3560:

“I’m asking why there isn’t enough in a zone to get you through the appropriate range in the zone. "

Most people here on the forum are not giving you a satisfactory answer since they haven’t come across the problem. Generally by doing the personal story and completing the zones the story goes through, you would finish above zone level. So they are not advising you to do anything different from what they have done themselves. You are in fact claiming that there is big problem of experience within the game, except that it isn’t a problem for anyone else.

To get more xp you can:

- Do dungeons
- Do low level fractals
- Do personal story
- Do living story (when it returns)
- Adventure in more zones, there are about 3 zones at every level range
- Use xp boosters and xp food
- Collect resources
- Craft
- Explore cities
- Explore WvW, and PvP maps
- Do dailies
- Do events
- Do activities
- Complete jumping puzzles
- Follow the living story
- Do guild missions
- Play WvW

That’s not by any means an exhaustive list since achievements and other stuff probably give xp too. There’s no point claiming there is nothing to do in game to get xp.

Again, I am NOT asking about what other ways I can gain experience. I’m well aware I can do a bunch of stuff I don’t want to particularly do (like my complete lack of interest in WvW) to gain experience. Telling me to go do something I don’t have interest in is not exactly an answer. My question isn’t “What else can I do in general?” It’s “Why did I just 100% map complete a 40-50 zone and only end up at level 45?”

You said that “Generally by doing the personal story and completing the zones the story goes through, you would finish above zone level.” I have found the exact opposite. I have 100% completed every map I’ve done on the way to where I am, and I have consistently found I am very underleveled for the zone I just finished by the time I’m done with it.

I already found my answer. The answer lies in the fact that zones are completely and utterly different in this game. Sure, I can kill mobs all day to level from 40-50 in the zone, but that isn’t “content.” The zones are just poorly gated and the answer lies in having to do a smattering of a whole bunch of different places and going all over creation to progress if you like progressing through zones. I just have to retrain my brain and get used to the lack of cohesive, progressive gameplay.

I’m not sure if I’m getting my point across properly. I’m not asking about other methods of getting experience (many of which I don’t care for and shouldn’t HAVE to do in a game with a mantra where you can do anything you want). I’m asking why there isn’t enough in a zone to get you through the appropriate range in the zone. What I’m saying is that, in a zone makred 40-50, there is not enough content in that zone to get you from 40-50 at all in the slightest.

From what I’m understanding, from what you guys are saying, is that the ranges don’t represent the content, only the appropriate level ranges for the zone. So, if you are somewhere from 40-50, you will find something there at your level. NOT that it will get you from 40-50 going through the zone.

Fair enough. I still think that’s a flaw, but I guess it doesn’t matter because there is no real zone-wide stories anyway. It’s just a long stretch of unrelated events and areas. I just hate the choppiness of leaving the snowy mountains helping the Priory to go do something unrelated with Charr in the grasslands simply because I’ve run out of stuff. It makes it all disjointed. But whatever.

I am up to date on my personal story and I am doing every event I come across. Also, PvP isn’t my bread and butter, so not all that interested in it. The zones just don’t offer enough by themselves in PvE content. I guess you could say I’m being a stickler, but dropping everything in a zone because you’ve run out of appropriate stuff to do and needing to go elsewhere is a design flaw in my opinion. I shouldn’t have to go gather a bunch of copper ore and forge useless weapons or PvP to make up for the lack of in-zone content, but maybe that’s just me.

Suppose I just need to switch my brain off and suck it up. Not sure if it’s other MMOs clouding my judgment or if I’m legitimately unhappy with the setup in GW2.

I’m pretty new to GW2 after playing WoW for years. Been playing for a couple of weeks now. And I have to ask if I’m doing something wrong in zones.

I am consistently lagging far behind in level by the time I 100% complete a zone. For instance, I just completed Dredgehaunt Cliffs last night, a 40-50 zone. I’ve done everything, gathering along the way and doing events, and I’m barely over 45 now. If there is a large level range in a zone, I often times run into areas of multiple enemies that are hard to get through becuase they outlevel me by a large margin. Got through some of it with a few friends, though.

So, if I’m on by myself, is the only solution to pack up and go to another zone to make up the difference rather than stay put and try to 100% complete in while I’m leveling? That kind of doesn’t make sense to me, but I don’t want to just sit around doing nothing but grinding mobs for levels either.

Lankybrit.4598:

Zergs are simply a by-product of:

No Holy Trinity.

Simple as that.

Actually, this is not accurate. I’ve played WoW for years and jsut started playing GW2 a few weeks ago, and WoW has the same problem with world bosses. The issue is simply that it is impossible to design mechanics for a boss that can truly scale to any group size/level.

There truly is a sliding scale for any world boss. Too little, it’s impossible. Too many, it’s cake. With a Holy Trinity system, particularly gear based, all you do is reduce the number of people necessary to make the boss cake as people get better gear. A world boss goes from needing two tanks and six healers to maybe one tank and two healers, for example. And if you have unlimited DPS support, each additional person just makes it die that much quicker.

Granted, since GW2 is all DPS, that last statement is the entirety of it. But it is incredibly hard to make boss dynamics for a group of any size. The best way to get dynamic bosses is to tailor them for a specific group size and level, i.e. dungeons and raids, regardless of the Holy Trinity.

Aarean.5398:

I personally love the style this game has created. I have run so many dungeons with subpar groups only to finish the boss off solo because of their lack of skill. In any other mmo i would have payed for their shortcomings.

Keep the game the way it is and let people control their fate instead of the lame handicapped crap in almost every other mmo.

That depends on the game, although perhaps not going “solo.” I frequently carried sub-par groups in WoW as a healer by covering for their mistakes and keeping them alive long enough to off something. Gear could have something to do with that too. An overgeared player can definitely carry an undergeared group from any role or position.

I’d be more worried that you could solo current content that’s not meant to be done solo. That’s a problem with the game. Not sure how you foster teamwork in an environment where a team isn’t required to rely on it.

Healers/Tanks/DPS can’t really be balanced in 1v1 PvP, and never should be.

A good standard Healer toolbox should probably, at a basic level, contain skills that allow direct healing (obviously) and short term survival if and when they get forced into combat. It should be able to last for a bit, but certainly not indefinitely.

I think ideally they should have a set of self protection skills to be able to run or give them some time for help to arrive and at least some kind of DPS cooldown where they can provide viable DPS for a very short burst amount of time to defend themselves. But they should never be able to slug it out over the duration of an extended fight.

Although that would require a structure where there are actual roles.

Nike.2631:

theo.5214:

I find this topic interesting. Mainly because I’ve been playing WoW for several years and only got into GW2 a week ago because of the 50% off offer.

Welcome aboard.

I encourage you to get into either sPvP or WvW.

PvP is designed to be beaten, and for the most part beaten easily by packs of entirely self-reliant lone wolves. In the other two mode you get much more dangerous opponents. In sPvP you have an environment build around a 50/50 chance for victory and enemies that hit HARD. In WvW you can find yourself in grossly uneven encounters where resilience or healing can dramatically shift the outcome.

Hope you find your niche – it’s a fun game (just a little simplistic in the default mode).

Well, to be frank, my guild in WoW was made up of IRL friends, and it fell apart when a few people got a little frustrated. Some people had tried to convince everyone to play this for a long time, and they are finally getting their wish. So my motives were more to satisfy and hang out with my friends than the actual game.

That being said, PvP is not my bread and butter. I don’t mind it I guess. I dabbled in it in WoW. Still kind of worried at times when people constantly throw that out as end game content because it doesn’t interest me. That’s not the game’s fault, mind you, I just hope I have enough to keep me interested (which is a different discussion entirely and I don’t want to derail this thread).

I find this topic interesting. Mainly because I’ve been playing WoW for several years and only got into GW2 a week ago because of the 50% off offer.

I’m having quite a bit of trouble getting into the comabt system as it is, to be honest. I’m not going to discount that my feelings have been tempered by years of WoW, but quite a bit of the frustration comes from the lack of role. Doesn’t have to be tank/healer/dps, mind you, but “job” might be more appropriate?

If you go back to RPG game formation, role has always been the cornerstone. It’s kind of the R in RPG. You may take that as just meaning strictly character, but it’s not. It’s also your place in the greater scheme and things that define your character.

I guess it’s easier to do that and have fun for a one player traditional RPG. I’m thinking of something like the original FF, where you picked your party, or a game like Final Fantasy Tactics where there is a whole host of jobs. The single player, there, plays ALL of the roles, so he gets the whole experience. If every character was played by a single player, however, it might not be as fun for some. The spear wielding Dragoon gets to jump around and stab things, while the Time Mage…makes him go faster…

I digress. Just one of the many things I need to get used to about this game.