Guild Wars 2

So a friend and I have been playing GW2 since the Head Start on the 25th. Needless to say, ArenaNet has developed an amazing and breathtaking game.

Two months ago, I was least interested in playing MMO in any way, sort or form. I did however play RTS such Dota, D2, LoL etc.

WoW was the most popular MMO that I’ve heard of but I had no interest in even watching a video of the game. This was due to a core hatred of the game which to this day, I haven’t figured out.

So you can imagine the thought that came to my mind when the above stated friend [Mezoo] started going crazy about this game, saying that he has waited 5+ years for this to be released and this is awesome and this and that. I wasn’t convinced cause I already had a disappointed image of MMOs in general. After much persistence from Mezoo, who showed me videos and information on the Races, Professions, DE, PvP. WvW and many more I was still not convinced.

Two days before the head start, I still have no idea what came over me in order to purchase GW2. Maybe it was the fact that I could play with Mezoo side by side or the fact that I should at least purchase a video game before the end of my life. :P I myself believe that I was destined to play this game. Sounds cheesy, I know. Who cares?

All above beside the point, let us get to the real reason for this post. Suggestions!
We are aware that GW2 is not a flawless MMO and as everyone would know, no MMO is. *We realize that ANet is attending to each and every matter as fast as they can and we appreciate all that they have done and all that they are currently working on. *

The suggestions we would like to point out is none as an alternate path to the existing bugs or issues but an option to enhance the experience that we all have felt throughout the game. So let the reading begin.

1] Identification of profession and level prior to inviting – Party UI
Imagine yourself looking for players for a Dungeon run and you type in map chat ‘LF3 CoF Explorer’ and people whisper you for an invite. Imagine a situation where you invite 2 or 3 of the same Profession. Would you be rude enough to kick them from the party? Or would you be crazy enough to go through with the current setup into the Dungeon. Let’s not forget that Dungeons as of currently are unforgiving.
This could be completely avoided if one was able to check the Profession and the Level of the player who requested to be invited. There could be no downside to this since all Profession are valuable and have an array of possibilities to show for themselves. This option should be available upon shift clicking the player name on the chat box.

2] HP bar in numbers – Party UI
The current setup does provide an overview of the character HP. However, it does not show the HP pool in numbers. This could help in identifying who should be able to tank the mobs up close and personal and who should be able to range and provide DPS or support. This does sound fairly simple but in practice, this could be completely priceless. Knowing beforehand who would gain agro and who would be the support would avoid confusion.

3] Ready check option – Party UI
An option to provide a confirmation if the party member is ready or would like to have added time. Simple example would be salvaging, vendoring or freeing up your inventory space before an event that would need the complete attention of the player.
In the current state of economy, no player would skip looting just because the inventory is full. I know I wouldn’t. He or she would stop and try to salvage or destroy trophies/ gear that are not valuable in order to empty up some slots. This would most probably be done while the team is engaging a mob or whist performing a group activity causing a complete wipe or a delay in progression. In Dungeons, where each and every one has a specific role, this matters the most.

4] Player Inspect option for gear
I hope that ANet has already got enough suggestions on the Inspect Option to think about the matter. Not only does it provide a closer look at the gear on a random player, it also creates a sense of accomplishment. This would also prove priceless when running Dungeons where a player would have stacked up on Magic Find causing the entire party to be punished for personal gain. Players should also have the option to check the spec of the gear. It doesn’t matter if you have a complete Exotic set if you can’t withstand a single it from a tiny Devourer. Personal survivability is key to any accomplishment and if each player is self sufficient with Vitality and Toughness, I believe there would be less time spent on reviving others and more time to run another path. Providing access to the Gear and Armor one is equipped with would be a simple fix to the rage and abandonment.

5] On the fly Trait change
Traits provide a specific tweak to your character that will allow you to better perform in every aspect of the game. Be it damage, defense or support, traits matter as much as the gear you have on yourself. Having an option to change your Trait page on the fly would be very valuable. Instead of having to read each Trait point and change it before an event or Dungeon, it would be very beneficial to simply select the Trait page you would like for the specific instance. As per our belief, this is a must, even if the added page has to be purchased for Gems it would still be fine and I think many people would agree with me on this fact.

6] On the fly gear change
Similar to the Trait change, we would love to have an added section to set specific gear for specific instances. Weapons and Armor to be more specific. Vitality- Toughness in a separate section and Power- Precision in another. This too could be provided via the Gem Store.

7] Looking for group
There is a Looking for Group option for each and every one of us. But honesty, think of the times you have tried this option or the amount of times this has successfully resulted in players joining in or inviting you to join them. A simple solution would be to automatically fill in player parties with diverse and level appropriate players as soon as we enable the looking for group option. The auto match may could fill in players from the same map.

8] More than 5 in a Party
We are currently happy with the number we have been given. However, we cannot imagine the possibility of clearing Maps, Jumping puzzle, DE and many more content with your Guild Mates or any random player for that matter. Specifically when pointing out that Guildies will be left out of the party when completing a map. You wouldn’t want to do that now, would you? A maximum of 10 would be more than sufficient.

However, it is understandable and accepted that a party of more than five would not be able to enter Dungeon instances.

9] Latency/ping and FPS
The FPS is available via F11/ options panel ingame. A simple yet useful option would be to display the latency and FPS ingame at all times. An option could also be provided to disable this option if a player thinks the information is not valuable or is hindering gameplay experience.

10] Online vs Offline members – Party UI
You may have noticed that Online players in your party appear Offline at first glance of the Party UI. In order to check, you would have to hover over the icon of the character and do so. This is due to the fact that the player is not in the same map as you are. A simple suggestion would be to enable the icon to a constant whilst the player is online in the whole of Tyria and disable [or remove the face] when not.

11] Aggro Meter
This screams of WoW but the reason for implementing a simple HUD for aggro is quiet simple. It is common knowledge that an Elite or Champion would focus you at some point of the instance. If there was an UI pointing this fact in a percentage, that player could prepare him or herself to dodge or gain protection/ retaliation/ agies according to the play style or instance. It would be unpleasant to have this on every single mob you encounter but having this option on for Elites and Champions would be helpful.

All of the above suggestions have been provided by Mezoo.2417 who has more than 4 years of MMO experience.

I’ve read this post whist drafting and also proof read it once again to make sure I remove typos and grammar mistakes. However, if you do find any, please PM me so I could rectify instantly.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and added suggestion to help improve this topic.

1. I can sugguest a shift+click feature on the character’s name to display their name, class, level. That would be lovely.
2. This could draw a few internal problems with players. It could potentially alienate other players for having low health. I think the philosophy of this game is to ’ just have fun’. They don’t want players to get too technical and i’m sure they like people to learn it the hard way. Though I can’t pretend to know what Arenanet is thinking.
3. I think simply by typing ’i’m not ready yet, wait’ is simplier. Interacting with players consistently should be the norm already.
4-6. I would personally disagree. Inspecting gear however couldn’t hurt though.
7. I’d like this feature to work globally not within the area as it only lists people in that zone. Also add which dungeon you want in LFG.
8. I agree, I really hate to leave a guildmate out simply because ‘party is full :\’
9. I don’t have a concern with this.
10. A greyed out feature would be nice, or something that stands out.
11. Umm…I can’t say anything on this matter. I’m fine with it.

Bluee

Thank you for your feedback.
On 7, it was initially meant to be global and even cross server, but complications do arise for implementation and even between players. However, it would be very useful for it to be global or cross server.

4) Absolutely not and I don’t think you’ll ever see this, it seems completely against the very philosophy of what Anet is about with this game. They do not want players to be judged by their phat lootz like they are in other games, that just creates a horrible elitist mentality where everyone has to have the same exact crap to even play the game with others. Wouldn’t work anyway, seein’ as loot isn’t the driving force in the game like many MMOs, the high end armor and weapons in GW2 are all about looks, not their gankosity.

1) No. If you are getting the group together and haven’t asked people about their level and class that’s just being lazy to begin with and if you do end up with people of the same class that doesn’t mean they’ll be played the same anyway. If there are concerns, talk about it before going in, hopefully everyone is grown up enough to do that ahead of time.

2) This is just about communication. If people don’t know how to play their characters properly in a group, they need to ask.

The other stuff … meh, I don’t really care about much one way or the other.

A few thoughts:

Identification of profession and level prior to inviting – Party UI
Not completely necessary considering you can definitely beat dungeons with multiples of the same class. I was in CM yesterday with 3 thieves, a warrior and Ele (me) and we were able to beat it (was hard but CM is just hard anyway). However, it could be useful but then again just asking people before inviting them is just as useful.

HP bar in numbers – Party UI
Well, first of all, no one should be straight up tanking and players who are built to be up close and personal with enemies should know already if they can or not. It comes down to communication. If someone is planning on staying in melee a lot, they should tell the rest of the group “hey guys, I’m built pretty tanky and will be spending a lot of time in melee.” considering there are no single target heals in the game, it’s not really necessary to have numeric values since you won’t ever need to ask yourself who needs healing the most based on their healthbars, it’s more based on their position and whether they have aggro. What would be nice though, is for floating healthbars above people’s heads, as a support ele, that’s what I’d love to have (as well as color coded healing aoe borders but that’s most likely never going to happen).

Ready check
Sure why not, though the same thing can be done just by asking in chat, so it’s not a huge deal.

Player Inspect option for gear
No. A thousand times, no. Player skill and build means far more than equipment in this game. Standing around gear checking people for an hour before a raid in WoW sucked, especially when you were told (or had to tell someone) that you needed better gear. This just breeds elitism and locks people out of doing content they want. At 80 it’s extremely easy and cheap to get all lv80 green gear, which is good enough for anything so it’s safe to say all level 80’s most likely have all 80 gear. Different people build differently and there’s no easily measurable way to see if the armor someone’s using is best for their build, you just need to trust they know what they’re doing and if they don’t it’ll be apparent by the way they play, not their gear. The only way I’d like to see an inspect option added is for seeing what the name of the skin on a weapon or armor is, no stats, and even then it can be done by asking the person.

Looking for group
I haven’t had too much trouble finding groups in /map but an actual working LFG system would be amazing, this is probably one of the most requested features right now. So yes, please.

Aggro Meter
I think an actual meter would be going a little too far, and there are effects in play that do let you know that you have aggro, but I think they could be improved a little. Sometimes it’s hard to notice the little red circle around your feet when you grab aggro and there’s nothing telling you exactly which mob is aggroing you. I’d like to see some visual representation that is very easily seen that tells you who’s targeting you and that you have grabbed aggro.