Trying to understand the community as a returning (or new) player

[Drast.8532]

Most everyone I have met in game has been kind and friendly and for the most part as helpful as they can be. Until I ask a question about a specific part of the game and immediately get slammed with the response wiki it. Look its been a month now of people telling me to wiki this or that. So assume its been at least 3.8 weeks of me searching it for myself first. That wiki does not have all the information everyone claims it does. Yes it has a lot and I use it often if not constantly. I also seem to get everyone telling me to slow down and not do this or do that. I even had a player tell me I was wrong for skipping content.
Latest exmaple: I am trying to find a list or anything at this point, on what metas/bosses that drop infusions are once a day chances or multiple chances. Now I got it down to the open world pve infusions sections on the wiki. Got it, I know where to go but not how many times. I ask my question. After back and forth explaining I have searched I am searching and trying to find it on my own, I then get told I am wasting my time trying to get an infusion I should just farm the gold. I don't think what I do with my time to farm that gold should matter. I was also told repeatedly to slow down on skyscale or take your time for this and that.
These have no been the same people, these have no been one off isolated events.

As an attempt to understand the community I have these two questions:
Why does it seem you are not allowed to ask questions about this game to people in game? (And not just get the response /wiki)
Why does a portion of the community want to fight me on how I play?

[Ellon.4316]

4 minutes ago, Drast.8532 said:

Why does it seem you are not allowed to ask questions about this game to people in game? (And not just get the response /wiki)

It’s not that you are not allowed to ask questions. More so that not everyone knows everything. For example your infusion question, I think most are daily only but it is safer to point to the wiki for precise info. Rather point someone to information then give false information. 

5 minutes ago, Drast.8532 said:

Why does a portion of the community want to fight me on how I play?

No matter what you do or how you play someone somewhere will think you are doing it wrong. If you are having fun (without ruining the fun of others) then you’re playing correctly.

[Freya.9075]

I think part of this is how accessible wiki is. And many parts of the game is better explained by the wiki as certain parts would take a long time to explain. Asking what meta/bosses that drops infusions would not be easy to answer by most players as there are so many different ones. It would require the persons you ask to wiki it themselves and then answer you in map chat. 
 

We have a kind community and I know answers will be provided if the question is easy to answer. But wiki will be a huge part of the game if you want to dive deep into it. 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Freya.9075

[Drast.8532]

In my above example I have searched the wiki and still cannot find a clear answer. Some say once a day per character or account. That's fine that's clear. The others say nothing. Am I to assume then it is as many times as a day as you can do it?
These posed questions to others were met with battling me on trying for infusions and reiterating the wiki should tell me.

[Sobx.1758]

25 minutes ago, Drast.8532 said:

Most everyone I have met in game has been kind and friendly and for the most part as helpful as they can be. Until I ask a question about a specific part of the game and immediately get slammed with the response wiki it. Look its been a month now of people telling me to wiki this or that. So assume its been at least 3.8 weeks of me searching it for myself first. That wiki does not have all the information everyone claims it does. Yes it has a lot and I use it often if not constantly. I also seem to get everyone telling me to slow down and not do this or do that. I even had a player tell me I was wrong for skipping content.
Latest exmaple: I am trying to find a list or anything at this point, on what metas/bosses that drop infusions are once a day chances or multiple chances. Now I got it down to the open world pve infusions sections on the wiki. Got it, I know where to go but not how many times. I ask my question. After back and forth explaining I have searched I am searching and trying to find it on my own, I then get told I am wasting my time trying to get an infusion I should just farm the gold. I don't think what I do with my time to farm that gold should matter. I was also told repeatedly to slow down on skyscale or take your time for this and that.
These have no been the same people, these have no been one off isolated events.

As an attempt to understand the community I have these two questions:
Why does it seem you are not allowed to ask questions about this game to people in game? (And not just get the response /wiki)
Why does a portion of the community want to fight me on how I play?

Hard to say since different people can have different reasoning. Not knowing what exactly you wrote is another puzzle piece which could direct at the type of responses you got.

For example, why did someone direct you to wiki? Maybe they attempted to "give you a fishing rod" rather than "a fish". Or maybe they didn't know and instead of "wiki-ing it for you", they adviced you to do it yourself. Why did people tell you not to rush? Again, who knows, it depends on the person responding as well as what exactly you wrote. Maybe you've sounded like you're complaining about the acquisition. Or maybe it was clear you're completely new to the game, lacked base understanding of the game and instead tried skipping over it to a reward you wanted. Plenty of different reasons available and not enough information about the situation to just pick one.

10 minutes ago, Drast.8532 said:

The others say nothing. Am I to assume then it is as many times as a day as you can do it?

Yup, probably.

Edited January 18, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Danikat.8537]

It's not that you're 'not allowed' to ask, it's that you're asking questions which don't have a quick and simple answer so trying to type it out in chat would be time consuming and possibly confusing (especially if other people are talking in the same channel so it gets broken up) and it's likely no one has the answer memorised, so it's easier for everyone involved if you look at a page where someone has already written a detailed answer.
 

Just now, Drast.8532 said:

In my above example I have searched the wiki and still cannot find a clear answer. Some say once a day per character or account. That's fine that's clear. The others say nothing. Am I to assume then it is as many times as a day as you can do it?
These posed questions to others were met with battling me on trying for infusions and reiterating the wiki should tell me.

If it doesn't say that's because there's no limit to mention. (The possible exception is new releases - the Wiki is hosted by Anet but it's entirely written by players so it can take a while after a new release for it to be updated fully.)

As for why you're being told not to skip content or otherwise that you're playing 'wrong' there's two possible reasons (broadly speaking) that might happen. One is simply someone who thinks everyone should like the same things they do and therefore want to play the same way they do. The other is because GW2 is quite different from other MMOs in several subtle but important ways, and a lot of new players run into problems assuming they know how everything works because they've been playing different games for years. They get frustrated trying to do things that will never work (like waiting for ascended drops from normal enemies) or waste time on unnecessary things like grinding dungeon tokens to buy equipment only to realise it's identical to exotics from other places and not the upgrade they were hoping for.

Probably the most common of those mistakes is trying to skip ahead to the latest content assuming everything else is empty levelling maps and then getting overwhelmed because they don't understand the game and trying to get stuck into grinding gold as quickly as possible then getting burned out and bored because they never learned what else the game has to offer and so don't have anything to break it up with. That may not be a problem for you, but it's a very common problem for new players generally and can even lead to people quitting because they don't understand what's going wrong and why the game doesn't work like they expect it to.

[Kaliwenda.3428]

Lots of good answers in this thread, one thing to consider too when getting the "check the wiki" answer is that some people might just be on your map for a very short time and not able to devote the time to provide an in-depth answer.  So to give a response so you don't feel ignored, and to try to be helpful they point to you the wiki as a place you can bookmark and spend time with.

 

[Khisanth.2948]

46 minutes ago, Drast.8532 said:

Why does a portion of the community want to fight me on how I play?

People giving unwanted advice is hardly a GW2 specific thing.

Neither is a lack of tact.

The simple answer is that you are dealing with humans and that is simply how humans behave.

Regardless of the answers from players or what the wiki says you are going to have to confirm it yourself anyway. The wiki will tell you which part of the rewards can drop the infusion. You'll have to check in game to know the limitations. Some things are per account while others are per character. Unlimited is relatively rare.

[Danikat.8537]

Just now, Kaliwenda.3428 said:

Lots of good answers in this thread, one thing to consider too when getting the "check the wiki" answer is that some people might just be on your map for a very short time and not able to devote the time to provide an in-depth answer.  So to give a response so you don't feel ignored, and to try to be helpful they point to you the wiki as a place you can bookmark and spend time with.

I do it for 2 reasons. Firstly I have a mind like a sieve, I can remember all kinds of random things but forget others so the chances are I won't be able to give a complete answer and may accidentally give a misleading one by forgetting some important detail, especially names of things and places. It's better for them to look it up than hope I remember all the important info.

Secondly I'm dyslexic so I type slowly, and if I need to spell things correctly it takes even longer. I do type in chat in-game but usually only short comments. If I need to write a long explanation either it's going to come out garbled or you're going to be waiting around a while. (That's also why if I need to use my commander tag I normally only volunteer to be a walking map marker and ask if anyone else can do the instructions.)

[Randulf.7614]

I suspect no one knows the answer to how many drop a day on a boss. Most infusions will never drop in a players lifetime, so it’s almost impossible to measure. There are also almost no bosses that do drop infusions, but I’ll add what I remember

- Vinewrath (bee infusion)

- Chak Gerent (chak infusion)

- Choya Piñata (confetti festive infusion)

There might be one’s from Dragonfall/Dragons End, but I don’t know much about them

In this case, being referred to the wiki is a case of not knowing. They are ultra, super, hyper,  mega, rare drops. The chances of one dropping in a players lifetime are very small. Two in a single day for the same players? Possibly unheard of.

[Vayne.8563]

I won't speak for anyone else, but I answer questions all the time. That said, it's a huge game, with a lot to know. And though I know a lot, I wouldn't be able to answer your question about infusions because I don't farm events to get infusions. I mean I know you can get a Queen Bee infusion from the Silverwastes or an Aurillium infusion from Auric Basin, but specifics on how many times a day you can get that.

Only a very small percentage of the playerbase farms infusions. Many that do aren't running around farming the same events over and over again to get them. They do a single run a day on a single character and then do other stuff or log off, considering how long those runs probably take.  At the end of the day, some questions you may be asking may not be easily answered. Why would I have that information if I don't hunt infusions, and why would infusion hunters have that information is they're only trying once a day anyway?

 

At the end of the day I've seen tons of questions answered in this game in map chat, but I also know that the vast majority of the playerbase is dead set casual and probaby wouldn't know most of the answers themselves.

[Danikat.8537]

32 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

I suspect no one knows the answer to how many drop a day on a boss. Most infusions will never drop in a players lifetime, so it’s almost impossible to measure. There are also almost no bosses that do drop infusions, but I’ll add what I remember

- Vinewrath (bee infusion)

- Chak Gerent (chak infusion)

- Choya Piñata (confetti festive infusion)

There might be one’s from Dragonfall/Dragons End, but I don’t know much about them

In this case, being referred to the wiki is a case of not knowing. They are ultra, super, hyper,  mega, rare drops. The chances of one dropping in a players lifetime are very small. Two in a single day for the same players? Possibly unheard of.

I assumed the question was about chests which can be looted more than once a day. I know for example some world boss chests you can only get once per day, no matter how many times you fight the boss, so it's not worth waiting around to do it a second time.

I agree that it's highly unlikely anyone has ever gotten 2 infusions in a day even from things which can be looted multiple times. Even two different people getting infusions in successive runs would be exceptional (I don't know if it's even happened, but it's more likely than one person getting two of them).

[TheQuickFox.3826]

First of all, Welcome to Guild Wars 2!

 

You are fully allowed to ask questions in game/map chat. But be aware that the GW2 Wiki usually has the best information for you. When I see questions by players or guildies, I usually try to answer it for them. But 8 out of 10 times I fire up the wiki and copy/paste the core of the information they are looking for and tell them there is more to find about that subject in the wiki. The other times I direct players to AyinMaiden's youtube achievement guides or other GW2 guides on YouTube. The rest of the times players more ask my opinion about something and then I give my (subjective) opinion about what they asked.

 

Be aware that players usually don't know the answer on hat you ask. I, for example, got over 10,000 hours in GW2 but a lot of things I forgotten the details about. So if you asked me on how I did some achievement I completed years ago: I don't know. But I know it's in the Wiki or that AyinMaiden has a guide on it on YouTube.

[T G.7496]

Honestly, the wiki for GW2 is one of, if  not the, most comprehensive game wikis I have used. It is AMAZING how much information is there.

That's why people point you to it, alongside the fact that 9 times out of 10 it is way quicker than trying to quickly, clearly and succinctly provide the answer in chat.

And there's nothing more frustrating than trying to do so for someone who is either a) gone by the time you've composed an answer or, b) is in the end impatient or ungrateful after your effort.

Try joining a community guild/Discord where you might find people who can help you out, or who are more willing to enter a long form conversation.

Edited January 18, 2023 by T G.7496

[Randulf.7614]

1 hour ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I assumed the question was about chests which can be looted more than once a day. I know for example some world boss chests you can only get once per day, no matter how many times you fight the boss, so it's not worth waiting around to do it a second time.

I agree that it's highly unlikely anyone has ever gotten 2 infusions in a day even from things which can be looted multiple times. Even two different people getting infusions in successive runs would be exceptional (I don't know if it's even happened, but it's more likely than one person getting two of them).

Indeed, I just went on their face value question which was infusions chances per day rather than chests. I have zero idea which type of chests drop which infusions.

I would also advise the op to be wary of map chat responses. Even if not maliciously done, there is a lot of misinformation given because people respond anecdotally or on rumour. Wiki is not perfect and is occasionally wrong, but it is more definitive than most responses.

Except mine. I am 100% trustworthy. Take that away if nothing else

[Elricht Kaltwind.8796]

It makes me sad that every time I see a player ask a question now they invariably receive the response to "wiki it."

 

When I first started playing Guild Wars back around 2009, I was standing in the ruins of Ascalon City and felt totally overwhelmed with this enormous game world, with so much to see and so many things to do. I asked a question in chat, and all these players rushed to my aid. I mean I got all the information I needed in order to set off with confidence, and much more. These people seemed happy just to see a new player and eager to offer their wisdom and hard-won experience.

 

I remember this experience so well because it was my first real impression of the Guild Wars community, and I'd never experienced anything else like it, socially speaking, in any other game I'd played. It was my first MMO, and it was daunting even to identify myself as a new player when I could see heroes running past showing off their grand accomplishments through prestigious titles, weapons and armour. And here they were offering me, a helpless and naïve newbie, help. The fact is, this single experience not only played a major role in why I kept logging in and questing, but it also informed me about how I was expected to act.

 

As I rose up through the ranks and became a bona fide veteran of Guild Wars, I never stopped wanting new and inexperienced players to have the same experience I did with the community, and I made sure that I reaffirmed the attitudes that had been shown to me when I was in their position. To me, that's what community is — what it could be and should be. And I guess when I see that those attitudes are not as much a part of our world any more, I feel deeply disappointed and saddened.

 

Still, I will never give up on those ideals which were handed down to me in those early days. I still think about it every time I see a new player asking a question, and I can proudly say that my answer has never once been to "wiki it."

[Randulf.7614]

2 minutes ago, Elricht Kaltwind.8796 said:

It makes me sad that every time I see a player ask a question now they invariably receive the response to "wiki it."

 

When I first started playing Guild Wars back around 2009, I was standing in the ruins of Ascalon City and felt totally overwhelmed with this enormous game world, with so much to see and so many things to do. I asked a question in chat, and all these players rushed to my aid. I mean I got all the information I needed in order to set off with confidence, and much more. These people seemed happy just to see a new player and eager to offer their wisdom and hard-won experience.

 

I remember this experience so well because it was my first real impression of the Guild Wars community, and I'd never experienced anything else like it, socially speaking, in any other game I'd played. It was my first MMO, and it was daunting even to identify myself as a new player when I could see heroes running past showing off their grand accomplishments through prestigious titles, weapons and armour. And here they were offering me, a helpless and naïve newbie, help. The fact is, this single experience not only played a major role in why I kept logging in and questing, but it also informed me about how I was expected to act.

 

As I rose up through the ranks and became a bona fide veteran of Guild Wars, I never stopped wanting new and inexperienced players to have the same experience I did with the community, and I made sure that I reaffirmed the attitudes that had been shown to me when I was in their position. To me, that's what community is — what it could be and should be. And I guess when I see that those attitudes are not as much a part of our world any more, I feel deeply disappointed and saddened.

 

Still, I will never give up on those ideals which were handed down to me in those early days. I still think about it every time I see a new player asking a question, and I can proudly say that my answer has never once been to "wiki it."

To be fair, that all still happens, it’s just that the point in question is this thread is quite an obscure one, hence the response.

I agree to an extent think there has been an overall change. Even when doing general events, players are more likely to rush past and than join in just for the sake of it. Whether that’s because of less vets Vs newer generation players or whether mounts have encouraged bypassing, it is unclear. Communities change over time. Even Lotro - once rightly regarded as the most pleasant and respectful mmo community - degenerated eventually. It’s part of the course with online gaming with successive generations.

I do maintain overall though, GW2 has suffered less than most. I believe more often than not, there’s a sizeable portion who go out of their way to be helpful in chat or gameplay. I think we are just looking at an unusual example here.

[Khisanth.2948]

17 minutes ago, Elricht Kaltwind.8796 said:

It makes me sad that every time I see a player ask a question now they invariably receive the response to "wiki it."

 

When I first started playing Guild Wars back around 2009, I was standing in the ruins of Ascalon City and felt totally overwhelmed with this enormous game world, with so much to see and so many things to do. I asked a question in chat, and all these players rushed to my aid. I mean I got all the information I needed in order to set off with confidence, and much more. These people seemed happy just to see a new player and eager to offer their wisdom and hard-won experience.

 

I remember this experience so well because it was my first real impression of the Guild Wars community, and I'd never experienced anything else like it, socially speaking, in any other game I'd played. It was my first MMO, and it was daunting even to identify myself as a new player when I could see heroes running past showing off their grand accomplishments through prestigious titles, weapons and armour. And here they were offering me, a helpless and naïve newbie, help. The fact is, this single experience not only played a major role in why I kept logging in and questing, but it also informed me about how I was expected to act.

 

As I rose up through the ranks and became a bona fide veteran of Guild Wars, I never stopped wanting new and inexperienced players to have the same experience I did with the community, and I made sure that I reaffirmed the attitudes that had been shown to me when I was in their position. To me, that's what community is — what it could be and should be. And I guess when I see that those attitudes are not as much a part of our world any more, I feel deeply disappointed and saddened.

 

Still, I will never give up on those ideals which were handed down to me in those early days. I still think about it every time I see a new player asking a question, and I can proudly say that my answer has never once been to "wiki it."

So do you actually know the answer to OP's question?

[Ashantara.8731]

Some things are too complex to explain in short by typing, so it makes sense to refer to the Wiki instead when you have the most detailed summary of all things GW2 on there.

11 hours ago, Drast.8532 said:

That wiki does not have all the information everyone claims it does.

The English Wiki usually provides a complete answer to everything, even more so when you follow the helpful links that are embedded in each article.

[costepj.5120]

12 hours ago, Drast.8532 said:

I then get told I am wasting my time trying to get an infusion I should just farm the gold

Of course you should decide to play the game however you want and prioritise any activities you like. But, writing as a 10-year vet with over 15,000 hours in game, I think you were simply being given some helpful advice. I've done many thousands of world bosses and meta events in that time, but not in an attempt to farm infusions. Which is good, because I haven't had a sniff of one and I honestly don't expect I ever will. If my only motivation was acquiring infusions through the rarest of rare drops, I am sure I would have become disheartened and quit the game years ago. Instead, I have nearly 20K gold in the bank and could buy infusions off the TP if I wanted (I don't).

[costepj.5120]

Oh, whilst I don't covet any of those rare infusions, I did decide to farm Otter's Blessing Enrichment. It's one of my favourite things in the game and well worth running 30 North Drizzle metas. However, doing it every day for a month (as I did) maybe isn't the best idea 🙂 

[Dayra.7405]

13 hours ago, Drast.8532 said:

Why does it seem you are not allowed to ask questions about this game to people in game? (And not just get the response /wiki)

Which answer do you prefer?

1.  (no response)
2. I don't know
3. I would try to look this up in wiki (maybe with a <topic>)

I think you get the answer you got either because people cannot answer better or the answer is to long to type it.

[mercury ranique.2170]

I consider myself a friendly and helpfull player, but I am not online to help people I hardly know.  I am there to play a game. 
When I was deliberatly going into starter zones to be helpfull, it was with alteritate motives as I was tasked with recruiting for a guild. Nothing wrong with that. I think guilds focussing on new players are a perfect place for new players to learn the game and learn how to play.

That also brings me to a second thing I find worth it to mention. 

 

13 hours ago, Drast.8532 said:

Why does a portion of the community want to fight me on how I play?

I think you are wrong that they are fighting you. Part of being helpfull and helping is also giving advice beyond what is literally asked. I have played this game since launch and there hasn't been a single month that I didn't login onto one of my accounts. I have seen so many people who consider themself seasoned MMO-players (and by all means they are seasoned indeed). They tend to rush to through the levelling experience to the end game as it is what they are used to do. GW2 is different here and often these players skipped so many things in the levelling experience they fail to see what there is to do when they hit 80.  In more traditional MMO's there is a big difference between the levelling experience and the end game and so the levelling experience is rushed. In GW2 there is no such difference. When you level up you unlock more options and more things to do, but it is done more on the way and as a part of the levelling experience.

It is up to you to follow up on an advice, but when you feel like you are fighting a player with more experience, it is also wise to ask yourself if they might have good reasons to advice you to take a different direction. Then again, not all advice is good advice. So in the end it is up to you..

[Luthan.5236]

Have not read the whole thread. But in the opening post: If there is something like looking for a "list" ... wiki is just the best recommendation to give. Easy to use. And not every player in game is a living wiki.

For a info like "where is X" when looking for something on the map you are in map chat - much faster to tell directly where it is on the map. Depends. Never seen people always recommending the wiki. More of the time I see people going out of their way explaining a ton when the wiki might give the info a lot faster and more concise. Unless it is a matter of taste thing or a build recommendations question where own experiences from others might be interesting to read.

Edit: And the meta/boss stuff with the once per day per char or per day per account - I would assume that most people do not farm metas regularly. More likely to find someone on a map where a meta/boss currently is running ... or maybe if a boss train is on the lfg somewhere (then there might be players farming those regularly - with deeper knowledge about it). Wiki at most has descriptions on the individual page of each meta/boss. No overall list afaik. Needs deeper research and I have played for a ton of hours and could not answer this with researching myself first.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Luthan.5236

[Stephane Lo Presti.7258]

21 hours ago, Drast.8532 said:

That wiki does not have all the information everyone claims it does. Yes it has a lot and I use it often if not constantly.
Latest exmaple: I am trying to find a list or anything at this point, on what metas/bosses that drop infusions are once a day chances or multiple chances.

 

Hey there! I wanted to answer two specific points in your post (leaving the rest to the community):

• The content of the wiki is created by the players themselves. The editors are doing an amazing job but they can't cover everything. That being said, you can add information you find by editing the relevant articles yourself (with or without a wiki account). The wiki has a few rules to follow but most of the time active editors will modify your entries to make them fit. And if you don't want to edit, each article has a "Leave article feedback" tab where you can mention missing info to the community of wiki editor.
• The GW2 English wiki has a deep structure where you can explore Categories and various articles have tables showing useful lists. If the particular page "Bosses that drop infusions" doesn't exist, it may not be difficult for wiki editors to create it. Just ask them, either on the discussion page of the Infusion article or on their discord: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2_Wiki:Discord

The GW English wiki is an incredible resource for and by players, so even suggesting good additions is a way to improve it.

(ok now back on topic!)