Why are we talking like GW2's pve is actually good though? Unless something changes significantly between level 30 and level 80, it's pretty bad.
Paragons show up at level 31.
I had a blast with Queensdale and Ashford, multiple times. The Norn area felt a little off, but I didn't spend nearly as much time there. I never felt bored, even repeating the same content on different characters.
I
never play MMOs hardcore, not like I was during the BWEs, but because they're spread out so much I felt like I needed to get my fill. I was worried that I'd burn myself out, but I'll be damned if I wasn't waking up Monday and not wishing I could jump right back in. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I think calling it 'pretty bad' is w
aaaay off and probably a little unfair.
Unquestionably....mmmm no. Something different, somewhat, sort of. Better? Definitely questionable.
Moderator or not, I'm calling bullshit.
MMOs are inherently social games; it's in the name of the genre. Otherwise, you're just playing a sandbox game like Skyrim, where you're entirely alone. The traditional questing scheme pits players
against each other for quest mobs and items. You can return to an area and do dynamic events with your friends, whereas traditional quests cannot be repeated.
That's just as it relates to furthering the core feature of the genre. It doesn't even touch on other glaring issues like quests being static (if you're in a cave full of quest mobs but didn't run into the quest giver, you're not getting credit), having little to no lasting impact on the game world, or that unheroic feeling you get when you see you're only the 500th person to recover Farmer Bob's precious, long-lost, one-of-a-kind heirloom today. All of that stuff is just really cool and neat, but genre-changing? Probably not.
A questing system in a genre built around the idea of playing with other people that allows you to actually play with other people though?
Unquestionably better for MMOs.
GW2 questing isn't necessarily better.
It's more group driven, for sure, but the downside is that its nearly devoid of story progression. The story missions don't make up for it because they're pretty terrible. From what I played, SWTOR made me feel more engaged into my story than GW2 does.
Meh, I'm sorry the whole debate even spun up at this point, but I will say that SWTOR's story didn't save it in the end. It's an MMO, and that means people; I'd rather have an MMO I enjoy playing with others than one with decent story that I actively play alone. There are tons of single player games I can play if I want that.