Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

I am studying game design and for my project i need to interview players. This interview is about how players acquire skills (not the in game skills, general skills) and how those skills help them to play the game better. This only take few minutes and if i posted this in wrong section please tell me where to post. I am interested in both PVE and PVP skills

1) What are the skills you acquire in this game ?
2) How long it takes you to acquire that particular skill ?
3) Does you have to use specific gear or items to learn the skill ( like particular mouse or keyboard) ?
4) how you learn about the skill ?
5)How old are you ?
A) 18 to 25 B) 26 to 30 C) 30 to 35 D) 35 to 40 E) 41 and over

Everyone is welcome to participate

Thanks
Teja

I’d like to help, but I dont understand. When do you talk about “skills” do you mean “player skill or simply experience and what this experience allows you to do” or do you mean “skills, abillities that you unlock in the game by investing skill points”. Anyway, number 2 and 3 wouldnt make sense regardless of your answer. I think you should edit and clarify your post.

1) Skills: A] Situational awareness (what is actually going on around me?), B] multi-tasking (managing boons, condition, HP, stamina, etc), C] reflex reactions (movement, condition management, interrupts, skill ‘rotation’. etc)

2) Approximate game time: A] 100 hours, B] 200 hours, C] 300 hours (a factor of the first two)

3) A laser mouse with moderate (or better) fidelity, adjustable sensitivity, 6 or more buttons, and placed on a reliable responsive surface. A keyboard with sturdy construction and responsive keys with some feedback. Microphone headset with external VOIP software for group play. Monitor with good contrast. Hardware system capable of steady in-game frame-rate of 30 FPS (minimum).

4) Many external factors are involved such as; the player’s previous gaming experience, group participation and group size, single player (PvE) vs mutliplayer (PvP), VOIP communication. Internal factors would include; repetition of similar in-game activities, the game’s GUI, visual/audio cues, the role the player’s character is performing, etc

5) B

sorry if i am not clear
Not the in game skills, General skills a player have like evading enemies attack or tricks you come up with so that its easy for you to play the game.

1) What are the skills you acquire in this game ?

-Eye to hand co-ordination.
-Use both hands at same time, keyboard, mouse.
-Visual recognition of ‘tells’, which allow you to dodge, incoming attacks.
-How to manipulate/play the Trading Post, to earn lots of gold, similar to how one plays the real life stock exchange.
-Strategy and tactics, particularly in WvW and sPvP.
-Communication with lots of other people, team speak, group co-ordination etc…

2) How long it takes you to acquire that particular skill ?

Varies a few hours for some, perhaps a few weeks for others.

3) Does you have to use specific gear or items to learn the skill ( like particular mouse or keyboard) ?

No.

4) how you learn about the skill ?

Playing the game, observing others, internet (goggle it, read dulfy, forums) trial and error and practice.

5)How old are you ?
A) 18 to 25 26 to 30 C) 30 to 35 D) 35 to 40 E) 41 and over

E.

It would be hard to pin those skills down to a specific game.
My guild and I have been playing MMO’s for over 14 years, and a few of us were playing FPS (world wide ladder) before then. Been a “gamer” my whole life, including D&D pen and paper when it first came out in the 70’s, the first “Adventure” game, and the old cartridge Atari game.

Some of those skills come so naturally now (honed over years) and they are carried from game to game. Things like situational awareness and multitasking (especially playing 3 characters manually at the same time while server raid leading). Most of those were acquired via a problem solving approach (analysis/creative thinking) and repetition and refinement (which includes post mortem analysis of failures and success.) It’s an iterative process.

Those are the same “skills” that allow me to be successful in real life situations.

I’m sure many players here have had similar experiences.

Skill learned specifically in GW2

1) skill acquired in this game: dodging

2) skill acquired (intuitive/reflexive) before the end of the first Beta (less than an hour)

3)no special or specific gear or hardware required

4) learned by watching a 5 minute video of an Elementalist playing, including dodging, then playing one as first character in beta

5) E: I’m 56, going on 57

Not sure this answers your question

If this does not address your needs, please feel free to refine your question, and I will happily try to supply more data.

PS: for completeness regarding game design: I rarely use in-game tutorials (can’t remember last time I did.) They tend to annoy me. Guess that makes most of my “learning skills” a “just do” with thinking applied process.
.

late edit for formatting

Comment on one of the skills mentioned above:

Player, in the chaos of combat, needs to “read” the boss mob for the signal that an ability is about to be cast, and act to interrupt or mitigate what that attack does. this is both the generic skill and remembering the detail specific to each boss

I’ve been playing GW2 since release and am still not very good at this

I have found that a 1920×1080 monitor and relatively new graphics card are needed to see the boss actions through a haze of particle effects if many players are in combat with the boss. This impeded my learning significantly for the first year the game was out.

My guildmates explained the skill to me when it was clear to them I didn’t “get it” after we fought together. It took some time to realize my equipment was inferior and that was an inhibitor.

56 years old, gaming for probably 40 years (though would point out that back then we had to go to the computer, it didn’t come to us)

You need a baseline and personal contact for this to be worth anything. Good luck though.

1) What are the skills you acquire in this game ?
Mastering my playstyle with the class/profession i’ve chosen, in this case, Mesmer.

2) How long it takes you to acquire that particular skill ?
Between 500 to 1000 hours.

3) Does you have to use specific gear or items to learn the skill ( like particular mouse or keyboard) ?
Mouse with at least 6 buttons. (I use a Naga)

4) how you learn about the skill ?
Playing in pretty much every occasion, PvE with 5+ mobs the same or above lvl, soloing Champions/Bosses and Group Events to PvP (2v1) not dying or surviving in the end.

5)How old are you ?
30 to 35 D)

Good Luck with your Project.

:D

1) repetitive action recognition and analysis.
automation programming based on visual pattern recognition
2) depends on pattern complexity. observation and programming 20+ hours for first time, and usually less than a day to re-implement same mechanism for similar pattern
3) no additional hardware is used, tho a lot additional software is involved
4) repetition over years of programming and video games, robotics, artificial intelligence
5) B

Thanks guys you are awesome

hi saulius,
you said you use additional software. what are they ?

Teja

1) Co-ordination, learning to dodge properly and when to go into battle (saying that from a caster’s perspective, I’m more one of these people that sit on the outer than going headlong into an enemy blob). Hand-eye co-ordination is second-nature to tactics for the way I play, but I’ll go into more depth later.

2) a. Dodging takes a little while to master so about 100-200 hours to get down properly to not even thinking about it.
b. Proper casting takes a measure of patience and timeliness to execute properly. Aiming properly needs to be mastered as well. Hand-to-hand takes less skill for me, it’s mindless button-mashing/facerolling.

3) Here is where I’m at a particular disadvantage to most users. I’ve been a keyboard user for as long as I can remember. I’ve not had the exposure to WASD/mouse-look games that a lot of younger players subject themselves to; the idea is foreign to me. I use the arrow keys like on so many single-player PC games I’ve used before. Just like I can’t touch-type but I know where the keys are on the keyboard to be able to type quickly, I still need to look at them. Not so with arrow keys and numbers for skills, it’s knowing where they are. Having said that, WASD/mouse-look is as foreign to me and as hard to adapt to as touch-typing.

4) As outlined above.

5) D.

1) The ability to maintain focus, recognising telegraphed animations in due time, and reacting accordingly. Also to overcome photosensitive epilepsy in order to achieve the aforementioned.

2) It’s ongoing. It’s a journey, not a destination. Each bit I do well I count as a win, but there is always room for improvement.

3) A flatscreen monitor is easily the best thing for me. It could use a higher resolution, but I’m working on that. Also an alarm (on phone) to take regular breaks (must remember to programme it). My mouse is a tiny thing because I’m short and only have small hands. This way, it’s a literal extension and easier to manipulate (although I would never object to some buttons on the side if it somehow metamorphosed overnight). Also a pre-programmed selection of classical music in order to remain calm even when I’m royally screwing it up.

4) I learn by research, observation, then by trial and error. Then, if I’m still alive, I do it all over again until there are no errors. I attempt to learn from the errors so they don’t occur again. However, being photosensitive, I accept that I am unlikely to ever be perfect. And I own that.

5)A lady never tells you her age. She just tells you she’s old enough to know better.

.. However, since I’d never class myself as a lady (just an average woman), I’ll be in group D.

1) What are the skills you acquire in this game?
Coordination (between people, hand-eye), visual awareness/tracing (being able to keep an eye on things like enemy tells, boons, conditions, HP status), reflex reactions

2) How long it takes you to acquire that particular skill?
Really depends on the person, and how much experience they’ve had with using those skills for other things.

3) Does you have to use specific gear or items to learn the skill ( like particular mouse or keyboard)?
You don’t have to, but it helps. I have a Logitech G600 Mouse, which I use for my default F1, 7, and 8 abilities. People can play without a particular mouse or keyboard, they just have to find a setup of keybinds that works for them.

4) How you learn about the skill?
Observe and test your theories and thoughts. Then refine through practice and repetition.

5) How old are you?
A