Is it Fun?

[BladeDVD]

We were talking about hearts, not events. In a heart, the objective is to fill up the progress bar by whatever means necessary. If he kills a bandit - a supposed enemy of mine - that I didn't tag, it does nothing for me except making sure that I didn't get that one chunk of bar progress that the dead bandit would represent, thus making me stay there a little bit longer.

Oops. I confused hearts and events. Sorry. Perhaps that is what Sorudo is doing as well.

I believe the enemies regenerate, and there is usually more than one way to fill up a heart progress bar, but I believe the discussion is about grouping benefits, so not really relevant to your point.

[raspberry jam]

MMORPGs are notoriously difficult for that, because people share the same objectives and foes.

True. IMO GW1 got it exactly right because:

1. Except for killed enemies, I think, you are rewarded for what the team does, not what you do.
2. It is (usually) detrimental for the progress of the team to AFK.

These two are very hard to combine, but it was possible in GW1 because of the instancing. In a persistent world, it's much harder. GW2 isn't perfect but I guess it is the best possible balance of these.

Oops. I confused hearts and events. Sorry. Perhaps that is what Sorudo is doing as well.

I believe the enemies regenerate, and there is usually more than one way to fill up a heart progress bar, but I believe the discussion is about grouping benefits, so not really relevant to your point.

Nope, he was talking about hearts, he said they were "the next best thing to a DE", indicating that he knows the difference.

[Alaris]

True. IMO GW1 got it exactly right because (...)

I meant persistent areas. Dungeons (instances in general) are usually no problem.

[raspberry jam]

I meant persistent areas. Dungeons (instances in general) are usually no problem.

Instances give superior possibilities.

[Rob Van Der Sloot]

I thought this was a pretty good article. It follows pretty much what I tend to bring up a lot regarding game design as well: It all starts with making a game that is fun. It shouldn't start with a target audience, demographics and marketing. It should be fun, first and fore most.

[Alaris]

Instances give superior possibilities.

I prefer a game with both, but if I had to choose, I would certainly pick a fully instanced world over a fully persistent world.

Instances do allow for much better fine-tuning of the game experience. I like the chaos of persistent areas, but it's a guilty pleasure rather than a true gaming experience.

[Domitilde]

GW2 is fun in many ways, but I'm kind of tired of it now and am wondering when GW3 will be released?