"Emergent Complexity" skill system..how will this change the gameplay

i hope they retain the 8 skill method honestly, but with a persistant world you can walk around with with no load screens how would that work. Also I hope they keep skill descriptions but Id love to see better quest rewards speaking of gw2

Quoted for Truth!!!

oh no...Fightning games are way more than just button mashing

Just think...there are way more Street Fighter tournaments than GW tournaments.

Hmmm interesting. This means that 1 skill could have 3 uses depending on the situation. Seems pretty cool to me.

Balance-wise I'll wait till the beta to find out how they can do this.

O and BTW I wonder if it also depends on what you target is doing too.

Here's what I see it meaning: A-net doesn't want to do any more skill rebalancing. Gimmick builds like the Touch Ranger ARE emergent gameplay; I somehow doubt A-net predicted the Touchie (or the 55, for that matter). So was the Spearmarshal title.

I guess now they want the "emergent gameplay" to be less Build Wars, and more clicking furiously for combo's.

I don't know if you've ever actually played this game.

This was in SF1 and it was a far superior game, though I don't know if I'd like to have that skill system in an MMO.

Also, "emergent complexity"? That's the most ridiculous buzzword I've ever heard.

wow... a lot of optimism here -- from this quote, I personally have a very pessimistic view of GW2 ... to me, it looks like Anet is really dumbing down the game -- just the fact that they're trying to cater to those people who have such short attention spans that they can't read skill descriptions .. that's a really bad sign to me.

personally, I already didn't think the skill descriptions were good enough -- I actually wanted them to be more precise and "lawyerly", instead of the often vague/misleading descriptions they have now... seems like that's definitely not going to happen!

I'll definitely check out the beta -- but i'm not optimistic.

Seems as though the creators of GW2 are thinking very...adolecent. People must be crying to them about guild wars sayin its to hard and complicated for them to understand. GW 2 will certainly attract a bunch of 12 year olds with very short attention spans, but they will be amused the the jumping and swinging thats for sure. "But A-Net, theres only 1 race! Thats not like the other MMO's i'm scared! Oooooh Char play! Thats soo uberz 1337 now I can pwnazrd stoff with my hammer of warriorness"

Unsure effects? Stupid. Skills that do random things with random situations? Stupid. The more I hear about GW2 the more I hate it.

I didn't see grind in that explanation whatsoever.

Grind is relative. The tasks it takes to get from point A to point B or the work:reward ratio.

For example, you think that going from 1 to 100 levels is grind. Technically its right because your goal is 1 to 100. But the majority of work between levels determines whether the grind is there or not.

Obviously, the system she described was one that rewarded experimentation and not grind. IT can only grind when you want a certain skill because of the work of experimentation to get from point A to point B.

But some people cry grind whether if its to buy the skill or to earn it, because they still have to put effort into it in order to be rewarded with that skill.

Which is then just being lazy because you have to play the game to progress in the game.

You just mentioned my favorite skill system in the world of gaming! Three cheers for Saga Frontier!!! Hip Hip Huray! Hip Hip Huray! Hip Hip Huray! Ok, back to guild wars... If they eliminated the need to purchase skills and give us a system to upgrade skills through usage, then I'll will not care if the game is a little simpler. Because I will have a blast actually playing my character, since the act of playing will improve there skill mastery. Shoot you could remove character levels completely and just give me the upgradeable skills and I'd be in heaven.

I say we wait to see what happens. But i simply fail to see how you could have a console type fighting system without a console. The skill system as it stands right now makes guild wrs as good as it is.

most importantly i hope they stay true to GW1

The quote sounds like the game will have less skills, but the complexity of what the skills do will depend on how much you experiment with them.
Sounds like potential 'combo city', which may very well be cool.
Stand+Fire spell=fire burst AOE
Run+Fire spell=Flaming dash
Jump+Fire spell=Flaming slam
Cold spell+Fire spell=Steam AOE
Cold spell+Fire spell+jump=float
Maybe somthing like that?

god, I hope thats not the case

Jumping + timed barrage = BOOM HEADSHOT! (critical hit)

Maybe something like this lawl.

This is what it sounds like to me. Not sure how I like that. I like the skill system the way it is now.

Personally, i would judgement until i actually play it. Its interesting, and it seems different. We shall wait and see.

But it seems to me people who are calling anything amazing or crappy before actually experiencing it for themselves really have no validity to their opinions.


Right now GW2 is just HYPE

Its all just ideas being fed to us. Theres no screenshots, no game footage, no playable demo.

How can you hate something that doesnt really exist yet?

Experimentation with skills to get different effects sounds like a VERY cool idea..... BUT ..... we already have that in build synergies. We already have experimentation in how and what skills work well together. We already have skills that have different effects depending on the conditions.

We don't really need twitch based button mashing combo skills in a game that's not really built for it.

Wait up... It's supposed to be more simple. Remember. :P

This is the kind of information I was looking for. I really do hope that GW2 is completely different than GW1, and that it doesnt get passed of as "bah, that could've just been made into another chapter for GW1 instead."

Though, i might get a culture shock (I think that's the right term) if I get 100 years into the future and suddenly everything is so drastically different.

I am definitely interested and will try it...but I like the 8 'descriptive' skills system they have now... I dont want to see 'more' immature 12 year olds in GW than already floods the shores of battle isles

True, that could be cool. Doesn't fit in with how we all know GW and it's skills as is, but then again, that may be the point. Right now, GW is known to be similar to Magic:TG, and a lot of that similarity has to do with the the 8 specific skill system. Combos and such are done by the way of how the skill works, rather than how you use the skill. GW2 sounds more like the latter.

It might not be too bad, think of something like this:

"Flame Blast"
If used against a target at long range, it sends out a wave of fire that does xx damage.
If used against a target at mid range, it sends out a wave of fire that does xx damage and deals xx damage to foes adjacent to target.
If used against an adjacent target, it flares out and strikes all adjacent foes for xx damage.
If jumping while using Flame Blast, it deals xx more damage to target, and xx less damage to any adjacent targets hit by the spell.
If running while using Flame Blast, you leave a trail of fire in your tracks in the next 3 seconds that deals xx damage per second for 10 seconds to all foes that are in the trail.
If crouching while using Flame Blast, you hit all nearby foes for xx damage (less than the adjacent damage)
etc...

And basically, this would be the effects of the skill, whereas the description on the skill would say something like:

"Flame Blast" - 15e (or whatever) 2c 20r - You ignite the air around you, creating waves of fire.

So the description is simplistic, non-descript, yet the skill has many "hidden" effects and damage, depending on how you use it. You'd have to actually experiment with it in order to find out all the cool stuff it does. I could see this as a good thing, possibly.