Guild Wars 2

Aeonblade.8709:

This thread makes me weep for the amount of empty defense on something that has so far been indefensible in this game.

There has been hardly any sense of community outside of a good guild since launch, and it’s only been magnified over time.

The game is effectively sterile as another poster put it.

I can’t comment too much on the OP, as I’m still pretty new to the game, so everything is new to me still (though I do have my own little list of gripes developing as I go lol).

I just wanted to hop in to disagree with this post in particular. I’ve found the community thus far in GW2 to be one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Now, you could take that as a cynical compliment, considering most communities I’ve experienced have been awful. Terrible.

But I mean it sincerly; this game has an awesome community for the most part.

For one, we can start right in these forums. I’ve read this one thread and up to your post, there was only one response that I would consider rude or trollish or, at the very least, non-constructive. Every other one has been polite, reasoned and engaged with the discussion. Try posting a thread like the OP did on some other games’ forums, and you’ll get an entirely different experience. Interestingly, the fans of this game over on a certain popular mmorpg news/community site can be rabidly defensive… so maybe it’s more the place than the game in this case.

Anyway, moving on…

In my short time playing (less than 2 weeks so far), I’ve had the following experiences (among others):
- After stumbling into my first world event (Shadow Behemoth), I was curious about how it worked, when would it be up again, etc.

I got answers to my questions, and no one ripped me a new one or tried to humiliate me (in /say or /map) for being a “noob” – there’s that. But more than that, I had two different people both voluntarily help me. One invited me to a party and then proceeded to explain some things, and show me some key points in that particular area (hidden jump puzzles, etc).

At the same time, another person was whispering me, asking if I knew how the “train” worked and if I knew where to go. I’d said I was kinda familiar with it, having been “right place at the right time” for a couple fights (boar and spider). They proceeded to share the entire train route with me, and even advised to avoid the Bandit for now, as it’s a bit of a pain getting to him early on.

More recently, a couple days ago, another player saw me out doing stuff and asked if I needed help with anything. I’d said I was exploring the zone and just uncovering the map. They decided to come along and help out, assisting me in reaching some spots that I certainly would have had difficulty finding (although that wouldn’t have bothered me – I like the challenge), and also provided some good feedback and info about the game, etc.

I have all 3 of those people’s names written down and added to my friends list, so I can make sure to reciprocate (somehow lol) if I get the chance, and to at least /salute and say hello should I bump into them again.

In doing larger events, I’ve had no fewer than 4 people come up to raise me when I went down, even while all hell was breaking loose all around them and they certainly could have been more focused on themselves. In any other MMO I’ve played, I’d have laid there dead for the duration of the fight and, likely, after it was over – everyone would have just rushed off to the next thing and left me there.

In my first dungeon run (Ascalon Catacombs), the group was very patient and there was not a single peep of complaint out of anyone when things got messy or people died. There were a couple funny remarks about it, but at no one else’s expense. I can’t immediately think of any other MMO where a player wouldn’t have been ripped to shreds and likely vote-kicked for even the slightest perceived misstep.

I see people asking questions in /map chat, and I’ve seen two results – one far more than the other. Either they get a couple replies that are actually helpful, without any hint of frustration or insult, or – at worst – they get no answer. Very, very few times have I seen a question go unanswered – and even then, the reply may have come in the form of a pm, rather than in /map.

And that’s just a handful of experiences I’ve had or witnessed myself, in the short time I’ve been playing GW2. So, while I can’t speak much to what’s being discussed in this game (though I can understand what much of it is talking about, as I’ve gotten that same “cold and soulless” feeling from other MMOs), I can definitely say that I have not seen a problem with the community in this game, yet.

Not to say it won’t happen ever… but it will certainly be the off situation, and not the norm.

Stooperdale.3560:

The personal story should keep giving you some trouble even if you have a tough bear pet boosted with traits and signets. You’ll also find that when you get into more difficult content, like dungeons, the pet can die quickly and hiding at the back with a bow isn’t actually doing much for your group. Most players have to relearn their class for dungeons.

Not sure if you’re implying something here or not… but I’m not “hiding at the back with my bow” in dungeons. I’m not even doing that in solo stuff. I’m actively fighting, throwing down heals where/when I can for my allies, etc. My pet isn’t taking all the action.

The personal story missions have not been that challenging to me since, I’d say, the early 30s. At the end of the last few I’ve done, I’ve been thinking “Wow, that’s it?”. They’re over pretty fast and I need to use maybe one heal to get through it. I have to work to get through them.. but not much. Not nearly as much as I had to.

That said… I just did an experiment to see how far I could push myself. I’m in Dredgehaunt Cliffs, down around the level 46 mobs. I just tamed a Lynx and am testing it out, etc. I had the Lynx attack a level 46 Veteran Lynx here. I didn’t fire a single shot. I just stood and watched. My pet won. A level 41 pet against a level 46 Veteran, with no assistance from me. I don’t think that should even be possible. It certainly wasn’t earlier on. That fight would have been over before it began – even with me helping. But there ya go. I think that says it better than I ever could. The game is definitely getting easier as I progress. At least the world PvE stuff.

Ah well.. Like I said, there’s still dungeons and WvW to keep me challenged, even if the World PvE content no longer is.

Junkpile.7439:

Well there come point when you need to two man/solo dungeons or play PvP if you want challenge. Of course it depends little bit about play style and spec too. If you play some knight geared warrior only champs can kill you in open world PvE no matter how badly you play.

Well, I play a Ranger which are traditionally pretty squishy. Maybe that’s not so in GW2. I am playing a pet-heavy setup; using the Ice Drake as my pet, and it does an awesome job of gaining and maintaining aggro. Though sometimes the enemies will get “smart” and come after its master.

I dunno, I suppose I’ll see how it goes as I progress. Maybe I’ll just need to try pushing myself a bit more beyond my own level, ’til I bite off more than I can chew. See how that works.

Qaelyn.7612:

ArchonWing.9480:

Also, the Orr zones may start ramping up the difficulty a little at the end.

This is what I found. There’s a pretty big step up when you get to the level 60+ areas.

That sounds promising, then.

Might sound strange, but I enjoy it more when I get my butt handed to me and have to “work harder” for my wins.

On that note, how are the dungeons in general? I did the Ascalon Story mission dungeon last night and, while the narrative and such behind it was neat, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the encounters. It felt difficult only because it was often so chaotic that it was hard to even figure out what was going on, much less how to deal with it.

If I had to describe that particular dungeon in a word, I’d say “messy” – especially a few fights in particular. Now, maybe that was the group I was in, maybe that’s just the nature of that dungeon, but I hope it doesn’t always feel like that.

Thanks for the responses so far.

I figured more tools at my disposal would be a factor in it, as well. Though I wouldn’t have guessed it would make a difference in terms of how much of a beating I could take, regardless of level.

In other words, I would expect to get my butt kicked as much by a level 41 Veteran mob when I’m in level 40 gear as I did by a level 15 mob when I was in level 15 gear. Everything would remain relative.

My expectation (and maybe that’s where I went ‘wrong’ here) is that all those new skills I’d be picking up as I went would be necessary when dealing with higher level, more advanced encounters. Choosing the right skills for a given encounter would “matter more”, etc. I’m finding, instead, that it seems to be giving me an edge in the fights… which kinda leads back to that feeling of it getting easier.

I’m not following any particular guide, either. Just picking the skills that seem to suit my particular playstyle the best (I use my pet quite a bit to help control and ‘gather’ enemies while I pluck away from a distance. I suppose Rytlock would refer to me as a ‘cowardly Ranger’, based on his description of Nente :p). Though I will jump in with Horn and Sword from time to time and mix it up that way.

I have been looking to start doing dungeons more, and maybe give WvW a try, because that seems like it can be fun from what I’ve seen (I follow a couple Twitch channels for it).

Well, I guess I’ll continue on and see how it goes!

Thanks for the feedback.

Hi all,

Just posting here to discuss something and maybe get some feedback on something I’m noticing as I play GW2. Well, a couple things, when I think about it.

To start off, I’m loving the game. I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed exploring a game world so much as this. I can’t compliment the designers enough on the job they’ve done. The content is (for the most part) a lot of fun, the characters are interesting and the dialog at times is outright hilarious.

That said, I’m noticing something as I play that I’m hoping is a temporary thing.

For the first 10-20 levels or so, I felt like the game was pretty consistently giving me a challenge. I had to tread carefully when entering new areas, I had to learn how to avoid certain mobs or to do my best to deal with only one at a time, because much more than that and me and my pet (I’m a Ranger) were finished.

Story quest battles often gave me a serious run for my money and I had to really pull out all the stops and use my character’s skills as well as I knew how, dodging and avoiding attacks hoping my heal would cool-down before I was killed.

In short, the combat was always fun and the content was often challenging. Each level felt well-fought for and well-earned; getting a new level was satisfying.

I just dinged 40 earlier today and it occurred to me that the game seems to be getting easier – and not in a “I’m more familiar with the game” kind of way. Even going into new, higher level areas, fighting enemies 2 or 3 levels above me is starting to feel routine. Where once upon a time, my pet would be in trouble dealing with more than 2 enemies, it can now handle up to 4 or 5 without losing more than half its HP.

Where Veteran enemies used to give me and my pet a run for our money, nearly killing me several times, now they seem to fall with little effort and barely a scratch to me or my pet. Keep in mind, this is stuff at, just over, or very near my actual level – not just the lower level content when I’m sync’d down (I’m aware having higher level/better gear is always going to make the lower level content easier, so I’m not even counting that kind of stuff).

Of course, I don’t include group/world enemies in this, as they’re clearly not intended to be taken on solo regardless.

It feels like the levels are coming much more quickly and with far less effort and challenge than they were, and it’s kinda bumming me out, because I hate leveling fast (I like the adventure to last as long as it can) and because I hate content to feel like a cakewalk, and it seems to me that, as I level, both of those things are starting to happen.

Where before, I’d say “oh sweet!” when I’d gain a level, because it felt well-earned, now I find myself saying “wow, already?”.

I’m really enjoying all that GW2 offers, and this isn’t a bash against the game. It’s just kinda irking me that I feel like it’s beginning to rush me through the levels, even though I’m not trying to do so.

Is this trend going to continue, or is it something that maybe happens at the mid-point of the game (levels-wise anyway), but then slows down again as I move toward the upper levels?

Thanks in advance