This question was raised by reddit user TheMillionthOne, who decided to give it a try. So far, he has explored 81% of the world of Guild Wars 2 completely without fighting. How that works, we will explain here.
What is it about? In most MMORPGs, the focus is primarily on fighting. Becoming an even stronger hero and then battling even more powerful monsters. If you want to refrain from all that violence, you often can’t get very far in many games.
However, in Guild Wars 2, it seems, you can, as reddit user TheMillionthOne proves. He reached the maximum level of 80 and explored 81% of the world without dealing any damage at all. However, how long it took him has not yet been revealed by the user.
What are the rules? To accomplish such a task, you first have to define it more precisely because pacifist is a broad term. The user established the following rules for himself and always adhered to them:
- No abilities causing damage. However, stunning enemies, distracting them, or healing oneself was allowed.
- No summons, pets, or turrets – Anything that belongs to the player or was summoned by them must not cause damage. However, the user decided that other players or NPCs are not his problem. So, if he came to a place cleared of monsters by another player, so be it.
- No shortcuts – The user forbids himself from using items that grant him experience or generally make leveling easier. He also wants to limit crafting, which also grants experience in Guild Wars 2, though not entirely prohibit it.
How can this work? Guild Wars 2 offers multiple ways to complete the progress for most quests. For instance, in one quest in the starting area of the humans, you can kill the large spiders so that the farmers can continue to collect their apples. Or you can directly collect the apples and bring them to the farmers. Both grant you quest progress.
Reviving players and NPCs also grants you progress for every quest in the game. Reviving a dead NPC in the quest area helps with the quest – no matter what the actual task is.
Why only 80%? Some tasks in the game are simply not solvable without combat. This includes primarily the hero points, which often can only be earned in combat but count towards world completion. The user also couldn’t play the story since the personal story also forces you into combat.
This is how the player proceeded
Which character did he choose? One of the most important decisions for such a task is probably the question of which class to play. He considered the thief or the elementalist but ultimately decided on the engineer. This class has many ways to heal itself, stun without dealing damage, and escape from dangerous situations.
He chose the Sylvari race. Although the player admits that an Asura might have been better suited due to the race-specific skills. But he felt more comfortable in the role of the wandering plant.
He carried only a shield for defense; he never equipped an offensive weapon. The engineer in Guild Wars 2 can utilize various kits.
TheMilionthOne primarily uses the Med Kit for healing here. He also utilizes the skills ‘Elixir S’ for temporary invisibility and the net turret to immobilize enemies without dealing damage.
How did it go? The player places the highest value on exploring the world, as visiting new places also grants experience in the game. The first levels went by quickly but were also the hardest, as the user writes, since he was missing many of his skills.
By level 55, the Sylvari had fallen so far behind that he had to rely on crafting to make up for the experience missed from combat. He exclusively sourced the materials from the collected karma and gold he could obtain as quest rewards. After all, there is no loot without fights. So he crafted his way up a few levels so he wouldn’t lag too far behind on the current maps.
In some quests, the player also had to use somewhat unfair means to make progress. He often found himself herding whole hordes of monsters into an enclave of peaceful NPCs just so he could revive them later and gain quest progress.
However, he did not do this with players. “The last thing an AFK player needs is to be overrun by a horde of spiders,” he writes in the thread.
Overall, it went well; after all, the player managed to reach level 80 and explore over 80% of the world. How much time it took him and how often he died has been asked but he hasn’t answered yet.
What happens next? TheMillionthTime has only dealt with the contents of the base game so far and wants to continue his journey in the expansions Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire. He also wants to work towards 100% world completion, even though he says that complete 100% without combat will simply not be possible.
He continues to completely skip personal story, even if he should not pursue his challenge any further. “Everyone else is commander of the Pact. It is fun to just be some plant for once. Good luck with all the dragon stuff.”
The community celebrates the wanderer
What do other players say? On reddit, his post has already received 400 upvotes, which is not bad for Guild Wars 2. The comments under his journey are also warm and enthusiastic.
- The user n-ghost writes (via reddit): “You are the lifeblood of this game.”
- Referring to Scarlett from Living World 1, the user ohiv21 writes (via reddit): “That’s fantastic, I thought. Then I suddenly remembered a certain Sylvari engineer who tried to destroy the world. We should keep an eye on this.”
- The user Arnoldthehawk writes (via reddit): “I’m not a pacifist myself, but you are incredible. And honestly? The game is just as amazing. I never thought this was possible.”
What do you think about the path of the pacifist? Do you think this is possible in other MMORPGs as well? Feel free to leave us a comment.
Even more astonishing than in an MMORPG is winning as a pacifist in a shooter, but a PUBG player won without a single kill.
