(edited by samanosuke.4508)
Why won't my friends play Guild Wars 2?
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My former guildees, who are not playing anything since we stopped playing WoW, will try new games and immediately compare it to WoW, no matter the game. Its annoying.
“Ohh wow this game is fun! Its giving me that sense of awe like when I first started playing WoW!!”
“Ah yeah, the classes are the same as WoW.”
“WoW does this”
me: “But XYZ game does it better, see?”
“Yeah, but they owe it to WoW. They don’t have to go through the growing pains with it”
me: “Then I guess WoW owes its existance to games like Everquest.”
“Eh, this game just looks like WoW to me”
“You mean, I have to move to avoid dying? Someone heal me please?”"
Karma is as abundant as air, and as useless as the Kardashians.
Most of my friends who used to play other games like WoW, Diablo etc. bought GW2 and stopped playing after 1 to 7 days. They just didn’t like it. Don’t know why. I initially had really fun with this game.
The second point is players who stopped after 2-6 months. Those stopped playing be cause there is no additional content. It becomes stale and we have nothing to work for. The biggest design fault is adding ascended gear WITHOUT the optoin to get them as rewards for harder dungeons. Other games add dungeons/raids with better loot, while we stand in LA and craft our BiS gear. What the kitten is that kitten?
‘would have/would’ve been’ —> correct
‘would of been’ —> wrong
‘would of been’ —> wrong
I always found this strange, as we used to play the first one, then played WoW for a long time, and a lot of my friends were looking for a new MMO to play that didn’t have a subscription fee.
I showed them Guild Wars 2 as it’s got mostly what they were looking for. More action based combat, good artwork, crafting, more focus on team work, etc. Unfortunately, for some reason this game never clicks with anyone. It has all these innovative mmo mechanics, yet they would rather play a standard WoW clone with less content.
I’m not asking to change someone’s mind as I know everyone has different taste, but what do you think it is that keeps people from getting into Guild Wars 2 like that?
Really, it boils down to time vs reward. GW2 has hundreds of great ideas, but it’s obscured by the fact that you have to grind hundreds of hours for the rewards, and at the end of the grind it leaves you feeling worse off than when you started, mostly because you worked hundreds of hours for a bow that shoots unicorns, but doesn’t make your character better in any way from before.
At least, that’s what all my friends told me. I had 4 RL friends that had bought the game with me, and I’m the only one that still plays. 2 went back to WoW. 1 plays Rift.
I think Anet just needs to work on their delivery of carrots on sticks, for instance, Ascended armor/weapons only being assuredly obtainable from crafting. That is dumb. Not a single one of the 5 of us bothers with crafting in MMO’s. It’s boring.
To counter that point, when other games (WoW, Rift, etc) release a new dungeon or new content, there is a purpose to doing it. You are guaranteed to get something out of it. If Anet can give their updates meaning and purpose, I feel like it would bring back some of the mass exodus.
Another reason I feel like it fails to draw in any of my RL friends, is because classes have no role or point beyond what flavor you like. But that is an issue I don’t see being resolved as easily as making the game more rewarding to play.
Whenever my friend asked me how to spec his traits for tanking, and I told him there was no reason to for PvE, he quit 2 days later. I honestly don’t know what they expected by only having DPS be a viable option in game. None of them wanted to play a system dumbed down for the masses, they wanted their choices to have meaning.
Anarai Aeonblade [GASM] – Guardian – DB
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
(edited by Aeonblade.8709)
Other games add dungeons/raids with better loot,
Which is exactly why a lot of people quit those games to come here. I personally just got over the whole treadmill. Spending months to get an armor set only to have it become obsolete weeks later when the new raid came out. After 4.5 years of constantly replacing my armor and weapons, I just had to stop.
I won’t stop because I can’t stop.
It’s a medical condition, they say its terminal….
It’s a medical condition, they say its terminal….
i kinda agree with the idea that there is simply no other mmo that one ps gw2 yet which is why i keep logging in.
i know i’m going to play eq landmark and next once they release, and i hope they will be as good as they promise, but in the meantime ill just keep on cooking and doing my dailies, and ofc the guild missions every week. i quite enjoy living story, so i partake in that, but i do agree the story telling itself is lacking.
A few of my friends bought the game at release and none of them still play. They prefer their stale but familiar mechanics to the new stuff. And really, they never gave it much of a chance. A few weeks maybe before they put it down. Months after release I got another friend to try and he’s still going today, but that’s one out five.
Personally, I can’t imagine ever going back to rooted combat again after the fluidity of GW2. It reminds me more of playing Battlechess now, than an MMO.
around 15 real life friends joined this game with me at closed beta… around 5 more joined within the first 2 weeks.
Only 2 returned after they all quit somewhere between the first 3-5 months after release.
Those 2 haven’t log back in a month already…
they loved the game…
loved…
I’m afraid we’ve already seen the best of GW2.
Zerk is the average Joe build. Don’t pat yourself in the back too hard.
Most of my friends love this game they just want more classes races and expansions. Cant blame them. MMOs always die down in the first year or so until an expansion comes out and offers more, and more, and more. Even the almighty Diablo 2 (which isnt a MMORPG just using an example) died down a year after launch. Once Lord of Destruction came out, that was it. People STILL play that kitten.
GW2 is very unique and people love it but without the growth and exploration people dont have reason to come back. Now, a lot of people that came back since before the living story was introduced have come back and stayed because they find it interesting… While other people have left because of it. Its a very interesting concept, but until we have a fully fleshed out expansion dont expect people to come back at all
A few of my friends bought the game at release and none of them still play. They prefer their stale but familiar mechanics to the new stuff. And really, they never gave it much of a chance. A few weeks maybe before they put it down. Months after release I got another friend to try and he’s still going today, but that’s one out five.
Personally, I can’t imagine ever going back to rooted combat again after the fluidity of GW2. It reminds me more of playing Battlechess now, than an MMO.
I don’t think your friends disliked gw2 because it’s “new and unfamiliar”, they played it for several weeks you said. That’s plenty of time to understand gw2.
Honestly, I see moving while casting is a gimmick. Something that satisfies immediately when compared to other combat systems, but contributes to gw2’s autoattack endgame. It would have been better if casting causes you to move at 50% speed (or even slower). Players should be punished for being in bad positions, but if you can just walk around freely there is no penalty for bad play.
D@mned if you do, d@mned if you don’t.
BLTC Gemstore could generate more revenue thru micro-transactions by providing consumers QoL or cosmetic enhancements without impacting the gameplay. It could also become a central-piece of the game where all the content is developed and distributed just to earn revenue though it
Trading Post could serve a great purpose by meeting needs of all the players across multiple servers but, it could also force the players to maximize their gold/hour route to stay solvent.
Character progression could be just an illusion thru constant mudflation or it could be meaningful where a character’s achievement journal tells the deeds as one embarks on an epic and challenging journey in Tyria
Achievement panel could be a great reflection of one’s deeds and abilities or it could be a mere checklist of items to do for getting tier based rewards.
Zerging could be a great open world experience where a world boss dominating a zone need to be subdued by overwhelming force or it could be used to trivialize every single content in the game.
Temporary Content paves path towards ever-changing world with new things to do, new places to explore. It could be an Epic journey like LOTRO’s epic quests. It could also be reduced to checklist completion.
Tank and spank could be a great teaming experience in a holy trinity setup or could be the mundane experience that every MMO has to offer.
Dodging and position Play could be very challenging by propoer use of setting up combo fields and utilizing them with apprpriate finishers or it could simply be ignored by using brute force glass cannon berserkers.
This is a never-ending list of things that exist in this game. All of them can be used to enhance user experience or to kill it. Sometimes what looks great as a concept may fare poorly during implementation; something that seems to be a great idea can fail miraculously during execution.
GW2 is suffering from poor execution of great ideas and failed implementation of interesting concepts.
Probably that’s why many people are feeling alienated from this game.
“If there is anyone here whom I have not offended, I am sorry.”
D@mned if you do, d@mned if you don’t.
BLTC Gemstore could generate more revenue thru micro-transactions by providing consumers QoL or cosmetic enhancements without impacting the gameplay. It could also become a central-piece of the game where all the content is developed and distributed just to earn revenue though it
Trading Post could serve a great purpose by meeting needs of all the players across multiple servers but, it could also force the players to maximize their gold/hour route to stay solvent.
Character progression could be just an illusion thru constant mudflation or it could be meaningful where a character’s achievement journal tells the deeds as one embarks on an epic and challenging journey in Tyria
Achievement panel could be a great reflection of one’s deeds and abilities or it could be a mere checklist of items to do for getting tier based rewards.
Zerging could be a great open world experience where a world boss dominating a zone need to be subdued by overwhelming force or it could be used to trivialize every single content in the game.
Temporary Content paves path towards ever-changing world with new things to do, new places to explore. It could be an Epic journey like LOTRO’s epic quests. It could also be reduced to checklist completion.
Tank and spank could be a great teaming experience in a holy trinity setup or could be the mundane experience that every MMO has to offer.
Dodging and position Play could be very challenging by propoer use of setting up combo fields and utilizing them with apprpriate finishers or it could simply be ignored by using brute force glass cannon berserkers.
This is a never-ending list of things that exist in this game. All of them can be used to enhance user experience or to kill it. Sometimes what looks great as a concept may fare poorly during implementation; something that seems to be a great idea can fail miraculously during execution.
GW2 is suffering from poor execution of great ideas and failed implementation of interesting concepts.
Probably that’s why many people are feeling alienated from this game.
Well said.
D@mned if you do, d@mned if you don’t.
BLTC Gemstore could generate more revenue thru micro-transactions by providing consumers QoL or cosmetic enhancements without impacting the gameplay. It could also become a central-piece of the game where all the content is developed and distributed just to earn revenue though it
Trading Post could serve a great purpose by meeting needs of all the players across multiple servers but, it could also force the players to maximize their gold/hour route to stay solvent.
Character progression could be just an illusion thru constant mudflation or it could be meaningful where a character’s achievement journal tells the deeds as one embarks on an epic and challenging journey in Tyria
Achievement panel could be a great reflection of one’s deeds and abilities or it could be a mere checklist of items to do for getting tier based rewards.
Zerging could be a great open world experience where a world boss dominating a zone need to be subdued by overwhelming force or it could be used to trivialize every single content in the game.
Temporary Content paves path towards ever-changing world with new things to do, new places to explore. It could be an Epic journey like LOTRO’s epic quests. It could also be reduced to checklist completion.
Tank and spank could be a great teaming experience in a holy trinity setup or could be the mundane experience that every MMO has to offer.
Dodging and position Play could be very challenging by propoer use of setting up combo fields and utilizing them with apprpriate finishers or it could simply be ignored by using brute force glass cannon berserkers.
This is a never-ending list of things that exist in this game. All of them can be used to enhance user experience or to kill it. Sometimes what looks great as a concept may fare poorly during implementation; something that seems to be a great idea can fail miraculously during execution.
GW2 is suffering from poor execution of great ideas and failed implementation of interesting concepts.
Probably that’s why many people are feeling alienated from this game.
Good post here. +1
Anarai Aeonblade [GASM] – Guardian – DB
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
Velmeister makes a good point.
Thinking outside the box is all well and good, but successful follow-through and implementation of those concepts is much more difficult.
A quote from a friend of mine:
“As it is being handled right now, GW2 is a beautiful B2P stereotypical Korean-style cash shop cosmetics grindfest.”
I have to admit that he’s essentially correct.
That isn’t to say that parts of the game aren’t fun, and it definitely still has all of the potential that got the masses stoked over the Manifesto video, but it would take a massive shift in direction to meet that potential at this point.
I’ve stuck with the game because I still have faith in ANet from years of being a GW fanboy, but I certainly understand why my friends wouldn’t have that reason to stay.
Velmeister makes a good point.
Thinking outside the box is all well and good, but successful follow-through and implementation of those concepts is much more difficult.
A quote from a friend of mine:
“As it is being handled right now, GW2 is a beautiful B2P stereotypical Korean-style cash shop cosmetics grindfest.”I have to admit that he’s essentially correct.
That isn’t to say that parts of the game aren’t fun, and it definitely still has all of the potential that got the masses stoked over the Manifesto video, but it would take a massive shift in direction to meet that potential at this point.
I’ve stuck with the game because I still have faith in ANet from years of being a GW fanboy, but I certainly understand why my friends wouldn’t have that reason to stay.
You and Velmeister have made the best points I’ve seen on this thread of mine so far. Both of you validated notable flaws with an intelligent response. I actually wish I got more responses like this, as I’m surprised the people on thos forum talk so badly about the game when there is good things to be found.
32 years of gaming, here.
Guild Wars, for me, is the pinnacle of it all.
Alas, it’s like the common theme of Utopia.. People cannot accept perfection and will always look for flaws.
This is a never-ending list of things that exist in this game. All of them can be used to enhance user experience or to kill it. Sometimes what looks great as a concept may fare poorly during implementation; something that seems to be a great idea can fail miraculously during execution.
GW2 is suffering from poor execution of great ideas and failed implementation of interesting concepts.
Probably that’s why many people are feeling alienated from this game.
This is spot on, but it was also spot on a year ago. To quote myself from 10 months ago:
It’s my belief that the developers of this game have great vision and ideas, better than any game I have ever played before. Where they fail is with execution, the game simply has too many bugs and every patch seems to just add more of them to the game.
Nothing has changed, the game isn’t getting better. Every patch seems like it’s a step backwards. The wheels on the bus are stuck spinning in the snow and no one is willing to get out and push. It’s been like that for a year now….
At what point do you just get off the bus and walk home?
Kayku
[CDS] Caedas
Sanctum of Rall
[CDS] Caedas
Sanctum of Rall
I played with a guild that had 150 people in it. I have been logging on and off for about five months. I have seen TWO on, at different times.
This is happening to all guilds…
Players are bored.
Players are getting fed up with the lack of everything.
Players are leaving with a bad taste in their mouth.
Doing small mindless patches will not keep people coming, it will do the opposite.
Played GW for seven years. If this game continues the way it is, will hopefully get two or three more sluggish years.
Listen to the players.
It sounds silly but there isn’t enough grind. I hate the gear treadmill as much as the next person but theres not enough to aim for in GW2. Cosmetics are so easily achievable and stats are even easier. Only legendaries are reasonably tricky to get and most people can’t be bothered to go for them. People don’t feel like they constantly have stuff to aim for which is what WoW has always been successful at providing (being a good or bad thing)
Desolation EU
Guardian / WvW Enthusiast
Guardian / WvW Enthusiast
Maybe their graphics card is better than yours? You know more options and the like.
Happened to me.
There’s a number of things that made my friends quit. The worst offender is the RNG aspect of a lot of things, but in particular the precursor aspect side of things. To a lot of them, a part of the journey for that “legendary” is a long worthwhile quest to get there, not a lucky forge from the Mystic Toilet. It’s not legendary if that core weapon isn’t something they had in the beginning or had something they worked at in their journey and not something that is dependent on RNG. Buying it off the TP holds no inherent meaning for them except that it is insulting that they have bad luck.
WvW: WvW xp not being account bound, no ETA on when that change is happening, for all they know it’s 2016. The rewards are terrible there (See Season 1 Reward chest) and since GW2 has 3 different aspects, it alienates them and makes them feel like 3rd class citizens for getting such horrendous rewards for so much work.
It also doesn’t feel like they listen to any input regarding WvW.
PvE: Like what a lot of people mentioned, it’s all about maximizing gold and in doing time gated content. Dungeons are also boring and it makes no sense that CoF is the easiest dungeon instead of AC. It took me a while to validate to a friend that dungeons are super easy since AC was his first dungeon and he Pugged it with horrific results. After showing him CoF he was puzzled as to why AC was so much harder than CoF P1. It doesn’t make sense to me either.
PvP: I LOVE that they are rewarding players with silver and gold. It makes it feel like you’re efforts are being rewarded. I hope WvW follows a similar path, but I know that will never happen after the terrible rewards of Season 1.
Regarding classes: There is so much love for warrior and guardians. Other classes get neglected in the process (See RANGER and Engineer). The skill ceiling for these two classes are much higher than the others.
For a game that is supposed to encourage you to diversify traits and builds, it favors Berserker builds the most. It’s so broken and boring – particularly in PvE. Do something that discourages zerker builds, ie giving mobs perma retaliation. Make champ bosses have perma retaliation or something like that. Anything that will allow for diversification would be welcome.
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