Guild Wars 2

Seriously. Stop saying X isn’t fun because it shows you don’t know a thing about game design. Content is fun for certain types of players. Others will absolutely hate it. All you can really talk about are how well it’s produced. Things like conveyance (how easy it is to tell why something is happening), retryability (How quickly you can retry after failure), replayability (how long until the content becomes boring), variance (how different challenges are from each other), bugginess (BUGS!) and usability (how easy controls are to use) are things you can really talk about. If you are saying that Liadri isn’t fun because I died, you are not a hardcore player and won’t enjoy the content. I personally loved fighting Liadri and all of those deaths just made my victory even better.

There’s a ton of things to complain about, but difficulty isn’t one of them. Color blind issue in the arena? That’s fair. Camera problems in the dome? Fair. Red circle culling for the Kuraii Fight? Fair. Saying “cheap” mechanics and “too much to focus on” isn’t fun? Not fair.

It’s like saying “WHY IS THERE SHRIMP AT THIS DINNER? SHRIMP TASTES BAD!” Yeah it does, to YOU!

This is how I’d rate everything in the arena:

• Conveyance : 5. Some boss mechanics aren’t obvious and the solution isn’t exactly logical. Why would I eat dog food off the ground? Why would I stand in a vortex to protect myself from a giant light attack? Red circles on orange floor? How much time is left? Why is Liadri way harder than everything else in tier 3? Why is meat on a stick bad for you? Why is the range on the first bosses attack slightly longer than the animation?
• Retryability : 4. You have to buy tickets. Gambits cost tickets. If you die and no one is around, you have to waypoint and run back up. It breaks your armor. If you time out, no one can save you.
• Replayability : 10. I love gambits. 6 gambit Liadri! You shall be mine!
• Variance : 10. Pretty much every battle was unique.
• Bugginess: 3. Players ending up in the same arena, bosses teleporting to other arenas, Crowd Favorite quaggan disappearing, lag because of players below.
• Usability : 3. The dome + camera. Picking up pieces of meat is really slow. The arena defaults to the highest enemy you’ve unlocked, instead of locking in the thing you chose with the fight coordinator.

What do you guys think? How would you rate the arena with those criteria?

Difficulty is subjective to each and every individual. A Game Designers Goal should be to create a balance or varience to cover a vast range of difficulty.

With that said, difficulty can certainly be an issue to some players with the current update. Implying that anyone who states such is wrong for stating their griefs (constructively) is also incorrect.

Have a wonderful day.

Antara.3189:

Difficulty is subjective to each and every individual. A Game Designers Goal should be to create a balance or varience to cover a vast range of difficulty.

With that said, difficulty can certainly be an issue to some players with the current update. Implying that anyone who states such is wrong for stating their griefs (constructively) is also incorrect.

Have a wonderful day.

And how did they not? The gauntlet has multiple tiers. There’s casual content right below it. There’s explorer style content out in the world.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Antara.3189:

Difficulty is subjective to each and every individual. A Game Designers Goal should be to create a balance or varience to cover a vast range of difficulty.

With that said, difficulty can certainly be an issue to some players with the current update. Implying that anyone who states such is wrong for stating their griefs (constructively) is also incorrect.

Have a wonderful day.

And how did they not? The gauntlet has multiple tiers. There’s casual content right below it. There’s explorer style content out in the world.

You must have misread what I wrote kind sir. I never implied ArenaNet did not make this current update viable for a vast amount of players. I was speaking in regards to your opinion on the matter that difficulty is not an issue. Some players feel differently which is perfectly okay.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

• Conveyance : 5. Some boss mechanics aren’t obvious and the solution isn’t exactly logical. Why would I eat dog food off the ground? Why would I stand in a vortex to protect myself from a giant light attack? Red circles on orange floor? How much time is left? Why is Liadri way harder than everything else in tier 3? Why is meat on a stick bad for you? Why is the range on the first bosses attack slightly longer than the animation?
• Retryability : 4. You have to buy tickets. Gambits cost tickets. If you die and no one is around, you have to waypoint and run back up. It breaks your armor. If you time out, no one can save you.
• Replayability : 10. I love gambits. 6 gambit Liadri! You shall be mine!
• Variance : 10. Pretty much every battle was unique.
• Bugginess: 3. Players ending up in the same arena, bosses teleporting to other arenas, Crowd Favorite quaggan disappearing, lag because of players below.
• Usability : 3. The dome + camera. Picking up pieces of meat is really slow. The arena defaults to the highest enemy you’ve unlocked, instead of locking in the thing you chose with the fight coordinator.

I think I agree with your own rating for the most part, I would just change one thing.

• Variance: 7 – Because you have to play and defeat the bosses in order, many players don’t get to experience the higher level bosses. Liadri, I will never even see you from close up. So… variance really only comes with success. It is okay to tie rewards to success, but variance shouldn’t have been treated as a reward. In any case, can’t give it 10/10 for this reason.

Antara.3189:

The Gates Assassin.9827:

Antara.3189:

Difficulty is subjective to each and every individual. A Game Designers Goal should be to create a balance or varience to cover a vast range of difficulty.

With that said, difficulty can certainly be an issue to some players with the current update. Implying that anyone who states such is wrong for stating their griefs (constructively) is also incorrect.

Have a wonderful day.

And how did they not? The gauntlet has multiple tiers. There’s casual content right below it. There’s explorer style content out in the world.

You must have misread what I wrote kind sir. I never implied ArenaNet did not make this current update viable for a vast amount of players. I was speaking in regards to your opinion on the matter that difficulty is not an issue. Some players feel differently which is perfectly okay.

The order and placement of difficulty matters. The degree of difficulty does not. When players hear that Fractals 40+ was suppose to be impossible, some hardcore players jumped all over that. Some players would hate going after something said to be impossible. Some loved it.

The gauntlet is optional content. It can be as hard as they want. The difficulty of the bosses is pretty close to in order. If Liadri was first, difficulty would matter, but she’s not. She’s last.

Good thread mate. People who complain are trying to convince everyone else that because they can’t do something, it must be bad/broken/un-fun.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

It is okay to tie rewards to success, but variance shouldn’t have been treated as a reward. In any case, can’t give it 10/10 for this reason.

I sort of agree with this but it is contrary to almost every game ever made and a pretty harsh reason to take away 3 points as it is more a flaw of the industry. Certainly every game I have played denies you content you have paid for in some way. It’s pretty unique to the medium!

Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYUng5MtTd8 from 2:44 for a funny analysis of this.

If fun and difficulty are subjective — then why tell those who find the QG not fun and difficult to not express their subjective opinion?

There are encounters that are too easy and boring = not fun, and there are encounters that’s just flat out stupid and unnecessarily difficult = not fun, and there are encounters that my build is impossible to overcome = not fun.

So yes, subjectively, QC is no fun at all.

JonG.7206:

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

It is okay to tie rewards to success, but variance shouldn’t have been treated as a reward. In any case, can’t give it 10/10 for this reason.

I sort of agree with this but it is contrary to almost every game ever made and a pretty harsh reason to take away 3 points as it is more a flaw of the industry. Certainly every game I have played denies you content you have paid for in some way. It’s pretty unique to the medium!

Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYUng5MtTd8 from 2:44 for a funny analysis of this.

Yes, it is a known concept in the industry, but then Guild Wars 2 came along and did away with it.

Examples that I can think of from GW2 -

• level restriction on maps is a mere suggestion/safety warning, you don’t even have to finish a zone before moving on.
• dungeon paths (have to beat story mode to get to the explorable paths) but even there, it only requires one in your group to have that unlocked.
• Same for Fractals.
• Oh, and the Dark Reverie jumping puzzle where you have to do the spiral first. Just that there is a back door that people can let you in through, and mesmer portals.
• Personal story chapters are to be played in order, but I can experience everybody else’s chapters as they happen.
  All of these were conscious decisions in ANet’s game design.

I have never before missed out on content because I couldn’t beat earlier content. ANet sort of set this standard themselves, so I think it is fair to measure them by it.