sanctuaire

Are people seriously condoning this behavior?

I may be the vocal minority but I'm also a full zerk mesmer and I think the behavior of the very vocal majority is crap.  Crap crap crap.
I agree it takes out the fun and that is ultimately why (I believe) we freaking play games in the first place.  But what do I know...

I was waiting for GW2 since the announcement of it being made (like any other GW fan, probably). I had to save some money to buy a new PC to run it and it took me some time, so I started playing GW2 just about 2 weeks ago.

I don't know why, maybe because the game was already 3 months old and my excitement disappeard somewhere, but when I created my first character I couldn't help but feel that the game was boring and I logged off after the Great Hunt and killing some minotaurs. I gave the game another try after about 2 days and I changed my mind a bit. I do think that the gameplay is quite fun (open world pve at least) but I do not get the same kind of excitement from GW2 as I did from GW1.

I also don't feel any sense of community. I have so fond memories of GW1 because I played through the whole Prophecies campaign with people (that was before heroes). There was no point using henchies, when you could find people for missions and questing from outpost to the next mission easily. In GW2 the only interaction with people that I have is doing group events (if there are other people around to do them) and sometimes reviving each other. Sometimes someone will say "thank you" for spending my time on reviving him or her, but in most cases people do not speak. In GW1 after playing through the campaign once I liked to sit in mission outposts and help people get through the game. I felt kind of like a mentor to the new players, explaing bonuses and some tactics (like running to the catapult in Fort Ranik to save time). Here I have a solo personal story that is in no way engaging (up to level 30 at least) and a silent world with people minding their own businesses.

Here is my next complaint - questing. Oh how I wish GW2 had traditional quests. Sure, hearts will grant you lots of exp but on the other hand it's just one activity in a small area. Sure, you have two or three objectives per heart, but what I do is I find which one is the least bothersome and in case of most of the hearts they bore me to death. And then there are dynamic events, which would be cool if there were more of them. That's also why I would prefer normal quests. You know where you are going and why are you going there for. You just get to a village or whatever, grab your tasks and your off. In GW2 I get to a heart, I do a heart and... in most cases there's nothing more to do. The DEs are so sparce and repetitive that I don't really like them that much.

As I stated previously, I do like the gameplay, but I do agree with people saying that GW1 was better in that regard. I was against weapon skills system from the first time I heard about it, but decided I won't complain about it much until I play the game. I have to say I still would prefer to be able to change weapon skills, even if the pool of skills to choose from would be limited and picked by ANet.

What I'm also fond of are jumping puzzles, though they do seem a bit easy in most cases as I did play a lot of kz_ maps for Counter-Strike.

I'm the warrior in the video, and I am not surprised that the discussion has turned into one about why Fractals are bad.

You only need 2 guardians. We just had 3 because a lot of guardians level up faster since they are the only class that is required and thus easier to find parties for. Having a warrior or mesmer didn't make a difference whether we were able to progress or not.

For those of you who don't know, the only thing that matters is wall of reflection and shield of the avenger. With these 2 skills you can block ranged attacks which cause most of the damage in the upper levels because anyone can avoid melee damage by ranging mobs.

I would like Anet to fix this because I don't want the game to devolve into GW1 where people waited hours for monks.

Am I in some kind of twilight zone? Are there really people berating someone for asking for greater balance between classes?

I could understand a counter-argument that most/all classes are viable (I honestly don't know if this is the case as I haven't reached this high in FotM), but arguing that such great class imbalance is ok and to be expected?

...I...uh...wow...

Oh and congrats to the OP for making it this far. Was that a pug or a guild/friends/etc. group?

This party composition is why I hate increasing the difficulties of dungeons the levels of this video. It pushes out creativity and diverse builds and play styles and punishes people for playing certain builds or classes. Sure not every build is going to be (or should be) viable, but I'm already getting kicked from several groups on my ranger. I see too many groups looking for guardians, warriors or mesmers and shunning every other class.

To a certain point, ArenaNet isn't making the dungeon harder, they are just limiting the number of viable choices you have to complete it. The end result is a PvE endgame meta where certain classes are almost completely shunned and certain builds, which should be viable, are never run. Look at how this kind of game design almost completely removed rangers from GW1 end game and you can see how it ended. I really hope this isn't where GW2 is going.

Talks about an overabundance of trolls in MMOs

Mentions a MOBA.

Makes sense.

Rickter, on 21 November 2012 - 11:58 AM, said:

People follow the shinies. Why would anyone give a * about anyone else when they can discriminate and thus increase their chance of getting better gear? That's the entire problem, that discrimination is actually rewarded.

Kratimas, on 20 November 2012 - 06:11 PM, said:

Prior to fractals, "anyone" could join any dungeon group.  There was complete freedom.  The only restriction being level requirements.  With the introduction of fractals this is no longer the case.  Lets say you are unable to log on for a month or two, you come back & want to play wit your friends/guild members.  They are on fractal 18.  Your at 3.  You are a very exceptionally skilled player & could easily handle 18, but because you have not climbed the fractal ladder, the only way for your friends/guild members to play with you is to drop down to 3 or not play with you at all.  Its just a silly content gating that has no place in a MMO that is supposed to be about freedom & allowing the player to play as he/she chooses.  Designs like this should be left to WoW/Rift etc

Wait until after the Lost Shore patch. You may be able to skip exotics and go straight to ascended gear, which is said to be more powerful.

I have a better mechanic.

Predictability: You know he's going to HS, why don't you do something about it?

I hate it too, why not just add channels like in GW1 ?

Crazy Like A Fox

Icuic, on 12 August 2012 - 11:46 AM, said:

An excellent observation. Though ArenaNet is already on record as having rejected Steam for business reasons, managing a multi-staged release of GW2 is a very good reason to hold back some cards. ArenaNet really loses nothing by waiting, and probably gains quite a bit. For example:

Direct Sales. Every unit of Guild Wars 2 currently sold is sold through retail channels they have already established, presumably on favorable terms. It's likely that Steam would want a larger cut than, say, Amazon. If so, that would mean ArenaNet would pocket more money per unit from direct sales than through Steam, giving them every reason to tap that market first.

Bargaining Position. Once the first wave of direct sales starts to taper off, ArenaNet can approach Steam with a product that already boasts some nice sales numbers that were achieved without Valve's help. As noted above, ArenaNet has already balked at Steam's terms for MMOs. Strong direct sales would give ArenaNet more leverage and allow negotiation for a better deal from Steam. That would especially be true if ArenaNet was simultaneously negotiating with (god forbid) Microsoft or other channels for digital distribution rights. Again, a win for ArenaNet.

Sequential Promotion. The initial release of GW2 will involve much fanfare. However, a subsequent, separate release on Steam or other channels, and later on consoles, would each involve their own fanfare, with the total of all the events potentially stimulating more sales than a single massive event. Another win.

Income Smoothing. While huge inflows of cash are never a bad thing, there are also advantages to income over time. Bringing in Steam and consoles later would offer ArenaNet additional revenue streams as direct sales begin to wane. Another win.

So hey, maybe ArenaNet will announce a Steam deal just before Launch. I won't hold my breath, but if so, I'm sure it would take off like a rocket.

But holding that back clearly offers some nice advantages, and if the brass at ArenaNet are aware of them (including some I haven't considered here), that may very well be the game they're playing.

They've made plenty of smart moves already. I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from.

Lighten up, if silly names bother you then maybe you shouldn't be playing. Seriously, if people aren't used to the internet by now.. I... really don't know what to tell you. Things like that haven't bothered me since.... ever. In the end you're being more immature by reacting so strongly and that's EXACTLY what those people are fishing for.

Personally I laugh pretty hard when I see names like XXxX SePhIRoTHxXXX xX