Guild Wars 2

This thread is for posting your general opinion on the current game play meta. You can talk about any aspect of the game. PvE, WvW, dungeons, etc. You can also talk about a aspect on a profession.

As a rule of thumb, we will try to keep all our opinions short and to the point. This will make it easier for the devs to read though many of these.

Lack of skill choices.
Compare to GW1, GW2 offers a lot less skill choices. Back in GW1 I used to spent hours designing and testing builds. Can’t do that in GW2.

Mobs unrelated to the players.
Mobs in GW2 have no relationship with the players. They use different skills, have different health amounts and different damage. Back in GW1 the hard mode mobs, of course, had advantages. But they were still some what relevant to the players’ skills, health and damage.

As a clear example, the WoC hardmode in GW1 were unpopular because the mobs were no longer relevant. They got too strong and too numerous.

Let’s be honest. No one wants to fight dumb but god-mode mobs all day long. Its gets boring quick.

I believe mobs should be bring back down, to be more relevant to how the players play.

Also way too many mobs are immune to snares.

AoE limited to 5 targets.

I believe increasing this to 15 would greatly improve WvW. Mega zergs will no longer be the all and be all in WvW. Now we will see multiple smaller zergs vs multiple smaller zergs in one battle, instead of one mega zerg against another mega zerg.

I highly recommend a beta event to test this new AoE limit.

Too few strategy and tactics in 1v1 fights.

Ok this is hard to describe. But I feel that GW2 fights has very few strategy and tactics when compared to GW1. If you bring the wrong build in GW2 there is nothing you can do. In other words, you already lost before the fight even started.

In GW1, even the “wrong build” have a chance of beating the right build. The so-called “hard counter” builds isn’t as bad as they are in GW2.

Strategy and tactics in GW2 are so weak and small, that they got totally overshadowed by build and profession advantages and disadvantages.

As far as skill go, the 1000+ skills was too hard to balance, and most got ignored anyways.

I believe the ‘lack of skill choice’ was an intentional design. The devs didn’t want to have a myriad of skills clogging up the screen. They just wanted skills that were easy to pick up and understand, but still required experience to master.

Know when to fight and when not to fight.

Know the terrain.

Know your enemy, and know yourself.

If you have this knowledge you will be victorious.

Arikyali.5804:

I believe the ‘lack of skill choice’ was an intentional design. The devs didn’t want to have a myriad of skills clogging up the screen. They just wanted skills that were easy to pick up and understand, but still required experience to master.

“Require experience to master” isn’t something unique to GW2 though. GW1 skills takes just as much, if not more, experience to master. Take Grenth’s Balance, for example.

What I see in GW2 is everyone running the exact same few builds. And it gets boring and dull very quickly.

I don’t remember the last time I see someone (pve or WvW) running a totally new build that shocked me.

I mean yeah of course it is easier to balance for the devs. But it isn’t fun for the players.

(Not to mention the game, desperate everyone running the same builds, isn’t even that well balanced. There are plenty of underpowered and overpowered skills and traits everywhere. So what’s the point?)

Now I am not asking for 1000s of skills. But I think 15 skills per weapon set (instead of just 5) and 60 utility skills (instead of just 20) is fair to ask for. And this includes 3 different auto attack skill 1s for the players to choose from, in each weapon set.

CHIPS.6018:

Arikyali.5804:

I believe the ‘lack of skill choice’ was an intentional design. The devs didn’t want to have a myriad of skills clogging up the screen. They just wanted skills that were easy to pick up and understand, but still required experience to master.

“Require experience to master” isn’t something unique to GW2 though. GW1 skills takes just as much, if not more, experience to master. Take Grenth’s Balance, for example.

What I see in GW2 is everyone running the exact same few builds. And it gets boring and dull very quickly.

I don’t remember the last time I see someone (pve or WvW) running a totally new build that shocked me.

I mean yeah of course it is easier to balance for the devs. But it isn’t fun for the players.

(Not to mention the game, desperate everyone running the same builds, isn’t even that well balanced. There are plenty of underpowered and overpowered skills and traits everywhere. So what’s the point?)

Now I am not asking for 1000s of skills. But I think 15 skills per weapon set (instead of just 5) and 60 utility skills (instead of just 20) is fair to ask for. And this includes 3 different auto attack skill 1s for the players to choose from, in each weapon set.

Meta builds are born because people like winning. Most don’t want the trouble of researching and tweaking to get the best build. Some builds counter others, but it just comes out to what’s the most popular right now. It’s more human nature then game design.

Remember when condition damage wasn’t the meta? Then one day someone tried it, realized how useful it was, and used it. Then everyone else tried it and loved it. I’m sure if someone else found a new ‘ultimate win’ build, everyone else will jump on the bandwagon.

Even so, there isn’t a “tank/support/damage/range/melee” -only viable build, where one only works. I’ve never played GW1, but I’ve played other games that had a more rigid class systems, with little diversity. But those were games where you stood in one place and face rolled to win. Builds here do not make a heavy impact, as gameplay and technique. You can give a thief the backstab build, but if they can’t actually ‘back-stab’ then it’s useless.