Inside the Tower: Game Mechanics Feedback

Inside the Tower: Game Mechanics Feedback

in The Nightmare Within

Posted by: Peregrine Falcon.5496

Peregrine Falcon.5496

I’ve really enjoyed the Living World content so far. The fast pace at which it rolls out, the achievement system, the way the developers have listened to player feedback. I do have some observations/feedback regarding my experience with the Tower of Nightmares open world dungeon.
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1) The Tower of Nightmares doesn’t seem to be designed for team play, it’s designed for zerg play. If you’re online during the 4-6 hours that there’s enough players to form a zerg then the content is great fun, if not then you might as well skip it.

2) The open content (within the tower) discourages players from helping others. A player, or team of players, often won’t stop to rez downed or defeated players because they know that if they do they’ll just be killed themselves. This discourages players from working together, unless they’re part of the zerg, and seems to be contrary to the way content is designed in the rest of the game.

3) The tower is set up in a way that not only enables, but actively encourages, griefing. I’ve spent at least some time in the tower every day since it went live and every single day I’ve seen multiple examples of people intentionally leading mobs around to grief other players.

4) The griefing, the long mob leash range and the fast mob respawn rate, combine to actively punish intelligent game play. A team of players who carefully looks around every corner, is careful to engage only the number of mobs that they can handle, and supports and helps one another, will suddenly find themselves either surrounded by mobs that have respawned or by mobs that have been dragged to them by other players. This means that the best way for a team of players to survive to reach the top of the tower is for them to just run through and grief other players by dragging mobs onto them.

5) I do realize that this is an MMO and I’m not complaining that I can’t solo everything. Nor am I even complaining that the Tower of Nightmares is too difficult. My experience is simply that this content doesn’t seem to be designed to encourage team play, it appears to be designed to discourage players from helping other players, and seems designed for zerg only game play. I don’t think that that was the developers’ intention, but that has been my experience. At least on my server.

Paragon City refugee – “We’re heroes, it’s what we do.”

Inside the Tower: Game Mechanics Feedback

in The Nightmare Within

Posted by: Argyle.6729

Argyle.6729

I’ve adventured inside the Tower of Nightmares a bunch of times so far, and have observed ALL of what Peregrine is talking about. I am a year+ veteran of GW2 and absolutely love the game, so it’s odd for me to complain about some portion of its content…but the Tower does really seem to encourage griefing the way it’s currently designed, and I too doubt that was its intent.

I also think it’s entirely possible that the developers are listening to a highly vocal but small minority of players who keep requesting highly difficult PvE content…when I believe what the silent majority wants is simply more of the story (which doesn’t have to be insanely difficult, just engaging as most of the GW2 material is). Don’t get me wrong, I completely respect how responsive the GW2 staff is to its players — more than any other MMO I have played! — but I just hope there’s a way for them to eventually find out what the majority wants rather than just the people who shout the loudest.

(another Paragon City Refugee myself)

Inside the Tower: Game Mechanics Feedback

in The Nightmare Within

Posted by: Marble Daemon.7350

Marble Daemon.7350

I don’t know why you are saying so but yesterday, my brother and I along side with another Hunter just went through a level without too much difficulty. I agree that it’s hard to do it solo but it’s manageable in small group of 2-3 people.

Inside the Tower: Game Mechanics Feedback

in The Nightmare Within

Posted by: Nightshade.5924

Nightshade.5924

I play frequently w/ Peregrine, and I have to say, he nailed this.
Two occasions jump to mind on this issue. Once, four of us were sitting next to one of the instance doors while everyone got coffee/soda. We were way up on one of the walkways, totally away from the action.

I got back and moved next to the door, and then watched as a player ran up the walkway. By the time he hit the interaction NPC he was dragging four vets and two elites. He ran past us and jumped off the walkway, and the mobs turned around and started clobbering my three friends. I activated the doorway, and managed to pull in one of them, as the other two were still AFK. Needless to say my other two buds were toast.

On another occasion we were on the second or third lvl working one of the events as a team. We were peeking around corners, taking on small groups and generally stomping mobs.
We had just taken on 2-3 vets, and all of a sudden, two players run past us, and drag a mob zerg on top of us before we knew was happening. We got hit w/ 10 to 15 mobs, a mix of vets and elites as the other two players kited away. Yep, you guessed it, TEAM WIPE. And then we watched as four other solo players ran past us as we popped revive orbs trying to keep our progress.

I like the tower, it’s a good challenge. But the “leashes” on the mobs are WAY too long. That first guy must have brought every single mob from the bottom of the ramp up to where the instance was. This is the first time in GW2 that I’ve experienced mobs losing their aggro so far from their “start point” and then turning around and engaging players that are handily right there. Needs fixing, Ayup.