I think GW2 changed the way I look at MMOs

Scalpless

I've been playing GW2 as my main MMO for the last couple of months. Today, one of the topics here made me try AoC again. It's  a fun game and I still haven't even done Tortage, so why not? So, I logged in and had some fun running around the town and headed to wilderness.

After I got there, I decided to explore a bit. I came across an abandoned house with some mobs in it, kind of a mini dungeon. Sounded like fun! There was another player present, too, so I decided to help her (this is when I started to realize everyone in AoC is a naked female, but that's for another topic). We went into the house, killed some mobs and a boss. When the boss dropped dead, I noticed I didn't get anything, just because we weren't in a party. I was so used to GW2's auto-partying mechanic that I thought we'd share the loot, but of course I was wrong and the other player probably though I'm a dick who tried to KS her boss.

Alright, that's no big deal, I guess. I continued wandering around and... got bored. There was nothing going on on this island. In GW2, the world is alive(ish). Settlements get attacked, guards go on patrol, little girls run up to you and ask you to save them, etc. Some would say it''s just a bunch of "centaurs are attacking X" events and they would be partially right, but it's still something. In most other MMOs, mobs just walk round in circles doing nothing. Now, it bothers me. Why don't these supposedly scary barbarian tribes attack? Why is the world separated into quest giver zones and mob-killing zones?

So, nothing happens and guess what? I don't get a reward for running around the place and finding stuff. If I want to progress, I have to go back to town, talk to a bunch of "!" guys and come back. If I kill 100 tribals before talking to a "!" guy, no one cares. It feels very artificial. Alright, time to collect quests.

I go back to town and a guard tells me to kill 8 tentacle monster plants. Yay, I'll do that. I run to where the monsters are, kill four or so and notice there aren't any left. The other players have killed them and I have to wait for a respawn. I actually stood there for a couple of seconds and wondered what's going on. We killed all of them, so didn't we complete the quest? Nope, there's no "we" in traditional MMO questing. There's you and those other guys who steal your kills. It's an artificial barrier between you and the other players that just doesn't feel right. Why can't we kill those monsters together? Why do we need to be in a party? Can't we be pals without partying up?

The traditional questing system feels really awkward now. There's a disconnect between what happens on-screen and what happens according to NPCs. I didn't bother me as much before, but now that I've tried an alternate and, in my opinion, better system, going back is a bit unpleasant. Do you feel the same?

waterwizard

No, I mainly just feel like playing WAR where there are real events and you know who you are fighting.

grimal

I do like the feel of the world.  But it's a give and take here.

While the world feels "alive" like you describe it, I feel rather disconnected from my personal character.  I didn't mind it so much earlier on, but this disconnect became more profound the further I moved through the world.  As such, it became more monotonous as I ventured on.

I think ANET would have made a much better game if they didn't have so much disdain for the leveling experience.

Nacario

Yes gw2 do offer more on the different maps. On the other hand gw2 is very instanced based with too many portals around between the zones. I'd rather take a big noninstanced world and create my own content.

Scalpless

Originally posted by grimal

I do like the feel of the world.  But it's a give and take here.

While the world feels "alive" like you describe it, I feel rather disconnected from my personal character.  I didn't mind it so much earlier on, but this disconnect became more profound the further I moved through the world.  As such, it became more monotonous as I ventured on.

I think ANET would have made a much better game if they didn't have so much disdain for the leveling experience.

Do you mean that you need more promounced stat progression or something else? I do think GW2's leveling experience is a bit dull now for levels 1-30, because they nerfed the content too hard. Lvl 5 mobs three hit killed you in the first beta weekend, but now they barely hurt you, making the game seem easier and more simple than it is. I don't know how that would make you feel disconnected from your character, though.

Originally posted by ayronamic
Yes gw2 do offer more on the different maps. On the other hand gw2 is very instanced based with too many portals around between the zones. I'd rather take a big noninstanced world and create my own content.

The problems I described don't show up in pure sandboxes and aren't as pronouced in hybrids. I'm talking about modern themeparks like WoW, TSW, TERA, AoC, Rift, etc. Of course, GW2 can't really change anything about the sandbox genre without being a sandbox.