45 replies to this topic

[dirkaderpa]

I quit the game around level 50 several months ago because I just couldn't take it any more. This is a guy who played several F2P mmo's, including a korean mmo, and getting pretty far in it. What keeps you all playing this game? I just don't get it, maybe I am missing something but to me the game just doesn't get the mmo formula right.

Lets look at a generic korean mmo, what makes grinding compelling there? Its because you are working towards building your character up, to build your little tramp to be something that's to be reckoned with in pvp/pve whatever. You are also allowed to go into flow because you are repeating the same task several times, so you are rewarded for your patience, the more you have, the more you can grind a day and the faster you progress.

Lets look at a game like Firefall, which doesn't have that much vertical progression but there is a decent amount grind to max out your account, that game is compelling because you actually get more experience/money the more skilled you are, this is similar to how games like jetpack on your iphone play, the further you go in a mission, the more insane the difficulty is. So if you want an insane shooter experience, just start your mission in a really difficult area and try and finish at 100%, and if you want a more casual relaxed playthrough, just eject out of the mission half way.

GW2 has neither of these, in GW2 when you find loot, you are like "whatever gear doesn't matter anyway" since you only use it for like an hour max and the open world content is so laughably easy you would have definitely have made it through at maybe the same speed without that new shiny weapon/arm peice/etc. Also it doesn't help that every single gear peace looks exactly the same... you never feel like you are getting stronger, ever. Bizarrely, the heart system destroys flow, because you can't just hunker down in one place and level up, and, unlike WoW, you can't choose the quests you want to do, you just keep walking in unexplored directions and are forced upon whatever heart is there. And may I add the story behind WoW quests>>>>>hearts.

Also, unlike Firefall, the content progresses at the same rate regardless of what you do, this also makes gear/character progression kind of pointless. With a gaurdian and a level 1 staff, autoattacking the whole time through 80 levels, you would probably progress through the game at around the same speed as if you were playing "correctly", all you have to do is tag mobs and watch the zerg kill it, regardless of the event or heart. So its kind of the worst of both worlds in terms of an mmo, no real progression, and no fun gameplay.

So what am I missing since it still looks like a large amount of people are still playing GW2, what made you personally play after level 50? Maybe ppl play it just b/c its the only B2P mmo on the market, meh.

[Volkon]

What keeps me playing? It's an amazing game and with over 1300 hours in it I'm still having a blast.

What are you missing? Apparently everything.

[Highlander of Alba]

To each there own.

Everyone has there on style of gameplay and what is fun to them.

may I ask why since you think the game is so unappealing you post in forums . I am an altholic and still having fun to myself that's what is important. you cannot say what I think is good as others may not so yes the game has some flaws just like any other and in time it will be on par with GW1  when guys will still be playing after a long time.

No use trying to compare games as I said before to each there own and that's the simple answer to your question

[Al Shamari]

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

I quit the game around level 50...

I personally think this explains everything...

[dirkaderpa]

Highlander of Alba, on 07 March 2013 - 05:51 PM, said:

To each there own.

Everyone has there on style of gameplay and what is fun to them.

may I ask why since you think the game is so unappealing you post in forums . I am an altholic and still having fun to myself that's what is important. you cannot say what I think is good as others may not so yes the game has some flaws just like any other and in time it will be on par with GW1  when guys will still be playing after a long time.

No use trying to compare games as I said before to each there own and that's the simple answer to your question

I am asking what makes this game fun for so many people.

Also, you could never compare anything ever in life with that mindset. Cereal vs a *roach, I think eating a *roach is worse since it tastes terrible, squirms in your mouth, and makes you sick 3 days later, but to each their own!

[leongrado]

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

snip

Seriously what do you hope to accomplish by posting this? You don't seem like you want to go back into the game. I can only conclude that you're trying to get people on these forums mad.

Please don't feed the troll guys.

Edited by leongrado, 07 March 2013 - 05:58 PM.

[dirkaderpa]

leongrado, on 07 March 2013 - 05:57 PM, said:

Seriously what do you hope to accomplish by posting this? You don't seem like you want to go back into the game. I can only conclude that you're trying to get people on these forums mad.

Please don't feed the troll guys.

I want to have a discussion of what makes this game fun so maybe I go back into it after spending 60 bucks on it. I made a large well thought out post and look @ the responses, are you sure I'm the troll?

Edited by dirkaderpa, 07 March 2013 - 05:59 PM.

[tfckmk988]

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:54 PM, said:

I am asking what makes this game fun for so many people.

Also, you could never compare anything ever in life with that mindset. Cereal vs a *roach, I think eating a *roach is worse since it tastes terrible, squirms in your mouth, and makes you sick 3 days later, but to each their own!

personally i like the combat the graphics the story the dynamic events

as an aside WoW quests will never feel as synced as the dynamic events do the dynamic events are a closer comparison to quests than the hearts are as hearts are just there to give you some focus as you play the game and to make it feel like you are helping the characters in the zone in addition to when something bad goes down (ie dynamic event)

i like the dungeons so far having a story for them really makes it nice although i do wish there were more of them sooner

i like the scaling of zones so you don't feel like a lvl 80 just crushing everything in 1 hit things are a challenge even in the starter zones unlike WoW

[ChuyDog08]

Hey OP, this game is obviously not for you.  Move along and stop trolling in a forum dedicated to a game you no longer play.  I wish you well in whatever game you play that makes you happy.

To answer your question:  I play the game because I find it fun and entertaining.   Look up the post about why we like this game...

http://www.guildwars...188-i-like-gw2/

[Faowri]

Volkon, on 07 March 2013 - 05:46 PM, said:

What keeps me playing? It's an amazing game and with over 1300 hours in it I'm still having a blast.

What are you missing? Apparently everything.

Pretty much this.

Guild Wars 2 has its share of problems, but not nearly enough to stifle my personal enjoyment of the gameplay. The majority of the people who are logging in everyday and enjoying it don't come to GW2Guru to post about it, which is (apparently) why we keep getting a new thread every week (day?) from someone who quit a while ago, challenging the community to sell the game to them again.

GW2 works for some people. It doesn't for others. This is true of every game, and there's no magical formula explaining it. A lot of its features are Marmite in that some love them and others hate them.

It's getting kind of tiresome to keep seeing these "Make me like GW2 again, guys!" threads popping up ad nauseum. You own the game and you don't pay a subscription - log in, try it again, and if you like it, keep playing! If you don't, stop! Play games because you like them, and stop asking those who kept playing the game to justify their preferences.

[Improvavel]

Guild Wars franchise is about the player and not the character.
If you want focus on a character and want to make it super duper powerful GW2 (and GW1) isn't for you.

It is about knowing the the tricks, knowing all professions, knowing all skills and obscure interactions that allow one to make the best decisions.

Edited by Improvavel, 07 March 2013 - 06:05 PM.

[Grim_Ling]

Quote

To answer your question: I play the game because I find it fun and entertaining. Look up the post about why we like this game...

First you didn't answer the question... it's fun because it's fun does nothing to add to this discusion so you are the troll of person you are calling the troll...

For me it's the goal of making a legendary... I am a goal setter/seeker in games... a chaser of shiny things if you will...
Also I paid for it... I am going to play it...

The personal story is not keeping me playing... 3rd character now and have only finished it 1 time because of the bad design of the "cutscenes" and bad writing... (yes this is in my opinion bad... I like real cutscenes...)

Edited by Grim_Ling, 07 March 2013 - 06:12 PM.

[Al Shamari]

You have to understand, there have been so many posts similar to yours throughout the history of this forum and the responses are often times the same. Explaining something so subjective to the extent that it has been done becomes a little exhausting.

To give you a more "in depth" response, you only played until level 50, which is why you're missing some of the core aspects that come into play after you reach the level cap. You seem to have only experienced open world content, which yes, I will admit it is extremely easy - at least until you get to Orr, which isn't really hard but it does require you to slow down your pace and some mobs serve as an annoyance.

Anyways, you're right that gear isn't "required" in the open world, but it is required in late game content such as dungeons and fractals, and there is a slight treadmill imposed with the release of Ascended gear - a hot topic among the community as many are split on the idea.

You describe grinding as a "flow, and you have to understand that many people don't view it as that. You see it as a positive aspect of game play which may explain why you don't feel as though Guild Wars 2 got the MMO formula "right", because I don't believe they were aiming for the traditional MMO "formula". I feel as though, in this aspect, the post stating "To each their own" holds a lot of value, because it's obvious that you hold a different view of grind style game play than most of the people that continue to play this game.

You will however be delighted to know that much of the late game game play is very "grind" oriented, as it consists of running the same dungeons or fractals an extensive amount of time.

I just don't personally feel that you have any room to judge the game as a whole if you've quite honestly experienced less than half of it, because much of what you say doesn't hold true in any sense what-so-ever if you've experienced any of the late game itself.

[heatrr]

Hey OP, if you are not playing the game anymore, I am quite "astonished" you are still on GW2 forums ... posting stupid threads. What keeps you posting such?

Edited by heatrr, 07 March 2013 - 06:09 PM.

[Loperdos]

Al Shamari, on 07 March 2013 - 05:51 PM, said:

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

I quit the game around level 50...

I personally think this explains everything...

I realize we aren't supposed to post stack, but THIS....so...many...times over.  If I could like this multiple times I would.

At level 50 you have barely scratched the surface of this game, including but not limited to some of the reasons why I still play, like dungeons, having my character's build at a place where it is quite effective in some of the higher level/more difficult content in the game, the world that GW2 is set in is fantastically created, the art, architecture and thought put into the various areas is amazing and exploring said areas is one of my favorite things to do.  But at level 50, you haven't really touched much of that.

Now, let me be clear, this game is no where near perfect, nor is it my favorite MMO in a few categories, but I have fun playing it, so I keep playing.  I'm at a point in my life that I play video games for fun and to interact with my friends who are spread all across the country, rather than to be competitive, or whatever.  This isn't to say there is anything wrong with people who play that way, by any means, its just not how or why I choose to play.

And I'm sorry, I wasn't going to nitpick, but language and meaning are important to me, and I think you may want to look into what the word "flow" means...because "hunkering down and leveling" would probably not be considered a definition of the word...

[Gamidragon]

I'll try and address each of your points from my standpoint, and explain why I'm still playing to this day.

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

Lets look at a generic korean mmo, what makes grinding compelling there? Its because you are working towards building your character up, to build your little tramp to be something that's to be reckoned with in pvp/pve whatever. You are also allowed to go into flow because you are repeating the same task several times, so you are rewarded for your patience, the more you have, the more you can grind a day and the faster you progress.

It's hard for me to address this post, because I don't consider anything in GW2 to be a grind.  I don't sit down to play and say "Okay, this is what I'm grinding for today".  Instead, I sit down, say hello to my guild, and find out if anything's going on.  I play with my friends.  I see if anyone needs any help.  If not, I take a look at the daily's for today, and see what I feel like doing.  Basically, I treat it more like I treat an FPS.  I hop on, pick a server, and just play to have fun.

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

Lets look at a game like Firefall, which doesn't have that much vertical progression but there is a decent amount grind to max out your account, that game is compelling because you actually get more experience/money the more skilled you are, this is similar to how games like jetpack on your iphone play, the further you go in a mission, the more insane the difficulty is. So if you want an insane shooter experience, just start your mission in a really difficult area and try and finish at 100%, and if you want a more casual relaxed playthrough, just eject out of the mission half way.

To an extent, I agree with this.  To combat this, explorable dungeons are ALWAYS a challenge, as well as Fractals.  If you don't like the dungeons, then there are always the tougher meta events to push.  Since you stopped at level 50, you haven't seen the temple events in Orr.  Those are a challenge, at first to get people to finish them, and then to actually complete.  More often then not, Balthazar and Grenth both fail often.  Sometimes I feel like the challenge isn't there, but it is if you know where to look.

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

GW2 has neither of these, in GW2 when you find loot, you are like "whatever gear doesn't matter anyway" since you only use it for like an hour max and the open world content is so laughably easy you would have definitely have made it through at maybe the same speed without that new shiny weapon/arm peice/etc. Also it doesn't help that every single gear peace looks exactly the same... you never feel like you are getting stronger, ever. Bizarrely, the heart system destroys flow, because you can't just hunker down in one place and level up, and, unlike WoW, you can't choose the quests you want to do, you just keep walking in unexplored directions and are forced upon whatever heart is there. And may I add the story behind WoW quests>>>>>hearts.

That gear does begin to matter, especially later on.  I also can't explain the feeling of finding an exotic in your drop list.  It's like finding a world purple in WoW.  It's just awesome.  Also, you can choose the quests you do, there are scouts that point you towards heart quests, and then the DEs you can come across while exploring the world.  I agree on Flow, but I've never really thought of Flow as a good thing in MMOs.  For me, it destroys immersion and makes the game feel like a chore.  I do agree on every item looking the same.  Cosmetic skins really don't apply till endgame, when it becomes way more about cosmetics.  Some of the harder to get skins are just amazing.

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

Also, unlike Firefall, the content progresses at the same rate regardless of what you do, this also makes gear/character progression kind of pointless. With a gaurdian and a level 1 staff, autoattacking the whole time through 80 levels, you would probably progress through the game at around the same speed as if you were playing "correctly", all you have to do is tag mobs and watch the zerg kill it, regardless of the event or heart. So its kind of the worst of both worlds in terms of an mmo, no real progression, and no fun gameplay.

This I completely disagree with.  While the game does help you progress with whatever style of play you want, you definitely don't progress at the same rate.  Also, the zerg no longer exists like it did at release.  While the earlier zones still have some population, it's nothing like it was.  So I'd recommend taking a second look at this point.

dirkaderpa, on 07 March 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

So what am I missing since it still looks like a large amount of people are still playing GW2, what made you personally play after level 50? Maybe ppl play it just b/c its the only B2P mmo on the market, meh.

Tons have changed since you stopped playing, but the thing I think you're missing is that you're treating the game more like a job.  Grinding, getting on just for one specific reason.  I might be wrong, but you don't seem to be playing to have fun.  BUT to each their own, each person has their own opinion on what is fun.  For me, it's just playing with my friends and guildmates, enjoying the game and DEs and temples and everything (:  I hope this helps a little.

Also sorry for the wall of text, cheese and rice.

[Tyrantscreed]

I'm going to take a different approach to answer your question than most of the people here.

You want progression? Here is a list for you to do:

- Gather as many legendary as possible
- Get the fractal's backpack
- Get all the fractal's weapon
- Finish all the available Slayer achievements
- Finish all the jumping puzzle
- Finish all the dungeons
- Collect all Tier 3 Cultural Equipment
- Explore the world and get 100% World Events
- Play some WvW and enjoy the soon-to-be added Rank Progression + new abilities/utilies

This should keep you busy for a year, if not more. It seems like you don't have any hard hitting long-term goal - find one, and play around it. Also try to join a guild and socialize and do guild missions and whatnot - playing with others is pretty fun ya know?

Edited by Tyrantscreed, 07 March 2013 - 06:13 PM.

[Captain Bulldozer]

I don't know about others, but I personally get pretty tired of people coming onto the forums and asking us to "convince" them that they should play/not stop paying/come back to GW2.  If you gave up the game at lvl 50, its obviously because you didn't enjoy it.  It means very little to those of us that are still playing and still enjoying the game, other than that the game isn't for everyone... a fact of which we were already well aware.  

The OP lists his perceived flaws with the game, which amount to how its different from most other MMOs he likes.  So what?  The game is designed to be different.  There are dozens (maybe hundreds?) of carbon copy MMOs out there that are all equally good/bad to suit your tastes.  If you want to play WoW, go play WoW... don't ask or expect GW2 to be WoW so that you can have the same experience with better graphics.  If Korean grind machines are your thing, you find one and grind til your eyes bleed... those of us that play GW2 do so because we enjoy it and maybe because we DON'T WANT it to be like those other MMOs.  Sure, GW2 isn't perfect... it has some serious design flaws, buggy content and occasional mismanagement, but we play the game because we find it fun.  There's nothing more to say here OP... best to move on.

[Volkon]

I suppose I should be more specific... it's only polite.

First of all was the first impression. You get into the game and it's flat out gorgeous. But then something happened to be that hadn't happened in a long time in an MMO... I got confused. I wasn't really sure where to go or what to do. The combat felt... different. It took about an hour or so to settle into things a bit and for it to begin to flow. Now it's so natural feeling for events to simply happen, for combat to be fast paced and movement to matter... I couldn't imagine going back to an archaically styled MMO that roots you in place for combat, or doesn't allow dodging, or, gods forbid, has a static, dead generic quest driven world.

In addition to a beautiful world and great, flowing combat system (that's a lot deeper than many realize) I found myself hooked in WvW. Yeah, I have a blast there... it's probably the best MMO PvP I've played since... well, GW1. Eve Online was great in it's own right, but the imbalance that was inherent in the system was a negative in my opinion.

So, the world, combat, WvW... actually an added part on the combat is the lack of a trinity and the removing of roles from a character and placing those aspects on the various skills. Actually having to know the skills instead of the rotation... very nice indeed.

I've done a little sPvP, that's also fun, just don't have the time...

I really can't think of anything majorly wrong with the game at all. Except... thieves that kill me. Thieves I kill are fine, the ones that kill me are OP.

Nearly forgot to mention that all grinding is optional. That's a major plus. There's no required grind in order to access additional content like in lesser MMOs.

Edited by Volkon, 07 March 2013 - 06:16 PM.

[ChuyDog08]

Hey everyone, the OP already posted a similar post in October:

http://www.guildwars...e/#entry2041465

Maybe he is just trying to troll the forums again.

[Juanele]

this thread will go places

what keeps me playing? I find the game fun

[Mr_Finesse]

Pretty sure the mods need to lock out this useless thread ASAP

As noted above, the OP posted a thread similar to this ~5months ago.

[Lunacy Polish]

ChuyDog08, on 07 March 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

Hey everyone, the OP already posted a similar post in October:

http://www.guildwars...e/#entry2041465

Maybe he is just trying to troll the forums again.

Nicely done sir.

As for the OP you must be easily flabbergasted indeed.  3/10

[heatrr]

Lunacy Polish, on 07 March 2013 - 06:21 PM, said:

Nicely done sir.

As for the OP you must be easily flabbergasted indeed.  3/10

Besides, if FireFall was great according to the OP, he would not keep coming back to post in GW 2 forums amIright?

[Ritualist]

Sadly, I am a GW-fanboy. Which means I am constantly giving GW2 new chances despite not really delivering the high I am looking for. On the other hand, the game also fails to REALLY disappoint me, which means short breaks allow me to rekindle my insane love for the series (I stopped playing for a few weeks, then stumbled onto the Prophecies game manual, which lead to me looking at the Faction game guide and the GW2 books and that lead to me DYING to play a charr again) which then allows me to overlook some of the issues for some time again.

The game isn't bad, but it's not really as good as I want it to be and as I know A.Net could make it. But since I already own it, it's enough to keep me playing. But as it stands now, this will not be enough to make me purchase the expansion.

[pumpkin pie]

If you want to know, you've got to play the game. I am not telling you. because it would be a waste of time.

[Sword Hammer Axe]

It's a good game. You may have all kinds of theories of why this is not the case, but unless you have some research backing you up they're nothing but your own opinions in disguise.

Still, it's good to see that the game is interesting even to people who stopped playing it.

[matsif]

because I find the game fun.  I don't care about anyone else, if I find the game fun I'm still going to play it.  I still play final fantasy 10 because I find the game fun.

People need to stop these "convince me why I should play" posts.  If you don't like it, stop playing and move on.  No one is forcing you to play other than yourself.

[dirkaderpa]

ChuyDog08, on 07 March 2013 - 06:16 PM, said:

Hey everyone, the OP already posted a similar post in October:

http://www.guildwars...e/#entry2041465

Maybe he is just trying to troll the forums again.

Well I was hoping for more opinions since as you can see I haven't played even after I made that post, also I was very unspecific in that post and I wanted to dissect why I thought GW2 was flawed by design and maybe I was missing something.

[Midnight_Tea]

Al Shamari, on 07 March 2013 - 06:07 PM, said:

You have to understand, there have been so many posts similar to yours throughout the history of this forum and the responses are often times the same. Explaining something so subjective to the extent that it has been done becomes a little exhausting.

I'm still convinced a lot of those posts were corporate shills to begin with. Many people are surprised when they first start looking into it, but the industry really do pay a lot of people to pollute big name forums to give the impression of a game being worse off than it is or to promote another product. Funny enough I always took it as a sign that GW2 is really starting to dominate the market, otherwise this wouldn't be worth doing.

It was getting noisy enough I had to take a break from guru for a while so I wouldn't wind up saying something I'd regret later.

Edited by Midnight_Tea, 07 March 2013 - 06:53 PM.