Guild Wars 2

Surbrus.6942:

AzureNightmare.3914:

Again, please remember- GW1 was a very, VERY differnet kind of game. It was mostly single-player with multiplayer fucntions and interaction. It could get away with the Level 20 cap, and it’s part of the reason for GW2, they could never have gotten away with a level 20 cap.

Every time this argument is brought up, it is shrouded in ambiguity, because there is no actual argument besides “WoW did it”, and you are all too ashamed of actually stating that argument.

Well I’ve never touched WoW before in my life so i’m not even trying to make that arguement (I enjoy not spending 15 dollars a month for a game). I’m not bringing this arguement up out of some kind of shame or some BS like that, I’m bringing it up because it’s a fact.

I’m saying this because the fact is, GW1 was a very different game than GW2 is, and always will be. One I believe could get away with it’s low level cap and never increasing, while GW2, being that different game had a harder time avoiding it.

And that’s how I feel. I don’t, and probably never will play WoW even if it became free, so if you’re gonna reply to this and you wanna bring that arguement up, keep it in mind. I know kitten about it for the most part, really.

Joey.3928:

I do not want more levels. I was max level 20 for six years in GW1 and look how long I played that game. Stuff like that doesn’t matter to me. As someone above me said, give us more stuff to do/improve upon existing content (PvP for me please!)

Otherwise once people reach the new max level, what then?

Gotta say, I kind of agree with you, kind of don’t. Again, please remember- GW1 was a very, VERY differnet kind of game. It was mostly single-player with multiplayer fucntions and interaction. It could get away with the Level 20 cap, and it’s part of the reason for GW2, they could never have gotten away with a level 20 cap.

That being said though, I do think they should improve on existing content. I think it should be a mix- improve on what’s already here, while also adding new things. As such, I’m not too opposed to a rising level cap, since I don’t agree if you don’t play for a year you should be at the same pace with everyone else that has been dedicated and kept playing. HOWEVER, it should not be tedious to try to catch up- keep gear relatively easy to get, etc etc. Maybe even do something with Legendary and maybe even certain Exotics to ‘upgrade’ them? So you can obtain it at level 80, but once you reach Level 90 you can help upgrade them (as well as Legendaries) so they don’t fall behind and are always on top?

Personally, even if armor levels increase (not too hard to get around unless Legendary Armor is added), I can’t help but feel Weapons are more tricky to handle, especially with Legendaries, unless new higher-level percusors are added.

However, I do feel with higher levels, higher stats and the like, new challenges can be added. I’m not saying they can’t make Level 80 challenging, but it could make for more traits and the like.

Hell, personally, what I really wanna see is new weapons, professions (or even old ones. I miss my scythes 3: ), new weapon skills for the weapons you alread have (so lets stay instaed of those five you’re always stuck with, maybe for each weapon they add another set of skills and you can change them around? Example- Thief with a shortbow. You’d have ten skills to chose from, but to make it fair you can’t replace your third skill with the fifth and so forth) and races (ad;jkljfda I wanna be a tengu so badly). That would be the best kind of progression in my opinion- and somewhere I read the possibility of housing? I just want to see how, if they can, properly manage level progression.

Although to answer you, once you hit Level 100 (lets just say that’ll be it for the sake of it), that’s it. Everything is only new content as opposed to power increases. That’s the end of it there.

tkalamba.2541:

Here’s the transcript from the interview. It happened at a game dev conference in Poland.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/19473-interview-gw2-qa-cd-projekt-conference/

it’s somewhere in the middle of the interview and progression and the level cap are touched upon.

Thank you!

So, since Lost Shores, this forum has become polarized. Split. While I myself have taken a somewhat pro ANet position, this whole thing has had me thinking of something else-

The level 80 cap and it increasing.

I’m admittingly on borrowed time at the moment and I can’t find the interview at question, but this much has been stated-

“Q: What of the level cap? Have you guys decided whether you’re going to be increasing the level cap in future expansions?
Colin: Yeah. The level cap will be 80 on the initial release of the game, and we absolutely would increase it further into the game, probably through expansions is the most likely place we would do that."

Now, basically, this means it’s going to happen eventually, most likely through expansions. Let’s make this clear that this has been planned before the game was released. And now, I’ve been thinking- you know, even if Lost Shores and Ascended never happened, wouldn’t this same huge debate happen then?

So now I’m curious. How should ANet try to approach this? For one thing, better PR is an absolute must. Personally, I do not believe this game should be approached in a way that if you don’t play for a year, you should be 100% up to date. It worked in GW1 (and trust me, I love that game), when it was at times a heavily single player game with multiplayer elements.

Personally, I’ll be fine with Ascended if ANet holds true to their promise and makes it much easier to obtain, as well as not allow Infusions to become too powerful (as crazy as the 6 stat upgrades those Ascended give, it is mostly on par with full end-game Runes on them from the looks of it) and the game in all it’s elements doesn’t change to become “OMG YOU NEED IT FOR EVERYTHANG”. Hell, I can like continued Exotics to be on par with them in a level increase.

That being said though, there are a /lot/ of ways for this to go wrong. While it doesn’t need to be the end of the world, it does need to be handled more tactfully than the superb way they threw Ascended (they’ve even admitted they kittened up on that).

That being said though, how do any of you think it should be approached, and if (when) they do it, how do you think the best way for them to implement it?

EDIT TO MAKE MY OPINIONS CLEAR, PLEASE READ IF YOU’RE READING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME: I think it’s also important to understand that Guild Wars 2 is a very different game than Guild Wars 1 ever was. I LOVE GW1, enough I bought GW2 blind because I wanted to be surprised, and while some areas dissapointed me and others didn’, I bought it. However, GW1 was mostly a CORPG than MMORPG. It was able to get away with staying at level 20 because it dosn’t have huge open world multiplayer like GW2 does. That’s why there was such a huge increase this time around- GW2 is not a mostly single player game with multiplayer functions like GW1 was. You can’t play the entire game on your own by enlisting AI assistance. herefor, it I believe it makes sense to be able to slightly increase the level over time- personall, I do hope it’ll end up caping at 100 someday.

That being said, I’m still curious as to how ANet should implant this without huge ire, after how horribly they handled Ascended. Even though they say they’re gonna fix it, if it had been done right, while people still would have left, the backlash wouldn’t have been so extreme if they had introduced it better AND had better PR during the event. But, maybe that’s just me.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/19473-interview-gw2-qa-cd-projekt-conference/

Wolfend.5287:

Fuz.5621:

Wolfend.5287:

… looks that the gear grind is here to say, and GW2 is just taking up space on HD.

I’ll check back in a few years, to see if ArenaNet has sorted out their waffling. In the mean time, Elder Scrolls Online is only months away, and Skyrim, with tons of reality mods is looking amazing, looks far better and runs far cooler than gw2,

Good Luck with all the monkey grind.

Elder Scrolls Online has the gear treadmill too, fyi.
But they will be blown away by ESO.
The only way for them to not be would have been staying loyal to their manifesto and be UNIQUE; A game without vertical progression, grind and treadmills.
Changing that, they are just one of the many mmo around, and there is no reason to keep playing GW2 instead of ESO.

If ESO is even partly the spawn of Skyrim, it will be a tremendous achievement. GW2 feels like an amusement park, comparatively speaking, with number grind as the main theme.

Just started Skyrim a weeks ago, and discovered so many features GW2 touts as original, oops, not so original, Bethesda beat them to it. What is really amazing is the first rpg that does away with heroics by number. You can adventure throughout the entire world ‘progressing’ without killing a single thing, or festering over ‘stats’.

The mod community is amazing. In a way I’m glad ArenaNet added grind, I would have never discover Skyrim. Even though it is not MMO, it is a product far exceeding the genre norm, lets hope ESO sticks to what works.

You ARE aware Skyrim is a single player game, right? Have you ever played other single player RPGs in general? In games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout, you basically level up the more you use skills. Barter, Speech, Sneak, etc. In return, you start to level up. And the world as a whole levels up with you- you’ll find as you level up, harder mobs WILL start spawning, and you’re gonna need to invest a bit more in your character once Chaurus, Elder and Ancient dragons, and more start kicking your kitten with no effort.

I don’t think you’re really acknowledging the Elder Scroll’s single-player status. Likewise, you don’t seem to acknowledge the fact it’s the fifth installment of a series. It’s not really the spawn of Skyrim, it’s the spawn of the Elder Scrolls- in fact, canonically, it’s been stated that ESO takes place first. What you’re talking about is fine for what it is- a single player role-playing game where the world is your playground.

An MMO, though, is different. Do you think it’d be fair if level one characters could just stroll into Orr in town clothes by paying a ferry? What ANet did was very different for MMOs. Say what you will about Ascended or anything else like that, a massive game like GW2 can’t just let you do whatever the hell you want and progress as far as you possibly want without some effort. GW1 didn’t- you had to make real progress in the story in order to go to higher leveled areas.

But, yeah, to sum it all up. No, Skyrim didn’t invent it. Fallout=like ES but with nuclear war and guns. Skyrim. GW2 is an MMO, the Elder Scrolls (until Online) and Fallout are single player and as such can do as you say much, MUCH easier than ANY MMO can ever dream of.

If you’re expecting ESO is gonna be exactly the same as Skyrim, ho boy, you’re gonna be dissapointed.

Also no mods.

rgrwng.4072:

is that what that is? i thought my monitor was broken around the edges all this time. i spent 700$ testing monitors

Sorry but… yeah. Nothing wrong with my monitor, and I get the border also.

I havne’t gotten to Zhaitan yet, but is it true around last month they finally fixed him? I hear he does kind of fight back now, but it’s still not the big, epic battle everyone was hoping for. At least he just doesn’t stand there staring as you kill him, I guess.

Honestly, though, I think the big problem is how hyped he was. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Dragon_09_concept_art_(Last_Shot).jpg
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Dragon_02_concept_art_(Zhaitan).jpg

Just look at how gigantic he looks! Then he shows up in game, and mind you he’s nto tiny, but… What?

I never expect we’d be able to rush Zhaitan with swords and guns, and we’d need big weapons like the Tequatl and The Shatterer’s fights. When they announced his body would be comprised of other dragons, I thought that most of the dragons would just be fodder, with a ‘heart’ deep within all of them that wouldn’t be gigantic, and could be killed much easier, and we’d be blasting away at Zhaitan’s main body until the dragon that really matter came out, then blast it to hell. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Zhaitan.jpg This is all he is, right?

Really hope ANet gets Kralkatorrik and Jormag right- just look at the size of Jormag’s tooth, and we’ve seen how big Kralky is.

Honestly, Jormag makes the most sense. Like ThiBash said, he’s the closest, and being able to fight him would be a matter of adding the Far Shiverpeaks to the game.

That being said though, I’m somewhat hoping for Bubbles and Cantha in future releases. With Zhaitan’s undead navy being broken down, could anybody else picture this- maybe with one of the Orders or a seperate group, you’re trying to make contact with Cantha for the first time in 200 years. As you’re on the ocean, something attacks the ship, maybe Bubbles or his minions. Your character blacks out and wakes up in Shing Jea, and there starts a new campaign.

Can anybody else see it?

I would- pretty dedicated PvE player as opposed to taking on other players (would want to someday though) and so far, it’s been a kitten good game. Invited two friends already, for RP reasons and just for fun.

Never read the Manifesto. Played GW1, I wasn’t looking for anything revolutionary- I just wanted a fun game, and I got what I want. I’m not very happy about Ascended myself, and I really hope they stya true to what they said at AMA and help fix that mess. I feel if they make it much, much easier to get, and it’s only truly required for Fractal, I don’t see the problem. You need Aquabreathers to play underwater, don’t ya? It’s a reality for Fractal. That being said, I think when the full release for Ascended comes, it shouldn’t be /too/ strong.

It’s a great game. And even if peopel are upset, it really grinds my gears when people play over 200 hours then demand thier money back. Kitten you. If you want to shelf it and never play it again, fine, more server space for everybody else. But really? Demanding your money back after so much time played? I bought Brink, hated it, didn’t demand my cash back.

But, yes. Very, very, very fun game. And in the end, that’s what’s most important. I absolutely recommend it.

Also, nice title- really made me think this was just gonna be an innocent question as opposed to rant.

What I used to do:

*Have fun
*Try and get my kitten kicked on the beginner dungeons
*Do events
*Level up
*Level grind since i’m always a level or two below for what the PQ wants from me
*Spend a looooot of time on Black Lion
*RP with my friends
*Hope to aim for Exotic armor and Leapons I don’t think look bad (like the legendary Shortbow unicorn)
*Did I mention have fun? Because that’s pretty important

What I do now-

*Have fun
*Hope to be able to do dungeons with my friends for the sake of fun someday
*Hope to be able to do Fractals one day
*Wait patiently and see how Ascended is gonna work out once ANet’s full plans for it comes out
*Visit the GW2 forums to see the dozens of anti Accended gear- like this one! Isn’t this, what, the fiftieth thread to have no purpose other than to see the OP dislikes Accended
*Do events
*Level up
*Level grind since I’m always a level or two behind in the PQ
*Spend a looooot of time on Black Lion
*RP with my friends
*Hope to aim for Exotic armor and Weapons I don’t think look bad (like the legendary Shortbow unicorn)
*If it becomes more easily accessible try to aim for Ascended- if not, well, too bad.
*Did I mention have fun? Because that’s pretty important.

Still very pleased with my purchase, all in all~

Car.3805:

TransparentlyOpaque.1824:

If you can manage to read through all of the tear soaked typing, you will see that a lot of it is the same few people posting over and over again. I clicked on a few of the hyper negative posters and view their history, and some of them have 20+ posts in this thread.

Its hard to really gauge how many people are hardcore upset with the changes, because the few that are crowding the thread with their drama.

For me, its still the same game for now. Im not that impressed with the new event, but there sure was a massive lag inducing turn out- so there is still a massive crowd that is interested in the game.

This is my first post in the topic, if it matters at all.

I still love the game. I will still play it. The new dungeon is a lot of fun and I’m glad that it’s picking up the story mission styles of GW1.

But I really, really am disappointed with the concept of ascended armor and the associated gear grind. Because make no mistake, it is a gear grind. Yes, I feel betrayed and maybe it is a “drama” thing, but it has tainted my enjoyment of the game.

I’m not going to stop playing the game because there are some fun aspects to it, but I can’t help being sad about the direction it is heading. And, I’ve decided not to blindly follow the gear grind, so I guess I’m sad that I’m not “contributing” to the team whether in PvE or in WvW as much as I could be stat wise. Eventually I’ll get to the Ascended gear, but I’ve had enough of the gear treadmill from a couple years of playing WoW.

Anyway, again, kudos on a fun dungeon. Please rethink the grind, or at the very least, rethink adding more of this “vertical progression”.

—From someone who faithfully played GW1 from incarnation through EoTN and bonus mission packs.

With you 100%! While I’ve been on Anet’s side throughout this whole fiasco and has defended them, even I’ll admit that the idea of ascended and infusion doesn’t sit completely right with me (especially when I got my hopes up and started thinking this was gonna be Mursaat forshadowing… I still kind of do for once this is all over).

At the end of the day though, this is still an amazingly fun game, and while position on Anet and doing a tier upgrade should change over time if they do this repeatingly, it’s not the end of the world. Or is that all that really matters here- a game that is totally and absolutely unique and different than every MMORPG that’s ever existed period? None of us want to admit it, but sometimes, (not just with this game, just things in general) every now and then something happens that deviates from the main design. Heroes got scrapped after all, didn’t they? [spoiler=The mountain-sized Zhaitan from official art -make no mistake he’s still gigantic and they fixed his bugs-[/spoiler]. GW2 may not have redefined the MMORPG genre as people thought it was, but it’s still an amazing game.

For everything it’s worth, at the least, doesn’t this game at least deserve a chance? Too early to just give up on it now.

So just what /will/ you do if this really is the end of it? No, I’m not looking for “Oh well that’s never gonna happen this is a guaranteed 101% trend now no turning back blahblahblah” I’m honestly just curious- what will you do if this is a legitimately one-time-only tier upgrade and everything was just more content instead of tiers and they just want to add something new to the game?

They’ve always been based on communists since GW1, tbh- it was really apparent in Factions with Molenin and how they operated. Likewise, in GW1 (I can’t remember if it was all Prophecies, Factions, and Eye of the North or just Factions) they had a trophy drop called ‘The Dredge Manifesto’.

Arreyanne.2683:

AzureNightmare.3914:

So, am I the only one here who thinks there’s already plenty of grinding in this game? I’m talking about the personal story- having to run through areas hoping for events to start to level up before doing the next quest. Where’s the complaints on that? GW1 never had it, but i’ve never seen anybody complain over it.

I love roleplaying this game and playing with friends, but if you’re more interested in the plot rather than mass events with others, this game has been a serious level grinder since day 1- hell, I play with friends in events and explore for fun and it’s still a pain to make that 2-3 level gap every time.

If you’re going to criticize this for being against the spirit of the original Guild Wars, why don’t you criticize the lack of AIs you can really fight with, lack of ability to chose all your skills rather than just a few that aren’t set by your weapons, and being able to truly play this on your own? Even if you want to play solo, you still have to do events that will require certain player participation rather than being able to tackle it head on.

And, dat level grinding.

LOL Azure,

Unfortunately I only played the Original for a Month, and thought the companions AI was dumber than a box of rocks, SO I sont get an infraction on topic below

Yes the stat increase is well above 8% unlike advertised

Good, good game, I still recommend it <:

Not gonna lie, heroes and henchmen could have their tendencies to kitten out, but it was still pretty fun- that you could truly play the entire game by yourself if you wanted to, that if you wanted to you could really make it a single player game.

… Well, excluding Gyala Hatchery and The Eternal Grove, anyways. Kitten them. Kitten them to the Underworld- especially now that GW1’s servers are much more quiet and they don’t have large groups in their outposts anymore looking for players.

That being said though, I still can’t help but feel this was always a game that required grinding if you wanted to advance in the story, something I felt GW1 never really required- not because it leveled with you, but for the most part you were always on the same level as the rest of the game even when they start going level 20+ when you’re just 20. To me, the whole anti-grinding thing… was never there for day one to me.

EDIT: … Really? D-rp gets censored to kitten? Really? How is that even a bad word?

So, am I the only one here who thinks there’s already plenty of grinding in this game? I’m talking about the personal story- having to run through areas hoping for events to start to level up before doing the next quest. Where’s the complaints on that? GW1 never had it, but i’ve never seen anybody complain over it.

I love roleplaying this game and playing with friends, but if you’re more interested in the plot rather than mass events with others, this game has been a serious level grinder since day 1- hell, I play with friends in events and explore for fun and it’s still a pain to make that 2-3 level gap every time.

If you’re going to criticize this for being against the spirit of the original Guild Wars, why don’t you criticize the lack of AIs you can really fight with, lack of ability to chose all your skills rather than just a few that aren’t set by your weapons, and being able to truly play this on your own? Even if you want to play solo, you still have to do events that will require certain player participation rather than being able to tackle it head on.

And, dat level grinding.