I know you'll laugh or flame... but really. You know, if you had asked me 6 weeks ago, I would have taken ANY bet, that I would NEVER say that. But I actually miss quests. I mean, you know, those with an NPC standing somewhere with a ? over the head.
I so welcomed the change of GW2 at first. But after played up to level 77, I simply can not take another "event". I just can't! You see, in a quest, there is a real story I read. It has a sort of purpose, and once done it gives me the illusion, I have accomplished something. In games like LOTRO or SWTOR that worked even relatively well, in LOTRO because often the stuff goes on around you in the story-quests and in SWTOR because of the story of course.
But here... sure there is also a sort of "story". But in reality, it is just a one-liner, and bar that is quickly filled or emptied and I mindlessly kill stuff or gather stuff. And moments later the event restarts all over again. I think that is really the worst of it. I know I fought the Centaurs off so many times in Ascalon refugee city (not sure of the English name), and 5 minutes later it all starts over. At least in my quests in other MMOs, I had SOME illusion of a finish, especially I must say in the phased WOW quests. When I freed the Redrige Mountain area after going through that story, it WAS free! I had permanently changed it. THAT was great! I loved that. It was neither a close instance as in LOTRO or SWTOR, but not an always returning 5 minute change as in GW2. To this day I still think, despite some issues, the phasing system of WOW plus normal quests remains the best solution. I am just not returning, because it's too old for me now.
Never thought I'd say that. But at least for me this "everything is an always circling event" simply doesn't catch me. Nothing against the game, just from my experience.
I thought you had already quit? Seems this game has more of a hold on you than you think lol.
In any case the story and the feeling of completion you are looking for is there in the Personal Story. Story is also in all of the DE's, but it requires you to listen and or read and to follow NPC's. It's a bit more involved than reading a couple of ill formed lines in a little dialog box.
In any case, my advise is to move on. This game wasn't designed for you, I know it has a lot of compelling features that keep you coming back but in the end the game simply isn't designed for you. It's designed for the enormous amount of people out there like me that are sick and tired of playing errand boy online. Now I'm not saying the game is perfect, but it is the best step forward I and many others have seen in a great while.
Games like WoW, Rift, Tera, and many others seem to offer what you are looking for. A quick simplistic "story" box that explains why you are running to go get some NPC's dry cleaning and bringing it back. My advice is to go try those.
I can see the day when GW2 vets try out another game and have issues finding things to do because nothing is happening around them.
"I can't level up, there's nothing happening in this game!"
"Did you talk to the quest givers?"
"The what?"
"The guys with the exclamation points over their heads."
"I saw some, but nothing was happening there."
"You have to click on them then accept the quests."
"Then what?"
"Then you go over there and kill boars until you get ten livers."
" o.O "
No, no thank you... there are plenty of games still settling for that level of mundanity for those seeking to regress. I'll stick with the GW2 style of play which I'm enjoying quite well personally.
LOL I can see this too. For all of WAR problems there was one thing Paul Barnett said that really stuck with me.
You can wade through the bears killing them walking up to the quest giver who sees you killing them. Then you talk and he wants you to kill 10 bears. When you are done the ! or ? disappears and the bear racist asks someone else to kill bears. There sometimes is a story like he is a tanner or leatherworker but since he never moves to go work or do anything else one is left with the conclusion he just likes the thought of bears dying. Not sure how immersive, story driving, or a feeling of accomplishment that can give.
In it's core all of those quests are exactly the same. Be that WoW, GW2 or Rift.
GW2 didn't revolutionise anything. Except a ? and ! you have something else. Does that matter? Nope. Quests are same old, same old. Nothing new.
I fee you OP but these boards are infested with butthurt fanbois because their favorite MMO didn't come off as popular as they thought it would. And for some reason, and god knows why, they look down on other games, as if GW2 is a long awaited messiah.
Either they really, really want to believe that, but deep down everyone that has even touched the game at least a little knows thats not entirely true. Few nice things here and there but nothing game changing.
Yeah that or the fanbois are tired of people not liking the game and needing to post about it for validation that their opinion has support and justified. You don't like it great move on play something else. There are dozens if not hundreds of MMOs out there.
Course there are those that bring up swipes and attacks as derailments to good discussion like you did here. No reason for it as you and others didn't really contribute anything other then crying to get your diaper changed.
Not saying the OP here falls in that camp. He made some good points and started actual discussion.
You are not alone, I was fortunate enough to see this from Beta... I have one of them "see into the future" kind of minds when I analyze things like this.
I thought you had already quit? Seems this game has more of a hold on you than you think lol.
In any case the story and the feeling of completion you are looking for is there in the Personal Story. Story is also in all of the DE's, but it requires you to listen and or read and to follow NPC's. It's a bit more involved than reading a couple of ill formed lines in a little dialog box.
In any case, my advise is to move on. This game wasn't designed for you, I know it has a lot of compelling features that keep you coming back but in the end the game simply isn't designed for you. It's designed for the enormous amount of people out there like me that are sick and tired of playing errand boy online. Now I'm not saying the game is perfect, but it is the best step forward I and many others have seen in a great while.
Games like WoW, Rift, Tera, and many others seem to offer what you are looking for. A quick simplistic "story" box that explains why you are running to go get some NPC's dry cleaning and bringing it back. My advice is to go try those.
You can make an argument without being so ... fanboy about it you know.
If we want to deconstruct everything and be total cynics about everything, then one can argue that you replaced the "errand boy online" with the "grocery checklist online" variant. It is different, certainly. Better though? That depends on individual taste and yours is not superior, despite what you're trying to imply with the above masqued insults.
In it's core all of those quests are exactly the same. Be that WoW, GW2 or Rift.
GW2 didn't revolutionise anything. Except a ? and ! you have something else. Does that matter? Nope. Quests are same old, same old. Nothing new.
I fee you OP but these boards are infested with butthurt fanbois because their favorite MMO didn't come off as popular as they thought it would. And for some reason, and god knows why, they look down on other games, as if GW2 is a long awaited messiah.
Either they really, really want to believe that, but deep down everyone that has even touched the game at least a little knows thats not entirely true. Few nice things here and there but nothing game changing.
Wrong. It has come out exactly as they wanted it to. It's the folks that didn't like it that are hurt because it isn't failing. The game is full of players and Amazon is still selling it in full force.
I'm playing 3 mmorpgs right now because I have the time. Of the 3 (MoP, Vanguard the other two) GW2 is by far superior imho.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
You are not alone, I was fortunate enough to see this from Beta... I have one of them "see into the future" kind of minds when I analyze things like this.
If by a "see into the future kind of mind" you mean you can form an opinion when presented with a stimulus like the rest of the 8 billion people on this planet then yes you do.
Please tell us of your power to travel forward through time by a process you call "aging".
Anyone Who's ever done Anarchy Online quests might remember how quests can really feel. One of the most epic quest arks ever done in an MMO was the Adonis Ark. It's a single ark that you do only one quest at a time. They aren't easy, they take hours and the rewards become increasingly substantial as you progress to the end of the ark.
They call everything quests these days. Every single menial task is labelled a quest for some reason, when the only real quests are the story quests or some other big arcs.
In it's core all of those quests are exactly the same. Be that WoW, GW2 or Rift.
GW2 didn't revolutionise anything. Except a ? and ! you have something else. Does that matter? Nope. Quests are same old, same old. Nothing new.
you can simplify it down to that but would be ignoring:
- no quest log to maintain
having to delete outdated quests you outleveled or had no room for in Questlog
- no npc to "play fetch" to
no redundant traveling back to npc to get experience for a quest you already finished
Managing a quest log. I sure don't miss that here in GW2.
Hitting your quest maximum "nope cant help this dying guard fight off the orcs I have a task to go pick potatos for a farmer on the other side of the continent".
Or the lower level quests "Oh yeah that family a month ago was wanting help finding their missing daughter... well forget it I have this letter to deliver as I prove to the world that I am a hero."
I thought you had already quit? Seems this game has more of a hold on you than you think lol.
In any case the story and the feeling of completion you are looking for is there in the Personal Story. Story is also in all of the DE's, but it requires you to listen and or read and to follow NPC's. It's a bit more involved than reading a couple of ill formed lines in a little dialog box.
In any case, my advise is to move on. This game wasn't designed for you, I know it has a lot of compelling features that keep you coming back but in the end the game simply isn't designed for you. It's designed for the enormous amount of people out there like me that are sick and tired of playing errand boy online. Now I'm not saying the game is perfect, but it is the best step forward I and many others have seen in a great while.
Games like WoW, Rift, Tera, and many others seem to offer what you are looking for. A quick simplistic "story" box that explains why you are running to go get some NPC's dry cleaning and bringing it back. My advice is to go try those.
You can make an argument without being so ... fanboy about it you know.
If we want to deconstruct everything and be total cynics about everything, then one can argue that you replaced the "errand boy online" with the "grocery checklist online" variant. It is different, certainly. Better though? That depends on individual taste and yours is not superior, despite what you're trying to imply with the above masqued insults.
Nah, they aren't masked insults. You are reading a bit to much into what I wrote. I have expressed long before GW2 that most MMO's make me feel like I'm an errand boy. You go see some NPC, he asks you to go kill some rats or go deliver some other NPC a message. Quests in MMO's has always left me feeling like I'm simply running errands for these NPC's. I'm not a Hero, I'm not an adventurer, I'm some NPC's "Do Boy" lol.
And no, I wouldn't call GW2's system a grocery checklist online. I call it an adventure and something that makes me feel like an adventurer. I'm out mining, some NPC runs up to me and asks for help. Someones been kidnapped or w/e. So I drop what I'm doing, agree to help and I'm off. After freeing the person I'm done. No need to return to anyone. It was an instant adventure. Then I could be out trying to collect pets on my ranger, a good example is my shark. I'm out in the lake grabbing this pet when all of a sudden an event starts. This massive shark comes at me while I'm trying to sramble away. I'm not passing up the opportunity to kill this thing so I call in some guildies and we go to town on another instant adventure.
To me, and this is only in my opinion but typical MMO questing has always felt like I was playing Errand boy online, I would have rather simply grind out the levels by killing mobs. In GW2 I get a sense of adventure.
It feels more like the table top D&D games I played back in the day.
It's a classic storytelling questing, with voice over and cinematics.
2)
Renown hearts - they are one time only too, they are not just "one-liners" in the cornber of your screen. They do have their story, but you will have to speak with the 'heart' NPC so you can know more about the problem he needs to be fixed. You can also speak to Scouts, to know more about the area and what's happening in those renown hearts.
These are actually classic quests with a twist. They give you choice of multiple objectives to finish a singe renown heart quest. You can either kill stuff, collect stuff, repair stuff, feed stuff or everything mixed. It's up to you.
3)
Events are repeatable quests, that often don't require user input to start it, they mostly go on without you, thus making them feel more alive. Of course after many repeats they lose their freshness, become stale, but nevertheless, I find this system better then other mmo questing.
And I strongly disagree they are just mindless quests, I won't explain you in words, video is much better:
Renown hearts - they are one time only too, they are not just "one-liners" in the cornber of your screen. They do have their story, but you will have to speak with the 'heart' NPC so you can know more about the problem he needs to be fixed. You can also speak to Scouts, to know more about the area and what's happening in those renown hearts.
One complaint I have with the heart system is sometimes I will fill the meter before I get to the heart NPC and I miss out on knowing whats going on in the zone.
Ill never play another quest hopper game in my life, write it down. In fact, if rift was developed with just events (rifts) and no quest hubs I'd probably still play it.
Different opinion for sure but I realize now how much I hate that style of play. Never again
I'm really on the fence right now, being completely honest.
The combat, world, sense of "immersion," and graphical awesomeness of GW2 still astounds me. Their attention to detail, systems like crafting and gathering and lots of other things still WOW me.
Yet at the same time, I find myself missing the gear treadmill in a sick, sick way.
I realize I enjoy progression in PvP, be it in a shooter like CoD where you unlock new perks and weapons and equipment or in a MMO where you gain power through gear.
I haven't done much PvP in GW2 yet - mostly saving it for "end-game" once I hit 80 - but will cosmetic rewards and ranks/titles be enough to keep me motivated to "play one more match" I don't know?!
On the PvE side - I really like role based combat... because I'm always a healer or tank. I've been a tank or healer in WoW (on and off) for 8 years. It's definitely a change for me in GW2. I'm level 57 and I've only done one dungeon, and I admit it was kind of a blur... maybe because I was mostly being carried by experienced lvl 80's or because I had had a few to drink...
I don't know. I still feel GW2 is an amazing game, because it honestly is - but breaking 8+ years of habbits learned in WoW is hard to do.
It's hard to even remember what playing SWG or E&B or UO was like...
I had really high hopes for events, but up until now (again level 57) it seems like I am mostly just OCD completing zones, doing Hearts and skill challenges and PoI's over and over and over with Events only randomly filling time/space in between.
Heart "grind" especially is kind of getting to me...
I don't know - often times I just feel like the MMO genre is no longer for me. All the magic is gone - no matter how good a game is, be it GW2 or TOR or RIFT or whatever the hell it is - I just can't seem to stay motivated/excited to play anything more than 4-6 weeks.
I'm glad I'll always have GW2 to play thanks to no monthly fee, and I'm sure I'll be playing off/on for years - but I think no matter what game it is, my days of hardcore MMO play are over.
I've been tempted to go back to the "Dark Side" and play WoW for a month or so - but it makes me feel dirty to think about... not sure I could deal with the combat after playing GW2 - but at the same time I miss the dungeon runs - no one does it better than them.
(and no, this is not a flame, I intend to play through it too in the next months)
Best of both worlds... since GW2 has no sub fee.
OT; I'm in there already! I created a Pandaren Brewmaster Monk and just hit level 73. The game is still fun, but I'm struggling through Northrend right now. I stay motivated by doing Eye of the Storm and Alterac Valley. Brewmaster is a steelball when it comes to PvP, very hard to bring down.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
There is nothing new with the HEART system, it's same old quest hubs. You just don't have to go to the hub to start the quests, but you have to return there to see the karma rewards anyway.
So it's like instead of 3-4 npcs to give quests, you just have one. And since you are too lazy to find the hub with exploration, you just enter an area, read the heart entry at the top right of the screen (hmmm, seems like quest tracker), do your thing (i.e. all quests together) and then deliver to the same NPC, who you can easily find on the map, without exploring.
Excuse me, but this is just same quest system without having to go to the hub first. Yes, even better insta-gratification would be if you just got the karma rewards on a dialog box, just avoid the heart NPC alltogether.
It amazes me how this "intellectual" mmorpg crowd can be so blinded with fanboyism that some choose to accept this as "innovation" : (
YES, I play GW2, bought it on launch day because I really like ArenaNet and GW1 and how there are (hmm, probably "were", cause the cash shop is not turning out to be what i expected and will probably ruin part of the game) releasing games = voting with wallet.
BUT, let's not get carried over. It is a great game, well worth the B2P price and casual friendly (at least for now, while there are many low-lvl players still running around.
P.S. the worst thing about GW2 so far, in my opinion, is that it does not "promote" socialization. Yes you do things with other people, but you never feel like you need to talk to them etc. Have done great many things with others, but never really socialized or sensed that i wanted to find these people again and play with them.
For me, that would be the important thing that GW2, and any other new mmo, should bring back.
I'm really on the fence right now, being completely honest.
The combat, world, sense of "immersion," and graphical awesomeness of GW2 still astounds me. Their attention to detail, systems like crafting and gathering and lots of other things still WOW me.
Yet at the same time, I find myself missing the gear treadmill in a sick, sick way.
I realize I enjoy progression in PvP, be it in a shooter like CoD where you unlock new perks and weapons and equipment or in a MMO where you gain power through gear.
I haven't done much PvP in GW2 yet - mostly saving it for "end-game" once I hit 80 - but will cosmetic rewards and ranks/titles be enough to keep me motivated to "play one more match" I don't know?!
On the PvE side - I really like role based combat... because I'm always a healer or tank. I've been a tank or healer in WoW (on and off) for 8 years. It's definitely a change for me in GW2. I'm level 57 and I've only done one dungeon, and I admit it was kind of a blur... maybe because I was mostly being carried by experienced lvl 80's or because I had had a few to drink...
I don't know. I still feel GW2 is an amazing game, because it honestly is - but breaking 8+ years of habbits learned in WoW is hard to do.
It's hard to even remember what playing SWG or E&B or UO was like...
I had really high hopes for events, but up until now (again level 57) it seems like I am mostly just OCD completing zones, doing Hearts and skill challenges and PoI's over and over and over with Events only randomly filling time/space in between.
Heart "grind" especially is kind of getting to me...
I don't know - often times I just feel like the MMO genre is no longer for me. All the magic is gone - no matter how good a game is, be it GW2 or TOR or RIFT or whatever the hell it is - I just can't seem to stay motivated/excited to play anything more than 4-6 weeks.
I'm glad I'll always have GW2 to play thanks to no monthly fee, and I'm sure I'll be playing off/on for years - but I think no matter what game it is, my days of hardcore MMO play are over.
I've been tempted to go back to the "Dark Side" and play WoW for a month or so - but it makes me feel dirty to think about... not sure I could deal with the combat after playing GW2 - but at the same time I miss the dungeon runs - no one does it better than them.
I know you guys probably work or have school, something other than being able to play all the time, but you should play more than one game. It really makes a difference in breaking up monotony. You can get your quest hub fix and then go back to DEs!
For the "magic" you lost, play some EQ2 or Vanguard now and again. They are classic in their own ways and you can get your dose, then go back to the new "themepark" games. /shrug
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
There is nothing new with the HEART system, it's same old quest hubs. You just don't have to go to the hub to start the quests, but you have to return there to see the karma rewards anyway.
So it's like instead of 3-4 npcs to give quests, you just have one. And since you are too lazy to find the hub with exploration, you just enter an area, read the heart entry at the top right of the screen (hmmm, seems like quest tracker), do your thing (i.e. all quests together) and then deliver to the same NPC, who you can easily find on the map, without exploring.
Excuse me, but this is just same quest system without having to go to the hub first. Yes, even better insta-gratification would be if you just got the karma rewards on a dialog box, just avoid the heart NPC alltogether.
It amazes me how this "intellectual" mmorpg crowd can be so blinded with fanboyism that some choose to accept this as "innovation" : (
YES, I play GW2, bought it on launch day because I really like ArenaNet and GW1 and how there are (hmm, probably "were", cause the cash shop is not turning out to be what i expected and will probably ruin part of the game) releasing games = voting with wallet.
BUT, let's not get carried over. It is a great game, well worth the B2P price and casual friendly (at least for now, while there are many low-lvl players still running around.
P.S. the worst thing about GW2 so far, in my opinion, is that it does not "promote" socialization. Yes you do things with other people, but you never feel like you need to talk to them etc. Have done great many things with others, but never really socialized or sensed that i wanted to find these people again and play with them.
For me, that would be the important thing that GW2, and any other new mmo, should bring back.
What games do this without the same effort you need to apply in GW2? Once again, it is your resposibility to form a group if you need one, or just want company.
I hit level 73 in MoP and haven't had to have one person help me, or even group in completing common quests. Even the Epic mobs in WoW now are easily taken down alone. Rift is the same way, you can do most of the content without anyone else helping.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Yet at the same time, I find myself missing the gear treadmill in a sick, sick way.
Do you really miss being canon fodder being facerolled by people with 5000 resilience until you ground honor for weeks if not months? And having to repeat it for every character you want to PvP with too?
I don't miss that. I will definitely play through Pandaria, leveling a couple of characters to 90 (my DK and my Druid), but I will never get back into the gear grind, be it PvP or PvE.
Respect, walk, what did you say? Respect, walk Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me? - PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
I know you'll laugh or flame... but really. You know, if you had asked me 6 weeks ago, I would have taken ANY bet, that I would NEVER say that. But I actually miss quests. I mean, you know, those with an NPC standing somewhere with a ? over the head.
I so welcomed the change of GW2 at first. But after played up to level 77, I simply can not take another "event". I just can't! You see, in a quest, there is a real story I read. It has a sort of purpose, and once done it gives me the illusion, I have accomplished something. In games like LOTRO or SWTOR that worked even relatively well, in LOTRO because often the stuff goes on around you in the story-quests and in SWTOR because of the story of course.
But here... sure there is also a sort of "story". But in reality, it is just a one-liner, and bar that is quickly filled or emptied and I mindlessly kill stuff or gather stuff. And moments later the event restarts all over again. I think that is really the worst of it. I know I fought the Centaurs off so many times in Ascalon refugee city (not sure of the English name), and 5 minutes later it all starts over. At least in my quests in other MMOs, I had SOME illusion of a finish, especially I must say in the phased WOW quests. When I freed the Redrige Mountain area after going through that story, it WAS free! I had permanently changed it. THAT was great! I loved that. It was neither a close instance as in LOTRO or SWTOR, but not an always returning 5 minute change as in GW2. To this day I still think, despite some issues, the phasing system of WOW plus normal quests remains the best solution. I am just not returning, because it's too old for me now.
Never thought I'd say that. But at least for me this "everything is an always circling event" simply doesn't catch me. Nothing against the game, just from my experience.
Fifth sign of the apocolypse: I agree with (and understand!) Elikal. Only difference: it didnt' take me 77 levels to get to this point.
But you know what, Elikal? We're obviously playing it wrong.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Comments
I thought you had already quit? Seems this game has more of a hold on you than you think lol.
In any case the story and the feeling of completion you are looking for is there in the Personal Story. Story is also in all of the DE's, but it requires you to listen and or read and to follow NPC's. It's a bit more involved than reading a couple of ill formed lines in a little dialog box.
In any case, my advise is to move on. This game wasn't designed for you, I know it has a lot of compelling features that keep you coming back but in the end the game simply isn't designed for you. It's designed for the enormous amount of people out there like me that are sick and tired of playing errand boy online. Now I'm not saying the game is perfect, but it is the best step forward I and many others have seen in a great while.
Games like WoW, Rift, Tera, and many others seem to offer what you are looking for. A quick simplistic "story" box that explains why you are running to go get some NPC's dry cleaning and bringing it back. My advice is to go try those.
LOL I can see this too. For all of WAR problems there was one thing Paul Barnett said that really stuck with me.
You can wade through the bears killing them walking up to the quest giver who sees you killing them. Then you talk and he wants you to kill 10 bears. When you are done the ! or ? disappears and the bear racist asks someone else to kill bears. There sometimes is a story like he is a tanner or leatherworker but since he never moves to go work or do anything else one is left with the conclusion he just likes the thought of bears dying. Not sure how immersive, story driving, or a feeling of accomplishment that can give.
Yeah that or the fanbois are tired of people not liking the game and needing to post about it for validation that their opinion has support and justified. You don't like it great move on play something else. There are dozens if not hundreds of MMOs out there.
Course there are those that bring up swipes and attacks as derailments to good discussion like you did here. No reason for it as you and others didn't really contribute anything other then crying to get your diaper changed.
Not saying the OP here falls in that camp. He made some good points and started actual discussion.
Yeah it's called bias.
You can make an argument without being so ... fanboy about it you know.
If we want to deconstruct everything and be total cynics about everything, then one can argue that you replaced the "errand boy online" with the "grocery checklist online" variant. It is different, certainly. Better though? That depends on individual taste and yours is not superior, despite what you're trying to imply with the above masqued insults.
Wrong. It has come out exactly as they wanted it to. It's the folks that didn't like it that are hurt because it isn't failing. The game is full of players and Amazon is still selling it in full force.
I'm playing 3 mmorpgs right now because I have the time. Of the 3 (MoP, Vanguard the other two) GW2 is by far superior imho.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
If by a "see into the future kind of mind" you mean you can form an opinion when presented with a stimulus like the rest of the 8 billion people on this planet then yes you do.
Please tell us of your power to travel forward through time by a process you call "aging".
you can simplify it down to that but would be ignoring:
- no quest log to maintain
having to delete outdated quests you outleveled or had no room for in Questlog
- no npc to "play fetch" to
no redundant traveling back to npc to get experience for a quest you already finished
EQ2 fan sites
Managing a quest log. I sure don't miss that here in GW2.
Hitting your quest maximum "nope cant help this dying guard fight off the orcs I have a task to go pick potatos for a farmer on the other side of the continent".
Or the lower level quests "Oh yeah that family a month ago was wanting help finding their missing daughter... well forget it I have this letter to deliver as I prove to the world that I am a hero."
yeah really immersive and engaging there.
Nah, they aren't masked insults. You are reading a bit to much into what I wrote. I have expressed long before GW2 that most MMO's make me feel like I'm an errand boy. You go see some NPC, he asks you to go kill some rats or go deliver some other NPC a message. Quests in MMO's has always left me feeling like I'm simply running errands for these NPC's. I'm not a Hero, I'm not an adventurer, I'm some NPC's "Do Boy" lol.
And no, I wouldn't call GW2's system a grocery checklist online. I call it an adventure and something that makes me feel like an adventurer. I'm out mining, some NPC runs up to me and asks for help. Someones been kidnapped or w/e. So I drop what I'm doing, agree to help and I'm off. After freeing the person I'm done. No need to return to anyone. It was an instant adventure. Then I could be out trying to collect pets on my ranger, a good example is my shark. I'm out in the lake grabbing this pet when all of a sudden an event starts. This massive shark comes at me while I'm trying to sramble away. I'm not passing up the opportunity to kill this thing so I call in some guildies and we go to town on another instant adventure.
To me, and this is only in my opinion but typical MMO questing has always felt like I was playing Errand boy online, I would have rather simply grind out the levels by killing mobs. In GW2 I get a sense of adventure.
It feels more like the table top D&D games I played back in the day.
Actually, you have quests.
1)
First personal story, one time only, not repeatable (unless oyu make an alt), non-linear:
http://gw.zweistein.cz/gw2storyline.pdf
It's a classic storytelling questing, with voice over and cinematics.
2)
Renown hearts - they are one time only too, they are not just "one-liners" in the cornber of your screen. They do have their story, but you will have to speak with the 'heart' NPC so you can know more about the problem he needs to be fixed. You can also speak to Scouts, to know more about the area and what's happening in those renown hearts.
These are actually classic quests with a twist. They give you choice of multiple objectives to finish a singe renown heart quest. You can either kill stuff, collect stuff, repair stuff, feed stuff or everything mixed. It's up to you.
3)
Events are repeatable quests, that often don't require user input to start it, they mostly go on without you, thus making them feel more alive. Of course after many repeats they lose their freshness, become stale, but nevertheless, I find this system better then other mmo questing.
And I strongly disagree they are just mindless quests, I won't explain you in words, video is much better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTF9T4oQ480&feature=plcp
Guild Wars 2 Youtube Croatian Maniacs
My Guild Wars titles
One complaint I have with the heart system is sometimes I will fill the meter before I get to the heart NPC and I miss out on knowing whats going on in the zone.
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/mists/index.html
Don't thank me - you're welcome
(and no, this is not a flame, I intend to play through it too in the next months)
Best of both worlds... since GW2 has no sub fee.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Different opinion for sure but I realize now how much I hate that style of play. Never again
Excellent post Elikal.
I'm really on the fence right now, being completely honest.
The combat, world, sense of "immersion," and graphical awesomeness of GW2 still astounds me. Their attention to detail, systems like crafting and gathering and lots of other things still WOW me.
Yet at the same time, I find myself missing the gear treadmill in a sick, sick way.
I realize I enjoy progression in PvP, be it in a shooter like CoD where you unlock new perks and weapons and equipment or in a MMO where you gain power through gear.
I haven't done much PvP in GW2 yet - mostly saving it for "end-game" once I hit 80 - but will cosmetic rewards and ranks/titles be enough to keep me motivated to "play one more match" I don't know?!
On the PvE side - I really like role based combat... because I'm always a healer or tank. I've been a tank or healer in WoW (on and off) for 8 years. It's definitely a change for me in GW2. I'm level 57 and I've only done one dungeon, and I admit it was kind of a blur... maybe because I was mostly being carried by experienced lvl 80's or because I had had a few to drink...
I don't know. I still feel GW2 is an amazing game, because it honestly is - but breaking 8+ years of habbits learned in WoW is hard to do.
It's hard to even remember what playing SWG or E&B or UO was like...
I had really high hopes for events, but up until now (again level 57) it seems like I am mostly just OCD completing zones, doing Hearts and skill challenges and PoI's over and over and over with Events only randomly filling time/space in between.
Heart "grind" especially is kind of getting to me...
I don't know - often times I just feel like the MMO genre is no longer for me. All the magic is gone - no matter how good a game is, be it GW2 or TOR or RIFT or whatever the hell it is - I just can't seem to stay motivated/excited to play anything more than 4-6 weeks.
I'm glad I'll always have GW2 to play thanks to no monthly fee, and I'm sure I'll be playing off/on for years - but I think no matter what game it is, my days of hardcore MMO play are over.
I've been tempted to go back to the "Dark Side" and play WoW for a month or so - but it makes me feel dirty to think about... not sure I could deal with the combat after playing GW2 - but at the same time I miss the dungeon runs - no one does it better than them.
OT; I'm in there already! I created a Pandaren Brewmaster Monk and just hit level 73. The game is still fun, but I'm struggling through Northrend right now. I stay motivated by doing Eye of the Storm and Alterac Valley. Brewmaster is a steelball when it comes to PvP, very hard to bring down.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
But there are quests in GW2;) just very cleverly masked by Anet.
However, i play EQ2 too evey now and then which helps getting over the itch of traditional questing.
I will say this once (and not trolling) :
There is nothing new with the HEART system, it's same old quest hubs. You just don't have to go to the hub to start the quests, but you have to return there to see the karma rewards anyway.
So it's like instead of 3-4 npcs to give quests, you just have one. And since you are too lazy to find the hub with exploration, you just enter an area, read the heart entry at the top right of the screen (hmmm, seems like quest tracker), do your thing (i.e. all quests together) and then deliver to the same NPC, who you can easily find on the map, without exploring.
Excuse me, but this is just same quest system without having to go to the hub first. Yes, even better insta-gratification would be if you just got the karma rewards on a dialog box, just avoid the heart NPC alltogether.
It amazes me how this "intellectual" mmorpg crowd can be so blinded with fanboyism that some choose to accept this as "innovation" : (
YES, I play GW2, bought it on launch day because I really like ArenaNet and GW1 and how there are (hmm, probably "were", cause the cash shop is not turning out to be what i expected and will probably ruin part of the game) releasing games = voting with wallet.
BUT, let's not get carried over. It is a great game, well worth the B2P price and casual friendly (at least for now, while there are many low-lvl players still running around.
P.S. the worst thing about GW2 so far, in my opinion, is that it does not "promote" socialization. Yes you do things with other people, but you never feel like you need to talk to them etc. Have done great many things with others, but never really socialized or sensed that i wanted to find these people again and play with them.
For me, that would be the important thing that GW2, and any other new mmo, should bring back.
I know you guys probably work or have school, something other than being able to play all the time, but you should play more than one game. It really makes a difference in breaking up monotony. You can get your quest hub fix and then go back to DEs!
For the "magic" you lost, play some EQ2 or Vanguard now and again. They are classic in their own ways and you can get your dose, then go back to the new "themepark" games. /shrug
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
What games do this without the same effort you need to apply in GW2? Once again, it is your resposibility to form a group if you need one, or just want company.
I hit level 73 in MoP and haven't had to have one person help me, or even group in completing common quests. Even the Epic mobs in WoW now are easily taken down alone. Rift is the same way, you can do most of the content without anyone else helping.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Do you really miss being canon fodder being facerolled by people with 5000 resilience until you ground honor for weeks if not months? And having to repeat it for every character you want to PvP with too?
I don't miss that. I will definitely play through Pandaria, leveling a couple of characters to 90 (my DK and my Druid), but I will never get back into the gear grind, be it PvP or PvE.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Good point, but as you yourself mention for MoP, why did you not seek the company of others?
It seems that there are game mechanics, like DEs, that can help with that. For example, finding good healers/tanks that you want to play again with.
When you have open tapping and buffs that affect people not in your group, you do not need to invite.
That's the problem. Everyone is playing solo DPS/cc mix.
I don't condemn it, just saying that this is the experience i get from the game (also, many others have the same feeling)
Fifth sign of the apocolypse: I agree with (and understand!) Elikal. Only difference: it didnt' take me 77 levels to get to this point.
But you know what, Elikal? We're obviously playing it wrong.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil