Do Paragons Make You Feel Dirty?

wazz

wazz

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

WML, MELL, RUNI

P/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moloch Vein
For a person who complains about a guy posting a cat, you sure don't treat other people with a lot of respect, do you?
First: I complainted about him posting a picture instead of actually typing out what he wanted to say. Nothing to do with respect, only with acting childish at max.
Second: read my entire post plz.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Moloch Vein
I have the Guardian of Cantha title from using a team configuration of all necromancers, with zero armor boosts, and never more than three human players on the team, for all missions, save for maybe two where I played with a friend who hasn't got a fully grown N up for the task.

Yes, I have played Hard Mode. Your statement is wrong. Ok so you asume that becuase you have a title, you know it better than anyone else ?
I said clearly that you need skills like sy ---> a skill that makes you take less damage.
Or did you absorb everything that got trown to you ?

yesitsrob

yesitsrob

Elite Guru

Join Date: Sep 2005

Manchester, England

SMS/Victrix

You keep bring up this hard mode argument, it's a joke really... On HM it means I'll take like 7 damage from a 20 specced skill as opposed to 4 - alright not the exact numbers but it's something equally miniscule and insignificant.

I can't really say I'm a busy monk when a Paragon Team mate brings SY, Hell I run fricking Consume Soul on my monk at Mallyx when I'm the only human monk in the fricking team...

Quote:
Also you still take quite some damage with sy up and running...
No, you don't. In HM I specifically remember taking 14 damage from each part of Mind Freeze while TNTF was up too, both of which the paragon can keep up for decent lengths of time. Which would mean you'd honestly get away with aggroing 4 groups of enemies and be able to keep the team alive with small prots and very little clean up damage.

You say it has it's weakness, but when you can practically dedicate a character or 2 to simply doing nothing more than keeping the paragon clean it's irrelevant - stopping them from being shut down is much easier than a lot of people in this thread are making it out to be - Because apart from the odd Heal Party no one else will be taking so much damage that you have to heavily prot them or anything, combined with the fact that a lot of shout shutdown is a fricking joke anyway and the enemy AI is terrible, they aren't going to put effort into breaking down your defense, they'll spam soothing on him on recharge, and you'll simply remove it. SO HRD

Quote: SY isn't overpowered, example: a friend of mine was trying to lure a mob on HM and while luring he got hit by an ele boss his attacks. The ele boss did around 300 damage to him in one spell, without sy on him. That's a terrible example, that's an example of how some terrible monks failed to prot your friend while he built up enough adrenaline to get SY up, thus making everyone invulnerable. Don't use the terribleness of your friend to justify it not being overpowered

Quote:
Now he is a ranger so he has about 70 armour While there are exceptions, if it was an ele boss I'd assume the ranger would have 100 armour against him.

Quote:
Or do you really think they would have nerfed tntf and seed of life if the comunity wouldn't have asked for it ? I don't recall the community ever asking for it, the community were still being dumb with their tankz and nukerz - I knew very few people that actually knew of the serious overpoweredness of TNTF - most were too busy going omfg my para can't get into groups QQ they r so baed - I think Anet were correct in doing what they did as those 2 skills were ridiculous. I'd also think they'd be correct if they could get shit right again and sort out the other skills - they likely won't though because they are probably aware of the ability of their general playerbase. Which makes things kind of lame for anyone who doesn't suck at the game because their only real means of a challenge is to PVP, which isn't everyones cup of tea.

If you are still finding PVE a challenge with some of the skills at your disposal right now, you honestly cannot be that good at it. Even without SY HM isn't Hard.

Moloch Vein

Moloch Vein

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

Reactive Hexing Sucks

[Thay]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
Ok so you asume that becuase you have a title, you know it better than anyone else ?
Not because I "have a title", but yes, I do think I know a LOT more about playing a squishie in Hard Mode than you do.

Quote:
I said clearly that you need skills like sy ---> a skill that makes you take less damage. "Save Yourselves" isn't simply a "skill that makes you take less damage". That's an extremely primitive way of looking at it. "Save Yourselves" is an insane, partywide armor buff that cannot be removed by any means from any of you.

No, you do not need "skills like sy" to do Hard Mode. And actually, as a matter of fact, in some areas I have done exactly what you asked in Hard Mode - soaked up everything they threw at me, because I could outheal it, and make sure they couldn't throw that much.

Racthoh

Racthoh

Did I hear 7 heroes?

Join Date: May 2005

Scars Meadows [SMS], Guild Leader (Not Recruiting)

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
Skills like sy are the only way to stay alive on HM in atleast 70% of the situations.
Hardmode was introduced months before they brought the PvE only skills into the game. Many players had their Legendary Guardian, and even Legendary Vanquisher, before the introduction of the PvE only skills.

Quote:
SY isn't overpowered, example: a friend of mine was trying to lure a mob on HM and while luring he got hit by an ele boss his attacks. The ele boss did around 300 damage to him in one spell, without sy on him. This is a matter of not knowing how to play. Why you would try to pull a boss, that you know full well even on NM hits for a lot, without pre-proting the target?

That is also a perfect example of why SY is too strong. 300 damage reduced to nothing on a ranger (100 vs. ele), how is that balanced?

Quote:
Atm I wouldn't know an other way to kill that mob than using SY or using a tank. Better players would know how to handle the situation. These skills do not teach players to become better. They need to go.

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

I just dont get it ... how can anyone deny power of stuff like SY? Its beyond ridiculous what that stuff allows you to do.

Whats next? People claiming that prot spirit is useless and that Ursan is okay skill? wait a seccond...

Yes, Rob is right - SY will have to go. (GFTE/WYS treatment.)

Adam of Tyria

Adam of Tyria

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2006

W/

Most of the skills you mentioned are PvE only skills.
And I am pretty sure the monsters you kill in PvE don't complain that the skills you use are too powerful.

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Racthoh
Better players would know how to handle the situation. These skills do not teach players to become better. They need to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zwei2stein
Yes, Rob is right - SY will have to go. (GFTE/WYS treatment.) I am actually quite in favour of balance in PvE. That's the reason why I so dislike PvE only skills! (Although, strangely I NEVER had this problem with SY and TNTF )
But I am sick and tired of it always happening at the expense of the player.
As long as foes have half activation times or double damage or use "monster skills" - I am perfectly fine with something as stupidly overpowered as Ursan/SY!

Moloch Vein

Moloch Vein

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

Reactive Hexing Sucks

[Thay]

N/

Complaining about structural monster advantages in PvE is basically the same as admitting you're as stupid as the monsters.

The argument is null and void. The purpose of Hard Mode is for things to be "Hard". Do I like the steps taken, not really. Do I still prefer playing in an environment that at least does present me with a modicum of challenge, yes.

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

It's not about making the game easier.

A character has 200 attribute points to spend.
A character has access to a secondary profession.
A character does not have access to the primary attribute of a secondary profession.
A character can have a maximum of 8 skills on their skill-bar.
A character can have a max of 16 in an attribute.
A character has energy regeneration of 2-4.
A skill is defined by it's cost, recharge, activation time and by the cost, recharge, activation type and type of all other skills.
(among others of course!)

PvE only skills are broken from the start because they fail at the first rule.
Pretty much all of PvE is broken because A.Net was to lazy to implement the rules they created. And because of that - nothing can be too strong in PvE.
Just because we can not even define what "balance in PvE" is!

wazz

wazz

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

WML, MELL, RUNI

P/

Ah well than you all disagree with me. fine
If you want to nerf those pve skills. fine
I don't mind if you find that I'm not so good at pve. I'm fine with that to
That you guys are better than me fine

But really how you want to vanquish without the use of pve skills and without an entire humanteam backing you up, without the use of the 'holy' 3 ?

But keep in mind that without those pve skills and without the help of an entire humanteam it is near the inpossible for a 'normal' person to vanquish an area. And personally I find that everyone has the right to do every aspect of the game. And for most people that is where pve skills and cookiecutterbuilds come into play.

Problem with cookiecutterbuild is most of the time it uses only 3-4 different proffesions with the ability to swap in a maximum 2 other proffesions.
Seeing all the different cookiecutterbuilds but 3 proffesions would be able to do everything: necros,monks and eles.

So unless you use pve skills, all of highend pve is undoable for a paragon without the use of pve skills.

You supposely can do it without but most people don't have the resources to do so (no people on there friendlist who are interested in it, same goes for there allaince/guild).

Aside from that most people also don't have enough skills unlocked on there account/character, don't have enough resources to rune up each of there heros nor to buy those heros decent weapons.

So they most of the time pick out a couple of heros and gear em up decent and mabye even ab/ra/ta abit to unlock some skills so they can let there heros use skillbars a friend wispered them or wich they got from the build wiki.

Also most people don't know wich skill each monster uses, yes they can use guildwiki and etc to look it up. But they most of the time don't have enough skills unlocked to counter it decently or don't want to spend 20min planning out a strategy to do an area. So they stick to the builds they unlocked skills for even if that build is total crap for vanquishing that certain area.

So after giving HM a couple of attempt they decide that it is near the inposible for them to do it without using skills like tntf,sy and etc.
Not because they suck but because they don't have the resources/time to make a different team setup for every area.

So they decide to use skills like sy, tntf and etc.

Than some people post a topic and claim those skills are overpowered, that those skills should be removed from the game etc etc.

Now those same people that made a topic about it might be right that sy is overpowered if you look at it while keeping all other normal skills (so none monster) with an normal atribute lvl in mind. Yes they are right then.

But now imagine the person who was trying to vanquish an area, having a hard time even with the use of sy and etc seeing people posting a topic like that. the person trying to vanquish doesn't keep the skills in mind he can use but instead look at the skills enemys use, and how much damage those enemys can cause to his collection of half-decent heros.


Do you even espect that person to agree ?
If it is that person only way to vanquish.


I hope some of you now understand why I disagree mabye a little bit better.
If not, than well I did my best.


So if you look at the other skills you can use; yes it is overpowered !!!

But if you look at what the monsters trow at you, at the rate wich they do, the amount of people you can mobilise to help you, the skills you have unlocked, how well (or bad) your heros are equiped . It doesn't look so overpowered anymore.


If it would be the way some of you want it, but a couple of people would be able to vanquish.

Terraban

Terraban

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
Ah well than you all disagree with me. fine
If you want to nerf those pve skills. fine
I don't mind if you find that I'm not so good at pve. I'm fine with that to
That you guys are better than me fine

But really how you want to vanquish without the use of pve skills and without an entire humanteam backing you up, without the use of the 'holy' 3 ?

But keep in mind that without those pve skills and without the help of an entire humanteam it is near the inpossible for a 'normal' person to vanquish an area. And personally I find that everyone has the right to do every aspect of the game. And for most people that is where pve skills and cookiecutterbuilds come into play.

Problem with cookiecutterbuild is most of the time it uses only 3-4 different proffesions with the ability to swap in a maximum 2 other proffesions.
Seeing all the different cookiecutterbuilds but 3 proffesions would be able to do everything: necros,monks and eles.

So unless you use pve skills, all of highend pve is undoable for a paragon without the use of pve skills.

You supposely can do it without but most people don't have the resources to do so (no people on there friendlist who are interested in it, same goes for there allaince/guild).

Aside from that most people also don't have enough skills unlocked on there account/character, don't have enough resources to rune up each of there heros nor to buy those heros decent weapons.

So they most of the time pick out a couple of heros and gear em up decent and mabye even ab/ra/ta abit to unlock some skills so they can let there heros use skillbars a friend wispered them or wich they got from the build wiki.

Also most people don't know wich skill each monster uses, yes they can use guildwiki and etc to look it up. But they most of the time don't have enough skills unlocked to counter it decently or don't want to spend 20min planning out a strategy to do an area. So they stick to the builds they unlocked skills for even if that build is total crap for vanquishing that certain area.

So after giving HM a couple of attempt they decide that it is near the inposible for them to do it without using skills like tntf,sy and etc.
Not because they suck but because they don't have the resources/time to make a different team setup for every area.

So they decide to use skills like sy, tntf and etc.

Than some people post a topic and claim those skills are overpowered, that those skills should be removed from the game etc etc.

Now those same people that made a topic about it might be right that sy is overpowered if you look at it while keeping all other normal skills (so none monster) with an normal atribute lvl in mind. Yes they are right then.

But now imagine the person who was trying to vanquish an area, having a hard time even with the use of sy and etc seeing people posting a topic like that. the person trying to vanquish doesn't keep the skills in mind he can use but instead look at the skills enemys use, and how much damage those enemys can cause to his collection of half-decent heros.


Do you even espect that person to agree ?
If it is that person only way to vanquish.


I hope some of you now understand why I disagree mabye a little bit better.
If not, than well I did my best.


So if you look at the other skills you can use; yes it is overpowered !!!

But if you look at what the monsters trow at you, at the rate wich they do, the amount of people you can mobilise to help you, the skills you have unlocked, how well (or bad) your heros are equiped . It doesn't look so overpowered anymore.


If it would be the way some of you want it, but a couple of people would be able to vanquish. Summarization: QQ

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
But really how you want to vanquish without the use of pve skills and without an entire humanteam backing you up, without the use of the 'holy' 3 ?
By using simple Duality teambuild? Works pretty much everywhere with minor tweaks. Hell, its so good it got its own cookiecutter label (canned laughter).

Quote: Originally Posted by wazz But keep in mind that without those pve skills and without the help of an entire humanteam it is near the inpossible for a 'normal' person to vanquish an area. And personally I find that everyone has the right to do every aspect of the game. And for most people that is where pve skills and cookiecutterbuilds come into play.

Problem with cookiecutterbuild is most of the time it uses only 3-4 different proffesions with the ability to swap in a maximum 2 other proffesions.
Seeing all the different cookiecutterbuilds but 3 proffesions would be able to do everything: necros,monks and eles.

So unless you use pve skills, all of highend pve is undoable for a paragon without the use of pve skills.
I use paragon hero when vanquishing. Guess what? he uses no PvE skills, and he is still worth his place in party.

Quote: Originally Posted by wazz ...

Aside from that most people also don't have enough skills unlocked on there account/character, don't have enough resources to rune up each of there heros nor to buy those heros decent weapons.

So they most of the time pick out a couple of heros and gear em up decent and mabye even ab/ra/ta abit to unlock some skills so they can let there heros use skillbars a friend wispered them or wich they got from the build wiki.

Also most people don't know wich skill each monster uses, yes they can use guildwiki and etc to look it up. But they most of the time don't have enough skills unlocked to counter it decently or don't want to spend 20min planning out a strategy to do an area. So they stick to the builds they unlocked skills for even if that build is total crap for vanquishing that certain area. First, what are those people doing vanquishing when they lack key skill unlocks? How come they didnt unlock those key skills during normal gameplay? And if they didnt, how come they dont have resources leftover (unspent hero SPs, some platinum in storage) or close aproximations of those skills unlocked?

Between skill quests in prophecies, Factions and NF (yes, even factions/nf gives you about 40 free unlocks), hero skill trainers and plain shelling out 1k and 1sp for skill, they dont have decent bars? Not mentioning that they got most of decent skills on their heroes autounlocked already ... 5-10 minutes in zaishen gives you 1k faction.

Furthermore, decent skillbars share skills, and if area requires change, its not gonna be whole new skillbar, but skill or two on older bar.

As far as equipment goes, people you are refering to are better of havign their heroes unequiped (superior runes ...). If you insist, perfect equipment for hero is about 5k total, tops. survivor runes, minor runes for attributes you use, vitaes elsewhere, buy 2x5 of collector fodder items amd exchange em

Besides, if they are already vanquishing, they can, you know, equip heroes as they progress. keep collectilbe drops and exchange em for better stuff for heroes, vanq gives 1k and 1sp pretty much automatically everywhere, which means at least one unlock per area, which means that you are gonna get unlock you need for next area if its necesary.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
So after giving HM a couple of attempt they decide that it is near the inposible for them to do it without using skills like tntf,sy and etc.
Not because they suck but because they don't have the resources/time to make a different team setup for every area. Or because they suck. Part of not sucking is having good bar, and its not as hard as you pain it to get one.

And vanquishing is doable with huge variety of builds.

Also, if missing one or two skills still makes you die, dont kid yourself, you are going to fail even with those perfect builds. Its completelly possible pass very hard challenges with limited skillset. Build is only a tool, its usage matters.

i.e. uw with prophecies and core skills in old days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
...

But now imagine the person who was trying to vanquish an area, having a hard time even with the use of sy and etc seeing people posting a topic like that. the person trying to vanquish doesn't keep the skills in mind he can use but instead look at the skills enemys use, and how much damage those enemys can cause to his collection of half-decent heros.

...

But if you look at what the monsters trow at you, at the rate wich they do, the amount of people you can mobilise to help you, the skills you have unlocked, how well (or bad) your heros are equiped . It doesn't look so overpowered anymore. That person sucks. He should grind less PvE only stuff and work more on basics.

People who would rather grind reputations and stuff like that than getting vital stuff unlocked or get better or plan for dangerous area dont get much sympathy.

Yes, you cant vanquish that much casually, it sucks, but if you are so casuall that putting together decent teambuild and checking wiki is major pain, you propably have other, more casuall, stuff left to do.

yesitsrob

yesitsrob

Elite Guru

Join Date: Sep 2005

Manchester, England

SMS/Victrix

Wazz to an extent I totally can see where you are coming from with a lot of your comments - especially the part about if it wasn't for skills like SY and TNTF people wouldn't make their way into pugs. They really probably wouldn't. Classes like Paragons and Mesmers really have no place in a tank-n-spank PUG build. Which is what people run... which in my opinion is their fault. I will say I think in Guild Wars tank and spank is a very poor way to play the game, but due to that not really being the case in a lot of other games the community seems to run with it... some people remain convinced it's the best way to do things and the only way to do things (I kind of gather from your posts that you think it is one of few ways to do something) but even outside of SY/TNTF as a means of doing things there are so many viable alternatives, much better ones than Tanking and nuking things. Even without extremely powerful skills Paragons are an incredible source of Passive Defense and Physical Offense and are an asset to any _real_ balanced PVE team.

As far as enemy mobs go - they aren't going to match the intelligence of a human - and with nightfall some of the defense balls you can set up are insanely good (and to think armor bonuses used to stack) - to be able to kill a human team they are going to have to be quite strong because it would really be quite hard to give them AI capable of dissecting some defenses - in fairness passive defense is slightly weaker now - weaker to an extent a human team won't struggle as much in breaking it down (as much, it's still not trivial). I know this isn't how people play, people use Eles for dealing damage, Warriors for absorbing it, Monks for keeping warrior alive blahblah, I'm saying if they didn't they'd have means to make themselves very hard to kill.

That said, I think some of the enemy groups in the game are a bit of a cruel jokes. Sharrd's of Orr's 4 BSurge Eles with Eruption, their Rangers with throw dirt, Monks with Shield of Deflection. It really doesn't encourage balanced play when you give a group 4 B Surge Eles - it's obviously not hard to directly counter it, but it's pretty stupid all the same imo. Torment groups in DoA i find to be quite similar. I'm sure there are some anti-caster ones too which may just be over the top, not an actual challenge, but just really silly.

For a lot of reasons mentioned, it wouldn't surprise me if they left SY (and its friends) alone - For the greater population of the game it might actually make things very do-able for them without them having to actually get an understanding of the game - Personallly I believe people should have to learn2play before they are able to steam roll through Hard Mode content. As it stands I'm sure for a lot of players there is still difficult content - But I know for myself, and some people I play with, the only challenge is seeing how quickly we can do said difficult areas - I know as of recent the only things that will make an elite area hard is disconnects and giant lag spikes, not really the kind of challenge people want.

Simath

Simath

haha you're dumb

Join Date: Jul 2005

Moscow

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
That you guys are better than me fine You should become used to accepting others superiority.

xDusT II

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Melbourne

Since when was "Save Yourself" a requirement to beat Hard Mode?

I went through all of Cantha and Elona without any difficulty using 6 heroes for most missions. Anything that proved harder than we expected was soon remedied by consumables (Gyala hatchery being the only mission we really needed them, seeing how we went the normal way through).

You can still achieve high amounts of defence without having to use "Save Yourself" or a human paragon. SY is a bonus, not a requirement.

Terraban

Terraban

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by xDusT II
You can still achieve high amounts of defence without having to use "Save Yourself" or a human paragon. SY is a bonus, not a requirement. Having any armor at all is a bonus, not a requirement...

C WUT I DID THAR?

Avarre

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

Hey guys, the game is meant to reward skill.

If you're bad, you shouldn't be able to complete every area of the game.

This is called creating a reason to improve, and justifying skill over time.

Steboy93

Steboy93

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Feb 2007

Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] | Ex-Officer [TAM]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skuld
NO U bitch, lets take this to scrim. Oh my god i can't stop laughing!!

Good stuff

Moloch Vein

Moloch Vein

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

Reactive Hexing Sucks

[Thay]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by upier
Pretty much all of PvE is broken because A.Net was to lazy to implement the rules they created. And because of that - nothing can be too strong in PvE.
Just because we can not even define what "balance in PvE" is! I don't really see how you go from the premise that "the game is poorly designed" to "... so it's ok to make it absolutely non-challenging as well." Sounds like a guy looking for an excuse for not playing the challenging content of the game while still attempting to feel very elite about it.

Also I don't understand all the whining about casting times and the likes. Yes, the monsters in Hard Mode have half casting time. They're "monsters." Meaning, "creatures governed by a really weak AI that's pretty easy to beat."

Yes, I'd prefer actual improvements of the enemy AI, combined with real game rules for monsters (no ridiculous energy regeneration etc.) However I do understand it must be much easier to just put all the bad guys on steroids.

I'm not really sure if balance in PvE would even be desirable, but hell, let me take a shot at defining it.

I believe true "balance" in PvE can only be achieved by implementing a computer AI that is the functional equivalent of a human being. Another aspect of "balance" in PvE would be that all classes are equally strong in PvE - that the worst players can only complete the easiest content, and that only the best players can complete the hardest content. (Say 10% best for 10% hardest & vice versa.)

Right now none of these things are true, and one of them is unlikely to ever become true, so yes, I agree, balance does not exist in PvE. People seem to use this fact to obfuscate the discussion, though.

xDusT II

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Melbourne

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moloch Vein
I don't really see how you go from the premise that "the game is poorly designed" to "... so it's ok to make it absolutely non-challenging as well." Sounds like a guy looking for an excuse for not playing the challenging content of the game while still attempting to feel very elite about it.

Also I don't understand all the whining about casting times and the likes. Yes, the monsters in Hard Mode have half casting time. They're "monsters." Meaning, "creatures governed by a really weak AI that's pretty easy to beat."

Yes, I'd prefer actual improvements of the enemy AI, combined with real game rules for monsters (no ridiculous energy regeneration etc.) However I do understand it must be much easier to just put all the bad guys on steroids.

I'm not really sure if balance in PvE would even be desirable, but hell, let me take a shot at defining it.

I believe true "balance" in PvE can only be achieved by implementing a computer AI that is the functional equivalent of a human being. Another aspect of "balance" in PvE would be that all classes are equally strong in PvE - that the worst players can only complete the easiest content, and that only the best players can complete the hardest content. (Say 10% best for 10% hardest & vice versa.)

Right now none of these things are true, and one of them is unlikely to ever become true, so yes, I agree, balance does not exist in PvE. People seem to use this fact to obfuscate the discussion, though. If the AI was made intelligent, there would be more complaints than if they remained how they were now. People are just that retarded. (Remember all the complaints when Anet introduced monster kiting?)

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moloch Vein
I don't really see how you go from the premise that "the game is poorly designed" to "... so it's ok to make it absolutely non-challenging as well." Sounds like a guy looking for an excuse for not playing the challenging content of the game while still attempting to feel very elite about it.

Also I don't understand all the whining about casting times and the likes. Yes, the monsters in Hard Mode have half casting time. They're "monsters." Meaning, "creatures governed by a really weak AI that's pretty easy to beat."

Yes, I'd prefer actual improvements of the enemy AI, combined with real game rules for monsters (no ridiculous energy regeneration etc.) However I do understand it must be much easier to just put all the bad guys on steroids.

I'm not really sure if balance in PvE would even be desirable, but hell, let me take a shot at defining it.

I believe true "balance" in PvE can only be achieved by implementing a computer AI that is the functional equivalent of a human being. Another aspect of "balance" in PvE would be that all classes are equally strong in PvE - that the worst players can only complete the easiest content, and that only the best players can complete the hardest content. (Say 10% best for 10% hardest & vice versa.)

Right now none of these things are true, and one of them is unlikely to ever become true, so yes, I agree, balance does not exist in PvE. People seem to use this fact to obfuscate the discussion, though. The issues with half-cast times come from playing a mesmer in PvE a lot.
And when A.Net says passive skills are bad - and they buff more active skills (because of PvP of course - which I don't have a problem with)- it might not be the best thing EVER to make the monsters in PvE bypass all the balance rules (I do have a problem with A.Net not thinking what a skill balance does to the persistent world of PvE!).
Because if all skills are activated at twice the speed - then the skills that were made to counter them are insanely underpowered - because the counter skills were balanced also on the skills that they were supposed to counter!
It's the same thing with massive armour buffs and ele damage.
Or making the rule that certain conditions can't be applied to certain foes.
Or making the skills cost 40% as much.
The mesmer is just the class where this shows the most!


Balance in PvE would mean that every party you run into could (and pretty much would) trash your party (or at least a few members). It's insane that you run into a party that is much bigger then yours, with higher levelled foes and you make it out alive without a scratch.
But that would make for a shitty game for most players.
And it also wouldn't allow for mistakes.
And it wouldn't allow for running sup runes.
Or any other sub-par thingy.
And until this stays the way it is - it's completely and utterly worthless to talk about anything being to strong. Because It can't be.
Because PvE is designed for the players to win.
Compared to PvP - where the design is for the best player to win!
If the game is to easy - it just means you are too good for it!

wazz

wazz

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

WML, MELL, RUNI

P/

Quote:
Originally Posted by zwei2stein
1.First, what are those people doing vanquishing when they lack key skill unlocks? 2.How come they didnt unlock those key skills during normal gameplay? 3.And if they didnt, how come they dont have resources leftover (unspent hero SPs, some platinum in storage) or close aproximations of those skills unlocked?

4.Between skill quests in prophecies, Factions and NF (yes, even factions/nf gives you about 40 free unlocks), hero skill trainers and plain shelling out 1k and 1sp for skill, they dont have decent bars?5. Not mentioning that they got most of decent skills on their heroes autounlocked already ... 5-10 minutes in zaishen gives you 1k faction.

6.As far as equipment goes, people you are refering to are better of havign their heroes unequiped (superior runes ...). If you insist, perfect equipment for hero is about 5k total, tops. survivor runes, minor runes for attributes you use, vitaes elsewhere, buy 2x5 of collector fodder items amd exchange em

7.Besides, if they are already vanquishing, they can, you know, equip heroes as they progress. keep collectilbe drops and exchange em for better stuff for heroes, vanq gives 1k and 1sp pretty much automatically everywhere, which means at least one unlock per area, which means that you are gonna get unlock you need for next area if its necesary.
1. Because they just beated the game/ wanne have some fun etc.
An other thing: most people don't even know wich skills could come in handy and wich skills don't.

2. How would they know wich skill to unlock in the first place ? Most people just unlock skills from there own primairy proffesion and a couple of there secundairy, they don't even watch the rest of the proffesions there skills.

3. First they spent most of there money on : elite armours, greens, rare weapon skins and etc.
Second most people don't know wich skill they should unlock so they just unlock whatever skill looks nice to them or they think could mabye come in handy.

4. They themselves have most of the time a decent bar but there heros... that is another story. People will rather spend there money on skills (if they spend money on it, most of the time they prefer to spend it on greens etc.)of there own professions than skills of another profession. So they most of the time end up using hero builds as sabs team because they don't have the 'resources' to do it themselves.

5. Most people that pve don't even know what you can do in pvp, most pvers only pvp-experience is ab, they don't even know of the existence of the zaiden chalenge untill you tell them.

6. Alot of people find 20k alot and most people don't even have a clue what collectors do, let stand witch collector gives witch weapon.

7. Yes, but most people even after vanquishing a couple of areas still don't have a clue wich skill they should or shouldn't unlock.

Ok I agree up to some point, they should put more money in unlocking skills and gearing up there heros instead of spending it on goldsinks. But then again they most of the time don't know any better.


Quote:
Originally Posted by zwei2stein
Yes, you cant vanquish that much casually, it sucks, but if you are so casuall that putting together decent teambuild and checking wiki is major pain, you propably have other, more casuall, stuff left to do. Well for most people trying to come up with a build themselves that counters out enemy attacks and deals damage at the same time isn't that eassy. Let alone synergys with the other builds in the party, having the heros geared up and having the actual skills unlocked.

Also most people only understand 1-3 proffesions of the game (and with understanding I mean know how to play them and knowing how that skills synergy wich each other). Making a build for another proffesions tends to turn out quite bad.

Also although checking wiki can be helpful, the only thing that actually helped me was: the amount of monsters in the area and what map I missed (I dunno how I did it but I missed an entire map in cantha )


Quote:
Originally Posted by Simath
You should become used to accepting others superiority. And the superiour should accept that people inferiour to them:
also have the right to play each part of the game,
also have an opinion that should be lissened to
and also can be right.

@yesitsrob

I don't assume that cookiecutterbuilds/ pve skills are the only way to do an area. But the only way to do it with a PuG (or with less experienced guild/allaince group or with friends).

Most people learn2play there proffesion. And that already takes some effort. Learning to understand the entire game is way to time consuming/hard/ boring (name it as you want) for most people to do.
Still they want to do the more elite stuff because it gives titles, nice drops etc. etc.

@terraban

I expected such a response as yours. Infact: I expected a higher amount of those. Seems that I lose faith in mankind to fast.

According to you: trying to explain how 'hard' HM pve is without pve skills for the average person is QQ ?

Avarre

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
According to you: trying to explain how 'hard' HM pve is without pve skills for the average person is QQ ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avarre
Hey guys, the game is meant to reward skill.

If you're bad, you shouldn't be able to complete every area of the game.

This is called creating a reason to improve, and justifying skill over time. Have a nice day.

Mr Pink57

Mr Pink57

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

a van down by the river

iBench

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by YunSooJin
Paragon? Almost warrior like damage without the spikiness, aoe unstrippable party-wide buffs and is a tank themselves to boot. Have you seen a crit SoL hit? Last one I landed in PvE hit for 114 damage and that was Gate of Madness.

pink

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

Here's all I have to say about the Paragon dance...

Mr Pink57

Mr Pink57

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

a van down by the river

iBench

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Avarre
Hey guys, the game is meant to reward skill.

If you're bad, you shouldn't be able to complete every area of the game.

This is called creating a reason to improve, and justifying skill over time. I've read most of the posts in this thread and I take it GW is more of a job for you then a time to relax, is it not? There are people in this game who play to get away from their kids, spouse, work, and anything else that stresses them out. Therefore they do not want to sit and constantly improve and figure out new builds/ways to get thru a mission/area. All they really wanna do is just play the game for a few ours then go back to their lives thats it nothing more. If the game became to trying or tough GW would have a very low fanbase as a lot of people would still be just out of pre.

As for SY and if it should be nerfed? I dont care if they do or not I'll just play my mesmer more.

pink

RhanoctJocosa

RhanoctJocosa

Legendary Korean

Join Date: Aug 2006

The Benecia Renovatio [RenO]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Pink57
There are people in this game who play to get away from their kids, spouse, work, and anything else that stresses them out. Therefore they do not want to sit and constantly improve and figure out new builds/ways to get thru a mission/area. All they really wanna do is just play the game for a few ours then go back to their lives thats it nothing more. If the game became to trying or tough GW would have a very low fanbase as a lot of people would still be just out of pre.
There is plenty of easy content for people who only want to play casually. The problem is there isn't enough challenging content to please the higher skilled players. You can't possibly be telling me that you want to be able to roll every aspect of the game and still be terrible.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Pink57
As for SY and if it should be nerfed? I dont care if they do or not I'll just play my mesmer more. It should be nerfed, all ANet need to do is look at the 6 Para/orders/monk teams ROLLING high end PvE.

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

Quote:
Originally Posted by RhanoctJocosa
It should be nerfed, all ANet need to do is look at the 6 Para/orders/monk teams ROLLING high end PvE. Newsflash:
There is no observer mode in PvE.

Mr Pink57

Mr Pink57

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2007

a van down by the river

iBench

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by RhanoctJocosa
There is plenty of easy content for people who only want to play casually. The problem is there isn't enough challenging content to please the higher skilled players. You can't possibly be telling me that you want to be able to roll every aspect of the game and still be terrible.

It should be nerfed, all ANet need to do is look at the 6 Para/orders/monk teams ROLLING high end PvE. 1. No I'm not saying you should be able to roll everything but PvE was made for the casual player in mind so they dont go "scrub" PvP. Plus a lot of the casual players are not really found in the elite mission areas anyways so it really wouldnt apply there. But as for going thru a storyline... yes it should not be that much trouble (read: THK).

2. Then I guess we need to nerf the B/P teams to? Also I cannot think of the last time my para was in a high end area and people where setting that up? Have you mixed it up with the Ursanblow teams?

pink

wazz

wazz

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

WML, MELL, RUNI

P/

Quote:
Originally Posted by RhanoctJocosa
..., all ANet need to do is look at the 6 Para/orders/monk teams ROLLING high end PvE. 6 para/orders/monk teams ???
Don't even know of the excistence of those
and I spent more then enough time in doa,topk and the deep to atleast know of the excistence of it.

Avarre

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Pink57
I've read most of the posts in this thread and I take it GW is more of a job for you then a time to relax, is it not? There are people in this game who play to get away from their kids, spouse, work, and anything else that stresses them out. Therefore they do not want to sit and constantly improve and figure out new builds/ways to get thru a mission/area. All they really wanna do is just play the game for a few ours then go back to their lives thats it nothing more. If the game became to trying or tough GW would have a very low fanbase as a lot of people would still be just out of pre.

As for SY and if it should be nerfed? I dont care if they do or not I'll just play my mesmer more.

pink No, I play at most an hour or two a day.

If the game is meant to reward skill, yet there is no actual reward for skill, then what is the point? As it is, you can complete everything even while being a poor player, especially since you don't even have to design builds.

This game was originally intended to be something that you would succeed at if you were good, not if you just played it until you had everything. There are non-elite areas for players that don't want to devote as much effort into learning. If you expect to have every item and every zone cleared without learning to play well, perhaps Guild Wars isn't the right game.

Unfortunately, the kind of player that seems to believe themselves entitled to that is more prevalent, hence the continual dumbing down of the game and addition of easymode PvE items and skills to make it more attractive. It's become apparent with the huge shift towards PvE development that profit is the driving factor.

I'd like to see a game that caters more fully towards a certain market and sticks to it despite potential profits from the mainstream MMO audience, but bleh.

the_jos

the_jos

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

Hard Mode Legion [HML]

N/

Quote:
Unfortunately, the kind of player that seems to believe themselves entitled to that is more prevalent, hence the continual dumbing down of the game and addition of easymode PvE items and skills to make it more attractive. It's become apparent with the huge shift towards PvE development that profit is the driving factor. While I agree with you on this point there is more to say in my opinion.

The PvE skills are mainly a reaction to sounds from the PvE community about certain aspects of the game.
For example, the various Blessing skills make it possible for all professions to get easy (pug) access to elite areas.
Before that a lot of professions were left out of those.
I don't recall the various generic builds had mesmer, dervish, sin and paragon in them. I also recall all the 'why mesmers are not that good in PvE' threads.
At least it's possible for players of those professions to experience those areas.

The same it true for the vanguard spells.
They are there because the hard mode charr environment proved too difficult for players.
For example take 2 good friends of mine and their son.
They play Ele and their son plays ranger. They like to vanquish together.
It's easy to say that they should improve their gameplay and I know they are no pro players, however, they don't have full unlocked skills, not all usefull elites and only one spot left for an other character (that would be monk in their team).
One day I vanquished the same ascalon area as them on my mesmer (using heroes, no PvE skills) in about 1 hour. The same evening I helped them (as SoR bonder) and it took us more than 2 hours.
The main reasons: they were kiting towards me when under attack (solved that problem, but they sometimes ran to me in reflex).
And they did not have the skills or experience to spike/shut down a target.
So about half the environment I was explaining them how they could solve the problems they were facing with the skills they had.

Given their gameplay and team setup they can vanquish 6 and 8 person Tyrian areas without problem, just not the 4-man areas.

Also, from a teaming perspective, it's now more beneficial to take an other human player. The 2 human/6 hero combo is/was just too strong to compete timewise except with a very active or organized guild/alliance.

So what they show is how A-net tried to fix a broken PvE game without changing the base mechanics too much.
I don't like it and hope they don't do the same in GW2, but I understand why they did it.

Dr Strangelove

Dr Strangelove

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Dec 2005

Wasting away again in Margaritaville

[HOTR]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Avarre
Unfortunately, the kind of player that seems to believe themselves entitled to that is more prevalent, hence the continual dumbing down of the game and addition of easymode PvE items and skills to make it more attractive. It's become apparent with the huge shift towards PvE development that profit is the driving factor.

I'd like to see a game that caters more fully towards a certain market and sticks to it despite potential profits from the mainstream MMO audience, but bleh. It's really not isolated to Guild Wars. In the last 10 years or so, there's been a general movement towards games that everyone can beat fairly easily, especially in the RPG genre. The idea is to prevent frustration, but it really takes away the whole point of the game, namely to overcome a challenge.

I hate to sound like an old fuddy duddy, but I kinda miss the old days of Nintendo and early 90s computer games. I still can't beat most of them, but it feels a hell of a lot more awesome when I finally do.

/get off my lawn!

Terraban

Terraban

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Pink57
I've read most of the posts in this thread and I take it GW is more of a job for you then a time to relax, is it not? There are people in this game who play to get away from their kids, spouse, work, and anything else that stresses them out. Therefore they do not want to sit and constantly improve and figure out new builds/ways to get thru a mission/area. All they really wanna do is just play the game for a few ours then go back to their lives thats it nothing more. If the game became to trying or tough GW would have a very low fanbase as a lot of people would still be just out of pre.

As for SY and if it should be nerfed? I dont care if they do or not I'll just play my mesmer more.

pink If you are just playing to relax for no challenge at all, take your level 20 to Ascalon Area, use 3 level 20 hench, and relax away.

Expecting the whole entire game to be easily completed with a Mending/Healing Hands wammo is a little selfish isn't it? 90% of the game is C+Space-able with Henchmen.

fishy go moo

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2007

Mo/E

stop QQing about a skill thats overpowered in PVE LOL. ITS RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOING PVE PEOPLE, NO ONE CARES IF THE PRICES GO DOWN IF YOU DO YOUR JUST A GREEDY LITTLE BITCH. AND DONT GIVE ME THE BS ABOUT "OH LOLZ I FARMED FOR 9 HOURS THE PEOPLE WHO FARM SHOULDNT BE OVERTHROWN BY THIS OVERPOWERED SKILL QQ QQ QQ" WELL JUST BECAUSE I KILLED TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE I DONT QQ CUZ SOME GUY KILLED 10 BIRDS WITH A SHOTGUN BECAUSE IT TOOK ME 15 HOURS TO KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE /caps

RhanoctJocosa

RhanoctJocosa

Legendary Korean

Join Date: Aug 2006

The Benecia Renovatio [RenO]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by fishy go moo
stop QQing about a skill thats overpowered in PVE LOL. ITS RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOING PVE PEOPLE, NO ONE CARES IF THE PRICES GO DOWN IF YOU DO YOUR JUST A GREEDY LITTLE BITCH. AND DONT GIVE ME THE BS ABOUT "OH LOLZ I FARMED FOR 9 HOURS THE PEOPLE WHO FARM SHOULDNT BE OVERTHROWN BY THIS OVERPOWERED SKILL QQ QQ QQ" WELL JUST BECAUSE I KILLED TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE I DONT QQ CUZ SOME GUY KILLED 10 BIRDS WITH A SHOTGUN BECAUSE IT TOOK ME 15 HOURS TO KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE /caps
stfu+gtfo

OT: Paragons make PvE incredibly easy (moreso than it is already) which is a bad thing. I don't play Paragons in PvE simply because I always monk. I don't play Paragons in PvP (rarely anyway) because they are RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing boring as shit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wazz
6 para/orders/monk teams ???
Don't even know of the excistence of those
and I spent more then enough time in doa,topk and the deep to atleast know of the excistence of it. ask [SMS] :P

yesitsrob

yesitsrob

Elite Guru

Join Date: Sep 2005

Manchester, England

SMS/Victrix

I think the best thing ever is 6 warriors, 1 orders, 1 monk, to be honest. Epic win build right there.

xDusT II

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Melbourne

Do I think SY needs a nerf? Yes.
Do I think it's possible to nerf it without blowing up half the community? No.

Too many people are going to whine about grinding up the Kurzick title only to have the skill nerfed, and that's actually understandable. Alot of people did grind for a long time simply for Save Yourselves and it would be a huge kick in the balls if it was somehow adversely changed. If it was ever going to be nerfed, it should have been earlier. Anywho, I say make the armor gain progressive 60...100 or something.

Dervish Kid

Dervish Kid

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2007

Florida

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by xDusT II
Do I think SY needs a nerf? Yes.
Do I think it's possible to nerf it without blowing up half the community? No.

Too many people are going to whine about grinding up the Kurzick title only to have the skill nerfed, and that's actually understandable. Alot of people did grind for a long time simply for Save Yourselves and it would be a huge kick in the balls if it was somehow adversely changed. If it was ever going to be nerfed, it should have been earlier. Anywho, I say make the armor gain progressive 60...100 or something. why do alot of people complain about nerfed skills..geesh stop complaining and find a way around it..thats why u can cross-pro god dang. theres apost on almost every topic about something being nerfed..the skills cant all balance eachother out.

ShadowbaneX

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2006

Heroes of the Horn

A/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Avarre
I'd like to see a game that caters more fully towards a certain market and sticks to it despite potential profits from the mainstream MMO audience, but bleh. Translation: I'd like to see a company/corporation refuse to take money.

I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.