I actually like that they aren’t just tall humans. Makes them unique.
Well, the female Norn models pretty much are just tall humans, though.
As was mentioned earlier in this thread, we have stated that we are unable to provide a reply to all suggestions posted in the suggestion subforum.
We do, however, regularly read the suggestions forum and deliver feedback to the design team on a daily basis. Just because you haven’t seen a reply does not mean it’s not being read.
I really don’t think it was being suggested that it was the expectation that all suggestions in the entire subforum receive a reply. However, perhaps you could take from this that, among some of your customers, a perception exists that communication could be better. There is always room for improvement, yes?
The problem I have with temporary content is that I have to play it on Anet’s schedule, not mine. I don’t like feeling pressured to either do content within someone else’s time frame or not at all. That being the case, I pretty much ignore all temporary stuff. I just won’t play it. I don’t want to risk getting part of the way through it and not completing it before it goes away.
That said, it does appear that temporary content is popular with a large portion of the playerbase. I suppose I am in the minority.
Still, hearing that the living story might not be ALL temporary stuff is encouraging. Carry on, then. Show us what you’ve got. :-)
Then play facebook games.
Thanks for the suggestion. No.
EDIT:
So, to sum up —
My attitude: “Yeah, it would be cool if both sides got what they want.”
Your attitude: “No, screw you, only I should get what I want. You leave.”
Got it. By the way, if you’re really all that excited about the idea of harder PVE, Sovta, here’s a suggestion: don’t wear armor. Problem sorted.
(edited by minbariguy.7504)
I totally get how some people would want harder PVE content, and I would be in favor of a “hard mode” like GW1 eventually got, but getting 2-shot does not equal fun for me. I play MMO’s to immerse myself in a game world for the purpose of casual, escapist fun, not to pressure myself to develop my twitch skills or die.
Nothing wrong with either preference, mind you, but if PVE content were simply made more difficult for everyone, regardless of preference, I would simply move on to a different game. It just wouldn’t be worth the frustration and would be exactly the opposite of what I’m looking for.
As is always mentioned in every one of these thread about this same topic. You don’t need to do them. You get a benefit if you do, but the benefit is only benefitial for those that play significantly.
I don’t disagree with your statement, but I would also point out that you also don’t “need” anything that is sold in the gem store, yet they still sell it. Using your argument, one could argue that nothing should be sold in the gem store at all, since it is all unneeded.
It sounds like you’re already doing the hearts, so I would say to make sure you are doing your daily quests and unlocking Points of Interest, Vistas, and Waypoints everywhere you go (this will give additional experience for zone completion); also, gathering crafting materials actually gives decent experience and will count towards your daily quest requirements. Also make sure to participate in any event which happens to spawn near you.
Oh, and you can also travel to other races’ low-level starting zones and do the hearts and events there (Lion’s Arch has portals to each of the zones, and you can get to Lion’s Arch by traveling through the portal in the Heart of the Mists).
By the way, the heart karma merchants do eventually start offering gear; you can also check the Black Lion Trading Post when you start getting a bit more money.
Disclaimer: I am a slow leveler and do not yet have a max level character. I’m sure others will chime in with advice much more useful than my own, but in the meantime I hope this post has been at least a little useful.
Welcome to Guild Wars 2! :-)
Sorry, no offense but this is my turn. These guys are right. This is a massive MULTIPLAYER online game, you are supposed to play with other players (people). I am not saying you should play other games. But I am saying you SHOULD NOT try to modify a well established game genre to your needs. There are other games, not online, not multiplayer, where you can call any amount of NPCs to play with you. Guild Wars 2 is just not one of these.
Sorry, but you don’t get to decide how other people are “supposed” to play the game. I refer you once again to uknortherner’s post:
I wish people would stop taking MMO to mean forced multiplayer as well. It doesn’t. It means a persistent world with lots of players.
That’s what the genre is about. No one is seeking to “modify” anything. In GW1, people were available to play the game with if you so chose, and heroes and henchies were available for those times when you:
A) Didn’t want to deal with people who seem to think it their privilege to tell you how you should play
B) Could not find any of your real life friends to group with
OR
C) Simply felt like immersing yourself in the world of the game without grouping up.
Seriously, what is with all the “U MUST GROOP WITH ME!!11!” mentality of some people in MMOs? The fact is, some people just don’t want to group with you. I know it’s hard to fathom, but I suggest you try to sort it out. The pain will ease with time.
Yet it is still fully possible, for everyone, to solo it. Maybe not at once. Maybe not with their current skill. But it is still possible.
Sigh…
Agreed. Never said it was not possible. Doesn’t mean heroes and henchies can’t make the game more enjoyable for those who would choose to use them.
Everything outside of Dungeons are completely possible to solo in this game.
Obviously not for everyone, hence the OP’s post. And a lot of other posts in, say, the Personal Story forum.
Look, I get it; you don’t have a problem soloing everything. That’s great. But your experience does not equal everyone else’s experience. Surely you can understand that? If not, perhaps these forums just aren’t for you.
(edited by minbariguy.7504)
But assuming that you should be able to do EVERYTHING in a game that is part of a genre that is called Massive MULTIPLAYER Online is rather weird, isn’t it?
If you refuse/can’t play with others, maybe a MMO is not the type of game you should play? At least not if you want to be able to experience 100% of it.
Neither I nor the OP suggested that we should be able to solo “everything” in the game. I’m not sure where that statement is coming from. I actually don’t think it’s a good idea to have henchman and/or heroes available to use out in open-world content; I think any feature of that sort should be restricted to instances, and possibly even restricted only to personal story instances.
For the record, I do sometimes enjoy grouping with others, but the people I group with are friends I know in real life. But honestly — and I mean no offense — it gets really tiring having other people proclaim what kind of game I should or shouldn’t play. I have no problem with you (or anyone, for that matter) disagreeing with me, but the old “maybe this game isn’t for you” argument is pretty thin.
I wish people would stop taking MMO to mean forced multiplayer as well. It doesn’t. It means a persistent world with lots of players.
This. Totally this. Completely this.
And ironically, it is usually the people who insist that others should have to group with them that are the last people I would want to group with.
How about you figure out why you suck? Seriously. Go over the basics and you won’t need any more NPCs.
Wow. Rude. Great contribution.
1UP, most definitely. You folks at ANet did a good job with the SAB in my opinion. Well done.
I’m not a fan of temporary or “one-time” events because I feel them to be a waste of resources. If development time was spent on something that disappears tomorrow, I receive no further benefit from it. I’d rather they spend their time improving the game in a more lasting way.
This isn’t to say I’m totally opposed to special or temporary events EVER, but they should be used very sparingly, in my opinion. I think the SAB is a fun diversion from regular gameplay and should become a permanent fixture in Rata Sum.
Casual = It’s all about the journey.
Hardcore = It’s all about the destination.
This. /thread, as far as I’m concerned.
I have to admit, the commercial was pretty awesome. Well done, folks! :-)
Could we get a “date of last post” feature on the forum indexes, please?
Currently we have “Subject”, “Author”, “Replies”, “Views”, and “Last Poster”, but there is still quite of bit of room (white space) for a “Last post” date. I would like to be able to tell at a glance how recently someone posted something.
Also, I would love it if we could get a mouseover preview so that when you move your cursor over a subject line, a “tool tip” box will pop up that will give you a preview of the first line or two of the post. Many forums have this feature, and I find it excellent for puzzling out posts with subject lines that aren’t very descriptive.
Thanks!
(edited by minbariguy.7504)
Not to sound like an elitest, but if you can’t complete the personal story at it’s current difficulty…
Wait for it…wait for it….
…you don’t deserve to complete it.
ROFL! Deciding who “deserves” to complete content? Noooooooo, not elitist at all.
I think I can safely say that MMO content is not meant for you and your guild mates.
So you’re the arbiter of who content is “meant for”? Nice.
Alts aren’t supposed to be effortless.
Because account-wide dyes would make the process of leveling and gearing an alt “effortless”?
Wait, we’re saying that, if given the choice, players might choose to do the dailies that they enjoy the most?
EGADS! The horror!
I honestly will never understand some people’s preoccupation with opposing the right of other people to decide for themselves what they think is fun.
Actually the levels really do a make a difference, at least at the moment. The reason is because the extra stats you get from traits don’t seem to be getting scaled down alongside your base stats and equipment stats.
But Guardian I really think it all comes down to using the Greatsword and making sure you choose one of the utlity skills that can create a fire combo field so that you can pull all the mobs into melee distance, throw down the fire combo shield then press 3 to create a fire shield from the finisher on the fire combo field and then hit 2 for the aoe damage spell. With a few more whacks of the greatsword all the mobs should be dead.
For the bosses its just a matter of kiting them around while using 5 for the pull to knock the boss on its butt, 3 to blind it and 2 to do damage while you are running in circles.
Every single personal story fight on a Guardian can be done using 1 of the 2 strategies above.
Just wanted to say thank you, Ellisande, for this post. It was constructive and helpful (at least to anyone playing a guardian, lol). It doesn’t really change how I feel about the frustrating nature of the Personal Story, which I feel is more of a puzzle game involving points allocation and finding the right weapon combos rather than experiencing an emmersive storyline (it just, flat-out, isn’t my idea of a good time) but your helpful attitude, advice, and input is still appreciated.
Not too much I can say, OP, except that I feel your pain and I had already arrived at the same conclusion you did. I don’t bother with them anymore, either. You’re certainly not the only one who feels the way you do.
It is just so odd for me to see these posts about people not wanting to play with other people in a “massive multi-player online role playing game” (it wouldn’t hurt if the npc’s were more useful at then end though)
I understand where you’re coming from, but you are defining “massively multi-player” as “players who are grouped together”, when by definition it only refers to many players on a server at the same time.
Besides, it isn’t necessarily that people don’t want to play with other people. I just prefer to play with people I know in real life. And real-life friends aren’t always available. To that end, I don’t want to be forced to group with strangers to complete a story that is described as “personal”.
Now, dungeons are a different matter. I get that they should require a group. But there’s just no good reason for everything in the personal story to be solo-able until the last mission. And the only reasons people seem to be giving to justify it is something along the lines of “well this is how I play the game, so you should want to play the same way…because, multi-player…and stuff.”
It’s really all about choice. Some people want the choice to be able to play the game they way they want to, rather than the way other people think they should.
I can’t remember any other game where frustration and fun oscillated that much like it does in GW2.
Agree completely.
Rather than filling the forum with multiple posts on the same issue, I’m trying to keep them consolidated. Frankly, the decision to make the final step a 5-man dungeon was made before I joined the story team, so I cn’t provide any insight to the reasoning.
Also, does it not seem logical that one rather obvious way to minimize the workload of having to keep consolidating multiple posts on this issue is to…well…actually have someone address the issue?
Surely we can locate someone who can provide some insight to the reasoning. Please?
This is a learn to play issue
Hey, whatever makes you feel more superior. More power to ya. :-)
In the meantime, those of us who do not enjoy the Personal Story and it’s tedium will continue to give our feedback, as there were more threads posted on this forum by people who apparently need to “L2P” than any other MMO I’ve ever played.
Oh for pete’s sake, this is an MMORPG or “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game”.
“Personal stories” without any “intervention of another” would be the most boring story (if you could even call it that) ever conceived.
However, whilst I see OP’s point, I think the OP’s demand is unreasonable, given that the other 99% of the personal story is doable entirely alone.
For the eleventy-billionth time, “massively multiplayer” indicates a game that has a large number of players on a server at the same time. It does not indicate a playstyle of forced grouping, no matter how many times people cry “OMG, it’s an MMO!”
Rather than filling the forum with multiple posts on the same issue, I’m trying to keep them consolidated. Frankly, the decision to make the final step a 5-man dungeon was made before I joined the story team, so I cn’t provide any insight to the reasoning.
Understood, and thank you for at least acknowledging this, Jeffrey. It is appreciated. But surely someone must be able to address/explain this, or acknowledge that they see why many people find it irksome? I can’t believe that there is no one presently working with the dev team who is able to address an issue that many have been expressing dissatisfaction with for quite some time? I’m getting this mental picture of a roomful of devs looking at each other in confusion, shrugging their shoulders saying, “…I got nothin’…”
However it’s very unreasonable to want maximum reward for zero effort. Wanting a solo experience 100% of the time is the latter. No effort? No reward. That is the price you pay.
Come on, Vasham. You’re saying if someone completes ALL of the story missions — except the very last one-- that they’ve expended NO effort and deserve NO reward? With 95% of the work done?
And despite what you claim, most people aren’t saying that they should be able to have a solo experience “100% of the time”. For example, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume you will have to group with others to do a dungeon. I wouldn’t ask to be able to solo a dungeon.
It is not unreasonable to be able to expect to solo something that is referred to as a personal story.
While for some people the game is about finding the appropriate/optimal skill/weapon/stratagy for “solving” an encounter, for others – particularly in the story areas of the game, it’s just about proceeding along the story arc with your character.
THIS. Exactly this.
I just wanted the personal story to be an engaging escape; I did not want to have to engage in tedious theorycrafting and strategies that involve multiple deaths just to enjoy the story aspects of the game. As a casual player, I have found the Personal Story to be frustrating, disappointing, and not even the slightest bit fun.
When you buy a game in a genre called “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game” then you should not be surprised or offended when you are required at some point to play with other people.
As people far more eloquent than myself have said in the past: QQ moar, l2p
“Massively Multiplayer” only refers to many players being on a given server at the same time. It does not inherently refer to a playstyle that requires forced grouping.
There’s no need to be so snide and dismissive, or to act as though the way you prefer to play the game is superior to anyone else’s preferences.
Jeffrey, why respond here only to direct people to a thread where there is no dev response? I’ve seen many people talking about this issue, but I’ve never seen a single dev response as to what the thought process behind this decision was (apologies if I’m wrong and have simply missed something).
Rather than simply telling everyone where to go to continue to ask questions into the void, would you or one of your colleagues be able to issue an explanation? I think it’s been long enough. The avoidance of the topic is starting to look bad.
I also gave up on the Personal Story. I understand that some people enjoy a higher level of difficulty, but for me the Personal Story is just an exercise in frustration. Die, rezz, die, rezz, die, rezz. It is absolutely no fun at all (for me).
What would make it more fun? Well, mostly it would help if my NPC allies weren’t all weaksauce cannon fodder that died within the first minute of combat and cannot be rezzed because the mobs you are fighting will not allow it. Allies that actually helped would greatly improve my mood when doing Personal Story.
I think most of the problem, though, is that my idea of story content and the dev’s idea of story content differ greatly. To me, story is something that should be low-key and not overly challenging, since the object is to appreciate the story. There are plenty of other aspects of the game that offer a higher level of difficulty for the player who likes it a bit more hardcore. I simply don’t think story content should be this frustrating.
Obviously, that’s just my opinion. I realize the devs do not share it. :-)
Ah well.
Consider it an “early adopter” tax. :-)
Seriously, I don’t really see the problem.
Exactly, the story NPCs are atrocious. Now imagine them in a dungeon.
Ugh, I certainly wasn’t proposing that. My point was that the GW1 Heroes and Henchies were MUCH better than the GW2 Story NPCs. By far.
What about some dungeon areas where there are some precision work that needs to be done, or where a very specific strategy works more effectively and now you need your henchman to do exactly what you want at exactly the right moments while focusing on what you’re doing yourself.
I don’t find that to be any different than the story missions of GW1 which also required specific strategies (and sometimes even specific skills) to be successfully completed. And yes, sometimes it was difficult to get your Heroes and Henchies to do what you needed them to do at a specific time and place. Sometimes it was more productive to wait until you could find other, real people to group with to complete the mission.
But I don’t think the dungeons should be redesigned to accommodate Heroes and Henchies. If they added them to the game, people should expect that it’s not going to be as easy as it would be with real people.
Never going to happen. For starters henchmen were present in GW1 from the beginning, they aren’t in GW2.
This is true, but Heroes were not present at the beginning; they were added later.
Ugh, no. They frustrated the kitten out of me in GW1. They could never come close to a decent human player, and you had to babysit them far too much.
I understand what you’re saying, but the NPC’s we’re saddled with during our personal story are exponentially worse. Not only can they not come close to a decent human player, they can barely approximate the skill level of my cat if I were to sit her down at my computer and sprinkle catnip on my keyboard.
I’d rather have to do a little babysitting of henchmen than constantly have to rez useless cannon fodder.
(edited by minbariguy.7504)
Henchies and Heroes? Yes, please!
I don’t think I like this idea very much.
In exchange for me allowing a healer to join my group, I’m rewarded by being stripped of my ability to heal myself and forced to be dependent on someone who may or may not prioritize healing me when my life is in danger.
I do understand the desire to play a healer, and have empathy for those who want to play one, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen. I don’t think this game is set up to allow for a healing class without current players having major changes to their playstyles being forced on them.
Honest, sincere, reliable communication from the Dev and Community teams makes me feel like a valued customer and gives me a HUGE incentive to stay with a game, even when things are rough.
Thanks goodness personal story isn’t necessary, as I have to say I’ve really disliked nearly every aspect of doing it.
I hate that all your companion NPC’s are merely canon fodder that die in nearly every fight. I hate the jump in difficulty from fighting regular PVE mobs to Personal Story mobs, where even the lowest common street thug is a lot tougher than he would be in PVE for no apparent reason(I acknowledge that they have toned down the difficulty of many of the personal story missions, but my initial experience with them was unpleasant enough that I still dread the thought of doing them). I hate that the stories seem to be cliche “You are the savior of the universe!”-type stories with little subtlety to them. I cringe at some of the dialogue as well as the voice acting.
In short, even though the personal story was one of the things I was looking forward to most of all in this game, my experience with it has caused me to simply abandon it altogether.
Folks, this idea is bad, I can see alot of “Mean” people trolling this function and also due to “Bot” issues, they could ruin this as well.
Please come up with a better way.
Actually, now that you mention people could troll this feature, I have to retract my suggestion that the map icon should indicate whether or not anyone had responded to the defeated player. I can totally see some people being jerks and clicking the map to mark the player as responded to just so that no one else would bother to respond, and then running off and leaving the defeated person laying on the ground. This would actually completely undermine the entire feature suggested by the OP. Oops. My bad.
I hate when I continuously underestimate the capacity of other human beings to be complete tools.
But as for the original suggestion, I’m still in favor of it. I really don’t think it would be trolled that badly.
Why do I prefer to play alone? Because there are two kinds of people in the world; and I don’t like them.
Okay, I’m (mostly) kidding. Honestly, I enjoy a very slow play style. I’m an explorer. I like to take time to stop and smell the corpses. I hate being dragged across the map to —Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!-- complete this heart and that heart and —Run! Run! Run!-- the Dynamic event that pops up at an inconvenient time for me.
Plus, some people just don’t understand the difference between playing a game to have fun, and playing a game to “win”. I could go into a dungeon with a group and get party-wiped over and over, to the point of never even completing the dungeon and still have a fantastic time, laughing about how we got our butts handed to us. But many people would be angry, yelling at people who made mistakes and insulting them. I don’t relate to people who can only have fun in a game if they are “winning”.
Mind you, I’m not saying there is anything inherently wrong with that mindset, as long as you are playing with other people who share it. But I don’t. And I prefer not to group with people who do. It’s just not a positive experience for any of us.
What a great idea! I would love to see a map-clickable “I see you, on my way!” message implemented!
EDIT: I’m the kind of person who would probably travel well out of their way to come rez someone, so it might also be a good idea for the map icon to change color after someone has clicked on it so that you can tell at a glance someone is already responding to the defeated player.
That way you don’t have to stop what you’re doing and get halfway to the defeated player only to have them rezzed by someone else. If you see a defeated player on the map and can tell that someone has already responded to them, you can stay where you are and keep playing.
(edited by minbariguy.7504)
All over the net we’re already seeing people posting that this company can’t keep their word, that they’ve broken their game, and turned it into a gear treadmill(this time it’s not a troll post either there’s evidence to back it up).
While what you say here is technically true, the one-star review bombing on Amazon seems to have stalled out. I’m not sure it will be as effective a tactic at getting ANet’s attention as some hoped.
It won’t happen. They would have to assign the task of policing all of the avatars to someone, for the reasons I listed above.
This message was brought to you by a Kitten with a Keyboard
Not if the forum software automatically uses a picture of your character, as Tomus demonstrated above. In such a case, policing would be unnecessary.
(edited by minbariguy.7504)
The creation of a “Constructive Criticism” sub-forum would send the message that non-constructive criticism would then be allowed on every other sub-forum. I don’t think that’s the message they want to send.
I agree with the OP. My holidays are hectic enough as it is. If I’m expected to schedule my real life around their game, they can forget it. I won’t even bother. And that’s a shame.
I want to like town clothes, but I spend so little time in towns that it’s not worth it unless I can wear and enjoy them out of towns as well. I would buy some if it weren’t for the restrictions.