- GuildWars community list of concerns [Pros and cons]-- You can help ! ! !

Greetings to Guildwars lovers~

Ive spent all last night reading players concerns both for the PvE & PvP aspects of the game!!! (more than 3 hours+ of reading) As a guildwars lover, I would like to complile a list of what is great about guild wars, and the most important concerns players has been discussing in the past few months.


This list will prove its importance for this Friday Dev discussion, and will enable the community and devs to have a further insight on what is most valued & and concerned from the players.


Please help contribute to this LIST OF CONCERNS:


PRO LIST- Why do you still love Guild Wars?

1) Guildwars is still Free & fun. (One can't forget that!)
2) The graphic and story line is excellent and can not be compared to other free MMORPG
3) PvP and Pve game play is like no other games. The coordination is exciting and the titles/ranks are great!
4) Weekend events, and PvP tourney events is very nice.
5) The community is great and Anet staff cares about the community
6) Frequent updates that proves Anet is trying to improve the game.
7) Hard Mode is extending content across multiple tiers of players, very nice
8) Even with 500 special effects at once, GW keeps framerate up
9) ANet makes good with Razah gems refund, nice
10) Extra storage now is nice
11) The soundtracks are excellent, as well as the special effects when casting spells and attacking. It makes one feel more immersed in the game.
12) Character dances and emotes beat any other game's
13) The ability to teleport instantly, anywhere on your map, is amazing
14) the maximum level of characters (level 20), no grinding
15) max weapons are relatively easy to get
16) Community Fansites are excellent
17)
18)


CON LIST- What has the community been complaining about?

1) HA kill counts needs to be removed
2) Soul reaping is still a major issue and has not been fixed
3) The issue with bots (destroys economy and more people are soloing or going with bots, so not many people available to group with even during peak hours sometimes)
4) Looting drops- How much is enough?
5) How will Mesmer in PvE needs be stronger?
6) Some graphical elements are still out of whack, ie - ranger low res textures and facial meshes from Nightfall
7) Haven't had a significant content addition in over half a year, and won't be getting one for a few more months (GW:EN)
8) The oh-so-hated trade system
9) Spamming in trade channels is getting worse
10) Grinding of light bringer titles (not good for casual players, it puts us at disadvantage in Gate of Anguish; or forces LB Farming Grind)
11) light bringer's gaze being overpowered and thus mandating its use in Gate of Anguish builds; this reduces build diversity
12) Character creation options are really too limited for a game like this. (need more looks)
13) **Guild Wars Skills imbalance problem-- Skill imbalance among classes, and becomes VERY imbalance when you have a group of 8 players, abusing these skills. Quote from Taki from below, "The core of the problem is that there are too many skills that are either too conditional or outperformed by other (sometimes newer) skills so they rarely see play....No character should be shutdown so easily for long periods of time....etc..."
14) Solo Farming Nerf. It was "supposed" to help the casual player but all it has done is that you need to farm in HM now. And if you ask someone for help to farm in Normal Mode, they will laugh at you.
15) GW doesn't have enough players in an outpost looking for Hard Mode challenges.
16) In Heroes Ascent, the SKIPS are insane!
17)
18)
19)


Please do not flame this thread (moderators please keep tracK). It is really easy--just input your concerns and what you love about GuilldWars that is NOT on the list, and I will add it.


Special thanks goes to:

-TabascoSauce
-Miral
-Lydz
-Taki
-cce
-Aera Lure
-Nekretaal
-kumarshah
-
-

note: If you are going to talk about skills/maps/game play imbalances. Please be SPECIFIC as to what skills are imbalance, and I will add it to the CON list.

Pro List

- Hard Mode is extending content across multiple tiers of players, very nice
- Even with 500 special effects at once, GW keeps framerate up
- ANet makes good with Razah gems refund, nice

Con List

- Some graphical elements are still out of whack, ie - ranger low res textures and facial meshes from Nightfall
- SR is in big need of love!

There is a lot more, pile it on!
Thanks!
TabascoSauce

Con - pvp imbalance and more specifically the changes to correct it is negatively affecting pve more and more.
Con - farming and bots dominate the economy, game seems a lot more... mechanical, than it did at release
Con - more people are soloing or going with bots, so not many people available to group with even during peak hours sometimes
Con - haven't had a significant content addition in over half a year, and won't be getting one for a few more months (GW:EN)
Pro - extra storage now is nice, and hardmode is kinda good (though a far cry from the content we desperately need)

Pros:

* The soundtracks are excellent,

* The sound effects when casting spells and attacking. It makes one feel more immersed in the game.

(I can go on forever but I want to leave some to the rest of the community ^^)

Cons:

* The oh-so-hated trade system
* Spamming in trade channels is getting worse

Oops, I made a double post, so I'm going to add some more!

Pros:

* Character dances and emotes beat any other game's
* The ability to teleport instantly, anywhere on your map, is amazing

Good time for this topic to circle back again.

Pros: Agree with most of what's already posted. Can't think of any more right now.

Con: Get serious about game balance. The game revolves around skills so there needs to be a deep pool of viable options where player skill actually matters for something. Fix skills and game mechanics to promote the original idea behind Guild Wars.

#2 and #7 on cons list are the same thing; SR = soul reaping.

Skills imbalance and the the time it takes to fix these skills is probably one of the biggest thing I am annoyed about.

However, if you (or others) can share and be specific in terms of what skills are overpowered, and the flaw in game mechanics when applying these skills, etc-- it would be appreciated on the list of Cons.


Thanks bro.

Buff my RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing Paragon without imbalancing pvp.

Paragons have like...2 useful elites.

Agree with everything said so far, and I'll comeback to post more, I swear. Right now the first thing that comes to mind is this

Con - The decreased value of formerly "rare skinned" items. GW having Rare Skins rocked. Some people are excited because they now can own a rareskin, but they're not rare anymore so it doesn't mean anything. Let's have a few more "prestige" items, or at least let us keep the ones we've got!

Most Pressing Needs for Guild Wars

(1) SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM
(2) Lack of trade system
(3) Lack of in-game tools to communicate (pvp cant exist without third party programs; many pvE shun players because you can tell henchman what to do but you cant tell players what to do)...
(4) No penalties for griefers or abusers
(5) Not enought players to support any but highest-level pvp or to support hard mode, no new players coming in... ever... as additional campaigns have been scrapped.
(6) Broken balance among the classes. The Necromancer is not fun to play with the timer. The mesmer is unsuitable for Pve, as is the assassin... and the paragon was badly implemented as a bard with warrior level dps. The decision to put all defensive party support and healing in the same class was a mistake, as was the choice to make offensive support in guild wars so weak (compared to other games).
(7) Communication with the developers sucks, and asking players with legitmate gripes about the game to post them on fansites is lame

Least Pressing Needs (Things Guild wars got right)

(1) Game is Free
(2) Game is pretty much bug Free
(3) Game is updated faily regularly (some people even think too regularly)
(4) Community is quite good (surprising since griefers can grief away and nothing will ever happen to them)
(5) Community Fansites are excellent


Additional Questions:

(1) Why make a Guild wars 2 if we arent getting a completly new built from the ground up graphical engine.

(2) Why make us players throw away all the time we spent developing our characters and the money on extra character slots just for new game mechanics and gameplay upgrades? And shouldnt some of these gameplay mechanics (auction house maybe) be implemented in GW1 when ready.

(3) There is very little mentioned about pvp in the PC Gamer and later aticles. Will certain PvE rewards be unattainable except through pvp? Will in-game content be walled in GW2 off unless you pvp?

(4) Any plans to bring GW or GW 2 (or spin offs) to consoles?

Didn't take long for that one to show up.

Good:
- the maximum level of characters
- max weapons are relatively easy to get
- overall, excellent support for "casual players"

Bad:
- the combat music (a switch to turn it off?)
- grid of light bringer titles (not good for casual players, it puts us at disavantage in Gate of Anguish; or forces LB Farming Grind)
- light bringer's gaze being overpowered and thus mandating its use in Gate of Anguish builds; this reduces build diversity

I'll try just to highlight a few:

PROS:
1. Can choose to play the game many different ways within PvE, PvP or both.
2. No monthly fees.
3. Anet development team remains involved frequently between chapter releases.

CONS:
1. Skill balancing is needed, agreed, but I'd like either better balancing up front, before release, or more limited changes to specific skills, if possible. At any rate I have to agree with Taki - take real care on skill balancing and its affect on PvE vs PvP in the future. Its frustrating.

2. PvE in the future needs a bit more to do in the end game I think than collection of titles. Maybe the end game is farther off, with more development possible, and likely this is GW2s aim. Granted we have other characters to work on, always have more skills to get, can move off into PvP, can idle until a new chapter comes out to explore etc.

3. I'd take care not to discourage solo play or player services too terribly much. Sometimes, like any other way to play the game, its simply fun to do. Yes, of course, limit the farmers that work at it as a job, as well as the selling of gold on Ebay etc.

4. Pretty much need new content every three months. Anything beyond that really pushes it a bit imho. Its ok to go out beyond that schedule, but it does encourage people to drift away and leave the game for stretches of time.

5. Too much to ask to have more faces available? Ones that are more attractive than the only two or so we get per class per sex as of now (seems that way to me at least)? How about more hair colors and styles? Why not simply have RGB sliders for eyes and hair color? More range selection in skin color, maybe on a slider. What about body proportion? Can have the same sort of shape changing slider for the shape of the eyes as well. Character creation options are really too limited for a game like this.

I'm at work so can't reply fully but the individual skills are not the most important thing.

The core of the problem is that there are too many skills that are either too conditional or outperformed by other (sometimes newer) skills so they rarely see play. Even worse, some of these skills have to be on a team bar or it's insta-lose for many matches (best example is powerful hex/enchant removal) but when you don't face specific builds then they serve absolutely no other purpose. It's a game of chance and it really shouldn't be.

Mechanic-wise the first thing to come to mind is hex duration/removal. No character should be shutdown so easily for long periods of time. Second is map design and npc A.I. in pvp. After that would be variety of gameplay modes and their corresponding victory conditions (mostly H.A.). Conditions are up there too but not as important. I hate that mending touch and sig of malice do not scale with attributes but given how easily conditions can be applied and re-applied they definately have their place. For the most part, conditions can simply be healed through - that is, when you don't have dazed burried under poison + disease or cripple + bleeding + deep wound........ + disease.

IMO, the one bad thing about GW is how they nerf skills into oblivion when they nerf them. Prot Bond is a good example. It is now useless. Another is Distortion, which is also uselss.

On the other hand, I like how they divided normal mode and hard. Normal mode is now much easier to learn on, and will see a larger varity of skills used

CON:

1. Solo Farming Nerf. It was "supposed" to help the casual player but all it has done is that you need to farm in HM now. And if you ask someone for help to farm in Normal Mode, they will laugh at you.

2. Hard Mode - It is one of those things that would be fun with other human players, but GW doesn't have enough players in an outpost looking for Hard Mode challenges.

3. Minipets - Too many of them.

Pro:

Special events and Items ~~~SEE Cons Also~~~
No dependence on PUG to get things done. (admit it, with the griefers being force to PUG would kill the game for most of us)
The Graphics and soundtracks
No worry of loosing your chara if you don't log in and play every 60days or so.


Cons:

Special items don't stay that way (Vanity Skins or PvE Skins now available for PvP toons, Masks~I didn't have the game yet I shouldn't be PUNISHED)
As a player having to play the game several times through to unlock needed skills.
BOTS
No follow up for EULA breakers, so they ruin it all they can.

Pro:

-Virtually no lag or disconnects for months
-Great music. Especially around Kaineng.
-New weapon sounds added.
-Weekend events for variety and interest.
-Better quality loot and cheaper runes.

Cons:

-The rubberband bug still exists (run past a mob and 'teleport' in to the centre of them).
-Button-bashing builds being overlooked. (thumping, touching, spirit spamming).
-Still plagued with bots and sweat-shop farmers.
-The warrior FoW helm on wammos with 15k or 1.5k glads.

that list covers quite a lot i just have one thing to add...

i wish anet would interact more with the community as a whole (and not just listen to the select few people who can scream the loudest) when it comes to balance issues. posting polls and getting feedback before changing big parts of the game would be great. give us our options! being blindsided never feels good. take the SR nerf and loot scaling update for example - two bad ideas that got pushed through without any input from the community, and resulted in people deleting their necros and/or quitting the game altogether and/or just getting very PO'd at anet.

I do think any list is going to end up being subjective, as already I disagree with some of the cons listed. I think bot issues and problems are in reality less of an issue than people make them out to be, and I think ANet are well aware of the problem and deal with it appropriately; compare GW to a number of other online games which have economies suffering from botting much more. However, that's just a note aside, so let me add my own happy/sad GW notes.

Pros:

- great special events (canthan new year etc.)
- weekend bonus events helpful/fun
- good dialogue with players/fans, and a commitment to really listen to the players
- content to suit most play styles, from hard core to casual
- addition of battle music was great
- very little server downtime or rollbacks
- birthday minis and titles really fun additions
- beautiful graphics, runs well on a variety of machines with different specs
- addition of being able to ping skills! wonderful!
- no monthly fee! can't emphasis that one enough...

Cons:

- not enough music! what's there is great, but there is only a few tunes. think final fantasy epic-style score, and I would be happy! With all the different settings and landscapes across GW there is huge scope for more music. not something I expect to be added, but think about it for GW2 ANet ^^
- although there are plenty of hairstyles/faces, the same ones get used over and over because some of them are just plain weird-looking/ugly. I understand not everyone wants to look the same, but there are some faces I have never seen used ingame. also hairstyles/colours are campaign specific...I would love to have pink hair on a Tyrian ele!
- trade system is terrible. standing around spamming in LA/Kamadan 1 for an hour is no one's idea of fun, and the search system was implemented without directly informing players of it, or allowing for long enough messages. having to retype message when you switch districts is also annoying. i have loads of stuff in storage that I want to sell and that I know is worth a decent amount, but the prospect of selling is just too much
- abusive manner of many people in pvp. not sure how this can be fixed, but people know they can get away with it, so they do it...and I know people will say thats just the kind of peeps who pvp, but I refuse to believe that. personal experience of this was in hero battles.

Well I'm sure I have way more, both pros and cons, but thats all for now folks!

kinda contradicted yourself there, in a way... masks ARE special items. you aren't being punished, others are just given a (cosmetic) bonus. These are the true veteran rewards, instead of those stupid commercialized beanie babi... i mean, minipets, that every rich new player has a full set of. An original pumpkin crown is a true showing of being old and its on an account basis not character, so even better for those that re-rolled!

Pros:

-The BIGGEST pro ever: freedom to choose playstyle. I decide with whom to play with or against, when and where I feel like to - in one word: INSTANCES
-2nd best: grind is OPTIONAL and not mandatory. No unreachable levels, no insane craft lists, no imba gear...you can play and still have a life.
-Class/Build/Skills system: so that not every char is a copy of other of the same class. Option to rebuild at any outpost
-Skill over time played feature

Cons:
-Poor trade system
-repetitive models and animations (ex: male Paragon has the same body of the elementalist, he and the assassin sit like a ranger; axe and sword have the same attack animations being tottaly diferent weapons - one is balanced, other is not). The game really needs more models and animations.
-Ugly skins for armors like male sins and male eles.
-Music needs a more epic feel to it - like the ones in SF (the best imho)

That is THE big problem for me. IMO, it's the worst mistake the devs ever made. By far. If they fix it right, I could probably find it in my heart to let a whole lot of issues slide for a good long while.

Pros

sound track is superb

Cons

Kill count need to be removed from HA.
Alter mechanics need to be brought back.
Nurf pargon armour so its equal to other backline chars armour like monks.
Listern to the HA community (the experianced ones).
Bring back scared earth.
Get rid of relic running in HA ect and bring back alter capping.
Skill balance for pvp