Meeting player in open world . Are you happy?

[Fuchslein.8639]

I started the game to play in groups, but then quickly switched to doing everything alone because group work in gw2 makes no sense or even complicates some things. Except raids and fractals. Although I myself have done t4 fractals as a challenge alone successfully.

I enjoy e.g. fractals with friends but with randoms it is not so pleasant nowadays.I have even made the experience that many treat the game as a single player.Therefore, I usually do not even notice when someone runs by and at big events I have the person display on lowest settings.

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

Too many choices and none really matching. For me personally, I believe that it depends a lot on player's mood, objectives, needs and external boundary conditions (including real life obligations that will determine how far we're in peace and how much time we have)... All in all, I can summarize it that way: if I need to be solo on one day, I play another game than GW2, that is no RPG.However, as a complement: on my opinion, others around are never a disturbance. If one wants to play with you but you feel to be solo, then you can just gently tell him/her. We have a good community in this game, with respect (apart from some trolls over weekends). Also, if you want to be solo, there is no obligation to answer to those asking for help. And at the top of it, in this game, players are no counters to each others (if you cut a tree, it's still there for others who want to cut same tree), so we're really entirely free of our way to go without to bother much about anything around us. Sort of full freedom. :3

[Asum.4960]

@Ashen.2907 said:I find the open world content in this game to be mind-numbingly bland. Almost a complete lack of challenge. I prefer playing with others in general, just not here. Working as a group to overcome challenges greater than any one of us is fun. Having multiple people semi-afk auto-attack a foe down with almost no chance of failure is not more fun than doing so alone. Without challenges to overcome as a group (and I admit that there are a few) then playing as a group is meaningless. If all one wants is to socialize the game is not needed.

Amen.

@"Sobx.1758"

There are a few negatives to other people joining/being around, in that trash mobs these days are near oneshot by (proficient) players, so when grinding out some heart, doing an event or needing something for a collection, kill stealing can be annoying.

Similarly when soloing some Champion/Legendary/Group event, it's generally easy until other player's join and scale the whole thing up without contributing much themselves, essentially just making things more "bullet spongy" for myself and dragging out the time.Considering many/most of those have time limits, it can be annoying when the presence of other's fails an event by inflating boss HP too much, when I know I could have easily solo'ed it.

(Dis)honorable mention, Longbow Rangers and the like rolling their face over their keyboard, knocking mobs out of all of your AoE's you've just put down every 15 seconds.

As for positives.. yay, another player? I guess.It's not like you ever need to group, communicate and cooperate to overcome anything though, so meeting other players to silently play alone together with for a moment by happenstance doesn't really matter.

[Ardenwolfe.8590]

I've been away from the game for several years now. Three or four, if I recall correctly. Came back when I heard about the newest expansion coming out. I started a new character since I also wanted a fresh start. And to remember how to play, if I'm going to be honest. Must admit I'm delightfully surprised at how lively the game still is as far as population.

I still love playing solo, but I also love seeing others around because it tells me the game is still very much alive and kicking.

[Yggranya.5201]

When we consider that any and all meta events are filled to the brim with AFK "leechers", it isn't much of a group event to begin with. So i assume anyone i see is there just to make me and perhaps few other do it all for them so they get the rewards. This is the norm in "game as a service" and most multiplayer games. The less i have to deal with other peoples BS, the better.

[Kaliwenda.3428]

I mainly play alone b/c no one I know IRL is into MMOs, and while I am perfectly fine with that, I'm always happy to join up when I can. I've met lots of nice people that way. The positives far outweigh any negatives in my experience. Once in a while I've had a bad experience but I am quick to leave the situation in that case.

[Game of Bones.8975]

I rarely see people from my guild doing the same quests, pugs are so erratic, and you never know how many people will show up for a meta event.

One good part about the open-world gaming is I'm able to help players/groups without feeling like I'm stepping all over them for loot.

I would like to have an easier way to join active groups in WvW. I go in and ask if there are is anyone leading and all I hear is silence.

[Samnang.1879]

Happy if they talk or joke around... most people in open world don't talk...

[joneirikb.7506]

I'm kind of torn on this.

• On one hand, I think one of the most interesting parts of this game in open world is to meet new players and play with them.
• On the other hand, most open world is so easy that I'd love to have my own instance so I can fight things solo to try to get some sort of challenge out of things. To the degree that I love running into Veterans and Champions, and get sad when other players "help" me. This is also making me doubt if I should help others or not, since they might be like myself and just want to try to find something to challenge themselves.

So at this point I really don't know. I just really wish that maps had more varied difficulty content, so you could go to different areas of a map to get different levels of challenge, or add in more content around the maps with a focus on solo-low number of players challenge (All of this could still be zerged).

[kharmin.7683]

You can always ask when you run into a player who might be attempting to solo a vet/champ. "Want some help?"

[Dami.5046]

I don't care either way, game needs some excitement and I don't get that in pve open world.

[ugrakarma.9416]

99% of map complaints are about empty maps and ppl asking for help because theyre alone on map... the probability of u irritating someone is extremy low.

[jishi.7568]

this is quite the Poll, would make great research for the Devs honestly, if they put it to use.

[kharmin.7683]

@jishi.7568 said:this is quite the Poll, would make great research for the Devs honestly, if they put it to use.

Not really useful as the responses are in no way indicative of any significant portion of the player base.

[Gudradain.3892]

because they might as well be NPC since there is not much interraction :(

The public event are great but it's missing something. The world feels lonely since there is no need to really party up. Most people you see will just pass by without ever stopping or interact in any way with you.

[voltaicbore.8012]

@"jishi.7568" said:this is quite the Poll, would make great research for the Devs honestly, if they put it to use.

Not all would agree, but I also think this poll actually offers enough options to cast a meaningful vote.

That said, I don't believe it will yield anything of value for the devs. I don't think players' general satisfaction about seeing other players in open world should impact any design decisions, as player behavior is probably much more impacted by combat design, environmental design, and rewards. I'd further argue that how we feel about meeting other players in the open world is a result of these other factors, and shouldn't drive how ANet approaches these other factors in open world design.

For me personally, I do just about everything I can in the open world alone. Aside from when new players show up and start pestering me with questions that show they clearly don't even read tooltips or have a rush-rush-rush mindset towards the game, I like seeing players in the open world because it gives me the sense of the game being populated and healthy. I still picked the "sometimes in group, sometimes alone" choice because I do run a lot of instanced group content, even if I do open world stuff without a party 99.9% of the time.

[Firebeard.1746]

I think GW2's approach to open world is unique and awesome. It's also a tad impersonal. That's not to say that individual players don't help each other, but individual interactions aren't the focus. It's mostly metas. And that means less 1:1 talking. It's not bad. It's one of the firendliest MMOs I've ever seen. It's just an observation. Overall I'm happy with it. It sure beats WoW.

[Raizel.1839]

God this is a MMORPG, what kind of question is this?
If you don't like meeting other players, you better go playing regular solo-RPG.

[Luthan.5236]

The middle options for being happy or not happy are missing. I actually play most content solo. Trying to go to a party where it supposedly can't be soloed or was not intended to be soloed. (If it was intended to be soloed but is just too hard for me. I will still try solo until I manage to do so.)

For open world content it is mostly a nice help if others are around. And for big meta always a lot of people are gathering.

For adventures like the Beetle/Griffon races I find others to be annoying though. I know some might want to help. But it feels more like they are mocking you when they can do it a lot faster and are still training. (Even got some unwarranted whisper instead of them trying to talk in /say chat.) This is a bit distraction when you already know the mechanics and just need to train. (Where others can't help. Just needs time.)

Similar for JP when I sometimes want to try them alone. And i can focus better with less people around. (Exception of there are mobs in the JP. Always good to have others attacking them or getting attacked by them. Easier to stay out of combat = moving faster. :D)

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

I am, generally. Even an incompetent player can serve as a distraction.

There's one exception though, and that is when I'm doing the daily Treasure Mushroom. Apparently it is a well-kept secret that the mushroom will run away from players, pets, and AoEs. See, when I hunt the mushroom I do it on a Deadeye, because it can dish out insane amounts of damage from far range. The mushroom just sits there and takes it, only running on occasion. The Deadeye isn't the only profession you can do this with. I've also done it with condi mirage, since the staff and scepter clones maintain a healthy distance away from the mushroom. In general, anything that can attack at range without laying down red circles can do this.

All is well and good, until "that guy" shows up. Well all know who "that guy" is. He chases the mushroom aggressively, spamming attacks in full healer gear in the hopes to get barely enough damage to qualify for participation. The mushroom flees from him in a panic, and then proceeds to aggro every single hostile enemy that surrounds it. Every Mordrem, every Bristleback, every charger and explosive mushroom, they all get aggroed and proceed to attack me and "that guy." Also, because the mushroom has dedicated nooks it likes to hide in, it constantly breaks LoS, forcing me to get up and also chase it around incessantly.

[sasya neko.1985]

i always play alone but don't mind others, the exception being that ppl can be selfish "input curse word" like in zerg trains and champion hunters.

[Sobx.1758]

@jishi.7568 said:this is quite the Poll, would make great research for the Devs honestly, if they put it to use.

tbh I don't see anything unexpected here? :D

[Cynder.2509]

....because of my anxiety and paranoia issues and panic attacks induced by the fear that other judge me and make assumptions so I always have to justify myself to everyone just because I'm not a huge showoff cluttering characters in prestigious stuff just for the sake to show off that I'm the greatest and everyone else is a noob like other fellow veterans do these days. I actually care about stuff like lore and building stories around my characters (also using fitting skins for each) and also pick always lore friendly names. That's something you can't say about those that constantly judge my every move and will definitely shit on me for even the smallest shit like moving one step to a side or something. I know they don't say it directly but I know for certain that they do behind their screens and I feel so utterly worthless for everything. Also I hate being in close proximity to random people and I extremely despise when others "touch" me or run through me. However that is all excluded for people within guilds or others I feel "safe" around. I can do everything alone just fine and I prefer to let it stay that way.I hate that my real life fears that still persist for several years now have swept into games as well... :(