I hit level 80... Now what?

[Falconeer]

I imagine you don't have to beat the last boss of each explore mode

Ok, but now I am really curious? Do you know if anybody has beaten all the bosses in the game yet? It gives me an idea of what's there PvE-wise. Not level-wise or gear-wise. The pure and simple challenge to the mobs, and how hard it is.



From the "Things to do at 80" article:

Complete all 33 possible explorable mode dungeon paths

Given that "Complete" means "kill everything", this is what I want to know. If it has been done at least once, and how hard it is.

[Zetor]

Real question: has anyone completed all the exploration modes of all dungeons? That's pretty much all the "endgame" they have, so I am wondering how challenging it is, and how hard it is to get to the end of every single dungeon in exploration mode.

And I take 100% world completion doesn't take that into account, does it?

I believe the points of interest inside the explorable modes count to 100% completion.  You also get extra waypoints from explorable which have to be unlocked.  The dungeons themselves don't have to be completed, as in I imagine you don't have to beat the last boss of each explore mode, but you need those POIs and WPs.

I have all the hearts and vistas but quite a few POIs and WPs left because I haven't done the explorables or picked up the ones in WvW areas.  Three of the fucking skill points I need are bugged so I can't finish off the last two PvE areas which is pissing me off.

You shouldn't need any dungeon POIs/WPs for the 100% exploration thing.

I'm exactly two vistas and three POIs away from 100% world completion - those are two keeps in the green borderlands (I started exploring in WVW too late, sad face) and the Chantry of Secrets. The only dungeons I've done were AC, CM and HotW...

[Miasma]

I guess I got some wrong information then.

And I thought for sure I had completed all vistas even though I've have yet to go to wvw.

[murdoc]

"The journey is more important than the destination, because their isn't one."

Thank god a developer finally understands this. Having an 'endgame' or destination in an online game is retarded. Endgame in mmo is just stuff to keep people paying until they can sell you the next box. Yet everyone races to max level asap, bypassing all the cool stuff along the way. Didn't your mother teach you to chew your food? Goddamned kids.

I'm 100% in agreement with Sky here. I love that I don't feel any pressure to get to 80 or keep my levels consistent with the small group I routinely game with.

[01101010]

Thank god a developer finally understands this. Having an 'endgame' or destination in an online game is retarded. Endgame in mmo is just stuff to keep people paying until they can sell you the next box. Yet everyone races to max level asap, bypassing all the cool stuff along the way. Didn't your mother teach you to chew your food? Goddamned kids.

I'm 100% in agreement with Sky here. I love that I don't feel any pressure to get to 80 or keep my levels consistent with the small group I routinely game with.

Sign of the times. I blame WoW for giving me a maxlevel lust that was hard to break out of. Everything there was gated by some "must be this tall to compete here," starting with Dead Mines or Ragefire. Here, it is a bit opposite in that ANet will make you as tall as you need to be for said place in the world. The caveat is the dungeons in which you still have to hit a level, but if you are higher, you can't rolfstomp through it.

[murdoc]

The only issue I really have is when they downlevel me lower than the mobs I'm fighting.

[WayAbvPar]

I wish downleveling was optional. Sometimes it would be nice to go in and murder greys for some loot and not have to sweat it.

[sachiel]

The only issue I really have is when they downlevel me lower than the mobs I'm fighting.

I don't mind that.  Kicked ass this morning on the Priestess of Grenth.  Got a new orange staff (Berserker with Superior Bloodlust) and testing out my king-shititude in Bloodtide, I got cocky on a DE and got my ass smashed and overwhelmed by pirates.  Embarrassing infront of the lowbie elementalist that was the only one fighting beside me who downed twice  by that point, but keeps you grounded.  I still like being challenged, even if it mean sub-down leveling and an asskicking once in a while.

EDIT: ^^ I don't ever want to murder greys, and I'm really happy that it's impossible in this game.

[Sky]

The whole 1-80 level bit was inserted as a marketing tool to get money out of WoW players.  When these WoW players realize that being 80 is largely meaningless, they will leave.

It's awesome they got them to find GW2 for casuals!

[WayAbvPar]

I don't ever want to murder greys, and I'm really happy that it's impossible in this game.

You obviously aren't trying to level 8 different crafting professions!! 

[Sky]

If you're not facerolling for mats, you need a warrior :)

[KallDrexx]

I find the implementation flawed.  If you don't want levels to be the focus of your game, then don't have levels in your game.  GW2 doesn't need levels.  Right now they are a gatekeeper for content.  They could have easily eliminated the numbers and had areas open up after x number of skill gains or something more clever.  When you start your player off at level 1, they will instinctively look at level 80 and make it their primary obvious goal. 

If players are meant to enjoy the journey, then make the journey the focus.  The whole 1-80 level bit was inserted as a marketing tool to get money out of WoW players.  When these WoW players realize that being 80 is largely meaningless, they will leave.  While it's a great bait-and-switch for grabbing box revenue, I don't find it inspired from a game development standpoint.  So many marketing gimics are glaringly obvious in this game.

Your reasoning is flawed.  Just because something isn't the sole focus of the game doesn't mean it's completely worthless. 

Levels are a great way to measure progression in a very casual way.  It allows you to log in for an hour and see progress done in that hour.  The only other progress that's readily visible is the map completion progression but the overall map completion % doesn't move very much (because there are so many things to do) and zone specific completion isn't really visible outside of the zone you are in (and it would be too complicated as a progression meter).  Levels work perfectly in this regard, especially because the game does not have much directed content.  Levels also help set progression rate through the world.

It's been proven that being able to have visible progression is a huge phsycological boon to a game.  Yes, not for everyone (if your primary enjoyment are FPS style game where everything resets after a match then you won't see any benefit to levels) but there are real design reasons why RPGs have had levels in them for ages, both explicit levels (GW2 levels, D3 paragon levels, etc..) and indirect levels (AAs, gw2 skill point progression, realm ranks in DAOC etc..)

[Nebu]

Your reasoning is flawed. 

My point was that if GW2 was trying to get the focus away from levels, then a better implementation would have avoided the use of levels.  Levels serve a purpose in this game and I believe that purpose is to cater to a wider variety of MMO gamers rather than to serve as some artificial progression metric.  Why do I think this?  Because you can reach level 80 with little of the map explored and don't even need to be 80 to enjoy many aspects of the game (tournaments, sPvP, WvW). 

[Tyrnan]

My point was that if GW2 was trying to get the focus away from levels, then a better implementation would have avoided the use of levels.  Levels serve a purpose in this game and I believe that purpose is to cater to a wider variety of MMO gamers rather than to serve as some artificial progression metric.  Why do I think this?  Because you can reach level 80 with little of the map explored and don't even need to be 80 to enjoy many aspects of the game (tournaments, sPvP, WvW).

I'm sure I remember reading either an interview or a dev blog where they said they weren't going to have levels (or just have 20 like the first game) but added them based on feedback from testing precisely because people wanted a familiar way to measure progression. And being level 80 here is just as meaningless as being level 20 was in GW1. Most of the game took place at max level, and in Factions and Nightfall it was trivial to reach it. And you could create a PvP only character and never worry about leveling in PvE if you wanted.

[Ingmar]

The only issue I really have is when they downlevel me lower than the mobs I'm fighting.

Yeah this bothers me as well. It only seems to happen in a few spots, which makes me think it is a mistake/bug.

[Zetor]

Random comment - I just got 100% world exploration, woo! The reward was two 'gift of exploration' and people are telling me it's for making legendary weapons... though looking at the stuff required to make legendaries makes me shiver a bit, GW1 obsidian armor/ecto farming flashbacks and all.

e: also, it apparently puts a star next to my name! I wonder why they aren't doing that with titles...

[Sjofn]

Thank god a developer finally understands this. Having an 'endgame' or destination in an online game is retarded. Endgame in mmo is just stuff to keep people paying until they can sell you the next box. Yet everyone races to max level asap, bypassing all the cool stuff along the way. Didn't your mother teach you to chew your food? Goddamned kids.

I find the implementation flawed.  If you don't want levels to be the focus of your game, then don't have levels in your game.  GW2 doesn't need levels.  Right now they are a gatekeeper for content.  They could have easily eliminated the numbers and had areas open up after x number of skill gains or something more clever.  When you start your player off at level 1, they will instinctively look at level 80 and make it their primary obvious goal. 

If players are meant to enjoy the journey, then make the journey the focus.  The whole 1-80 level bit was inserted as a marketing tool to get money out of WoW players.  When these WoW players realize that being 80 is largely meaningless, they will leave.  While it's a great bait-and-switch for grabbing box revenue, I don't find it inspired from a game development standpoint.  So many marketing gimics are glaringly obvious in this game.

People like levels, and not because of WoW (seriously, people, get over WoW already. It didn't kill your puppy.). It gives you a sense of progression, even if they're largely meaningless (I give less of a crap about about what my level is in GW2 than I ever have before in a game, but I still like having a level). No levels in TSW was also OK, but it still had "levels" with the whole "you need to spend points to open up better gear" and shit, with people using THAT number as their "level." That's just levels by another name, and frankly I don't find it "clever," I find it a silly way to deny you have levels, and a much bigger marketing gimmick than "look guys, we have levels!"

[01101010]

People like levels, and not because of WoW (seriously, people, get over WoW already. It didn't kill your puppy.). It gives you a sense of progression, even if they're largely meaningless (I give less of a crap about about what my level is in GW2 than I ever have before in a game, but I still like having a level). No levels in TSW was also OK, but it still had "levels" with the whole "you need to spend points to open up better gear" and shit, with people using THAT number as their "level." That's just levels by another name, and frankly I don't find it "clever," I find it a silly way to deny you have levels, and a much bigger marketing gimmick than "look guys, we have levels!"

Fine. Then we can blame the fucking Kramer for it.

[Sky]

I like levels, not sure why WoW is getting the blame. I dislike WoW, it killed my puppy. But we need to at least put Gary Gygax on the spot for that one. I don't see it as anything but a nice little waypoint marker for the journey of character customization. I've been over-leveled for the whole game, won't bug me when I'm maxed out and still exploring and doing stuff.

Also, one nice thing about being a casual player is that my rate of content consumption is slower than the rate of content generation by most mmos I've seen thus far. As long as GW2 doesn't suddenly decide to focus on 'traditional endgame' raid/grind type stuff that I dislike in every other mmo, then I'm set for a while with it (especially at the cost of the sub).

[Nebu]

I like levels, not sure why WoW is getting the blame.

WoW gets the blame for bringing MMOs to the mainstream.  Levels and MMO's are connected from the days of yore.  It's transitive.

[Sky]

WoW gets the blame for bringing MMOs to the mainstream. 

You're telling me? The genre is only just now beginning to recover from the developmental retardation of WoW, but the impact on player's mentalities....that will be borne for years to come.

Or; if you don't like WoW, mmo pickings have been mighty goddamned slim and any variation from the formula has been shouted down with vengeance. And one wonders why some hold a chip against the behemoth...

[Ingmar]

I find it ... odd, that you liked SWTOR but insist WoW is the devil.

[01101010]

I find it ... odd, that you liked SWTOR but insist WoW is the devil.

Did you not read his post? WoW killed his puppy you heartless SoB. 

[Sky]

I find it ... odd, that you liked SWTOR but insist WoW is the devil.

From the very beginning I've been saying the parts of TOR I dislike are the parts they lifted from WoW. For a good enough game, the underlying setup could work, but they really pushed hard to be WoW-like.

I'd still be playing if they hadn't yoinked all my names, though.

[Phred]

So what would count as meaningful? Because obviously accomplishing something that requires skill != no meaning.

Getting Phat Lootz of course.

[Kageru]

You haven't got the loot to do elite mode extra-challenge bonus fzlnarfn raids that lock-out 90% of your user base? You must fail at life in general.

[Threash]

This is my endgame goal

[proudft]

You and Sjofn both.

[Sjofn]

Seriously, I want that thing so bad.

[Tyrnan]

If it sings "Harmony, HARMONY" every time you shoot it then count me in! 

[Ingmar]

I don't get it.

[Severian]

This is my endgame goal

Here's what the bow itself looks like.   



src

[01101010]

 

 

[Sjofn]

This is my endgame goal

Here's what the bow itself looks like.   



src

Exactly.

[Furiously]

I really wish weapons could be dyed.  That pink and light blue and white would clash with my outfit.