Do you think Guild Wars Skill Art/Seriousness has gone downhill?

I was just curious to know what everyone else thought about this. When Guild Wars headed into Nightfall and EotN the skill icons and seriousness went way down. Did Arena Net get lazy? Why are all the skill icons just a little picture of a person. Also, why are all the skill names some kind of play on words or play on pop culture. I enjoyed Guild Wars a lot more in Prophecies and even Factions. The skill icons don't seem as "high-rez" as they used to. They look grainy and just have a generic person standing in the background. Also, the skill names have gotten really ridiculous. They started doing it in Nightfall and did it even more in EotN. The skill names don't even make since sometimes. In PvP I'll get hit by something and scroll over the damage reporter. It reads "Billy Blank's Squat Thrust" or "Broke Back Mountain". What the heck are these skills? I have to go to wiki just to figure out what they do and even then I usually don't remember. I miss the Prophecy days, where the skill names actually went along with what they were. I am just worried because it seems Arena Net is heading that way. Guild Wars 2 may be poor skill art, poor skill names, and a ton of pop culture references. It is okay for an Easter Egg or a Game Event. But the whole game being a pop culture joke doesn't settle with me too well. Does everyone like the way Arena Net is taking the game or do they wish they reverted back to their more "Serious Days".

I actually find the skill names are art got better
I love the icon art in the EotN skills

Well people relate to pop culture well so it stands to reason some of the names would be pop culture. As for the pics of the skills not all are faces and I think they are quite interesting. I like muchly.

I don't really like the art, lots of Paragon skills look really similar.

Tbh i think most faces came with factions With Ritualist.. But yeah i dont think Eotn skill icons are so cool.

It's not easy to try to come up with skill icons and names. Imagine if you were put in that position.

For example, you come up with a good skill icon for, say, Aegis. What icon can you create that would fit with what Aegis does? For that matter, what can you create that would fit on the tiny space? You also have to consider the visibility and how the icon will be remembered by players. Not only that, you also have to consider that you're working with limited color scheme (if you're creating a Mo icon, you're only limited to blue scheme). Plus, you're working within limited time.

It's very difficult to create names and skill icons for hundreds of skills with such limited flexibility. Try coming up with good icons and names for all the skills from one chapter. You'll see why Anet did what they did.

I have plenty of ideas that can easily come out of my head. I have a very overactive imagination and could sit for hours coming up with ideas.

Aegis: A white shield with blue outline with the Greek letter Alpha on it.

I don't understand. I guess people like that over the top sense of humor. I just don't want the game turning into a joke (aka Dungeon Runners). The skill names just seem so stinking long sometimes. There are so many stinking abbreviations for everything. The art for the PvE skills were pretty bad. Sunspear/Luxon/Kurzick were horrible. I don't know how they got away with some of that. I can't tell what half the spells are/do because its just a picture of a little person in a little box. Like someone said earlier, the Paragon skills look like they were all taken from the same carpet sample.

Regardless of how hard it is there is no excuse to do it half-heartedly. There are plenty of nerds in the sea who could handle the task you just outlined. I just don't want to start seeing skills like "Bridget's Diary", "What I Like About You", "Independence Day", "The Mupphets", "Frogger", or what ever nostalgic/pop culture thing they can think of. Where is the creativity?

WALL OF TEXT FTL

but anyways, i like all of the EoTN art/icons. it gave me something different to look at, rather than skills that looked exactly the same, with the same hues and colors x.x

Great, so go do it for every skill in even just one chapter. Also, you'll have to come up with your own name for Aegis. You'll see then just how hard it is.

It is not regardless of... there are more than enough reasons (not excuses) to do so. People can't just come up with good ideas because they have to. If coming up with good ideas is really that easy, then why isn't everybody rich? Why isn't every game/movie/book ever made awesomely good? And when you're working on a project, you're always on tight schedule. You can't just ask to push back code release because you can't come up with names and icons for skills. You have other priorities to handle and you can't spend all day just for some skill name/icons. There are many things that go into place in creating games... skill names/icons just can't fit in due to time constraints and budget. Ask to extend the development by a few days for better skill names/icons, you're basically saying you don't know how the industry works and don't know your priorities. Few more days can cost thousands of dollars. You do not waste that much money for "better" skill names/icons.

Heck, you aks for an extension to make your game better... they'll try to rim you (higher ups). You ask for an extension for some measly icons... I don't even want to go there.

the word Aegis is often rooted somehow to Zeus or gods, i.e. a big bearded dude with a crown.

and i agree with 91 totally. IT IS hard work!! hundreds and hundreds of skills, with NOTHING to start with... they had their work cut out for them.

Ya know Blizzard has a pretty good mentality by not letting the game out till it is perfect. That is why they have so many great hits. They have a good mentality. Not all companies have to pump out games and hold on to that dead line. Anyway, I just really wanted to see what other players thought. For some reason it just really bothered me the way Guild Wars was headed. And since it gradually got worse and worse from Nightfall to EotN, I was worried about Guild Wars 2. I just wanted to see what everyone's views were on that. Not necessarily why Arena Net does the things it does.

Nah.
Skill icons are pretty small. The problem is, several of them start looking very similar.
The mesmer has like 25 skills which are varations of guys with headaces. Now, they are all distinct, but there is only so much they could do. I guess that could be considered laziness.

The main reason A.net decided NOT to release GW Utopia and instead create GW:EN and start over with GW2 was for the exact reasons you stated. The game got too complex with too many skills and new reinvention of the wheels (*cough paragon ruinied PvP*). A.net is aware and trying to start fresh.

You're right. Blizzard DOES put in lots of effort. However, this isn't about putting in more effort for a better game. It's just skill names/icons. These are just too miniscule. With what goes in a game development, it just isn't realistic to spend much time on something so small and not game breaking.

Also, there's not a single company that makes everything perfect. All games and all companies overlook hundreds of actual bugs and release the games the way they are. Nobody spends the time on fixing all minor bugs.

Blizzard or not, skill names/icons are not even bugs. As long as they work (and GW's icons are just fine), no company will stress over them. It's not an excuse, it's just the way game development works.

In all honestly I don't really care, the pop culture references go over my head. I guess I just like playing this game and not picking apart every single irrelevant flaw.

I love pop culture references, because the dev team is making pokes at pop culture by putting them in a game. lol. The wit is unmissable.

I play games because I like them the way they are.

Not saying they're perfect, but I still like them. I'm not the kind of people that sit around and nit-pick every single little detail.

Amen. I totally agree.
Basically, once you no longer know what to do, you can always make a reference to something popular. Especially if you have nothing of value to offer yourself.

Their excessive references to pop culture started in Nightfall and in EOTN.

Some silly jokes on the level of farting in a crowded room are probably supposed to make up for the lack of a proper story and own ideas.
Just see the BMP, references to 300, references to "eastern" stuff and Kill Bill, Alice in Wonderland and so on. Too much references, does not distract from the shallowness that they copy more and more instead of inventing themselves.

Well i guess its easy to create skill icon art for elementalist skills, you have lots of themes to choose from, the 4 elements, various bolts, explosions, whirpools, and other stuff that represent the elements.

As for mesmer, the theme pool is rather limited, as most of their skills are themed with mind controll. Same for assasin skills, most of the time, you have blades to work with, and theres only so much variation to be made there, so they look similar.

Its not laziness, its just that class limits the posibilities.

Cool. Now lets see you do that with the other 1500 skills available ?

I think youre overreacting. :P

I hate the new skill art in Eye of the North. Huge style difference, and makes me want to keep 'em all off of my skill bar. And I'm not talking PvE skills, I'm talking ranger or warrior skills from Prophecies/Factions to EoN.

[skill]counter blow[/skill] to

It's pretty gross.

I like the new more homogeneous skill icon colors.

I just wish they updated the old ones, there are slightly different from campaign to campaign, and some paragon icons have similar colors to some warrior icons.

Different artists did different skill icon sets.

Look at the difference between Luxon and Kurzick skill art styles.

But coloring should be homogeneous.

Some monk skills look almost green, when they should look white and blue.

Don't really care about pop culture references. I didn't like the deviation in art for the icons either. But if you use skill icons instead of words, one very useful thing is that it's easy to see which campaign a skill is from just based on the style, which means you can narrow it down if you don't recognize it at first. For example, if it looks plain, boring, and uninspiring, it's probably from Factions; if it looks similar to Prophecies but with a certain twist then it's probably from Nightfall; and if it looks cheap, amateurish, and stands out like it doesn't belong, then it's most likely from EoTN

I think the appearance of pop culture references in skill names may just be due to the number of skills. They may have gotten sick of naming a bunch of skills that revolve around "migraine" or "dismember", so decided to start having fun.

Not sure if OP was making a veiled post about the good old days...but I'm sure there are people who may say that when Anet had to start getting cute with skill names, is when they should have stopped adding skills.

I don't think half the people in this thread have played the game, they act as if none of skills from any of the earlier chapters followed the same route, they all have pop culture references.

as far as the art goes, fine, people that say they can do better? go out and get a job and make it happen, its funny how the people that say they can do better know little of what they speak of and have no job where they would have to make such things

this is also why most developers don't do EVERYTHING the community asks them, cause everyone "thinks" they have a good idea

so please, go design several hundred skill icons that all look good, can be understood what they are at a small size, and that can be differentiated from all the other icons. THEN we'll talk

Prophecies: Awesome.

Factions: Cheesy 3D renderings, smoother.

Nightfall: More 2D stuff, but with more outlines in a more drawn style.

GWEN: Same as NF, but colors are a bit different.

I don't mind the differences that much, but I wish they looked a bit more consistent so I wouldn't go blind having a variety of skills on my bar.

At least HALF of all WoW icons/sounds are from WarCraft III. Nice job Blizzard, you really know how to make things from scratch.

I like the skill icon art for the most part. The incessant pop culture references are really getting annoying though, and imo have taken the place of original creative thought; Although in all fairness Grind of the North was such a wretched abortion of a game we dont have much right to expect better......

Well it is the World of Warcraft. I don't care as long as it fits with the skill and it looks good. You can tell a big difference between where Guild Wars was originally headed in Prophecies and then it got kinda confused in Nightfall & EotN.

Thats why I worry about Guild Wars 2. It looks like the developers are headed in this direction in Nightfall/EotN.

What do you want paragon's to shout?

Still waiting on the "All Your Base" shout here...

Well, um, yeah, WarCraft is essentially Warhammer Fantasy Battles with a few alterations. Blizzard are the masters of ripping off their betters and of recycling predone work. (Though with EotN I think ArenaNet stole their place as far as recycling stuff goes. Blizzard still keeps the ripping off part though.)

No, I don't think the icons/skill names have gone down hill at all. I think that through all 3 games and eye the north the skill icons/names have consistently been good.

The different icons helps if you want to know what campaign something is from.

If the icon looks cheesy 3D, it's from Factions. If it looks 2D and hand drawn, it's from NF. If it looks 2D and hand drawn but the colors are kind of...well, I cannot really explain, I guess, more...monochromey? Then it's from GW:EN. Though I don't care, I must admit that GW:EN's look more amateurish and those who oppose GW or are seeking a first impression on GW will find these things a lot ickier than the original Prophecies icons. The Prophecies ones looked like awesome crosses between 3D rendering and stylization, GW:EN's look like screenies of people ingame pasted on a generic crosshatch background, and with some coloration and outlining.

Some of GW:EN's icons look fairly normal though (I'm thinking Deldrimor PvE skills and the skills from non-core professions). It's kind of odd really. Compare the styles between Warrior and Ranger skills.

Oh well, that was always kind of done. Back in Proph even, lots of Ranger skills used silhouettes and whatnot of people, whilst Warriors had lots of 3D people.

I hope for GW2, that all skills in the Game will have an identical Style of Art made by 1 Artist...

Nothign is worser, as more then 1000 skills with douzends of different Skill Icon Styles endign up in a Style Chaos. That looks just stupid and unprofessional, when a Game as Skill icons from different Artists, when the styles look then so heavily different, that any noob can see the differences.

Oh god would have been this a childish ugly Icon... alone this vision of this Icon lets me wish not to know, how you would create the over 1000 other Icons oO
*sarcasm* I'm sure, you would then make for "Flare" a red/orange Ball Symbal with a burning "F" in right >.> or for Lightning orb you would surely take the Flare icture, just color reverted to a white/bluish way with a "LO" in it... needs only 1 L more and we would have then our LOL-Skill rofl *endsarcasm*
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About Skill Names:

Yeah, I hope really, skill names in GW2 will receive more style and won't sound so often like childish Skill Names from Digimon or YuGiOh or so.
Also very much skill names sound in GW somewhat of dry, as if thought out by old people - hopefully not again in GW2


Example Skills I would rename:

Throw Dirt > Mud Throw
Run as One*
Rampageas One*
Heal as One*
Strike as One*

* Those would be all "Gemini-Skills", so Gemini Rush/Rage/Strike/Heal

Penetrating/Sundering Attack (such a stupid name for a Bow Shot -.-) > Drilling Arrow/Shot

Heket's Rampage (such skill name are stupid, when they have names of creatures it it, such skill names are only good for monster only-skills) > Animalish Rage

Melandru's Assault (really I personally would expect from a Skill name like this alot more, than only a silly animal attack oO) > Etherial Assault

Zojun's Shot: OMG, nothing sounds more childish and stupid, like Skills being named after persons and boss creatures, please anet, never do this anymore for GW2

Comfort Animal/Revive Animal > Companion Heal/ Companion Revive.
Skill names which start with verbs are stupid and sound so extreme dry ...

*lots of following terrible translated Skill Names*
Example:
Broad Head Arrow > German: Stahlspitzenpfeil
Correct would be: Breitkopf-Pfeil, because Stahlspitzenpfeil would be "Steel Point Arrow"

Quickening Zephyr > Not much people know, what is meant with Zephyr, to much such things better understandable, the Skill name must explain it better ... > Winds of Zyphyr < such things are for nature spirits an exception

Called Shot > Sonic Breaker Shot

Magebane Shot > on english the name is short, but on german the name is so extreme long, never do this anymore in GW2, find translations, which are in the size similar, even when its not correct translated, not everything must be ever correct translated, when the names become uber large through it and sound through it totally silly. On German this skill is called "Verderben des Magiers-Schuss", what would be translated on English again > "Doom of Mages-Shot"

Ranger alone had lots of good examples ,how to give Skills childish/stupid/senseless names and the other professions have also lots...

please anet, give GW2 more stylish Skill Name, which fit to the Skill Icons, but also more important, fit to the Skill's Effects.

When I see a Skill with the Name "Earthquake", then i personally expect some HEAVY skill effects, that the ground is really heavily shaking and that the ground receives many cracks and rifts....

When I see a Skill with the Name Ether Phantom, then i expect, that a phantom will appear, which attacks the foe or does something els, other then seeing only, how my foe suffers in an instant on a life degeneration.

When I see a Skill with the Name Life Drain, then I expect of the Skill Effects, then I can see the connection between me and the foe from which a drain its life - a visual connection and not only, that i see, how i get soem life regeneration and the foe degeneration, beign show by a little skill symbol for a second.

GW2 needs Eye Candy ^^, stuff, where people's mouth will fall down and will moan only "woah how cool"

Skill Effects in GW1 simple suck, because Anet had not btw. has not the ressources for better skill effects which look more epic, but i hope, in GW2 that will be not so, with new better graphics engine and so on, they should be able even with low resources to give the game better looking skill effects, than GW1 has/had

Phoenix I would say that most of your skill renames sound worse than the originals.

QFT.

The eye candy is the general imagery around me as I play the game, the terrain and effects for example. Not the tiny little icon at the bottom of my screen.