Are you a "Casual" or "Advanced" PvE Guild Wars player?

I'd probably place myself in the "Casually Advance" category. Though at one time I was 6 months or more that I was away from Guild Wars (could've gotten a lot of things done). But, I think I'm returning to that Casual feeling again due to some unknown reason.

You're posting on an internet message board about the game.

You're all advanced.


The casual player is the kid who plays for a few weeks and then moves on to another game.

Not sure what I am... I don't do too many titles(except protectors) and I don't go crazy over getting armor and perfect rare weapons... But I do play alot over several characters and I usually just test builds. I play GW. Thats about it.

Well I would consider myself casual but apparently anet considers me some sort of uber advanced threat to the economy (due to farming a few vermin or kirin) that needed to be spanked. lol

Well I would some it up this way.. I used to be Advanced...but because of the continual nerfing went to casual... and when GW2 comes out will go to non-existent

I have too much spare time on my hands. over the last 12 months i have put in 3,700 hours, though i sometimes leave it on overnight to get lucky titles

I have 11 characters, One of each profession and a pvp one,

My mesmer is my favorite and i only use my own builds on it, and so far have concentrated about half my time on her, She has got the three protector titles, and the legendary cartographer, Has maxed the skill titles for Tyria and Cantha, and needs about 40 more elites in Elona, I've also bought 3 Elite armours for her.

My second favorite character is my Ritualist, who is 2 months old and has just achieved Legendary Survivor, and has 100% Elona exploration, and is .2%away from Cantha. Trying to get the protector titles for Cantha and Elona on him too now.

My Dervish, Paragon and Assassin all got survivor but died after getting it, and my ranger has it but hasnt died yet, my monk is in the Ruins of Surmia at level 11 and im going to try n get him to Survivor too.

I use my PVP character to unlock skills for my heroes by playing the various PVP things

Most of my characters have heores with full equipment, and I have a few elite armours on my other characters, mostly dyed black

My hope is to max as many titles as i can, to complete the game with all charcters, to get at least one FoW armour on one character, and to get a lot better at PVP at some point, I may even join another guild, I'm in my partners at the moment after a bad experience so just the two of us lol, and start to pug again lol.

I'm not the best player out there, and I'm probably not fantastic at figuring builds out, I manage to do most of the stuff on my own, or with my partners help, and if a mission is too difficult I look at the guide, after failing it a couple of times. I'm certainly no casual player, and in some areas I think I'm advanced, but there is always room for improvement

I certainly need more practice in Hard Mode, keep gettign to the last 10 enemy in the desolation areas and cant kill them lol

PvE: Casually advanced. I've logged a lot of hours, played several characters, but not all, and have quite a few titles on my main character. But when it comes to knowing all of the uber-leet builds and tackling many of the elite areas, I have virtually no experience, aside from Monking or playing a B/P in Tombs . The rest of it, I just don't care much for.

Less than casual, or 'Semi-Weekend Warrior' would be closer for me. I have about 600 hours over 23 months on 9 characters. Never finished a chapter, no wearable titles (I think), no PvP, and usually merch items so I can go back out exploring.

I play in spurts just to screw around and have fun but I am not a bad enough player to make my friends angry .

Cruising around and enjoying the sights of new environments and monsters is my favorite thing to do. So whatever that would qualify as.

Half & half, I think.

I'd say I'm pretty casual for PvE.

Only 1200 hours over 18 months. Comparatively to some here, not that much at all.

2000+hrs and I can go anywhere with most of my charters,I love the elite missions,but don't like the elite mentalty.I sometimes help friends and love to farm lots of gold.I am a jack of all trades and a master of none.Oh ya only been playing a year.So what am I?Semi hard core maybe.I play everyday If I can,as far as skill I can hold my own, but by far not elite,depending on the party I am in.Don't play pvp or gvg ,I do ab every now again.

I would have to place myself here. I make mistakes, but I research skills, I want the titles just don't have the investment of time available to get too far in short time. I have specific look I am going for on armour. I don't need the 'best' I want what I like best and think looks good with the top stats.

BTW - this is why I still lobby for collectors armour from all campaigns to be inscribable (at least ele & mesmer have the exact same stats as generic inscribable armour)

I guess, since I also have 17 characters with I think eight of them 20 and several in their teens. I cannot be considered 'casual'
I like to experiment. Sometimes, I get good build. Sometimes I get owned.

1,655 hours played over the past 21 months.

I'm pretty sure that's "casual," but maybe I'm wrong?

Anet was talking about how surprised they were how many people played over 500 hours and a distinct group of people who clocked over 2000 hours.
I suppose that 500 hours from their point of view is already advanced more than casual.

With 2700 hours in 22 months I am certainly more advanced though with some more casual attitudes recently...

1,003 hours over 18 months, Thats around 1.8 hrs a day. Am I casual hour wise?

2000 hours in 24 months (next week ) I consider myself quite casual, although I do attempt the more advanced things (farming/title hunting/hard mode stuff/etc) But advanced could also mean that you think you're better than others, which I dont.

--

Also seems nearly 1000 of those hours have been spent on one character alone

I would consider myself Advanced. I have 1 of each class in the game, I have different weapons that I switch out of for different occations, when I am completely done with all missions then I will farm for money or greens. When I'm bored of farming then I work on some titles. If I am completly sick of pve then I will pvp. I try to keep the game fun.

I feel I'm in between, currently more towards the advanced.

I have a little over 1200 hours over 21 months - most (around 900) spread over three characters. I have 10 level 20's and one pre-sear only, 8 of them "ascended" and able to change professions. Most of those hours are in 30 minute to one hour blocks when I have a little time to play, a few marathons on the weekends (but I'm usually at the Archery range on weekends, usually one 4-8 hour block a month in game time), and nearly 100% with hench. The only non-hench time has been goofing off and helping newer players.

Up until the release of Nightfall I would have said squarely in the casual class - I knew the builds I had and they were the six core professions. I knew nothing of team builds (why should I? I have the hench and can not change them), I do very little solo farming in areas past Maguuma Jungle, and I'm not a title chaser so I did nothing to move into "advanced" or "hardcore".

With the release of Nightfall and the hero system I can finally play with team builds, I went from averaging 30 minutes or so a day to a little over 2 hours and went from averaging 20-40k in storage to 150-200k. Still not higher end solo farming or non-hench play - but my understanding of the game climbed by a huge amount.

So, now I'm back to the average of an hour or so a day, do a little higher level farming, am trying to max a few titles (I expect to max three or four before GW2), and get to play with small team builds. Hard mode adds in more learning skills for team builds and some interesting hero/hench challenges (I had previously clear ToPK - probably the hardest thing I had done in the game).

So basically play time in hours is casual, what I do is more advanced (though still the bottom end of it). To me I figure anyone can do what I currently do, and with a little effort can do better. It isn't hard to find a guild that does more, I'm just mostly anti-social and do not want to do what I feel I need too to be a good member of a guild.

To me a truly casual gamer plays 30mins to one hour a day and just plays without worry much about it, is probably a member of a moderately active guild or has friends that they play with (that is, when they log on can usually find one or two other people to play with and fill the rest with hench/heroes), and generally understand their own builds they play well but not much outside of that. They will have enough money to purchase base armor, crafter weapons, the elites/skills they need, and maybe a few pieces of 15k armor (a whole set of 15k with Nightfall, trade contracts, no-key chests, and selling rubies/sapphires). Below that are just "players" that purchase the game, play until they beat the campaign, and go someplace else (generally treating the game as a single player PvE game), above are the in between to advanced.

well in PvE i used to be hardcore, playing ages everyday, trying to everything, since then i've only gone on since im bored. I guess im casual now, only go on to help ppl

In PVP i spend much more time and i take enjoyment from it, i play for fun but i personally think im quite good.

i can't survive hard mode with my Sin, I think I am casual and I sucks of everything

Casual Player, otherwise if others acknowledge me with different level.

... Obsessed Player... albeit an apparently incapable one.

I'm not sure whether it is through my lack of human connections, a poor choice of build / class, slow reflexes or lag problems of various sorts... but I find Guild Wars unpleasantly difficult in many places... and I'm not talking about Elite Missions nor Hard Mode. I'm talking, for instance, about my getting my arse handed to me repeatedly in the Realm of Torment on normal mode...

I'm not casual by any stretch of the imagination. I dedicate many hours every day to playing Guild Wars.... to collecting titles and doing my absolute best..... but my best just isn't enough.
It stresses me out horribly and pretty much burns me up inside that at many levels I'm not much better than the average PuG... and they don't even seem to try...

I don't know what the cause is... but I resent it heavily.

How to work out if you are Casual or Advanced, the Formular.
-----------------------------------------------------------

1. Take number of hours played.
2. Multiply by minimum wage in your location
3. If you're not depressed by that number, you're Casual. (Or wealthy :P)

I want my £10,000 =(

That's pretty darn funny.

I'd say the difference depends not on skill level or time played, but on how you take enjoyment (or frustration) from the game. If you're constantly trying to do things that are at or near the limit of your own or your character's abilities, you're more on the hardcore side. That kind of playstyle encourages you to get into the nuts and bolts of game mechanics, and research lots of skills. On the other hand, if you tend to find builds you enjoy playing, and generally avoid areas where they don't work, that's more of a casual mindset. By that definition, there are casual players doing DoA runs in pre-defined teams.

That's pretty general, since most people probably move toward one or the other at different times, depending on mood or some goal they've set. That's definitely true for me. I spent the entire day Sunday refining a hero/hench team to farm LB points in Domain of Secrets in Hard Mode, which would probably be considered a hardcore activity (40k and counting). Same for when I was messing around with trying to do DNKP with just my Ranger and heroes. But last week I was running my Paragon through Prophecies just for the heck of it, and because it was fun doing things like rolling the White Mantle at Aurora Glade. It was probably easy because I spent some more 'hardcore' time putting together my character and heroes, but it was definitely some casual play time.

Which is attributed to the frustration side then?

Afterall... the Realm of Torment in certain areas gives me heinous levels of stress because I just can't stop dying (I refer particularly to the Domain of Pain, Domain of Fear and ... Shiro Tagachi). I wish Hard Mode had never been made because I could never survive there, no matter how much I might want to (and thus it would become a pure stress-factory).

I invest my state of mind in the game. It is essential in order that I get any satisfaction out of the game (afterall, if I don't feel anything from it then why even play it in the first place?) .... But the general theme with Guild Wars these days appears to just be about the stress and frustration. Nothing gives me any enjoyment any more because I know the amount of effort and investment I have to put into it is nothing like worth the rather measly output.... and the only feeling I get at the end is vague relief that one nightmare is out of the way and I can move on to the next.


Crazy as it sounds... what I resent most about Hard Mode and the Elite areas is that so much of the game revolves around them now that I almost feel it is becoming true when people call me "n00b" in game, even if most of them yell it at everyone without the slightest clue what it even means. Those of us who don't play in Hard Mode are essentially the "special needs" class of Guild Wars.... existing only to be mocked and ridiculed by the rest.

hrm i have played around 1900 hrs in 12 months (just got a stupid pet) but would consider my self casual...alot of my hours are afk or chat hours. I can usually make a positive impact on any team i join...help tons of peeps...i keep getting pmed by people i don't know asking for help etc.....but I don't know the ins and outs of build creation...i don't over analyze any area to come up with the best build .....i love hard mode....atleast thru the jungle in prophecies....haven't got much further than that....i own all 3 chapters.....but have only beat Prophecies....1 have 1 lvl 20 toon....numerous toons in the grave yard that i get bored with....a pvp toon....hrm i have atleast lvl 2 in all title tracks...cept for the protectors...i have about 200k and about 50 ectos.....but thats cuz i don't buy anything but keys....but i still say i am a casual player....

What do you call 5-6 hours a week?

Depends...
How do you respond when your party wipes three times in a row?

I would say I am advanced as I have over 1851 hours over the last 21 months. As for my game play I would say it is casual. I only have 1 title and get things as the come to me. I enjoy helping new players as much as anything else and have met many friends by doing this. I have 2 more years to stretch the 3 chapters and the new expansion until GW2 arrives, so all things will come with time.

After this weekend, doing Hard Mode, and being incapable of killing Awakened after wiping most of an area,

SCREAMING at the computer in a somewhat profane manner

It's infuriating to be so close and just be incapable to kill a couple of things

But I still think its fun, in the good old days when I first started i would travel round with henchies at 60 dp wiping a map till i found the next outpost
and be mildly annoyed i didnt have enough skills to get a good build out of mesmer, now I feel the exact same, except I have tons of skills and enough cash to buy more but don't think they will get mesmer any closer to being truly outstanding in HM

All I can say is

I WILL be a Vanquisher

Casual player, I've got a life outside of Guild Wars

I have a wife outside of guild wars, not sure if i have a life though


N.B. the wife is also in guild wars

Mine's normally in front of the telly

O_O;;

You actually find that level of frustration to be FUN?!

That sort of thing can put me off a game for days at least, and if it happens several times in quick succession... I get into a serious enough state of depression that it would make MOST people go to see a professional psychiatrist. But I just try to distract myself by playing something else for a few days.
The problem is that I'm building up a real-life "failure penalty" every time I run into it.... so it actually gets worse every time it happens... and only goes down if I take a break for more than a year (which isn't really an option with actively changing online games).


How the heck do you cope?

Initially when it is that frustrating by screaming at it, that way i let out the anger and dont remain annoyed, If i cant do the particular thing on the game i move to something else, another character or different area,
If i cant handle playing it I will go watch a movie or DVD, or read a book.

Generally i don't worry about too much, the game isn't life or death and to me thats all that I should worry about, well at least the things I can affect.

Generally i just recommend shouting at the computer. and let the tension out.

Then if you are still worked up do as you have and avoid it for a few hours/days, and come back when you can handle it.

Mind you If it was affecting me as badly as it affects you I would porbably quit, you dont sound like yo are gettign much fun out of it

Its a game

Games aren't meant to be won in a day - take your time and have fun - don't get mad or upset just move on to something else and come back

If we were meant to easily breeze through games all of us would have apartments smelling of rich mahogany

Well, I like to think that 2 hours a day allows me to be considered ok. But I really don't know how I would rank myself...

lol you should try getting her to play too, then you could do missions together, we help each other that way,

TV doesn't have much on it to interest me, and if it does I tend to buy it on DVD to watch at my lesiure