When I last played (summer 2014) gear and itemization seemed to be very “vanilla” regarding stats and abilities. The game felt, at least loot wise, to be a grind for skins AKA “Dress Up Barbie”
That was fun for awhile but eventually got old.
Has there been any development/evolution to a wider variation in gear and itemization?
When I left the game back in 2013 I had one of each class to level 80 with pretty much exotic gear compliments on each (wasn’t up for the grind for ascended).
Has enough changed since then that I need to spend time re-gearing or doing other “catch up” before tackling HoT?
I would suspect that the regular playerbase is declining, just like ti does in every MMO after 4-6 months.
The PvE aspect of the game is very limited – “Dress Up Barbie” progression doesn’t make for much longevity for PvE players.
The PvP/WvW component will keep the game strong, as kitten is never ending market to be tapped.
Well, ANet has stated the exact opposite. They said that one they reached their baseline of post release players, that number has increased. The only other company to do that has been EVE.
Furthermore, your logic of no progession = no players is so very flawed. There once was this company called ArenaNet that made a game called Guild Wars that was based around no vertical progression. They lasted 7 years and were one of the most successful online PC games ever sold.
But, nice try.
First, EVE has never released verifiable numbers. That game has been the biggest urban legend in gaming history. Any reference to a subscriber number can be traced back to comments from the developer without any tangible proof.
The last game that published real numbers was DAoC and they eventually stopped doing it.
Now, everyone uses completely subjective “High Medium Low” designations, which can be changed at the whim of the developer.
So, nice try to you too.
So a developer needs to not only release their numbers, they need to make them verifiable? Weak argument bro.
I would suspect that the regular playerbase is declining, just like ti does in every MMO after 4-6 months.
The PvE aspect of the game is very limited – “Dress Up Barbie” progression doesn’t make for much longevity for PvE players.
The PvP/WvW component will keep the game strong, as kitten is never ending market to be tapped.
Well, ANet has stated the exact opposite. They said that one they reached their baseline of post release players, that number has increased. The only other company to do that has been EVE.
Furthermore, your logic of no progession = no players is so very flawed. There once was this company called ArenaNet that made a game called Guild Wars that was based around no vertical progression. They lasted 7 years and were one of the most successful online PC games ever sold.
But, nice try.
First, EVE has never released verifiable numbers. That game has been the biggest urban legend in gaming history. Any reference to a subscriber number can be traced back to comments from the developer without any tangible proof.
The last game that published real numbers was DAoC and they eventually stopped doing it.
Now, everyone uses completely subjective “High Medium Low” designations, which can be changed at the whim of the developer.
“Dress Up barbie” progression for a PvE MMO can’t carry a playerbase.
It’s fine for PvP/WvW where titles, rankings and other kitten related “rewards” are a draw but for the typical PvE player this game has about 3-4 months of playability in it’s current state and then you’re done.
Leveling characters in this game is too easy. Period.
Look at the non Level 80 zones now. They are fast becoming or have become ghost towns. There are events that haven’t been kicked off/completed in weeks or months.
The vast majority of “content” in the game has become irrelevant.
With the atrocious disparity in the Dress Up Barbie system most of the dungeons are abandoned as well.
The “story line” approach failed miserably in SWToR. People do not consider stories, voice acting and cut scenes as viable content. They are filler.
If developers were truly serious about those areas being a staple in a game they’d invest the proper amount of $$ into them, instead of using them as cheap filler.
ANet is steering GW2 dangerously into the Asian grinder mentality of Dress Up Barbie and meaningless “achievements” and “titles”.
The recent introduction of laurels proved that the karma system had run it’s course in just a few months. Crafting does absolutely nothing fort he player economy and is another very short term activity.
A non gear progression game is a novel idea but I think ANet is in danger of losing a vast number of players if they don’t do something to make their existing content relevant and of some replay value.
Almost all of the lower level zones either have or are fast becoming ghost towns. Dungeon story mode runs are avoided like the plague.
Many other dungeon explore paths are shunned.
Why?
Dress Up Barbie only goes so far in motivating players, especially when 90% of the “skins” available are either awful looking or too similar to others.
There needs to be an influx of better designed appearance gear and it needs to happen on a regular basis.
While ti would be good short term revenue, ANet realizes that by not offering a race change service players are forced to start from scratch, which is a HUGE content multiplier for them.
It makes all the existing, paid for content relevant (although painfully boring). It also encourages people to spend more on gems over the long term on the “new” character than they would for a 1 time race change.
I never understood why there were “no off hand” options to begin with. The leveling pace is so fast that it seems like wasted coding effort. Same for the mountains of redundant equipment and vendors everywhere.
It’s almost like the developers were working on a quantity quota rather than quality.
The alternative is to be forced to run content just for cosmetic upgrades, which has far less incentive. I have 6 L80’s and need to do about 5 more explore runs to have every character looking where I want them. What then? Sure, there are “better” looking weapons but I’m not grinding dungeons (or God forbid fractals) endlessly for them.
Karma is virtually worthless now. Once you get your crafting skills to 400 they’re pretty much worthless. Events get boring after awhile, but even then the vast majority of zones are devoid of players and a lot events are never triggered.
I’m not sure “Dress Up Barbie” and meaningless “achievements” is a solid, long term content model.
Completely unnecessary. The world is already designed with on-foot travel in mind. If this was Lord of the Rings Online with no mounts I’d have a different opinion but instead of adding fluff like mounts, I’d much rather see actual content that’s worth something.
Agree. There’s already enough “fluff” content to last a lifetime: achievements, jumping puzzles, etc. Some nice real content is where they need to focus.
Agree. I’ll NEVER get the monthly now as I refuse to do jumping puzzles (there’s Nintendo for that) and most of the fractals have that lame stuff in them too. So right off the bat 50% of the requirements are non-attainable unless you suffer through them.
Many people feel the same way about PvP; while I do not I can appreciate their position.
It would be really nice to have some new dungeons/fractals that don’t require precise jumping or all the other “tricks” that are common on console games.
