What's GW2 like nowadays?

[Beefsquatch]

You guys are kinda reading that snippet posted out-of-context. Just so you know.

That quote is out of context? How do you figure that?
Because I'm pretty sure the person I quoted was comparing Rift to GW2 and why he left GW2 for Rift. What it was that turned him off about GW2, the social aspect, and what peaked his interest with Rift. It would've been irrelevant for me to post the rest of his argument, because it was just about how Rift was a better MMO socially, compared to GW2. It would've been out of context, if his point was any different than mine when it comes to player interaction in the game or if I twisted his words..which it wasn't and I didn't.

If your comparing Rift to GW2, you have to also put some of the smaller features of Rift into focus.

The major difference for me between GW2 and Rift, and why I left GW2, is because of how both games deal with Player Interaction.

In GW2, the way classes are done, along with other systems in that game, basically let you never have to group up with someone, or have any sort of team work. The game is almost like two trains side by side on two parallel tracks: you never have a need to party up, even the dungeons aren't mandatory as Best-In-Slot items are easily found outside them. It's a very antisocial MMO, because it puts players together, but never gives you a reason to actually work with them, other than the token "throwing this banner down on my Warrior."

In Rift, everything is done to throw you into a group as often as possible. You see the same player often, and work with them often as well. Say what you want about the Holy Trinity, but it forces teamwork in a way that GW2's class system doesn't do. It forces player interaction, which is a good thing, because the more players you meet, the more friends you make, the more people in your guild, the less chance you are to be bored. GW2 left me bored about 200 hours in because I felt there was a 'wall' between players/guilds. I spent months hopping between guilds and servers, trying to find nice faces, only to have that door close in Jan when they made server transfers paid. That was when I quit.

Rift treats player interaction like it's your little brother. "Lookit me! I'm a rogue! Lookit me! I'm a cleric! Play with us in this random Instant Adventure! /poke! /poke! Lookit this random Hellbug Rift Group! Lookit this random Hunt Rift Group! Lookit all these players you just met! Lookit this fun! /poke!

[Smitzelplix]

As much as I appreciate ANet not insulting me with stupid gear gating/treadmills, the PvE here ends up being just soul-crushingly boring.

Really wish they could find a happy combination of "no gear treadmill" and "content that requires you to stay awake at the least".

Hopefully that rumored raid type content they might be releasing whenever will meet your expectations

[Svifnymr]

Always said it, to me its an anonymous mmo, as in I am anonymous in the world to pretty much everyone, no one really cares that Im there and I dont care that they are there.

Most of the other games I played were equally anonymous unless you did something to socialize. I think the map chat and local chat in GW2 has been more social than most other MMO's I've tried. Sure you're not forced to group, but outside of guild runs, most dungeons/raids I was in were not very social either.

Yes, storytelling is horrendously corny, the worst is asuri.

I dunno, corny has it's place, and sci-fi tends to corny. I hooked my magic 8ball up to the hadron collidor and opened a doorway to an alternate timeline, how can that not be fun?

Ofc still a decent game for the money, just never going to sit right with me as a mmo.

I like to think that GW2 gave us a world to play in. You can explore, kill things, earn loot and supplies, do all sorts of things. They didn't exactly provide a lot of direction to it though, and so folks looking for the end of the line usually get irked.

[Fencers]

That quote is out of context? How do you figure that?

I was referring to those replying to the snippet you posted. As Rift does have free mob tagging, public groups, scaling rewards, etc. Yet it was pretty clear those replying were talking about MMOs either in a general sense or about World of Warcraft.

[draykorinee]

Most of the other games I played were equally anonymous unless you did something to socialize. I think the map chat and local chat in GW2 has been more social than most other MMO's I've tried. Sure you're not forced to group, but outside of guild runs, most dungeons/raids I was in were not very social either.

No, I generally care people show up in WoW, either A) because I might get ganked B) they might steal my loot/kills C) with the new zones might come to help on a quest/rare/elite

If someone shows up in GW2, generally, unless im fighting an elite, they might as well be an npc.

[Deleted]

Really? Because I made some wonderful friends out of nowhere. It helped with my characters name I suppose, that made us talk. And that got me in this group of friends that plays every day together. 6 months later I'm still in contact with all of them.

I mean, comparing to RO 2 in the old days... or something stupid like the CoD lobby.... GW2 is pretty social. Which I like!

[Fkiolaris]

Random question here: what's the situation with Ascended gear now? I was going to buy GW2 knowing pretty well where I was getting into in terms of "end-game" and all, but ANet dropped the bomb with the Ascended gear and I just left it there. The things that really bothered me with that were a) introduction of vertical gear progression in a game that's supposed to not have any b) only obtainable in Fractals and c) the insane grind associated with it.

I really don't mind working "hard" and "long" for targets, but one of the major attractions of GW2 for me was the "nobody is left behind" mantra that they destroyed (imo) with the ascended gear. So how does it work atm? Have any changes been made or things clarified?

Thanks for any answers

[draykorinee]

Really? Because I made some wonderful friends out of nowhere. It helped with my characters name I suppose, that made us talk. And that got me in this group of friends that plays every day together. 6 months later I'm still in contact with all of them.

I mean, comparing to RO 2 in the old days... or something stupid like the CoD lobby.... GW2 is pretty social. Which I like!

Yes really, i dont claim to be the definitve experience its just my own experience.

[Arlee]

Random question here: what's the situation with Ascended gear now? I was going to buy GW2 knowing pretty well where I was getting into in terms of "end-game" and all, but ANet dropped the bomb with the Ascended gear and I just left it there. The things that really bothered me with that were a) introduction of vertical gear progression in a game that's supposed to not have any b) only obtainable in Fractals and c) the insane grind associated with it.

I really don't mind working "hard" and "long" for targets, but one of the major attractions of GW2 for me was the "nobody is left behind" mantra that they destroyed (imo) with the ascended gear. So how does it work atm? Have any changes been made or things clarified?

Thanks for any answers

The new ascended gear will be craftable only, and when you make it it's account bound. (at least that is the plan as of when Colin made his post, things may change obvi) Also currently there are some Ascended pieces you can get with Laurels, so it's not all just tied to only being obtainable through the fractals.

[Deleted]

I never said you were xD I'm only surprised since I have a very positive experience myself.

[Karizee]

I never said you were xD I'm only surprised since I have a very positive experience myself.

Same here, best community I've ever had the pleasure of playing with

[draykorinee]

Same here, best community I've ever had the pleasure of playing with

That doesn't say much, the MMO community is pretty rank.

[Reclaimer]

That doesn't say much, the MMO community is pretty rank.

Same can be said for what your saying. Based on the tone of what you said if you play like an asshat all you ever meet are asshats. I for 1 have no problem meeting people who are friendly and willing to help out but you have to the same and I am sure am not the only 1. Guild wars 2 has a great community IMO. I quit WoW for it and it was the best thing I ever did.

[draykorinee]

Same can be said for what your saying. Based on the tone of what you said if you play like an asshat all you ever meet are asshats. I for 1 have no problem meeting people who are friendly and willing to help out but you have to the same and I am sure am not the only 1. Guild wars 2 has a great community IMO. I quit WoW for it and it was the best thing I ever did.

I don't know how you read that from my post. However congratulations, I too quit wow for gw2, it was an okay decision that I don't regret, but I certainly didn't do it for the community, which is at best, okay.

[Feranor]

GW2 made the mistake of pissing off the usual major types of "visible" player groups:

• PvP players wanted RvR 2.0, but invisible armies, quasi-instant respawn, quasi-nonexistence of groups, horrible class balance, lack of CC, a broken points and matchmaking system and the fact that non-Power-based specs were massively discriminated against in terms of scaling and availability of gear made them quit relatively quickly.
• PvE players wanted epic raids. AN had that catchphrase "The entire game is the endgame!", but I'm not sure they actually believed that would work.
• Arena players wanted to destroy people, gloat over their misfortune and have some high number to brag about. The sadists I knew from Rift quit because their opponents could just reroll the same overpowered classes almost instantly, because there was no gear advantage from playing 24/7 and also because Arena and the Mists were too isolated for their griefing to become part of the general server conversations.

However, there is also the "invisible" majority of players. A great example for this is Uthgard, a DAoC freeshard. Often Uthgard has 1000 players online, yet only about 40 are in RvR (the only thing worth doing there). Most of the rest is doing the agonizingly tedious leveling grind because they appear to actually enjoy that for some reason. You can see these players when you look closely (that Warrior sitting over there in the corner, waiting 10 minutes for his health to regenerate after killing that monster that just granted him 0.001% of his next level). I think they are the reason why AoC, WAR, AION, GW2 etc. don't just flat out die, but rather continue in this weird state of "Yeah, all of the serious players have left and filed this game under 'broken', at most having a chuckle when they get the latest newsletter about new features."

[Fkiolaris]

The new ascended gear will be craftable only, and when you make it it's account bound. (at least that is the plan as of when Colin made his post, things may change obvi) Also currently there are some Ascended pieces you can get with Laurels, so it's not all just tied to only being obtainable through the fractals.

Thanks for the answer, it is greatly appreciated. If I may, just to follow from what you said, did they specify if all ascended pieces will be crafted or if only the new ones? Also, if I remember there were some sort of high material requirements that could only be obtained through the Fractals, did that change as well? Finally, is crafting still RNG based or have they improved the success rates?

Thanks again and all the best.

[Fencers]

PvE players wanted epic raids. AN had that catchphrase "The entire game is the endgame!", but I'm not sure they actually believed that would work.

"The whole game is endgame" refers to the Guild Wars franchise not having a bimodal endgame. Any expectation otherwise is reader ignorance and/or misunderstanding.

[Arlee]

Thanks for the answer, it is greatly appreciated. If I may, just to follow from what you said, did they specify if all ascended pieces will be crafted or if only the new ones? Also, if I remember there were some sort of high material requirements that could only be obtained through the Fractals, did that change as well? Finally, is crafting still RNG based or have they improved the success rates?

Thanks again and all the best.

The only other things we know is the Ascended craftable gear will require the new materials they'll be putting in before the end of the year. Obtaining these mats will require doing various activities and doing some sort of daily thing. Mats will be tradable. Then from there you'll have to level your prof to 500 (cap is increased when this goes live) and you'll only be able to craft one ascended piece of gear a day, and I can't remember if I said it before but those pieces will be account bound. I think that is pretty much all they have said about it so far though. Oh and this will happen by the end of the year.

[Karizee]

Finally, is crafting still RNG based or have they improved the success rates?

I'm a bit confused here, can you explain? There is no and never has been any RNG with crafting. All crafts have very specific recipes which each produce 1 of a specific item.

[Fencers]

Maybe so, but that's NOT how it was pitched. The way it was pitched was completely backwards to how it was implemented.

That was how it was pitched. I can't recall Anet ever using the statement or as anything but contrast from 2nd era/currently popular MMO design philosophy.

The entire pitch since 20057 was one based primarily on philosophy. Stressing their development philosophy was on the Guild Wars websites for years even.