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Did GW2 lose its identity?

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

So they dont want to put effort even when they want to use non meta builds, so its only natural that they dont get rewards for no effort. Period.

Now the second bold part:
No it wont hurt the game, but trying to make every part of the game to every kind of player would hurt the game. Because its never work, things will not be for everyone. Open world is not for everyone. There are a lot of players that hate it because its boring.

So trying to achieve this impossible goal ( making every game mode for everyone ) will only hurt the game, as it will still be not for everyone, and now its not even for the people it was created at first.

It isnt about putting zero effort in. With dungeons and fractals, they did it right. A good mix of mechanics without limiting factors like we see in raids. It is about degrees. And while you may feel raids are in a good place in that regard, many do not.

It isnt about people being lazy. It isnt about people wanting reward for nothing. These are ridiculous arguments. Of course more challenging content (and more challenging versions) should have better rewards. Almost no one is debating that AT ALL (but it is easier to argue against the idea of tiers when you assume they have, so it keeps coming up).

It is about a wider range of options and experiences within the content mode – options and experiences that fit better with the identify of the game for the first 3.5 years (the topic of this thread).

And, again, it isnt about denying challenging content. I want that as much as anyone.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

As i said in other post, show me this comp that you tried and didnt work, and only pros would make it work.
Because its not true, if its come and show the comp or stop telling lies just because people want rewards for no effort.
I’m really far away of being a pro and i play with 180-200 ping still manage to clear raids with many kinds of builds.
The only boss that you have a lot of options but not every single build is viable ( like 10 healing tempest ) are Sabetha and Gors because Gors insta kill everyone, and Sabetha will eventually destroy the platform.

I have no clue what builds all of these people were bringing – and it doesn’t really matter.

The problem exists in game – whether you believe it to be a perception issue or not. Maybe it’s something that players could fix, but we all know how unlikely that is – even if it were possible. There are a lot of people who just don’t want to put the work into it (and, that is okay – again, its just a different way of playing the game).

As long as the perception persists, the issue will persist – and it will hurt the game (whether you think that is justified or fair or whatever – the perception will create the reality).

The answer is greater accessibility, even if you – or even the raid team – have issues with that answer. Changing gears this drastically 4 years into the game – which is what the raid model has done (even if you dont agree – perceptually, it has) – is only going to alienate players and hurt the game.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

With dungeons, there was always much more wiggle room. Any build and playstyle was reasonably (very important word) viable, no matter how far from the meta. Players that chose not to min-max could still enjoy the content while retaining some unique character identity.

Rose-tinted glasses, anyone?

Except it isnt about rose-tinted glasses – AT ALL. In the early game days, my guild had “dungeon days” every week in which we did them in guild groups (I remember this clearly because I was the one that set them up). We never once even stopped to consider what professions or builds people were bringing. At most, in EXTREMELY rare cases, we might have someone swap in a guardian on lupicus if the group was struggling, but, again that was very rare. We cared more about the attitude (eg friendly) of the player more than anything else.

Were they the fastest dungeon runs ever? Of course not – but we didnt care. We were having fun doing the content with people we chose to run with based on friendships.

Raids change that dynamic – and not in a good way. This leads to the situation I and many others outline above in this thread.

And, again for a disclaimer – challenging content is a good thing. Almost no one is asking for that to go away. The answer is tiered difficulty – to bring back the OPTION of running the content based on friendships as well as the factors we see in raids now.

There we go, the nice/good dungeon group you are talking about, its the nice/good group that you created and leaded with guild members.
So how its different of you making your nice/good raid group???
Before you had meta PUG dungeon group. Now you have meta PUG raid groups.
Before you had your own any build dungeon group. Now you can still make your own any build raid group ( I do, and get kills with my healer revenant)

I run successful raids every week. And we tried the above with others in the guild. For a couple of months, we were getting 50+ people together once or twice weekly and creating as many groups as we could.

It didn’t work for reasons pretty much everyone understands (but some want to ignore).

It didn’t work because most raid bosses have at least a soft “fast kill” mechanic as well as a number of other mechanics tuned around semi meta builds in full ascended armor sets being played by people who fully understand their professions. Yes, most enrages can be dealt with with a pro group in any gear, but that doesnt stand true for more casual groups (and Im pretty sure you know this).

There are a great number of builds/playstyles/etc that are simply not realistically viable in raids in casual groups. Are they viable in the hands of pro players with hours of experience – of course – but, again, that is not what we are talking about here.

Different people play the game for different reasons. Some play for the pure challenge (which again, is not something that we want to see go away). Some play for the friendships. Some play for the story experience. There is no way a single raid version can meet the needs of these diverse groups. The only answer is tiered difficulties.

And, to the argument of “so what – raids dont need to” – I would point people back to the whole point of this thread – and the myriad of reasons I, as well as people like Vayne, have explained pretty well, imo.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

With dungeons, there was always much more wiggle room. Any build and playstyle was reasonably (very important word) viable, no matter how far from the meta. Players that chose not to min-max could still enjoy the content while retaining some unique character identity.

Rose-tinted glasses, anyone?

Except it isnt about rose-tinted glasses – AT ALL. In the early game days, my guild had “dungeon days” every week in which we did them in guild groups (I remember this clearly because I was the one that set them up). We never once even stopped to consider what professions or builds people were bringing. At most, in EXTREMELY rare cases, we might have someone swap in a guardian on lupicus if the group was struggling, but, again that was very rare. We cared more about the attitude (eg friendly) of the player more than anything else.

Were they the fastest dungeon runs ever? Of course not – but we didnt care. We were having fun doing the content with people we chose to run with based on friendships.

Raids change that dynamic – and not in a good way. This leads to the situation I and many others outline above in this thread.

And, again for a disclaimer – challenging content is a good thing. Almost no one is asking for that to go away. The answer is tiered difficulty – to bring back the OPTION of running the content based on friendships as well as the factors we see in raids now.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

This argument of builds being viable before raids come really often.
Why dont you link a build on gw2skills that work in dungeons but dont work in raids?
Guess what if it really dont work in raids it dont work in dungeons too, just because you dont die in a dungeon doesnt mean its a working build, doing 0 damage while bringing almost 0 support, its just way easier to carry someone on dungeons then in raids.

There is a difference between viable and optimal.

Tiered difficulties in raids simply open the experience to a greater number of people – moving the game back to the more open environment we had prior to their introduction – all without taking away the hardcore experience players desire.

It isnt about how good your profession is. It is about how much fun the player/group they choose to play with has playing it (again, without detracting from the hardcore experience other players desire).

Different players enjoy the game in different ways. That is something Anet used to understand well.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

The game would only potentially grow that way within raids. It would not anywhere else in the game.

That is a weak argument. Basically, it’s saying that raids need to be a separate entity that in no way influences the rest of the game.

That isn’t really possible as long as there is any interesting story (even if it is secondary to the main plot) in raids that players want to experience.

That isn’t really possible as long as players (justifiably) want to experience all of the PVE content in the game without compromising playstyles they enjoy.

That isn’t really possible as long as developers feel a need to “balance” PVE professions around raid performance.

Raids will not and cannot exist separately from the rest of the game. They impact story, the experience, the community, the ongoing development, etc – and therefore have the potential to fundamentally change the nature of the game (to get back to the point of the thread).

As such, they need to better fit with the feel of the rest of the PVE experience – and the single best way to make that happen is tiered levels.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Players were carbon copies before raids. There were always meta builds that players followed. You’re blaming raids for something that it didn’t cause and existed before it. Outside of raids, you can use whatever builds you want for PvE. That still hasn’t changed in the last 4.5 years.

Raids can be cleared with non-meta builds. The only thing is that they’re not as efficient and leave less room for error. No matter what changes Anet makes, there will always be a meta build that is preferred. We had this with dungeons.

That was true among min-maxers, but not necessarily among the greater game population.

With dungeons, there was always much more wiggle room. Any build and playstyle was reasonably (very important word) viable, no matter how far from the meta. Players that chose not to min-max could still enjoy the content while retaining some unique character identity.

Tiered difficulty would bring back that wiggle room – restore the ability to enjoy content with a wider range of playstyles/builds/etc (all without taking away the challenge the min-maxers want) – similar to how fractal levels do so in that game mode.

Without that flexibility, the game will continue to grow more more restrictive and focused on carbon-copies – either by design or by player/community inclinations.

That isnt good for the game – and it definitely isn’t the game many of us bought and loved.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Im very glad to see that more people are starting to recognize and speak out on this issue – here, on reddit and on fan sites/other media. It’s important for Anet to see our displeasure with the direction of the game due to how they chose to implement raids.

Hopefully, upper management is paying attention.

For me, it comes back to the illusion of choice and accessibility. Thanks to the limited nature of raids, players are turning into carbon copies of one another. Fun experimental or flavor-based builds are pretty much a thing of the past. PS warriors, chronotanks, fresh air eles – that is the world of GW2 now.

And this leads to, imo, a bigger potential issue moving forward. As Anet plans the next expansion, are they creating new elite specializations based on fun, lore or theme based concepts – or are they primarily trying to fill holes in the raid meta? Even if it is a mix of the two, it’s easy to see how designing this way will water the game down and homogenize/stepford wife the game. Every player playing the exact same way in the exact same builds – all of which gradually lose what makes them unique and special.

Were already seeing it with the strange (and, for the most part, useless) addition of alacrity to the revenant with absolutely no lore or character based justification. Compare that to the energy and fun they exuded when they first introduced the chronomancer as a master of time manipulation (and how unique that would be) and it’s easy to see how raids are negatively affecting future game development (watering things down).

Add to this the issue of story accessibility – especially when they chose to revisit old lore that people would obviously find interesting – and the issue grows even worse.

The recent heavily raid-centric publicity, through youtubers like WP, media interviews and blog posts, sets a clear tone and makes it obvious they want to position raids as a major part of the end user experience – so this is an issue that needs to be addressed now rather than later.

Again, challenging content is fine. Pushing players as hard as they have toward meta or semi-meta builds in order to enjoy that content is not. Tiered difficulty fixes this – while retaining the challenging content (even giving them greater license to make it even more challenging in the future).

Have dungeons become easier since release?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

They didnt become easier, but you have to remember that a few tools we have now didn’t exist when dungeons were first designed, specifically:

  • break bars
  • elite specializations
  • ascended gear
  • new mechanics such as torment/slow/alacrity/etc
  • conditions stacking higher than 25

Dungeons weren’t redesigned or revisited after any of these – and each of these helped to make our characters that much stronger. Each by itself may not be a huge buff, but together they make a real difference.

Imo, that is the main reason dungeons feel so easy now.

The raids need an easy "story mode"

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

This would – most likely – not take away one second from the development of the regular mode or any other content in the game.

Maybe you think if you keep saying this enough it will become true. It won’t.

I’m not a developer, so I may be off base, but I think the logic is pretty straight forward. Every boss in the current wing has a challenge mote – something that most raiders I know universally see as a bad move. The regular mode of the raid should be eyebleeding difficult encouraging hardcore raiders to push themselves to the limits repeatedly to get better at raiding.

At the same time, there is this community outcry for accessibility to content, story, etc in raids.

Im saying they should take the development time that would go into the challenge motes (which, again, were considered a bad move by most raiders I know) and put it into a story or training mote instead. Instead of adding new mechanics and making the math of the encounter more demanding, remove a couple of mechanics and make the math more forgiving.

This does two things – it gives them freer reins to make the regular mode as hard as it should be (much harder than it is now) while still providing all players in the game access to the content.

Going even further, this opens up raids as a truly viable storytelling tool. They wont have to dance around relevant storylines anymore and can truly integrate raiding into the GW2 end game where it should be.

The raids need an easy "story mode"

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

How about instead of a story mode, just create an NPC outside of the instance to replay all of the cutscenes?

Been proposed and discussed. There is already access to cutscenes on youtube. Adding them in game doesn’t really do anything (neither does a cleared instance) – and more importantly, it doesn’t provide a gaming experience or sense that the player is living through the story.

In the game’s current form, part of the PVE end user experience – and part of the story experience (no matter how small or how secondary) – is currently limited based on playstyle and build/stat preferences. After 3+ years of experiencing a game that didn’t have that kind of segregation, it’s hard not to think things have changed for the worse.

It shuts down the argument for easier raids on the basis of missed story content. I’m not at all surprised that it’s been discussed before since we’ve had how many threads? If players want to feel like they’re playing through the story then they can do the actual raid in the manner in which it was intended.

Things have not changed for the worst just because content was designed for a subset of the players that wanted something a little more challenging. No one player can say that the entire games revolves around their preferred way of playing. Adding aspects that apply to different types of players is a move in the right direction. It expands the breadth of the game and add to its appeal.

It doesnt shut down any discussion because neither a cutscene – or a cleared instance – offer an interactive video game experience. Using video or a partial piece is similar to telling someone the plot to a movie over the phone.

And, again, almost no one is advocating the removal of hard modes. They are critical to the raid experience. What I’m advocating for is using the mote mechanic (and the development time that when behind them), which most raiders even agree didnt really add anything to the latest raid wing, to offer a story mote or training mote experience instead – something players are actually asking for.

The raids need an easy "story mode"

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

How about instead of a story mode, just create an NPC outside of the instance to replay all of the cutscenes?

Been proposed and discussed. There is already access to cutscenes on youtube. Adding them in game doesn’t really do anything (neither does a cleared instance) – and more importantly, it doesn’t provide a gaming experience or sense that the player is living through the story.

In the game’s current form, part of the PVE end user experience – and part of the story experience (no matter how small or how secondary) – is currently limited based on playstyle and build/stat preferences. After 3+ years of experiencing a game that didn’t have that kind of segregation, it’s hard not to think things have changed for the worse.

Did GW2 lose its identity?

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

In my opinion, it can almost all be linked back to how they have chosen to include raids in the game.

So, how did raids change the “identity” of the game? I admit they are only one small piece. They dont really detract from the development of other content. And, they are fairly well done (most of them).

The actual problem comes from the average players’ desire to experience the entire PVE picture – from the ambient creature sitting idly half way through a jumping puzzle to the last boss in the last raid wing.

A year and a half ago, players could experience every element of the PVE game without compromising how they played. Every profession, every build and every stat set was reasonably feasible in every part of the game. And, in the one area where more difficult content was being added (fractals), there was a scaling system.

Raids changed that. For the first time since launch, there was a part of the game that forced players to “optimize” their characters. There was no scaling or any real way for many players to retain their character’s identity and still have a reasonable chance at experiencing the content.

This single change has had huge repercussions in how players perceive the game and the direction it is now going. Now, the only players who get to experience it all are those who are willing to (at least partially) homogenize their builds, stat sets and playstyles.

And that is bad.

NOTE: I do not see challenging content or even raids as bad things in the game. It is definitely needed and fills a much needed niche. It is the lack of scaling (easy, hard mode) that creates this issue. Players who feel excluded from PVE content they perceive as endgame (especially when it relates to story) will grow (are growing and have grown) disillusioned with the game.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

The raids need an easy "story mode"

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

There is a reason this thread keeps naturally reoccuring on both these forums and on Reddit.

Yes, and the reason its because some players feel that the content need to bend to their will and schedule.

No one is asking for the content to bend. Pretty much everyone agrees that hardcore raiding modes need to be a part of any ongoing raid development efforts – in fact, they should continue to be the central driver in new development.

Simply replace the challenge mote concept with a story/training mode (or mote) and it’s a non issue.

You’re confusing the idea of entitlement with a simple desire to see more people gaining enjoyment from the raiding aspect of GW2 PVE.

The raids need an easy "story mode"

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

There is a reason this thread keeps naturally reoccuring on both these forums and on Reddit.

  • A story mode would not detract from the difficulty of the experience in regular raid modes. Something you don’t see, experience or care to do does not impact what you are actually doing – common sense tells us that.
  • This would – most likely – not take away one second from the development of the regular mode or any other content in the game. We know this because of the inclusion of “challenge motes” in the last raid wing. They could have simply made the challenge encounters the baseline ones and used the motes for something people were actually asking for – story or training access (hopefully repeatable, but if not, that is at least a step in the right direction). Almost no raider I know likes the way the challenge motes work now – so why not use those resources on something people have actually been asking for?
  • (Almost) nobody is asking for the same rewards. Of course the more difficult encounters should offer greater rewards.

It is inevitable. They can only ignore these continual requests for so long before realizing they are just pushing people away (people that were once their biggest fans/financial supporters, in fact).

Easy mode for Raids

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Are we sure we want devs to put their few resources on making a 1 time version of the raids?

Except you could argue they have done exactly that now with the challenge motes in Bastion. It is a one and done reward situation.

Im not saying that is the answer in a story or training mote (repeatable with VERY minimal reward would be the model I would advocate). Im saying, wouldn’t the effort they put into that challenge mote have been better spent dealing with this issue – while simultaneously making the baseline experience considerably harder than what we see in BOTP.

Also – to all – dont read too much into the Gorseval example. It was a very rough example with little thought put into it. My point is it is possible – and probably possible with minimal effort.

Easy mode for Raids

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

They proved clearly that they could add an easy mode for raids with little or no effort above what we saw with BOTP. Simply have the regular version be what is behind the challenge mote now and use the mote system to implement story or training motes instead.

On the contrary, I think that proves that it’s harder than it sounds.

The challenge mote is geared to an even narrower subset of the community than is the regular raid. It is always easier to design for smaller groups, especially when you can assume a basic level of expertise.

I firmly believe that you’re over-complicating it. It is almost always easier to subtract than it is to add something new.

As an example, if they wanted to make Gorseval more difficult, they would design a brand new mechanic to add to the challenge mote. Alternatively, to make it easier, they could probably just do away with the world eater and maybe one other mechanic in the story mote. The second really seems like it would take a lot less development time compared to the first.

My god these last current events * u * .

in Living World

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Agreed. This is the kind of content that can keep this game alive. Definitely need more of it.

Easy mode for Raids

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

It is way past time for them to do this.

Every communication we’ve seen from developers in the recent past is hyper focused on raids – from the story to interesting design (which we didnt see for the open world stuff – where is that team and why arent they doing this kind of stuff?).

They are pushing raids harder than we ever expected them to. they obviously want them to be a centerpiece of the game moving forward.

Wow, I feel entirely the opposite. That they spend as little time as possible on Raids, in large part because they don’t have to spend a lot of time on it. There is a lot more communication about PvP seasons and tweaking the nuances of algorithms for progression, for ranking, and things that no one in PvE will ever need to know about. There’s a huge living world, with new maps, and with emergency bug fixes to make achievements doable without failing events.

As for things like developer sessions with Rubi etc, those are based on player requests (as you can see from her introductions). If you want to see more about the topic that interests you, tell Rubi (and tell others who feel the same to tell her).

Instead, my feeling is that parts of the community keep pushing to talk about Raids, because they perceive it as a diversion of resources, as if having Raids in the game somehow took something away from the rest of the game.

Be careful what you’re asking for: Adding “easy mode for Raids” would increase the time spent on Raids substantially, since it’s far easier to design one-size-fits-all encounters. In the long run, this would diminish the total resources available for non-Raids.

They proved clearly that they could add an easy mode for raids with little or no effort above what we saw with BOTP. Simply have the regular version be what is behind the challenge mote now and use the mote system to implement story or training motes instead. Not only does it solve the easy mode issue – it gives them freer reins to make the normal mode the difficulty is should be – instead of the half way they did it with BOTP, which doesnt really work for easy moders or hard core raiders either one.

And (this isn’t directed at you) – to those saying that anyone asking for this is entitled or somehow trollish, I say turn that mirror upon yourself. We arent asking to shut the conversation down as some are – we are just advocating for a point of view that is different than yours. That’s it.

Fractals are conceptually better than Raids

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

The model they use for fractals fit with the general themes of accessability and tiered reward for tiered content that we see in the greater game (that we came to love during the past 4 years).

The restrictive and inflexible model they chose for raids is based on what we saw in other MMOs 6 years ago – and really doesnt fit with the greater game.

That is the basic reason why fractals feel so much better and more polished in this game than raids.

Easy mode for Raids

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

It is way past time for them to do this.

Every communication we’ve seen from developers in the recent past is hyper focused on raids – from the story to interesting design (which we didnt see for the open world stuff – where is that team and why arent they doing this kind of stuff?).

They are pushing raids harder than we ever expected them to. they obviously want them to be a centerpiece of the game moving forward.

So now they need to decide what kind of player they want to keep in the game. Who do they want to design the game for? It’s hard to remember the last time they did anything for organized groups over 10 people for example (eg guild missions, tequatl style open world bosses, etc).

The next year will be very telling – as will the next expansion. My biggest fear is that we are going the direction of WoW or Wildstar, just without the dev realization regarding how raids need to work regarding the larger game community.

It’s hard to log in right now for a lot of people – and the hyperfocus on raid (no matter how big the team is) in current game promotion is a big part of that (people seeing them boast about things obviously designed for a small percentage of the population).

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

Why would you put important lore in a Raid?

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Relative to the main and sub story lines, there is no important lore in raids. The lore in raids is extra; following the plot of elder dragons and fractal exploitation does not require one to raid.

Saul was one of the most important Lore figures in Tyrian history, and Everything in Wing 1 through 3 is a prequel to LWS3.

Yes, prequel. But concerning story advancement, only sequels matter.

Splitting hairs/being a little pedantic here.

Interesting story is interesting story.

And experiencing how something begins or getting a feel for greater meaning behind the storyplot most definitely does advance the story, btw.

Changes to Ascended Vending

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Obviously I don’t have the numbers, but isn’t the raid vendor as big, if not bigger, source of new ascended gear than PvP or fractal vendors?

Makes you wonder why they limit this change to just those vendors.

raid answer from dev

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

I don’t want an easy raid mode that’s soloable. I want one that is PUGable.

That is definitely part of it.

What I want most of all is a mode that doesn’t unnecessarily punish or limit people for bringing the profession/build/playstyle they most enjoy to content/story they would enjoy.

raid answer from dev

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

So from what i understand the story in raids is supposed to be a side story and not important to the main story…

Then what about these Questions: How can the raid story be a side story when the LS (which i consider main story) is based on it. What about bloodstone fen and its lore pieces. We clearly have an interaction between raid stories and non raid stories. So how can they still be considered as a side story?

It’s about semantics and perception. By using the phrase side story, People think they can justify the accessibility split.

Truth is, the idea is ridiculous. As you note, the entire Mursaat storyline is tied to the theme covered in the raid.

And, even if it wasn’t, do we really want a game where playing through interesting stories of any kind (main, side, whatever) is reserved for a small percentage of the playerbase? That may work in single player games where that expectation is set up front, but in GW2, they instilled the themes of accessibility and community building early on. Changing gears now just seems like as desperate play for the attention of “hardcore” raiders from other games.

Within this game, it is a recipe for disaster that does nothing but instill resentment and split the playerbase into haves and have nots (from an experiential perspective) unnecessarily.

And people can debate the numbers all they want – All I can say is that, from my perspective as the leader of a very active guild, I know first hand speaking with guildees that this shift has cost Anet in both gem sales (casual players staying but MUCH more apathetic about end game knowing part of it is forever shut to them) and future expansion sales (players leaving after becoming disillusioned with the new direction of the game).

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

raid answer from dev

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

- Reducing the authenticity of the intent of raids
- Reducing the immersion for foes within raids being threatening
- Costing precious resources to develop

It doesn’t do any of these things if you aren’t actually in the instance with the lower difficulty boss.

And the arguments around taking a ton of extra resources went out the window the second they included challenge motes in BoTP. Make the baseline raid much harder (even than the current CMs) and use the mote mechanic to provide the story experience. No additional resources spent and everyone is (or should be) happier.

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

inorganic terms like Easy-Mode, and Hard-Mode.

How is this any different than T1 or T2 fractal or story/explorable mode dungeon.

All of a sudden, people are trying to make it seem like tiered difficulty content is somehow new to GW2 or videogames.

It’s not.

Almost every video game out there has this kind of system in place – because it works. People don’t play Doom on hard mode and think to themselves, “wow, that would have been a better experience if other people weren’t able to play on easy mode.”

People understand the difference between the levels – they respect the challenge it takes to complete the higher levels (often because they have seen the easier levels for themselves and can now envision what it might mean).

Using this as an argument against the idea of tiered difficulty is a thin argument with no real basis in game design.

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

But the moment you create an instance of an encounter that is fundamentally weaker than the real thing, immediately kills the immersion and threat the encounter had regardless of difficulty.

People keep saying this, but it really is ridiculous.

A slightly altered version you never see and never do will not ruin your immersion unless you choose to let it do so. And, even if it did, that would be more on you than the game.

And, by using that same logic, you’re essentially saying they should remove the challenge motes currently in the game – and never add any challenge above what is initially shipped – otherwise it messes with immersion.

Surely people see how silly that idea is.

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

so now the devs literally say the non raiders only deserve scraps and they made the new raid focused in that way

No, I merely pointed out what is currently available for non-raiders to catch up on the raid story while inside the game. More than happy to answer your questions, but in the future I’d appreciate it if you didn’t paraphrase my intentions that way. Because that’s not what I said, nor what I meant.

Your statement above is in direct contradiction to your comments in the recent MMORPG interview you and Crystal Reid did -

http://www.mmorpg.com/guild-wars-2/interviews/the-demons-of-bastion-of-the-penitent-1000011552

You cant claim that a cleared instance provides the same experience and then make statements about how you integrated story into every element – how it doesn’t matter if players play for the challenge or the thrill of discovery, they will still find something fun.

It comes across as disingenuous and, frankly, as marketing doublespeak (intentional or not) – simply telling people what they want to hear to placate them.

I replied to this over on Reddit but I’ll paste it here, too, since I think people should understand the context of my statements.

“I think you’re reading into my quotes a little too much. By ‘integrating story into every element’ I mean that the environment is a reflection of the story, the audio is an expression of the story. By the team collaborating across the board, we made the experience feel cohesive. The story bits are mostly told outside the encounters, save for the dialog during the Deimos fight (which is similar to how we handled Spirit Vale). The bulk of the story dialog is told between encounters, and all of the discoverables are available in a cleared instance.

Not trying to convince people either way, or belittle anyone’s feelings about the raids. I just wanted to clarify that part because it seems like the intention of my comment was unclear to you."

Thank you. Likewise, I will carry my response over from reddit -

“I’m not trying to belittle your work in terms of its creativity or appeal. In fact, if I didn’t think it was good, I wouldn’t care as much.

When you do something like this right, all of the elements come together to deliver the story – and that includes the fights themselves. Take any piece of that away (entering a cleared instance is taking big chunks of it away) and the result is considerably different than it was likely intended.

Again, the medium dictates how the story is delivered to a degree, and in this case, the medium centers in large part around the encounters – how the bosses look, feel and interact with the player (leaving the player with a sense of being the hero), making them integral to the story.

That is what I read from your comments in the article, but that may be because it is something I expect from this kind of content. And, it is why the idea of a cleared instance, video or NPC dialogue will never be a viable replacement for accessible interactive raid content.

As long as there is story in raids in any form, this is going to be an issue, in my opinion. It is time to take the lesson from most other successful raiding MMOs and add tiers to the raids (which could be as simple as incorporating story motes similar to the challenge motes you already use)."

Bobby Stein, any future plans for Glenna?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

I’m down for the wondrous misadventures of taimi, glenna and wendall.

That would be a pretty interesting raid.

Why would you put important lore in a Raid?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

As for story, sometimes you require challenge for the story notes to be the most impactful. There are some stories where you appreciate the narrative more because you earned your progress in it. Immersion and all that. As long as the story for raids aren’t necessary to understand the main story arc, and are self contained story arcs, I don’t see the problem.

If the story in the raid is more interesting than the main one, then that’s on the team working the main story to up their game. Not on the raid team to make their stories worse or less interesting.

All of this.

The one thing I can promise you doesn’t impact how the story is told is something that is taking place in a completely different instance with different people than the one you are in.

It absolutely does. That’s what I believe the underlying statement has been all along, the real discussion taking place here. There’s a disagreement where you believe that setting up encounters in an easier ‘story’ mode that anyone can do, does not take away the impact and immersion of the encounter in question. I believe it does, the mere existence of a story-mode Deimos would utterly decimate the immersion those who attempt him in the normal-mode have against him. It turns it mechanical, almost systematic like what happened with WoW and in part FF14.

It’s not just something selfish I am describing here, it’s a factor of ascertaining the extent of which the evil we face is a threat. It’s why I continue to bring up the prospect that no one remembers the fights they breezed through, but the ones they struggled with. I would rather there be pure difficult encounters in this game that is memorable for being difficult only, than turned difficult on a dial and reduced to just numbers.

And I don’t believe I’ll ever convince you otherwise of what I mean by this. Nor will I expect you to make me believe that story-mode hasn’t ruined other raiding MMOs by making them into systems instead. I will say this and I believe you will agree with me, the raid releases are slow, it’s already hard enough to release just a single difficulty wing without previous raids breaking (W1/W3 bosses have changed). Beyond the merits of the discourse we have right now, I don’t think we should even consider multiple difficulties/instances given how much more time might need to be spent with the next release.

Do you agree with that?

I think that, given the lukewarm reception the challenge motes in BoTP have received from raiders, the energy behind them would have been better spent making the current challenge motes the baseline difficulty and incorporating story motes or modes to improve accessibility.

I agree that we will likely not convince each other of the other’s point of view, but consider this. Right now, based on the difficulty of BoTP, which is too low for those who raid steady and still too high for those just looking for the story, they are obviously pulling their punches in developing the fights – probably to find more of a middle ground and up the number of people raiding. Wouldn’t you rather they give you real raid fights with truly challenging mechanics across the board and then deal with the accessibility issue in a completely separate instance/mode (or via a story mote, as I recommend above)?

It really does seem like all sides would benefit from that kind of solution.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

Why would you put important lore in a Raid?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

As for story, sometimes you require challenge for the story notes to be the most impactful. There are some stories where you appreciate the narrative more because you earned your progress in it. Immersion and all that. As long as the story for raids aren’t necessary to understand the main story arc, and are self contained story arcs, I don’t see the problem.

If the story in the raid is more interesting than the main one, then that’s on the team working the main story to up their game. Not on the raid team to make their stories worse or less interesting.

All of this.

If anyone were advocating taking any of that away from people, it would actually make sense.

The one thing I can promise you doesn’t impact how the story is told is something that is taking place in a completely different instance with different people than the one you are in.

Yes, the difficulty can add to the epic feelings you get while going through raids – but, for people with professions/playstyles that don’t necessarily conform to the balance point the developers decided upon, that difficulty point is in a different place than it is for you. They will still get a feeling of accomplishment, albeit lesser than the one you do – and that accomplishment – that feeling of being the hero (regardless of difficulty) that is definitely part of the story told through this particular medium.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

Leather Farm

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

I think people are overanalyzing this.

The centaur hill is a fun little thing to do as a guild (or group you find on the map or lfg) with a half way decent open world boss at the top.

The reward isn’t the end all be all of game design or profitability, but it at least gives you something for doing some fun and semi group oriented.

It really isn’t more than that.

As an aside – it would make a decent new instanced guild challenge mission, imo (which we DESPARATELY NEED right now). Given the comments in this thread, maybe it would have been better if it had been a guild mission and they had dealt with the leather issue in another way.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

Your opinion on GW2 after HoT (2017)

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Been a fan of most of what HOT has added to the game. The new zones and the new living world release model are both well done in my opinion.

However, a combination of extremely poor balance between professions in PVE (compare a scrapper to a tempest wearing the same stats as an example) and the shortsighted/restrictive raid model have tempered my enthusiasm for the game 50 fold. As a result, I cant really bring myself to support the game financially (buying gems) the way I used to (probably spent more than 5K in the first 3.5 years of the game).

I don’t think the game is irredeemable however. They just need to remember who their core customers really are.

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

so now the devs literally say the non raiders only deserve scraps and they made the new raid focused in that way

No, I merely pointed out what is currently available for non-raiders to catch up on the raid story while inside the game. More than happy to answer your questions, but in the future I’d appreciate it if you didn’t paraphrase my intentions that way. Because that’s not what I said, nor what I meant.

Your statement above is in direct contradiction to your comments in the recent MMORPG interview you and Crystal Reid did -

http://www.mmorpg.com/guild-wars-2/interviews/the-demons-of-bastion-of-the-penitent-1000011552

You cant claim that a cleared instance provides the same experience and then make statements about how you integrated story into every element – how it doesn’t matter if players play for the challenge or the thrill of discovery, they will still find something fun.

It comes across as disingenuous and, frankly, as marketing doublespeak (intentional or not) – simply telling people what they want to hear to placate them.

Romantic Subplot of Logan and Queen Jennah?

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

It started in the novel, Edge of Destiny, which was published before the game’s launch.

It’s not a bad little book and makes the most recent happening make a little more sense.

I don’t want to spoil any more than that.

Raid Normal/Hard Mode

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Yes it is just a hobby – a pastime.

Which begs the question of why you care so much about what other people want out of the game. The idea that people should just suck it up and get over it because it isn’t as important as their career is a little silly. Using your own logic, you shouldn’t care what they are saying on a video game forum to begin with.

No, my statement is just like it is a game, literally a game. And you can’t have the expectation that a game caters to your lifestyle or your habits. Of course you can change the game to one that fits perfectly to you and you can always wish several changes but wanting to change the game only because your personal life schedule doesn’t fit or wanting these changes to be a must is a little bit overconfident, don’t you think?

There is nothing wrong or “anti-adult” about advocating for change and defending a point of view on the forums.

That is partly what the forums are here for.

Raid Normal/Hard Mode

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Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

And sometimes, as an adult, you choose to fight for change instead of sitting on your laurels and dealing with or getting over it, especially when you are talking about a consumer product you voluntarily choose to support financially.

What are we even talking about?
Of course you can fight for it, but we are talking about a video game here. Not really realistic and reasonable to expect that a video game company has solutions to your private situation and life choices as an adult.
For example: I can’t raid at reset on monday morning 9 o’clock here in EU because that is the usual working time for an employee. I chose my job opportunity for a living (+ I like it) so this comes first – gaming on the other hand is a hobby which is some steps below that. Something every grown adult should be aware of.

Yes it is just a hobby – a pastime.

Which begs the question of why you care so much about what other people want out of the game. The idea that people should just suck it up and get over it because it isn’t as important as their career is a little silly. Using your own logic, you shouldn’t care what they are saying on a video game forum to begin with.

Raid Normal/Hard Mode

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Some people like me work odd shifts. I work Overnights in the US and my schedule changes from week to week, at least WoW can accommodate this with tiered raiding since I will never be able to be part of a static group.

Imagine how hard it must be for people that have personal obligations to spouses or kids?

Because you have chosen a certain job the game you are playing has to adjust its preferences? Also, because another game with far more player has these?

That’s the adult life, dude. Sometimes it sucks hard but you have to deal with and get over it.

And sometimes, as an adult, you choose to fight for change instead of sitting on your laurels and dealing with or getting over it, especially when you are talking about a consumer product you voluntarily choose to support financially.

How does entering a cleared raid work?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Forget the fact that a cleared instance is still not a substitute in any way shape or form for experiencing the story or fun of a raid.

I have never seen a listing in LFG for a cleared raid inviting people to come and take a look. And I doubt most of the people putting it forward as an option have either.

People putting this forward as an optional way to experience the raid on the forums are ignoring the in game realities and logistically improbabilities of this happening on a large enough scale to ever be a real solution. It simply isn’t practical on any scale other than, maybe, within a guild environment.

And again – even if that did happen – it wouldn’t be a way to experience the raid in any real form, just a poor guided tour of an empty instance by the “real heroes” of the story.

Why would you put important lore in a Raid?

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Obviously I agree with this point of view.

Glad to see people starting to make more noise about the issue, here, on reddit, in articles on sites like massivelyop, etc. Hopefully the management at Anet and on the raid team will start to take more notice and do something.

Raid Normal/Hard Mode

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

There is no way a single version of the map is going to meet the gaming desires of all sides of this equation. Thus the need for tiered difficulty or some kind of scaling system (as a really bad example – give better rewards to 8 player groups that beat the content and lesser/almost no rewards for 12 player groups that beat it).

What would you say to low skill players for whom even the easiest reasonable difficulty represents too high of a challenge?

Ah, that entirely depends on what we would consider to be the easiest reasonable challenge. Personally, i really doubt that people unable to do even low tier fractals would be interested in raids. They might still be interested in legendary armor, which is why it should have an alternate acquisition method.

So we just have a different perspective on where to draw the line for “sorry you aren’t skilled enough.” I think the current raids are easy enough already, you don’t.

Bingo. It is – and always has been – about perception.

Let’s be honest for a second. DnT has a different perspective on the game than most players (the same could be said for my guild in a different way, ofc). I am making assumptions here, but from my perspective, you see the value of the game inherently tied into the level and exclusivity of the challenge and its subsequent rewards. That perspective colors how you see the entire game.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

I – and many in my guild – see the value of the game tied more closely to social aspects and interactions between members while we do something fun, challenging (as long as it doesn’t limit which friends I can include) and rewarding. That perspective colors how I see the game.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

So, obviously the two of us are going to draw the line when it comes to new content in very different places.

For me, the whole point of tiered content is to provide new content in ways that more groups can enjoy – and that isn’t possible with a single difficulty imo.

And, for the record, I think that should be a dynamic process. My guess is your raid group has – in the first week – already mastered the new raid, including the challenge motes. That shouldn’t be acceptable to you. There needs to be a greater challenge associated with this content. Otherwise, you will have members eventually get frustrated/bored and abandon the content – meaning fewer people supporting raid content.

At the same time, there are probably a lot of guilds on the other side of the spectrum – even to the point where they are frustrated/bored and considering abandoning the content. While you may knee jerk and say, “oh well. they should just try harder,” (because of your perspective of the game as a whole) the result is the same – fewer people supporting raid content. Anet needs to address that as well.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

The difficulty of the Bastion of the Penitent

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

They use a tiered ladder to introduce players to raiding.

The question is about pugs not guild groups.

This issue is most definitely not limited to pugging. The OP in this thread doesn’t even use the word pug.

In fact, I never – or almost never – pug (I think I’ve pugged 3 or 4 dungeons in the past 4.5 years). This has never been about pugging to me – even though that is an aspect of it. For me, the bigger issue is groups of friends wanting to experience the content without having to compromise on how they enjoy their characters or the game.

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

I disagree with that. It may seem that way from the perspective of computer gamers (like, everyone in this forum…) but I think there will always be people who prefer to sit back and listen/read/watch rather than take part in an interactive story, and even times when a gamer would prefer to do that rather than play a game. Just as movies didn’t displace novels, I expect both will continue as video games evolve.

Very true – and your response reminded me of something I read a long time ago. Douglas Adams used to talk a lot about this very topic when people gave him a hard time comparing the marked differences between his radio scripts, books and movie script for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I pulled a quote (one of many on this topic) from Wiki – “Generally, old media don’t die. They just have to grow old gracefully. Guess what, we still have stone masons. They haven’t been the primary purveyors of the written word for a while now of course, but they still have a role because you wouldn’t want a TV screen on your headstone.”

As it pertains to the topic at hand – the stories and lore told through these raids were written and developed for a video game. If they were retold through pure prose or video, they would be missing something very important (in this case, the interaction and position of the player as hero of the story). Just as with Adams’ headstone analogy, where a chisel by itself cannot create a moving picture, a moving picture (ingame video) cannot create that feeling of being the hero or level of interaction (and a cleared instance DEFINITELY cannot).

Hopefully, the developers are starting to understand that.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

The difficulty of the Bastion of the Penitent

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

And adding a new difficulty won’t solve the “problem” of not finding groups for the normal/hard versions of the Raids. Unless that’s not the problem you want to solve.

So it is solving exactly same problem in other games, but will not solve it here. Okay.

I’m pretty sure it DOESNT solve the problem in other games. From my understanding from other games (DNT is a multi-game guild) most of the intro/easy mode raiders don’t matriculate up to harder difficulties. They do easy mode, get whatever they get out of that and stop raiding until next raid wing where they will do easy mode and stop again. The " real raiders" start at higher difficulties and don’t look back. There is very, very rarely a leap where a low experience casual raider starts in easy mode and works up to Nightmare mode. So no, it doesn’t solve any problem really. It just creates two separate communities.

This really is a single perspective. I am also a guild leader in a multi-game guild with more than 500 active members (across all games). In speaking with our WoW guild leader (the other game where members raid), they outline a very different approach.

They use a tiered ladder to introduce players to raiding. In order to raid at progression level with the guild, members must first complete all heroic level dungeons and raid lower difficulty raids at least once – including evaluation raids at lower levels to show they are ready for the harder levels. Some move on and some are just as happy to stay at the lower levels – which the guild runs weekly to meet varied needs. When new raids come out, the 10 and 25 player progression raid groups (usually 1-3 groups for each – and they take the content extremely seriously) move up through the difficulties to learn the mechanics and (because it’s WoW) gear up their toons (something I do not miss).

They specifically run those lower levels to bring new members into raiding – and they are far from the only guild in that game to do so.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

I wonder though, if the idea is to enter a cleared raid, perhaps we could pay an npc a significant gold sum to access the area. The npc could be a mercenary placeholder who had cleared it prior.

Maybe 200g or more with the npc appearing maybe 1-2 weeks post raid patch

The idea isn’t to enter a cleared raid. It isn’t even about hard versus easy. The idea is to provide the experience of being the hero in this particular story to PVE players regardless of their favorite playstyle, gear or experience with the game.

I realize that some don’t really care about that – that a WoodenPotatoes video is enough for them. That isn’t true of everyone and many are looking for a deeper raid experience without having to compromise on how they currently enjoy their characters and the game.

raid answer from dev

in Lore

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

I think there is a lot of frustration around this particular topic in the community right now.

Unfortunately, as he has been the most willing to talk to us about it, Bobby has unfairly bore the brunt of that frustration.

I will just reiterate what I’ve said about this many times in the past two years (dating back to the CDI with Chris Whitesides) -

While the comments about cleared instances was made with the best of intentions, it really isn’t a solution to this problem. This isn’t a book. It isn’t a movie. In video games, the interactive elements are as much a part of the story as the narrative.

Without that interaction – without the player (and their friends) being the hero(s) of the story – then you are just giving us a second hand account of what happened, which is basically the same as a WoodenPotatoes video or a paragraph on the wiki.

I realize there is both community and developer resistance to multiple difficulty tiers or story modes, but the arguments against seem really thin – especially considering the inclusion of challenge motes for EVERY boss in the most recent raid wing.

That same process could be used to develop exactly what is needed to fix this issue. And it would be fun, add to the game and (very likely) get more people interested in the raiding experience.

I have used some harsh words this past week to describe Bobby’s quote – most prominently calling it an insult to our intelligence. While I still believe it to be exactly that, I do not place the onus for this on Bobby. In fact, I respect that he is willing to put himself out there and talk about this.

What needs to happen, however, hasn’t changed since many in the community asked for it in the CDI with Chris Whitesides two years ago. Raids need a more casual option – in every fight. It doesn’t have to be faceroll easy, but it should be much more accommodating and forgiving of extreme non meta playstyles.

Despite the tension, I am glad to see this topic remain top of mind – and even garner some coverage on sites like massivelyop. Hopefully management at Anet and within the raid team is paying attention.

(edited by Blaeys.3102)

Raid Normal/Hard Mode

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

Well…looks like wing 4 came to the “easy mode” prayers. First two bosses could very easily be completed with any comp, any build, etc. Especially boss #2.

W4 is a dumbed (except last boss? not sure haven’t tried it yet) version of raids with no incentive to complete the challenge motes more than once…smh

This is the other side of the coin justifying the need for tiered difficulties.

The one thing I think we can all agree upon is that there are many different types of players – who enjoy playing different ways, seek different things in difficult content and need/want more/less challenge in the content.

There is no way a single version of the map is going to meet the gaming desires of all sides of this equation. Thus the need for tiered difficulty or some kind of scaling system (as a really bad example – give better rewards to 8 player groups that beat the content and lesser/almost no rewards for 12 player groups that beat it).

The difficulty of the Bastion of the Penitent

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

The thing that actually changed in the last 8 years is the mindset of players, that they have to see everything.

I’m not sure that people wanting to experience interesting content with friends – in a way that they find fun and that fits with their playstyle – is new to the game.

Yes thats why ArenaNet creates different content for different playstyles. Unlike WoW where everyone gets the same content and difficulties are necessery.

They are actually needed here more than they are in WoW, where gear and level treadmills (which will hopefully never show up in GW2) solve the accessibility issue across the board.

Atleast Wing 1 and 2 have been completed within the enrage timers. So you are already overgeared if you wear ascended. There are no accessibility issues. Or do we need an mindest equip-level to enter raids now as you need in WoW and restrict people from seeing the content?

There are definitely accessibility issues and ignoring them is not healthy for the game or the raid game mode.

The bigger issues center around the disparity between the accepted min/maxed comps and builds, but it extends to playstyle and the gear grind issues.

A simple story or training mode mote similar to the challenge motes currently implemented would address these issues nicely – as well as open up raids as a potential storytelling tool that can be integrated into the rest of the game. To not do so at this point is either one of three things on the part of the raid developers – apathy (which I have a hard time believing), shortsightedness (only seeing as far as the raid fanboys and ignoring the bigger issues) or a simple lack of leadership/direction.

The difficulty of the Bastion of the Penitent

in Fractals, Dungeons & Raids

Posted by: Blaeys.3102

Blaeys.3102

The thing that actually changed in the last 8 years is the mindset of players, that they have to see everything.

I’m not sure that people wanting to experience interesting content with friends – in a way that they find fun and that fits with their playstyle – is new to the game.

Yes thats why ArenaNet creates different content for different playstyles. Unlike WoW where everyone gets the same content and difficulties are necessery.

They are actually needed here more than they are in WoW, where gear and level treadmills (which will hopefully never show up in GW2) solve the accessibility issue across the board.