Quest for Walnuts

Mmmm, nuts.

It's amazing how GW2 can be so absorbing and fun. I've reached level 38 already and I don't know how. I mean I haven't even been focused on it! Honestly, I'm the kind of girl who can't maintain her attention long enough to sit through a red light. I get honked at all the time cuz I'm staring off at billboards or clouds or ducks.

So yesterday was a typical day in Tyria for me. I had previously discovered a fine Norn fellow named Meinolf Njordson who sells walnuts in bulk, but who also stubbornly refuses to live in a nice, warm Sylvarian town and instead resides waaaaaaay up in the mountains of Snowden Drifts. Being a frugal person, I forgo paying the port fee and decide that I'll just run up there and gather mats as I go. I started at the far western side of the map, of course!

But here's why it took me all night to finish Quest for Walnuts. I start running and see a carrot patch, so I veer off to gather them, cuz who doesn't love carrots? I move along, then see an undiscovered POI pop up on my map and I head over there to uncover it. While there, a skill point challenge starts, with several players participating to take down a boss. I join in and get a skill point, hoooraaayyy! I'm off running east again, but notice a vista on the map so I spend some time leaping around like an idiot until I get it.

I wasn't really catching snowflakes!
I got glitched in a fight and ran around with my
arms up for quite a while.



While I'm admiring the view, I see a downed player icon on my map. Being a sensitive fern, I race over to help. Well, he's downed because there's a ginormous boss fight going on so of course that has to be taken care of. More cheering and fat loots, yay! I celebrate by stopping to catch snowflakes and admire the pretty ice formations.

I notice guild chat is fired up so I pipe in and spend some time chatting with my guildies, talking about crafting, admiring each other's dye drops, discussing gear, and turning every comment into a sexual innuendo. (The Sylvari racial skill "Take Root" gets a lot of giggles, especially when combined with Mayst's "Rapid Fire".)

You have to see these! They shift and reflect the light. Beautiful!

Oh, what was I doing? Right! Quest for Walnuts. I try to focus my attention by putting a personal waypoint on my map (Alt-click!). A nice guiding star lights my way and I head northeast. But oh, there's a lake and some clams. Must get clams! Oooh, Quaggans! They're so adorable. And they need help! Must help the cuties. Then on to pirates and wargs and more carrots and centaurs and ... where was I going again? The star! Follow the star!

Three hours later I finally arrive happy and exhausted at Loneholme Range and of course have to defend Meinolf from a veteran bad guy before he'll agree to trade with me. Walnuts! I am success!  :D

So this is how a day in Guild Wars 2 goes. It's just fun and distracting and adventurous, with near-endless exploring and dynamic events. It's like you're in a living world where stuff is just HAPPENING all the time. It's truly remarkable and I love it.