Guild Wars 2

Okay so i’ve been playing guild wars few days now pretty much straight and i still find it hard to get into this game as of today, i bought this game when it was released and quit in the same month if i dont remember incorrectly for one particular reason.

Pretty much after that i thought there is a flaw with the game, maybe it’s just me that thinks this way, SO.

Do you guys think the skilling system in this game is a bit off putting?

I’m not here to hate the game i’m, here just for opinions and tips how to over come the issue or trauma.

I’ll give you my opinion from a player who also quit when I first bought the game.

1. I was used to other games where you can find some unique items at lower levels to use. Named weapons, armor, that are somewhat unique looking. In this game, your items up until level 80 are standard. Berserker Iron this and that. It made leveling up generic. There are karma items that have unique names, but they still act and look the same. That was my impression.

2. I was lost at first, but I believe there was no hearts when I started, and that has improved. I was not used to the dynamic events, but after a while I actually found it interesting, but not enough to to keep me playing at the time.

3. Combat was not engaging at lower levels at the time for me. I remember using a shield and it just made it harder cause I could not kill faster. As a warrior, there was really no need to use shield bash,ect. Since I returned about 1 year ago, I discovered the combat was actually what I was looking for. Somewhat action oriented with cooldown, instead of numbers popping up like most other MMO’s. Active combat.

The only other thing that did turn me off was the lack of unique items besides a nice skin as far as progression. I remember having a sword in EQ that procs lifesteal randomly. It was not game changing but did help. Unfortunately it would not fit into this games philisophy, as that would encourage groups that would request, must have this and that for groups.

But I don’t see why they couldn’t have very rare and unique items that can drop for anyone that can say, when rubbed create a specific food or utility buff that has unlimited uses., or even summon something. Nothing game changing . Everything just seems generic except as a skin for fashion wars.

All in all it’s still the best MMO out there IMO, not perfect but worth your money.

What about the skill system is off-putting? The way you get weapon skills or utility skills? The time it takes? Something else?

Also a lot of issues with getting into a game can be solved by joining a supportive guild. Plenty of guilds around are open to taking in newbies.

Mo Mo.1947:

What about the skill system is off-putting? The way you get weapon skills or utility skills? The time it takes? Something else?

Also a lot of issues with getting into a game can be solved by joining a supportive guild. Plenty of guilds around are open to taking in newbies.

Basically you get a weapon and all the skills are handed to you right from the get-go and you use the skills untill the max level.

Heart of Thorns bring something new to the table but i still find the skill system to be pretty weak, love the atmosphere in this game though and thats pretty much all that drives me forward for now.

What do you mean by weak skill system?

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

What do you mean by weak skill system?

“Basically you get a weapon and all the skills are handed to you right from the get-go”

Depends on what you play. If you want to have more skills and complex gameplay, try out Engineer or Elementalist (up to 30 skills). Also, the trait system puts in a bit more flavour (though not as strong as Diablo or WoW).

Only after a lot of hours you will notice certain combinations/rotations when you actually realize what a skill exactly does. Most noobs and casual players think you just hit the skills on cooldown, which results in the horrible bearbow ‘meta’ where people push back enemies out of AoEs of other players.

Best is read a guide in this forums for more information and first, just level to 80, the game really starts there and if you have HOT you also have a new subclass which substantially can change the playstyle.

Calloveri.8547:

Hoaxintelligence.4628:

What do you mean by weak skill system?

“Basically you get a weapon and all the skills are handed to you right from the get-go”

Your weapon skills are available pretty early, but depending on class, you can have a lot of different weapons and weapon combinations with different strengths and weaknesses. One thing you want to learn is what situation to use which weapons in, as that does make a big difference.

Then there are utility skills and traits, which you have to first unlock (via spending hero points) and then equip. Again, there are different utilities, and to make most of your toolset, you will find yourself switching them out depending on the situation (enemies, encounter mechanics, allied players arround you).

Traits even go so far as to changing/enhancing some of your weapon and/or utility skills drastically. Then there are weapon sigils and armor runes that again expand your combat powers in ways that sometimes are subtle but at other times are pretty much game-changing.

If you’ve only gone as far as checking out the plain weapon skills your class has with one kind of weapon, you’ve not even scratched the surface of this game’s skill and trait system. It’s all about combinations and synergies, and believe me, it takes a lot of practice, experimenting, and/or plain reading up to get a good grasp of the tools available to a single class, much less all nine of them.

Firstly they’ve changed it slightly so weapon skills are unlocked as you level up, instead of through using that weapon. So you won’t have access to them all right away (but it’s something like level 7 when they’re all unlocked, so still very quick).

Secondly I agree that it’s confusing and may seem limiting at first, if you’re used to other RPGs where all skills are unlocked gradually as you go through the game.

But it’s also deceptive because there’s a lot more to combat than just having access to 5 weapon skills.

All the weapons have different purposes, and different professions will use the same weapon for different purposes. At high levels using the right weapon/s for the situation is very important. Utility skills, traits and profession mechanics can also affect your weapon skills and how you use them.

So whilst you can just equip a weapon and use that 5 skills throughout the game you’re going to be at a serious disadvantage if you do, and when you start looking into the most effective builds for different areas of the game there’s a lot of variety, even though you are locked into those skills.

In short, keep playing, learn about conditions, control effects, the advantages of melee vs. ranged, traits etc. and see if you still feel the same once you’ve reached level 80 and played some of the areas which are harder than open-world PvE (like dungeons, WvW, PvP or Heart of Thorns).

It sure feels that way because a big part of it is hidden behind traits, runes and sigils synergies. The same skills change a lot with the right combination of the above. But that is something that is not visible.. its not flashy. That is where the gw2 skills “lose”. Other games have bigger and better animations as you progress your skill tree. You can “counter” that by getting a legendary weapon or a named exotic weapon skin that has some kind of different effects when used. But the basic animations remain the same. I believe that is what makes the skilling in the game “off putting”. Lastly the fact that half your bar is locked by the weapon you use and the other half is “soft” locked by the needs of your build makes one, me at least, feel that I got little to no control over my skills. That is how I see it. Although that is not something that made me stop playing since launch.