Guild Wars 2

The combat was really hyped up for the game, but take away the running around in circles and dodging and you’re left with deeply unsatisfying combat. I feel the running and dodging is an excellent element, but it still masks the underlying issue.

It just seems like the combat system becomes a stale mess the longer a fight lasts. Oh boss #2 has a large health pool and has an attack I have to dodge every once in a while? Well be prepared to be bored out of your mind going through your rotation and then using skill X because hey why not it’ll spruce things up.

The combat system we have now does not lend itself to fulfilling long fights.

For a long time they had upscaling, which leveled your character up to the zone you’re in. I still don’t know why they took it out.

Just let it be a blast finisher and i’ll be happy

Foolsage.3019:

Dead.7385:

The game your looking for is the sandbox genre, mainly those with good player generated content tools. As it would be impossible for a developer to create endless content before it is “eaten”.

~~~

2) Player generated content can provide high quantities of content, but there’s a massive variation in quality of output from one player to another. This kind of system can work, but there are numerous obstacles to overcome. For instance, player generated content can be used to create low-risk high-reward scenarios, out of balance with the rest of the game; the most rewarding and easiest content will be used VASTLY more than the less rewarding and more challenging content. Then there’s the urge to create something that’s obscene or perverse, and try to sneak it in somehow; to overcome this, all player content needs to be individually approved by content overseers. Then there’s the simple issue of whether the player generated content even fits within the genre, or fits the game’s atmosphere. Can player generated content improve MMOs? Yes, absolutely, but it’s far from a simple matter.

I think having some player generated content can be great for the game, if done right. Is it easy? No, but I think it’s definitely worth the risk.

Which ones do you like? Which ones do you hate? Which ones do you never use?

Frankly I always have Decoy, it’s a low cd deaggro and gives you a clone.

Oftentimes I’ll use feedback (so good against ranged) and a condition removal (null field or arcane thievery depending on what i’m doing)

But my biggest grip is that most of them are so specific that I never use them. Illusion of life? I’ve only used to for the sake of using it because I never used it! Also what’s the deal having no real damaging utility? I resort to using a seed turret.

Another thing I hate are mantras. They have to be the most boring abilities in the game. One does damage, another breaks stun but that’s all they do! Every class has these abilities, but take into account the difference:

Engineer – Elixir S shrink yourself, recover from stun and evade attacks

Mesmer – Grants stability and breaks stun

See the difference? Mesmer mantras are so barebones and they are not fun to use. Mantra of pain does straight up damage and that’s it. Auto attacks are more interesting than that!

Dead.7385:

The game your looking for is the sandbox genre, mainly those with good player generated content tools. As it would be impossible for a developer to create endless content before it is “eaten”.

This is a themepark game with some sandbox sprinkles. But it is still a themepark. Kinda sucks, but maybe it will get better? Doubt it, but you can always hope.

Yeah I’m going to continue to play GW2, but I think I’m done with Themeparks in general. Too bad there aren’t any AAA Sandboxes around.

Dynamic Events are awesome, and they really do make the world feel alive… but that’s short lived.

If I were to return to a zone that I have 100% completed there is a likely chance that I will stumble upon at least one DE that I haven’t before. But if I go to Snowden Drifts the minotaurs will stampede and there will be DE’s to fight off the grawl, the svanir, the dredge. And I’ve done them all before. The illusion is shattered (pun intended) and you see just how static everything is. Is it as bad as WoW’s rigid quest structure? No, but it’s not all that better either.

I was running around Fields of Ruin and there was a champion branded devourer just standing there. I asked in map chat if anyone was interested, but the zone was pretty empty. So that devourer just stood there for who knows how long as I ran around and did heart quests instead.

1-80 your first time is great (even your second if you do different maps) But if you return to a previous zone be prepared for repetition. Now I know Anet said they will add DE’s to zones over time but I just don’t know if there can do it quick enough.

We have dynamic events, but can we have a dynamic world as well?

I remember it was possible during beta, why was it changed? I can’t sell it on the ah because most of the food sells for a couple of copper. All I can do is give it to friends/guildies who don’t even it want them. Oftentimes I just delete it.

How come all the other crafts can vendor/salvage their goods but not us cooks?

Remember to turn off the post-processing effects, it will make the game much better. Less ridiculous bloom and oftentimes more color.

Is it just me or are mantras the most boring abilities in the game? They’re just not fun to use.

I wish ANet would just scrap them and give us 4 new utilities.

I’m really starting to dislike the cutscenes. Since the animation is so stiff it’s pretty much like a glorified audiobook. That and if there are more than 2 people in the conversation it breaks immersion and sense with all that disappearing in and out bullkittens.

Might as well do without it.

Yes! When I go to the dev tracker I am more interested to find posts about future content/ design decisions and fixes. Instead I have to scroll through report ticket replies :l

Couple more suggestions:

Could we have a dive animation?

I think the skybox is surprisingly unremarkable in terms of visual design compared to the rest of the game. That 2D cloud plane just kills any beauty. Well frankly the clouds aren’t that pretty

Also, you people designed wonderfully frustrating jumping puzzle and no rag doll physics??? I want to take pleasure from my character’s body dying in beautiful and ridiculous ways.

I know that Anet is prepping the Tengu to be the next playable race, but I wanna play as a Quaggan. Foo….

And I would buy a life sized Quaggan plushy at the drop of a hat.

If anyone ever played FFXI I wish DE’s would scale like Besieged (a massive battle event in which an army of mobs attacked a certain city.)

If players succeed in defending the city, the next event will become harder and harder.

Let this happen to DEs! So eventually the mobs become so strong that players will fail and we finally get to play branches of events we have never seen.

Step 1: Develop DX 11 support for GW2 (the graphics would melt people’s eyes!)
Step 2: Have more friendly controller support for PC players
Step 3: Release on next generation gaming consoles (PS4/WiiU probably not xbox 720 because microsoft will make you pay more)
Step 4: Enjoy!

I believe Anet does not yet understand the greatness of a class specific storyline. It does not have to be long, but it does so much in fleshing out the class/lore.

WoW used to have them (no longer). They were fantastic adventures that made you feel special while connecting you with your fellow class. It fleshed out your place in the world and lore as well.

One of the best mmo’s to do it was ffxi. You had to do a questline to unlock the advanced classes and then around lvl 40/50 another questline began and you received class-specific armor. Some of the stories were funny or sad or even serious (depending on the class).

I mean I have no idea how the denizens of Tyria view mesmers. The only remark I hear from npcs about a class was when a soldier was talking about Trahearne being a creepy necromancer.

I loved my charr and I love my warband, but I felt Anet bit off more than it could chew. During part of the flame shaman father quest I was in a swamp with my sparring partner (Euryale) and some generic brawler npcs. Where the heck were my other warband mates? The ones I chose? The ones with names?

You gave us so many different options (5 sparring partners, then 1 member depending on legion, then another choice between old guy and necromancer) that it became an extremely shallow experience. I barely even get to know them and then they practically disappear forever. And that sucks, because I liked my ragtag warband. Now i’m with an Order saving the world and my warband might as well not exist.

Crafting
What the heck is up with artificing? I chose it because making potions sounds fun; little did I know how boring they would be (% increase in damage against a certain mob). You can do so much more with potions and you chose the most boring possible option. Be creative, make them fun! Potions to change our size, potions to change into things, anyone but what we have now. This is one thing wow does better. Every crafting professions has fun things to make such as mounts, minipets, turning into a pirate/ninja)
This goes beyond artificing to all the professions: all of them should have something fun that should set them apart. Not just weapons and armor. When you implement guild halls or player houses crafters should be the ones making the furniture: chairs, tables, chests, statues, drapes, lamp posts, I can go on and on. And make it so we can color them! Crafters will have more things to make = more resources needed = more money spent. Tada, now we have another gold sink. Everyone wins!

Looking towards the future:
Overtime WoW has refined its quest system to such a high quality that anyone who tries to imitate will fail. Doing quests in vanilla compared to wotlk is day and night. Everything from the variety to the pacing to the story has improved. I hope that Anet refines their dynamic events to the degree that Blizzard has refined their quests.
But other than that DO NOT follow the route in which blizzard took. Blizzard played it so, so safe. It’s embarrassing. From vanilla to cata what did they add?
-More zones to lvl in
-More dungeons
-More raids
-More battlegrounds
-More classes
-More professions
The core content (dungeons and raids) has been the same. The zones are finished quickly and people run the same dungeons and raids over and over People burn out doing the same things with different skin. They finally changed with pandaria by adding farming and pet battles, but by now its too late.

Now lets look at the evolution of FFXI. They added an enormous amount of different content, to varying degrees of success.
-HNM (difficult slow respawning mobs in the open world)
-BCNM (instances with only one fight, bought through items dropped by mobs)
-Sky (large zone full of high lvl mobs and poppable HNMs)
- Dynamis (similar to raids)
-Assault (similar to dungeons)
-Besiege (huge amounts of mobs attack a city, you defend it)
-Nyzul Isle (climb a 99lvl tower, each floor has different requirements to move onto the next)
- Coliseum (pokemon)
-MMM (create your own dungeon)
-And on and on and on

Were some of these implemented poorly? You betcha! But the variety of things to do in endgame was staggering. Everquest 2 took the same route: lots of variety, but some ideas failed.

But one simple fact remains: you will never be able to pump out as much quality content at the rate the players consume it. The answer? Give us some player driven content. Having some sandbox elements allows anet to give some of that burden onto the players. Let us make our own cake and eat it! Maybe allow guilds to create their own dynamic events, or for players to create their own dungeons, or our own houses. Sandbox and Themepark can work together to create a better game!

WvW
Take the three server battlegrounds and separate them further away. Add a huge amount of water around the eternal battleground (which will be in the center). Add boats, water towers, and island castles. Ship warfare would be ridiculously fun. Also, since the map would be so much bigger you could increase the cap of people.

Personally I think wvw should be more permanent and meaningful for the players.