Guild Wars 2

So, I thought about how to word this post and this is the best I could come up with. I know some people will genuinely not care about my opinions of SPvP, if that’s the case, you can stop reading right here. || Others may know me as a very active player and active forum poster and may care about my opinion. If that’s the case, read on:

So, I have found myself not logged in for a week. I logged on this morning, I hopped in one match, then promptly logged out. Previously, I would log on a few hours a day to SPvP. After SPvP wasn’t enough, I tried WvW and PvE and immediately decided that was not for me either. The PvE has no sense of progress. You level and never actually benefit from it (actually it’s one of the few games where leveling makes you less powerful). WvW is pretty much PvE with some random large PvP skirmishes. But essentially, you are going from point to point and PvEing and sometimes people come to PvP to stop you from doing it.

So, back to SPvP. I can’t put my finger on it. What is the reason that I think my time may be finished? I think it may come back to progress. Just like PvE, I think that feeling of progression is needed (not with gear mind you). In this game, you have QP, glory and rank, but they are absolutely meaningless. The game is stagnant to me. I am logging in 6 months after release and other than ToSS, I am playing the exact same game, against the exact same people in the exact same way. I think a solo queue would help drastically, but I think something else is missing. Many people will tell me to stop complaining and wait for Feb/March patch, but I think it may be too late. I know these devs LOVE this game and this is their world and we’re just playing in it, but the rate at which they are capable of producing meaningful changes is what has left such a bad taste in my mouth. I loved this game. I begged friends to play and after they all left I held on for dear life playing the crap out of tournaments. I can no longer hang on.

To keep this post as a thread where people can discuss, I will end it there and not pour my sentiments all over this thread. I can’t 100% explain what this is missing at the moment, but it’s missing something. It’s like going out to eat and ordering a meal and you know that it’s bland, but can’t really pinpoint what ingredient they omitted.

What are your thoughts? Are you still super thrilled with the game? If not, are you waiting for Feb/March patch to make your decision? If you could add a feature, which would it be? Why do you think changes take so long? Anything, just discuss the SotG.

Edit: btw, the most bothersome part is that I can’t leave for another game. The combat in this game is so fun that when I try anything else it’s like taking giant leaps backwards. Most other games have rewards, incentives, and features that make you enjoy bad gameplay for a while, but this game seems to be the exact opposite. I’m excited about other games on the horizon (the most being another NCSoft game) but I wait with cautious optimism because I know the combat has a lot to live up to. It’s like dating a girl and the love making is astounding but her personality and cheating made you leave. The next girlfriend, as great as her personality may be, may end up being quite a step back in the “gameplay” department.

Yes.
It is missing leaderboards/ratings. A sense of gaining or losing standing in relation to others. Goals and targets that you can hit that give some kind of emotional reward. A sense of challenge where even if you lose, you know it was your mistakes that prevented you from getting a win. They need not “items” or “gear” or “rewards”, but infrastructure to help you play at your level and shows you your standing in relation to your friends/guild/everyone else — and allows others to see you and your standing as well. They’ve released GW2 SPVP BETA where they have only really the basic gameplay and the simplest of systems to get you in to play. There are other things that are missing as well, but the one that would most immediately benefit everyone is this.

Also I wanted to mention they’ve handled “RANK” poorly. It is the only metric available to judge players, and it is so obviously worthless. Its existence is depressing because there are no alternatives. Rank is, essentially, a way to give all players (good or bad) rewards for continued playtime. To have such a PvE mechanic determine who gets on teams is just so depressing. I’ve stopped playing because the entirety of spvp has become a grind for rank to get on good teams.

I understand your pain. I’ve played since launch ankittenired of the same game. I don’t care much for rewards since I know they mean nothing in this game, but what I feel is missing (other than a lack of game modes) is the sense of community between servers. Back when I played WOW, we would fear certain servers when they show up in battlegrounds. But that is what made our server strive to get better. I know others don’t care about any of that, but it does add a sense of community even if it’s in the form of a rivalry. I quit WOW cause of the gear grind and the imbalances that it causes. When I found out about GW2 being a PVP oriented game, I jumped right on it. The gameplay is awesome, but six months have passed and I now feel the PVP aspect of this game is so incomplete. I’ve posted in other threads about the addition of different game modes, but it doesn’t seem like anything is going to be done about it. WOW had, if I recall, 7 game modes and I would like to see some of those implemented in this game. Not sure if that’s going to happen as conquest is being shoved down our throats.

If combat is what is lacking for you in other games, try playing AoC one of the melee classes until things get better here, ( if they ever do). I also quit actively playing few months ago, sometimes i log in but game cant hold my attention for longer than 30 mins, its just too sterile and repetitive. Basically, they nailed art style, environments, combat and music but everything else is sub – standard, especially pvp.

I still find the PvP enjoyable and I’m playing every other day, but the overall player base is shrinking and if it doesn’t start to recover soon there may not be enough players during my usual hours to start a tournament.

Frees have become the new paids. If you want to do frees you need to log on during prime time and arrange a team lest someone logs off before the first round. Paids are where inexperienced pugs go to get nice-looking gear.

Matchmaking is great but long overdue. It’s an essential feature that should have been in from the start, I think its absence significantly contributed to the rate of players leaving. The next most important feature in my opinion is visible rankings, it will give people an extra incentive to put in their best effort.

Along with visible rankings, it needs to be easier for all players to get into ranked matches. I think Anet is on the right track with the two-team rated games coming in the next update. For this to work I think frees and paids need to be temporarily scrapped so that two-team rated is the only choice for organised play. This mode should accept solo-queue-ers as well as premades and intelligently match everyone up.

Also, map rotation needs to be fixed.

Next would be private servers, followed shortly by a new and improved tournament system that gives players a serious goal to aim for.

Stopped reading where you told me too, thanks for the heads up