We could also get those flying mesmer octopi.
Actually in dungeons a ranged pet is invaluable to melee rangers, our main concern is dodging boss AoE, making melee pets do that is near impossibru.
Windriders you mean? +1 to that.
Conversation seems to have changed into a discussion about evasive purity, back to the topic at hand i wouldn’t mind a dodge trap giving us a reliable smoke field
Well, the connection between a dodge trap and Evasive Purity is pretty strong – certainly strong enough for discussion on it to be relevant to the topic at hand. The general goal is, after all, to improve the dodge-happy emphasis of the Ranger profession with something offensive.
And to that end, if Evasive Purity is going to remain a Grandmaster trait, causing it to blind and poison nearby foes briefly would have roughly the same effect as adding in a trap on dodge trait.
ill agree to this ^, evasive purity having an offensive component namely blind and poison might not be all that useful, would the blind no be wasted since you would be dodging for the duration of the blind? and i think we have so many ways to poison as is, How about a 1 sec immobilize and 5 stacks of vulnerability?
Blind has the added power of support for your teammates and could easily be applied at the end of the dodge, making it useful to you as well.
As for Poison, it isn’t included in the GS, Longbow, or MH Axe (if not using Dagger offhand), giving it some decent niches. Even on weapons that already inflict it, it doesn’t hurt to have a little more duration and another source to apply it and counter condition removal.
I chose these particular conditions just to stay within the current themes of the trait – it removes them from you and you inflict them on others.
Stuff like Immobilize and Vulnerability could definitely be nice, but they would give the trait a rather scattered feel. I don’t know. It definitely warrants exploring as an option.
Conversation seems to have changed into a discussion about evasive purity, back to the topic at hand i wouldn’t mind a dodge trap giving us a reliable smoke field
Well, the connection between a dodge trap and Evasive Purity is pretty strong – certainly strong enough for discussion on it to be relevant to the topic at hand. The general goal is, after all, to improve the dodge-happy emphasis of the Ranger profession with something offensive.
And to that end, if Evasive Purity is going to remain a Grandmaster trait, causing it to blind and poison nearby foes briefly would have roughly the same effect as adding in a trap on dodge trait.
Yes removing poison is okay, but given the amount of points I have to put into it to get it it’s just not worth it to me. Removing cripple on the other than, that would be worth it.
As it is, it’s fine, just not for the amount of points I have to spend to get it.
Agreed, it’s more of a 20pt talent, it needs to remove -more- in order to be worth the 30pts for it.
A large part of the problem is that Nature Magic blows. It’s full of useless traits for useless spirits. Yes, Evasive Purity is unworthy of being a grandmaster trait, but it’s also an unworthy grandmaster trait in a poor trait line.
I’d just support a sword for Elementalist. I don’t need to see a moveset. The ele could whack them with elemental particle effects and I wouldn’t care because it’d be something new to play with in a game that desperately needs more weapon sets. So yes, add the bloody sword. Or greatsword. Or torch. Or have the Elementalist beat up his foes with a whiffle ball bat. Just something.
Would you enjoy a trait that allows you to leave a trap behind when you dodge?
If so, which would you feel would be most fun, interesting, and balanced? Fire Trap? Viper’s Nest? Ice Trap? Spike Trap? A new trap altogether?
The Celestial set just doesn’t compare to dedicated nomenclatures. The numbers of builds that can implement it are already rare, making it a niche set, but it is likely outperformed even for them.
For a jack-of-all-trades gear to work, it needs to give higher total stats than dedicated items to make up for the split. Celestial doesn’t do that – or doesn’t do it well enough – especially in PvP.
Currently, it offers 295 to each stat and 15% crit damage for the amulet and 45 to each stat and 45 to each stat and 5% crit damage for the gem. The crit damage is fine, but the stats aren’t quite high enough to make the set competitive.
I’d suggest buffing it slightly over time until a healthy amount is found. That way it’ll see some use without becoming ridiculous.
A nice start might be to buff all stats up by 5 on each, such that they are 300 each on the Amulet, 50 each on the gem.
And add the set to PvE, please. Alongside P/Pre/V, it is one of those sets that could open up a few good builds for PvE/WvW.
We can already determine through inference why the Pact Orders respected Trahearne:
He spent most of his life alone in Orr, surrounded by Undead, and survived. Even if he were a great fighter (which he most certainly is not), this implies significant stealth.
He is Tyria’s foremost scholar on Orr – thus he would have been a natural fit for the Priory, undoubtedly a Magister, if not future Steward.
He possesses valuable knowledge of the Undead and how to fight them – where to find useful fortifications. How to navigate the continent. If this, with a little training, wouldn’t have made him an invaluable tactician to the Vigil, nothing would.
Now, the incident with Sayeh is one of more interest. This could be referenced better but doesn’t necessarily demand new content.
I’m less interested in Trahearne’s PAST than with his FUTURE. If they aren’t going to kill him, they need to develop him.
I’m going to have to say “no.” The addition of Heroes was a necessary evil to make Guild Wars 1 playable when its population dropped, but it also served as the final death blow to any semblance of non-guild socialization in the game.
The “open world” of Guild Wars 1 was built for teams, mind you.
The open world of Guild Wars 2 is meant to be difficult, but possible to solo. Solo pve is an experience. The feeling of striking out on your own journey, exploring these gorgeous landscapes and fighting countless things that want nothing more than to kill you and eat your liver. Of reaching vistas high and oceans low.
Heroes and henchmen would take away from that. The game would no longer be about your character’s adventures alone or with a group of his close friends. It would be you and some mindless bots. Furthermore, the game would either become so ridiculously easy that it would be unplayable or would need to be rebalanced around the AI henchman, thus rendering solo play impossible.
I think that everyone should eventually be able to wield everything – or have the same (high) number of weapons available to them – but in the Ranger’s case, I would like to see an improvement to their existing weapons before rolling new ones out.
Because right now almost every weapon in our arsenal could use some tweaking.
I would remove the Thief, consolidate everything it is into the Mesmer, considering the Mesmer already contains the defining characteristics of the Thief and some, turn all former Thieves into Mesmers with gold/token refunds on the armor, and add a Bard or other class into the game.
These would be solo and/or group instances in the racial cities that could be accessed at any time. They come in multiple flavors:
Survival-
Survive as many waves of enemies as possible.
Speed Mission-
Complete the mission in the fastest time possible.
Scored Missions-
Obtain the highest score possible in the allotted time.
Combinations of the above.
There are, of course, many possible variations on all of them – including, but obviously not limited to: point defense and/or capture, sabotage, jumping puzzles, running supplies or other items, scavenger hunts, etc.
These missions, while cooperative in format, are competitive in that there is a daily leaderboard for them, with the top x players receiving a prize via mail at server reset.
Similar challenge missions were in Guild Wars 1 in Factions and Nightfall. They could be an excellent way to bring some life into the cities or random outposts in the explorable zones, as well as provide some interesting endgame options.
I would give racial skills a purpose.
I don’t remember having ever seen a norn using an animal form…
They are not supposed to be viable – otherwise we’d see racial advantages/disadvantages. Racial skills are for flavor and should probably stay that way.
I’d add more weapons to every profession.
Human Cultural Tier 2 is a fantastic set for pants-lovers. (For males anyway).
I’m going to have to go with the Drakehound (or a Hyena). You can unleash 4 hard cc’s consecutively with them. Alpine Wolf doesn’t offer that.
I know there is always the question in game forums about balance. Some people think a class or classes should get a nerf and some think a class or classes should get a boost. It is never an easy thing as any developer, designer, or anyone who knows the game industry can tell you. But there are certain times the call for nerfing or buffing is just a rant on some particular aspect they dislike. This works beyond classes and can be various parts of the game. A food change can affect a class, a class change can affect a style of play and so on and so on. ….. . To alleviate some ill conceptions about what balance is and is not I’ve found and interesting web clip that can answer some questions and enlighten those who wish to view it. http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/perfect-imbalance
Imo, Ranger has none of the required aspects mentioned in the clip.
Ranger has no edge over any other profession. In fact it is the other way around. All other professions have an edge over Ranger.
I just hope the Ranger traits and pet AI get better one day.
Give us an edge, and some decent build diversity!
Yeah, I’m sorry, but that pennyarcade video has no merit because it sited League of Legends as an example of perfect imbalance. It has the most stale, slowly changing metagame of its genre, hands down.
Though, back on topic, perfect imbalance implies a state of near-balance that makes the classes comparable in a competitive format, even if some have a slight edge.
There is no slight edge in Guild Wars 2. Professions like the Warrior, the Guardian, and the Mesmer are blatantly superior in PvE and professions like the Guardian, the Mesmer, and the Elementalist are blatantly superior to others in PvP.
Did someone say “increase the drop rate of rares?”
Why yes, I believe they did.
Yeah …. umm…. how about no?
Might need numbers tweaks, but it’s a solid concept. If you give them an elite, everyone else needs a new one as well, though.
I notice how you completely forgot to mention the 1-handed sword. So unused it’s completely forgotten.
( They need to remove the rooting and leap from the first skill chain)
MH sword is unused and forgotten? Surely you jest. It’s probably one of the single most viable weapons we have because of its high damage output and cripple spam to aid our pets. The evades are nice as well – not to mention that our offhands (except for Axe) are actually pretty awesome and the MH sword is better than the MH axe in general.
Sure, it would be nice to remove rooting/self-interrupts from the chain, but that’s not a “simple change.” That’s a complete rework of the animation that may remove its greatest strength – the fact that it’s crazy difficult to escape from.
Every time I see one, I will immediately proceed to brutally murder it.
I. Hate. Dredge.
And then his 9001 buddies show up because of how badly designed the enemy concentrations are in Dredge areas (just like Risen and Krait areas).
What I propose is a new NPC added to Hall of Monuments. It would carry one item initially – Armor of Ages. When you purchase the item for a high price, you permanently unlock all Elite Heritage items on your account and gain the title “Hero of Ages” (in reference to the fantastic Mistborn book series by Brandon Sanderson).
From this point onwards, the NPC carries an infinite number of prestige versions of the heritage armors, just like the standard versions carried by the other HoM npc.
(Requires a linked Guild Wars 1 account with Eye of the North and at least 5 points in your Hall of Monuments).
Prestige heritage armors are modified versions of the standard heritage armors:
Light Heritage ~ The Rook
The greatcoat is modified to carry your guild’s emblem on its back.
Comes with a scarf and a fedora hat. This hat is the first one in the game to not hide hair – instead, it comes with a set hair style designed not to clip with it. The hair counts as part of the hat and can be dyed.
Game themed with a chessboard/checkerboard vest under the greatcoat, playing cards stuffed in the hat’s brim, and other features.
Matching Cane Scepter and Deck of Cards focus.
More detailed trim.
Any other features.
Medium Heritage ~ The Harrier/The Osprey
Guild emblem displayed on the back of your character, via a
One of the few sets with a mask-less hood. This one is detailed with trim in the shape of feathered wings.
Feathered necklace and armbands.
Jerkin is longer in the front. Takes inspiration from Guild Wars 1 Elite Druid armor. Actually, the set in general looks rather like Elite Druid but with feathers rather than leaves. Belt with a bird of prey buckle.
Feathered shoulderpad in lieu of the current one.
Comes with retractable dagger skin that is only visible while attacking. Also comes with a half-cape back item, which can display your guild emblem.
Any other features.
Heavy ~ The Hawk
Avian version of the heritage helmet with a downward’s plume.
Winged shoulderpads that cross in the back to support a lengthy cape or cloak, which counts as part of the shoulder armor and can display your guild emblem.
Gauntlets and boots have modified finger and toe armor with the appearance of talons.
Modified details. More slender and angled than the standard heritage.
Complimented by some new weapon skin. Yeah. Something. I can’t be bothered to figure out just what. But it’ll be awesome.
Any other features.
Alongside Risen, Krait, and Harpies, I hate Dredge more than anything. Dredge are the embodiment of annoying.
These are just the simple ones:
Pets
F2 skills are now instant. Numbers may be rebalanced after the new balance state is determined.
Longbow
Long Range Shot –
Now applies a 1 second cripple.
Lowered arc slightly or increased flight speed to improve accuracy at a distance.
Barrage -
Lowered cooldown to 25 seconds.
Greatsword
Swoop now applies a 2 second cripple.
Axe
Ricochet-
Your pet now “counts” as a foe for the sake of this skill. The axe will bounce to and off them, dealing no damage to them but allowing the Ricochet to hit your foe twice in 1v1 duels.
Winter’s Bite-
Increased damage.
Off-hand Axe
Path of Scars -
Slightly increased damage.
Whirling Defense-
You can now move, but you are crippled while channeling this skill.
Spirits
Spirits are now invulnerable. Further changes to be made after their new balance state is discovered.
Attack of Opportunity
Now functions as a “stacking” buff in that each time it is gained, it adds a counter, consuming one counter for 50% bonus damage with each attack. What this means is that triggering Moment of Clarity with Hilt Bash no longer wastes a proc and that multiple sources can of AoO can be used in rapid succession without wasting procs.
I think he means they did a good job improving the GS, and now it’s time to work on the LB.
GS is still subpar to mainhand sword in sustained damage. Increasing maul doesn’t change the fact that greatsword’s auto sucks, and a large part of weapons’ sustained damage is autoattack.
The big thing is that the MH sword spams cripple to help the pet deal its damage reliably. The GS doesn’t really have that – it has the sword throw and a short, conditional stun, but that’s it. Maybe if they added a cripple to Swoop, GS would be more in line with MH sword.
Well, you get one of your primary used weapon. Though a lot of situations force your to use range weapons, so lotta times as a melee you wouldn’t be using a legendary melee~ like in WvW. So Mesmer greatsword, Ranger bow (whichever preferred), Thief bow, and Elementalist anything would get the most use. Elementalist don’t swap weapons so I guess they’d be the answer to your question.
Elementalists don’t swap weapons, but they also have a bad selection of legendaries.
Bifrost doesn’t suit them, is rainbow-themed, and barely does anything.
Incinerators don’t change Ele attack animations at all.
Meteorologus is a joke.
The Minstrel is a bigger one.
Who gets Kraitkin anyway?
I disagree.
1) Dailies are not mandatory.
2) Dailies are far from the most efficient way to earn ascended gear or earn money.
3) Dailies exist to provide casual players with a rewards system, as well as to serve as a system for directing players towards general areas.
They are not bad design because they are strictly optional. It is not Arenanet’s fault that you feel compelled to do them.
I agree jumping puzzles should not be in WvW. That is a total waste for both the WvW players and the compeltionists. As for the world I see no issue. You can still get 100% map while helping out your team.
I’m not sure how you can get 500 badges and not be close to having a 100% map. There is a fair amount of dead time where the battles are focused elsewhere and a few people are left to defend an area or map. You may not be able to knock out all 4 maps in 2hrs, but with the way the servers rotate, there should be no issue getting all points of interest in a few weeks.
2) You can easily earn 500 badges without completing the WvW map – or even coming close – ESPECIALLY in the Eternal Battlegrounds.
That’s entirely dependent on your server and how they are performing against the other servers.
While I got my 500 badges, the EB was more or less stalemated – some progress here and there, but large segments of the map never changed hands.
Balance has nothing to do with it – initiative is a bad design that leads to boring play.
This journal would be carried by your character and, when opened, allow you to re-experience any mission from your personal story, with hard mode versions available. You receive experience and gold as a reward for completing them, rather than the original rewards.
In addition, new missions can be added further back in your timeline should Arenanet ever decide to expand on particular aspects of the story (such as giving you new missions with your mentor before Claw Island). The Soulbound Journal would allow you to go back to this moment and experience the new content as if it were a memory, keeping immersion intact.
The past can’t be rewritten, but it can be relived, forever bound to your character’s soul and memories.
While I like the idea, why attach a gold/gem cost to it to implement or reset?
A secondary armor switchout (same as for weapon) plus add adjustable traits = problem solved. It would be easier to implement too.
As far as the gem price to activate this feature, I just felt that something like this was more likely to be implemented as a paid extra than a default feature. Besides it is hardly necessary, being ultimately nothing more than a convenience to those players that want it. And Arena Net did say that their gem store was designed around selling cosmetic and convenience items/features. They need to make money, and as far as micro-transactions go this is one more likely to be praised by the community than hated.
Now, as to the coin cost per-use, that is really just me playing it safe. You see the current trait respec system is an intended gold sink, and while the exact reason for it is up for debate, clearly Arena Net wanted it to cost a bit of coin each time you change your build, and likewise didn’t want you do be able to do it just anywhere. (I actually saw a suggested system allowing players to change builds while in combat. That will certainly never happen.) It is true that changing that system, especially for someone who paid real money to avoid it, may not have any negative impact on the game or its economy. But it is also true that it might have some disastrous effect somewhere down the line. And while players like us don’t need to think about such possibilities, I guarantee that Arena Net does.
So I felt it was better to have this still bound to the same restrictions as the current system. After all you would still have to run to a waypoint and pay a little pocket change. The only thing cut out is the wasted time of having to load a new area, run to a trainer, flip through menus and manually reset traits and skills, run back, and load back into the first zone. It is just a time saver really, and that is the essence of convenience.
While additional template pages are a convenience feature, the ability to swap builds between 2 or more templates is a power feature. It offers a lot of utility, even when limited to out-of-combat usage, as it makes forming dungeon groups more effective, allows builds with excellent disengage abilities to break off from a foe, change their build, and re-engage, and more. There’s no reason for the bare minimum of the feature to be monetized, but there is nothing wrong with selling extra pages.
Use League of Legends rune pages as an example.
Indeed. Opening Strike is a flawed mechanic – a one-time burst-oriented mechanic on a dps profession. It quickly becomes irrelevant against bosses and requires a grandmaster major trait to be relevant in open world PvE. It is the main reason why Marksmanship sucks.
I support this completely. Requiring WvW completion in map completion is ridiculous because:
1) Success is based on your server.
2) You can easily earn 500 badges without completing the WvW map – or even coming close – ESPECIALLY in the Eternal Battlegrounds.
3) Completionists are a drain on their server’s performance in WvW. They might follow the zerg to get things done, but they will frequently break off to collect Skill Points, Vistas, and Points of Interest. Meanwhile, an actual WvW player may be waiting on a queue timer.
Why should I have to earn what should have been a core feature of the game at release?
Well, things are different in gw2. Map travel used to be free in gw1, that was thrown out. Pets used to an option on rangers, that was tossed out (hated this change.. still do but regardless). Holy trinity was in gw1, no longer in gw2. Elite skills were earned in gw1, now you just “gain” them by getting sp which is really kitten easy. If they didn’t release free trait templates b4 release it was either for a reason or because they ran out of time/resources to put it together. Since it isn’t really confirmed which is true, I’d just go with something interesting. If it was for a reason, maybe this can solve it but idk. I’m not over there.
I’ve never been a fan of being handed a free pass to unlock all my wonders and dreams. I enjoy working on things in an adventurous way (speaking for mmos). Grinding, buying, or being freely granted game completion in any way turns me way. Working to gain access to something like the tp would be non-sense but a build template? I wouldn’t mind as long as it was enjoyable on the road there.
Just because things are different in Guild Wars 2 does NOT mean they should be inferior in Guild Wars 2. Change is only worthwhile if it adds something of value to the experience or at the very least does not detract from it.
Templates are an issue of power. Map travel gold sinks and other features that were nerfed from Guild Wars 1 to Guild Wars 2 are not issues of power, but only convenience. Being able to completely change your build any time you are out of combat is a huge, huge advantage, especially for builds that can easily disengage and initiate fights on a whim.
I’m 100% okay with earning ADDITIONAL template pages, but being able to own at least 2 build templates (your current build and an alternate) should have been a core, free feature of the game since its release (hell, since beta).
Why should I have to earn what should have been a core feature of the game at release?
The Secret World should had been a comic book series, with links to the internet for alternate reality games, because the only thing that’s good about it, are the stories. I followed the ARGs on the forums from the beginning, and it was a great way to advertise the game. But at the end of the day, Funcom just weren’t up to the challenge of making an MMO in 2012. The combat system is horribly boring, and the animations look outdated. If TSW had been released around 2008, it would probably have been huge, though.
I’d say that Funcom has never been up to any challenge. Their games have never been popular (and probably for good reason). I’d say they are improving – because when your most well known projects are Bloodline Champions and Age of Conan, you really have nowhere to go but up.
so you’re saying that GW1 has no content because you beat it in a day?
No. I’m saying that levels and gear were never the point of Guild Wars 1. Progression was purely horizontal and the point of the game was the game itself – coordinating with your team and adapting your builds to fit the situation against increasingly difficult foes.
Even in Guild Wars 2, levels feel arbitrary. They are quick and relatively meaningless. There isn’t a whole lot of effort involved in obtaining them (FORTUNATELY), but it leaves room to wonder whether Guild Wars 2 could have been better with no levels at all. Think about it – with downscaling, the game is basically a pre-80 themepark MMO and a post-80 sandbox MMO that unfortunately has rewards issues in pre-70 zones. Without levels, the rewards system would have been seamless and the game would have been a true sandbox from the start.
watched a review for The Secret World and in my opinion it’s pretty kitten horrible
- walking in it is a weird mechanic
- crafting is overly complex
- you can’t really re-spec, so if you go somewhere you didn’t want to you’re stuck with it
It has been said that The Secret World would have been a great single player game, but doesn’t really work as an MMO.*
You can earn literally infinite points to spend on your abilities (skills) and skills (traits) and at a relatively quick rate. There is no “respec” because the game doesn’t need one. Provided you have the weapons on you, you can literally change your entire build at any time when you have the skills unlocked.
If I wanted to (effectively) change my build in Guild Wars 2, I would have to stop what I was doing, go back to LA or another area with skill npc’s, and buy a respec. It’s cheap, but it’s a nuisance. On top of this, my change of builds would be ineffective if I did not have the right gear stats for it.
On movement, I don’t really understand the point you’re trying to make. Movement itself is fine – unless you’re referring to combat mobility, which is very lacking in TSW, or map travel, which is a pain in the rear, especially when there are multiple Ak’ab trying to tear you a new kittenhole.
And yes, the crafting system in TSW is a joke. It takes up ludicrous amounts of inventory space and requires a needlessly large amount of guesswork. The only advantage it has over the crafting systems of other games is that it allows you to take a weapon or other piece of gear apart and rearrange it into a new one to suit your needs.
2. There’s LESS grinding in GW2.
You’re funny. Hilarious, actually. You could reach max level in Guild Wars 1 in less than a day (with Factions) and have enough money for max gear shortly thereafter.
The required grind of Guild Wars 1 was negligible. Non-existant, even, unless you count the title grind elitists created for HA and elite dungeons – not a consequence of game mechanics so much as the community.
That is not to say that I feel Guild Wars 2 is grindy – Guild Wars 2’s grind is mostly self-imposed, but to say that Guild Wars 2 has less required grind than Guild Wars 1 did is absurd.
(edited by Duke Blackrose.4981)
@Rizzy
ESO probably has a lot of potential, but all MMOs launch with bugs and lack of content. Every single one. At around the time that launches, Guild Wars 2 will be getting its act together. You can bet that a lot of people will try it, but I’m not convinced it will retain a lot of people.
It might…but it’s by no means a sure thing. The surest thing about a new MMO is that it will be buggy as hell, and it will not have enough content for the content locusts.
This is true but its been 7 months.
7 month is NOTHING to an MMO. It’s the bottom of the line time wise. Most MMOs today are forced to release six months early. They spend the first half a year catching up. This is what the game should have been on release.
It really does take a year or two before MMOs find themselves. And this is true of almost all of them. There has to be enough there to hold people till that happpens. Rift did it. And theyr’e doing okay.
In another year, this game will rock, but now…it’s just in it’s growing stage. It’s pretty typical.
Its been in development since the release of GW:EN, in 2007
Thats a long time for development.7 months after release is a long time.
This game needs to start showing more polished features soon before more players start leaving.JQ’s Malchor leap might as well be Undead territory since no one clears any of the outposts other than those needed to get to the temples, a stark contrast to when the game was new and players controlled all the contested WPs.
Actually, Guild Wars 2 had a normal MMO development cycle. The problem was that they announced it far too early. It put the fanbase on a ridiculous 5 year(?) hype-train that created nothing but high expectations and/or disillusionment for a lot of players.
Personally, I’m about 80-90% happy with the game as is – because most of it is fantastic, but the parts that aren’t fantastic really should be by the time the game is a year or two old.
TSW copied GW1 wholly and solely, but added their flavour with the story.
TSW – 7 skills, dual weapon builds – 500 skills
GW1 – 8 skills, dual profession builds – man hundred skillsTSW added dodge rolling in, but other than that copied most other aspects of GW1.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked the idea of TSW but they failed in many aspects where GW2 has succeeded or at least laid a platform for success.
Problem with TSW is that the very best part of the game, the research type missions which are so well written, can just be looked up on the internet in seconds and pretty much that’s what everyone did so they wouldn’t get that sense of being left behind the crowd who were already on the dungeon gear grind.
When will dev’s get it, anyone who plays will look for shortcuts and exploits to get ahead of everyone else. And everyone else will follow so they don’t feel like they’ll get left behind.
Frankly, Guild Wars 1 had a lot of mechanics that should have been copied – should always be copied. Its flawless guild system, highly competitive pvp, convenient server system, large number of skills + flexible skill system, and lack of grind were all features that somehow got lost in translation from Guild Wars 1 to Guild Wars 2.
The foundation of the first game with the combat, dynamic events, beautiful open world, friendly loot system, (an improved version of the) personal story, playerbase, and engine of Guild Wars 2 would have been…. just perfect.
The guild system of the first game was simple, elegant, social, and borderline flawless.
The multi-guild system is a joke as is simply because of the way representation and gaining influence works.
I couldnt agree more, GW2 has the potential but its being squandered away.
If it doesnt pull up its socks ESO might knock it into the dust as another one of those games that tried to take down WOW but failed.By looking at it’s ocean of dead servers, WoW is doing a fine job of that all by itself.
TSW doesn’t have this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z_7McRTFuALet’s not bring up TSW PvP. I chose not to discuss that BECAUSE it’s so much of a joke. There are literally whole servers dominated by one faction (one guild in fact) because noone wants to play that gear-dependent, poorly-designed mess.
and wvwvw zerg fests is better? :|
A little bit, yeah.
At any rate, I come from a Guild Wars 1 and MOBA (LoL/DotA/Smite/etc.) background. If a game doesn’t offer structured pvp that is based on skill rather than gear, then it’s no good from a PvP-standpoint, in my opinion. Guild Wars 2 offers sPvP/tPvP, whereas TSW unfortunately just offers poorly designed faction PvP.
I couldnt agree more, GW2 has the potential but its being squandered away.
If it doesnt pull up its socks ESO might knock it into the dust as another one of those games that tried to take down WOW but failed.By looking at it’s ocean of dead servers, WoW is doing a fine job of that all by itself.
TSW doesn’t have this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z_7McRTFuA
Let’s not bring up TSW PvP. I chose not to discuss that BECAUSE it’s so much of a joke. There are literally whole servers dominated by one faction (one guild in fact) because noone wants to play that gear-dependent, poorly-designed mess.
I liked a lot of what I saw in TSW. I thought it was a good game. In fact, if it weren’t for Guild Wars 2, it would probably be my MMO of choice.
The OP makes some very good points about what Guild Wars 2 can learn from TSW, but there are also issues that TSW had which put a monkey wrench into things.
For one thing, though the voice acting is very good and the writing is superb in TSW, the fact that they chose not to voice your character meant most things in the game were monologues. This was a deal breaker for me. It really bothered me that my character was completely mute. I didn’t have conversations, I just listened to people.
It also pays to remember that TSW is written for adults not teens and the dialogue can be a lot grittier. There’s plenty of cursing, there’s references to sex, all sorts of things that writers in Guild Wars 2 can’t refer too. That kind of limitation does make it harder to make the world feel "real’. At least for me. I sorta wish GW 2 wasn’t a teen game so I could feel like I was in an actual world. There’s too much goody two shoes in my character for my taste.
But one thing that I disliked most about TSW was the skill system. I’ve already played Guild Wars 1 which had a very cool skill system, and the last thing I want to see in Guild Wars 2 is build wars. I really don’t want a game that I have to spend all my time figuring out a build, rather than playing. Or go onto a site and get the build of the month. There’s already a bit of that in Guild Wars 2, but that’s the trade off.
IN Guild Wars 1, there were a whole lot of people who insisted you use the build of the month. Sabway or whatever it was that month. And if you didn’t, well good luck finding a group for the Underworld.
I’m not saying complexity is inherently bad, but the idea of complex builds is a tricky one. I’d rather have less elitism and more the ability to play the way I wanted to.
The mute thing didnt bother as much, I thought well, atleast I dont have to level up, just gotta unlock my abilities and be more awesome.
WRONG
Bloody outright lies they were.
We dont have levels you can play as you want.
B.S what they shoulda said was, we dont use the conventional leveling methods, our leveling system is based on your gear’s quality level.
So say you have items that are of quality level 4, that means you’re QL4, in some dungeons its best to be QL5 before you can go into those, so its best you farm for a bit for QL5 gear.
Really? their idea of leveling up is gear grinding, I detest gear grinding.
It’s one thing TSW should learn from GW2 is to do away with QL and have gear become standardized qualities from Normal, Magical, Exotic each providing a marginal increase to stats so you’re not over powered just because your gear is better.
I get that. The purpose of this thread was to pull good ideas from a competitor to shape the already better game. Guild Wars 2 requires far less improvement than TSW (or any competitor) does to reach its potential, IMO.
The Secret World’s problem is that, despite its claims and goals, it’s so traditional and has some of the worst gear grinding, travelling, bugs, animations, and enemy design I’ve ever seen (such as the Ak’ab, which are an obnoxious pain in the kitten to deal with). Despite this, I my experience with the game has been solid because of the things it does very well – the story, despite your mute Link wannabe of a character… the build variety, even if player elitism and the desire to min/max places an unintended but inevitable limit on it … dungeon bosses that don’t kill you through boredom.
It is because Guild Wars 2 is already so good and because it has so much potential that I would love to see it take an example from its competitors – AND GUILD WARS 1, FOR THAT MATTER – in the areas that they happened to perform exceptionally well in.
I look at my character and see a huge lack of options, when I fondly remembered being able to do almost anything in Guild Wars 1. I look at the story and think of a million and a half ways that it could be better. I spend 5-10 minutes wailing on the same boss that does the same bland strategy the entire time and think to myself “God, this might actually be fun if the boss had 75% less health.”
It’s like the game is just a few common sense steps from being the best game ever made, and that just irks me more than anything.
(edited by Duke Blackrose.4981)
Just to establish something – I’ve played both games extensively. I like both. I enjoy both, and Guild Wars 2 is by far the better game overall, but there are a few lessons that could be learned from TSW to improve Guild Wars 2.
The Story and Characters of The Secret World are infinitely more interesting.
Even minor quest npcs express more personality in their brief dialogues than any character in Guild Wars 2 (with the possible exceptions of the mentors) does in their entire lifespan.
Funcom’s writing team is on a whole different level. Whoever did the dialogue for the game put just about every other MMO writing team to shame. And that’s unfortunate. Arenanet’s writing staff is talented. It just seems so underutilized. Ambient dialogue in Guild Wars 2 is excellent, but the personal story is just bad.
The Skill System of TSW is more free form
Oh, Guild Wars 2 has better combat. I like the fluid mobility of it. I like the lack of a trinity more than anything, but about the time you hit level 40, you’ve unlocked every skill you’ll use. Changing builds is a chore involving a travel time to respec and a farm for compatible gear. Not that you need to change builds – most professions have 2-3 viable builds maybe. Even if this wasn’t true, there is a general lack of variety in Guild Wars 2 build options because of the weapon system and the lack of weapons for that system – the Warrior being the only profession with a “good” weapon variety.
In The Secret World, your build is a combination of 7 skills and 7 passives from 2 weapons of your choice (consider a weapon to be equivalent to a class, as TSW has no classes and each weapon is a very different playstyle). You can eventually unlock every skill and trait on your character, allowing you to change your build at any moment. Sound familiar? Yes. TSW is closer to Guild Wars 1’s excellent skill system than Guild Wars 2 is.
Why the step down? I don’t know. The largest problem with Guild Wars 2, IMO, is the lack of build variety and the lack of convenience in swapping builds. It’s unfortunate, but the best and most defining mechanic of the first game was entirely scrapped for a new system that can make even a great combat system grow dull simply due to repetition.
Dungeon Design in TSW is (generally) better
Yes, I know Guild Wars 2 dungeons are being redesigned eventually, but it baffles me that most boss fights boil down to being bullet sponges with one-shot mechanics. There are exceptions, of course. Fractals was very well done, but most dungeons aren’t up to par.
The game needs boss fights with actual mechanics behind them – not insta-gibbers with enough hp to make you fall asleep at the keyboard.
That’s about all I have to say on the subject. Overall, Guild Wars 2 is an amazing game in almost every aspect, but it just falls so very short in a few aspects – aspects that an otherwise mediocre game by a mediocre development team managed to provide proper examples of.
I could see that. How about:
Every day, Nicholas’s descendant appears in a different location on Tyria, providing a mechanic that encourages exploration of the open world. In exchange for a specific trophy item from that zone, he’ll offer you one gift of the traveler. Open them up for a mystery prize (including a very small chance at a precursor) or build up stacks to trade for individual pieces of a pre-cursor.
For example, let’s just say that 1 stack of gifts = 1/4 of a precursor, so 1000 gifts = a precursor of your choice. Example – Dawn = Blade of Dawn, Sheath of Dawn, Guard of Dawn, and Handle of Dawn.
I like it. This seems like the kind of thing Fractals was made for.
Indeed. We already have the Ascalonian fractal to let us witness/participate in the Charr invasion of Ascalon. Why not let us experience an Orr that isn’t hideous and covered in zombies?
This fractal would send you back in time to visit Orr and experience its grandeur before the charr invaded + Vizier Khilbron sank the nation. Your goal is to reach the Vizier in an attempt to stop him – only to ultimately fail and watch the continent go for a ~250 year bath.
And I’m just waiting for some kind of rat-like boss that runs around stealing baubles, all the while exclaiming “shinies!”
Did anyone hear the word “petition?” Because I really want this.