How is the difficulty and grind?

Inoccuity · April 1, 2025 at 7:59 AM New

I prefer a game that has a lengthy, but fun grind, and one that is challenging. By challenging, I mean that there is content to do at most levels where there is a fair chance at failure unless the player is seasoned. I also enjoy the slower leveling from a game like Wow classic, original Aion, or pushing 100 SSF style in PoE.

About 4 months ago I tried out New World, and it was entirely too easy to get to level cap, and there was little challenge the entire game PvE wise other than M3s or the raid, which was quite disappointing. (Yes, it is by and large marketed as a PvP game, although there wasn't much of it in the open world and I did go to the PvP zone often.)

I am a bit cautious about diving into an MMO, because unlike other games, it can take quite some time to realize the direction the game will end up.

Also, by challenging I do not mean intentionally gimping oneself or doing content that is way above level to create a challenge.

Iaerah · April 1, 2025 at 9:11 AM New Official Post

Quote from Inoccuity

About 4 months ago I tried out New World

Fun fact, the company founded by the last founder of ArenaNet has worked on New World for years now (Manaworks), almost all of them worked on Guild Wars 1.

Now, about Guild Wars, it is not a grindy game per se, it was designed to not be a grind but there are goals that can take a lot of grinding to achieve, e.g. getting the God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals title track to the maximum rank or maxing several titles. But I wouldn't personally consider this to be real grindy game.

In terms of challenging content, there is content that is challenging for almost all players, even those with 15+ years of experience. Domain of Anguish, for example, or Slaver's Exile in hard mode.

Pleikki · April 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM New

Main storyline is not grindy and u level up fast, but besides main storyline there is hard content to play, elite missions, side quests (like Hardmode titan quests) and gw beyond storylines. Additional to grinding titles and such that indeed are hard for even experienced players

Iaerah · April 1, 2025 at 6:05 PM New Official Post

Also, I wouldn't really treat GW1 as any other MMORPG - it's very unique in a lot of ways. The combat is a lot deeper than you might expect from a 20 year old game - the fact that monsters use the same skills as players (for the biggest part) plays a huge role in it. Combat in GW1 is - compared to a lot of other MMO's, but this one is more an CORPG than an MMORPG - much deeper.

But there certainly is challenge in the game and there is a reason why there is still a community around, even after 10+ years without new content.

Users Viewing This Thread