Guild Wars 2

What are they talking about side-kicking? Can anyone enlighten me?

There is no side kicking. There is only being de-leveled when you are in an area that is lower level then you are.

I believe side-kicking is when they adjust your level, or a friend’s, when you are questing together so the power isn’t so lopsided it isn’t even fun for the lower level character.

Sidekicking an informal name for the upleveling/downleveling system used in GW2 (the term “sidekicking” comes from City of Heroes, where the sidekicking concept originated). If you’re asking what they mean in the January Update announcement, they’re going to be making some balancing tweaks for the upleveling in WvW.

Kk thanx a bunch everyone.

Sinergy.6374:

Oh. So they are talking about the level scaling? Or maby an up-level scaling so friend of different levels can play together in higher level zones?

The “sidekicking” mentioned in the January update announcement only relates to WvW balances (perhaps making upscaled characters more competitive).

As far as I know, there are no plans to uplevel characters in higher-level zones in PvE. They tried it during the earlier phases of beta, but scrapped it because too many people were skipping over important content in favor of spending all their time in higher level zones.

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery.

lololololol thanks for that.

Manoa.5897:

As far as I know, there are no plans to uplevel characters in higher-level zones in PvE. They tried it during the earlier phases of beta, but scrapped it because too many people were skipping over important content in favor of spending all their time in higher level zones.

Pity, it would be nice for our guild if everyone could join a Personal story, instead of having to stick to the lowest level person’s on the team. I wonder if it could be implemented just for instanced missions?

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery.

I’m guessing the name came from the idea that a lvl 80 toon could go wander around with a lvl 10 toon as their “sidekick?”

Hickeroar.9734:

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery.

I’m guessing the name came from the idea that a lvl 80 toon could go wander around with a lvl 10 toon as their “sidekick?”

Actually it was the other way around, that a level 10 could join a party with a level 80 and be upscaled as their sidekick. This idea was ultimately scrapped.

See more here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sidekick

irrimn.3192:

Hickeroar.9734:

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery.

I’m guessing the name came from the idea that a lvl 80 toon could go wander around with a lvl 10 toon as their “sidekick?”

Actually it was the other way around, that a level 10 could join a party with a level 80 and be upscaled as their sidekick. This idea was ultimately scrapped.

See more here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sidekick

Again, the idea had its roots in the old sidekicking/exemplar system in City of Heroes. In COH, “sidekicking” meant you were upleveled UP to a higher level character team leader (to one level below the higher level character IIRC). The term “sidekick” (or “lackey” if you played a villain) was used for the system because it was thematic with the comic book genre. The system also included something called “exemplaring,” where a higher level character could “exemplar” DOWN (i.e. downlevel) to a lower level team leader. This system was eventually redesigned to be more dynamic and flexible in nature (dubbed the “super-sidekicking” system) where you were autoleveled up or down based on the level of the active mission (or to the team leader if no mission was selected). This was all based on the mission/team leader, none of it was map-specific.

The dynamic level adjustment we have now in GW2 is the natural extension of COH’s super-sidekicking system (by tying the autoleveling it to the zone rather than your party). The idea of “sidekicking” up to higher level character was in beta, but was scrapped for GW2’s PvE though because ArenaNet found too many people were bypassing content (so we now only see such upleveling in WvW and sPvP). In PvE, we only have something similar to “exemplaring” (downleveling).

Manoa.5897:

The dynamic level adjustment we have now in GW2 is the natural extension of COH’s super-sidekicking system (by tying the autoleveling it to the zone rather than your party). The idea of “sidekicking” up to higher level character was in beta, but was scrapped for GW2’s PvE though because ArenaNet found too many people were bypassing content (so we now only see such upleveling in WvW and sPvP). In PvE, we only have something similar to “exemplaring” (downleveling).

Thank you for the background on this.

One thing of note is that the Devs can (and has) set PvE areas to uplevel for some events. As someone who started the game about a week before the Mad King event string began, I was wary at first about going into the Labyrinth areas since it was saying 80 (and I was ~ 25 or so at the time). Once someone explained how the uplevel system worked, I dived in and had a blast.

I did notice there are issues with how the system worked – for example, a Guardian upleveled from say, ~15 to 80 (an experiment I tried on the Tixx dungeons) does work, but its difficult. Its made me wonder if the weapon damage of the upscaling is being worked on, since that was the part that gave me the biggest issues.

Actually for fractals you can get upleveled too if you run it without being lvl 80 as well

GummiBear.2756:

Actually for fractals you can get upleveled too if you run it without being lvl 80 as well

Good point! I had PvE maps in mind when I posted above. And I always run on a level 80 in FotM, so I totally forgot about the upscaling in fractals (and some of the holiday events too).

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery and encapsulated by a black hole.

Sorry, had to add this. LOL

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery.

hehe

just fess up. you were playing another game where it is still called “sidekicking”

bad boy BAD!!

I heard you the other day on MMOFTW.

Just for the record glad you are revamping the dynamic leveling. I hope that means you are making it harder then easier.

Krosslite.1950:

Just for the record glad you are revamping the dynamic leveling. I hope that means you are making it harder then easier.

I sure hope so too… if they begin to make it easier… well then they might as well already have removed it :P (but that obviously does NOT mean i want it removed)

Manoa.5897:

irrimn.3192:

Hickeroar.9734:

ColinJohanson.2394:

That should say dynamic level adjustment system, way back in the day we called that the sidekicking system and that snuck through to the website.

How it did so without any of us noticing is an enigma wrapped in a paradox, surrounded in a mystery.

I’m guessing the name came from the idea that a lvl 80 toon could go wander around with a lvl 10 toon as their “sidekick?”

Actually it was the other way around, that a level 10 could join a party with a level 80 and be upscaled as their sidekick. This idea was ultimately scrapped.

See more here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sidekick

Again, the idea had its roots in the old sidekicking/exemplar system in City of Heroes. In COH, “sidekicking” meant you were upleveled UP to a higher level character team leader (to one level below the higher level character IIRC). The term “sidekick” (or “lackey” if you played a villain) was used for the system because it was thematic with the comic book genre. The system also included something called “exemplaring,” where a higher level character could “exemplar” DOWN (i.e. downlevel) to a lower level team leader. This system was eventually redesigned to be more dynamic and flexible in nature (dubbed the “super-sidekicking” system) where you were autoleveled up or down based on the level of the active mission (or to the team leader if no mission was selected). This was all based on the mission/team leader, none of it was map-specific.

The dynamic level adjustment we have now in GW2 is the natural extension of COH’s super-sidekicking system (by tying the autoleveling it to the zone rather than your party). The idea of “sidekicking” up to higher level character was in beta, but was scrapped for GW2’s PvE though because ArenaNet found too many people were bypassing content (so we now only see such upleveling in WvW and sPvP). In PvE, we only have something similar to “exemplaring” (downleveling).

Good answer. +1

Sinergy.6374:

What are they talking about side-kicking? Can anyone enlighten me?

Yep its when somebody standing next you you turns and gives you a swift foot into the family jewels…lol

Back there when Anet had the project of doing a great game (which unfortunatly didnt happen) we were suposed to have a sidekick system. The same way they take your level down in noob areas, it was expected that you would be able to have your level up if grouped with friends in the harder areas. I dont remember to have seen this officially stated, but Im certain it was discussed. That is gone. Other stuff that we should have and we dont:

- You should be able to get new traits from bosses around the world (ex: kill 5 swordmaster bosses and get a swordmaster trait)
- There should be weapons that change their behavior during night/day (ex: life still during night, life on hit during day)
- Dynamic even system (was replaced by this scripted system we have and is called dynamic events for marketing purposes)
- A great pool of skills to chose from (guess this self explains)
- Potions (this is the only thing Im happy they decided to change)
- Customer support (was replaced by… well, whatever this is, I cant even name it, but they still call it customer support)
- Elite skill “drops” (you should get elite skill scrolls from bosses and maybe vendors, world drops, chests, etc. before they decided to go lazy and keep half a dozen skills/class so the game is easier to balance)
- Decisions that “matter” (your choices concerning your aproach to NPCs – charm, ferocity, dignity – were suposed to affect the game, but that was replaced by a nearly useless system where only some NPCs will be affected by your personality and you probably wont even notice)

I still hope most of those will come on the next few years. Eventhough they dont give me a single reason to believe in this game, I still think/hope it might have a decent future. I still want to see GW2 instead of a brand new generic MMO inspired in GW lore. Not sure if this post will saty for long though, since criticisms about the game have been considered “conspiracy”.

Btw, this info I got from multiple interviews, gameplay videos and screenshots during the development fase (they are probably still there), when I was still hyped and searching for news about GW2 in a daily basis. Back there, I was planning on buying 3 accounts (1 collector and 2 deluxe) and spending around $1200 to build a fansite. Then I needed customer support and, after that, played the beta. Canceled the fansite (because of customer support – I wont support a company that treats customers like kitten) and purchased a single deluxe (because the game was far from what was announced and from what I expected). Nearly 30 real life friends (28 if im not mistaken) bought the game. None plays it anymore. They dont blame me for this, but they will certainly think twice before buying another game indicated by me. C’est la vie.