Guild Wars 2

Might sound corny, but thats the theme i would like to talk abaut a bit and send a bit of feedback on the game system, and what way it can improve. (in my objective opinion)

First of all Gw2 did achive to improve the mmo’s system of combat and gameplay.

Mostly in the area of “quest” and earning experiance. Trough, they do point towards an gaming genre where we wont be needing experiance or leveling. All you have to do is enjoy the adventure.
Instead of levels you can improve yourself ( your player skill) or how you combine skills, and, the skill’s themself will only improve slightly, but only if you use them.
( the skill unlock system is trying to implement this, with low success i must admit, it should be detailed out, its a good idea).

Taking away the trinity is also a step forward, realizing, classes and roles cant be squeezed in to 3 buckets. (roles-Healer,Tank, DD). Since in life, and fantasy games, movies, paper rpg and books, “heroes” and characters have unlimited roles.

Sadly instead of providing uprgade to this Gw2 destroyed most roles and you dont have any rigjt now, besides DD and “support-disabler”. So its actually 3 role again, and since Support-Disabler is not so detailed and not a stand alone role its basically 1 and a half. Whitch is worse then the original trinity.
THe old trinity had to go, but for a reson! It had bad design, it was not bad in default idea.
It forced players to take up roles or have them in team.
The reson why Gw1 was outstanding from the rest of games, was because it had the trinity (trough i admit tanking is non existent) it was not needed. You could take up a role, but was not forced. You simply assigned an npc.

I could say another example for a system working well with tinity, where it does exist, but its not forced, and works well. To be blunt i would say, still the best system : Dungeons and Dragons. Yes the original fantasy rpg of them all. You can take up healer role or tank, and dd, but you are not forced to. And it worked. It was harder, but a lot more real to, like it would be in life. Combat is a life-death thing.

I say the future of gaming has no roles, but you do what you can do the best and that points to the next topic :

Classes. Whats the point of them? Whell there supposed to be 1. But its fading as the game industry is evolving to the level, where players want to costumize, how they fight, the theme of there skills and effects, there armor, play style, and weapons of course.
Classes are a thing of old, that gave you a preset template of character theme.
Now Fantasy and rpg is a common thing, (exspecially with all the movies and games araund) players have more specific ideas what they want.

The static class system that Gw2 offers is basically worse then most games offer. And thats because, weapons have a fixed skillset. And that leaves no costumization.
The 8 classes wont even nearly cover all the themes, that a fantasy game can or should offer.
I am forced to make an example, because its hard to explain with my bad english :
You dont have a base caster class that you can evolve in the way you want, instead you have 3 alredy specialized class, but that does not cover(and cant do it anyway) the rest 10000 tipe of casters, many players would like to play.

A little hard to read but I think some of the same things. I don’t see how teamwork succeeds in GW2. It’s just everyone trying to do some damage and if 2 people do a combo, it’s neato and dumb luck.

In other games, I’ve been able to do something that fills a gap in what other players do, and they realize it. I wouldn’t know if someone is trying to work together. Since AoEs are circles on the ground, it’s hard to use them with knockback skills and heals just get avoided like they’re traps.

I really don’t know what could be suggested to create a feeling of synergy. It seems like an overhaul is the only thing that would do it.

Nekroseth.5186:

Sadly instead of providing upgrade to this Gw2 destroyed most roles and you don’t have any right now, besides DD and “support-disabler”. So its actually 3 role again, and since Support-Disabler is not so detailed and not a stand alone role its basically 1 and a half. Which is worse then the original trinity.

THe old trinity had to go, but for a reason! It had bad design, it was not bad in default idea.
It forced players to take up roles or have them in team.

The reason why Gw1 was outstanding from the rest of games, was because it had the trinity (trough i admit tanking is non existent) it was not needed. You could take up a role, but was not forced. You simply assigned an npc.

I could say another example for a system working well with tinity, where it does exist, but its not forced, and works well. To be blunt i would say, still the best system : Dungeons and Dragons. Yes the original fantasy rpg of them all. You can take up healer role or tank, and dd, but you are not forced to. And it worked. It was harder, but a lot more real to, like it would be in life. Combat is a life-death thing.

But you aren’t forced into roles. Each class can play all roles at the same time, depending on their weapon and trait setup.

For example, my Warrior. He’s set up to provide boons, condition removal and healing with shouts, damage with a great sword and some control with Hammer / Mace + Shield (I swap when I feel like a change)

Also, when you’re talking about D+D, are you talking about the paper-pen version or online?

Nekroseth.5186:

I say the future of gaming has no roles, but you do what you can do the best and that points to the next topic :

Whatever happens, there are going to be roles. If you hit something to damage it, it’s a damage role. If you use a skill to buff the people around you, it’s a support role. Roles will always be there. The key is making the game flexible enough for you to not be forced into a specific role if you don’t want, which, to be honest, this game does.

Nekroseth.5186:

Classes. Whats the point of them? Well there supposed to be 1.

Not entirely sure what you mean by there’s supposed to be one class.

Nekroseth.5186:

But its fading as the game industry is evolving to the level, where players want to customize, how they fight, the theme of there skills and effects, there armor, play style, and weapons of course.

Nekroseth.5186:

Classes are a thing of old, that gave you a preset template of character theme.
Now Fantasy and rpg is a common thing, (especially with all the movies and games around) players have more specific ideas what they want.

The static class system that Gw2 offers is basically worse then most games offer. And that’s because, weapons have a fixed skill set. And that leaves no customization.
The 8 classes wont even nearly cover all the themes, that a fantasy game can or should offer.

I’d say it’s better than most, thanks to not sticking each class into the ranged / melee archetypes.

For example, Rangers. You can fight alongside your pet as a Beastmaster, you can fight at long range like a Sniper, you can fight with positioning for advantage like a Scout, you can use Spirits like a Shaman, you can use traps like a Trapper.

Or Elementalists. You can become a Conjurer with Conjured Weapons, each of the elements allows you to become a Pyromancer, Hydromancer, Aeromancer or Geomancer. Arcane skills allow you to become an Arcanist.

Nekroseth.5186:

I am forced to make an example, because its hard to explain with my bad english :
You don’t have a base caster class that you can evolve in the way you want, instead you have 3 already specialized class, but that does not cover(and cant do it anyway) the rest 10000 type of casters, many players would like to play.

That, unfortunately, would be a massive undertaking in terms of class balance and creating the skills.

GW2 is far from perfect, but I think one of its saving graces is the way it handles profession setups and customising your profession.

I personally think that a system where you can specialize to what you can do best, is the best.
But for that you have to have base classes, like Warrior, tha can (for example) evolve in the direction of direct combat with physical weapons. Whitch is a base concept for the “class”, but does not specify a lot of other things. It leaves the costumization to the player.

Onto weapon topic i think Gw2 Did a good job. Another good point toward inproving the whole genre.
Characters do use weapons to combat. And skills and the things they do should be the things they do with the weapons.
Its the way to the future. Where players wont have “skill” bars, but can do many things that snap into there minds. They wont be limited to “combat” or items they posess, but can manipulate the area freely, and influance things araund them in a moderated way (like in real life you cant achive anything,).
I mostly just mention this, since the “skill” and control system is hardly influanced by thechnology. As long as we are using monitors, and keys-mouse we are not on the right tract to the best gaming experiance.

If i had to make examples i actually could mention many things. I should propably start with the “Matrix” like gaming, that could offer life like experiance, where pain had a limiter, and you could access menus, by concentration.
I could make a more detailed example trough : the Anime called : Sword Art Online, that is closing onto the perfect system for gaming, but its still not it.

A few more words on combat. Yes its the right way. It needs to be interactive. Like it is in life. Trough there are good and bad implementations in Gw2.
For example : Dodge, and using the terrain is a really awesome and good idea. It is how it works. (you have a grand benefit if you can shoot ppl from a rofotop of house and they cant even reach you-because you shoot them to dead before they reach you).

And i must also admit, the Graphical and Physical engine adds a lot to it. Or might even could say : It is needed for it. For example : To make combat more realistic or reactive, and make players able to dodge attacks, you have to make skills that effect the area (like in life) and not a target. This can be implemented on Arrows (trough the shooting is mostly passive, and not you are aiming) since they fly slow and you can dodge them. And you can dodge a slow hammer attack that has a “charge up” , but making a skill "riposte"is not the right way.
In a melee sword fight you block or parry in a split second, and not hunker up for seconds. But the game system (not the player) can really react to this. I think this cant be implemented with the current technology right now. This is why i think the current solution is the best for this : Parry and and fast manuvers must be passive. The characters eather able to block or not.
I think the important part of this is more likely the part where : Players are able to se it.
Its a thing, that players se a text pup up : Parry, and another where they see there character deflect the attack with the sword, altering its course.
So they can se whats going on in the fight. And are not forced to imagine the fights. Currently the most mmo-s and rpg-s offer a symbolic fight, instead of showing how it really happens.
For a good example i could say : Assasins Creed.
And for bad : WoW.

Players get the feeling, they do effect the world. Thats why the skills that effect the enemy feel so good. Like a hammer attack that knock’s the enemy back. And the animation also shows, the enemy get up from the ground, and not just getting knocked back.
Those are the small parts that really improve the combat and its feeling.

Whell there are still amny things and thouts i would like to mention, but dont want to drag this to long. (besides i have to go) I hope this gave a bit of direction of future gaming, and what should,could be the future of gaming. What is lacking and what is heading right way. What ideas are good, but bad implemented. And most of all an constructive feedback, for the devs. And i hope that most of you understand even trough my bad english grammar.

Have fun you all. And even more luck.

Before anyone starts the flown, i most express, that i love the game, and IT DOES inprove the game industry by a lot. All my respects to the devs, they did some incredible thing, by creating this game, and improve the whole industry with it.
No negative feelings. I just try to write down my thouts and opinion on the current game industry, considering the game.
Ill reply soon, and try to be more simple, so all can understand what i try to say.

Nekroseth.5186:

I personally think that a system where you can specialize to what you can do best, is the best.

But for that you have to have base classes, like Warrior, tha can (for example) evolve in the direction of direct combat with physical weapons. Whitch is a base concept for the “class”, but does not specify a lot of other things. It leaves the costumization to the player.

OK, but you can do that now.

You can take your favourite play-style, and, with the profession as the base, you can apply it to them.

Casters aren’t forced into range, and your typical melee aren’t forced into melee, tanky roles.

Customisation needs to be limited to an extent, for class balance purposes and viability.

As for the whole Sword Art: Online thing, that’s yet a fantasy, and I’m pretty sure ANet don’t have the technology to produce something like that, so that isn’t really a sensible suggestion, no offense.