Curse

Thallandor · Aug 10, 2006, 06:04 PM // 18:04

Pc.Gamespy.com just released an article on "State of the Game: Guild Wars"

Link:http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/724/724616p1.html

Interesting quotes:

Quote:

When asked about the feeling of exclusion expressed by casual players in regards to much of the content in Guild Wars: Factions, co-founder Mike O'Brien was quick to assure us that "(ArenaNet) didn't do it with an intent to alienate casual players." In his mind, the disconnect occurred when players had specific pieces of content blocked to them. "In Factions, (the process of acquiring unique armors) wasn't fundamentally different from Prophecies. The perception that the way you got those armors was through certain content that you couldn't play unless you were in an elite guild is what created a lot of problems for casual players."

It seems ArenaNet has taken that feedback to heart. "We've learned some lessons from that, and going forward, we want to be designing things so that they're much more friendly for the casual players. We don't want to make certain areas of the world off-limits," said O'Brien.

"Nightfall is specifically designed with that in mind," added Strain.

Much waits to be seen, i am personally not as trusting after Jeff Strains interview from VGM Daily about Factions.

Zinger314 · Aug 10, 2006, 06:09 PM // 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike O'Brian

"In Factions, (the process of acquiring unique armors) wasn't fundamentally different from Prophecies. The perception that the way you got those armors was through certain content that you couldn't play unless you were in an elite guild is what created a lot of problems for casual players."

What the heck is he talking about? All you needed to get the unique armors was to either do tons of Alliance Battles (for Faction) or complete the game (for 15k end-game). No need for an "elite guild."

milias · Aug 10, 2006, 06:12 PM // 18:12

Hmm, this is interesting. I was under the impression that Guild Wars was created with the casual player in mind.

Demesis · Aug 10, 2006, 06:28 PM // 18:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by milias

Hmm, this is interesting. I was under the impression that Guild Wars was created with the casual player in mind.

It's not.

Lawnmower · Aug 10, 2006, 06:37 PM // 18:37

Interesting article...

fallot · Aug 10, 2006, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Am I the only one who's noticing the article is completely uninformed ?

EternalTempest · Aug 10, 2006, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demesis

It's not.

If you are in to competivite PvP, that's true, but Pve is casual friendly when compare to a lot of other similar (yet different) on-line games.

Stepn · Aug 10, 2006, 06:53 PM // 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zinger314

What the heck is he talking about? All you needed to get the unique armors was to either do tons of Alliance Battles (for Faction) or complete the game (for 15k end-game). No need for an "elite guild."

Mike knows what he's talking about. The keyword he uses is "perception." He's pointing out that there was a misconception among some players about alliances and acquiring end-game armor in Factions. What he's saying is that getting end-game armor in Factions isn't that much different than getting end-game armor in Prophecies, but the misconception that one needed to be in an "elite alliance" in order to do so, which I'm assuming was publicly expressed by misinformed players, has had a negative effect on the game.

Blame the whining noobs?

Edited for clarity.

Jetdoc · Aug 10, 2006, 07:01 PM // 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallot

Am I the only one who's noticing the article is completely uninformed ?

...about?

I thought the article read well, and echoes many of my thoughts, other than some of the extraneous comments about PvE.

Thallandor · Aug 10, 2006, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallot

Am I the only one who's noticing the article is completely uninformed ?

I beg to differ, after reading the whole article its protray of Guild wars as a whole is rather balance for the lack of a better word.

Clone · Aug 10, 2006, 07:13 PM // 19:13

I'm very glad to see that quote. While more expensive armor never really bothered me, I am getting really sick of areas that are locked off from the public. I don't care if some dude in Seoul won the halls. I rarely even PvP. I just want to go to FoW. I don't care if some dude in New York has farmed enough faction to take Zu Heltzer. I just want the freedom to go to the Warren without having to beg someone I don't know to take me there. I'm not locked out of my favorite maps of CS if some player in Tokyo is doing well, but here my actions are limited by people I've never met and care nothing about. Restrictions don't make most players care about who has farmed a lot of faction or who has just won the halls. They just make people aggrivated with the game.

Sciros Darkblade · Aug 10, 2006, 07:14 PM // 19:14

Actually the article showed that ANet does have insight into what made Factions work and what didn't.

People *did* have a lot of misconceptions about how Kurzick and Luxon alliances worked. A lot of players joined the Kurz side because they wanted the 15k armor, for instance, not realizing that the armor they wear and their guild allegiance are hardly related. Things like that made Factions seem much worse for some players than it really was. And I guess that in Nightfall this is exactly what ArenaNet is working to avoid ^_^

Cherno · Aug 10, 2006, 07:37 PM // 19:37

It seems obvious that the part about being in an elite guild to be able to get into locked out content is in reference to the Elite Missions. The armor piece is a bit confusing however. Perhaps taken slightly out of context? The armor might be in reference to FoW armor though.

I haven't ever heard anyone really complaining about being excluded from acquiring high end armor due to a game mechanic.

EndoftheSyringe · Aug 10, 2006, 07:41 PM // 19:41

This reminded me... Nightfall is going to be PvE oriented, right? I'm having disgusting thoughts about what might happen with the whole "gate" idea they introduced in Factions...

gabrial heart · Aug 10, 2006, 07:45 PM // 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zinger314

What the heck is he talking about? All you needed to get the unique armors was to either do tons of Alliance Battles (for Faction) or complete the game (for 15k end-game). No need for an "elite guild."

he was talking about the *perception* that the only way you could access unique armors in factions was to own a town, which is what it was perceived at some point. also, i believe he's going on to talk about the elite missions with the content barrier for urgoz and the deep. sort of confusing when it's all together like that.

Wyldchild777 · Aug 10, 2006, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Greetings,

(I apologize for the darker tone of this post, but I just couldn't stay silent about these issues any longer)

Before I get into analysing what I took from the interview, there is something I would like to point out. You all do realize that larger game review outlets like GameSpy are naturally inclined to give a good review to games whos' companies send advertising dollars their way? If the game doesn't receive a good review, there is less dollars that come their way for the next issue/quarter/what-have-you. The game has to really suck to receive a bad review. As the saying goes "Follow the money". This is why I have an instinctive mistrust about any game review that tries to tell me what is good or what is not. I read reviews to get a sneak-peek at games not yet released, not to be influenced into what I should buy.

Now, as for the article itself.

Quote:

The prospect of a subscriptionless online RPG that would stream most of its content instead of using traditional patches was hardly a sure thing

Umm, then what is that grey box that I keep getting when I start the game that tells me files are being downloaded and decompressed? Surely, it's not a patch, since there are no patches, right? I thought the little lightning bolt we saw in the upper right corner was the streaming update. Silly me.

Quote:

That said, several big updates have made their way into the game, a couple of which were by no means below the radar. The most significant of these by far is the Observer Mode that was implemented last December.

Observer mode was the most significant update? How about the trader reset that lasted 3 or 4 hours that enabled a lot of people with no morales to abuse such a bug, and then lord their ill-gotten wealth over others? How about the update error that caused the only rollback that Guild Wars experienced? Neither of these were significant? Hmm...

Quote:

There really is no loot grind to speak of in Guild Wars. Shortly after they reach the level cap, players gain access to the best weapons in the game; anything else they decide to farm will simply provide aesthetic benefits.

No loot grind? Best weapons?
Okay, let me calm down here a minute.

...

Okay, first, about the weapons. Sure, we might get a max damage weapon around the time we hit the level cap, but it's more than likely to be a white weapon with overly-high requirements (10+). If we want a max-damage weapon, with at least a 15^50 mod (the simplest I can think of), that also doesn't have a requirement in the nose-bleed area, then we have to farm for it.
Kaining center weapon crafters you might say? First of all, they are 5 plat each to craft. Then material costs anywhere from 500g-1k for the base materials, plus a secondary material cost of 200g-1.5k range. What this means is that we either: 1. grind for a decent weapon, or 2. grind for the materials/gold to buy a decent weapon. Keep in mind, as well, that you have the costs of armor (1.5 per piece + materials, minimum 7.5k in gold alone for a full set), and the costs of skills that you have to save up for as well.

Quote:

Which brings us to PvP. There really is nothing like brutal war to bring people of disparate cultures together, and Guild Wars might just be the finest example of a game that unites players around the world by means of this common practice.

Actually, even a cursory analysis shows this to be off-base. What is really brought together is, generally, a bunch of immature players spouting off racist, sexist, and homophobic speech. Players who feel the need to tear down others to make them feel better about themselves.

Quote:

That said, no online world is perfect: Many players seem to feel that the game's PvE elements aren't as compelling as they could be, which leaves many players who aren't hardcore PvPers feeling like they don't have much to do.

Hmm. At least on this point, the article and I agree. I guess there is still a chance of finding a diamond in the rough.

Quote:

...but Strain is concerned that if the designers aren't careful, players might get overwhelmed very soon: "You're looking at well over 1,000 skills in the (Nightfall campaign). If we're not careful, we're going to wind up just blowing people's minds. That's a lot of skills to understand."

If they follow Faction's footsteps, then not really. A good portion of the skills were just simply Prophesies skills given a new name (penetrating blow to penetrating strike, tiger's fury to bestial fury, heal area to karei's healing circle, and so on). Overwhelmed by the same skills, yes. Too hard to understand, no.

Quote:

When asked about the feeling of exclusion expressed by casual players in regards to much of the content in Guild Wars: Factions, co-founder Mike O'Brien was quick to assure us that "(ArenaNet) didn't do it with an intent to alienate casual players." In his mind, the disconnect occurred when players had specific pieces of content blocked to them. "In Factions, (the process of acquiring unique armors) wasn't fundamentally different from Prophecies. The perception that the way you got those armors was through certain content that you couldn't play unless you were in an elite guild is what created a lot of problems for casual players."

I think I will just echo previous posters in this thread by saying "Huh?".

Well, there's my analysis on GameSpot's "State of the Game". Take it or leave it as you wish. As for me, personally, I will be looking for more "State of the Game" posts done by the players on forums such as this one.

Merry meet, merry met, merry meet again,
Wyldchild777

Loviatar · Aug 10, 2006, 10:57 PM // 22:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyldchild777

Umm, then what is that grey box that I keep getting when I start the game that tells me files are being downloaded and decompressed? Surely, it's not a patch, since there are no patches, right? I thought the little lightning bolt we saw in the upper right corner was the streaming update. Silly me.

yes and true as well.

were you aware that the little lightning bolt files downloaded were compressed to take up as little download time/bandwidth as possible and after the download would be decompressed?

KamikazeChicken · Aug 10, 2006, 11:01 PM // 23:01

This thread should be merged with: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10021890

It's also not like anyone should take GameSpy seriosuly about anything, ever.

Silent Kitty · Aug 10, 2006, 11:20 PM // 23:20

The article gives me hope that chapter three is better than factions. The steep learning curve of Factions is a real turn-off.
I like to explore huge areas, without large godly strong mobs with lightning reflexes, especially made to kill assassins.

Irongate · Aug 10, 2006, 11:36 PM // 23:36

I kind of agree that there should be a casual player focus but I think Anet risks making it too easy. There have been many calls lately for more difficult content. FoW armour was one of the better things about Prophecies, not the worst (as the article indicates).