Last week, the Massively OP staff were chit-chatting about Guild Wars 2’s Out of the Shadows when I mentioned that I loathe the masteries level that’s been floating above our heads ever since Heart of Thorns launched. Separate from our real achievement number (which is also silly, but we’ll save that for another day), the masteries level essentially replaces your character level and goes on up forever. I hate those damn numbers. If I could get rid of one single thing in the game right now, I’d get rid of them. They are brag numbers; they demonstrate nothing but that you’ve been grinding in some highly specific and arbitrary content, and they make it so easy for players dismiss people with them as nolifers and without them as scrubs.
I was pretty sure the achievement junkies on staff would disagree with me and was surprised to find that even a hardcore raider like our GW2 columnist Tina thinks the mastery numbers are irritating. “I don’t like that sort of bragging in such a casual-friendly MMO,” she agreed. We both apparently prefer titles, which avoid such stigmas and allow people a choice in how they present their characters and the type of gameplay they do most often.
What do you think, in specific to GW2 and in general? How visible should your achievements be inside an MMORPG?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
