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As someone who likes Guild Wars 2 the game makes the distinction between quests (i.e. the Story) and Events which are constantly occurring in the world. As you

As someone who likes Guild Wars 2 the game makes the distinction between quests (i.e. the Story) and Events which are constantly occurring in the world. As you wander through zones in the world dynamic events will spawn for example you might run into a merchant in need of an escort between villages or you'll run across a farmer who needs you to defend his flock or whatever. Many events are simply on a timer and some are triggered by specific actions you (or another player) have done elsewhere in the world. The events can be simply once off events or they can be more complex with multiple states. I.e. an event can spawn where a bunch of npc soldiers want to take back a mine from monsters - players can escort them to the mine help them clear it out. If successful then later on other NPC's will move into the mine new vendors will become accessible etc. Later still the monsters will congregate and launch a new offensive to retake the mine an event will spawn to help defend the new settlement. I like the feeling this gives the world. For me at least it makes the game world feel like it's fresh and things are constantly happening even when your character is not around the world is alive and things are changing all of the time. This is different from my experience playing an mmo like World of Warcraft, which had static NPC quest givers in zones and once you'd done the content, which tended to be stuff like kill 15 of this enemy and then report back to me - there was little reason to revisit the zone again. The questline in guild wars 2 which reveals the larger narrative and your characters personal story is instanced content, separate from the event system. None of the events in Guild Wars are mandatory you can ignore all of them to your heart's content - don't feel like escorting the merchant you can walk past him on the road. Don't want to help the farmer defend his flock from the wolves - you can go right on ahead and ignore it. So it's strange you would get hung up on that aspect of the game. If you wanted to run around and explore the open world going from zone to zone as you please you can go right ahead and do just that.

Dalewyn 4y ago
The thing is I couldn't just go from zone to zone: I was inundated with quests everywhere I went. I couldn't ignore them, they were in my face every chance they got. It's kind of like trying to use the internet today without an adblocker. Much like how the internet spams ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS in my face every chance they get, Guild Wars 2 spammed QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS in my face every chance it got. I couldn't stand it, I fucking hated it; I refuse to call Guild Wars 2 an open world.
- spoiler 4y ago
  As someone who played RO for years... The similarities are exactly why I enjoyed GW2... Are you talking about the hearts or the events? The Achievements? The main difference is that the world the player experiences is more "coherent" in GW2 because of the Elder Dragon threat and their involvement in it (ie their hero's journey). Also, what are "quests" to you? There's so freeform stuff you can do in the game. Most of the Hearts you can complete without ever really caring about them. It's just a nice little exp bonus. Events? People can just not do them. Go to a different area (as in, hold W for 10 seconds, or use a waypoint?).
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    >Are you talking about the hearts or the events? The Achievements? The main difference is that the world the player experiences is more "coherent" in GW2 because of the Elder Dragon threat and their involvement in it (ie their hero's journey). I didn't even get that far because I was inundated to my armpits with QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE with literally any action I took. It was nauseating and quickly drove me mad. What makes me wonder to this day is if I had a different client from everyone else, because quite literally noone I ever talk to about this seems to be able to relate (case in point). >Also, what are "quests" to you? The kind you would find in RO, Runescape, Skyrim, and so on. Scripted things to do, but not particularly conspicuous and in the way if I'm not interested in pursuing them.
    - spoiler 4y ago
      Hmm. To me it seems like you maybe didn't get out of the new character instance. That thing is basically a 20-30 minute (depending on race) racial story instance. Those tend to have linear progression most of the time, and I think you maybe mistook the instance's progression objectives as quests. Once you get out of that, it's an open world and you can do what you want, though. I think it's worth giving it another try, it's a great game.

Dalewyn 4y ago

The thing is I couldn't just go from zone to zone: I was inundated with quests everywhere I went. I couldn't ignore them, they were in my face every chance they got. It's kind of like trying to use the internet today without an adblocker. Much like how the internet spams ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS ADVERTS in my face every chance they get, Guild Wars 2 spammed QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS QUESTS in my face every chance it got. I couldn't stand it, I fucking hated it; I refuse to call Guild Wars 2 an open world.

spoiler 4y ago
As someone who played RO for years... The similarities are exactly why I enjoyed GW2... Are you talking about the hearts or the events? The Achievements? The main difference is that the world the player experiences is more "coherent" in GW2 because of the Elder Dragon threat and their involvement in it (ie their hero's journey). Also, what are "quests" to you? There's so freeform stuff you can do in the game. Most of the Hearts you can complete without ever really caring about them. It's just a nice little exp bonus. Events? People can just not do them. Go to a different area (as in, hold W for 10 seconds, or use a waypoint?).
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  >Are you talking about the hearts or the events? The Achievements? The main difference is that the world the player experiences is more "coherent" in GW2 because of the Elder Dragon threat and their involvement in it (ie their hero's journey). I didn't even get that far because I was inundated to my armpits with QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE QUEST IS AVAILABLE with literally any action I took. It was nauseating and quickly drove me mad. What makes me wonder to this day is if I had a different client from everyone else, because quite literally noone I ever talk to about this seems to be able to relate (case in point). >Also, what are "quests" to you? The kind you would find in RO, Runescape, Skyrim, and so on. Scripted things to do, but not particularly conspicuous and in the way if I'm not interested in pursuing them.
  - spoiler 4y ago
    Hmm. To me it seems like you maybe didn't get out of the new character instance. That thing is basically a 20-30 minute (depending on race) racial story instance. Those tend to have linear progression most of the time, and I think you maybe mistook the instance's progression objectives as quests. Once you get out of that, it's an open world and you can do what you want, though. I think it's worth giving it another try, it's a great game.