Guild Wars 2

This patch was a mixed bag, especially with regards to the low-level zones and leveling experiences that were drastically changed, which is really what I want to address here.

The Good
-Initially I found the dodge-roll tutorial a little silly, but then I remembered the only reason I knew how to dodge-roll was because a friend had already taught me. I think it’s a simple, unobtrusive way of teaching the mechanic.
-The new compass is clever and actually rather cool. I do think it has gone a bit too far in pointing out POIs as well as hearts and the storyline, and I think it would also be nice if it could be toggled on and off as well, but in general, a neat little feature.
-Level- pop-up window is also nice. It nicely introduces the rewards chest/trait/etc feature at an early level and explains the perks of the next level rather than having it just show up without any player interaction.

The Not-So-Good
-The level-locked weapon skills. I ran a new character through a tutorial to see how it was, and it was frustrating only being able to spam ¹ throughout the entire thing. Perhaps it might not have been so bad if it was one weapon skill slot per level, but having the ⁵ slot unlocked at level 10 and the ⁷ slot at level 13 looks to be quite grind-heavy. It makes low-level combat tedious, since you cannot really experiment with even your basic skills until level 10.
-the level-locked story. I understand this might have been an attempt to discourage keyfarming, but in the process, it hurt the story experience. When I began playing, I was not a big gameplay person and was rather drawn in by the story, and that’s what got me past the first few levels until I started to understand gameplay enough to enjoy it as well as the story. It was also a mini-goal, so if I was frustrated by the area I was in, I would continue so I could get to the next story instance. However, 10 levels to get to the first real bit of story seems a bit steep. Plus, it makes every 10 levels seem like a big grind, especially for story-driven players. Four levels was a large grind to get from instance to instance, but ten seems insurmountable.
-the combination of all the changes If you had changed one feature of the low-level zones and kept one the same, this might have been an alright patch. However, the combination of making low-level combat more tedious with limited skills, restricting story progression, and even changing hearts (I’ve heard of the infamous cow heart) removes both the fun combat aspect and the story aspect from low-level player experience. If all players receive for the first ten levels of hard work is the ability to finally use their weapons to their full extent, then it’s not going to be easy keeping people around past the first few levels.

The Summary
-new players may have a nicer walkthrough on basic mechanics, but the early gameplay itself suffers because of it.
-veteran players must now go through a tedious grind if they make new characters and have no way of truly utilizing their prior experience and knowledge to make their level progression easier because everything is level-locked (and the locks are steep).

(continued)

(part 2)

The Suggestions
-if key farming is the big issue here, this could simply be fixed by moving the BL key up to level 20 story rather than level 10. Or, alternatively, the BL key reward could be a level reward as opposed to a story reward. So once the character hits level 10, they get a BL key, and they get different rewards for the story.
-if new player difficulty is a problem, then things like the dodge-roll tutorial could be inserted. That way, it can be skipped by a veteran who is leveling an alt, but is useful for someone new exploring the world for the first time. There could be ones for doing combos (one of the mechanics that could really use a tutorial) or other mechanics that may need explaining. I remember in Queensdale there is a ‘combat training’ place where you fulfill the heart by practicing blocking and attacking NPCs. That’s a good way to do it. If a basic one (say, using multiple skills) is located near the area a new character starts, and is labeled by something similar to the dodge-roll tutorial or even a heart, it would be a great place to start that doesn’t level-lock abilities and limit combat.
-if level rewards is the problem, then it would be better to emphasize the ones currently available rather than restricting previously accessible ones. For example, a better explanation of how skill points and the 7-0 slots work would be nice. The new level pop-up window is nice, and can be utilized to explain skill points and traits. It could also be used to explain upgrades and trinkets, so say level 5 you get your ⁷ slot and it shows you, and if you want you can read a little blurb on how to use them or where to get them. Or at some level you get a small rune or sigil and it shows you how to use it to upgrade equipment. The current rewards need to be emphasized and explained better than they are currently, not locked away by levels

In Conclusion
-the new system makes Guild Wars too grind-heavy and requires too much effort for little reward, since full gameplay cannot even begin until level 10. Rather than trying to make previously easily accessible things (i.e. weapon skills, personal story) into rewards, try emphasizing the rewards that currently exist. There is a way to make it easier on new players without also discouraging veteran players.

Yeah. I won’t disagree that this new system may very well work for new players. But ultimately, veteran players once again get overlooked and even hamstrung a bit. It seems Anet is forgetting that player retention is just as important if not more so than drawing in new players. I had many guild mates just up and leave, as well as friends. I’m considering leaving as well, due to other circumstances (Used to get a solid 30 fps in Lions Arch, now its down to 10? that echoes across all of my gameplay) so considering the fact the game was playing perfectly fine directly before the update, and then after the update my PC sounds like it wants to burst out of its chassis and it chugs along, idk man.

Anet, why do you do this kinda stuff? Instead of hamstringing your vets and forcing a lot to leave, why not work of optimizing your game?

Because right now its about as optimized as a knife to the throat. For reference I can play Skyrim, EVE, GTA IV, and other similar games on kitten near max graphics without any hiccups.

Limiting the story like this and early weapon skill use is going to put people off. They wont stick around to see the good things if the early game is so simplified and lacking.

Xaevryn.5687:

Yeah. I won’t disagree that this new system may very well work for new players. But ultimately, veteran players once again get overlooked and even hamstrung a bit. It seems Anet is forgetting that player retention is just as important if not more so than drawing in new players. I had many guild mates just up and leave, as well as friends. I’m considering leaving as well, due to other circumstances (Used to get a solid 30 fps in Lions Arch, now its down to 10? that echoes across all of my gameplay) so considering the fact the game was playing perfectly fine directly before the update, and then after the update my PC sounds like it wants to burst out of its chassis and it chugs along, idk man.

Anet, why do you do this kinda stuff? Instead of hamstringing your vets and forcing a lot to leave, why not work of optimizing your game?

Because right now its about as optimized as a knife to the throat. For reference I can play Skyrim, EVE, GTA IV, and other similar games on kitten near max graphics without any hiccups.

I’m guessing the performance dip is due to all the commander tags turned on everywhere. It’s now becoming glaringly obvious that they need to address that problem.

For a quick fix, they could just disable tags in major cities. It’s not like you need to lead anyone inside them anyway.