Wishing for more empty spaces?

[Balfire]

Beta weekend is over for my third time and as much fun as I had (GW2<333333333333) theres been a small thing bothering me that I finally just understood.

It might seem odd but does anyone wish there were larger spots of nothing going on? The environment and world are so beautiful and don’t get me wrong I love having so much going on it makes the world seem alive, but at times I feel a bit trapped in a box. Theres always people always camps always monsters fires villages bandit caves.

The portals between worlds didn’t really bother me at first but the more I play the more they do. I feel enclosed.

I just hope higher level zones have a bit more empty wilderness to explore. A reply from the official forums stated it perfectly that it feels a bit like a theme park with everything so packed in.

And who wants to spend hundreds of hours in a theme park? I know I wouldn’t. All those people always around you. It’s kind of stressful. Some of my favorite places in past MMO’s didn’t have much if anything going on and it was great to walk though them with the sounds and atmosphere the artist strove to create. This game is great fun for when you want action but for a relaxed hour or so just grinding and talking to friends? This game makes me antsy.

Don’t get me wrong if they don’t implement this I will still play this game is great, fun, engaging and beautiful. I just don’t see myself spending nearly as much time if the entire game has so much going on.

[Deleted]

well the same could be said about empty spaces = who would want to run around an empty forrest for a hundred hours. That said yeh some of the zones seem rather mashed together but others like the norn second winter zone opens up a lot more

[Balfire]

Well you need both is the thing. I've only made it to 20 in the norn and human areas but the zones seemed rather cluttered especially this beta over the last one.

[Deleted]

As nice as it is to have everything still be a challenge at level 80, it can be a little annoying when you're assaulted just trying to get places.

Also, big open spaces, you say?

[Delias]

Well you need both is the thing. I've only made it to 20 in the norn and human areas but the zones seemed rather cluttered especially this beta over the last one.

They want to reward exploration and travel by foot (as oppose to waypoints). The way they chose to do that is to put DEs between location A and location B. Also, a very significant amount of gamers would get frustrated walking through large open areas with absolutely nothing happening in them.

[Balfire]

They want to reward exploration and travel by foot (as oppose to waypoints). The way they chose to do that is to put DEs between location A and location B. Also, a very significant amount of gamers would get frustrated walking through large open areas with absolutely nothing happening in them.

They don't need to be extremely large just have something. That picture above yea it looks open and calm in that screen but every single time I walked through that area I encountered 5 or so DE's all happening at the same time generally it was chaotic and cluttered where an event with pop ups and tracking and big orange circles is going on every 10 feet.

I just want to be able to not have my senses assaulted every 10 steps with loud noise, gunshots, fires and bandits. But I guess I'm in the minority.

The exploration doesn't feel rewarding because I don't have to explore simply follow the orange pop ups every 30 yards. Last BEta I didn't feel this way because not as many DE's were active. When an NPC came to warn me it was exciting and new and unexpected "OH SHIT MY HOUSE IS BEING ATTACKED". But this Beta it seems they added alot more which would be fine if they weren't running non-stop and so its like yea I know your house is under attack but this bull is rampaging and this bitch over here needs apples.

The events are so numerous and cluttered that they just kind of blend together where you are in a daze fighting wave after wave of mobs. It gets a bit better in the level 20+ zones so maybe my concerns will for naught later on. I just hope to see some spread and have mobs give more exp. I may be one of the few who like to just grind mobs and walk around until i find something and having them give 5 exp is not rewarding.

[Deleted]

I think they've scaled up the DE's for the beta, so that they can test them better. There probably wont be that many in release.

No idea where I heard that, but I'm almost somewhat certain I did.

[Rukh]

That's just one of the issues with open worlds, they only have so much space to get everything in. Most people don't want big open areas to travel through to get to new things, and its extra cost for them to do it. You end up with worlds that are much more stuffed than realistic. Or towns with 3 houses like Goldshire. :P Or was it two...

One area that's nice and quiet and has an awesome view is the graveyard by the human start area. I spent some time there just looking because its so beautiful.

[Deleted]

I think they've scaled up the DE's for the beta, so that they can test them better. There probably wont be that many in release.

No idea where I heard that, but I'm almost somewhat certain I did.

I think what you heard was that they changed the timers on the event for the beta, alot of the events wount happen this often in live the amount of them will most likely be the same becouse why would they make events for us to test if they werent going to be there later

[Queen of Hamsters]

In some areas it feels cramped up for sure. I couldn't swim around and enjoy myself in the lakes because ther'es just too many mobs around attacking me, or a DE going on.

Same with the world at large, I enjoy for example in WoW where roads are USUALLY safe to travel on, or the flying where I can just see the zone but not have to fight my way through it. Also in WoW at max level you're not threatened in level 20 zones...in GW2 you are...haha! It's great, but also stressful at times. I found myself spots around the world where I would just stand and look out over the zone...and then somehow a mob would find me. I was in a somewhat quite and empty swamp, when suddenly a Champion troll came out from a small opening in the mountain and said "I hunger"...I actually screamed, I got SO scared!

And in for example red dead redemption, the game I compare to GW2 way more than any of the MMORPGs, the world is dangerous to you BUT you still have space and time to ride your horse, look at the scenery and just relax...

They should decrease the amount of mobs somewhat in some areas (Sea witch cave) and move them closer together in other areas. Leave some room for exploring without having to fight all the time.

[Fumu]

I know what you mean, OP. I had the same exact feeling in the human zone...it was as if the earth itself had ADD and was constantly throwing crap at you rather than letting you explore the scenery.

The Charr zone felt much less like that. Yes there were scenarios, but they were more spread out and less in your face. You also had to do a lot more walking to bump into new ones.

[Spl4sh3r]

There are alot of hidden places which doesn't contain enemy mobs, however they aren't "open" as you put it. Exploring is fun however not when you are there by yourself (except if it's for the jumping puzzles). With that being said, they need to reduce respawn timer atleast so you don't have to fight each 30 seconds if you stand still on a spot.

[nocturnus]

I've found quite a few tranquil places to be honest; waterfall, small strawberry gardens, shores, etc... Low level zones are crowded though, but once you get past level 20, you've got plenty of space to reflect on your achievements

[Fencers]

Don't care too much about empty spaces, but I felt the mob density in certain areas was too high. Or the respawn way too fast in other areas.

Anet really need a few passes of gen pop mobs, actually, like a lot of passes. Beta, so whatever.

[Balfire]

It makes me happy to hear the respawn on events and mobs is being looked at, it was especially terrible in the human zones. The Charr and Norn weren't as bad you are right, but I assumed that was because they didn't seem to have anything new this beta, unlike the human zone which seems to have had a ton of DE's added in from last BWE. Maybe once they tone down the timers it will feel a bit more like the first BWE and instead of all of them going off at once they can be staggered a bit.

It says a lot about a game where m biggest concern is respawn timers and too much to do xD Can't wait for launch.

[Glytch]

i think there needs to be more events mroe often in m ore places :|

very rarely do i see events interact

[Deleted]

I think with the dynamic event system this discussion can't go too far because we have different experiences by passing the same area at different times.
For example, last night I went back to the Norn area with my Charr character to meet up with a friend. We went to a zone that I'd explored completely before and in which I leveled up in before.
I found at least 3 different events that went off in areas where there wasn't anything last time I was there. And in areas I 'knew' there were events... they were a bit empty.

I like that only the cities are... 'calm'. It gives me more of a feeling of a 'real' world personally.

[Rooflesstoofless]

And who wants to spend hundreds of hours in a theme park?

You'd have to ask the millions of people who own annual passes to theme parks across the [US] country (D-land had 500,000-ish passholders alone last I heard...).

More on point, I found plenty of places while venturing around that weren't related to any DE/heart and were "open spaces" of sorts. They still had mobs, just not a ton of other people since they were more or less off the main road.

I had to actively seek these places out and it did take a little time. I did this because I was trying get some 1v1 time with mobs so I could figure out what professions and weapon combos I liked. It was hard to know if something was a good fit for me or if I really didn't care for it when I couldn't kill a single mob without 52 other people jumping on the mob as soon as I did.

[Balfire]

You guys are overestimating what I want. I don't not want DE's or for there to be a whole zone dedicated to nothingness. I just don't want so much clutter. The human zone at least had so many DE's constantly resettting this beta that there were and average of three going on within my minimap >_> and always the same

[Glytch]

You guys are overestimating what I want. I don't not want DE's or for there to be a whole zone dedicated to nothingness. I just don't want so much clutter. The human zone at least had so many DE's constantly resettting this beta that there were and average of three going on within my minimap >_> and always the same

gendarran, snowden drifts, and kessex felt really... slow and like it needed more events over the place.