Guild Wars 2

I believe that a lot of people who dislike Guild Wars 2 and still linger around on the forums do so because they wait to see if it becomes the game ArenaNet originally advertised. When I look at the video manifesto and the finished game I see certain similarities. Mainly how the graphics look. However, the feel of it is completely different, and practically nothing they said in the manifesto has manifested itself in the finished product. We have lots of grinding; we have combat where you swing your sword over and over and over at the same creature; the living world is not very living after all, and so on, and so on.

Me? I don’t like Guild Wars 2. I loved Guild Wars 1 though. When I think about Guild Wars 1 I can recall certain elements that annoyed me, but it speaks volumes for the game itself when I have to really think about them, and that my default perception is that of happy times. When I think of Guild Wars 2 I just think of a boring game much like any other of its kind.
The only reason I still play it is because I don’t pay monthly for it, I have friends I talk to on there, it looks nice and that other MMORPGs are exactly the same (but perhaps with less action-like combat).

If a potential Guild Wars 3 was to be made under the same management I doubt I would want to play it. This game is supposedly about your skins, but you pay to pay gems(real money or lots of gold) to get transmutation crystals for you to change skins, most armour looks identical in their respective classes, and the overall variety of skins is very limited for a game ‘about skins’.
I could go on, and so could others, but I doubt anyone here is going to persuade the other camp to see things their way. If people enjoy the game that is great for them, but to many others Guild Wars 2 is not what they feel they were ‘promised’.

Also, I will say that Guild Wars 1 had its share of grinding, but that was towards the end where I also saw an increase in ArenaNet’s appetite regarding the game store. Prophecies was very relaxing to me, and I enjoyed Factions and Nightfall too, but not as much.
With that said, the writing in both games is atrocious, and I am surprised the story in Guild Wars 2 is of such poor quality.

I think a lot of it also stems from the fact that people expect their setups to be able to handle any situation, and refuse to let go of whatever they have now in order to specialise into something.
For instance, mesmers are a pain in the bum to fight with their phantoms and whatnot, and I do not think that just any warrior setup can defeat them. To do so you might want to go for build X, when build Y is what you normally use.

To me this is fine. People should learn that they need to adapt to situations and that they cannot handle everything. It might also be emphasised even more, considering how everyone were laughing at the ease at which warriors were defeated before. They got too used to having to adapt to a new threat. Though, I will concede that it is always easier to complain than it is to think of new things to use.

Personally, I think a system where body-blocking (character collision) is possible would be fantastic. It was a feature in Guild Wars 1, and it would open up to pretty cool fighting scenarios in Guild Wars 2. For instance, a ‘wall’ of heavily armoured units marching forward while the casters stay in the back.
It would also be possible to encircle enemies and trap them, as it were. At the very least it would prevent people from ‘blobbing’ by having them collide with each other.

However, there are things that would need to be worked on then. One being that, in Guild Wars 1, casters were stationary while they cast their spells. Here casters can move around as they please, and I foresee that ability making them even more powerful if body-blocking is introduced.

I by no means pretend to have the definite solution to blobbing-prevention, and I think more fundamental changes are required to make it work. Sadly, as this game would really benefit from a more thought-out combat system.

Also, I would say that a lot of the blobbing happens because that is what people do, and what is most effective in general; not because they necessarily ‘like’ it, although they might feel more comfortable knowing they are part of a moving steamroller.

Vizunah Square will no doubt win. They have people from two continents playing, so they can be in there 24/7. Right now they have 290k points, Piken Square has 222k and Seafarer’s Rest has 214k.

If they maintain a gap like that in all other matches then they are more or less untouchable. I hope that Piken Square will be second in the season though!