Curse

Minako Sawai · Jun 08, 2009, 07:06 PM // 19:06

One thing I've yet to see anyone ever mention about the GW engine is the smooth turning. I've recently been trying quite a few MMO games, all of which were released within the last year or two, both P2P and F2P. Without exception, none is as smooth as GW.

This has nothing to do with computer requirements, my graphics card pretty much is in idle mode even with the most demanding of them. What I mean by smooth is when rotating (while moving or just standing in place) in GW the effect is a slow smooth pan which then accelerates to a non-jerky fast pan.

Most other games have a noticeable "jump" type of rotate, the turning rate is always the same and just isn't "smooth". Some games aren't bad, LOTRO, Free Realms and another recently released but not quite yet in NorthAm / Europe and is quasi-NDA so I can't say the name just "in case", are good but still not GW quality. Others are just plain poor.

I don't know how the engine was early on in GW as I started playing mid-2008, but I am just amazed that major games (let alone the F2P ones where you don't expect much) released in 2008 are inferior to GW, a game that is now 4 years old.

Granted, GW isn't perfect. When you get massive amounts of monsters and effects during combat there is sometimes (rarely) a slight slowdown, which doesn't seem to be graphics resolution related, as I've seen the exact same thing with everything turned down low and lower resolution on same machine. The GW animations are showing their age compared to some recent games, especially the soon to be released one. And I swear almost nobody can do a decent "male just running to next area" animation, they are all terrible.

Pretty impressive that GW still looks so good even without having the less detailed cartoony graphics some other newer games have.

The Great Al · Jun 08, 2009, 11:22 PM // 23:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisworld

It is a shame though, that nobody has the concept of originality in this game, I never use those stupid "everyone use this build cuz its good and if you don't you suck" builds.

I pretty much played solely as an Elementalist for the 2+ years that I regularly played GW (I own all the chapters/expansion). It got to the point where, at least for 75% of PvE, spamming SF was the most effective Ele. Sure there were a few pbAoE earth builds that were alright, but Elementalists were generally called upon for crowd control, and there were 1 or 2 builds to choose from that were mindless, but effective. I know people that tried creative builds, and they might have been more challenging, but for the most part, there wasn't much originality.

I hope GW2 has a more traditional creation system, where you pick strength, dexterity, luck, wisdom, etc. That, coupled with being aligned with one of the 4 new races, could bring much more interesting builds and characters.

On a somewhat related note, I hope there is more diversity to weapon and armor stats as well. Within a few hours of playing the game, you have a weapon and armor as good as someone who has been playing for years. My main problem with GW is that after you finish Prophecies, every next chapter and expansion turns into 'lets find better weapon/armor skins!'. That's it. From the end of Prophecies, to the end of GW:EN, the only way that my character has been 'customized' in any way has been through a few weapon skins. ANet is scared for some players to have weapons/armor that is actually better than what other people, but doing so makes the game feel 'pointless' after a while, because your character cannot get better/stronger in any way. And after a while, the user does not get better either (in PvE at least), so there is absolutely no change.

Bob Slydell · Jun 08, 2009, 11:41 PM // 23:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Great Al

I pretty much played solely as an Elementalist for the 2+ years that I regularly played GW (I own all the chapters/expansion). It got to the point where, at least for 75% of PvE, spamming SF was the most effective Ele. Sure there were a few pbAoE earth builds that were alright, but Elementalists were generally called upon for crowd control, and there were 1 or 2 builds to choose from that were mindless, but effective. I know people that tried creative builds, and they might have been more challenging, but for the most part, there wasn't much originality.

I hope GW2 has a more traditional creation system, where you pick strength, dexterity, luck, wisdom, etc. That, coupled with being aligned with one of the 4 new races, could bring much more interesting builds and characters.

On a somewhat related note, I hope there is more diversity to weapon and armor stats as well. Within a few hours of playing the game, you have a weapon and armor as good as someone who has been playing for years. My main problem with GW is that after you finish Prophecies, every next chapter and expansion turns into 'lets find better weapon/armor skins!'. That's it. From the end of Prophecies, to the end of GW:EN, the only way that my character has been 'customized' in any way has been through a few weapon skins. ANet is scared for some players to have weapons/armor that is actually better than what other people, but doing so makes the game feel 'pointless' after a while, because your character cannot get better/stronger in any way. And after a while, the user does not get better either (in PvE at least), so there is absolutely no change.

I Agree with your weapons/armor thing about people getting the max equipment really fast, one thing that kinda make the game lack lust. That and the warpspeed leveling of factions o.O ....

The Great Al · Jun 08, 2009, 11:52 PM // 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisworld

I Agree with your weapons/armor thing about people getting the max equipment really fast, one thing that kinda make the game lack lust. That and the warpspeed leveling of factions o.O ....

Well, I just brought my character over from Prophecies, so it wasn't warpspeed leveling, it was nonexistent. But yeah, I see where you're coming from. Prophecies had a really great progression to it, that was impossible to mimic in other campaigns because you had both new and old characters starting there. It's a necessity that every addition to GW2 is an expansion, not a separate chapter, for this reason.

Ghost Omel · Jun 09, 2009, 01:18 PM // 13:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Great Al

I pretty much played solely as an Elementalist for the 2+ years that I regularly played GW (I own all the chapters/expansion). It got to the point where, at least for 75% of PvE, spamming SF was the most effective Ele. Sure there were a few pbAoE earth builds that were alright, but Elementalists were generally called upon for crowd control, and there were 1 or 2 builds to choose from that were mindless, but effective. I know people that tried creative builds, and they might have been more challenging, but for the most part, there wasn't much originality.

I hope GW2 has a more traditional creation system, where you pick strength, dexterity, luck, wisdom, etc. That, coupled with being aligned with one of the 4 new races, could bring much more interesting builds and characters.

On a somewhat related note, I hope there is more diversity to weapon and armor stats as well. Within a few hours of playing the game, you have a weapon and armor as good as someone who has been playing for years. My main problem with GW is that after you finish Prophecies, every next chapter and expansion turns into 'lets find better weapon/armor skins!'. That's it. From the end of Prophecies, to the end of GW:EN, the only way that my character has been 'customized' in any way has been through a few weapon skins. ANet is scared for some players to have weapons/armor that is actually better than what other people, but doing so makes the game feel 'pointless' after a while, because your character cannot get better/stronger in any way. And after a while, the user does not get better either (in PvE at least), so there is absolutely no change.

Valid points BUT....

I personaly do not want certain traits tio be tied to certain race..
To muich separation and race discrimination towards certain proffesion..it will cause (Yoda much)

There is enaugh diversity of weapons now..armors too assuming you do combos

the reason YOU SEE so much of same armor and weapons is because of PRESTIGE and RARENES.. not beacause there are littlwe skins....

There is a reason why tjhere is low lvl and easy way of reaching it...skill>time thing..regardles of how deteriorated it is now is still present...

Costumization wise..never had a problem..but i surely wouldnt mind more costumization regarding weight ...width.,...facial is not on my primary list opf things as i am person whoi loves fully armored chatractyers with no skin showing...this is why i am a warrior..i like that feeling of securness that there are no obvious weak spots....so yeah.

The Great Al · Jun 09, 2009, 03:59 PM // 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost Omel

Valid points BUT....

I personaly do not want certain traits tio be tied to certain race..
To muich separation and race discrimination towards certain proffesion..it will cause (Yoda much)

There is enaugh diversity of weapons now..armors too assuming you do combos

the reason YOU SEE so much of same armor and weapons is because of PRESTIGE and RARENES.. not beacause there are littlwe skins....

There is a reason why tjhere is low lvl and easy way of reaching it...skill>time thing..regardles of how deteriorated it is now is still present...

Costumization wise..never had a problem..but i surely wouldnt mind more costumization regarding weight ...width.,...facial is not on my primary list opf things as i am person whoi loves fully armored chatractyers with no skin showing...this is why i am a warrior..i like that feeling of securness that there are no obvious weak spots....so yeah.

I didn't mean to say that there wasn't enough skins, but rather functionality. A game like Oblivion - every weapon you find does something COMPLETELY different. I'm not expecting that much, but a little more variety would be nice.

Ghost Omel · Jun 09, 2009, 04:23 PM // 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Great Al

I didn't mean to say that there wasn't enough skins, but rather functionality. A game like Oblivion - every weapon you find does something COMPLETELY different. I'm not expecting that much, but a little more variety would be nice.

But you will have Gear Wars not Guild Wars....

I completyely with you on the theme of PvE and Uber gear..i prefer having uber gear in PvEn just for the kicks.. but you know as long as PvP wise its skill based and not gear based im all for it.....Im Still against the traits tied to races thiough...abused they will

Firestone · Jun 15, 2009, 03:42 AM // 03:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minako Sawai

One thing I've yet to see anyone ever mention about the GW engine is the smooth turning. I've recently been trying quite a few MMO games, all of which were released within the last year or two, both P2P and F2P. Without exception, none is as smooth as GW.

This has nothing to do with computer requirements, my graphics card pretty much is in idle mode even with the most demanding of them. What I mean by smooth is when rotating (while moving or just standing in place) in GW the effect is a slow smooth pan which then accelerates to a non-jerky fast pan.

Most other games have a noticeable "jump" type of rotate, the turning rate is always the same and just isn't "smooth". Some games aren't bad, LOTRO, Free Realms and another recently released but not quite yet in NorthAm / Europe and is quasi-NDA so I can't say the name just "in case", are good but still not GW quality. Others are just plain poor.

I don't know how the engine was early on in GW as I started playing mid-2008, but I am just amazed that major games (let alone the F2P ones where you don't expect much) released in 2008 are inferior to GW, a game that is now 4 years old.

Granted, GW isn't perfect. When you get massive amounts of monsters and effects during combat there is sometimes (rarely) a slight slowdown, which doesn't seem to be graphics resolution related, as I've seen the exact same thing with everything turned down low and lower resolution on same machine. The GW animations are showing their age compared to some recent games, especially the soon to be released one. And I swear almost nobody can do a decent "male just running to next area" animation, they are all terrible.

Pretty impressive that GW still looks so good even without having the less detailed cartoony graphics some other newer games have.

actually i think cartoony graphics are not bad at all. it gives a fun atmosphere.

example: ragnarok online.

i remember that at its peak, it has 14m users.. which is a feat that wow still has not matched yet. its still popular even now, despite that its been like 9 years old.

e.g. of what makes it fun

it has the ability to mass customise your charc.
eg. refine armor / adding cards to armors / diff armors / classes / towns / music / even the boss hunting (MVP) is vastly different compared to GW.

Reverend Smooth · Jun 15, 2009, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by bena

i heard somewhere that the 'plasticy' look is inherent to how computer graphics work. like how the graphics drivers etc were all made sorta made it difficult/hard to have things that didnt look plasticy.

so im fine with things being plasticy... im just not going to like cartoony like some other game...

This is really belated, but that's false; I used to create textures for 3d models and as long as the mesh is good and the bump mapping decent, they can be indistinguishable from reality.

If a game's graphics look plasticky, they were designed that way on purpose.

cellardweller · Jun 15, 2009, 04:42 AM // 04:42

I like the fact that you can instantly tell an opponents class from a distance using their avatar, and am a little worried that we will lose that with too much customisation.