Guild Wars 2

We’ve all seen how Fractals actually changed the combat overview on Bosses and by extension group combat. That was neat work and I hope it doesn’t stop there.

I really wish to express here what I think the game could benefit in the combat Depth department on PvE side since the PvP side already provides what I will suggest. I think that so far the builds, gear, runes, sigils, weapon swaps, traits and skill choices have proven to give a satisfactory experience but what always have bugged me is how the enemies are and respond to such Depth which leads me to believe that it’s simply one sided. Also keep in mind that I have no idea how hard this is to make it happen, so of course I’ll just be trying to put ideas up to discussion/suggestion.

Gw2 is obviously a very centred fast-paced combat game and when you have a fight be it PvE or PvP the general feeling is of a Duel, reaction and response (quicker ones at that) are usually the way to go and add the fact that you recover very fast (without having to sit and eat/rest) . One of the stronger points for me in the PvP scenery was always the quick counters and epic battle feelings that the smart thinking such as the right usage of CD’s, dodge timing, usage of the map itself can offer. The thing is (and it delve in difficulty of the game as well) in PvE the monsters are not realistic speaking up to it. They do not dodge, I think I’ve noticed a more pattern usage of skills rather than reaction-al, and also the limited repertory of skills.

What I mean by that is: Why can’t we give them a more broad range of skills that can match up to their lore/location/physics to provide us with a more challenging environment? I don’t really expect the undead to dodge but maybe have a few more skills matching up “it’s past life”, He was a ranger so give him a undead pet, a few axe throwing skills of what’s left of his axe, the ability to throw a trap and maybe a few “rarer version” veterans with an elite skill.

I do realize that the game already provides that (which is why I think it could be better tweaked) even on a very unique way (wolves will call for help) but that doesn’t make the actual combat any more…“depthable”. Every enemy has the assigned skill below their name but that’s usually not enough even with a veteran, and usually champions scale in hard hitting rather than tactical/skill capacity. Sure we can have a super hard hitting abomination with huge HP but it wouldn’t hurt to shuffle the script a bit and make a skilful (as in more skill available) mesmer-ish undead that will quite confuse you besides the fact that he does good damage instead of 1 hitting.

So it would be a welcoming Trade-Off in difficulty (More synergy, smart thinking on skills usages/combos, explore tactics/options to overcome a possible “mismatch disadvantage” and etc… over systems that generally 1hit’s you, make you feel powerless, too much hp) and depth even over the leveling experience as well! First 30 levels is all about getting used to how combat really works and the only real difficulty after that is know your limits as in how much can I take? You hone your skills in time into a level where you can usually take alot, and that is when it falls short since there isn’t really a step up from that besides being outnumbered or 1 hit k.o.

One of the best examples I can offer maybe is the skrit. When I heard they were amazing in numbers I got actually excited in having a battle with them. Sadly I don’t think I ever really found more than 2 really together (by myself) or maybe more in an event but that didn’t seem to make a difference. But I wonder if they couldn’t make a “pack” of them with lower hp/less hard hitting but each one of them having a skill that supports the “pack”, Skrit1 does abit more damage and has a skill to shout making others stronger (might stacks maybe), skrit2 hits less but has an skill that can regenerate health, skrit5 can cleanse conditions. That way you would think that it could be wise taking one before you take another depending of your utility/build etc. I think it helps even lore-wise. Make bigger “packs” for group adventurers, make dumb but “hard hitting” single skrit with a few more skill choices other than just hard hitting or throws rocks. Maybe bandits that can dodge? Stealth? Steal?

(Continuing)
I think this works…in theory. Helps lore, difficulty (because it doesn’t have to be all around the world or in every enemy depending of how it’s built up cause you have potentially “Packs” for solo, “packs” for groups, solo skilful, veterans/champions skilful for groups and the already known “blend-ish” enemies we have now) and also changes it up a little bit to a more “random” exciting manner and brings the combat depth that I talked about, making your CD’s/Swaps/Combos/Builds/Utility Choices much more crucial and in-depth to master against various types of enemies PvE wise and yet being different from time to time. Finally adding a counter-balance into play.

Anyways. I hope it’s understandable (English is not my first language). And I hope to hear some feedback, discussions and further suggestions. Ill gladly answer questions too if something wasn’t explained well. There is more stuff I wanted to add but I’m sleepy now haha and I do not remember them.

Really no one?

+1
I like this idea. It’ll help make the open world less redundant. When you think about it, there’s almost no difference between an encounter with say, a bandit and a skritt pistoler. You DPS them down all the same.

Additionally In the game’s current states enemies don’t offer much in the form of challenge, and any apparent attempt by the designers at mixing up encounters often ends poorly. I’m talking about the barely-telegraphed ccs and instagibs and the like.

Obviously +1

Building a game around elements of movement, dodging, and jumping even and not giving these tools to the AI is obviously a big missed opportunity. I have to say I didn’t know wether to laugh or to sigh when I saw that NPC in Aurora’s remains use flashy teleports to move across a few mushroom platforms because obviously the AI can’t jump. GW2 brought jumping, that GW1 didn’t have, and the devs found a wonderful way to use it in the form of jumping puzzles (rather than it being a relatively useless gimmick, like in other games) and I applaude that ; but I wish a similar reasonning was applied to the AI as well. Seeing ennemies walk all the way around a small cliff I just jumped from to pursue me is kinda depressing.

Anet have said they want to avoid splitting skills and traits between PvP and PvE, and I agree it would be better, but it can’t happen if PvE ennemies can’t use the same mechanics and tools as PvP ennemies. This includes dodging and positionning but also conditions and boons and their removal. There are so many conditions and boons flying around in PvP, yet in PvE the few creatures that use these have so few of them that it rarely makes a difference, and managing them is a part of GW2’s gameplay that’s kinda lost in PvE.
Similarily, we have a weakness condition, but loose half of its effectiveness in PvE because ennemies don’t use dodge. And cripple, immobilize and chill can only be used to kite melee ennemies, but never to catch fleeing ennemies, since the few that do just walk at normal speed instead of fleeing. Poison’s reduced healing effectiveness isn’t so interesting either considering the number of creatures that actually use healing skills.
Just giving bosses the ability to dodge would make all of them much more interesting since their defense would rely on an active mechanic instead of their boring high HP pool.

And another +1 for the Skritt example. the gameplay should be able to communicate the richness of the universe. Tbh, I think any “social” creature should have been built with some sort of group AI to reflect their nature. The dredge suits or wolves summoning allies isn’t enough to show the social aspect of a race, and being able to “infiltrate” a dredge mine without any of them actually caring unless you really get in their face is kind of an immersion breaker (the miners picking up the weapons of their dead allies is nice though). Obviously aggroing the entire mine every time you need to get to your POI or Vista would be kind of extreme, but there should be a way to balance it for a more interesting and immersive gameplay.

Yeah. +1 to my supporters here!

I was actually running some dungeons these days. They took a big step on tweaking bosses in dungeons but of course more tweaking is needed. I saddens me that most of the explorable runs usually require some “smart exploiting” to be finished. If you have a thief on your group people just rush thru everything that’s “too hard” in the dungeon while invisible. And A GOOOD bunch of people actually keep seeking places to get less hit (Aka higher ground). While in some fights like the Centaur Boss in CM EXP is ok to go on top of the house to dps him, any other fight where you just keep finding any higher ground so you are not hit by some skills is just plain silly. It amazes me how much people do dungeons to -not- play the game.

So yes. Give enemies dodge and fairly more skills to use (You can keep the name of the highest damaging skill on the bar uptop). Give veterans maybe a heal or something else sometimes even an Elite.

I find interesting that we were told how every mob reacts differently “with no trinity” aggro wise. But in practice you pretty much spread around and make either the boss range you, or run around in circles trying to catch someone for sometime. I think we need a better system than that. It’s pretty tiresome to keep “glitching” a boss because he’s too strong over the rocks/wall and such, make him a bit telegraph for hard hitting, make him dodge and a better aggro system.

It’s rather annoying finding groups that will equip certain weapon and attack THRU the walls just because they have high hp, and 1 good damage skills.

Too bad this topic doesn’t get more popular. Would be awesome to know some of the Anet’s plans regarding their combat system.

Anythign that removes 1hit KO from every enemy (including bosses) and removes difficulty just being mounds of extra hp is a good thing.