Guild Wars 2

Has anyone else ever gotten a strange feeling from Guild Wars 2 that they didn’t get from any other online RPG? One that they couldn’t quite put their finger on?

I’d temporarily played a few other MMOs recently at the behest of some other friends, but they were all missing a very specific “feeling” that I couldn’t put my finger on.

After coming back to GW2 (Which I continually do; this time just in time for the Adventure Box), I realized what it is.

It’s immediacy.

There are tons of challenges in the game to be had and random things to do, and the feature I could not put my finger on while playing the other MMOs was IMMEDIACY.

I can do anything with the push of a button, immediately.

SPVP? Hit a button.
WVW? Button, done
Trading post? Button.
Travel the entire map to get to the adventure box? Button for that too.

I know a lot of other games have similar features (dungeon finders, etc.) but to me that travel time was really important as far as “what should I be doing right now?”

In GW2, I am free to literally stop what I am doing, and flip track completely in a manner of seconds.

(Also, one of the other things I noticed was the model animation, and the feeling of actual control you have in this game. Standing in a different fashion on slopes, character models actually turning and slowing down to stop, etc.)

Anyway, just something I noticed. Anyone else find anything in this game that they find unacceptable as not being present in others when they play?

• being rooted in place while attacking — cant ever get back to that
• no dodge — how I managed to play before!?
• no LF healer blah, blah, blah (was tank mostly in other MMOs)

nekitten234:

no LF healer blah, blah, blah(was tank mostly in other MMOs)

Guess you won’t be playing ESO Or will be making your own class team comp around no healerz

Kakeru.2873:

nekitten234:

no LF healer blah, blah, blah(was tank mostly in other MMOs)

Guess you won’t be playing ESO Or will be making your own class team comp around no healerz

Ok…

Yeah, there’s a lot of things in GW2 that I miss from other MMO’s:

• DE’s (So much more immersive than ‘kill them bandits who aren’t doing anything)
• Moving while casting
• Instant travel
• No gear grind (note: I personally don’t feel the need to get Ascended, so most of the time I just hunt skins)
• Scaling
• No strict group requirements (No need for Healer / Tank / DPS)

At the same time, GW2 could take from other MMO’s:

• Quests – Not the ‘go fetch some zebra hooves’, but the long quests that take you all over the place (Wayfarer’s Reverie I enjoyed very much) with little to no hand-holding (arrows, markers ect).
• Skill Gaining – A la GW1 (Skills aren’t just rewarded; you have to hunt them down. I liked the sound of the first iteration of gaining traits)

There’s prolly a few more, but they don’t come to mind at the moment.

Dungeon Finder? Alt-tab out to GW2Lfg.com, Ctrl C and Ctrl V and paste into GW2 and NOT get into a party.

Immediacy indeed.

Kakeru.2873:

nekitten234:

no LF healer blah, blah, blah(was tank mostly in other MMOs)

Guess you won’t be playing ESO Or will be making your own class team comp around no healerz

Probably not, whole ES series did not had much appeal to me anyway…

The immediacy is indeed a good thing. But there’s more as described in this thread. Being rooted while casting is something that annoyed me to no end in other games. I consistently played healer because I didn’t want to wait for groups nor apply for guilds (I was mostly recruited based on being a good healer).

While Guild Wars 2 can improve a lot, I firmly believe they have the foundation to be a top name in the MMO market for years to come.

Deposit Collectibles; man, I could never play another MMO without this.

Similarly, having access to all of the crafting materials you own while crafting without having to grab them from the bank. This wasn’t in during initial beta, but it was cool to see it get refined as time went on.

Being able to sell things in your inventory on the trading post from anywhere.

No need for parties in order to share rewards.

Player-instanced loot. This was in GW1, but still can only be found in the Guild Wars series.

This is why I love this community! You guys picked up a ton of stuff I forgot initially

I think I’d be attempting to dodge for weeks if I started another MMO.

I enjoy the fact that when I don’t play for a while, I come back and suddenly I have a ton of things to do. I did the Flame and Frost instances yesterday and had lots of fun.

Yes, gw2 makes an effort to make everything available to everyone. Thats a great thing, especially if you have little time to play.
Buuut there is a downside
A psychological one. The easiest is something to obtain/see, the lesser is the perceived payback, or sense of accomplishment. For the first few time, you won’t notice it, but then it starts to slowly kick in, and corrode enjoyment the more yoi repeat the content.

A simple example: Being able to instantly warp to a dungeon from anywhere VS having to use your mount and waste 10 minutes flying over mountains and seas to get there. Those minutes are WASTED, literally, nothing fun happened, yet they will make you more excited when you enter the dungeon because you “earned it”, you “worked for it” ( even if you did nothing requiring skill to get there).

This of course doesnt apply to half of the stuff you said, but still, its something that anet should consider when making content instantly available to anyone everywhere. They should hire some social engineers

Aegis.9724:

Yes, gw2 makes an effort to make everything available to everyone. Thats a great thing, especially if you have little time to play.
Buuut there is a downside
A psychological one. The easiest is something to obtain/see, the lesser is the perceived payback, or sense of accomplishment.

I consider it long overdue to move away from that trick. This whole genre is essentially based on making the players believe they achieve something to lure them back long after the tedious gameplay has gone stale. This has done MMOs more harm then good, it stalled development of new game mechanics and designs for over a decade now.

nekitten234:

• being rooted in place while attacking — cant ever get back to that

Hundred Blades, Pistol Whip, etc.
There are still many flawed selfroot skills out there.

nekitten234:

• no LF healer blah, blah, blah (was tank mostly in other MMOs)

LF Guardian is still very solid in high-end content.

Combat is fun. I actually run into random mobs to stabby stabby them on my thief. In other MMOs, trash mobs were just a barrier to loot.

Red Falcon.8257:

nekitten234:

• being rooted in place while attacking — cant ever get back to that

Hundred Blades, Pistol Whip, etc.
There are still many flawed selfroot skills out there.

Yeah, some of Warrior skills made me stop using it till I force myself to stop and wait animation to end …

Red Falcon.8257:

nekitten234:

• no LF healer blah, blah, blah (was tank mostly in other MMOs)

LF Guardian is still very solid in high-end content.

But (IMHO) it’s not required — that’s the main difference.

/offtopic/

nekitten234 — really?

nekitten234 == nesh(dot)7234 — talk about overzealous filtering >.>

WTB profanity filter off option for forum