I would like to make this thread not to bash the game and call it a horrible title but to bring to light this certain topic to players (who like myself) enjoy progressive leveling that follows the storyline. 

In Guild Wars 2 you will find that the story is great... I mean it's personal and is constantly affected by the decisions you make. The cutscenes and conversations (voice acted) that are had real make you feel immersed in your character. However, these great story moments can only be done so often. To break down the system of how it works....

> You do a 5-10 minute story mission which is amazing and filled with stuff to do. During it there is several cutscenes, conversations, decisions, fights, etc.

> After you finish it you look for the next story to find you have to gain 3 levels to do it.

Now this wouldn't be so bad if this game was not a complete grindfest. With a lack of a "quest" system so to speak you are forced to then run around the map(s) and find any event or heart that you can (given your level can do it). This can take several hours in the higher levels (I'm only level 42 and I average a level or so every hour to hour and a half). When you finally get to the desired level you go to your quest and find.. oh hey another 5-10 minute mission. You easily complete this and enjoy every moment until it's done.

Now completed you're told to go to another location that... oh no surprisingly you have to be 3 levels higher. It's very tiring and has led to me just quitting the game. Again, this thread is not meant to bash the company as the title is by far one of the most successful of the decade (in terms of selling). I am simply warning those of you who are not into having to search non stop for any little event to level up 3 times per 5-10 minutes of your story.

Funny how my opinion is completely the opposite. I can not stand the personal story and like running around exploring on the map.

I'm now 15 levels behind on my personal story and trying to catch up but I really HATE it.

Originally posted by thekid1

Funny how my opinion is completely the opposite. I can not stand the personal story and like running around exploring on the map.

I'm now 15 levels behind on my personal story and trying to catch up but I really HATE it.

Same here. I wish I could just abandon it altogether.  I hate it being up in the corner nagging me all the time.

I had this issue as well.

I just joined my "faction" in that choice quest and now i wanna see what happens but i gotta farm levels up D:

Between Crafting, jumping puzzles, pvp and exploration I find plenty to do in between my story arc.

I see no problems with the game. The problem a lot of people have is they play a game too much and burn out too quickly on it. This game is great for casual players but I could see becoming boring for hardcore gamers. If you learn to relax and stop staring at your exp bar and just immerse yourself in the game world while doing everything this game has to offer you will have a blast., I guarantee it.

Originally posted by Celusios

 

> After you finish it you look for the next story to find you have to gain 3 levels to do it.

 

I  haven't ran into this problem. Then again, I've been zone completing inbetween stories. 

Originally posted by thekid1

Funny how my opinion is completely the opposite. I can not stand the personal story and like running around exploring on the map.

I'm now 15 levels behind on my personal story and trying to catch up but I really HATE it.

Same. I turned off map hints and forgot about the story. I cant say i hate it, but its pretty meh

Unfortunately it's not designed so that your story alone will level you up enough to get you through it. The story has to span a good majority of the available areas. It is a very great story and there is no "grinding" of anything to get levels. Honestly I've been trying not to level so i can get my level 60 cultural armor and not have it be out of datewhen i get it, but every where i look theres exp. Daily kills, daily kill variety, daily gatherer, daily gather variety, indescriminate slayer, jotun slayer, skritt slayer, etc; All of these achievements that give you stupid crazy exp for doing the smallest of things. Theres an achievement for killing small bunnies. Exploring alone gets me crazy exp. Gathering, mining, and foresting gets me more exp a day than I care to count. Then the Dynamic events in between. I start of saying I'm going to go get that node and am distracted by atleast 1-2 DE's between point A and point B, not to mention the DE chains and a boss fight breaks out and then theres a chest with loot, as I get close to the node I realize that its guarded by a veteran mob. I kill it only to look down and see i've gained half a level, and the node is a rich ore vein...Daily gatherer pops up and I get even more EXP.

People that complain about a grind are OBVIOUSLY doing something horribly wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if theres an achievement for being logged in for 24 hours straight.

I never care about lore/story tbh..

Only did it pre-WoW.

And Warhammer 40.000 when we arent talking computer games.

The game has so much to offer than two NPCs talking anyway

Originally posted by TheIronLegion

Unfortunately it's not designed so that your story alone will level you up enough to get you through it. The story has to span a good majority of the available areas. It is a very great story and there is no "grinding" of anything to get levels. Honestly I've been trying not to level so i can get my level 60 cultural armor and not have it be out of datewhen i get it, but every where i look theres exp. Daily kills, daily kill variety, daily gatherer, daily gather variety, indescriminate slayer, jotun slayer, skritt slayer, etc; All of these achievements that give you stupid crazy exp for doing the smallest of things. Theres an achievement for killing small bunnies. Exploring alone gets me crazy exp. Gathering, mining, and foresting gets me more exp a day than I care to count. Then the Dynamic events in between. I start of saying I'm going to go get that node and am distracted by atleast 1-2 DE's between point A and point B, not to mention the DE chains and a boss fight breaks out and then theres a chest with loot, as I get close to the node I realize that its guarded by a veteran mob. I kill it only to look down and see i've gained half a level, and the node is a rich ore vein...Daily gatherer pops up and I get even more EXP.

People that complain about a grind are OBVIOUSLY doing something horribly wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if theres an achievement for being logged in for 24 hours straight.

^ This.

To OP :

Clearly, no game can cater to everyone. If  you found yourself not happy playing a game, move on and find one that suits you. The game is made and they will not alter the core game to fit other play style.

Originally posted by Celusios

...5-10 minutes of your story.

So, your basic point is that each story chapter is too short? I agree, I really enjoy them. But I also heard another guy say his was taking too long, so I guess not everyone does.

As for the grind etc,  well... you will see what you want to see. I don't see grind at all in the game. The levelling speed is also just fine for me and, if anything, goes too fast.

But, yes, I would like bigger PS chapters.

OP is complaining that an hour to hour and a half to level is too slow?

Dude, really?

Yes, the story is spread out from levels 1 through 80 by design. It takes you from the starter zone all the way to Orr. I just got done a couple days ago with the part of my story that took me through Lion's Arch and had a blast. Five to ten minute mission my ass... those, and the ones following so far, have been at least half an hour, more in a couple of the LA ones.

Sorry, I hate to sound rude, but I stopped reading when you say the game is a grindfest. 200 hours into the live game and I haven't experienced any grind as part of the progression. (I have spent a little time grinding mobs for uncommon crafting mats, but I didn't do any of that leveling my Elementalist to 80). I still haven't even visited a third of the game zones, in 200 hours and many of the zones I have visited have not been more than 60% explored. I haven't even touched dungeons and only recently started playing a little WvW and sPvP, (both a lot of fun).

It really seems like some people consider the very act of playing a game to progress a grind, no matter how broad and varied the content and worldspace are. I enjoy the story in the game, but the story is not, nor is it meant to be, the majority of the game play needed to progress to the level cap.

I didn't really like the personal story. I think I've gotten to the point that I'd like to have either a personal story, on my own server, or an open world story, but not both. Give me HalfLife2 or give me Minecraft with some quests, but don't try to mash them together.

I could have played the class stories in SWToR, with little or no world stories and I would have been just fine. I enjoyed playing GW2 without the personal story bits. I'm not sure the two should exist side by side in the same game.

At least with GW2, and I can skip the personal story completely and not feel like I'm losing out.

Originally posted by Celusios

I would like to make this thread not to bash the game and call it a horrible title but to bring to light this certain topic to players (who like myself) enjoy progressive leveling that follows the storyline. 

In Guild Wars 2 you will find that the story is great... I mean it's personal and is constantly affected by the decisions you make. The cutscenes and conversations (voice acted) that are had real make you feel immersed in your character. However, these great story moments can only be done so often. To break down the system of how it works....

 

> You do a 5-10 minute story mission which is amazing and filled with stuff to do. During it there is several cutscenes, conversations, decisions, fights, etc.

> After you finish it you look for the next story to find you have to gain 3 levels to do it.

 

Now this wouldn't be so bad if this game was not a complete grindfest. With a lack of a "quest" system so to speak you are forced to then run around the map(s) and find any event or heart that you can (given your level can do it). This can take several hours in the higher levels (I'm only level 42 and I average a level or so every hour to hour and a half). When you finally get to the desired level you go to your quest and find.. oh hey another 5-10 minute mission. You easily complete this and enjoy every moment until it's done.

Now completed you're told to go to another location that... oh no surprisingly you have to be 3 levels higher. It's very tiring and has led to me just quitting the game. Again, this thread is not meant to bash the company as the title is by far one of the most successful of the decade (in terms of selling). I am simply warning those of you who are not into having to search non stop for any little event to level up 3 times per 5-10 minutes of your story.

 I'm sorry the game feels like a total grindfest to you. It really isn't bad, the games progression combo'd with everything you can do on top of the tasks and dynamic events the leveling speed is very fast, even at higher levels. I personally feel that it gets faster the later into the game. After playing through 4 characters to ~50 and now working on my 5th I have yet to slow down in the leveling department. 

However, I have noticed that certain classes CANNOT level as fast as others and so far the slowest leveling class I've experienced is the necromancer. It's just a subpar class in every aspect to every other class that I've played. I know people will have different opinions of it, but that's just the conclusion I've come to.

I personally say give it another try and do stuff a little differently. Remember, you're not playing a single player game, and yes there is a storyline but try not to do the bare minimum just for the story, level and progress. It is a MMO in the end and it will feel grindy if you only think about the grind.

Remember to craft, utilizing crafting will be your best friend in the long run. For your first character and every character in the future. You're able to obtain massive amounts of experience from crafting. Whatever you do, don't sell materials or throw them away. Save them for your current and future characters.

Getting bored of the tasks? Try the WvW or SPvP they're a great and refreshing way to get your mind off the grind if you're experiencing it. I personally am on Henge of Denravi (Go Titan Alliance) and I'm having a blast. The one downside to WvW is the long queue times people are experiencing. But that's typical of any MMO at launch. Overall PvP is one of my favorite parts about the game.

Explore the zones, experience the jumping puzzles, Arenanet awards players for exploring their game, and there are hidden puzzles with chests in zones. The jumping puzzles are by far my favorite part of the game.

Dungeons, dungeons, and oh my god those dungeons. The hardest and most frustrating portion of the game. But, at the same time very fun with the right groups. Arenanet did say this was ment for the hardcore players, and they weren't joking. The difficulty is the equivilant of a raid in any other game. Try them out, AC(30) is hard for first time players. I'd recommend skipping AC and move to CM (40). It's much more forgiving.

Originally posted by Purutzil
I do think personal story should flow a bit better level wise... but at the same time i found it incredible cheesy. It can be decent at one moment and incredibly cheesy or stupid the next. Not to mention, play through once and you can predict everything that happens the next time through, no matter what side you pick or your options. I have just the Vigil left and I can make quite a good prediction just what will happen there with my mentor and who I'll be magically introduced to and work with as if we have known each other for a long time.

Glad you've got this magical augury that allows you to figure out the plots of games and movies before they happen. But that's just you. They can vary things as far as the story, but they can only vary so far. It all has to come to the same conclusion at some point.