Guild Wars 2?

[Reldan]

General world content will usually not provide a tremendous challenge unless you are actively seeking to do things much higher level than you are. At that point an optimal use of abilities will still certainly go faster than just spamming auto-attack, and you’ll still need to dodge and move.

However, dungeon content, fractals, and PvP most certainly will challenge you to actively use everything well or fail and die.

[fdsaion]

I find myself fighting +1 and +2 mobs with my Guardian, which certainly requires pressing more buttons. I also seem to be surrounded by players who are +2 and +3. I keep wondering where did they go that I didn’t? I’m grinding Hearts, but I’m not levelling up fast enough to keep up with them.

Probably they’re just higher level guys just passing through, going for map completion, etc.

Quickest source of experience is to stumble upon chained events. For example, before they dialed down the frequency of these events, people would farm (though not really for experience at that point) the events at the north side of Cursed Shore (level 80 zone at the bottom of the map in Orr) - there was a 4 or 5 part chain and tons of smaller events around the area.

[JM1]

Probably they’re just higher level guys just passing through, going for map completion, etc.

Quickest source of experience is to stumble upon chained events. For example, before they dialed down the frequency of these events, people would farm (though not really for experience at that point) the events at the north side of Cursed Shore (level 80 zone at the bottom of the map in Orr) - there was a 4 or 5 part chain and tons of smaller events around the area.

The maps don’t have a particularly regular or smooth level progression within them, so it’s more likely that these are just guys playing through that particular zone who happened to be slightly overlevelled.

[MrPerson]

RvR can pay decent xp as well, even if someone were following exactly in your PVE footsteps.

[Balasarius]

General world content will usually not provide a tremendous challenge unless you are actively seeking to do things much higher level than you are. At that point an optimal use of abilities will still certainly go faster than just spamming auto-attack, and you’ll still need to dodge and move.

However, dungeon content, fractals, and PvP most certainly will challenge you to actively use everything well or fail and die.

I explored Rata Sum. Those Asura were trixy by hiding stuff behind portals, but I completed it. Dungeons starting at level 30 seems sucky. What are fractals? Do you gain XP for PvP and WvW? Or any rewards that can be used in PvE?

[Zuwadza]

Is it just me or does WvWvW kinda… suck. Everything about it is a total grind with almost no reward.

[MrPerson]

The point of WvW is the gameplay itself, not any sort of reward.

[Zuwadza]

Ah. Well, in that case I definitely think it sucks! Combat seems to involve two zergs taking pot shots at one another continually, building and repairing shit is totally tedious and there is just way too much slowly running around. Not really my cup of tea.

[MrPerson]

I really like the building and repairing strategy element of WvW. It’s amazing what well placed siege can do, and a fortified structure is SO much harder to capture. The high value of supply camps and supply runs in the higher tiers leads to interesting gameplay, in my opinion.

I do agree, however, that the zerg vs zerg nature is less than ideal. While large armies make sense given the context and the objectives, the way it plays our really does feel like rolling zergs, with the bigger zerg winning by default in many cases. The rampant spying makes it hard to maneuver for advantage against a larger force, and large groups can get about just as quickly as small, focused teams. The worst part, when I was playing, was the game’s inability to render a reasonable number of players, so you’d be inside a blob before the first person even appeared.

[Balasarius]

The point of WvW is the gameplay itself, not any sort of reward.

15 years ago, Q2 CTF was a blast. However, there was no reward, no permanence. I moved on.

Even in BF, little numbers get bigger giving me the illusion of progress. Surely Arenanet learned something from this?

[Telefrog]

Played for a few hours this weekend. Awesome. I really like how you can fairly easily get the Daily Achievement and get a nice bonus for playing.

[KevinC]

15 years ago, Q2 CTF was a blast. However, there was no reward, no permanence. I moved on.

Even in BF, little numbers get bigger giving me the illusion of progress. Surely Arenanet learned something from this?

You get exp, karma, gold, and badges for gear as well as loot drops. That’s more than battlefield, no?

[Balasarius]

Ok, cool. MrPerson said you got jack.

[Stridergg]

The worst part, when I was playing, was the game’s inability to render a reasonable number of players, so you’d be inside a blob before the first person even appeared.

According to “Tales of Tyria” podcast, culling has been greatly improved in the last patch and the issue is mostly resolved. I haven’t played a lot since but the last couple of times I played I didn’t see the usual effects of culling.

ANet said it was a temporary solution and they are working on even bigger improvements.

[Stridergg]

Ah. Well, in that case I definitely think it sucks! Combat seems to involve two zergs taking pot shots at one another continually, building and repairing shit is totally tedious and there is just way too much slowly running around. Not really my cup of tea.

As usual in large scale PvP, it depends on how lucky you get. Sometimes you get a lot of flanking action and small scale fights. Sometimes there is only big zerg. Sometimes there is no people on your side at all and you just get slaughtered anywhere you go. :)

RvR experience is very uneven. It can be the most fun experience I’ve had with games in a long while but OTOH often it’s quite boring.

I have the same issues with Planetside 2 and other similar games, it’s just the nature of the beast I guess.

[Zuwadza]

You get exp, karma, gold, and badges for gear as well as loot drops. That’s more than battlefield, no?

The amount of XP, karma, and gold is pretty low. Really a tiny fraction of what you would get grinding the PvE. The badges? How does one even get these? I think I have a couple. Do you have to be the one to finish a player to get them? Anyway, it’d be nice to get something for healing other players or building and repairing

As usual in large scale PvP, it depends on how lucky you get. Sometimes you get a lot of flanking action and small scale fights. Sometimes there is only big zerg. Sometimes there is no people on your side at all and you just get slaughtered anywhere you go. :)

RvR experience is very uneven. It can be the most fun experience I’ve had with games in a long while but OTOH often it’s quite boring.

I have the same issues with Planetside 2 and other similar games, it’s just the nature of the beast I guess.

Yeah, I get the Planetside 2 comparison, since I sometimes spend tons of time wandering for base to base doing jack squat. Is melee ever useful in large scale fights? Seems like you can’t do squat as a melee character.

[KevinC]

The amount of XP, karma, and gold is pretty low. Really a tiny fraction of what you would get grinding the PvE. The badges? How does one even get these? I think I have a couple. Do you have to be the one to finish a player to get them? Anyway, it’d be nice to get something for healing other players or building and repairing

I got most of my levels through WvW as opposed to PVE, it was much faster for me. Perhaps it has to do with how successful of a group I was lucky enough to run with or something (we were constantly taking camps, towers, etc)?

[Zuwadza]

I got most of my levels through WvW as opposed to PVE, it was much faster for me. Perhaps it has to do with how successful of a group I was lucky enough to run with or something (we were constantly taking camps, towers, etc)?

Where do you normally play, one of the borderlands or eternal battleground? I’ve gotten better XP from hitting my own borderland, but still nothing compared to the same amount of time grinding PvE content. I get nothing from Eternal Battleground though, since it always seems to come down to zerg vs. zerg and something as simple as taking a supply camp can take ages.

[Morrolan]

According to “Tales of Tyria” podcast, culling has been greatly improved in the last patch and the issue is mostly resolved. I haven’t played a lot since but the last couple of times I played I didn’t see the usual effects of culling.

Its as bad as ever for me.

[Shadari]

I’m starting to feel burned out on WoW because although it can be great fun, most of the time it feels like work. I mostly just PvP and that means that I have to keep up with the Joneses or else I’m gonna have a VERY frustrating experience. My question is how much work is required to keep up with the Joneses if one wants to PvP in Guild Wars 2? I’ve put a dozen or so hours into GW2 thus far and I enjoy it quite a bit, but I don’t want to keep going if I eventually have to grind for gear in order to keep up. Now I don’t mind if some people have a small advantage in PvP, but in WoW the difference between a freshly leveled character and someone who is completely geared is astronomical. And that’s something I wish to avoid!