what will become of factions?
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Heck, I took my Assassin through Factions exclusively with henchies at the time, it can't be any worse with the availability of Heroes. 
I've just started a new Canthan ranger, just so I could get a clean-shaven look. I've rushed my way through to Arborstone so far (after a couple of quick detours past Kaineng so I could pick up the initial heroes) and wouldn't have had problems getting a group if (a) I wasn't henching everything for speed's sake and (b) I didn't mention I was playing Beast Mastery! Plenty of people around up to that point, in other words.
The areas past the split have always felt lonely. It's worse now, but not a lot worse.
I've just started a new Canthan ranger, just so I could get a clean-shaven look. I've rushed my way through to Arborstone so far (after a couple of quick detours past Kaineng so I could pick up the initial heroes) and wouldn't have had problems getting a group if (a) I wasn't henching everything for speed's sake and (b) I didn't mention I was playing Beast Mastery! Plenty of people around up to that point, in other words.
The areas past the split have always felt lonely. It's worse now, but not a lot worse.
People can say what they want in terms of where Factions is at, and they might even be right.
But I maintain my opinion: you'll be pulling it out of my cold dead hands.
I love Factions. And I love the fact that I don't feel like Factions takes FOREVER - I like the split because it gives me a chance to feel like I've made it through without it consuming my life, and still have content to explore!
But I maintain my opinion: you'll be pulling it out of my cold dead hands.
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Originally Posted by Reks
As it stands, there really isn't much incentive to get another character through Factions once you've already done so once or twice. Nightfall on the other hand has those free treasure chests scattered throughout Elona, ready for the taking. And that's enough for me to take more toons through.
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I love Factions. It's my favourite campaign by far and I've already taken 3 Factions characters through it. It is sad to see how lots of the mission places are emptying of players, but at least I will always try to stick around and help others.
Nightfall, on the other hand... well, I'm up to Gates of Pain too, and slowly gathering up enough interest to go further. The only reason I played up to there was to get Ancient Armor, after which I played a bit further just to see if I could dredge up enough energy to get through the game. I couldn't.
Nightfall, on the other hand... well, I'm up to Gates of Pain too, and slowly gathering up enough interest to go further. The only reason I played up to there was to get Ancient Armor, after which I played a bit further just to see if I could dredge up enough energy to get through the game. I couldn't.
Factions is dying I'll admit that, but people are still playing it. Me, and a guildie started fresh Canthan chars and we are playing through it with henchies. If it gets too tough we grab a pug, and get through it.
I played Nightfall all the way through, and it was pretty fun, but aside from some loot, and getting some titles I'm not as motivated to go back through it.
I played a Mesmer through it, and my Dervish is still in Istan. Don't get me wrong I loved Nightfall. When I started playing it I immediately noticed that it felt like you were really kicking ass. In Tyria, and Cantha it always seemed like you were getting your ass handed to you, but in Elona you were blowing stuff up, taking down huge groups, and dying less(Survivor in Cantha would be so hard now that I think about it). I remember The Docks mission where you just kept killing and killing. It was pretty satisfying. It reminded me of Diablo paced gameplay. Using the wurms was fun too, but the first part of that mission was hell for the pugs I worked with.
I got survivor on my Elonian char along the way, however, near the end it took a sharp turn toward "elite" status as I started failing missions over, and over (and freezing my title track). It got pretty frustrating. Not sure I would enjoy doing it again. Also, I was disapointed that the skills had to be bought again. I'm no much of a build maker, but I didn't find many of the NF skills to be too much superior to F, or Proph.
On the other hand I've been through Factions several times. Even though it has some annoying properties (Insanely strong Rit bosses, and 10k faction comes to mind). To me its rewarding enough to pick up the armor skins, and cap pets, because I prefer them to Elonian armors (and they are way cheaper), and Elonian critters (although I would like a hyena or a hippo if they were implemented). The same can be said about Tyria, but a few of my chars are stuck on the last few missions. -_-
My opinion may change when more guildies get NF, and ask me for help. Maybe I played through it too early. Anyway I have a laundry list of things to do in Elona, but can't bring myself to do it yet.
Thats just my $0.02
I played Nightfall all the way through, and it was pretty fun, but aside from some loot, and getting some titles I'm not as motivated to go back through it.
I played a Mesmer through it, and my Dervish is still in Istan. Don't get me wrong I loved Nightfall. When I started playing it I immediately noticed that it felt like you were really kicking ass. In Tyria, and Cantha it always seemed like you were getting your ass handed to you, but in Elona you were blowing stuff up, taking down huge groups, and dying less(Survivor in Cantha would be so hard now that I think about it). I remember The Docks mission where you just kept killing and killing. It was pretty satisfying. It reminded me of Diablo paced gameplay. Using the wurms was fun too, but the first part of that mission was hell for the pugs I worked with.
I got survivor on my Elonian char along the way, however, near the end it took a sharp turn toward "elite" status as I started failing missions over, and over (and freezing my title track). It got pretty frustrating. Not sure I would enjoy doing it again. Also, I was disapointed that the skills had to be bought again. I'm no much of a build maker, but I didn't find many of the NF skills to be too much superior to F, or Proph.
On the other hand I've been through Factions several times. Even though it has some annoying properties (Insanely strong Rit bosses, and 10k faction comes to mind). To me its rewarding enough to pick up the armor skins, and cap pets, because I prefer them to Elonian armors (and they are way cheaper), and Elonian critters (although I would like a hyena or a hippo if they were implemented). The same can be said about Tyria, but a few of my chars are stuck on the last few missions. -_-
My opinion may change when more guildies get NF, and ask me for help. Maybe I played through it too early. Anyway I have a laundry list of things to do in Elona, but can't bring myself to do it yet.
Thats just my $0.02
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Originally Posted by wilebill
Prophecies is very much alive. Factions is too, although to a lesser extent.
ANet needs some cross chapter quests, I think. Something to make the other chapters more attractive to those who only have Nightfall. |
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Originally Posted by RTSFirebat
Those will be remove once the Winterday event is patched out.
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Now, back on topic - I haven't played factions pve for a while apart from a bit of farming, but I can say that ab is still going strong - I have never had any trouble getting a group there. I don't think factions will die, i don't think any campaign will ever fully die. There will always be a small player base remaining firmly loyal to a particular chapter. However, as more chapters come out, it is inevitable that the older ones will begin to empty. That's where heroes come in. Heroes are the best replacement for the good old pug, and in many cases surpass random human players. Perhaps the hero system was a deliberate move by anet to make it easier to get through empty missions?
I also think that the nightfall missions are by far the most innovative and interesting, but I must admit they do become very hard near the end. Many of the factions missions are uninteresting. For example, I rushed through to finish nightfall relatively quickly before going back to explore. However, I played factions through to raisu palace and then went back to prophecies. It was a month or two before i could be bothered to finish that mission, and I ended up doing it with guildies as the european side was perpetually empty.
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You could say exactly the same thing about Prophercies when Factions was released. Players will always sway towards playing the most recent version or add on for a game.
Then they eventually trickel down to playing the original, and then any other expansions.
Both prophercies and factions are suffering from adding campaigns, as the player count is spread thinner and thinner accross more games. Not that I dislike adding campaigns.
But try finding people to do the Titan Quests in Prophercies anymore. Its near impossible.
I doubt they will add anything new to factions now. Just as they left Prophercies alone to gather dust, they will do the same with factions.
Then they eventually trickel down to playing the original, and then any other expansions.
Both prophercies and factions are suffering from adding campaigns, as the player count is spread thinner and thinner accross more games. Not that I dislike adding campaigns.
But try finding people to do the Titan Quests in Prophercies anymore. Its near impossible.
I doubt they will add anything new to factions now. Just as they left Prophercies alone to gather dust, they will do the same with factions.
B
Well, there is still AB. I absolutely love AB. Whenever I want a break from competitive pvp, I go into AB and invite the whole district then enter mission with a random team and a fun build. Don't care if I lose or win, the faction gain is basically the same. 12v12? pure awesome. If you think AB isn't fun, you haven't played:
A backfire spammer
A trapper
A touch ranger (lmao this is a hilarious build to try)
A monk with spell breaker
A gank assassin
A crip shot ranger
... and so many more ...
I hope AB never dies. Long live suxons? HAHAHAHAH.
A backfire spammer
A trapper
A touch ranger (lmao this is a hilarious build to try)
A monk with spell breaker
A gank assassin
A crip shot ranger
... and so many more ...
I hope AB never dies. Long live suxons? HAHAHAHAH.
S
I really hope factions isnt dead. I started playing Prophecies when it first came out along side world of warcraft but had to stop playing to pursue raiding in borecraft, now that I have finally got that crap out of my system I have returned to guild wars (and so happy I did, I totally forgot how cool GW is!) So I picked up Nightfall the other day and have been leveling my Dervish until now, she's lvl 19 at the moment. I really wanted to make an assasin as they look cool so I bought factions, thinking it would just unlock the assasin and ritualist professions on my char selection screen and I would be able to make an elonian assasin, but alas all it does is allow me to create an assasin in Factions and select those professions as my secondary (and I presume lvl it there and move her to Elona at some point ? to do the high lvl stuff over here ?) I dont quite know how the 'inter-chapter' thing works. Will be gutted though if I have to lvl a char up literally on my own 
f
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Originally Posted by RTSFirebat
Those will be remove once the Winterday event is patched out.
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The treasure chests Im referring too if you dont realise.
I love factions and every new char I make is starting there, my only tyria born character is my ranger actually. Getting a character through tyria once is bad enough as it is, I was just a little too late with buying that episode I'm afraid. If I PUG for a crystal desert mission people try to run them in 90% of the cases and fail miserably at it. That is really counter-productive and no fun. The rest is pure grinding IMO, if I ever see another Jade Scarab I will bite someone.
I hardly PUG lately anyways, since the addition of heroes I make a team with 3 guildies and heroes most of the time. I tried Raisu Palace for over a hundred times with PUG's with mostly miserable results while I finished it yesterday with a guildie that still needed masters+heroes in 14:30. I finished Prophecies with heroes/hench and killed mr. Lich without too much trouble. A PUG really isn't gonna take the builds to pull that off since that would require teamwork, my heroes all had winter+mantra of frost.
Not that I hate PUG's, when I started to play i was more or less dependent on PUGing, and if people kept it civil i found it quite enjoyable (henchies don't crack funny jokes), but heroes are much better/faster then the average player. I can recommend everyone having trouble to find groups nowadays to skip to Nightfall and level up some heroes to fill up groups with. I finish Factions nowadays with the following recipe:
Myself
hero monk
hero SF nuker
hero MM + blood ritual
hench monk
hench fighter
hench fighter
hench whatever
It's really surprising that heroes with the right setup WTFPWN almost every PUG, it's like cutting through butter with a hot knife. Even henchies are quite managable since the flag system was implemented. I'm not going to bother anymore when I can't find people to play with, i PUG every now and then mostly for fun or to help a team (happens quite often since I play a solid monk) but it's no requirement to pass a mission anymore.
Bottom line: Don't complain the game is dead, you can still play with people and add heroes for empty spots. The quality of the game in general has only improved drastically, since most heroes outperform most players. People having trouble finding groups should really join a nice PVE guild anyway, it will improve the gaming experience drastically.
I hardly PUG lately anyways, since the addition of heroes I make a team with 3 guildies and heroes most of the time. I tried Raisu Palace for over a hundred times with PUG's with mostly miserable results while I finished it yesterday with a guildie that still needed masters+heroes in 14:30. I finished Prophecies with heroes/hench and killed mr. Lich without too much trouble. A PUG really isn't gonna take the builds to pull that off since that would require teamwork, my heroes all had winter+mantra of frost
Not that I hate PUG's, when I started to play i was more or less dependent on PUGing, and if people kept it civil i found it quite enjoyable (henchies don't crack funny jokes), but heroes are much better/faster then the average player. I can recommend everyone having trouble to find groups nowadays to skip to Nightfall and level up some heroes to fill up groups with. I finish Factions nowadays with the following recipe:
Myself
hero monk
hero SF nuker
hero MM + blood ritual
hench monk
hench fighter
hench fighter
hench whatever
It's really surprising that heroes with the right setup WTFPWN almost every PUG, it's like cutting through butter with a hot knife. Even henchies are quite managable since the flag system was implemented. I'm not going to bother anymore when I can't find people to play with, i PUG every now and then mostly for fun or to help a team (happens quite often since I play a solid monk) but it's no requirement to pass a mission anymore.
Bottom line: Don't complain the game is dead, you can still play with people and add heroes for empty spots. The quality of the game in general has only improved drastically, since most heroes outperform most players. People having trouble finding groups should really join a nice PVE guild anyway, it will improve the gaming experience drastically.
a
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Factions are dead for a good reason: - Past Maatu, the storyline splits into two, the next hurdle is 10k faction limit. That completely dillutes the population - Henchies are horrible. Sister Tai just loves to use sig of devotion to counter spike damage, lack of protection, henchies change in just about every area - Faction related aspects apeal to grinders. Not farming style grinders, but WoW style grinders. - Gated content. Enough said. - Past Cavalon/HzH, there's insane ammount of territory that serves no real purpose, except skill capping. No reason for anyone to be there. And those that are, only push far enough to get the armor. - No loot. Items aren't inscribable. - Fort Aspenwood. A decent casual pvp area destroyed by leechers and bugs. - JQ. Dead on arrival due to PvE requirements, by the time PvP characters could get there it was forgotten already. - No rewards. Amulets are worthless, so are most of the greens. Those that aren't, are solo farmed. - AB. Too many issues, to high requirements for team play, too exploitable by solo builds. Those two conflict each other. Also, being put in with 2 other teams you have no control makes team play a lesson in futility. - Useless skills. For most part, factions skills just aren't worth it. There's some exceptions for PvP, but for PvE you can do without, especially in light of NF skills which simply wipe the floor. - Timed missions. Yea, let's rush through the content. That will help with grouping. - Jade and amber are Factions specific materials. So unlike ectos, they are forgotten. And last thing is simply, Factions require much greater population that GW has. Between casual Prophecies, and somewhat balanced NF (PvE-wise), Factions simply doesn't offer anything. Factions works somewhat better with heroes, but even then henchies you need to fill in are mostly useless. There simply is nothing there that would warrant all the hassle, and pvp is too closely tied to faction grind. On another note, recently I went to cap shadow form in Vizunah square, and I had to do it 4 or 5 times in order to get the boss to spawn. The only time I got masters was when other team full hench. In all other cases, I missed it by several minutes easily. |
I hate factions with a passion because of the locked gates and the horrid city.
Sure, NF has locked gates as well, but they aren't as annoying as factions because the scenery is pleasant and the gameplay is better - you're not constantly being swarmed by the flood... er, I mean "afflicted" and other sewage. Echovald and Jade Sea are both great, but Kaineng is the first area and the first impression simply ruins the game. Also, Kaineng is mandatory, whereas you choose to do either of the two other areas.
I recently went through factions with my mesmer to cap Psychic Distraction, Expel Hexes and get 15k Canthan armor. So now all my characters have all the skills they need from factions and I can't see myself going back there ever again.
Sure, NF has locked gates as well, but they aren't as annoying as factions because the scenery is pleasant and the gameplay is better - you're not constantly being swarmed by the flood... er, I mean "afflicted" and other sewage. Echovald and Jade Sea are both great, but Kaineng is the first area and the first impression simply ruins the game. Also, Kaineng is mandatory, whereas you choose to do either of the two other areas.
I recently went through factions with my mesmer to cap Psychic Distraction, Expel Hexes and get 15k Canthan armor. So now all my characters have all the skills they need from factions and I can't see myself going back there ever again.