Guild Wars 2

6 months and its not changed too much.

I still die insanely for no reasons of my own, you can only dodge stuff twice before it destroys you in seconds.. You cannot tag one creature most times and many its 6 or 8 on you at once..

Who honestly thought this would be fun, you cannot team in these games 24/7, a lot of players have dead guilds or only small guilds.. Timezones effect teaming up, server populations dwindling (no surprises there really)…

The game needs to appeal to the Casual players or it dies a slow painful death.

Dante.1508:

6 months and its not changed too much.

I still die insanely for no reasons of my own, you can only dodge stuff twice before it destroys you in seconds.. You cannot tag one creature most times and many its 6 or 8 on you at once..

Who honestly thought this would be fun, you cannot team in these games 24/7, a lot of players have dead guilds or only small guilds.. Timezones effect teaming up, server populations dwindling (no surprises there really)…

The game needs to appeal to the Casual players or it dies a slow painful death.

yep, i just tried some of “the jungle provides”
one platforming section after another…did anyone test this before launch?
if they did, they did a poor job
if i wanted to play a platform game, i would had bought that instead

I’m kinda fed up myself with this as well.
More often than I’d like I find my self soloing champs and events that were simply not designed to be played by a solo player or small groups.

What ever happened to scaling the events according to player numbers?
This short of flexibility was a advantage this game had over other games.
I’m not suggesting we should be able to 2 man meta bosses,but does every single event needs to spawn a champ?
And what is the point or fun in fighting a random open world mob that will be invulnerable,in stealth,or evading attacks 90% of the combat duration?
Ok it’s hard.
And if you go and design a mob that will spam a unblockable aoe attack that can one shoot everyone in range,it will be even harder,but what’s the point.
In the end,it’s just not fun to put so much effort in fighting open world mobs,or the extended multiplayer instances that Anet likes to call open world.

After I finish crafting Nevermore I will never set foot in these zones again.
Mission accomplished?I guess so.

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention. They didn’t make it so no one could have any challenge anywhere, but they did add in veteran events, they did make it so you didn’t have to do the meta to make progress in many of the collections, they did make it so that they night was decoupled from day so you’re not stuck in one map fearing to move for losing participation.

There were drastic changes to the zones, included moving the tiger and electric wyvern pet for rangers, so it wasn’t locked behind the meta.

There are people in my guild who used to have problems with those zones that have a whole lot less problems.

They can’t make the game brain dead easy all over the place because a small percentage of people don’t know how to play their professions, or don’t have exotic armor.

HoT just isn’t that difficult anymore, the except probably being some of the hero points. That said, I hardly pass a day in HoT without seeing a hero point train on each map.

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention. They didn’t make it so no one could have any challenge anywhere, but they did add in veteran events, they did make it so you didn’t have to do the meta to make progress in many of the collections, they did make it so that they night was decoupled from day so you’re not stuck in one map fearing to move for losing participation.

There were drastic changes to the zones, included moving the tiger and electric wyvern pet for rangers, so it wasn’t locked behind the meta.

There are people in my guild who used to have problems with those zones that have a whole lot less problems.

They can’t make the game brain dead easy all over the place because a small percentage of people don’t know how to play their professions, or don’t have exotic armor.

HoT just isn’t that difficult anymore, the except probably being some of the hero points. That said, I hardly pass a day in HoT without seeing a hero point train on each map.

those qualities could get me in a raid in other games
but here-in the casual mmo-it is needed for “open world” content?
makes total sense..not

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

I don’t understand, even with a squishy zerker ele HOT is mostly faceroll. You have tons of active defense, and your dodges. Yes, you will die from time to time, but not if you pay attention. All who claim it’s unplayable solo just don’t pay attention enough.

battledrone.8315:

but here-in the casual mmo-it is needed for “open world” content?

GW2 was meant to be casual in the sense of time, not difficulty. You can just jump in and play here and there while remaining competitive. When it comes to the difficulty, GW2 was actually intended for the more hardcore audience, as shown by the original beta. If you failed to dodge the telegraphed attacks back then, you were dead. That was all heavily nerfed however because, in short, they found that the average player needed training wheels.

Personally, I’d expect to see them continue to nerf HoT’s difficulty because it’s better for business. HoT is simply unrealistic for the more casual players which tend to play solo and make up the majority. Surely there’s a reason why almost all MMOs are incredibly easy when it comes to open world/solo content. ArenaNet has always been a niche however, so maybe they won’t.

Healix.5819:

Surely there’s a reason why almost all MMOs are incredibly easy when it comes to open world/solo content.

Because they are instanced based?
All we have are dungeons and fractals so it makes sense that open world itself has some easy bits and some hard bits.

Healix.5819:

nerf HoT’s difficulty

At some point, what makes the maps difficult is their vertical nature. A HoT with no mobs in it and pots of gold next to the HPs would still be too hard for some people.

battledrone.8315:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention. They didn’t make it so no one could have any challenge anywhere, but they did add in veteran events, they did make it so you didn’t have to do the meta to make progress in many of the collections, they did make it so that they night was decoupled from day so you’re not stuck in one map fearing to move for losing participation.

There were drastic changes to the zones, included moving the tiger and electric wyvern pet for rangers, so it wasn’t locked behind the meta.

There are people in my guild who used to have problems with those zones that have a whole lot less problems.

They can’t make the game brain dead easy all over the place because a small percentage of people don’t know how to play their professions, or don’t have exotic armor.

HoT just isn’t that difficult anymore, the except probably being some of the hero points. That said, I hardly pass a day in HoT without seeing a hero point train on each map.

those qualities could get me in a raid in other games
but here-in the casual mmo-it is needed for “open world” content?
makes total sense..not

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say here, because it’s not clear, however, this thread is about people who have a more casual play style not being able to accomplish stuff in HoT. From that one might believe they’re not raiders at all.

Right now you can accomplish quite a lot in HoT solo.

I went in with my zerk ele; I got destroyed over and over again. Frustrated the hell out of me so I just plain stopped with HoT.

Then I actually took a look at the build I was running, improved my equipment to get the most out of it, and actually learned to change my style of play. Frankly, I am very happy that HoT forces you do get out of your comfort zone, because it actually forced me to take a look at how I was playing and I got better as a result.

The only mobs who still frustrate me are itzels (many evades and high damage); but other than that… it’s not really that hard once you actually train yourself a little.

There are a lot of pages here, so I’m not sure if I’m a minority or not, but I actually enjoy that things aren’t so solo oriented anymore. I think the game is way better when it manages to bring players together for a common goal.

This is what I missed about GW2 from the start, and it is something that GW1 actually excelled at, bringing people together. I feel like some of that has been replicated a bit in Heart of Thorns.

I understand those of you who wish to be able to do things solo, but I don’t feel like that should be a huge part of an online game such as this. The whole point is to play with other players and taking that away really kinda of messes up the core experience of an MMO in my opinion.

I’m not saying it should be removed entirely, but I think they have a much better ballance in HoT than they did in the base game, and I think making players play together should be pushed even further than what it is.

Of course, this is only my opinion.

The main thing I would like to see is for them to make Mastery Points something you could do solo instead of having to be in a group because they are gated behind some event.

Just because someones schedule doesn’t allow them to be on when the main groups are running should not exclude them from achieving the same results.

Otherwise I agree with large events requiring groups and no being a one or two man show (or lady )

battledrone.8315:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention. They didn’t make it so no one could have any challenge anywhere, but they did add in veteran events, they did make it so you didn’t have to do the meta to make progress in many of the collections, they did make it so that they night was decoupled from day so you’re not stuck in one map fearing to move for losing participation.

There were drastic changes to the zones, included moving the tiger and electric wyvern pet for rangers, so it wasn’t locked behind the meta.

There are people in my guild who used to have problems with those zones that have a whole lot less problems.

They can’t make the game brain dead easy all over the place because a small percentage of people don’t know how to play their professions, or don’t have exotic armor.

HoT just isn’t that difficult anymore, the except probably being some of the hero points. That said, I hardly pass a day in HoT without seeing a hero point train on each map.

those qualities could get me in a raid in other games
but here-in the casual mmo-it is needed for “open world” content?
makes total sense..not

The player qualities he mentioned are: knowing how to play your profession and having second rate gear. Those are pretty minimal expecations for playing endgame content.

Again, it wasnt, “complete pro level mastery of your profession,” and, “the best of the best of top tier gear.” Just know your profession and use second tier gear that can be purchased fairly inexpensively from the TP.

But I agree with you about platforming.

Healix.5819:

battledrone.8315:

but here-in the casual mmo-it is needed for “open world” content?

GW2 was meant to be casual in the sense of time, not difficulty. You can just jump in and play here and there while remaining competitive. When it comes to the difficulty, GW2 was actually intended for the more hardcore audience, as shown by the original beta. If you failed to dodge the telegraphed attacks back then, you were dead. That was all heavily nerfed however because, in short, they found that the average player needed training wheels.

Personally, I’d expect to see them continue to nerf HoT’s difficulty because it’s better for business. HoT is simply unrealistic for the more casual players which tend to play solo and make up the majority. Surely there’s a reason why almost all MMOs are incredibly easy when it comes to open world/solo content. ArenaNet has always been a niche however, so maybe they won’t.

There is a difference between casual and facerole/afk easy. I believe HoT to be on that line.

This is kittening funny, solod all the HoT maps to get my elite specs with both my base guardian and BASE revenant before they nerfed things to make them easier, 2-4 days after HoT release.
What the kitten people? Same people that struggle with low level fractals?

In addition, if you find the content too difficult, there is always the option of building for more sustain.

No one is forcing you to go full glass in the open world.

Reading this thread saved me some money. Thanks for the heads up everyone. I heard the first game is friendly to solo players, so I’ll be installing that after I finish with the base game.

ProtoGunner.4953:

I don’t understand, even with a squishy zerker ele HOT is mostly faceroll. You have tons of active defense, and your dodges. Yes, you will die from time to time, but not if you pay attention. All who claim it’s unplayable solo just don’t pay attention enough.

This.

I’ve soloed all the HoT story line missions, and pretty much everything else in HoT except for the champ HPs..with a squishy zerk ele. I fail to see where the majority of HoT content is not soloable. A few deaths are inevitable, but with either Staff meta if you want to go ranged, or D/W Fresh Air Tempest if you want to get up close and personal, stuff dies insanely quickly with the DPS from either build.

same here, i can quite easily solo HOT content as either a zerk or aura based ele, its trivially easy if you are not rolling your face on the keyboard.

Personally, I think designing MMOs around solo play does a huge disservice to the genre.

I feel like that in the move to be more accessible (and thus more soloable) MMOs as a genre quickly lose what actually makes them stand out as a genre, and as an experience. Adversity and the need to find allies is what breeds communities, and GW2, despite all of its anti-griefing design, does almost nothing to encourage players to develop communities. It just encourages them to run around in giant, silent mobs with very little communication or cameraderie.

This was true of GW1 as well, but in GW1’s defense it wasn’t attempting to create a living, persistant world. It was a group-centric linear RPG.

GW2 is a very solo friendly game, but it’s also a very lonely game for the same reason. You’re often surrounded by other players, but because you rarely need to be sociable with those players to form groups and tackle challenges, you just treat them like background noise or a wave to surf from event to event.

I’d honestly be happier if there were even less soloable content in the game, simply because it would encourage players to actually value the presence of one another as players and form communities rather than value one another like good or bad weather. That’s all other players really are in the open world, weather patterns. Sometimes you can ride a storm, and sometimes a drought makes your life harder, but never do you meet a handful of people and go adventuring together for a while. You show up, there’s a nice breeze at the event, then you leave.

Arenanet has constantly bowed to the “BUT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO SOLO THIS” viewpoint. Release era Orr was the first casualty and throughout the years a large number of pieces of content (even some billed as “group events”) have been brought down in an effort to simply ‘weatherproof’ them.

In my opinion, the PvE game has suffered because of it. There’s noever going to be a sufficient amount of PvE content to match the speed at which players consume it. What creates staying power in MMOs is the effect other players have on one another. it’s infinitely more replayable to do the same content over and over with a group of people, all making unpredictable moves, than it is to repeat the same content over and over alone.

Make no mistake, in the largely role-less open world of GW2, all content is solo content. Some content is just more weather resistant.

PopeUrban.2578:

Personally, I think designing MMOs around solo play does a huge disservice to the genre.

I feel like that in the move to be more accessible (and thus more soloable) MMOs as a genre quickly lose what actually makes them stand out as a genre, and as an experience. Adversity and the need to find allies is what breeds communities, and GW2, despite all of its anti-griefing design, does almost nothing to encourage players to develop communities. It just encourages them to run around in giant, silent mobs with very little communication or cameraderie.
—snip—

Except for the snippet about GW1, I agree with everything you said.

Coming into an MMO and expecting solo play is a bit silly if you ask me.

I think GW1 did a good job of encouraging group play since it was near impossible to get through zones or missions without other players or henchmen in your group. At the same time, those antisocial ones could opt to take henchmen if they wanted a solo like experience, but content was easier and more fun with actual players. Sometimes you would party with a group of players for a mission and wind up playing together for many hours, making new friends in the process.

GW2 is missing this, and it makes it even worse now that it is a full fledged MMO. Up until HoT you could pretty much go it alone throughout the entire game with little reason or encouragement to party up with other players. Even group events feel lonely because there is no need for communication, and you don’t really form any connections with the players you meet. You might join someone for an event and then afterwards they’ll just run off and be forgotten.

HoT changes this up a bit, and feels better for it. I feel like it could be pushed further. I feel like they should do away with the personal story and reintroduce the mission format of GW1, or better yet, keep the personal story and bring in missions that function as a secondary story designed for group play.

I was specifically talking about move in nightfall to heroes. Heroes ae a system that makes sense now, with a drastically lower population, but at the time Nightfall came out it was a bad move to create NPCs and give players such intricate tools for directing them.

Through Proph and factions I was always interested in having players in my party. Once nightfall released my desire to connect with other people quickly fell off simply because it was less work and often more efficient to kit out some heroes and do the content.

Before that, I could solo with henchment, who did the job well enough, but forced me to build around them, depriving me of playing builds I really wanted to and often resulting in a more difficult experience, so I felt compelled to hook up with other players, and when a group worked and was fun to be around, I wanted to keep hanging out with them.

PopeUrban.2578:

I was specifically talking about move in nightfall to heroes. Heroes ae a system that makes sense now, with a drastically lower population, but at the time Nightfall came out it was a bad move to create NPCs and give players such intricate tools for directing them.

Through Proph and factions I was always interested in having players in my party. Once nightfall released my desire to connect with other people quickly fell off simply because it was less work and often more efficient to kit out some heroes and do the content.

Before that, I could solo with henchment, who did the job well enough, but forced me to build around them, depriving me of playing builds I really wanted to and often resulting in a more difficult experience, so I felt compelled to hook up with other players, and when a group worked and was fun to be around, I wanted to keep hanging out with them.

That makes sense, there was certainly a bit more of a devide between the players but I don’t think it was drastic, heroes were nice but still required some micromanagement and STILL weren’t as effective as a good group of players.

The level of disconnect between players in GW2 is far greater.

PopeUrban.2578:

Personally, I think designing MMOs around solo play does a huge disservice to the genre.

- snip -

I appreciate (and to some degree agree with) your analysis and conclusions. I have to wonder, though, about the trend being a disservice to the genre. I agree it is for the demographic that wants what you want.

We’re living in a time where good MMO’s involve the expenditure of many millions in development costs. The old-time MMO experience that you’re referring to would not in all likelihood draw sufficient players to justify the expenditure in a corporate environment where executives think in terms of how many millions of people they can get to buy their product/service. I’m not sure we’d be seeing new MMO’s at all if developers designed them to be like EQ with regard to accessibility.

Whether some people like it or not, the genre has evolved. Some think, not for the better. However, for the genre to continue to exist it has to adapt to both player desires and current business realities.

IndigoSundown.5419:

PopeUrban.2578:

Personally, I think designing MMOs around solo play does a huge disservice to the genre.

- snip -

I appreciate (and to some degree agree with) your analysis and conclusions. I have to wonder, though, about the trend being a disservice to the genre. I agree it is for the demographic that wants what you want.

We’re living in a time where good MMO’s involve the expenditure of many millions in development costs. The old-time MMO experience that you’re referring to would not in all likelihood draw sufficient players to justify the expenditure in a corporate environment where executives think in terms of how many millions of people they can get to buy their product/service. I’m not sure we’d be seeing new MMO’s at all if developers designed them to be like EQ with regard to accessibility.

Whether some people like it or not, the genre has evolved. Some think, not for the better. However, for the genre to continue to exist it has to adapt to both player desires and current business realities.

I don’t think that’s such a bad thing really. If you’re trying to pull in, say, the single player RPG crowd, then why aren’t you making a single player RPG?

The industry by and large is past the inflates expectations that the WoW population bubble created. Nobody in their right mind thinks MMOs are the future of all games any more.

It’s perfectly reasonable to cater to player expectations, and try to bring in new players, but accessible isn’t the same thing as dumbed down. “Accessible” is simply a buzzword that has been misinterpreted as “make it easy” rather than “make it approachable”

An accessible design is easy to learn, but not necessarily easy to master. PC gaming’s giants fall in to that mold. Games like LoL or DOTA or Super Meat Boy or the Souls series or <insert sim game> or <insert this minute’s latest FPS> are accessible, but not dumbed down experiences. They’re designed to be easy to learn, but difficult to master.

The problem with over-engineering accessibility, which is what Anet has done with GW2 over the years and is only starting to step away from with HoT, is that you have a game that’s equally easy to learn, but without the sense of achievement or communities that makes MMOs as a genre remarkable different from a shooter, or a single player RPG, or a MOBA.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those genres, but I don’t think adding more single player RPG to an MMO garners a remarkable amount of long term users and more than adding XP, levels, and unlocks does to a shooter.

That’s not to say genre bending is bad. It’s healthy to try and innovate, and GW2 does a lot of innovative things, but genre bending solely to attract customers rather than to serve the overall design of the product is a bad idea.

If you’re going to make your game more accessible, do it by teaching new players what’s special about it, and give them something unique to love about it. Don’t do it by simply mistake-proofing the entire game from the beginning to the end.

PopeUrban.2578:

IndigoSundown.5419:

PopeUrban.2578:

Personally, I think designing MMOs around solo play does a huge disservice to the genre.

- snip -

I appreciate (and to some degree agree with) your analysis and conclusions. I have to wonder, though, about the trend being a disservice to the genre. I agree it is for the demographic that wants what you want.

We’re living in a time where good MMO’s involve the expenditure of many millions in development costs. The old-time MMO experience that you’re referring to would not in all likelihood draw sufficient players to justify the expenditure in a corporate environment where executives think in terms of how many millions of people they can get to buy their product/service. I’m not sure we’d be seeing new MMO’s at all if developers designed them to be like EQ with regard to accessibility.

Whether some people like it or not, the genre has evolved. Some think, not for the better. However, for the genre to continue to exist it has to adapt to both player desires and current business realities.

I don’t think that’s such a bad thing really. If you’re trying to pull in, say, the single player RPG crowd, then why aren’t you making a single player RPG?

The industry by and large is past the inflates expectations that the WoW population bubble created. Nobody in their right mind thinks MMOs are the future of all games any more.

It’s perfectly reasonable to cater to player expectations, and try to bring in new players, but accessible isn’t the same thing as dumbed down. “Accessible” is simply a buzzword that has been misinterpreted as “make it easy” rather than “make it approachable”

An accessible design is easy to learn, but not necessarily easy to master. PC gaming’s giants fall in to that mold. Games like LoL or DOTA or Super Meat Boy or the Souls series or <insert sim game> or <insert this minute’s latest FPS> are accessible, but not dumbed down experiences. They’re designed to be easy to learn, but difficult to master.

The problem with over-engineering accessibility, which is what Anet has done with GW2 over the years and is only starting to step away from with HoT, is that you have a game that’s equally easy to learn, but without the sense of achievement or communities that makes MMOs as a genre remarkable different from a shooter, or a single player RPG, or a MOBA.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those genres, but I don’t think adding more single player RPG to an MMO garners a remarkable amount of long term users and more than adding XP, levels, and unlocks does to a shooter.

That’s not to say genre bending is bad. It’s healthy to try and innovate, and GW2 does a lot of innovative things, but genre bending solely to attract customers rather than to serve the overall design of the product is a bad idea.

If you’re going to make your game more accessible, do it by teaching new players what’s special about it, and give them something unique to love about it. Don’t do it by simply mistake-proofing the entire game from the beginning to the end.

Keep in mind that Indigo was commenting on your point about solo play, not about easy play or mistake proofing. Ideally, “soloable,” should not be seen as synonymous with, “easy.”

I get that, but those two concepts are intertwined in this particular discussion.

To clarify though, the concept of “soloable” is the same sort of leaning as “make it easy” when it comes to a genre that has, as its basic concept before all other cosiderations of design, that it is a multiplayer game.

Take a look at a design like No Man’s Sky. It’s a single player game. it’s developed as a single player game, marketed as a single player game, and functionally a single player game because that’s pretty core to its design despite the fact that it takes place in a shared universe for every player.

The MMO, as a genre, has one lement that sets it apart from other genres. The core principal of MMO design is that you are present in a shared world in which you interact, competitively or cooperatively, with other players.

It isn’t that solo = easy

It’s that when you try and shoehorn “solo” in to a genre that derives all of its other systems from the assumption that you share the play space with other players, you’re literally only catering to people that don’t want to play that basic design in the first place, and thus you inevitably erode that basic design.

It’s a matter of degrees, sure. You NEED some soloable content because you’re still talking about a game here, and you can’t expect every player to be able to summon up a perfect party 24 hours a day. However, when the focus of your design becomes “make it a pleasant experience for solo players” rather than “make it a pleasant experience for players to play with each other” you’re simply moving too far to cater to individual players at the expense of the overall design.

I like GW2. I even like the story instances. What I don’t like is the design that says “you, the single player, are the most important person in the world”

When you teach every player they are the focus of attention, they stop being happy to see other player, and start getting upset because other players are an assumed element of the design, like a weapon or a map rather than intelligent entities that you have to interact with on a human level.

That human level is what creates the sense of a shared world. That sense is lacking in GW2 because of an over-reliance on the idea that players should never actually need help as much as just passively benefit from it in terms of efficiency or difficulty level.

Dante.1508:

The game needs to appeal to the Casual players or it dies a slow painful death.

Don’t associate ‘casual’ with ‘unskilled’; doing so indicates there is some kind of practice involved that a casual player simply can’t invest the time to do to be successful. That is NOT the case. I’m certain as casual as the next guy, but had none of the issues you speak of.

I’m not sure how someone can perform so poorly as you indicate you do. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt that you aren’t being sensational, though your post indicates it. I’m sure it’s been covered but games have elements meant to be solved, if you can’t ‘solve’ HoT, it’s not the game for you.

ProtoGunner.4953:

I don’t understand, even with a squishy zerker ele HOT is mostly faceroll. You have tons of active defense, and your dodges. Yes, you will die from time to time, but not if you pay attention. All who claim it’s unplayable solo just don’t pay attention enough.

Different players have different levels of ability, different ping times, different builds etc..

My whole game i’m fighting a 220 ping time being Aussie, it can take 2 to 3 secs for skill to pop after i press it, every skill..

Everything seems horrible delayed in this new 64bit GW2 as well for me.. If it didn’t take me 12 hours to download the game each time i switch exe files i’d go back to 32 bit in a heart beat.

This is kittening funny, solod all the HoT maps to get my elite specs with both my base guardian and BASE revenant before they nerfed things to make them easier, 2-4 days after HoT release.
What the kitten people? Same people that struggle with low level fractals?

Yes i gave up Fractals and i’m lv 7, they are far too hard for me, if that is something for people to laugh at laugh away, i personally just drag the team down, and they are constantly ressing me..

I purchased the Living Story 2, and while the story is amazingly more interesting than the first i’m dying constantly in the battles solo, its not fun for me and well i have no idea if its my 230ish ping time or what but since returning to GW2 the bar is so high i’m losing interest fast with how hard this game has become..

Dante.1508:

ProtoGunner.4953:

I don’t understand, even with a squishy zerker ele HOT is mostly faceroll. You have tons of active defense, and your dodges. Yes, you will die from time to time, but not if you pay attention. All who claim it’s unplayable solo just don’t pay attention enough.

Different players have different levels of ability, different ping times, different builds etc..

My whole game i’m fighting a 220 ping time being Aussie, it can take 2 to 3 secs for skill to pop after i press it, every skill..

Everything seems horrible delayed in this new 64bit GW2 as well for me.. If it didn’t take me 12 hours to download the game each time i switch exe files i’d go back to 32 bit in a heart beat.

This is kittening funny, solod all the HoT maps to get my elite specs with both my base guardian and BASE revenant before they nerfed things to make them easier, 2-4 days after HoT release.
What the kitten people? Same people that struggle with low level fractals?

Yes i gave up Fractals and i’m lv 7, they are far too hard for me, if that is something for people to laugh at laugh away, i personally just drag the team down, and they are constantly ressing me..

I purchased the Living Story 2, and while the story is amazingly more interesting than the first i’m dying constantly in the battles solo, its not fun for me and well i have no idea if its my 230ish ping time or what but since returning to GW2 the bar is so high i’m losing interest fast with how hard this game has become..

If you’re getting 3 second delays on every skill, it’s not that youv’e got that ping. Even when my ping from Australia is over 300, which it sometimes is, I almost never get more than a second delay and often less than that.

Not sure what your issue is, but it’s not 200 ping.

My wife and I, both in Tasmania have two manned lower level fractals. I’m not sure again what the issue is for you. I’m not even suggesting it’s a learn to play issue, but you should be able to survive low level fractals.

I’m running on a 300+ ping from SE Asia and there’s no noticeable delay on pressing skills and having it execute, so it’s likely not the ping. It’s likely the delay issue is hardware related though.

My wife ran GW2 on her old laptop, and she had a hard time dodging stuff and has some skills delay if there are too many thigns going on the screen. When she switches to a new PC, all the skill and dodge frame delay disappears.

Omne.4603:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

Multiplayer means you’re playing a game with other real players around the world, it doesn’t mean you’re playing game that requires cooperation and teamwork to progress.

serialkicker.5274:

Omne.4603:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

Multiplayer means you’re playing a game with other real players around the world, it doesn’t mean you’re playing game that requires cooperation and teamwork to progress.

True, but in the other hand it would be a bit dumb to gather so many players around an event and never make them care about others by requesting some form of cooperation and teamwork: take a look a triple trouble, tequatl, tarir

flog.3485:

serialkicker.5274:

Omne.4603:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

Multiplayer means you’re playing a game with other real players around the world, it doesn’t mean you’re playing game that requires cooperation and teamwork to progress.

True, but in the other hand it would be a bit dumb to gather so many players around an event and never make them care about others by requesting some form of cooperation and teamwork: take a look a triple trouble, tequatl, tarir

That was not the point of that comment and of my reply. But yes, I agree, teamwork and cooperation is nice, but events should properly scale. I wish dungeons would also scale and we could do them solo and up to 10-man team.

serialkicker.5274:

flog.3485:

serialkicker.5274:

Omne.4603:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

Multiplayer means you’re playing a game with other real players around the world, it doesn’t mean you’re playing game that requires cooperation and teamwork to progress.

True, but in the other hand it would be a bit dumb to gather so many players around an event and never make them care about others by requesting some form of cooperation and teamwork: take a look a triple trouble, tequatl, tarir

That was not the point of that comment and of my reply. But yes, I agree, teamwork and cooperation is nice, but events should properly scale. I wish dungeons would also scale and we could do them solo and up to 10-man team.

You can already solo dungeons….10 man dungeons? I don’t know, with 5 it is already pretty easy, Anet team dungeon was already disbanded years ago. If you 10 man instanced content you should try raid, as for 5-man content, fractals are the way to go

flog.3485:

serialkicker.5274:

flog.3485:

serialkicker.5274:

Omne.4603:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

Multiplayer means you’re playing a game with other real players around the world, it doesn’t mean you’re playing game that requires cooperation and teamwork to progress.

True, but in the other hand it would be a bit dumb to gather so many players around an event and never make them care about others by requesting some form of cooperation and teamwork: take a look a triple trouble, tequatl, tarir

That was not the point of that comment and of my reply. But yes, I agree, teamwork and cooperation is nice, but events should properly scale. I wish dungeons would also scale and we could do them solo and up to 10-man team.

You can already solo dungeons…

you might, but tons of ppl can’t.
just because you can doesn’t mean “it’s already soloable”, it means you can do something most other players can’t.

i wish the dungeons would scale correctly, but it keeps on making it for a 5 man team.

flog.3485:

serialkicker.5274:

flog.3485:

serialkicker.5274:

Omne.4603:

Aytheist.9476:

Solo players cannot advance in the new content, and any decent publisher would disclose such a fundamental change prior to taking your money.

They did. This is an MMORPG and is marketed as such. Not just multiplayer, but MASSIVELY Multiplayer.

http://internet-games.yoexpert.com/mmorpgs/what-s-the-difference-between-an-mmorpg-and-mmo-1636.html

Multiplayer means you’re playing a game with other real players around the world, it doesn’t mean you’re playing game that requires cooperation and teamwork to progress.

True, but in the other hand it would be a bit dumb to gather so many players around an event and never make them care about others by requesting some form of cooperation and teamwork: take a look a triple trouble, tequatl, tarir

That was not the point of that comment and of my reply. But yes, I agree, teamwork and cooperation is nice, but events should properly scale. I wish dungeons would also scale and we could do them solo and up to 10-man team.

You can already solo dungeons….10 man dungeons? I don’t know, with 5 it is already pretty easy, Anet team dungeon was already disbanded years ago. If you 10 man instanced content you should try raid, as for 5-man content, fractals are the way to go

There are quite a quite a few paths you can’t solo. Few examples are all of coe, cof p1+p3, cm p2 etc…
Plus let’s be honest here, how many people you think can solo dungeons? There are few of those that can. I bet there are people who would enjoy soloing but they just are not good enough or they play a class that is not good at soloing, because some paths can be very hard to solo. Or there are probably also people who would love to do duo runs, only with their partners or their friend. If anet would make all dungeons doable with any number of players (1-10) and to properly scale, that would do a lot for replayability in dungeons and enjoyement for all kind of players. There are players who don’t play dungeons because of toxic community.
And yes, I know they abandened dungeons long ago, I was just saying it would be nice thing to have. And yes, 10man dungeons would work, AGAIN, if they would make them scale properly, just like I was talking for world events.

I am actually going to disagree. FINALLY there is some challenge to playing solo in HoT maps. Finally. I am so glad. Yes, there are things I can’t do when playing solo except for one class with a certain build…but I am glad about that! That’s called challenge. Not everything should be soloable. Champs shouldn’t be soloable. Large Scale events shouldn’t be soloable.

A lot also depends on class, build, and yes sorry, skill. I die a lot on my zerker mesmer so I started soloing on a different class and build. It works. The maps evolved – so players, classes, builds, playstyles must also evolve if you want to keep soloing.

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

Rinn.2375:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

In terms of dificult barely changed, the damage is pretty much the same aside the mushrooms, the hostile npcs continues with the same attack patterns.

The whole diference is that now you can unlock faster the HoT masteries and is worth stay playing on HoT maps reward wise…

Aside having new unlocked masteries that really make travel around the jungle easier, you simple adapted to the HoT gameplay style lol

Banchou.5628:

Rinn.2375:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

In terms of dificult barely changed, the damage is pretty much the same aside the mushrooms, the hostile npcs continues with the same attack patterns.

The whole diference is that now you can unlock faster the HoT masteries and is worth stay playing on HoT maps reward wise…

Aside having new unlocked masteries that really make travel around the jungle easier, you simple adapted to the HoT gameplay style lol

This isn’t actually true. Many of the random champ events around the map have turned into veteran events, like the champ troll that used to spawn in VB. There are changes to adventures which give you more time/make them easier. There are changes to the way certain events scale. In addition, there are some areas along the main pathways where the amount of mobs have been reduced.

I have an older woman in my guild, who couldn’t get through the zones before and now she can. She told me it was much easier for her to survive. She used to be frustrated and now she’s not.

It IS easier.

Vayne.8563:

Banchou.5628:

Rinn.2375:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

In terms of dificult barely changed, the damage is pretty much the same aside the mushrooms, the hostile npcs continues with the same attack patterns.

The whole diference is that now you can unlock faster the HoT masteries and is worth stay playing on HoT maps reward wise…

Aside having new unlocked masteries that really make travel around the jungle easier, you simple adapted to the HoT gameplay style lol

This isn’t actually true. Many of the random champ events around the map have turned into veteran events, like the champ troll that used to spawn in VB. There are changes to adventures which give you more time/make them easier. There are changes to the way certain events scale. In addition, there are some areas along the main pathways where the amount of mobs have been reduced.

I have an older woman in my guild, who couldn’t get through the zones before and now she can. She told me it was much easier for her to survive. She used to be frustrated and now she’s not.

It IS easier.

No they really haven’t, i’ve had to stand around asking in chat for help on champions as much now as i ever did before the patch..

Very little changed on difficulty in hot, what looks great in patch notes doesn’t equate to the actual game play value..

The other thing is the huge imbalance between classes that while some classes can face roll HoT the others cannot.. All classes should be able to face roll hot, the whole map not just some.

Dante.1508:

No they really haven’t

Yes, they really have.

I don’t understand that there are still people complaining about difficulty. HoT is in a really good spot now and it is really fun to play. Making it easier will make the new maps farming friendly and necros and Rangers will afk pet-farm these maps too. Play through gw2 content, get 100% on Orr maps and learn the basics of your class. Get some toughness and vitality and not only berserker stats and if you die try to change your build a little.

Before HoT one of my guild mates said that engineer was hard to play and she died over and over again, I asked her what stats and build she used. Sha answered that she was using berserker because “they” have said it is the best stats and she couldn’t find a good trait build for it. So I told her of my carrion bomber build and she was so surprised how easy everything got.

Sometimes it’s not the game that is too hard or that your skills are lacking, sometimes you just have to find a build that works with your playstyle, berserker is NOT the best for everyone.

Dante.1508:

All classes should be able to face roll hot, the whole map not just some.

If they make it easier that much it will be boring like the starting areas. They launched HoT for HC gamers and they “loved” it. Then reduced the difficulty level to the casuals and I think they’ll reduce the difficulty level when the next expansion comes. I think this is the roadmap here.

Dante.1508:

Vayne.8563:

Banchou.5628:

Rinn.2375:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

In terms of dificult barely changed, the damage is pretty much the same aside the mushrooms, the hostile npcs continues with the same attack patterns.

The whole diference is that now you can unlock faster the HoT masteries and is worth stay playing on HoT maps reward wise…

Aside having new unlocked masteries that really make travel around the jungle easier, you simple adapted to the HoT gameplay style lol

This isn’t actually true. Many of the random champ events around the map have turned into veteran events, like the champ troll that used to spawn in VB. There are changes to adventures which give you more time/make them easier. There are changes to the way certain events scale. In addition, there are some areas along the main pathways where the amount of mobs have been reduced.

I have an older woman in my guild, who couldn’t get through the zones before and now she can. She told me it was much easier for her to survive. She used to be frustrated and now she’s not.

It IS easier.

No they really haven’t, i’ve had to stand around asking in chat for help on champions as much now as i ever did before the patch..

Very little changed on difficulty in hot, what looks great in patch notes doesn’t equate to the actual game play value..

The other thing is the huge imbalance between classes that while some classes can face roll HoT the others cannot.. All classes should be able to face roll hot, the whole map not just some.

I can play HoT on all 9 professions. Some ARE harder than others. That’s how MMOs should be. The should provide options for people who want to play faceroll and people who want an actual skill ceiling. That’s part of good MMO design.

Vayne.8563:

Dante.1508:

Vayne.8563:

Banchou.5628:

Rinn.2375:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

In terms of dificult barely changed, the damage is pretty much the same aside the mushrooms, the hostile npcs continues with the same attack patterns.

The whole diference is that now you can unlock faster the HoT masteries and is worth stay playing on HoT maps reward wise…

Aside having new unlocked masteries that really make travel around the jungle easier, you simple adapted to the HoT gameplay style lol

This isn’t actually true. Many of the random champ events around the map have turned into veteran events, like the champ troll that used to spawn in VB. There are changes to adventures which give you more time/make them easier. There are changes to the way certain events scale. In addition, there are some areas along the main pathways where the amount of mobs have been reduced.

I have an older woman in my guild, who couldn’t get through the zones before and now she can. She told me it was much easier for her to survive. She used to be frustrated and now she’s not.

It IS easier.

No they really haven’t, i’ve had to stand around asking in chat for help on champions as much now as i ever did before the patch..

Very little changed on difficulty in hot, what looks great in patch notes doesn’t equate to the actual game play value..

The other thing is the huge imbalance between classes that while some classes can face roll HoT the others cannot.. All classes should be able to face roll hot, the whole map not just some.

I can play HoT on all 9 professions. Some ARE harder than others. That’s how MMOs should be. The should provide options for people who want to play faceroll and people who want an actual skill ceiling. That’s part of good MMO design.

no, that is horrible design
the options should be in the variety of the content , not in unbalanced classes

battledrone.8315:

Vayne.8563:

Dante.1508:

Vayne.8563:

Banchou.5628:

Rinn.2375:

Vayne.8563:

Anyone who said this hasn’t changed too much, simply isn’t paying attention.

It’s true. I am a casual player. Casual of the casuals as a matter of fact. I lost interest quickly in HoT because I died so many times. Now, I can manage in HoT with my guardian and easily finished Verdant Brinks map. Achievements and all. Even unlocking the masteries is a lot easier now (from 22 to 33 within a day with casual, not HC play), so I don’t know what is the problem with the difficulty level of the HoT content.
I think it’s good now. A bit harder than the “Prophecies” and a lot easier than the old HoT

In terms of dificult barely changed, the damage is pretty much the same aside the mushrooms, the hostile npcs continues with the same attack patterns.

The whole diference is that now you can unlock faster the HoT masteries and is worth stay playing on HoT maps reward wise…

Aside having new unlocked masteries that really make travel around the jungle easier, you simple adapted to the HoT gameplay style lol

This isn’t actually true. Many of the random champ events around the map have turned into veteran events, like the champ troll that used to spawn in VB. There are changes to adventures which give you more time/make them easier. There are changes to the way certain events scale. In addition, there are some areas along the main pathways where the amount of mobs have been reduced.

I have an older woman in my guild, who couldn’t get through the zones before and now she can. She told me it was much easier for her to survive. She used to be frustrated and now she’s not.

It IS easier.

No they really haven’t, i’ve had to stand around asking in chat for help on champions as much now as i ever did before the patch..

Very little changed on difficulty in hot, what looks great in patch notes doesn’t equate to the actual game play value..

The other thing is the huge imbalance between classes that while some classes can face roll HoT the others cannot.. All classes should be able to face roll hot, the whole map not just some.

I can play HoT on all 9 professions. Some ARE harder than others. That’s how MMOs should be. The should provide options for people who want to play faceroll and people who want an actual skill ceiling. That’s part of good MMO design.

no, that is horrible design
the options should be in the variety of the content , not in unbalanced classes

That’s not horrible design … that’s standard design. That’s how it works for every MMO I’ve ever played.

Outside of instances that could check your race/class/level/gear etc there isn’t a way to make content personal. As the maps are completely open to anyone, it’s up to YOU, on YOUR toon to get across them. Necro or thief or ranger or mesmer a bit squishy? Get more vitality on your gear, grab some toughness. Engineer a bit slow on the old running / dodging? Grab slick shoes. Guardian, Warrior take too long? Add some berserker gear. It’s up to you to change your character, not for the map to change to what you brought. Don’t take a knife to a gun fight and all that.

Dante.1508:

All classes should be able to face roll hot, the whole map not just some.

Clearly the problem here is your face. It just doesn’t roll.