A returning player's perspective

Hi there, (long post),

Christine from Austin Tx here. Hope you all are well. First things first. GW2 is my favorite game and am so glad to be playing each day with you wonderful people. Also great to have my friends in guild and my boys playing too. Much fun.

That out of the way, I started with the original GW1, played Factions and Nightfall....was here (GW2) for Open beta weekends and started day one in 2012. Played GW2 strong for two years plus and had a ball doing so. Came from Wow, EQ and a host of other MMOs and RPGs along the way. And fell in love with Gw2's environments, open world gameplay, unique event system, World vs World was like a drug and did I mention how beautiful the world is -- just being online in the game was therapeutic. It was Bliss. Strong guild, lots of friends, running dungeons, getting Been there done that completed, enjoying all the features it had to offer. Gaming life was good.....

And then, it wasn't. Players started to play less often, dungeon runs got repetitive, everyone was at max Exotic gear and the ALT game was the main dish to satisfy hardcore PVE players (which it didn't). Sure daily events, newly introduced story elements via the Living story and as always (PvP and WvW) kept things 'alive', but make no mistake, some of GW2's luster was rubbing off.

I found myself here, sometime in early 2016....the forums. Egads! Dangerous place. I am disappointed the post is no longer online as it was one of those with, no kidding many hundreds (if not thousands) of replies. A thread that made the point that GW2 needed "something else" for progression oriented players, an end game of sorts. It was a plea for "ADDING" something that the game didn't have (at the time). It was a post that as I recall was balanced, level headed and possessed nothing flame worthy....

Yet the responses it received were, let's just call them....passionate. Some called me a heretic, others blasphemy. Some came to my defense and echoed my requests. Reading the thread from start to finish you couldn't avoid the conclusion that the GW2 community had an identity issue....and there was broad based dissention in how to evolve the game.

The short version is me along with my kids and numerous friends stopped playing soon thereafter. We tried a number of other games, none of them really making a mark. Leaving was hard. I never stopped loving GW2.....but I did get to a point where I felt like the game wasn't giving me what I (and many many many) others want from an MMO --- which is diversity, options, casual, hardcore, end game, progression.....etc.

Now in the Autumn of 2017 we have returned....and hallelujah are we glad we did. Played through HOT, Season 3 and have experienced the Ascended gear system, a revised progression oriented dungeon system (Fractals) and wait for it, wait for it...yes RAIDING. I think my Guardian's tomes just burned themselves into ashes. Praise be to Balthazar! uh, wait a minute...okay maybe not Balthazar.

And low and behold the game is better than ever. It's an AND thing. Casual gaming wasn't disrupted, all the wonderful elements the GW franchise is known for still exist and have been maintained without prejudice. AND we now have end game. We have multiple ways to progress our characters and an environment that suits a multitude of gameplay types. The game is better than it's ever been and we now get POF. Mounts, hopefully an expanded Fractal system, more raids, bounties and more more more. Yes please. Thank you. And IF, IF, they decide that at some point Ascended isn't the END ALL BE ALL and there is something better - maybe beyond Legendaries -- that wont be a BAD thing either.

I do want to shout out to Wooden Potatoes (who's channel I absolutely adore) who summed things up PERFECTLY!

Cheers to you all. See you in game.Christine

Yay! Welcome back :) I think GW is in a much better place and has found a direction that is working well. I have high hopes that PoF will continue to deliver. Prior to and just after HoT release I think the game was struggling to find their footing and it was a bit rough.

A side note, if your post was in 2016, Hot had already been released and raiding, fractal progression, ascended armor, etc had already been introduced. I'm wondering if you're remembering the timing of your post right. (not a big deal, just noticed it)

Welcome back! And thanks for sharing your thoughts!

GW2 always had a special place in my heart, even throughout my own long break from the game. While I don't regret having experienced other games, MMO or otherwise, returning to Tyria this April felt so... right.

Hope you have fun, and see you in the Crystal Desert!

Yeah, I haven't played since before HoT, but I probably put in 500+ hours the first couple years. I'm coming back to give it a try again. I'm not sure I'll buy HoT as the setting and areas didn't interest me, not to mention all the stuff will be irrelevant now (although I would like to give Reaper a try, but at the current price it doesn't seem worth it just for that.). PoF sounds like a lot more fun in terms of the areas and content IMO, thats why I decided to come back and give it another shot. Hoping to pick it up later this week. Plan to run a few Fractals (the new system came out after I left) and check out some of the new items skins available before making my decision.

welcome back. End game was always an issue at release. And they have addressed that. YAY

First of all, welcome back. :)

And while I agree with many of the points you made, I must disagree with one: IMO, it is not "better than ever", because it lacks personalized content. To me, the biggest fun part of PvE was the personal storyline, where you really felt the character you were playing. Nowadays, your race and your choice of personality during character creation no longer matter -- every player character is behaving the exact same way, even if it's 100% out-of-character for their race (or their personality and background choice). There are zero options to choose a different path (or even dialogue) in order to get to a story's goal. And that, to me, is currently the biggest downside of GW2.

Just an FYI: You can retrieve the post you mentioned, as the old forums are still viable. You can click on 'Forum Profile' and then 'See all messages by...' to read/save any and/or all your old posts. https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum

Welcome return, and good luck.

Welcome back to Tyria! I hope that you fall in love with the game all over again. Also, the skritt keep stealing my cookies. XD