Guild Wars 2

SamTheGuardian.2938:

I am now 100% convinced that those in charge at ArenaNet are detached from the needs and desires of their player base. Not only was the new Lost Shores level 80 zone quite boring during the past weekend event, what it left behind is also half-backed. The zone has no dungeon to offer and no large scale meta event (e.g. Claw of Jormag) cycling every three hours. As a result of these missing bits (very important bits) it feels half-baked. Perhaps a desperate attempt to put something out to stop the hemorrhaging loss of player log-ins each week and declining new account sales.

It’s actually quite frustrating seeing half-baked new content arrive when foundation bits are still missing. For example, try to go find a group to level 1 Fractal dungeon now. You’ll be waiting some time on many servers (if you can find one at all). The player base has been requesting a cross-server LFG tool for a while now. Had that critical feature been in place prior to Fractals arriving it would have added great value. As it stands now the new dungeon is just frustrating because players can’t even find a group.

It’s this sort of thing that tells me the staff at ArenaNet are chasing their tail. They don’t have a clear vision anymore, they desperate to find things they can do in short time windows to try and save their game. Unfortunately for them it won’t work. I’m not trying to be negative. What I see is quite easy (and disappointing) for anyone to see if you really look at the data.

I still think Anet had an AMAZING game going at the start, and up til Mad King, GW2 was really really fun. Mad King was a freaking troll!

Then something happened during/on the Lost Shore development. And in one weekend, everything fell out of favor, literally everything.

Actually, I’m pretty curious about ‘the thing that happened’, aren’t you?

francisling.2987:

Southsun did not live up to it’s hype, and Cursed Shore is now 80% empty.

I’m sorry if I offend you Anet, but nerfing Plinx and Pent while not giving us any other alternatives, was not very thoughtful.

I am by no means a casual, but I’m not someone who would usually spend a whole hour or more on dungeons such as FotM.

I used to log in at Cursed Shore for 15-30 minutes, do a few rounds of Plinx, laugh around with the crowds, have an idle chat with the lovely community in the Map chat, and log off.

Cursed Shore wasn’t just a farming spot, it has became a ‘Community’ of sorts, with people running around, chatting, helping each other when they see someone i trouble. Now, it’s probably 80% less crowd than it used to be.

And sorry to say, I thought Southsun had a lot of potential if it ‘fully opened’, but for now, it’s a lame place with a few wandering players.

I don’t know if everyone quit GW2, or Cursed Shore is not a viable farming area anymore, what I know is, the community ingame is pretty much fragmented now, each doing their own thing, wandering around.

well how is this a surpise? GuildWars 2 was not advertised as grinding MMO. Why it wasn’t was above me. But people tried to grind anyways and were sent by Anet a Nuclear Nerf. The remains are pitiful.

Revolution, Guild Wars 2 was advertised as a ‘different kind’ of MMO, promising no ‘Holy Trinity’ and ‘No Grind’.

But unfortunately, the overall system IS a typical MMO.

And the solution on keeping promises? They obviously suppressed the ability to spec to a full healer or tanker, and now they suppressed ‘profitable’ farming areas.

Their overall way on keeping their promise has been very forceful, e.g. Leaving people no other choice but to do what ‘they were meant to do’.

Then comes the Lost Shore, agreeably half-baked’ as the last poster said, it didn’t tell us ‘what we were meant to do’ except FotM, and now a lot of us ’don’t know what to do’. And all hell breaks lose, along with the Ascended hell.

Sorry to sound poetic, but well I hope you get what I mean.

francisling.2987:

Revolution, Guild Wars 2 was advertised as a ‘different kind’ of MMO, promising no ‘Holy Trinity’ and ‘No Grind’.

But unfortunately, the overall system IS a typical MMO.

And the solution on keeping promises? They obviously suppressed the ability to spec to a full healer or tanker, and now they suppressed ‘profitable’ farming areas.

Their overall way on keeping their promise has been very forceful, e.g. Leaving people no other choice but to do what ‘they were meant to do’.

Then comes the Lost Shore, agreeably half-baked’ as the last poster said, it didn’t tell us ‘what we were meant to do’ except FotM, and now a lot of us ’don’t know what to do’. And all hell breaks lose, along with the Ascended hell.

Sorry to sound poetic, but well I hope you get what I mean.

When you look at a game like WoW. Then you look at Lord of the Rings on-line, AION and other successful MMORPGs that have come after you have to ask youself “why has no one challenged the proven systems”.

The reason is because THEY WORK and they are very hard to break and create something superior. The sad thing is GW2 is absolutely a step in the right direction. A huge leap in the right direction, but it fell short because it came to market too soon.

The play mechanics it provides other MMORPG makers are already building on. I’m sure Blizzard is setting back taking note as well…. I just really was rooting for this game and I’m frustrated they dropped the ball.

A lot of good posts in here… not going to quote everything, just wanted to add my voice…

PvE is dead. I’ve tried leveling alts but the areas seem abandoned.
At first I thought that most of the oceanic community must have quit but now I’m not sure that it was just the oceanics…

Personally… I’ve tried coming to terms with the changes, tried running FoM but it is just not my idea of fun. The problem seems to be that what I consider fun and what MMO devs in genereral consider to be fun is two completely different things.

Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be different.

I have 1 friend left in this game. It is getting more and more difficult to log in lately… soon there will be 2 more guys missing from map chat.

This what happens when devs completly forget what they were doing in their firts game. How about bringing back Zaishen challenges?

rgrwng.4072:

surprised there are no bots in Southcove, yet. i thought with how new it is, there was going to eventually be many bots down there. so far, i have not seen one. that should tell the community how bad it might really be.

Pretty sure the bot-runners themselves aren’t currently sure where would be best to go. I personally have a theory that making FotM the only place to be in the game right now was at least partly designed to be a botting deterrent.

After all, no matter how good the loot is, bots can’t run dungeons….can they?

Revolution.6301:

well how is this a surpise? GuildWars 2 was not advertised as grinding MMO. Why it wasn’t was above me. But people tried to grind anyways and were sent by Anet a Nuclear Nerf. The remains are pitiful.

No, only the people that were grinding in the wrong place got nerf-nuked. FotM grinding is not only approved, but even encouraged (or perhaps even mandatory).

1. ANET create a game.

2. people farm item.

3. ANET doesn’t like people farm item. they say people playing their game the wrong way, so they nerfed farming.

4. ANET create a gearing system that require so many T6 mats, and hence require farming.

5. but but…. go to 2.

I already miss pugging pen/shelter or Plinx in bugged shore…it was always fun for the loot and some chat

Yeah i play off hours, prime Australian time on a suppose Australian server and even la seems dead last couple days it’s been one post every 5 min for a dungeon tried a few times to run form only gotten 2 runs since it started. At least I really like spvp so I’m happy doing that for now, just holding for more more modes and a ladder soon

Yeah, Shelter’s Gate was the spot for me. Hang out, do DEs when they popped up (Nia and her darn gorillas) and spend the time in between messing with dye mixes.

I miss those days, I really do.

I hate dungeons and refuse to do them. I am levelling Alts and grinding rares. It’s lonely.

I hate Dungeons and I refuse to do them.
I loved Orr, not for the farming but for the constant events, the Temple runs and the map chat.It was a really lively map.
I also have alts.
It is lonely.

azizul.8469:

1. ANET create a game.

2. people farm item.

3. ANET doesn’t like people farm item. they say people playing their game the wrong way, so they nerfed farming.

4. ANET create a gearing system that require so many T6 mats, and hence require farming.

5. but but…. go to 2.

The way you put it….Oh the sheer irony!

Don’t like dungeons, i avoid them. Spent every other MMO doing dungeons, finally welcomed some game where open world is exciting.
I’d run dungeons for a monthly, but they are so boring i just can’t make myself do it.

I go to my alts, areas are empty, i have 3 champion events around me. I post in map chat asking for assistance – no reply, no one is showing up at the location (that i also linked for convenience) in the next 15 minutes. Moving on to the rest of the hearts/SPs, until i finally get out of this boring zone.

It’s a sad moment when you realize when bots made the game feel more alive with their 20 bears, and when people suggest to either be in LA for Fotm (ironically Flavor of the month, as well) to chat or gtfo back to WoW.

azizul.8469:

1. ANET create a game.

2. people farm item.

3. ANET doesn’t like people farm item. they say people playing their game the wrong way, so they nerfed farming.

4. ANET create a gearing system that require so many T6 mats, and hence require farming.

5. but but…. go to 2.

Heads up their kitten. Proof positive their iterative process is all wrong…. Having all end-game paths not really flushed out well (never ending changes to dungeons, unsuccessful balancing attempts for sPvP). The too much for them to control. Rumor is their lead designer (Eric Flannum) silently left the company shortly after launch. President and founder Mike O’Brien was very focal near launch and he’s been very quite in recent months. Where the kitten is everyone? Do they not know the importance of PR?

It’s empty zones on every server folks. This isn’t new btw, it’s been a slow death march since the diminished returns patch went in about a month after launch.

It’s the same song and dance as with every MMORPG. The game releases and the game studio has to react to unforeseen issues. In the case of GW2 it was their entire end-game concept was not flushed out enough (again, the game released half-baked). They also have dealt with an unsurmountable level of bugs.

What has been most telling in recent weeks is their approach to dealing with all of these issues, be it all these forum post or the empty zones in game that prove those of us posting are the vast majority, Anet is trying to take a page out of Apple’s playbook and just ignore the negative and focus on the positive in PR. That is another fatal mistake…

If I spend a few minutes in conversation with staff at Anet I would ask for Mike O"Brien, Jonathan Sharp and Colin Johansen to come in the room. I would look at them and ask “how does it feel to know seven years of you lifes work is going down the toliet so quickly? What are you doing to make sure your game is perfect before Christmas day…”.

The only possible saving grace

The holiday shopping season starts tomorrow. It’s possible (although highly unlikely with all player unhappiness) that enough people receive GW2 as a gift s to give it once last stand before… Time will tell. ArenaNet

brokenserenity.4638:

Cant help but think they introduced the new dungeon about a year to soon and have thus ruined the higher level pve areas by rendering them desolate places only those seeking to finish the storyline will venture, maybe they should hold off on adding more ascended gear into the game unitll they figure out how to make the none fotm parts viable again for those who dont care for ascended gear.

I feel the same way. It’s a great Dungeon, but they didn’t seem to give any thought to all the ways it would impact the rest of the game and, to a degree, turn the core game design on it’s head.

The game would have been much better served with a redoubling of focus on the game world, fixing broken events, adding new ones and adjusting drops in order to expand the options for players in the phase of game play where farming gold and mats has become the order of the day.

I’m really starting to be concerned about the goal behind nerfing farming opportunities. If I’m ever convinced that there is a transition to a model where players need to buy gems for gold in order to progress, I’ll be gone. I’m not nearly there yet, but I’m concerned.

francisling.2987:

Southsun did not live up to it’s hype

it’s way too soon to state so. They implemented this part of the map, but they are yet to implement the content (in terms of rewards). Somewhere on this forum you can already find some hint by A.Net officials that the next incoming update will involve exactly that.

and Cursed Shore is now 80% empty.

which timezone are you in? that counts a lot, since when I usually take a trip there, I see the usual zerg mincing mobs like there is no tomorrow.

I think at a certain point the game will reach some balance between casual and hardcore content. My hope is that both remains distinct and no dynamic of the game will be mandatory anyhow, so everyone can choose whatever they want to do whenever they want.

i just leveled my ranger to 80 over the weekend, finishing my story in the process. it was a very lonely journey. what really bit me wrong was when i stepped into Frostgorge at level 74, it seemed so inactive and lonely, when i finally came across another player, thinking they needed help with some mobs, they started harassing me and following me around. not because i might have needed the help (kind of did, actually), but because that person assumed i was a bot without even saying hello first, and did not even apologize, leaving my experience in Frostgorge, as well as playing a ranger in this game, very NOT motivational. that person was very rude and nasty to me, but alas, i did not report, because i thought about it, but in the end, tried to be better than them.

now i was hoping that, to differentiate myself from those ranger bots, i went ahead, got myself a short Glyphic bow (the asuran-styled one?) and T2 Norn Cultural. i mean, bots don’t really care about armor, and fight nekkid!, and a drake pet (not the bear ones that bots use!).

i wish i never started a ranger after that experience. thankfully i fought through that, and was able to finish and kill Zhaitan, but dang! i am scared to do anything on my ranger now – ANYTHING! i am afraid for my ranger’s life, as well as my entire account. I think i will keep playing my Ele and Guardian. i thought playing the ranger class and trying to enjoy it would have welcomed new experiences and variety to my monotone play style, but all it brought was hate and disgust from another player, enough to fear the class, itself.

- Forever alone.