Guild Wars 2

haviz.1340:

Zeldain.5710:

I’m not sure why they didn’t implement boss-specific (or dungeon-specific) loot/skins, so that way players would have a definitive reason to go in there. Another failed design decision.

There are dungeon-specific skins which you get through getting tokens. I have no idea what you meant by that. Did you mean randomly droped loot specific to dungeon?

I mean actual items dropped only by a specific boss. Or yes, even random loot found only in a dungeon.

The token system is boring and predictable and doesn’t deliver any sort of surprise – a key design attribute. Plus, it creates problems like the OP is talking about.

I’m not sure why they didn’t implement boss-specific (or dungeon-specific) loot/skins, so that way players would have a definitive reason to go in there. Another failed design decision.

RvLeshrac.2673:

Zeldain.5710:

I’ll say it again: platform mechanics do not belong in an MMO unless they develop controls and cameras and geometry to accommodate it, and they have simply not.

There’s nothing wrong with jumping puzzles, but the majority of the playerbase despises timed jumping puzzles. The majority of gamers despise them. That’s why you don’t see them often, and when you do (Alice) games get REAMED for it in reviews.

I’m sure part of the reason is for their tech… they can’t handle many players in the same area, so they have to “queue” them on a snowball platform, then released them, then kill any players who didn’t make the first jump. This keeps that zone uncluttered.

And it makes players take an artificially long time to complete, just what they want, so the content “feels” substantial.

It’s sad that such a potentially great and well-designed MMO world is going to waste away and become a “platform” game as the reason people come back to play, when it can’t hold a candle to real platform games.

It’s clear they’re not listening, they’re just doing what they want.

The visuals are amazing. The gameplay, and design? Terrible, misses the mark of the core audience by a mile.

I’ll say it again: platform mechanics do not belong in an MMO unless they develop controls and cameras and geometry to accommodate it, and they have simply not.

Yeah, I dislike this as well. Hell, this one you die if you don’t even START in time… that is unacceptable.

Yep. Same here. No internet problem though, it’s on ArenaNet’s end.

Slappy.7190:

I just clicked on the link in 1st sentence that says Guild Ward 2 and guess what,it’s not even in the top 10 for pc downloads.Looks like someone took a snapshot to try and prove a point.When was it actually tops?http://www.greenmangaming.com/pc-download/

When you click on Guild Wars 2 in sentence 1 it takes you to greenmangaming and as of now it’s not in top 10.
As of 9:00 pm est on friday 12/14/2012 Gw2 not even in top 10!

LOL it’s not even there… too funny.

Enthilzha.1856:

The site the article comes from is PCGamer which should be pretty reputable I think!

I am not trying to prove that GW2 is not dying – just provide a little perspective and some good evidence.

The author is very biased, and to use a platform as large as PC Gamer to pimp a tiny, TINY little list that isn’t used as the measure of success in… well, for anything in the industry?

PC Gamer just lost all of my respect for allowing him to post that drivel. It’s not news, it;‘s his agenda. And Probably part of Mike O’Brien’s well-connected friends network. See: Forbes, Time, etc.

The top of the Green Man Gaming charts?

Yeah. No.

Dondarrion.2748:

Does anyone have any solid figures on population in different servers or is this “growing”/“declining” just subjective depending on the author’s outlook?

Show me numbers and graphs.

Here’s a graph. This graph read over 100,000 hours on launch week. Now, under 10,000.

http://beta.xfire.com/games/gw2

It’s an excellent predictor of engagement trends overall, and deadly accurate based on other past games and trends.

FaRectification.5678:

ANet has built a great game, and now the Gear Treadmill problem has been solved. Forget about your woes of the past from WoW. Move on with this new and improved formula!

Except people are moving away from this game, what’s up with that?

Hmm

Just as a random thought to the discussion, I feel the boon/condition system is poorly implemented, relying on too many random elements and not being long enough to use in a proper tactical manner.

Of course, changing that would mean re-balancing the whole game, so….

Nothing is wrong with it, in fact it’s better.

However, ArenaNet has gone back on their philosophy by adding it. That’s the uproar.

bri.2359:

In 2011 we had The Witcher 2, Skyrim and Deus Ex:HR, all excellent games and all worthy of GOTY.

This year we had squat. The only big release was ME3, and look what happened there…

If GW2 was released last year, it would not have received a sniff of a chance. Anet were fortunate 2012 was a dud year for releases.

Exactly right.

This is not an RPG deserving of that title, guys.

cesmode.4257:

Zeldain.5710:

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Do you even know what you’re saying? GW2 not an RPG, its more like diablo ? what the hell?

Story mode: you are playing the part of a hero in Tyria, helping people around your home land and venturing off to join an ancient society to defeat an elder dragon tha thas “risen” the Risen of a long lost nation. Whats not RPG about that?

Is WoW more of an RPG? That game, while rich in lore, has 0 story and 0 role playing. None. Zip. Is Rift more of an RPG? Is Tera?

Computer RPGs are as much about combat role and style as they are “story” and the simplistic combat and character progression of GW2 pales in comparison to true RPGs. Sorry, they just do.

The story in GW2 also falls short. Where is it? My personal “story” quests every few levels that don’t even tie into the world story until late, late in the game? Same mistake TOR made. But at least TOR’s voice acting and script writing was professional, unlike here.

Also, you haven’t played WoW at all. It has, by far, the best MMO storytelling mechanics in place. You should try it.

gwawer.9805:

I think it’s the homogenizing of world war craft in its
It’s efforts to draw more and more subscribers ended up imploding. Rather than having a small to medium sized player base who absolutely loved the game, you end up having millions of people who try the game and then find many things they don’t like. Nobody is passionate about that game anymore.

10 million + are still passionate about it. By most estimates, that’s about 9.5 million more than play this game. And this game is free.

Arsenic Touch.7960:

Zeldain.5710:

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

Not even remotely true. GW2 is not a hack and slash rpg like diablo.

I hate to say it, it’s much more hack-n-slash than it is tactical combat as is the norm in MMORPGs.

It’s definitely more Diablo-like including the level of “RPG-ness” that includes.

I wouldn’t even really put it in the RPG category. It’s more of a Diablo-style action RPG if anything.

The term RPG is being used far too liberally lately.

I personally don’t think there’s enough practical depth. Like, useful, usable progression and builds that are meaningful. Most players don’t switch weapons, which means their skill set is extremely limited.

It’s not a good combat system.

Vayra.3290:

Zeldain.5710:

CreativeAnarchy.6324:

MangoMan.3218:

We are a less accurate sample, but an adequate one.

No, not adequate at all..

Absolutely adequate even if not quite totally scientific.

An adequate sample would represent the total playerbase with decent accuracy. This is absolutely not the case with the people who frequent forums.

The sample size is far beyond what is used it almost every type of user/player/consumer research imaginable.

It’s adequate enough to predict a trend, and that trend is decline.

CreativeAnarchy.6324:

MangoMan.3218:

We are a less accurate sample, but an adequate one.

No, not adequate at all..

Absolutely adequate even if not quite totally scientific.

Forum posters may be the minority, but they’re also typically much greater in number than a sample size used in real research in the real world.

So do with that what you will.

ASB.4295:

Uhm, do you have any idea… ANY idea how much work they have to put into creating free content every three months for players to devour, while at the same time working on their real expansions?

Guesting, like Guild Halls, are a pretty large game feature and I wouldn’t be surprised if they pushed it back to release them as part of their first real expansion.

I think you aren’t grateful enough for all the free entertainment they provide you with. You know what would enable them to work faster? More people. Man hours are expensive. You can help them pay the bills by using them Gem Shop. You get cool stuff, and the features you want faster, while they can keep working on the game you love.

You’ve got to be kidding me with this response. Free?

Do you know that what the OP was asking for – and PAID FOR – was advertised as a feature of the game?

It’s a pretty tell-tale sign of despair when a player on the forums is asking other players to go to the gem store to “help them out.”

It’s over. GW2 has found its niche, and a niche is all it will be.

nerva.7940:

actually GW2 pop has been steadily growing. most servers are full.

No, it hasn’t been growing… all measurable indicators are that player activity has dropped like a rock. And there’s no noticeable influx of new players.

Population is very unhealthy for leveling a character.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

It’s called a promotion. If they made the Wizard Hat available to all players, then what is the incentive for new players to even buy the game? You give them something exclusive that will make them unique and feel special cause current players don’t have it. If you gave it to everyone, then what is the point of having it in the first place? Or even offering it as an incentive in a new purchase? It would be pointless if everyone could just buy it for gems.

Thus why it is a promotion for new players. But it seems people are selfish and can’t stand the fact that someone will have something they can’t have. But they are perfectly okay with having something that new players can’t have, but god forbid that new players have something they can’t have.

So the incentive of “come play our awesome game” isn’t enough? It was for all the players who bought it so far.

The fact is ArenaNet needs new box revenue… not that they don’t care about current players, but it’s pretty clear that there are far fewer people playing the game than they had planned on, and the cash shop injection isn’t working as intended. So they need to constantly be trying to bring in fresh meat, because that’s really their only source of real revenue.

Well, it’s important to realize that this isn’t Guild Wars, but rather a true MMO where classes and progression matter more.

Having said that, there isn’t a real manifestiation of goals or things for players to do. As a subscription game, this would be faring worse than even TOR. But since it’s free-to-play, it will be hard to tell of it’s actual success.

I personally think without major new systems such as raiding added, the game will be a niche of a niche even more than GW1 was, and something tells me that’s not enough to support it.

Dying is a weird word of course…

But if you ask, “are there far less people playing today than a month ago or at launch?” The answer is a resounding absolutely.

Mandrax.7342:

It’s fun for me. I like challenges. I like hard content. I don’t want faceroll dungeons a la WoW. I want to wipe when errors are made. I want to feel that if I’m not at my best, things can go wrong. In other games you can more or less afk whilst running dungeons, or at the very least slack off and do the minimum possible to get through it. I’m glad this game takes a different approach to dungeons.

Every gamer likes challenges and difficult content… but the way it’s presented here is un-fun, as the OP indicated.

This is definitely a fundamental problem… people have been deluded into thinking they’re having fun, just because they’re not looking for a healer or because they are using “SKILL!!!!!” in combat…. and in the end, it’s very punishing as you say.

There may be a few who enjoy it genuinely, but my gut is that many people are going through the paces and will drop over time. As has been happening already, if you look at the numbers of course.

MaRko.3165:

The great thing about this game is that I’m not locked into any one given play style. I like that.

The truth is every modern MMO affords you that. What’s lacking here it the varied playstyles if you prefer a combat role. That, to me, makes it very mediocre when it comes to team play – what MMOs are supposed to be about.

Something that folks around here will never understand is that there are players that enjoy healing. They enjoy tanking. They enjoy these varied gameplay options outside of “pew pew pew” all the time. It made for depth and replay-ability.

Instead what we’re stuck with without combat roles is a button-mashing free-for-all that in no way satisfies the urge for true team play, especially in PvE.

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t have a use for players playing together – it’s satisfactory to play “along side” others where it doesn’t matter what each other are doing. It’s a solo game with other people around, and the combat reflects that. Not team play in any way, shape or form.

Desmond.5396:

You get plenty of Black Lion Keys by completing zones or doing the personal story. If there would be even more ways to get them the chest rewards wouldn’t be special anymore. I like it this way, it makes leveling alts more fun aswell.

Those things have long been over for most level 80 players… there are no more zones to complete or personal story to do. Yet, we keep playing.

There’s nothing special about the chest rewards whatsoever if you have to pay to get into them. They were earned through the normal course of gameplay, there should be a way to open them through the normal course of gameplay as well.

Again, that’s not convenience or cosmetics – that’s pay-for-access.

If they aren’t anywhere in the random drop loot tables, then add my voice to the chorus of boos. While there may not be “pay to win” this goes beyond cosmetics and convenience.

By getting chests but no in-game way to obtain keys through the course of normal gameplay, it forces you on a path through the gem store just to play the “complete” game, something ArenaNet said they wouldn’t do.

This is no different than what Zynga does with Farmville, by the way. I truly didn’t expect it out of a triple-A MMO.

RobinotX.1604:

Though, I would hope they will find a way to get people their stuff back before 1 dec or they will overrule the rule that only 1 account recovery per account in the future. I mean, I get it why they have that rule right now. But they shouldn’t use that rule for the lifespan of this game.

See, the problem here is it’s clear the need for this service was not planned for when the design document was created.

At the very least, there should have been a use case in place to save the status of every account for based on the eventuality that they’d eventually offer the tool to restore such.

But instead, by offering it only from Dec 1 forward, it shows they do not have the back-end paper trail to go off of.

I just can’t believe the most anticipated MMO releasing in 2012 would not come out of the gate with this forethought.

Shootsfoot.9276:

You “get more powerful” by getting better at playing your character.

That’s fine, but to do that you need a constant flow of content. You can;t be expected to repeat the same.

So it’s a double-edged sword.

I’d like to see, even before more “content”, some nod toward world events/non-combat gameplay.

Festivals, carnivals, holidays, housing (player and guild) etc. That would go a long way.

Neoyoshi.4136:

I think it would easier if people would just go ahead and throw the “End game” concept out the window, because all that does it suggest that there is a end some where down the road, and A-net doesn’t play ball that way.

End-game content? Ha! more like… never-ending content; just wait and you’ll see.

P.S. Stop rushing.

EDIT: Ps2: Don’t just assume that hitting max level means that your game is heading towards the end point, in terms of A-net’s track record, you could consider hitting level 80 – the beginning of your adventure.

take in to account that the max level in the first Guild Wars was level 20, and people hit max level way before they could even make a noticeable dent in the actual content. So just keep that in mind.

GW1 was a very different game, and they’ve gone for a different (and much larger) audience with Guild Wars 2.

Whatever you call “endgame” they put 80 levels in front of us, which suggests that’s our goal. When we get there, in my opinion, there’s a current lack of tangible character progression right now.

No, it would keep all of your progress… only your character moves.

Aesa.4819:

There’s tons to do, also:

I think the OP just doesn’t mean “things to do” but rather “ways to progress” their character. That’s what endgame is lacking right now.

Amiron.1067:

Dude, I don’t know what crack your on, but this game is as good if not better than most subscription based MMO’s out there. And I’m leaning on it being better. Even /with/ a subscription fee, I’d still pay just to play this game. This game is actually innovative, whereas Rift, Warhammer, LOTRO were not. They all followed the basic mindless “Use a rotation for your spells/abilities” mentality. That’s alone is what earns new MMO titles such as “WoW clone”, because they hardly innovate on the genre and just use WoW’s model and add a different lore background.

Guild Wars 2 finally broke the trend. If you can’t see that, I’m assuming your not very good at taking a look at something in-depth.

GW2 is different – not necessarily better. Gotta keep the hyperbole in check.

Having said that, it’s obviously good that another MMO developer has the drive and possibly the means and ability to compete for the position of best MMO.

Yep. Tired of moas and bandits and centaurs everywhere.

Vargs.6234:

But I’m going to be using my combo finishers all the time anyways, so being able to position myself into a combo field to get extra benefits is great.

Two important points there:

1 – No thought. You were going to use your abilities anyway – there’s no tactical reason you’re using combos. Just because “they exist.”

2 – While you’re busy getting into position (and the already short duration is clicking away, in most cases before you get there or have to dodge out of the way) you’re also not doing what you’re supposed to be doing which is a) killing things and b) staying alive.

Is the tradeoff to get into a 1 second combo field worth it? My math says no.

Trent.3256:

My friends and I have been using combos every chance we get. We have learned what each other’s abilities can do and what we have to combo with them. I even perform combos by myself on my elementalist. For instance, I drop a healing geyser and then cast arcane wave right in the middle of it. That will burst an AOE heal out to myself and all players within range on top of what the healing geyser is doing. I will also pop arcane wave in a few of my fire fields and it will do damage to enemies and grant might to myself and nearby allies.

The combos are actually very useful and make a good impact. It seems to me that you simply aren’t doing it right.

The issue is that the game encourages players to play along side each other, not “with” each other – so most players are oblivious to teamwork. Further, the communication and coordination required just doesn’t exist and isn’t worth it in

MAYBE for dungeon bosses… that’s the only time you might be able to coordinate a team with enough communication to make them matter.

Maljas.6948:

This is just blind ignorance OP. You’ve never been in an area might stacking group have you?

That’s the problem. No one has.

emikochan.8504:

Kung : discussions don’t change the game or what issues someone is having with said game. If you’re not having fun, why stick around ?

Discussions and suggestions don’t change the game? I beg to differ – they are the ONLY way that the game will change.

This is just a usability thing, but an important one.

With the default amount of posts per page while viewing a thread being so high, there is a long scroll distance from the top to the bottom. This makes it cumbersome to scroll all the way back up to the top to go back to the forum category.

The suggestion is to simply add an instance of the forum breadcrumb trail at the bottom of the page.

Thanks!

I don’t feel this message is adequately out there, however.

Due to the intro of the game, where the first thing you’re told to do is talk to a scout who circles hearts on your map, gives players a clear path to follow. It’s counter to what the “ideal” is and in most cases leaves the player under-leveled.

Players understand that hearts have levels and provide the path through the zone. I don’t know what ArenaNet has to do to get the message across, but there is growing amounts of moaning.

I tend to agree. I think it’s because of the buff/debuff system, with the durations being so short and even more than there is rarely control over how/when to apply something, especially thanks to largely random chances at doing so (or even random at what buffs/debuffs are applied.)

Further, as you say, they are rarely if ever coordinated due to the necessary communication and setup… they’re not long enough to react to, and it seems more than they were designed to be “endured” rather than “managed.”

I’d like to see more skills that apply or remove them directly (especially in a predictable group situation).

I also think the icon system for them needs to be improved – they aren’t distinct enough, all within a red “box” and and a small illustration too detailed for it’s size. They need to be wholly different from each other especially with dropping off so quickly.