Welcome to any MMO forums ever. lol
this
people who enjoy the game are too busy having fun actually playing
You do realize that is flawed logic right?
If you are enjoying something, it means there is an emotional response present. Emotional response can go in a positive or negative direction, but causes the player to “care” or have an invested interest in the game. This means whether there is a positive or negative emotional response, they are more likely to feel the need to express it (especially on forums) as opposed to not express anything at all.
When I see people say “oh those enjoying it are too busy to talk on forums”, it tells me that that person is having whats known as a confirmation bias. It means they seek to confirm and establish their own bias. A bias by definition according to the behavioral sciences, is an interference in rational thought.
You may wonder what the behavioral sciences have to do with entertainment, and more specifically games. My answer is…EVERYTHING. Entertainment and interactivity all come back to emotional responses.
On the subject posted by the original poster, I would argue that there is a legitimate argument to be made against the current state of the game (class balance, design, direction). What you need to understand about game design is that it involves the nature of a game itself, which is challenge. A game cannot exist without a challenge. Now this doesnt mean a challenge cant be easy (thus not challenging at all by perception), but rather that it exists to begin with. A challenge in game design terms is a limitation created by rulesets, that when mixed with goals create the challenge which causes emotional response which just so happens to be needed for immersion. Challenges can be broken up into many types…probably the most common in rpgs is resource management.
It is why mana bars existed, and ammo was not an infinite entity. If you look at Guild Wars 2, they went out of their way to remove much of that resource management challenge outside of currency, which when tied to real money transactions makes one of the worst kinds of resource management.
Classes have very little in choice and consequence, as their traits and skills range from great to pointless. There is a lack of diversity, a lack of tactics (often tactics vs strategy, short term vs long term planning). There is no mana bar to restrict abilities, rather the resource is limited to skill bar space instead… space limitation is good…for games like Tetris when you have limited space as part of the challenge mechanic…but for games with super limited skill slots and long cooldown timers… you get a lack of diversity, a lack of choice, a lack of options for the player to chose in combat.
This makes combat dull, especially when the first half of the skills are limited by weapon, of which you can unlock all in the first level or two of the game. This means tactics dont change much, the pattern of combat stays from low lvl to end game.
So its easy to understand that at the beginning, its fresh…a positive emotional response occurs, but the more time invested into the game, the more progression that takes place…the less positive that emotional response becomes. Its not hard to understand that it turns negative when the design of the game is limiting the mechanics and challenges which can keep players with positive emotional responses. What is the challenge of the game? What is its core? DPS and avoidance, repeating patterns and lack of meaningful challenge. Limited choice means limited play styles. Lack of progression means lack of goal (Skins for weapons are not necessary a character progression replacement).
The end result is you have a weak foundation for the game and thus its not hard to see more alienation occur at a faster rate. That is guild wars 2 in its current state.
