Halloween Impressions plus Rants!

As we enter Act 4 of Guild Wars 2's Halloween event, I wanted to take the time and write down my thoughts on it.

This has been AMAZING. Each Act has introduced a little more to see and do without being overwhelming. It really felt like it was ramping up to the Mad King's return which was truly exciting to behold and led to a new and very visually well done dungeon. For me, the whole event has gone off without a hitch. I've found no bugs but I understand that hasn't been the case for everyone. Overall, I think ArenaNet nailed it. They breathed life into the holiday again and brought back with a vengeance a much loved (and feared) character from the first game. And a big shoutout to the wiki and walkthrough community like GuildWars2Insider who were on the ball with the Scavenger Hunt walkthroughs within an hour of each Act.

Now for the rants and I've got a couple this time.

Let me say first that this does not include the vast majority of the playerbase despite my generalizations, that being said: I am sick and tired of the whining, self-centered, entitled asshats who complain about everything.. and I do mean -everything-.

ArenaNet is not at fault or responsible for the fact that a hurricane is tearing apart the east coast despite the insistence of certain posters on the official forums. Now I admit, I don't often have my priorities straight but I think most everyone can agree that worrying more about yourself, your family, and your property before a hurricane hits is quite a bit more important than begging for a holiday extension because you can't bear to miss a cutscene that hundreds will be recording and posting on Youtube within 30 minutes of it.

That made me shake my head but it doesn't get under my skin the way that the loot obsessed masses do. I had a conversation in map chat in Lion's Arch recently that went a bit like this:

Asshat: The loot rewards for the Mad King's dungeon are pathetic.

Me: You could've gotten nothing.

Asshat: Nothing would've been better. A 10 slot bag is just insulting. Who uses 10 slot bags anymore?

Me: Um, everyone who can't afford 5g for 20 slot bags?

I can't even begin to put into words how ridiculously entitled and how much of an ass that person sounded. I felt a little better that many people in map chat joined me in calling that person out. What really gets me is that person's sentiments are shared by a lot of people. I've seen it over and over in various chats, be it map, party, or guild - "this loot is crap!"

I come from a time in gaming where you were -lucky- if you got loot for your time. And I know how dated and old that makes me sound but it's true. I would spend hours raiding Molten Core, several days a week and I would only see one item a month for all my time. ONE ITEM. Whether the guild used DKP (dragon killing points) or seniority (whatever person of a certain class was there longest had first choice of the loot) or whatever other system you can devise, you rarely got loot and when you did it was exciting. But, as the years wore on, things changed and people began demanding that things be given to them for minimal effort or that any effort be rewarded and out of fear of losing customers, gaming companies gave into those demands and set the stage for that expectation of every game. ArenaNet doesn't have to award loot for every encounter and for some world bosses they simply don't and when they do it's a chance to be good loot, not a guarantee.

TL;DR version: Stop whining about loot. Guild Wars 2 isn't even a game that relies on stats. There comes a point where you will not find anything better than what you have and ectoplasms are meant to be rare. Use +magic find and take the luck of the draw.

Attack of the Plague Bearers!

Some of you might undoubtedly noticed a lack of posts for a couple weeks now, I seem to have come down with something that has just utterly sapped my strength and will to do anything but mindlessly zone out. It's my hope that I'll be able to kick whatever this is and get back to writing.

Thank you all for your patience and have a Happy Halloween!

Catching Alt-itis

I've been thinking a lot this past week about alts, specifically that I never really have in other games but that's a completely different story in Guild Wars 2.

In Everquest 1 I had my warrior to start but eventually switched and stayed on an enchanter. In Star Wars Galaxies I had my dancer and no other characters. In World of Warcraft I bounced around a lot in the first year till I found my niche and then stayed with being a Holy Priest for almost 5 years. And finally, in Everquest 2 I've been a Fury (and still am) for 2 ½ years with no other alts that I play.

Not hard to see the trend there, I find what I like best and never switch up in any game I play for a long time. It's always been that way...until now.

Right now I have my main (Elementalist) at level 80 with still plenty more to do on her and I love playing her but I'm also actively leveling a warrior, a thief, and a ranger. I've never felt the need, want or compulsion to make alts after I find my niche and any alts I do make are then left on a shelf to become dusty and neglected... poor little unloved alts.

I think the best part of it for me has been that no matter how many times I've been through the starting zones, and I've been through them a lot (Caledon: 4, Queensdale: 3, Wayfarer Hills: 4, Metrica Province: 1, Ashford: 2), it's different. Every time I go through these zones the only repetitive part for me is the hearts. Even if the dynamic events are the same they don't happen the way they did on other characters and I've seen events on some that I have never seen on others. That alone has made it worth it to go through again and again.

So what about you, readers, do you like making alts in Guild Wars 2 more or less than other games? Do you find the content tedious and exhausting after the first character or do you relish finding new events and undiscovered nooks you didn't see the first time through?

Endgame: Hope for the Future

This topic is one that's being covered a lot lately and with good reason. This post is just my two cents and I will try to keep it brief and without repeating a lot of points already made or veering off into a rant. So, here we are, a month into the game and a lot of people have hit a wall of sorts, myself included. Before I start in on this topic, let me first say that I still love Guild Wars 2. I think it's a fantastic game even with it's flaws and I am not giving up on this game.

There seems to be two trains of thought when it comes to Guild Wars 2 and it's endgame: those who have wholly embraced the idea of getting off the gear treadmill and taking a laid back attitude towards leveling and simply enjoying the game for all it's beauty and splendor and those who rush to level 80, finish all maps quickly and then are unhappy when there's no gear to pursue or raids to keep them busy.. or anything to keep busy with, honestly.

No matter which side you're on you may have begun to feel the emptiness I have felt nipping at me. The lack of draw to log in each chance that comes along. I could play every day but I don't as often as I did in the first few weeks. There's things I want to do in game, sure. I want to get my crafting skills to 400. I want to get my map finished. I want to make my Legendary. I want to level my other characters. I have so much I want to do but I feel no pull to log in and do them. Why?

I think Tr1age and the gang at ALTTABME.COM have some great thoughts on Endgame in their podcast and I definitely recommend it for anyone looking to come at the issue from all angles. (Warning: there are a few Zhaitan spoilers in this video.)

What some people may not realize, and I certainly didn't as I never played the first, is that Guild Wars 1 has a lot of the amenities that we lack in Guild Wars 2. What does that mean? It means that in the future we can look forward to ArenaNet adding in things like guild halls and possibly housing (which could mean the inclusion of a carpenter tradeskill, I hope!) because the infrastructure is already there in the game. We may see something like the Hall of Monuments and actual titles we can display, collections that give rewards, new achievements, et cetera. We know that they can put in these things, and I believe that they will and that they will make good on their commitment to adding new events Live to change the feel of a zone.

At the moment, Guild Wars 2 feels incomplete and released before it was ready but I have hope that in the coming months patches will alleviate a lot of that feeling and give me even more reason to log in every chance I get. It's that knowledge and that hope that is going to keep me in this game for a long time to come.