Chasing the carrot?

[Lidralyn]

I have been following GW2 for a long long time and really like most all of what I hear about the game, played in the last BWE and some of the things lately I am hearing are kind of disheartening. I played WoW for many years and did enjoy most of it. I liked raiding when I had the time, and loved "Chasing the carrot." When I don't have a new goal or accomplishment to work for, then a game gets boring to me. Getting a small upgrade in gear, or rolling a dungeon a few times to get an item I want fills the void and gives me something to look forward to. In GW1 it was fun to always be looking for new builds and chasing skill points for new ways to make PvP builds and unlocks.

But in GW2 "in the essence of fun" they seem to be taking all of that away. There aren't any raids, to me it seems the only structured events we would have is Structured PvP, a few high end events that will require multiple people to take down, a few dungeons, and WvWvW. Those all seem like lots of fun, but eventually will get old if there isn't something to go after from doing them.

One of my main problems with GW1 was how easy it was to get a perfect set of gear, farm some gold, and go buy the enhancements to an item you wanted, and bam, you were done. There was no randomness to it, no piece of gear that was better. You were done. A lot of people really enjoy that type of gameplay, but it makes it get old once you finally have that goal accomplished, if there isn't something better you can work towards...

Can anyone chime in an ease my mind by giving me some of the things that will be hard to obtain or sought after in a game like this that I would chase after?

Thanks,
Matt

[Cracked]

This is probably the sole reason I will not be getting the game. There is no drive to play other than .. playing the game.

[Valeron]

Does chasing the carrot always have to include rewards of increasing your power? Think a little bit outside of that box and I'm sure you can find other things to chase after.

[Deleted]

This is probably the sole reason I will not be getting the game. There is no drive to play other than .. playing the game.

How about the drive of say......just pure fun for a change?

[Delias]

What if the carrot you were chasing was a sidegrade that looked amazing but did not gate content? So that you could do any content you wanted at 80, but the only reasons to farm the content was to get better looking armor and sidegrades? If this does not interest you, GW2's version of 'grinding for gear' will likely not interest you. They don't want to gate off content with gear just to satisfy the minority that enjoy endless gear treadmills.

Also, I'll giggle if someone quotes this and says that grinding for cosmetic things are stupid. Plenty of people grind for better looking mounts in WoW, this is like that applies to gear.

[Cracked]

How about the drive of say......just pure fun for a change?

While that may be fun for some, I need a challenge, something I know one day I will be able to achieve.

[Valeron]

There will be plenty of challenge in the game, cracked, you won't have to worry about that.

[Delias]

While that may be fun for some, I need a challenge, something I know one day I will be able to achieve.

So a challenge for you is "If I play enough, I'll do it." as oppose to "If I get good enough, I'll do it."?
Intriguing.

[Cracked]

There will be plenty of challenge in the game, cracked, you won't have to worry about that.

I will reconsider. However, I will likely wait to see how it plays out after launch and such.

[Tentacleslol]

I love how people are ASKING for a skinner box. That's a first lol

[garraeth]

This is probably the sole reason I will not be getting the game. There is no drive to play other than .. playing the game.

Wow, for me that's one of the biggest draws. I'm tired of having to regrind to get the next tier of gear. And not having fun while grinding - just the carrot urging me on because OCD kicks in and doesn't let me feel good/comfortable until I got the carrot. It's such a psychological turn off for me. I feel totally dirty and manipulated.

In the past, for me at least, there were plenty of games that had no carrot and my drive was just "....playing the game".
To me, that means the game has lots of replay value. And a more "pure" fun.

[Delias]

You just have to attempt to understand challenge based off of purely skill instead of gear + skill, really. Most MMOs (.. and D3) DO need skill, however they are set up so that no matter how much skill you have you can not do certain things if you do not have the gear. The way GW2 is set up is that it requires just as much (arguably more) skill to do a lot of things, but gear is not a factor. So if you can not complete a dungeon, it is because you/your group is lacking in skill as oppose to gear.

[Malthurius]

There are plenty of rewards and grindy things to do, just like there was in GW1. They are simply optional and not mandatory to see content like it is in WoW.

If you want in game goals, or carrots, you can make them yourself. Getting particular gear sets, certain achievements, or being a completionist for example. None of it is mandatory, but its there for those that want something to do other than content for fun.

EDIT: It's like people also assume that they will never add new content to the game, or that they will but it will be so infrequent that it would be too late. I don't understand where this assumption takes root, but I don't think it's the case.

[rhandric]

To put it simply, the main highly sought-after items will be weapon and armor skins. Armor skins will come from a variety of locations, whether it's crafting, dungeons, karma, or even just random-drop skins. Weapons will be similar, though I expect (based on GW1 experience, though GW2 might be different in this regard) there will be more rare weapon skins than there are armor skins, if for no other reason than armor needs to be designed as a set while weapons are independent. In GW1 the Fiery Dragon Sword and Icy Dragon Sword were two of the most highly-sought weapons, at least in Prophecies, and were incredibly rare drops.

[Delias]

There are plenty of rewards and grindy things to do, just like there was in GW1. They are simply optional and not mandatory to see content like it is in WoW.

If you want in game goals, or carrots, you can make them yourself. Getting particular gear sets, certain achievements, or being a completionist for example. None of it is mandatory, but its there that want something to do other than content for fun.

Judging by what the OP said about GW1, he is not interested in optional rewards. As you said, GW1 had plenty of achievements/armor skins/completionist things but he was not interested in it. All he was interested in (at least how it reads in my head) was getting max gear.. which is just as easy in GW2 as GW1.
Long story short, if he only cares about reaching max power he will get bored VERY shortly after hitting 80.

[DrakeWurrum]

There's plenty of challenges and goals in this game. It's just not done through the archaic WoW form of raiding.

[garraeth]

I love how people are ASKING for a skinner box. That's a first lol

Dang this is a perfect way of putting it. I'm so sick of being put into a Skinner box and told this is what fun is.

[DrakeWurrum]

I love how people are ASKING for a skinner box. That's a first lol

Mental conditioning at it's finest.

[Malthurius]

Judging by what the OP said about GW1, he is not interested in optional rewards. As you said, GW1 had plenty of achievements/armor skins/completionist things but he was not interested in it. All he was interested in (at least how it reads in my head) was getting max gear.. which is just as easy in GW2 as GW1.
Long story short, if he only cares about reaching max power he will get bored VERY shortly after hitting 80.

Then GW2 probably isn't for him as a main MMO choice, but better suited as a casual game to play on the side. No sub, so he can do either.

[Delias]

as a casual game to play on the side.

A foreign concept for a lot of people when it comes to MMOs, and not one desired by everyone.