5000 hours in GW2. I've got some things to say.

[Grimegg.1297]

Hello!

 

First let me point out that I **LOVE** Guild Wars 2. I pre-purchased the game back in 2012, played it for about 2 weeks, then life happened and had to stop. 5-6 months later I played it for a month again and then my PC died. Fast-forward to late 2014, I'm playing again. Up until late 2016 I was playing it very regulary. 2017 and 2018 I played it more sparingly due to university and after that work, but mostly due to game-related issues. I play a bit more now.

 

I have 14 characters. My main is at nearly 1500hrs, my very first character is at about 750hrs, 8 other characters range between 220-380 hours, and 4 fairly new ones between 6-65 hrs.

Today "/age" command showed 5000 hours.

 

With that being said - there are a few points I noticed that I feel like if addressed, will improve the game by all means.

 

1. **Less maps - more original activities.** - During Season 2 we got Dry Top and Silverwastes. 2 maps that included completely unique events and systems, in which you also had to complete 8 episodes of story. The maps felt meaningful, busy, and even to this day are way more impactful and memorable because of the story being present a lot in them, the reward systems and items you could get (special set in silverwastes, collection weapons in dry top etc.). The same can't be said for season 3 and 4. Both of the seasons include a map in every single story episode. You spend way less time in the map as the stories aren't particulary long (besides the dragging unskippable conversations) and the activities, metas and items aren't very interesting or memorable. This could've been much better if the formula of season 2 was followed still - less maps, more things to do/get and remember the place much better. Quality over quantity. Also these new maps basically killed the older maps, as the population, even tho not low, is in decline from a long time, and now they are even more spread around and its way harder to find players for killing a specific champion or doing a specific event than it used to be. For example my girlfriend today - she wanted to do a collection achievement, you need to do certain bounty champions in Path of Fire zones. We couldn't 2-man the champions so we searched for group. 2 hours later - we gave up, as only 1 person appeared and left almost as fast as it joined. This happened during supposedly more peak-hours, but it also happened before with other situations, and will keep happening as long as people are too spread around and their goals don't align. I'm not saying "don't do anymore maps", I'm saying do less maps, and focus on other things like rewards, events, achievements and more social grouped activities that are not necessarily annoyingly hard or troublesome...and as I mention that...

 

2. **Stop overdoing it with the mechanics spam.** - Vanilla GW2 was more consistent on making the player explore, group and cooperate in terms of attacking (mainly dps) and defending (mainly ressurecting downed/dead players). There wasn't much CC by enemies, but it was there. Heart of Thorns came out - way more focus on CCing the enemy(!) to gain advantage, or to get a kill as a whole (meta events). Enemies did more damage, so surviving and CCing became priority over dps. Now with Path of Fire the only thing that happened is adding TONS more CC against the player, and combined with player builds trying to avoid/outheal it, it turns into a massive mess. So many enemies now have stuns, pushes, pulls, silence, interrupts etc., that in certain situations it becomes extremely frustrating. And none of this helps the fact that in the game everything is already extremely flashy at times and there are enemies that have overly extended, overly fast and way too many telegraphed attacks that are very often unavoidable due to them almost stacking at each other. I do not know what the solution to this problem is truly, but the current state is by no means the best achievable.

 

3. **Too much, too little.** - I understand that GW2 doesn't have subscription, thus it needs to finance itself through other means, that's where the gem store comes. It's great that the gem store now offers a lot of variety and way more style to the game and players's choice. However - it seems to have come with the cost of actual new unique in-game rewards. Silverwastes had unique armor sets collections, Dry top had unique weapons collection, Heart of Thorns had unique weapons/armors sets in each of its 4 maps. Path of Fire lacks in quantity and quality. There are more armor sets, but they are...plain? Way less weapon sets and way less memorable and unique looking ones, in fact most of them look like one another, especially in base coloring. Weapons, without trying to insult anyone, are 90% straight up ugly. This seems to be "balanced" by putting the "cool looking" weapons in the gem store. Well, I wouldnt've minded if I was fairly new to the game, but for a player like me, that exhausted almost everything he wanted to do in the game, playing the gem store that shortly after new patch/map/story was released, is just boring and unfulfilling. Also why is there not even a SINGLE glider/mount skin available through playing the game? You don't even have to make it super-amazing-2000gems-like-looking, just interesting to obtain and a bit different than the base one. Making the player engage in the game. Instead we just grind gold or pay with real money for gems and get a new skin...almost like paying to win. A bit controversial point that one, but its just my personal opinion.

 

4. **No surprises.** - Most of the "new" content is actually a re-skin of already existing content. Almost completely. Why? This game blew my mind during Season 1 and Season 2, during first months of Heart of Thorns. Now it feels like every single patch is the same as the last one, just with new dress and new speech.

Is Guild Wars 3 being worked on? A new IP maybe? Secret project? Or is Anet slowly crumbling? Whatever it is - I hope it soon transitions into GW2, as this game right now is just following a regular schedule and it needs a new spotlight to shine under.

 

~~~~

 

I hope whatever Anet decides to make of this game will make me go through another 5000 hours in it. The way it is now tho...it's gonna be a tough love. Then again, even if it ends tommorow, I'll remember it with smile. But we all know we want more!

 

Cheers fellas!

 

[zealex.9410]

Completely agree with point 1, hopefully anet seems to have realised this.

 

Also agree with point 3 but in terms of content i as i find gw2 lacking severely in the content department compaired to its peers.

 

Rest is kind of preference i guess. Personally i've found se4 to have the most rewards attached to it. Sadly, it was plagued by delays and overall the content was less.

[BlueJin.4127]

I like using CC’s in fights. It makes for more interesting fights. I just don’t like it when enemies spam CC’s. Being forced to watch my character just stand there and not being able to play is not fun.

[Randulf.7614]

To be honest I'm not sure I want living story adding to old maps. I'd rather they just got them right first time and left them as a snapshot rather than mixing timelines (I def don't want to see any mixed timelines again in GW2 after the mess of LS1). I also don't agree DT and Silverwastes had more to do than current maps (Kourna/Thunderhead aside), however they did a good job of building a map over multiple episodes which is not something I would object to.

 

I agree with 2. I hate awakened - it's one of a few things putting me off replaying ls4 maps. All they do is condition spam over and over and over regardless of how quickly you can clear them.

 

4 I can sympathise with. They use a structure to allow them to churn out content quicker and episodes naturally suffer for it. I hate the living world a lot, but I'd probably gel with it more if an episode was tailored to what it was trying to do better rather than trying to hamstring itself within a framework.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Grimegg.1297" said:

> 1. **Less maps - more original activities.**

 

You can only fit so much on the maps and players will burn through it at a pretty quick rate. DT died fairly quickly and SW only lasted so long because it had a farm. Several polls have been done over the past year and players overall prefer new maps. Some who did prefer new maps also did add a caveat that they'd prefer more replayability to be added as well.

>

> 2. **Stop overdoing it with the mechanics spam.**

 

You must not have played LS2 as everything you complained about was introduced during that period. Mechanics get players to think and play smartly rather than stack and spam their auto attack. That was pretty much what you could do throughout the core game prior to LS2.

>

> 3. **Too much, too little.** -

 

You seemed to praise how releases prior to PoF had unique rewards and then you criticize everything from PoF and onwards for lacking such. There's have been several weapon and armor sets released since PoF just like prior to its released.

>

> 4. **No surprises.** - Most of the "new" content is actually a re-skin of already existing content.

 

Examples?

 

 

 

[Obtena.7952]

I get some of your points but I think what's happening is a little bit of the 'honeymoon' period being over. LS1 and LS2 were awesome like you say, because they were content presented to us in a way we didn't experience. It's gotten old. Some of the more recent LS's were lacking, but it's not much different than what we had in LS1 and 2.

 

I mean, you got 5000 hours in ... it's not going to stay fresh forever.

[Etria.3642]

This is a jumbled reaction, but I'm one of the 'I love new maps' folks, mostly because I do play the heck out of each as it comes along. I also fuss and whine about mechanics but when I come across things without I find them boring, so I reluctantly put myself in the mechanics liking category. I just wish the aggro range in POF was much less. No collection sets? What? Granted, I don't love the Dragon ones, but astral and stellar are on my list, and I adore Requiem armor. I totally totally prefer LS3 and 4 over 2. BY FAR.

[Tiviana.2650]

> @"BlueJin.4127" said:

> I like using CC’s in fights. It makes for more interesting fights. I just don’t like it when enemies spam CC’s. Being forced to watch my character just stand there and not being able to play is not fun.

 

I agree with this, but i see the ops point also. Take some of the mobs in the silverwaste event, you can have 40 people on them but if you are the only one using cc the group just keeps dying. I think save the big cc mechanics for raids and fracts in open world with pugs and just random people its too much to expect them to control the fight. I dont like the telegraphed spells bosses and mobs put out that are one shots and you have no time or dont even see them. Also the same old song here, but we really need a setting for players so we can tone down other players spell effects. Its ridiculous on a big fight you cant even see the boss, let alone any spells he is putting out. that is probably the most aggravating part of playing this game.

 

And someday i would like to be able to zoom out the camera more. Good grief fighting Shatterer, all i see is his leg, and thats not cool. I would like to take in the bosses see them in their full awesome glory, not just a toe.

[otto.5684]

I generally enjoyed everything through LWS3 maps. But we began to see some repetition there. PoF and LWS4 (excluding swept isles) are terrible. It is like the entire team that designed maps just dropped of the earth after LWS3.

 

The designs as of late have became exceptionally lazy. Uninteresting hearts, scattered over a large map with little to no usage of space area. Events follow the same pattern, being mostly localized. The maps have no flow.

 

I dunno if the mounts are part of the issue. But olds maps do not fall into the same issues with mounts. I think the only option going forward is to remove the hearts completely. Not cuz they are bad or boring, but cu they became a hanger for Anet to not put content in maps. “They will just do the hearts.”

[Reynarth.4819]

I completely agree with point 1. I still have hope that they will go back to what they did in season 1 and start editing existing maps, like Kessex Hills years ago for example. That was really LIVING world which we all loved.

 

I know the issues coming with changes like that but also I am sure devs became much smarter and better in what they're doing during all this years and they'll be able to somehow avoid problems like they had with season 1. Maybe it's not that bad idea to make a few versions of the same map with possibility for players to change freely between them? Either way, I'm sure there is a way to somehow make it.

 

[ProtoGunner.4953]

I have a pretty similar story (also around 5k hours) and I absolutely second your 3rd point: there is not a single mount skin (aside from standard) we can get by collection or quests/story. Not a _single_ one. It's sooo lame. I mean it is a missed opportunity. Have you played WoW? Remember the Netherwing drake questline where you get your super cool mount after a long quest chain? It was so motivating and fun. Why don't you give us ONE single cool looking mount by such a collection, quest or whatever? Sorry, but at least I would play your game again be cause I quit completely a couple of months ago. There is nothing that motivates me anymore and the lack of a new expansion doesn't make it better.

[SpyderArachnid.5619]

Definitely agree with point three. Seeing all this stuff constantly being Gem store exclusive really puts a bad taste in my mouth for this game. I know, we can buy gems with gold, but not everyone is rich enough to do that or constantly farms to make that kind of gold to afford gems.

 

It's just a sad state when you can't earn stuff in game because it is all locked behind the in game cash shop. I get it, Anet needs to make money. But I mean, come on. This is a bit much. And they aren't cheap either if you decide to spend money. 2000 Gems for a mount skin? That's over 20 dollars. That is just ridiculous. That's more expensive than a typical MMO subscription price.

 

Let us actually earn stuff in game. And I don't mean like the Gryphon either (go visit these vendors and spend 250 gold). Either via an achievement or some story of sorts, something fun and interesting at least. Not everything has to be locked to the gem store or cost a lot of gold or require tons of grinding/rng. And I know a lot of people are going to give the same ol' "if you don't like it, don't buy it" or "it's just cosmetic", but point still stands. Let us earn stuff instead of always having to fork over the credit card.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

I have to say hot maps are my favorite because those fights are interrsting

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

I agree with pretty much every single of your points, even if I don't feel that strongly about your second (except Bitterfrost, kitten Bitterfrost).

 

Your third point about skins offered in-game compared to gem store updates is the biggest issue of the game for me. Especially since, after a point, cosmetic grind is the vertical progression (fashion wars). I have to add though that Anet tried to return to offering in-game sets via LS with stellar, requiem and dragonblood. It's still too little for me and I wasn't too fond of the grindy implementation (especially the armor), but it's a similar model to the DT and SW sets. I would have liked something more akin to the amber set (you do events, get the drop, craft weapon), but it's still a small step in the right direction.

[Dami.5046]

I personally wish they would bring in a way to get legendary armour through the living world and not locked behind dungeons, factuals, raids, wvw or spvp. Maybe a story like the weapons with quests, puzzles and events, areas of the map that would only open if you were doing the armour set. The work I appreciate would be incredible and it never would be done, but one can dream.

[Urud.4925]

Agree with point 1 (a friend of mine wanted to complete a bounty in Crystal Desert, few days ago, and only one player joined our tag. I'm really happy that I only waited 4-5 months before buying PoF. Completing all the achievements now would take much longer), there's no need to fill the whole world map as fast as possible.

 

Partially agree also with point 2 (there's one achievement in Jahai Bluffs that requires a decent amount of CC: doable alone, but hard in open world, where the CC scales with people. On the other hand, the extensive use of telegraphs in bounties makes it more difficult alone and easier in group). It's good to add something new in the combat, rather than plain dps like in core maps (they also buffed mobs in PoF, so you can strip their buffs - if you play necro that's it). But in general you're right: there are too many things overlapping each other and flashing things on screen. I don't dislike tougher fights, but I can't really relax and enjoy PoF.

 

About 3, I'm not much into skins, but I think that the last 2 episodes of LW4 introduced one gear and one weapon collection. People seemed to like them (apart from that problem with the sigils). PoF itself has collections for awakened weapons and gear (afaik the Elonian sets were new in GW2).

[zealex.9410]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Grimegg.1297" said:

> > 1. **Less maps - more original activities.**

>

> You can only fit so much on the maps and players will burn through it at a pretty quick rate. DT died fairly quickly and SW only lasted so long because it had a farm. Several polls have been done over the past year and players overall prefer new maps. Some who did prefer new maps also did add a caveat that they'd prefer more replayability to be added as well.

> >

 

Dt died quickly? i could and prob can still go and fijd ppl doing the event. I dod so for year after it. was out

[zealex.9410]

> @"Obtena.7952" said:

> I get some of your points but I think what's happening is a little bit of the 'honeymoon' period being over. LS1 and LS2 were awesome like you say, because they were content presented to us in a way we didn't experience. It's gotten old. Some of the more recent LS's were lacking, but it's not much different than what we had in LS1 and 2.

>

> I mean, you got 5000 hours in ... it's not going to stay fresh forever.

 

Se3 and 4 have the same format. They did the s1 format once and the s2 format also once.

 

Its very much different than what we have now.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"zealex.9410" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Grimegg.1297" said:

> > > 1. **Less maps - more original activities.**

> >

> > You can only fit so much on the maps and players will burn through it at a pretty quick rate. DT died fairly quickly and SW only lasted so long because it had a farm. Several polls have been done over the past year and players overall prefer new maps. Some who did prefer new maps also did add a caveat that they'd prefer more replayability to be added as well.

> > >

>

> Dt died quickly? i could and prob can still go and fijd ppl doing the event. I dod so for year after it. was out

 

Just as likely as you can on any of the other maps that people claim have died.

[zealex.9410]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > @"Grimegg.1297" said:

> > > > 1. **Less maps - more original activities.**

> > >

> > > You can only fit so much on the maps and players will burn through it at a pretty quick rate. DT died fairly quickly and SW only lasted so long because it had a farm. Several polls have been done over the past year and players overall prefer new maps. Some who did prefer new maps also did add a caveat that they'd prefer more replayability to be added as well.

> > > >

> >

> > Dt died quickly? i could and prob can still go and fijd ppl doing the event. I dod so for year after it. was out

>

> Just as likely as you can on any of the other maps that people claim have died.

 

Nah, i can compaire pof maps to drytop and say a year after theor repease its frustratingly hard to do the group content because barely anyone plays.

 

For dt 2 years after its release that wasnt my experience.

[Blockhead Magee.3092]

Disagree with #1. I prefer new maps. I was not a fan of seeing the existing maps changed. I'm also not a huge fan of the new mechanic on every map. Mostly because they're not available in other fights around the world where they could come in handy. It makes my character feel like a bafoon for only know how to do something in one map only.

[Vancho.8750]

I think the POF maps are great for exploring but they lack the draw of the HOT maps. Many people do not enjoy The tangled depths but to me this map is the best representation of a Jungle in a game, you are lost and some frog is waiting to stab you the next corner, then POF maps have some cool and dangerous areas like the Brand, the maw of torment or the Dwarfen puzzle area there is something off about the maps. Maybe somewhere in between HOT and POF maps would be good like the Jahai Bluffs.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Blockhead Magee.3092" said:

> Disagree with #1. I prefer new maps. I was not a fan of seeing the existing maps changed. I'm also not a huge fan of the new mechanic on every map. Mostly because they're not available in other fights around the world where they could come in handy. It makes my character feel like a bafoon for only know how to do something in one map only.

 

Yea wish we could build turrets at tequila.