Guild Wars 2

It’s becoming clear that the game design is corporate to some extent. I strongly suspect that the decisions are being made at a level above those Devs reading this forum.

I just finished an episode of The Iconian War in Star Trek Online (STO). My reward? a device that allows me to step out of the time stream for 5 seconds. Another possible reward was a “kit” that generated alacrity and slowing.

The two games show enough similarities that I think the decisions are being made for both by the same people. B&S with it’s heavy emphasis on combinations and icons designed to coordinate team combos ( GW2 recently got nearly identical icons ) falls into the same basket.

Extrapolating from that; PvP is nearly dead in STO. This is mainly because of “wallet” pvp and the very heavy dependence on exotic gear.

However, open world space or ground PvP is available. It’s seldom used. For that reason, I’m guessing that it won’t be introduced to GW2.

My guess is that GW2 design decisions have to be ratified by a higher level corporate group. This would tend to explain the general slow response and unwillingness to comment.

I don’t know I think a better explanation is that the people in charge of pvp just don’t know how to make a pvp game, I’ts not the same people who made the original guild wars which had the best pvp and pve and everything out of all games I’ve ever played. ( except maybe Pirates of the Caribbean Online which was imo on the same level as gw1 in epicness which makes me very sad that it no longer exists, some one really should consider making a game similar to that one I bet it would be extremely popular)

Ellie.5913:

I think a better explanation is that the people in charge of pvp just don’t know how to make a pvp game (…)

I don’t know. For instance, when it comes to combat design, I think the first round of powercreep (June 23rd update) was an accident, but I don’t see the ridiculousness of the elite specs being unintentional. There’s just no way they’re that out of touch with the game. When such a large portion of the playerbase, including many top players, show a strong preference (mildly put) for the 2014/early 2015 pre-powercreep metagames but nothing is being changed, you have to think the developers are being forced not to act. The alternative is just sad.

vana.5467:

Ellie.5913:

I think a better explanation is that the people in charge of pvp just don’t know how to make a pvp game (…)

I don’t know. For instance, when it comes to combat design, I think the first round of powercreep (June 23rd update) was an accident, but I don’t see the ridiculousness of the elite specs being unintentional. There’s just no way they’re that out of touch with the game. When such a large portion of the playerbase, including many top players, show a strong preference (mildly put) for the 2014/early 2015 pre-powercreep metagames but nothing is being changed, you have to think the developers are being forced not to act. The alternative is just sad.

The reason for that is pretty obvious. Making elite specs mandatory for any sort of competitive play means that everyone has to buy HoT.

vana.5467:

Ellie.5913:

I think a better explanation is that the people in charge of pvp just don’t know how to make a pvp game (…)

I don’t know. For instance, when it comes to combat design, I think the first round of powercreep (June 23rd update) was an accident, but I don’t see the ridiculousness of the elite specs being unintentional. There’s just no way they’re that out of touch with the game. When such a large portion of the playerbase, including many top players, show a strong preference (mildly put) for the 2014/early 2015 pre-powercreep metagames but nothing is being changed, you have to think the developers are being forced not to act. The alternative is just sad.

People have said they reckon the Elite Specs were designed to make people buy the expansion. I guess that theory could be true, if there’s no intention of them toning the Elite Specs down.

It really feels like all the balance has just spiralled out of control. I guess we’ll have to see what happens with the balance patch, but I’m not holding my breath for much. I mean, I love the combat in Gw2, It’s great, but I’ve gotta agree with Ellie. The PvP in Gw1 was just….better.

Zynt.5769:

vana.5467:

Ellie.5913:

I think a better explanation is that the people in charge of pvp just don’t know how to make a pvp game (…)

I don’t know. For instance, when it comes to combat design, I think the first round of powercreep (June 23rd update) was an accident, but I don’t see the ridiculousness of the elite specs being unintentional. There’s just no way they’re that out of touch with the game. When such a large portion of the playerbase, including many top players, show a strong preference (mildly put) for the 2014/early 2015 pre-powercreep metagames but nothing is being changed, you have to think the developers are being forced not to act. The alternative is just sad.

People have said they reckon the Elite Specs were designed to make people buy the expansion. I guess that theory could be true, if there’s no intention of them toning the Elite Specs down.

It really feels like all the balance has just spiralled out of control. I guess we’ll have to see what happens with the balance patch, but I’m not holding my breath for much. I mean, I love the combat in Gw2, It’s great, but I’ve gotta agree with Ellie. The PvP in Gw1 was just….better.

GW1 was better because it was made with the intent of making the best possible MMO at the time…GW2 has been made with MMO market in mind meaning all they care is …money.l

I agree, well said.

Holy convoluted reasoning Batman.

Supreme.3164:

GW1 was better because it was made with the intent of making the best possible MMO at the time…GW2 has been made with MMO market in mind meaning all they care is …money.l

This is what I dont get!
Novadays most (large) companies always try to create games with the intent of people liking them, therefore are mostly guessing what could be a good change.
How comes they never notice that creating a game the way they like usually is also well liked with the playerbase?
Game developers are usually creative people and often gamers themselves, they dont need any statistics, any coucelling. All they would need to do is create a good game, not one that seems good. Also the best way to create a selling game: dont try to make a selling game.
Idk, maybe im completely wrong about this, but I wish all devs were like Digital Extremes.