Guild Wars 2: Combat Mechanics

[rezaro]

I wrote an entry today about my beefs with the Guild Wars 2 skill/combat system. Everyone knows it's different and feels different and everyone knows that ArenaNet's goal is to do away with the Holy Trinity, but few have worded it, possibly because exploits and bans and lack of economy and real world money implications are more interesting to talk about.

Here is the entry. I talk about some other stuff in the last third/half of the post as my blog isn't a gaming blog and is themed to something else.Here is something important that I cited and agree with the premises and basic explanations of, but not the end conclusion. It takes a different structure too; it explains most things first and then directs conclusions second whereas in my entry I explain as I go.

It is my belief that greatness is not achievable in Guild Wars 2 PVP. I'll still play Guild Wars 2 because it has plenty of nuggets of fun, and dunking random nobodies with friends feels great. But now I know it's not going to be the same. It's not what I expected when I was looking for a guild or server hopping to find people who weren't yak farmining 24/7 in PvP. But now that I've wrote it and crystallized my thoughts... I think differently.

Any comments and discussion are welcome.

[Marken]

I think your post broke our forums. Even Balander hasnt posted anything today.

[Martok]

wow. Long post. I keep my posts/responses short, so don't be offended at my short reply

Game is too early for me to make a decision either way. Am I having fun? Yes! I also had fun in the beginning of SWTOR....

I'm enjoying the combat system overall, but I agree it could use a few changes. The real telling thing for me will be how the devs respond and outline their vision for future changes and updates. No game launch is perfect (even WoW went through tons of changes). I think what matters in the end is how the dev's respond to their players and incorporate what the players ask for.

[rezaro]

I believe they would need a change in their philosophy, as it is the philosophy which informs everything else. This belief that everything should be fun all the time with no buildup or wait time or effort? It is the source of most of the beefs I have with Guild Wars 2. The econ stuff I think is really stupid too, gems-gold, gold-karma; the fact that you now can't sell or salvage karma items? They don't know what they're doing and they don't want to be told they don't know what they're doing. And that's fine, I don't particularly like being told either. But it's a very childish philosophy and it explains why ArenaNet has been "Holier Than Thou".

It's basically impossible to change someone's philosophy. You'd need "Inception" or something of the sort.

[Riyo]

I think the only philosophy they have is to make the game enjoyable for the most amount of people available. The game might end up changing to the better or worse depending on your personal view. We can only wait and see. At this point though I am enjoying the game and having fun.

[robinj]

I play games to have fun, not to scrutinize them. I don't expect MMOs to be flawless or run at a constant 60fps. I've grown accustomed to economy crashes and exploits over the years. I've seen "NERF!!!" flame wars and the idiots who read those suddenly refuse to accept any player of that class.

With that being said, GW2 is a game. I abhor the camera versus terrain locking issues, especially on some of the frustrating vista jumps and dying at weird angles where you can't target properly. I get 30+fps with my 5 or 6 year old CPU despirately trying to keep my GTX570 entertained. The GW2 engine does manage to offload enough to the video card to run most things at highest quality. I've tried out nearly every MMO or online RPG there is (with the exception of blizzard games) and would rate GW2 pretty high.

What bothers me the most in the 2010's is that people are becoming more and more whiny about difficulties in games. I'm an engineer at a game studio and the industry trend is trying more and more to shift toward a more casual market. I feel that this trend is alienating the 30+ crowd who grew up expecting a brutally difficult challenge around every corner in games that they play. I'd like to see GW2 have harder enemies. Sure, it's fun to take on 3 or more at once and live to tell the tale. I'd rather the challenge of enemies scale upward if there are more players around you, kind of like an adhoc party.

I digress.

[Martok]

If you really want bad gameplay and a theme park, play swtor.

[Marken]

Martok even had to learn German to complain about swtor. And it was pretty epic hate.

[Martok]

If you really want bad gameplay and a theme park, play swtor.

[Martok]

Stupid cellphone replies. Ya I loves cursing in German for swtor

[rezaro]

I don't mean to complain about GW2 for the sake of complaining; I did devote a section in my entry about how the transition from GW1 combat to GW2 combat may have changed in part due to the fact that the culture today is focused less on bringing themselves up and more on bringing others down - rather than learn themselves how to become better players, simply call everything "overpowered". There are two words which are formatted to be larger than the rest in my entry. For the instance of gaming the word was "Casual", for the larger culture and society the word was "Fairness".

It is because I want so much to become a better player that I am unsure Guild Wars (2) helps me achieve that goal. Mind games, positioning/zoning, baiting skills, poking - these PvP basics no longer exist to a recognizable extent.

[Big Tom]

Yeah, it would be nice if they allowed more customization and challenge to playing the game. Maybe they could make a super group of servers dedicated to the serious gamers. I dunno, I would be happier if my damn heal button would actually heal me after the first tap instead of the 5th. Plus I can't stand this wait to get into world pvp, they better fix that before I hit 80.