I understand that if someone browses the forums they are actually literate and don’t require someone to hold their hand as they figure out how to press the 1 key repeatedly, so this this question won’t reach the correct people, but I figured I’d ask anyway.
My biased writing aside, does anyone actually think this is good for the future of GW2, and why?
Personally, I don’t. edit: I’m going to revise my opinion down to “not fussed”. Leveling is even faster than it was before so the “gates” aren’t as awful as I thought they’d be.
However, for a new player (really new) this won’t be awful. Experienced MMo players probably won’t like having their hands held too much but anybody else shouldn’t find an issue with it. Unless they listen to whinging vets (like I’ve been doing…). I’ve been running lowbies around this morning to try it out and its no great hardship…just change.
Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!
Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?
Apparently this system works really, really well in China. What Anet seems to forget is that what works in China does not always work in the West. A very casual glance at video games popular in China and popular in the West will make that dreadfully clear.
to people who have been playing this game awhile and know how combat flows and how to dodgeroll while tabbing between four class skills and coming out exactly where you need to be at the end, this probably does seem frivolous. i have some friends who just came over to GW2 from another MMO, though, and the change in controls was like culture shock. they weren’t unable to do anything, by any means, but i had to coach them through a LOT of stuff, because, as it turns out, there’s a lot to learn when you first get started.
this absolutely will make the game more accessible to new players who want to come over from other titles. hopefully it will drop the learning curve, too. i don’t see how it could be anything but a benefit to have new players in possession of a firmer grasp on what they’re doing.
I like the Content Direction System. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people in the Players Helping Players section complain that they can’t get enough experience or don’t know what to do to level up. And in one memorable case complain that they kept being “waylaid” by events while trying to ‘quest’, then in the same topic complained that just doing hearts and absolutely nothing else wasn’t giving them enough experience.
I think this system will help with those issues by making it clearer just how many things there are to do. I haven’t tested it for this yet but I think it might also help with that annoying point when you think you’ve finished a map and have one POI left to find which you can’t see.
And if you don’t want it you can turn it off.
I think grouping the personal story into chapters will make it easier to remember what happened, even if the gaps between chapters are longer, so I’m ok with that one.
But locking so much stuff away at low levels? All I can think is they saw people saying they don’t know what to do with all their Tomes of Knowledge and Experience Scrolls and decided to give us an incentive to skip lower levels by making them painfully boring. I actually liked playing low level characters, but from now on I think I’ll be jumping them up to level 20 before I start and not making them if I don’t have a way to do that.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
The game is now easy enough that I will be buying my five-year-old son a copy to play with.
As an adult who is experienced in MMOs and has a full selection of characters, I would never want to play GW2 in its current state as my first-time experience. They’ve slowed down basic progression to a crawl for no apparent reason, and I would put down the game in ten levels or so with no clear incentive to continue in sight. TBH in my first play I did almost put the game down before traits unlocked at 10 and gave me something to look forward to.
However, the new system will be perfect for my son and will serve well as his first introductory MMO. As much as I don’t like the changes from a “What I Prefer” standpoint, they did just earn a sale by making the game more palatable to a younger and less-experienced audience.
to people who have been playing this game awhile and know how combat flows and how to dodgeroll while tabbing between four class skills and coming out exactly where you need to be at the end, this probably does seem frivolous. i have some friends who just came over to GW2 from another MMO, though, and the change in controls was like culture shock. they weren’t unable to do anything, by any means, but i had to coach them through a LOT of stuff, because, as it turns out, there’s a lot to learn when you first get started.
this absolutely will make the game more accessible to new players who want to come over from other titles. hopefully it will drop the learning curve, too. i don’t see how it could be anything but a benefit to have new players in possession of a firmer grasp on what they’re doing.
When I first started I didn’t even know how to move. I was used to always using click to move in RPGs (and hadn’t been playing much except RPGs and RTSs for a while). I really struggled with moving and attacking at the same time.
And I think having so much hidden and unlocked slowly would actually have made it more confusing because I’d have to keep adjusting my system to allow for new things instead of being able to see what I had to deal with and figuring it out. Especially the profession mechanics.
I guess it does remind me of a lot of JRPGs where you have to play for about 10 hours to get a feel for even the basic abilities your character will eventually have, so it’s not like it’s a totally alien system but it’s definitely not my favourite.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
Apparently this system works really, really well in China. What Anet seems to forget is that what works in China does not always work in the West. A very casual glance at video games popular in China and popular in the West will make that dreadfully clear.
Quoted for truth – I really hate the way this is going.
i tried it just so i would know.
Its really boring now, and becomes more focused on leveling than playing/exploration. 10 levels before you get a personal story is boring.
i imagine engineer will be one of the most boring classes, since it needs utilities which are substantially pushed back.
on the plus side
every time you gain a level you feel like you are slowly becoming uncrippled.
the arrow that points where to go, i think is the most useful change for newbies.
lots of twinkles and shaky stuff to click when you level.
makes you realize how much better the system used to be overall
this like a 101 class on how to shoot your own foot,
So kittening Awful .
Makes leveling alts painfuly boring .
Better stack lveling tomes and go full on crafting.
Dont know what you where thinking,it was bad before with the trait system rework ,now is simply awful.
New players will deal with it, because they do not know better. Veterans have tomes for quick leveling, so I do. I couldn’t care less.
…
I don’t really care but that is because I will never be using it. No more alts for me.
I think the outcome will be that experienced players who do not use this system will not be able to help new players, creating yet a bigger gap between new players and veteran players.
Just made an alt to test it. The beginning experience is very boring. They Took out everything that made the beginning areas good (and a learning experience). And not to talk about the timegating of basic game mechanics, its not good.
New players will deal with it, because they do not know better. Veterans have tomes for quick leveling, so I do. I couldn’t care less.
Btw.: Someone (German language knowledge required) just told me, he did 10 levels in about a hour.
doing 10 levels in an hour is not a great feat. doing personal story got you a lot of levels in the same time.
key farmers will tell you, you can get to level 6 in old system in 17-20 minutes. The speeding up of leveling is actually only becoming equal with doing personal story, except that was a lot more entertaining, because you had skills, a reason to use different weapons, and specific goals with the personal story.
on a lvl 6 guard so far ‘more relevant loot’ has meant getting a mace, followed by a mace and to switch it up look a mace!… Great stuff, considering i’m levelling on staff
So they removed hard-hitting, condition-applying enemies in low level zones… while also removing the ability to dodge and heal early on. Take more things away and dumb the game down more, please!
And i wasnt new when i fist started playing? So i do have reference, dont i.
it’s boring to you now because you know all of this stuff now, on top of some sense of nostalgia for the old system. like… you still can’t compare you running the new starter zone now, having gone through the game, and someone brand-new who has never touched it before picking it up for the first time.
The one thing this game really lacked while leveling was a feeling of progression. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve leveled without even noticing, or went to spend a trait point (in the original system) and found I had three to spend, because I hadn’t noticed. The drops mostly couldn’t be used. I was level 20 wearing some level 1 stuff still. It wasn’t the best way to introduce people to the game.
Now, tutorials pop up when you level. Rewards come when you level. Hell in the old system, you didn’t even learn your stats went up unless you looked for it. Otherwise it was just a level.
And due to the increased speed of the 1-15, I’d say this is a fair trade off.
The one thing this game really lacked while leveling was a feeling of progression. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve leveled without even noticing, or went to spend a trait point (in the original system) and found I had three to spend, because I hadn’t noticed. The drops mostly couldn’t be used. I was level 20 wearing some level 1 stuff still. It wasn’t the best way to introduce people to the game.
Now, tutorials pop up when you level. Rewards come when you level. Hell in the old system, you didn’t even learn your stats went up unless you looked for it. Otherwise it was just a level.
And due to the increased speed of the 1-15, I’d say this is a fair trade off.
The one thing this game really lacked while leveling was a feeling of progression. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve leveled without even noticing, or went to spend a trait point (in the original system) and found I had three to spend, because I hadn’t noticed. The drops mostly couldn’t be used. I was level 20 wearing some level 1 stuff still. It wasn’t the best way to introduce people to the game.
Now, tutorials pop up when you level. Rewards come when you level. Hell in the old system, you didn’t even learn your stats went up unless you looked for it. Otherwise it was just a level.
And due to the increased speed of the 1-15, I’d say this is a fair trade off.
I’m not sure what your point is. If it makes the game more enjoyable, it makes the game more enjoyable. Yes people do often play MMOs for rewards.
If you take the rewards out of the game, who’ll be left playing.
The skinner box is actually more akin to black lion chests or what they do in WoW when you raid but you’re not guaranteed a reward. Getting an automatic reward really isn’t a skinner box anyway.
so what makes it faster to level early on? did they reduced the exp?
I’m confused, beside making renown heart easier.
Seems to me that the events give more xp as well, but I haven’t played a character from level 2 to 7 for a while so maybe not. The levels are coming fast though.
Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!
Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?
to people who have been playing this game awhile and know how combat flows and how to dodgeroll while tabbing between four class skills and coming out exactly where you need to be at the end, this probably does seem frivolous. i have some friends who just came over to GW2 from another MMO, though, and the change in controls was like culture shock. they weren’t unable to do anything, by any means, but i had to coach them through a LOT of stuff, because, as it turns out, there’s a lot to learn when you first get started.
this absolutely will make the game more accessible to new players who want to come over from other titles. hopefully it will drop the learning curve, too. i don’t see how it could be anything but a benefit to have new players in possession of a firmer grasp on what they’re doing.
Whilst we’re at it, it will save the dungeon thread a massive headache from people complaining about how they got kicked for [insert reason].
so what makes it faster to level early on? did they reduced the exp?
I’m confused, beside making renown heart easier.
Seems like everything is giving more experience. I’ve made a bunch of alts, and this is by far the fastest I’ve ever leveled, without even trying. I’m getting a level about every ten to twelve minutes.
So they removed hard-hitting, condition-applying enemies in low level zones… while also removing the ability to dodge and heal early on. Take more things away and dumb the game down more, please!
They didn’t remove the ability to dodge or heal. I dodged an attack in the starter instance and dodged whenever I wanted at low level. There is also the heal skill right there, same as always.
so what makes it faster to level early on? did they reduced the exp?
I’m confused, beside making renown heart easier.
Seems like everything is giving more experience. I’ve made a bunch of alts, and this is by far the fastest I’ve ever leveled, without even trying. I’m getting a level about every ten to twelve minutes.
you used to get to level 6 in 17-20 minutes in most key farms, so doesnt seem any faster. However leveling without personal story is probably faster. So it probably evens out.
The one thing this game really lacked while leveling was a feeling of progression. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve leveled without even noticing, or went to spend a trait point (in the original system) and found I had three to spend, because I hadn’t noticed. The drops mostly couldn’t be used. I was level 20 wearing some level 1 stuff still. It wasn’t the best way to introduce people to the game.
Now, tutorials pop up when you level. Rewards come when you level. Hell in the old system, you didn’t even learn your stats went up unless you looked for it. Otherwise it was just a level.
And due to the increased speed of the 1-15, I’d say this is a fair trade off.
Pigs must be flying.. as I actually agree with Vayne! :o
I’ve found the 1-10 experience nice enough so far and I love the level up notices and extra rewards. I actually prefer this method of unlocking weapon skills. The arrows pointing you to nearby events and whatnot is cool as well. The new system isn’t nearly as bad or dumbed down as people are making it out to be imo.
I don’t like the story gating though. And I’ve a feeling I won’t like waiting until 40 for an elite. And the gutting of the first heart in Queensdale was totally unneeded.
so what makes it faster to level early on? did they reduced the exp?
I’m confused, beside making renown heart easier.
Seems like everything is giving more experience. I’ve made a bunch of alts, and this is by far the fastest I’ve ever leveled, without even trying. I’m getting a level about every ten to twelve minutes.
So they removed hard-hitting, condition-applying enemies in low level zones… while also removing the ability to dodge and heal early on. Take more things away and dumb the game down more, please!
They didn’t remove the ability to dodge or heal. I dodged an attack in the starter instance and dodged whenever I wanted at low level. There is also the heal skill right there, same as always.
And I was just hit by conditions in Caledon. Doesn’t look like people are really giving it a go.
Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!
Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?
So they removed hard-hitting, condition-applying enemies in low level zones… while also removing the ability to dodge and heal early on. Take more things away and dumb the game down more, please!
I got downed by a veteran boar (low level guards always have felt squishy :P) and I also had a skritt apply a cripple to me at level 8 or so. Dodging has not been disabled, plus there’s a mini tutorial on it and I most certainly had a heal at lvl 2.
Doesn’t look like people are really giving it a go.
No, once again ANet is doing a horrible job at communicating information when they start making changes to core game systems. Not that this would make all the ire go away, because the Skill Unlocks are still very much hard locks and make for some very dull play-styles from 1-80.
Doesn’t look like people are really giving it a go.
No, once again ANet is doing a horrible job at communicating information when they start making changes to core game systems. Not that this would make all the ire go away, because the Skill Unlocks are still very much hard locks and make for some very dull play-styles from 1-80.
No, I’ll stand by my statement. Particularly in light of that quote chain from which you snipped my statement. If you need Anet to hold your hand and explain every single nuance of a change then that’s your problem.
Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!
Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?
errm, wasn’t it always generally fast to level up as long as you did hearts, and events?
I remember it being a breeze leveling in early zones in the past.
Do the patch notes say there’s been an increase in exp gained for events+hearts? I may have glossed over it.
Really, I’m so thankful I’ve been playing for a year and I already have a character of every profession that is level 80. I actually made a new character after patch to see what it would be like for new players or characters and – oh my! – it was AWFUL!!!!!!
Talk about Grind Wars 2!!!! I feel soooooooo bad for new players or for players who didn’t make all their characters yet. Talk about the world’s most BORING GRIIIIIIIIIIIND to level. It’s just boring. You literally can’t do anything when you’re starting out other than those extremely dull hearts that make you want to bang your head against a wall. You only get access to skill 1??? Wow. How are people supposed to learn how to use their characters when they can’t even access a basic skill bar until level 10? LOL It’s just terrible. Like ‘holy crow! this is insanely boring!’ terrible. The bad part is I like fresh blood, and if people are welcomed with “hello! now go forth and grind, grind, grind”, its a massive turn-off.
My question is – how in the world does China like that kind of game play???? There is nothing remotely enticing about it!
I realize leveling is fast but I do not like all these new restrictions. Only being able to use 3 weapon skills until level 7. Boring. Utlities unlocking later. Again, it just makes combat seem boring.
I really dislike not being able to do skill challenges when I see them in 1-5 level areas. If these are unable to be done, move them please. It’s annoying when I try to systemically clean up a map and know I’ll have to come back later to do something thats RIGHT in front of me. Makes no sense.
Why take out nodes from that area too? It’s almost TOO much hand holding. Seriously, when the game first came out it only took a day or two to figure out the mechanics and crafting.
I turned off the compass as soon as it told my level 4 character she should venture into Diessa Plataue.
so what makes it faster to level early on? did they reduced the exp?
I’m confused, beside making renown heart easier.
Seems like everything is giving more experience. I’ve made a bunch of alts, and this is by far the fastest I’ve ever leveled, without even trying. I’m getting a level about every ten to twelve minutes.
Is this true from 20-80?
Nope, only 1-15 as far as I know. They’ve turned 1-15 zones into tutorial zones and moved the “real content” to the next zone up.
So they removed hard-hitting, condition-applying enemies in low level zones… while also removing the ability to dodge and heal early on. Take more things away and dumb the game down more, please!
They didn’t remove the ability to dodge or heal. I dodged an attack in the starter instance and dodged whenever I wanted at low level. There is also the heal skill right there, same as always.
And I was just hit by conditions in Caledon. Doesn’t look like people are really giving it a go.
Yeah I got hit by a condition in Queensdale too by a Veteran centaur.
It’s not that i don’t like them, it’s just that i don’t mind them because eventually those annoyances will dissapear once you reach level 40.
The only people who should be up in arms are keyfarmers.
