Guild Wars 2

I’ve been trying to play this game for almost 3 weeks now, but I’ve had an incredible amount of trouble trying to choose a prof (I’ve played them all to lvl 15+, and some pvp) in that time, not because I like them all, but rather because none of them jump out at me as something I could play for hours on end.

The ultra-customizable skill system from the original guild wars drew me back to that game time and time again. That said, I actually really enjoy the main 5 skills being tied to your weapon. It allows you to better kitten how people are going to play against you in pvp, makes the weapon you have equipped feel more than just a stat stick, and feels awesome when you quick switch to another set for a few key skills in the nick of time. Most of the weapon skills feel pretty darn good (notable exceptions including almost every necro weapon, and engi rifle).

Utility skills on the other hand generally do not feel very good. Probably about half or more of the utilities are glyphs, banners, shouts, moving your pet around, conjures (gimmicks) etc. While the existing ones obviously influence and enhance your gameplay, I can’t help but feel the 5 skills we get to choose need to be big, visceral, neat abilities! No matter what profession I pick up, I have no interest in at least half of the utilities, not because they’re ineffectual but because they feel like bland filler.

Elite skills suffer from a different set of problems. The majority of them do not synergize with or enhance your “goal” in what you do. 4 professions have 2 out of 3 elite skills that change your skill bar entirely. Elite skills that add utility in this way are definately cool, but this is way, way overdone. Most of the time it feels as though you’ve built your character for some specific purpose plotting out your stats/gear/skill combos, and then your biggest baddest move has very little to do with it. It almost feels like getting inside of a vehicle in WoW. PS: Why no elite skill capping/more elite skills? Exploring the world and pushing progression to snag that next elite skill to play around with was super ultra mega fun.

So there you have it, my experience thus far.

tl;dr: utilities and elites feel terrible

In my opinion, this systems is actually really well designed and adds to each professions wow factor, since unlike GW1 you can actually clearly tell what profession each enemy is at the beginning of combat.

Solid weapon bars puts an easy identifier to each enemy in PvP and WvW that allows for ‘hot drop’ fighting that was never possible in GW1 except among the most ridiculously hardcore (overly obsessive) players. Is some customization sacrificed? Undoubtedly, but it’s worth it to create a better play to counterplay environment.

What I would like to see is expansion of the class mechanics, none should be four static and unchangeable skills. If anything, THAT damages each professions ‘wow’ factor.

I feel the same way. I played GW1 for so long simply because of one thing: the skill system.

Though I quickly learned that GW2 was more about how your character is geared rather than your character’s skill build.

I think ANet didn’t help anything by removing hexes either. I mean, of course by reducing the variety of skills in a game you reduce the complexity, but by reducing the complexity you also (for me) reduce the amount of fun the game provides.

Elbows.8461:

I’ve been trying to play this game for almost 3 weeks now, but I’ve had an incredible amount of trouble trying to choose a prof (I’ve played them all to lvl 15+, and some pvp) in that time, not because I like them all, but rather because none of them jump out at me as something I could play for hours on end.

The ultra-customizable skill system from the original guild wars drew me back to that game time and time again. That said, I actually really enjoy the main 5 skills being tied to your weapon. It allows you to better kitten how people are going to play against you in pvp, makes the weapon you have equipped feel more than just a stat stick, and feels awesome when you quick switch to another set for a few key skills in the nick of time. Most of the weapon skills feel pretty darn good (notable exceptions including almost every necro weapon, and engi rifle).

Utility skills on the other hand generally do not feel very good. Probably about half or more of the utilities are glyphs, banners, shouts, moving your pet around, conjures (gimmicks) etc. While the existing ones obviously influence and enhance your gameplay, I can’t help but feel the 5 skills we get to choose need to be big, visceral, neat abilities! No matter what profession I pick up, I have no interest in at least half of the utilities, not because they’re ineffectual but because they feel like bland filler.

Elite skills suffer from a different set of problems. The majority of them do not synergize with or enhance your “goal” in what you do. 4 professions have 2 out of 3 elite skills that change your skill bar entirely. Elite skills that add utility in this way are definately cool, but this is way, way overdone. Most of the time it feels as though you’ve built your character for some specific purpose plotting out your stats/gear/skill combos, and then your biggest baddest move has very little to do with it. It almost feels like getting inside of a vehicle in WoW. PS: Why no elite skill capping/more elite skills? Exploring the world and pushing progression to snag that next elite skill to play around with was super ultra mega fun.

So there you have it, my experience thus far.

tl;dr: utilities and elites feel terrible

Never having played gw1 I can not compare. But share your feelings on the classes. You can find some enjoyment in them but at the end of the day they all sort of end up feeling bland and boring.

I’m gonna do some dps. I’m gonna dodge. Gonna press my 2-3 second condition. Gonna press my heal. Gonna start all over. Yes I realize this is grossly simplified and to be above average you need to throw in some combo love, but really most the classes end up feeling so boring after a bit, mostly that feels pointless.

To sum up, not enough weapon sets, or weapon sets are so specialized that you only have 1 choice in a given situation. Not enough good utility skills. Elites are with some exceptions mostly not all that elite.

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

On another note, none of them feel special via story. I don’t feel like a Guardian. I just feel like a common soldier. My class has no depth. Where is my super cool Guardian’s Guild of Guardians who practice the Guardian ways? Like the Paladin order in WoW? I feel like just another person with abilities that feel different. I don’t feel apart of anything..

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

I don’t disagree with the gist of what you’re saying. But GW1’s PvP actually was at a sort of E-Sport level. Especially early on in the games life when they had a lot of tournaments going on, and GvG remained pretty E-sporty throughout the games life. PvP just died down a lot as the game got older and what we were left with was a whole bunch of people playing RA.

Aevic.9675:

On another note, none of them feel special via story. I don’t feel like a Guardian. I just feel like a common soldier. My class has no depth. Where is my super cool Guardian’s Guild of Guardians who practice the Guardian ways? Like the Paladin order in WoW? I feel like just another person with abilities that feel different. I don’t feel apart of anything..

Well what did WoW paladin differ from a common soldier? Also how is Guardian like a common soldier last time i looked a soldier ideally would not use any type of magic and would just use its weapons to preform the job of a soldier.
You want to feel different from other classes or do you want to feel different from other ppl playing the same class? If the 1st it is very different then other classes in GW2 Guardian is one of the more uniquest classes in the game its nearly a specialized class. If the 2ed that just the truth of playing a video game there is no different from other ppl playing the game.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

I don’t disagree with the gist of what you’re saying. But GW1’s PvP actually was at a sort of E-Sport level. Especially early on in the games life when they had a lot of tournaments going on, and GvG remained pretty E-sporty throughout the games life. PvP just died down a lot as the game got older and what we were left with was a whole bunch of people playing RA.

The thing is E-sport where there when GW1 was out and the best that came from pvp in GW1 during the time where in house torments. Even smash brother N64 (cant for the life of me remember the full name) had a major game for ppl to play vs each other and to this day ppl still play it as that level of competition. Its truth for other e-sport level games at that time that still hold out to this day. That was the problem with GW1 pvp it was fun in the moment but it had no true staying power. GW2 is Anet try at making a true e-sport level game.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

I don’t disagree with the gist of what you’re saying. But GW1’s PvP actually was at a sort of E-Sport level. Especially early on in the games life when they had a lot of tournaments going on, and GvG remained pretty E-sporty throughout the games life. PvP just died down a lot as the game got older and what we were left with was a whole bunch of people playing RA.

Yeah, it had esport potential early in it’s run Then complication creep completely destroyed that potential. GW2 has been simplified for good reason, GW1 was completely unapproachable beyond the basic game.

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

If a game needs to have boring 1-shot mechanics and gear focused progression to be considered an MMORPG than I’d rather they had not made GW2 an MMORPG.

Elbows.8461:

Elite skills suffer from a different set of problems. The majority of them do not synergize with or enhance your “goal” in what you do. 4 professions have 2 out of 3 elite skills that change your skill bar entirely. Elite skills that add utility in this way are definately cool, but this is way, way overdone. Most of the time it feels as though you’ve built your character for some specific purpose plotting out your stats/gear/skill combos, and then your biggest baddest move has very little to do with it. It almost feels like getting inside of a vehicle in WoW. PS: Why no elite skill capping/more elite skills? Exploring the world and pushing progression to snag that next elite skill to play around with was super ultra mega fun.

You are playing Guild Wars 2 expecting it to be Guild Wars 1.

In GW1, elite skills were usually the core of a build. The rest of the build would be built around the elite, if not directly linked to it at least taking it in consideration. In GW2, this has been changed so the weapon skills are the core of a build. It’s as expected, then, that the elite skills would become significantly less important, and lose most of their synergism with the rest of the skill bar.

In the context of GW2, this isn’t a bad thing. Elite skills have become more like unique resources to be used sporadically and less the powerful, almost always available skills they were in GW1, so it’s only to be expected that they would be seem as less important in the game.

Conncept.7638:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

I don’t disagree with the gist of what you’re saying. But GW1’s PvP actually was at a sort of E-Sport level. Especially early on in the games life when they had a lot of tournaments going on, and GvG remained pretty E-sporty throughout the games life. PvP just died down a lot as the game got older and what we were left with was a whole bunch of people playing RA.

Yeah, it had esport potential early in it’s run Then complication creep completely destroyed that potential. GW2 has been simplified for good reason, GW1 was completely unapproachable beyond the basic game.

The ‘completely unapproachable’ difficulty is what kept me from getting bored with the game during the first month that I played it.

The Guardian wasn’t meant to be WoW-Paladin like, as far as I can see it and have read from the wiki’s lore. People just associate it to WoW’s Paladin, but it’s not even like a D&D Paladin. Of course, feel free to play it as one, just don’t be too surprised if it’s not the WoW-Paladin experience-it’s supposed to be a mix of GW1 Paragon and Monk traditions over time.

I personally see my Guardian as a Battle Cleric of sorts, her rather low hit points don’t put her into the “true Soldier” category. I admit this is all subjective, though, so feel free to play your Guardian whichever way you see fit.

stayBlind.7849:

The ‘completely unapproachable’ difficulty is what kept me from getting bored with the game during the first month that I played it.

The poster you are quoting wrote it poorly, but the issue is that Guild Wars 1 has simply too many skills. ArenaNet itself cannot balance them. In fact, they have had to overhaul some professions, make sweeping changes in one more, and leave one profession broken now that they have stopped balance changes.

In order to keep PvP more or less balanced, ArenaNet just kept a high number of skills underpowered, so they would get out of the way when balancing the game. The result is that a game with 1000 skills had actually 250 viable skills which everyone used all the time.

The idea behind GW2 is that we would have less skills, but all of them would be viable, so we would have less than the 1000 skills in GW1 but more than the 250 viable skills there.

That idea unfortunatelly failed. ArenaNet cannot keep up to balance the game properly even with less skills. Which is just proof of how having more skills than we currently do would actually be worse, as the game would be even less balanced than it is right now.

Erasculio.2914:

stayBlind.7849:

The ‘completely unapproachable’ difficulty is what kept me from getting bored with the game during the first month that I played it.

The poster you are quoting wrote it poorly, but the issue is that Guild Wars 1 has simply too many skills. ArenaNet itself cannot balance them. In fact, they have had to overhaul some professions, make sweeping changes in one more, and leave one profession broken now that they have stopped balance changes.

In order to keep PvP more or less balanced, ArenaNet just kept a high number of skills underpowered, so they would get out of the way when balancing the game. The result is that a game with 1000 skills had actually 250 viable skills which everyone used all the time.

The idea behind GW2 is that we would have less skills, but all of them would be viable, so we would have less than the 1000 skills in GW1 but more than the 250 viable skills there.

That idea unfortunatelly failed. ArenaNet cannot keep up to balance the game properly even with less skills. Which is just proof of how having more skills than we currently do would actually be worse, as the game would be even less balanced than it is right now.

I hardly see how this is a step forward. Not only do we have a smaller pool of skills in GW2 (many of which outshine others as you’ve said), we also have the same problem with traits.

So, ANet’s logic was to reduce the skill pool by only having a fraction of the total number of skills from GW1, and replacing the ‘unwanted’ skills from GW1 with traits.

We now have the same problem of skill/trait balance. So, why change the system in the first place?

I would also like to quote a Magic: the Gathering senior designer:

And before anyone quotes me with the argument of “People only ran meta builds” I would like to point out that, again, nothing has changed (zerker groups). Meta builds were in no way required to do content (just like GW2), but are the most efficient at doing content.

My point is that ANet has designed GW2 in a way where nothing has truly changed in regards to skill balance besides the fact that there is no longer as many fun options for each player to choose from.

stayBlind.7849:

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

If a game needs to have boring 1-shot mechanics and gear focused progression to be considered an MMORPG than I’d rather they had not made GW2 an MMORPG.

Witch one shot mechanic are you talking about? The ability to avoided attks with rolls (that in a lot of games now) the ability to simply move out of the ranges of attks or behind walls etc.. the ability to truly have team work with other players by combos (i mean realty do you think having a tank dps and a support is team work lol its just ppl playing to different goals in a fight they just happens to be playing near each other) the ability to use environment weapons to changes both pve and pvp fights the ability to hot switch weapons mid combat the ability to use f1-f4 for class only ability the ability to fight in a near 3d environment such as water the ability to use jump for more then just look you know jumping puzzles the ability to MOVE when attking (i still do not get why more games do not do this what your feet cant work if your arms are doing something?) So! ya there no “boring 1-shot mechanics” its YOU whom is boring and killing your own ability to play GW2 because you cant get over your own hangs up with some small parts of the game.
BTW there was progression in GW1 you just more then like got into the game late so it was there before you got in so it was not what seemed to be progression to you. AND if you think what GW2 has is progression and you do not like progression i suggestion that you never play mmorpg or even rpg because they are leaps and bound beyond the NEED gear progression then that of GW2 oppositional progression. I think NW online is up to T2 for high end dungeons runs what next?

Well Thief has a lot of useless/broken utility skills that make this worst, as well as weapon skills that don’t fit your build but get stuck on your bar forever. I also find Ranger ones extremely boring and limited. Traps are cool but you need to be cond build.
I do miss having tons of skills to pick from in GW1. Also didn’t need to cover my bar in signets cuz nothng else works like with Ranger. ;/

This game is clearly not for you guys…

Jski.6180:

Aevic.9675:

On another note, none of them feel special via story. I don’t feel like a Guardian. I just feel like a common soldier. My class has no depth. Where is my super cool Guardian’s Guild of Guardians who practice the Guardian ways? Like the Paladin order in WoW? I feel like just another person with abilities that feel different. I don’t feel apart of anything..

Well what did WoW paladin differ from a common soldier? Also how is Guardian like a common soldier last time i looked a soldier ideally would not use any type of magic and would just use its weapons to preform the job of a soldier.
You want to feel different from other classes or do you want to feel different from other ppl playing the same class? If the 1st it is very different then other classes in GW2 Guardian is one of the more uniquest classes in the game its nearly a specialized class. If the 2ed that just the truth of playing a video game there is no different from other ppl playing the game.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

I don’t disagree with the gist of what you’re saying. But GW1’s PvP actually was at a sort of E-Sport level. Especially early on in the games life when they had a lot of tournaments going on, and GvG remained pretty E-sporty throughout the games life. PvP just died down a lot as the game got older and what we were left with was a whole bunch of people playing RA.

The thing is E-sport where there when GW1 was out and the best that came from pvp in GW1 during the time where in house torments. Even smash brother N64 (cant for the life of me remember the full name) had a major game for ppl to play vs each other and to this day ppl still play it as that level of competition. Its truth for other e-sport level games at that time that still hold out to this day. That was the problem with GW1 pvp it was fun in the moment but it had no true staying power. GW2 is Anet try at making a true e-sport level game.

Think you missed my point entirely and I understand why because I didn’t explain it really well. I mean there’s no lore behind how my class came to be. WoW offered a lot with stories revolving around certain classes. Hell, an entire expansion was dedicated to Paladins defeating the Undead Lich King. It even at one point had class specific quests specifically for paladins to get their Charger mount. I’m looking for that, I want depth to my profession. I don’t want the story to only be about me but my story of my profession. I mean, it’s even a part of your selection at the start. I picked Visionary but that hasn’t really been brought up yet.. the story is so lacking.

Jski.6180:

stayBlind.7849:

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

If a game needs to have boring 1-shot mechanics and gear focused progression to be considered an MMORPG than I’d rather they had not made GW2 an MMORPG.

Witch one shot mechanic are you talking about? The ability to avoided attks with rolls (that in a lot of games now) the ability to simply move out of the ranges of attks or behind walls etc.. the ability to truly have team work with other players by combos (i mean realty do you think having a tank dps and a support is team work lol its just ppl playing to different goals in a fight they just happens to be playing near each other) the ability to use environment weapons to changes both pve and pvp fights the ability to hot switch weapons mid combat the ability to use f1-f4 for class only ability the ability to fight in a near 3d environment such as water the ability to use jump for more then just look you know jumping puzzles the ability to MOVE when attking (i still do not get why more games do not do this what your feet cant work if your arms are doing something?) So! ya there no “boring 1-shot mechanics” its YOU whom is boring and killing your own ability to play GW2 because you cant get over your own hangs up with some small parts of the game.
BTW there was progression in GW1 you just more then like got into the game late so it was there before you got in so it was not what seemed to be progression to you. AND if you think what GW2 has is progression and you do not like progression i suggestion that you never play mmorpg or even rpg because they are leaps and bound beyond the NEED gear progression then that of GW2 oppositional progression. I think NW online is up to T2 for high end dungeons runs what next?

Sorry, but I found skill progression to be infinitely more fun than gear-stat progression.

As for my hang-ups with “small” parts of the game: all the awesome fluidity of the combat system doesn’t mean anything to me if the end result of combat is not enticing.

GW1 had that “Gotta Catch ’Em All!” feeling going for it. GW2 has… “Gotta Get That Shiny Gear With Better Stats!” going for it.

All I know is that an MMO with a skill system akin to a Collectable Card Game would have been revolutionary…

stayBlind.7849:

Jski.6180:

stayBlind.7849:

Jski.6180:

Well GW1 was a single player game that had co op. Also its pvp was not made to be at an E-sport level. GW2 is just a comply different type of game then GW1 and there are truths to what GW2 is an mmorpg that you must deal with that was not problem in GW1 that was NOT an mmorpg.

If a game needs to have boring 1-shot mechanics and gear focused progression to be considered an MMORPG than I’d rather they had not made GW2 an MMORPG.

Witch one shot mechanic are you talking about? The ability to avoided attks with rolls (that in a lot of games now) the ability to simply move out of the ranges of attks or behind walls etc.. the ability to truly have team work with other players by combos (i mean realty do you think having a tank dps and a support is team work lol its just ppl playing to different goals in a fight they just happens to be playing near each other) the ability to use environment weapons to changes both pve and pvp fights the ability to hot switch weapons mid combat the ability to use f1-f4 for class only ability the ability to fight in a near 3d environment such as water the ability to use jump for more then just look you know jumping puzzles the ability to MOVE when attking (i still do not get why more games do not do this what your feet cant work if your arms are doing something?) So! ya there no “boring 1-shot mechanics” its YOU whom is boring and killing your own ability to play GW2 because you cant get over your own hangs up with some small parts of the game.
BTW there was progression in GW1 you just more then like got into the game late so it was there before you got in so it was not what seemed to be progression to you. AND if you think what GW2 has is progression and you do not like progression i suggestion that you never play mmorpg or even rpg because they are leaps and bound beyond the NEED gear progression then that of GW2 oppositional progression. I think NW online is up to T2 for high end dungeons runs what next?

Sorry, but I found skill progression to be infinitely more fun than gear-stat progression.

As for my hang-ups with “small” parts of the game: all the awesome fluidity of the combat system doesn’t mean anything to me if the end result of combat is not enticing.

GW1 had that “Gotta Catch ’Em All!” feeling going for it. GW2 has… “Gotta Get That Shiny Gear With Better Stats!” going for it.

All I know is that an MMO with a skill system akin to a Collectable Card Game would have been revolutionary…

And you used them all? Because that is a “Gotta Catch ’Em All!” not just simply getting them all. If you did not use them then you where just grinding for skills in GW1.

I completely agree that GW1’s system was far, far, FAR more interesting than GW2’s system.

Let’s make a comparison between both games’ building systems.

In GW1, you have 8 blank slots for skills (and attributes to add tactical restrictions to the kind of skills you can add) and you have the equipment upgrades for some extra passive effects.

In GW2, you have weapon skills; the optional, categorized skills; equipment stats; equipment upgrades; and traits. Within traits, you have a second source of stat boosts.

It’s clear that GW1 does more with less, which is a sign of great design, while GW2 does less with more, which makes its design a bit too busy.

Especially when we look at the consequences of each build system. GW1 was hard to balance, especially when more skills were introduced, but otherwise, it was a very fun concept that pushed for creativity, added a lot of gameplay diversity, was more role-playing immersive, and had very fun skill hunting and elite skill hunting systems to boot. While remaining very simple and easy to pick up. GW2 was, in theory, supposed to be easier to balance, but you can’t see the results: GW2 has been having very restricted metas, not unlike GW1’s old metas. Meanwhile, GW2’s building is more complicated for no other good reason, skill hunting has disappeared, “deck-building” has been substituted by the traits system, a much worse system where instead of unique skills with unique icons, you have generic passive boosts under roman numerals, and build customisation as a whole has been and keeps being crippled by gear-grinding.

Also, to answer to Jski, skill-hunting is not about “you use them all, or else you’re just grinding them”. That logic applies to gear hunting, but makes no sense to skill hunting. That’s because, first, people don’t know how good the skill is until they get it and experiment with it; second, people are always evaluating the skills to see how they fit their build; and third, changing builds is part of the fun, so skills you might not use for one build, might be used for another.

stayBlind.7849:

I hardly see how this is a step forward. Not only do we have a smaller pool of skills in GW2 (many of which outshine others as you’ve said), we also have the same problem with traits.

So, ANet’s logic was to reduce the skill pool by only having a fraction of the total number of skills from GW1, and replacing the ‘unwanted’ skills from GW1 with traits.

We now have the same problem of skill/trait balance. So, why change the system in the first place?

I would also like to quote a Magic: the Gathering senior designer:

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Q: “Why does R&D print ridiculously bad cards in sets, particularly as rares?” —Elliot Fertik, Philadelphia, PA

A: From Mark Rosewater, Magic senior designer:
“This is a very complex question that I’m sure I’ll discuss in greater detail in a future column. But the short answer is that weak cards are a fundamental part of the game. Richard Garfield has described Magic as a ‘game of exploration.’ Much of the fun of the game comes from players examining each new set to see what they can discover. Many players take great enjoyment in finding use of cards that others dismiss. R&D cannot make bad cards that are secretly good without also making bad cards that are actually bad.

“The history of Magic is filled with ‘sucky’ cards that later show up in high-profile decks (High Tide, Despotic Scepter, Lion’s Eye Diamond, etc.). The reason that a large percentage of these cards are rare is that we tend to avoid making cards with narrow functions common or uncommon because they have no role in limited. One way to get a good appreciation of how cards rise in value as players find uses for them is to go back and look at a review of an old set.”

And before anyone quotes me with the argument of “People only ran meta builds” I would like to point out that, again, nothing has changed (zerker groups). Meta builds were in no way required to do content (just like GW2), but are the most efficient at doing content.

My point is that ANet has designed GW2 in a way where nothing has truly changed in regards to skill balance besides the fact that there is no longer as many fun options for each player to choose from.

You didn’t seriously bring up MTG did you? Because there isn’t a game in existence more aptly illustrates how wrong you are. Years ago tourney MTG was dying, players couldn’t take it seriously anymore, the card pool had grown complicated to the point of being one turn 3 win deck versus another turn 3 win deck. It was nothing but luck, one completely incalculably small build decision could make the 1 turn difference that would win the game. Strategy and counterplay were completely dead. Do you know how they fixed it? The organized the tourney system to only allow cards from a certain number of sets. Or in layman’s terms, they limited the build pool! Tournament level MTG was saved by doing exactly what you are claiming should have never been done to GW2! And it has grown for it just like GW2 has grown much faster than GW1 ever did.

I don’t share OP’s feeling. I am playing now about 1.5 k hours. I have a mesmer, two warriors, three guardians and an elementalist in level 80. These four classes play very differently. And they have a lot of depth in my opinion. The combination of utility skills, traits, weapon skills and rune/sigil effects is very interesting for me. Personally I think that is a great system.

I think he might be talking about how some classes (ahem cough warrior) got their elites looked at and improved while others didn’t

I’d love for my elites to be dramatically improved for engineer.

For example, the recently removed the Elixir S functionality entirely by making it not protect us anymore, why not make us immune to damage while we’re in the tornado form or the giant form? it doesn’t last that long and we’d be able to cc while doing some decent damage for the duration.

I’d also love to see them improve mortar because it’s in dire need it’s more worthless then the non-human racials right now. no protection when on it, hardly a bit more hitpoints then our turrets, basically just as worthless. and then it can’t stand alone and fire if we’re not on it or fire in melee range.

stayBlind.7849:

All I know is that an MMO with a skill system akin to a Collectable Card Game would have been revolutionary…

It’s kind of funny you describe it like that, as I’ve always liked to refer to (the original) PSO’s gear system as a gear-CCG, and that was the most fun a game could be to me.

GW’s build system though? Not so much. I’ll admit that elite skill hunting was probably one of the more fun parts of the game, but all the normal skills that were just go to outpost → Buy were… less so… And that things seemed to be balanced around the idea that you would be using ‘meta’-builds though kind of put a damper on the enjoyment all those skills might have brought.

If refined and expanded on, I guess I could see the collection aspect working though. Collecting stuff (that doesn’t feel like forced and pointless bloat [IE: Achievements] is the most fun thing about games to me after all… Getting all the pets was one of the only really grand things about maining a ranger…

And hell, back in the early days before GW2’s release, one of my class ideas was for a summoner akin to Keats from Folklore. Basically, the profession mechanic would be that you could steal tkittenence from every enemy type in the game to get a unique ability utilizing that creature’s strengths.
But I suppose that wouldn’t be viable as it stands. :-(