Please stop talking as if GW2 is some alien MMO compared to others. It's the same thing in a different package. Ive gone through 2 zones (plus begginer zone and city) and am currently level 20 norn warrior....every "dynamic" event is a rinse and repeat fest of repitition....it's all kill quest grind it out or collect this...you may get a boss battle at the end sometimes, but it's a zerg fest where you do your best to stay alive and everyone dps's. I have yet to find a dynamic event that is not within stone throwing distance of a heart quest and I have ALL the exploration points and got the chest from both areas. In other words, Ive been in every part of all those zones...let no stone unturned.
So I make it to the 3rd zone and whaddya know....more brainless whack-a-mole DE's where u just kill them as they spawn...My gear looks have still not changed since I logged in for the first time and my skills have not either. Crafting is okay, but I still think they need to do away with having to craft components to make the gear...why not just make the gear?
So wait? You are saying that you are 1/4th through the level progression, haven't even unlocked your entire skillbar, dungeons, exploration mode, and probably have less than 15% map completion and you can say decisively that GW2 has shitty PvE? Seious props man.
Also for anyone who says that the Dynamic Events are 'nothing special' and is nothing but killing/fetching things I would like to ask: What did you honestly expect? Realistic expectations people. The Dynamic Events are a nice departure from your traditional Quest Hubs, and add a layer of depth to the game world that you simply don't get from the old 'wheel and spoke' quest systems of old.
Likewise anyone who things you can zerg through PvE really needs to wait until their first Dungeon. The game doesn't really open up till lvl 30, when you get your final skill on your skill bar, and are able to experience Dungeons and Dungeon Bosses. Zerging and auto-attacking may have worked before, but most people are in for a rude awakening when they first visit Ascalonian Caverns (the first dungeon)
The only rude awakening is how bad the dungeons are compared to some of the higher level events, honestly doing the crucible yesterday, what a bad dungeon, the events around level 80 are MUCH MUCH more interesting than dungeons, dungeons are just literally mob zergs coming at you wacking people randomly, is that what you meant by rude awakening?
I'm not terribly impressed with the PvP at all, but all the other points are legitimate. The PvPs combat is fine, but it needs a lot of polish and additional work on the systems that support it (duels, rating system, private matches, etc). Without that, the PvP is pretty halfassed and definitely isn't at the top of any list.
I think there'd be a lot more talking if grouping was actually rewarded in any way. I like the seamless working together thing, but the side effect is nasty.
There's no way to do that without more or less forcing grouping, which in general is not a good thing to many people (including me).
There's a difference between forcing grouping and rewarding grouping.
Grouping is harder, thus is SHOULD be more rewarding.
Then show me a way to do that which is meaningful and won't result in people waiting to have fun.
The same way every other MMORPG with a good social atmosphere has done... give better rewards for grouping.
It is harder to group than solo. Things that are harder should yield a better reward.
Actually the best social MMO's tended not to give extra rewards for grouping lol... UO was an extremely social MMO, the community and the developers were constantly involved in discussions and such. Guilds would hold events for the entire server. We'd get together as an entire community to do things and yes even the developers would jump in.
Do you have a better example? An MMO that rewarded grouping that had a good social atmosphere?
UO's reward to grouping was people who could protect you and pool resources with you. Grouping was rewarded directly in that game, due to the PvP full loot nature. In non FFA PVP full loot games, grouping needs to be rewarded with xp boosts, better items, ect ect. DAoC did this. You could solo if you want, but grouping was better.
Lol, enough with the DAOC stuff. It doesn t even compare. All it is is a bunch of people trying to out dps the other. Trinity, and class definitions is what gives DAOC it s flare. WvW is pointless and boring.
Re subbed DAOC to see if I was wrong, and IMO, not even fair to compare the 2 , DAOC is far superior in this area.
I thought those were the weak points of DaoC.
The trinity is clearly a PvE system. While Meridian 59 who invented it today is mostly known for PvP it was not always like that and PvP was added as an afterthought.
So I dont agree. It can of course be done better but trinity PvP never is really good. That is also the reason why most FPS players prefer PvP while most MMO players prefer PvE.
Classes add a lot to PvP. That's why almost all modern shooters have classes. Having classes more distinct from one another, as DAoC has, gives each class a solid role they can excel at.
GW2 RvR isn't at DAoC levels yet, but its not for the class system. It's because there's little to no point to GW2 RvR yet. There's no Darkness Falls to fight over, no relics, no realm ranks.
I think there'd be a lot more talking if grouping was actually rewarded in any way. I like the seamless working together thing, but the side effect is nasty.
There's no way to do that without more or less forcing grouping, which in general is not a good thing to many people (including me).
There's a difference between forcing grouping and rewarding grouping.
Grouping is harder, thus is SHOULD be more rewarding.
Then show me a way to do that which is meaningful and won't result in people waiting to have fun.
The same way every other MMORPG with a good social atmosphere has done... give better rewards for grouping.
It is harder to group than solo. Things that are harder should yield a better reward.
Short of a WoW-like LFG system which ruins the good social atmosphere, I don't know of another MMO that seriously rewards grouping that doesn't also require you to spend a lot of time waiting for a group (or schedule it in advance).
What games are you people playing? All you have to do is play how you'd normally play, while talking around to find if anyone has a group, or talking to others to form one. Once the group is together, go and do harder stuff. There's no waiting around.
My comment is mostly on one point in the OP. What is wrong with your machine that you had problems running Rift? I ran that thing on a laptop without ever having one issue and I ran on high settings. This isn't because I like Rift, I actually hated Rift and didn't stay long, but I found it crazy to think any gaming system would have problems running it.
Also GW2 did one thing better than anyone else. They got people to buy the box for a F2P game. They have a store, just like F2P games, but then they charged $60 for a box on top of it and people praised the model as the best thing to ever happen to gaming. That fascinates me.
Originally posted by Hrimnir Seriously, i really do like this game. I dont think its the fucking pariah like most people, but i am getting really friggin tired of connection issues, shit like the AH being down, etc etc. I've been at the launch of every major MMO since EQ1 with the exception of WOW, and though there has been worse, none have been this bad for this long.
ummm what? heh many games have been in MUCH worse shape a month after their release.. don't think you have played that many at launch.. heres the latest status update
TP has been more and more stable and considering how many people are hammering this thing at once its not really a shock it goes down. Most everything I have had an issue with since launch has been fixed so far. Only annoying problem I'm having now is long que times for WvW heh.. oh forgot and the mat issue on the TP as well
Oh Aerowyn you sure do spend a lot of time doing all you can to defend GW2. Shouldnt you be playing it? Just because he thinks its not that great of a launch mean you can tell him he hasnt played that many?
Oh Gaborik you sure love to pick out random people to troll and bash, shouldn't you be staying on your own games forums instead of coming here to troll?
And as far as launch, it's comparison based. He can say it was a shitty launch, but he can't say this is the worst launch in a long time... Pretty sure TOR was worse, I played both, I found TOR unplayable due to certain qualities... and that had a subscription, so thus I wasn't getting my moneys worth. This game I paid one time and I'm satisfied, not like they haven't really been implementing and fixing these changes, since most are pretty polished out. TOR still hasn't fixed errors people found in betas and since the day I quit, which was about 6 months in, they never once fixed easy errors in their game... So hmm... Pretty sure this launch wasn't the worst by comparison, nor was it the best.
Oh eggy thanks for your expertise on how bad TOR was at launch. Pretty sure this was not a TOR post but if you still need to whine and troll about TOR I guess feel free.
I've been at the launch of every major MMO since EQ1 with the exception of WOW, and though there has been worse, none have been this bad for this long.
Sorry, I'm pretty sure I'm stating why this statement is a lie and backing up Aerowyn's claim with, here's a shocker, an example. *gasp* People use those anymore? I could just go and say, no, there were other shitty launchs recently... Then ended my statement there. Doesn't seem to have the kind of impact though does it? Hmmm..
A statement backing up your claim? Ok "certain qualities" oh no explanation at all just two words that could mean anything. "TOR still hasn't fixed errors people found in Betas" again no explanation just blank statements. So I would have to say your examples are not any better then what he said. Nice try though.
Do you really want me to go as specific as humanly possible in these examples? becuase I'm sure I can link TOR forums for you and you can easily find plenty of examples from it. Even if you have to dig a little bit. Just as a few, instances with broken mechanics (boss 1 shotting so you can't complete it for one), datacrons not working (need these for stats and full complete, never once fixed it), I can go on, but this isn't the TOR forums and I don't feel like sounding like I'm venting.
As for a specific example, I'm sure just stating TOR was good enough, since I'm sure unless you've been shutting your ears and whistling you have heard at least one complaint about it.
Regardless let's play the "my sentence is an opinion game so you can't refute any of it."
-"My posts are more valid than yours because I'm an orange"
-"... but you're not an orange..."
-"It's my opinion, you can't refute my opinion!"
-"I'm not refuting that you think your more valid, I'm just saying that your not an orange..."
Lets be honest. The PvE in GW2 is nice. You CAN die again, but for me its more about "cheap" spawns popping 3 mobs on top of you, deaths than the "damn, that was really hard..." kind. Sure, you can dodge, but how often is that even necessary in PVE? You can dodge, but i've never thought, damn if I just dodged right there, I wouldn't have died. Sorry, its not really hard at least up until the early 30s where I'm at now. Is it reinventing the wheel? HELL NO!!! Tab, 1,2,3,4, 7, 8, 2, F, loot, and so on. In some cases its a step back by limiting all your abilities and sticking them on timers, instead of having your entire arsenal all the time with no mana/energy/power pool. So its a little different. I like the hearts but are they really any different than a quest? Lets get real. They're not. The events are fine, since I haven't needed to repeat any, since by the time I clear the zone out, I'm ready to go onto the next. They just feel like better versions of WAR's.
The fact I even find the PvE interesting is great, since I haven't really liked any MMO since 2004-05.
I like the exploration and how some of the vantage points are tough to get to. Finally getting to one way up on top of some wall, with lots of platforming was the first time in a while I actually felt like I accomplished something in a MMO. Its weird that all the crafting nodes aren't persistent, so theres no rush to get to one before someone else. I guess its OK. Convenient. No competition.
Warping around the map instead of using a mount is OK. Again, convenience.
The underwater combat is sort of a let down. Nothing special. I'd rather just keep all my skills than have new weapons.
How many dungeons are there, at least below lvl 40? If there are any, I haven't seen them. The game certainly doesn't tell you where they are, which would be odd since there are indicators for everything else. NO way to tell how good group mechanics are without any decent dungeons.
The biggest issues I've found is the camera near walls, where it goes completely haywire. And the gear up until the 30s at least, has almost NO VARIETY in looks. They're all mostly the same. I'll just have to mention WOW here, because my armor and weapons were constantly changing in looks each time I upgraded. Sure there were reskins, but nothing as bad as whats currently in GW2. It almost feels like early DAOC, where my starter gear were all the exact same models as my lvl 40ish gear. I think I've noticed maybe 2 models of each weapon and I've been changing a lot. Pretty pathetic actually.
The overflow is annoying. The AH being up and down is annoying. The skill balancing is annoying. But its bearable. Not game breaking. The queues for WvW are also annoying and after finally getting in last night, I don't have that much of an urge to revisit it, since its just a big laggy zergfest. The battlegrounds feel like the same ol same ol as well, except far more chaotic with all the AOE spells blasting everhwhere with very little single target....anything. Healing is certainly a clusterf&^% compared to most MMOs, or at least WOW. No way to just defensively concentrate on someone and keep them alive it seems.
GW2 is REALLY fun. Haven't felt the urge to log in every night since playing WOW. There was a huge draught until now.
I think there'd be a lot more talking if grouping was actually rewarded in any way. I like the seamless working together thing, but the side effect is nasty.
There's no way to do that without more or less forcing grouping, which in general is not a good thing to many people (including me).
There's a difference between forcing grouping and rewarding grouping.
Grouping is harder, thus is SHOULD be more rewarding.
Then show me a way to do that which is meaningful and won't result in people waiting to have fun.
The same way every other MMORPG with a good social atmosphere has done... give better rewards for grouping.
It is harder to group than solo. Things that are harder should yield a better reward.
Short of a WoW-like LFG system which ruins the good social atmosphere, I don't know of another MMO that seriously rewards grouping that doesn't also require you to spend a lot of time waiting for a group (or schedule it in advance).
What games are you people playing? All you have to do is play how you'd normally play, while talking around to find if anyone has a group, or talking to others to form one. Once the group is together, go and do harder stuff. There's no waiting around.
I'm asking YOU what game you are playing that does this. Looking above, the only example you've given is one with full loot FFA PvP. Are those the only sorts of games that potentially reward grouping?
Your description makes it sound easy, but generally it isn't. In games with strongly defined roles, for instance, finding those people is very difficult. It is best to use a chat system that has access to lots of people -- that means staying in towns and that means not playing until you get a group.
And of course, you can't easily mix in the "harder stuff" with the easy stuff, so going and doing the harder stuff will involve travel. Even in most modern MMOs (GW2 being an exception), that can take 10 minutes easily if not more. This is AFTER you find a group, which is not a trivial thing either. Then there's the problem of balancing doing stuff by yourself verses doing things with others. If group rewards are too good, then it strongly discourages even bothering to play unless you find a group.
I'm not saying it is impossible to design a game that encourages a lot of grouping without penalizing players, but it is far from trivial. I'm not familiar with any game I'd want to play that does it (e.g. I am not interested in FFA PvP games for instance -- which I think is still questionable, since a group member could be a mole).
I think doing this would more or less require a design similar to GW2. Easy transportation, free group benefits to those nearby without the need for grouping. You'd probably want to remove heart quests and only go with DEs. Then add in some more group DEs (which would encourage, but not remotely force, people to stick together). But there's no game out there that is like this.
Lets be honest. The PvE in GW2 is nice. You CAN die again, but for me its more about "cheap" spawns popping 3 mobs on top of you, deaths than the "damn, that was really hard..." kind. Sure, you can dodge, but how often is that even necessary in PVE? You can dodge, but i've never thought, damn if I just dodged right there, I wouldn't have died. Sorry, its not really hard at least up until the early 30s where I'm at now....
...
How many dungeons are there, at least below lvl 40? If there are any, I haven't seen them. The game certainly doesn't tell you where they are, which would be odd since there are indicators for everything else. NO way to tell how good group mechanics are without any decent dungeons.
Of course it isn't that hard until lvl 30, I consider everythign before you unlock your first dungeon & final skillpoint to be a tutorial and barely a hint of what is to come. There is a lot of hand holding early levels particularly lvls 1-20. From there things ramp up and ramp up quickly. Which should be expected once you have done the tutorial. Once concepts are introduced it is only after can they begin to quiz you on it.
You recieve your first dungeon notice at lvl 35, but you can enter it as soon as lvl 30. Likewise there is another one at 40, which is in my opinion a lot easier than the lvl 30 one. Its not that the lvl 30 one is particularly punishing, but more that it is many people's first dungeon and its really hard to find a good party to do it.
When I say its hard to find a good party I don't mean you can't find a party, that is easy, its hard to find a GOOD party because it is many people's first dungeon and they don't know what they are doing, they arer not managing aggro, they are not dodge rolling, they are not shield blocking, etc. etc.
All these elements of combat have been introduced in the tutorials and the Heart quests but never before were they actually required for you to use. Maybe most key of all is the lack of teamwork many pub teams express, previously in Dynamic Events you could zerg your way through the hardest of bosses. In the dungeons even the most lowly of Champions will be giving your 5 man team problems.
Lets be honest. The PvE in GW2 is nice. You CAN die again, but for me its more about "cheap" spawns popping 3 mobs on top of you, deaths than the "damn, that was really hard..." kind. Sure, you can dodge, but how often is that even necessary in PVE? You can dodge, but i've never thought, damn if I just dodged right there, I wouldn't have died. Sorry, its not really hard at least up until the early 30s where I'm at now. Is it reinventing the wheel? HELL NO!!! Tab, 1,2,3,4, 7, 8, 2, F, loot, and so on. In some cases its a step back by limiting all your abilities and sticking them on timers, instead of having your entire arsenal all the time with no mana/energy/power pool. So its a little different. I like the hearts but are they really any different than a quest? Lets get real. They're not. The events are fine, since I haven't needed to repeat any, since by the time I clear the zone out, I'm ready to go onto the next. They just feel like better versions of WAR's.
The fact I even find the PvE interesting is great, since I haven't really liked any MMO since 2004-05.
I like the exploration and how some of the vantage points are tough to get to. Finally getting to one way up on top of some wall, with lots of platforming was the first time in a while I actually felt like I accomplished something in a MMO. Its weird that all the crafting nodes aren't persistent, so theres no rush to get to one before someone else. I guess its OK. Convenient. No competition.
Warping around the map instead of using a mount is OK. Again, convenience.
The underwater combat is sort of a let down. Nothing special. I'd rather just keep all my skills than have new weapons.
How many dungeons are there, at least below lvl 40? If there are any, I haven't seen them. The game certainly doesn't tell you where they are, which would be odd since there are indicators for everything else. NO way to tell how good group mechanics are without any decent dungeons.
The biggest issues I've found is the camera near walls, where it goes completely haywire. And the gear up until the 30s at least, has almost NO VARIETY in looks. They're all mostly the same. I'll just have to mention WOW here, because my armor and weapons were constantly changing in looks each time I upgraded. Sure there were reskins, but nothing as bad as whats currently in GW2. It almost feels like early DAOC, where my starter gear were all the exact same models as my lvl 40ish gear. I think I've noticed maybe 2 models of each weapon and I've been changing a lot. Pretty pathetic actually.
The overflow is annoying. The AH being up and down is annoying. The skill balancing is annoying. But its bearable. Not game breaking. The queues for WvW are also annoying and after finally getting in last night, I don't have that much of an urge to revisit it, since its just a big laggy zergfest. The battlegrounds feel like the same ol same ol as well, except far more chaotic with all the AOE spells blasting everhwhere with very little single target....anything. Healing is certainly a clusterf&^% compared to most MMOs, or at least WOW. No way to just defensively concentrate on someone and keep them alive it seems.
GW2 is REALLY fun. Haven't felt the urge to log in every night since playing WOW. There was a huge draught until now.
Combat doesn't really get harder nor does it require a lot of dodging till later. i.e. dodging big damage aoes/stuns/knockbacks. One instance has a boss that will literally 1 shot you if you get hit, he doesn't attack very fast but the projectile comes like a lightning bolt so it's not easy to dodge but requires some good hand eye cooridnation for it.
As far as instances, not sure how you reached level 40 and not got a mail for both level 30 and level 40 with a big dungeon door on it and when you click on the link it literally shows you where the instance is... but whatever.
Looks don't change early only for the reason that, A) revamping gear doesn't happen because you set your own color pallet, not the game. and you get a lot of gear swapping items from doing zone completion and dailies that would be wasted if you got all the cool looking gear early. Your character needs to go out of its way to get those pieces of gear later on, not get handed them early so you get disappointed when nothing else later looks better.
Sorry but the mechanics of Rifts invasions are FAR better - the rifts do not appear in fixed locations and the invasions can take over entire zones.
In GW2 dynamic events are a misnomer - they should be called SE's - scripted/static events - always happen in the same places have no impact on the world (some have minimal impact).
So from this point forth I am calling them SEs
In Rift there are periods when you can relax - lulls between rifts and invasions - this feels more natural. GW2 is non stop same scripted events that happen around the clock repeatedly - its way too forced and annoying.
Also Rifts invasions can encompass entire zones - needing multiple groups of players working in different areas of the zone simultaneously. GW2 scripted events happen in small concentrated areas
Anet should be ashamed for such blatant lying - there is nothing dynamic about running a triggerd script!!
Rifts do spawn on fixed location what on earth are you talking about.
Zones can be overrun yes that's true but if no players fight them back it will go back to status que after 4 hours.
In beta zones was contested till players cleared them up but to many whined about it beacuse they can't quest in peace so Trion put in the timer so it will despawn after 4 hours.
Sorry but the mechanics of Rifts invasions are FAR better - the rifts do not appear in fixed locations and the invasions can take over entire zones.
In GW2 dynamic events are a misnomer - they should be called SE's - scripted/static events - always happen in the same places have no impact on the world (some have minimal impact).
Anet should be ashamed for such blatant lying - there is nothing dynamic about running a triggerd script!!
So from this point forth I am calling them SEs
I am not sure you are playing GW2. There are alot of dynamic and sweeping changes that events have on the landscape.
I just hit 72 - so tell me a single event in GW2 where the entire zone gets taken over by an event and needs multiple groups in each part of the zone working together.....
There is nothing that even comes close to large epic Rift invasions in GW2, it's small crap where a portion of the map gets impacted for a short time before the scripted event gets triggered again 5 min later.
Guess why there's an X over most teleport locations on this map? This is how the last 3 maps look. If you don't actively work to take over these locations, they get overrun. And you can not take them back by yourself. All locations except the top one will be lost unless people are there to defend them.
I've played many games (MMO, FPS, SRPG, etc) over the past 15+ years and since the third stage of SWG revamp (NGE November 2005) I've not found another game I enjoyed besides going back to City of Heroes once in a while and GW2 is finally that game I can enjoy and not worry about a sub fee for when I take a break. SWTOR wore me off quickly (less than 2 months) but I stayed subbed because of my guild and I ended up spending more time playing Battlefield 3 until DICE decided to turn that game into a Call of Duty clone (which I was trying to get away from). So finally a game that isn't a brainless grindfest and is fun to play from the getgo (choice to go to sPVP or WvWvW right away), GW2 has eliminated alot of frustrating traits you find in other MMOs (trying to outdps someone else for loot rights, needing to group to get credit on an encounter, constantly having to upgrade armor/weapons, etc)
So with City of Heroes closing down in November, Guild Wars 2 looks like the game I'll be playing for a while now along with *cough*SWG.
You can't 1-2 shot mobs when you're downleveled, I have mostly green (masterwork) and went back to a level 7 section and it took more than 2 hits to take down mobs.
Agree with OP... so nice not to see the chat channels full of "lf tank then gtg" spam.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
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Comments
The only rude awakening is how bad the dungeons are compared to some of the higher level events, honestly doing the crucible yesterday, what a bad dungeon, the events around level 80 are MUCH MUCH more interesting than dungeons, dungeons are just literally mob zergs coming at you wacking people randomly, is that what you meant by rude awakening?
UO's reward to grouping was people who could protect you and pool resources with you. Grouping was rewarded directly in that game, due to the PvP full loot nature. In non FFA PVP full loot games, grouping needs to be rewarded with xp boosts, better items, ect ect. DAoC did this. You could solo if you want, but grouping was better.
Classes add a lot to PvP. That's why almost all modern shooters have classes. Having classes more distinct from one another, as DAoC has, gives each class a solid role they can excel at.
GW2 RvR isn't at DAoC levels yet, but its not for the class system. It's because there's little to no point to GW2 RvR yet. There's no Darkness Falls to fight over, no relics, no realm ranks.
What games are you people playing? All you have to do is play how you'd normally play, while talking around to find if anyone has a group, or talking to others to form one. Once the group is together, go and do harder stuff. There's no waiting around.
My comment is mostly on one point in the OP. What is wrong with your machine that you had problems running Rift? I ran that thing on a laptop without ever having one issue and I ran on high settings. This isn't because I like Rift, I actually hated Rift and didn't stay long, but I found it crazy to think any gaming system would have problems running it.
Also GW2 did one thing better than anyone else. They got people to buy the box for a F2P game. They have a store, just like F2P games, but then they charged $60 for a box on top of it and people praised the model as the best thing to ever happen to gaming. That fascinates me.
Do you really want me to go as specific as humanly possible in these examples? becuase I'm sure I can link TOR forums for you and you can easily find plenty of examples from it. Even if you have to dig a little bit. Just as a few, instances with broken mechanics (boss 1 shotting so you can't complete it for one), datacrons not working (need these for stats and full complete, never once fixed it), I can go on, but this isn't the TOR forums and I don't feel like sounding like I'm venting.
As for a specific example, I'm sure just stating TOR was good enough, since I'm sure unless you've been shutting your ears and whistling you have heard at least one complaint about it.
Regardless let's play the "my sentence is an opinion game so you can't refute any of it."
-"My posts are more valid than yours because I'm an orange"
-"... but you're not an orange..."
-"It's my opinion, you can't refute my opinion!"
-"I'm not refuting that you think your more valid, I'm just saying that your not an orange..."
-"lalala opinion"
-"...*sigh*"
Lets be honest. The PvE in GW2 is nice. You CAN die again, but for me its more about "cheap" spawns popping 3 mobs on top of you, deaths than the "damn, that was really hard..." kind. Sure, you can dodge, but how often is that even necessary in PVE? You can dodge, but i've never thought, damn if I just dodged right there, I wouldn't have died. Sorry, its not really hard at least up until the early 30s where I'm at now. Is it reinventing the wheel? HELL NO!!! Tab, 1,2,3,4, 7, 8, 2, F, loot, and so on. In some cases its a step back by limiting all your abilities and sticking them on timers, instead of having your entire arsenal all the time with no mana/energy/power pool. So its a little different. I like the hearts but are they really any different than a quest? Lets get real. They're not. The events are fine, since I haven't needed to repeat any, since by the time I clear the zone out, I'm ready to go onto the next. They just feel like better versions of WAR's.
The fact I even find the PvE interesting is great, since I haven't really liked any MMO since 2004-05.
I like the exploration and how some of the vantage points are tough to get to. Finally getting to one way up on top of some wall, with lots of platforming was the first time in a while I actually felt like I accomplished something in a MMO. Its weird that all the crafting nodes aren't persistent, so theres no rush to get to one before someone else. I guess its OK. Convenient. No competition.
Warping around the map instead of using a mount is OK. Again, convenience.
The underwater combat is sort of a let down. Nothing special. I'd rather just keep all my skills than have new weapons.
How many dungeons are there, at least below lvl 40? If there are any, I haven't seen them. The game certainly doesn't tell you where they are, which would be odd since there are indicators for everything else. NO way to tell how good group mechanics are without any decent dungeons.
The biggest issues I've found is the camera near walls, where it goes completely haywire. And the gear up until the 30s at least, has almost NO VARIETY in looks. They're all mostly the same. I'll just have to mention WOW here, because my armor and weapons were constantly changing in looks each time I upgraded. Sure there were reskins, but nothing as bad as whats currently in GW2. It almost feels like early DAOC, where my starter gear were all the exact same models as my lvl 40ish gear. I think I've noticed maybe 2 models of each weapon and I've been changing a lot. Pretty pathetic actually.
The overflow is annoying. The AH being up and down is annoying. The skill balancing is annoying. But its bearable. Not game breaking. The queues for WvW are also annoying and after finally getting in last night, I don't have that much of an urge to revisit it, since its just a big laggy zergfest. The battlegrounds feel like the same ol same ol as well, except far more chaotic with all the AOE spells blasting everhwhere with very little single target....anything. Healing is certainly a clusterf&^% compared to most MMOs, or at least WOW. No way to just defensively concentrate on someone and keep them alive it seems.
GW2 is REALLY fun. Haven't felt the urge to log in every night since playing WOW. There was a huge draught until now.
I'm asking YOU what game you are playing that does this. Looking above, the only example you've given is one with full loot FFA PvP. Are those the only sorts of games that potentially reward grouping?
Your description makes it sound easy, but generally it isn't. In games with strongly defined roles, for instance, finding those people is very difficult. It is best to use a chat system that has access to lots of people -- that means staying in towns and that means not playing until you get a group.
And of course, you can't easily mix in the "harder stuff" with the easy stuff, so going and doing the harder stuff will involve travel. Even in most modern MMOs (GW2 being an exception), that can take 10 minutes easily if not more. This is AFTER you find a group, which is not a trivial thing either. Then there's the problem of balancing doing stuff by yourself verses doing things with others. If group rewards are too good, then it strongly discourages even bothering to play unless you find a group.
I'm not saying it is impossible to design a game that encourages a lot of grouping without penalizing players, but it is far from trivial. I'm not familiar with any game I'd want to play that does it (e.g. I am not interested in FFA PvP games for instance -- which I think is still questionable, since a group member could be a mole).
I think doing this would more or less require a design similar to GW2. Easy transportation, free group benefits to those nearby without the need for grouping. You'd probably want to remove heart quests and only go with DEs. Then add in some more group DEs (which would encourage, but not remotely force, people to stick together). But there's no game out there that is like this.
Of course it isn't that hard until lvl 30, I consider everythign before you unlock your first dungeon & final skillpoint to be a tutorial and barely a hint of what is to come. There is a lot of hand holding early levels particularly lvls 1-20. From there things ramp up and ramp up quickly. Which should be expected once you have done the tutorial. Once concepts are introduced it is only after can they begin to quiz you on it.
You recieve your first dungeon notice at lvl 35, but you can enter it as soon as lvl 30. Likewise there is another one at 40, which is in my opinion a lot easier than the lvl 30 one. Its not that the lvl 30 one is particularly punishing, but more that it is many people's first dungeon and its really hard to find a good party to do it.
When I say its hard to find a good party I don't mean you can't find a party, that is easy, its hard to find a GOOD party because it is many people's first dungeon and they don't know what they are doing, they arer not managing aggro, they are not dodge rolling, they are not shield blocking, etc. etc.
All these elements of combat have been introduced in the tutorials and the Heart quests but never before were they actually required for you to use. Maybe most key of all is the lack of teamwork many pub teams express, previously in Dynamic Events you could zerg your way through the hardest of bosses. In the dungeons even the most lowly of Champions will be giving your 5 man team problems.
Combat doesn't really get harder nor does it require a lot of dodging till later. i.e. dodging big damage aoes/stuns/knockbacks. One instance has a boss that will literally 1 shot you if you get hit, he doesn't attack very fast but the projectile comes like a lightning bolt so it's not easy to dodge but requires some good hand eye cooridnation for it.
As far as instances, not sure how you reached level 40 and not got a mail for both level 30 and level 40 with a big dungeon door on it and when you click on the link it literally shows you where the instance is... but whatever.
Looks don't change early only for the reason that, A) revamping gear doesn't happen because you set your own color pallet, not the game. and
you get a lot of gear swapping items from doing zone completion and dailies that would be wasted if you got all the cool looking gear early. Your character needs to go out of its way to get those pieces of gear later on, not get handed them early so you get disappointed when nothing else later looks better.
Rifts do spawn on fixed location what on earth are you talking about.
Zones can be overrun yes that's true but if no players fight them back it will go back to status que after 4 hours.
In beta zones was contested till players cleared them up but to many whined about it beacuse they can't quest in peace so Trion put in the timer so it will despawn after 4 hours.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
Guess why there's an X over most teleport locations on this map? This is how the last 3 maps look. If you don't actively work to take over these locations, they get overrun. And you can not take them back by yourself. All locations except the top one will be lost unless people are there to defend them.
I've played many games (MMO, FPS, SRPG, etc) over the past 15+ years and since the third stage of SWG revamp (NGE November 2005) I've not found another game I enjoyed besides going back to City of Heroes once in a while and GW2 is finally that game I can enjoy and not worry about a sub fee for when I take a break. SWTOR wore me off quickly (less than 2 months) but I stayed subbed because of my guild and I ended up spending more time playing Battlefield 3 until DICE decided to turn that game into a Call of Duty clone (which I was trying to get away from). So finally a game that isn't a brainless grindfest and is fun to play from the getgo (choice to go to sPVP or WvWvW right away), GW2 has eliminated alot of frustrating traits you find in other MMOs (trying to outdps someone else for loot rights, needing to group to get credit on an encounter, constantly having to upgrade armor/weapons, etc)
So with City of Heroes closing down in November, Guild Wars 2 looks like the game I'll be playing for a while now along with *cough*SWG.
Ditto. I agree with the OP 100 percent.
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You can't 1-2 shot mobs when you're downleveled, I have mostly green (masterwork) and went back to a level 7 section and it took more than 2 hits to take down mobs.
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