Community Checker :D

[Baky]

Been lurking on the forums... simply waiting for a day to register and post a question that wasn't already answered.

Without further ado, here is my question

Is the GW2 community witnessed thus far full of pricks?

Ok, now to provide some background. I started MMO gaming with fun f2p games when my family got into WoW. I played WoW for several years and loved it. I dislike Cata WoW, so afterward, like many others- I hunted for a new game. I liked Rift but my fun died rather quickly.

So I tried The Secret World... and let me tell you, what an outstanding game!.. at least the first 50-100 hours or so. The story kept me compelled to continue throughout the game BUT--- what I have HATED thus far is the community. Its almost as if everyone is a troll. Also, players have the tendency of saying "Go back to xxx crappy game because you suck" or "You can't learn the game because you're so used to crappy xxx game so you should quit".

How is any complaint, grievance or complication with difficulty or a single quest relevant to WoW? Basically, all I'm asking is... from what you've seen in beta and community forums is this a community that beats up on its fellow players and uses the shut-out argument of "Go back to WoW because you can't learn how to play"??

To any flamers, this is VERY relevant to MY purchase. The social aspect to MMOs is the only thing that makes it worth buying... otherwise imma go back to Civ5.

[Rapti]

I think people who left WoW get angry at kids starting comparing flame wars in trade/general all the time.
They left WoW for a reason (and now they have to hear bout it again).
So far I didnt have any probs with asses in GW2. When I tried TERA it was all wow vs X all the time.
I didnt really notice that much offtopic chat or in general not that much talking. Most stuff ingame was game itself related.
Played on Whiteside Ridge during BWEs.
Im 100% sure no game will be free of those and over time there will be really shit periods like in any other game.
Depends how many kids join the bandwagon.

[Malthurius]

In game, everything was cool. I didn't come across anyone that stuck out as a douche. Here on the forums we are generally good people from what I can tell, some of us tend to get really defensive really quickly, but mainly because of condescending opinions that don't make a lot of sense.

[Baky]

Im 100% sure no game will be free of those and over time there will be really shit periods like in any other game.
Depends how many kids join the bandwagon.

I realize that it won't be free of the aholes but I guess I'm concerned about the tendencies of the community as whole. Thanks for the insight, mate.

[Allanon the Mystic]

The only big ones in map chat that I saw were people HAVING NO CLUE on how to level, and complaining that they were always under leveled and thought that following hearts was what got you EXP.

There were a few 'wow vs gw2' that I saw and I did what ever possible on how they were wrong, and how their opinions based on nonexistent facts were wrong. I knew a lot of new players would play this beta, so I tried to make sure that people understood and were corrected so less and less bad rumors would be spread. By the time the BWE was near its end, I had people asking questions in Map Chat directed at me or whispered.

[Waimzer]

The only big ones in map chat that I saw were people HAVING NO CLUE on how to level, and complaining that they were always under leveled and thought that following hearts was what got you EXP.

Wait, so there's a better way to level than following the hearts quests? This was what seemed best for me to level, in between my story mode anyhow, what other better ways are there to level Allanon? And god knows what the people complaining were doing if I managed to level fairly well purely following hearts.

OT :

I found the community as a whole to be very helping, after I'd worked out how to /map, I was asking people questions every couple of minutes at the beginning of my first character, and they were all answered very quickly; and some people went out of there way to directly help me further. Hope it stays like this!

[Zeek Daniels]

Zones i was in i dont hear much chatter. If ppl are talking they are asking for help or directions or just loving the game.

[Allanon the Mystic]

Wait, so there's a better way to level than following the hearts quests? This was what seemed best for me to level, in between my story mode anyhow, what other better ways are there to level Allanon? And god knows what the people complaining were doing if I managed to level fairly well purely following hearts.

OT :

I found the community as a whole to be very helping, after I'd worked out how to /map, I was asking people questions every couple of minutes at the beginning of my first character, and they were all answered very quickly; and some people went out of there way to directly help me further. Hope it stays like this!

No, you misunderstood me. DOING just the heart quests solely will not keep you up in levels. They are not there to level you up, they are there to show you areas where DE's are most likely to happen and give direction, they are not meant to be the main way to gather EXP.

Many of us in the GW2 community actually care, because sooner or later you might be someone helping us kill an Elder Dragon later in the game, and we don't want douche bags who see someone in a downed state and not help them. You might be a companion later on that we might need and work together, and nothing is better than seeing someone and going 'OH I know that guy! He helped me a ton back when I was leveling, or helped do this or that', and that's how a strong community is born.

[iCandy]

Out of the BWE1 and 3(skipped 2) and the stress tests, I came across 1 person that I thought was kind of a jerk in game.

It was BWE3 and I was for some reason not getting Karam for completing events. I asked the next person that I saw in passing, "Hey, are you still earning Karam?" His response was "Uhh..yeah" and then walked off. To me, he/she sounded like a a-hole. But honestly it was nothing.

So that should put it in perspective. Out of the 50 or so people I talked to and met, 1 of them kinda sounded like a douche.

But what I can say is this. Coming into GW1 only a couple years ago, I can say hands down the people I met were the nicest. I have yet to meet someone in GW1 that didn't want to help me.

GW community numba 1!

[Dempsey]

the game is set up in PvE and WvW at least to be very cooperative, it really doesn't give poeple room to compare games during quests or events because of how active the game play is and because of how active the gameplay is most will prolly not even notice if you suck lmao

and you can by far level pretty fast doing heart quests, just because you've completed a heart quest doesn't mean you can still earn exp from it again, this goes for skill challenges aswell in fact on BWE2 a friend and i stood around a skill challenge for an hour or so helping the people that came by lol leveled off that btw, maybe not the most effective way but i was level 21 and it was a level 8 skill challenge so again the hearts and even skill quests can level you and be an effective means of it especially if you can find a group of 3-4 in really close proximity

[Vlad Morbius]

To be honest, I have not come across any real issues, but my advice to you is not judge a game by the boards, its chock full of trolls trying to bash and dissuade people from playing, usually from competitive games. All in all I have to say that this was a far more pleasant experience thus far and for me and the crowd seemed to be a tad more mature than many MMO’s I’ve played in recent years.

[Niwoe]

Yeah, hearts are not the only way to gain xp- they are simply like guideposts to areas where activity may happen. However, if you go out an explore a little you will find lots of other areas where DEs can happen. Let me give you an example from this last weekend. I was out gathering, and I happened upon a small lake where I had not been yet in Queensland. I had done the DE's a little further east of here- but there was not heart or anything directing me to this location. I saw an npc with an orange symbol over her head so I started to talk with her. She complained about how there was a monster in the lake and couldn't fish. So she asked my advice. I basically told her she should fish anyway- and that I would help her.

At this point- she told me she needed bait and ran off. Now, perhaps at this point some ppl would have thought this had ended- but I decided to follow her. She ran pretty far- to a cave with a champion troll in it which ppl were killing out front. Once we got in the cave she asked me to kill some grubs for her so that she could get some bait.

After I completed this task we ran back to the original location and she began to fish. This spawned a huge veteran fish that I was able to kill and complete the DE.

This was a great experience because it showed me that these types of events are out there if you explore enough and if you are willing to pay attention to what NPCs are saying and doing. I could have ignored her- I could have started it and not followed her to the cave and it would not have progressed at all.

I had a similar experience in the Asura zone where an event started just by listening to some Asura after I had rescued them. Basically- just don't do the hearts and move on- if that's the way you play (and it may not be ) then you'll miss out on lots of things going on and the xp and rewards that come with them.

Now on topic: You'll always find trolls in every game- I think this last weekend was worse because of all of the free keys given out. Mostly I find the playerbase to be friendly and helpful.

[Deleted]

TBH game itself don't create douchebags. If you're only gathering materials for crafting you don't get in the way of anybody. If you're killing mobs you don't steal others mobs. If you passing some1 dead or in down state you can help them on every character you make. Helping some1 on level 10 won't be "omg boost me through here" it will be fair game for every1 because of scaling. Social aspects of this game like I mentioned above are great way to keep good and polite community in-game.
When I was playing in BWE3 I saw once some1 mentioned "wow vs. GW2" and it was literally lines like " I love this game more than WoW if I must compare to anything" and people were like" good for you" no bashing no complaining no flaming. I also spend some time with talking to randoms met on the road and it was nice chat about events or weapons. I hope it stay like that!

[Javey]

While playing the beta, I have seen conversations on the chat regarding WoW and GW2, so during beta WoW was definitively mentioned, but it didn't turn into anything hostile. There were a troll or two from time to time. When I asked questions on the chat, most of the time it got ignored. So I guess it'll be best to say that perhaps the server I was on wasn't the most helpful. But when I did get a response for a question I asked, I wasn't trolled.

[WorldofWorkcraft]

I think as the game moves on, depending how involved you are in WvW and such, you will see a very helpful and friendly trend. Yes, there will always be people who are jerks, but GW2's style really does promote friendliness and a feeling of togetherness. Not to sound touchy feely, but that's what it seems like. As WvW gets more serious and people actually care about their server and winning, I feel we'll see more cooperation (which might also bring some yelling), leaders emerge, and people getting to know each other better because...you'll be playing with your server forever. It's like taking a WoW rated battleground and expanding it to many more people, but adding so much to it.

There's no reason not to help a dead/dying person in GW2, unless your own life hangs in the balance. I think the whole idea of promoting friendly attitudes and helpfulness will go a long way and help develop the community into one that isn't horrible...relatively

[Allanon the Mystic]

There's no reason not to help a dead/dying person in GW2, unless your own life hangs in the balance. I think the whole idea of promoting friendly attitudes and helpfulness will go a long way and help develop the community into one that isn't horrible...relatively

I just hope MMO's learn something from this and learn that WoW is not the only style that can be used and be successful. We should hopefully be seeing more and better MMOs coming out in the following years that start a new trend and finally bring MMOs out of the shadow of Blizzard/EQ type style of game play.

[Valeron]

The game tries to promote cooperation with how it is designed. I can't remember a single instance of an asshole in game.

Now outside of the game, in the forums for example (although this site has a pretty decent small community I feel), you will always find some folks who will ruin it. Just like every other game really.

[Allanon the Mystic]

The game tries to promote cooperation with how it is designed. I can't remember a single instance of an asshole in game.

Now outside of the game, in the forums for example (although this site has a pretty decent small community I feel), you will always find some folks who will ruin it. Just like every other game really.

It's why you stay out of Guru ;D A lot more people there in the community, so you have a lot more trolls. Here we just got Tacheseseses or w/e and that other guy with his super anti-GW2 attitude.

[Xista]

The PvE portion of the game forces (not really) people together and to work together. This fosters a cooperative environment. Unlike WoW where you can go out in the world, solo your way to 85, ninja other people's mobs (the loot/exp is shared in GW2!), and corpse camp eachother.

As for the PvP side of it, I haven't seen any trolls yet. But I assure you that there will be, as in any PvP game. It's just the nature of the game type. It's almost impossible for kids (it IS a game, there will be youngin's) to compete against each other and shake hands afterwards, especially in a video game where everyone is anonymous.

[Allanon the Mystic]

[...]the loot/exp is shared in GW2![...]

Not entirely correct, each person who's done a certain amount of damage to a mob gets their own loot and exp from it, completely separate from anyone else's. Sharing would be if you got 80 exp and 10 gold from the mob, and 2 people killed it,each would get 40 exp and 5 gold each.