Guild Wars 2

I feel like they don’t have a cohesive vision for where they are going…the combat system is what keeps people playing games like this and this was especially true for GW1. I really fail to understand why they don’t realize this and re-vamp it. They really kicked the bucket with the innocuous, hyper balanced skill design. They are thinking their game is so fundamentally sound that they are just trying to rush out quantity over quality. It’s not that people want new content all the time, it’s that the gameplay is just not inherently rewarding. You are very limited in skills, weapon bars are static, utilities have major cooldowns, no balance around direct healer class makes encounters and boss mechanics very poorly designed almost to the point where they don’t feel like GW or MMO bosses at all.

Case in point, the jade sea fractal boss with the tentacles just spawns adds and is beaten by a gimmick you would find in an action / adventure game rather than an MMO. The truth is there’s no depth or structural integrity to the combat and class design. Everything is streamlined to be able to do everything. Grouping is redundant and this makes for a very disappointing MMO experience. You don’t really feel that fire from the combat, skills, and traits systems as a result. Classes don’t depend and work off each other as much…to the point where the focus becomes less on the game and more on the poor, boring mechanics they’ve innovated as a response to removing the trinity and complexity of GW1 skill system. This is where the disconnect comes from. I really feel like it’s all in the combat. It’s what kept people PvPing day after day in GW1 after all. At this point, it’s really a shame to think that the game is so far gone. How realistic is it to see drastic changes at this point? I just feel like they made a bad move taking out the trinity and really dumbing-down what GW had to offer. There’s just too much to say about the flaws, potential solutions…all that i can really say is that it tanks. It’s not even fun to group with people because there’s no game-given strategy or planning involved. You can clear a dungeon naked with no gear on that’s how meaningless the systems design is. You can not even spec traits and get by fine in high end PvE.

The game just does not have the structural, synergistic integrity of systems design that GW1 had. The dependency in designing with the Mystic forge, the contrived filler content rushed out every month, and the restrictive nature of waypoints, armor repairs, as well as the skill design choices is really what’s gonna kill this game in the long run if they don’t fix it. They need to actually play the game and realize killing bosses with 1 mechanic and health bars in scientific notation, mindlessly zerging with weightless, static skills, and seeing the same events, generic skill points, etc..is not good design. They need to realize that the fundamentals need fixing first before they roll out this forgettable dumpster content. They need to talk to their community more.

>I’m currently working on a full write up of issues, solutions, concepts, analysis, and criticism of GW2. Look out for further posts from me that address my perspective of the nature of the game.<

There are so many games out there that have the trinity, GW2 was marketed as a game that didn’t. Do you really want them to go back on their manifesto? I can’t imagine the amount of disappointment and resentment that something like that would inspire.

Lack of trinity isn’t whats wrong with the game. Trinity simply leads to tank and spank for 90% of bosses, the other 10% is either and spank, or gimmicky. Its not depth anymore. I actually prefer the mechanics in the new dungeon over the old tried and tested mechanics of 90% of MMOs out there, but I’m already board with the dungeon because its simple, just like I got board with every dungeon in every other game I’ve played. The only thing that keeps people doing dungeon after they figured out the mechanics are the rewards. Its sad, but its a fact of life. ANET figured out that cosmetic rewards weren’t enough for some people and people burned through them too quick to begin with. SO what did they do, add in stats and made the rewards tied to RNG …

So zerging and redundant grouping with a weak, pidgeon-holed skill system is good for an MMO’s longevity? This game is fundamentally boring. There is very little skill progression and player identity. It’s an abomination compared to the combat of GW1. This game is poorly structured. The world content doesn’t have people playing together, it has them playing alongside each other. The lack of trinity means that no one really cares about groups. It means that bosses have ridiculous health bars and braindead mechanics because there’s no depth to the encounters like GW1 where monsters had player skills and encounters in which you had to play tactically rather than zerg with skills 1-5. They’ve designed for hyper-balance rather than fun. The classes and specs are homogenized beyond belief. This game is not built well and what they’re doing is going to push it right into the trash with the contrived filler dungeon FoTM, the dependency on RNG and the Mystic Forge as an integral gameplay system…it’s just not designed well. It’s too far off from what made GW1 last, they’re going to see the affects soon unless they can turn their **** around fast.

I’m not going to type out some huge response to this and just say I disagree with you. Obviously, you’re entitled to your opinion and my disagreement won’t affect that at all, but this really is just your opinion. I very much enjoy how combat works in Guild Wars 2, I really enjoyed the Jade Sea boss except when the tentacles started stunlocking people, and I sincerely doubt that the game will undergo a revamp on the level you’re suggesting (although I’m not quite sure what you want from it).

Simple tools with complex interactions is a smart direction for MMOs to take, and it’s satisfying to see a pioneer in this direction. Frankly, I want to see more aspects of other genres, like action/adventure and platformers (hi, jumping puzzles). MMOs have a bad habit of needing to catch up with the rest of the industry in regards to gameplay, and I think the elements in Guild Wars 2 are a good step.

Zerging and redundancies are common in all MMOs. Even in the Secret World, zerging was the only way to get anything done in the open PvP. Personally, I would never ever say that GW1 combat was even remotely as fun as GW2, but that’s my opinion. I still don’t quite understand what you want from the combat, and moreover, why if you hate it so much that you’re still playing.

The bad aspects of the November update were the regressions. RNG elements and vertical gear progression are relics of the MMO. The good parts were the interesting mechanics introduced in FotM, challenges designed to rely on situational awareness, reflexes, and active problem solving, and expansion of content and aesthetic options, and this is what ArenaNet needs to pursue. I’ll agree that professions could do with much more broadening (so soon after release, there isn’t much variety within a single profession), and there is an enormous balancing challenge still at hand, but things such as these can and will come with time.

lothefallen.7081:

It means that bosses have ridiculous health bars and braindead mechanics because there’s no depth to the encounters like GW1 where monsters had player skills and encounters in which you had to play tactically rather than zerg with skills 1-5.

So many times THIS.

The PVE of GW1 was almost like a practice for PVP later…