Curse

Crimson Ashwood · May 06, 2006, 09:27 PM // 21:27

If I could find something better than GuildWars: Factions, I'd play it. Suits me. It's fruistraitingly hard at times, but, you adapt.

Henchies are ok for me. They never really did take that well to large mobs of lvl24s+ in the first place. It's not like your fighting Charr anymore.

Alias_X · May 07, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Guild Wars sort of is Pay-To-Play. $50 over 6 months is $8 a month. When its put that way, you feel cheated don't you?

Loviatar · May 07, 2006, 12:46 AM // 00:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alias_X

Guild Wars sort of is Pay-To-Play. $50 over 6 months is $8 a month. When its put that way, you feel cheated don't you?

NOT AT ALL

FABLE:LOST CHAPTERS WAS 50 BUCKS FOR 15 HOURS

GUILDWARS IS 50 DOLLARS STRAIGHT UP ALL YOU CAN PLAY

ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL CHAPTERS ARE OPTIONAL

no additional purchase required to play (batteries not included)

Lepton CFd · May 07, 2006, 12:56 AM // 00:56

ANet really needs to get some respect for what they've done in the past year or two. I've been playing since the first beta weekend event, and let me tell you, GW has come a LONG way. For all the people that complain about the expensive things such as the new mini-pet craze, 15k/FoW armor, etc, why do you even care about it if all you want to do is play the game? Those things are for the people that are more into the aesthetic side of the game. If you're not into how your character looks, then just don't worry about it. A lot of people are concerned about how their character looks...let them spend the time and money trying to make their character how they like it =P It's got nothing to do with you "skills only" people.

In my opinion, Factions has been great (except for my gripe against the Elite missions =/). Besides, we'll be getting another Chapter every 6 months. What more can you ask for?

Great game ANet, keep it up!

Lepton CFd · May 07, 2006, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alias_X

Guild Wars sort of is Pay-To-Play. $50 over 6 months is $8 a month. When its put that way, you feel cheated don't you?

Um, yeah, but p2p games like WoW and EQ2 have original buying fee, monthly fee, and you have to pay for expansions.

Also, the expansions for GW are totally optional.

Omni Spirit · May 08, 2006, 03:02 AM // 03:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lepton CFd

In my opinion, Factions has been great (except for my gripe against the Elite missions =/). Besides, we'll be getting another Chapter every 6 months. What more can you ask for?

Hell no...after this garbage Anet released, I'm not wasting anymore money on any future chapters.

Fitz Rinley · May 08, 2006, 03:30 PM // 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kattox1

One thing that springs to mind is that if people LIKE something in factions the majority of the time they don't say it because they want to see what else is good. If they dont like something they stop playing and complain about it. So fact of the matter is that the good stuff in factions far outweighs the bad. Anet have made a GREAT game in a single year of development and have improved upon most of the faults made in the first game.
The amount of moaners in the guild wars community astounds me.

Not everyone is an optimist. I do like some things since factions:

ABOVE ALL) I like having key codes on the cards that are easily read so it doesnt take seven to eight tries of various cominations of Bs, 8s, Is, 1s, Gs, and 6s to find out what your key is, while wondering if you didn't acidently use someone else's. This was a great improvement.
1) Improved mods,
2) Drops that make sense based on color,
3) An improved economy for the casual player instead of focussing just on the elite and Beta players,
4) Ability to customize armor sets and keep the appearance one choses,
5) More detailed design work in the art and graphics,
6) Many of the skill changes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kattox1

I'd like to congratulate everyone on the design team for an outstanding job.

I agree there was some great work done. I am concerned, given the differences between Prophecies and Factions, that 6 months will be woefully insufficient to produce a Prophecies quality game. Even so, Gwen's broken flute is still a broken quest. A cave, once full of devourers, lies cleaned, lighted, and highly decorated with life to the east of seared Ascalon with no meaning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOneAndOnlyX

.....not some dumb henchman talking to himself, thats something you wasted time on

My hencheman specifically told me I wielded my weapon without style and we would show me how it was done. He was not talking to himself. The ballons add character to our henchies, who are more than automated troops (to our automated hero). I only wish their pop-up remarks would appear in the IM instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOneAndOnlyX

.....when ther're more critical things to improve, such as alliances, elite missions, henchmen AI and skill set.

There are many things that could be improved:

1) There could actually be bonuses instead of this timed garbage which will result in casual players paying guild/alliance mates (pro or non-casual players) to get that master bonus for them.
2) The faction system set to exclude people for being themselves, having/expressing personal identity, or who are not comfortable with crowds/majorities.
3) The faction system set to deny access to areas in such a way that power guilds and guildees may demand payment for it; promoting game corruption.
4) Failing to live up to the representation that the game would have 100% access to all characters if the keys were merged.
5) Preventing Guild members from assisting one another in missions, gaining benefit of missions, etc.
6) Requiring almost all skills be paid for in Factions.
7) Denying players the ability to earn primary class skills in Prophecies quests that award primary and secondary skills.
8) The IM chat system that does not allow persons of the same alliance to speak with one another during mission.
9) The player list failing to include everyone in the party, even if broken by a small space into three groups, so that monks/team members can see and respond to group needs (healing, condition removal, hex removal).
10) Some skills being overnerfed.
11) Storage problems unanswered.
12) The CE failure problems, which are not resolved do to an inability to trust fans will follow thru with a commitment to purchase after playing part or all of the storyline.

Things that need added:

1) The blue lettering in the screen is difficult for me to read. I am probably not the only one with this. I have to change the character size to Larger in order to find spcecific people in towns and outposts. I do not need this at any other time. It would be nice if the name of icons appearing in-screen would have their own customizable menu for size that would not affect the size of other lettering, menus, or boxes. (I usually run my game on small in order to maximize the field for using the mouse to escape.)

2) Completely change the body blocking. I tried to walk between two men in ToA. They are permanent NPCs there. There was enough space for two to three icons between them, but I could not pass. I have been helping people get the bonsu and missions for title. The bonus in Bloodstone is a frequent one. I am always having to go get the first druid off of the bodies of the Jungle Guardians in his way. Ghosts and spirits should have no body blocking except when attacking. At the same time, I recently fell thru the stair in Abaddon's which lead out toward bonus' grave. A friend lent me her Vampiric Bow so I could bleed out and be rebirthed out of the hole under the stairs. I could not move. I was trapped. Crossing a bridge in Iron Mines yesterday, we were being attacked and blocked by people below the bridge. All of this needs changed.

3) The game has a boot screen that contains connections to the support site, but not the home/news site. Such a link should not be too difficult to add and might often be used.

4) Game play is lightly to not outlined in books supplied with the game or even some resources from the company on the net. Guidebooks are quickly outdated from changes. Someform of resource, perhaps greater cooperation with forum comptrollers, to provide guide materials to players would be much appreciated. At this point are very limited g-wiki staff is beyond overburdened trying to adapt forms and include rules and changes about Factions. Many players, of many boards, perhaps over burden them because such resources are so limited.

5) Goals for these new painstakingly crafted armors and skins cannot be set by people who do not know what they are. More coordination with g-wiki and other resource providers on the appearance of standard (regularly manufactured, not rare-drop only) items would be helpful to the players in deciding what they are going to do.

Fitz

Lonesamurai · May 08, 2006, 03:57 PM // 15:57

@Fitz Rinley: Its not 6 months for the developement of chapter 3, its been already 6 months in development and has another 6 months to go, = 12 whole months, just like the factions team had and just like they now have on chapter 4, which i'm sure they ared now all working on and lettinng the third team deal with glitches, etc, in game as they did for prophecies...

Its been stated many times that there are 3 teams, all working on different parts, one on chapters 2/4/6/etc, one on chapter 3/5/7/etc and one for doing the general game stuff once its gone live

hope that helps and eliviates any bad thoughts about chapter 3 as from what I've read it sounds like its the prophecies team working on chapter 3, just as the Factions devs are now working on chapter 4

Beeline · May 10, 2006, 11:03 AM // 11:03

Heh, if anyone followed the development of Oblivion they would know the dev team moved back the release date a number of times to "fix" any issues and add content/design that thier fan base was asking for.

With GWF what were getting is a half finished product of the same engine with new window dressing and a fraction of the content that the first GWP has. Along with this they release with lotsz of bugs, change basic gameplay concepts etc etc... and they release it????

Anet is a business first and foremost - they will claw in thier profits first, then look after customers second.

Does anyone get the impression that the release date was infinately more important than giving us a truly new/working experience/content etc.

Buy GWP and get a large world and 6 classes.
Buy GWF and get a small world and 8 classes(6 of which required no extra work or coding etc..)

Play GWP and you have to play with "factions" players with thier new skills - which means if you dont have factions you are missing a lot of the balancing skills that were added to existing classes as a counter balance - meaning we arent as competitive as we should be therefore forcing us to buy factions or put up with missing balance...

Buy both and you still get only a fraction of the content that other MMO's provide for roughly the same yearly cost as buying these "updates". This is an excellent business model for Anet - minimal support costs compared to subscription based MMO's, limited char slots give them multiple purchases from the average customer, updates require a fraction of the time and resource as GWP cost and provide a fraction of the new content... Anyone feeling cheated?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kattox1
One thing that springs to mind is that if people LIKE something in factions the majority of the time they don't say it because they want to see what else is good. If they dont like something they stop playing and complain about it. So fact of the matter is that the good stuff in factions far outweighs the bad. Anet have made a GREAT game in a single year of development and have improved upon most of the faults made in the first game.
The amount of moaners in the guild wars community astounds me.

So why is the majority of posts over the last 2 weeks been players annoyed with the situation?? maybe if Anet provided support or a place for direct contact with thier dev team we wouldn't feel the need to post here. The number of moaners is a direct result of what we are purchasing and our feelings about what we get for our money. Sorry Kattox, but your judgement that good outweighs bad is not backed up by the forums, i think your deluding yourself, there has never been so many disgruntled posters in these forums until factions came out. It doesnt take a genious to see there is something wrong here.

makosi · May 10, 2006, 11:42 AM // 11:42

Guild Wars Prophecies was/is a great success and there were very little complaints in comparison. Tyria was amazing with the sheer variation of environments, skills and play-styles amounting to a diverse, full and enjoyable game. The £17.99 i paid for GW:P was far too low and had i known what I was buying I would have paid at least 3 times as much because I've played frequently for almost a year now and still play.

Cantha is just dire in comparison. The first half of the game is the dull ugly townships with the same monsters with far too much walking and henchmen without a brain cell between them to rub together. The later areas, Jade Sea etc are slightly better but the monsters are too powerful and the henchmen still haven't grown enough braincells - yes I'm talking about you, Sister Tai. (When a lvl 28 boss uses lightning strike and kills a toon in one hit, there are issues.)

Timed Missions: Encourages cookie-cutter builds. Removes the sense of freedom and the time to think about objectives and tactics - I'm pretty sure Guild Wars isn't a Hack 'N' Slash game.

Then there are Elite Missions... which has its own multi-page dissatisfaction thread.

In my opinion, don't fix what isn't broken. I understand that Cantha needed something new otherwise it would be flamed for being the same but the new additions seem pointless (*coough*Titles*cough*)

Stolen Souls · May 10, 2006, 01:28 PM // 13:28

I have very mixed feelings about Factions. There are a few things I like about it, but then...there are many things I am very disappointed with.

For me, in my opinion, the bottom line would be that I honestly don't feel this game was worth the $50 I spent on it...nor was it worth all the hassle of preordering, etc. It's just...seriously lacking. The first half of the game is basically running back and forth countless times through maze-like paths of a dull, depressing slum...packed with mob after mob of monsters the henchies are barely able to handle. Once you get out of this slum, it does improve a bit, but only a little. lol, I can literally recall thinking to myself "Green grass, at long last! Woohoo!!".

When I bought Prophecies, from the time I created my first character to the time I finished the last mission...it took me close to a month. With factions...5 days.

The fact that you are "forced" to do all the missions before being able to move on now is kind of a turn-off for me, as well. The way the story follows the same "Main Quest - Mission - Main Quest - Mission - Main Quest" rule gets tedious after a while. I used to like being able to go out and explore (without being 'locked out') before doing a mission...or...completely skipping those missions that I totally hated. I understand that they did it this way to prevent people from running and such, which is probably for the best. But seriously, the word "tedious" will not be enough to describe the way we're gonna feel when we get to our third or fourth characters.

Those, along with some other minor things, are pretty much the only complaints I have. All in all, I can honestly say that I AM a bit disappointed with Factions. For me, it just did not live up to the hype. There ARE things that I like about it, and I WILL continue to play it. But...*shrug*...I just thought it'd be more than what it is.

Orbberius · May 10, 2006, 01:41 PM // 13:41

Overall, Factions has been a large dissapointment. The PvE is still PvE, except I honestly think Prophecies PvE was much better. At least you had skill quests, and you could skip the shitty parts like the Maguuma Jungle. Whoever designed the City levels should be fired. The Alliance Faction system is pretty much a joke.

Besides the new skills and professions, Factions has added nothing good for PvP.

It's not worth the price of a full game.

ixg · May 10, 2006, 01:52 PM // 13:52

Factions is meh. pretty boring.

Sir_BlackJack · May 10, 2006, 02:29 PM // 14:29

My Ritualist and Assassin have emigrated to Tyria.

MasterThrawn · May 10, 2006, 02:35 PM // 14:35

While I am still playing - I was kind of worried when we had the preview weekend and I was pretty bored. But, I thought maybe I just wasn't seeing everything. Alas - I was wrong. I have gotten pretty far in the game now, and am trying to beat that Kurzick Mission right by House Zu Helter, but many things have turned me off of factions. My guildie was playing it for about 20 minutes (he was hard core PvE in Tyria - lots of hours), and he said he was bored with it. It just doesn't feel exciting like the first chapter did - oh well - I'm still going to play through and try to get the ew Elites.

felinette · May 10, 2006, 02:36 PM // 14:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir_BlackJack

My Ritualist and Assassin have emigrated to Tyria.

Funny you should say that. The first thing my Assasin did when she got to the mainland was run to Kaineng Center (do people actually *pay* for someone to run them to Kaineng Center? You don't even have to fight anything...), got the Kryta quest, and hopped on the boat to Lion's Arch. First toon I ran into was a level 12 Rit, then a few Assassins. Went to D'Alessio Seaboard to find it packed with more Rits and Assassins, very few of which were level 20 (my sin is 16), meaning they probably did the same thing I did--got over to Tyria as soon as they could. I will take my sin back to Cantha at some point, but I want to have some fun before I face mindless mobs that are all the same except for the names.

(I felt like kissing Alesia's feet when I first saw her...she's *so* much better than the lower level healers over in Cantha)

Winx.ZN · May 10, 2006, 07:08 PM // 19:08

Curious questions and thoughts by me:
When was Sorrows Furnace added to GW? What did people say about it then?
When was Tombs turned into a PvE Area? What did people say then? What are they saying now?
If I remember right, SF popped out MONTHS after release, and Tombs was only turned into a PvE area about 4months and a bit ago.
I hear a lot of people complainging about Hench AI and their lack of being able to deal with mobs of lvl24 monsters. This is not HenchWars, its GUILD wars. Get in a guild, find REAL people to play with. Going around the forest with all those bugs and dredge in a 5 man team is pretty satisifying and gets pretty tough (still moaning about the gear/keg/book nerf anyone?). I have a bunch of new and really cool stuff already and I appreciate the incredible new enviorments. The "Slum" is meant to look like it is as far as I can tell. Shabby, brown, dirty, depressing. I also thought to myself "green grass!" when i finally made it out, but I saw that as good design. A lot of people are complaining about the missions... I believe, once again, because you are trying to hench them all. Have you bothered to try any of the other missions? Invasion? I have a love hate relationship with the no-running system. I'm going to hate it until they fix VZ Square, but not after that. Takes one day to play to the point where most of them map is unlocked. That forces lame monks/necros/warriors/mesmers/elementalists/rangers/assasins/ritualists/ to actually play those characters and learn to use them (somewhat, some people refuse to learn

) I see less "tards" running around in the harder areas and the pugs I have ventured into (when guild isnt around) are much better than you average GWP pug.
I also dislike the fact that I will probably never get the chance to play the elite missions (I like my guild a lot and I am not about to become a drone of a larger one just to play those missions) but I have enough to do right now that areas with constant -8 degen arent that enticing anyway. As I read 95% of the posts on this topic I saw people putting GWP on a pedestal like it was just amazingly great. Go back and read posts from a few months back. People were still moaning. I have finished Factions already, story line wise, but I am far from finished with the game. I still only have about 70% of the map, theres a large amount of cloudy stuff hanging all over the map (including one island off the coast, which I am hoping VERY MUCH they make into an interesting PvE area later on

). I see GWF as going through its new running shoe state. You dont go run a mile in as soon as you buy them, you wear them in a little get your feet used to them. Otherwise youll get sores. They have spoken about the ability to buy new slots sometime in the future (I already have 2 accounts, but having all 8 in one account + Storage Unit Joe will be great). I see the good far out weighing the bad, and I am truly sorry that so many (on this forum) of you do not agree. I love the new 12vs12 compared to FPE weekend. I have not made an assasin or ritualist due to incredible prices of runes for them @ the moment, but Ill get my other 6 kids there in the meantime. If there is something you find terribly wrong in Factions start the topic eg: "The Dredge Are Hairless!" followed by a solution. eg: Give them wigs!
-done-

Loviatar · May 10, 2006, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Winx.ZN

/double signed for truth

felinette · May 10, 2006, 07:41 PM // 19:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winx.ZN

I hear a lot of people complainging about Hench AI and their lack of being able to deal with mobs of lvl24 monsters. This is not HenchWars, its GUILD wars. Get in a guild, find REAL people to play with.

Um, yeah. I belong to a guild, but the members aren't always available, or aren't online, or aren't interested in doing the mission/quest I want to do. As well, some classes/builds have a harder time getting into groups even though they're trying to. Ask assassins in Cantha or mesmers in Tyria. And in the many PUGs I've been out with, there have been a mix of people from various guilds--obviously these people couldn't find guildies to party with. Belonging to a guild doesn't mean an instant party whenever you want one. And when you've only got a couple of hours a day to play, you want to grab a party and go. Immediately.

In addition, more than half the time I group, at least one person drops, goes afk, decides they now have to eat dinner, etc. Or you find out you're out with a group of twelve-year olds, mentally speaking. It can be so much more pleasant, on many levels, to hench.

Since the game provides henchmen, they should at least be decent enough that the entire game can be henched without an undue amount of frustration. To be honest, I find the henchmen get better as you progress through the game, but some of the mission design isn't amenable for henchmen. For example, in one mission you should really be carrying two items. You can't do that when you hench. And on the starter island, the henchmen levels can be too low. For example, if you want to hench quest Quimang's Last Stand, you'll be facing level 15 mobs with a party of level 6 henchmen. That's crazy, and something should be done about it.

If they fixed the henchmen AI to make the game more enjoyable with henchmen, I'd forgive everything else about Factions. Truly, I would.

Theus · May 10, 2006, 07:49 PM // 19:49

Seriously.

I can't count the number of times I've died because of shitty henchmen AI.(Captured son...my lord.)

Especially on missions/quests that require pulling..oh dear lord..Try this and you'll just want to punch someone in the face.Since in the Henchmen's eyes, as soon as they engage a mob, they simply rush right in.Thus,pulling other mobs.Captured Son, for example,is utterly impossible to hench.Since as soon as you go to pull a mob, your henchies simply run right into the other 5 mobs behind them.