The best thing about GW2 once you hit Level 80 and got all the good stuff you can rest for a couple of months and get back into the game again without being surprised by overly geared players. I stopped playing august 2013 and just resume playing and wvw is still awesome.
Actually GW2 is the only MMORPG with Endgame. Its Pvp/WvW, based on Peoples gaming skill, instead of their Gear. Can't believe there are still zombies out there who enjoy grinding the same Shit over and over again for loot that will become outdated with every new expansion pack so they can start over farming. For these sick f***s i recommend WoW. It was designed to waste your life by farming for Gear 24/7 and you can even pay a monthly fee to do so :D However, for PvP/Mass PvP/WvW GW2 is currently the best MMORPG Game.
Thank you so much for this. I am getting so tired of hearing the complaints about this game's lack of an end game. I love it, and never find myself being bored, and never did I find myself grinding to the next level, unlike another very popular game we know. The fact that it's free to play is just icing on this delicious cake.
I'm only lvl50 thus far, but I dunno... "I want the pretty thing" doesn't make me feel like grinding for stuff. At least in other MMO's if you worked for something you got a geedee ADVANTAGE for having done so. I do understand they want it to be skill-based, but even their legendaries are not "legendary." They're legendary to obtain, but not to use. I want to feel the POWER of all my hard work having paid off! :(
sums up why I stopped playing as well as others...there's no separation of powers of casual vs hardcore gamers..and character progression is fast and stops abruptly.
But the poster stated why that system is bad. Sure, you get a stat boost, and then when a patch comes out, you're oudated and have to grind all over again, which is tedious and boring. GW2 has it right. To use WoW as an example, when they released flying dragons as a mount in BC, you had to do a chain of tedious quests to get it. But it didn't move any faster. It just looked cool. Somehow I bet you were find with that.
Brian Cain The character progression is made that way on purpose. Instead of racing to the next level to get a new power or talent point, you enjoy the journey more. I have a lot of fun just exploring the maps, something I never did in wow.
I totally can relate to your feeling, TheWriter. I think the dumbest of the legendaries is Eternity... I mean, give it AT LEAST a unique skin and a 1% damage increase... it's two freaking legendaries in one. I need a reason to justify my effort put into it.
MrNosreme70 Exploration is non other than GW2 i'm not complaining about that. Take for example a free to play CS/pay to win MMO. Okay sure more money you have more powerful/infamous your toon becomes but there's so much intensity and focus on stats/things to make YOUR TOON as OP as possible. And it doesn't stop and it's mainly for pvp purposes like "oh sht ____ hits like a fckn truck". That stuff is cool to me, OP lv, the bad ass brick sht house, a name, a purpose. GW2 you can play for 4 months and have everything a person that's been there since launch has. It's waaay to easy to get things and even the grindy Legendaries aren't much superior than let's say a 20g Greatsword exotic. Gw2 innovates like no other MMO and for that reason I have returned but I haven't fallen behind my peers..nothing has really changed/new gears/armours stats haven't been implemented. Character progression stops shortly that's my arguement.
What exactly is similiar? Each type of guild mission is distinct. Champion /farming/ in frostgorge is completely different to running meta events. Speed running dungeons and going for records is entirley different to casually running them. Costume brawl and belchers bluff are not typical activities and played in different scenarios. I think I was actually quite conservative with the things I put on that list. Maybe god temples doesnt deserve to be seperate from metas, but that is about it.
I've noticed they've been leaving the living story improvements in recently. To list the stuff you can still do: lost shores (karkas) was left in and remains my favourite farming ground, frost and flame wasn't left in, SAB comes and goes, sky pirates was partially left in (a jumping puzzle), four winds was partially left in (sanctum sprint), queen's jubilee and clockwork chaos weren't left in, but the two most recent, tequatl and twilight assault, were left in. Wonder if that's a new trend?
Yes, from GW1. They were more like dungeons that were long, FoW means Fissure of Woe, which is Balthazar's realm. There were several quests to do, and all of them had to be completed as did the Underworld. The Deep was fairly interesting place as well, GW1 was known for 8 player parties, but this place in particular allowed 12 players which made it pretty unique.
Great breakdown. Precise and to the point. I agree with everything you said, and will certainly be saving the link anytime anyone asks about GW2 endgame. Everything they need to know is in this video.
I think Matt had a point with furniture and collecting things for your home instance, right now I think Wildstar will have the best reward system because so many rewards that have substantial value are beyond just your character, you can display your collections in your home instance... I like GW2s home instance in theory, but I wish I had more choice in the matter (like moving it to lions arch or any future hub cities) or just decorate it and fill it with Personal/living story character/prizes
Underworld is the realm of Grenth, Fissure of Woe the realm of Balthazar. Both end-game explorables with various very difficult quests from Guild Wars. The Deep was another Guild Wars end-game area, and was "partnered" with Urgoz Warren. The Deep was for Luxons, and Urgoz Warren was for Kurzicks (although you could play either no matter your allegiance). There were other end-game areas too.
whenever i get bored of gw2, i just enter ur channel watch any vid and I'm exited to play the game again. don't get me wrong I'm a WOW fan but you make gw2 seem so interesting that I instantly need to play it.
Each path has like 3 or 4(+) bosses. Of course there are mobs on the way to them or things you have to do, but players usually go around them in order to finish it faster. For new players they could be a bit hard, but you'll learn pretty quick how to do them. The newest one that they just added as living world content is kinda hard and takes a lot of teamwork, but it's a lot of fun.
I agree with the GW1-point. Although I was incredibly confused with the build system in GW1, it allows much more variety and sometimes, it's a real challenge to find a suitable build for something. But remember that GW2 isn't "finished" yet, it doesn't have to stay this way forever. They already told us that they're going to add new skills to classes, maybe even new weapons, which you have to unlock in some way, which would make getting the new skills more challenging and interesting.
Usually it's world areas, dungeons, events, bosses, puzzles, mini-games... the most recent one, the halloween event, admitted didn't have a wealth of content, but it's the silence before the tower of nightmares storm and it was very much a balance and skill-updating patch rather than one of adding new content. If you're looking for new content to explore, the coming update sounds just what you're looking for. Can only hope it satisfies :3
It's not really growing, but at max level you can still do a lot with your character. I always played the tanky/heavy hitter (as a guardian) and recently I switched it up a bit and tried a different build. Now I'm playing a support with condition removal and healing power and it already feels so much different.
I'm sure we'll see a big expansion at some point. There's a lot more that needs to be explored in terms of the world and the storyline, which we don't presently have access to and likely won't through living stories alone. You do have to remember it's still a very young game and there's plenty of potential for growth. As the potato guy in the video said, these games take time to expand and deliver the best of their end game content..
they where the "endgame" areas, as in really hard content for organized groups. Also, one wipe meant you had to start from the beginning (plus you head to pay 1000 gold to enter the Underworld and the Fisure of Woe). The Deep was also one of the two areas build for 12 players (normal party size in GW1 was eight)
I think this was a great video. I agree whole heartedly. When i came back to the game it had so much new nad different stuff it was mind blowing. I hate when people talk about subscription fee's keeping teens out or getting you better content. Gw2 shows that buy to play method works amazingly well letting those with lots of spare money and those without still enjoy the game. I wish more of the new mmo's considered buy to play and not just the subscription vs free to play models.
I don't really think so, at least not until ascended armor is released. Basic exotic stats can be had within a week of playing as a casual. Ascended weapons add maybe two weeks. Ascended rings might take about a month of doing dailies/monthlies or even faster if doing fractals. I wouldn't call that a slow treadmill.
WvW used to be one of my favorite things to do, but with the introduction of the Season's, any decent WvW Guilds have left my server (Underworld) and we're now stuck in a tier too high for us with close to zero players online. It sucks now.
Agreed, but I wouldn't mind seeing Anet branch out a bit aswell. Right now all their updates are revolve around new fights. Even if the world changes every 2 weeks, it still feels like an arcade machine if you know roughly what's gonna happen each update. I wouldn't mind seeing stuff like New Professions (Fishing anymore? No? Still no one...?) New social mini games, like a card game or something.(That you CAN play with friends). And more RPG elements like upgrading your home instance.
I think the combat is great. I don't have to remember 50 different skills and what they do and when to use them. I played a greatsword/staff build on my Guardian for months and I recently switched my build to a more supportive role. I'm still figuring out what the best weapon combos are for me and the best skills and traits to use and that keeps me occupied with the combat a lot. :D
I so agree with this. Its the one thing i feel is missing from gw2. If anything got me to try wildstar in spite of the monthly fee, which i'm against. it would be housing and collecting. Only thing i missed from wow was my collection of mini's earned in game and mounts. Everything else not even once have i missed.
Fun interesting video. I always like when you do these types. Players in general don't understand or even know what they want from end game. Even in WOW current relevant endgame is 1-2 raids generally. Not the 10 years of dungeons and old raids. Players don't go out of their way to actively run those. Players think they want instant gratification, but when they get it they leave the game cause they are bored.
good vid. i love gw2. it is the only game i play. i do think i need to switch to a more populated server to get the most out of it though. the first 3 days were crazy
Well, they have polished some existing content, and as far as I know there's plans to polish more of it yet to come, but the thing is some people call for new content, other people call for polished content, so you can't please everyone. But that said, inkthedink made a good point in that most MMORPGs are incredibly sparse of new content compared with GW2. Last MMORPG I played we'd get new areas and such every once a year if we were lucky. GW2's Living story stuff is just amazing by comparison.
For me, I don't look at it as a living world update every two weeks. It seems that they still only do a once-a-month thing, like they used to. We just don't get to clear all of it up front in the first week. Instead pieces of it are given out in two week increments. I know it's not for everyone, but it keeps me coming back. And the more recent ones (aside from Halloween maybe, though I have liked it) have been pretty strong. The next one looks like it could (COULD) be one of the strongest.
I absolutely love the "Grind for cosmetics" philosphy. In games, where the best weapon looks like absolute shit, I would always use the TINY bit worse item that looks immensely cooler over better shit stain looking one. I want to immerse my self in the game, thats the point of an MMO, and part of that is looking as cool as possible. It's why transmogrification in wow and other games. I would much rather grind through cool content to get a VISUAL bonus, something i can actually see and be forced to look at, then a TINY boost in number that i would hardly even notice had I not been aware that i was using a better weapon. Neither system is wrong and it all depends on your play style. Both WoW and GW2 are great games.
At lvl 80 you have 8 dungeons unlocked, each being unlocked as you lvl. Every dungeon has a story mode where you can see what happens with the lore of the game, after that you can do explore mode where you get to choose from a number of paths(3 or 4 for each). In the end you do have 26 dungeons, each being different from the other in some way, the paths aren't the same. The rewards consist of gold and currency for specific exotic gear and materials for legendary weapons.
I think that's the problem a lot of us have been having. I've played a fair bit since halloween, but because I'm in college I have short bursts of playtime rather than a fair amount from week to week. But because most of the new stuff is temporary a lot of content they released is now gone. There have been weekends that I spent on TF2 that would of gone to GW2 if things like the adventure box and new dungeons hadn't been removed before I could play them.
Whats the difference between legendary and ascended crafting? Same thing with just with different materials. God temples are just meta events, dragons (with the exception of teq) are just meta events but maybe slightly harder. costume brawl is a little mini game. SAB / Festivals / Living world are all in the same rotation and cant actually be done at the same time (although they are making LW more permanent but the cheeves still arent). And dyes / minis as endgame? MAYBE if they fixed minis.
The dev's hosted a 10.000 dollar contest? o.O I completely missed that! Anyways, I mostly agree with you. So far I've had my ups and downs with GW2 and there's loads I'd love to see added, but perhaps GW2 simply isn't that game. Meaning I'll either leave and find it elsewhere or just be happy with what I got. GW2 is a good game though, and I'd love to see it grow and expand and so far the Living Story has been enough to keep me interested.
Have you tried Fractals of the Mists or the temporary Living Story dungeons? These tend to have better design, more interesting mechanics and they're also more of a challenge than the old dungeons.
they where these hardcore instances where you needed a good and well organized party if you didn't want to die, also the underworld is grenth's realm, Fissure of Woe is Balthazar's and i don't rly know the lore behind the deep.
I'm mainly a WvW player but I'm a sucker for the cosmetic bling so I do my share of PvE but recently with the crippling lag when the season started (and the queues!) I'm struggling to find things to keep me occupied. I hope Anet steps up and release more content. Also, the game is far from dead like some claim, sure there were drop-ff after the first 6 months but its been steadily rising again :D
Exotic is far more than enough to play any content in the game except for high level Fractals which gives you the required gaer anyways as you progress. The term gear treadmill is used to MMOs where the gear requirements are raised content by content to keep players busy getting signifficantly stronger gear to access end game content. In games where gear treadmill exists all tiers of previously available gear become obsolete as soon as new end game content is launched with new gear stats.
As for drops, mobs have a chance to drop gear, bosses giving a chest that contain some items, varying in quality and as I said at the end you get some gold and currency for gear.
Před 10 lety
Gear treadmill implies not only higher level of equipment, but a requirement of that equipment to enable players to play other content. There is no content on Guild Wars 2 that requires Ascended Gear. You may argue that you need more Agony resistance to do high level Fractals, but you acquire that by doing the exact same Fractals, so you get to play that content even on lower levels. It's a completely different situation than needing Tier X equip before being able to enter a different dungeon.
1: There is no real gear grind. Those time gated materials can all be bought for 4-5g a piece. The only thing that even remotely takes time is getting fragments and dragon ore. And not even much time at that. 2: You can compare them. They aren't a 1 to 1 comparison but WOW system is a grind and a treadmill. Even the top guilds in that game (far less than 1%) takes several weeks to complete a full set. You get 2-3 pieces per boss for a raid of 25 people. It's also RNG what drops.
what impact does ascended gears make on sPVP or WvW? On PvE, Anet doesn't care at all what you wear or how magnificent your gears are..it works even if you wear rares If they created a roadmap for stat grinding, they would as progression even if minute progression,incentives for those who started early. if you see other mmo,they are moving from stat grinds to cosmetics... the complete reverse of what GW2 is doing. At some point,it is the challenge of progression that makes this game interesting.
tower of nightmare is pretty interesting. it reminded me of aincrad where you can only skip parts after actually going thru the climb yourself. it would be better if only it was longer and the process of the climb getting harder is handled well. also, the reward from the top floor should really be worth the climb. another thing to change would be the stats on items. new tiers only add a miniscule amount of stats for the amount f effort that you would have to exert to get them. there are no effects that are unique to the weapon itself so the price is based solely on how hard it is to get it. not because it gives a brand new angle of playstyle into the mix. ragnarok online would be the best example. the cards system and weapon stats made for an amazing and worth it endgame grind. noone's crying there about stealth or illusions or cc because there are items that are made to counter them. stealth? ruwach/sight/heaven's drive. cc? marc card, savage bebe card etc. the devs almost had no hand in changing meta or the meta didnt have to change for years because almost everything can be had and almost everything can be countered. if there werent new cards and the new items just added a small amount of stats, the game wont even last a year.
You know what I miss most in Guild Wars 2 it's not the stat progression but a little more immersion. Simple things like /thanks emote, or relevant animations for crafting. The game feels a little too much "arcadey" in some places which is odd when you see all the world building effort that goes into it (mostly environments).
I don't know if you already have had an answer but They were some of Guild Wars1's elite dungeons that were the equivalent to a raid except with 8/12 players and according to me allot harder (when comparing to wow raids such as ICC)
I'm sorry but i expected something along those lines when i bought the game. It took me a week after hitting 80 to get full exotic in the stats I wanted. Knowing i never HAD to get superior stats, unless i wanted to try a different build, ever again made me so happy. I was full of joy and eager to log in every single day. Then lost shores happened and crapped all over that feeling.I quit because I wasn't certain whether or not another tier or what they would do with ascended. Back now but still
It's from a game called "Dustforce". The track is called "9-bit expedition": /watch?v=gH0W73IrQB8 Here's the whole OST: /watch?v=8_B8ekeZTCM . Really amazing stuff.
No. Legendaries can change stats when you aren't in battle, so the only bonuses for them are changing stats and cosmetic things like footprints. They have the same stats as ascended tho.
Quality over Quantity, something Anet needs to learn along the way. I never played an MMO before, but i surely expected much more content updates from GW2 then we actually have to date. New zones, new races, new dungeons, new skills etc etc. I think at the moment they really should focus on polishing existing content first and newly added content should be tested more carefully. WvW, the only "real" endcontent, has huge technical problems (skill-lag), which is a shame, because it can be fun ;)
these are indeed GW 1 instance's underworld and fow being entered from temple of ages with normal 8 man party's both have a quest line available within the areas and in fow u can buy the fow armor and find obsidion shards in the underworld u can find ecto's a at the time it was played a lot was part of the currency the deep is a 12 man mission out of the capital of the luxons great design pretty big fights for GW at the time some special 'green items' could be gotten from the bosses and skins.
When I play during peak hours I will never lag. Never ever. The lag that you are mentioning sounds like system lag, but there are settings that allow you to adjust some of these parameters. It may be because of poor optimization, but we know that has gotten better over time, and at this point it may as well be dubbed a client-side hardware issue. I'm not 100% on this, but just my perspective, based on my experiences.
For me the living story has somewhat replaced the need for a traditional "endgame" The first several updates were not great, and some of the later ones have been a tad bit light on content, but the last few have been pretty solid (in my eyes). If Anet can keep this up, I will stick around for the long haul. (and maybe finally finish that legendary... maybe.) for the record I have been playing since September of '12.
I feel we need some other rewards, not just in GW but most mmos have rewards based around just cosmetics or stats, but I know collectors make up a good chunk of the community, especially living world guys. Since we can't display multiple skins at a time and can only have 1mini out I feel like once you got what you like then it's an obratray collectors mentality, if my collection actually had a use then it would be much more rewarding, I always go back to a trading card example
It made me angry when they switched the tokens from dungens to 60 per run..... Back at launch ish time frame i ran CoF 55ish times when u got 15 or 20 per run to get my gear IN ONE WEEKEND (yes two days) because it was fun and i looked SOOOOO cool cuz no one else had it. Then they changed the token system after a while and everyone and their brother has it. Made me kinda mad to say the least at the time.
Unfortunately that is now muddled with Ascended gear "end-goal". It's hard enough to make a new build by getting a complete set of exotics. Now imagine if you want to flip from survive to zerk to condi in full ascended..... That's a lot of laurels/crafting/gold.
read the game updates, they do huge patch fixes every two weeks; There is not a single class out there that is unplayable; Its either your build does not fit your current play style or you simply do not understand your class.
Booooya lawyered :D Really liked this video, and you actually said a thing I've been telling to people who say the exact same things. If you don't have anything to do from all the stuff there is to do, then GW is not for u.
I feel that the game needs a big expansion like they did in GW1 with Factions/Nightfall/EotN. The 2 week thing of fetching stuff from places all over the map and mini dungeons that can be done within hours after launch just doesn't hack it. I also miss content like Underworld/FoW/The Deep, fractals just can't compete with those imo.
That's MMOs in a bucket for you. You may wanna stop playing them then if it's killing you. I just enjoy grinding now, it's simple pleasure but of course, not for everyone. You know what's going to freak you out in a second. Life is a grind. Shocker!
part 2. Now this is a VERY casual gaming perspective, as many of you will say. But face the fact games like this are built of the casual player base, and are maintained as such. There are Hardcore aspects to this game, Great aspects that are over looked by many who stick to the trifector of PVE, WvWvW and SPVP. but to find anything else in the plethora of things is significantly harder on the basis of accessibility. itr's not there infront of you, and to a casual, it doesn't exist.
Raids do not equal a gear treadmill, though. Most of the people I know play raids because they love the concept of coordinating with a large number (10-40) of people. While you might say the Teq update is along that line, the number of people is so large for coordination it can't compare to a smaller-scale raid. Most everything else in GW2 requires very little thought. Both Wildstar and ESO have raids slated for release, and I'll be playing them. :)
People like the treadmill of gear, even if it means their new shiny gear will be outdated, they still feel as if it puts a larger gap between them and new players, they want to feel like their time invested has given them a solid advantage over others, so as long as its a hurdle for OTHERS to cross, they have progressed ahead.
I picked this game up at launch. Actually pre ordered it because a old Diablo II friend wanted me to play with him. I was playing other games at the time and tried this out. It was really fun at first, but once I realized that it wasn't a very gear dependent game I lost interest. I really like the aspect of certain items not only having the cosmetics I want, but also the stats I need. I am about to give it another try and hope I enjoy it. Feels like I wasted my money back when.
I don't think you wasted your money. If you quit half way while leveling, then yeah. But if you actually worked for stuff, it was definitely money well spent.
You mention early on in the video that GW2 doesn't rely on skinner box mechanics, and thats true, but the reason that skinner box mechanics are so successful is because it makes the player feel like they are progressing and growing stronger. It's all well and fine to remove skinner boxes but it leaves a gap in the game. This is the reason I left, I felt like I had a complete character at level 20 (in some cases 30, but sometimes elite skills were negligible) and that destroyed my drive to play
priorities dude. Anet have clearly stated in their past interviews that this year would be a year of stabilizing the game/fixes;and yet aside from that we receive tons and i mean TONS of content, although some are temporary. But that's a FEAT already right? Why can't people be appreciative enough and clamor for more?! We are indeed their biggest challenge 'cause we will ever be contented with what has been served to us. Keyword here, PATIENCE, my child PATIENCE.
Thank you so much for just telling people that if you don't like it, it's just not for you. I don't know why this is so hard for people to understand. There's a certain area Arena Net is using to make their game. They aren't trying to exactly please everyone as some people believe they are. Sadly I have stopped playing for personal reasons of not having enough time to keep up with the events and achievements so that is my only issue. Other than that, the game is amazing, and is great.
The main problem I faced is that I didn't even care much for getting the exotic gear. I just wanted to do all the dungeons, you know, to have fun. But everyone was too busy constantly rerunning the same dungeon that was the easiest to complete. So it was quite hard to get a party for other dungeons. This to me is really what got me to quit. Too many people are more interested in the reward, than actually having fun on the way. -.-'
To fully explain these areas it'd be best to go to the GW1 wiki and look them up. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just that they were so large of concepts that it wouldn't be easy to fully explain in a comment. They were really cool places, and I hope we get to see something like them in GW2.
when I first heard that wildstar is gonna have a subscription I laughed my ass off, and when I heard ESO is gonna have a cosmetic shop after they said they are putting in a subscription so nobody will have any content barriers I was straight up pissed. GW2 showed that it can be done which I find great
Then do it in a diffrent, challenging way. I did choose "all thing have right to grow" during my sylvari creating so i decided not to kill a single thing in game. And it works, didnt event hurt a single creature and got to lvl 78, soon my challenge will be completed :)
Colin Johanson came out saying "we have learnt from the first halloween patch and we will implement new content so that you can still experience it later" - this worked well for christmas but this system doesn't seem apparent in the living world content if you dont play for a month or two you've lost AP points, it puts you on a back footing in terms to other players regarding the living story.
Anet keeps telling us that we will see expansion like content in living world format, but we haven't seen or heard any plans for it. It's hard to sell us the concept of living world when it has (almost) only been shallow stuff so far.
It's +11 on power per item, and that's the lowest amount so it only goes up from here. The total difference is quite noticeable and will be even more when they introduce the armor parts. But yeah, have it your way, I have no idea why I am arguing over a fact. You can either accept it or not, but don't say I'm not right, because you will see what happens when ascended armor arrives.
Nevertheless Living World updates should stay temporary as it fits the feeling of something happening in the world of tyri, but Anet should consider lengthening the periods between tthe living world contents. Maybe each month instead of each 2 weeks. The speed at the moment in which Living world content is coming makes the game feel like a full time job. No time to just relax and level a new char between all the forced metas, achievements and temporary available skins...
Demographic can not be defined alone to 'casual'/'hardcore' gamers. it means to tastes/preferences on gametype/lore/mechanics etc. There are hardcore gamers, WP as one, that still play and be satisfied to the game; although he did have some complaints of it too. And to add, even some hardcore WoW players like GW2 and openly admitted that it's really good and a breath of fresh air to traditional mmos, example would be boogie and totalbiscuit.
Looks like you understand. Some people can't imagine an alternative to this and just shout from the mountain tops "NO ENDGAME!". No, it's just different, I hate the power grinding after so many years. I guess I only put up with it because it was excess baggage of virtual fantasy worlds to me. GW2 felt like a key to the shackles for me. TL;DR to each their own.
The best thing about GW2 once you hit Level 80 and got all the good stuff you can rest for a couple of months and get back into the game again without being surprised by overly geared players. I stopped playing august 2013 and just resume playing and wvw is still awesome.
Actually GW2 is the only MMORPG with Endgame. Its Pvp/WvW, based on Peoples gaming skill, instead of their Gear.
Can't believe there are still zombies out there who enjoy grinding the same Shit over and over again for loot that will become outdated with every new expansion pack so they can start over farming.
For these sick f***s i recommend WoW. It was designed to waste your life by farming for Gear 24/7 and you can even pay a monthly fee to do so :D
However, for PvP/Mass PvP/WvW GW2 is currently the best MMORPG Game.
Couldn't agree more. Zombies is a good word for it, because after a week of that shit I feel like one.
Gw2 lost alot of player but the ones that stayed are very pasionate about the game and make a amazing community!
Thank you so much for this. I am getting so tired of hearing the complaints about this game's lack of an end game. I love it, and never find myself being bored, and never did I find myself grinding to the next level, unlike another very popular game we know. The fact that it's free to play is just icing on this delicious cake.
I'm only lvl50 thus far, but I dunno... "I want the pretty thing" doesn't make me feel like grinding for stuff. At least in other MMO's if you worked for something you got a geedee ADVANTAGE for having done so. I do understand they want it to be skill-based, but even their legendaries are not "legendary." They're legendary to obtain, but not to use. I want to feel the POWER of all my hard work having paid off! :(
sums up why I stopped playing as well as others...there's no separation of powers of casual vs hardcore gamers..and character progression is fast and stops abruptly.
But the poster stated why that system is bad. Sure, you get a stat boost, and then when a patch comes out, you're oudated and have to grind all over again, which is tedious and boring. GW2 has it right. To use WoW as an example, when they released flying dragons as a mount in BC, you had to do a chain of tedious quests to get it. But it didn't move any faster. It just looked cool. Somehow I bet you were find with that.
Brian Cain The character progression is made that way on purpose. Instead of racing to the next level to get a new power or talent point, you enjoy the journey more. I have a lot of fun just exploring the maps, something I never did in wow.
I totally can relate to your feeling, TheWriter. I think the dumbest of the legendaries is Eternity... I mean, give it AT LEAST a unique skin and a 1% damage increase... it's two freaking legendaries in one. I need a reason to justify my effort put into it.
MrNosreme70 Exploration is non other than GW2 i'm not complaining about that. Take for example a free to play CS/pay to win MMO. Okay sure more money you have more powerful/infamous your toon becomes but there's so much intensity and focus on stats/things to make YOUR TOON as OP as possible. And it doesn't stop and it's mainly for pvp purposes like "oh sht ____ hits like a fckn truck". That stuff is cool to me, OP lv, the bad ass brick sht house, a name, a purpose. GW2 you can play for 4 months and have everything a person that's been there since launch has. It's waaay to easy to get things and even the grindy Legendaries aren't much superior than let's say a 20g Greatsword exotic. Gw2 innovates like no other MMO and for that reason I have returned but I haven't fallen behind my peers..nothing has really changed/new gears/armours stats haven't been implemented. Character progression stops shortly that's my arguement.
End game is all in perspectives. it's like how some people like peanuts after their breakfast, but to me breakfast is enough lets wait for lunch.
What exactly is similiar? Each type of guild mission is distinct. Champion /farming/ in frostgorge is completely different to running meta events. Speed running dungeons and going for records is entirley different to casually running them. Costume brawl and belchers bluff are not typical activities and played in different scenarios.
I think I was actually quite conservative with the things I put on that list. Maybe god temples doesnt deserve to be seperate from metas, but that is about it.
commentator has top tier intellectuel voice xD
I've noticed they've been leaving the living story improvements in recently. To list the stuff you can still do: lost shores (karkas) was left in and remains my favourite farming ground, frost and flame wasn't left in, SAB comes and goes, sky pirates was partially left in (a jumping puzzle), four winds was partially left in (sanctum sprint), queen's jubilee and clockwork chaos weren't left in, but the two most recent, tequatl and twilight assault, were left in. Wonder if that's a new trend?
Yes, from GW1. They were more like dungeons that were long, FoW means Fissure of Woe, which is Balthazar's realm. There were several quests to do, and all of them had to be completed as did the Underworld. The Deep was fairly interesting place as well, GW1 was known for 8 player parties, but this place in particular allowed 12 players which made it pretty unique.
fantastic video, i guess i will come back to gw2 haha
Great breakdown. Precise and to the point. I agree with everything you said, and will certainly be saving the link anytime anyone asks about GW2 endgame. Everything they need to know is in this video.
I think Matt had a point with furniture and collecting things for your home instance, right now I think Wildstar will have the best reward system because so many rewards that have substantial value are beyond just your character, you can display your collections in your home instance... I like GW2s home instance in theory, but I wish I had more choice in the matter (like moving it to lions arch or any future hub cities) or just decorate it and fill it with Personal/living story character/prizes
Underworld is the realm of Grenth, Fissure of Woe the realm of Balthazar. Both end-game explorables with various very difficult quests from Guild Wars. The Deep was another Guild Wars end-game area, and was "partnered" with Urgoz Warren. The Deep was for Luxons, and Urgoz Warren was for Kurzicks (although you could play either no matter your allegiance). There were other end-game areas too.
whenever i get bored of gw2, i just enter ur channel watch any vid and I'm exited to play the game again.
don't get me wrong I'm a WOW fan but you make gw2 seem so interesting that I instantly need to play it.
Each path has like 3 or 4(+) bosses. Of course there are mobs on the way to them or things you have to do, but players usually go around them in order to finish it faster. For new players they could be a bit hard, but you'll learn pretty quick how to do them. The newest one that they just added as living world content is kinda hard and takes a lot of teamwork, but it's a lot of fun.
I agree with the GW1-point. Although I was incredibly confused with the build system in GW1, it allows much more variety and sometimes, it's a real challenge to find a suitable build for something.
But remember that GW2 isn't "finished" yet, it doesn't have to stay this way forever. They already told us that they're going to add new skills to classes, maybe even new weapons, which you have to unlock in some way, which would make getting the new skills more challenging and interesting.
Usually it's world areas, dungeons, events, bosses, puzzles, mini-games... the most recent one, the halloween event, admitted didn't have a wealth of content, but it's the silence before the tower of nightmares storm and it was very much a balance and skill-updating patch rather than one of adding new content. If you're looking for new content to explore, the coming update sounds just what you're looking for. Can only hope it satisfies :3
It's not really growing, but at max level you can still do a lot with your character. I always played the tanky/heavy hitter (as a guardian) and recently I switched it up a bit and tried a different build. Now I'm playing a support with condition removal and healing power and it already feels so much different.
I'm sure we'll see a big expansion at some point. There's a lot more that needs to be explored in terms of the world and the storyline, which we don't presently have access to and likely won't through living stories alone. You do have to remember it's still a very young game and there's plenty of potential for growth. As the potato guy in the video said, these games take time to expand and deliver the best of their end game content..
they where the "endgame" areas, as in really hard content for organized groups. Also, one wipe meant you had to start from the beginning (plus you head to pay 1000 gold to enter the Underworld and the Fisure of Woe). The Deep was also one of the two areas build for 12 players (normal party size in GW1 was eight)
I think this was a great video. I agree whole heartedly. When i came back to the game it had so much new nad different stuff it was mind blowing. I hate when people talk about subscription fee's keeping teens out or getting you better content. Gw2 shows that buy to play method works amazingly well letting those with lots of spare money and those without still enjoy the game. I wish more of the new mmo's considered buy to play and not just the subscription vs free to play models.
I don't really think so, at least not until ascended armor is released. Basic exotic stats can be had within a week of playing as a casual. Ascended weapons add maybe two weeks. Ascended rings might take about a month of doing dailies/monthlies or even faster if doing fractals. I wouldn't call that a slow treadmill.
a fresh and finally positive video that has unbiased opinion backed by facts as to why...great job, keep up these great and informative videos sir
WvW used to be one of my favorite things to do, but with the introduction of the Season's, any decent WvW Guilds have left my server (Underworld) and we're now stuck in a tier too high for us with close to zero players online. It sucks now.
Agreed, but I wouldn't mind seeing Anet branch out a bit aswell. Right now all their updates are revolve around new fights. Even if the world changes every 2 weeks, it still feels like an arcade machine if you know roughly what's gonna happen each update. I wouldn't mind seeing stuff like New Professions (Fishing anymore? No? Still no one...?) New social mini games, like a card game or something.(That you CAN play with friends). And more RPG elements like upgrading your home instance.
I think the combat is great. I don't have to remember 50 different skills and what they do and when to use them. I played a greatsword/staff build on my Guardian for months and I recently switched my build to a more supportive role. I'm still figuring out what the best weapon combos are for me and the best skills and traits to use and that keeps me occupied with the combat a lot. :D
I so agree with this. Its the one thing i feel is missing from gw2. If anything got me to try wildstar in spite of the monthly fee, which i'm against. it would be housing and collecting. Only thing i missed from wow was my collection of mini's earned in game and mounts. Everything else not even once have i missed.
Fun interesting video. I always like when you do these types. Players in general don't understand or even know what they want from end game. Even in WOW current relevant endgame is 1-2 raids generally. Not the 10 years of dungeons and old raids. Players don't go out of their way to actively run those. Players think they want instant gratification, but when they get it they leave the game cause they are bored.
good vid. i love gw2. it is the only game i play. i do think i need to switch to a more populated server to get the most out of it though. the first 3 days were crazy
Well, they have polished some existing content, and as far as I know there's plans to polish more of it yet to come, but the thing is some people call for new content, other people call for polished content, so you can't please everyone.
But that said, inkthedink made a good point in that most MMORPGs are incredibly sparse of new content compared with GW2. Last MMORPG I played we'd get new areas and such every once a year if we were lucky. GW2's Living story stuff is just amazing by comparison.
For me, I don't look at it as a living world update every two weeks. It seems that they still only do a once-a-month thing, like they used to. We just don't get to clear all of it up front in the first week. Instead pieces of it are given out in two week increments. I know it's not for everyone, but it keeps me coming back. And the more recent ones (aside from Halloween maybe, though I have liked it) have been pretty strong. The next one looks like it could (COULD) be one of the strongest.
i see endgame also about making goals, that makes it so much more enjoyable.
I absolutely love the "Grind for cosmetics" philosphy. In games, where the best weapon looks like absolute shit, I would always use the TINY bit worse item that looks immensely cooler over better shit stain looking one. I want to immerse my self in the game, thats the point of an MMO, and part of that is looking as cool as possible. It's why transmogrification in wow and other games.
I
would much rather grind through cool content to get a VISUAL bonus, something i can actually see and be forced to look at, then a TINY boost in number that i would hardly even notice had I not been aware that i was using a better weapon.
Neither system is wrong and it all depends on your play style. Both WoW and GW2 are great games.
At lvl 80 you have 8 dungeons unlocked, each being unlocked as you lvl. Every dungeon has a story mode where you can see what happens with the lore of the game, after that you can do explore mode where you get to choose from a number of paths(3 or 4 for each). In the end you do have 26 dungeons, each being different from the other in some way, the paths aren't the same. The rewards consist of gold and currency for specific exotic gear and materials for legendary weapons.
I think that's the problem a lot of us have been having. I've played a fair bit since halloween, but because I'm in college I have short bursts of playtime rather than a fair amount from week to week. But because most of the new stuff is temporary a lot of content they released is now gone. There have been weekends that I spent on TF2 that would of gone to GW2 if things like the adventure box and new dungeons hadn't been removed before I could play them.
Whats the difference between legendary and ascended crafting? Same thing with just with different materials. God temples are just meta events, dragons (with the exception of teq) are just meta events but maybe slightly harder. costume brawl is a little mini game. SAB / Festivals / Living world are all in the same rotation and cant actually be done at the same time (although they are making LW more permanent but the cheeves still arent). And dyes / minis as endgame? MAYBE if they fixed minis.
The dev's hosted a 10.000 dollar contest? o.O I completely missed that!
Anyways, I mostly agree with you. So far I've had my ups and downs with GW2 and there's loads I'd love to see added, but perhaps GW2 simply isn't that game. Meaning I'll either leave and find it elsewhere or just be happy with what I got.
GW2 is a good game though, and I'd love to see it grow and expand and so far the Living Story has been enough to keep me interested.
Have you tried Fractals of the Mists or the temporary Living Story dungeons? These tend to have better design, more interesting mechanics and they're also more of a challenge than the old dungeons.
Great opinions, great points, great unbiased commentator
they where these hardcore instances where you needed a good and well organized party if you didn't want to die, also the underworld is grenth's realm, Fissure of Woe is Balthazar's and i don't rly know the lore behind the deep.
To -->ME
I'm mainly a WvW player but I'm a sucker for the cosmetic bling so I do my share of PvE but recently with the crippling lag when the season started (and the queues!) I'm struggling to find things to keep me occupied. I hope Anet steps up and release more content.
Also, the game is far from dead like some claim, sure there were drop-ff after the first 6 months but its been steadily rising again :D
Exotic is far more than enough to play any content in the game except for high level Fractals which gives you the required gaer anyways as you progress. The term gear treadmill is used to MMOs where the gear requirements are raised content by content to keep players busy getting signifficantly stronger gear to access end game content. In games where gear treadmill exists all tiers of previously available gear become obsolete as soon as new end game content is launched with new gear stats.
As for drops, mobs have a chance to drop gear, bosses giving a chest that contain some items, varying in quality and as I said at the end you get some gold and currency for gear.
Gear treadmill implies not only higher level of equipment, but a requirement of that equipment to enable players to play other content. There is no content on Guild Wars 2 that requires Ascended Gear. You may argue that you need more Agony resistance to do high level Fractals, but you acquire that by doing the exact same Fractals, so you get to play that content even on lower levels. It's a completely different situation than needing Tier X equip before being able to enter a different dungeon.
1: There is no real gear grind. Those time gated materials can all be bought for 4-5g a piece. The only thing that even remotely takes time is getting fragments and dragon ore. And not even much time at that.
2: You can compare them. They aren't a 1 to 1 comparison but WOW system is a grind and a treadmill. Even the top guilds in that game (far less than 1%) takes several weeks to complete a full set. You get 2-3 pieces per boss for a raid of 25 people. It's also RNG what drops.
what impact does ascended gears make on sPVP or WvW?
On PvE, Anet doesn't care at all what you wear or how magnificent your gears are..it works even if you wear rares
If they created a roadmap for stat grinding, they would as progression even if minute progression,incentives for those who started early.
if you see other mmo,they are moving from stat grinds to cosmetics... the complete reverse of what GW2 is doing. At some point,it is the challenge of progression that makes this game interesting.
tower of nightmare is pretty interesting. it reminded me of aincrad where you can only skip parts after actually going thru the climb yourself. it would be better if only it was longer and the process of the climb getting harder is handled well. also, the reward from the top floor should really be worth the climb.
another thing to change would be the stats on items. new tiers only add a miniscule amount of stats for the amount f effort that you would have to exert to get them. there are no effects that are unique to the weapon itself so the price is based solely on how hard it is to get it. not because it gives a brand new angle of playstyle into the mix. ragnarok online would be the best example. the cards system and weapon stats made for an amazing and worth it endgame grind. noone's crying there about stealth or illusions or cc because there are items that are made to counter them. stealth? ruwach/sight/heaven's drive. cc? marc card, savage bebe card etc.
the devs almost had no hand in changing meta or the meta didnt have to change for years because almost everything can be had and almost everything can be countered. if there werent new cards and the new items just added a small amount of stats, the game wont even last a year.
You know what I miss most in Guild Wars 2 it's not the stat progression but a little more immersion. Simple things like /thanks emote, or relevant animations for crafting. The game feels a little too much "arcadey" in some places which is odd when you see all the world building effort that goes into it (mostly environments).
I don't know if you already have had an answer but They were some of Guild Wars1's elite dungeons that were the equivalent to a raid except with 8/12 players and according to me allot harder (when comparing to wow raids such as ICC)
I'm sorry but i expected something along those lines when i bought the game. It took me a week after hitting 80 to get full exotic in the stats I wanted. Knowing i never HAD to get superior stats, unless i wanted to try a different build, ever again made me so happy. I was full of joy and eager to log in every single day.
Then lost shores happened and crapped all over that feeling.I quit because I wasn't certain whether or not another tier or what they would do with ascended. Back now but still
That is the Colossus from the Cliff side Fractal mini dungeon, from fractals of the mists
It's from a game called "Dustforce". The track is called "9-bit expedition": /watch?v=gH0W73IrQB8
Here's the whole OST: /watch?v=8_B8ekeZTCM . Really amazing stuff.
No. Legendaries can change stats when you aren't in battle, so the only bonuses for them are changing stats and cosmetic things like footprints. They have the same stats as ascended tho.
Quality over Quantity, something Anet needs to learn along the way.
I never played an MMO before, but i surely expected much more content updates from GW2 then we actually have to date.
New zones, new races, new dungeons, new skills etc etc.
I think at the moment they really should focus on polishing existing content first and newly added content should be tested more carefully.
WvW, the only "real" endcontent, has huge technical problems (skill-lag), which is a shame, because it can be fun ;)
these are indeed GW 1 instance's underworld and fow being entered from temple of ages with normal 8 man party's both have a quest line available within the areas and in fow u can buy the fow armor and find obsidion shards in the underworld u can find ecto's a at the time it was played a lot was part of the currency the deep is a 12 man mission out of the capital of the luxons great design pretty big fights for GW at the time some special 'green items' could be gotten from the bosses and skins.
I like GW2's type of (end)game. Mostly because I never got to level cap on any other MMO
When I play during peak hours I will never lag. Never ever. The lag that you are mentioning sounds like system lag, but there are settings that allow you to adjust some of these parameters. It may be because of poor optimization, but we know that has gotten better over time, and at this point it may as well be dubbed a client-side hardware issue. I'm not 100% on this, but just my perspective, based on my experiences.
For me the living story has somewhat replaced the need for a traditional "endgame" The first several updates were not great, and some of the later ones have been a tad bit light on content, but the last few have been pretty solid (in my eyes). If Anet can keep this up, I will stick around for the long haul. (and maybe finally finish that legendary... maybe.)
for the record I have been playing since September of '12.
I feel we need some other rewards, not just in GW but most mmos have rewards based around just cosmetics or stats, but I know collectors make up a good chunk of the community, especially living world guys. Since we can't display multiple skins at a time and can only have 1mini out I feel like once you got what you like then it's an obratray collectors mentality, if my collection actually had a use then it would be much more rewarding, I always go back to a trading card example
It made me angry when they switched the tokens from dungens to 60 per run..... Back at launch ish time frame i ran CoF 55ish times when u got 15 or 20 per run to get my gear IN ONE WEEKEND (yes two days) because it was fun and i looked SOOOOO cool cuz no one else had it. Then they changed the token system after a while and everyone and their brother has it. Made me kinda mad to say the least at the time.
Unfortunately that is now muddled with Ascended gear "end-goal". It's hard enough to make a new build by getting a complete set of exotics. Now imagine if you want to flip from survive to zerk to condi in full ascended..... That's a lot of laurels/crafting/gold.
read the game updates, they do huge patch fixes every two weeks; There is not a single class out there that is unplayable; Its either your build does not fit your current play style or you simply do not understand your class.
Booooya lawyered :D
Really liked this video, and you actually said a thing I've been telling to people who say the exact same things. If you don't have anything to do from all the stuff there is to do, then GW is not for u.
WP and Colin said that exotic were meant to be hard but did a poor job in doing this,thats why they added ascended
I feel that the game needs a big expansion like they did in GW1 with Factions/Nightfall/EotN. The 2 week thing of fetching stuff from places all over the map and mini dungeons that can be done within hours after launch just doesn't hack it. I also miss content like Underworld/FoW/The Deep, fractals just can't compete with those imo.
That's why there's ascended weapons, trinkets, and soon to be armor.
lets not forget the dungeon reward changes , that made runing them actually kind of worth it
I think this is first MMO!! Greetings, FPS player. In the world of MMOs, you earn your gear.
Then you've merely scratched the surface...
That's MMOs in a bucket for you. You may wanna stop playing them then if it's killing you. I just enjoy grinding now, it's simple pleasure but of course, not for everyone. You know what's going to freak you out in a second. Life is a grind. Shocker!
part 2. Now this is a VERY casual gaming perspective, as many of you will say. But face the fact games like this are built of the casual player base, and are maintained as such. There are Hardcore aspects to this game, Great aspects that are over looked by many who stick to the trifector of PVE, WvWvW and SPVP. but to find anything else in the plethora of things is significantly harder on the basis of accessibility. itr's not there infront of you, and to a casual, it doesn't exist.
Well, they're adding ascended armour soon to match the ascended weaponry, so that'll be something new to work toward... and to profit from XD
Raids do not equal a gear treadmill, though. Most of the people I know play raids because they love the concept of coordinating with a large number (10-40) of people. While you might say the Teq update is along that line, the number of people is so large for coordination it can't compare to a smaller-scale raid. Most everything else in GW2 requires very little thought. Both Wildstar and ESO have raids slated for release, and I'll be playing them. :)
People like the treadmill of gear, even if it means their new shiny gear will be outdated, they still feel as if it puts a larger gap between them and new players, they want to feel like their time invested has given them a solid advantage over others, so as long as its a hurdle for OTHERS to cross, they have progressed ahead.
I picked this game up at launch. Actually pre ordered it because a old Diablo II friend wanted me to play with him. I was playing other games at the time and tried this out. It was really fun at first, but once I realized that it wasn't a very gear dependent game I lost interest. I really like the aspect of certain items not only having the cosmetics I want, but also the stats I need. I am about to give it another try and hope I enjoy it. Feels like I wasted my money back when.
I don't think you wasted your money. If you quit half way while leveling, then yeah. But if you actually worked for stuff, it was definitely money well spent.
You mention early on in the video that GW2 doesn't rely on skinner box mechanics, and thats true, but the reason that skinner box mechanics are so successful is because it makes the player feel like they are progressing and growing stronger.
It's all well and fine to remove skinner boxes but it leaves a gap in the game. This is the reason I left, I felt like I had a complete character at level 20 (in some cases 30, but sometimes elite skills were negligible) and that destroyed my drive to play
priorities dude. Anet have clearly stated in their past interviews that this year would be a year of stabilizing the game/fixes;and yet aside from that we receive tons and i mean TONS of content, although some are temporary. But that's a FEAT already right? Why can't people be appreciative enough and clamor for more?! We are indeed their biggest challenge 'cause we will ever be contented with what has been served to us. Keyword here, PATIENCE, my child PATIENCE.
i would love to buy this game and i most likely would if they had a free trail
Thank you so much for just telling people that if you don't like it, it's just not for you. I don't know why this is so hard for people to understand. There's a certain area Arena Net is using to make their game. They aren't trying to exactly please everyone as some people believe they are. Sadly I have stopped playing for personal reasons of not having enough time to keep up with the events and achievements so that is my only issue. Other than that, the game is amazing, and is great.
The main problem I faced is that I didn't even care much for getting the exotic gear. I just wanted to do all the dungeons, you know, to have fun. But everyone was too busy constantly rerunning the same dungeon that was the easiest to complete. So it was quite hard to get a party for other dungeons.
This to me is really what got me to quit. Too many people are more interested in the reward, than actually having fun on the way. -.-'
Oh temporary, that explains why when i went on last week it seemed like almost nothing had been added since i played last year at Halloween =(
To fully explain these areas it'd be best to go to the GW1 wiki and look them up. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just that they were so large of concepts that it wouldn't be easy to fully explain in a comment. They were really cool places, and I hope we get to see something like them in GW2.
when I first heard that wildstar is gonna have a subscription I laughed my ass off, and when I heard ESO is gonna have a cosmetic shop after they said they are putting in a subscription so nobody will have any content barriers I was straight up pissed. GW2 showed that it can be done which I find great
Then do it in a diffrent, challenging way. I did choose "all thing have right to grow" during my sylvari creating so i decided not to kill a single thing in game. And it works, didnt event hurt a single creature and got to lvl 78, soon my challenge will be completed :)
Colin Johanson came out saying "we have learnt from the first halloween patch and we will implement new content so that you can still experience it later" - this worked well for christmas but this system doesn't seem apparent in the living world content if you dont play for a month or two you've lost AP points, it puts you on a back footing in terms to other players regarding the living story.
Ahh, that is useful information, thank you. I am assuming there are bosses that drop loot or just currency/tokens?
There are incredibly difficult dungeons like Arah. The Deep allowed you to take 12 players along.
it's the legendary greatsword, twilight
Anet keeps telling us that we will see expansion like content in living world format, but we haven't seen or heard any plans for it. It's hard to sell us the concept of living world when it has (almost) only been shallow stuff so far.
GW2 kicks butt.
"If you don't think there's an endgame, then you are not their main demographic." YES. Thank you!
keep in mind WP has tons of hours logged in GW1. All that carried over to GW2 by way of achievements.
I would want to add DoA as the hardest, and also throw SE in there
It's +11 on power per item, and that's the lowest amount so it only goes up from here. The total difference is quite noticeable and will be even more when they introduce the armor parts.
But yeah, have it your way, I have no idea why I am arguing over a fact. You can either accept it or not, but don't say I'm not right, because you will see what happens when ascended armor arrives.
Nevertheless Living World updates should stay temporary as it fits the feeling of something happening in the world of tyri, but Anet should consider lengthening the periods between tthe living world contents. Maybe each month instead of each 2 weeks. The speed at the moment in which Living world content is coming makes the game feel like a full time job. No time to just relax and level a new char between all the forced metas, achievements and temporary available skins...
Demographic can not be defined alone to 'casual'/'hardcore' gamers. it means to tastes/preferences on gametype/lore/mechanics etc. There are hardcore gamers, WP as one, that still play and be satisfied to the game; although he did have some complaints of it too. And to add, even some hardcore WoW players like GW2 and openly admitted that it's really good and a breath of fresh air to traditional mmos, example would be boogie and totalbiscuit.
Looks like you understand. Some people can't imagine an alternative to this and just shout from the mountain tops "NO ENDGAME!". No, it's just different, I hate the power grinding after so many years. I guess I only put up with it because it was excess baggage of virtual fantasy worlds to me. GW2 felt like a key to the shackles for me.
TL;DR to each their own.
and exactly 2 years later Hearth of Thorns will come out