Guild Wars 2

HiddenNick.7206:

Vayne.8563, CrossedHorse.4261

You both seem to think that you cracked the code and know everything. This forum is about describing flaws of the game. Not about saying that it is ok for some people and tap each others back.

Problem that I’m describing is the major issue of the game. It appears that everyone knows about it but some people (like you two) are refusing to acknowledge that by saying that it is actually ok and fixing this will break the game! But what kind of game is one without a goal?

Let me put it this way: You know when depression starts? When you can’t find a purpose in your life. And that’s how the gw2 is: depressing!

PS. Would you be even bothered by the fact that there is a challenging content in the game? More or less like the one I described? I’m asking about your opinion – not a hypothetical gw2 community.

I MIGHT be bothered by more challenging content depending on exactly how that content was implemented.

There are a whole lot of people who love achievements in this game. Some of them want to get every achievement. It’ll keep them busy for ages. But then you make some content that has something someone simply can’t get…for whatever reason.

Though I managed to do the Christmas jumping puzzle, I didn’t finish the Halloween one. It’s the only Halloween achievement I don’t have. I hope it comes back next year so I can try again.

I probably wouldn’t mind permanent hard content, but I hate temporary hard content. It takes longer for some of us to work up to it, learn it, do it, master it, and two weeks isn’t enough. I’m not going to sit and practice one dungeon for two weeks, because it’s going away.

So I don’t think that hard content would work within the framework of the living story.

But I didn’t mind DOA or the Underworld existing in Guild Wars 1. What I did mind was the type of community those places foster. The sort of, having this build or hit the highway community.

Everything comes with a price. Even difficult content.

I’m not sure if you realize how patronizing this sounds. You’re assuming they haven’t thought something through, because you don’t see a reason for it. I wouldn’t wager money on it.

First of all balances aren’t JUST made for WvW, they’re made for all forms of the game. You’re obviously centered on WvW and think about that, but Anet is thinking about the entire game, including SPvP, where that condition can have some interesting consequences.

Now it probably won’t do much for thieves, and maybe not much for mesmers either, but I can guarantee you some necros will be using it. Because necros are one of the professions people were complaining about.

And necros are quite happy with this patch.

Again, from a WvW point of view, staff necros are really awesome, but in PvE, necros had very few builds that actually worked. The idea was to create more build variety.

The same with mesmers, some of whom DO use condition builds, but didn’t have enough variety.

Just because you don’t see a reason for something, or it doesn’t particularly help WvW doesn’t mean that no reason exists for it.

Chuo.4238:

If there was GvG, and monthly tournaments and the like, I’d probably still be playing. This, more than anything else, really turned me away from GW2. The PvP is a joke (and don’t EVEN say WvW is PvP – it’s not PvP any more than AB or FA/JQ. It’s more PvPvE).

GW was well known for it’s great PvP. No clue why it took such a backseat in GW2. I guess so they could just sell gems. I don’t think they really cared about making a truly good game.

Last time I looked PvP translates to player vs. player. That makes AB, JQ and WvW a form of PvP (and keg brawl too for that matter).

tigirius.9014:

Still waiting on their rewards revamp I was told about. I thought it might have been loaded in this patch but apparently not.

At this point there’s nothing for me to do but wait months from now and check back to see what they’ve done with the game. Maybe then they’ll have improved it to the point it’s joined the modern games in regards to balance in PVE, rewards, ui elements, economy. Until then I guess the only thing to do is to just wait and play something else.

Since they said the end of the summer, I can’t imagine why you’d think it would be in this patch.

I don’t know how anyone could argue against this.

I think you might be making this a bit too complex. People don’t like change. It really is that simple. There are many people on this forum who loved Prophecies and said by the time Nightfall came out, Anet had effectively destroyed the game.

Most of those who started in Nightfall thought Prophecies was too slow.

Those who started after Eye of the North and got used to PvE only skills hated the game without them (and without heroes). People don’t like change.

What many Guild Wars 1 players wanted was Guild Wars 1 with better graphics. Not a different game. What they got was a different game.

You claim Guild Wars 1 characters were more likable than Guild Wars 2 characters. I don’t know. I don’t know many people who had a love affair with Komir. I don’t think people universally liked Prince Rurik. In fact, I know many who were happy he was dead. As one dimensional characters go, he was up there.

And I know people didn’t love Togo either. Some did, but many didn’t.

Eye of the North probably had the best characters in the game, but I know a whole lot of people who don’t like Gwen.

But we knew them better because the game was instanced, so they could be with us in the game world, not just instances. And that’s part of the problem with telling a story in an MMO.

Now people who started with Guild Wars 2 and never played Guild Wars 1 have a different opinion and if they went and tried Guild Wars 1, I’m pretty sure most wouldn’t like it.

It’s like Star Trek. I was a fan of the original series, long before Next Generation came out. And while I really enjoyed Next Generation, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the original series. The writing wasn’t better. The acting wasn’t better. The special effects weren’t better…but the second series couldn’t have existed without the first.

Those who started watching Star Trek with the Next Generation often can’t stand the original series.

It’s all about experience and perception. You don’t need more than that to explain it.

HiddenNick.7206:

CrossedHorse.4261:

HiddenNick.7206:

Hjorje.9453:

I love the game and have a lot of fun playing it, but Claw of Jormag, Shatter, and other world bosses should feel like world bosses. That way when you go to fight them you feel like you accomplish something. It should have awesome rewards for doing it and the fights should last longer then a few minutes. I wouldn’t mind chasing Claw around frostgouge some and taking him down over a little longer period of time. Now it is stand there and hit a button, no thinking required.

It’s not just about the world bosses. Everything in the game should have a meaning. Problem is that you can’t compare yourself with others in PvE or WvW. I know that are things to farm out there (ranks and skins). But I don’t admire people for the fact that they spend a lot of time in the game. Do something that I can’t achieve and that’s something to be admired for.

This is what the end game should be about. This is the only thing that gw2 is lacking. And it has nothing to do with gear grind or raids!

Gw1 PvE was about few skins to get… And it wasn’t so fun as some of you want it to be. Gw2 should be better then this!

I realise I may be playing devil’s advocate here, but it is possible that not everyone is playing the game in order to be admired by other people. I mean, I agree with you, I don’t think someone must be amazing at the game because they have X armour skin, as those will just as often be received as a result of time played over something achieved, but at the same time, I personally find I don’t admire that. I don’t look at people in game and think “ooh, they have X weapon/armour – they must be totally amazing!” That’s not the appeal of GW2 for me.

I’m not in any way saying it’s not the right attitude to have, simply suggesting that perhaps the game was designed more along different lines of thinking. I like to customize my chars because I like to do that – for no other reason. If someone else likes what I’ve done and comments, that’s lovely, but it’s in no way expected.

Naturally, others love to show off what they’ve done/achieved etc. Nothing wrong with that. At all. I really mean that. But I just don’t think that’s the demographic that GW2 has specifically targeted, and there’s nothing wrong with that either. I appreciate all the things you feel are missing from this game, and completely understand why you feel this way, but think you mistake GW2 for being the sort of game that will or SHOULD cater for that.

If you are ok with the lack of goals then that fact is not your problem. But if the game is about nothing it’s a major flaw of that game. There are numerous threads with people complaining about the lack of goal/achievement/reward. And that’s the thing that needs to be fixed.

Only if fixing it doesn’t affect the people who are enjoying it the way it is. No game can be all things to all people. What you’re actually saying is this needs to be fixed because some people don’t like it.

The problem is, if they “fix” it, they make it like every other MMO out there, which some of us don’t want.

The term fix implies broken. If 3 million people bought this game and 2.5 million people no longer play it, that leaves .5 million players. If 100,000 people don’t like it the way it is and 400,000 people do, then fixing it might well ruin the game for most people.

What you’re asking is for Anet to change the very nature of the game, which at this point MIGHT appeal to some people like you. But of course, what you’re asking for is in most other MMOs, so Anet will be facing greater competition than they are now.

But what if you’re not actually the demographic Anet is seeking. What if what they have is really what they intended, and you not liking it is not a sign of something wrong?

Just because “some” or even “many” people don’t like something, doesn’t make it bad.

Note: I should mention that Anet is going to revisit the loot system, they said so, and better drops aren’t a problem. But changing the goal structure of the game at this point very well might be.

Saldonus Darkholme.5680:

Vayne.8563:

But Guild Wars 1 still wasnt’ DESIGNED around rewards. The rewards were THERE, but for the most part if you did a dungeon, you got a crappy gold that unless you were working for wisdom, you’d sell as an unid’ed gold.

There were rare drops in some dungeons like the bone dragon staff, and some people farmed them, but most never did. Maybe you got the rare black dye, white dye or lockpick, but most drops were crap.

People did farm, but they weren’t the majority. Most people just played the game and the drops were INCIDENTAL to the rest of it.

Just because YOU think in terms of drops doesn’t mean the game was designed for that to be the focus.

GW1 WASN’T designed around rewards, but you still needed them for gear progression. Either to replace the armor/weapons you had, or to sell in order to buy the armor you needed to move on in the game. NOT just the skins, but the stats. You’d have never left Drok’s and survived otherwise! (Henchies…no heroes, and I’m talking as the game was designed.)

You can get max level stuff for so cheap, it’s not relevant. It wasn’t drops. Max level armor was cheap.

marnick.4305:

FerrenoNL.7928:

But, I keep getting the feeling I’m missing something. The graphics and gameplay is very nicely done. Guild Wars 2 is not to be compared to any other MMO out there due to its unique, eh, non-existant ‘holy trinity’ aspect.

I played the original Guild Wars for god knows how many hours. Days and weeks on end, either solo or playing with various other people from around the globe. This game is so much different, and nearly impossible to compare to its predecessor. I’m gonna try either way.

You didn’t play the original Guild Wars for all those hours … you played the original game plus 3 expansions for all those hours.

The original Guild Wars, back when it wasn’t “prophecies” yet, was a 3 week game. Most people had quit by the 3 month mark. It was only with factions and nightfall that this game became the gem we all loved.

GW2 currently is in the same state as original Guild Wars before factions … a gem, but rough, unhewn. It’s a promise of great things to come.
The foundation is extremely solid, and this game is good. One day it’ll be great.

Unless you were a die hard PvPer anyway. Most PvPers did quite not long after the game launched (months). PvE’ers came back for Factions and again for Nightfall, where the game really started taking off for PvE.

And yes, I know a lot of people thought Prophecies was the best of the games, but I thought it was paced awfully slowly in PvE for the majority of the player base. I know this because it was paced pretty good for me (and I’m slow lol).

There won’t be an official oceanic server. Sea of Sorrows is the unofficial one.

Spiral Architect.6540:

@ Vayne: I was just ribbing you a bit… I couldn’t resist.

I tend to agree with you on most of what you posted there, though if you’ll permit me a slight digression, I did think Ember Isle was brilliant.

My concern, and I’ve posted this elsewhere, is that there’s been a lot of “rushed” content put out, yet many “standard” MMO features (guild UI refinements, LFG tools, TP UI refinements, etc.) remain unimplemented. There have been bugs which were reported back at launch which have yet to be addressed, yet we get lots of new, shiny (temporary) content. The new shiny stuff sells more games, though, so there’s a lot more incentive to create new content than there is to fix what’s already been released.

I agree, that bug fixing has been slow. A game like Rift fixed bugs AT FIRST a lot faster…but it was still a much smaller, much more modest game, and it STILL had a subscription fee, which means everyone playing was paying at least ten bucks a month. That’s a lot of money to fund the game straight up…far more than Guild Wars 2 is likely to have.

And many features are being worked on. We all know this game launched way too early. But without a monthly fee, I’m not paying to play it early, so I’m not sure what the difference really is.

I wouldn’t have wanted to wait another year to play it, before it came out.

Spiral Architect.6540:

JustTrogdor.7892:

You could start a topic about pong for all I care…

Pong ruled.

If you got the left paddle, though, you were OP. It wasn’t very balanced.

Spiral Architect.6540:

Vayne, from your last few posts, you’re starting to sound a bit… cynical (or jaded, at least). What gives?

I’ve always been relatively honest about my likes and dislikes about this game. Some people have painted me as a fan boy, but even when I first joined the forum, if someone made a complaint I agreed with, I’d agree with it.

I don’t agree with people using hyperbole to make points or overstating the importance of something to try to make it sound like it’s going to destroy the game, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t flaws in the game. I’ve never said otherwise.

In this case, this is NOT something I have any problem with at all. I’m not jaded about it, but I’m realistic.

No one can put this amount of content out this fast and make it all meaningful. Yet it behooves Anet to give people stuff to do. Rift did the same thing and Anet is doing it a LOT better.

By the same token, its’ not an expansion which opens up big new areas, adds no races and/or professions, new weapons.

I can enjoy the Living Story content (and I do) and STILL want/expect an expansion. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

And I do feel a bit rushed with the speed of the updates. I’d prefer these updates to be a month each, instead of every two weeks. As it is, I’ve basically given up PvPing altogether, because my time is spent doing in world stuff…and I’d like a bit more time to keep my own schedule.

But overall I think the Living Story is good stuff, and I’m quite happy with it.

If they made it exotic, they’d have to offer every combination of stats. They chose not to.

I assume it also makes them money on selling transmutation crystals.

Of course the kill theory doesn’t really explain how a deer gets a bow…that’s just weird.

Oh noes! Attack of the killer deer.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Vayne.8563:

I always assume the stuff that’s dropped was on the last person the monster ate.

Yes and you can thank me for all that loot.

LMFAO!

Assuming that we know that creatures drop illogical stuff anyway…wolves dropping bows for example, it’s easy to explain.

I always assume the stuff that’s dropped was on the last person the monster ate.

I talk about other games all the time, as long as it’s about how they pertain to a conversation about Guild Wars 2. There’s no moratorium on mentioning another game. But you can’t just make a post talking about another game, without some Guild Wars 2 tie-in.

Anakita Snakecharm.4360:

Vayne.8563:

The living story stuff is stuff to do, while an expansion is worked on. It doesn’t replace an expansion.

It actually seems like the plans have changed regarding that:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-Expansion-targeted-for-2013/first#post1391159

(The last paragraph in Martin’s post is what I’m referring to.)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/GW2-expansion-1Q-Ncsoft-Conference-Call-merged/page/3#post2024859

Which… I have mixed feelings about.

I don’t have an issue with Living Story as a method of content delivery; I’ve actually been enjoying it.

My hesitation is that so far, the Living Story chapters have been essentially one-shot plots that don’t have anything to do with what was previously set up as the main narrative – that is, the defeat of the Elder Dragons. Which, in the short term, I’m actually okay with; in a realistic world not everything is going to revolve around the same limited set of issues, and it’s cool to explore some new territory.

In the long term, though, I really hope the Elder Dragons plot doesn’t get ditched in favour of primarily self-contained temporary plots. It’s going to increasingly strain credibility that all the heroes of Tyria are constantly rushing off to focus on a set of pirate attacks at a holiday event or a disturbance on an obscure island when literally the whole world is supposedly threatened with destruction by much larger forces.

I hope that regardless of how they decide to deliver the content, ANet won’t lose sight of the narrative they originally established. I think we need a balance between Elder Dragon/main plot stuff and one-shot stuff, not all just one or the other.

Don’t believe everything you read, or even everything a dev says.

Expansions in this business age of MMOs are collateral. They’ll launch an expansion shortly before ESO comes out is my guess. It’s not that they’re not working on an expansion or they abandoned it. They’re simply timing it so the release is the best for their bottom line.

As any company would do.

Because NCsoft has made it clear to their stockholders that there would be an expansion and that it would be released at a time to maximize profit.

Same exact thing they did in Guild Wars 1. It’s a game. This is an event. It’s not a big deal.

You could get pumpkin pie and hard apple cider from any mob in the game during Thanksgiving and they don’t even have a holiday for that in Tyria.

prenavo.3926:

Here are a few things that might make GW2 a game that makes you really care about your place in the world. Not in any particular order.

1. Player housing. Other games have done this and it is highly debatable as something that people want or not, but I fall on the side of it being a good thing that gives you a place of your own that you can decorate and put your mark on. Key word…decorate. It should have lots of furniture options. Anet can make some money from the diamond shop this way as well.

2. Standard questing. Dynamic events are great, but throw in some static quests here and there that have nothing to do with your personal story. Reward solid rewards for the quests. If it’s a long quest series, throw in a laurel or something. This can tie into the whole furniture housing thing too. Pet bird in a cage for doing a job for a pirate for example.

3. More armor appearances. Yeah, there are a few good ones out there, but after you have them? Maybe having more Karma vendor armor around the world with some different looks to it might help make people feel even more unique.

4. Mounts. Yes, I said it. Mounts. No one can convince me that no one in Tyria has figured out that is better to ride an animal than it is to walk. I get the whole “stop and smell the roses” argument from the hard working devs on this game, but mounts would be just one more thing that adds to individuality. They can figure out a way to implement this I’m sure.

those are just some of the additions I think would help this game and make people care just a little more about playing it.

This really doesn’t answer the OP since he’s talking about Guild Wars 1 and comparing it to Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 1 had no mounts, or player housing, so that can’t explain is difference.

And I don’t think anyone would say the standarized questing is what made Guild Wars 1 a great game either.

Most fan forums allow you to talk about other games. Many game forums don’t allow you to talk about other games…that isn’t to say you can’t mention other games, or compare to other games, but logically this is a forum to discuss Guild Wars 2.

There are other places to discuss other games.

Nope…..no chance in hell.

Saldonus Darkholme.5680:

Vayne.8563:

Saldonus Darkholme.5680:

Vayne.8563:

What’s solitaire about? It’s one of the worlds most popular games..but what’s the point? I mean I play solitaire and I get no prizes, no drops, no real reward.

This game is about buying into the reality of Tyria. Either you buy into it, or you don’t. It’s the same with soap operas, comics, Star Trek, professional wrestling. It’s entertainment.

If you need to accomplish something other than fun in your down time, if you need to be spoonfed go here and do this, go here and do that to keep you going, if you need to constantly test yourself to try to prove something, then you might be well playing the wrong game.

On the other hand, if you just want to bang around and have fun without worrying about catching up to people if you take a month or two break…you’re probably playing the right game.

Comparing GW2 to solitaire is comparing apples to oranges.

GW2 has a reward system: drops, skill points, and a scoring system. The reward system is DESIGNED to be used: you can’t play the entire game as it was meant to be played using starter-level armor and weapons. There is a progression that the player MUST follow in order to play the game as designed. The drops are necessary to obtain that progression: either to utilize or capitalize upon. Once the armors and weapons are maximized, THEN you can argue, “Just play for fun.” Since all maximized weapons and armor are not the same (different skins and stats), then you may HAVE to continue to play on to achieve those stats and/or skins. To argue that gold and gear is irrelevent is disingenuous. That people are complaining about drops sucking IS relevent because the drops clearly determine what gear you get. If it takes forever to GET max-stat items, people are going to complain. If they’re getting crappy drops, which provides chump change from the vendor, it prolongs the grind. SO, if people are farming certain DEs because it is the most efficient use of their time, then there is a design flaw that the developers SHOULD address. If they address it by creating DR, then that clearly tells the players that the design is NOT flawed, but WANTED. So, I guess, by that line of reasoning, the answerr to the OP’s question is, “This game is about grind!”

I guess the only way you could compare the 2 GW2 and Solitaire rationally is if you had 50 different decks of playing cards for Solitaire, each with a different set of individual cards, each deck with benefits and hindrances, and THEN offered 50 different cardbacks and artwork…

I’m not comparing Guild Wars 2 to solitaire. I’m pointing out that the same sorts of people who might enjoy solitaire will enjoy Guild Wars 1. Plenty of people who play RPGs generally do NOT play for rewards. This is a relatively recent development, made most popular by WoW and WoW clones.

Mostly, prior to that, RPGs were made to reward people experientially rather than with loot.

Anet will revisit the loot system, but even in Guild Wars 1, the loot system wasn’t like it was in most games, but lots of people played the game for years.

Sorry, Vayne, but reward systems in games have been there for centuries. In chess, you won the war. In poker, you won the pot. In Monopoly, you won the most wealth. In Pac-Man, you got your name in the winner’s list. In Mario Bros., you got the gold. The point is, GW2 is DESIGNED TO RELY ON GEAR PROGRESSION. As I stated earlier; you can’t start the game and play it all the way through with starter armor and starter weapons.

As for GW1 loot system: I gave ANet a rash of crap for the loot nerf they implemented prior to the implementation of HM. However, after they tweaked it several times, it became palatable. Frankly, looking back, I’d PREFER the loot system in GW 1 over this one. Instead of fighting to obtain the gold to obtain the gems to obtain the skin in the TP, you went and fought a boss and hoped you got his green drop. There was a greater sense of accomplishment getting the drop than there is in grinding the gold.

But Guild Wars 1 still wasnt’ DESIGNED around rewards. The rewards were THERE, but for the most part if you did a dungeon, you got a crappy gold that unless you were working for wisdom, you’d sell as an unid’ed gold.

There were rare drops in some dungeons like the bone dragon staff, and some people farmed them, but most never did. Maybe you got the rare black dye, white dye or lockpick, but most drops were crap.

People did farm, but they weren’t the majority. Most people just played the game and the drops were INCIDENTAL to the rest of it.

Just because YOU think in terms of drops doesn’t mean the game was designed for that to be the focus.

I think the problem is Guild Wars 2, for players like me anyway, is that I’m not as attached to my character as I am in other games. It’s that simple. There are a number of reasons for this.
One of them is not being able to repeat personal story instances…hmmmm.
Maybe I’ll go back and read that book of my personal stories. lol

I think the problem is Guild Wars 2, for players like me anyway, is that I’m not as attached to my character as I am in other games. It’s that simple. There are a number of reasons for this.

One of them is not being able to repeat personal story instances…hmmmm.

Maybe I’ll go back and read that book of my personal stories. lol

Im Mudbone.1437:

Vayne.8563:

Im Mudbone.1437:

To add to this, the “so called” expansions worth of temporary free content is a rip off to gamers who just purchased the game that will/may not ever see this content, wouldn’t/shouldn’t they be entitled to this content as well, or, do they intend on repeating this content down the road for them, if so that’s good for them, but, what about the old GW2 players, they will be forced to repeat it too(not very much fun here IMO), double edged sword there. IMO, they(ANET) should be polishing the current content and working on new content(a full expansion) that I and I’m sure many others would rather have and be running out to buy.

Actually it’s not a rip off. You bought a game with enough content to cover $60 many many times over. If you never got another update, it would already be worth $60. You’re not paying a monthly fee. It’s not pay to win. Even people who say they don’t like the game still say they got 300-400 hours. I can’t name too many games that will give you that kind of return on your initial investment.

For those who follow the game, those who play ever day, the temporary content gives us something to do. I’m not paying for it, and those who don’t play the game but bought it…they’re not paying for it either. Cash shop sales are paying for it. RNG boxes are paying for it.

Maybe you shouldn’t use words like rip off. Maybe you should just say you don’t like it, because once you used those words, you’ve lost a whole lot of credibility.

Shakes head, Vayne, Vayne, Vayne. -LOL I’m not saying I was ripped off but the new/future buyers because they will never see this story-line progression.
I actually like GW2 because of its potential and my being a GW junkie, I’m just miffed because this isn’t like ANET, I just feel like they are now puppets to NCsoft and not being allowed to do what they actually really want to do with GW2.

One, I think this idea game from Anet not NCsoft. I have no proof of this, but I believe it.

Two, the new people playing are paying exactly the same amount I did, but they’re also getting fractals, guild missions and the living story du jour. They’re getting more for their money than I did, and I felt I was getting my money’s worth.

I think NCsoft definitely has some say over the cash shop, but I don’t think that the living story is strictly NCsofts domain. I have no proof for this, it’s just my opinion.

Was Guild Wars 1 your first of this type of game? Because you always remember the first game that touched you that deeply. For me it was Dungeon Master.

The reward system definitely needs to be revisited….and Anet said they are looking at doing just that.

I don’t know what they’re considering, but they could do worse than to consider the suggestions above.

Good job.

Saldonus Darkholme.5680:

Vayne.8563:

What’s solitaire about? It’s one of the worlds most popular games..but what’s the point? I mean I play solitaire and I get no prizes, no drops, no real reward.

This game is about buying into the reality of Tyria. Either you buy into it, or you don’t. It’s the same with soap operas, comics, Star Trek, professional wrestling. It’s entertainment.

If you need to accomplish something other than fun in your down time, if you need to be spoonfed go here and do this, go here and do that to keep you going, if you need to constantly test yourself to try to prove something, then you might be well playing the wrong game.

On the other hand, if you just want to bang around and have fun without worrying about catching up to people if you take a month or two break…you’re probably playing the right game.

Comparing GW2 to solitaire is comparing apples to oranges.

GW2 has a reward system: drops, skill points, and a scoring system. The reward system is DESIGNED to be used: you can’t play the entire game as it was meant to be played using starter-level armor and weapons. There is a progression that the player MUST follow in order to play the game as designed. The drops are necessary to obtain that progression: either to utilize or capitalize upon. Once the armors and weapons are maximized, THEN you can argue, “Just play for fun.” Since all maximized weapons and armor are not the same (different skins and stats), then you may HAVE to continue to play on to achieve those stats and/or skins. To argue that gold and gear is irrelevent is disingenuous. That people are complaining about drops sucking IS relevent because the drops clearly determine what gear you get. If it takes forever to GET max-stat items, people are going to complain. If they’re getting crappy drops, which provides chump change from the vendor, it prolongs the grind. SO, if people are farming certain DEs because it is the most efficient use of their time, then there is a design flaw that the developers SHOULD address. If they address it by creating DR, then that clearly tells the players that the design is NOT flawed, but WANTED. So, I guess, by that line of reasoning, the answerr to the OP’s question is, “This game is about grind!”

I guess the only way you could compare the 2 GW2 and Solitaire rationally is if you had 50 different decks of playing cards for Solitaire, each with a different set of individual cards, each deck with benefits and hindrances, and THEN offered 50 different cardbacks and artwork…

I’m not comparing Guild Wars 2 to solitaire. I’m pointing out that the same sorts of people who might enjoy solitaire will enjoy Guild Wars 1. Plenty of people who play RPGs generally do NOT play for rewards. This is a relatively recent development, made most popular by WoW and WoW clones.

Mostly, prior to that, RPGs were made to reward people experientially rather than with loot.

Anet will revisit the loot system, but even in Guild Wars 1, the loot system wasn’t like it was in most games, but lots of people played the game for years.

penatbater.4710:

DeWolfe.2174:

First, there is no risk in the game.

This deserves to be quoted again. There is absolutely 0 risk of doing anything in this game. Whereas other games are much less forgiving. You die? You sorry, you’ll drop that +7 armor you have. Died again? -10% exp for you. I see you’re a new player. Here, go die repeatedly from people camping the spawn point. Oh not to mention, despite being a f2p, you still need to buy item X for real money to be competitive with other players. You also have to be toxic to that other player, he’s stealing your loot!

The highest penalty is only repair bills, and that can hardly be called ‘expensive’.

Maybe that’s why there’s very little reward, there’s also hardly any risk in the game.

I agree with this…but the OP is not entirely wrong either. Perhaps it just needs to be worded differently. Effort/Time vs. Reward

Dungeon 1 takes 10 minutes. Dungeon 2 takes 30 minutes. They have the same risk but one still requires a greater investment in time.

Why should they have the same rewards?

My wife and I complete zones relatively frequently (I just got world complete on a second character) and we get keys about…this is a guess…30% of the time. Most of the time we get transmutation stones. I’m pretty sure I even got a transmutation crystal once, before they were called crystals.

You only need to world complete on a single character. I have no idea why you’d want to world complete on more than one character, unless you’re going for a third legendary weapon.

Im Mudbone.1437:

To add to this, the “so called” expansions worth of temporary free content is a rip off to gamers who just purchased the game that will/may not ever see this content, wouldn’t/shouldn’t they be entitled to this content as well, or, do they intend on repeating this content down the road for them, if so that’s good for them, but, what about the old GW2 players, they will be forced to repeat it too(not very much fun here IMO), double edged sword there. IMO, they(ANET) should be polishing the current content and working on new content(a full expansion) that I and I’m sure many others would rather have and be running out to buy.

Actually it’s not a rip off. You bought a game with enough content to cover $60 many many times over. If you never got another update, it would already be worth $60. You’re not paying a monthly fee. It’s not pay to win. Even people who say they don’t like the game still say they got 300-400 hours. I can’t name too many games that will give you that kind of return on your initial investment.

For those who follow the game, those who play ever day, the temporary content gives us something to do. I’m not paying for it, and those who don’t play the game but bought it…they’re not paying for it either. Cash shop sales are paying for it. RNG boxes are paying for it.

Maybe you shouldn’t use words like rip off. Maybe you should just say you don’t like it, because once you used those words, you’ve lost a whole lot of credibility.

Substance E.4852:

Vayne.8563:

fellyn.5083:

Vayne.8563:

Most people are looking at Guild Wars 1 from the point of view of four products not one. Though Guild Wars Prophecies was a good game, it took many years before the game really came into it’s own.

That is to say, a lot of people liked Nightfall and Eye of the North more than Prophecies. Not everyone, but a lot.

Nightfall didn’t come out until a year an a half after Prophecies.

Guild Wars 1 WAS a great game. But some of the things that made it great, also made it niche…and it was niche. It was never a household name.

A lot of the stuff you see in Guild Wars 2 is an attempt to deal with the shortcomings of Guild Wars 1. As an example…the skill system.

Guild Wars 1 had to very big problems with skills. There were too many of them, and with the dual profession system it was literally impossible to balance skills. People complain about the inbalance in Guild Wars 2 but they never had to deal with the permasin, or even sabway. Guild Wars 1 had serious balance issues and less skills meant more control by Anet, which is what they wanted. But there was another problem.

Many people couldn’t figure out how to make a decent build. There really were too many skills and not everyone is capable of making a build. I’m a guy who loved to make builds. That’s what I did half the time. Make new builds. But at the same time I was doing an enjoying this, other builds were ruining the game for me, particularly because if you didn’t run Build A you weren’t going to be finding a group to do the Underworld. Everyone only wanted specific builds so they could do speed clears. It was pretty obnoxious.

So Anet lost a lot of people to the inability to have a build that worked. The solution was tie skills to weapons and introduce less skills at start. This way when they do finally have an expansion and they add skills, there’s more of a chance to keep it balanced and even a total noob can play a build because his weapons have the skills he’ll basically need.

Guild Wars 1 was a great game for a small percentage of the audience. Frankly I think Guild Wars 2 will improve a lot in the years to come, but it’s going to take another six months to a year before it’s the game it should have been at launch.

At one point in it’s life GW1 had well over 5 million players and was competing with WoW for the king of mmos title. How is that niche?

Guild Wars 1 probably never had 5 million people playing at the same time. Don’t confuse 5 million copies sold (a landmark they didn’t hit till like year 4 or 5) with 12.4 million subscribers (and many gamers would even consider WoW niche).

12.4 million subscribers, has nothing to do with boxes sold. Boxes sold includes people like both my sons who played it briefly, and left for WoW.

You can’t use box sales to say whether something is niche or not. Only concurrent players. I seriously doubt Guild Wars 1 had more than 1 million concurrent players at any time.

The word niche only works when you compare pontential players to people playing. Niche doesn’t exist in a background. There are currently according to some estimates 200 million gamers. MMOs by most are still considered niche. Only WoW is close to being not niche.

Consider this. Diablo 3 sold 6.8 million copies in it’s first week on existence, more than Guild Wars 1 sold in 7 years.

Niche is niche.

Diablo III’s level of fan anticipation was somewhere between what people felt for SC2 and what they are feeling for Half Life 3.

If GW had made two other amazing games that had a cult following instead of being the flagship, mold breaking product from a new company, they would have sold a helluva lot more copies than they did.

What does this have to do with it being niche or not. Because that’s the question I was answering. You’re niche or your main stream.

I don’t know that anyone can reasonably argue that Guild Wars 1 was main stream.

I’m not talking about why a game is popular or why it isn’t. I’m talking about the difference between niche games and main stream games.

I’m claiming Guild Wars 1 was a niche game (and Guild Wars 2 is rapidly becoming a niche game as well). That’s all I’m claiming.

The living story stuff is stuff to do, while an expansion is worked on. It doesn’t replace an expansion.

As for having to do it, you need to learn to limit yourself if it’s causing you stress. No one should have to be stressed over a game.

fellyn.5083:

Vayne.8563:

Most people are looking at Guild Wars 1 from the point of view of four products not one. Though Guild Wars Prophecies was a good game, it took many years before the game really came into it’s own.

That is to say, a lot of people liked Nightfall and Eye of the North more than Prophecies. Not everyone, but a lot.

Nightfall didn’t come out until a year an a half after Prophecies.

Guild Wars 1 WAS a great game. But some of the things that made it great, also made it niche…and it was niche. It was never a household name.

A lot of the stuff you see in Guild Wars 2 is an attempt to deal with the shortcomings of Guild Wars 1. As an example…the skill system.

Guild Wars 1 had to very big problems with skills. There were too many of them, and with the dual profession system it was literally impossible to balance skills. People complain about the inbalance in Guild Wars 2 but they never had to deal with the permasin, or even sabway. Guild Wars 1 had serious balance issues and less skills meant more control by Anet, which is what they wanted. But there was another problem.

Many people couldn’t figure out how to make a decent build. There really were too many skills and not everyone is capable of making a build. I’m a guy who loved to make builds. That’s what I did half the time. Make new builds. But at the same time I was doing an enjoying this, other builds were ruining the game for me, particularly because if you didn’t run Build A you weren’t going to be finding a group to do the Underworld. Everyone only wanted specific builds so they could do speed clears. It was pretty obnoxious.

So Anet lost a lot of people to the inability to have a build that worked. The solution was tie skills to weapons and introduce less skills at start. This way when they do finally have an expansion and they add skills, there’s more of a chance to keep it balanced and even a total noob can play a build because his weapons have the skills he’ll basically need.

Guild Wars 1 was a great game for a small percentage of the audience. Frankly I think Guild Wars 2 will improve a lot in the years to come, but it’s going to take another six months to a year before it’s the game it should have been at launch.

At one point in it’s life GW1 had well over 5 million players and was competing with WoW for the king of mmos title. How is that niche?

Guild Wars 1 probably never had 5 million people playing at the same time. Don’t confuse 5 million copies sold (a landmark they didn’t hit till like year 4 or 5) with 12.4 million subscribers (and many gamers would even consider WoW niche).

12.4 million subscribers, has nothing to do with boxes sold. Boxes sold includes people like both my sons who played it briefly, and left for WoW.

You can’t use box sales to say whether something is niche or not. Only concurrent players. I seriously doubt Guild Wars 1 had more than 1 million concurrent players at any time.

The word niche only works when you compare pontential players to people playing. Niche doesn’t exist in a background. There are currently according to some estimates 200 million gamers. MMOs by most are still considered niche. Only WoW is close to being not niche.

Consider this. Diablo 3 sold 6.8 million copies in it’s first week on existence, more than Guild Wars 1 sold in 7 years.

Niche is niche.

daros.3407:

raptor.1064:

daros.3407:

Bloodstealer.5978:

You mean you aren’t able to master the lasers so its to hard.. hmmm took a few attempts to learn how the lasers run and tbh I don’t see any issues with it as long as players are willing to learn.
This dungeon is the first one in GW2 imo that requires a bit more than “link zerker gear or don’t apply”… it requires a bit of working out.. use a runner to lay down AOE or signets to grab aggro from the golems.. rest run the lasers and when the small laser catches up, simply jump up on the crates to avoid jump back down and keep targeting the golems.. not really that hard.

The worst part for me is 3 times now the group has got passed the Fizz room got chest, carried on into next Aetherblade mobs, then all of a sudden we all get booted out to LA.. maybe someone leaves or DC’s and the rest of us get thrown out as well… but this is another issue for them to sort!

To avoid lasers is easy but there is no way how to counter golems pull and if they will pull you you will die in 70% times.
And there is also problem, maybe bug, when lasers appearing they can appear right where you are and again this mean certain death.
Dungeon is not too hard but this part realy needs improvements.

the bars that the lasers shoot out of come out before they turn on, it is easy to avoid

But there is still golem pull which will get you right in laser. And if you stand on box you just have no chance to avoid it.

Stability for the win.

Why ask the question if you don’t want to accept people’s answers, Nick.

Guild Wars 2 is far more balanced than Guild Wars 1…but that’s not even the issue. The question isn’t how hard it is to balance now. The question is moving forward, after expansions, how hard would it be to balance.

I get it. You liked the old system. You loved the old system. That’s great. I liked it too, but there is no way anyone could genuinely compare the imbalances in this game to what Guild Wars 1 became.

Anet has reduced the chance of Guild Wars 2 becoming that.

Next thing you know, people will be saying that Alesia was awesome. lol

stayBlind.7849:

Vayne.8563:

stayBlind.7849:

Vayne.8563:

Most people are looking at Guild Wars 1 from the point of view of four products not one. Though Guild Wars Prophecies was a good game, it took many years before the game really came into it’s own.

That is to say, a lot of people liked Nightfall and Eye of the North more than Prophecies. Not everyone, but a lot.

Nightfall didn’t come out until a year an a half after Prophecies.

Guild Wars 1 WAS a great game. But some of the things that made it great, also made it niche…and it was niche. It was never a household name.

A lot of the stuff you see in Guild Wars 2 is an attempt to deal with the shortcomings of Guild Wars 1. As an example…the skill system.

snip

As long as there is more than one skill per type (bleeding application, direct damage) it will be impossible to balance.

Even if the developers only let each class have access eight skills and one elite, there would be specific classes that excelled doing particular things in game. (e.g. League of Legends).

Sorry, but Magic: the Gathering has many times more cards than there were skills in GW1, and MTG thrives because they DESIGN the game around the fact that certain skills will be next to useless. They take what would seem like a detrimental design feature and they turn it into a beneficial one.

All GW2 has shown me is that ANet was not up to the CHALLENGE of building upon the ‘collectible card’ like system from GW1 (which was one of the brilliant features of the game). Therefore, I am not up to the CHALLENGE of buying one armor set in GW2 for 1/6 the cost of a GW1 expansion.

To me ANet took almost every small, brilliant, and unique feature from GW1 and threw it out the window. They then replaced those small, brilliant, and unique systems with overused systems from other BIG MONEY games; games which I don’t play because of said systems.

Yes, they stated that there would be fewer skills in game so that it was easier to balance, but then they add a trait system. So now, instead of me having to actively use a skill on my skill bar to add a passive effect, it just happens automatically. They didn’t lower the number of skills in the game, they just converted a large portion of them into a passive trait system.

Good luck trying to balance that.

Sorry, but to me passive effects that require me to do nothing more than have them ‘equipped’ are extremely boring. At least you had to actively use skills in GW1 to get the effects.

Anyways, I could talk all day about what small and large design features kept me playing GW1 for years (and buying content to boot), but what does that really matter. In the end all I have is a game that I came to love abandoned and left to starve because it didn’t MAKE ENOUGH GREEN.

You’re right, it didn’t make enough green. That’s it exactly.

And since Guild Wars 2 is a bigger budget game, with a staff five times the size, who would have expected them to keep everything the same. If they were going to keep everything the same Guild Wars 2 wouldn’t be a sequel, it would be another expansion.

Guild Wars 2 is still much easier to balance than Guild Wars 1. This doesn’t have anything to do with devs not being up to making the game you want, it has everything to do with the devs making a game that will make more money.

You thought maybe they should aim to design a game that makes less money?

If GW1 didn’t make enough money we wouldn’t be here right now. Why change the scope of the project unless you want some fat IRL loots.

GW1 was art.

GW2 is business.

GW1 was business too…but it was a first product and a smaller business. There are many times during Guild Wars 1’s life when fans rose up to condemn decisions Anet has made. This is nothing new.

People even complained about skill packs being sold in the cash shop as being P2W. You just have rose colored glasses about a game that wasn’t as well received as you believe it was. You liked it. I liked it. Most people tried it and didn’t like it. That’s the sad truth.

And it was a business. You want your business to grow. You want to do something bigger. Even artists experience that. They wanted to stretch their wings. You have some idea that they made Guild Wars 1 as a public service project for art alone. This isn’t true. They ran out of money, they went to NCsoft, they got funding, and that deal was sealed. Even before GW 1 came out, NCsoft owned Anet.

Guild Wars 2 is as much art as Guild Wars 1 is. You just don’t like the art style.

morrolan.9608:

Vayne.8563:

No I’m not defending Anet. I’m defending a play style.

Thats not really the argument the fact remains that in a patch where the majority of classes received buffs of varying degrees rangers received the most significant nerf, when they were widely regarded as the weakest class pre patch except for 1 particular bunker build. By defending it you come across like you’re defending the changes as reasonable.

Do you know the expression storm in a tea cup?

By me not feeling the effects, I’m saying I don’t feel the effects. That’s it.

I’m not saying Anet should have done it or shouldn’t have done it. I’m saying these changes aren’t affecting my game significantly enough for me to notice. It’s just a point of view.

I’ll leave it to people who play more with numbers to discuss whether is should or shouldn’t be done, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was necessary for SPvP, and shouldn’t have been done in PvE.

I was going to weigh in here (because Gasoline is one of my favorite guys), but since you’re all doing a good job of refuting the P2W claim, I’ll just say, “Good job, everyone.” lol

Alad QB.8904:

I still haven’t read any objections… just somewhat funny comments by people who don’t seem to care about this.

Okay here’s my objection. I don’t think a big enough percentage of the player base cares about this to waste developer time to implement it.

It really is that simple.

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

morrolan.9608:

Vayne.8563:

Because we’ve having fun playing together. Doing an hour dungeon run while having fun is superior to me to doing a fifteen minute dungeon run while having fun. My way, I stretch out my fun to one hour.

See now you’re just making up reasons to defend anet.

I’m not defending Anet at all. I’m saying that rangers aren’t as broken as people say they are EXCEPT in dungeons, where they were already broken. I’m saying that the changes haven’t changed anything I do in the game. That’s not defending Anet.

I do think the PvE pet damage should have been left alone, and only PvP damage should have been changed, but then, that’s just my opinion. I obviously don’t min/max so I don’t pay as much attention to the numbers.

But then there’s the other side of the argument. MOST people don’t min/max. Only a small percentage of the playerbase are min-maxers. Most players aren’t competitive PvE’ers. If I wanted to be competitive, I’d PvP more.

So this change really affects mostly dungeon runners, who play rangers, most of whom if they were playing with competitive people weren’t getting into groups already. I’m not sure what’s changed.

No I’m not defending Anet. I’m defending a play style.

Well, you don’t have to defend your play style, because I don’t see anyone attacking it.

You should play to have fun, whatever that may be for you or anyone else.

But people DO attack the play style. And more, people make it sound as if no one but me, or a few people play casually and don’t care about the numbers so much, and I don’t think it’s true.

I was out in the world. I played my ranger. I didn’t have any more problems than I usually did. That’s what I’m “reporting” and the general consensus is that well it’s nice that you play that way but us good players are unhappy.

And I’m wagering there are more of me out there than min-maxers.

I agree there are people who do dungeons. No one wanted them yesterday so I’m not sure why no one wanting them today is such an issue.

And in other guilds, in people that play like me, everyone is fine with taking a ranger.

But I do think that Anet should have left the PvE pet damage alone.

morrolan.9608:

Vayne.8563:

Because we’ve having fun playing together. Doing an hour dungeon run while having fun is superior to me to doing a fifteen minute dungeon run while having fun. My way, I stretch out my fun to one hour.

See now you’re just making up reasons to defend anet.

I’m not defending Anet at all. I’m saying that rangers aren’t as broken as people say they are EXCEPT in dungeons, where they were already broken. I’m saying that the changes haven’t changed anything I do in the game. That’s not defending Anet.

I do think the PvE pet damage should have been left alone, and only PvP damage should have been changed, but then, that’s just my opinion. I obviously don’t min/max so I don’t pay as much attention to the numbers.

But then there’s the other side of the argument. MOST people don’t min/max. Only a small percentage of the playerbase are min-maxers. Most players aren’t competitive PvE’ers. If I wanted to be competitive, I’d PvP more.

So this change really affects mostly dungeon runners, who play rangers, most of whom if they were playing with competitive people weren’t getting into groups already. I’m not sure what’s changed.

No I’m not defending Anet. I’m defending a play style.

Necros are happy, rangers are sad. Warriors who PvP are annoyed. Everyone else is either about the same or slightly buffed.

No mystery here.

Astral Projections.7320:

Astraea.6075:

Why should I press keys at all? Enemies in a 10,000 foot radius should just die as soon as I point my camera at them, and drop precursors straight into my bags…

Seriously though, AOE looting is a nice quality of life improvement. Automatic looting just comes across as laziness now that we have AOE looting.

I want auto looting where it loots precursors out of other players bags when they get near me.

LMAO! Oh I could hear the screams already. lol

killcannon.2576:

Vayne.8563:

Gee, I guess I can’t do the dungeons I did with my ranger now. They suck. /sarcasm

Rangers isn’t much worse off now in dungeons than they were before. Particularly because the best pets to use in dungeons for anyone who’s not running with a group of zerker warriors, are spiders, which are ranged.

It’s the old, omg I’m playing with people who are so interested in effiicency they don’t want me. And that hasn’t changed since before the patch. The elitists and speed runners didn’t want you a week ago and they don’t want you today.

And the rangers in my guild will still run with the guild, and they’ll still get the same groups.

So what exactly has changed for a ranger? Honestly, it’s not as much as people think. I’m not killing stuff significantly slower, and yes, I main a ranger.

Uh…why wouldn’t you run an efficient build? I mean I play how I want, but my builds are efficient for what they are. I really don’t imagine that people go around and build their trait lines for condition damage then wear Clerics armor…or do they?

This patch affecting the Ranger profession doesn’t really have anything to do with efficiency as much as blind stupidity. An almost across the board nerf to pet damage…compensated for by…..nothing. Apparently someone, somewhere thought pets were way overpowered. The beastmaster Ranger builds were anything but OP, personally I considered them more of a baseline that I would have liked to have seen the rest of the builds brought up to. Instead they were nerfed to the mediocrity of the rest of the builds.

The staff ele changes have been sorely needed for quite awhile, so grats to the balance team for that. But, seriously, wtf was with the ranger nerfs. It certainly wasn’t because Rangers are OP in pve, which leaves the blanket nerfs at the feet of PvP or WvW…which they are supposed to be separating.

I suppose someone didn’t get the memo.

And you’re right, they aren’t much worse off in dungeons now than before. They weren’t a valued member of a dungeon team before, and they still aren’t now.

I play to have fun…not to be efficient. When I worked, I was efficient as hell. I don’t need to be efficient in my down time.

I played a zerker warrior, I walked through stuff, didn’t find it fun and stopped. It wasn’t fun. I play to have fun. I play to challenge myself. Playing a profession that takes longer to down a boss (because I’m not running any races) doesn’t negatively affect the game for me, it positively affects the game for me.

Some people down bosses in 10 seconds or less. It trivializes them. Me, it might take me a couple of minutes and maybe, in the case of something like Project Alpha or Lupi, I can work up a sweat. Why is that a bad thing? Because it takes me longer? I don’t care. My guildies don’t care. Why? Get this.

Because we’ve having fun playing together. Doing an hour dungeon run while having fun is superior to me to doing a fifteen minute dungeon run while having fun. My way, I stretch out my fun to one hour.

stayBlind.7849:

Vayne.8563:

Most people are looking at Guild Wars 1 from the point of view of four products not one. Though Guild Wars Prophecies was a good game, it took many years before the game really came into it’s own.

That is to say, a lot of people liked Nightfall and Eye of the North more than Prophecies. Not everyone, but a lot.

Nightfall didn’t come out until a year an a half after Prophecies.

Guild Wars 1 WAS a great game. But some of the things that made it great, also made it niche…and it was niche. It was never a household name.

A lot of the stuff you see in Guild Wars 2 is an attempt to deal with the shortcomings of Guild Wars 1. As an example…the skill system.

Guild Wars 1 had to very big problems with skills. There were too many of them, and with the dual profession system it was literally impossible to balance skills. People complain about the inbalance in Guild Wars 2 but they never had to deal with the permasin, or even sabway. Guild Wars 1 had serious balance issues and less skills meant more control by Anet, which is what they wanted. But there was another problem.

Many people couldn’t figure out how to make a decent build. There really were too many skills and not everyone is capable of making a build. I’m a guy who loved to make builds. That’s what I did half the time. Make new builds. But at the same time I was doing an enjoying this, other builds were ruining the game for me, particularly because if you didn’t run Build A you weren’t going to be finding a group to do the Underworld. Everyone only wanted specific builds so they could do speed clears. It was pretty obnoxious.

So Anet lost a lot of people to the inability to have a build that worked. The solution was tie skills to weapons and introduce less skills at start. This way when they do finally have an expansion and they add skills, there’s more of a chance to keep it balanced and even a total noob can play a build because his weapons have the skills he’ll basically need.
snip

As long as there is more than one skill per type (bleeding application, direct damage) it will be impossible to balance.

Even if the developers only let each class have access eight skills and one elite, there would be specific classes that excelled doing particular things in game. (e.g. League of Legends).

Sorry, but Magic: the Gathering has many times more cards than there were skills in GW1, and MTG thrives because they DESIGN the game around the fact that certain skills will be next to useless. They take what would seem like a detrimental design feature and they turn it into a beneficial one.

All GW2 has shown me is that ANet was not up to the CHALLENGE of building upon the ‘collectible card’ like system from GW1 (which was one of the brilliant features of the game). Therefore, I am not up to the CHALLENGE of buying one armor set in GW2 for 1/6 the cost of a GW1 expansion.

To me ANet took almost every small, brilliant, and unique feature from GW1 and threw it out the window. They then replaced those small, brilliant, and unique systems with overused systems from other BIG MONEY games; games which I don’t play because of said systems.

Yes, they stated that there would be fewer skills in game so that it was easier to balance, but then they add a trait system. So now, instead of me having to actively use a skill on my skill bar to add a passive effect, it just happens automatically. They didn’t lower the number of skills in the game, they just converted a large portion of them into a passive trait system.

Good luck trying to balance that.

Sorry, but to me passive effects that require me to do nothing more than have them ‘equipped’ are extremely boring. At least you had to actively use skills in GW1 to get the effects.

Anyways, I could talk all day about what small and large design features kept me playing GW1 for years (and buying content to boot), but what does that really matter. In the end all I have is a game that I came to love abandoned and left to starve because it didn’t MAKE ENOUGH GREEN.

You’re right, it didn’t make enough green. That’s it exactly.

And since Guild Wars 2 is a bigger budget game, with a staff five times the size, who would have expected them to keep everything the same. If they were going to keep everything the same Guild Wars 2 wouldn’t be a sequel, it would be another expansion.

Guild Wars 2 is still much easier to balance than Guild Wars 1. This doesn’t have anything to do with devs not being up to making the game you want, it has everything to do with the devs making a game that will make more money.

You thought maybe they should aim to design a game that makes less money?