TLDR: If the problem is ‘overwhelmed new players’, the solution is NOT ‘unlocks’. Unlocks do not help new players, they only hurt all pvp’ers and hamper build diversity.
I think Anet believes that new players to spvp feel overwhelmed and ‘minor speedbumps and unlocks’ will go unnoticed. This can be argued, but I can see where they’re coming from. When you first start pvping, you’re terrible and your focus is on trying to survive and kill stuff. OR if you’re feeling clever, you attempt to build-craft and will most likely fail.
So fine, in reality, unlocks won’t make a difference for the newbies because they’re still learning pvp basics. Still, people should have the freedom to pick any gear/stats/skills. To learn the entirety of the calss, to experience different play styles, etc… even if they end up becoming confused or hurting themselves by picking a terrible build. That’s the only downfall that can come out of it, and these can be remedied with better solutions.
Fix the actual problem of _helping new players get oriented to spvp. _
1) Give a meta starter build and explain (in game or even a youtube link) the reasoning/playstyle of the build. E.g. A)Bunker Guardian = Stands on point, supports allies, does little damage, etc..
DPS Guardian = Sustain, does lots of damage, etc..
2) If you want unlockable skills or stats, make it a ‘soft lock’. It’s faded out, but when you go to unlock it, a warning message pops up saying ‘this is an advanced skill/stat combo. Not recommended for new players’, or something along those lines. I don’t really agre with this explanation, but put whatever you want.
3) Not necessary imo, but another option is a minimum number of spvp hotjoins to unlock everything. Let’s say 10 or 20. Or Rank 5. Something really minimal. This is easily implementable since there are already rank vendors that sell based on ranks. Make this ACCOUNT bound, not character bound.
The STUPIDEST thing right now is that even experienced pvp’ers can only create kitten characters that don’t have the final healing skill. WHY does this cost skill points? This is a totally arbitrary gate. Based on their comments, more unlocks are coming like this.The only reason I can fathom is that they consider a new character = a new (overwhelmed) spvp player that can’t handle access to everything.
Please make the distinction between a new pvp player and a competent player making a new character by implementing #3) above.
We spvp’ers all have that one character slot that we delete/recreate to test alt classes. This was one of the best things about gw2 since we didn’t need to grind any aspect to have access to everything.
Not everyone has enough character slots to try out every class. If I want to try an engi, I might not find the play style I wanted because the new heal skill and certain stats were gated. As an example, maybe an experienced player would have figured out a new meta bunker build using AED and a certain tanky stat set that was gated. Too bad no one wants to invest 25 skill points and overcome whatever ‘speedbump’ they’re going to implement because that’s their ‘free character slot’ that they delete/recreate to try different classes. Keep in mind, almost all the new heal skills are non-meta and considered bad, so the likelihood of investing 25 skill points to test it out is even less. This is hurting build diversity.
as angry nerd tears rolled down his fat young cheeks.
(edited by SeasonedBro.3849)
