Guild Wars 2

Just copy/paste from my reddit topic

Hi, I think Anet had a great idea to put the core side of the game in F2P but i think SPvP can’t really take advantage of F2P because Elite specializations are too much better than the old “core” builds.

Basically every profession has the meta build with the elite spec or the best build possible with the elite spec involved.

This is a huge brake for F2P players because they can’t really try the spvp side of the game at the max potential without the sense of “Pay to win”.

Ofc I understand Anet put a lot of effort in GW2 HoT and they need to monetize their expansion but Spvp needs a really large player base to work well so put immediately this brake for f2p players is not really great.

This has a huge impact on the spvp growing and for the potential future players base.
I think Anet could reach a compromise maybe unlocking just 1 or 2 elite specs for the f2p players (spvp side) and let the players unlock the other elite specs when they buy HoT.

Or another alternative could be use the gem store to unlock the elite specs with gems (always spvp) but i think at least 1 elite spec should go for free.

Sooner they can implement this change, better is for the spvp growing.

PS I had 4 accounts with 3 hot so it’s more for entire spvp community, i don’t have real issues to buy expansions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/40zl9u/spvp_just_1_or_2_free_elite_spec_for_f2p_players/

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

Cynz.9437:

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

Maybe withdraw will actually get the 10% buff this time.

Berry Pun Pup.6904:

Cynz.9437:

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

Maybe withdraw will actually get the 10% buff this time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Cynz.9437:

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

+1

Cynz.9437:

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

It’s a possibility, but honestly they should heavily nerf basically everything i dunno if it’s the best way.

For sure, the priority should be to not create a huge gap in builds between new and old players (with hot).

The sense of “pay to win” should be totally reset for spvp, i can undestand easy things like amulet cost or sigils but the gap is too huge between meta build with elite specs and not.

Take a new player, “ehi cool this game has a free to play mode, i want to try spvp!”…..and bam…chain stomped from people with hot meta builds.

Ofc he is a new player and chain stomp is normal, but one thing is to improve yourself with the same weapons…another thing is to be forced to buy an expansion to compete from the beginning at the same build level.

The experience and practice difference should be enough.

you could put them on rotation I guess.

Cynz.9437:

Berry Pun Pup.6904:

Cynz.9437:

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

Maybe withdraw will actually get the 10% buff this time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I am so tired to hear about this 10% heal value. Fix this already. And don’t forget about Lightning Rod too.

I don’t play other classes, but as a warrior/necro player, I do sometimes go back to base necro and base warrior because it works better in some situations.

To be honest, how do you balance elite spec at the same time of balancing core specs? Seems like a promise that was very hard to keep. If Arcana would be buffed to be able to compete with Tempest, how do you keep this buff on Arcana from affecting Tempest at the same time?

I think the way is to buff, or add stuff to old abilities; it can’t be power creeping because those abilities lacked power before anyway. Diamond Skin should be oriented toward something a glyph or arcane skill could benefit from…

This is why you cant be to generous, because people will never stop asking for more handouts

The game was always buy to play with no trial, anet generously decided to allow people to play the entire base game for free with economic and chat restrictions so that people could try the game before deciding to buy the expansion

Instead of being grateful for even being allowed to play for free, people are now demanding expansion content completely for free

Some people literally ONLY pvp, so your essentially asking anet to give the expansion away for free to those people because if they had the elite specs there is literally ZERO reason to buy the expansion if all they do is pvp

Its essentially the same thing as giving a starving person a sandwich and then having them complain that you didnt give them a lobster dinner

Kayberz.5346:

This is why you cant be to generous, because people will never stop asking for more handouts

The game was always buy to play with no trial, anet generously decided to allow people to play the entire base game for free with economic and chat restrictions so that people could try the game before deciding to buy the expansion

Instead of being grateful for even being allowed to play for free, people are now demanding expansion content completely for free

Some people literally ONLY pvp, so your essentially asking anet to give the expansion away for free to those people because if they had the elite specs there is literally ZERO reason to buy the expansion if all they do is pvp

Its essentially the same thing as giving a starving person a sandwich and then having them complain that you didnt give them a lobster dinner

For Spvp, the main thing Anet should prioritize is a very large player base.

Because if spvp has very large player base matchmaking works better, there is more interest about tournaments and pvp, more viral advertising, etc. basically the entire game has advantages to have more players in spvp.

F2P doesn’t work for spvp. Just that, They can download the client and try some games but they realize very soon to not have chance to compete if they don’t buy HoT. It’s a bad advertise, where is the f2p in that?

Works for PVE because you can do 80, visit every core zone, make every world boss and other stuff

But basically you can’t test properly spvp because this huge difference in builds.

So you’re wrong, I’m not asking for every elite spec unlocked, I’m asking for a compromise, to put immediately new players at the same level of veteran/old players at least with 1 elite spec unlocked, because this is the initial philosophy of pvp, skill and experience count, not equip or build.

Cynz.9437:

Or they could just do what they promised and not make elites completely superior to vanilla builds~ But per usual it was all a lie, just like promise to reset mmr at begin of the season.

yes
i’d much rather have HoT spec balanced to be en par with all old builds!

i want to see the old build diversity again and even bigger with HoT specs added!

it is just so ironic how
Anet brought more builds to the game
but in the end we have
less builds to play ! …

…because almost all old builds are not viable anymore and you are just hurting yourself when using them

so instead of getting +50% playable builds (from average 2 per class to 3 per class) we got -50% playable builds for PvP with HoT

philheat.3956:

Kayberz.5346:

This is why you cant be to generous, because people will never stop asking for more handouts

The game was always buy to play with no trial, anet generously decided to allow people to play the entire base game for free with economic and chat restrictions so that people could try the game before deciding to buy the expansion

Instead of being grateful for even being allowed to play for free, people are now demanding expansion content completely for free

Some people literally ONLY pvp, so your essentially asking anet to give the expansion away for free to those people because if they had the elite specs there is literally ZERO reason to buy the expansion if all they do is pvp

Its essentially the same thing as giving a starving person a sandwich and then having them complain that you didnt give them a lobster dinner

For Spvp, the main thing Anet should prioritize is a very large player base.

Because if spvp has very large player base matchmaking works better, there is more interest about tournaments and pvp, more viral advertising, etc. basically the entire game has advantages to have more players in spvp.

F2P doesn’t work for spvp. Just that, They can download the client and try some games but they realize very soon to not have chance to compete if they don’t buy HoT. It’s a bad advertise, where is the f2p in that?

Works for PVE because you can do 80, visit every core zone, make every world boss and other stuff

But basically you can’t test properly spvp because this huge difference in builds.

So you’re wrong, I’m not asking for every elite spec unlocked, I’m asking for a compromise, to put immediately new players at the same level of veteran/old players at least with 1 elite spec unlocked, because this is the initial philosophy of pvp, skill and experience count, not equip or build.

There are people that literally only play 1 class and only pvp, giving them an elite spec just lost anet a potential sale on the expansion

People are lucky they evem get to play the game completely free, and people are exaggerating how much more powerful elite specs are, they are the most optimal atm but they in no way completely dominate the core specs to the point that they cant be competitive with each other, they are just a little better

A larger player base for pvp is all good and well but anets goal isnt to just have a ton of players just for the sake of having them, they want a large player base who are CUSTOMERS. Pure pvp players have little reason to spend money on the gem store compared to pve players

By the time someone is able to do ranked they are PvP level 20.

Pony up the cash if you want to unlock it, you’ve had your free trial.

Alekt.5803:

To be honest, how do you balance elite spec at the same time of balancing core specs? Seems like a promise that was very hard to keep. If Arcana would be buffed to be able to compete with Tempest, how do you keep this buff on Arcana from affecting Tempest at the same time?

I think the way is to buff, or add stuff to old abilities; it can’t be power creeping because those abilities lacked power before anyway. Diamond Skin should be oriented toward something a glyph or arcane skill could benefit from…

Right now you can’t, because besides necro, specializations are badly designed. They just gives you new things and doesn’t take anything away from you as they should. Except for DH, but the new virtues are just like the old one but better which is bad design too.

For a spec to be designed on a healthy base which can be balanced you need something like reaper : yes you get the new reaper’s shroud with mobility and stability, but you lose death shroud with aoe immobilize, instant feat, long chill etc. Sure right now reaper is mostly stronger but its just a matter of number tuning.

This is how every spec should have been designed, for example daredevil should give up steal (and rework new Dodge mechanic accordingly, for example each type of dodge should be f1 f2 f3 that you can swap on the fly at a cost, and you’d get actual GM traits.) Berserker should lose the regular F1 burst, and remove the cd on berserker mode, etc etc.

Valkyriez.6578:

By the time someone is able to do ranked they are PvP level 20.

Pony up the cash if you want to unlock it, you’ve had your free trial.

Yup.
OP, it’s free to try, Not free to play. And this is how it should stay.
Imo, just thank for being able to play at all- i started playing only 7 months ago, when i had the money to pay for it, even though my friend who played it since launch kept telling me about it, and hell i wanted to play it just from the moment he told me about it. It is a buy to play game with the option for a free trial for checking things out. You don’t like it? Don’t play it. Why would someone who paid nothing have exactly what we all paid for? Think about it. Does this sounds fair to you?