I just keep my chat closed if what I’m going to say isn’t polite. I recommend this approach. Even if vote-kicking were changed, it should not be a license to kitten.
I am pro choice, as in make two separate achievements, one for Tyria, one for the Mists. Both would be required for Legendary and for the star and title.
Why? This harms no one. If implemented, the PvE only players and the Wv3 only players have something else to shoot for, and giving more people something to do in an MMO is never a bad thing.
I find that having a mix of Toughness and Vitality has served me well; although the exact mix seems to be different depending on which character I’m on. It also depends on what other stats I’m pushing. Once I get acceptable damage, how much fudge room do I have to put into defense. Also, trait lines which offer major traits that fit what I’m going for will influence which I choose — assuming I’m not just building a porcelain cannon.
it just annoys me when they nickel and dime players with Gambling..that is just low..
I understand your annoyance. I will never buy a key no matter what they put in the boxes. If everyone who objects to gamble boxes did so, then their continuance (or discontinuance) would depend on whether the people who don’t object spent enough money to make the model profitable. Since the trend in video games w/ cash shops seems to be gamble boxes, I’d guess the answer will be that they are profitable.
MMO’s are in a peculiar state these days. There seems to be a major dichotomy. On one side, many players won’t play without stuff as rewards; they want everything; they want it now; and they want to race through content at breakneck speed while expecting the company to produce more right now. It’s instant gratification run amok. On the other side, the developers cannot produce "stuff’ fast enough to satisfy them, and don’t know how to slow players down in a way that the impatient player base will accept.
ANet tried a token system and “time and effort intensive plus RNG” legendary. Players broke that as a means to “slow them down” in short order. Now ANet is resorting to time gating and more RNG. I’ve yet to see anyone offer an alternative that would satisfy both “sides,” since they seem to be diametrically opposed.
I try to maintain some perspective. Do I like some of the reward systems as they are? No, but I understand why they are that way. Do I have to have everything I want? No.
Can I enjoy the game as it is? Yes, very much so. Is it perfect? No. Are they trying to improve it? Seems like it to me, even though they’ve made what I see as mistakes.
A lot of players from my first guild played a lot of GW1 PvP. They left the game in mid-October, and have not returned. That’s the only indication I have, and it says GW2 has not made it as an eSport.
I’d drop the elite on Necromancer, Guardian, and Elementalist without thinking twice.
I’d usually drop it on the Engineer.
I’d situationally drop it on Thief and Ranger.
I don’t think I’d ever drop it on Warrior or Mesmer.
This is the correct answer.
Actually, I’d move Necro to the "situationally: list. Plague 2 for blind can be very helpful in limited situations, and the extra health it provides can make a difference solo by giving the heal time to get off CD.
Other than that… well, a lot of the elites just aren’t worth taking.
Meh. I’d rather have an extra well on my skill bar instead of plague. With the traits I use that would be way more powerful than an elite.
Oh, I would too in most cases. However, I find that since I don’t have the choice, Plague is a better option in some cases than the Elementalist has. Plague followed by Well of Darkness make for a lot of blind. While blind isn’t needed in a lot of situations, it can at least help in some. Maybe I should be putting Necro in the “usually drop” category rather than situationally, though.
You only get 20 silvers for you rares ? That’s weird, most rares I sell are around 30-45 silvers.
The buy price for many rares has recently been down around 20-22s. Then there’s the 15%. To make 20 silver you have to sell for 23. The sell prices I’ve seen in the last two days, on the other hand, have been anywhere from 23 to 35s. The poster you’re referring to is perhaps selling at the buy price rather than listing at the sell price. Overall, though, the prices seem to be tending up a bit since the patch.
Is Grast more reliable yet? If not, maybe he should create the bubble once, at the start of the fight, and it stays up the whole time. If the bubble only protects you from falling rocks, done.
I’d drop the elite on Necromancer, Guardian, and Elementalist without thinking twice.
I’d usually drop it on the Engineer.
I’d situationally drop it on Thief and Ranger.
I don’t think I’d ever drop it on Warrior or Mesmer.
This is the correct answer.
Actually, I’d move Necro to the "situationally: list. Plague 2 for blind can be very helpful in limited situations, and the extra health it provides can make a difference solo by giving the heal time to get off CD.
Other than that… well, a lot of the elites just aren’t worth taking.
Because the odds on getting a rare as an open world drop are vanishingly small if you don’t follow the narrow path to increased chances?
There’s nothing new here. Once the people clamoring for a challenge learned the new mechanics, the dungeon becomes easy again, so it’s back to time/reward.
Because people are skipping the harder, unrewarding content to get to the easier, rewarding content.
its just a money milking machine that cares very little for their players,
How do you reconcile this belief with the fact that many of the changes to the game were made in response to requests by players?
- Ascended gear: requested by people who wanted more to do, a way to progress
- Ascended available in a variety of ways: in response to outcry against FotM
- Dailies providing choices: requested by players
- AC changes: requested by dungeon players who thought the boss fights were boring
- Changes to meta boss chests I (guaranteed rare): requested by players
- Changes to meta boss chests II (1 day/account): an attempt, in part, to address the negatives brought up by players
- Guild Missions I: Players said there was no reason to be in a guild
- Guild Missions II: Response to small guilds which complained about Guild Missions I
Good kitten, man! If they care little about about what players want, why the frack are they listening to them? I recognize that not every change has pleased everyone, but sweeping, baseless generalities are over the top.
Everything you said circles around time gated grind and carrot on the stick to keep players in game and not leaving, the rares are there for exactly the same reasons to keep the populations playing, if you cannot see all those things you quoted are so the company can retain players to make money, i feel you’re a bit sheltered..
Has very little to do with caring about players and more to do with players buying gems..if they really cared about their customers over money the new and old weapons and items in black lion chests wouldn’t exist, heck the chests wouldn’t exist, we wouldn’t need 15 types of tokens, karma would actually get you stuff worth having, everything would be in game as drops etc..
Its not.
“If they really cared about their customers over money…” No business can afford to just ignore the bottom line or they won’t be a business for very long. Of course they want to retain people. What business doesn’t want customers. It’s a stretch to get “ANet doesn’t care about players” from months of updates providing some of the things players asked for.
No, your disappointment with this game has poisoned your outlook. The grind comes from the thoughts “have to have that” and “want now.” How else do I account for the difference between you and me? I feel no pressure at all to buy gems, whereas you do.
(edited by IndigoSundown.5419)
Thanks to all who replied, either in post, PM or in game. We have made a choice, and appreciate your taking the time to speak with us. Good luck in game and in RL!
its just a money milking machine that cares very little for their players,
How do you reconcile this belief with the fact that many of the changes to the game were made in response to requests by players?
- Ascended gear: requested by people who wanted more to do, a way to progress
- Ascended available in a variety of ways: in response to outcry against FotM
- Dailies providing choices: requested by players
- AC changes: requested by dungeon players who thought the boss fights were boring
- Changes to meta boss chests I (guaranteed rare): requested by players
- Changes to meta boss chests II (1 day/account): an attempt, in part, to address the negatives brought up by players
- Guild Missions I: Players said there was no reason to be in a guild
- Guild Missions II: Response to small guilds which complained about Guild Missions I
Good kitten, man! If they care little about about what players want, why the frack are they listening to them? I recognize that not every change has pleased everyone, but sweeping, baseless generalities are over the top.
I just dont understand the need for it, they will make tons of cash either way and have a much happier player base without the rng
It’s simple. They’re betting that they will make more money from the compulsive gamblers and the people who “have to” have the items than they will lose from those who will not gamble.
Gamble boxes are the rage in many Asian games. Perfect World, for instance, has a lot of them, and their Western-based MMO’s (STO, CO and probably also in NWO which is in beta) feature them.
That said, I’ll add my preferences to this thread. Gamble boxes will in no way entice me to spend money. If I want to buy something in a game, I want to buy it, not buy a chance at it. I will continue to buy things I want in the gem store, when and if I have money, but I will chose to do without anything that is exclusively available in a gamble box.
A friend and I are looking for a small guild. Our first guild fell apart due to people leaving the game. We tried big, and didn’t care for it. We hope to find a smaller guild environment where our contribution might matter more. We are currently on HoD, but would be willing to move to ET or FC during the free period (I’m currently unemployed, and money is an issue).
About us: we live on the US West Coast. My friend works in retail and his schedule is always up in the air. Some days, he can play for hours and hours, others he can barely do dailies. He likes dungeons, WvW and general PvE, and is not into sPvP. He has 3 80’s, thief, elementalist and ranger and tends to prefer glass cannons. I play somewhat more due to free time, though I do like to get out, so less time than some. I like open world PvE, DE temple events, dungeons, and might do WvW once in a great while. I have 5 80’s (no ranger, engineer or guardian) and tend to prefer more durable builds. Even my GC’s (thief and mesmer) are more ceramic than glass. We have 3 rl friends on HoD who might or might not be interested, so if you’re open to that, all the better. If we join a guild, it will be our only guild, and we will always represent — I’m kind of old fashioned and if I’m going to belong to something, I want to belong. We were both officers in a GW1 guild, and I was the healing coordinator in a smallish WoW guild.
About you: You want mature players who are even keel sorts, not inclined to produce drama. You want to include people. You prefer to remain at a manageable size, to preserve a sense of family/friends rather than the great anonymous mass that a large guild can be. Your guild name does not egregiously break the 4th Wall or display questionable taste.
About that last … we are live-and-let-live types. We don’t have any problems with people naming their characters or guilds what they want. We just prefer not to display a guild name that breaks what immersion we have or one which we are not proud to display. We hope this preference does not offend anyone.
Finally, if moving to FC or ET is in the cards, we’d prefer to move before the free move deadline. We’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. Thanks much for your time.
A whole lot of people on this forum would rather have everyone silently leave instead of giving negative feedback, that if addressed, might help fix perceived problems.
Don’t include me in that group. I don’t want anyone to leave, or shut up. However, while negative feedback is still feedback, negative constructive feedback is way easier to address. It’s a lot harder to provide what people are looking for if all they provide is generalities, yet that’s mostly what we see.
I’ll say one thing, though. Posters might provide more constructive feedback in these complaint threads if they didn’t think that doing so would get the thread moved to the oblivion sub-forum (i.e., Suggestions), whereas the generalized. “I like …” and “I don’t like …” gets left in the more-widely-viewed General Tab.
Well Indigo, they have sort of already done those things. They are pretty much adding content monthly. The OP maybe forgot they added Fractles. They added a one time mother of all events. They saw the issues it raised, addressed them, and sent people items who didn’t complete it based on the client failures.
The have added WvW changes. Ascended gear. New jump puzzles. And a living story. This is all in what, less than 6 months? Oh, and free.
Exactly. Fact is, nothing ANet does is going to please everyone. I just think these threads would be more constructive if posters said what they would like to see in less general terms. It’s hard to produce something if all people say is, “We want new content but the stuff you did program is not good.”
I’ve been reading this thread and wondering why I find the proliferation of these types of threads annoying. It isn’t that I disagree with every criticism of the game. While I think some of them are off-base, I think some of them aren’t. However, the threads for the most part degenerate into, “GW2 is awesome” and “No it isn’t” fests.
Then it hit me. This thread is not new content. I’ve read nothing in this thread that I have not seen in many other threads. There are no new, insightful suggestions on how to better the game. No, “Give us more engaging PvE content,” and “Balance classes,” are not insightful suggestions. At best, they’re vaguely expressed desires.
So, in an attempt to better the forums, the thread and the game, what would interesting PvE content be? I think instanced missions like the GW1 Challenge missions would be interesting. I think providing an easier mode and a harder mode to dungeons would be a good thing, since it would respond to both the “They’re too easy” and the “They’re too hard” crowds. I think that moving DE’s to where they had more of an impact in zones would be a good idea. For instance, if the centaurs win in Harathi Hinterlands, their advance might spill over into Gendarren Fields, and taking back Harathi might require more than just winning DE’s in a few camps.
Your turn. Or, carry on arguing, w/e.
(edited by IndigoSundown.5419)
To address the OP’s real complaint/suggestion:
The addition of Fused Weapons in chests is a response to people asking for more skins in the Gem Store mixed with complaints about “nothing in chests worth spending for keys.” While they are currently “hot,” this does not make them “cool.”
While there may not be as many skins in game as we’d like — there are a lot of skins that can be gotten in the game using pixel gold, karma and whatnot. If you want your look to stand out in game, go after skins that others are not using, not the new rage that everyone will want for a short time until the next big thing comes along.
Monthly should reset at midnight GMT on 1 April, which would be 8:00 PM on 31 March on the U.S. East Coast and 5:00 PM on 31 March on the U.S West Coast.
I still play, I still like the game. I will continue to play for as long as I continue to like it. I’ve been critical at times. I will continue to be critical when I feel it’s warranted. I will, hopefully offer insight that might improve the game, though I’m sure I’m not all-knowing.
While I’m sure the OP has good intentions, telling people on the internet to be patient was doomed from the start.
(edited by IndigoSundown.5419)
I have no real issues with the change, however Time Warp should have had a CD decrease.
If you have a small non asuran character, you are stuck with the stock white GS.. or Ebon Vanguard GS for any hope of scaled appearance. GS are waay overdone.
Check out the Aureate Highlander skin. Similar to stock but more ornate.
I’ll agree to offering choice for 5 point traits, if only so my necro bunker can trait Toughness w/out getting the kitten Jagged Horror.
If you think people eliminating small guilds will reduce complaints, well … you have a thing or two to learn about people.
I mean, you’re never going to see a post on gw2lfg.com saying “GLF2M Zerker Engineers Only” now are you? In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a group actually looking for an engineer ever, nor are there ever that many people who eagerly post the fact they’re an engineer looking for an invite.
The last time I remember a team wanting an engineer was in an AC Path 3 — just after launch — when the burrows were really difficult to target — before the grenade emasculation.
While I understand ANet’s visions for the engineer and necro, trade-offs of one game-play element for another are risky. The engineer is not “supposed” to have top tier DPS because of its versatility. However, if that versatility doesn’t actually add anything that the higher-dps class can provide, well… that’s a design failure.
I still say Guild Wars 1 didn’t have a trinity. WoW has a trinity.
The reason Guild Wars 1 didn’t have a trinity is because there’s no aggro mechanic. There’s no taunt mechanic. Sure Guild Wars 1 players called certain people tanks, but tanks weren’t strictly necessary, at least in PVe.
I never used a tank in PVe. Not once. That means that in Guild Wars 1, the trinity didn’t exist. Not as it does in other games.
No, not as in other games because of the lack of taunts. There was, however, an aggro mechanic, although there was some disagreement in the community over how it worked. It was possible to influence mobs to attack one character, who was then bolstered by Prot Spirit and heals while everyone else wailed away. Also, it was possible to use collision detection to control mobs.
I think the ideal combat mechanics might only exist in an as-yet-unexplored middle ground. Classic trinity, massive numbers of skills most of which see use infrequently, global cooldowns and static spell/ability use are all dated mechanics which suck the life out of combat for me. People talk about auto-attacking bosses in GW2. I don’t. What I do is much more interesting than standing in one spot spamming Flash Heal and Renew on one target through the whole fight. And what about DPS attack chains macroed onto one key? How is that interesting — unless all you like from your game is to watch big numbers above your target.
However, there is also something to be said for roles being better-defined. I thought, based on the GW2 pre-launch publicity, that CC was going to play a greater role in team play. Truth is, other than slows, CC is of limited use in PvE. Healing is not robust. Almost all of the team support options require fairly close proximity, but the team has to be coordinated for that. In a typical PuG, people freelance. I wish I had a silver for every time a player has dodge-rolled out of my Mark of Blood.
I find the GW2 stories to be a mixed bag. There are some I like, and a lot of them I find myself neutral to. I don’t hate any of them. Expecting published fiction quality from an MMO storyline seems to be a big ask. I think this is partly due to the constraints of fitting the story into an MMO storyline. Even the stories in ToR were a mixed bag, with a whole lot of meh mixed in with some bits of good.
When that event mob was a Veteran, the event was fun and seemed to get done all the time. Now that the fight is more “interesting,” it seems to be done rarely. Since the Risen Knight became a Champion, I’ve seen it done once on my server. You guessed it, it was on a day when Kill a Champion was part of the daily. There’s also the Risen Worshiper Event in King’s Passage. Since they buffed the Risen Noble mechanics (which is what the Champion uses), no one seems to want to complete that one either. In both cases, your server may vary.
I don’t think they would ever let people have OP combinations like tough/vit/healing
Why not, you’re sacrificing everything to be a pure support player, how’s that op. There are already tanky/bunker/immortal builds that work well. That’s what daisy cutters are good for.
Yes, and we saw a slight nerf to ele bunker, now they’re talking about boon hate, so there will be another counter to bunker builds. ANet does not seem to want tanky, immortal builds.
come on, i know everyone wants this.
when we will have it?
We will have it if ANet decides to scrap a lot of the work done on the gearing system. And the odds on that are?
Based on ANet’s history, it won’t be a repeat.
Dye drop rates have been fairly consistent for me for the last 2-3 months. Don’t let variations in a random distribution fool you.
I don’t think challenging content can co-exist with the downed state and rally mechanic.
- snip -
What I’m getting at here is that I’m purposefully playing bad by abusing the rally system. Unless of coarse this is intended design which would be quite funny to hear a developer admit.
Is that abusing the mechanic, or using the mechanic as intended? What about the tendrils in the Subject Alpha fights? If they were not put in to provide a means to rally, why were they put in?
If you’re downed 4+ times, is it because it’s easier to get downed and rally than to stay up? Is the encounter doable without going down? It sounds like you think it is but you are “allowing” yourself to be downed (“purposely playing badly”), but how am I to know? Also, what degree of skill would it take to play that existing fight without the downed state? Are we talking 50% of the player-base, 10%, 1%? Also, at what fractal level.
I agree that MMO’s are not about crushing challenge in the open world. But, Anet has explicitly stated that they were addressing challenge with the grenth temple fight and, I assume, with the buffs to the krait and undead in various DE’s.
- snip -
Bottom line, I think they are still trying to figure out combat. And, that’s why threads like this are helpful.
I think both Raine and Calae are pointing to something here. There are times when the combat system (which includes the downed state) does seem confused. It seems as if some encounter mechanics are designed to suddenly down players, with the downed state existing to mitigate the frustration. This is especially evident in dungeons when downed players with no “escape” mechanic are in punishing AoE.
Sometimes, once you get past the frustration and look for what downed you, you can see a tell. Sometimes, especially when the mob is shrouded with the amazing technicolor dreamcoat of particle effects, tells are very hard to see. For instance, I’ve yet to actually see what the Legendary Risen Whatever at the end of the Arah chain actually looks like other than a vague outline.
As to the open world, well, the new risen are more challenging, but the Krait Hypnos is a lot more so. It’s going to take time for players to recognize it’s tell, especially if large groups of krait spawn. The combination of the Slaver’s immobilize and the Hypnos’ AoE of poison nastiness is going to down people, and other players are not going to risk death to revive them. I was in a United Arcanist Lab DE yesterday that failed, which is the first time I’ve seen that happen.
Even so, I can fight the krait, and I’m hardly a top tier player. So, maybe the devs are aiming for some content that is aimed at average to above average skill. I expect that all the complaints about the “old” Risen had to rankle. Remember when people were saying, “The Risen are not hard, they are annoying.”?
Back on point, I don’t know if content that will be challenging to the top tier of players is possible without the downed state. I do suspect that it is not possible without making it difficult to rally or revive, and that is going to create frustration along the lines of, "Why put in the downed state if it is “impossible” to revive?"
I think the (GW2) developers will have a hard time making any content challenging. The game doesn’t punish bad play and encourage players to improve. Instead it creates an environment where making mistakes can be covered up by a friendly ally taking the time to help you get back up.
GW2 doesn’t punish bad play? Why does mob AoE always seem to center on the downed player? Why does every third thread in the dungeon forums seem to be about dungeons being “too hard?” Why is the response to these threads almost always “You just need to learn how to dodge, use skills, position, etc.?” In other words, “improve?”
When they enter content that prevents them from healing their downed allies (assuming this content exists) wouldn’t this cause confusion and make them think that the content is broken or too hard?
Since that is what is occurring, yes.
You’ve made the point in other threads that you do not find GW2 challenging. This thread seems like just another means to deliver your request for content that requires your level of dedication and twitch reflexes. My suggestion would be to ask for hard mode dungeons. While you’re at it, also support “easier mode” dungeons to keep the “too hard” crowd out of the theoretical harder content.
Open world content? MMO open world difficulty is always going to be tuned to the middle to low end of average play, not top tier skill. It does not hurt to ask, but don’t hold your breath.
I think the biggest difference between this game’s dungeons and those other games’ dungeons are that in a role-defined-by-class system, you may well be the only one who can fulfill that role in a group. Heals? Usually just one. Tank? Ditto. CC? Rarely more than one dedicated CC class, if any. DPS, whatever spots are left.
If you are the only one filling a role, your contribution is very noticeable. In GW2, you have to stand out in a different manner. Your build and skill has to speak for you, and that is neither as easy nor as noticeable unless the other people in the dungeon know what they’re about. Good players will recognize good play.
The word “event” has a very specific meaning in GW2, as in Dynamic Events, which occur in both PvE and WvW. It seems like these are the only possible vents they could be referring to. However, after they kittened up the original guild missions announcement, I’m hesitant to say for sure.
5 of 6 armor pieces that are P/V/T Gear can be had from karma vendors once an Orr temple or Arah event has been successfully completed.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_armor_sets#Exotic_Karma_armor_sets
As to whether this is the best set, there are 2 schools of thought. One says that only DPS matters. You might run into this attitude if you pug dungeons. The other says that survivability is important. P/V/T armor supplements what’s called a bunker build, which in an ele is likely to be 0/10/0/30/30 trait-wise. I can vouch that this build is hard to kill, but it also does not kill quickly. You’ll have to decide what play-style suits you.
The weapon was “his” when it was on his bar. Once he cast it on the ground, it stopped being his.
I’d like the Jagged Horror to blow up once, then never spawn again. Yes, I’d rather have nothing for my 5 points than the poster child for the Why There Should Be Choices for 5 Point Traits Foundation.
Maybe there re less people around this time? I think some events are triggered by a player walking in a certain spot.
Walking by and doing tasks for the local heart will both spawn some events. Others seem more on a timer. Some, of course, only spawn if another event fails.
Depending on time of day, etc. one can be lucky and get a lot of events, or not. My first character through Queensdale back at launch was almost 17 on completing the zone. My latest … well, the XP that comes with the zone completion reward pushed her from 12 to 13. ;/
I like underwater combat, but I believe I’m in the minority. If you’re getting a legendary for prestige, you might want to rethink. The only “true” endgame" activity that takes place even partially underwater is Honor of the Waves and a very small part of the Dwayna chain. Apologies if explorable Arah has UW fights, haven’t been there.
Just bought the game. I sure hope it is good. I am coming from WOW bored and want something new. i dont have time to do grind fest at all. I love PVP. I hope it is not dieing already before i even start
The game is not dying, far from it. This is just the usual drama you see on forums for every game, including WoW. I can’t speak much to PvP except to say that some people are playing it. There’s also WvW, which is sort of like an open world PvE server with limited maps and no strictly PvE quests — oh, and siege engines.
Yeah it did, based on the forum posts Robert Hrouda is the problem with the dungeon design because he has little idea of balance.
No, he’s not. Robert is basing dungeon design on decisions made by ANet management long ago. The problem is not Robert’s designs. He has done what management asked for, and to some extent what the dungeon community has asked for. If you want to sling blame, sling blame at ANet’s decision that dungeons are designed for coordinated teams of skilled players, not everyman.
You cannot tank in GW2 anyway, running defensive equipment ist just more forgiving but screws down dps. If you can’t survive – no problem. But better keep trying until you do instead of staying on defensive equipment and offer nothing at all. I prefer Berserker Warriors who die after 30 seconds over Soldier Warriors who die after 2 minutes. Because in those 30 seconds they pulled off more damage than the Soldier one would do in the whole run.
I agree with you, and think that is the fundamental design failure of GW2.
This whole debate has nothing to do with casual vs hardcore. Even though it comes up in every game.
The difference is simply the ability to learn, think creatively, react to the situation, and most importantly the willingness to learn. If someone ragequits over a few deaths, that’s a personal problem. You wont ever fix it until it becomes impossible to die.
I’m going to disagree. It’s not that simple. The difference is thresholds.
Think of the difference between someone who does something as a hobby and someone who does the same thing as a pastime. In a video game, the hobbyist spends the time needed to learn everything, whether he picks it up quickly or not. The hobbyist will buy a gaming keyboard and/or mouse because it maximizes his performance. In the case of dungeons that means he cuts down reaction time, leading to fewer “oops” deaths. The hobbyist is willing to crunch the numbers to see what works best in different situations. He is willing to do his homework on the dungeons so he knows what to expect. He enjoys burying himself in his hobby.
The person playing as a pastime is, well, just passing time for fun. He may be as willing to learn as anyone else, but his tolerance level for frustration is lower than the hobbyist. After a while, knocking his head against a wall and making no progress means he’s not having fun. Since fun was his goal, he’s out. Maybe he tries again later, maybe not. The hobbyist will never understand this unless he walks a mile in the pastime players shoes.
The pastime player has been conditioned by almost every other MMO to believe that dungeons are well within his capability. GW2 dungeons are not those dungeons. GW2 dungeons were designed for hobbyists. The problem is that that leaves the pastime player out in the cold. There are easier dungeons, but nothing that resembles the dungeon experience from other MMO’s. ANet’s intent was that these players would just stay in the open world, or do story mode (Lyssa knows why they would). However, they’re as used to having an enjoyable dungeon experience as anyone else.
The current design cannot cater to both the “too hard” and “too easy” views. ANet currently has no plans to either: make easier and harder explorables to cater to both; or buff the rewards for story dungeons, the supposed “normal mode,” to make them repeatable end-game content. Given their current dungeon work is centered on reworking the dungeons, we aren’t likely to see anything but those reworks for months.
Then there’s the difference in perspective. Some of the people who are saying it’s too hard are giving it their all in dungeons. One issue I see is picking out the stuff to use dodge — a limited resource — on, and what not to. It’s natural to try to dodge out of circles, big nasty-looking attacks, etc. The result is all too often being out of endurance when the attack you should dodge comes. The learning curve for these people is steeper than for others, who in turn cannot believe that people are having trouble. It’s likely that “never the twain shall meet” as far as these points of view go.
As to a “tutorial…” Story mode could have been a tutorial, but wasn’t back when I did them. It could be argued that at-launch AC story was harder than P 1 or 2 of AC Ex, for instance. The open world could have been a tutorial, but isn’t. Unless you choose to tackle mobs of a much higher level and/or in great numbers, you will not see anything that forces you to go anywhere close to all out. There is also nothing in the open world that teaches you how to work with others.
As to reviving the downed in dungeons, this is part of the learning curve. Many dungeon fights feature a lot of mob AoE, which often targets the downed. This can make it very punitive to try to revive them. Classes that have move-when-downed skills should be using these to move to safety. Players whose class has a quick revive skill don’t normally slot these skills in the open world because, well, they aren’t needed.
I’ve been on teams that did well, and teams that did poorly. I think both “sides” need to be more open to the others’ points of view. The players who do dungeons regularly might be better served to leave off with the negative comments and look at why people are having trouble. The players having difficulty might be better served to ask why others are not. Then maybe the “twain” could meet.
(edited by IndigoSundown.5419)