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Guild Wars 2 | Year One By The Numbers

A

Ashodin

Member
BrokenSymmetry said:
GW2 is still my biggest gaming disappointment ever. I spend thousands of hours in GW1, but GW2 seens to have removed everything that made the first game interesting (mission-based storyline, thousands of skills to select, dual-classing, energy system, class-specific armor, etc.). And besides that, the game uses the despicable system of lockboxes, for which reason alone I have to shun the game.
Click to expand...

I understand your concerns about the game being very different from the previous game, but they have always said GW2 was the game they wanted GW1 to be, but didn't have enough money to make. Now they can.

And to your lockbox thing, nothing of value is really held within the box, be it items you need to progress, or anything else. It's all cosmetic or functional items that only barely assist you in normal play. Entirely optional stuff.
 
O

Orayn

Member
BrokenSymmetry said:
GW2 is still my biggest gaming disappointment ever. I spend thousands of hours in GW1, but GW2 seens to have removed everything that made the first game interesting (mission-based storyline, thousands of skills to select, dual-classing, energy system, class-specific armor, etc.). And besides that, the game uses the despicable system of lockboxes, for which reason alone I have to shun the game.
Click to expand...

Personal story is still there. YMMV on how well it was executed, but it wasn't removed.

As for the skills, that's more of a mixed blessing. I loved the TCG-like aspects of customizing your character in GW1, but it was a little too TCG-like in that the vast majority of skills were useless.

While I can see the downsides of removing energy as a resource for skills, I feel that classes having Diablo-like unique resource mechanics kind of fills the same role.
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
While I still have some problems with the game (a few of which will supposedly be addressed in the coming months) I have to admit I'm still playing. I hope it continues to enjoy success so they can keep expanding and refining it at the same rate they've been going.
 
V

Vexxan

Member
Played like mad when the game was released but stopped a few weeks after I got 100% world completion because me and my friend just got bored of it. Jumped in again 3 months ago and now I'm having a really good time doing jumping puzzles, world bosses and WvW. As someone who played an insane amount of GW1 I was happy to find out the game kept the idea of only gear/weapon skins being different and that getting the best gear didn't take forever.

Buy once and play for as much as you want is just great and their take on micro-transactions is the best one I've seen in an MMO. Looking forward to what's next to come.
 
A

ACE 1991

Member
Ashodin said:
I understand your concerns about the game being very different from the previous game, but they have always said GW2 was the game they wanted GW1 to be, but didn't have enough money to make. Now they can.

And to your lockbox thing, nothing of value is really held within the box, be it items you need to progress, or anything else. It's all cosmetic or functional items that only barely assist you in normal play. Entirely optional stuff.
Click to expand...

The systems surrounding the game are great, I really respect everything Arenanet tried with this game, but the fundamental combat was so god damned boring and lacked any weight... I was so unbelievably hyped for this game, and it broke my heart.
 
B

Baskcm

Member
currently at lvl 57 i think love the game and being in the GAF guild helps also haven't done any dungeons yet though.
 
C

Ceres

Banned
Sothis Krieg said:
1400 hours played and counting (mainly pvp and WvW).

The new updates keep on delivering, i just hope they put more effort (read ressources) in the stuctured pvp part of the game.
Click to expand...

One of these days I need to venture into PvP. I feel like WvW is soul-sucking lately, especially with the drama within the SBI community so I've been taking days off from playing a lot lately as I'm not as big into the PvE side of the game anymore.
I really wish they'd add a GvG open field fighting map without capture points but I think they might be worried the effect of that on WvW.
 
S

spirity

Member
Looking at the timestamps, those first three posts were impressively co-ordinated!

I should really get back into this game, I hung up on it early but can't remember why. Can't believe its been a year.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
ACE 1991 said:
The systems surrounding the game are great, I really respect everything Arenanet tried with this game, but the fundamental combat was so god damned boring and lacked any weight... I was so unbelievably hyped for this game, and it broke my heart.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry for your heart bro. And I appreciate your concerns for the combat as well, a lot of people were turned off of it. Personally, I enjoy it because I feel like I can actively get away from attacks and makes the twitch skills I use in other games worth something.
 
C

cdkee

Banned
I really enjoyed leveling my character, but once I got to 80 I got a bit bored. My enjoyment in MMOs usually comes from leveling and PVPing,and this is the first MMO where I've actually reached level cap. Been leveling my second character now.
 
S

Sothis Krieg

Member
Ceres said:
One of these days I need to venture into PvP. I feel like WvW is soul-sucking lately, especially with the drama within the SBI community so I've been taking days off from playing a lot lately as I'm not as big into the PvE side of the game anymore.
I really wish they'd add a GvG open field fighting map without capture points but I think they might be worried the effect of that on WvW.
Click to expand...

On the tPvP side things have been vastly improved upon launch but the actual meta (very conditions oriented) is kind of boring.
Nevertheless i like conquest mode it is very good when you play with a well coordinated 5 man team.
 
J

Jira

Member
Sothis Krieg said:
On the tPvP side things have been vastly improved upon launch but the actual meta (very conditions oriented) is kind of boring.
Nevertheless i like conquest mode it is very good when you play with a well coordinated 5 man team.
Click to expand...

The addition of new skills and traits this year will certainly shake up the meta.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Sothis Krieg said:
On the tPvP side things have been vastly improved upon launch but the actual meta (very conditions oriented) is kind of boring.
Nevertheless i like conquest mode it is very good when you play with a well coordinated 5 man team.
Click to expand...

IMO, PVP is very awesome with a group of friends. Regardless of where you place, the fun talking to each other on mumble and coordinating to take spots and guard places is amazing.
 
S

Sora_N

Member
Retro said:
Any particular reason? The Infographic there is mostly the big-ticket items, but there's a lot of smaller Quality of Life changes. If we actually made a post with everything they've changed, it'd take multiple posts.
Click to expand...

I just didn't enjoy the battle system, at all. I played as Thief I think, nothing clicked. I think I sort of tried some other classes (not that much) and it just didn't work out. I enjoyed the exploration and environments but hard to keep playing just for that.

Have they added new classes? I'm quite sure there's been a lot of changes but not sure if that's enough to make me want to try it again. I absolutely respect the game and what they were going for.
 
M

MrKayle

Member
I did not find the world engaging in the least. This is, to me, the definition of an empty world. A 3D model simulator.
 
F

Fomalhaut

Neo Member
Man, time flies. The PvE content gets stale after a while, but I enjoy WvW and the community immensely.

I really hope Arenanet will release a patch with more quality of life improvements, though. The lack of a skin storage, for example, is an issue that becomes more apparent with each new armor skin in the gemstore.

And I agree, the floaty movement is annoying. I'm used to it, but I recall trying Rift a while back and the character movement was so, so much better.
 
J

Jira

Member
MrKayle said:
I did not find the world engaging in the least. This is, to me, the definition of an empty world. A 3D model simulator.
Click to expand...

GW2 is without a doubt on a tiny list of games where exploration is actively encouraged and rewarding. I've put in 1,500 hours into GW2 and even a year later I recently came across new areas in the game simply because they're so well hidden. There's so much attention to detail all over the place that empty is the last word I would ever use to describe Tyria.
 
L

Lunar15

Member
Shout-out to GAF Guild for making this a fun ride!

If you played GW2 and didn't join, you're missing out. If you're thinking about joining up again, definitely make sure you join the guild, if not just for some fun chat while you play.

The game's far from perfect, but it's also a really interesting experiment. The living story needs work, but they definitely have been improving it greatly with each iteration. It's actually pretty exciting to see where it's going to go.

Also, for people worried about non-permanent content, the team did say that now that all of their "annual" holiday events are now laid out, they can focus on permanent content. Not bad for one year in.
 
J

JimmyBoy

Member
has the combat changed any? Is it any more impactful? I rolled a thief at launch but it felt like i was hitting with pillows. Switched to a guardian and that felt better but the incredibly quick skill progression kinda let the wind out of my sails.

I want to like it...
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
What happened to the price cut ? Wasnt there a news that they would sell it for 10 bucks or so in the future ? Would like to try it out, even though my 560 TI and Phenom X2 might not be enogh to run it well on 1080p.
 
J

Jira

Member
cw_sasuke said:
What happened to the price cut ? Wasnt there a news that they would sell it for 10 bucks or so in the future ? Would like to try it out, even though my 560 TI and Phenom X2 might not be enogh to run it well on 1080p.
Click to expand...

That was a $10 price cut, down to $50.
 
Â

∀ Narayan

Member
I run dungeons every now and then. The living world stuff definitely keeps me coming back. I would like some new areas to explore more than anything. Some new weapons for each class would be cool, too. The thief needs a whip, IMO.
 
K

K.Sabot

Member
Finally completely uninstalled the game about a week ago. There's nothing left for me there anymore. Perhaps I'll come back when their Living World stuff stops being successful and they have to make some actual content.
 
H

Helmholtz

Member
I played a ton of GW1 and expected that to hold true for GW2, but it didn't really. Played a some GW2 at launch and got bored around level 60. Picked it up again this summer and played for a couple months, finally beat the personal story and did some dungeons and fractals.
It's a pretty good game and there is no doubt a lot to do in it. However I've found that the most rewarding things to do (like fractals or world events) can get pretty repetitive. But I'd say the game is definitely worth picking up if only to see everything once. Really nice visuals and the gameplay is good enough. I just never found the game very addicting for some reason, probably in part due to the lack of weapon skill customization, and also because I guess grinding for weapon and armor skins doesn't really appeal to me anymore like it did in the first game.
 
B

Blinck

Member
Big congrats to ArenaNet !

The game is beautiful and the world is extremely detailed - more than any other MMO. I haven't hit the level cap yet since I just wander around a lot ( i've been playing on and off since launch! ), but I always have a lot of fun when I play.

3 things that really bug me out in the game though:

- Loading between zones. Come on, why couldn't we have a seamless world to explore without loading between zones? This is always a big turn off for me in an MMO. WoW did this very well only with loadings between continents. GW2 came much later with more advanced technology but still can't do that :( . Really bummed me out when I started playing, although I eventually got used to it.
- The UI is really, really bad. I find the UI ugly, but this is just an opinion. What really pisses me off about the UI is that I can't turn off those god damned black paint bars all around the screen. They just take me off the game so much. Such a simple thing that they could allow you to remove.
- The SOUND/MUSIC bug. I can't quest on Shiverpeaks or any snow area because apparently there is a bug in there since forever that completely shuts off the music of that zone after w hile. Music is one of my favorite things on this game. I love listening to the amazing soundtrack composed by Jeremy Soule and can't play without it. I just can't believe they won't fix this bug even after so many patches.


Anyway, here's hoping for another year of success for them, they deserve it!
 
K

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Lots of neat stuff. i'm wondering if other MMOs will be more transparent about how they're doing in the state of the MMO industry right now.
 
H

Helmholtz

Member
Blinck said:
What really pisses me off about the UI is that I can't turn off those god damned black paint bars all around the screen. They just take me off the game so much. Such a simple thing that they could allow you to remove.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. I've hated that shit ever since the beta, and it pisses me off that there's no option to remove it. Why waste any screen real estate with a pointless black bar.
 
P

potam

Banned
I wanted to love this game, and I do applaud them for their success, but the mechanics drove me insane.

I can't stand the feeling of not knowing how much you're contributing to your group. I don't necessarily need a dps meter. I don't necessarily need the holy trinity back. But I wish they didn't take these things out and replace them with "lol run up and hit this stuff and roll around."

I hate the fact that abilities are tied directly to weapons. If they had done something where rare/unique weapons offered more powerful abilities, or there were skill trees you could upgrade and add new abilities, that would have been interesting. But the fact that you essentially see all your class has to offer (different builds and those extra abilities on the right-hand side of the GUI aside) by level 5 is ridiculous. "OK, you've still got 75 levels to go, and you only have 3 more ability slots to unlock. Have fun! Oh and you'll scale down to whatever zone you're in, so good luck with a sense of progression!"

But again, I'm happy for what they've been able to do. They've show you can have a AAA F2P MMO (I swear I didn't string those together on purpose) that isn't pay-to-win.
 
H

Helmholtz

Member
potam said:
I can't stand the feeling of not knowing how much you're contributing to your group. I don't necessarily need a dps meter. I don't necessarily need the holy trinity back. But I wish they didn't take these things out and replace them with "lol run up and hit this stuff and roll around."

I hate the fact that abilities are tied directly to weapons. If they had done something where rare/unique weapons offered more powerful abilities, or there were skill trees you could upgrade and add new abilities, that would have been interesting. But the fact that you essentially see all your class has to offer (different builds and those extra abilities on the right-hand side of the GUI aside) by level 5 is ridiculous. "OK, you've still got 75 levels to go, and you only have 3 more ability slots to unlock. Have fun! Oh and you'll scale down to whatever zone you're in, so good luck with a sense of progression!"
Click to expand...
Yeah you make some good points that reflect how I feel. I personally think the way they handled weapon skills is crap. After a certain number of hours it gets insanely repetitive, and aside from utility skills and attributes which you rarely need to swap out there is not a lot of customization. Where as in GW1 you could mix and match whenever you wanted and come up with new combinations. And yeah, the zergy parts of the game are indeed the worst. World events are a mess. You can literally hit the boss a couple times and you'll get the drops anyway. But hey, I feel like I got my money's worth anyway, but the game just wasn't super addicting and satisfying like I expected it to be.

Like I said in my previous post, the main things that I liked a lot from GW2 are the visuals/art style, and the exploration focus. Some of the dungeons/jump puzzles are neat too, as well as fractals for the first time. But aside from this, the game didn't really give me many reasons to come back for more, because the combat is insanely repetitive. I think the only real reason I was able to make it to 80 is because I played elementalist.
 
F

flyinpiranha

Member
potam said:
I don't necessarily need the holy trinity back. But I wish they didn't take these things out and replace them with "lol run up and hit this stuff and roll around."
Click to expand...

Surprisingly enough, it was the one thing I did miss in the game. I always thought that it would make a better game if you took those roles out (not knowing how to technically do it myself) and the problem I found is that instances just felt kind of zergish and hollow. They were a spectacle to look at, but I couldn't really get into them.
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
I got bored of Guild Wars 2 because the server that the GAF guild was on was essentially deserted in many areas for me. I'm not even kidding. In the high level 80 areas there was practically nobody around!

At least that's how it was before. I haven't logged in like, six months or whatever so things might have changed. According to this, a lot of stuff has happened so maybe I'll pop back in just to see what went down during my six month absence.
 
H

Hawkian

The Cryptarch's Bane
Happy birthday GW2!

Something some degree of crazy is coming on Tuesday. We don't know much.
flyinpiranha said:
EDIT: Can't speak enough for how nice and informative the GAF Guild was during my time. Always helping others, great leadership and very welcoming to newcomers.
Click to expand...
Aw, blushing :3
 
H

Helmholtz

Member
nintendoman58 said:
I got bored of Guild Wars 2 because the server that the GAF guild was on was essentially deserted in many areas for me. I'm not even kidding. In the high level 80 areas there was practically nobody around!

At least that's how it was before. I haven't logged in like, six months or whatever so things might have changed. According to this, a lot of stuff has happened so maybe I'll pop back in just to see what went down during my six month absence.
Click to expand...
From my recent experiences with the game, a lot of explorable zones are mostly deserted save for the occassional wandering group. That's probably because people have flocked to end-game stuff like fractals and living story etc... the game is best played with a few friends in my opinion. You can do most stuff in explorable zones on your own, but some things (like killing champions) are meant for more people.
 
P

putarorex

Member
I am working on my 4th level 80, and GW2 is probably my most played game of 2013. There are tons of content and plenty of stuff to explore, even a year out. Definitely a fun game and the GAF guild is great with the planned guild missions and WvW.

But I can understand how it doesn't really catch with some people. The lack of the trinity and the shared xp approach makes it very much a solo game if you want it to be. You can run around with a group of 30 other players zerging Champion mobs and never need to talk without the occasional "ty" for the rez. Even if you want to chat during a dungeon, the actiony nature of the game and the rush to finish most players seem to have makes it difficult. It makes me kinda miss the days of shooting the shit while pulling mobs in eq...kinda
 
R

Retro

Member
Wouldn't be a Guild Wars 2 thread without a few Mega Posts....

Hedge said:
Also - just because it irks me - 58 new armours added.. all of which has buttcapes, or are backpieces. Alas.
Click to expand...

Backpieces are included, but the majority of those new armors are full suits. They've added 6 full suits in the last few months... I'm not sure what exactly constitutes a 'buttcape', but I'm going to go out on a limb here and figure at least a couple are missing that particular feature... probably.

zulfate said:
I dont really play much anymore....i wish they would add more varied enemies, im so so tired of wurms and fucking birds lol. In fact all the enemy types annoy the fuck out of me. It is still a great game for the value, they add new content all the time i just dont know its missing something and i cant quite put my finger on it.
Click to expand...

You should come back, the Aetherblades are the most annoying ever (if you're not careful they can stunlock you for a bit). Also, you should come back, as we have missed making the "This is Zulfate!" jokes.

Orayn said:
Personal story is still there. YMMV on how well it was executed, but it wasn't removed.
Click to expand...

Shhhhh, don't tell people about the Personal Story... nobody likes it.

Baskcm said:
currently at lvl 57 i think love the game and being in the GAF guild helps also haven't done any dungeons yet though.
Click to expand...

We gotta fix this ASAP.

Sora_N said:
I just didn't enjoy the battle system, at all. I played as Thief I think, nothing clicked. I think I sort of tried some other classes (not that much) and it just didn't work out. I enjoyed the exploration and environments but hard to keep playing just for that.

Have they added new classes? I'm quite sure there's been a lot of changes but not sure if that's enough to make me want to try it again. I absolutely respect the game and what they were going for.
Click to expand...

Getting the right profession is much more essential in GW2 than other MMOs because they play so radically different from each other. There aren't many overlapping skills in terms of functionality, whereas most MMOs just give you the same approximate skills with different colored icons.

For example, my wife was sure before launch that she'd play a Ranger. During the Beta, she gravitated away from that and enjoyed the Elementalist. Shortly after launch, she fell in love with the Mesmer... but now mains a Thief (though lately she's been on her Mesmer again...). It's really important to find the profession that 'clicks' with you. Since there's no sub, there's no reason you can't give it a try now, if you're curious. As mentioned earlier, a lot of changes have been made to the professions.. but no new ones, unfortunately.

DJIzana said:
And yet only one new zone added...
Click to expand...

This was something we considered adding to the Infographic, actually. Southsun is the only permanent new zone, but there was also the Labyrinthine Cliffs zone added during the Bazaar event in July. They've said that their main goal has been to get players into the existing zones rather than invalidate it with new ones (as is the case with most MMOs where the old content becomes ghost towns).

Won said:
338 new achievements. No wonder I don't enjoy the game.
Click to expand...

Most of them are Holiday themed, honestly, or tied to temporary content. Since they don't have a traditional questing system, the achievements and in-game criers / mails are used to lead players to whatever's new in the world.
 
H

hythloday

Member
Retro said:
You should come back, the Aetherblades are the most annoying ever (if you're not careful they can stunlock you for a bit).
Click to expand...

Aetherblades can be a bitch to fight, but the Risen still hold that title. It's like being pecked to death by ducks.They're not that difficult, just annoying.

"EVERYONE! COME!"

Ugh. Risen.
 
O

Orayn

Member
Everyone who has reservations about the combat in Guild Wars 2 needs to try it with Immersive Combat Mode. Basically, it adds crosshairs and gives you mouselook whenever a cursor isn't needed, and GW2's remarkably good auto-targeting takes care of the rest. Doesn't quite reach the level of TERA, but it's pretty damn close.

ICM works so well that I suspect the game was originally designed to work like this and ArenaNet got cold feet and switched back to tab targeting relatively large in development.
 
W

Wallach

Member
hythloday said:
Aetherblades can be a bitch to fight, but the Risen still hold that title. It's like being pecked to death by ducks.They're not that difficult, just annoying.

"EVERYONE! COME!"

Ugh. Risen.
Click to expand...

It's like being pecked to death by ducks if ducks had overpopulated an entire island. God, I hate Orr. You move ten feet and it's like "risen... RISEN STAHP I JUST WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE"

Edit: It's basically this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aW9-wv6gGg
 
R

Retro

Member
Orayn said:
Everyone who has reservations about the combat in Guild Wars 2 needs to try it with Immersive Combat Mode. Basically, it adds crosshairs and gives you mouselook whenever a cursor isn't needed, and GW2's remarkably good auto-targeting takes care of the rest. Doesn't quite reach the level of TERA, but it's pretty damn close.

ICM works so well that I suspect the game was originally designed to work like this and ArenaNet got cold feet and switched back to tab targeting relatively large in development.
Click to expand...

Lots of GAFers play GW2 with a controller and swear they can't go back to KB+M too.
 
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