Guild Wars 2

Maxwell.7843:

Vanive.3804:

omg, This change won’t really affect us vet MMO gamers who have been playing MMOS for 10+ years. Most of us will fly through the levels so fast these changes won’t mater anyways. Those who are super new to MMOs or totally confused as to how GW2 works compared to a game like (sigh) WoW will have a more accessible game. This is no complaint I’m reading in the OP, this is pure elitism at it’s finest.

I disagree, in particular with the “more accessible game” part.

GW2 was my fist mmorpg.
The game did feel overwhelming during the first hour or so, BUT not because I had a skill bar! To me the quantity of skills was never a problem, and I remember that when my character was low level I wished I had more utilities unlocked, to make the fights more interesting and varied.

What made the game overwhelming was the huge amount of stuff not covered by the tutorial, stuff that I could figure out only thanks to the wiki.

This update “dumbs down” things that for me were never difficult to grasp, while not addressing the things that actually need a Google search.
So, to me, the game now is actually less accessible: not only it still lacks a good and complete tutorial (that was what it needed in the first place), now leveling is a worse experience too.

this is an excellent summary of my opinion as a new player to the game. ArenaNet have utterly missed the mark with these changes

MidnightStar.2960:

This is a dumb people game. Get used to it. You should have gotten the feel for this by now if you’re lvl 40. This game is a (very) casual and easy MMO. If you want a harder experience, you’re going to have to look somewhere else.

I am so horrifically disappointed. When I picked up GW2, I had hoped ArenaNet had kept their principals from my GW1 days (ie, lots of communicating, great customer service, and giving the players what they want and need) it seems I was mistaken.

I will persist with GW2, but if all else fails, I still have my Archeum AA founders pack

Stephane Lo Presti.7258:

Hi everyone,

I’m going to paraphrase Colin on this topic. The decision to implement the New Player Experiment system came from tens of thousands of usability testers and interviews with players who tried Gw2 and left leading up to China launch both in NA/EU and in China. It came as a surprise to us but it was an important for us to acknowledge that a number of systems, downed included, were difficult to understand for many players.

For the downed, system we tried a downed tutorial, building downed into the level 1 tutorial and other ideas. After usability testing with numerous different groups, we found that the best rate of people learning and understanding it came from having it be layered complexity and the solution we went with above. Intuitively that wouldn’t have been my guess either initially, but we found people understood it better this way than all other options we tried.

This same level of testing led to the other changes as well. At the end of the day the biggest take away is that all of us (including a lot of people on the forums) probably know games (and Guild Wars 2) really really well. We have millions of users, and a tiny percentage of them frequent game forums. Just because all of us learned those systems well and thought it was all really easy doesn’t mean we are the norm.

I hope this helps everyone here understand that this was a decision to improve the game for many people. Thanks for your understanding

New players need direction and actual instruction regarding advanced features such as WvW, dungeons, crafting, traits and so on, not to be introduced to basic features at an absolute snail’s pace.

As of right now. there’s bare minimum actual direction in game regarding these features, to the point where (for the ADVANCED FEATURES) it is easy to get lost.

This can be easily remedied by using tutorials, like, say, 99% of MMORPG’s out there.

GW2 lacks direction and guidance, not pacing

I’d like to refer you to my thread here regarding my concerns with the direction of this patch: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/ArenaNet-As-a-new-player

Also, why no redness?

and I have just been made aware that apparently the simple starting task of FEEDING A kittenING COW has been dumbed down to oblivion and turned in to a single button press mechanic.

Just what.

I through this game was rated T, not 3+

Lucia The Lightbringer.2568:

I don’t think these new changes are too bad, I understand that some more experienced players think that the new leveling system is “dumbed down”, but also keep in mind that xp from level 1-20 is extremely easy to get and it won’t take too long to unlock all those skills.

Also keep in mind that there ARE players who really don’t understand what’s going on around them, and these few changes might make it easier for them and keep them interested in game instead of leaving them confused.
I know that to a lot of people out there skills and traits are like second nature and almost self explanatory, but then again there are other people who still keyboard turn and ask how come other players strafe so fast.
Or those who don’t know that you can CHANGE KEYBINDS and instead of mouse clicking on your 8 skill (which takes forever) you can just bind it to whatever you prefer.
I remember being a nub warrior and I kept using the Rush skill, which would automatically attack the nearby moa and I was frustrated cause it would put me in combat all the time, but then I realized, oh, I can turn off auto attack!

There are lots of those small stupid things that some people just don’t pay attention to, and I think that this new change might make their leveling experience a little easier to understand and improve overall skill.

I’m not saying that everyone who clicks their skills or keyboard turns is a nub, I’m just trying to use it as an example of a simple thing that lots of people overlook and giving them a hint on how to do it might change their experience drastically.

Can you explain to me how slowing down the skill distribution and traits will help introduce players to advanced features of the game? I genuinely feel like I’m missing something here.

Slowing down progression does not make learning totally unrelated aspects (crafting, dungeons, pvp, wvw, etc etc etc) easier or hard.

I’ll say it again, and I’ll keep on saying it. New players need better guidance, not a slowed down experience. GW2 offers no true guidance for their advanced features and relies on the community teaching the community and people researching the wiki to learn about these things.

The massive downside to this? I only know how to go through the ascalonian catacombs quickly and efficiently, while skipping the story and standing where I’m told to stand. I only know how to do story mode and path 3. in short, I only know the status quo, because by relying on the community to teach, unless you happen across a very, very patient group of people willing to explain everything to you, you will only be shown the quick and easy way to do what the majority like to do the way the majority like to do it.

If it’s true, at most it will be ddl extension edits, much like the popular multi-game “SweetFX” lighting settings editor

my opinions, from my personal perspective as a new GW2 player

PookieDaWombat.6209:

Belenwyn.8674:

Many people seem to forget the flood of posts everywhere with titles like “Where should I go?”, “I feel lost.”; “I am too low”, “Mobs are too high.” or “I am dying all the time” whenever we have a great influx into the game. A large number of players needs more hand holding. Each player lost due to bad guidance and introductions it is potential loss of money. The data showed Arenanet the bitter truth. In China Arenanet heard the same complaints. They had to react. The data mined free trials forces further adjustments to the level experience. The free trial accounts probably will cause the biggest influx since launch. The goial of Arenaet will be to keep as many players as possible in the game who will buy the game afterwards.

As a side effect the new leveling system creates much more challenging content on the way to level 80. You can even say the care bear mode is over. Play the story path of Ascalonian Catacombs with a level 30 character and you will have a real hard mode. Same is valid for the other paths at level 35.

You’re assuming that a) anyone/everyone did the dungeons at the suggested levels or b) most people waited until they were level 80 before doing the dungeons

I admit those dungeons would be more challenging when done at level, but that isn’t how many people play the game (from my experiences and from posts I’ve seen here and elsewhere.)

There’s another point to be made here, actually.

I wouldn’t even know about the existence of the ascalonian catacombs and other dungeons were it not for my guild talking about them in teamspeak.

Yet again, guidance for us nubs is what is needed, nothing more or less.

Belenwyn.8674:

Many people seem to forget the flood of posts everywhere with titles like “Where should I go?”, “I feel lost.”; “I am too low”, “Mobs are too high.” or “I am dying all the time” whenever we have a great influx into the game. A large number of players needs more hand holding. Each player lost due to bad guidance and introductions it is potential loss of money. The data showed Arenanet the bitter truth. In China Arenanet heard the same complaints. They had to react. The data mined free trials forces further adjustments to the level experience. The free trial accounts probably will cause the biggest influx since launch. The goial of Arenaet will be to keep as many players as possible in the game who will buy the game afterwards.

As a side effect the new leveling system creates much more challenging content on the way to level 80. You can say even say the care bear mode is over. Play the story path of Ascalonian Catacombs with a level 30 character and you will have a real hard mode. Same is valid for the other paths at level 35.

The problem is, this change does not add any guidance (I agree, guidance is what I need and want, as stated in my OP), simply a lot of gating and spoon feeding total basic features (ie, skills), rather than the guidance we (new players) need regarding the game.

One feature I am hopeful about regarding that guidance, though, is the objective compass, that’s what we need more of, not gating and spoon feeding.

Wanze.8410:

Hello Ben C*****. I wouldnt screenshot my real name and post it on the forums.

please grow up.

Ben Cooper isn’t exactly an uncommon name, and a first and last name with no other details does nothing for you.

Paradox.1380:

1. They tested it in China. Works great for them.

a vast majority of MMO’s have very, very different circumstances and environments for their eastern audiences over their western, this is because it is an industry-wide and widely acknowledged fact that what people want in a game in Asia and want people want in a game in the west are very, very different things. This is why “Anime” MMORPG’s that are ported from Asia are usually heavily modified for their western audiences or are very niche games with medium/low populations.

I really can’t see how anyone could get confused by the game’s basic features like skills unless this is literally the first ever MMO (scratch that, first ever pc rpg) they have ever played. The advanced features like traits, crafting, dungeons, wvw and the like? sure, but considering it takes an undirected newbie quite a while to reach level 10, ArenaNet sure are hinging a lot on people sticking around to play because they already bought the game.

I know many gamers who would just drop the game if progression isn’t fast and obvious enough, having bought the game or not, and it seems that from now on, noticeable progression in the game will be very, very thinly spread.

I will reserve final personal judgement until I experience the change for myself, but as it stands (from the perspective of an actual new player, not a veteran like most here) these changes are incredibly unappealing.

Hey I’m pretty new myself, and I’m quite enjoying the game (though the leveling process is pretty boring, much like other games) but I’m very dubious about the update coming today that severely restricts people’s access to skills based on their level (which sucks kitten , as I was looking forward to this update until I learned about that). Overall, I am having fun, but GW2 is definitely a game that requires you to socialise and join a guild to get the most out of it (though you seemingly can do all the “story” aspects of it solo). So far, I’m not regretting my investment in to the game or in to gems, but that may change with today’s update, time will tell

god, I hate these toxic events. they’re impossible to do tried so hard when I first started the game to complete a toxic event only to get annihilated over and over again, and the siege guys never actually fire at the shoot, they just stand there until they get overwhelmed and die

they’ve ;engthened the leveling process?

Here was me hoping it would be easier As a nub to the game, this is disheartening, especially as I was actually saving making all my alts until this update hit.

I’d love to see Dervish introduced to guild wars 2. it was such an amazingly fun class to play in GW

considering the small staff number ArenaNet have and the constant pressure they haveto be working, I’m very satisfied that they get on the forums to offer as much input as they do. Many games that are not subscription based can go months on end without hearing a word from game staff outside formal game announcements being made

timmyf.1490:

Guild Halls are just a place to idle instead of a main city. Boooooooring.

Why do they have to be only that? A guild hall can be as much or as little as ArenaNet wish it to be. I know many games where guild bases/halls/realms/etc are fundamental to guild functionality and operation, as well as offer a wide range of activities, missions and the like

Guild Wars comes packaged as Guild Wars trilogy, which is GW, nightfall and factions. Eye of the North is the separate expansion that unlocks the Hall of Monuments, which (if you link your GW1 and 2 accounts) allows you to gain GW2 achievements through GW1 play.

For the story, play prophecies (original campaign) the other stories are pretty crap in my opinion and are mainly there for the “hero” mercenary feature, wherein you can recruit NPC’s to fight for you in place of party members, and the extra classes

Don’t expect much in terms of group play from GW1 though, it’s been dead since GW2’s release, and it’s now 2 years since then

I hope that Guild Wars will actually become Guild focused. No bases, no capes, no GvG. I was very underwhelmed by GW2’s guild features (or severe lack thereof) in comparison with guild wars prophecies/original

I earn about 20~30g a day just selling all my item drops on the trading post, and I’m a noob to the game. I’m sure others have far better money making ways

Brother Grimm.5176:

Don’t disagree with the OPs opinion about displacing back items, but I think a much larger issue is the effects any decent cape animations would have on the Server infrastructure. I think they could easily add capes but what they could implement and NOT greatly effect Server performance would be considered lackluster and disappointing by most players.

Please recall that the “solid” non moving (very short) capes of GW1 were simply a banner on your back (that in no way moved fluidly) with your guild emblem on it. You can get that now with the Guild backpack skin.

They COULD allow the Guild backpack to be toggle-able visual that could be turned on and off like a cape (would have no effect on existing backpiece nor require any trans charges to turn on / off).

It’s not that I’m against this idea, but there are LOTs of other things Anet could (and should) be focusing resources on (how about some bug fixes?).

What would rendering capes with animations have to do with server stability? All asset rendering is client side, and most visual animations you see are also client side, though some are affected by server time (like dance syncing). Rendering assets would not in any way affect server load, as all the files for animation and fluidity of the object would be in the client, not requiring any interaction from the server to display other than the information that they are present, same as any other piece of equipment

I was simply doing as was advised by my guild after being frustrated with how slow I was levelling. When things are changed up with this levelling patch, when ever it arrives, I suspect I will take things much slower and get to know the game more intimately, but as it stands I was informed that, and I quote “the game doesn’t really start until you hit 80” so yes, I wanted to reach 80 quickly.

Brother Grimm.5176:

How long did it take the OP to reach 80? If it was less than a month or 2, I see the problem as following advice in a rush to reach 80. If I used suggestions to Zerg and level quickly for my first (or even 2nd or 3rd) characters, I would be disappointed too….

You can’t expect an “experience” if you bypassed the entire game to reach 80 quickly.

I did attempt map grind and heart completion to level at first, but it was slow and repetitive. At least WvW follow the leader is fast and repetitive

I just got my first character ever to 80 (started the game a week ago or so) and I have to express how utterly disappointed I am in the levelling experience. The lack of direction and sheer monotony of map grind to fill the massive level jumps between personal story quests (most dynamic events/heart quest things involve kill this, kill that, defend x, etc – always the same thing) lead to me simply running laps in the WvW map Edge of the Mists. What’s most disappointing is that this non-stop follow the leader is the leveling method pretty much everyone has recommended to me as the main way to reach 80.

I can’t help but feel disheartened and disappointed by this. I’m hoping that now I’m 80, the game will fully open up, and I sincerely hope that the leveling revamp coming at some point soon will make the grind up to 80 far less monotonous and mind-numbing, as I aim to create a necromancer after it has been implemented

I don’t imagine they have forgotten about underwater gameplay. I believe one of the dragons is a sea dragon, if I’m right, so I expect sooner or later we will be given a large update for that, unless we’re never going to face all the dragons.

Underwater gameplay is, I suspect, insanely difficult to balance, on top of the fact that it doesn’t see much play-time with regards to the game overall (how much time have you spent fighting underwater compared to on land?), so I suspect that, while it’s not forgotten, it’s not a very high priority

As much as the buy to play model is good for consumers, it’s not good for the company in the extreme long term. GW1 only survived through loyal players buying expansions and the various available upgrades and vanity in the store. Despite what you may think, many players do not invest in the game beyond the initial purchase, which doesn’t do anything for ArenaNet’s sustainable income – something rather necessary to remain a company and to keep GW2 afloat.

I like B2P, but I sincerely hope that ArenaNet look in to improving their gem store items and offering more things, whether they be vanity, upgrades, or whatever, for gems to improve the long-term prospects of the game

AngelDiscarnate.5489:

Hello, Bank Access Express, Golem Banker, and Permanent Bank Contract.

Guild Wars 2 does not need mounts to store your loot, or mounts at all, really.

GW2 doesn’t need a lot of the features it has, that doesn’t mean we don’t have them, or they aren’t nice to have. necessity isn’t required for a feature to be implemented

as much as it would be encroaching on Final Fantasy territory, I’d love a moa mount

From a financial perspective, ArenaNet really do need to add better and more varied items to their cash shop. While some players against buying gems may object to this, it’s for the game’s health.

I suspect a large part of why GW2’s profits are so low is the inclusion of the gold > gem trading, which means anyone with enough gold can simply trade gold for gems, and it seems a large number of 80’s who have been around for a long time have several thousand gold on hand, enough to buy tens of thousands of gems (10g ~ 100 gems), which is a huge net loss in potential profits.

If anything should be done at all, I think the gold > gem exchange should be closed, to better the health of the game (selfish desires to get cash shop items for free aside), or modified to allow only people who have gems to barter with to put up their gems for sale to people wishing to buy (Similar to how Perfect World do it)

While I have to admit, I was surprised that there’s no direct player-to-player trading system in the game, with the use of the TP, and there being constant supply and demand, I don’t see a need for it. Anyone you know who you’re willing to trade with directly is probably someone you trust enough to mail you gold for the item anyway

I really like the design of the ceremonial plate armour, but the colours look meh. can the outfits be dyed like regular armour?

and when is it releasing?

I absolutely hate that the patcher only tells you files and speed, not amount of data left to patch. Does anyone know on average how large feature patches tend to be in terms of actual patch file size?

Mini’s are not loot pets that you can find in other games, and looting is easy as kitten in this game anyway. All of these suggestions seem motivated by total and utter laziness. everything you have mentioned requires only a few clicks as it is, why would you need a system to automate the process?

Minis are collectables, and as such should not be subjected to menial labour tasks

After playing ranger to about 25, I got bored and changed to guardian. my guardian is now at 60 after some hardcore intensive map clearing and wvw follow the leader, and I’m really enjoying him

Should get a stable frame rate of 30-40 in populated areas at high quality, maybe a little less in zones with mist/smoke effects or very dense population (WvW groups or world boss encounters)

Overall though, your system should play GW2 very well

I’m very impressed with this. Most games hold the policy of “if you get hacked, it’s your problem”, so I’m glad ArenaNet went to those lengths to sort your problem out

JonPeters.5630:

-insert long ArenaNet staff member post here-

With all due respect, I would like to put forward my opinion as one of the new players in the game (started playing last week).

What needs to be improved isn’t the systems themselves, but the tutorials introducing you to them. For a vast, vast amount of the game’s content, I’d not have a bloody clue what was happening were it not for my guild showing me what’s going on. The game offers no guidance in the form of tutorials for 90% of it’s features, and it’s very frustrating.

With regard to traits, in all honesty, looking at the traits list and seeing the massively complex tasks required to unlock certain traits unless you happen to be wealthy and swimming in skill points (ie, not a new player) is hugely demoralising. Here was a new system I could use to improve my character, but to actually make use of it, I need to gain another 30 levels and murder some megaboss/complete a map/complete a story step I won’t get access to for another 40 levels/etc.

Honestly, to me, right now, the trait system is a massive turn-off, and everyone in my guild have stated that the tasks required to unlock traits are not easy, which further discourages me from pursuing traits, rather than motivates me to unlock them.

I am curious as to how you guys get your info on what you believe actual, genuine new players need/want in the game, as from what I have observed, there’s bugger all about guild wars 2 that is encouraging or friendly to newbies.

GW2’s engine is likely very efficient because it’s constrained to only doing what they wanted to do with guild wars 2, as is the case with most efficient engines (HeroEngline in CoH is another example).

While this is great for system resources of users, it’s terrible for engine diversity

I am a nub, so this probably looks like crap to most, but I really like the look of my necro

I would love mounts. Would really help new players like me, who don’t have the waypoints, with getting across the game’s giant maps, plus they would look cool and are pretty much a staple of most MMO’s these days.

I was actually quite surprised and disappointed to learn that GW2 has no mounts.

Solution to the pvp aspect: don’t allow them in WvW or PvP, or alternatively make it so you can’t attack people while mounted, and being attacked dismounts you, and give “calling” a mount a long (5 second) cast time

Though I am a new player, I can most definitely see the frustration in ArenaNet bringing forward changes for new players that won’t affect veterans unless they make a new character. The developers obligations should, in my personal opinion be towards long-term players and gem market purchasers, rather than people purchasing the game for the first time

laokoko.7403:

A very long time.

Unless NCSoft decide to shutdown GW2, it’ll be up for a very long time.

But the playerbase might not keep remaining large.

God, don’t you ever mention NCSoft forcing games to close.

Still boils my blood to this day that they pulled the plug on City of Heroes

GW1 is still up out of obligation. GW1 died when GW2 released. Log in to GW1 now and you’d be hard pressed to find 100 people online across the entire game, but ArenaNet promised GW1 players they would not close the GW1 servers for X amount of time, so GW1’s servers are run from out of the pocket of GW2’s success.

Having said that, GW1 went strong for a good 9 years, it was only the release of GW2 and the mass-migration of players from 1 to 2 that really killed off GW1

I am liking necro, but the green tint on the screen during death shroud is really off-putting, especially at night. Is there a way to remove it?

Also, 45 characters for topic titles sucks

My girlfriend can run around in wvw on medium settings using a quad core with only intel 4000HD graphics.

I am an Acer fanboy, so my recommendation would be something like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00AH4A950/laptopninja-20

I was incredibly surprised at how lightweight GW2 is in terms of system resource use compared to how pretty it looks, but with that system, you should be able to comfortably play GW2 on medium settings without antialiasing (though probably only 30~ FPS in WvW).

Though I will say, unless you 100% need the mobility of a laptop, go for a desktop as you get sooooooooo much more for your money, a $500 desktop can be bought prebuilt online and run almost any game very well. I used to be a hardcore lapto-only person, but since my laptop died, I bought a desktop, cost £400 to make (about $600) and runs everything I could possibly want to play perfectly

:( Just hit 30, was super excited for traits and whatnot, and now I find out that I need to do some pretty insane stuff to even be able to make use of my trait points.

Not impressed

I’m looking in to what’s viable for item mall investment and prettiness, and was simply wondering what factor affects the gold price of gems on the exchange? Is it simply based on how many gems people have bought by real currency recently?