Guild Wars 2

i strongly urge you to consider implimenting more functionality in parties, as well as rewards for doing so. There is no real reason to group up with other players, and assisting a passer by or joining an event doesnt have the same teamwork feel as a party would/should. the real issue with partying is the one man army syndrome. since every player can do everything there is no desire or need to join in parties. in turn this system has made for horrible experiences in dungeon crawling which is one of the core components to any rpg.

im not saying the tank/dps/heals setup has to be the only answer to this. but you have tanks and you have damage dealers…is it so bad to have a healer too? the tome of courage (minus the full heal on button 5) is exactly what you need in a healer. a perpetual means like this would be great. the water elementalist with a staff is a good start but the cooldowns are too long and the heals are too weak to be effective against a champion or boss type monster.

i hate to say it though but without a move in the direction to bring your players together, you will continue to see a dwindling population, and it will be increasingly hard to impliment end game content without some form of partying. and that “the whole game is endgame” is about askitten as when the guy in anchor man uses the sex panther and says “60% of the time it works every time!”

the guy who came up with the idea that “the whole game is endgame” is going to cost himself his job.

No rewards for groups, never! Playing in a group should be done cause you want to do it, not because it has some benefits. That there is no need to group with other players is great, they should never change that.

And btw GW2 has no tanks, there are some professions and builds that are more durable than others, but there is absolutely no tank in this game.

If you really don’t like how these things are handled in GW2 go and cuddle a panda.

first off gw2 does have tanks and an agro system. guardians and warrior defensive builds can easily lock a veteran onto them and never lose agro once. ive done it. but that isnt the point. players will always follow the path of least resistance, it is just human nature. if you do not have a reason to do something well guess what you arent going to do it. but an mmo thrives on its social aspects. in order to maintain a population you absolutely must build on the friendships and teams that form through group play. as it stands the game can be done start to finish solo and then ppl move on to other games. we are already seeing it. ive noticed a sizable drop in population once borderlands 2 came out. all of my personal friends left already and i will be soon to follow.

many ppl like you nachtnebel will be rebelious to the way things are just for the sake of being rebellious. there will always be naysayers to the standards who want to take up a cause. the kids who smoke cigarettes because their parents tell them not to. we all enjoy single player console games, but to claim something is an mmo just because you throw a chat box in it is exactly what killed star wars the old republic.

ive played games my whole life ever since i was 8 years old and im 30 now. ive played many many games, ive watched mmo after mmo fail. and i warn of the fundimentals that are missed that cause their demise and i urge you to not go down that road. heed the warnings, this will break you. you must find a way to bring ppl together, there might be another way other than the trinity, but this is def not it.

Sorry, I’m in agreement with nachtnebel – no force party scenarios. Some of us prefer to solo and let grouping happen organically. That’s what I love about GW2! Groups can be pre-formed or they can just happen as the need to. Some like the concept more than others, however, whenever I needed help there was always someone in a town more than willing to lend me a hand completing a mission or just getting thru an area.

i never said forced party. merely a reason to do it. and where are you going to get help from when the servers population are dead?

reguardless you can already count me one who is not sticking around for this game. ive been there done that till im blue in the face. the current system just doesnt have what it takes, sure it makes me sad but it is what it is. it is fun. it is a good game. but it is only good for a once play through, move onto a diff game.

I group with people because they are my friends or because I want to make new friends. Friendship should be it’s own reward.

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The fact that you cannot see the problems with your own arguements suggests that the community as a whole is better off seeing you go.

The last game I played were social settings where forced was FFXI. You couldn’t even quest to level cap in that game like you can in the MMOs since. Everything took a group to accomplish… everything. You met new people and formed bonds that held up with time. What was the problem with that? I couldn’t go out on any given day and just do something for myself. And the game becomes a chat box with graphics if you can’t solo anything.

In comes WoW (for me anyway). I can solo my way to level cap, I can join in group events if I want, and I can be social if I want or non-social. My choices broadened.

Now to GW2, it has the exact same things as WoW does. If I choose to never join a dungeon I will never meet those people. If I choose to not talk to that person doing DE’s nearby I will never get to know them. If I choose to not look for a guild, I will never have that aspect of social life. I have the choice though.

You’re suggestion merely interepts to “I choose not to have a social in game experience.” Why? I’ve made new friends a plenty just wandering around doing DE’s. People I have noticed play with the same skill I do and want to get to know. Dungeons themselves have introduced me to people, and some that I know I wouldn’t want to group with again. I actively looked for a guild that fit my needs and found what I was looking for. We group together whenever we can and I have gotten to know them as well.

To say that “grouping” or “joining a party” will make the game more social is fallacy. Being more social and wanting a social experience does this.

I do not have to join the party of the person questing along side me to speak to them or engage in any other social behaviour.

If you can give me a concrete example how any of the changes you suggested will up social level, then I can believe you, as it stands this game is built in the same way others are, giving you the choice to be social if that suits you. If not, that works too.

And like Robin said, friendship is it’s own reward and if you’re not actively seeking that then of course you’ll never find it. This is your own doing, not the doing of the game.

One of my favorite things about this game is that partying is no longer necessary. I don’t have to wait around to form a group to do a certain quest – I can do it by myself. However, chances are pretty good that there is at least one other person doing the same thing, or at least in the same area killing the monsters that I need to kill. I have met SO many more people this way. Even if we never add each other to our contacts, if we both go, “Yay!” for killing a really hard enemy, or “How the heck are we supposed to do this?” when approaching a Vista, it brings a whole new social scene to the game. It’s allowing us to meet new people that we would have never otherwise met.

You made me think of something else Andrea. I don’t walk up to a quest area now and automatically resent others farming the mobs/items because I don’t have to worry about getting what I need. I can go to any area and know that I don’t have to bicker or fight my way to completing the quest and be happier to see others.

MMO’s are a social event. In real life, you can have sex by yourself, put everyone really wants a partner.

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Albeido.7983:

i strongly urge you to consider implimenting more functionality in parties, as well as rewards for doing so. There is no real reason to group up with other players, and assisting a passer by or joining an event doesnt have the same teamwork feel as a party would/should. the real issue with partying is the one man army syndrome. since every player can do everything there is no desire or need to join in parties. in turn this system has made for horrible experiences in dungeon crawling which is one of the core components to any rpg.

I wholeheartedly disagree. The way this game was made means it is incredibly easy for me to solo the entire game if I really want to. But I don’t. I play this game a lot with my husband. We group together all the time. It makes things more fun, and a few things just a tad bit more challenging. When he’s not around, I usually run around by myself. But that’s not to say I’m not social. I’ve met so many people at vistas and jumping puzzles and helped them, or have gotten help myself.

Just today I completed a chain of events with a charr I didn’t even know, just the two of us. We didn’t talk, but we functioned as a team. At the end, we told each other good job and went on our way. But it was still fun.

As for there being no rewards for partying up, that’s also not true. Find yourself a guild and group with them. You’ll earn more influence in a party of guild mates, and in return you’ll get more bonuses. Let me tell you, 10% increased magic find for 3 days is amazing. If that’s not a reward, I don’t know what is.

The point is, you have to be making an effort to meet these people and join up with them. Start a conversation, you never know what you’ll get from it. You might just meet your new best friend.