Guild Wars 2

Hello forum-goers! This is one of my first posts on the forums, and I wanted to throw in my views on the newly introduced New Player Experience (NPE) being a player of GW2 for over a year on a separate account.

Positives in my opinion:

+ The leveling rewards are a great change. They gave me a better sense of progression and allowed my character to feel as if he was growing as I played.

+The new TP changes, for me, were a great fix and I welcomed it since it was announced. It is much easier now to find the gear I want with what stats I want, and the addition of the upgraded pickup box now allows me to see and sort what items I just bought.

+The Content Director was a really good addition for new players. It doesn’t hold their hand and tell them quite exactly what to do or where exactly the content is (in regards to POIs and Vistas) and it does a great job of giving a player a path to begin with. Having the option to disable it as a veteran player was a welcome addition as well.

+The new miniatures system. Having them as an account-wide wardrobe item is a very nice addition and something I look forward to using.

+The new dodge tutorial is a really nice feature for any new player, and the content director does a good job of pointing a new player to it at the right time. It is also completely optional to do it which is a good change for me playing an alt.

Negatives in my opinion.

-The level gating on weapon skills was a bit of a let down for me. The old system was fine for me and many players, but I do understand why you have implemented it. However, unlocking the weapon skills came about as fast for me with the new system, so the speed of the system is still intact.

-Gating off gathering nodes is also a gripe for me. It can be a bit jarring for a new player to learn that gathering is in-game, just that they couldn’t do it until a certain level.

-Keeping the downed state away from the player until level 5 was a very peculiar decision, but an understandable one. For me starting out it was not hard to grasp that I must fight to get back up, considering that’s the first thing you see on screen once you go down (Fight to survive!), and I immediately recognized that the skills shown to me were used in this process. To add to this you also gate off downed state skills, which severely hinders a player’s ability to survive after entering the downed state at early levels.

-Gating off underwater combat under the same weapon skill gates (see above) was another weird choice, but also understandable. I do remember seeing many new players last year confused as to how to better utilize their underwater skills due to the new axis being added. While the new system does nothing to teach them how to fight underwater, though, is still beyond me.

-Gating the personal story and making it a mandatory level requirement to start and complete the sections is, for me, the biggest complaint I have. Being able to complete my story steps whenever I wanted (regardless of how over-leveled or under-leveled I was) allowed me a sense of freedom that the new NPE does not give, at least, to me. I much preferred the older ‘recommended level’ system rather than the ‘mandatory level’ system.

-Gating off skill challenges on the map was another very odd decision, but an understandable one from a new player’s perspective. Not knowing what they may be they may skip them entirely, as they do not show up on the minimap or the world map. But for a veteran player who just wants to gain the SP early to level their alt faster it feels like back-tracking.

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Again, I don’t wish to spread hate or false information. I just want to give some feedback on how to better teach new players the basics of the game and where some of the new additions can improve. In some aspects I have a couple of suggestions:

1. Keep the weapon level gating, but do not allow the player to automatically unlock other weapon skill sets when they equip them after the final weapon-gate level. It will de-familiarize them with the new weapon and they may feel a bit overwhelmed, making them stick with their default weapon, in my opinion.

2. Re-allow the downed state at all levels, and give the players all four downed state skills from the get-go. For me as a new player learning how to utilize the downed state as early as possible was the key to my survival, and gating off many of its mechanics and skills will shock and dumbfound some new players. It can also create a sense of confusion, when they see a friend who goes into the downed state, but they have not unlocked it yet.

3. Disable the level gating on the personal story system. I do understand why you did it, but for me the system is flawed. When before it was all dynamic and felt as if you could do it whenever, now it feels mandatory, and it also promotes grind-like behavior in the players. I have already seen at least three brand-new players run off on a map-wide grind session just to unlock their next personal story steps, when this was not the case before.

4. Re-allow gathering at the outset. It will allow veterans who make alts to gather materials they need and will reinforce the sense of exploration the game is known for. You could, perhaps, add a blip to the content director that points the player to a gathering node with a tool-tip that explains what they are and what happens when you interact with them.

5. Re-allow skill challenges on the map to be completed at any level, but have a toggle to allow them to be shown on the maps (default: off for new players, but it will of course re-enable itself at the appropriate level). This will, again, promote the sense of exploration the game is known for while still allowing veterans to breeze through content they’ve experienced already.

6. Change underwater combat to better fit the current leveling system. Give the players an already equipped underwater breather and weapon, but gate the weapon skills just like you would the on-land skills at the same levels they are currently unlocked underwater (while still giving the players their first weapon skill to fight with).

a. A better way, in my experience, to learn a new MMO was not through tutorials or walls of texts, but with small tooltips about what the various mechanics and items do. For example, having a tooltip show up over the player’s stamina bar after a certain early level that says you can evade enemy attacks. Having these instead of the level gating system for some aspects will allow a player to learn about those mechanics without being interrupted from the content they’re already doing/planning on doing (and of course, you can disable or re-enable this).

Thank you for reading!

Thank you for going about your complaints in a civil manner, rather than just bashing Anet like many others…

1) For the weapon system, I would agree with your suggestion and maybe have each profession have a “primary” weapon (the weapons you get from leveling rewards) that unlocks by the level and other weapons you use use the old system. Although this would obviously be very difficult to implement, so I dunno if Anet can pull it off.

2) For the downed state, I’ve had people be very confused about it even with the “Fight to Survive” text, some because of that text. It gives a sense of unintended urgency, sometimes making new players panic, so much so that they may not realize that they could use the 4th skill to heal up and get back on their feet (or that that skill is meant to be channeled). I’ve had some people who rushed to 80 not realize that they could do that and would panic if they were downed with nothing to kill.

3) The story system is a matter of opinion. While the previous version allowed freedom in doing them, this new one makes the story feel more aligned, so to speak (or at least less disjointed). I will concede to the fact that this may not necessarily appeal to everyone but rarely will you ever find something that does.

4) I think you can gather right from the start (just need to buy the tools) but that the information about it (and the free tools) are given at a certain level. It isn’t gated like weapon skills, but they did sort of move all the nodes to the higher level region of the starter maps (likely not to confuse new players as to what they are).

5) No comments there. Dunno what the purpose of locking that, so…

6) The problem there would be that there wouldn’t be a good time to point them towards a “Oh, and you can fight underwater” part. Doing it that way will sort of feel like you’re making the player decide “Do you wanna spend this level training on your terrestrial weapons, or aquatic ones?”

Very good feedback!

I like it, especially with the suggestions on how to improve these systems.

Would you mind reposting these is this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Feature-pack-9-9-feedback/page/8#post4401885

Having as much of the feedback, both positive and negative in one area, makes it much easiers for players, and devs, to find and read, and add to. Thanks!

I do agree with some of your points, but I think you’ve been misinformed with some things.

With regards to gathering, that is actually allowed from the first level; it’s just pointed out at a certain level. I was able to gather from the get-go if I knew where to get gathering tools.

Although downed skills do have to be unlocked via levels, they have made it significantly easier to rally with the limited downed abilities. I had an alt at level 7 that was downed by four level 9 mobs, at half health or higher, so I only had the one downed skill. I was able to rally and get out fairly easily, though it did take some time. There was enough time to use the heal to keep my health up while I attacked them. I remember panicking on my first character and trying to read what all the skills did while at the same time fighting for my life. This is actually much simpler to learn and get used to, especially, I’d imagine, for someone new to MMOs.

However I do agree with your opinion of the skill challenges. I’d understand that they wouldn’t mark them out on the map (like vistas) until a certain level, but as an experienced player, I shouldn’t be locked out of a skill challenge if I know where one is. Especially the consumption ones or the communing ones.

Also a side note, the tooltip that pops up when the player is “informed” about the TP doesn’t actually mention selling items or buying items with gold. It just tells them about the gem store, which I think is silly.

What about the hearts? Now during 1-15 they are great but I have been noticing that the content director tends to send you to hearts that above your current level (sometimes by up to 3 level difference). Maybe adjust the experience to give 50 to 75 percent of the level for that area. Would keep the grinding sessions down.

Elsdragon.5109:

Thank you for going about your complaints in a civil manner, rather than just bashing Anet like many others…

1) For the weapon system, I would agree with your suggestion and maybe have each profession have a “primary” weapon (the weapons you get from leveling rewards) that unlocks by the level and other weapons you use use the old system. Although this would obviously be very difficult to implement, so I dunno if Anet can pull it off.

2) For the downed state, I’ve had people be very confused about it even with the “Fight to Survive” text, some because of that text. It gives a sense of unintended urgency, sometimes making new players panic, so much so that they may not realize that they could use the 4th skill to heal up and get back on their feet (or that that skill is meant to be channeled). I’ve had some people who rushed to 80 not realize that they could do that and would panic if they were downed with nothing to kill.

3) The story system is a matter of opinion. While the previous version allowed freedom in doing them, this new one makes the story feel more aligned, so to speak (or at least less disjointed). I will concede to the fact that this may not necessarily appeal to everyone but rarely will you ever find something that does.

4) I think you can gather right from the start (just need to buy the tools) but that the information about it (and the free tools) are given at a certain level. It isn’t gated like weapon skills, but they did sort of move all the nodes to the higher level region of the starter maps (likely not to confuse new players as to what they are).

5) No comments there. Dunno what the purpose of locking that, so…

6) The problem there would be that there wouldn’t be a good time to point them towards a “Oh, and you can fight underwater” part. Doing it that way will sort of feel like you’re making the player decide “Do you wanna spend this level training on your terrestrial weapons, or aquatic ones?”

It was probably just a bug on my end, then, that I could not gather before my level rewards told me. I’ll look into that with a future alt to see if it’s the same or not. I can agree on your points about the story and downed state, but for me the downed state is an integral part of the game that does need more explaining for newbies and a better implementation early on, rather than keeping skills pivotal to survival locked.

I also agree with your addition to my weapon skill suggestion, that’s actually a good way to go about it. It will allow the player to get familiar with that weapon while still allowing a progression similar for veterans, while also introducing another new mechanic to newbies. It might be difficult to pull off, though, having another weapon’s skills unlock in a much different way than previous, though…

On underwater combat, each starting area (AFAIK) has an underwater portion to it. I would say that, as soon as the player nears a heart that requires an underwater section to be done, introduce the player either using the heart’s NPC text or a tooltip that guides them on what to do and how different underwater combat is.

Halan.7931:

MrWubzy.3587:

+ The leveling rewards are a great change. They gave me a better sense of progression and allowed my character to feel as if he was growing as I played.

You could craft something useful, or do world-bosses, or jumping puzzles. Those are real rewards that you earn doing something yourself.

New rewards are welfare, that you get just for leveling up.

Old system – you could be strong, or you could be weak, depending on what you do, it had a feeling “You’re on your own, explore the world”.

Now it’s hand-holding and free stuff.

That’s for veteran players. What about new players who don’t have any gold or much mats to craft, don’t know about world bosses, or are unfamiliar with where the jumping puzzles are?

@Leallax: I corrected myself in an above post (in regards to crafting nodes). It may have been a bug for that specific new character, and I will look into it on another alt to see if that’s the case. I disagree with the downed state but I can understand where you’re coming from. I have experienced the down state before GW2 showed it to me, so I was familiar with the mechanic already, so that has colored my opinion on it. Regarding the TP notice, yes, it was a bit silly, but wasn’t anything breaking my game or hindering my progress.

@Halan: I don’t agree on your point that it’s unnecessary hand-holding, as my alt felt as if he was progressing with a different sense of purpose. The leveling rewards didn’t get in the way of my current objective (map completion, a dynamic event and two hearts). I do agree, however that the old system was more encouraging in the exploration aspect.

@DeadPhone: I forget where, but a dev has stated (I think it was Chris, I’m not sure) that the content guide directing players to high level areas is a bug, and not an intended feature. They say they are actively working to fix it.

@pdavis: I’ll get on it as soon as I can, thank you for the suggestion!

Elsdragon.5109:

Halan.7931:

MrWubzy.3587:

+ The leveling rewards are a great change. They gave me a better sense of progression and allowed my character to feel as if he was growing as I played.

You could craft something useful, or do world-bosses, or jumping puzzles. Those are real rewards that you earn doing something yourself.

New rewards are welfare, that you get just for leveling up.

Old system – you could be strong, or you could be weak, depending on what you do, it had a feeling “You’re on your own, explore the world”.

Now it’s hand-holding and free stuff.

That’s for veteran players. What about new players who don’t have any gold or much mats to craft, don’t know about world bosses, or are unfamiliar with where the jumping puzzles are?

And that is a good point, which is the reason I proposed some tweaks to the new system to better allow veterans and new players to play much the same way.