Guild Wars 2

Yeah, I think it all just boils down to practice on the part of the developers. Trinity or no, it really does seem like they don’t have much experience yet making meaningful dungeon encounters. There are encounters that do have interesting fight mechanics, but they do seem to drag on.

With regards to “fun”, the only one I really remember as being particularly fun is the Final Boss of CoF Story (I think that’s what it is, the one with the bubble, and you had to bring bombs to it or something . . . it’s been a while).

I haven’t played WoW’s endgame (highest character was 53), so I can’t comment on that. But one other MMO’s fight that really stands out in my mind is LoTRO’s Ost Dunhoth – Wound Wing.

The entire wing is basically one big boss fight.

— You have a team of 12, and 3 paths before you that converge in one big room at the end. So you have to divide your team into 3 small teams of 4.
— Fight starts, and suddenly 3 Mumakils (Mammoths) bust out of the walls behind you. It then becomes a race, if the Mumakils reach you, you die.
— Speed and DPS plays a part, but teamwork and communication too. Switches on one path will open gates on another path. Also, paying attention. There are actually some buffs on the mobs that you don’t want to remove.
— The paths eventually converge in one big room, and now all 12 of you not only have to deal with 3 Rampaging Mumakils, but other enemies as well that all have to be handled a different way. Including, iirc, something that buffs every other mob if you don’t interrupt him in time.
— The Challenge/Hard Mode of the Wing is to complete the whole thing (from the moment the Mumakils bust out of the wall) in 15 minutes.

Overall, it’s a fun little fight. One that actually had me using my class in many different ways in one encounter. (ie, you need healers to heal in the big room, but for phase 1 you probably want them to DPS – or buffing DPS and run speed). How to divide your group also factors in to the strategy because the 3 paths are all different. It’s also fun in Vent/Mumble because you can just imagine people shouting “Hurry up over there, it’s almost here.”

Do I have to draw you a picture?

Who else was expecting a picture of an actual stew? (hungry) >_>

Creeper.9360:

Farzo.8410:

Guardian Hammer skill #4 + random invader + cliff.

Far, far, far more fun.

Best skill in the game. I laugh every time I use it.

lol I know. I think I made my Guardian use a Hammer just for this skill.

There’s an Engineer Build based entirely on knocking people back and forth. (Knockbacks and Pulls). It’s a very unwieldy build in terms of damage and defense, though.

Then there’s the anti-burst TANKCAT build – built with retaliation and confusion. It’s very satisfying seeing burst players that don’t pay attention (there’s a lot of those out there) kill themselves off.

Personally, I think part of the issue is combining farming and RNG into the same system.

Personally, I find it more fun playing as a Bunker Engineer.

(Frenzy+100B Warrior tries to kill me)
Me: Oh, I’m sorry was that supposed to hurt.
(proceeds to fight the Warrior until one of us dies of boredom)

lol

It’s weird, coz Snowball Mayhem is more balanced right now than the actual SPvP. lol.
And fun. Maybe coz it’s not another Conquest Map? ;P

That why I see groups advertise for Fracticles? >_>

Speaking of Guild Dues, is there a way for the Guild System here to facilitate that? I played one other MMO that did. Think it was WAR, not sure.

EDIT: Heck, it might have been NCSoft’s own Aion now that I think about it.

I ninja afk-ed a lot as a Burglar in LoTRO. If a Burglar tells you he hasn’t ninja afk-ed ever, he’d be lying.

projectcedric.6951:

I wish the end-game bosses were not dragons.

But I like how they scaled-up the concept dragons, like:

1.) they are more of an idea than physically being there. We can see their minions and their effects on the world, but so far we’ve only ever seen one of the elder dragons (the claw of Jormag is not Jormag)

2.) They are more mystical than corporeal. They don’t eat to sustain. They devour magic, which is done through their priests and minions. It makes the concept more like a religion rather than a bestial being,

3.) A dragon’s awakening alone can sink a whole region underwater.

In comparison, I actually like Skyrim more than GW2 (wish there would be a Skyrim mmorpg soon). But the dragons in Skyrim are so pathetic.

Maybe it’s just me not having played GW1 to any significant degree but it’s interesting that both Rift and GW are using Dragons as main villains. For some reason, though, I find the Blood Storm Dragon Gods much more menacing.
Zhaitan=Regulos?
Kralkatorrik=Laethys?
Primordus=Maelforge?

I had a guildie once who had wife aggro during a raid.
He was back in about 10 minutes lol.

Or at the very least make the travel to your race’s capital city be free. But why do I have the feeling this is not gonna happen since it’s the “normal” thing that most MMO do?

I don’t have an opinion yet on the matter, but saying Class Balance is a different issue in PvP is simply wrong.

But first things first, can or can’t we switch what during tournaments? Can someone clarify before I form an opinion one way or the other.

Also, imo, if they’re doing a system rework in February – wouldn’t it make more sense to hold off on major class and/or mechanic changes until then and just work on fixing bugs for now. That way, we can see all the changes in a bigger picture and not in installments.

Nah, I came here from playing SWTOR’s Scoundrel lol. In comparison to that, this isn’t really all that bad.

Wait, so maybe it’s me and all classes I play get nerfed? >_>;;

Yah the TANKCAT build is serious fun. But fun as it is, it IS still a bunker build. Good luck trying to kill people who actually know how to counter you. Or even knowing to watch for Confusion and Retaliation (the main killers of the build). SPvP-wise, bunkers are so prevalent people know to watch out and get ready for them.

But for plain fun, it’s one of the best builds I’ve come across.

Yeah, idk what you guys are doing but even in DPS spec, Thieves (even those who backstab) are usually no problem for me.

Unless of course you come across a good player but of course any class in the hands of someone truly skilled is a threat.

I’ve never had eggnog before. How is it?

Whether or not they count Expansions as new games (for GoTY purposes) usually depends on the award giver. I’ve seen it done both ways.

The difference being this year has 3 MMO expansions that all came out within weeks of each other (WoW: Mists of Pandaria, LoTRO: Riders of Rohan and Rift: Storm Legion). All 3 expansions also have their own unique/noteworthy feature:

— WoW – Pet Battling (aka Pokemon) System
— LoTRO – Mounted Combat
— Rift – Dimension Housing System

A frying pan
. . . that throws bacon.

>_>

Hellkaiser.6025:

lisamee.2408:

—a fun, meaningful, non frustrating, profitable crafting system.
—housing (non-instanced) for social fun , and showing off our treasures
—something original for end game besides 1-3 hour dungeon grinding.
—to feel like after im leveled and geared that i am powerful and find loads of treasures.
—frequent events and holiday fun.

How could you make housing non-instanced?

Do you mean that it’s an instance with a small outside area such as a garden and not just an indoor cube of boredom like some games do?

I think he means like SWG, where the houses are out there in the open world – and not in separate housing instances like most games do now.

There are problems that can arise from that, but I can also understand why people like it that way.

I only log here to do a few rounds of S/TPvP.

Then I go back to either Rift to mess around on my House/Dimension or LoTRO: Riders of Rohan to do my dailies and/or Skraid.

If Rift does it right, it can carve a niche for itself just off of it’s new Housing System alone. People are already comparing the Dimension System to the Housing Systems of SWG and EQ2. Basically take those, and add a dose of Minecraft – and you get the Dimension System.

For me it’s simple really.

I’m a social player. I can raid with the best of them, but at the end of the day, I like being in a game where I feel like I’m part of the world. I like getting ready to raid, doing dailies and all that. But I also like just logging in, taking in the sights and hanging out with players.

The other part is being treated with respect and not insulting my intelligence. This applies to both the game developers, community managers and to other players. I’ve left MMOs for this sole reason before.

I know this is not the place to argue about whether you like it or not, but they will be rolling out the rest of the Ascended tier soon. And from what I understand from the AMA, then they intend for this to be the final stop of gear stats before you go for cosmetics – the way Exotics kind of are now. We don’t know yet, but we’ll probably need gold for those too.

But I get what you mean.

You have 10G? (jealous)

lol thanks for this build. I tried this in SPvP yesterday, and wow is it tons of fun.

I still need practice on this build, but after a few matches, I found that all of a sudden more and more of the other team started to hunt me down or focus on me. It’s a compliment.

Part of that is maybe because there is currently no time limit on posting an item on the AH. So whatever was posted a month before is still there, even if the price probably already changed.

If I wanted to remove an item from the AH and resell it, I have to remember to do so. The UI to do so is there, but is also a bit out of the way. It took me a few days to even know that I can remove items from the post in the first place.

IIRC, the reason for selling gems for gold (and vice versa) was to try to discourage gold sellers and the people using them. But what really ended up happening was that they encouraged the gold sellers even more.

Yeah this issue is kind of delicate.

I agree that illegitimate practices are illegitimate no matter the circumstance. But at the same time there’s something to be said about Anet seeming to foster an environment that can tempt people into resorting to outside services.

Players who don’t care have probably moved on to some other game already.

There needs to be a balance here.

Tiger Ashante.1792:

Yes Lotro is nice but kinda dull compared to gw2. Love the music tho. I played lotro for about a year b4 gw2 came out. It was always a filler game for me between gw1 and gw2, so naturally when gw2 came out i more or less stopped playing lotro altho i did log in a few times recently to check Rohan and the mounted combat, which is rather cool.

OP, not just maps but cities are amazing too. I remember when i first saw each place i spent hours (mouth gaping) looking at all the superb details down to the last brick in the wall and even drainage in the middle of the streets. Nothing was missed and then when i ventured out into the open world the awe continued and still does tho i’ve seen every map many times i never get tired of them. I only wish that sometimes there no enemies for a few minutes so i can truly stand around and admire the beauty, especially in Orr.
Even in gw1 (for its age) the artwork was amazing and it would take a lot of effort by some game company to beat gw2 in its art design. This is why i have much faith in Anet to come good eventually on all other issues in the game, because in the end, these guys are perfectionists and they must be terribly frustrated that things are not working perfectly across Tyria.

I like the artwork of GW2. I’m a sucker for the whole storybook look. I agree with you that art design matters more to me than actual graphical quality.

But I actually think the opposite on one other thing. Pretty as they are, I find GW2 areas dull. I said it in another thread – I don’t know if it’s the presentation, the writing, or the voice acting but for some reason I don’t feel connected to GW2’s world at all. It feels to me like a bunch of things to do and see (and complete), instead of a world to be part of.

Kind of a separate argument, but the whole map completion thing – imo, GW2 managed to turn Exploration into a job. After a while, I find myself going to a map not because I want to explore it, but because I need to explore it for my map completion.

Like I said, it takes more than just pretty things to look at. Although you could argue that LoTRO (and SWTOR by extension) has a well-established lore by their side. Although GW lore is no slouch in itself.

But look at FFXIII and FFXIII-2. Those are both pretty games, and if you really take the time to look – the actual lore and backstory to them is actually really really interesting. The thing that fell apart is the storytelling and presentation. It’s like having the best story in the world being told by a really bad storyteller. Kind of an extreme example, but you get what I mean.

Asglarek.8976:

Slyder.9215:

The question then becomes why does it seem like PC takes (took?) a backseat to consoles. I’ve even heard disappointments of how the Call of Duty franchise- used to be primarily PC- apparently sold out to consoles.

Call me nonconformist but I just don’t buy into the mentality of suddenly giving games a free pass for being buggy just because they’re on the PC.

Well lets see you build a game around a single platform that has a single configuration now compare a game designed around multi platforms and an almost infinite amount of configurations now logic tells you the latter is the more difficult… well atleast I hope so and who gives anyone a free pass these days.

Every job has its own difficulties and challenges. If we were to apply the same thinking like you just did to everything we buy, use or consume we’ll never get anywhere.

The question then becomes why does it seem like PC takes (took?) a backseat to consoles. I’ve even heard disappointments of how the Call of Duty franchise- used to be primarily PC- apparently sold out to consoles.

Call me nonconformist but I just don’t buy into the mentality of suddenly giving games a free pass for being buggy just because they’re on the PC.

Which then begs the question. Why do we need to have a “story guide” forced on us in the first place? Surely you can introduce characters for reasons other than having to serve as a guide?

I specifically tried to make my Asura look like Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) lol.

I agree.

I said to my guildmates that this is actually one example of horizontal progression they should have went with first. I also find it a bit weird that if you want certain stat combos, you have to do certain dungeons. How about this:

— Have all combinations (everything present in the game right now, SPvP included) be available to crafters. Create new crafting ingredients for them if you have to.

— Instead of (or in addition to) bartering for the armors themselves, have the dungeon barters be Armor Tokens or something. These tokens can be used by crafters as additional ingredients to make an armor piece with. Using an Armor Token will make the armor produced have the corresponding dungeon cosmetic.

Make an Asura Guardian for PvP just to be extra annoying with, “I feel 6 feet tall.”

The zones are beautifully done. I like the whole storybook feel they tried to do. It really gives the game a unique look that lends itself very well to exploration.

Although I still give atmosphere and sheer awe to LoTRO.
— First walking down the ramp to Rivendell
— First time entering Moria (pretty much the entirety of Moria)
— or Seeing the Northern Lights of Forochel.

or more recently

— riding into the Sutcrofts of East Rohan the first time and hearing the magnificence of the full Sutcrofts Musical Score in the background.
— Bree Town also recently (PTS) received an awesome graphical revamp – and it is a great reminder of what Turbine does so well. That is, the ability to make a place more than just a collection of pretty things to look at – but a place that you feel a part of.

EDIT: Here’s the musical score to the Sutcrofts. Go to 0:44 for epicness. ;P

Well, nobody knows how to kill better than a doctor they always say. ;P

I would say Asura since I have an Asura Engineer. But it kinda makes more sense for an Engineer to be Charr. That is, until they release race-specific turrets.

lol, they can even make the “Kill Trehearne” mission only buyable from the gem store and I’ll still buy it.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Slyder.9215:

Vermillion Hawk.9037:

It’s just that people seem to expect the game to be flawless and perfect right out of the gate. No game is, and in the past, they often stayed flawed. People are just expecting ANet to wave their magical faerie wands and instantly make the game right again, and they think screaming and shouting at them will speed up the process. As it is, the creation of a patch is a difficult endeavour, both to properly create it and to implement it.

The best thing you can do is alert them to the existence of such problems and then give ANet an incredibly valuable and rare item: your patience.

That I agree with.

But there’s also this overlying issues with PC gaming in general. For some reason, PC game developers are given a free pass in regards to releasing a buggy game.

The same thing wouldn’t be as acceptable should this be a console game instead. Look at Assassin’s Creed 3.

Here you go: http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/727556-Assassin-s-Creed-3-PC-Bugs-and-Issues-Thread-*Possible-Spoilers*?s=29169b2e57eb31bf7db675268d81212a

31 pages of Assassin’s Creed 3 bugs…

PC’s are not the same as consoles, there are millions of different PC configurations, the game runs and produces different bugs on every one. There is 1 console configuration and the game plays exactly the same on every one. It is like comparing Apples to Kangaroos.

You really just proved my point. People are more than willing to defend games if it’s a PC game. AC3 is a console game, too. The consensus that I hear for Assassin’s Creed 3 is don’t buy it right now – PC or console. Maybe wait a few months or so to see if they fix stuff and buy it then.

See I’m an Engineer. I really don’t think sigils not working on toolkits has anything to do with my PC at all.

Note that if I’m saying this because I do care about the game, and this genre we all enjoy. I don’t want it to stagnate because we’re all too willing to accept these things.

What I realize now is that although I’m not a hardcore RP’er, I am a social player. I like hanging out in towns and socializing with other people. Taking in the world, lore and atmosphere.

Thing is, as beautiful as this game is, for some reason I don’t feel a connection to it. I’m familiar with the lore and it’s a nice lore. But I don’t know if it’s the presentation (or the writing, or the voice acting) or something, but I really don’t feel part of it.

Things like this is something LoTRO and The Secret World does well. And is also the reason I played FFXIV as long as I did, knowing full well all it’s problems. I didn’t play FFXI, and I kinda wish I did. If there’s anything Square-Enix can do, it’s how to make you feel connected and invested in the world.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown keeps pulling me back. I only started playing it and . . . wow, I’ve never had so much fun getting my. . . behind kicked by a game before.

Whenever I look at the GW2 icon on my desktop, I’m slowly having less and less inclination to click it. I log in to do some PvP, check the AH and WvW. Then not long after promply log out and either hang out in Rohan (LoTRO) or have one of my friends killed in XCOM again lol.

FYI, I’m not doing Ironman mode but I am using only one save file. So it’s kinda the same but not really. Too scared to try Ironman.

Vermillion Hawk.9037:

It’s just that people seem to expect the game to be flawless and perfect right out of the gate. No game is, and in the past, they often stayed flawed. People are just expecting ANet to wave their magical faerie wands and instantly make the game right again, and they think screaming and shouting at them will speed up the process. As it is, the creation of a patch is a difficult endeavour, both to properly create it and to implement it.

The best thing you can do is alert them to the existence of such problems and then give ANet an incredibly valuable and rare item: your patience.

That I agree with.

But there’s also this overlying issues with PC gaming in general. For some reason, PC game developers are given a free pass in regards to releasing a buggy game.

The same thing wouldn’t be as acceptable should this be a console game instead. Look at Assassin’s Creed 3.

Vermillion Hawk.9037:

Point out another game which was completely and absolutely flawless 3 months after it released.

How’s that gonna help? The problem is about things breaking in GW2. Not whether or not some other game did it better.

SWTOR Patch 1.1 (aka, the Ilum Patch)

Whatever doubt was left on whether or not they knew what the heck they were doing were confirmed. Honestly, though, that was just laughable it’s not even funny.

Odd, because before they had Radiance, LoTRO already did something similar. The “Conquerer of the Watching Stones” (to access East Angmar) effectively gated content also, but it wasn’t tied to stats at all. It was tied to a Deed/Passive Skill from a quest you only had to do once (and not very hard at all at that). Until you completed that quest and got the Passive, you died when you tried to get past the Watching Stones (hence the title) to get to East Angmar. I thought that was a good way to do it.

Now though they don’t gate content per se as much as they gate the gear itself – you can get the gear, but you can’t actually equip it until after you beat a particular boss. Effectively doing the same thing they were trying to do with Radiance – to make players actually play the content.

We’ll see how they move forward with Agony. But honestly, I think the Fractal Level gating is actually the worse issue. That one gates content (and players from each other) even more than Agony.

Ualtar.5047:

Slyder.9215:

Speaking of horizontal progression, a guildie mentioned this. They really need to add more titles to this game.

Coming from LoTRO where there’s tons of titles, a lot of the times I do extra content (even a lot of levels below me) just to get that title that fits so perfectly with my name – any one word title that starts with S.

There’s a festival event where you stomp shrews from a garden, that gives out “The Shrewd” title. You know I just had to have it lol.

LOTRO has been in existence for about 5.5 years. GW2 3 months.

The argument there being that there’s a lot achievements in game already that they can affix titles to.

Or like they said, give out titles for reaching certain fractal levels.

Speaking of horizontal progression, a guildie mentioned this. They really need to add more titles to this game.

Coming from LoTRO where there’s tons of titles, a lot of the times I do extra content (even a lot of levels below me) just to get that title that fits so perfectly with my name – any one word title that starts with S.

There’s a festival event where you stomp shrews from a garden, that gives out “The Shrewd” title. You know I just had to have it lol.