Anyone playing GW2?

I played WoW for a few years back when it first came out. I was an extremely casual player. Had a bunch of characters, never once got one to 60. My biggest achievement (if you can call it that) was successfully tanking Crimson Monastery in bear form as a druid.

I gotta say I miss some of the strength/weaknesses of the classes better than what I see in GW2. It seems like everyone can do about anything (i'm exaggerating a bit) and it's actually keeping me from deciding what class/race to even play. Also, having nearly zero consequence for dying takes some of the thrill out of it.

Still, I'm having fun, no monthly charge, the experience has been smooth as silk for me, and I'm sure I'll get more than $60 worth of entertainment.

Very late to the party, but I've just got myself GW2 as well I'm loving barbie fun house aspect of this game

Whew, I guess I dodged this one.

barbie fun house? I must be missing a reference.

Dressing up my toon… playing around with dye colour for hours that sort of things

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Dressing up my toon… playing around with dye colour for hours that sort of things

Oh! I totally do that too!

Dressup is half the endgame The other half being pvp. Frankly, it seems like GW1 had more content After fully exploring every map, getting two different sets of armor, and trying out WvWvW pvp combat a bit, I'm pretty bored with GW2. It was great while it lasted, but they could really use some sort of endgame.

Additionally, the rampant bots and karma-zerging have also turned me off. It's incredibly discouraging to wander around and watch 10 characters, all wearing identical outfits, following each other on a preset patrol route while your /reports for the past 2-3 weeks accomplish nothing. Or watching people resign themselves to 'farming' the same 2-3 events for hours on end, killing mobs before they even have a chance to materialize.

I just had a lot more fun with GW1: the skills were more numerous, people actually strategized (and talked with one another!!) instead of running headlong into everything, and there was simply more to do at max level (though you can argue that GW1 had more expansions in which to accomplish this).

Also, I hate hate hate the integral part of dying during dungeons and events. I want skills and strategy to enable me avoiding death in the first place. And, no, a dodging mechanic isn't all that strategic to me.

not playing anymore. I didn't see any bots myself, but the game is pretty shallow. It was fun for a while and definitely worth the price (since there is no monthly fee), but ultimately what I felt I wouldn't like when I read about the game is what I don't like… too few abilities to use and look for. For most of my characters (classes I played), I was using the same abilities at level 12 that I was using at 50 (they just did more damage).

Well, I got blasted a LOT for pointing out the issues with the game at QT3/MMORPG. It's interesting to see how so many people are arriving at the same conclusions after a few months. Naturally, some people will stick to their guns until it's absolutely dead - but at least I know that I'm not alone in thinking that the game is ultra shallow. Not that it didn't have great stuff (really liked the exploration) - but it's one of the most extreme examples of hype over reason I've witnessed.

But, to be fair, it's lasted longer than I would have expected. I originally estimated the game would be quite barren after 3 months. It seems it still has a reasonably healthy population. So, it'll probably be a few months more before most move on.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Dressup is half the endgame The other half being pvp. Frankly, it seems like GW1 had more content After fully exploring every map, getting two different sets of armor, and trying out WvWvW pvp combat a bit, I'm pretty bored with GW2. It was great while it lasted, but they could really use some sort of endgame.

The point of the game is exploration, not completion. *sigh*

Although, they are adding a new level 80 zone on November 15, through a one time mega-event. The main mega-event start Sunday at Noon PST…

Originally Posted by Drithius
Also, I hate hate hate the integral part of dying during dungeons and events. I want skills and strategy to enable me avoiding death in the first place. And, no, a dodging mechanic isn't all that strategic to me.

I know people who now complete Ascalon Catabombs story mode without anyone dying. It's just a matter of people learning to play, using CC at the right time and distributing tasks in the group. You know, actually using some sort of strategy as opposed to zerging like crazy.

Originally Posted by azarhal
The point of the game is exploration, not completion. *sigh*

And once you've explored everything…?

I know people who now complete Ascalon Catabombs story mode without anyone dying.

Catacombs is probably the easiest dungeon (makes sense, with it being the first available dungeon). Crucible of Eternity, Arah… another matter altogether. Plus, difficulty of encounters is not necessarily what I'm referring to: the game and the skills available to characters have been balanced around the inevitable "downed state". Because of this, you have very few abilities to evade attacks and, if you do, they're on very long timers. So long battles, with mobs that have WAAAAY too much health (I'm looking at you Honor of the Waves dungeon) turn into a grueling affair of kiting ad nauseum.

Kiting + dodging every 20 seconds does not equate to strategy.

Originally Posted by Drithius
And once you've explored everything…?

You are telling me that your Achievement panel is completed (minus the daily/monthly)?

My highest character (level 76) only have 39% map completion. I have being doing PvE only since the beginning with it and spent over 100 hours playing it. I tend to wander around as opposed to find the fastest way to get map completion.

Yeah, it's one of those games where you need to not actually play it as you want to get the most out of it

Originally Posted by azarhal
You are telling me that your Achievement panel is completed (minus the daily/monthly)?

You're equating achievements to exploration? Such as killing 1,000 drakes? I'm sorry, but OCD-inspired game mechanics have never been my thing.

The only thing I wish to revisit is the alternate Priory and Vigil storylines, but I'm too bored with the game to do so right now. Once I've forgotten how dreadfully dull using the same set of skills for levels 1-80 was, I'll make an alt to experience a different story. Perhaps, by then, Arenanet will have finally cracked down on bots, and the people farming the same 2-3 events in Cursed Shore for hours each day will have moved on.

Originally Posted by Drithius
You're equating achievements to exploration? Such as killing 1,000 drakes? I'm sorry, but OCD-inspired game mechanics have
never been my thing.

There are way more than the Slayer line in the achievements tab.

I was more thinking of the Explorer (minus the Legendary), Jumping Puzzles and the Bosses Achievements (new since Oct 22, you might have already killed all those bosses already). These track if you have explored everything in the game or not. Although, you should have points in each if you really explored everything (except maybe PvP and HOM).

But you are probably going to say that Dungeons and Puzzles aren't your think too I guess…

Originally Posted by azarhal
But you are probably going to say that Dungeons and Puzzles aren't your think too I guess…

Mario puzzles aren't my thing, no DDO has far superior mechanics for that… I really miss "The Pit". Now that was a puzzle!

Dungeons, however, I enjoy for the most part. At least the first half dozen times. They often devolve into a chaotic-button mashing mess after a while though - that's just a symptom of the combat style of GW2 as a whole.

I actually preferred the dungeons of GW1 moreso - I think primarily due to the more strategic skillsets required amongst your party members. For me, GW2 suffers from every class being a dps class first and foremost - chaos be damned. It's fun for a while but I'm left wanting more. Considering that I've been waiting for GW2 since first hearing about it in 2007 (even bought the issue of PCGamer with the code for the stupid Asura minipet), it's been a disappointment.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Mario puzzles aren't my thing, no DDO has far superior mechanics for that… I really miss "The Pit". Now that was a puzzle!

You like "The Pit". I did that one once with a friends and we hated it. GW2 have some annoying and some really nice puzzles. Lots of them have really pretty views too.

I love the one in LA: Weyandt’s Revenge. It's just cool with the ghost voice over and not much jumping involved.

Originally Posted by Drithius
For me, GW2 suffers from every class being a dps class first and foremost - chaos be damned.

This I'll have to disagree with this. I have a much easier time when playing with others when nobody is in "full dps" mode and people know what they are doing. It's almost better to have lots of CC/debuff than deal a lot of damage. At least this is my dungeon experience so far.

In the "open world", people seems more interested into zerging easy events. People want easy rewards/gold….and like any other MMOs, people just want to deal damage and aren't interested in CC/debuff much.

As it turns out, they went ahead and added the next tier of gear

Directly in contrast with their design philosophy, after hardly 3 months?

Sad for the fans, I guess.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Sad for the fans, I guess.

Sad? The whole thing is blowing up in Anet's face as we speak.

This new tier isn't going to make them gain new players, it will clearly make them lose players real fast. My friends were all so disgusted that none of them logged in last night, despite it being our guild night.

The worst part is that their only excuse is the time gap between Exotic and Legendary. So they filled it with a stat gap. WTF!

That's kinda what I meant by sad