I finally finished all PvE zones in Guild Wars 2 with my main. 100% across the board with only a handful of points left in WvW before I get my Gifts of Exploration. I feel like now I can “just do whatever”. It’s an odd feeling, but I love hitting exploration achievements in any MMO. They call to me. I had to hit every heart, vista, and waypoint in every zone.
Each MMO, including Guild Wars 2, has driving factors. Sometimes they are called “carrots”. Sometimes they are “sticks”. Some of the driving factors are so ingrained that it’s considered that thing to be done. When that mark is checked is it a loss of drive or a release of pressure?
For a moment it was a loss of drive. Have I just won Guild Wars 2? I love open world PvE the best, but I am still a fan of the other ways to play. Obviously I had to start playing more WvW to get my purplish Gifts. I still had most of the story mode dungeons left, and I hadn’t compelted my personal story. I still have plenty to do apart from the long road to a legendary weapon. First stop, buy some rare miniatures to sacrifice to that damn genie.
How much does ArenaNet have a hand in driving pressure? For instance the character select screen has a few empty spaces for completing all the order initiations and equipping a legendary weapon. Every time a player logs in they will be reminded of things to do. There are temporary one-time events to take part in. New achievements appear with new events and jumping puzzles.
The monthly achievement is also a good driving force. Salvaging items used to be such a big deal that by the end of the month people were scouring the trading post for stuff to destroy. Now that pressure is gone replaced by a bunch of ???’s instead. Another new monthly entry is completing five dungeons, which Zubon noted has caused a bit of a reaction. At the same token, the pressure I feel from monthly achievements are slight. I missed last month because I was too busy to head into WvW.
I feel like I am getting closer to the point where instead of feeling a strong drive I log-in and decide “yes, that sounds fun.” I am warping up to take down the Claw of Jormag a lot more because I enjoy that happy hour with my server. I do Troll’s End in Lion’s Arch pretty much daily because it gives decent loot, and I like that it is so centrally located. The gold per hour there is not that great, especially compared to running Orr events or being on a winning side in WvW.
I feel ArenaNet was too conservative with un-Orrian loot. Want level 80 loot? Go to Orr. I don’t understand why I am not getting level 80 drops on my level 80 everywhere else. In one part, ArenaNet seems to reward simply playing everywhere. Event rewards are pretty good outside of Orr. On the other hand, they make one area it. I am hoping with the big November update we start to see more decompression of rewards in open world PvE. They’ve already made an iterative pass on jumping puzzle rewards to make loot better for the harder puzzles.
Sometimes I long for the days in Guild Wars where the pressure was so slight because all my goals were for the long haul. The Guild Wars 2 legendary weapon falls in to that category. Right now things are hopping. In two weekends there will be another “must-see” event. I am still in that phase where I don’t want to miss any. Then Wintersday will come. ArenaNet is making sure to keep a good amount of pressure on.
–Ravious
I feel ArenaNet was too conservative with un-Orrian loot. Want level 80 loot? Go to Orr.
Yes. In the time it took me to get good at fighting the Risen, I realized: I don’t really like fighting the Risen. That pretty much is the open world PvE endgame. Oh, well then.
I find it quite fascinating to compare my experience with yours. I have many hundreds of hours played in GW2 now, just under 500 on one account and just under 100 on the second. I have a level 80, a level 57, a level 38 and five more that I haven’t got going on yet. I have one 400 skill crafter and a couple around 300.
My level 80 has 49% map completion. No-one else has over 30%. I have zero interest in filling Hearts, completing maps, achieving achievements, other than if doing so is fun in and of itself. I go where I want, when I want, even if it means I spend many, many hours with nothing other than memories, screenshots and blog posts to show for it.
I really, really like GW2. There’s no doubt I’ll be playing it for years. I feel absolutely no need to do anything that isn’t what I want to do at the precise moment I’m doing it. I spent much of today and yesterday in WvW because we have a great match this week and there’s a ton of fighting going on. If we get steamrollered next week, or we steamroller someone else, I’ll skip WvW for a week.
Yak’s Bend was Full at 7pm GMT tonight. It was Full most of the weekend. GW2 is a hit and it’s going to stay a hit, possibly the first MMO to manage it since WoW. Take your time and smell those roses. We’re here for the long haul :P
You were actually named in a rough draft because your style is how I want to be playing it. I just have this OCD achiever itch… not as bad as some though. Still I do feel pressure in some areas… some my own fault, some ArenaNet’s.
Why do you want level 80 loot, as a mater of interest? You can buy an entire suit of Exotic armor for Karma or make it with relative ease by crafting. Is there any real reason to go looking for drops?
Because it is worth more or has a better market. Maybe there is no difference in ultimate gold/action or gold/hour but I am sick of getting level 74-76 drops when I am 80. It’s all mind games! |o_o|
If you really enjoy achieving I think it’s brilliant to go for all the achievements you can get. Mrs Bhagpuss certainly gets more out of Map Completion and Achievements than I do. I only query it when people start to sound like they are doing things in a way they’d rather not be doing them because someone in an office somewhere stuck an icon on a map and made up an achievement for going there.
I feel a little aimless at times since hitting 80. And although I like to play similar to Bhag, do what I want when I want, GW2 doesn’t have any grind-worthy elements for me. I like decent gear but won’t grind for stats. ugh. I’m also not much of a completist outside getting to max level, seeing instances and finishing whatever crafting professions I’ve chosen. Oh yeah, I also don’t do alts. LOL
What keeps me going is a real crafting market (don’t mind farming mats), raiding or player housing. GW2 is very light of the first 2 and missing the last altogether. Crafting kept me in WOW long after I was over it. EQ2 housing kept me playing years after I’d decided I hated their quest system and dumped leveling for being a carpenter and house decorator. Richest I’ve even been in any MMO. LOL
I really enjoy GW2. I love Tyria. I don’t want to wander away from it like I did Rift after I’d done the dungeons. Thank goodness there’s no sub so I don’t have to make an explicit decision. I can just keep coming back for more when more is available
Take a break from the game, you’ll find that your ocd tendencies will lessen when you realize that game objectives are really trivial good-to-haves, and that the more important objective is to do what you really want to do and having fun doing it in-game. It’s like stepping away from the MMO rat race. Except that in gw2, you won’t be feeling like a 2nd class citizen if you don’t chase prescribed ‘endgame’ goals.
On a semi unrelated note; I still dont understand why gifts of exploration require heart filling. they have nothing to do with exploration. In fact they should completely remove heart filling as a requirement for anything. Completely ruins my free to roam spirit.
While they are on it they should also make karma account based too, this character based currency thing doesnt sit well with gw2 where everything else is account based.
grumble grumble..
Congrats on 100%! I’m normally not an achievement kind of gamer, but something about the way GW2 does it has drawn me in. Personally, I’ll never get to 100%, so I see it as quite an accomplishment. Good work.