Guild Wars 2

If ranger has taught me anything in PvP is that there is definitely a place for longbows for the guardian. If rangers have taught me anything else, it;s that in PvP there is definitely not a place for traps for the guardian.

Trap ranger who is slightly harder to kill but has less offensive abilities than the ranger. But it’s great news for rangers who want to play without a pet I guess.

I’m just confused as to how a trap heal is supposed to work. Aren’t heals supposed to be used in urgency? If traps are getting the changes they mentioned (instead of being able to activate instantly, there is a warm up period) then it will be impossible to actually plan when you will get the health you need. What if I get hit with a burst suddenly? I’m now at really low health and need a top-up and I have to lay a trap, wait for it’s warm up period to pass and then wait for something to walk over it to get my health.

My character is definitely dead at this point. It’s funeral insurance for my bloody heal skill.

What if I plan ahead? It could go off just half a second before I need it and now I’ve wasted my heal and I’m dead again.

I’ve spent my whole time in this game playing a class that is mobile and fun to engage enemies with. I wanted the longbow, I really did. I wanted to be able to fall back and pull out a good ranged weapon. If I have to invest traits for an elite specialization whose utilities are going to require either too precise actions (I’m in Australia, our connection can’t support such timely play) or will be too inconvenient to use in open battle to warrant spending my traits there.

For me to think that traps were a good idea for Guardians the payoff would have to be big. Massive amounts of damage that laying them and possible missing your chance to damage the enemy is the gamble. Bow damage would have to be not only adequate but viable. The healing trap would have to have the ability to bring me out of downed state if triggered whilst I’m down.

If not huge amounts of damage, utility that will actually prove game changing. Like a 3 second immobilization and skill disable.

All I wanted was a viable longbow and maybe some more chants or shouts. Maybe the ability to switch stances and virtues like the elementalists do with attunements? If the dragonhunter ends up being less efficient than the guardian, how could you convince someone to actually play it?

Of course this is all pending tomorrow’s stream where I’m sure these issues will get talked about. I’m sure Anet are aware of the criticisms so far and I think that they will at least have something to say about this whole matter. I’m hoping for something we haven’t been told yet. I’m looking forward to hearing about how traps can be made a viable skill choice for a guardian.

Loving the feedback. To think about it more similar to the way that I am have a look at where the game has come in two years. Now, realistically any content like an expansion that may or may not be in the works surely wouldn’t be out yet, but judging by just what you’ve seen happen to the state of the game right now ask yourself this question; What do I think GW2 will look like in 5 years time?

Look at GW1, within a few years they had a whole new continent that added so much variety to the game. I personally like to believe that after we kill this deep sea dragon, the path that was originally closed to Cantha will now be open and pave a way towards reaching it. That’s my dream, but I have nothing to go by. The example I used from Star Citizen is an example because not only are they outlining what they have been working on, but where they would like it to go in the future. The discussion and impression of the game is a lot easier to wrap your head around. I feel safe investing in that game because even if only 70% of the ideas make it into the final game, I know it’s an experience I will want to be supporting. Yes GW2 was fun at launch and another resounding YES the game is fun now! But I only have one level 80 and I know I still have a lot to experience and I’m looking forward to it.

My question isn’t about what is, it’s about what next. Sure, GW2 is a product worth supporting but just some better idea of where the company is at and an idea of what I can look forward to in the future would certainly make that experience so much better.

Here is an example from the chairman of Star Citizen that I was talking about. We have an idea about what they are working on, why and just their general attitude towards making the game and even though it’s not necessary, it’s a lot of peace of mind being a little involved in the product I’m invested in.

No it’s not about content updates or what they’ve done. This isn’t any sort of complaint about content, it’s the fact that their attitude for making the game has been about keeping us in the dark about development and letting us argue and speculate to no end what they game will be like in 12 months time. It’s that we just have NO IDEA what A-Net want to do with their product, and it’s hard to play a game where you don’t really know where it’s going. We can be speculating something for a year or more, constantly talking about it and building ideas only for all of that to be dismissed in temporary content or something that just leaves us with more questions than answers. It seems a little directionless at times, like it just creates a cycle.

Look at your signature, perfect example. Do you know what they want to do with the game? Will it just be about e-sports? Is it about finding a game with the perfect balance? Is it about new experiences? We simply don’t know their idea about what they want for the game.

Now I’m at the point where I still have things to do in the game, but I wouldn’t mind having better reason to push forward. I think that A-Net could at least do a couple things to make it easier on the players:

1. Simply saying ‘we are aware of this issue’ provides us with no information. We don’t have any information to work from here, so closing threads because you know about it is really making us feel like we can’t have any input.
2. Try your best to alleviate people’s concerns within any thread. If you see a thread that can easily turn into a company attack thread, please at least take the time to reassure the community how A-Net views a particular topic, even if you can’t talk about a solution. People feel like A-Net doesn’t really have a set direction for this game anymore. I see it everyday that a moderator might only post in official threads maybe once or twice or just on the odd thread to shut it down. Sorry but that’s not very reassuring.
3. And lastly, make sure your content updates reflect the direction you want the game to take in the future. If there were an expansion in the future, the game’s progress does not show that trend. Aside from quality of life and balancing updates, the game hasn’t really been expanded upon since launch if you compare builds now. If you can’t talk about any developments, the community is going to assume that the past is going to dictate the future, which is in all honestly is mostly just temporary and gem store content which does nothing to show future ambition for the game.

It just seems a little puzzling to me because people need to realize that GW2 isn’t just a game, it’s a project. GW2 isn’t just a sum the content that’s in the game right now, it’s also the direction and goals it makes in the future. And I understand that A-Net’s strategy is to be very hush-hush about it, let us try and figure it out then surprise us. But that doesn’t benefit what GW2 is, in our mind that doesn’t push anything to what the game could be. Interaction is the key here, not hype. Just honest, up-front interaction.

I know a lot of people will say that this is a horrible community but I believe it’s just the environment they’ve been put in. It’s like a digital Lord of the Flies, put people in an undefined place and they will make it their own. I personally feel like I want to have a link with A-Net, to understand why they are taking the steps they are taking. I get it, “they just want your money, sheep!”….. I get it. The threads that are going to do the most good are the ones that try to promote interaction, not throwing unwavering opinions so please, keep it civil, unbiased and objective. Thank you. And sorry for the wall of text.

I just want to start this with a disclaimer that I don’t intend this to be a flame war or some sort of rage at A-Net. There are a million venting threads up at the moment so please feel free to go pick one of those to rage at, I simply want to bring to attention how I feel about A-Net’s approach to this game and how I feel like it needs work.

Now, to sum up where I’m at I’ve played very casually since the beta and only have 1 level 80 so as you can tell I’m not the most hardcore of players. I love this game to bits but I’m at the stage where I feel like my other characters are progressing towards the same content I’ve already played without of course the Living Story content I played on my first character. The problem isn’t however the lack of things to do, it’s about A-Net’s attitude to fueling excitement for the game itself.

To put it into perspective I have been following the development of a game called Star Citizen. I know, it’s crowd-sourced so the developers are at the mercy of the community in a sense but I have to say that the effort that the company goes through to try and communicate themselves to their audience. The CEO of the company personally writes long blog posts about how he envisions the game, individual elements they are working on and is constantly involved within his community to answer any questions, even if the answer is no. This creates healthy discussion, people contributing to new ideas and they get excited about the game’s ambition.

Now I know that A-Net doesn’t have the same restrictions as Star Citizen but you don’t have to look far too see what they are actively trying to achieve. My problem here is an element of transparency. I find it rather difficult to anticipate anything when we literally have no idea where the company is trying to take the game. They think too much that the element of secrecy is too mysterious to turn away from and would rather leave us on a cliffhanger rather than be up-front and honest about their direction. They are focusing way too much on one element of hype, even though that very type has bitten the community more than once, it’s a bad strategy to sell your product. The reason why the forum vibe can be so poisonous sometimes is because people have nothing to really work from and jump to conclusions.

Cont’d below.