Guild Wars 2

Starbird.4029:

Now one thing I like about WoW, for all it’s failings, is that whatever class I want to level, the early experience is going to be pretty consistent. Difficult or easy, the classes are balanced in such a way that nothing is a horror to level early anymore and most dps specs require a similar amount of effort and time to level with.

That wasn’t always the case. Leveling in WoW is certainly incredibly easy these days, perhaps even a little too easy, but for the longest time some classes/specs were vastly better at it than others. That’s not inherently a bad thing, though.

GW2 on the other hand…well, I really would love to level my thief, but I’m so insanely squishy that I have to jump around like a grasshopper on yellowjackets to survive 2+ of even similar level mobs.
On the other hand, my guardian or Warrior can just kerplode enemies endlessly, even if he is a few levels below them.

Interestingly, I had exactly the opposite experience. With my thief, I felt practically invisible after a few levels of developing a decent understanding of the class and the game (the thief was pretty much my introductory class). On the other hand, my first impression of the warrior class was that it badly missed the survivability of the thief: as a thief, you have so much mobility, easy access to condition removal, and (through off-hand pistol) an AoE blind that makes it incredibly simple to avoid most damage. For me, it took a little while to adjust to my warrior, although I grew to really enjoy him quickly enough.

So no, I really, really don’t think the differences between the thief and the warrior (or any other class) justify any homogenization whatsoever, at least in the case of leveling. Rolling different classes feels cool precisely because each class feels vastly different.

NeverSmileWF.1684:

Based on things like XFire and anything like it – yes the game is dying.

I suppose you believe all MMOs are dying, then, considering GW2 is the second most active MMO according to Xfire. Following The Razing, GW2 saw a 9% spike in week over week activity, and it’s safe to assume the activation of the Super Adventure Box was/is an even bigger draw.

Source: http://nosygamer.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-digital-dozen-2-april-2013.html

[EDIT]

I somehow missed this.

clay.7849:

? It’s funny how the majority of people on a forum about a game don’t represent the majority. That is so logical.

Your condescension here is unwarranted, because it’s absolutely true that forum goers are rarely representative of the majority of players. They’re an absolutely tiny percentage of the player base, and not only that, they’re also a self-selecting group: they tend to be invested, passionate, opinionated, loud, and unusually negative. There tends to be this echo chamber effect where simplistic, angry narratives dominate over nuanced, sympathetic ones.

That strikes me as something that should be obvious, and very easily observable across different forums, comment sections, and so on. But if you’d like verification, here’s a relevant study and a very well written blog post by someone who would know:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19821-flaming-drives-online-social-networkkittenml
http://www.eldergame.com/2008/06/taming-the-forum-tiger/

Remember, the only person you’re speaking for is yourself. When you start pretending you’re speaking for the majority, it becomes incredibly difficult to take you seriously. That’s especially true in the context of forum discussions, where all too often it’s the shrillest taking up the mantle of “spokesperson for the majority.” Hopefully you aren’t doing that.

Khal Drogo.9631:

I wonder SAB or the 30% discount is the thing that really spiked sales.

Are we assuming there was a boost in sales because of across the board Very High server populations? First of all, going back to the activity vs. number of accounts argument, I’d say it’s almost certainly the former that’s measured. Otherwise, why would a server ever decrease in population, considering that even when concurrent users get lower, the number of accounts only steadily increases? Transfers? It doesn’t make much sense to advertise that a server has a high population if it’s inactive, either.

I’m sure sales spike when there’s a discount, but at this point I imagine GW2 would need more than a 30% price decrease to significantly move sales. On the other hand, there are almost always spikes in the population when significant new content hits because of returning players, and the SAB certainly resulted in a lot of positive word of mouth and free press.

So I’d say GW2 definitely benefited from the SAB.

draxynnic.3719:

Hoanjo Belin in the Ossan district mentions that the Elonians in LA and Kryta fled Palawa Joko and Elona

Interesting. Thanks for the information. While looking for him, I also stumbled upon a book cart with a book called “Conversations with Palawa Joko.” Heh.

Calae.1738:

hplee.2839:

Calae.1738:

I’m not sure how long they will be able to sustain this though. Their Achilles heel is a AAA MMO targeted to a mature audience. The Disney stuff might be tolerable for awhile but; it’ll get dumped really fast. Your average MMO gamers is over 30 and is demanding mature content.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1bee69/lets_show_arenanet_that_we_want_sab_to_stay/

SAB:1 , Calcae: 0

There’s a market for it. There’s a market for anything.

It is my opinion that Guild Wars 2 contains a considerable adult audience that demands mature content. If Guild Wars 2 cannot provide it; that audience will disappear. What is arguable is the size of this demographic.

No, here’s the thing: far more is arguable than that. For one, what does your typical adult want? You’re acting as if you have your hand over the pulse of a particular demographic, and as if it’s a given that someone above, say, the age of 30 will desire what you desire, when in actuality the only person you’re a spokesperson for is yourself. So, there’s another arguable thing.

Another thing that’s arguable is your incredibly narrow idea of maturity. The Super Adventure Box is clearly not deadly serious, but obviously maturity isn’t about lacking a sense of humor, right? It’s also not gloomy and dark, and yet maturity isn’t about those things, either. It’s perfectly possible for a very mature person to get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Also, who doesn’t love Disney movies?

Okay, so apparently the continent of Elona is being ruled by an undead king. I know this is a bit off-topic, but I feel that someone in-game should have brought this up to me at some point. =P This is the first I’ve heard of him, so this is all news to me!

Out of curiosity, is he ever brought up in GW2? Does he have any presence at all? That may hint at the likelihood of him playing a prominent role in the future.

Lucas Ashrock.8675:

That website collect the current price , it’s update nearly real time.
That price is heavily discussed on the main forum, expecially if it raises , discussing the reason. And the company reads those threads too, making adjustment if needed, even doubling or making half the drop rate of the source. The community and the company both works together to keep the market stable.

… What?

First of all, the prices as listed on wowhead/thottbot are not put on a pedestal as you seem to imply. They are hardly “heavily discussed.” You are, in fact, the first person I’ve ever seen bring them up. That makes sense, too, considering that they’re merely “average prices” as determined by some algorithm. The actual price of any given item will vary from server to server and from moment to moment.

I also love that, above, you rhetorically ask, “Tell me, do you see the buyout price on both page? Tell me, do both price match?” as if that proves a degree of certainty/stability when it comes to prices. Do you know the actual reason they list matching prices on any given item? It’s because they’re using the same source. When you click the “buyout price” link on either page, you’re taken to a website called The Undermine Journal. And there, you’ll actually find your “price written in stone” theory is completely incorrect, as even for an item like an eternal belt buckle the price fluctuates.

That said, there is an equilibrium for prices. The thing is, it’s not the result of “developers and the community working together,” or blacklisting “scammers,” or anything along those lines. When a new arena season starts, for example, the price of gems tends to go up quite a bit, and jewelcrafters playing the Auction House make a lot of money. Why? Because demand rises. Supply and demand, as taught in basic economics, decides price – not micromanagement by the community or developers, although the latter do need to take into consideration things like drop rates, gold sinks, and so on.

There is aggressive undercutting, especially through mods like Auctioneer, but the basic principle of making money on the Auction House is “buy low, sell higher.” This picture you’re painting where people are called out for trying to make a decent profit, and this calling out creates a downward pressure on prices, is of an alternative reality.

This is how it really works: http://ahaddict.blogspot.com/2012/11/buy-low-sell-higher.html

Markets decide the appropriate price. Not white knights.

You know, it’s funny. Playing GW2, I’ve noticed one issue I have with MMOs is that NPCs tend to just blur together. On occasion there’s a unique model, but otherwise they’re more generic than distinct. We’re mostly expected to remember them by name, when in real life it’s typically way easier to remember a face.

That doesn’t apply to Rox, though. Her model is distinct enough to be easily memorable. It’s not simply another combination of the limited customization options available to us, but there are touches to it unique to her. Whereas some of you find that jarring, I actually really enjoy that. I like her look.

My highest level character is 55, so I’m clearly not a “max level hardcore kin” player, and even then, I finished The Razing with a character that was still in their 40s. Your characterizations of The Razing honestly surprised me, and struck me as blatantly false.

That said, GW2’s aggro mechanics are sort of odd. WoW is much closer to EQ than GW2 in that regard. Still, although I couldn’t really single pull, I actually did (somewhat clumsily) whittle down the horde, as you put it. As a Warrior, I used a long bow to throw down AoEs around clustered groups, and otherwise focused on single targets as I’d run away. Some targets would die before reaching me, some would de-aggro, some would still chase me – the latter, if a small enough group, I’d switch to my Greatsword to kill. This way, the horde slowly diminished until all had fallen.

What’s funny to me is that you felt motivated enough to make this topic, yet felt no inclination to try different strategies or ask for help. :\