A really stupid question...please be kind!

I've been playing GW for about 6 months now. This is my first MMORPG - I'm used to solo RPGs (e.g. Elder Scrolls series), and I tend to play alone, though I'm in a guild and the members have been very helpful.

I know this sounds really dumb...but I still don't understand the object of the game. I complete quest after quest (fairly mindlessly) only to get more fetch or kill quests and - it seems - no closer to an end to the game. I'm used to games in which I can work on skills, advance levels, have goals...here I've been at level 20 for a while and I just don't see what I'm supposed to be doing besides completing quests, which I do... but I'm not sure why or to what end, other than to rack up another skill point and thus complete the next quests more easily. And so on.

My highest char is in NF, but I have others in Prophecies and in Factions. I don't have EOTN, and I'm not interested in PvP.

What am I missing here? What should I be doing to stay interested in the game??

Thanks!

Um....doing quests is what PvE is (short of farming and.....)

So, I would really recommend PvP. In my opinion, PvP is the best part of Guild Wars, but again, that's only my opinion.

I guess you could try getting into Speed Clears or other forms of high-end PvE, but those always bore me.

Really? This is it? PvE is pretty much doing similar kinds of quests over and over that hardly seem related to each other?!?

No... Are you doing the primary quests? The primary quests get you through the game. All other quests that aren't primary are just for extra goodies. Primary quests are the way to go.

Prophecies for example is made up of primary quests that lead to missions that you do to get to another mission or quest that leads to another..and so on..this is a storyline game.

Sorry KJ but I don't think you gave this guy the right view on PvE so..gonna have to disagree with you, strongly.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to mislead him. I was assuming he meant both primary and secondary quests....or just quests in general, which is what PvE is.....right?

I mean that's what PvE always has been - quests and farming. Or I guess title grinding too.

Thank you. (That's a relief!) No, I don't think I've had a PQ since I left the last continent...I should find a list somewhere and go get some, then?

Ohhh, you haven't been following the story. Yea, go to the wiki (Guild Wars Wiki) and try to figure out what your next primary quest is.

Sorry to have misled you.

Yeah it seems like you have been doing the secondary quests, which usually aren't related to the main storyline. Go and search for Primary quests, which will usually take you to the next mission(sometimes you have to do multiple primary quests to get to the next mission), and doing the missions is the way to progress through the storyline.

Point of PvE:

~Complete all Campaigns that have riviting storylines.

~Accomplish titles to become a God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals.

~Farm money to get awesome looking weapons and armor.

You should try getting to missions, those are the actual game. Quests are mostly secondary ones, unimportant quests.

Missions is the thing that is the most fun in PvE. You find a list of it on the GWwiki http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page

Beware of spoilers though, only use it to locate your next primary quest or mission. If you don't have any quests and there isn't an outpost that is flashing like the next mission should, really just if you're lost.

Proph: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Missions_(Prophecies)

Factions: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Missions_(Factions)

NF: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Missions_(Nightfall)

Oh, go and buy EotN too, it has a lot of fun content As dungeons and stuff.

As for stuff to do in PvE, once you complete a campiagn you'll get hard mode, which gives the game more of a challenge. And you could go looking for a guild that does balanced high end content (ergo not speed clears) like the deep or something, which could be a lot of fun.

Also, the PvP aspect of the game is really awesome. As a PvE player, you might want to start with JQ or something, they are not really like highly competive PvP, more relaxed but still a lot of fun.

since it's your first mmo.

each campaign has it's storyline to follow. with primairy quests that take you further and that nice ending cinematic after you finish the campaign aka kill-the-big-bad-and-ugly. it's pretty the same as in typical crpgs. however, there are two main differences between crpg and mmorpg:

* mmo is multiplayer by default. while you can complete the whole game solo here, using heroes and henchmen, you miss a lot of fun that comes from playing with other people. and some areas, like underworld, may be impossible to accomplish solo.
* there's no end in mmo. usually, when you play a crpg and kill the badass at the very end, aka finish the game, you watch the cinematic and it's over. you can play it again, try a different character, try different path of char evolvement etc. here, when you complete everything in normal and hard mode, you can still play your character. some crpgs offer that too, but it's a default in mmos.

i guess you should stick with pve for now and set your goal to hunt titles. it's the real pve part of gw, imho. you can set your goal as 'complete nightfall campaign and kick the end boss in the nuts', but then you realise that completing every mission in nightfall grants you a title. so, hunting them is the most common goal amongst pve players - apart of, of course, having fun from playing the game itself.

As others have said, Guild Wars is a game with no end. Its sort of like the Sims in the sense of there is no "win" point, the game goes on as long as you want it to. In PvE there are a number of common goals that people set for themselves: completion of storylines, accumulation of titles, farming/gathering wealth and shinies to go with it, and exploring the world. Alongside the storylines there are additional areas to explore that have their own rewards.

For example, once you have finished the Nightfall storyline your character is granted access to a high end area known as DoA (Domain of Anguish). Completing this grants people a token that can either be exchanged for a weapon or sold to other players for a considerable amount. There are other such areas in the other 2 campaigns you own and 2 that are accessable from all contients - Underworld and Fissure of Woe. Each of these areas have additional rewards to the normal items you see elsewhere.

And make sure to pick up the appropriate Storybook for each campaign. These will give you boosts for XP, Faction, or Title points.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Storybook

Well, I understand where you're coming from. I think, from a PvE point of view, that one of the things missing from GW is the RPG aspect.
Basically, in GW you follow the primary quest/mission thread to get through the game. Then there are "elite" areas, hard mode, dungeons etc., that you can do. Eventually, you will end up using up all the content.
Unlike more traditional RPGs, GW doesn't progress through better armor and weapons. Instead you just get rarer or more expensive skins. The "progression" in the game is geared more towards advancing your skills than advancing your loot (unfortunately).

Sorry if the marketing misled you, but Guild Wars is not really a MMORPG, but competitive online role-playing game (CORPG). The focus here is Missions to progress the storyline, and to eventually transition into PvP (which is dead). If you are goal oriented and willing to grind for it, I would recommend EotN as it features the most content to go alongside the main story track (titles, dungeons, etc). However, if solo play is your thing, you should probably stick to single player games.

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I did go back to find that I can't move ahead in the game unless I complete the next mission. Since I don't much like the missions or quests, and I don't much like the repetitive fighting, I'm thinking the game isn't for me. Glad to find out now before I spent another six months thinking it was going to change somehow! If anyone knows of an online game that keeps the RPG focus or puzzle-based quests, please feel free to make suggestions.

online or offline rpg with puzzle based quests? i really dont think there are online rpgs that have puzzle based quests. Most are go kill 20 bears and bring back their pelt or escort quests. what do you mean by puzzle based anyway?? Do you mean something like prince of persia but that isnt a rpg.