Guild Wars 2

Packit.8576:

The care bear status hasn’t changed on TC i see

The irony… Are you under the impression you are playing EVE Online? Or maybe you think you are playing DOTA 2 competitively for a few million dollars at The International?

Newsflash GW2 is a low skilled, casual MMO, that makes great efforts to avoid “hardcore” sorts of gameplay, where WvW is about as “carebear” as you can get for any PvP mode, and you are playing it…

zectra.6978:

If it’s red. It’s dead. You think there is mercy in war? I give no quarter when I lead.

You’re playing a video game, sport. You’re not at war.

There is no honor and sportsmanship in people who are all about winning and being video game elitests. If they don’t remain on top, their sad little lives will crumble and they will have nothing left to live for.

Id like class/race swap in combat. Incase i run into a group of warriors i can pop my charr teef and run away like hell.

zealex.9410:

OriOri.8724:

Masteries are the endgame progression…….

ehhh if only it was what they marketed it as, character progression passed lvl 80

It is absolutely character progression. Just like adding new skills and title unlocks was character progression in GW1. If you removed the broken and overpowered title skills added in EOTN, the title track bonuses were very similar to mastry tracks. They were a form of progression that gave you specific advantages.

What they’re not is an endless pile of numbers that just adds meaningless power to characters that necessitate every new bit of content also having higher numbers. That’s the model a lot of games use, and its boring. “progressing” in to +400 more DPS only to fight enemies with 400 DPS more damage mitigation doesn’t add anything to gameplay. It just adds bigger number to combat logs.

Playing Dialbo 3 with more paragon levels doesn’t appreciabley add anything to gameplay. You just stack bigger numbers so you can fight enemies with bigger numbers, but its still the same repetitive content.

While not every mastry is amazing, Mastries are meaningful progression that actually adds new functionality to the character by accessing new content or new methods to interact with old content. That’s a lot more fun than 2% more armor or 5% more crit chance.

Somehow, I don’t associate things I’d like to see in this game with “endgame progression”.

Tren.5120:

Agree with Eurhetemec…

You start to lose me when you separate yourself into a different cast “… I’m a veteran player…”

No one cares if you’re a new player or a veteran. ANet’s job is to make everyone’s gaming experience enjoyable. A lot of “normal players” were extremely unhappy with the way they’d go into a dungeon and all people [like you] wanted to do was skip literally everything and rush to bosses in record times. Not everyone wants to do that. The majority of people don’t want to do that. This is not Diablo III.

God forbid they died, or something. Expletives raining from the heavens. People rage quitting the group, etc. It was, and generally still is, awful. A lot of the decent people who were willing to put in the extra work quit because people like you made it impossible to play the game and enjoy themselves while learning what they needed to learn to “get better.” You expect people to watch YouTube Videos and read Wikis and then be near-flawless speed runners in dungeons. Maybe your expectations on “player skill” are completely out of line with what you really should be expecting from other players?

Additionally, how are they supposed to learn how to play the game better, if you’re skipping 3/4th of the dungeon content?

Lastly, I don’t agree that people should have to study up on a game to learn how to play it well. You’re free to put in extra hours watching YouTube Videos and Reading Wikis, but those days are over [for me, and many others]. There are other B2P games like ESO, where these people can actually have fun, while progressing, and actually get stuff done – without constant abuse from a vocal elitist population. Those games also have mechanics which are more suitable for them and their level of play, as well (i.e. no “Dodge or Die”).

At the end of the day, it’s a game. I’m not playing to be a “Pro Vet”; I’m playing to have fun. I have better things to worry about than the average skill level of other players. That’s what other games are for. To give myself variety and less reason to B. and Moan about any of the others I play.

Hi, thank you for your thoughts. You make a few assumptions in your reply that are not correct or appreciated though. We do try to teach players tactics and some of the other aspects of the game I mentioned in my original post. There are many ways to play GW2 and we include in lfg posts what tactics we are playing, I hope other players do too. I agree that Eurhetemec and Doam make good points in their posts as well.

Meiko Isamura.6352:

The current player skill level of your game has been declining for some time, and this is making it less fun to play as a veteran player. It is more and more difficult on NA servers to find players who know their class, their blasts, movement skills, and positioning.

Meiko, I think you need to accept the role that player elitism and the obfuscation of knowledge, both by players and Anet, players in this problem.

It’s a lot larger than people not knowing the precise details of their skills and skill interactions, too.

The fact is, a lot of players of GW2 have a very negative attitude towards anyone who isn’t both a veteran, and expert, and preferably in absolutely top-notch gear. They don’t want to teach people, they don’t want to explain things, they are unwilling to accept anything less than serious expertise.

That’s their prerogative. If that’s how they want to play, so be it. I won’t tell them they can’t. However, it impacts the playerbase pretty badly, because it means that when a skilled player leaves, as they inevitably will (no matter how good the content, churn is a thing, in all MMOs, always has been), they simply start picking from an ever-smaller pool of players, rather than steadily training people up.

This isn’t just in fractals/raids, either (though it is there), but also in meta-events and the like. I’ve seen people being screamed at plenty of times with those, and the people doing the screaming are not willing to explain or help people – they just jibber jargon at people who obviously don’t know what it means (and much of it isn’t even well-documented jargon that you can look up). Sometimes you see the exact opposite – someone who tells people what to do, helps, and so on, but nowhere near as often as say, three years ago.

On top of this, so much about the game is basically hidden. I came back recently after being away since before HoT. I’ve done that before with other MMOs, and I was always able to find the relevant changes and so on in a matter of days. Here’s it been weeks and I’m still turning up new stuff. There don’t seem to be good guides to really much, at all (as nice as the Wiki is, it’s very fragmented, and one often finds stuff out by stumbling across it). There’s lots of good efficiency-related and autocalc information, but finding out what you should be doing or what is possible is a lot tougher.

“Be the change you want to see”

And if you’re looking for two reasons why WvW is in decline.

1. A game mode that allows severe population imbalance so one side can completely capture a map and…..

2. Players that think that this is a good thing.

Well ‘looking better’ is subjective. What one person things looks good another person might think is a complete mess.

But I think it’s safe to assume people who play Fractals are likely to have been playing for a while and completed a lot of other content, so they’ve probably got a wide range of skins to choose from and know how to find and obtain whichever ones they want, which makes putting together a cohesive look easier.

Much of the screen clutter in recent living stories and fights is making nearly impossible to keep track of the mouse. The color is easy to get lost in fights with lots of screen effects to keep track of. Can we get an option to change the pointer’s brightness and color shift so it stands out on the screen?

Nerf elite specs then. One of the reasons that people who primarily play PvE aren’t learning their class is because they don’t have to. Elite specs will carry them hard, because those traitline do everything.

Nerf elite spec lines, and people will no longer be able to rely so heavily on them, so people will start learning their classes better

Vayne.8563:

I don’t really get the problem. Enemies are only interesting if they’re stronger than we are. If they’;re the same or weaker, what’s the point. If they can do only what I can do, and they can’t adjust their builds but I can, then they’re dead and not worth my time.

First of all, I would talk about encounters and not enemies because individual trash mobs aren’t that interesting in any case. And there’s a limit in the “stronger than we are” thing : it wouldn’t be enjoyable to be crushed at first blow

Now, when I think more about it, here’s an example of a system I enjoyed : GW1’s system. Mobs could “only do what I can do” : they had a profession, and a skillset that was a subset of the skill pool available to players. They often were bigger levels than the player too. Yet, they were running in packs with, say, one monk, one ranger, one mesmer, two warriors… Without a pinch of coordination and tactics, fights weren’t that easy.

Of course, it may have been a bit repetitive, but it was better than that design “Just toss a random amount of trash mobs on steroids” + “Add lots of CC to disable player’s ability to hit” we get currently. The issue is : GW1 had a profession system that GW2 has not. I mean : healers really could heal and protect, mesmers could hit far harder than retaliation or confusion etc. And it needs more IA programming.

Anyway, and to go back to that thread’s main purpose : in GW1, when a new skill was thought, designed, and put in game, it was both for players and mobs. In GW2, unfortunately, new skills are created only for mobs (expansions put aside of course), and to create a challenge that ends up tasting artificial, and leading to absurd power creep.

PS : I edited the thread title and part of my original post accordingly to suggestions, and I’m thankful for those who adressed them. I also wish to thank all those who are taking part in that thread in a polite and constructive way, even when some divergent opinions.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Snow.2048:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

The named mercs make for some interesting encounters; I don’t think they need to change, especially since they are all easily avoided. Think they are too powerful? Don’t fight them.

I don’t read the OP as a call for npc nerfs, but more an indirect ask why new skills are being made for npcs and not given to players

ThomasC.1056:

TL;DR : Ro venombite is yet another OP character, bearing skills with no common measure with player’s. Either it’s a bug, or it’s an intended design to have a veteran so tedious to beat, but it’s time to stop the power creep, and the crazy new skills for NPC’s only.

OP is clearly asking for NPCs not to have “crazy new skills.”

TC just wants the mesmers to be in line

You go to the new map you see an engineer NPC and that NPC will drop a turret and attack like a normal engineer. Nothing flashy and nothing unexpected the other classes are the same except Mesmer.

Asking for the same skills these NPC’s have or asking for those skills to be removed all lead down the same hole. Just to have the two to line up isn’t that big of a request. The interpretations you all are taking from his statements are different but the end result is the same. Either nerf the NPC skills or buff the core mesmer skills either way the difference between the two shouldn’t exist. Personally I agree if an enemy npc has a class they should stay within the confines of that class.

We are highly overpowered in pve. Challenging fights keep us entertained and motivated. There are npcs out there which can beat you up easily without relying on cheap tricks, but most of us never fight them under fair conditions, so they are weak insta-kills. The modus sceleris are of that kind. Extremely powerful mesmers, hard to beat if you dare to solo them with average gear in the recommended level. That situation rarely happens, in most cases there is at least one 80 outmaxed killer-machine arround who turns the epic fight into a 5 seconds mini-event. Another tough memser npc can be the norn lady at the snowden drifts hero challenge. Even some 80s characters have trouble, if they dare to fight her alone. Those only use regular mesmer skills.

Now we enter the new zones and meet new enemies. We also meet those strange and extremely powerful ones. But compared to the above mentioned, we can not return in a few days with level 120 and ultimate mega roxxor gear to beat the sugar out of them.

I rather have challenging and powerful enemies, than weak 1hit kills. Never understood what is so fun with doing dungeons/fractals and other content with groups full of outmaxed characters to kill everything instantly or asap. We play the game for entertainment, not to be done with it as quickly as possible. If I want that, I can go to work instead – better loot.

My actual server tag above my head would be a start.

That’s because players aren’t game designers (in general) and most players aren’t actually looking at what makes a healthy, long term, viable game.

The problem with this question is that every person you ask is going to have their own idea of what ‘perfect’ wvw is. Some like to scout/siege/sentry, others like to zerg, then you have the roamers, guild groups, and havocs. Changing any part of that instantly closes someone out of the way they play the game, in favor of the way you want them to play.

Mine is simple really.

For the devs to enjoy working on and improving wvw because they want to see the game mode succeed and grow.

In the end, I think that’s the only way you’ll hit near perfect in wvw.

Yuffi.2430:

• Replace glicko. But with what? Any replacement would need to accommodate both PPT and PPK play.

Use 1-up-1-down concept but with rank instead of tier and matches are based on rank, not randomized. For example, come in first place – rank up one; come in 2nd place – rank stays same, come in 3rd place – rank down one. A counter-argument would be how players can game this, but we already have players doing that with glicko. The difference is that in a tanking situation, they can only drop one rank and not several as can be done with glicko. Match-ups can’t become stale because two servers are always changing rank. Match-ups also can’t be really unbalanced since tier 4 server’s can’t jump up to tier 1 matches.

Since some time ago when the core of TC’s fighting force transferred away, and TC became oppressed practically across all time zones, I became acutely aware of one thing.

WvW needs Mercy and Sportsmanship.

On a large server macro level, when a Server has a commanding lead in terms of points and even kills, I think it is merciful and of good sportsmanship to actually allow the weaker/weakest server to grab some of their own structures back instead of camping their structures and spawning grounds and preventing any chance for recapture.

This type of beating them into the ground behavior in a non-competition period is I feel due to the lack of fights elsewhere and not really because you want to thrash a server badly.
With that in mind, I would think it to be reasonable to give the badly losing server some breathing space. Let them build their small army back and then give you some fights (even if terribly one-sided ones).
Doing otherwise will just stifle most losing servers into leaving WvW and in the end you have no one to fight either.

Bringing this Mercy and Sportsmanship to a smaller micro level, when you see enemy players with Recruit or bronze ranks trying to flip a camp or even trying to take down a guard sentry (I use trying because sometimes I see them die trying), understand that most likely they are doing their dailies or taking their first baby steps into WvW. If the structure is not crucial to your server at that time (example, you already have maxed keep and that camp isn’t going to do you anything really good), let the poor soul get his camp!

I bumped into a recruit earlier trying to take a camp and he ran off the moment he saw me. I felt sorry for chasing him off. I’m sure some of you would have such experiences too or even be a recruit once yourself.

Show some mercy and sportsmanship! Thanks!

Real actual in-game conversation:

Player – Tag won’t allow people in squad.
Me – Buy a tag?
Player – I have a tag but not enough experience or trust me, I would!
Me – Not sure how you expect to gain experience then.

~wings~

Neither.

Don’t ask me. I think the free-to-GW1-players Fiery Dragon Sword looks legendary.

Turk.5460:

TheDarkSoul.1938:

IF he keeps his burst. IF he keeps his mobility. That’s the point, we have no idea if either of those things will be a feature of the elite spec. For all we know, it could limit Thief to one weapon only (no SB), remove Steal and swap it for something else, and have absolutely no stealth mechanic at all. It might not even be a burst spec. It could be support, condi, sustained DPS. We don’t know yet, so complaining about IF this and IF that is pointless. Save the complaining for when we get some details and it turns out that yeah, it is a crappy one shot burst spec.

All this is as of right now is “Waaaa Thief might get a decent ranged weapon omg so OP”. Its nonsense.

How dare they give that profession a weapon that has 1200 range! No other profession has weapons that are 1200! Wait…

I know. The nerve.

Its absolutely mind-boggling that people are legit complaining about this simple fact before we even have any details about the spec, lol.

IF he keeps his burst. IF he keeps his mobility. That’s the point, we have no idea if either of those things will be a feature of the elite spec. For all we know, it could limit Thief to one weapon only (no SB), remove Steal and swap it for something else, and have absolutely no stealth mechanic at all. It might not even be a burst spec. It could be support, condi, sustained DPS. We don’t know yet, so complaining about IF this and IF that is pointless. Save the complaining for when we get some details and it turns out that yeah, it is a crappy one shot burst spec.

All this is as of right now is “Waaaa Thief might get a decent ranged weapon omg so OP”. Its nonsense.

Eh, I’m SHOCKED a post like this one was made. Seriously, shocked. /s

I think we’re all jumping the gun abit here (no pun intended). We don’t know ANYTHING about the spec, besides the rifle part + the rumour about it having one Dodge (which isn’t even confirmed to be true is it?)

So why are people ALREADY complaining? There have already been great examples of Rifle specs created by members of the community (Deceiver X’s Deadeye spec comes to mind) that involve absolutely none of this whole “one shot sniper” nonsense. Yeah, true enough that Anet doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to this stuff and I wouldn’t really be SURPRISED if we got some cheesy glass cannon BS. But the fact that before we know anything at all about the spec there are people calling us “trolls” and the like simply for getting excited about the possibility, however small, of Thieves having an actual ranged weapon that doesn’t just use skill 5 is stupid.

Wait until some actual concrete details get released until you start up bashing the spec for being OP and ridiculous, lol.

Alt f4 seems to do the trick for me