Guild Wars 2

I see so many QQ’s (many of them mine, actually) and I feel that we really don’t give ANet enough credit sometimes. Yes, they had overpromised and underdelivered and yes, the balances are not as fast as we’d like them (but could they ever be?)

Many people forget that there are so many things that ANet does RIGHT, so I thought I’d point them out.

1. Each class is unique
-despite skill mechanics not being all that complicated, each class manages to be vastly unique in their own way, and the play style changes drastically. ANet has done a great job making them so special.

2. Combat is fluid and responsive
- Combat is fluid as heck, both PVE and PVP. I love how mobile all my characters are, despite many skills having mini channels.

3. ANet doesn’t crank up the numbers
- You think it’s really hard to beef up a class? It’s actually quite simple: you crank up the numbers. Rather than taking the short cut, the temporary way, I love how ANet takes a very in-depth approach towards balance

4. PVP maps are varied
- You may argue that since they’re all conquest modes, they’re essentially the same. Many people don’t give ANet enough credit for their very careful placement of each box, cliff, each bump that they had meticulously thought out. You don’t see a single aspect of each map that doesn’t have a purpose.

5. ANet listens to the 95% rather than the 5%
- This can be seen as a good or a bad. I personally didn’t really like how most of the PVP gear is so easily accessible for most players. But most people – especially casual players – can really appreciate how you don’t have to be running from area to area, or having to hit certain rating in PVP to be able to buy high end looking armors (tPVP chests, anyone?). Same can be said about many other aspects of the game that are given almost as ‘freebies’ to players, while not in other games (lack of transportations, dyeing options, skin giveaways, etc.)

Just my tidbit.

Update: Thanks for contributing and adding to the thread, guys. While I always found things to complain about, when I actively started looking for what made this game just so fluid and amazing control wise, I’m continuously shocked by what I find.

For example: for using X after channeling for Y seconds, I love how you can start the cast while being out of range as long as you’re in range by the time you’re done with the channeling.

This is the same for line of sight. Can you imagine how annoying combat is if you can’t start the channel because it keeps saying ‘out of line of sight’ (SO MANY MMO’S do this)? In GW2, you start channeling first and as long as the target is in your LoS at the end of the channel, it’s okay.

This is how it should be. ANet handled this so well.

Hurray for Anet! Now let’s get back to ripping them apart.. ;P

I feel like classes are not unique enought. Maybe I was just too used to gw1. The things I dislike the most are those skills or traits that give you 1 might for example. Very kitten useful. But most of the classes have access to most of the boons and conditions. I don’t like that. I want more diversity. I feel classes were alot better in gw1.

My favourite thing about Anet is that they release new traits, nerfs, buffs and what not, bug them, then fix them faster then the traits and bugs that have been around since release. I speak mainly from the elementalist perspective, but I would like to have my stuff fixed, sometime before it is a year old.

With all the crap that gets tossed around.

This is still the most fun PVP I’ve ever had. The ability to actively avoid attacks, outplay opponents, no reliance on gear, etc…its great.

Velron.3729:

With all the crap that gets tossed around.

This is still the most fun PVP I’ve ever had. The ability to actively avoid attacks, outplay opponents, no reliance on gear, etc…its great.

There is no doubt, this game is amazing. My friend used to play Aion 24/7, now he plays GW2 24/7, you know, constant pve updates and what not.

The problem is that PvP isn’t as loved as PvE and instead of getting nice toys were left with the hand me downs. PvP updates and bug fixes should be rolling out quicker (skill fixes in general, most of the ele bugs aren’t even pvp related). This class patch per month is too slow.

Hopefully with the 2week living stories we will see 2 week bug fixes.

1. I agree
2. I agree 200% because of this I can’t go back to old mmos. They feel old or clunky.
3. Ehhh…..
4.I agree
5. Er…They kinda listen more to the vocal minority than the quiet majority. It feels that way imo
for example:
Vocal Minority(VM for short):
NERF ELES THEY R SO OP
Anet: Fine…nerfs
VM:NERF MESMERS CONFUSION OP
Anet: Fine…..nerfs (well not in spvp but quickness(TW) is one of mesmers elite skills)
Anet: buffs pet HP(NOT attack)
VM: NERF PET DMG SO OP
Anet: fine…nerf
Anet: gives burning and torment to necros
VM: NERF ALL CONDITIONS! ALL OF THEM AND HOW U APPLY THEM IS SOOOO OP
Quiet Majority: silently adapts to the changes and just keeps on playing or quit or joins the vocal minority
Im sure there are good suggestions by the VM there somewhere. I kinda agree about Sky Hammer but that’s about it.

Jae.5138:

1. Each class is unique

2. Combat is fluid and responsive

3. ANet doesn’t crank up the numbers

4. PVP maps are varied

5. ANet listens to the 95% rather than the 5%

1: Agree.

2: Not always, there is still this bug that stops your character when pressing W, some animation or physics bug. Effects are sometimes way too flashy, blocking view of enemy “animations”. Some abilities have improved but still suffer sometimes from “overruning” like Bullrush fails ect. But overall its good I agree.

3: No comment.

4: Not really, yeah they have different layout so there is difference but gamemode is same.

5: I have no idea who they listen or not so no comment.

Overall, I came back to Gw2 after Blizzard totally went apekitten with their PvP and BG’s full of bots and I have to say there is good improvement from last time I played (months and months ago). I guess give it time things get even better, yeah I have Norn optimism.

The game has as far as I’ve experienced the best combat system and PvP in a fantasy Mmorpg. Not thakittens perfect mind you.
….
Which is why its frustrating to see slow updates/progress/response.

Ah blizzard, sorry we don’t ban botters as they pay for the game like everyone else and that makes us money.

Meanwhile in the Great Anet Purge of our Generation.
Bot 1:“No me go school now”, “Me not a bot”, “Lets go to school brother”
Bot 2:“Ok”
few days later gone.

ensoriki.5789:

The game has as far as I’ve experienced the best combat system and PvP in a fantasy Mmorpg. Not thakittens perfect mind you.
….
Which is why its frustrating to see slow updates/progress/response.

I think this is what everyone bothers and why we lost about 95% of GW1 PvP-Players.

Times change and developers experiment with different things. Look at how the original CoD1 devolved into what it is today. Plently more examples but you guys probably get the point.

Also don’t you know Blizzard gave bot companies dupe techniques so they could make more money off of Diablo 2 together? Conspiracy theories!

There are good changes in GW2, but what makes me sick is that they have thrown away everything good GW1 had.

I mean, it’s ok that you want to have a whole new game with all new mechanics, but why did you completely destroyed everything that made GW1 a great game?

It’s like they wanted to completely destroy the experience they have gained through the GW1 development.

Jae.5138:

1. Each class is unique

2. Combat is fluid and responsive

3. ANet doesn’t crank up the numbers

4. PVP maps are varied

5. ANet listens to the 95% rather than the 5%

1.So and so.

2.Ok, but needs some tweaks – manly related to skill bugs tho.

3.Or they do but not tell ya. Never trust the tooltips.

4.They’re all Conquest failmode. So no.

5.Anet listen the QQ, is different.

Most. Epic. Combat. System. Ever. Which is the hard part.

The problem is that we just need the minor things. Like, everything else. More game modes, (yes, you invented HA and GW1, you said Gw1 was a test, then take your working solutions and implemnt some), observer mode, skill templates, GvG (as PvP guild mission). And this gets me mad.

They did the hard part right. And refuse to develop anything else.

If it is because of the lack of resources, i feel sorry for them Because then they have to listen to things they themselves know and would change if they could.

Don’t get me wrong, the combat system is fine, but I definitely DO NOT like how camera turns or how you character turns in relation to camera. I just find it clumsy. It’s some kind of a mix between FPS and classic RPG camera and character control and it doesn’t work out very well. I would much rather have an option where camera is locked to the character, thus making the character turn as you rotate your camera. Always, even if standing still.

The most annoying thing that comes out of this clumsy camera atm is that when you fail to face someone before you use a skill, the skill goes on cool down and you’re left with nothing.

I mean seriously, if you’re going for fast action style gameplay, make action style controls. As far as I’m concerned, current camera is too clumsy for the speed of the game…

and than overbuff a class in oblivion and destroy complete meta + game for other classes – admit its op now – BUT nothing

should have reverted last necro patch in a hotfix

combat is fine but arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport and not enough for fun – thats why pvp in gw2 is anoying and frustrating

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

Velron.3729:

With all the crap that gets tossed around.

This is still the most fun PVP I’ve ever had. The ability to actively avoid attacks, outplay opponents, no reliance on gear, etc…its great.

THAT’S THE PROBLEM

Now I almost can’t go back to any other game.XD

And add the fact that here build still matter.

I come from wow and similar games. There was ONE optimal spec for role. And you had to follow it. More than a unique person, I felt like a clone.

For Pvp, there were only two roles: heal and dps. Depressing.

BUT this game still has problems.

And I think all the credit Anet needs from us is the fact we complain and play the game. That means we give them CREDIT and we CARE for the game.

Romek.4201:

and than overbuff a class in oblivion and destroy complete meta + game for other classes – admit its op now – BUT nothing

should have reverted last necro patch in a hotfix

combat is fine but arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport and not enough for fun – thats why pvp in gw2 is anoying and frustrating

Quite the opposite. During the developement of GW2 Anet did not care much about pvp being an e-sport. I don’t think i have to explain why that is painfully obvious.

Also I can’t understand why you obviously think that e-sport pvp is not fun, but rather frustrating and annoying?

If you wan’t something to be an e-sport it has to be popular. If you want something to be popular it has to be fun.

So caring for e-sport equals caring for fun and vice versa…

Gandarel.5091:

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

There is no e-sport, without developing PvP in this case.

Destiny.6738:

Gandarel.5091:

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

There is no e-sport, without developing PvP in this case.

That’s why it is not considered yet as an E-Sport. :O

What ANet does Right? Force ppl to spend real money for a buy to play game…expec pvp players..

VictorTroska.3725:

Jae.5138:

1. Each class is unique

2. Combat is fluid and responsive

3. ANet doesn’t crank up the numbers

4. PVP maps are varied

5. ANet listens to the 95% rather than the 5%

1: Agree.

2: Not always, there is still this bug that stops your character when pressing W, some animation or physics bug. Effects are sometimes way too flashy, blocking view of enemy “animations”. Some abilities have improved but still suffer sometimes from “overruning” like Bullrush fails ect. But overall its good I agree.

3: No comment.

4: Not really, yeah they have different layout so there is difference but gamemode is same.

5: I have no idea who they listen or not so no comment.

Overall, I came back to Gw2 after Blizzard totally went apekitten with their PvP and BG’s full of bots and I have to say there is good improvement from last time I played (months and months ago). I guess give it time things get even better, yeah I have Norn optimism.

Bang on there. When the combat system relies heavily on watching what your opponent is doing and other players around you are casting skills too it becomes tough to see what your target is doing with all the other partial effects going on.

Back on-topic though, after much hate for no auto-approach and slowly learning how to watch the battlefield I’ve come to enjoy the experience of sPvP in GW2. Dodging is an awesome mechanic and so is being able to jump to higher places to get above your enemies (side rant: I do wish teleport skills used more of a line-of-sight mechanic then if I’m on the same X-axis as my target).

Overall though, I rant because I want competitive PvP in GW2 to be successful. GW1 PvP turned out amazing, but the game was based around it so ArenaNet had no choice but to keep it updated. In GW2, they have the option to overlook sPvP — not saying they are as I bet many ArenaNet employees want GW2 have as many Twitch views as LoL — but they are definitely not allocating a lot of resources to its improvement or the more likely situation: they are over-analyzing any change suggested (theirs or ours) for “balance”.

Archaon.6245:

What ANet does Right? Force ppl to spend real money for a buy to play game…expec pvp players..

They what? Really man, if you ever feel forced to spend money on anything, I think that’s more of your problem than Anet’s or anyone else’s.

Maybe you should re-check your values or something…

What a load of crap.

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

Destiny.6738:

Gandarel.5091:

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

There is no e-sport, without developing PvP in this case.

That’s why it is not considered yet as an E-Sport. :O

Sorry but this game will never be an “e-sport”, they are incapable of balancing the professions. Such a shame how Anet went from GW1 to GW2.

PSX.9250:

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

Destiny.6738:

Gandarel.5091:

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

There is no e-sport, without developing PvP in this case.

That’s why it is not considered yet as an E-Sport. :O

Sorry but this game will never be an “e-sport”, they are incapable of balancing the professions. Such a shame how Anet went from GW1 to GW2.

Never say never, that’s the key-sentence of life. This rule is not necessary if you are God or Jesus (or some supernatural über-human). Even if the chances are that small, they still can get the right turn. However I believe they’ll mess it up again

PSX.9250:

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

Destiny.6738:

Gandarel.5091:

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

There is no e-sport, without developing PvP in this case.

That’s why it is not considered yet as an E-Sport. :O

Sorry but this game will never be an “e-sport”, they are incapable of balancing the professions. Such a shame how Anet went from GW1 to GW2.

There was profession imbalance in GW1 as well…
the amount of times Assassin went in and out of favor…

yes, ANet is making a fun PvP game. But to go e-sports, what we have now is far from enough.

I’m not saying we should bash them more, but really, we cannot afford to throw empty praises around these forums when a REAL tournament is on the horizen!

ensoriki.5789:

PSX.9250:

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

Destiny.6738:

Gandarel.5091:

Destiny.6738:

Romek.4201:

arenanet care toooooo much for e-sport

Don’t use these two words in one sentence, at least not in GW2.

They care about e-sports, but not developing PvP.

There is no e-sport, without developing PvP in this case.

That’s why it is not considered yet as an E-Sport. :O

Sorry but this game will never be an “e-sport”, they are incapable of balancing the professions. Such a shame how Anet went from GW1 to GW2.

There were tons of imbalance in GW1 as well.
Assassin’s were known to phase in and out of the game for months at a time.

GW1 wasn’t affected by imbalance as heavy as GW2, due to dedicated healers/prots. They balanced the imbalance to a certain degree.

Jae.5138:

I see so many QQ’s (many of them mine, actually) and I feel that we really don’t give ANet enough credit sometimes. Yes, they had overpromised and underdelivered and yes, the balances are not as fast as we’d like them (but could they ever be?)

Many people forget that there are so many things that ANet does RIGHT, so I thought I’d point them out.

1. Each class is unique
-despite skill mechanics not being all that complicated, each class manages to be vastly unique in their own way, and the play style changes drastically. ANet has done a great job making them so special.

2. Combat is fluid and responsive
- Combat is fluid as heck, both PVE and PVP. I love how mobile all my characters are, despite many skills having mini channels.

3. ANet doesn’t crank up the numbers
- You think it’s really hard to beef up a class? It’s actually quite simple: you crank up the numbers. Rather than taking the short cut, the temporary way, I love how ANet takes a very in-depth approach towards balance

4. PVP maps are varied
- You may argue that since they’re all conquest modes, they’re essentially the same. Many people don’t give ANet enough credit for their very careful placement of each box, cliff, each bump that they had meticulously thought out. You don’t see a single aspect of each map that doesn’t have a purpose.

5. ANet listens to the 95% rather than the 5%
- This can be seen as a good or a bad. I personally didn’t really like how most of the PVP gear is so easily accessible for most players. But most people – especially casual players – can really appreciate how you don’t have to be running from area to area, or having to hit certain rating in PVP to be able to buy high end looking armors (tPVP chests, anyone?). Same can be said about many other aspects of the game that are given almost as ‘freebies’ to players, while not in other games (lack of transportations, dyeing options, skin giveaways, etc.)

Just my tidbit.

The combat is fluid and responsive for a MMORPG thats the only one I’ll give you. Number 3 doesn’t even make sense. Tell me a game that balances by beefing up the numbers solely. By the way A-Net has done this in some cases what do you call increasing signet stat bonuses? It would take too long to address every bullet point but imo the only thing that makes this game semi-compelling is the combat. Everything else is lacking. To me these are a bunch of young devs that decided to invent the wheel when they made this game instead of following tried and true methods set down over the years by other games including the company that employs them own game GW1. It reminds me a little of DAOC versus Warhammer. A lof of the same people made both games but they decided they were going to do something a lot different with Warhammer and it mostly backfired so that a game made with many of millions of dollars actually ended up being worse and making less money then a game made a with a few millon dollars.

A good old, “this game has amazing potential”.
No, it doesn’t, the combat is an AOE condi spam chaotic festival. There is only one way to solve the problem, redesign 75% of the game, ie, make a new pvp GW2. Obviously, it’s not gonna happen.
Spvp will slowly die (it’s hard to lose a lot of people quickly when the playerbase is so small, what remains, are true believers, people that invested too much time to give up easily, like the people that invested in real state during the bubble).

But, gw2 is a success, they are making money from the pve side and wvw is still played. Spvp is just a waste of time and money, they still have a skeleton crew working on it because it’s bad for bussiness if people knows that u completely forgotten 1/3 of ur game.

But carry on with ur dreams of esport grandieu, the time u are here atleast u won’t be using drugs so it’s all good.

^Maybe a bit harsh, but +1

And the point of this thread is…
#brownnose

DingDongDooleeDum.4987:

And the point of this thread is…
#brownnose

It’s odd that Anet eats stuff like this up, but the dozens of extremely well constructed and thought out posts pointing out why everybody left the game’s instanced PvP…. are entirely ignored…

Anyways… we all know Anet tries their best.
Everyone likes to try their best… it makes you feel all nice knowing you gave it ‘your best shot’ with the comfort of, ‘well at least I tried’ to fall back on…
But trying is fighting yourself not the problem at hand.
Do it or don’t do it. Sorry to say it, but sitting in a limbo of ego and incompetence, even with the best of intentions, will never get a great game made.

Jae.5138:

5. ANet listens to the 95% rather than the 5%
- This can be seen as a good or a bad. I personally didn’t really like how most of the PVP gear is so easily accessible for most players. But most people – especially casual players – can really appreciate how you don’t have to be running from area to area, or having to hit certain rating in PVP to be able to buy high end looking armors (tPVP chests, anyone?). Same can be said about many other aspects of the game that are given almost as ‘freebies’ to players, while not in other games (lack of transportations, dyeing options, skin giveaways, etc.)

If you’re talking of PvP players, yes.

Unfortunately, it seems they are listening to only those ‘95%’ of PvP players, giving them far more of a voice than the greater number of WvW and PvE players.

I don’t have enough insight to differentiate between what ArenaNet does right versus what Guild Wars 2 has done right, so I’ll focus purely on the latter. In no order other than my conscious stream:

- Overall class balance – on day 1 this was the most balanced MMO PvP I have ever played. I remember BWE 3 and thinking, ‘This is more balanced than Rift PvP – and Rift was out for about a year’. Then I thought, ‘This is more balanced than WoW PvP and it’s been out for like 6 years’.

- Jumping Puzzles – oh wow – these are really fun!

- Sidekick/downleveling – great idea. Truly good stuff and keeps the world content interesting

- WvW – Massive battles, huge fights – zergs and solo and small team fights. Overall I’m really happy with WvW. In fact if I had my druthers, I’d spend my entire time in there (but you can’t really make decent money in WvW)

- Talent/Utility/Ability segregation in PvP/WvW/PVE – good start and I’d like to see a lot more of it!

- Mystic Toilet – ….. haha – just kidding, no one likes the toilet! I wish I could offer up something truly fitting for the ‘gifts’ Zommoros has bestowed upon me, and take a dump in the forge.

/em just took a dump in the Mystic Forge! Zommoros is not pleased.

what I love: that their focus isn’t on group-content only. Dungeons are’t the most important part of the game, instead they’re looking for activities which are fun for soloplayers & groups of players. Yeah, the hardcore-raid guys miss something, but since I’m not one of these guys it’s ok with me as long as I have a challenge in the world. Playing with random people non-grouped doesn’t mean that the content is carebear.

Not to be a hater…

Combat is smooth and fluid….

Play any melee class…especially guardian hammer…

Enjoy the smooth and fluid ride.

Melee on both warrior and guardian could greatly benefit from addressing over running and rubberbanding on many of their skills. The guardian could especially benefit from increased attack speed animation that don’t entirely broadcast, “I’m attacking you..now would be a good time to evade.” The animations are too overt and slow moving for skills that rarely cause damage over 2.2k when the entire channeled skill hits 100%. By comparison a mesmer with great sowrd can deal out 3-5k+ damage on multiple targets from range in half the time with a smooth animation that fires near instantly.

Just my personal thoughts. This is why you rarely see guardian or warrior trusted to a roamer role. They need close quarter, constant swiftness and many of their skills over shoot the mark and their animations are easily noticed and responded to.

JonathanSharp.7094:

AWESOME THREAD, I LOVE IT! MORE THREADS LIKE THIS PLS!!!!

We know the game isn’t perfect, but the team does the most it can with the time and resources it has. We love the game and put our hearts into making as many positive changes as we can.

If the game was perfect then I would have to put Anet above [Insert your choice god/gods/goddess here]. I might even have to start a new religion because of them.
Joking aside I just want to say Great job Anet.

The combat saves this game for me. That is why people stick around. The combat is exceptional. O and no gear grind.

garethh.3518:

DingDongDooleeDum.4987:

And the point of this thread is…
#brownnose

It’s odd that Anet eats stuff like this up, but the dozens of extremely well constructed and thought out posts pointing out why everybody left the game’s instanced PvP…. are entirely ignored…

Anyways… we all know Anet tries their best.
Everyone likes to try their best… it makes you feel all nice knowing you gave it ‘your best shot’ with the comfort of, ‘well at least I tried’ to fall back on…
But trying is failing.
Do it or don’t. Sorry to say it, but sitting in a limbo of ego and incompetence, even with the best of intentions, will never get a great game made.

They’re human, and like to see good feedback every once in a while. The overwhelming negativity provided by all “gaming” cultures eats at you after a few years, regardless of how thick your skin is.

The easiest solution would be to have the developers ignore feedback from the community, and have a cycle of QA testers forward what they believe to be the most important issues, but they’re not doing so. You get to flame the head developers directly instead of a low-level QA guy. Good on them. It’s difficult to see everyone saying your game is kitten without having it loom over your head.

And on top of that, the developers have a very good sense of nettiquette, and know how to handle the community with kid gloves.
They won’t crap on your post or talk down to you like some other ‘lead developers’ I’ve seen in other games.

Another thing – they typically have good insight into certain problems, especially when it comes to class balance (in tPvP at least, not really so much in wvw or pve).

There are many players who quit or are on break who still keep tabs on the game. They do so because they’re interested, but something in the current state of things, whatever it is for them keeps them away. People don’t still keep tabs if they absolutely hate the product, but if improvements take forever eventually they stop keeping track.

Fine you don’t have a bunch of ETA’s to give but where is the general Road map?
As far as I know, you’ve got a balance patch to do for the pax tournament coming up, setting yourself up for pax, and solo que somewhere between now and what did john say? The end of the universe?

If you haven’t got a grasp on the “road map” you either need to watch more SoTG’s or just start paying attention.

No, not everything was perfectly polished and in place at release, but a lot of the things that weren’t present then are present now, and what still remains absent, will likely be here shortly.

Some people just like to complain though…

lol what they did rigth is that they released it when there was no good mmo going arround and they super hyped it with the esports wich make em sell like crazy.

all your points OP i think they are wrong.

hackks.3687:

If you haven’t got a grasp on the “road map” you either need to watch more SoTG’s or just start paying attention.

You can enlighten me yourself.