Guild Wars 2

We’ve barely done a half of (for now) planned SAB – world 1 and 2 and you can notice the difficulty going up very fast. Does anyone else see very small, invisible, moving, slippery platforms with spikes in the future in world 4?
Also, what are your predictions how the difficulty will rise in SAB?

It probably gonna be the hardest platformed ever made for western market…..

Are you talking Tribulation or Normal Mode? For NM the spikes are no different than the poison water in World 1, your health ticks away but you have plenty of time to run through sections if you need to. I don’t see how this adds anything that didn’t already exist.

The slippery ice absolutely, that is bump up in difficulty level but when you can just run through certain sections of the spikes on the ice (and drink potions while you do) I don’t really see an unmanageable difficulty increase here. I think there is plenty of room for Worlds 3 and 4 to ramp up in difficulty without becoming impossible for most players.

I’m hoping it will, personally. I liked the original world 2, but I get why it was made easier.

Josh has already confirmed he won’t make the world 3 and 4 zones as long as world 2’s, which I think will help. People will hopefully appreciate the difficulty more if the worlds are shorter and have less buggy mechanics.

Still, so long as Josh and the SAB team introduce new mechanics unique to each world, I won’t mind too much.

Following the old tropes of classic platformers, I’m expecting a lava zone, which I think will bring its own difficulty. If they can pull a mario and make the environmental objects around huge for one zone, that’ll be appreciated (kinda like the Wintersday jumping puzzle).

I’m also expecting some projectiles from walls that fire fireballs at you, and some form of environmental hazard that rotates and takes some jump timing to avoid.

JayMack.8295:

I’m hoping it will, personally. I liked the original world 2, but I get why it was made easier.

Josh has already confirmed he won’t make the world 3 and 4 zones as long as world 2’s, which I think will help. People will hopefully appreciate the difficulty more if the worlds are shorter and have less buggy mechanics.

Still, so long as Josh and the SAB team introduce new mechanics unique to each world, I won’t mind too much.

Following the old tropes of classic platformers, I’m expecting a lava zone, which I think will bring its own difficulty. If they can pull a mario and make the environmental objects around huge for one zone, that’ll be appreciated (kinda like the Wintersday jumping puzzle).

I’m also expecting some projectiles from walls that fire fireballs at you, and some form of environmental hazard that rotates and takes some jump timing to avoid.

Less lengthy, more difficult zones are definitely welcomed with open arms. I don’t mind if the zone is near impossible if it’s short. The difficulty and length should be in equal proportion.

w1z1 length + w2z3 difficulty = win.

I really hope it just comes to pure jumping puzzles, and zones that aren’t the size of China.

I absolutely HATE everything else, having to grind baubles/lives/items, invisible traps, getting killed by touching mobs with buggy hit boxes.

I actually like W2 Z1 pre-nerf, it was mainly just jumping puzzles. Needless to say I didn’t bother with the rest of SAB, takes too long and just annoys you. Maybe if we had infinite lives instead of having to pay gems for it, I wouldn’t mind, but nope, grind grind grind.

Clocktower during halloween was awesome, I just want that.

The lava level is always the hardest. I think we can expect some really devious levels for the next release, with unique mechanics.

If I were to assume a similar jump in difficulty between worlds, the next one will be probably about as difficult as the Wily’s Castle/Scrap Brain Zones of old(and I’m being extremely generous by even suggesting that the same level of care would be included in the level design). Again, assuming the same adjustment of difficulty between worlds, I can’t see how the last world would be anything but a less dressed-up Tribulation Mode.

And about the length, I’m not sure that Josh knows what a level is, seeing how at one point I was counting up to 5 concepts introduced in a single zone. It would be more honest to call zones “worlds” and the worlds “tests” and then stick in a warning label that the level you’re going into will probably take longer than an entire Megaman game to complete.

Long levels would be a lot easier if it were possible to save waypoint progress between runs. That way you could make some progress, and then continue the next time you log on.

Let’s be honest. They’ve already given the ultimate easy mode to players in the form of the Infinite Life Coin. Suddenly you don’t have to worry about dying, because you will never lose progress, and you won’t run out of baubles to buy Life Coins.

So regardless of how difficult it gets in the future, players already have a cash shop answer for it.

matthewr.3980:

Let’s be honest. They’ve already given the ultimate easy mode to players in the form of the Infinite Life Coin. Suddenly you don’t have to worry about dying, because you will never lose progress, and you won’t run out of baubles to buy Life Coins.

So regardless of how difficult it gets in the future, players already have a cash shop answer for it.

Tribulation mode can still take hours for even the shorter levels. Not everyone has the time to sit down and play uninterrupted for so long.

JayMack.8295:

I’m hoping it will, personally. I liked the original world 2, but I get why it was made easier.

Josh has already confirmed he won’t make the world 3 and 4 zones as long as world 2’s, which I think will help. People will hopefully appreciate the difficulty more if the worlds are shorter and have less buggy mechanics.

Still, so long as Josh and the SAB team introduce new mechanics unique to each world, I won’t mind too much.

Following the old tropes of classic platformers, I’m expecting a lava zone, which I think will bring its own difficulty. If they can pull a mario and make the environmental objects around huge for one zone, that’ll be appreciated (kinda like the Wintersday jumping puzzle).

I’m also expecting some projectiles from walls that fire fireballs at you, and some form of environmental hazard that rotates and takes some jump timing to avoid.

Based on the map World 3 Zone 3 is a lava cavern zone. So that should be good.

matthewr.3980:

Let’s be honest. They’ve already given the ultimate easy mode to players in the form of the Infinite Life Coin. Suddenly you don’t have to worry about dying, because you will never lose progress, and you won’t run out of baubles to buy Life Coins.

So regardless of how difficult it gets in the future, players already have a cash shop answer for it.

ICC doesn’t make anything easier. Not a single thing in the game. All the ICC does is make it more accessible because you can stay in the game for longer without running out of lives.

I feel W2Z1 is an appropriate length for a level. W1Z1 is way too short.

TheHeap.5610:

(and I’m being extremely generous by even suggesting that the same level of care would be included in the level design).

I don’t think there is any reason for such a backhanded insult. The people on the SAB team clearly share a big love for retro games, and they clearly have gone out of there way to try and add new fun mechanics into a game that would normally not support any of it. SAB is a work of love, and they are clearly very passionate about their level design. Whether you or I could do a better job at it, is a mood point.

TheHeap.5610:

And about the length, I’m not sure that Josh knows what a level is,

And again with another backhanded insult. What for? You’ve got a passionate team being creative, and adding stuff to the game that you’d normally never see in an MMO at all. These guys and gals probably spent several weekends of their free time perfecting the levels, fixing bugs, and adding finishing touches. If anything, Josh and his fellow team members have shown a passion for level design, and a deep understanding of game design principles. Sure, in hind sight w2z2 is a bit too long, and introduces a lot of new mechanics. These things could have been spread out more. But I don’t think that’s any reason to come down on them, and attack them personally.

Instead, I think they deserve a lot of praise. There’s a lot of mechanics in SAB that would make for a great improvement to some of the current PVE content (I’m thinking dungeons here).

Kal Spiro.9745:

JayMack.8295:

I’m hoping it will, personally. I liked the original world 2, but I get why it was made easier.

Josh has already confirmed he won’t make the world 3 and 4 zones as long as world 2’s, which I think will help. People will hopefully appreciate the difficulty more if the worlds are shorter and have less buggy mechanics.

Still, so long as Josh and the SAB team introduce new mechanics unique to each world, I won’t mind too much.

Following the old tropes of classic platformers, I’m expecting a lava zone, which I think will bring its own difficulty. If they can pull a mario and make the environmental objects around huge for one zone, that’ll be appreciated (kinda like the Wintersday jumping puzzle).

I’m also expecting some projectiles from walls that fire fireballs at you, and some form of environmental hazard that rotates and takes some jump timing to avoid.

Based on the map World 3 Zone 3 is a lava cavern zone. So that should be good.

See I have the feeling its more Zone 1 of World 4.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

TheHeap.5610:

(and I’m being extremely generous by even suggesting that the same level of care would be included in the level design).

I don’t think there is any reason for such a backhanded insult. The people on the SAB team clearly share a big love for retro games, and they clearly have gone out of there way to try and add new fun mechanics into a game that would normally not support any of it. SAB is a work of love, and they are clearly very passionate about their level design. Whether you or I could do a better job at it, is a mood point.

TheHeap.5610:

And about the length, I’m not sure that Josh knows what a level is,

And again with another backhanded insult. What for? You’ve got a passionate team being creative, and adding stuff to the game that you’d normally never see in an MMO at all. These guys and gals probably spent several weekends of their free time perfecting the levels, fixing bugs, and adding finishing touches. If anything, Josh and his fellow team members have shown a passion for level design, and a deep understanding of game design principles. Sure, in hind sight w2z2 is a bit too long, and introduces a lot of new mechanics. These things could have been spread out more. But I don’t think that’s any reason to come down on them, and attack them personally.

Instead, I think they deserve a lot of praise. There’s a lot of mechanics in SAB that would make for a great improvement to some of the current PVE content (I’m thinking dungeons here).

There’s no doubt a lot of TLC went into SAB. But they said their goal was for it to be fun for the average player, and what’s frustrating is their inability to step in the shoes of said player. Instead they made content that would be at the right level for themselves. Their analytics have given them a rude awakening, but this apparent lack of empathic intuition is what gives me doubt about their future endeavors. They can either develop this empathy, or they can continue to rely on analytics, leaving them to always playing catch up once they have 20/20 hindsight.

You know, I’ve been trying to remain very positive and kind hearted despite all the complaints and whining about SAB. They gave you an easy mode, a normal mode, and a stupid mode. Oh, and since there was so much crying, they also gave you an INFINITE continue coin. If you can’t hack it on normal or stupid, play it on easy. I know, achievements, blahblah, but oh well. It’s an achievement in a video game. Big deal. 90% of the people that post on this forum wouldn’t have made it through a whole video game when the NES, SNES, or Atari were popular. There was no YouTube back then to figure out the secret spots or little tricks to make it easier. There were no forums to ask for help. There was no community to give advice. You just suffered through it. Well, SAB is a tribute to those kinds of games. Suffer through it. You don’t have to play if you don’t like it. Perhaps the haters should develop and code the next 2 worlds for them so they don’t have to, then they can be the ones that get insulted and under appreciated. It.is.a.video.game. Chill out, and have FUN with it instead of worrying about being so super pro all the time.

I have no doubt that based on the input the community has given them about their opinions of World 2, they will take that into consideration when building Worlds 3 and 4. If not, well, that sucks. We aren’t developers for ArenaNet for a reason. We have no right to talk bad about someone else’s work when most of us wouldn’t even know the first thing about how to develop something like that. Constructive criticism is fine, but for some reason, that’s asking far too much.

I’ll probably rage quit before even finishing world 3.

That’s a good thing.