So I’ve tracked GW2 back since the earliest days of its announced development (which was some time in March 2007, I think), and one thing that always stuck out to me was the idea that it would be built around the concept of “Fun”. Fun was the drive behind the game – if something wasn’t deemed Fun, then it would be revised or eliminated. Now, I know that something can be Challenging and Fun at the same time, and sometimes, there even needs to be Frustration for the Fun to happen.
An example of this, in my opinion, was found in the learning curve behind the Southsun Survival minigame. I came into the update late, so when I’d first play, I’d get one-shotted right off the bat. And this happened again and again and again, and it was very Frustrating. But I stuck with it, and several hours later, I was able to consistently place top in my games, even if I wasn’t winning first place. In this case, it was immensely Frustrating, but because I kept with it and pushed past the Frustrating, it became Fun. If it had been easy right at the get-go, I wouldn’t have had as much Fun when I finally got it.
With the Queen’s Gauntlet, I have beaten Liadri (proper gear and condition application are key) and gotten the Meatless Murder achievement – Liadri took over 300 attempts, so I have spent a great deal of time playing the Gauntlet and I would say that I know what I’m talking about (given that I’ve spent over 20-30 hours alone on Liadri). And with Liadri, it really highly emphasized, in my mind, that Queen’s Gauntlet isn’t Challenging, almost at all. Instead, it’s mostly Punishing. So I’d like to quickly outline what I mean by that – by defining what Challenging Is and Is Not.
What Challenging Is:
Challenging Is having something difficult that can be overcome by persistence and a learning attitude.
Challenging Is having a bar set high and having people need to reach that bar.
Challenging Is introducing new concepts and difficulties that people need to adapt to in order to survive and prosper.
Challenging, in the case of Queen’s Gauntlet, Is having 3 tiers of increasingly difficult bosses that each require different strategies to beat. And for that depth of Challenge, I applaud you, ArenaNet.
(edited by yearsonehundred.6139)