Guild Wars 2

One thing that a lot of people complain about is how so much (everything maybe) in the game boils down to a DPS race. No strategy, no support / control. Just get things killed asap. Thus the whole Berserker popularity. I don’t mind a straight forward kill fest, but it gets old when that’s all anything ever is.

I just wanted to throw this out here. How can the game be tweaked to make support / control matter more and take some focus off just speed-killing? I’m not talking about nerfing zerker gear, for example. I’m talking mechanics. What type of encounters could Anet give us to shift away from just killing?

How about healing / protection. Maybe some situations could be created or modified to have a constant DoT on everyone, like the miasma, except not as lethal. Just enough so that you’ll want to have lots of heals going at all times or you’ll probably all end up dead ..but, unlike the miasma, it is actually possible to out-heal it. Your own heal won’t be enough ..you can’t just run through. You’ll need to rely on heals from others. Kind of like how in WvW, you have people dropping AoE swiftness in succession so everybody can keep up, maybe do something similar with heals.

The real danger is the environment. You just need to get through, and at the end, instead of some big champ to zerg down, maybe have numerous points that need to be captured all at the same time, or some switches that need to all be flipped. A deliberate team effort in any case, but with the main challenge staying alive more than just killing anything that moves. The tricky part about this would be to find the right balance of what % HP to tick off. It has to be enough to need several heals at all times, but it can’t be too much or you just die in the start.

What about control? What if there were scenarios where you have to get through, or achieve some goal, but you don’t need to kill all the enemies. In fact, I suggest there might be some that CAN’T be killed (or they can but really unlikely and not really practical for the goal). They don’t need to be killed, just need to be kept out of an area (or in) until the goal / timer is done. Use your snares, cripples, walls, etc. Maybe one team has the job of reaching or controlling an area, or completing some activity sequence, but it only works if these enemies are kept away (or maybe there is some captive area the enemies need to remain).

Maybe there could even be a supply / build mechanic similar to WvW where you can get a blueprint to make an actual physical wall or other things to keep the enemies where they need to be. Maybe there could be another team working on that.

These are the alternatives I could think of to prioritize our other non-killing abilities. Any other ideas?

A DPS race without strategy and control is a recipe for a party wipe.

there is a variety of traits and their trees for group support as in buffing up with might, rage or swiftness. Also buffs with hp regen.

I see no point in nerfing zerk builds since they have their own cons, and just because there is plenty of people who didn’t realize yet that zerk build means, sacrificing defense for power, then I’m sorry but who’s at fault here? Also, pvp in 1v1 isn’t supposed to take half a day of running one after another across the whole map or until zerg will come and trample you or your opponent.

Considering your idea for hp drain on maps – no thank you.
It does favor range classes, and Necro would be the biggest troll here.

Also I understand that MMO is a type of game which is supposed to be played by many players together, but I don’t like your zerg encouraging.

And you idea is mostly focusing on perma creating a situation where people go pvp at least in 2 people party.

Don’t know how majority looks like here, but there are loads of players who prefer to go alone most of the time.

Also real danger is environment – I agree that we should pay attention to our surroundings but I don’t want GW2 to turn into 2nd Aion kitten pvp level where it turns out that environment hits harder than players in pvp zone….

I’m not complaining at your idea, but I’m pointing out the cons if such system would be introduced. Maybe it would work out if major cons wouldn’t hit players that much.

frifox.5283:

A DPS race without strategy and control is a recipe for a party wipe.

/thread

Kartel.2561:

One thing that a lot of people complain about is how so much (everything maybe) in the game boils down to a DPS race. No strategy, no support / control. Just get things killed asap. Thus the whole Berserker popularity. I don’t mind a straight forward kill fest, but it gets old when that’s all anything ever is.

I just wanted to throw this out here. How can the game be tweaked to make support / control matter more and take some focus off just speed-killing? I’m not talking about nerfing zerker gear, for example. I’m talking mechanics. What type of encounters could Anet give us to shift away from just killing?

How about healing / protection. Maybe some situations could be created or modified to have a constant DoT on everyone, like the miasma, except not as lethal. Just enough so that you’ll want to have lots of heals going at all times or you’ll probably all end up dead ..but, unlike the miasma, it is actually possible to out-heal it. Your own heal won’t be enough ..you can’t just run through. You’ll need to rely on heals from others. Kind of like how in WvW, you have people dropping AoE swiftness in succession so everybody can keep up, maybe do something similar with heals.

The real danger is the environment. You just need to get through, and at the end, instead of some big champ to zerg down, maybe have numerous points that need to be captured all at the same time, or some switches that need to all be flipped. A deliberate team effort in any case, but with the main challenge staying alive more than just killing anything that moves. The tricky part about this would be to find the right balance of what % HP to tick off. It has to be enough to need several heals at all times, but it can’t be too much or you just die in the start.

What about control? What if there were scenarios where you have to get through, or achieve some goal, but you don’t need to kill all the enemies. In fact, I suggest there might be some that CAN’T be killed (or they can but really unlikely and not really practical for the goal). They don’t need to be killed, just need to be kept out of an area (or in) until the goal / timer is done. Use your snares, cripples, walls, etc. Maybe one team has the job of reaching or controlling an area, or completing some activity sequence, but it only works if these enemies are kept away (or maybe there is some captive area the enemies need to remain).

Maybe there could even be a supply / build mechanic similar to WvW where you can get a blueprint to make an actual physical wall or other things to keep the enemies where they need to be. Maybe there could be another team working on that.

These are the alternatives I could think of to prioritize our other non-killing abilities. Any other ideas?

Three examples of control.

Stacking might and fury, banners, reflecting projectiles, well-timed aegis, carefully timed stability.

Clearly, GW2 is just a DPS race.

There’s plenty of control in DPS-heavy compositions, and damage is mitigated rather than healed-through; all working as ANet intended.

Truly this was their vision :^)

I’m sorry, I’m not sure if I was clear enough, as I suspect I might have been misunderstood.

Nowhere did I say anything about pvp. In fact, the post was 100% pve-oriented. I also said nothing about making some perma-dot apply to everywhere. I’m talking about specific hypothetical content, like Guild Missions, or Living Story situations like the Tower of Nightmares. Basically new TYPES of content / mechanics to give us other priories than just doing zerg dps on a boss until it goes down.

The current LA situation is cool and all, but it still just boils down to killing everything. And I’m sure the same will be true for the March 4th patch as well. I’m just trying to brainstorm and suggest other challenging things they could have us do besides trying to kill as much as we can as fast as we can ..create content where support and control are important, content actually even based around it.

Hendo, nice videos. But I’m not talking about instances. I’m talking about trying to make the Open World content less of a dps zerg fest, at least in some things. This is such a well known issue, I’m honestly surprised I’m having to clarify that. I can only assume my OP must have really sucked. I hope it’s more clear now.

Understood/ Agrees.

Open world cannot be less of a zerg fest because the content is catered to the lowest common denominator.

Dont forget, ANet wants to abolish content exclusivity; everyone should have a “fair” shot, even if a fair shot means making zerg content that doesn’t challenge just so the worst players can still participate.

^then why can’t they just add instances alongside the open world zerging, for those who do like a challenge?

Sirendor.1394:

^then why can’t they just add instances alongside the open world zerging, for those who do like a challenge?

You should go read the comments replying to people that suggest such a feature for “elite” open-world content such as Tequatl and the Wurm.

It’s a barrage of people complaining how things shouldn’t be “exclusive,” how everyone should be able to participate, how those encounters need to be toned down so everyone can do them. It’s absolutely absurd how hostile people (who I can only assume are casual/weekend/hour-a-day players) become over things which they need not subject themselves to.

It also falls in-line specifically with ANet wanting to tear down the walls, so to speak. By instancing content, they’re making content exclusive to a certain population. And we just can’t have that.

OldSomalia, I don’t know. I think with Teq and the Wurm, they might be leaning more in that direction. I’m not even asking for anything THAT hard. In fact it doesn’t even need to be all that “hard” really. I’m more aiming for DIFFERENT. I do advocate at least some needed level of player understanding and cooperation. Not necessarily like Teq/Wurm though (I think they’re kind of on the right track, but they should be able to scale down for fewer players).

Personally I try to avoid instances. Maybe it’s just me, but between my energy levels and my kid, I tend to afk a lot. I liked GW1 because I could use heroes. I rarely actually played with people (despite wanting there to BE other people around). Basically, I need to be able to take a break, make dinner, whatever, without having a bunch of people counting on me to pull my weight. It’s a level of time consuming commitment I’m often not up for. That’s why I much prefer the Open World stuff, it’s more easy going. You can go do stuff, but if you have to split, probably nobody will notice anyway.

Problem is, so much of it currently all works the same. It’s always the same story ..join the blob of players and try to do enough dps on the boss to get credit. I’d like different things to do that aren’t based around killing bosses with dps. I’d like more reasons to use control and heal stills ..in fact, I’d be interested in content that required it even.