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8 months in...still new player friendly?
BACONX
Member UncommonPosts: 253
in Guild Wars 2
I'm have been thinking about playing this game and I wonder if it is not too late for a new player to enjoy this- given the amount of time it has been out and the assumed "high-level crowd dominance?
Comments
I would say that GW2 is probably one the better games in terms of being easy for new players to jump into even after many have hit level cap.
A lot of people are still rolling alts which is keeping the lower level zones quite active, not to mention the fact that level capped players are often hitting the lower level zones as part of the living story or to do zone events.
If you enjoy PvP, you can jump right into it on day one as it will automatically put you at level 80. SPVP will even give you all skills and traits for your class so you can be viable right away.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
I actually bring my lvl 80 character to lower zones occassionally. You get scaled downed so you can still enjoy after you have outleveled the area. I think this is terrific. One of the aspects among many that I love about this game. As for the server battles, I started my mesmer at lvl 12 and now he is lvl 80 (max) from spending most of the time in World v World. This game is easy on new players. You will also find one of the best communities in any MMO I believe.
Zones like Queensdale (human 1-15 zone) is typically well populated, depending on server of course. With downleveling, and daily achievements, lower level zones tend to be decently populated. You can pretty much count on help for events like Champion Troll, Champion Boar, Champion Wasp, plus things like the Shadow Behemoth. You will see a good mix of folks of many levels as well.
If you're wanting a more "solo" experience, you can always head off to the lesser popular areas and have events to yourself as well. The wife and I can always find nice out of the way events for us to duo when we just want some "us" time.
Structured PvP has to level requirements, you simply just go to Heart of the Mists and you will be level 80 with access to spvp gear. It's up to you to find a build and learn to play.
WvW you will find yourself upleveled to 80, but lack of unlocked skills and traits will put you at a disadvantage vs. level 80s. I tend to level my characters in WvW. I'll hop in there around level 20 or so, after I have all of my utility skill slots unlocked with exception to the elite skill slot. Move with the zerg and find the xps flow as you take camps, towers, keeps, kill pack dolyaks, players, sentries, etc.
In all aspects of world play, pve or wvw, you will earn loot and find various crafting materials. You also have various avenues to obtaining gear. Karma vendors, WvW exotics via badges and some coin, crafting, running dungeons, doing fractals, you also earn laurels for completing daily achievements which can be used to purchase ascended jewelery. Additionally, if you're in a guild you can earn guild commendations doing guild events and you can purchase gear with that as well. You're basically limited to patience, and coin.
Honestly, the way GW2 is set up, it's easily one of the most newbie friendly mmos out there. The community as a whole seems to be pretty noob friendly in game as well.
FWIW the lower level zones I've been to on my server (Jade Quarry) aren't exactly crowded, but you do see plenty of other players around. There tends to be a heavy focus on events, that's about the only chat I ever see (even guild chat tends to be pretty quiet compared to what I'm used to from other games), which can be a bit confusing at first until you know what and where they are. If anyone is running anything but endgame-level dungeons, I've seen no evidence of it, but frankly that's an issue in any game that's been out long and doesn't have a functional LFG in-game. The dailies can occasionally be annoying (or, more annoying than dailies typically are) because they sometimes are for zones/mobs/whatever you don't have access to, but that really doesn't matter much for leveling and usually there are enough options that you can get the five you need anyway. The AH seems to me to be a bit of a mess, in the sense that it's heavily gamed. IMHO best avoided for low levels who (assuming you don't buy gems and sell for gold) have very limited money, but, again, that doesn't much matter.
Overall it's about what you'd expect after the initial rush has long passed. Better than some games -- Rift, for instance, where your chances of finding enough people to do leveling rifts/invasions with post-initial rush was near nil -- but in general most games have a fairly newbie-friendly leveling experience, typically with the same sorts of minor issues you see in GW2.
The high-level crowd problem isn't that big in GW2, because they're downscaled to your level when you play PvE together, you're upscaled to their level when you play WvW together, everyone is max level when you play sPvP together, leveling doesn't take long and the game is general isn't grind-heavy.
I'd say that, after launch, everyone rushed to lvl 80 and went to Orr, but now people are distributed more evenly, so midlevel areas are much more populated than they used to be.
Thanks for the response. I might just grab it today after work based on this positive news. Is crafting interesting?
Depends on what you mean by interesting. Mechanically, I find execting the crafting in this game to be a lot of fun. You aren't just handed recipes of things to make and then asked to put the propper ingredients together to make it. You have to discover how to craft components by trial and error by mixing in bunches of different base materials. You then use those components you craft with other materials to craft things you can actually use (gear, potions, food.) I found it fun to learn early on. There's a clear method and pattern to everything that you'll pick up on after a short while. Of course, there are always guides you can consult too.
As far as practicality goes, crafting can keep you up to tabs on the best gear throughout your leveling experience as well as provide you with the best possible level 80 gear. I level two professions with every character I level. Crafting also awards EXP, which is great if you ever feel like you're leveling has stalled out at some point. Taking one craft from level 1-400 (cap) will give you a full 10 character levels. Leveling 2 crafts while leveling your character effectively reduces the level cap to 60 for you.
If you're smart about buying materials, you can usually level a profession completely for free, or at very little cost. I haven't had to level one in a while, so this may have changed somewhat. There is this crafting guide too, which automatically updates based on the shifting prices of materials on the trading post. It calculates expected cost following its particular route.
As far as making an economic profit goes, it can be done, but it can be tedious and inneficient. It's not a prominent way to earn money.
I never found the crafting to be very interesting, but I have never found crafting to be interesting. I guess I've always just wanted so much more from that end of things.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Anet is on record to say the tutorial needs 'vast improvements'
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Ten years ago, an 8th month long game would still be new and fresh for most players. Today's players (younger generation) tend to really max-out real fast thus creating voids in population. Based on what I'm hearing GW2 tries to remedy this with scaling levels so It is all good. I like healthy populations in MMOs, wasn't sure if GW2 was like Rift- a good game that faded in pop. really fast.
Proof? Don't blame everything on the younger generation. Plenty of vets are hopping from game to game too.
It is pretty easy game to figure out. I think they realize that skill synergy, traits, etc could have been explained better but the game is pretty easy to figure out, if you played GW1.
Yeah, I would suspect just the opposite, that it IS the vets who have *been there, done that* with most MMOs who find it difficult to get absorbed by new MMOs nowadays. I'd imagine a 17 year old who plays an MMO for the first time today would be as captivated as any older player was a decade ago, and they'd be more inclined to stick around longer.
No your right. "Younger Generation" is probably the wrong moniker. Perhaps, they way games are played now is better? I just picked it up BTW and started a Sylvari elementalist. Didn't have much time to play but I'll get used to it soon enough. Just trying to figure out what matters. Like when you talk to someone and are able to use Charm, Dignity or "Fierceness"?. Now am I actively leveling those three atributes when I chat with an NPC and utilize a trait in my answer? Do My answers alter things ultimately?