Guild Wars 2

One thing I really enjoy in a MMORPG is team gameplay. I’m glad when the team plays together and wins together, not just because someone rushed alone or someone soloted the boss during 10 minutes when all the team is dead.
If I wanted to play alone, I would not play a MMORPG.

After all, who defeated Zaithan ? All the races together, forging/blanding weapons together and fighting together, not just zerging on the same map.

So my point is :
How do you interact with the other players and make 1+1=3 players ?
The answer in GW2 should be COMBO !!

You have a combo field, i have a combo blast, let’s do together something usualy impossible. Exemple : Engineer smoke bomb + Ele phoenix blast = area stealth. You gain new skills usually unavailable to your class. That’s awesome !

Unfortunately the combo system seems to be poorly exploited, by the developpers and by the players. Face it : how many player know the difference between all combo ? How many team try to do combo at the right time and build a team or build according to the combo ?

And yet the all system of combo is already implemented. So why are people not using them ?

Here are a few questions we can try to answer :
*Is the combo system too complicated ?
*Do the different combo finishers change your team playstyle (leap, blast, projectile…) ?
*Are the combo usefull and powerfull enough ?
*Do you think the combo should boost your usual skills of give you new skills usually not accessible to your class ?
*Do you think the combo should happend more often (less powerfull combo) or less often (more powerfull combo)
*What do you thing about combo with 3 or more players ? would you try to use it ?

Please try to answer as a team member, not as a lonesome player.

Thanks

(Special thanks to the ANET team : we can do it together, the players and ANET, if we work together)

I think what you seeing is a result of

1: the removal of the trinity
In dungeons its all about dps and dodge

2: rise of zerg play
In wvw and explorable zones no one need to try and set of combo’s they go off anyway just from sheer coincidence if any of the zergers do something other than spam 1

but due to the games mechanics, outside of possibly spvp which I haven’t gotten into yet as I’m not one to solo que and my friends aren’t into it yet the combo system is essentialy wasted cause its so inconsequential to what the community has seen as the most effecient way to play

Combos are definitely not used enough. I think most use them by accident. I just started using a build on my Engineer which greatly leverages self-combos to maximize potential. It would be nice to see a bit of a tutorial or more game hints on combo fields and how to use them.

Really? You guys don’t water/blast in WvW? Lol good luck against somebody who does.

Some classes have really few combo fields and combo finishers. They should make more skills with combo fields and combo finishers to make combat more interesting and also release new skills and traits and weapons for each class.

Combo fields is a very situational thing in PvP.
As a staff ele – you can farm people 1v1 if you are using all combos available for you. But barely a lot of people know about it (thats why i cry when i see this “staff is bad” posts)
Actively exploiting it’s bonuses you can easily set a way to win in 8v8 combat, but more of this like 10v10 and more, there is too much spam and effect of comboing (beside water blasts) are quite useless.
I thought about it in a way like adding new trait setup into current builds:
Finishers – your finishers are stronger/giving longer effects/affect more targets/giving bonus effects (like more boons or smth).
This would separate Dps/bunker/control/finisher and add a new floor on current pvp arena.

Thanks for your answers.

I agree zerg players and bus figthing in WvW don’t make it easy to plan a combo attack.
One question is also multiple combo fields overlaping, so you cant’ really rely on combo. Why not make a combofield only when 2 combo fields overlap ?

What about a small change in the combo system like :
2 combo field + 3 combo finishers = 1 big combo
So for example you would need 2 time the same combo (example : 2 light fields) and 3 combo leap at the same time (maybe during 2 to 3 seconds) to activate a combo for all the leaping players.
I know it’s not as dynamic as an instant combo effect but it would improve one kind of attack if the combo is powerfull enough.

After all GW2 is about space control : so if you see 3 red circles aroud you, you should really not stay still and you should move to avoid a big combo in your face.

Another option : Why not use a random timer to do a combo.
For exemple you use a special floating symbol that indicate for 2 or 3 second a random possible combo in the combo field. And you could do the combo only during this time.
So the player should choose between attacking like brainless zerg all the time or waiting for the symbol to appear and use the right skill (projectile, leap…).

Of course all that requiers that the combos are useful…

One problem is the game has no starting tutorials that teach new people about combs and how to best use them. Starting payers with new toons are usually playing solo and since they are soloing they rarely encounter other people’s fields to learn about them. By the time they get high enough to do dungeons, they have a set way of playing. Which doesn’t include other’s combo fields. ANet seems to have forgotten that new people need teaching. They expect them to wander the world and learn this just by playing. This works for some but not for many