Curse

ExplosiveBadger · Aug 05, 2005, 04:11 AM // 04:11

Better drops. You barely get anything these days. Its terrible, really.

Lag issues are ridiculous due to the fact of the game being streamed. I rather have everything being downloaded to boot. I know this won't happen but i'm getting it across that you guys put 256mb falling under requirements and us 256ers who bought the game thinking it'd run halfway decent got crap. I'm upgrading soon but not soon enough.

Also more races

.

I'm recomending all these things I know won't happen. All my ideas are far-fetched.

Thanks.

SOT · Aug 05, 2005, 04:16 AM // 04:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakron

I stop playing because of the lag issues and never feel to go back again.

And this is a public forum, I even own and have installed Guild Wars ... I was not aware that I had to play the game x time in order to retain posting abilities on this forum.

And its quite fitting I post that on a "state of the game" since it shows some people quit playing for the time being for some reasons, beats listing to the small hardcore player base that is unlikely to sustain the game in relation to sales, all games have one and Guild Wars is no diferent.

Well said

To the wrong argument.

Lord Malikai · Aug 05, 2005, 04:44 AM // 04:44

My only complaint is the rate of drops. Good drops. I mean, you get all the way to the end of the game and you're still dealing with sub par drops from monsters that are the elite of the elite ? Very rarely do you get a good gold drop from the last missions, if any at all. I'm an RPG fanatic, there has always been that feeling of "!! YEA !!" when I get something cool, I just don't get that anymore playing GW. I refuse to go do mindless farming for hours and hours to get something good which should be readily available from those high level nasty monsters in those areas.

Ok, so what, it may flood the market with high end weapons and items. It may increase the farmers. But at the same time, prices will drop and the "demand" for such weapons and items will drop because the normal Joe can go get one himself. You won't need to go to LA for hours and try to buy a weapon for 1 million gold, you won't have to go into X zone and farm for Y hours to get something decent. You can simply play the game to the end and find something worth using.

DrSLUGFly · Aug 05, 2005, 04:51 AM // 04:51

I stopped playing because critical viral infection completely cut off my internet connection..

Don't suppose you could include a Ward Against Viruses skill

Seriously though, I don't have anything valuable to contribute at the moment, due to my connection issues I'm now paying for my time by the hour... when I have more time I'll read the thread thoroughly and think about my opinions on the state of the game. For now, I just want to say good job so far, I look forward to the new zones and the expansion

Rieselle · Aug 05, 2005, 04:53 AM // 04:53

First of all, I'd just like to mention that, from a technology perspective, GW is an amazing success. Recently I've played (and abandoned) both EQ2 and WoW, but I've still browse their forums and talk to people playing on WoW now and then. The amount of server problems, bugs, content bugs, "mysterious 24 hour weekly maintenance", gross imbalances, missing graphics on things, etc, that those 2 games have had even up to the present, really shows me the GW is one of the better online RPGs to come out recently on PCs.

However, I still dont think it quite escapes many of the problems dogging the entire genre, and maybe PC games in general.

I've mentioned most of my ideas elsewhere, but here's a more of a "state of the game" sort of big-picture, philosophical view.
One thing that I personally miss very much: Visual Joy! Fun! Kickass crazy coolness!

There isnt enough "visual reward" for doing things in this game. Sure, it's a heck of a lot better than WoW ("Omg! I just the brand new Fireball 5 spell! Now I can see bigger numbers!"), but it's still pretty sparse. More animations and better, more stylish use of spell effects. Currently, very good examples existing in the game:

Knockdown+Aftershock, the knockdown followed by the impact effect, very cool, very fun to do. We need more of these melee "combo" type situations where skills naturally flow into each other, with a rhythm, and an impressive climax. Even better if there is some timing or skill involved in pulling the whole thing off.

Firestorm, and phoenix, the unique charge-up animation and sound for these spells make them fun to use. Although the actual impact graphics are a bit of a let down. In contrast, Meteor Shower and Meteor are pretty boring to watch. Maelstrom is also pretty nice, but its persistent effect is incredibly pissweak.

Very glaring deficiencies: Mesmer spells. Take Shatter Enchantment, it's the perfect chance to spawn some purple translucent triangles over the target, and then "shatter" them, spraying them everywhere with a dramatic glass shatter sound. Instead we get a purple circle that makes some synth noise and fades away. Priest spells too. Heck, necro spells other than Death spells.

Obsidian Flame: For such a powerful spell, the flame is so small that it often gets completely obscured by the enemy model, and cant be seen. Also it's very dark and hard to see. You could easily make the initial flare-up much brighter, larger and taller, without using any more particles or resources. Or heck, make it a purple version of the "on fire" graphic effect.

Eruption is almost invisible, at least give it the "dustcloud" effect as Dust Trap.

Why isnt "final thrust"... a thrust?!?! Especially since there is a "thrust" animation present in the game - you can see it on short swords and axes.

Even better to have more combat animations - knockaway, knocking up, Blocking visually with the shield, evading visually with a sidestep.

Anyway, I'd be happy to go on and on in a Sanitarium post if anyone is interested in sharing ideas. :P

All I can say is, take a look at some of the more stylish console/pc games and try to recreate some of the "feel" and the "impact" and the "style" present in those games. Devil May Cry, Soul Calibur, Phantasy Star Online, even Command and Conquer: Generals (not that good an RTS, but very fun to play and watch!). Or even Total Annihilation - an old game, but its use of physics combined with lighting for "impact" makes it spectacular to this very day. (Something that Starcraft, for all its "balanced" goodness, never had a hope of matching.).

Think of the old sidescrolling beat-em ups and fighting games. You'd fight and kill things over and over, day in day out, but you didn't get bored - why? Because you could try and do difficult things, try different styles of things, try to pull off fancy and flashy moves, and it'd all be visually rewarding.

For a game with as much combat as GW, it would be a shame for it not to have those sort of elements. The multiplayer and rpg skill-choosing aspects should give even more opportunities for this sort of gameplay. We need more skills that lead into each other in a multiplayer sense. We should reward sequences of varying skills, rather than repetition of identical skills (air spike?).

That is all.

Asplode · Aug 05, 2005, 05:15 AM // 05:15

Okay, first a short rebuttal.

I think the eagerness for an observer mode really overlooks its possible downsides.

What happens if a guild is working on a build and doesn't want to leak out its most paramount features right away. How do you test it if you know you have lurkers about?

The next thing that people appear to want are more Guild Hall features and I can't agree more. There are innumerable occasions where my guildies and I have wanted to test a certain skill combo, or measure/optimize a spell's impact in a controlled environment, but honestly lack the resources to set something up with accomodating features.

Some kind of, I don't know, guild arena where members can readily enter and exit combat, spawn and calibrate dummies with certain enchantments or whatnot on them...Guild Lab? *shrug*

Also, I'd really like to see some kind of guild vault where you can discard some runes, or newbie-level items for others to use would be useful, especially for larger guilds where direct transaction isn't always convenient.

I really want to touch on my biggest concerns without rambling, so on we go without segue: Disconnections. It happens, stuff happens to your computer and connection, it's not always your fault, but you're always left behind when you log back on. If GW could implement some way to reinstate a dropped player from, say, a HoH hold, that would be awesome. Let's say the player logs back on after dropping from a pvp game, should they get a chance to get back on the boat the next round? Of course you'd close all means of exploitation, force the character to maintain the same character, skillbar, attributes, items, refund points, et cetera.

As for my final concern and most controversial, game balance. Just one thing, really. Is it possible to maintain balance while somewhat making the guild lord less easy to "gank"?

Well those are my more important and pressing concerns, in a nutshell. There's not much more to desire, but if you think about it what keeps people playing a game is change. Stir things up, play with balance, force active players to adapt, or fail.

Tuna · Aug 05, 2005, 05:52 AM // 05:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSecorsky

Although I meant the original comment to be more toungue-in-cheek than anything,

I really said mine towards everyone using the same arguement

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I'm going to have to follow up and ask why you have the requirement to be able to use enchantments/hexes effectively against something which specifically targets those? Makes no sense. If you go against a team that uses various protections against physical damage, do you only consider it beating them if you do so with physical damage? Sure, you may want to use enchantments/hexes by your definition of 'effectively', but too bad.

In the case of natures renewal, the only real way to beat is by using a build very similar to the peoples who are using it. This usually includes a bunch of rangers/warriors and a mesmer + 3 monks. Beating something with the same build is not a counter. Your arguement about protections vs physical dmg does not hold water because those skills aren't overpowered and can be countered easily (realatively). However, if there was a spirit with the same effect of ward vs melee, the situation would be the same as natures renewal, except everyone would run casters.

Basically, if there is no viable counter, the skill is overpowered.

As for observer mode, I too see problems with discovering too much about others builds. (or to easily) With or without time delays you can have people sitting around to find out who the prot monk is and which skills they run etc. which could cause problems down the road. We'll have to wait to see how its implemented though.

TheGreatBoo · Aug 05, 2005, 07:17 AM // 07:17

Well, not really a suggestion or bug reports. However, I've loved this game since beta, and I still love it now despite the vast majority of griefers and noobs in the community. Theres nothing you can do to improve the community, it takes individual effort. I would like to say though, that you have built a solid and fun game, and I hope to see what the future brings. Keep up the good work, and thank you for creating an excellent game.

Actually though after thinking for a minute or two, I do have one question, if it hasn't been answered already: When can we expect observer mode? Is the staff planning on releasing it in an update, or are we going to have to wait for an expansion? Thanks.

Divinitys Creature · Aug 05, 2005, 11:42 AM // 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

You know, honestly, no one is considered a "minority," vocal or otherwise. We will definitely remain open to input from anyone, no matter his or her playstyle. It's our intention and our commitment to continue to hone Guild Wars to be the game that people want to play. No matter who they are. No matter where they are. No matter how they want to play. Period.

Thanks for this, I take it as an apology on Alex's behalf, although it really would have been better coming from him.

Makkert · Aug 05, 2005, 11:59 AM // 11:59

Most of it sounds great. But it still remains so vague to me. Even a remote ETA (expected time of arrival) such as 'sep 05' would be nice.

FengShuiBundi · Aug 05, 2005, 01:27 PM // 13:27

This post is stolen from Blackace!

Can you please implement the following? It would make PvE a worthwhile endeavor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackace

Get rid of Pre-searing Ascalon. It's worthless, has nothing to do with the rest of the game, and being it's the only source of PvP embedded in PvE content you give false hope to new players.

For the rest of the game it's simple. PvE is supposed to teach players the basics for PvP and prepare them for it. The current game fails wonderfully at this, so I decided to take a sip of Mountain Dew and come up with something Anet never could see.

A.) Every mob in PvE has a monk Boss. Maybe 2 just to make sure idiots never advance.

The reasoning here is simple: The parts that give most PvE players trouble are ones with monks. Most groups load up on damage, bring a monk along, forget about Necros and Mesmers and run through everything. Here's a big hint: give those classes a defined scenario where the fit and they will be accepted into parties more. You also get a 2 for 1, since groups that are horrible will take forever to make it through.

Learning how to disable monks is fundamental. Give the monk bosses energy management like Channeling, Energy Drain, ViM, Bonneti's, or whatever.

B.) I want a ranger like creature that spams nothing but rituals and posions everyone. Make sure he has Oath shot.

This will teach players that in PvP only one thing matters: Fertile Season and Nature's Renewal. Make sure this monster is designed extra carefully to mimic real life Tombs morons: spams natures renewal even if his Monks and Ele mob teammates have enchantments up-what does he care, NR rocks. Spam fertile season even when they are winning the battle, it builds character. Drop Frozen Soil asap no matter who dies. Arcane mimicry Greater Conflag and drop it along with Winter for extra fun.

Enchantment loaded builds go to hell. Necro hexes lose having any point in PvE. Yay. No more mass monk builds loaded with bonds and frontloaded energy management. You eliminate god knows how many builds for PvE but who cares?

C.)A El/Mo smiter with boon+draw conditions+rof. This guy will rock everyone's face. He'll just beat any PuG PvE team senseless, not to mention he has a monk casting spell breaker on him. When that drops to the inevitable NR spam from the ranger he just loses one spell to diversion and keeps on ticking. Rock on. He also has Ward against Foes because he's an asshole. Cheers!

D.)Please include a mesmer with nothing but energy denial,diversion spam and wards. Energy denial rocks. Make sure he has Wards to just screw the Fire Eles over(you know, they are the only ones that matter in PvE) and has all kind of non-hex energy denial. This includes Sigs, Energy drain, maybe Tap, and even Signet of Humilty because he rocks.

E.) For safe measure, a necro that does nothing but cast Tainted Flesh and Putrid Explosion.

No explanation needed for this guy, if you cant see his ownage I feel bad for you.

This group will train every PvE player to get used to PvP. Fighting under these conditions, who can't get better?

Wait, whats that you say? This build will just make PvE lose a lot builds, and turn everything into monotonous gameplay?

*shrug*

sidepocket13 · Aug 05, 2005, 02:34 PM // 14:34

i love this game! i am 75% pve and 25% pvp. not hard core at all, if i lose or die its no big deal. I have never been into tombs because i KNOW i will get flamed for being a noob, and i am ok with that. my suggestions are as follows.

more in depth skill description

more character design

larger scale battles for both pvp and pve, i know this will probably cause bandwith issues but i figured i would throwit in there. (city seiges?)

re-vamped trade system/auction hall

preview of dyed armor before actually commiting to it (spent a ton of $ on dye for my monk to dye her sacred armor only to find out just the fringe changes color)

toggle for capes

more enemies then scorpions!

and write Gwen back in somehow!

all minor things, i know, but like i said before i love this game!

tlr1293 · Aug 05, 2005, 02:41 PM // 14:41

- take away the TRADE channel - implement an auction house. This would create a true value system and not some fake "c/o is 150k". Items sell for what people are truely willing to pay.

- leave the PvE storyline in place BUT, allow for randomness AND the storyline to co-exist. This takes some explaining:
... I have not done "Quest to Do Something", so I am the INVITER of a PUG - we do the instanced, monster-set storyline version of the quest.
OR
... I have done the quest and if I am the INVITER, the instanced area we dive into is randomized for area monsters, bosses, locations, numbers, rewards, placement, etc...
... the randomized area would need to provide some incentive for us to 'explore it' right? A 'Dungeon of Extreme Southern Shiverpeak Style Difficulty' in every area, location randomized (your party must locate it to enter) and hidden. Why would you go there? to receive 1, yes 1 ATTRIBUTE point for completion. "Players would end up with hundreds of points! That sucks!" Not really, remember - very hard - very very hard - die and out, no revive - randomized monsters (not same always) making it difficult to plan for - very long quest with no set path to follow - and you had to FIND it first, didn't you? - you might even have to carry a seed...to make a bridge...to get to the sword...that is the only weapon that kills the griffon...so you can get into the castle...where the prisoners are...who has a spy amongst them...alerting his minions to your presence...bringing a horde of undead to your location unlike any seen before...where having the high-ground will help, etc, etc, etc...

That's it. "Thats it?" Yes, that's it - Randomize the explorable areas for players that have already been through there and control the inviting, with a very hidden entrance to an uber-difficult dungeon area that has many a randomized monster very difficult to plan skills around while having to possibly complete a randomized quest where the completion is a reward of 1 attribute point.

Why Attribute points? I'm level 20 and I wish I had 5 more for my Elem-Marks-Beast Ranger with Purple, Green and Orange Druid's Armor (looks cooler than you might think).

I do think that randomness (which is a quality of some other online games) combined with the good story, combined with a bit of suprise, intrigue, and difficulty, will win the hearts of many.

A.Net, NC.Soft, whatever you wish to be called...we know it will take a while and would cost us money as an upgrade in the stores, but if you at all understand this suggestion (to the rant above), you would get to work on it because THAT will win you 'Game of the Century' honors AND flood your servers so you have to upgrade and cause many more 'err=7' problems (unless you rename the error) and raise heck with the PvP'ers (because many saw the coolness of the new PvE part of the game and said: I'M IN!).

INFERNO2K · Aug 05, 2005, 03:20 PM // 15:20

Enable all skills for PVP.

This game was not ment to be a grinding game.

Why should I put in 50-100 hours trying to unlock elite skills and all skills to compete with other players in PVP if I just picked up this game off the shelves.

Xellos · Aug 05, 2005, 03:39 PM // 15:39

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To answer your first point...I don't feel there is anything wrong with this game other than the majority of the people that play it. I can find hundreds upon hundreds of little things that I enjoy about the game. It makes the little things that I don't enjoy pale in comparison.... To the point where little crap that alot of you complain about isn't even worth mentioning. I don't feel the need to nerf builds because I can't counter it...I don't feel the need to complain endlessly about not getting updates every week....I don't feel the need to bitch and moan about nerfing....I don't feel the need to whine about unfair skills.....because this game is the most balanced fair game I've ever had the pleasure of picking up.

Isn't it amazing BlackAce? To this day, there are people who haven't played Starcraft! Must be nice to not have to expect perfection.

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Gaile, let me just repeat this again:

There is no "problem" with Nature's Renewal or Spirit Groups. Its just that many people are not good enough at the game to beat it, thus they want it nerfed.

PS- My spirit team just got beaten. Booya, its not invinvcible.

That avatar of yours is exactly how I feel about your biased comment. I've won HoH with 3 people and 4 henchmen, obviously henchmen kickass in PVP.

Wha?

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P.S.: The other day I was playing Starcraft and caught 2 n0 members in a pub on U.S. East. Gee, looks like that intensive PvP testing in the alpha is going *so* well.

That's completely offensive, I mean, how can you doubt the returning drawing power of Starcraft? Even in another decade people will still play it if they want truest to fullest PVP if Starcraft 2 doesn't come out.

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It would be nice to actually SEE these people being caught and judged for the violations of the EULA. Once this is in place then people will think twice before they commit a violation toward others.

That'd be nice, seeing as how I don't recall one online game that lived very long under kiddie control. Flaming is part of competition, and anyone who can let things over the ENTARNET hurt them needs to calm down before they get a heart attack by someone poking fun at them on the street. I'd hate to see people like that go into the ghetto.

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Cranking up the quality of loot that drops is a neccessary change. Changes to 'farming' so far have all been nerfs that made it increasingly difficult for people to acquire good equipment for their characters, when what should have happened is a raising of the quality of loot across the board. You see lots of botting and boring farming runs because there are very few areas in the game that still have reasonable value/time ratios. I assure you that if people could make comparable amounts of money simply running missions with their friends, they would.

I'm going to have to slightly disagree on this one. Raising the loot can be an option, but what makes PVE replayable as far as material status is stability. 100% stability like right now leads to people getting bored. So unless your going to add The WindForce back in the game, the rares aren't going to be that special, and not worth "coming" back to like some people do to Diablo 2. What needs to be happening is sinkholes, money sinks, item sinks, something that will keep you playing just to maintain it. Does that mean you'll lose your stuff if you don't play? Not nessecarily. But all the "extra features" or "special stuff" should have something to keep the people playing while not affecting other people in terms of combat. The most basic and oldest one was that giving an upkeep amount of cash allowed a specific merchant replica at your guild hall (non-battle of course) which would make it easier then teleporting to other such areas. There must always be a balance.

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As far as accessability issues, there are two serious ones at the moment. First, weapon upgrades. They are only available from rare weapons, which don't drop with any frequency, and even then it's unlikely that you'll pull an actually good upgrade. This would likely be addressed by changes to the drop rate. The other is collector items. There are still several important PvP-neccessary items that are not available from collectors - 15%>50 swords, hammers, and axes, 20/20 healing staves, strength shields - that need to be added still. Putting those into the game would allow PvE characters to be competitive with PvP characters.

At the same time, I'd like to say that there are some items that seem to give PvE a slight advantage, though one I am sure cannot completely break the game. Still, I would like to know if Anet is concious of this. Stuff like 20%+ damage for a measly -5 energy or -10 armour is superb on a ranger. There are some stats that only PvE can get which seem to be unobtainable by PVP at the moment.

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Let Izzy do his job.

I feel stupid, clue me in on who's Izzy.

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Just get it in already. It's an invaluable tool that's a neccessary step towards making this game more competitive.

But it's also one that can easily be abusable. It's not SC/Wc3 where you have simple replays. It's observer mode. Obs did not apply to rated matches on Wc3 for a reason, because it was too risky even with their simple technology. Now you have games which people supposedly can watch from the middle of the match. That is alot of work and alot of consideration no matter how you look at it. It's like watching a sports game on TV, you can flip to it anytime, but unlike the sports game on TV, there isn't as much authority power, and Anet probably hasn't figured out how much control to give to the watcher. This is one of the things that I can still wait on, as it is one of the most important features any competitive game can have. Still though, if they pull it off, this can led to a whole new level of competition, because no other game will have this type of drawing power in this aspect. It's literally their oil well at the moment, don't rush them to spill it.

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Is it because of replayability, grinding, or some other factor I am unaware of? I am also very concerned by the lack of marketing of the game outside of the hardcore game magazines. I earned my Degree in Marketing in 1974, and although I have not used my knowledge commercially in a few years, the basics till hold true. I've seen no MSM advertising that would appeal to the casual gamer who doesn't want to play their kids Xbox or Playstation. Even my Daughter, who is an avid PC gamer, has been hesitant to commit to the game because it hasn't caught her or her friends attention. And they are PC gamers, not just console fixated.

I believe that Anet is not aiming at that type of audience, but at the same time, this is probably a good point. The poster has given a valid view that these types of potential market would not buy the game simply due to exposure.

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Never a truer word spoken, and they removed the only counter, Unnatural Signet is gone.. nothing can be done about NR... it completely disables a mesmer who might aswell be carrying a banner saying interupt me!! and it strips all enchants of anything within 200yrds!! its crazed.

I'm sorry, but you should be ashamed of yourself. 200 yards? Please, you can make HoH the size of a real foot ball stadium and it'll go from there to Tokyo Japan. It's global, unlimited. 100% of the instance will feel it's affects. Nu Q Lar Lunch Detected.

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btw gaile

look at the overwhelming majority of players against the increase in skill gain and faction increase..

It is an amazing outcry.

A.Net needs to take notice of the massive "we love grind" movement.

btw gaile show this video at the workplace tomorrow

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/guil...ew_6101982.html

Does Jeff still work at anet?

That brought a tear to my eye. Caravan raid? I was looking forward to that...not who can kill who the most in 5 minutes. Sigh, before watching that video again, I actually forgot what I thought Guild Wars was suppose to be.

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they aren't doing it to be competitive, they are doing it because they don't like to lose, both in the arenas and on missions.

How about people don't want to listen to Ruriks crap for the 3rd time? The voice actors from Pokemon did a better job then Guild Wars ok? Were you even remotely convinced by their words? I mean, in game, some of the people have those text bubbles saying "let's kick some butt"....WTF? Medieval Fantasy? Kick Butt? Next I'll see in the expansion some "dark elves" saying "we live in da ghetto, from da HOOOD" or something completely retarded.

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I've mentioned most of my ideas elsewhere, but here's a more of a "state of the game" sort of big-picture, philosophical view.

Though not very important, it is still needed. At this point, Meteors look smaller then flares. And bone fiends magically make arrows out of their chest case.

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As for my final concern and most controversial, game balance. Just one thing, really. Is it possible to maintain balance while somewhat making the guild lord less easy to "gank"?

While I can't confidently say that the GvG aspect is pretty balanced as far as NPCS go, perhaps people are looking at it differently. In the beginning, GvG was nothing more then 8 versus 8, carrying the flag with the group, and pushing slowly in. In essence, it was a glorified version of Dark Chambers or Underworld in tombs. Couple months later, on maps like Ice Hall, guilds like War Machine or Clan St start using a dedicated flagger, who's sole purpose is to flag and to stop the other flagger from reaching their destination in order to gain a morale boost, this character would still have a decent amount of offense to assist in the main battles, but mostly would not see much of the match at all. Instead it was 7 vs 7, flagger versus flagger. Now lo and behold, where the meta-game has evolved yet again, and now people are confused why their old school point of view does not even reflect the same shapes as the current meta-game. While many guilds cannot update themselves to this yet, they already complain when they have not yet tried modifying their build. People must realize, the reason PANK was seen negatively was because they solely ganked on Druids Isle with a bugged grenths. Look at what happened after grenths was fixed? PANK is not exactly on the top page anymore. Perhaps it is the evolving meta-game that confuses people, and like Anet, people should give it time, and at least try it out themselves and find counters before giving up all hope. It could very well be that the Guild Lord dies too easily, but then again, that can also be seen as limiting strategy. I've said this before long ago, but this game should've slowly evolved into a meta-game just like DOTA. It rivals it in almost every way. Character combinations, npcs, a target, 3 lanes, it's near replica. If you played DOTA, you should know or at least have an idea what the meta-game feels like, and that perhaps might be what Guild Wars becomes in the future. After all, it was somewhat stupid to have 8 versus 8 in a map that had so much lush terrain to it, only to see the two teams fight like it was plain flat barren wastelands. People are just realizing strategic importance of the map and other elements besides direct character builds. Is that wrong? Next your going to say Team Union is overpowered because they can somehow run only 2 monks unlike the traditional 3. Face it, the games evolving, and you can't look at every change in the game and see it as imbalance.

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The additions will include new quests, new monsters, new items and new accelerated sources of XP and rare items.

Taken from the letter, this addition of "rare items" gives me worry. If it were the same "rare" items that are possible now, I'd be fine, but if new properties were to appear, it would drastically change the meta-game. Would these properties be balanced? Are they available through PVP? What affects do they have? Do they make anything pre-new content void? As far as I'm concerned, rares can go to hell if it goes statistical changes. New designs for weapons and items though? You damn sure can bet I'd love that.

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With this in mind, we have been testing a variety of playbalance adjustments internally for some weeks now.

Internally? But why? Like Ensign pointed out, many people in the current tests have absolutely no idea what their talking about. Ensign/Ace/Maya/Rex and many others that I cannot fit into this sadly that are well respected all over the GW community and had proven they know what their talking about through their works and their regular posts. Not asking for their personal insight is like not asking Einstein about E=Mc2 if he was alive to talk about it. It's ridiculous. I mean, I'm sure some of the testers are not clueless, but as far as the public knows, there is no one that is credible enough for the playerbase to trust the games balance to. Are there even any top 20 guilds in your beta testing?

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. We will try, when possible, to implement most playbalance changes immediately at the start of a new ladder season.

This is probably the most golden part of the letter that people might've ignored. It basically hints the changes will all be saved up until a new ladder season. The question is, when? An estimated guess at the new ladder season even by the company (that's right, they can just give us THEIR guess) would be suffice. Currently we are clueless to the point of no beyond, and some of us want to be prepared to look ahead.

Quote:

We are also looking into improvements to individual PvP maps, GvG matchmaking for high-rated teams, and ways to ease the burden of needing exactly 8 players to GvG.

One thing I like about this game compared to others like wc3 is that the record doesn't mean much. I mean yes, 35-0 is an AMAZING record, it is by far a incredible achievement no matter who you faced, but having 35-0 and only being rank 158th or so is not. Unlike Wc3, you can't get E-Peen off smurfing, though smurfing is already a problem due to the lack of games at the top ladder I suppose ( personally I never waited that long, but heck I'm not at the top tier :P and maybe it's because of my time being primetime ). Even War Machines beautiful 79-4 now dead guild has shown that the record may be nice, but if you can't gain the rank during that smurf, it's pointless. And while I think XP decay is a need seeing as how we don't want a inactive guild being rank 1 for 4 months, You can tell guys like XA haven't played anyone huge in those 35 games if they never made it anywhere near the top. Ranking in a sense, with some minor flaws, really shows who's at the top and who's not. Or maybe I'm just plain wrong, seeing as how some really good guilds haven't chosen to take top 20 or so.

Awell so much for my post. There's alot of things I believe that Anet should take priority on, but there are others where you just have to take time, since it's so delicate. But hey, whatever, the balls in their court. The customers will be waiting.

ozz · Aug 05, 2005, 03:48 PM // 15:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Please share your thoughts. We are listening and we want to hear what you have to say.

Gaile, I most appreciate the effort you and your team have expended to make Guild Wars an enjoyable MMORPG.

However, I would like to clarify, should the "State of the Game" Letter originate from Anet, NCSoft

I am personally more interested in reading about the "State of the Game" from a development standpoint

What is Anet, NCSoft preparing in response to all the suggestions which are by now, at this time, superflous and over abundant.

It even appears this thread has gone the way of the DoDo Bird and degenerating into a partial suggestion thread and kindling flame fest.

What is Anet planning to do regarding PvE, regarding the apparent overpopulation of 'creatures' obviously intended to prevent item and gold farming but, due to the effectiveness of certain skills, is ineffective?

There was a time, in April when I began playing GW, that drops of all kind were abundant, gold was easy to come by, and there never was lack for any character I had I was always assured of finding a great weapon through normal game play. Now, the solution is to empoverish the game world and encourage farming, especially 'sweatshop style' farming.

Regarding PvP, what are Anet's plans? Regarding Guild Halls, Guilds, Storage, item drops, trade, and every aspect of this game we have become accustomed and use regularly?

I am interested in hearing from Anet, from you Gaile. Everything else is dribble and pablum moderated to the tone of "I want this, I want that."

Galatea · Aug 05, 2005, 04:07 PM // 16:07

ArenaNet,

Despite some of the frustrations of this game (economy, botters, traders), I think your team is doing a great job with the game and communicating with your players. My commentary on the items mentioned in your State of the Game Letter:

Ascended Content
I am very excited to hear that more content will be added for ascended players and on. New quests, monsters, items, etc.. are all definitely needed, especially for those who have finished the game multiple times. Although, I personally think advertising the "Sorrow's Furnace" update as a Summer Update was a little misleading, because it appears that it will be available towards the end of the summer, rather than during it.

Character Advancement
Also good to hear that faction, XP, etc.. can be acquired faster. It eliminates the 'grind' that people complain about -- but also, it means that people will be completing the game faster, and what will they do when the content runs out?

PvP Playbalance

Quote:

and ways to ease the burden of needing exactly 8 players to GvG.

Thank you ArenaNet.

I don't have much comment on observer mode, since I am not sure what to expect.. but I am looking forward to it, because it sounds like a cool, new addition to the game.

----------------

As for things that I and my guild members are hoping ArenaNet will implement in the near future:
1. An Auction House System
2. Questable Armors & Novelty Items
3. Practice Matches in the Guild Halls
4. Someway to write comments about those on our friends list (to remember why they are on there)
5. More information about guild members (where are they & what district)

I also understand that the 'nerfs' made to areas regarding farming had to be done because of the botting situation, but it has made some upset because they either a) are in need of the in-game money or b) actually enjoy farming. I remember how the game was before the flooding of bots, and I miss how those areas used to be. I also liked secret 'alternate pathways' in the game, such as a certain one in the Kryta mission that was hard to get through, but now you can't even walk there because a big tree was implemented to block the path.

Anyway, I hope that ArenaNet will be able to keep and continue making the game enjoyable for all us players, as well as rid the game of bots.. but I know it will be a difficult process. Many of the games that have been around for quite a while also have problems with botting and selling of in-game currency, and they appear not to have fixed their economies either.

Xellos · Aug 05, 2005, 04:09 PM // 16:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by INFERNO2K

Enable all skills for PVP.

This game was not ment to be a grinding game.

Why should I put in 50-100 hours trying to unlock elite skills and all skills to compete with other players in PVP if I just picked up this game off the shelves.

Some people need to realize this isn't a pure PVP game. While I do hate how insufficient skill points you have and the need to gain levels even after you beaten the games three times ( so that would account for all 6 classes, heck all 3 of them have beaten the UW/FoW quests and every quest period, why do I still lack skills? ), I'm not going to say UAS should be put in. UAS put in would make faction useless, and the only incentive then would be GvG, as Tombs is like a joint now, everyone takes a puff once or so.

One thing I believe is pathetic is that they fail to address the PVP gametypes. They are not adding new PVP zones, they are not making Arena any more credible, and their not making Tombs any more Prestigeous. Meaning overall, PVP still sucks as far as what your playing goes if it isn't GvG. Your adding 2 PVE zones, and 0 PVP zones. For god sakes, can't you at least do a half quarter pounder job by re-introducing the CTF zone? You revamped it so that it became some hated kill by the clock map. God forbid competition arena should be won by anything other then KILLING.

primal98 · Aug 05, 2005, 04:19 PM // 16:19

*ahem* I can live without awesome drops, I can live with forced explaration(aka I cant go everywhere I want)... but what I think the game needs is more depth in the maps. PVP needs many more arenas to battle (CTF FFA etc), and PvE needs more depth and reason in the quests. I mean there are so many regions that are never used for squat, add more quests! I hate mission towns, where the only reason is to get the next mission. There should be more mini quests/games with cool rewards

PvP should also have quests(sort like in KOTOR where you would fight ppl for money at the beginning), where after you complete them you are thrown into an arena with other ppl for a final duel :P

~prime

INFERNO2K · Aug 05, 2005, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Add more character slots.