Guild Wars 2

It is a beta so I did not have unrealistic expectations but I would have hoped that any heavy armour profession could be easily tanked. Nope. Yes, a real beta is to identify bug and balance abilities, but by making it broad-based like this it was more of a showcase. One that had an almost united reaction by Friday evening.

I want to play a revenant. Now though I will probably wait to hear reviews on the final version before I use up my tomes to do so.

Terrahero.9358:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

All these negative comments about the class don’t bode well. . . .

Most negative feedback about Revenant is about it doing to little damage. That is incredibly easy to tweak.

It’s far more important that deeper, more complex mechanics, work and feel right. Because drastic changes to the profession mechanic, or the fancy way skills work, is a lot more work then tweaking damage numbers and scaling.

And that’s the problem. The DPS is most visible, true, but is nowhere close to being the only, or even main problem of the Revenant. Other things, like weapon skills and utilities using the same energy system (which disincentivises using utilities), fixed utility set depending only on legends, and no weapon swap are in the end more important – and they touch the core of the class mechanic.

FrizzFreston.5290:

stevonzo.6879:

While you are mostly correct, you are blaming the wrong people. The gaming industry has started using beta testing as a marketing tool rather than what it is supposed to be. You can’t really blame gamers at this point. You should be saying, “it is dumbfounding how the game companies don’t know the purpose of a beta test” or “it is dumbfounding that these companies continue to knowingly misuse beta tests”.

I would say the twist on that. People have gotten used to beta tests where pretty much everything is working, is pretty much a media stunt and all the reported bugs is the only thing the game developer needs to do and has time to do since development is pretty much at an end. Gamers are not used to Betas where multiple things still aren’t working perfectly and if they report something they expect it to be fixed the next beta.

Because if anything… it’s most obvious that HoT is not done. And the OP expected a more ready product because it’s a beta which he expects to be at least working… which exactly isn’t what a beta is about. Or rather betas are something that developers want to be at least confident about showing to the public. It seems to me that ArenaNet is confident enough to share a much earlier cycle with us and then gathering some feedback regarding that.

So they have alot of work to do still. At least we know and can tell them. Rather than going “mimimimi its still not done” or “mimimi I don’t see the instant change I requested last beta.”

I agree, the OP is mistaken on what a beta is, I just didn’t like the attitude the other person took towards them. Given the state of the industry, I can excuse players for not understanding the true purpose of a beta. The guy’s attitude that I responded too just put me off. Others had already explained in much nicer words that the OP was mistaken, his comment was really unnecessary (and flat out rude), so I called it out.

Rev at this point is pretty Meh! The only melee weapon worth a two cents is the quarterstaff. Still damage to veterans and elites is non existent. I hope that this isn’t going to be some lame warrior melee class. I seriously doubt that I’ll be playing this class on day 1 of the expansion.

I would have gone for Rev being OP and got people all hype to pre-order. I don’t remember feeling like any of the classes I played in the original weekend events 3 years ago feeling sub-par. Oh well. I didn’t pre-order because I haven’t seen enough of what’s on offer to warrant it. I’d say it’s disappointing but this seems to be how things go these days in Tyria.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Crise.9401:

People are forgetting something about this beta… this whole event wasn’t in their original plans. It is a “bonus” event for extra feedback on the Revenant, as we have seen, because the short CBT they had didn’t give them enough feedback.

Colin said this himself, they don’t consider this a fully fledged Beta Weekend Event. Part of the reason this test exists is because the gear in the CBT was the same used for the convention demo and they basically said that while they had reasons for having that gear set for the demo in hindsight they should have changed it for the CBT event.

Source: first segment of the PoI stream today.

Thank you for mentioning all this, Crise. It’s correct!

Everyone should please remember: There will be Beta Weekend Events, and a lot of testing and adjustments in between. Consider this an “early peek,” and by all means share any of all feedback you have! We have an actual Revent forum set up for your feedback, and it was created specifically at the request of several Development Team members, so you can be assured it will be given a very high priority for review. This weekend’s testing is not at all a “marketing event.” Marketing events are good, too, but this weekend consists of a real, honest-to-Dwayna test, with feedback invited from all who participate!

/grins
Actually, Colin fessed up that there was some marketing interest in the weekend during the PoI. Not anything underhanded, just hoping to drum up more players as a corollary to doing actual beta testing of the Rev. So “not at all” isn’t entirely accurate.

(I could be in error. I had my mom’s housekeepers arrive during the PoI so I was distracted. But I do remember Colin saying something along those lines in the first ten minutes or so).

Gaile Gray.6029:

This weekend’s testing is not at all a “marketing event.” Marketing events are good, too, but this weekend consists of a real, honest-to-Dwayna test, with feedback invited from all who participate!

This sentence suggests some are saying marketing is not a good thing. How did they get a hold of this game in the first place? o.O

I never understand why some players spew out words like marketing like it’s some major government conspiracy for a commercial business to get word out a new product is coming on the, erm, market!

Well, you paid for the right to QA their game so they don’t have to, so…

So its a QQ that we not getting another mindless zerg class but a support/CC class….

He cant have awesome CC/heals and same dps as other class´s its just to OP.

Morfedel.4165:

DaveyC.4398:

Hello All,

I had high hopes after playing the Revenant at EGX Rezzed. After Playing the first beta, I am so disappointed.

I have tried a zerker and condi build with all weapon types. All I have seen is crazy low DPS, to the point where it took about 8 mins to kill a vet with other players.

That and no underwater weapon hardly make it much of a Beta.

From my perspective, I wish Arena net had not bothered with this weekend. I would have preferred them admitting that we are a long way away from hot completion.

After what I have seen today, I doubt very much that I will be playing a rev from day one, if even at all.

For what it is worth, I am seriously questioning whether I have a future in this game. (No you cannot have my stuff).

I guess that’s what you get for blind loyalty when the overlords have a culture of bleeding gamblers dry when you are a bit of a gambler yourself.

It is utterly dumbfounding how many people don’t understand the purpose of a beta test.

It isn’t to market a finished product. Its to find flaws and address them.

Wrong. Since the beginning GW2’s beta sessions have been thinly veiled marketing pushes. Should we bring up the beta stone drops? Even during this even Colin alluded to this being a marketing push.

I respect Gaile’s answer, but the honest truth is Anet puts out a live release then reacts to general player feedback.

People today are spoiled as to what a beta is supposed to be. Betas are supposed to be buggy and incomplete. That’s the reason you have them. They are not finished products. Finished products released as “beta” are simply advertisements.

uhohhotdog.3598:

People today are spoiled as to what a beta is supposed to be. Betas are supposed to be buggy and incomplete. That’s the reason you have them. They are not finished products. Finished products released as “beta” are simply advertisements.

The second you make people PAY for access to a beta, you change the rules and expectations, though. Not to mention that horrific grind for the maguuma portal.

Tying the payment of $50-$100 to the access of a beta does change the rules. Paying to get in means that people are now consumers, not true testers. What the two groups expect is different. Volunteers do the testing for the pure love of the game. Consumers may love the game but the knowledge that they paid for it is never far away.

Since I paid at least $50, then I at least will want to not be bored with what I am testing and not to spend days testing for zero ingame progress. ANet needs to either make the testing fun or to allow the Rev to progress the account if they are going to charge for access.

Donari.5237:

Actually, Colin fessed up that there was some marketing interest in the weekend during the PoI.

I believe that part was referring to all beta events in general. Of course they have a marketing component, however, what is important is where the initiative for these events comes from. When you see Colin being that candid about this event and beta events in general in that PoI segment, at least for me, it makes it lot easier to believe when they say that these beta events matter. Also, if a forum was specifically created at a request of developers, as Gaile mentioned, to make it easier to go through feedback presumably this should only reinforce what was said.

The way I see it, having announced pre-purchases, they really had no way of doing this event any differently than they did without risking a huge backlash from the people that did pre-purchase. So in other words they had no way to make an event like this that could have had any less of a marketing component than this one has right now.

What is genuinely important now is what we see in the next beta weekend event. Will we see our feedback having an impact in some way or not… personally I don’t doubt it, because the changes seen in Stronghold in particular for this event are definitely based on user feedback.

Iason Evan.3806:

I would have gone for Rev being OP and got people all hype to pre-order. I don’t remember feeling like any of the classes I played in the original weekend events 3 years ago feeling sub-par. Oh well. I didn’t pre-order because I haven’t seen enough of what’s on offer to warrant it. I’d say it’s disappointing but this seems to be how things go these days in Tyria.

Yeah, that struck me during the portal beta. I expected the Revenant to be crazy OP at first, like paragons and dervishes were the first time we got our hands on them in GW1.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Crise.9401:

People are forgetting something about this beta… this whole event wasn’t in their original plans. It is a “bonus” event for extra feedback on the Revenant, as we have seen, because the short CBT they had didn’t give them enough feedback.

Colin said this himself, they don’t consider this a fully fledged Beta Weekend Event. Part of the reason this test exists is because the gear in the CBT was the same used for the convention demo and they basically said that while they had reasons for having that gear set for the demo in hindsight they should have changed it for the CBT event.

Source: first segment of the PoI stream today.

Thank you for mentioning all this, Crise. It’s correct!

Everyone should please remember: There will be Beta Weekend Events, and a lot of testing and adjustments in between. Consider this an “early peek,” and by all means share any of all feedback you have! We have an actual Revent forum set up for your feedback, and it was created specifically at the request of several Development Team members, so you can be assured it will be given a very high priority for review. This weekend’s testing is not at all a “marketing event.” Marketing events are good, too, but this weekend consists of a real, honest-to-Dwayna test, with feedback invited from all who participate!

Unfortunately people tend to confuse a test of the entire thing with a peek at everything related that is being shown. I fall into that trap myself so am not blaming anet! I have let users look at something to give me feedback but specifically told them function xyz was not ready yet. Then got flooded with emails about xyz not working as intended.

I am not sure what is the best solution. Users want to see things as soon as possible when they are not done yet. While at the same time looking at it as the finished product. All I can say is I hope more is going into it than relatively minor tweaks.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Tying the payment of $50-$100 to the access of a beta does change the rules. Paying to get in means that people are now consumers, not true testers. What the two groups expect is different. Volunteers do the testing for the pure love of the game. Consumers may love the game but the knowledge that they paid for it is never far away.

Since I paid at least $50, then I at least will want to not be bored with what I am testing and not to spend days testing for zero ingame progress. ANet needs to either make the testing fun or to allow the Rev to progress the account if they are going to charge for access.

Pretty much that, yeah. I’ve been an MMO alpha (yes, ALPHA) and closed beta tester for a long, long time. It’s something you do from a genuine interest in the game-to-be, and you fully realize that EVERYTHING can still change when you’re going in. And that you’re going to have to reroll and retest again and again. Which is quite obviously not the expectation generated by having people buy access (which I’m simply refusing to do).

From what I experienced, I was pretty disappointed.

1. No ability to change utilities (this is super important);

2. Legends are tied to stats, ex: Ventari needs healing power, Mallyx needs condi etc
this makes 1 of your equipped legends almost useless;

3. Can’t take a punch it folds like wet noodle even using the “tank” legend;

4. Low mobility;

5. Low damage.

The damage can be fixed easily the other stuff completely breaks the concept of the profession…

It looks like it’s missing about 75% of the utility skills, 2 weapons, 2 legends, and the damage was nerfed by 50% not to unbalance the rest of the game during the beta test.

I would not base my impression of the class from that, specially not when mesmers are running around 1-shotting everyone and the condi damage is off the chart.

Killface.1896:

So its a QQ that we not getting another mindless zerg class but a support/CC class….

He cant have awesome CC/heals and same dps as other class´s its just to OP.

Too bad Rev doesn’t have those awesome cc/heals then, right?
Also, seriously, you haven’t seen what other classes can do already, if you think that Rev support is in any way special, and that such level of suport cannot be coupled with good dps (notice, that Rev not only doesn’t have good dps – it doesn’t have even decent dps. I can do better on full bunker/support guard).

Xillllix.3485:

It looks like it’s missing about 75% of the utility skills, 2 weapons, 2 legends, and the damage was nerfed by 50% not to unbalance the rest of the game during the beta test.

I would not base my impression of the class from that, specially not when mesmers are running around 1-shotting everyone and the condi damage is off the chart.

Which makes the “it’s a true beta test” argument fall apart. If it’s too incomplete to even form an opinion, why beta test? There has to be enough substance to form real feedback.

Right now, the revenant has a heal, bunker and condi legend.. No strict dps one yet. At least, that we’ve been able to test. It’s to be expected that dps wouldn’t be up to other dps chars. I do agree it’s low, even for those builds, but until a dps legend is released it’s going to be hard to know exactly where it stands on straight up dps.

Mine was fine:
Soldier armour / Traveller Runes
(+attributes, Condi dam / condi duration, extra speed)

Mixture of trinkets
(Kept some celestial)
(Put in some zerker)

Mainly used:
Mace / Axe

Last time I checked, you only pay for HoT.

Not one person paid EXTRA to get beta access, the ones that did get access only paid EARLY.

It’s an opportunity people took, rather than a service that should be provided in a shape or form that is acceptable to you.

To begin with you only get access to these events, without getting to demand what these entail. It’s up to arenanet to grant you access only. If you don’t like a beta, then why were you so stupid to pay the prepurchase.

Gaile Gray.6029:

We have an actual Revent forum set up for your feedback, and it was created specifically at the request of several Development Team members, so you can be assured it will be given a very high priority for review. This weekend’s testing is not at all a “marketing event.” Marketing events are good, too, but this weekend consists of a real, honest-to-Dwayna test, with feedback invited from all who participate!

I’m gonna be a bit “bad/mean” but if they listen/read/care abou Rev feedback the same way they do with Necro I don’t expect much improvment on Rev…

Revenant is not even ready yet and it feels like its a neutral profession…like elementalist or engeneer….a very balanced profession that can do everything but still be ineffective in so many ways.. Sure animations are nice but my elementalist is not as good dps as my warrior and not as good healer than my guardian. Imagine they stop the Ice bow 4 skill and the elem would become a pariah proffession! Not even good as anything… :’(

Gibson.4036:

Xillllix.3485:

It looks like it’s missing about 75% of the utility skills, 2 weapons, 2 legends, and the damage was nerfed by 50% not to unbalance the rest of the game during the beta test.

I would not base my impression of the class from that, specially not when mesmers are running around 1-shotting everyone and the condi damage is off the chart.

Which makes the “it’s a true beta test” argument fall apart. If it’s too incomplete to even form an opinion, why beta test? There has to be enough substance to form real feedback.

Because you’re there to QA the expansion so anet doesn’t have to pay as many testers of course. It’s not intended to be fun.

The real question is: why prepurchase?

The Revenant was just OK. I didn’t hate it, and didn’t love it.

I was hoping that the Revenant was going to be more like the GW1 Ritualist.

First off they developed a very great system for copy accounts and hope this is part of secure and backup accounts system, but it was also a lot waste of time for the people developing this, instead developing things inside the game. Playing on a real BETA Server and at the new areas would really more nice instead running the areas we know with keep in mind that everything we do is useless. So somestimes you felt why testing the reverant there. Ok for game mechanics and skills it was nice, but for testers it was really really boring.

Another bad thing was not be able to chatting and meet up with guild members to play together or sharing things from this BETA. Why Guildchat was disabled still unsure but it also took a loot of motivation to play.

Still the human race was only playable. It was at the first BETA aswell and this was the Third one for now. Nothing developed further and still no other races fixed to played since the first BETA. And the little spells we got. It was one Elite and 10 skills to play with ?? Still not very much progress in devleopment since now passed over 2 month. This smells very poor.

At stronghold map still not able to zoom inside the minimap to see more clear what need to be done and where to go. Mentioned this all the last times but still nothing done. The minimap is too much crowded with symbols and zoom in / out would be more helpfull to see where to go. Carry support was now better but still missed the point where to drop or calling npcs for help. I always standing in front of the enemies doors with my supplys, not finding my own to do.

I not played very much, because I did not liked playing on old maps and separeted from guild members to chat. Still could’n test new areas or new races to play and the little amount of skills.

Sure it was needed for the game to test and see inside the old world, but it was not my intend for playing a beta with things I’m common with and not really nothing new. It was really bored. And stucking inside the pvp map at the end of the event never coming out to play with any of my chars wasn’t really not funny as well.

It still don’t see whats there about 100 € to pay and if I don’t see any developments progress since first closed beta is done. Maybe a lot in the background but we don’t see behind the curtain and A-Net still didn’t tell us what problems they fighting at the background.

So I’m sad to say, it wasn’t a good BETA for me and don’t wanted to dive deeper inside with all the limitations I said before.

Truth is the OP should have never preordered.
And many people on this forum shouldn’t have.
There is so much still unknown about the expansion and it is all still in testing.
Pre-order is for people who feel absolutely confident this will be worth the price.
I do, because i’ve been playing guildwars since day 1 of the first game and i’ve not been let down. That doesn’t mean i don’t have any feedback to give, and i gave that feedback about the revenant, but the op is clearly not confident in the devs, so why the hell would you not wait a bit for more info…

People are sad… couse they couldnt make a Zerker out of this profesion… poor meta build…

Morfedel.4165:

It is utterly dumbfounding how many people don’t understand the purpose of a beta test.

It isn’t to market a finished product. Its to find flaws and address them.

You know, “Hey devs, it looks like the revenant has a problem with damage output you may need to address” is a great way for a beta tester to report issues they discover.

Your response isn’t That of a beta tester. It’s that of someone looking for a bnigh complete product, which this isn’t.

I suggest you and others of your persuasion look up what a beta test and beta testers are. It certainly seems you either don’t get it, or don’t have it in you.

Usually developers work hundreds of hours to create things they show u in betas like this.
Alot of betas before (probably hundred or more) showed the same four things.

1. Players (often some rly expierenced or extremly good players too) adress problems, with balance, feeling and things like that.

2. Other players are telling them “it´s beta” “HEY IT IS ONLY A BETA U * SHUT UP”!

3. They chance that feedback can change that problems is usually not high. If the feedback is not “loud” enough it get´s to zero.

4. After the game/addon get´s released. Alot of players (most times the “Shut up guys” too) are crying loud about some problems.

Usually the same problems some player adressed at step 1…………..and after a release, the chance to change something is even worse.

If so many people are talking about the same problems about the revenant. The chance that they are right is exremly high.

If u can´t give good feedback, pls stop that “SHUT UP IT IS ONLY A BETA U *******” posts. They help never, and nobody, not even u.

Revenant atm is like a ele who get´s forced to play with only 1 attumend. 2 fix sets of utilitys, which often don´t make any sense with the attumend u choosed to play.

Nobody needs a water(only)ele with arcanskills OR signets. Nobody, and nobody wants to play it. And that ele wont even have to choose between his skills due to a questionable energysystem.

Better written here.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/revenant/Lack-of-Customization-the-Real-Rev-Problem/first#post5281357

Norjena.5172:

Morfedel.4165:

It is utterly dumbfounding how many people don’t understand the purpose of a beta test.

It isn’t to market a finished product. Its to find flaws and address them.

You know, “Hey devs, it looks like the revenant has a problem with damage output you may need to address” is a great way for a beta tester to report issues they discover.

Your response isn’t That of a beta tester. It’s that of someone looking for a bnigh complete product, which this isn’t.

I suggest you and others of your persuasion look up what a beta test and beta testers are. It certainly seems you either don’t get it, or don’t have it in you.

Usually developers work hundreds of hours to create things they show u in betas like this.
Alot of betas before (probably hundred or more) showed the same four things.

1. Players (often some rly expierenced or extremly good players too) adress problems, with balance, feeling and things like that.

2. Other players are telling them “it´s beta” “HEY IT IS ONLY A BETA U * SHUT UP”!

3. They chance that feedback can change that problems is usually not high. If the feedback is not “loud” enough it get´s to zero.

4. After the game/addon get´s released. Alot of players (most times the “Shut up guys” too) are crying loud about some problems.

Usually the same problems some player adressed at step 1…………..and after a release, the chance to change something is even worse.

If so many people are talking about the same problems about the revenant. The chance that they are right is exremly high.

If u can´t give good feedback, pls stop that “SHUT UP IT IS ONLY A BETA U *******” posts. They help never, and nobody, not even u.

Revenant atm is like a ele who get´s forced to play with only 1 attumend. 2 fix sets of utilitys, which often don´t make any sense with the attumend u choosed to play.

Nobody needs a water(only)ele with arcanskills OR signets. Nobody, and nobody wants to play it. And that ele wont even have to choose between his skills due to a questionable energysystem.

Better written here.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/revenant/Lack-of-Customization-the-Real-Rev-Problem/first#post5281357

Not sure why you believe you can’t report your feelings about class specifics, as in the thread you linked, without posting a thread So Disappointed After the First Beta. It’s constructive to say that the new profession lacks customization and the damage is too low for it to be useful. It’s not constructive to say the beta was disappointing. I’m not disappointed by the beta, because I know Anet got the data it needed to at least improve the damage of the profession. But I don’t know that the customization will change much, considering that seems to be the design of the profession. I’ll go on record now and say that there are people, probably a bigger percentage than you think, who almost never change out utility skills anyway. But that’s not the issue people are having with this thread. I didn’t post once in any thread pointing out flaws in the revenant. I posted here, because complaining that a beta isn’t there yet IS pointless.

Vix.6730:

Morfedel.4165:

DaveyC.4398:

Hello All,

I had high hopes after playing the Revenant at EGX Rezzed. After Playing the first beta, I am so disappointed.

I have tried a zerker and condi build with all weapon types. All I have seen is crazy low DPS, to the point where it took about 8 mins to kill a vet with other players.

That and no underwater weapon hardly make it much of a Beta.

From my perspective, I wish Arena net had not bothered with this weekend. I would have preferred them admitting that we are a long way away from hot completion.

After what I have seen today, I doubt very much that I will be playing a rev from day one, if even at all.

For what it is worth, I am seriously questioning whether I have a future in this game. (No you cannot have my stuff).

I guess that’s what you get for blind loyalty when the overlords have a culture of bleeding gamblers dry when you are a bit of a gambler yourself.

It is utterly dumbfounding how many people don’t understand the purpose of a beta test.

It isn’t to market a finished product. Its to find flaws and address them.

Wrong. Since the beginning GW2’s beta sessions have been thinly veiled marketing pushes. Should we bring up the beta stone drops? Even during this even Colin alluded to this being a marketing push.

I respect Gaile’s answer, but the honest truth is Anet puts out a live release then reacts to general player feedback.

You clearly don’t know what a beta test is. Like I said you can find the definition all over the place.

It’s about finding bugs and fixing problems. The revenant clearly has problems that need fixing. They put out a Beta. We played it. We found problems. KINDA LIKE WE’RE IN A BETA. Weird coincidence.

And yet somehow it isn’t a beta. Would you care to defend that rationale ?

Btwn you can have a beta that is also a marketing event. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

Norjena.5172:

Morfedel.4165:

It is utterly dumbfounding how many people don’t understand the purpose of a beta test.

It isn’t to market a finished product. Its to find flaws and address them.

You know, “Hey devs, it looks like the revenant has a problem with damage output you may need to address” is a great way for a beta tester to report issues they discover.

Your response isn’t That of a beta tester. It’s that of someone looking for a bnigh complete product, which this isn’t.

I suggest you and others of your persuasion look up what a beta test and beta testers are. It certainly seems you either don’t get it, or don’t have it in you.

Usually developers work hundreds of hours to create things they show u in betas like this.
Alot of betas before (probably hundred or more) showed the same four things.

1. Players (often some rly expierenced or extremly good players too) adress problems, with balance, feeling and things like that.

2. Other players are telling them “it´s beta” “HEY IT IS ONLY A BETA U * SHUT UP”!

3. They chance that feedback can change that problems is usually not high. If the feedback is not “loud” enough it get´s to zero.

4. After the game/addon get´s released. Alot of players (most times the “Shut up guys” too) are crying loud about some problems.

Usually the same problems some player adressed at step 1…………..and after a release, the chance to change something is even worse.

If so many people are talking about the same problems about the revenant. The chance that they are right is exremly high.

If u can´t give good feedback, pls stop that “SHUT UP IT IS ONLY A BETA U *******” posts. They help never, and nobody, not even u.

Revenant atm is like a ele who get´s forced to play with only 1 attumend. 2 fix sets of utilitys, which often don´t make any sense with the attumend u choosed to play.

Nobody needs a water(only)ele with arcanskills OR signets. Nobody, and nobody wants to play it. And that ele wont even have to choose between his skills due to a questionable energysystem.

Better written here.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/revenant/Lack-of-Customization-the-Real-Rev-Problem/first#post5281357

There is a huge difference between constructive and destructive criticism.

Just putting in my two cents about the beta and the Revenant. I personally liked the Rev. I think it has great potential. Yes things need to be fixed and adjusted. Very low DPS. I couldn’t effectively use the Rev in PVP. Very hard to kill another player with that DPS and it seemed more like a Medium armor class then a heavy armor. Very squishy. I did like the mechanics, but I think there needs to be a weapon swap. You can engage in close melee with the mace and axe, but you may want to use the hammer for longer range. It would be awkward to have to get ooc just to switch when you need to. I see the concept Anet is using, but it needs a weapon swap.
Its not an eng. with all the kits to swap to, in essence giving you more weapons when you swap as a eng.
After getting more used to the fields and finishers, I was able to use the Rev more effectively, but still not equal to the damage i can go with my necro, or Ranger even. I did switch to all Rabid and go straight condi with the Rev. That seemed to work the best.
So i think it has promise and I did miss messing around with it when it was gone. Tried a dungeon with it and ended up switching as I felt I was not helping the team much with the lack of damage. Healing with it did not have what was expected as a support class. Even personal healing with the ventari legend was not equal to regular heals.
I would like to see the kinks worked out. I would prefer Rev to warrior or guard if everything worked as it should and damage output was competitive with other professions.
As for Stronghold, I love it, other than my frustration with players not realizing what the goal to win is. They all run off and go after other players or all defend the home Lord. They don’t seem to realize the only way to win is to kill the enemy lord. Nor do many of them get the essence when it comes. I ended up killing the enemy lord pretty much alone most times. Once in awhile I would have one other player helping some, but they would run off as well. The lord could have been down and us winning if they had just stayed on the lord. Most players don’t get it at all. (Even with the big announcement at the start of the round that we need to slay the enemy lord to win) Most do not even start getting door breakers at beginning. Or they get them and don’t defend them or buff them. You can buff them just as you would another player.
I am hoping when it launches, that players that don’t get it, or don’t like it, won’t get in that map, so those of us who do, can play effectively. I hope Anet puts a selection box like done for the beta so they can choose not to go in that map at all if they don’t want to.
I do wish more players availed themselves of the Point of Interest show so they would be aware of changes and game mechanics. They get on and just ask other players to fill them in on things they are to lazy to look up themselves. Or are just totally in the dark about everything.

So because the beta wasn’t complete and balanced, it wasn’t a beta and was instead a marketing push… Oh, the doublethink.

Like a few have said, the two are not mutually exclusive. With regard to any beta without non-disclosure, it’s given to be both. I was in the portal beta, and like many people I chose not to roll a revenant because I knew it would compromise my ability to find and report bugs. People who rolled a revenant for the purposes of finding bugs, etc. within the profession understood what a beta is as well. That said, after the event I posted to my guild’s forums about the experience with screenshots and information about the included features.

I have no problem with those who just wanted a sneak preview, but I know Anet appreciated those who did the testing (as well as the free publicity). Considering all of this, the feelings of disappointment are not justified and completely contingent on expectation. Those who committed to testing were not disappointed, and those with expectations of a demo were. That’s on them entirely.

TL&DR
Though the beta access for pre-purchase certainly has a marketing factor, no one paid to be part of a full and balanced beta. If one of your main motivations for pre-purchasing was to gain access to a demo, you have fooled yourself.

Morfedel.4165:

There is a huge difference between constructive and destructive criticism.

Yes. That’s why trying to put down all criticism as useless is bad. And most of the criticism about revenant that appeared on forums during and after beta was constructive – it not only pinpointed the main problems with the class, but also even sometimes offered solutions.

+1 Was extremely excited about Revenant then super disappointed after playing one.

If the Revenant doesn’t get a major overall and DPS increase so that it can be on par with the other classes, I won’t bother playing one

I think people are just confused about the difference between a beta versus a demo.

Astralporing.1957:

Morfedel.4165:

There is a huge difference between constructive and destructive criticism.

Yes. That’s why trying to put down all criticism as useless is bad. And most of the criticism about revenant that appeared on forums during and after beta was constructive – it not only pinpointed the main problems with the class, but also even sometimes offered solutions.

Huh, you think so? I’ve seen posts like… well, the one below yours, saying that “+1 Was extremely excited about Revenant then super disappointed after playing one.”

If people understood what a beta is, and understood that the revenant in their final form, then the constructive criticism we have seen would be far more prevalent.

Instead we have post after post after post about how the revenant sucks, its ruined, its terrible, and now they think HoT is going to be a failure….

that isn’t constructive criticism. And, yes, the rest of us DO have the right to call them out on it if we desire.

Ayrilana.1396:

I think people are just confused about the difference between a beta versus a demo.

Amen.

Whenever I hear someone talk about how their impressions were hurt by a beta, I realize how bad people are at testing.

I haven’t given up hope for the Revenant actually having some DPS. They could still give them some.

Morfedel.4165:

Astralporing.1957:

Morfedel.4165:

There is a huge difference between constructive and destructive criticism.

Yes. That’s why trying to put down all criticism as useless is bad. And most of the criticism about revenant that appeared on forums during and after beta was constructive – it not only pinpointed the main problems with the class, but also even sometimes offered solutions.

Huh, you think so? I’ve seen posts like… well, the one below yours, saying that “+1 Was extremely excited about Revenant then super disappointed after playing one.”

Sure. You should have also seen posts that pointed out exactly what people found disappointing. Unless you consciously chose not to see them.

Ayrilana.1396:

I think people are just confused about the difference between a beta versus a demo.

A Beta is supposed to come after an Alpha (tested by devs)! But this Revenant Beta was worst than an Alpha! Devs don’t even play their own game or what?? Rev with only two out of four legends and not even water weapons?! How that can be a beta for ‘’revenant balance tests’’ with other profession in the game?!

A.net sucks very bad right now!

Did we play the same beta?

I REALLY liked the Revenant. In fact, I was constantly worried that it’ll probably be nerfed because it’s SO GOOD (and I still am worried tbh).

The utility & support power is unparalleled. And if your only measure of how good a class is is the damage it can put out, then you’re missing out. I’m not saying that straight-up damage builds are useless in any way, it’s just that, expecting high damage with the Stances that were given to us during the beta is like wearing Nomad armor and complaining you’re doing low damage.

Imagine if we got to play Eles with only Water & Earth attunement, while knowing that Fire & Lightning are yet to come – what would you be focusing on? The utility of the two available attunements, the supportive capabilities of Water, or the lack of damage due to features (that YOU KNOW are coming) not being in yet?

I feel like a lot of people squandered the opportunity to try out a really interesting, new playstyle that hasn’t had a lot of spotlight on it in GW2 yet, and it makes me slightly sad.

Variety is good! Yay for variety!

Goo.7926:

Ayrilana.1396:

I think people are just confused about the difference between a beta versus a demo.

A Beta is supposed to come after an Alpha (tested by devs)! But this Revenant Beta was worst than an Alpha! Devs don’t even play their own game or what?? Rev with only two out of four legends and not even water weapons?! How that can be a beta for ‘’revenant balance tests’’ with other profession in the game?!

A.net sucks very bad right now!

Read up on the difference between an alpha and a beta. Nowhere was it stated, or necessary, for the entire class to be available in order to test it. Perhaps their intention was for players to test only the features/parts that they have announced. They may also want people to focus on certain aspects as well to fine tune them.