OK OK, total clickbait title. I am so very, very far from completing all the content available for Guild Wars 2 and even if/when I do that, can one ever really beat an MMO?

So here’s what really happened. In a convulsion of actual humanity, someone at my company decided to close our offices at 1 PM on Friday in celebration of the 3-day weekend. And against all odds I was actually free by 1:30 or so (usually there’s 1 tryhard somewhere in the company that insists on continuing to work and who needs support). That meant I had a few hours to myself with no chores to do and no obligations to partner or doggo, which doesn’t happen too often. And I had one mission left in the “My Story” part of Guild Wars 2 which, I THINK, was the ‘end’ of the tale when the game launched.

It’s fortunate I had those hours too, because it was a LONG mission; it took about 90 minutes start to finish. I’m not sure what would have happened if I’d been forced to stop part-way through but I’m hoping it would have ‘checkpointed’ my progress so I wouldn’t have had to start all over again when I came back. So was it worth doing?

In terms of story and characters, yeah it was. I’ve grown fond of this band of leaders of the world’s different factions. The story itself was fine but for me it was the characters that I really enjoyed. Even the ancillary characters who’re hanging around in the background can be amusing to watch and listen to.

In terms of rewards, well I got a level 80 Exotic helm, something I’d been about to buy off the trading post, so yeah definitely worth it for the rewards.

In terms of gameplay it was kind of a mixed bag. The straight-up battles were fun but there was a bit too much ‘gimmick’ fighting in it for my tastes. I don’t want to get into spoilers but it was one of those cases where you, the player, has to do several things at once while your ‘allies’ stand around and watch you. I get why they do this: so you can be the Big Damned Hero, but logically it bugs me. Like we’re saving the world, maybe get off your lazy butts and help!? 🙂

But I was really glad to finish, 12 years after buying the game. In terms of hours spent on this character, it was around 55 but of course I was doing a lot of stuff besides story missions.

So what’s next? Living World Season 1, which I almost immediately dove into. Haven’t got far yet but the bump in challenge is pretty welcome. From the very start the fights have been more interesting and there’s this little side story where one of your companions is being followed around by a baby creature and it is just so darned adorable. I hope nothing happens to it!

What I’m wrestling with now is whether to push on with my current character or try a different profession for a while. There’s a LOT of content yet to do and while I like my Warrior well enough maybe there’s a profession I’d like even more. Still pondering this…

The last time I talked about Guild Wars 2 I was in a bit of a slump after being my own worst enemy and basically turning the game into a chore to get through rather than a journey of pleasure. I took a few days more or less off which helped to clear my mental palate, and over the weekend jumped back in.

This time I went back to playing the way I favor which is, yes, to follow the “My Story” quests but to travel from one to the next on foot, allowing myself to be constantly distracted by events and vistas and whatever else pops up as I slowly uncover parts of the map. I really enjoy this style of play and I am not looking forward to having the whole map revealed, but I guess I have a ways to go before that is a problem.

So far I had one fight that was really tough (one fight that I should have been able to do on my own, I mean…clearly there are PLENTY of group fights that kick my butt) and for that one I needed to sleep on the fight, think of new ideas (and the game gave me hints along those lines, I just wasn’t listening) and then try them. Doing that I beat the fight the next day and it was really satisfying. So more of that, please.

If I AM going to have a real issue with Guild Wars 2, it might be due to what many people see as the game’s strength: the horizontal progression aspect. Right now my character is level 80 but her gear is not. Some of it is. Some of it is lower level than that. Then there’s the question of tier quality. The game pushes you towards having Exotic gear in each slot and I’m not there yet. The top 3 gear tiers are Exotic, Ascended and then Legendary but everyone says Legendary offers quality of life improvements but not better stats. So level 80 Ascended gear has the best stats in the game. And I’m already being urged to equip level 80 Exotic, which is just 1 tier down.

Thing is, I actually like the gear grind and farming for better gear and making my character more powerful. I have a ways to go before I have all level 80 Ascended gear, unless I watch one of the many “How to gear up fast” videos and follow along. But I DON’T want to go the trading post and just buy gear that some other player has crafted or found; where’s the enjoyment in that? Getting your gear is half the fun of MMOs for me!

So I was kind of in a dilemma and then Stargrace shared a game-changing tip with me. (PixelOne had told me about this earlier but it went right over my head because stuff goes in one ear and out the other with me.) There’s an item in the shop called the World Boss Portal Device. It costs 400 Gems ($5 US assuming you buy them for cash) but OMG it is awesome. You use it and it tells you what world bosses are close to spawning and it will portal you to their location. And just to make it even greater, you can set it up so it notifies you in text chat 10 minutes before a boss spawns, too.

For guildless, friendless players like me, this is a game changer. I used it to do two boss fights in a row and my only “gripe” is then I had to spend a bunch of time sorting through all the loot that I got from doing them! Most of it was salvage or trading post fodder but I did get a couple of upgrades from it, and that was from just 2 bosses and maybe an hour of playing. So now I know that whenever I want to change things up and work on getting some good gear “drops”, I can use this device to jump in a zerg attack on a world boss. Super fun stuff! Oh and it just so happened one of the bosses was Tequatl again, and this time I was actually contributing thanks to having a rifle in my bag.

I still worry a bit about what will keep me engaged once I DO get all my gear, but that’s really just borrowing trouble because it’s a long way off and I do still have a bevy of alts to level up and gear up. I feel like I’m happiest in Guild Wars 2 when I just do my thing and don’t worry about the future, though that can be tough for me. I’m a born worrier.

So yeah, still enjoying myself now that I stopped fixating on getting through the content as quickly and efficiently as possible. We’ll see how long I can balance Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft but honestly if I AM going to play 2 MMOs at once, this feels like a good pair since they scratch different itches. Guild Wars 2 with its more action-y combat and vast world that is about ‘go do whatever, whenever’ and WOW with its tab target combat and strong quest lines to follow along (and yes, it’s lovely gear treadmill).

I tell you what, there are worse problems than having TWO games you’re currently enjoying!

OK I’m pretty sure the title is a lie. It’s more than likely that WAY back at launch I took part in a world boss battle, but I have no recollection of doing so. Also, this is kind of a thrown together lazy Sunday post, so apologies for that.

The other morning I was in-game, doing hearts and working on “My Story” when a call went out that a World Boss group was forming for an event that took place in an hour. AN HOUR? I ignored it because that was forever away. But I was still playing when the call went out that it was happening in 15 minutes so I started move towards the “Commander” making the call.

You can join a Squad just by clicking on a Commander (which is another player who… I dunno how they become a Commander, but it’s presumably an experienced player). So I joined their squad. No idea how many players can join a squad but it seemed, y’know, raid-sized.

I was a total fish out of water. Another player helpfully suggested I use a ranged weapon (I’m playing a Warrior) but I didn’t have one, so I hung back and mostly helped to res fallen fighters and to clear out the riff raff mobs on the perimeter.

Want to know what world boss it was? I have no idea! Want to know what zone it was in? I don’t even know that. I was just in my own little world when the call went out. I never really know where I am in Guild Wars 2, just always working my way towards that green asterisk thingie that indicates the next step in your story quest. I have find that going from one to the next on foot rather than teleport, and doing hearts and stuff along the way, has kept me pretty closed to leveled up enough to just keep rolling along, but I pay NO attention to where I am.

Oh wait, I took screenshots! It was Tequatl the Sunless!

I’m not sure I did any damage to the actual boss. At the end was a chest that looked like a trophy and I couldn’t seem to interact with it (image at the top of the post is of the chest, quite elaborate, no?), but what made the whole thing fun was seeing so many more advanced players in all their shiny armor and fancy mounts and stuff. It was a real spectacle and very aspirational. I can’t wait to keep moving through the game, learning new stuff, exploring new areas… I’m pretty jazzed about Guild Wars 2 now!

Before I started playing the new Diablo IV Season I had been playing Guild Wars 2 quite a bit. I am very much not ready to let go of that game so I have to figure out a way to balance things out a little. Both games have a bit of time pressure attached to them: the Diablo IV season will end, and Guild Wars 2 has a new expansion coming very soon (and come to think of it, D4 has an expansion in a couple months).

I’ve had a Guild Wars 2 account pretty much since it launched. According to the /age command my account is 4,366 days old. That’s not to say I’ve played a lot. I have a bunch of characters but only 3 of note.

I have a level 80 but that character did a lot of his leveling by logging in every day and collecting the daily experience rewards they used to dish out. This character has a play time of about 47 hours. He was my first character back when leveling was presumably the slowest it has ever been, but most days I’d log in, grab the daily rewards and log out. I don’t think he moved an inch for about 20 levels!

I have a level 56 character that I actually played all the way to level 56, and his play time is 67 hours; I honestly don’t remember much about playing him.

My current “main” is level 70 Warrior with a play time of 32 hours. I’ve been using a bunch of exp buffs on her which might explain why she seems to be leveling faster than the level 56, or maybe the game itself has been tweaked to speed up leveling. Not sure.

Then I have some even lower levels not worth talking about. Grand total play time is 225 hours which averages out to like 18:45/year. 🙂 Obviously in reality the game just laid dormant for years at a time. (I seem to be injecting a lot of math into my blog posts lately for some reason.)

Anyway, yes when I came back after several years away I of course started a new character to “re-learn to play” and I of course grew attached to her and so just kept on. I have a ton of level boosts in my inventory so I could’ve just boosted her to level 80 but I figured that would defeat the point of playing a new character to re-learn. Plus it feels cheat-ie. One of my weird quirks… using a %exp booster is fine. Using an level skip boost feels like cheating!

Right now she is still in the base game story. My intention as of now is to play through all the content in order. With 10 years of content that will take me quite a while, I reckon. I own the first couple of expansion packs but have been resisting buying others until I catch up. And after 32 hours I am still baffled by a lot of things. I have a ton of hero points that I’m holding onto because I have no idea what to do with them after I have all my skill slots full, and I’m not really struggling much with the content unless I wander into an event that needs a big group and there aren’t enough of us there.

I’ve been trying to learn to be patient about games. I find that just playing and slowly figuring things out is more rewarding than googling or watching YouTube videos and then just emulating what some other player is doing. Since I’m not in an active guild, if I am doing it wrong I’m only hurting myself, and if I’m having fun I’m really NOT hurting myself even if I die over and over!

I am looking forward to how things change at level 80. It’s strange how much I’ve been changing as a gamer in recent years. I’ve mentioned a few times that these days it is much less common for me to get super hyped for an upcoming game and to jump in on Day 1, and I’ve been getting a lot more satisfaction out of playing older games that have had some years of patching and polish. But another change is that the old me tended to lose interest in a game once a character hit level cap. I was so addicted to the dopamine hit of the DINGS! that once there were no more levels to gain I either rolled an alt or moved to a new game. Now I’m much more liable to keep on playing (~glances over at his level 313 Fallout 76 character~) and exploring the game’s systems and nuances.

So yeah, no giant landmarks to celebrate in Guild Wars 2 just now, but I did want to get a post about out because it deserves the attention!! 🙂

Last week I mentioned how Divinity: Original Sin’s miserly dolling out of levels had me itching to jump into an MMO to level up! After flopping around a bit I’ve settled on Guild Wars 2 as my ‘dabble in’ MMO (for now).

I left Guild Wars 2 mostly because of their event system. For holiday events as well as their Living World stuff, I felt like the developers expected me to schedule my life around playing a game since the opportunities were of such a short duration and (for the Living World stuff) once you missed it, it was gone for good. That’s kinda my “I don’t believe in the game’s principles” reason why I left.

The other reason I left was a self-inflicted wound. (This wasn’t really obvious to me until this weekend when I went back.) I was trying to do crafting and my crafting alt needed these rare low-level drops. In order to maximize my chance for getting those, I was doing nothing but the low-level zones, trying to get 100% completion in each one before moving on to the other. So I was in my 30’s but doing level 1-15 zones (downscaled) and ignoring the “My Story” narrative stuff. I remember being adamant that I wouldn’t buy the materials I needed from the Auction House because that was ‘cheating.’ What evs, me-from-the-past!

Anyway back to the present. With Living World Season 2 the Guild Wars team is doing things differently. While it’s still probably most rewarding to do the season 2 content as it arrives, you will be able to replay it after the fact. That was enough to snag my interest. If I fault a game developer for doing things one way, and then they change things, I feel like it’s only fair that you give them another chance.

The first thing I did was log into my Guardian, who was sitting at level 40. Holy smokes, lots of things have changed (and/or been forgotten by me) since I last played. Currencies are all now account-wide (I think that’s new?) as are dye unlocks. There’s a new wardrobe system and transmute ‘charges’ are also account-wide, and there’s a magic find stat that, again, is now account wide. I had a bunch of inventory stuff that had been converted and in general my bags, both character and bank, were STUFFED full of stuff I didn’t know what to do with.

So I logged right back out and created a new character, a Necromancer. LOL With empty bags and a light heart, I started to play as a noob and immediately started having fun. Rather than chase map completion I was leveling just enough to take on the next chapter of my story at an even level. When I had questions I turned to twitter and got a ton of good advice from friends.

After 7 or 8 levels I was ready to face the Guardian again. I spent a good chunk of time over the weekend clearing out inventory, salvaging a ton of stuff, crafting up extra bags for my alts (I have, um, 7 characters, only 1 above level 15) and even deleting stuff (I had character-bound stuff for characters I’d deleted clogging up my bank.)

Finally I had things under control and headed out to see the world. And my goodness how things have changed! Lion’s Arch has been destroyed. Divinity’s Reach is in good shape with some beautiful new buildings. What caused all this? I had no idea, I wasn’t paying attention while all this was going on and now I regret it. Happily for me, a friend wrote up a recap. Unhappily for you, it’s not in a public post so I can’t share it. 🙁 But you can read the Wiki for a less entertaining version of the story.

I looked up my guardian’s “My Story” and read through the recap to remind myself what was going on, then set about moving it forward. I’m doing level 30 “My Story” content on my level 40 character; that’s how long things have been neglected. Over the course of the weekend I leveled from 40 to 43. I unlocked (just by logging in) the first part of Season 2 but I need to get to 80 before I can take part, but at least I’ll be able to play through a ‘recap’ when I get there.

The only fly in the ointment is my class. Compared to playing the Necromancer, the Guardian feels a little dull. He has high survivability (for now at least) and he’s probably a lot of fun in groups since so many of his skills benefit group members. But playing solo he feels kind of routine and scaled down like he is I can win most 1-on-1 battles by putting his first skill on auto-attack. I’m hoping he’ll get more interesting as I get close to content that is of my true level, and maybe start encountering other players.

He IS fun to play when trying to solo events and other situations were many enemies are incoming at once. I’m guessing I’ll see more such situations as I advance.

I feel like I’m over that “oh crap, how does this all work” hump that you so often encounter when going back to a game after a long time away. I’m having fun, at least for now. We’ll see how long it lasts this time, but hey it’s not costing me anything to play. In fact I kind of feel like I should buy some gems just to support the game since the last time I spent a dime on it was at launch. Opening another bank bag slot wouldn’t be a terrible idea…

Also, I’d forgotten Eir and her totally functional armor. Oh Eir, you’re so dreamy!!!