Yes Arenanet completely ignored community opinions about Gw2 development and decided to “Reinvent the wheel”.. and forgot the major golden rule in gaming.. “if is not broken don’t fix it”. Arenanet already had a winning formula in Guildwars1.. is complete foolishness to throw away everything people loved in Guildwars1 and create a 100% completely different game. Now they are in a position that no longer they will be able to please anyone ..since they created a game in Gw2.. that tried to be so many things at the same time and in the end is none of them.. the game is like a “jack of all trades master of none”. Have tonnes of ’features" but added more like a check list.. Gw2 is a game without identity .. it seems like many people in the design team was pulling the game in different directions at the same time. Some believe Problem of the game is lack community.. but thats not really the issue.. but instead lack of focus and deepness on anything to keep you interested in the game. Games should be done in same way that movies.. or people will lose interest on the reason for being there.. The best movies are those that capture you.. and makes you feel you are actually LIVING it ,and not just seen something. So if Arenanet had a moviemaker that could warn the developer team.. about.. times when something they implement in the game is -distracting- from a believable experience and game story ,they could had made the game 100x times better for sure.. Things for example that kills the game “realism” are ie.. (underwater pets , Rangers that are equally effective on any melee weapon , Mage classes with guns , completely unresponsive combat system and camera system.. on top of that your given all your abilities in the very first day and nothing more later. Gw2 is perhaps the only online RPG game with a complete lack of character development. Arenanet biggest mistake is that their focus seems to be.. in allow people to do things “just for fun” even if they completely break the connection with the game story or break the game class of what is supposed to be.. Rangers with great swords? common.. If a game mechanics and design is distracting ..ie.. shift your focus on the logic behind something instead of keep your focus on the experience.then will NOT encourage people to take the game seriously.. like Wii games.. ie.. not care about the results. IMHO many design issues plague Gw2 will require Arenanet to have the guts of Sony and Re-launch the game again with completely re-designed gameplay.. or completely screw Gw2 development ..and start developing Gw3 but following the design of Gw1. People loved the great customization of combat in Gw1 ,Heroes , strong single player driven experience with cinematic , Capture Skills , The ability to be the class you have chosen.. ie.. if you pick a RAnger. then you can fight 100% as a ranger and not as something else. and it is completely clear by now that not having a trinity system..Tank healer and dps completely kills the sense of team work in the game and is a major Sin. All Arenanet had to do is a continuation of the Guildwars1 design with new story and extra features.. (like crafting , or mounts ,massive Arena battle grounds) ..instead of trying to re-invent the genre.
so to summary major mistakes of Gw1
1)Lack of Trinity.. does not encourage team work or make anyone feel is doing a difference in a group.
2)Lack of identity – Game have no identity ..tried to be many things and end being none of them.. doesn’t feel serious game but completely forgiving experience . No risk ,no challenges and no solid goals.. people that chose to be ie.. a Ranger wants to fight with bows.. not with swords..or knives or axes.. People that choose to level Casters want to be casters.. no gun fighters. and so and so. This breaks the game logic completely imho. Specialization should be a crime to NOT have it in a game today.
3)Lack of character development.. this is the major Gw2 issue. very few ways to fight ,very repetitive … you are forced to play with the same 5 active skills the entire game. completely backwards of Gw1 you could have hundreds of completely meaningful different combinations of fighting.. even to the point of inventing custom ways of fight that no one ever though.. Uniqueness and Specialization is extremely important in online games.. or you will feel not real incentives to try harder .
4)sluggish auto attack combat system and camera controls.. no idea how it is now ..but it was terrible the first day.. Instead of fighting others in PVP.. i was more fighting the keyboard because of the slow unresponsiveness of the character. Unresponsive character control in a pvp game is a major sin.
5)repair armor feature.. lol , Is completely ridiculous every 5 minutes to repair your armor.. if Arenanet adds a feature have to be sure it doesn’t become annoying as hell before implementing it.
Arenanet ,should just get a copy of TERA . and learn how they do it right! They have amazing camera controls and cinematic style close shots too.. You can nearly play as if was first person game. And while you are there analyze their combat system too.. wouldn’t hurt either if you learn something there.
I don’t understand why this wasn’t in the game at release.
Because arenanet are a bunch of Lazy developers.. and is not fun for them to spend more time releasing quality and a solid combat system… instead of adding useless features for the marketing PR check of the game.. Everyone have been saying how much Gw2 character controls and camara controls sucks and the positive feedback of this utility only confirms how bad was before. Doesn’t fix all the problems but fix at least the tab targeting.
I’m sure some would refute that, but I have to agree. After around level 33, when I realized the only difference between 33 and 80 would be passive traits/stats, I just simply stopped caring about progression.
I think a huge chunk of the fun in MMOs is progressing, whether leveling or end game. For the exciting new abilities you can’t wait to unlock. There’s just no more interesting utility powers that I care to progress toward on my Guardian.
Two lessons for Arenanet in Guildwars2 should be..
1)FUN is not enough..
People like to be different .. people like to be see progress in their time invested in the game.. not just numbers . I also lost interest in the game as soon i learned what you discovered. Essentially you end at level 80 with the same abilities you have at the first day. On top that gear is about the same for everyone do not help much either.
So essentially you end playing the game more because of the social experience.. than the game itself. really doubt for example people
2) If is NOT broken don’t fix it..
Arenanet simply had a very solid and polished game already..in GW1 , all they had to do is add features on top to their previous game and Better graphics..
but they simply created a different game , that gets old fast.. No idea what they will do in the future..to get back their more mature Gw1 fan base.. because will take radicals changes to their game.. that really doubt they will do. Arena net only had to look how other american developers do it.. with very very very popular RPG offline games that sell millions .. and look how is possible to create games that are incredibly fun but also have lots of character progression , awesome combat system and no grind.
People like to be different.. people like to become better ..people likes their time invested in anything say a work or a video game. to big rewards from it….not just fun.
People like challenges not predictable experiences.. People likes to innovate and create new things , and GW1 combat allowed that.. GW2 not. People Like to see progress in their characters..that can do more things , having numbers (levels) is not enough. But also people like to have fun.. and repetitiveness is not fun. Is quite possible that it will never be possible to create games that nothing repeats for the Gigantic content that such game will require but at least if you have good rewards ..then it will be worth of it. Korean games suffers greatly of grind that not many likes.. but they all offer Big rewards in most cases for their invested time..
2) If is NOT broken do not fix it..
Arenanet had the opportunity to create an amazing online game in GW2.. they already had an fantastic game in GW1.. all they needed to do is improve it even more.. leave the things that everyone loved about their game.. and add on top new game features .. instead of what they did ,of releasing a completely different game that do not feel like [guild wars]. .
As an Gw1 big fan.. that played it since day 1 with all expansion packs.. i have to say im very disappointed with Gw2.. I think Arenanet sold their souls to the Console Market and created a game so friendly ,so forgiven , so simplistic that even 5 years old kids can play. If we take graphics aside and the nice open and big worlds they created. GW2 feels like 10 steps back from GW1 in many ways…
1) poor combat system. (smashing buttons with auto attacks)
2) Very Frustrating character controls with slow and unresponsive character movements.. (even if you remap strafe keys ). will not go in detail of the many issues have.. but to summarize it.. it Sucks big time specially for PVP.. instead of fighting other players.. many of my time im fighting with my own character controls.. trying to make him move the way i want.. They need to look other games with praised combat system.. ie.. (Skyrim for example.. and other online games )
3)Very limited Skills and tactics.. Anet pretty much tells you.. here are all your skills ..the first day.. and play with that until the end of game and you bored to death. Do not have the strong skills system of Gw1 and its combat tactics that you could create near unlimited unique combos and play very differently than anyone else.
4)Lack of goals.. lack of character of progression , lack of character development.
RPG games is ALL about Character development. to make your characters more powerful and unique abilities. This formula never Change including most popular Rpgs of all times.. You can create games without grind but that have lots of character development.. GW2 still falls short behind Gw1 simple combat system but that at least had Tons of combinations and tactics to explore and discover. It was a lot of fun to unlock many skills with any new zone discovered..but also capture Elite skills in GW1 also to develop your heroes.. and play with all of them.. as was very fun to invent and discover unique builds for different scenarios.Gw2 have nothing of that.
5)Poor in game camera.. collides with almost everything and unstable. and get stuck many times on tight places.
6) Every combat in GW2 is a zerg.. Events is a zerg.. Dungeons zerg.. WvW zerg.. ,Many times you find yourself just killing things but without knowing why you doing it.. other that “is fun”.
7)Last but not least…Ugly armors in game.. most are awfully bad.. If you have no incentives in games. No strong character development then you feel no reason to continue playing , no way to look awesome.. no way to be different than others , no way to become more powerful than others.. just sameness then people will get bored very fast with the game and stop playing it..
In my opinion. Gw2 have serious design issues.. They completely create a game that do not feels like an RPG but a third person shooter.. ie like earlier generation of Tomb Raiders games.. that people just kill things for the fun of it and to follow a story but that your character essentially is the same and do not get better.
Will have been awesome if they just add Features on top of Guildwars1 , i mean if its not broken why fix it? They changed the skills system just to make something more easier FOR THEM to balance.. at the expense of removing things players really enjoyed to play.. Who cares if few pro players farm solo bosses..People loved that system and on top that in GW1 weapons didnt made much difference regardless if they were Gold or blues. IF GW2 was a copy paste of GW1 but with the graphics of their new engine ,with many more skills for each class and the new event quest system.. then will have been amazing. To have at least some sense of character progress..But now Gw2 feels like a very different game. There will be expansions for sure.. but uff.. Seems Anet just added features and features " just for the fun of it"..and better marketing but nothing that could interest more that casual players.. that wants games that requires more thinking and more tactics not just auto attacks smash buttons. really Anet though they new all about developing MMOs ,but now is clear that they not.. I agree with their views on PVP ,so you don’t have a game that sponsor hostilities between players. However they completely missed the boat when it comes to character development.. This Feature is the most important one of ANY RPG game..even more important than its story. if a game have a bad story and a classic quest grind leveling system.. but with a solid character development, people will still be playing it.. they will complain for the grind but still they will continue in the game. If you have the opposite no goals or development ,no much progress, they will get bored very fast of the game and stop playing it.
Just stopped playing..
Got sick of smash buttons of same old skills. What ruined the game for me is to discover this game have zero character progression on top that learning that the skills i had in the first day will be basically the same ones you ill be using once you hit 80. Game leveling is meaningless other than exploring the terrain . Those traits you unlock change nothing of the way you play.. just a small improvement of the same skills you began in day one. thats blows.. On top that the combat system seems so simple and repetitive.. using different weapons helps with the variety but in many cases kills the concept of your class. For example Ranger using great swords ,swords ,Spears and knives. Gw1 combat/skill system is far better that what arenanet did in GW2.. which seems targeting very casual players ,like nintendo wii players.. who do not mind much -game-realism- (ie.. Pets jaguars fighting underwater like a fish ,melee classes using rifles.. and so on) .. and just play things for the fun of it. When you have a game that is designed with no logic ,but just for the fun of it. kills the interest and seriousness of it.. you identification with you character. Online Game developers need to be sure to make their games in the same way Holywood make their movies.. Believable so people can be immersed in the story. it didn’t need to be a simulator of combat but at least have something of logic its design.
