Guild Wars 2

I definitely want the 2H axe, still not sure why they decided to leave out such a staple of the genre. /boggle

Blackgate usually seems pretty active to me.

Ayan.1750:

Malefactor.2971:

It is quite good, right up until you hit Orr.

My least favorite zone(s) in 15+ years of MMO gaming, by a long shot.

Actually, if you forget about the mobs and sit back and look at the scenery, it is still quite remarkable.

I did Cursed Shore for the first time a couple of weeks ago and thought it was a very nice area on the artistic side.

If you take away the absurd mob density and their over abundance of CC type abilities, I still very much dislike the 3 zones, matter of personal preference I suppose. Outside of Orr maps though, I rather like all the others.

It is quite good, right up until you hit Orr.

My least favorite zone(s) in 15+ years of MMO gaming, by a long shot.

Maybe they don’t even realize they fixed it, anything is possible I suppose.

Either way, I’m quite happy that Opening Strikes works now.

PaWryce.9702:

got another question on same topic. How often do you guys more then jug, casg and mystic coin? I havent gotten anything for 3 weeks now.

I used to get things quite often, like repair canisters or black lion kits (if I recall correctly even sometimes the lvl 80 transmutation stones). The last few weeks though, I haven’t gotten a single thing other than the Jug, cash and mystic coin. It sure feels like they’ve changed something.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a casual MMO experience. It’s lack of subscription makes it attractive to those without much free time on their hands and can also be played alongside another (maybe subscription) MMO for those that do.

Errant Venture.9371:

NOTHING compares to the Nov 15th SWG NGE “update” Took a beautiful sandbox game and gutted it to please Sony execs =(

Let’s be honest here, the reason they made the NGE was to try and stem the loss of players that was happening, it was obviously the wrong move as it backfired and just accelerated the losses by a huge amount. You can read about it from one of the devs who worked on SWG here http://rubenfield.com/?p=86

And yes, it’s still the biggest blunder in MMO history.

From my experience, Guardian then Warrior. I have lvl 80 of both, as well as Thief, Engineer and Mesmer and have found that almost anything I do in PvE is loads easier on the Guard/War.

mulch.2586:

Malefactor.2971:

NGE takes the crown by a huge landslide, nothing even comes close.
I’d definitely put AoC’s launch on a list of top blunders.

Age of Conan was a great opportunity squandered by mis-management.

But at least it was anatomically-correct.

It seems that mismanagement is a recurring theme for Funcom, starting with AO, followed by AoC (completely unfinished game past lvl 20/Tortage) and now TSW. All 3 games with lots of promise (and promises) but failed to live up to that promise in the execution. With the way things are going for them and their current financial situation, I wouldn’t be shocked at all to hear about them being bought out or shut down altogether.

SWTOR is still very much online, and it’s not like they lied about the “gear treadmill”, they said from the very beginning that it would be a pretty standard MMO with BioWare storytelling and that’s exactly what it is.

NGE takes the crown by a huge landslide, nothing even comes close.
I’d definitely put AoC’s launch on a list of top blunders.

Norelation.3067:

Legendary weapons show a mastery of all mechanics in the game. They’re also meant to be a long term goal, a holy grail. These things exist in real life too. Wanna go to med school? Be prepared to grind through a whole lot of college time. Wanna be a lawyer? Be prepared to grind through college and then law school. Yes, this is a game, it’s meant as an escape, I agree. However, the whole legendary mechanic was designed with this in mind.

Getting a Legendary should show a mastery of all mechanics in the game, as of this moment it does not. It’s flat out dependent on massive grind and RNG.

38, Canada. I like both forms for what they each offer, and can take or leave either.

It’s not a question of age, it’s a question of preference. One is not inherently “better” than the other except to the individual, based on their personal preferences and tastes.

Mitch.4781:

The Scret World..There is no levelling

No leveling in the traditional sense, but the “end game” has the usual gear grind. Filling out the skill wheel would mean grinding out the same quests over and over. There’s not a whole lot to do in that game either, once you finish the (admittedly pretty cool) storyline it’s your standard MMO, and not very well done at that.

Rococo.8347:

’So I would ask you to judge us by details, ’

Hell on a hot tin roof – isnt that what we HAVE been doing? and why so many are unhappy?!

No, not really. Many on these forums have been (and still are) freaking out on what they think will happen; that the Ascended gear tier is the start of a never ending gear treadmill.

Do you feel that maybe the developers are limited in what they can do with boss type encounters due to their removal of the “holy trinity”? Did they perhaps design themselves into a corner by trying to be different?

Isn’t that Jormags?

Narkosys.5173:

It is a shame that they have this wonderful dynamic world but yet decided to funnel everyone to the city and into the dungeon and only the dungeon.

There have been many great suggestions posted about ways to combat this and adding content but Anet chose this auspicious way and I dont no why.

It was poorly implemented and fragments the community because you need a specific level and not even a range (ie 1-5)limiting your options.
Even if you like this change the RNG mechanic and the DC stuff make doing the dungeon a pita.
Now if you hate dungeons but need good loot or mats your stuck that is where they are. It just seems sad really.

Personally, I think it was the fastest and cheapest way they could come up with to try and buy themselves time to work on bigger, more fun content. It does seem kind of rushed to me, like they didn’t really think it all the way through (as you said, fragmenting the community up in several ways etc).

plasmacutter.2709:

Malefactor.2971:

plasmacutter.2709:

Malefactor.2971:

It wasn’t “just fine”. What it is, is grind. Everything you do in this game, save for leveling, is a grind. They just replaced (or supplemented, depending on your point of view) that grind with another. Maybe they are hoping it gives them enough time to implement some real horizontal content.

Don’t get me wrong, I found the leveling experience quite fun, still do (working on my 6th 80 now) but each time I hit 80 and have my exotics (which now is the same day I hit cap) I quickly get bored. Grinding gold, karma or dungeons over and over whether it be for appearance or stat increase, is the same difference to me and just isn’t my idea of fun.

you hit 80 and immediately have all arah gear and a legendary?

Who said anything about Arah gear? I craft exotics, since I have every crafting profession. For appearance I am quite content to work with what I can get with minimal grind, the factions (Vigil, Priory and Order) all have some nice looking stuff, as do the races. And Legendary? Please, that is the biggest grind in the game coupled with RNG, no thanks. Maybe if they made acquiring it fun somehow, like a difficult and lengthy quest line or series of challenges I’d be interested.

That stage is usually when I start pvp and random travels until they release the next content patch.

I usually just do a round of Ori/Ancient wood/Omnomberries harvesting on each lvl 80 character and then have fun leveling my newest one. I don’t much care for MMORPG PvP, nothing against it I just prefer my PvP kicks from shooter type games like Battlefield, and that new one Planeside 2 looks interesting I may try that out.

plasmacutter.2709:

Malefactor.2971:

It wasn’t “just fine”. What it is, is grind. Everything you do in this game, save for leveling, is a grind. They just replaced (or supplemented, depending on your point of view) that grind with another. Maybe they are hoping it gives them enough time to implement some real horizontal content.

Don’t get me wrong, I found the leveling experience quite fun, still do (working on my 6th 80 now) but each time I hit 80 and have my exotics (which now is the same day I hit cap) I quickly get bored. Grinding gold, karma or dungeons over and over whether it be for appearance or stat increase, is the same difference to me and just isn’t my idea of fun.

you hit 80 and immediately have all arah gear and a legendary?

Who said anything about Arah gear? I craft exotics, since I have every crafting profession. For appearance I am quite content to work with what I can get with minimal grind, the factions (Vigil, Priory and Order) all have some nice looking stuff, as do the races. And Legendary? Please, that is the biggest grind in the game coupled with RNG, no thanks. Maybe if they made acquiring it fun somehow, like a difficult and lengthy quest line or series of challenges I’d be interested.

It wasn’t “just fine”. What it is, is grind. Everything you do in this game, save for leveling, is a grind. They just replaced (or supplemented, depending on your point of view) that grind with another. Maybe they are hoping it gives them enough time to implement some real horizontal content.

Don’t get me wrong, I found the leveling experience quite fun, still do (working on my 6th 80 now) but each time I hit 80 and have my exotics (which now is the same day I hit cap) I quickly get bored. Grinding gold, karma or dungeons over and over whether it be for appearance or stat increase, is the same difference to me and just isn’t my idea of fun.

True, but then the so-called horizontal “progression” wasn’t anything to write home about either.

Just to point out, it’s not an article but a player blog.

It doesn’t help that that map (and all of Orr really) is one of the most annoying to traverse and has such a high density and fast respawn rate of mobs even without the DEs being in near permanent defeated state.

Imo all of Orr needs a rework.

If, as they said, they found that players were gearing out in exotics much faster than they had intended, it makes sense (from their perspective) to make acquiring this new tier of gear take longer. That or spend more money in the cash shop.

Don’t have any, don’t really care. I’ve gotten 5 characters to max level now, and each time I hit 80 and equip them in exotics, I promptly roll another one. There’s not a whole lot to keep my interest tbh, and doing the same dungeon, no matter how well designed or how fun, over and over isn’t my idea of “end game”.

I’m not bothered by the addition of it, I just don’t care. It’s 1 more grind in a game full to the brim with grind if you really want to get anything done.

Want gold? Grind.
Want Karma? Grind
Want Dungeon sets/weapons? Grind
Want to craft anything other than ugly pearl exotic weapons? Grind
Want a Legendary? Mega grind + RNG (or grind more gold)

The only part of PvE that’s not really a grind is leveling to 80, which is quite fun imo.

I can’t really see why they didn’t do this from the beginning. Sure, there are some elements of PvE in WvW, but the main point of it is still Player vs Player.

On the other hand, even if they do this I seriously doubt it would stop the complaining.

SoulTrain.2157:

Im loving gw2 other then like some others have said it needs a better way to find a group like a lfg option.

and to anyone who says user reviews aren’t important or dont matter i always look at user reviews. they matter more to me then pro reviews. i’ll take a users review over any review over at gamespots or igns ect… websites anyday. i never even bother to read a pro game reviewers review. and i order from amazon quite often and i always look at the user reviews and i always click on the lowest ratings of an item first to see what the bads are. and if i dont see that many bads ill look at what the goods are and if the goods outweigh the bads i may buy it. but they have to outweigh them alot. and if i see enough bads i may not even bother looking at what the goods are. but every so often ill want an item no matter what anyone says about it.

I view it that neither the “professional” reviews or the user reviews are the least bit trustworthy. The “pro” reviewers have an interest in staying within the developers good graces, and users are anonymous, can range from fanboys of the game or fanboys of another game, paid shills and anything and everything in between. The only opinions I trust for gaming are my own, and people who I’ve been gaming with for a long time that share many of my tastes.

I also don’t put any stock in what developers say to talk up and sell their game, I’ve been playing this genre long enough to know that that’s all it is : talk, PR to sell games. Things can and will change, regardless of the best intentions or big “promises” made, money is what makes the decisions.

CharrGirl.7896:

Malefactor.2971:

CharrGirl.7896:

You know what’s really sad? Most of my guild mates shun all negative feedback on this matter and “can’t understand why so many people complain” and that “it won’t matter in the end”. Some said that the people on the forum are actually a part of minority who is against this. I would like to know if this is true, but I surely hope it isn’t…

It started to bother me, because I just think they’re oblivious to problems this will cause in the long run.

People on the forum are a minority of the overall playerbase. That doesn’t mean that the majority agrees or disagrees, it just means they don’t express their opinions on the forums.

Yeah, but I have been told that most people in the game are OK with it, even though I have no idea where did they get those statistic from.

I would guess it’s anecdotal at best, they don’t have any statistics to back it up. Then again, neither do those opposed to the changes. The only ones with the numbers are Anet, and they aren’t talking, which is somewhat strange considering how they (and their more rabid fanboys) touted themselves as so in touch with their playerbase and so different than other development houses in the years and months leading up to launch.

CharrGirl.7896:

You know what’s really sad? Most of my guild mates shun all negative feedback on this matter and “can’t understand why so many people complain” and that “it won’t matter in the end”. Some said that the people on the forum are actually a part of minority who is against this. I would like to know if this is true, but I surely hope it isn’t…

It started to bother me, because I just think they’re oblivious to problems this will cause in the long run.

People on the forum are a minority of the overall playerbase. That doesn’t mean that the majority agrees or disagrees, it just means they don’t express their opinions on the forums.

Won’t make much of a difference really, as generally the majority of a new game (or an MMO) sales are done at launch, when it’s new and shiny. That’s when review bombing could possibly have an impact on sales, not that anyone with half a brain should let their decision to purchase/not purchase a game be influenced by anonymous people that could easily be fans of another game, or “astro turfing” for the competition.

Better bet, if someone really wants to spend that much energy and time, would be to try and get gaming sites to pick up the story and run with it. Not that easy to do though, as it’s usually in their best interest to stay on good terms with game developers so they can get those “exclusives” and what not.

Sondergaard.8469:

I did get exactly what I wanted. I took the time to educate myself about ArenaNet, their design philosophies, and their goals with Guild Wars 2. I have seen nothing contrary to what they promised me, and I have received everything I asked for in my purchase.

Being cynical and attacking me because I am grateful to ArenaNet for providing continued support for a game that I enjoy is a bit childish. You don’t agree? That’s fine. There’s a hundred other threads for you to go and rant about how unhappy you are about the changes and your experiences. Don’t come in mine and start lashing out here too.

I must agree, too many are lashing out and attacking posters rather than arguing their views/opinions. It’s one thing to disagree, or be upset with changes, it’s quite another to insult everyone who doesn’t hold the same opinions.

Merthax.5172:

Xpiher.5209:

Funny how the mod moved it here…

I do find that interesting as well.

Has anyone actually played “The Secret World?” I briefly looked at the site and am intrigued. I like a variety of game settings, from games like Fallout to games like Mass Effect…variety is good. TSW looks like a setting that I may very well be interested in. I had never heard of this game before but may have to give it a more serious look.

I’m not opposed to paying a subscription, in and of itself, but I am opposed to the type of gameplay that subs promote (grind for the sake of keeping players addicted…I mean playing).

I played it. Tbh the “leveling” experience was pretty fun, the investigation missions were actually very well done, as well as the almost as fun sabotage ones. Once you are done the missions though, you come to end game, which is the same old gear treadmill as ever, and you will likely have trouble getting a party for dungeons/nightmare as a good portion of the community demands full “epics” and experience to run them.

The skill wheel, while an interesting idea in itself, is loaded with redundant and useless skills, and there are “must have” skills (as deemed by the community mentioned above) it’s become quite cookie cutter. The combat itself is… not very good, the animations are pretty bad, and combat was something that reviewers almost unanimously said needed the most work. Well, that and the bugs, oh man are there a lot of bugs. Crafting is so terrible as to be almost non-existent, and serves no real purpose. The game world is also very small, only 8 zones, no exploration and is pretty easy to finish the storyline in about 2-3 weeks of casual play.

In short, it’s a Funcom game, lots of promise (and promises) but the delivery falls far short. It might be worth picking up when it’s on sale for like 10-15$ and playing as a single player game, but it’s just not worth a subscription (or the cash shop).

If you are still interested in getting it, it might be in your best interest to wait a while and see how their financial troubles pan out. The situation is quite grim, no hyperbole here, you can take a look at their financials yourself as Funcom is a publicly traded company. Here’s the very short version: Funcom told investors they expected ~1 million sales with a retention of ~500k (or their worst case 1 million sales with a conan like retention of ~300k iirc). In reality, they sold ~200k copies total, followed by layoffs of ~50% of staff (including some of the top developers) and taking an impairment for the entire development cost of the game.

Fritz.5026:

However, we have also seen floods of these gear progression type of MMO games released since then with the vast majority of them failing in less than 6 months. So obviously any attempt to say that gear progression is the best method for a successful mmo game would be seen with a certain level of doubt.

It could be argued then, that with GW2 making the switch in just 3 months that their original model/method was even less successful. Or at least viewed as such by Anet/NcSoft.

cherrie.8907:

Actually, I think I’ve found a game yesterday.

I’ve remembered that among all the bad feedback about GW2 dungeons I’ve read a very good post describing The Secret World dungeons and I’ve decided to check it out, and gods, I don’t care about GW2

The bad first
- it’s a subscription MMO
- it has gear progression
- it’s not fantasy genre
- the graphics are much worse that GW2, especially at the beginning of the game (seriously, play through the first 30min because even the look of game changes, at least for me!)
- character models are not as “sleek”

The good
- gear progression seems less grindy than in GW2 now!
- it has a very Lovecraft, World Of Darkness RPG feeling which I love
- it’s a game for manutre audience
- story is actually serious, deep, dark and mature
- skill system is more similar to GW1 than GW2 is – it’s extensive, unlimited. Did you like Magic the Gathering? Skill system is very similar to that, builds are even called Decks!

So yes, ANet, because of your 180 flip, lack of respect and communication, apparently I will be playign a subscription MMO with a vertical gear progression.
But guess what, it won’t be your MMO, because a company that flipped, broke promises, disrespected me and lied is not getting a penny out of me any more; a matter of principle at this point.

Just an observation here, but you’re going from a company (Anet) who you feel have gone against their word, indulged in “false advertising” etc to a company (Funcom) that are the undisputed masters of broken promises and lies. They are also a company in very deep financial trouble that may not last much longer, short of a buyout or a miracle.

MrDmajor.7084:

Malefactor.2971:

Forum goers themselves are a minority of an MMOs playerbase, an even smaller number than that bother to post. While it’s certainly possible that the views here could be held by a “majority” of players, it’s equally possible that they are not.

What we do know atm though, is despite all the moaning on these forums, the servers are jam packed, with overflows in many zones, which might suggest that the majority have no issue, or at least not enough to cause them to stop playing the game, with the recent changes.

Because cross sections and microcosms don’t exist. =\

Please stop. Just state YOUR opinion and move on. Besides, what’s the point in trying to convince others “it’s not that bad”? Why is the word “vocal minority” even being brought up? What’s your personal investment? If it is it is, if it isn’t it isn’t.

It looks like people are trying to convince THEMSELVES. It shouldn’t matter. If nothings wrong enjoy it. It will stay the same if it’s true.

I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, just stating what is.

Forum goers themselves are a minority of an MMOs playerbase, an even smaller number than that bother to post. While it’s certainly possible that the views here could be held by a “majority” of players, it’s equally possible that they are not.

What we do know atm though, is despite all the moaning on these forums, the servers are jam packed, with overflows in many zones, which might suggest that the majority have no issue, or at least not enough to cause them to stop playing the game, with the recent changes.

Not much different than the “lf2 war or guard only” or “lfm full exotics only” I’ve seen for weeks now. There are people like that in every game, I’m just happy they advertise their douchiness so I never have the “privilege” of grouping with them.

aliquis.9180:

GW2 was advertised as the MMO for those who don’t want to grind, so there’s that.

It may have been advertised as such, but even the launch content once you hit 80 there is significant grind. It’s a grind to get legendaries, it’s a grind to get dungeon sets/weapons, it’s a grind to get karma, gold etc etc.

I’m surprised people who claim to have experience playing MMOs in the past take any PR speak or advertising seriously. I’ve been playing this genre a long time, around 15 years, and learned long ago to take anything a developer says (especially pre-launch) about their game with a grain of salt. Their intentions may be good, they may even believe what they are saying, but it’s a business, and first a foremost businesses are about making money.

GW1 wasn’t an MMO, so there’s that.

iDestroy.4395:

Jesus, the complaining, moaning and crying. This topic makes me question the age of most of the players in Guild Wars 2.

To be one apart from the bandwagon, I’m happy to see somewhat of a huge update. It keeps things interesting, in my opinion.

MMO players always overreact and throw tantrums (especially with changes that haven’t hit live yet), wouldn’t feel like an MMO forum without them.

Looks like some nice additions, looking forward to the patch.

I had this bug happen to me last night, the camera was stuck in the PoV of the trebuchet even though I could run around. Running back to the trebuchet (albeit a bit difficult with the messed up camera) and hitting F to take control of the trebuchet, then hitting F again fixed it.

Unable to purchase gems, email sent to support, supplied requested information then received an email from support with no text in it…

Incident: 121013-000331