Pleasantly Surprised

Pleasantly Surprised

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: chaosdurza.3291

chaosdurza.3291

This is about the New Player Experience, or the new leveling system/additions/changes made in the most recent patch.

For starters, I would like to say that when I first heard about the changes coming in the feature patch, I was really unhappy. I did not agree with almost all the changes to leveling and particularly the gating in the feature patch. It really bothered me and I was one of the massive group of people saying “Guess I’m not making an alt ever again. GG Anet”. Well, I decided to make a guardian and just give it a shot.

What I found out, was the new system is actually really, really fantastic. You might look at it on paper and say things like “Wow, can’t use my 5th skill until level 10? Screw that”. The gating is pretty daunting to a veteran player who is used to having access to things from a much earlier point. However, the time it took me to get from 1-10 was ridiculously fast. I wish I had timed it, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour and a half. During that time, I got several messages notifying me with EXACTLY what had been unlocked, including some useful items and a breakdown of stat gains. This continued from 10-20, with me just completely floored with how quickly I was leveling compared to what I was used to. What I discovered was that at no point during my 1-20 leveling phase did I sit there thinking “Man, I really wish I had my 5th skill before level 10” or “Holy crap why don’t I have my utilities yet”. The levels just go by so quickly that you sort of forget that you’re missing something, and before you know it, you have it unlocked.

Something else I would like to throw in is the experience for someone who is truly new to this game. Me and my brother have both been playing this game since beta, as well as gw1 since beta. Our Dad wanted to have something that we could all do together, and since none of us live near each other, we suggested getting GW2 because it was fairly easy to get the hang of. To our surprise, we were having a really difficult time helping him figure everything out, because he has never played any MMO or computer game like this in his life. With this new system, however, he has been able to play without us and figure things out on his own much easier. He has been able to get a sense of direction with the handy arrow pointing to the next heart missions, and he understands the story better because it’s sorted into chapters, so there is no waiting between missions if you’re under leveled.

There are a few things I did not like. I don’t understand why we aren’t getting skill points every level anymore. Maybe this is a bug, but I just don’t get why its designed this way. For those who haven’t leveled a character with the new system, you get your skill points bundled in every 10 levels? or so (I don’t know what level I got all my skill points at, I just know I looked and they were all of a sudden all there). That really bothered me, because it really sets you back for the first two tiers of utility skills.

The only other thing that I do not enjoy about it, and this is not new, is the trait system. I still hate this. I don’t understand why we have to wait until 30, and how that is beneficial at all. I strongly feel like a better tutorial system could be implemented, and trait points could be rewarded much sooner. Say, starting at level 15. It is just very frustrating not having access to that customization until essentially 36, because lets be honest, your first trait point is pretty negligible until you can get your first actual trait.

TL;DR The new system is pretty great in my opinion. Even if you are absolutely sure that you hate it and everything it has brought, at least give it a try. You may find that you actually enjoy it a lot, and that it’s not nearly as bad as you expected!

Pleasantly Surprised

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: pessimist.7294

pessimist.7294

You are obviously one of the few who really likes the recent patch. I gave it a try, after 10 min with the new leveling system by just clicking 1 button I got so annoyed that i just threw in a lvl 20 scroll just to escape this dullness. 1,5h to get to lvl 10 with the limited weaponskills ist just to boring.
And to the new player experience in general: Im playing since release, and right after the start it was awesome. The areas looked alive, there was so much to discover: From Asuran Golem chess, over Norn Beer Football and to the famous apple pie of Eda. And the best was: You could decide when you wanted to do what. You didnt need to unlock your kitten traits with gold and skillpoints.
The recent patch is just continuing the downfall of this game. They patched out all those activities and racial characteristic things from the starter areas, took your freedom how you want to discover Tyria and are forcing you to either pay a lot of gold just to unlock your traits, the other way is doing some bugged events in order to achieve them. Also the once more or less ordinary made personal story has been dumbed down, things like skulls and blood are missing now in this game because of the chinafication of the game. Most of us veterans are simply disgusted into what abomination this game has turned into.
Also, 2 Years and no permanent major content but a lot of temporary grinding/zerging bullkitten are showing the state of this game. We are basicaly there where we started, actually we made several steps back.

Pleasantly Surprised

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: chaosdurza.3291

chaosdurza.3291

I absolutely agree with you about the changes to the zones and taking away the really unique parts of leveling, like golem chess and turning into a fern hound in the sylvari zone. That was unnecessary and took away interesting and unique things. However, the progression in my opinion has improved since launch.

The trait system is currently awful, and if we could just have the original system back, plus the free trait refunding, I think 99% of the vets would be happy.

As far as content, I too am disappointed that there is very little new permanent content. There is some, like some of the fractals and a few new dungeon paths. However, I think 2 years into the game, everyone kind of expected to have an equal amount of new content comparable to a box expansion of similar MMO games.

I for one am disappointed that we have not unlocked a new race, or seen a 3rd soldier class implemented into the game. Or, as a smaller but still massive addition, seeing new weapons added into the game/give classes more of the current weapons (i.e. main hand pistol for mesmer, hammer for engineer, etc).

Pleasantly Surprised

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Beldin.5498

Beldin.5498

You are obviously one of the few who really likes the recent patch. I gave it a try, after 10 min with the new leveling system by just clicking 1 button I got so annoyed that i just threw in a lvl 20 scroll just to escape this dullness. 1,5h to get to lvl 10 with the limited weaponskills ist just to boring.

You just need to do the tutorial, and have already skill 2 .. so its just the tutorial, and if
you don’t have that special account with the golem banker you can’t use that level 20
scroll before you finish the tutorial.

EVERY MMO is awesome until it is released then its unfinished. A month after release it just sucks.
Best MMOs are the ones that never make it. Therefore Stargate Online wins.