Guild Wars 2

I’d just like to start this off by saying that I love Guild Wars 2. The fact that I have hundreds of hours played and would take the time to write this analysis should be evidence of that. This isn’t meant to be a rant, as much as a critique toward a constructive end. With that, I have some concerns with the current achievement system in GW2. Many achievements don’t synergize well with one another, many have values that are simply far too low or too high, and there seems to be a lack of reward for the acquisition of said achievements.

Let’s take a look first at the Weapon Master achievements. I think that this is a brilliant line to add- it rewards players while they’re playing the game the way they want to play it. Achievements such as this will only become more common place in the gaming world, as players love this recognition and goal oriented progress (carrot on a stick). A good concept, but rather poor execution therein.

First, the breakpoints could be at different values, with a much higher limit. 100, 250, 500, 1,000, etc, up to 50,000 perhaps. Having 5,000 as a limit seems quite small given the potential lifespan of the game. Second, it seems like a missed opportunity at rewards. Why not give the player a special, account bound weapon skin for reaching this achievement, or an account bound conjured weapon corresponding to the achievement. This would give a unique, genuine incentive for a greater audience, rather than just the perfectionists

In any case, let’s now compare this to the Slayer achievements. The limit for these is a pitiful 1,000. For comparison, I’m sure I’ve killed at least 10,000 Risen thus far, and the game is only 4 months old. At least have these values be similar to those in the Weapon Master achievements, so that one isn’t grossly unbalanced toward the other, considering both will be accomplished at the same time in the same fashion. Furthermore, it’s another example of a missed reward opportunity. Why not give the players a corresponding mini pet, or a perhaps a permanent tonic. Or at least a silly title.

Next are the WvW achievements. Unlike the previous two, the achievements here are ridiculously high. 1,000,000 (one million) caravans destroyed is the current projection. Nobody has made it close to high enough to verify, which may or may not be a good sign. For a look at how long that would take:

http://cogsandink.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/yakslapper-are-wvw-titles-unreasonable.html

Needless to say, hopefully this isn’t the case. One to two degrees of magnitude lower would be perfectly reasonable however, so I suppose time will tell.

The PvP achievements as well have unbalanced values. Starting at rank 10, assuming it takes one hour to farm 1,500 rank points (a balanced assertion), it will take about 30 hours to go from rank 10 to 20. Then about 60 hours rank 20 to 30, 120 for 30 to 40, 360 for 40 to 50, 720 for 50 to 60, and past that we don’t know the values because nobody has reported reaching it. This in itself, given the long lifespan of the game, I think is slightly steep, but still reasonable. However, my question then becomes, why limit the achievement for PvP kills at 2,000 when it’s quite plausible that we will hit 200,000? Why have player revivals capped at 1,000? And so forth. Disregarding this, we again see a lack of rewards. Why not have permanent kill banners when you reach the max rank of a tier (rank 10 = permanent rabbit banner)? Why not add a LADDER SYSTEM that ranks players accordingly and gives players the motivation to play for the hundreds of hours required for these achievements?

Examples of these fundamental errors in the achievement structure of GW2 are present everywhere. 800 food consumed versus 100,000 drinks? 500 resource gatherings versus a recurring, infinite amount of salvages? No reward or title for completing every jumping puzzle, a task that takes dedication, exploration of the game, and a fair deal of player skill, yet we do get one for buying plenty of cash shop mini pets with drop rates that are based on random chance?

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to call into question the integrity of either the game or its designers. I think the vast majority of these issues stem merely from shortsightedness. And again, I enjoy this game. I wouldn’t be playing it if I didn’t first have fun and enjoy the time I spend playing it; otherwise, I wouldn’t play it, regardless of what achievement system it has in place… but it won’t change the fact that I still hope for a better one with which improvements can currently be made on. Or at least something to do with all these achievement points.

When the game was first released, one of my favorite things about Guild Wars 2 was the combination of seeing so many players around me leveling up, along with being rewarded for playing with them (instead of being punished like in most mmorpgs). Now as I level my alts, it’s rare that I ever see other players; the majority of the dynamic events I complete are done by myself, which is rather discouraging to me.

A change like this is one I would highly recommend, as it recreates that feeling of community the game once had, and would synergize so well with the mobs are tagged, loot is distributed, and events are ran in Guild Wars 2. There’s a reason other mmorpgs are shifting to this model… =)

I’ve had a similar issue. I’ve participated and completed every Halloween event shortly after they have been released, however my ‘Halloween Events Completed’ achievement still sits at 0/10, despite doing the Mad King Dungeon, multiple games of Reaper Rumble, etc. I’m hoping this will be solved so that I don’t miss out on the title due to bugs!

Excellent post Shogoki, I couldn’t agree more. Especially this:

“So you’re prepared to spend 120g, farm thousands of expensive crafting materials, plus all the karma and skill points, for various components to create the legendary. If spending another X gold (where X could be anything from 50 to 250) for the precursor component on top of that is suddenly a dealbreaker, then re-evaluate whether you still think the legendary is worth it.”

I personally appreciate the additional market that’s been created through the precursor system, but I suppose that’s just me.

Shogoki- thanks for the information! Out of curiosity, are there any links you could direct me toward regarding the statistics you posted?

Going with the more generous 0.2%, that means it takes 2,000 rares to forge. Let’s suppose you are buying the materials when they are at a very cheap price, so that each rare costs 10s (a very low number only for the weapons that have low material requirements). That would make the average cost of a precursor 200g.

Assuming we go with the less generous 0.1%, that means it takes 4,000 rares to forge. If the materials are more realistically priced, so that each rare costs 15s, the average cost would be 600g.

If the average price to forge a precursor is 400g (or even as low as 200g), this means that we can only expect the market price to keep rising as time goes by.

I would still much more appreciate an official response regarding the chance values of forging the precursors.

What I would personally appreciate is simply some information regarding what the odds of getting a precursor from combining four level 80 rares actually is. Are we looking at a 5% chance, a 1% chance, a .5% chance… lower than that? What order of magnitude are we looking at here?

I ask so that as a player base we can make more informed decisions toward how we choose to acquire our precursors. I have the money to invest in buying around 1,000 rares and forging them away, but if the odds are well against me, then clearly it would be better for me to save up and purchase one off the trade post.

Furthermore, those that don’t have these means have something a bit more clear to look forward to in the future. If the chance is say 1%, that means it will cost, on average, roughly 80 gold to forge one (20s per rare x 400 rares). That means that the market price on these is eventually bound to drop. However many months this takes to occur is really just dependent on the capabilities of the rich to continue to control the precursor market.

Anyhow, if you’re willing to throw us another bone here, I’m sure many of us would be thankful =)