After 1500 Hours Guild Wars 2 Finally Clicked..

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[@Wolfian]

If You Enjoyed This Check Out The Two Follow Up Videos! How Guild Wars 2 Stays Fresh After 2000 Hours! - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJu9anuferaBqac&ab_channel=WolfianEntertainment Crafting A Guild Wars 2 Legendary In 3 Days - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYGbmWCaqpKKm6M&ab_channel=WolfianEntertainment

[@_Ease]

This is a profoundly important video with a message that so, so many gamers need to hear. This applies to more than just Guild Wars 2, and I hope it reaches more people.

[@Wolfian]

[@Silverbeardedsurfer]

Perhaps it's my age (fast approaching 50) but I don't care about completionist stuff. I just enjoy the distraction from real life. Action Camera should be the default. I play with a ps3 nav controller and mouse and never touch a keyboard. Love GW2.

[@illryt]

Agreed. I needed this; and so many other gamers too. Tho I don't think it's the internet, the streamers, the things we choose to watch or do with our time... because it's not the tools given to us for our use, it's how we use them. Not just what we choose, how we choose and actually understand why we're choosing to do something rather than just trying to be "the best"; giving insight to self exploration and self awareness. That kinda thing can be hard as a gamer and with parents carelessly raising our future neglecting and avoiding rather than helping a child to understand and process their emotions and teaching them to work through their problems rather than just doing it for them... Went a little deep there, I just feel this kind of mentality can be focused and directed in so many other perspectives in life. GW2 is just a great place to start. 😝

[@illryt]

@@Wolfian you got my sub bro, keep up the great content! Inspired me for sure.

[@teodormihai6016]

After 4500 hours of playtime over the past 5 years I must say this is eye opening. 1000+ raid kills, countless days of fractals, yet no really motivation to log in daily and play the game. It just became a sort of routine, something that had to be done, not really for the enjoyment, maybe it felt like a duty. Always built what was meta rather than what appealed to the class fantasy, gearing up for the highest damage, or the most useful healer, only the wardrobe management brought a bit of style to my characters. Just shiny and stylized lifeless characters with random names, the term "tools" fits them so perfectly. Thank you for changing the perspective of a veteran.

[@Wolfian]

thats exactly why i made this video hopefully youll have just as much fun as i am when you slow down with your next character because im having a blast with my Sword/Sword warrior atm :P

[@kaltaron1284]

For end game group content it's still a good idea to follow a meta build at least somewhat unless you really know what you're doing. But for open world? Play whatever you like. For example I made myself a flamethrower celestial engineer. Not very good but survivable and fun. When it comes to wardrobe, I really like myself some more realistic gear instead of the ultra shiny ones so my choices are a bit more limited but I'm fine with that. I found the use of action cam interesting. Tried it once or twice in the beginning but it never clicked with me and it would be a bit challenging in some boss fights I guess. I also think they improved it a bit from the early days. (And somehow made the regular camera a lot worse.)

[@jgkitarel]

This is why I really didn't bother with all the meta or doing what all the "cool players" are doing. I've played the game off and on since launch and keep coming back, and I always want to keep things somewhat fresh for myself. My main is the only one I really care about getting the best stuff for, but I've brought about alts just to experiment with classes and just plain screw around. Just as I tend to make it a point to do the wold exploration the old fashioned way. I have a friend who is thinking of picking the game up, and I will roll a new charater (as well as change servers) to play with her, and I have already told her that we are going to do it the old fashioned way, on foot. I want to show her how the game was when I started it, with the dynamic events, rather than my usual blowing through content. I want to show her just how vast Tyria is, with how the main game was pretty huge (not as big as WoW's but far better looking), and how there was ALWAYS something to see around the next tree/rock/or off that way. The world of GW2 was never boring for me, and I long since decided to just play the way I want to play, not how the meta says I should.

[@emissarygw2264]

@@jgkitarel The main issue I have is that at low levels, you don't even have any weapon or utility skills, or weapon swaps, or traits, to mess around with so the game is quite literally just slowly walking around and pressing '1' over and over. That's actually the reason I took several tries to even get into the game way back then.

[@Skadi.-]

you're awful, how can you call yourself veteran when you force shit gaming habit onto casual game like guild wars 2

[@btackett2]

Even as a casual gamer this comment hit me hard "we do not sit down to relax anymore, we sit down to complete". I never thought about it like that but it is so true. Probably why the best MMO memories are from years ago, not because the games were better but because we played to play instead of to complete steps

[@rheylinsark119]

I adore this love letter to the game! It's also a wonderful metaphor for getting older in general, and that's awesome too. Nice work!

[@Roxar96]

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

[@crazymexicandope]

man, this is so cool. for years so many of us mmo players kept feeling increasingly disconnected from our favorite game or mmos in general like, "why do mmos nowadays suck?" but i think we're all just missing this experience that made us love the genre to begin with and the fact that you actually went and did it is so powerful. Most of us just jump to the meta build and rush to the end game but deep down i always knew i wanted to relive the experience of my first mmo. Thank you so much for making this, i believe all mmo players can appreciate what you've done here

[@TeeaFull]

Well said, we all Missed the point. Which in genius is not the point 😅👏🏻

[@sgieve]

mmos nowaday suck, because people suck. They force you to play stuff you don't want to instead of creating your own character and build. everything is overoptimized in a way that is never actually needed to do content but you got trashed of you don't follow "the meta". Just find yourself a bunch of people and enjoy the games / worlds / stories you create living through your character the way you like.

[@davidmorris2234]

I’ve been trying to tell players to play GW2 the way they enjoy the most, instead of playing it just to get gold fastest. As you said, the journey is more important than the destination.

[@twocatsyelling723]

The journey is most important to me in a MMO. Unfortunately for me, the journey in GW2 gets repetitive and boring by the 3rd or 4th zone... Do the hearts, find the Vistas, do the zone events, get the hero points, find and complete any jumping puzzles... move on to the next zone and do the same... move on to the next zone and do the same... move on to the next zone and do the same... and on and on.. Only the occasional story quests would break that up. I got to around 67 on my first character, and that pattern never changed. Every single zone was the same routine of running all over to get 100% map completion. I lost the interest to log in after that. Since then, any time I try to give it another shot, try another character and experience this "journey", I make it to maybe level 30 and the boredom from the same routine in zone after zone after zone kicks in again. Never got to do dungeons because I could never get a group for them. Apparently dungeons aren't a popular feature in GW2. The most enjoyable aspect of GW2 for me was dyeing my mounts to match the theme of my character. Buying and checking out different dye colors and shades was really enjoyable. So, I guess for me... GW2 was a fun game for playing dress-up with my character and mounts.. and not much else. Even experienced veterans confirmed my impression, almost without exception - whether they realized it or not. I discussed my experience with 6 different vet players. All but one said some variation of the following: "You don't play GW2 for the early game. GW2 is all about the end-game. You just level up to cap as fast as possible because that's where the real game is". A viewer in one of their chats was mocking me for spending so much time in pre level-cap content and thinking that's how you're supposed to play. Basically I was "playing GW2 wrong". I wish I could enjoy the journey in GW2, 'cause it's a beautiful game and I'd love to see later environments, etc.. But the repetition just burns me out long before I reach them.

[@jdgoesham5381]

I play wvw and pvp and never care about gold. I always seem to have it for what I need though...It took me 6yrs or so just to do crafting. lol. But I banged all but jewelry out in a week when I found out it's fast if you have the "Fast Guides" site open. Or whatever the name it. And then it took me 8yrs to do world comp. I started with like 23% world comp after 8yrs of it being one of my main games the whole time. Gonna start it again here soon. It is a great looking game all around.

[@duncanrobertson6472]

@@twocatsyelling723 It's your journey, and you should do whatever you think is fun. I'd just say that 100%ing every zone is not the GW2 journey. It's A journey, and one that I could never really stomach. When I first played the game, I would occasionally 100% a zone, but more often I was more interested to get to another zone, to do a dungeon, pvp, or just follow event chains. Event chains tended to be the best for experience. I only got 100% in a couple zones where I really liked the events and environment. It took me a year to get to level 80. Leveling was many times slower then, but I also wasn't very driven. I did a few things at max level and didn't really click with the (very limited) endgame at the time. Pvp however, was a crazy kind of playground. I found a passion for creating builds, switching from my thief to a engi that would bunker a point, knocking people around and healing myself with explosions. I'd experiment with all kinds of things. In Heart of Thorns, I got more serious, and had fun getting to be ranked in the top 250, dueling great players, and watching pvp streams all the time. It wasn't until many years later that I fully revisited pve. I took many breaks over this time, playing other games or being busy irl. I played through Path of Fire, and had a lot of fun, and eventually got in to the pve endgame, having a lot of fun in strikes and fractals. I revisited story, and actually found myself replaying the End of Dragons story multiple times, and getting all the achievements. This despite never considering myself a "story" player. 9 years into the game, I finally went through and 100%ed the base zones, roleplaying as a deadeye sniper. This is all to say that while there's no objectively wrong way to play the game, and while you may have made the right choices for yourself, it sounds like you've repeatedly attempted a tiny fraction of what the game has to offer in a very specific way, and not enjoyed it. There's a good chance you'd have better luck approaching it differently. The journey doesn't end at level 80, it expands, and regardless of popular belief, it's possible to boost a character to level 80 and still have a compelling story and roleplay experience. You could do that, you could reconnect with your level 67 if you still have it, hell you could even do some leveling in pvp, or through crafting. Or you could approach maps in a different way, prioritizing events or just seeing whatever you want to see. I hope you don't take this the wrong way, it may be that the game truly isn't for you. It just sounds like you've gotten painfully close to experiencing newer content and never gotten out of a self-imposed rut.

[@kaltaron1284]

@@twocatsyelling723 Dungeons have several problems: - They are pretty long compared to fractals or strike missions unless you do a lot of skips of trash mobs. And some even if you try to do that. (Arah, I'm looking at you.) - The loot isn't that great. - They become repetitive very quickly and many people have done them quite a lot before Fractals got introduced. There are guilds and communities doing them still but you need to look for them. That you can soon (or already?) access them all from Lion's Arch might also help a bit. And maybe they will add them to the daily or weekly tasks for AA. The hearts are only the same if you ignore all the interactions and dialogs and treat them as simple progression bars. Granted that will happen after 2nd character or so but for the first time it can be very rewarding to actually listen and read what they are all about. It's true that GW2 really starts at lvl80 and when you have all the options unlocked because then you can adjust your character far better than before. But taking your time to get there is not "playing the game wrong". Unless you want to join your friends in the end game stuff as fast as possible.

[@tonyli1622]

@@twocatsyelling723 Veterans tend to say that because content down the road is much more fleshed out/involved than core Tyria which is 2012 content. "End game" is also a weird term since basically 80% of the game is post-level 80. Having said that, I disagree with them. Pre-80 is important in helping you understand your class. It is a low stake environment which allows you to adjust your skills, trait, equipment to find what best suits you. Being familiar with your class will allow you to utilize meta builds better as well as engage in any PVP type content. It will also prepare you for the difficulty spike when you enter the HOT expansion. I do agree that core Tyria may be boring especially because of the low difficulty. However, I noticed that I disliked core Tyria the most when I was fixated on map completion. Map completion is completely optional; it is only needed to craft legendaries (which are mostly quality of life items). It's better to view core Tyria as a world for you to explore, meet new people (whether NPCs or characters), see new monsters, etc. If you end up min-maxing map completion like me (opening world map constantly to see what POIs I missed), you will get burned out. It's like doing fractals. While the gold from fractals is a nice reward, we should look at doing them because they're fun and we want to play with others. Tl;dr, I agree with veterans that "end game" content is more fun than Tyria. I disagree with their view that pre-level 80 is useless. Don't stress map completion, just play at your own leisure. If you still find Guild Wars 2 boring after all of this, then it is what it is. Nobody can say you are right or wrong.

[@ermusia]

I stared to play GW2 3 years ago and straight after reaching lv 80 i was thrown into raids, fractals and reaching max lv mastery points as fast as possible to do the same content my guildmates were doing. Right after EoD i finnaly made a character focused to role-play and just beat the story slowly alone. That was the best idea i had and i fell in love in that game again and thats something i recommend to every player. GW2 isnt only great mmo but, even with some story f*ups, it’s a great RPG and I had no idea how much content i skipped coz i speedrun to lategame…

[@ermusia]

To add some more to the story - I was not using features from expansions. For the example, If I was playing core game, I had not use Skyscale even once. I was focused to do all the achivements which gaves me cosmetic items and collect all of them for my character was such a great time :D Also - even If i maxed the zone - If NPC asked me for help and there was an event chain, I had to complete it fully. From the bottom of my heart i rlyyy recommend this slowly progression, do not boost ur character and just have a great journey! Thanks also for the vid!

[@kaltaron1284]

@@ermusia This was kind of normal in the early days. Remember that both fractals, raids, gliding and mounts came later. If you get persuaded to skip all that you missed a lot of course. But then being able to play the more recent stuff with your friends as quickly as possible is also worthwhile. You can always do the older things later. And it sounds like you're having a blast with it. The living world legendary amulet was also something that encouraged many people to go back to old stuff.

[@TechnoBacon55]

I feel you. As an old time mmo player i fell into the trap of watching guides and minmaxing things, so when i came back to gw2 after an 8 year hiatus, i just wanted to be efficient. Fortunately i managed to stop myself and convince myself to play through all the story and all the expansions in order, without touching new maps before i finish the previous expansion/living story. This was an amazing decision. The game felt really great and rewarding, and getting the first mounts were phenomenal. I still remember the exact moments when i got every single mount.

[@kaltaron1284]

@@TechnoBacon55 IMHO it's a good thing that they give you the choice. You can pick up as fast as possible and experience the original stuff later (or never at all) or do it in order and take your time as many people did when those things came out. OTOH it's also often funny to revisit old stuff and the NPCs are exited about raptors and skimmers while you are on your gryphon or sky scale.

[@jgkitarel]

@@TechnoBacon55 Something I tend to do with my characters as well, go through the content in order, not just boosting to 80 (or if I do, still going through everything).

[@isty4491]

Congratulations on reaching the realisation (sincere, not sarcasm) I reached this same enlightenment several years and 2 or 3 MMOs ago, but im older than most Its EVEN better when you start a new MMO (as GW2 is for me) with this mindset When you play for fun, nothing is a grind, nothing is a chore, everything is enjoyment, even dying

[@user-jw6ng7ri8b]

Well I don't like to die, but I see where you are going with it. Casual gameplay is one of the many ways you can play GW2 and get a ton of content. =)

[@crasherde4693]

It opened my eyes, honestly. I was made aware of the game by a friend. "Download it, buy the expansion, boost your character to level 80 and join me in WvW". I had no build, no plan, and I was having fun. Fun just pushing buttons. I've only been in WvW and a little bit of PvP since then, almost never in PvE. I was told "play the build with the gear, it's good." But I never did what I wanted to do. I finally started playing the story properly after 1267 hours. I never really did what I wanted to do. And after this video, I just feel like setting up my camera like you did and strolling through the PvE world. Playing the story and discovering all the PvE content bit by bit. For me. And only for me. No matter who tells me how to play what. Fuck it. I'll go into WvW or PvP afterwards and play around with my own builds. I have no idea about builds, I don't even know what does what. But I just want to have fun. Because that's why we play the game in the end. And for nothing else. Thank you so much for making me aware of that, really! Maybe we'll meet someday on the journey, on the destination to the path. Play how and what you want, the main thing is that you have fun with it!

[@PrincessKumico]

I'm playing mesmer at lvl 37 right now using a sword and pistol because I imagine the indiana jones scene where the guy comes out swining a sword all fancy and Indiana Jones just pulls out a pistol and shoots him. Every time I use my 4 skill I smile to myself lol

[@thomasturpin124]

This is an absolutely fantastic video. I'm a new player, like, brand new. I was following the story along and had to reach lvl 35 before I could enter a certain region so I went about doing the insta-quest things which took me a ways away from where I would have to go, in order to return to the story. After reaching lvl 35, I took the teleport things straight back to where I needed to go in order to continue the story. On the journey back, my charachter said "I can't wait to explore this place", but I paid no attention to what she said. It was only a couple days later that I stopped, and remembered my character saying that and then I thought.........wait......I should have stopped and explored the area. Why didn't I? I didn't because I basically put myself on auto-pilot and was just doing what everything/everybody told me I should do. Go as far as possible, as fast as possible. After realizing this, I've decided to start another character with a different race and profession and I'm just going to explore. Just to see what I can find. I think you're right. I mean, really.........what's the old adage? Life isn't about the destination, it's about the journey. Thank you very much for the support, for me to just have fun in the moment and not tether myself with what the machine tells me I should be doing. Be well.

[@austinbannister6595]

The developers definitely thought about how you wouldn’t be able to complete every event in an area. I remember them talking about the creation of these events in the game so that the game would constantly be alive and you wouldn’t have to worry about never having a new adventure basically. It’s honestly very sad to feel how it helps us escape the achievement completionism that has been injected into our brain by the cracked out gamers that ruin it for themselves and others. Slow down.

[@gregortega6547]

Welcome to the light I guess lol. I've been playing GW for 18yrs but I play for the journey. I love all the little details I remember seeing this NPC leave the house, I followed where they got water from a well and then walked back to the house. I marveled at the details and craftsmanship that went into this beautiful world.

[@WovennYT]

Had a similar experience recently returning to GW2 for the 3rd or 4th time since beginning during it's initial launch. It took me all these years to really appreciate all that is GW2, it's a got a lot to offer if you actually explore everything and play it as a sandbox.

[@ridespirals]

same here, i was hyped for the game and played at release, but due to various reasons never really got into it. i would play it a few times a year and always think "damn this game is so good why don't i play it more?" then during covid a few months before EoD came out i started playing again, and got completely hooked.

[@drummertb11]

I've been playing GW2 on and off for a few years now. I always come back because of the things you mentioned here. I play to have fun. Not to optimize. Exploring this game will truly reward you. When completing challenges or going for mastery, I always try to not look at the wiki, although I must admit it does eventually come to that if it becomes frustrating or unfun. This game is one of a kind and has seemingly endless content in a gigantic and dense world. It's filled with personality and best of all, lots of other players! I hope everyone that plays GW can have the experience you've come to enjoy so much. Absolutely love this game.

[@jgkitarel]

Aside from the world boss timers, I rarely do so unless I am stuck on something or it is something I really want. In which case, I look at it as "How do I start this? I can figure the rest out, but I need to know where to start."

[@saypulagadzhiev4104]

Sorry, I'll tell you more. after a 3-4 year breakI returned to GW2, deleted all5 my boost characters, created a new warrior and slowly play with him without looking the wiki or Google. great feeling from such a game and today I came across your video and completely understand you

[@UberOfficer1]

This is a fantastic mindset that I’ve started to realize myself, but you are perfectly putting it into words. I’m currently doing this with a GW1 playthrough and it’s so rewarding! Great video!

[@XDisglinX]

Especially the beginning hits me so hard...so true - I am always wondering why I always want to optimize in games, why I always want to be competitive. I just started with GW2 again a few days ago with the mindset that I just play, don't compete, not progressing as fast as possible. It is hard for myself to keep playing so...unoptimized (?), but I continue trying until I have the mindset again that I lost years ago.

[@Malteraxx]

As a veteran in MMO RPG genre, this video hit me hard and made me realise why I had so much fun in the past but not anymore. GW2 is the best MMO RPG for exploring the world and I'm going to try and find the pure joy of gaming just from the journey and not the goal. Thank you.

[@grizzlysplace63]

Great video I played GW/1 for 7 years moved to GW2 at launch (plus all Betas) Have not got board once lvl'ed all toons by doing story 3 toons total map completion 100% on all maps 7 toons total, I have only ever played GW no other MMO's i have totally enjoyed it for years and your video said what I have-not been able to put into words Great Job !!. I am same type of player that @kasianight is casual like helping out new players to the game I roam older maps looking for stranded players...lol and pitch in when it looks like they are having trouble killing a boss or just overwhelmed by a mob or cant figure out a JP or way to a POI. I am 60 years old and hope to be playing when I am in my 80's.... Thanks again for this video it said what i have been thinking for a long time. and you have another subscriber...

[@ExperienceLife72]

I second that, my thoughts almost to a tee. Awesome video and said perfectly and to you Grizzly; i feel ya brother. Enjoy this great game that people sometimes love to hate but lately people are flocking back to in the masses. Things feel better than they ever were, maybe its just me. It feels like more players and a new age is dawning. Here is to good times to come, and old memories. God bless. D O B S

[@wickedfuctup]

How ironic. I pre-ordered and was a day one player at the young age of 45 and my first character was a Norn warrior. I put the game down for quite a while after playing it for about 4-5 years and just picked it up again yesterday and started a necromancer, which I had never played before. I found the same appreciation

[@dokvald]

This is really interesting to me because I've always played guild wars 2 as a solo open world adventure RPG. I've never looked into the meta, Never really focused on end game content at all. I make characters to roleplay as and explore the beautiful world of Tyria. I hand craft my builds, I play with the camera over the shoulder up close. Hell I even turn off the entire hud during most of the game, including during combat. Fighting without the Hud forces you to get a good feel for your attack patterns and cooldowns, as well as keep track of how many times you've been hit. It makes the combat feel more risky and forces you to play smart. I'll often just wander around the world with the Hud off, fully zoomed into first person, only zooming back out during combat. I've finished all of the main story and expansions playing this way. I've not made any legendary gear, and in fact barely touched the crafting system. I've done several play throughs with different classes. I don't think I've even used any of the lvl 80 skip items because I want to experience each character's journey. If you treat a game as a game and actually engage with the act of play, It can be super fun. If you treat it like a job and follow the meta, you're not really having your own journey, you're copying someone else's. IMHO playing a game based on what's optimal is actually playing the game wrong. At the end of the day the best way to play a game is the way that is most fun for you. I'm glad you were able to find this joy for yourself.

[@curiousfishie]

1 hour of it made me fall in love with it. I saw it about 6 years (my memory is foggy) ago as a casual advert & checked it out. I'm very happy I did. This game did many awesome moves. Customization, mounts to fit surroundings, heck even the swimming, the "classes" are fun too...etc etc etc

[@baguette_salee]

I started guild wars 2 in 2014 with my older brother. He said me : "create a story with each of your characters" Honestly that was the best advice I could get. Thanks for your video btw, it was really cool to hear that

[@AzureWolf3]

Great to see someone praising all the nuances and fun of this game that have nothing to do with end content and "meta" builds. I have 38 characters and each has a personality and backstory and I love going through the various stories with them, map completions and explorations. I won't mention how many hours playtime I've had because it's embarrassingly high :)

[@TheThorn66]

Hello Wolf! Just your Friendly WHAM member here! I hope you keep that play for fun mindset and continue to join us for Triple Trouble! We run the event simply because we think its fun and we love to share that fun with everyone! Now that I know the backstory of your warrior I often see you play there we can add some RP to TT for you!

[@Riaining7]

WHAM and EVOS are great guilds with helpful people and cmdrs. Their Triple Trouble world boss runs are great, and they happen daily. I participate regularly when I am in GW2.

[@OLBarbok]

Ive recently just been playing gw2 like I used to, running around and taking part in every random meta I find, its so much more fun and I get way more out of it, more natural achievements etc rather than wikin specific ones and only doing those and ignore everything else around me for minmaxing.

[@Purity262]

maaaaan.... I think I needed to hear this... I couldn't have agreed with you more... Honestly... like others have said... All gamers should hear this... Thanks dude!

[@datboi04]

I've done something similar this week. I made a new character... that's going to be an actual new character. Not allowed to use tomes, mounts, glider... or waypoints lol. The world is HUGE if you don't use mounts and waypoints. It actually takes a long time to get around. And that's good.

[@robinoflocksly6342]

I have about 23 hundred hours in Gw2 and mentor regularly when I log in in the old-fashioned way through the Mentoring LFG. Sure, I only reach maybe 1 or 2 folks sometimes a day but if I can assist just 1 person a day I've accomplished my goals. What I always tell players returning to the game or brand new I remind them that its an MMO with a huge, beautiful world that has only almost doubled in size since 2013. To take their time, really get lost in the game and the fantasy world, to take their time or at least do accomplishments at their own pace. Like ANY game out there if you treat it like a 2nd job you will get tired and burnt out without fail.

[@FORNAX.0]

I think something important that should be mentioned is that this is how ALL games should be played, not just GW2, not just MMOs, just games in general. I have personally been playing games like this for years and I think because of it I've enjoyed gaming so much.

[@Wolfian]

agreed ive taken the same mentality forward into pretty much everything and its made it so much better :D

[@sgieve]

this! i don't even know how you come up with the idea not playing games this way.. if i have to only follow write ups and check boxes, it's not a game anymore. It's work, filling up excell sheets by manual.

[@aravindhreturns]

"I won't lie. There were moments I felt that it was my conscience talking. 💬"

[@Hearthful_]

And the best thing is that this is by no means limited to GW2. I implore everyone (including myself) to do this in every MMO, nay, every video game they play. Don't google it - play the damn game!

[@LameMule]

I wondered if that was you. Hi guildie! Loved the vid. A different perspective on one's approach to the game and I love to see the progression of your journey. So here's a comment for the discovery algo gods. For real though, letting this game's sense of wonder and discovery wash over you is so refreshing, I think. It's such a breath of fresh air with nothing in the game rushing me to endgame, allowing me to take my damn time. I played WoW for a decade and FFXIV for 8 years and while I still absolutely adore FFXIV, for all GW2's flaws it's almost the perfect game for me.

[@elvesrus]

Sometimes I'll log in and just start hopping between maps while grabbing every node seen on the minimap. Definitely not efficient in any real way, but sometimes a little mindless random farming feels right.

[@jeeshadow]

Timely video for me, thank you. I've been thinking about starting a character from scratch, using no level boosts and just exploring all parts of the game again. Now I just need to pick a class. Oh boy... :(

[@Wolfian]

i may be able to help with that! ive recently started making each game i play alot more unique by playing the weird shit it offers me that nothing else does for example in GW2 you can find most styles elsewhere aside from primarily Mesmer & Revenant id say Engi would be a 3rd place contender but you can probably find it elsewhere so if you play alot of games you can divide it into "what experience do i want today fighter archer rev etc" so then you always wind up having a unique to that game experience if that makes sense since i know im guilty of making an archer in everything since its my fav style and then feeling like alot of games are samey even though i realize now its partially my own fault :P

[@kaltaron1284]

I suggest a nine-sided die. Or something to simulate that. Or watch the Beyond Repair class songs.

[@Qais.abdulalim]

Just got my first Legendary weapon, that wizards vault reward boosted me, and i can say i wont be doing another one. Im actualy bored. I feel the same, but as i took my gear off my first druid i had tear in my eye for all the GG i had with her, yes i remember playing metas with her or even a story quests. The wayfarer is so fun to play in this game, wander make your story!

[@HappySauce-jw9bf]

I'm a casual gamer. Now that I'm older I want to savor these types of games but I almost never see content that highlights games that be enjoyed like you describe here. This makes me want to play GW2!

[@prinzashitakah]

Thank you for this video! The message is really great. I actually started playing gw2 a couple of days ago and now I'm leveling a new thief without looking up guides or anything. Just enjoying the story and exploring the maps. I made me realize how fun the process can be. I've got about 650 hours total on my account.

[@wyldenfyre784]

Thank you for your excellent exposition and discussion! Love it - well done you !

[@UberAwesomeDewd]

In the newer maps Arenanet ties achievements and mastery points to doing everything in the map. It's kinda nice knowing whatever you do is progressing you closer to something

[@nautilaz]

I've always zoomed in to over the shoulder view. I just think that brings your character to life. It wasn't until I started seeing youtube vids that I saw everyone zoomed way out. To me that looked like a different game.

[@tysonlws]

I did this in wow wotlk classic, with rogue, I decided play and spec how I wanted. Which led me to put more importance on the hit and expertise stats, not the weapons or the talents(other than hit/expertise %+). I loved it. No guide said going above standard special attack hit cap was good or crucial, I found out through my own means that 24% hit was so op leveling up. Nothing ever missed. I was able to do what my class was intended to do without that crucial stun or blind being missed, I could take on elites when I wanted to, hell at level 72 I could take down an 80 elite because I had so much hit and expertise. Good times.

[@Silentstrike46_]

Very good video, actually hit home. I don't have as many hours in GW2 (probably closer to 1000), but I'm definitely in the same boat. Doing the dailies and weeklies, joining strikes and raids every week, and somehow feel like I'm missing that spark I used to have. A couple months ago I decided to give myself a challenge: Make a new character, 100% the zones as you do them, don't use any mount other than a raptor, don't use trading post for anything, and when a dungeon unlocks and you get that mail, actually go do the dungeon instead of just deleting the mail. And it's some of the most fun I've had in a LONG time. Just taking it slow and actually... enjoying the game, seeing what it has to offer. That "Stormwind" moment is spot on - it's amazing how many places I've just never seen before, despite 100%ing the zones how many times. Taking a break from metagaming and just experiencing the game is a breath of fresh air I didn't know I needed.

[@dallassukerkin6878]

Absolutely this! By pure coincidence I too am embarking on a slow-mo wander through the game with a new Warrior :) Also, I too try to explore the options of a character rather than looking up Builds - I am helped by this that I cannot stand the quick-twitch, Raid-group, Fractal-whore, side of the game so I do not need worry about doing anything but being able to make my way through the world.

[@jaimeashley645]

I've had GW2 since it's release. I JUST finally got through the base game story a few months back. I STILL haven't gone for a "meta" build. I've bought all the dlc, I'm working my way through the stories and I'm enjoying myself THOROUGHLY. I'll go looking for a meta build when I want to do PVP/raids/fractals/etc. As long as I'm just playing open world I'm going to experiment and do things my way.

[@csabaszombati]

i've just discovered the same thing like you :D that the camera angle can make a whole new experience playing this game. I was looking for a similar setting like in Hogwarts Legacy, and the game feels much more intresting...also i discevered that just play whenever you have the mood for it. It's not a job... :)

[@akeera_]

It's funny to me (positively) because I am the opposite case - I get attached to my character so much that I can't really play alts because I feel like all I've done, all the memories I've made are on my main toon. I picked warrior, went 1-80 in the world, then did story as it. While warrior is probably not my favorite class, I am sticking with it until the end of times because I love the character it's attached to.

[@Spyci9]

I remember when I was playing GW2 as F2P, learning the game (and contemplating if I wanted to buy the expansions), I would spend hours on one map trying to 100% it. It was so fun, cause you would just venture on foot everywhere and eventually stumble upon an event, a heart, a vista (which took TIME to figure out how to get up on that rock/cliff at early levels). I'm now 250 hours in, max level, 60+ MP and have done some real fun content (sunk SO MUCH time into fractals that now I have 2 characters at around 120 AR) and I realize I don't do the "fun" things as much, it's more of "oh how can I make more gold/hr? Is the meta gold farming train squad up?". Thanks for this video, it really helped me realize how to take a step back and enjoy the game again. And oh, the camera trick really helped. I slowed down my camera turning speed, panned it to the right a bit (so my character sits slightly to the left) as well as cleared a lot of clutter from my screen (such as the chat bar, simplified party bar & removed objective text) and this helped with overall visibility & attractiveness to the game.

[@slavafast9637]

That's awesome video! I just felt the same in wow and just recently started completely fresh and without any guides and so on, just whatever I'm up to and feel cool :D And that's really cool, like I'm getting back to those times when "we wanted to get lost" :D

[@deucewildegaming]

Excellent video. I wish gaming would return to this exploration and trial and error that made triumphs do much sweeter.

[@zakblue]

I played this game in the first week it came out (I think I even bought it?) but put it down after a few days and never picked it back up. Like you, I played many WoW years and expansions. Well, I just redownloaded this game on the steam deck and i'm gonna give it a shot in the zoomed in 'consoleport' style. Looking forward to it now! Thanks for the vid

[@oscarbuvari3582]

Eye-opening indeed! I am far from a hardcore GW player, but I try hard to keep up with all the optimizations out there. Metabattle, Snowcrows, hardstuck, and different gold farming guides (just came from a 2 hour lab-farm 😅). And it is definitely NOT enyable in the long run. Feel like a tool, as you put it. After this video I instantly created an elementalist. A class I've avoided due to my fear of not being able to play optimally. But I love the gameplay and aesthetics. With action camera on it is so immersive. Thank you 🙌

[@GauteAnimationNorway]

I've been roaming WvW with my own builds for quite a while. It is not going bad for me, it probably has to do with understanding what is needed in WvW. And also how I usually are most effective in a 1v1 battle for example. It's made for my gameplay, therefore it works.

[@tiobi6633]

I bet you guys never noticed the two NPCs arguing about a jade tech dishwasher discount :D

[@ThePastaSawce]

You're exactly spot on. I came to this game from WoW and I was trying to rush it to the end, only to realize how much I missed out on and how clueless I was on the story. So I made a new character (funny enough a warrior too) and took it slow. I soaked up the story and then got to 80 with a better appreciation for the game than when I started. My only issue now is that I like playing all the classes (except a couple) and I can't progress super far cause I like to toon hop haha. I still take the game slow too. After a year in the game I have finally gotten to Living world 1 hahaha

[@marcosfranco1815]

Lol exactly what you are doing now, the revelation, is my way of playing and dude, totally agree on the camera thing, I like to play with it and feels soo good. Also, been playing on and off ever since there was no expansions and it wasn't until very recently that (cos of the vault) decided to try and to do a strike mission. Was cool! I like thos game because I can get lost in a myriad of things to do, new ways of playing, fashion... (btw that norn hair is exactly the same I've chosen for my new rev haha, it's so nice)

[@mingyenwu9621]

I have the same experience with GW2 but in reverse order: I enjoy the journey casually even role-play a bit at first, and after a few years, now all I do is kill kill kill, loot loot loot, skip skip skip and it is fun! XD

[@bmw9616]

I really like doing the achievements. It's something all my characters can work towards together. There's no time limit or fomo. Each time I log on I think what would be fun today? This changed with the wizards vault which now gives me fomo if I don't do my dailies right away :(

[@freedom_fighta]

I have more hours, my mastery rank is 400, but I only have 6500 achievement points because I spend most of my time releveling new characters.

[@Haytez122]

Love this, great video. inspirational

[@FoundaPeanut]

76 days 869 hours in, I needed to hear this.

[@Madd_Jack]

I did builds from guides. Then I looked into what made these builds good. Then I was able to make good builds with weapons and skills that I wanted, and adapt to situations that needed something different. I cheated a little on the exploration of build-craft a little xD

[@Calisty]

I now have 2 and a half years of gameplay in a DareDevil and I haven't even started my campaign on the Season 4 Maps yet, I have a lot to explore and a Bank full of items to create any Class and Character I want, and after all that I'm in no hurry to play everything the game has to offer. For my Warrior, I'll create a journey playing with him just to assemble the legendary items exclusive to that objective, etc.

[@stephendiggines9122]

Just started playing again with map icons off, no minimap and the tracker panel off. So much more fun

[@ubernagash]

Hi, totally agree, I have used meta builds but I love trying out things for my self and getting lost in the world. I don't get much time due to work and uni, but I do live just getting lost in gw 2, head out helping random and new player. I have played since release. Bust some time just wondering about can be relaxing 😌

[@owlknight9081]

What a phenomenal video. Love, bravo

[@foaly8]

That GW1 clip made me well up

[@Lasagnaisprettycool]

I've been playing like this from launch. Even with all professions capped three times over I always spent hours coloring my mounts, playing what I like instead of checklisting content and always play zoomed in for immersion. Always stop to take in the surroundings and explore.🤷‍♀️

[@MrNettsen]

Really inspiring. Thank you for that eye-opening video. 🙏

[@toddmclaughlin8153]

Long time ago when WoW was still new, some one told me that playing low lvl tunes was the best part of the game. It was for the reasons you just said. It was more about all that other stuff in the game. It's a bit sad that the world content is seen as something most people want to water down, so they can skip past it as fast as they can. I have just started a tune in guildwars 2. I will trudge a long and try to enjoy my adventure , wishing you all the same.

[@thegrim418]

Great advice. The most fun I've had in gw2 has been making themed characters and roleplaying their builds. My norn warrior uses a sword and shield and looks like a knight since his lore was his sickly granddaughter would read krytan stories about knights and princesses so he set out to adventure as a pink clad knight in shining armor to collect stories to write back to entertain her. I made sure to do every single event that had to do with saving people, entertaining children, and made it my goal to solo the legendary wyvern in HoT so the knight could slay a dragon. Silly but was more fun than my ultra meta thief.

[@Wolfian]

now thats some dedication i love it :D

[@Marlax-101]

i will say aswell depending how you set up your suboptimal warrior build it can catch people off guard, sword sword greatsword power warrior with condi sigils and traits thrown in isnt optimal but you can still do enough physical damage to kill lighter classes and have enough bleed ect to be able to finish off classes you have to chase down.

[@madmagus7693]

I've played gw2 for a few years now, and I've quit multiple times because I got bored grinding map after map, on 10 different characters. I agree entirely that putting into the game at least a bit of RPing makes a big difference for enjoying the game. I'll never have a legendary anything because I don't have it in me to do the nitpicky grind. But I have made 12 sets of ascended, so I don't feel the need. Thanks for a good video.

[@rofllolzXD]

I love this video because I recently came to the same conclusion. I just started playing the game again after 6 years and when I came back I tried changing my perspective. Right now I play like I am playing a single player game with random people dropping in some of my missions and I am enjoying it very much. I play gw2 right now similar to how I played skyrim before where I just explore the world and it never feels like a chore. And if I want a more multiplayer feels from the game I just jump into pvp or wvw

[@grimonce]

Yea... I've done what you've done with my first class.. took a few years to reach 80 on my first necro. Now I'm stuck with 20 characters lvl 80 and I don't enjoy any single one particuraly, I only know necro deep to experiment with builds. Others I have to copy form meta battle, which is actually quite sad. Today I tried the action camera for the first time and damn is this fun.

[@perisemiotics3204]

glad you're enjoying the game for what it is. You don't need another 100% map exploration - try the gen 2 leggies: if you're eyeing a GS I'd heartily recommend Exordium, which morphs itself depending on the type of skill you're using it with. Best weapon animations imo. On the note of _exploring the game_ along with legendary weapons, 4 of the gen 2 leggies have additional "journeys" to them that I think you will very much like (short bow, axe, staff and pistol).

[@happybrain2674]

i did a wvw revive perma stealth thief. is it good? sometimes... i mean it can make people think someone cheats esp if you got 3 of them just waiting till a mate goes down xD

[@smackfanxion]

Double pet, rifle ranger. Literally my top pick for Elite spec I want on ranger. Points! All the points!

[@i_arji]

1000 of my game time hours is just being ocd and fomo story and map completion and collections so half of my game time is just playing like a kid finding out about the real world, now im at 8000 hours of game time i achieve most of what i wanted and needed and i just play for enjoyment

[@Auriorium]

I have ... hours in the game, played since HoT, and yes I did miss a lot when I was playing, essentially being railroaded by my friends into "optimising" everything, spent even some years not playing (ICB Saga till the latest expansion). And now I log in, do the only two meta events I really like (Octovine and Tangled Depths) and continue with the creation of Legendary Trinkets and to say the least I am having a blast in this game.

[@spyrelionsol7683]

THIS, this is the reason why some of us enjoy fashion wars so much, but in a realistic way, for example, my main character is a Rev, and since i started the game i crafted my Rev (female charr) as a Knight. The more i spent in the game, the more i got interested on fashion wars, and with mixing it with different builds, i thought of something...let's make a fashion wars design for each build!! Alac rev (first build i ever had): Knight Power Rev: corrupted by Primordus, fire theme Condi Rev: corrupted by Jormag, ice theme Heal Rev: corrupted by Mordremoth And so and so, only keeping the face uncovered and the black wings as a backpack on each build. Because of that, after a lot of years i still feel awesome to switch woth 2 keys to a gear and build so i can feel each build different, refreshing and cool to use!!

[@monkeydriver400]

Well said. I'll, just maybe, will adjust my attitude as well 😊

[@boonsterboom3470]

"Completing every event for map completion is too time consuming" - while this is definetly correct, it would be great, to have an achievement tab, including all events. In Soto - the newest expansion - this is added. You even get AP for that. Of course this than again can feel like a chore you need to fulfill, but it also would be interesting to have a possibility to see, whether you have experienced all events in a given zone. Maybe even without AP, so it is NOT a chore to do for AP

[@Kleinvadder]

Need to do this. After all this years i achieved everything i wanted (primary getting full legendary - lets not talk about diving). Cant remember the main Story, mostly used meta builds. Guess its time to slow things down😊

Congratulations for figuring it out!

[@craota]

I just came here because your choice of font for the thumbnail made it look like the "L" and "I" was a "U" 😂

[@Hiirios]

"the angriest, assholiest norn"... so braham?

[@alexkerpe930]

Thats an amazing well made video with deep words. And describs the Problem i have with gw2 how i play it since it didn t click yet but i still comming back again to try find it and getting lost in goals and chasing gold losing fun again. leaving comming back again... and reason i come back is mhmm maybe cause of the class i love playing the most that has so much feedom and variation- thief :P

[@alexkerpe930]

but the problem for me is: i can not get motivated over the Story the chosen hero blablabla its so tiring like putting yourself in a 10 yeahrold shounen caracter. but the classmechanics keep me comming back and the greed for maxing character gear...but it also makes me leave all the time. ah by the way 7 years account but still not all maps open and storry played -.- ---i m working on it...seems like its getting better the later it gets...well maybe with the obscure...the main hero shit disapears a little.

[@timetherington1986]

Staff Warrior build from scratch... here we go.

[@leftrom9738]

After years of playing gw2, I really miss the immersion of the first months.. like following the dynamic events to the point I found myself 3 maps away from my initial goal, wondering 'how the heck did I end up here?'

[@jessm.2779]

Ten year vet. The game is what you make of it. My best advice is to try everything and then stick to the stuff you like!

[@amirhaynes6016]

I've been playing MMORPGs for over 20 years. I had over the last few years lost interest in most all of them but GW2 has peaked my interest again. It feels like there's a sense of community, and the world doesn't force you to do stupid questions constantly. It's nice to play at your own pace too.

[@TrTriTrippin]

Have played for 11 years Fuck the meta!

[@omgabaddon]

I mean, you're right everywhere... The part about looking at the target marker isntead of looking at the world in particular is spot-on, the game doesn't really give me a reason not to look at it. I replaced that marker with Blish eventually but looking at the world they carefully crafted? Nuh-uh. I mean why should I? Most stuff around there is pointless, they want us to grind like 50k gold to collect legendaries, another 100k in collectibles to unlock stuff, and we're supposed to wait and fight that mob that's spitting nonsense about how they are going to hit you with a frying pan? No way, I want my Aurora.

[@doomsayr_x]

How did you make your mouse look like that? The little cross hair thing?

[@pandemonization983]

Man I LOVE to go Discover the map and see a Event with tons of people killing or escorting some NPC, idk It's just fun, feels like i m well accompanied, I m LOVING the last days that I m playing GW2. Good vídeo.❤️

[@Syae22]

Yep that’s the most fun part making random events in the huge world with people you encounter

[@nicktaylor4204]

If you don't get lost in your games that's you really because I still get very zoned out and is a great way to relax after work.

[@Wolfian]

im working on getting it back :D

[@icaroadriel7970]

First of all, awesome video. I know this is a bit weird, but I loved it your camera settings, could you share it?

[@Wolfian]

Made A Video On Them! -> kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKfbaaKIZtWFfsk&ab_channel=WolfianEntertainment