How to bring back old, good PUGging days in PvE and end this Hero nonsense in PvP

Anduin

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2006

Ice Dragon Berserker Lodge

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unreal Havoc View Post
With this mindset aren't you technically forcing everyone into hero and henching their way through campaigns because no one will pug together?

It's a two sided coin there.

/notsigned however becuse it's too late in Guild Wars lifespan now to make a good difference. Most of the people who probably cared to play with real people probably left by now.
Except, no one is forcing anyone to solely rely on heroes/henchmen, so your logic fails. As it stands, each side has the option to play how they want: try to form a group, or use heroes/henchmen. His plan removes an option and forces people into one mode of play. No such problem exists at the moment. There is no "two sided coin" problem.

H-lord

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: May 2007

D/A

/notsigned
The heroes system right now is ok, well if anet will change the AI a bit for instance using aura of the lich(also master of magic) correctly for heroes and other skill that have been change it would be better but right now it's ok.
From your reason, I understand your good old days but things change. Even with or with out heroes, human will always look for ways to make thing more simple for them
check out human history: 5000 years ago we hunt for animals but right now we build our own animal farms.
And for PVP, please understand us newbie to pvp, we aren't going to find exactly full eight player, so we need some heroes to fill in the gap and two is just right no more no less.

draxynnic

draxynnic

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2005

[CRFH]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenebrae View Post
It would be great in a world where every city has lots of ppl to party ,there are plenty of ppl of each prof , they are not retarded and even so they have PvE skills and know where/when to use it ( with good rank for them ofc ).
Sadly we are not in that world , so very VERY BIG /NOTSIGNED
You missed "and they want to do exactly the same thing you want to, including taking breaks mid-expedition if something comes up that you need to stop playing for a bit to deal with." I'd add "and they don't insist on using some gimmick build outside your preferred playstyle" but that may come under "not retarded".

The zquests provide good opportunities for PUGging, and I'll generally PUG a zquest... the first try, if people are available. As soon as I get the idea that I can do something easier with hero/hench, though, I'll do that. Usually because people are morons that don't know how to do the mission, or they're morons who think the mesmer is the one to kick when things aren't working.

Did I mention that I live in Australia, and most days I don't get home until it's very much AFTER most players have gone to bed? For me, the 'good old days' never existed except on weekends (and even then, I'd need to have some pretty rose-tinted glasses to see the waits of up to an hour for monks as 'good').

I really don't see this improving the PUG scene any. Instead, those people who H/H now because, for whatever reason, they don't consider PUGging to be a reasonable option would just quit the game instead, and the PUG scene will stay as it was. It may even get worse, as they may quit entirely when previously they were willing to PUG some things and H/H others.

So... so very, very much /notsigned.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyy High
Restricting heroes will only serve to reduce the number of people playing the game, as the solo-ers get frustrated with having years of 3 heroes taken away from them. ZQuests have already been a tremendous boon to PUGs; I've been somewhat regularly PUG-ing them since they came out now, with mostly positive results, including some absolutely brutal slaughterings of "Hard Mode" missions.
And this is why I do normally try to PUG a zquest the first time around. A good PUG still has so many advantages over H/Hing or even 2P6Hing it's not funny... as long as you can get one. It can also expose you to new builds you can try out later.

[quote=R.Shayne]Guild Wars does not have the numbers to support pugs in all the areas for that reason I would suggest unlocking seven heroes in UW & FoW for those that do not want to speed clear.[.quote]Even just being able to bring henchmen in (levelled to 20 in the case of ToA) would do...

DeFFik

DeFFik

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2008

Bielsko-Biała, Poland

R/

/notsigned, just play with guildies if you want to play with people.

With people that you 'know' (better or less) you can convince someone to change build, this rule doesn't apply to pugs, and that is the reason why most of pugs fail.

Hailey Anne

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2007

A/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unreal Havoc View Post
With this mindset aren't you technically forcing everyone into hero and henching their way through campaigns because no one will pug together?

It's a two sided coin there.

/notsigned however becuse it's too late in Guild Wars lifespan now to make a good difference. Most of the people who probably cared to play with real people probably left by now.
No one forces anyone to play with h/h if you want to play with humans join an active guild to play with.
I never Puged for missions/quests even before heroes came out.
Hench all the way over pugs because most of them are idiots.
/not signed

Jarus

Jarus

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2005

Council of Iris

/unsigned

I'm quite happy partying with just my wife and our 6 heroes, thank you.

Capulatio

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2009

United Kingdom

ASP

A/

You would kill all the team builds that require Heroes, I always use Sabway, and with a friend I use 2 man necroway for vanquishing, completely:

/unsigned.

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

If any of you think it will be better in gw2, you are mistaken. Only difference, judging on very scarce amount of information we were given is that many areas will be soloable by one player either getting a hold on a buff or using some kind of battle pet. In other areas it will be you + hench + hero + pet + other players. You can argue how terrible this idea is simply because you have adapted to broken game. As for 'idiots' in PUGs ... well, get some distance dudes, CORPG should be all about playing with other people and as it stands now most pve areas can be soloed by one man with h/h. Sure, maybe that's funny for you, but I don't find a pleasure in playing Dungeon Siege Online. I prefer singleplayer. Back at prophecies and factions I had way more fun in pve with other people, be it friends, guild or random people and even if we failed few times in a row most of people stayed to try the mission or quest again. I still remember what determination it took us to do last 4 missions in the game or titan quests. In Nightfall, while I agree heroes are fun and offer very good content for actual solo players pissed off by brainless/useless henchies, I actually found myself rather assigning 3 heroes and healing henchies + 1-2 players to do something, than actually forming a team. It's both good and bad. I proposed a middle ground but looks like unchallenging and unbelievable easy way to vanquish areas on HM with h/h gimmick builds overthrown your common sense. Sure, easier games sell better. Seriously, a year ago or two I wouldn't give a RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO about pve aspect of this game since I was mainly a pvp player then, but right now I'm more of 50/50 on this. At least none of you pointed out removing heroes from all but hero battles as nonsense, that's a good sign. What I don't understand is why everybody jumped on me like some kind of retard instead of actually discussing the idea and proposing alternative suggestions. I guess you are not the same kind of community and players as a whole like 2-3 years ago. Too bad, because from my experience it was the Nightfall that brought such high amount of trolls to the game and the forums and you might be, sadly, one of them, especially if NF is your first campaign. Felt offended? Good, it means I'm talking about you, not some imagined reality. Not felt offended? Simply means it doesn't apply to you.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

/notsigned

I don't recall having a good time with a PUG. Any, you name it, it wasn't good.


...btw, I don't think any of people who said "Unsigned" know what that means. It's incorrect, but if you want ANY meaning out of this, it means "I signed it before, now I want to delete my signature".

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

I don't refer to 'unsigned' but actual worth of some posts in terms of contributing or not at all to the topic in my opinion. I like criticism backed up with own opinion and alternative solution. I have no respect at all for useless posts. I won't even bother quoting their authors.

glacialphoenix

glacialphoenix

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2008

Singapore

Royal Order of Flying Lemmings [ROFL]

Mo/

...so, you're insulting us because we don't want to play the game your way.

Also, what? There are good PUGs, there are bad PUGs, and while I've had the pleasure of playing with the good ones I don't want to retry various things with a bad PUG. Bad players exist. People get frustrated when bad players pull them down. It's not because everyone wants to run some broken gimmick like you think.

And, as has been said before, what if you want to run something and nobody else is online? Should we all wait? There are a lot of missions in GW, a lot of vanquishes, a lot of dungeons. If I want to do Frostmaw's, am I now expected to camp in the nearest outpost tiredly spamming LFG FROSTMAW when there's nobody there? If I just want to play with a couple of friends and chat as we slackily make our way through the missions, am I now not allowed to do that?

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by glacialphoenix View Post
...so, you're insulting us because we don't want to play the game your way.

Also, what? There are good PUGs, there are bad PUGs, and while I've had the pleasure of playing with the good ones I don't want to retry various things with a bad PUG. Bad players exist. People get frustrated when bad players pull them down. It's not because everyone wants to run some broken gimmick like you think.

And, as has been said before, what if you want to run something and nobody else is online? Should we all wait? There are a lot of missions in GW, a lot of vanquishes, a lot of dungeons. If I want to do Frostmaw's, am I now expected to camp in the nearest outpost tiredly spamming LFG FROSTMAW when there's nobody there? If I just want to play with a couple of friends and chat as we slackily make our way through the missions, am I now not allowed to do that?
Re-read my two previous posts. I'm not going to argue with any of you any longer. Oh, and don't put words in my mouth which I didn't say.

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

Wow, just WoW at that last rant.

Sheer amount of arrogance and ignorance is ... astonishing.

Face it AmbientMelody, no-one wants you fail together with you. No-one enjoys to be your game-slave, being forced to play with you just because you have some dumb notion of the one and only way to have fun in game. And no-one wants to drag bossy-you through missions.

Guess what, get some RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing friends/guild and play with humans. If you have trouble with that I suggest you use above post as reference and inital clue.

PS: middle ground is NOT being forced to play with humans.

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
Re-read my two previous posts. I'm not going to argue with any of you any longer. Oh, and don't put words in my mouth which I didn't say.
Ah, the Cartman Defense.

"Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

zwei2stein

zwei2stein

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Europe

The German Order [GER]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anduin View Post
...His plan removes an option and forces people into one mode of play...
His plan is even worse than that.

'buddy players'. would get shafted two as you would need at least 4 humans to play in HM.

So much for friend/friend parties...

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by zwei2stein View Post
His plan is even worse than that.

'buddy players'. would get shafted two as you would need at least 4 humans to play in HM.

So much for friend/friend parties...
Guild Wars - depending on e-zine/site it's classified as either Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or Cooperative Online Role-Playing Game.

In none of the reviews it's actually stated you will end up playing alone with h/h unless you are in active guild and in none of the reviews 'competitive ladder high-skill based pvp games' are actually marked as 'go with noob heroes and farm fame'. I guess the way what this game now is and how it is advertised are two different things, because I see the game marked as what it was upon release, while degrading further all the time.

So much for the 'at least 4 humans to play in HM on 8/12 party limit area'

Looks like good, old system back in D2 with scaling hit points of monsters depending on number of players was best. Yes, I admit freely Anet failed, but the guys at least tried and would use at least some of your feedback. Being utterly conservative is not going to improve things.

I remember what this game used to be and my reasoning based on two pages of posts leads me to conclusion that destroying team & socialising spirit with other, unknown people on your way in pve was an IMPROVEMENT, right? Well, couldn't care less, I see tons of those kind of a big deal r3-5 guys that are 'offline' in the status all the time, if not 'do not disturb' or 'afk' playing with h/h all the day long, accumulating gay titles and boosting their e-peen. So much for the teamplay, so much for the playing with other people outside your guild, so much for the first immersion this game gave me. And it was good, very good.

I guess they should re-brand the game as 'E-peen title show off' or 'Online Artificial Intelligence Allies Simulator'

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abedeus View Post
Ah, the Cartman Defense.

"Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
'Go ahead .. make my day .. punk'

Abedeus

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
stuff'
Oooooh. So it's envy speaking through you.

a) no friends/guildies
b) no talent or skill to play h/h.

Forgotton200

Forgotton200

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2008

Mo/

I never read OP's post but skimming threw replies. If it's something about only having one hero per player, /unsigned.

Elephantaliste

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2008

adblockplus.or

/close
-- ANet won't change heroes max cap --
not even worth getting argued once again.
and probably most of player doesnt want a change aswell.

Vilaptca

Vilaptca

Pre-Searing Vanquisher

Join Date: Jun 2005

Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]

I'd like to think of heroes as a reward for having already pugged through Prophecies and Factions for almost 2 years. Now if you don't have enough guildies or friends on you can bring a hero instead of some moron.

If you want to play with people go out and make some friends. Join a guild with more than two people.

Let the rest of us play the game how we want to.

/notsigned

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vilaptca View Post
I'd like to think of heroes as a reward for having already pugged through Prophecies and Factions for almost 2 years. Now if you don't have enough guildies or friends on you can bring a hero instead of some moron.

If you want to play with people go out and make some friends. Join a guild with more than two people.

Let the rest of us play the game how we want to.

/notsigned
Perhaps a singleplayer game is what you ask for ... what for playing in multiplayer then? To met few people? Some of us actually enjoyed PUGs and met a lot of interesting and cool people in the game that way. I tell you, I met most of good players through PUGging by actually playing and talking with them, not by spamming messages 'X are recruiting Y' and playing with completely random people that happened to join your guild. Unless all of you have like 40+ real life friends and all of them play guild wars and wish to create a guild (quite impractical, no?).

Oh, and before some of you start throwing idiotic accuses of my private life, think twice what you ask for.

Well, if your mentality is based around 'winning-winning-winning' all the time no matter the cost, it's your thing.

Practically speaking, pve is hardly challenging with good hero set, of course you are free to accuse me of being a retarded idiot incapable of using heroes/henches in pve whilst being an individual who failed his own life and seeks a 'paradise world' in computer games.

Kattar

Kattar

EXCESSIVE FLUTTERCUSSING

Join Date: Mar 2007

SMS (lolgw2placeholder)

Me/

Vilaptca isn't trolling.

Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they're trolling.

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsumi View Post
Vilaptca isn't trolling.

Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they're trolling.
The comment wasn't directly aimed to him. So much for fast replies without reading the context.

Pistachio

Pistachio

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

W/R

It almost seems as if the only way to get the good ole' PUG days back would be to expand the player base. I had always thought Heroes were introduced into the game party because players were being spread a bit too thin over three campaigns. So, when it was hard to find a full PUG, you could supplement the real players with your heroes. It is unfortunate, I agree, that an online multiplayer game is so often played alone, but that is the nature of things I suppose. I don't think placing any strong restrictions on heroes would change things much. Most missions would still be empty as ever, and without a decent alternative to beat it with no other players.

aoeclald

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2008

United States

Pillars of the Earth [ROCK]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
I don't refer to 'unsigned' but actual worth of some posts in terms of contributing or not at all to the topic in my opinion. I like criticism backed up with own opinion and alternative solution. I have no respect at all for useless posts. I won't even bother quoting their authors.
To the OP:

Criticism: Though your idea has been argued many times before, the time it would take to make this change will probably do no good as ANet's direction is moving more and more towards Guild Wars 2. Already the team that manages Guild Wars is quite small by itself hence the late monthly updates.

Also, for some people on different schedules that, even if they wanted to find people, there are simply not a lot of capable people online to do said activities with. A perfect example are Australians who play when most North and South Americans are sleeping. An Australian posted earlier saying that even in the "Good Old Days", it was quite tedious to find a group and so I support her claim and say that now it would be quite impossible.

With that as a segway, right now, as it has been stated multiple times before, we do get the choice whether we want to PUG or go with heroes. Considering that most outposts are generally empty, the latter is chosen almost always. What can you do if you don't have Nightfall/EotN campaign , and thus no heroes? I have a real life friend who plays with only Factions and Prophecies and still does a decent job of finding groups for missions. After a brief break I took from the game, I came back to see him trump the Lich with a full team of reals. So, as difficult as it may appear, people are still out PUG'ing and getting the help from friends (I helped him quite a bit) and guildies. Something tells me that the most of the people here who are wanting this change do not try hard enough to PUG and are probably culprits themselves of doing H/H because they CAN. With your suggestion, they will be forced to and they will then be reciting the saying: "Be careful what you wish for!"

My Opinion:

I do not believe this change would benefit the guild wars community as it stands. Right now people can get the best of both worlds; with my guild, I often do human-only teams on our regular Friday evening outings and we do have successful runs. I am also able to ask friends and guildies to attend for trivial activities, such as small vanquishes or even a NM Mission and can even then get nearly full human turnouts. However, there are times that I am on when a lot of my guildies are not, and then I get the benefit of having heroes and henchmen to progress myself without having to rely on the help of friends and guildies and give them the playtime that they deserve.

Alternative Solution:

In my honest opinion, the only alternative solution is to drop this and keep the system the way it is. Though in PvP it has brought about some poor tactics, yet great wins, it is still an interesting turn in direction. In fact, I played at the release of Nightfall and in HA, you could have as many heroes as you wanted. A friend and myself went in with 6 Searing Flames elementalists and got loads of fame. Now, you can't do that anymore, so you can already see they have placed restrictions in places where they were necessary. Once again, ANet gave the option to the people to bring a hero or two, however most of the great teams are not composed of a hero at all.

---

Now, to AmbientMelody... I read your first post and you didn't even do any of what you just asked. I did not see criticism, your opinion, or an alternative solution. Also, your repetitive posting about arguing with a lot of the recent posters is quite childish. You've said your peace, now get over yourself.

Coast

Coast

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

Belgium

Whats Going On [sup]

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
Guild Wars - depending on e-zine/site it's classified as either Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or Cooperative Online Role-Playing Game.

In none of the reviews it's actually stated you will end up playing alone with h/h unless you are in active guild and in none of the reviews 'competitive ladder high-skill based pvp games' are actually marked as 'go with noob heroes and farm fame'. I guess the way what this game now is and how it is advertised are two different things, because I see the game marked as what it was upon release, while degrading further all the time.

So much for the 'at least 4 humans to play in HM on 8/12 party limit area'

Looks like good, old system back in D2 with scaling hit points of monsters depending on number of players was best. Yes, I admit freely Anet failed, but the guys at least tried and would use at least some of your feedback. Being utterly conservative is not going to improve things.

I remember what this game used to be and my reasoning based on two pages of posts leads me to conclusion that destroying team & socialising spirit with other, unknown people on your way in pve was an IMPROVEMENT, right? Well, couldn't care less, I see tons of those kind of a big deal r3-5 guys that are 'offline' in the status all the time, if not 'do not disturb' or 'afk' playing with h/h all the day long, accumulating gay titles and boosting their e-peen. So much for the teamplay, so much for the playing with other people outside your guild, so much for the first immersion this game gave me. And it was good, very good.

I guess they should re-brand the game as 'E-peen title show off' or 'Online Artificial Intelligence Allies Simulator'



'Go ahead .. make my day .. punk'
Did u get out of presearing yet?

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

Considering the fact that the back of the game - the back of Prophecies, even! - says "Play with your friends or play with ours - Join with friends or play solo with a band of skilled henchmen"...yeah, I'm pretty sure the game always meant to allow people to play how they want to.

And even back when I only had Prophecies and Factions I'd never PUG. The very few times I've ever PUGed, it was a disaster. These days there are more people looking for PUGs because of the Z-Quest missions, but 99% of them are looking for HM which I have no interest in doing.

I basically only play with my brother, or one of my handful of friends that plays the game. We're not always online the same time. I've a feeling there are a whole bunch of people in the same boat. So why should we be punished because you can't be bothered to find yourself a decent active PvE guild to play with?

Not going to comment on heroes in PvP because I don't play PvP outside of the occasional RA.

But really, the only things with heroes I'd like to see is 1) get rid of the "you must have this hero along" thing in certain quests in Nightfall, 2) allow seven-hero teams, and 3) allow them to pick up bundles.

Shadowhaze

Shadowhaze

Nothing, tra la la?

Join Date: Oct 2007

I'm going to have to say /unsigned.

I do enjoy playing with people, but often that's not always possible (as someone said, not every outpost is busting at the seams with people/professions).

And with recent ZQ pugging I've had some great groups, then there have been horrid groups.

(Ex - leader insisting I (Mo) bring Rebirth. I had UA on bar and I was sitting there for a few minutes trying to explain (after pinging build) that it essentially does the same thing and whatnot. With them seeming to not even listen to what I was saying (or looking at my bar), they ported us to a town with a skill person so I could buy Rebirth. Needless to say I left and did the mission with a friend and our heroes. We did it in no time. lol.

Then there was another with a monk trying to be the tank.

Ooh and so many more. lol)

But yeah, I would like to keep the options open as they are because it isn't always possible to get a team together/get a group of people that have an idea of what they're doing.

Ebony Shadowheart

Ebony Shadowheart

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2006

USA

SSW

E/

/start sarcasm

Oh yes YES! Take away my heroes and my ability to play how I please!

/end sarcasm

Seriously, if they take away/reduce heroes, I'll just go back to using henchman.

I beat Prophecies with hench before heroes

I beat Factions with hench before heroes

I do HM with hench when my fiance isn't around to finish out the team

....so how is this forcing me to play with people again?

Removing/reducing hero use isn't going to make people PuG again. Good players, and fewer azzholes will make people want to PuG. That simple.

/not signed!!!

spirit of defeat

spirit of defeat

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2007

Holland

Rt/

I didn't read all the comment but from what I've seen Nobody talks about the pvp side?
because I agree on the pvp side of his statement.
pvp should be people against people........

Ebony Shadowheart

Ebony Shadowheart

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2006

USA

SSW

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by spirit of defeat View Post
I didn't read all the comment but from what I've seen Nobody talks about the pvp side?
because I agree on the pvp side of his statement.
pvp should be people against people........
Generally speaking I don't play PvP in areas where heroes can be taken. HA and TA are filled with too many elitist punks that need to have their heads bashed in so that they realize the game is about FUN, not farming fame or even winning necessarily.

That being said, yes I can see how people have issues with heroes being in TA, HA, and even GvG, considering that they are 'intended' to be human vs human environments. I believe there is already a limit to how many heroes (or hench, as they are ALSO available) a group can take into these arenas.

However, the only reason people b*tch about heroes being allowed is because they can be skilled to player specifications, and tend to be 'slightly' smarter than hench. There was far less b*tching when it was simply hench as the alternative for teams lacking players, and hench have always been an option.

Hench or heroes being available in these PvP areas gives some groups the ability to compete when in other cases they may not have enough people. My guild/alliance for example would not have enough people interested to field a full 8 person GvG team. If we wanted to do that, we would have to use heroes or hench. So it just opens the field to more teams by having options.

Operative 14

Operative 14

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

Arizona, USA

[OOP] Order of the Phoenix I

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
... Some of us actually enjoyed PUGs and met a lot of interesting and cool people in the game that way. ...
That's great, I applaud the fact that you've been able to do so. Why should the rest of us be forced to do so however? If you'll bother to read any of the other posts, you'll find an overwhelming majority of the people share this sentiment. You want to radically alter the way this game is played to suit your wants and desires (and not even your needs). You want people to be forced to use PUGs because you have more fun playing that way.

No, this isn't a single player game. You mentioned in the same post as the above quote that you've met more good players by PUGing than making random 'Guild X is recruiting player' advertisements. My experience, and many others experience, has differed from yours. My good old days of remembering PUGing Prophecies and Factions was spending nearly 3 weeks on each mission, trying to find a group, any group, that could actually complete the quest. This was due in part to some rather inept teams, but it was also due to my own real life limitations. However, I remember more recent PUGing experiences, like doing Heart of the Shiverpeaks or Destruction's Depths in Eye of the North, and I had some great, memorable experiences through that. Now, on the flipside, my guild is filled with incredible people that I greatly enjoy playing with based upon those random advertisements (which is all "LFG..." is, by the way).

If you're mad at people not expressing alternative ideas.. I can't imagine you'd recive them any better. Frankly, what we have now works. You can still PUG, I've done it, others have done it. My question is, why are you not able to? Unless you carry your vile, dominereing attitude you've shown here into the game as well - which is a main reason why I don't PUG much anymore.

Otherwise, my suggestion would be to take the message that has been expressed in these four pages to heart. In so many words; it's great that you've been able to PUG and enjoy it. I didn't. Leave the option for people to do both, instead of forcing us to do only one.

Imagine how you'd react if someone popped in and suggested we could only use hero and henchmen teams. Given the acidity you've shown in your posts, I hardly believe you would placidly give alternative suggestions to such a thing. And the community would show as much vehemence to that idea as they've shown yours.

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Operative 14 View Post
Imagine how you'd react if someone popped in and suggested we could only use hero and henchmen teams. Given the acidity you've shown in your posts, I hardly believe you would placidly give alternative suggestions to such a thing. And the community would show as much vehemence to that idea as they've shown yours.
That would be a complete disaster

I agree with what has been said, obvious flaws in theory and practise such as different time zones or problem with some missions or areas if you insist to do them solely on your own (but like has been proven, it's possible even with just hench). What personally started to put me off for some time were already mentioned silent individuals who would do everything with h/h and refuse any offer of teamwork. I don't know how many of them had terrible experiences with PUGs or are unsocial souls who'd rather do everything on their own in pve and in pvp resort to random arenas and hero battles, often playing in the former 'solo' instead of working as a player in the team.

Another point is obvious abuse in pvp ... yes, it hurts if you have just 5,6 or 7 people and can't enter gvg/ha. It sux, because if you resort to team arenas then 2-3 players won't be able to participate, unless they invite some random people. Though, let's not forget HA was once 6vs6 and I liked that HA way better because it destroyed spike builds for some time and allowed bigger diversity due to balanced/pressure teams instead of spike/hex spam builds. Back then there was some kind of progression ... 3-4 people? Let's go TA! 5-6 people? Let's go HA! 7-8 people? Let's get a guest and try GvG!

Like you see, repairing the broken is not only the case with heroes but entire game. It also pretty much shows that it's hard to get a good time schedule outside guild and often you can't really count on guys over your friend list because they are often busy with something else at that time. The problem which has arisen with heroes has many layers and is quite complicated to be honest.

Let's look at something else now - said PUGs. For some a lot of fun meeting real people and motivation to do so due to limited 'brainset' of henchmen back at proph and factions, for the other complete disaster (i.e. trying to do thunderkeep for 30 times, for a full month, people often committing exactly the same error 10 times etc.). Thing is, the people who fail that mission over and over with you are more likely to finally learn or acknowledge something and move on and beat that mission, while with the introduction of heroes everyone almost seems to go hero/hench checking first entire mission on guild wiki with no respect whatsover about the spoilers of the plot, about exploring something on your own. Just that ... let's eliminate random human factor and just do steps 1..2...3...4 ... bam, mission completed.

Another thing worth pointing out are obvious changes of attitude in players ... if we had heroes since prophecies but areas were designed intelligently, it would make sense to get 3-4 players and get heroes for fast-reflexes action such as interruping or healing or to fill profession gap in your team ... if people actually learned heroes are a good, but not necessary thing, most propably we would have a good mix of only human, hero and human and human + hero/hench teams, leaving those who want to solo - solo, and the rest going along. I understand it can be a painful time to coordinate a 8-players team, it's repetetive and boring and say over and over what everyone is expected to do, check his skillbar, suggest something, tell the strategy ... I remember spending tons of time in outposts discussing strategy and forming a team, but for me it was actually a feature, and good one even if frustrating at times. It was kind of interesting most of the time to get along with your team before a battle instead of just mindlessly jumping into action and leaving the team as soon as mission ends without a word or vague 'bye' 'cool! cyas' etc. Again, it was a two-edge blade. Some liked it, some not.

Now, we could argue that Anet pushed things too far with heroes because they didn't really think about possible impact on the game and most of all, players mentality. I see more and more players being told to actually skip a game cinematic instead of being able to know the story on spot, people shouting 'lfg!' being told to 1) shut up 2) stop spamming 3) get h/h and go out, people being told to copy-paste pvx wiki builds instead of trying to think and make something good on their own with their current skills.

Implementation of heroes has divided the guild wars community, especially newbies from established players. Why? Established players have guilds and friends, know something about the game. Newbies are more likely than not just jump straight in the fight with h/h after being rejected from teams for some idiotic reasons. Older player is as well more likely to invite a hero/hench to the team in a place of another player to help him out or do a mission together. Now, I think you know what I wanted to basically say, but I will let you guess it.

If we at least limited hero usage, some people would reconsider going with small 2-3 player groups into harder areas instead of soloing everything. People over normal mode won't be really affected and every player in the team will have an option to bring his best hero, instead of being told to kick him out 'because he sucks' and the like. We all were newbs at a time and it's just a game. I agree, it shouldn't be frustrating but I'm missing it's old, friendly, adventurous feeling. Back in proph there was way more time for some consideration, tactics, chit-chat with other people. FA basically brought more 'action', or to describe it - 'think less, do faster'. In my opinion it was tragic shift in pve. Then came NF - theoretically a balance between Prophecies and FA, in fact it was still more biased into 'fast fast fast never do that again' with the introduction of heroes.

Now, I must say EOTN was very interesting in the end because most dungeons are well designed that it makes sense to go with players instead since it makes things a lot easier and heroes were no longer that dependable due to numerous traps and the like. Although, I hated what Ursan did to pve because while human PUGs became more popular, it made the game too easy and basically stripped off everything what's unique of the 10 professions in the game ... and that was wrong and huge step backward. I could go on and go on, but let's say it's your turn now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coast View Post
Did u get out of presearing yet?
Presearing was a cool place but I left it at level 7 with my first char. Searing was even better, although I missed greeny fields and that calm atmosphere. Thanks for care =)

mmmkay i am bad

mmmkay i am bad

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2006

hiding in ur basement =o

W/Rt

i don't get it
"elite" areas are usually done with real people
so you don't want us to have heroes/henchies because noone will pug with you?
terrible idea, without h/h pve would be dead except for maybe farming
join a guild, get some friends to do stuff with you

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by mmmkay i am bad View Post
i don't get it
"elite" areas are usually done with real people
so you don't want us to have heroes/henchies because noone will pug with you?
terrible idea, without h/h pve would be dead except for maybe farming
join a guild, get some friends to do stuff with you
It's not really the point. Read 'wall of text' few posts above.

Or in short - I'd like to change something about players mentality of going everywhere with h/h even if they don't have to.

english storm

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/Mo

Terrible idea imo, there is nothing wrong with people that want to play with heroes playing with heroes in PvE! Get over it already please, the game is getting on and you can't expect the number of pugers to ever be what it was. I don't PvP so my idea might not work but, what about creating two tiers in PvP much like hero battles. Have one unrated and let people join with heroes, (note you should really change all z-quests to unrated if you do this). The other would be rated and ban people using heroes in it. The people who want to learn or are new can play unrated and the hard core PvP'ers can play rated to their hearts content with out running into heroes.

Would love if they ungank heroes in PvE as well. Let them use PvE skills, delete the 3 hero limit and let people use them in elite areas. I would be in heaven then as i would get a chance to play the areas at my own pace!

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by english storm View Post
Terrible idea imo, there is nothing wrong with people that want to play with heroes playing with heroes in PvE! Get over it already please, the game is getting on and you can't expect the number of pugers to ever be what it was. I don't PvP so my idea might not work but, what about creating two tiers in PvP much like hero battles. Have one unrated and let people join with heroes, (note you should really change all z-quests to unrated if you do this). The other would be rated and ban people using heroes in it. The people who want to learn or are new can play unrated and the hard core PvP'ers can play rated to their hearts content with out running into heroes.

Would love if they ungank heroes in PvE as well. Let them use PvE skills, delete the 3 hero limit and let people use them in elite areas. I would be in heaven then as i would get a chance to play the areas at my own pace!
Which is both good and bad. On the short-term, it would be funny. On the long term it would kill any team spirit left.

aoeclald

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2008

United States

Pillars of the Earth [ROCK]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
Which is both good and bad. On the short-term, it would be funny. On the long term it would kill any team spirit left.
Guild Wars is not a school and this thread is not a pep rally, so stop trying to be a cheerleader -- "team spirit". Also, that was his alternative suggestion that you wanted people to see rather than baseless "I hate this idea, /notsigned", so I don't see why you have a problem with what he has to say.

When will a moderator close this? D: All this is now is ping-pong discussion and no actual debate or progress in topic. It's clear that the general masses don't want it.

Hailey Anne

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2007

A/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post
In none of the reviews it's actually stated you will end up playing alone with h/h unless you are in active guild
One of the things that IS there right on the box though is GUILD Wars.
Meaning find a good guild to play with.


Quote:
Originally Posted by AmbientMelody View Post

Or in short - I'd like to change something about players mentality of going everywhere with h/h even if they don't have to.
Or you can change YOUR mentality of thinking it has to be your way or its not right.

Khyr Lord of Kaoz

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2009

Tasmania

House of Kaoz

N/R

Heroes didn't destroyed GW they made GW. Because that's one thing GW offers that other games don't. If you want to play WoW, go play it. But don't take issue with what is a brilliant addition to the game.

I always enjoyed GW, but until heroes were introduced, I didn't like it as much. I'm not looking for social interaction in a game, I'm looking for enjoyment. I enjoy creating specs for me and my heroes and trying them out, to get through things solo. I paid as much money for the game as you did, maybe more. Am I less entitled to play a game my way.

Even Guilds. There are so many guilds around now, finding one with the right mix of people is like pulling teeth. Starting your own means finding like minded players to play with you, and that's like pulling teeth.

If you don't enjoy this fantastic game, because of its benefits, make some rules for yourself, start a guild and see if you can find like-minded people to play with you. But leave the rest of us out of it.

/unsigned for life