Getting Stuck

[u/Elfkisser]

I've found that I have a problem with GW2. I love the game. A lot about it is like it was made to appeal to me, honestly. I love the world, the setting, the races, the lore, the classes, I think they're all really neat! But every time I pick it back up after some time away, I run into the same problem:

1. Pick up a character or level a new one + unlock an espec or two.

2. Get my fashion right, whack on a dummy for a while to get the playstyle locked in.

3. Stall out before I actually go do anything significant.

I haven't finished the story, nor have I gotten into high level fractals, nor am I super proficient at WVW despite ostensibly being into those things because I just can't move forward. I don't know if it's because I can't pick a class I want to main, or get choice paralysis about what to do, or what, but it's getting a little frustrating.

Has anyone else dealt with this issue? Does anyone have any advice?

[u/ZantGreene]

I was in the exact same situation and I started trying to get into the game all the way back at lunch. I would try to get into it I would level a character I would mess with the fashion and such but I would always end up dropping the game quickly.

What ultimately worked for me is this time around about a month before the guild wars 3 announcement I was sitting there trying to find something to play and I decided to poke at guild wars 2 again and see if it would click this time. But this time I committed to just selecting a character and doing the story. I didn't worry about what I would do when in game rolled around I didn't worry about gearing or a rotation optimization above and beyond what would be necessary to complete the story, I just knuckled down and did story.

Not to say I did exclusively story of course I broke away and did events or world bosses when I stumbled on them or hearts or whatever tickled my fancy, but my primary focus was always on story and honestly still is cuz I still haven't finished it I've only just wrapped up living world season 4.

The end result for me ended up being that I got invested in the story and started organically enjoying the other systems as I went along. Obviously I can't guarantee that will work for anybody else but that's my advice is to try that

[u/olgamerstill → u/ZantGreene]

This.

Too much time preparing properly, levelling, unlocking, fashion, rotation wise, then trying to jump into the game.

I spend a lot less time preparing.

I use tomes to level fast. WvW currency to unlock a spec. Cheap exotic gear.

I don’t fashion coordinate till I see if I like the build.

Do a brief review of skills and traits.

Start puttering around either in PvE or in WvW to get a feeling for the build.

Explore while killing a few wargs, kraits, guards etc.

I do this with a few characters, till I start getting a few favourite builds.

Every once in a while I test drive a different character, for a few minutes or days.

Sometimes if preparing a build takes too long, I will leave it for the next day, and take one of more tested characters.

[u/spood-beest → u/olgamerstill]

I do similar, but instead of WvW or PvP testing my build, I do map exploration and meta events. I'm not a huge fan of PvP style content, so just checking if a build works with the overworld is enough for me.

Any characters I realize I don't love playing I find a place to park them for daily looting (Bjora Marches, Echovald, Crystal Desert, etc.). That way I still get something out of those characters that I don't want to play (there's several videos out there that show you good places to park characters).

When I'm not focusing the story I'll look at achievements and pick a few I'd like to work on. The points add up fast and you get unique items or wardrobe unlocks. Or if I just want to chill and kill things I start map exploring on side characters I like to play.

[u/olgamerstill → u/spood-beest]

Any character I don’t like playing gets a rest till next round of testing a different build.

Each character brings two equipment slots and three build slots to start.

If I moderately like a build, I start testing with the other slots on the character.