Aggro range increased... again...

[Gehenna.3625]

@"Tyranni.9780" said:Ok, As a new player I'm trying really hard here to get a handle on what's in store for me if/when I ever make it to the higher levels.

Am I understanding this right? It seems that the words "casual" and "open world" have a different meaning here than in other games? The game is promoted as being casual in the open world, (and players have assured me that min/maxing & power gaming isn't a requirement). It's what attracted me to this game and I'm finding it's somewhat true in the newbie 1-15 areas but even there it's almost too much at times and starts getting tedious after a while. In the 15-25 areas, which I've just started getting into, even more-so.GW2 is a game that has a particularly hard time deciding what it is. Min/maxing is not required but it does make a helluva difference. So with a casual build you can generally beat the content in the Open World but it might take you 10 seconds to kill a mob that others smash down in two hits.

So if you don't want the maps to be tedious and feel like a drag then a casual build won't do unless you're a very patient person. It does get a lot better when you get mounts but that's the latest expansion and when I went through that the first time it was terribly tedious till I got the mounts sorted. Luckily the mounts are account unlocks so then all your other or subsequent characters will automatically have them. Of course with the aggro range being what it is, it can still be annoying when you get pulled off your mount.

Some people say that you can learn to dodge mobs and how to get through them or passed them efficiently. This is generally true but does require some effort on your part. The problem I have there is that even though I've gotten pretty good at that now, it takes an active effort to do so and I still can't find many places where I can just stand and look around, take some screenshots and generally taking in the scenery before moving on. Patrolling mobs, high respawn rates and moving events all add to the aggro range issue.

It seems the game aims to constantly keep you on your toes. It creates sort of a hypervigilance which is normally a topic that falls under mental illness topics. Not to say the game creates mental illness but I do put question marks at this idea that the game assumes you're a person with a short attention span that needs to be kept busy at all times...cause that's what it does feel like.

The game itself has casual elements and non-casual elements and doesn't really separate them properly. For example, character builds (min/maxing) is actually rather complex in this game. The solution tends to be that people copy builds from websites and learn to use them. But if you look at it yourself without that, it's very tricky to figure what works best and what gear, stats etc. to combine it with. It's weird because the content itself doesn't require this complexity but they put it in anyway.

Now have raided quite a bit in other games. So I wouldn't normally be a casual player but in this game I have chosen to be a casual player because structured group content here doesn't interest me. This is down to the combat mechanics, character builds, encounter mechanics of boss fights and such. So I play this game in doses. Since I was a raider before I have an edge on the casual player but by playing content as a casual player I'm fine. Just get a bit bored after a while and then take a break.

For you as a new player I can only be honest and say that it won't get better until you're level 80 and have mounts. You can then equip better gear and have mounts with more speed, flying, jumping etc. so you can get over terrain more easily and dodge enemies. You'll have to learn ways to avoid the tedium or you'll have to go the min/max way to make combat a breeze instead of a chore. But that's not the casual way. The result is that open world is generally too easy for non-casuals and annoyingly tedious for casuals. It would be nice if they were able to do things in a way to have the best of both worlds but so far their attempts have created something that isn't really working that well for either group. Map completion makes it a bit better cause at least you have something to shoot for. But this game, in spite of being casual oriented, isn't actually as casual as you would expect.

Particularly in the last few years a game like SWTOR is much more casual than this game. One reason is the better mob spacing and lower aggro ranges as well as having a taxi system on maps and mounts that you can get at lower levels (20-25ish and you can buy an item to get them sooner) right away. Doesn't mean that everything's perfect there either and it's not a fantasy setting but star wars but as far as catering to casual players is concerned, that game is definitely more casual than this one. Didn't use to be but it has been for some years now.

GW2 is just an odd mix in that sense and I feel is too focused on annoying players than just letting them do their thing and that can get annoying.

[Bunny.9834]

sometimes I get put on combat from just harvesting winterberries... no griffon, no wolf, no spiders. by

[battledrone.8315]

@DragonSlayer.1087 said:sometimes I get put on combat from just harvesting winterberries... no griffon, no wolf, no spiders. by

well, you are attacking the berries, so its only fair that they get to fight back. plants are people too, you know....

[Sobx.1758]

@OP aggro range increase seems to make sense with the introduction of mounts.

@DragonSlayer.1087 said:sometimes I get put on combat from just harvesting winterberries... no griffon, no wolf, no spiders. by

I farmed a lot of that and never had that problem. You might be missing something there unless something recently changed about winterberry farm, which I doubt.

[Bunny.9834]

@Sobx.1758 said:@OP aggro range increase seems to make sense with the introduction of mounts.

@DragonSlayer.1087 said:sometimes I get put on combat from just harvesting winterberries... no griffon, no wolf, no spiders. by

I farmed a lot of that and never had that problem. You might be missing something there unless something recently changed about winterberry farm, which I doubt.

It's always this one spot by the river. I don't understand why it happens either. It's been happening since I started farming there during PoF launch. It's not consistent either.