Hard Content - Stress Levels Increase Fallout

Hard Content - Stress Levels Increase Fallout

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Posted by: Deified.7520

Deified.7520

Now I’ve been playing the game for 3 years, so I’ve seen a lot of rage from the community. The refugee path rage, the first queen’s gauntlent, the first Mad King’s Clocktower, Toxic Tower, Marionette, Tequatl rework, Triple Trouble, etc.

Since the release of HoT, the stress levels and amount of rage seems to have gone up, more then usual. Not just in game, but over the social media outlets as well. Even reddit, a forum which isn’t normally very irritable, has been so. I’ve seen people who hardly WvW get up in arms over the “leaked” WvW information. People who hardly ever sPvP treating the recent league as a personal insult. It’s been strange. So I started looking at where this rage could be coming from.

Could the amount of hard content be the source of the stress? Tarir, VB full night complete, TD, Raids, 100+ level fractals, etc. They’re all pretty difficult. Especially with Raids and even more so with Open World content in Maguuma, they take a pretty significant setup time and are often on timers.

So do you think that the significant increase in difficult content is leading to overall increased stress levels of the playerbase when concerning the game? Is this leading to a more irritable community that is becoming upset by content/game changes to a much greater degree?

If yes, what do you think Anet can do to address this? Are events like Tarir and TD too hard, but are past the point of no return so they can’t nerf them?

If no, do you believe that there’s an increase in rage as of late? If yes, why do you think it is?

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Posted by: Kampilan.3895

Kampilan.3895

First, some answers to your questions:

I’ve worked with publishers and MMO makers, mostly as a volunteer. I helped design content for them. I’ve done beta testing for them.

The thing is, they operate with information we don’t know about. We can rant and rave all we want but when these guys sit down they have all of these pieces of information we’ll never see unless you know where to look. And at the end of a BUSINESS day, they’ll decide on what is good for their business based on that data and on what their Board tells them.

I remember us Closed Beta testers for Mechwarrior Online telling the devs that the game was nowhere near ready for Open. Too many things need to be addressed. We were Battletech fans and this was the first BTech game to come out since Mechwarrior and we wanted the best for it. We told them what could be done.

And it still launched with so many problems.

We can suggest all we want. But at the end of the day, this is still a business and, well.. if ANet listens to the suggestions, then great. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t.

I stay and just spent my last 600 gems on a new Bank Tab because this is the closest to a best MMO for my play style: solo, unless the guild is around. I played RFO until working with its local publishers got to much I quit, four years into it, no matter how I loved our community (even at that late a stage). I spent three years in WoW, from the tailend of BC to early Cata and left because it wasn’t the game I also grew to love.

I was initially skeptical of GW2 but after being refugees for so long the guild was transferring here. Kept thinking about WoW for a good long while. Then, the game grew on me. I appreciated how I could do things, be powerful, be a contribution to my World, even without grinding.

I was excited for HoTS, too. I chose that over Fallout 4 as my birthday present to myself (I only had enough funds to buy either, not both, at the time).

Now, I’m just tired.

I actually haven’t gone past VB, to be honest. The way I play my MMOs often force me to disregard what I was trying to do (something about advancing the story for HoTS) when night falls and the defense has to be up. The longest I spent in an MMO was for a most-anywhere PvP game where me and the guildies drop whatever we were doing when a comrade needed assistance.

To be fair, tough as HoTS is for me (despite the all-exotic getup and ascended trinkets), there is a sense of enjoyment in the struggle. There’s this feeling you get for having solo defended a Point. At times, I’d quip over mapchat, “dawn seems so far away…” with the kind of whimsy of a soldier who just finished a big battle but knows more are to come.

But, yes, it gets tiring.

Right now, none of my six avatars (all 80s) are active in any HoTS map. I’m finishing either their Personal Stories or (in the case of one) LWS2. I’m finishing Core World maps. I went back to doing the boss train. I discovered, quite by accident, the joys of Teq, despite my second run being spoiled by a bunch of rotten apples. I look forward to the struggle in SW (although sometimes that’s tiring, too, especially when people only taxi in when the prep is almost done and the Breach is imminent).

I’m kitten ed tired of HoTS. I only have so little time to play every evening when I get back from work. I want to enjoy my game.

So I went back to the stuff about GW2 that I enjoyed prior to this expansion and the Age of the Hardcore.

And, what do you know? It’s still an enjoyable game.

I’ll go back to HoTS later. There’s so much of Tyria I haven’t seen, despite over a year of playing.

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Posted by: Deified.7520

Deified.7520

And, what do you know? It’s still an enjoyable game.

I’ll go back to HoTS later. There’s so much of Tyria I haven’t seen, despite over a year of playing.

Yeah, this seems to be the outlook of a lot of people i know. My main guild may have 15-20 people on at once, and perhaps 3-4 in HoT zones. Many went back to vanilla because, as you’ve said, it is a lot less tiring.

I mean I just did TD twice in a row and as you said, its exhausting. Setting up for 45 minutes only to fail. Seeing people tear others apart in map chat and blaming one another.

It is enjoyable to finally finish, but I’ll use Tarir as an example. I tried it about 4 times near launch, but failed hard. Basically exhausting as TD is now. Tried it again and passed, but very closely. Again very exhausting event. When I finally completed it, I just had no desire to go back there. I’ve done it once, but just too stressful for me to go back and try it again. Especially when there’s a lot easier/relaxed content out there. TD will probably be the same way once I finally do it once.

I’m just wondering if this exhausting and stress is spilling over. Since the Raid update, it seems like a majority of what I’m seeing online (forums, social media like reddit) is very critical/rage. They bring up some valid points, but I wonder if all this anger is from the stressful content that a majority of the expansion is. If it is, is it good for the game? Should Anet address it to make it easier?

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Posted by: Soa Cirri.6012

Soa Cirri.6012

I’m just going to point out that there’s very little crossover between “serious” PvE/WvW/PvP, as evidenced by the complaints on WvW about the hero token skill point things, and the… general disdain many pure PvPers have displayed towards PvE in general.

There’s also a source of stress that you missed, and that’s the holiday season. Thanksgiving and the leadup to Christmas can be pretty stressful. But at the same time, this season immediately after release, during a time when there were gamebreaking bugs out the wazoo was still relatively… blissful.

No, what we’re seeing here is disappointment and disillusionment. HoT was heralded(heheh) as this shining beacon of proof of all that Anet has been doing cloaked in the shadow of its developmental basement, something that they have been hyping for a loooong time, and it… just doesn’t deliver. PvPers feel undervalued because balance has been neglected and the system seems unfair in many ways. WvWers feel undervalued because of the guilds rework and the general relative population drop since HoT launch (which is the opposite of what one would expect after exciting new maps).

PvE is possibly just at maximum saturation. Really, the new metas are just further developments of previous ones, and their density seems like a natural evolution. It may still be too soon to rule on those (keeping in mind the first month or so of ‘improved’ Tequatl runs). But the new PvE content hardly has the depth or breadth of the core game, which is why less than a month later people are already returning to the core content.

When an expansion comes out, you play it, and soon find yourself preferring its predecessor… maybe it’s just me, but I’d say that’s not an indication of a very successful expansion.

(edited by Soa Cirri.6012)

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Posted by: Kampilan.3895

Kampilan.3895

I actually miss WvW. We were supposed to be a WvW-centered guild since we were born from the ahem battlefields of RF Online, which was very, very massively PvP. And we miss that. Surprisingly, WvW (at least pre-HoTS) fulfilled that need.

I miss how you can shift between Core World PvE, WvW, PvP and Fractals and progress. I delved into HoTS because, apparently, I need to go there and do stuff just to progress.

After getting some masteries (mostly Core World), I just said, frak this I’m going back to the fun parts.

I spent an enjoyable night maxxing out my Ranger’s Cooking. I never thought I’d do that but one recipe led to another

I just do now what I thought was fun and prepping for when the other members of our guild come back this month. We’re a small guild, but I know we’ll make the most of what we can out of this game as it stands.

I’m reading a thread on the Guild Halls, though, and… I’m getting depressed

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Posted by: imbalancedhero.3968

imbalancedhero.3968

Its quite simple really, GW2 HOT just doesnt have enough fresh content.

The original GW2 might have been too easy in difficulty, but it had TONS of explorations and TONS of storyline branches leading to TONS of replay value. There were some complaints but overall it was great. Even 2 years into the game i still created new characters.

The current expansion however is just 4 maps designed specifically to milk out as much of your time as possible. The storyline is now linear and has no replay value. The map completion sure as hell has no replay value. Specializations were “yay” when they first came out but completely killed off the original class. Also dont forget the super grindy and buggy precursor crafting.

New maps – grindfest
Masteries – grindfest
Guild hall -grindfest
Raids-grindfest after all your other grindfests

Hurray for hardcore gaming. Hurray for outfits. But dont worry, people will keep coming back tho this game because WEE STILL HAVE 4 MORE DRAGONS TO GO AND WE CAN LEAVE IT TO 2030 HURRAY – Arenant thinking

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Posted by: DoctorDing.5890

DoctorDing.5890

I’ve said this before but many players take pleasure in GW being a fairly easy game. In fact, the chilled-out, friendly vibe is what attracted many to the game in the first place. You can run across most of the open world maps without having to fight if you choose.

So it’s hardly surprising that stress levels rise when the difficulty level ramps up. And with stress comes salty players, abusive chat, blame, frustration, name-calling etc. It’s a shame really.

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Posted by: Leohart.4610

Leohart.4610

I think ANet is trying to appease too many audiences at the same time and it’s kind of stretching them thin across the game modes.

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Posted by: fireflyry.7023

fireflyry.7023

I’m just mapping core with guild newbs avoiding the whole diatribe of HoT BS. I’m surprised at the whole “grind!!” tanty though. In a franchise that had GWAMM and titles as it’s highest reward for years it goes without saying that the grind was coming…that’s how Anet rolls.

Repeat this kitten a thousand times and get a shiney or some words under your name that nobody gives two kittens about.

They should have just pumped out decent and consumable easy mode PvE open world like they did at release and kept the hardcore happy with raids. I honestly find core far more enjoyable and relaxing. As you say OP, HoT is just a “serious business” stress fest full of QQ and kitten. It’s like I’m playing two different games.

HoT is a massive fail as far as I’ve observed in-game, that’s not an opinion, just a highly subjective observation.

Anet…don’t kitten off casuals.kthx

If your having adventurer problems I feel bad for you son, I dodged 99 arrows till my knee took one.

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Posted by: Cyrotek.7019

Cyrotek.7019

Time != Difficulty.

My personal problem with the addon is, that I have to plan my day around its content. Also that I need an (external) timer annoys me to no end. This plus that it seems like achieving anything addon related takes forever.

The content itsself isn’t hard.

(edited by Cyrotek.7019)

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Posted by: SlateSloan.3654

SlateSloan.3654

community asked for more difficult content to not have the game being “1111dodge1111” – open chest – walk away.

that will automatically lead more to a type of gaming which always has been in gw1. you just cant do anything with closed eyes anymore.

i think for the future we will see the guilds tables being sorted again. it will be more of importance to have a guild with good organisation, knowledge and teamwork.

people will again be in the position to study their possibilities and people inside a team will get certain roles and tasks to fullfill.

it will be for arenanet very important to keep alive the story and background of tyria again. like it is meant to be in a mmo. the world and its background is very important, as it determines if a player is feeling comfortable playing the content. what you cant identify with you are much likely to deny.

so world/background > content variety > gemstore

for instance:

i dont think it will be a bad idea to cut off wvw and import an wvw mega server.

it just all depends on the topic it will be thrown into.

“blue fights red fights green” = booooring color vs color = unemotional

give the child a name like
“riverside fights blackgate fights desolation” = identity

you can see that pattern specially in us sports. you always see “bulls vs lakers”

for a more excitement once a year there should be a real battle of the guilds where guilds fight each other for a championship. we still are “guild wars”.

is important arenanet gets away now from that gemstore people farming to a competition driven game plus a pve environment which centers its world/surrounding"

let me entertain you

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Posted by: fireflyry.7023

fireflyry.7023

More players will just move on.

Playing a game shouldn’t be like organizing D-Day.

If your having adventurer problems I feel bad for you son, I dodged 99 arrows till my knee took one.

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Posted by: InvaGir.9158

InvaGir.9158

I know its hardcore but I have no complaints, I played MS since 2003 and GW2 is nothing alike.

I can agree its nearly impossible to play alone but it is a party game right?! its all about collaboration between players what can also help you find new friends, even though its pretty rare to happen.

Too bad the community is a bit toxic sometimes especially in dungeons and PVPs and all they care is to “win” and not to have fun and the difficulty is what causing them to be so toxic to others especially to new players like how I was….
its like they believe they will save poor kittens from death or stop the worlds hunger or cure cancer by completing those things and if someone kittens up one time they’re going to insult him for being a loser.
happned to me during my first month:P

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Posted by: Beldin.5498

Beldin.5498

I’ve said this before but many players take pleasure in GW being a fairly easy game. In fact, the chilled-out, friendly vibe is what attracted many to the game in the first place. You can run across most of the open world maps without having to fight if you choose.

So it’s hardly surprising that stress levels rise when the difficulty level ramps up. And with stress comes salty players, abusive chat, blame, frustration, name-calling etc. It’s a shame really.

+1 to this.

The “easy” content was indeed mostly what made the GW2 audience so nice, because
if events can’t fail there is no reason to insult other players for beeing bad, but as soon
as they can easily fail, the drama begins.

EVERY MMO is awesome until it is released then its unfinished. A month after release it just sucks.
Best MMOs are the ones that never make it. Therefore Stargate Online wins.