Ian42onGuru

Your statement that this is why Guild Wars 2 feels more grindy is... not entirely correct.

First, realize that the skinnerbox theory works with almost all RPGs and stuff beyond, including (if we are to believe the video, Solitaire) However, we're playing an (MMO)RPG, so we should discuss it relative to other MMORPGs.

Now, compare GW2 to WoW, when I played WoW I felt the compulsion to continue way after it's fun. The game is positively built around behaviorism theories. Arenanet consciously went away from these theories and made a more honest game. That's why it's a lot easier to stop content in GW 2 after it's stopped being fun. Me and my friend have had breaks, sometimes days, sometimes weeks sometimes months. We hop from one kind of content to another depending on what we find most fun at the time.

Since we're talking relative to MMOs and WoW is much grindier then GW 2, we must conclude that Skinner Box cannot be a satisfying answer. I would give an alternative one, I would suggest that GW 2 suffers from a similar problem as Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. The monsters HP are simply bloated. I encountered this both as a player and as a GM. I solved it by mentally decreasing the monsters HP by a certain percentage and increasing their damage by another. The players were ecstatic, they didn't understand why but they found the combat to be not just faster, but also fun exciting and challenging.

Now, when 5 people who are playing Heroes (and yes, all our characters are supposedly heroes) spend a full five min pounding on a lieutenant of a gang (not their leader, no, a mere lieutenant) it can feel a bit grindy. When you mindlessly go around, without any real challenge and start discussing dinner plans next Saturday while pounding a boss, it can feel a bit grindy.

I'll agree it's present in GW2, but I won't agree with the people who'll inevitably come in here and say this is all GW2 is.

El Duderino, on 23 April 2013 - 02:22 PM, said:

So, what parts of the current game are you locked out from if you don't pay?
Funnily enough even sub-based games requires extra money for certain stuff.

Oh kitten it, you only want a reason to hate ArenaNet and will not see reason, I give up.

Elisabeth Cady said:

That is a "back banner" (sashimono.) As you can clearly see, it is neither a cloak nor a cape.

i support dungeons.

not just because i love them, but because it forces players to group up and complete content!!!

this is an mmorpg afterall, i fully support the idea of forcing players to group up and complete content together

My god people can complain , be glad you get free content , they worked hard on this so be happy or leave the game if the only thing you can do is complain about arenanet that they "so called" Havent learned anything. play it and then give feedback dont start by saying stupid stuff before you have tried it

It's going to be a kom-pew-something.  It destroys its opposition by pulling the heroes into a game where they are saving a fantasy world from an alien threat unlike anything they've ever encountered in their real lives.

Inside this game, there is a Super Adventure Box, which pulls your characters into a virtual world of retro-fantasy modeled in a 3d world.

Within that box is another box, which houses an 8-bit world in 2d.

Within that box is another box, which contains a 4-bit world in 1d...

Kumori Tensei, on 08 April 2013 - 05:32 PM, said:

Sorry, but this line of thinking makes no sense. I'm pretty sure the people designing town clothes don't have the same skill-set as those working on other things, hence why they are on the "design" team and not the "game bug" team. And I seriously doubt me prefacing the articles would prevent people from voicing their opinion. My comment was geared more toward the unnecessary whining and ranting.

Geez, maybe I should preface every post like this with how ArenaNet has different teams for different aspects of the game. :\ The people designing town clothes are not the same people responsible for bug fixing and other gameplay issues.

Nope, haven't experience 5 thief kill spam yet but if those guys met a proper team, they'd be eaten for breakfast. Those people who play those builds just prey on the unorganized and inexperienced really.

Kaaboose, on 02 April 2013 - 10:34 PM, said:

So, if they follow your opinions the game would be the number 1 MMO?
Why would your opinion make the game better than my opinion? Or their opinions for that matter?
The fact that the game have already sold much more than they ever though (in the short time since release) should be a rather good indicator that they are actually doing it right.

Perfect World and Cryptic together have been doing some great stuff.  I am a big fan of how Star Trek Online has been handled and this looks fantastic for Neverwinter.

I just hope they have some kind of hook to get me to play other than it being free.  Campaign creation would be fantastic.  The ability to DM a zone would be even better.  Otherwise it will just be another solid F2P title from PW/Cryptic which isn't a bad thing but we'll have GW2 by then hopefully so...

Edit: I found out they are going to have their Foundry from STO in at release.  So you will be able to make your own campaigns and run them with friends.  That alone makes this a day one download for me at least.

El Duderino, on 15 March 2013 - 06:33 PM, said:

There is already a degree of difficulty in place. A minimum effort requirement for the reward and the content itself is more difficult and actually require more people than the 'grassroot' events. They don't scale, in my opinion, well enough for the numbers they accrue. What removing waypoints will do is increase the inconvenience of joining in. It does not make the content more difficult. Making the mobs have more cc will, again, not increase the difficulty of these events. It's an inconvenience players will try to circumvent.

If you want players to participate in more 'grassroot' events, you need to incentivize them to split up. But this also encourages anti-social gaming tendencies where anybody above a perceived optimal amount will be ostracized away. Which is, I might add, one of the things GW2 set out to fix about MMOs.

Either way, removal of waypoints only serves to frustrate players and doesn't treat the problems you see.

Jump_N_Move, on 05 March 2013 - 06:28 PM, said:

Ah yes, all those: OMG THIS GAME SUCKS ARENANET ARE THE WORST PEOPLE EVER!!!!! sure care about the game, right?

The people that would actually care about the game don't feel the need to behave as 5 year olds that lost their candy. We simply report bugs we find, and post though-out and informative posts.
The vast majority of the forum posts are not like that though.

Moon Electric, on 05 March 2013 - 07:01 PM, said:

Indeed, some people funnily enough seems to assume that just because I argue against whining I think all criticism is wrong.
And apparently you are allowed to whine and post the kind of posts as I talked about above, but going against those posts are apparently not okay.

Ah well, at least someone understood what I meant.