This has all been stated at one time or another, but I really feel that we need a focal point for this on-going-but-fragmented dialogue the PvP community seems to have with the dev team. I fully welcome any criticism or reality checks for what you are about to read; these are simply the impressions I’ve gotten from playing most areas of the game, while being more invested in the PvP side of things.
As the PvP forum must surely know, although this update contained quite a bit of information, it most likely won’t shake the game up as much as we need it to. Now, PvP and PvE have different metas to a degree, partially because of the niche use of certain professions/skills (more relevant to higher-level dungeon content etc), and partially due to the general easiness that is involved with fighting everyday AI.
However, one thing that affects both of them (in any game) is inferiority, and there are plenty of skills that are used infrequently/never in both formats. This problem occurred in GW1 in-part because of the vast number of skills we had available, but this issue is not nearly as bad in GW2, at least it shouldn’t be theoretically. There is a large amount of potential to make almost all of the skills/traits we have available more universally competitive in both settings without breaking them.
I don’t know how much manpower is devoted to each “team”, but Living World updates, which likely consume the bulk of your total time spent, usually contain little to nothing regarding actual balance, when it’s just as important to your PvE content as it is to PvP.
As a note to the developers, I think the Living World updates are a really neat concept to have in a game, but without more ability to freely experiment with how they tackle content (without feeling like they’re gimping themselves, and believe me, they will if they don’t already) your players with common sense will always have a sense of frustration when selecting professions, and then again when they are trying to make a build with said profession. The ability to tackle most of the content with sub-par everything doesn’t mean there’s not a huge problem with those things being sub-par. When you release a game “when it’s ready” and such fundamental design aspect is so incomplete, it really speaks ill of a profitable company that really has the (I hope) best intentions for its player-base. Surely with how much you read the forums you can see the large number of new players pointing out flaws in your system that veterans have known about since beta.
It is imperative that more attention be given to the balance/class progression side of your game. It will impress your new players, who will really get the impression that the versatility you advertise(d) exists in the game. It will help keep your veteran players, many of whom want to love this game but are simply bored by how bland the majority of our abilities are in comparison to a select few that are actually efficient.
Your meta will shift more naturally without requiring huge balance updates to shake things up every few months, which is pretty destructive because you aren’t avoiding the whack-a-mole effect as intended; you’re simply extending the player-base frustration that comes out of it. On top of that, with a more intuitive system and healthier meta flow, your E-Sport potential skyrockets, drawing an entirely new crowd and player niche to the game. How neat would it be if GW2 had millions of worldwide viewers, and was able to offer a $1 million USD prize to the winning team of a grand tournament? The reference here is pretty obvious, but the example still stands.
Please note that this balancing process should not involve nerfing/removing functions from skills simply to make your inferior ones look better by comparison, unless those skills are simply numerically broken. Interesting, flexible skills with high potential levels of synergy are what give this game the chance to be really good at what it’s trying to accomplish. We have seen this balancing method implemented to tone down certain aspects without successfully creating interest in others.
In short: This plethora of new content is completely pushing one of the most important game-maintenance concepts to the side. Minor updates to pet health, a few utilities and some AI tweaks once every 2-3 months is to put it bluntly, just inadequate for the long-standing health of the game. When your players feel they have that absolute freedom to build how they want while following a few general guidelines, the rest of your content suddenly gains a lot more character and longevity.
(edited by Leuca.5732)
