Guild Wars 2

Ashen.2907:

Poplolita.2638:

Ashen.2907:

Poplolita.2638:

Taurok.6708:

Poplolita.2638:

For the 10219231 times, you have custom arena for duels. Read scramblers post, he gets it.

The purpose of this post is to show that there are benefits to having duels in the open-world.

Broadly speaking, I think duels and duelers fall into one of two categories: “competitive” and “just-for-fun”. The “competitive” dueler has worked out a dueling build, wears his dueling gear, and seeks competitive matches against skilled opponents. Dueling is what he logged on for. Custom Arenas as implemented aren’t great at all for this purpose, but I think instanced dueling or dueling arenas could work fine for the competitive dueler in theory (unless I’m missing something).

But all my dueling in the past has been of the “just-for-fun” variety. And for this, convenience is paramount. I’m not here to duel, I’m here for some other purpose, perhaps leveling up. But how about a change of pace… want to duel, person I know or don’t? Sure! Ha ha, you got me. Back to the game. Want to duel while we wait for everyone to arrive? Sure, let’s kill some time! Later that day, I’m at a guild party on Southsun Beach. Everyone look and clear channel! SlayerDude is fighting WolfLady! Ah ha ha! Don’t we have wacky and fun times you guys!? It’s a huge “flavor” feature. Hide dueling away in an instance or arena and this never happens.

I’m talking about custom arena in general. You can always make one “just-for-fun”. Nothing is stopping you. For instance, I made one 3 months ago, and It worked just fine. Test it.

Does the custom arena take one out of the zone ?

I have played so many mmo, and there has been always a “hub” where duelers met. Gw2 hub happens to be:
1. Custom Arena in spvp.
2. Obsidian Sanctum in wvw
It’s enough to not consider it a priority. If you dislike changing zones that much, than I’m afraid it’s not ArenaNet problem.

Never claimed it was a priority.

Anet has stated that they want to incorporate open world dueling.
Anet has described the options you mention in negative terms.

If two friends are sitting somewhere waiting for an event to start, using a system that requires them to leave the zone in order to kill time with a duel is counter productive.

So,

Ashen.2907:

Does the custom arena take one out of the zone ?

Where has Anet stated they wanted to instate open world dueling. I never saw that quote.

Chase.8415:

When a game starts losing money, thats when they change. If the current system they have is getting them money, why would you change it. Think of it from their perspective; such a small amount of people actually come to forums itself.

You’re more likely to register on a forum to complain about a game than you are to register for leaving good feedback.

Why can’t a complaint be good feedback? Feeback doesn’t have to be positive to be good feedback. Even Anet has said this.

It’s worth it for me. Best MMO I’ve played. Not without it’s problems, but that’s true of all MMOs.

Flissy.4093:

The most challenging PvE we have out there is Fractals. It’s a little tough at higher levels, and you may die a few times.

Now look at the rewards. Do you really think they would tie up any decent rewards to their hard content?

Oh, and they fired their dungeon team or forced them to be LS developers. So we can keep dreaming.

The team that made Molten Facility and Aetherblade Dungeon and TA is still there AFAIK. They fired the original dungeon team.

Considering most people have said the newer dungeons are better than the older ones, who cares?

I think some people don’t understand the whole risk/reward thing. In games centered around having to do specific instances to get specific items, the risk/reward thing works the way those people think it works. But this game was designed to be different.

You can get a precursor from a deer in a low level zone. I’ve gotten rares from them. Maybe even an exotic. The point is, if a game is going to give max level rewards everywhere, then those rewards have to be rare.

Some of us prefer this, because it means we can go anywhere and do anything. Not just run this raid to get this reward. Sure the risk vs rewards in those raids are great…as long as you want to run those raids.

If you want to be led around by the nose, to get specific rewards, there are other games out there for you.

If you want to be able to play anywhere, and just do what you want, not so much.

Azreell.1568:

The bottom line is this.

Log in – and see for yourself.

After a year of not playing you will be very surprised how little things have changed. In saying that was the game worth the box cost? Yes – but it has a VERY VERY limited playable lifespan vs most other AAA title games on the market atm.

It simply offers far to little to keep people interested as these forums and similar posts keep enforcing.

This simply just isn’t a game that you can play for years. You get short fixes here and there and then move on to greener pastures.

If that’s the case, why have I played this game for many times what I’ve played any other MMO for?

Zerging the three doesn’t work anymore since the last patch.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

I’d rather have the ‘80%’ of content every two weeks, than wait for months on end for something new to do. Many people complain that there isn’t enough to do in the game as it is. When we had the six-week break over the holidays, I couldn’t wait for the next patch.

If the price of new content every two weeks is a few days of bugs, I am happy to pay that price. I’m not really looking forward to this upcoming ‘break’ in content releases.

See, it’s not one or the other. It’s not wait two weeks or wait six months. It’s wait two weeks or wait maybe 3 weeks. Maybe a month.

The pace of the living world is hectic for me sometimes, and I can play often. I’m thinking for a lot of people, it’s too fast anyway. So why not take that extra week or two to fine tune the stuff?

I’m not saying come out with an expansion every year. I’m saying come out with a patch that works once a month. Once every three weeks.

Because people do leave games due to frustration. It’s a bad look.

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Nage.1520:

WoW is just as mediocre as it’s always been. This game, warts and all, is much better to me. It has its problems, but it’s a better game. However, OP, if you didn’t like it before, I’m not sure you’ll like it any better now. Unless you like WvW and want to check out the new Edge of the Mists map which a lot of people like.

Oh really? How is it a better game? Because it has no sub and looks pretty?

GW2 is the grindiest game I’ve ever played and seems geared towards people who have OCD over completing checklists.

It’s better because I don’t outlevel areas. I can pretty much go what I want and do what I want, when I want. I’m not funneled into raiding, which I consider to be the most ridiculous, boring, annoying affair ever designed in a game. The trinity is silly, contrived and makes me want give up gaming altogether. I don’t compete with people for nodes. I don’t have to gear up to PvP at all.

There’s more to this game than checklists. In fact, if you only play this game for checklists, you’re probably going to feel quite pressured.

This game is a great game to kick around in. WoW…not so much.

WoW is just as mediocre as it’s always been. This game, warts and all, is much better to me. It has its problems, but it’s a better game. However, OP, if you didn’t like it before, I’m not sure you’ll like it any better now. Unless you like WvW and want to check out the new Edge of the Mists map which a lot of people like.

Kenshin.6154:

It’s programing code. No matter how much you test it, there are always gonna be some bugs in it. Stop QQing already… you get urgent bug fixes for LS within a day… Some of you ppl are so… I rather not say it, because I will get another infraction for it

How is 3 days a day? This time it took 3 days. But the content is only here for 14 days. Some would say that’s about 20% of the time you have to experience it.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Ashen.2907:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

It can work, with some reworking and refocus on actually expanding on the game and/or altering things so it actually has impact.

Which, notably, the last third of this ‘season’ did.

This is a really good point in my opinion. LS has a lot of potential. It is something new. Learning how to use any tool (and LS is a storytelling tool) well takes some practice. Some trial and error. This is an area where I think Anet gets too much flack. They should be allowed the time to either make it work, or to decide that they cannot make it work and to switch gears to something else.

That’s not how the industry works. Players are not willing to see crappy content as active beta testers for something that maybe won’t work.

They should have had a bloody business plan before they released an long running MMO. The LS was an afterthought, badly executed and rushed.

Look at our current incarnation of the LS, the great final. There are more bugs than the story has lines to tell. A bulletproof way to get rid of some customers.

The LS was adaptation. Something was missing or wrong with PvE in the first place, Anet responded by trying something different. Some would call that thinking on your feet.

Of course it will take time to get it right. That’s like anything. If you think any MMO is any different, I’d have to disagree. Most MMOs take a couple of years before they find themselves. Most all but fail before that happens. So far that hasn’t happened to Guild Wars 2.

Cush.4063:

This game is a lot different than other games. Most games release new content in expansion packs which come out every 6months+ or so and they have to deal with bugs every time they release one as well but with this game content comes out every 2 weeks and that’s the reason why you experience new bugs every 2 weeks. If GW2 only released content once or twice a year you wouldn’t be having this happen. Its the price you take for getting new content continuously rather than in one big package not that often. Its hard work. I for one look forward to new content to play every 2 weeks and thoroughly enjoy it and so think the price is worth it.

By the same token, if Guild Wars 2 came out with content every 2 months, I’d have to deal with less bugs, but I also wouldn’t lost days out of the two weeks I have to experience it. Very few games give you content that disappears in a couple of weeks. This puts pressure on players.

Waiting for them to fix bugs puts extra pressure on players. It’s not really fair. If something doesn’t work right, does Anet give you extra time to complete achievements or get the content done? Extra time to farm the cores you need to change the color of your back piece?

I don’t think so.

Macros are allowed as long as one key press equals one command. You can’t put multiple commands in the same macro. And yes, it is bannable to use it.

I think he’s talking about the change to the event, so you can’t zerg the knights. I like this better frankly.

Yargesh.4965:

This is the first release that has been in my opinion bad. That they can’t seem to find their footing on this one is frustrating true. I am sure that they will go over this to find out why.
I have still really enjoyed the vast majority of the releases and found them to be until now really minimally bugged.

This is the worst by far, but it’s not the first severely bugged living story patch either. Often it’s just stability, crashes and a few bugged achievements, but as time goes on, I find my frustration level going up.

I don’t remember any LS patch that didn’t come with 3-4 updates on the following day.

I understand your point, but the problem exists and a solution for it exists. It’s a choice whether you use it or not, but I’d rather do the content, and maybe make some new friends in the process.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

But, Nage, we can’t get on those successful overflows (or any overflow) if we don’t guest to the high-population servers. I’ve only guested once, I believe, so it is, indeed, a race to get the achievements done on my server before the ‘crowd’ drifts away. And doing it in the middle of the night? Lol. Forget it, even on patch day. And, I feel we have a decent population, compared to the servers some players describe.

That’s why I guest.

runeblade.7514:

Mattargul.9235:

When I play at least two hours I typically get the daily done without going out of my way.

If you are not doing the harvest achievement you’re doing it wrong.

Battle of Lion Arch does not have any nodes, Dungeons do not have any nodes, Fractals do not have any nodes.

So don’t do that one daily and do the other ones. It’s still only 1 of 12.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Don’t forget Living Story. It’s one of the things that keeps me coming back to GW2.

I haven’t forgotten it. It comes down to getting every achievement point. lol

Unlike most games, it’s different for different people. If you’re interested in challenging content and nothing else, end game is dungeons (and soloing dungeons for some people), Fractals, WvW and for some SPvP tournaments.

But different people have different end game. Some grind for legendaries and that’s their end game. Some go for achievements and try to get every point. Some are just altoholics. A lot of people farm money to completely their “look”.

What there isn’t is one standard end game that everyone does.

Does it have a link. If it does, it’s not from Anet. Does it have an attachment. If it does. it’s not from Anet.

Daroon.1736:

Nage.1520:

I agree OP. The only thing I disagree with is that you have to do it during prime time only. The busier servers are busy after the patch around the clock.

Yeah – I did say ‘aside from the high pop servers’ The problem is that all the AP hunters guest on those servers causing overflows, which are seen by many as another problem which needs to be solved.

Not a problem for me. I get almost all my achievements on overflows.

Short answer: They’re working on it.

Longer answer….the game launched far too early and was missing a lot of features that were added much later. It’s still trying to play catch up. Features like guild features will come in time, but they’re in a long line of features that are coming. Maybe we’ll get some in the upcoming features patch.

I agree OP. The only thing I disagree with is that you have to do it during prime time only. The busier servers are busy after the patch around the clock.

Nope, you can’t.

There are plenty of quests in this game, and there’s plenty of story in this game. What’s missing is a quest giver who tells you explicitly what the quest is.

What’s missing from this game isn’t really questing. It’s “longer” epic quests. Stuff like the missions in Guild Wars 1. There are precious few of those moments in this game.

However, quest chains are more long and involved and tell a story, and often tell take the place of multiple quests.

mrstealth.6701:

Nage.1520:

You’re equating the release of a set of cosmetic weapon skins (which aren’t content as far as I can tell), with the release of an entire zone?

I was comparing the amount of content in that release with amount of gem store moneziation it included.

The issue is exactly that these skins are not content in any way. These skins and monetization are what we are getting instead of content. These skins could (and I feel should) be rewards for game content. Or at least rewards for doing something in game.

I make no claims that there are a large number of people that want every weapon in a set. But there are a lot that would want multiple weapons, especially those of us that play multiple characters and builds. And that weapon is something I will see and use every time I play that character or use that build.

The number of people that want 1,2,3, or the whole set does not alter the fact that $1000 worth of BL ticket weapons were added along with rather small bits of playable content. Even going with the TP and gem exchange, nearly $400 is still a huge amount of monetization, accompanying a rather small content release.

I also made no argument about the weapon skins taking a long time to get. The situation is quite the opposite, actually. Adding items via the gemstore is a matter of dropping cash for instant gratification. You’re getting items for opening your wallet instead of playing the game.

edit:
And all of that monetization is on top of the $76 worth of merchandise added directly to the gemstore in the last 30 days.

And it’s all completely irrelevant to game play. The game is still the game no matter what they add to the gem store. Buy the stuff or don’t buy the stuff, it doesn’t change the game. Not even a little.

Anyway someone made the comment that 90% of the focus in the gem store. But obviously the people designing a single set of weapons aren’t the same as the people designing an entire map.

Yes, Anet adds cosmetic items to the gem store. Yes, Anet adds stuff to the game. If you don’t like the stuff in the game, that’s one thing, but obviously there are people who do. That’s nothing to do with adding stuff to the gem store.

I didn’t buy any of those weapons, but I had a great time in Edge of the Mists…and I continue to have a great time in EotM.

mrstealth.6701:

Nage.1520:

Let me ask you a simple question. A month ago, Anet released Edge of the MIsts an entire WvW map. It’s pretty big. It’s an entire zone. What was in the cash shop for that update that represented 90% of the update? I’m genuinely curious.

That’s the patch that added Lovestruck weapons, which at the time took an average of over $1000 ($5000 now) in Black Lion Keys to obtain a full set of, or about $55 ($275 now) each. On the conservative and smarter side, you can exchange about $300 worth of gems to buy them on the TP at around $15 each. (note that the entire supply of these weapons still depends on BL keys being bought/farmed)

Just looking at a single weapon purchase, is EotM really worth $55, or even just $15? What about $300, or $1000 for the full set? Compared to the amount of playable content added, the gem store got a massively disproportionate addition. I think I’d put EotM down for $5 DLC at most, which still gives $5 to $300+ (at the conservative end) comparison between content and skin monetization. With those numbers, 10% content is actually being extremely generous. And this isn’t even including the other gemstore merchandise added at the same time.

And the huge difference in the value placed on claim ticket weapons by Anet ($55-275) and the players that have acquired them ($10-$25) says something on its own. Anet has an absolutely absurd concept of just how much these skins are/should be worth. I could buy several full-price games for the BL key cost of a single weapon.

edit: amusing note
I had to edit this a couple times because the kitten filter didn’t like ‘$5’ being put after the letter ‘a’

You’re equating the release of a set of cosmetic weapon skins (which aren’t content as far as I can tell), with the release of an entire zone?

Weapon skins are skins, not content. They’re a way to customize your look. Those skins will be there for a long time, perhaps they’ll go on sale at some point. But you’re also assuming that everyone who wants weapon skins will want to buy the entire set of those skins. That’s just not the case.

A long time ago, I got two weapons from the black lion specialist from a set. I got them from a ticket that came from a chest that I opened, and I got one from farming keys by doing runs of the personal story on an alt and then deleting the alt. Neither cost me a dime. It did take me a lot of time to get them, but no more time than most end game weapons in Guild Wars 1.

Edge of the Mists, on the other hand, isn’t a weapon skin. Here’s another thing. You can only use one or two skins per weapon type per character. There are weapon skins coming out all the time. Why would you even want to have every weapon skin of one type? But you might play on the Edge of the Mists map if you like WvW for months and months, long after you’ve forgotten about a weapon skin.

Your argument saying it would take a long time to get cosmetic skins isn’t an argument that 90% of the content in a patch is gem store. If nothing else, it took a whole lot longer to create the Edge of the Mists, than it did to create all those weapon skins.

Dungeons should never be used as gates. But small based party play does exist in guilds. You just have to find the right guilds.

A R W E N.6895:

Nage.1520:

TehPwnerer.7215:

Zypher.7609:

TehPwnerer.7215:

I haven’t played the game since December because of all the crappy stuff that gets added to the game. 90% of every update is just gem store nonsense so I don’t even bother.

Ahh yes, because you have not played you know that 90% of the update is gemstore? This last patch was about 10% store with 90% being LS events. Please do not post your knowledge of something that you do not even play.

Really? Read my post. I get the updates in the email that are the overviews of the new patches. 90% of every patch is RNG and Gem store related. The other 10% is a stupid hat or back skin and the temporary content update overview for the next two weeks.

So you base your knowledge of the game on a one page email?

Saying that 90% of every patch is RNG and Gem store related is demonstrably untrue. If you’d said 90% of each patch is about new achievements that drive people nuts, you’d be closer.

Open your launcher and count the amount of things that talk about the gem store addition.

Come back here and say it out loud

The launcher is the game? Who knew? Last I checked, I don’t play the launcher. I play Guild Wars 2.

Let me ask you a simple question. A month ago, Anet released Edge of the MIsts an entire WvW map. It’s pretty big. It’s an entire zone. What was in the cash shop for that update that represented 90% of the update? I’m genuinely curious.

TehPwnerer.7215:

Zypher.7609:

TehPwnerer.7215:

I haven’t played the game since December because of all the crappy stuff that gets added to the game. 90% of every update is just gem store nonsense so I don’t even bother.

Ahh yes, because you have not played you know that 90% of the update is gemstore? This last patch was about 10% store with 90% being LS events. Please do not post your knowledge of something that you do not even play.

Really? Read my post. I get the updates in the email that are the overviews of the new patches. 90% of every patch is RNG and Gem store related. The other 10% is a stupid hat or back skin and the temporary content update overview for the next two weeks.

So you base your knowledge of the game on a one page email?

Saying that 90% of every patch is RNG and Gem store related is demonstrably untrue. If you’d said 90% of each patch is about new achievements that drive people nuts, you’d be closer.

I’d like an expansion….if it could be produced while also producing the more frequent content updates.

Kasei.8726:

No, I have to completely disagree. Every skill in GW1 could be really useful in the right build. In GW2 some skills (and traits) are just flat out useless. The skill system in GW1 was only limited by your creativity. Quirky builds like Touch Ranger will never exist in GW2.

Ok I Did It.2854:

[…]I think Anet went down this road not to be unique but more so they didn’t have to worry about changing skills etc, and it allowed for easier changes etc[…]

I want to agree with that statement, but for all the things that removed from skills, they added something else.

The enchantments, hexs, and conditions system was easier to manage than the current boon and conditions system. Combo field and finishers didn’t exist. Movement was much more limited, couldn’t jump or leap for example. No underwater combat. etc.

Quick shot would like a word with you.

KarlaGrey.5903:

The main devs behind GW (notably Jeff Strain, who worked magic with GW) have long been gone from Anet, and have founded a new studio called Unded Labs.
No Strain no gain, kekek.

And the third guy who founded the company now works for Terra. lol

On topic: Server stability isn’t all that good, tbh. Plenty of people in my guild crash far too often for me to believe this isn’t a wider scale problem.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Nage.1520:

HappyPrimes.3904:

You’re not wrong for giving up on the game. Anet should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to the Guild Wars franchise, GW2 is an embarrassment and an unforgivable slap in the face to the people who played and enjoyed GW1.

Not everyone who played Guild Wars 1 feels this way.

No, no but it is an unforgivable slap in the face for the minimum specs they released with. I thought I had it, and once more, my computer apparently doesn’t work with the latest release of the Living Story.

Talk about insults . . . thing keeps losing connection for some reason and it’s only inside Lion’s Arch.

That sucks dude. Hope you get it working.

HappyPrimes.3904:

You’re not wrong for giving up on the game. Anet should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to the Guild Wars franchise, GW2 is an embarrassment and an unforgivable slap in the face to the people who played and enjoyed GW1.

Not everyone who played Guild Wars 1 feels this way.

There’s a forth possibility. Everyone is in Lion’s Arch doing the new content, even most of the lower level characters.

You came back on patch day for the last patch of a very long living story arc. A lot of people are in Lion’s Arch, doing the brand new content for the brand new rewards.

That said, some servers are busier than others anyway. There’s still plenty of people playing the game, but I don’t think they’re spread out evenly across all servers.

I hate the RNG. I’d probably be kittened off if I actually liked any of the skins.

Escadin.9482:

Thanks for elaborating. What used to happen when you reach max level is that the game runs out of fresh content, which means it switches into ‘conservation mode’ where the remaining fresh content is heavily timegated or the player is handed over control over the content to some extent so that he/she can shape out new experiences. This is what I call “end game” and oddly enough I do see such mechanics in GW2 (fractals, WvW, legendaries).
Well the transition is much smoother in GW2, so there is that.

About that second part:
It depends on majority of what. What you said would be true if the game had a single audience, but it does not. We have tons of GW1 fans, ex WoW, innovation hunters, Newcomers, casuals and probably some more. Are you saying Anet should mainly listen to let’s say GW1 fans (in case they happen to be the majority?) but I already see you saying neither of them.

The thing is: I don’t see how these different type can come together and form a single majority in terms of their vision of the ideal MMORPG. Even with infinite programming ressources their visions will be hard to fulfil, starting with the fact that they will be contrary and conflictive. You can’t make a casual hardcore game for example. So obviously that majority you are talking about can’t be a majority of people with the same demands.

I can only imagine that all this people will come to a common ground in terms of what they are able to tolerate. Casuals don’t want hardmode content, well that’s fine with ex WoW who don’t want to farm hardmode content. Well now there is grind, but let’s keep it short (also fine with casuals). And it goes on like that. The point is: Did casuals want to have grind in their game in the first place or are they just tolerating it because it’s not too demanding/important?

Nobody in their right mind would buy that game because it offers nothing but compromises for people you didn’t intent to play with anyway, unless ofc Anet adds a piece of candy for everyone. What we are left with is a good first impression and some candy. Hurray for everyone who starts realising this isn’t the game he imagined by a long shot.

I mean it’s just my opinion, but as a customer and probably from a innovative game designer’s point of view, this is a development we didn’t want to see. What we actually wanted are more dedicated games and a broader variety of them.

Well it’s true, you can’t make something for everyone. But we’re still talking about most games, most people didn’t raid. That’s how it played out. So putting real time and effort in to keep raiders raiding was problematical in a lot of games. Maybe not for Blizzard, because they have huge financial reserves. Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have that advantage, so it has to pick and choose content upgrades.

When Rift first game out, it was a game that had a very cool open world experience, but it ended up being all about raids. A lot of people walked. They were frustrated that everything forced them to raid. And you know the head of the company, he was a raiding guy. He liked raiding so he thought everyone would like raiding so he focused on raids. It almost cost them the whole game early on, because so many people didn’t wan to raid. They didn’t count on that.

End game content needs to be fit in with the rest of the content. It can’t be a thing by itself. And you know, no matter what you come out with, it’s not enough. People beat it and they want more/the next end game content.

I’m guessing that unless you’re a huge company with a big budget, you either have to focus on one thing or another. If you don’t have focus, you lose everyone, because you can’t come out with everything all at the same time. It’s just not possible.

From what I see of upgrades, it seems Anet thinks their bred is buttered by open world content, particularly farming and zerging. So that’s where they put most development time.

What would you do? If people are actually logging in and playing in numbers to farm and zerg, every two weeks., would you stop feeding them or would you keep feeding them?

Particularly if you find that after a short time all hard content is abandoned?

I know what I’d do if I were a company trying to keep a game running long term.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Nage.1520:

Umm, the whole “entire game is end game” discussion has been around for years. It was widely said by devs over and over that Guild Wars 2 didn’t have an end game, or that the entire game was end game. Colin described it this way. He said that in most games when you get to level cap the game changes. You were doing one thing, now you’re doing something else. He was saying (and I’m paraphrasing here) that doesn’t happen in Guild Wars 2. And he’s right. I do the same thing at max level I did all along. Which is what I wanted from the game, so I’m happy.

Whether that is true or not will depend very much on playstyle. Explorers might do their map completion up to and to some extent into level 80. However, exploring is not exploring if you’ve been there before. One can do map completion on alts, but it isn’t the same as doing that completion — or just hunting for Easter egss — the first go-round.

Very little content has been added for the explorer playstyle. This leaves “repeating content” for rewards, which is very much NOT what I was doing while leveling.

Now, I know that providing new areas for explorers is resource intensive and hits diminishing returns very quickly. This makes it less cost effective for the developer than providing achievement chases and focusing everyone into herd content. However, this makes GW2 more like other MMO’s, not less.

Not all exploring is just going to new zones though. I find exploring by find stuff that’s been changed. There’s a whole lot of additional dialogue and changes to things that come with each living story patch. I don’t go to sites to find this stuff unless I’m actually running out of time. Finding all that stuff on your own is time consuming…and it’s exploring.

But then, I’m interested in the new characters and what they have to say and what’s going to happen. It’s all part of exploration for me.

Would I like to explore a new zone. You bet. Is that the only type of exploring I’m open to? Well, no. I’ve found quite a few cut scenes and NPCs and conversations that many people have never seen (and many will never see).

Anyone in Guild Wars 1 could farm enough gold, even just by farming feathers to buy an tormented weapon. Anyone.

You might have missed the fact that here’s an LFG tool now. Press Y and put up an ad for a dungeon. If it seems empty that’s because most groups fill in under 2 minutes.

The except is on patch days, which is now. People will play the patch for a few days, and then they’ll be farming dungeons again.

Escadin.9482:

Nage.1520:

My point is the most challenging content in this game is ignored by most people.

My point is you’re not the rule, you’re the exception and developers don’t really need to waste development time on the exception. They have to feed the masses, not the small percentage of people who say something is needed because they personally want it.

I ignored most “challenging” content in this game because it wasn’t interesting to me, gave my playstyle no chance to improve upon without refering to ascended gear/ meta builds (altough they advertised this would be possible) or because trying to coordinate people who refuse to be coordinated is only challenging my patience.
It’s not that I don’t want a challenge, I just don’t want this challenge (my opinion).

However, I don’t understand your logic with opinions in general. If I am not the mass and you are not the mass. Who is it then? Who are they catering to? Even in a mass everyone is an individual with personal opinions and preferences. Everyone is rather a “small percantage”, a minority. There is simply nobody who would 100% agree with how the game is designed and even if you were that one, you were a minority and apparently Anet shouldn’t waste development time for you.

That philosophy makes better companies, not better games. Gameplay doesn’t improve for anyone, because everyone just gets a smaller part of dedication. Their income icreases though because their audience grows. I think you’re defending the wrong side, well, your opinion doesn’t matter to that side at least.

@your earlier remark: I don’t find where it says GW2 is supposed to have no “end game”. Could it be that we rely on different definitions of endgame?

Umm, the whole “entire game is end game” discussion has been around for years. It was widely said by devs over and over that Guild Wars 2 didn’t have an end game, or that the entire game was end game. Colin described it this way. He said that in most games when you get to level cap the game changes. You were doing one thing, now you’re doing something else. He was saying (and I’m paraphrasing here) that doesn’t happen in Guild Wars 2. And he’s right. I do the same thing at max level I did all along. Which is what I wanted from the game, so I’m happy.

The other comment you make is something I’ve having trouble understanding. There are limited hours for developers to create content. It’s not unlimited. So naturally, you have to cater to the majority first. The reason? If you cater to a minority at the expense of the majority and the majority leaves, you have no game…not for the minority or the majority. You have to cater to the masses of you’re going to end up out of business..

It doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t provide anything to a minority. It does mean that you have to have a pretty good idea of what percentage of people are actually playing that ultra hard content.

Over the years, there have been all sorts of polls and statistics published that show that most players never do the hardest content in any game. So if you make that kind of content, you’re excluding most players.

But you know, it’s all just my opinion anyway.

aussieheals.6843:

Nage.1520:

Mazreal Blackknight.1564:

Mega Messiah.1734:

GW1 sucked and I only played it for the 30 HoM points rewards.

If you want to play it, it’s still there in all it’s glory.

Then you didn’t play it right. That game is by far more in depth. Even if you could only play human.

The fallacy here, and I see it all the time, is the depth automatically makes a game better. That’s not necessarily true. It doesn’t necessarily hurt a game, but it doesn’t necessarily make it better either.

The depth in Guild Wars 1 turned it into a strategy game. Something like magic the gathering (even the devs made that analogy). Build Wars. And if you like that type of game, that’s all well and good. But it’s still only an opinion.

As many people tried and walked away from Guild Wars 1 because of the depth, as there were people who were busy enjoying it. It wasn’t friendly to get into for a lot of people. It wasn’t accessible.

A lack of accessibility can certainly make a game better or worse. Guild Wars 2 is more accessible than Guild Wars 1 ever was, and that is another criteria by which to judge a game.

On the flip side of this you felt ‘apart’ of guild wars 1. Your character was important, I can’t help but feel detached from this games pve environment. Even the living world feels like just a biweekly intro scene into a basic console action game where no matter how much you try you cannot die. Or even worse, you can die because someone you cannot control or choose to fight by your side can’t stay out of an obvious bright red round circle.

I love the movement, I love the combat, I love the music and the sights. I just feel a disconnect. I hope season 2 fills this gap.

You’re preaching to the choir brother. Guild Wars 1 did a better job of that for sure.

Okay let’s not paint all Guild Wars 1 players with the same brush. I also played Guild Wars 1 extensively and I really enjoy Guild Wars 2 as well.

Mazreal Blackknight.1564:

Mega Messiah.1734:

GW1 sucked and I only played it for the 30 HoM points rewards.

If you want to play it, it’s still there in all it’s glory.

Then you didn’t play it right. That game is by far more in depth. Even if you could only play human.

The fallacy here, and I see it all the time, is the depth automatically makes a game better. That’s not necessarily true. It doesn’t necessarily hurt a game, but it doesn’t necessarily make it better either.

The depth in Guild Wars 1 turned it into a strategy game. Something like magic the gathering (even the devs made that analogy). Build Wars. And if you like that type of game, that’s all well and good. But it’s still only an opinion.

As many people tried and walked away from Guild Wars 1 because of the depth, as there were people who were busy enjoying it. It wasn’t friendly to get into for a lot of people. It wasn’t accessible.

A lack of accessibility can certainly make a game better or worse. Guild Wars 2 is more accessible than Guild Wars 1 ever was, and that is another criteria by which to judge a game.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Nage.1520:

It’s not challenging if you took any time at all to look at it. Warden 3 was basically, avoid the mines. That was half the battle. It was more than half the battle.

Unfortunately that wasn’t all. Many people assumed that they only needed to avoid the mines, which is why they died. The Warden himself also needed to be avoided, because you couldn’t tank him, even with the highest amount of armor. But as people tried to get away from the massive damage, they would often move towards the center of the platform, and get hit by the mines that did not have any red circles around them. The Warden also had a nasty habit of charging players with high toughness, or knocking them straight into the mines = insta-kill.

He was definitely a challenging boss. I’ve been going lane 3 none stop, and have seen both victories and plenty of failures. I think I have a pretty good grasp of the difficulty of this encounter by now.

That’s why I said half the battle. If you didn’t know to range him and stay away from him, you weren’t paying attention at all. Obviously you were.

The point is, I’m not the best player in the world by far and I almost never went down on Warden 3 when I figured it out, and my platform almost always beat him. There was usually one or two platforms that failed.

However, I’ve also seen platforms 2, 4 and 5 fail and even platform 1 rarely, which wasn’t that hard at all.

Even Anet thought that we’d be better at that Marionette than we were.

But the reason I say it wasn’t difficult content is because there is difficult content in the game….and everything is relative. It was difficult for a percentage of the playerbase. It was by no means as hard as the wurms, or even Lupi.