Curse

Jaded · May 25, 2005, 06:52 PM // 18:52

I first found out about Guild Wars in the E34E two years ago and since then played in every open world event and every beta event (to some extent). Since release, I'm closing in on 300 hours of time played, held the HoH with my guild several times, completed the storyline and ascended a second character. Before my summer internship starts and cuts down on my free time, I've decided to write this post in hopes of some simple fixes to make the game better and to offer some insight from a gamer's perspective.

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On Trading

[ Praise ] Gold Storage & free pvp character storage access was sorely needed. That Anet recognized this oversight and quickly corrected it is a good thing.

[ Suggestion ] Allow for increased storage runes in the same way the bag has increased storage runes. If Anet implements increasing costs of new storage runes, this can be a wonderful self selecting goldsink as people purchase runes from NPCs as their available gold and need allows. It also doesn't imbalance the game in any particular way. An example would be Rune of Storage (40-45 slots) for 10plat (45-50 slots) for 20plat (50-55 slots) for 30 play etc.

[ Suggestion ] Implement Rune and Upgrade traders. Runes and to a lesser extent upgrades are standardized (a minor rune of air is the same as any other minor rune of air with no variations) and thus can be traded through traders. This will cut down on a lot of time spent spamming.

[ Complaint & Suggestion ] Trader markup is flawed and kills any hope of selling low end items. For example: the materials trader sells cloth for ~160 for a stack of 10. It buys it for 10 for a stack of 10. Nobody will sell the cloth to the trader for 1/16 of its sale price. Trader markup instead should be like a % tax, perhaps around 20%. That way the cloth that sells for 160 will be bought for around 130, a marginal loss I'm sure many people will be willing to take to save time. Less time spent spamming and waiting = happier people. This number can also be tweaked behind the scenes to control gold in circulation.

[ Suggestion ] I'm sure many guilds like to share items they find. A guild storage would be extremely useful in this aspect. Anet can make it questable or another reward of some sort if they don't want it done freely.

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On Unlocking Skills

[ Complaint ] The current elite unlocking system is a grind, plain and simple. My guess as to why is that Anet is targeting the grinders from WoW, FFXI and other MMORPGs and wants to offer an environment with at least some grind potential to smooth the transition. That being said, it is easily possible to spend hours chasing a single elite and being frustrated with henchman AI, random mob spawns, high level areas and SoC failures.

[ Suggestion ] Modifiy the SOC to be able to be used on the boss at any time during the fight. After the fight, you are able to choose which of the spells used you wish to capture. This keeps the SOC feel and with the proper graphical interface and theming can flow just as smoothly into the game world feel.

[ Suggestion ] Websites list where bosses can be. The problem is they are often random and it can easily be 20 minutes of fighting before you find out. Anet can include "seers" "scouts" or such NPCs near zones that players can talk to and for a small fee (goldsink) find out which bosses they "spotted" and which direction they are in. That way, players can sacrifice say 100 gold to save them 20 minutes of mindless fighting to check for the boss.

[ Complaint & Suggestion ] Switching subjobs is all well and good for capturing elites on a location unlocked character. Unlocking the rest of the hundreds of skills is a joke since theyre will be hundreds of hours of grind (mindlessly repeating areas already completed for the sole purpose of gaining xp) to get those skill points. The alternative is creating another character and redoing all the quests and unlocking the early easy skill points. I've already completed my second and working on my third and believe me when I say the storyline is dull when you view it that many times (and if people don't skip cutscenes). My suggestion is to have skill quests repeatable when a person switches a subjob. That way they can quest unlock with the same roleplay character instead of creating a new one.

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On PvP

[ Clarification ] There are two kinds of PvP. There is the casual arena pvp, where as advertised, people can jump in for 10 or 20 minutes and get some pvping done. This is also where premades are pretty good characters to play. This is most likely what Anet was advertising. Then there is the Tombs and GvG. These two areas are where premades don't cut it. Here's why: ingenious groups create strong skill combos and dominate. Other groups are then forced to react and create counters. These creates fads-of-the-moment (FOTM) and as people become more versitile, these fads will come and go in days if not less time. Last week, the big deal was Air Ele spike damage and counters were developed. Last night, a group with stacked Balthazaur's Aura dominated the Hall.

[ Complaint ] While casual arena pvp is accessible easily, to be flexible enough to create new builds and new counters for competitive Tombs and GvG requires hundreds of hours to unlock class skills, elites, runes and upgrades.

[ Suggestion ] At least officially acknowledge that competitive Tombs and GvG players indeed face problems and that the development team is working on it. Implement some of my other suggestions (and those of other people) in other areas.

[ Complaint ] There are few pvp rewards.

[ Suggestion ] There can be skill unlocks for certain pvp milestones. If a team wins 30 straight rounds in Arena or takes the HoH, give each player their choice of a skill unlocked.

[ Suggestion ] Go for real fame. When my guild held HoH several times our name became recognizable by other people. To develop this, annouce any shifts in the top 5 or top 10 guild ranks globally. Annouce the names of people on the teams who have hit major arena milestones (100 straight wins etc) when they do so.

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On PvE

[ Praise ] The PvE storyline, as games go, is immersive and solid... the first time around.

[ Complaint ] Henchmen really need an AI overhaul. There needs to be simple commands (like hold ground, charge etc) so they don't kill the mob you're trying to skill cap from, charge recklessly into an enemy patrol or sit there while you get sniped. Henchman pathfinding is also quite bad. I've had multiple henchmen get blocked by things as simple as chests or signs and sit there stuck. This is especially bad if you've died and the henchman are preventing you from respawning. The same thing happens if your henchman decided to run up into the sky and sit there.

[ Suggestion ] Fix the pathfinding on the AI and add some AI commands. As a quick immediate fix, add a Kill Party button that pops up if the all the human players on a team are dead. That way, the human players can elect to kill the remaining henchman and respawn.

[ Complaint & Suggestions ] Group creation is currently inefficient (anything imo that requires spamming general chat is inefficient). An option to have a LFG flag with a few characters as to what (Markis, Mission, Farming) etc can be added. This can then be added into a menu that lets people see who is looking for what in the district and quickly send out invites.

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Many of these suggestions have been brought up before and I don't try to take credit for them. Its quite obvious Anet won't change their core game but hopefully some of these suggestions on marginal improvements can be taken.

ManadartheHealer · May 25, 2005, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Have to agree with some to most of the suggestions completely, and I agree with all at least some...

Although you didn't mention adding to the Trading system overall (auction house, etc.) and this is sorely needed