No, casual doesn't mean "easy", and solo doesn't mean "never plays with others", and that is something that  Anet has, shockingly, really understood and taken to heart.

Without saying a word to other players, I was involved in one group or raid-quality event after another.  I could log in, and log out, and go AFK as I wished, and play as good or as bad as I was able, with no grief or guilt, without putting anyone else at risk or ruining anyone else's game.  I could figure out what combination of skills and weapons I personally liked to use, and use that to my heart's content, and nobody could disinvite me or prevent me from participating.

Yes, I do enjoy talking to others, and I do enjoy playing as best I can; I just don't like being excluded from top end content and rewards because some 14 yr old e-Napolean doesn't think I'm professional enough.  I also don't like putting other people at risk because I don't play the most efficient, min-max character possible.

The game mechanics itself told me what my contribution level was, and I didn't have to beg someone else, or play to their liking, to get my rewards. Nobody could grief me, ninja-loot, steal my kill, or jump in and ruin content. If I was halfway through a quest and felt like doing something else, I could wander off and not get textually assaulted for it. I could jump in and help other players, and they could do the same for me, freely. If I like an area, I can just stay there to my heart's content. The game doesn't tell me to "get out" of an by reducing my rewards to zero.

Yes, this game is revolutionary, but that won't be fully recognized by many until a few months down the road as casual players and soloers start draining away from games unfriendly to their playstyle and filling up GW2 servers, and as people who have either never played or have left the genre realize GW2 is exactly what they've been looking/waiting for.

This is brilliant, genre-altering game design. It's not readily apparent; because the true differences are deep in the structural bones, not in the superficial activities, which are much like other games. When people realize there really is no reason to rush through the game because the same thing is available from the very beginning, and when people realize they can play this game any way they want and not suffer from lack of inclusion in content, that's when the enormity of what Anet has created here will become apparent.

 

More hyperbole.  You left out the part about GW2 being able to cure cancer and bring about world peace.  

 

Originally posted by RebelScum99

More hyperbole.  You left out the part about GW2 being able to cure cancer and bring about world peace.  

 

I covered that in another thread :)

Originally posted by RebelScum99

More hyperbole.  You left out the part about GW2 being able to cure cancer and bring about world peace.  

 

And this is the best example of an informed and constructive reply, learn from it.

Huh? I am mainly a solo player and a casual and I disagree with the OP. Yes you can solo but if you want the skill points in congested areas you MUST have more than one player to do it.  I did manage to solo kill most of the time but never was able to survive (as a necromancer) multiple mobs in a restricted area (could not even complete my level 10 quest as a level 14). I do think this is a great game and I will play it upon release but I do not think that it is casual or solo FRIENDLY.

Originally posted by tordurbar
Huh? I am mainly a solo player and a casual and I disagree with the OP. Yes you can solo but if you want the skill points in congested areas you MUST have more than one player to do it.  I did manage to solo kill most of the time but never was able to survive (as a necromancer) multiple mobs in a restricted area (could not even complete my level 10 quest as a level 14). I do think this is a great game and I will play it upon release but I do not think that it is casual or solo FRIENDLY.

I have to disagree, for all we know you are playing wrong, like the guys calling for nerf on the forums.

But I wont assume anything and just state that I for one enjoyed the challenge and would advocate increasing the difficulty level personally.

Originally posted by tordurbar
Huh? I am mainly a solo player and a casual and I disagree with the OP. Yes you can solo but if you want the skill points in congested areas you MUST have more than one player to do it.  I did manage to solo kill most of the time but never was able to survive (as a necromancer) multiple mobs in a restricted area (could not even complete my level 10 quest as a level 14). I do think this is a great game and I will play it upon release but I do not think that it is casual or solo FRIENDLY.

That you can't complete your lvl 10 quests 4 level above that probably tells us that you need to rethink your combat strategy.

You don't must anything but it is indeed hard to solo those personal story things and takes skill. Bringing a friend or 2 makes things a lot easier.

The real group PvE content is however dungeons and the beta didn't even scratch the surface on them.

I think GW2 ain't the perfect game for soloing, that is TOR.

In GW2 you mostly play with other people even if you don't group with them, what ANET did instead is removing some of the dumber group dynamics and let you play with other players without actually grouping with them. You still depend on them if you want the event to succeed, but they can't steal your kills or ninja loot you.

Wow, you could sell a bucket of dookey to a sanitation worker...........Well maybe not....This game has a ways to go....Disconnections....Won't even run crossfire or in maxed mode....Getting crafting drops but not being able to craft until level 10.....How very TOR of them....Lame cut scenes that voiceovers were missing on half the conversation....Always getting the overflow message and never a message that you qued in....Did I always play in the overflow?  This is by no means near complete......At least TOR was way more polished.....The disclaimer in the corner saying Work In Progress was no lie....Having an event continually que up when you already have completed it and then having it tell you you've been rewarded....Again...and...Again....and Again.....Tons of things wrong with this game....Another run arround and kill so many X so many times to fill your bar and get your little cyber medal....Wohoo My Hero...One last thing....Having some stupid guild spam me everytime I logged in made me feel like I was being stalked.....BBB guild go @#$ yourselves...Seriously, I want an IGNORE function for entire guilds.....

I found it almost impossible to solo. Every time I tried to do a quest there were a bunch of people there helping me and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't play solo if I wanted to.

Agreed. You can't get any more casual solo friendly than this. I also grouped for dynamic events when I wanted to. It is going to be an awesome game.

Originally posted by RebelScum99

More hyperbole.  You left out the part about GW2 being able to cure cancer and bring about world peace.  

 

u forgot mentioning aids :P

I completely disagree with the OP.  Guild Wars I was and is so much more casual friendly, it's not even debatable.

Originally posted by tordurbar
Huh? I am mainly a solo player and a casual and I disagree with the OP. Yes you can solo but if you want the skill points in congested areas you MUST have more than one player to do it.  I did manage to solo kill most of the time but never was able to survive (as a necromancer) multiple mobs in a restricted area (could not even complete my level 10 quest as a level 14). I do think this is a great game and I will play it upon release but I do not think that it is casual or solo FRIENDLY.

Eh, I don't think 'casual' is supposed to mean 'terrible'. I was beating my lvl10 quests as a lvl5, and my lvl18 quests as a lvl12-13. If you're actually having difficulty beating stuff that is BELOW you in level, you need to adjust how you play, plain and simple. 

Originally posted by lokiboard
Wow, you could sell a bucket of dookey to a sanitation worker...........Well maybe not....This game has a ways to go....Disconnections....Won't even run crossfire or in maxed mode....Getting crafting drops but not being able to craft until level 10.....How very TOR of them....Lame cut scenes that voiceovers were missing on half the conversation....Always getting the overflow message and never a message that you qued in....Did I always play in the overflow?  This is by no means near complete......At least TOR was way more polished.....The disclaimer in the corner saying Work In Progress was no lie....Having an event continually que up when you already have completed it and then having it tell you you've been rewarded....Again...and...Again....and Again.....Tons of things wrong with this game....Another run arround and kill so many X so many times to fill your bar and get your little cyber medal....Wohoo My Hero...One last thing....Having some stupid guild spam me everytime I logged in made me feel like I was being stalked.....BBB guild go @#$ yourselves

You think TOR was more polished in the beta? I guess that is a matter of opinion.

But yes, the game have stuff that needs to be fixed before launch. That crossfire is turned off right now is no real surprise to me, it is usually one of the last things you fix up.

That you can't craft from level 1 is really not TORs idea, it have been in many older games as well. Not that I think they made crafting really great or anything, it is average in my opinion.

I actually didn't kill X that much, most DEs offered alternatives, like collecting stuff as well. I felt that the fact that most DEs let´s you pick one or several things to do yourself was great compared to the standard list you must do to complete a quest.

But yeah, the game still need some fixing up, that was clear. But that can't be a surprise to anyone sane, if it was in perfect shape already they would have released it.

You probably should have just said this is the revolution you've been waiting for.  Only it's not going to be as revolutionary as you think.

For one, some (and I say some because I know I'm not alone) solo and small group players like character progression, gear progression and advancement.  What some of us want are alternate paths for progression that don't mean raid only.  What we don't want is a flat gear system where the grinds are only about fluff appearance and titles.  So for us this game is not the revolution we've been waiting for.  That revolution has yet to come.

Also I think it will become apparent, as people actually get to play longer, that the most sought after fluff and appearance stuff is locked squarely behind group only content.  ANet are masters of the fluff grind (take the Drunkard title path in GW1 for an example).  They've abandoned gear progression in their games because they focus on pvp and it's much easier to balance pvp (and even pve) without gear progression.  Outside of this they still have the long standing historic mega-grinds and group-only rewards that all mmos have.  They just aren't about gear power.

Originally posted by Xzen
I found it almost impossible to solo. Every time I tried to do a quest there were a bunch of people there helping me and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't play solo if I wanted to.

I think you missed the point.

1. Solo means you are not creating a group and playing the game. It does NOT mean you are in an area alone.

2. You did your quest and moved on as you liked not having to wait for anyone to stick with you.

3. You completed your tasks even with a bunch of people around doing the same things as you and your play was not really inturrupted at all.

Now the flip side.

1. in other games where the content you are doing is hard you MUST form a group.

2. if you were soloing and other players were on the same quest but would not group, you had to share the spawns vastly increasing the amount of time it would take to complete your quest as you had to wait for spawns.

3. While grouped you were FORCED to wait your group members to move with you. Almost every aspect of the old group aspects were time consuming.

I can see the argument that GW2 does require multiple people to clear an event, but my point is that you don't have to formally be a member of any group or raid to participate and get full rewards (except dungeons), nor are you forced to socialize with them in order to get into those groups/raids.  The other players involved might as well be NPCs if you don't feel like socially interacting with them.

Originally posted by Meleagar

No, casual doesn't mean "easy", and solo doesn't mean "never plays with others", and that is something that  Anet has, shockingly, really understood and taken to heart.

Without saying a word to other players, I was involved in one group or raid-quality event after another.  I could log in, and log out, and go AFK as I wished, and play as good or as bad as I was able, with no grief or guilt, without putting anyone else at risk or ruining anyone else's game.  I could figure out what combination of skills and weapons I personally liked to use, and use that to my heart's content, and nobody could disinvite me or prevent me from participating.

Yes, I do enjoy talking to others, and I do enjoy playing as best I can; I just don't like being excluded from top end content and rewards because some 14 yr old e-Napolean doesn't think I'm professional enough.  I also don't like putting other people at risk because I don't play the most efficient, min-max character possible.

The game mechanics itself told me what my contribution level was, and I didn't have to beg someone else, or play to their liking, to get my rewards. Nobody could grief me, ninja-loot, steal my kill, or jump in and ruin content. If I was halfway through a quest and felt like doing something else, I could wander off and not get textually assaulted for it. I could jump in and help other players, and they could do the same for me, freely. If I like an area, I can just stay there to my heart's content. The game doesn't tell me to "get out" of an by reducing my rewards to zero.

Yes, this game is revolutionary, but that won't be fully recognized by many until a few months down the road as casual players and soloers start draining away from games unfriendly to their playstyle and filling up GW2 servers, and as people who have either never played or have left the genre realize GW2 is exactly what they've been looking/waiting for.

This is brilliant, genre-altering game design. It's not readily apparent; because the true differences are deep in the structural bones, not in the superficial activities, which are much like other games. When people realize there really is no reason to rush through the game because the same thing is available from the very beginning, and when people realize they can play this game any way they want and not suffer from lack of inclusion in content, that's when the enormity of what Anet has created here will become apparent.

 

Stopped reading after highlight....Seriously? "Raid Quality", but you didn't have to communicate with others.....How can it be "Raid Quality" if youi can do it without communication?

OP just makes it sound like nothing you accomplish in this game really matters.

 

Originally posted by MMOarQQ

OP just makes it sound like nothing you accomplish in this game really matters.

 

Nothing you accomplish in any game ever matters. HI FIVE PHILOSOPHY!